Convention 2009 Is Over

Convention has come and gone for another year. Woo hoo. . . . I think.

The end of convention is always bittersweet. I compare it to Thanksgiving dinner—you work so hard for so long to make sure everyone loves it, and it’s over before you can believe it!

I loved this convention, and I talked to many demonstrators who said it was one of—if not the—best yet. When I asked why, they gave several reasons: the focus on workshops was exactly what they needed, the keynote speaker was great, the class offerings were perfect, the list goes on and on.

I only heard one negative comment—the line for Memento Mall was long on the first day. I hate that, but we’ve thought of all sorts of things to try to fix that, and haven’t come up with a fix yet. It’s because everything in the mall is so fabulous! I don’t normally wear sweatshirt-type things, but I’ve already worn my hoodie twice!

Several things made my convention highlight list: Belinda Ellsworth, our keynote speaker (she offered valuable information for every demonstrator, at every level); my stamping presentation, which focused on gift giving (we created more projects than I could show, so you’ll be the beneficiary of that because I’ll be posting several projects here in the coming weeks); the dinner with the Artisan Award winners (loved getting to know them better!); the general sessions and classes (I know it sounds like cheating to clump them all together, but honestly they were all fabulous! I didn’t get to attend all the classes, but those I made it to were really great!); and sitting in the audience during the last session (loved the game show and commercials!).

My daughters and I all laughed during the game show when one of the questions they asked was “What is the first thing you do when you get home from convention?” Our unanimous answer was sleep, but it was the last answer on the list from the demonstrators! The number-one answer was unpack, which I always put off as long as I possibly can!

I did unpack today (earlier than usual) because I’m heading up to the hospital to spend a few days with Leslie. I’m looking forward to telling her all about convention and catching up on some sleep. She has to get sleep, of course, and because we sleep in the same room, I go to bed earlier than I normally would! I’m also bringing along some quiet work stuff to do—catching up on e-mail and reading my blog (haven’t read your comments for more than a week!). I know we’ll do plenty of visiting too!

I must admit that spending a few quiet days with Leslie is a wonderful way to unwind after convention, but I’m so thankful for the past few days and the wonderful opportunity I got to spend time with some of my favorite people in the world!

Convention Mode

It’s official! I kicked into what I call “Convention Mode” today. I’ve actually been mostly in convention mode for the past couple of days, focusing on convention-related projects and tasks. I even wrote Shanna last night (two days earlier than usual) because I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to if I waited until Tuesday.

When I’m in convention mode, I am completely focused on what’s happening at convention: my general session messages and stamping presentations and our demonstrators—what they need and what I can do for them. I might listen to my voice messages once a day. And e-mail? Ha! I just resign myself to the fact that I’ll be way behind once I finally log in to my computer sometime next week.

So this is probably it for the blog this week, although in my eternally optimistic state, I’m hoping to get July’s creative challenge winners selected. (Don’t hold your breath though!)

I look forward to convention all year long, and the chance to spend valuable time with our demonstrators. So convention mode is not a bad thing at all—it’s just a pretty narrowly focused state of mind.

So we’ll chat again early next week!

Late-Breaking News

I just posted the "A Night to Remember," but I've got something to add--Sterling passed the kidney stone! Woo hoo! Now he thinks he might even be able to eat (and keep down) some real food! 

I guess we should be grateful that it only took less than a day. We've heard stories of some people taking days to pass kidney stones, so it could have been so much worse. We'll sleep good tonight!

A Night to Remember

Sterling and I went to bed last night about midnight, planning on a decent night’s sleep. Didn’t happen.

Sterling woke me up (unintentionally) about 3 a.m. this morning. He was curled up in bed, clearly in pain.

Initially, we thought he was just having stomach or intestinal cramps, but the pain intensified. He could hardly move, but he finally made it to the bathroom. Once there, he didn’t know which end he should take care of first, and he finally just laid down on the floor, writhing in pain.

I felt helpless. I had no idea what to do. I took my laptop in there, desperately searching for some kind of information that would help. (Like the Internet is the best place to go for credible medical advise—I know, I know.)

Finally, we decided we had better head to the hospital. Sara and Sean and their kids are staying with us for a few days, and so I went to wake them up and tell them what was happening. Sean asked Sterling where the pain was, and almost instantly said, “Dude, you’ve got kidney stones.”

He made the diagnosis from his own experience—he’d had his own run-in with kidney stones less than two months ago. He started having sympathy pains just thinking about it, and so I figured I’d better get Sterling out of there as quickly as I could.

Sterling and I spent the better part of this morning in the hospital, and sure enough, Sean was right—Sterling had kidney stones.

After several hours, they sent us home with a fistful of prescriptions and strict instructions to stay on top of the pain. “Don’t be a hero,” the nurse said firmly. “If you do, I guarantee you’ll be back here!”

The pain is excruciating! I’ve talked to several people who compare it to childbirth, only contractions at least ease up once in awhile! It was sobering to see my sweetheart in such intense pain. There were moments at the hospital where he looked almost dead—pale, lifeless, terrible! It made me realize how grateful I am for him and how much I love him!

I brought him home, and the girls gathered around in deep concern. None of them can remember their daddy ever going to the hospital, or even really being sick. Sterling has always been incredibly healthy, and his tolerance for pain is pretty high, so it was scary for all of us to see him like that.

Needless to say, I’ve set my alarm around the pain meds and I’ve given him explicit instructions—if you have an ounce of pain, you let me know! We do NOT want a repeat of this morning.

Once the meds kicked in, he was feeling much better, and the girls gathered around to give him snuggles before he went to sleep. We’re just hoping that this passes (in more ways than one—smile) as quickly as possible, and that we can have our healthy Sterling back soon!

A Special Family Reunion

We returned last night from our annual Larsen family reunion in southern Utah. This year it was held at Panguitch Lake for the first time.

My sister Leslie planned the reunion months ago. She reserved cabins for some, campground spaces for others, and she and her family intended to stay in their personal cabin nearby. When Leslie and Danny knew they wouldn’t be attending because of Leslie’s cancer, they invited us to stay in their cabin. We arrived on Thursday evening to a warm and very welcoming (newly remodeled) cabin, wishing Leslie and her family were there with us.

  

Long story short, we enjoyed lots of visiting on Friday, including a potluck dinner that night where the tables were filled—in true Larsen fashion—with more yummy desserts than anything else.

 

Then, early Saturday afternoon, after all the women and older girls had finished a craft project (magnet boards and coordinating magnets—one made especially for Leslie with notes of love from us girls attached), who should show up unexpectedly? Leslie and Danny!

We were shocked because we thought Leslie was in the hospital, but Danny joked that they’d escaped, and we were thrilled. It was like Christmas in July!

Needless to say, we all gathered around Leslie and listened intently to every word she spoke while it rained off and on and the hours flew by. It was a wonderful visit!

When Leslie and Danny left hours later to stay near a hospital (a must when she’s at this stage in her treatment), we all noticed how much better Leslie looked than when she arrived. One could argue that it was the beautiful scenery or the fresh mountain air. I think it was a little of that and a whole lot of love!

When I think of the fun we had the last few days watching the kids climb trees and run from camp to camp while visiting until late at night surrounding a campfire, the highlight of this reunion will always be the surprise visit from Leslie.