Weekend Update

This was a crazy weekend. It started Friday afternoon when, right at 3 when my 'baby' (that I babysit) got picked up the kids and I left to get a few 'last minute' items for their costumes. Who knew there would be NO Harry Potter costumes (we just needed a scarf for Hermione) anywhere, and that glitter make-up would be so hard to find (I don't usually wear that, myself, so I had no idea where to look). Finally, after looking all over Target and WalMart, I found most of what I needed, and got home at about 5:45. I still needed to get my kids all decked out, and all the stuff organized for the Primary booth at the carnival that started at 6:30.

The carnival was fun. There was SO MUCH candy! It was insane! We were kind of lucky...our kids came home with probably only about 20 pieces total between them. Good for me AND them! We were a little nervous what would happen the next morning at the practice for the primary program considering all the kids would be all hopped up on sugar and no sleep. We all decided to muster all the patience we possibly could and agreed to meet back at 9 am to get the chapel ready for the practice.

We went and hung out with some nb's (non bloggers) for a while after the party. Turns out it was nearly midnight when we got home and put our darlings in bed. I couldn't sleep at all, so when I woke up on Saturday morning...I felt like I'd been hit by a mack truck!

The practice Saturday went without a hitch. Literally, it went so smoothly, I'm racking my brain trying to think of something funny to say about it. It went so well...I should have realized then...that Heavenly Father just trying to give us something positive to go on...

Saturday afternoon, we went to a family party with my mom and some cousins that live nearby. We had fun letting the kids ride their scooters down the HUGE hills, and hoping they would stop before the lake. I realize this would all be much more interesting with pictures, but our battery died at the party Friday nite...so...imagine a GIANT lake in the middle of a park, surrounded by hills all around. It's a wonder there wasn't at least one kid in it by the end.

After the party I dragged my family around with me to look for a new outfit (I decided if I had to get up in front of the entire ward and represent for Primary, I needed to look cute). My husband wins the man of the year award for putting up with shopping with me. I looked at a couple stores, even Ross, and couldn't find anything. Side note - Ross has some serious hoochie-wear in my size (and that's not really something you'd want to see). Finally, I found a really pretty skirt and top...which again, you'll have to imagine because the battery is dead on the camera, and I really do everything I can to avoid being in any pictures, at any cost.

By the time we got home, it was after 9 and neither Chris or myself could even take another step. We were completely exhausted (so Chris didn't get his haircut...for about the 5th week in a row!)

Sunday began with a quick shower (or 3) and an early morning meeting. I say 3 showers because that's how many times it took for me to get it right. 1st try...washed only my hair, turned off the shower and was just starting to get out when I realized i hadn't conditioned. 2nd try...put the conditioner in and got out and started drying off. I went to towel off my hair and realized...UGH there's still conditioner there! 3rd time's the charm...rinsed out the conditioner! Luckily, I couldn't sleep, so I had plenty of time.

I went to my meeting, then choir practice, then wanted to come home and take a nap...but I was all cute, and didn't want my hair to get 'ruined' so we all just hung out till time for church.

Church is at 2, so we got there a little bit early to get the microphones set up where they needed to be, all the extra chairs set up on the stand, and any other last minute stuff. We all sat down in the congregation until after the sacrament...at this point...I breathed a sigh of relief. I thought...there's nothing else we can do now...it's going to be great.

Then the Bishop got up to conduct...

They turned on the mic for him, and we all heard, "You are listening to the broadcast from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". This was where I knew it was going to get interesting.
Everyone had a good chuckle, and we went on.

There had been baptism the day before, so they had to do the confirmation during 'ward business'. They went and grabbed one of the mics we had all set up, turned it on, and...nothing...they turned it off and on again, and...nothing...they checked the cord, unplugged, re-plugged and...nothing...Meanwhile, I'm trying to catch the eye of the Bishop to suggest that maybe they had turned off the main power switch, but he never looked at me. So they grab the other mic we had set up, and went thru the same process. It was awful...the presidency just kept looking from one of us to the other with these faces like, what are we going to do? why is this happening? And of course there was the well meaning Sister behind me who leaned forward and said something like, "oh no...what are you going to do" (like I wasn't already stressed enough). Oh yeah, and my mom was next to me saying the same kind of stuff (but she was just feeling my pain).

They got thru the business, and then were on to the sacrament. When they turned their mic on, you could kind of hear it pop on, and then you couldn't hear the sound at all. This time when they tried to turn it off and back on, we heard the same, "You are listening to the broadcast from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (along with some Mo-Tab), and when they tried again, it said the same thing...only this time it was in SPANISH! Oh mercy...I was having all kinds of thoughts run thru my brain. I was a little worried that we would have a little background Mo-Tab music for our songs.

As I walked up to say my part, the presidency sort of just met up on the stand. We decided there was nothing we could do about it now. We just decided to have the kids use the main mic (which happily was still working). I knew everything was going to be okay when, as I was saying my part in the beginning, I could feel the Spirit so strongly I could hardly speak.

After all the chaos, the program was so nice. The kids were all reverent, almost all 60ish of them had their parts memorized (as well as most of the teachers---you ROCK!!!), they sang all the songs and I was amazed that they really did know them. We always have a little insert to put into the ward bulletin where we ask for feedback or comments. We probably had 20-30 people comment on how strongly they felt the Spirit, too. The kids did such an amazing job. I guess it just goes to show...we (and by we I mean I) worry too much about the little things. It's the simple testimonies of the children that invite the Spirit...not whether or not they're standing still, or singing into microphones...etc.

The counselor over the program was so awesome...throughout this whole thing, she's been so calm and mellow. I've decided she's such a good balancer for me...the yin to my yang, if you will (I don't really know if I used that in the correct context, but it sounded good).

I wish I had a picture of the kids...but I understand we're not allowed to take pics in sacrament meeting (glad I didn't have to find that out 1st hand - you know who you are).

It was a busy, overwhelming weekend - as evidenced by this eternally long post.

As a follow-up...I found out today, that the Bishop later told Jenny (miss yin) that in the ward previous to ours, they were having some problems with the sound system and when they flipped one of the switches, they heard a pop and had smoke come from the main console...I guess things could have been a lot worse. At least we didn't have a fire!