Utah County GOP Family Picnic - The Political Choice Was the Best Family Choice (September 11, 2008)

Hi there!

Tonight I decided to attend the annual Utah County Republican Party 's Family BBQ/Central Committee Meeting. In retrospect, I think this was actually the very best choice for my family, even considering the other options that were available at the time. It almost seems counter-intuitive -- You mean to say that choosing politics over other worthy events was actually family friendly? Tonight it definitely was for us.

First, let me just say that I started out this day on a very grumpy note, so much so that I retreated back into my bedroom during breakfast (and read a book about the presidential election no less!) because I wasn't handling very well the normal chaos of four kids, probably due to the fact that I was up too late the night before working on homework folders for Christopher's class at school.

But throughout the day, little things helped lift my spirits, especially the video clip on YouTube celebrating family life as the way to keep our nation strong. (See the clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1GRQGc5GQ0) This video is part of a huge effort to help defeat the gay marriage push in California, or rather, to help champion the victory of the pro-marriage amendment and counter the awful ruling by the CA Supreme Court in favor of gay marriages.

Well, here were my choices for tonight:
a. Attend the second week of an eight week course on home organization taught by Marie Ricks, sponsored by the Eagle Mountain West Stake Relief Society.
b. Attend the GOP meeting/picnic by myself and then try to catch the last half of the Ricks class.
c. Just stay home, put the little ones to bed early and let the older ones read or play computer games while I tackled the piles of laundry and dishes and overwhelming paperwork.
d. Take the kids with me to the GOP picnic.

All of these options seemed good. I vacillated between them throughout the day. Did I want to pay for a babysitter? No. Did I want the hassle of getting the kids all ready for a picnic that would take an hour to drive to? No. Should I focus on the home? Yes. Are laundry/dishes/papers important? Yes, to an extent. What about learning how to organize the home? Yes, important. Add to this the fact that Sister Ricks was coming all the way out to Eagle Mountain to teach what she teaches at BYU Education Week and that my focus lately has been to make our home "a house of order", yes, this was very timely and important to me although I knew I could read her workbook to catch the parts I missed.

But what about attending the GOP Central Committee Meeting? I am still involved since I'm a member of the Constitution &Bylaws Committee, and Central Committee Meetings only happen once a quarter. So what if I wasn't mailed a postcard reminder? I still found out about it on Jason Chaffetz' website, so I knew where & when it was. Plus, a part of me truly enjoys this sort of thing (more on this later) and what about taking care of myself and "catching the joy"(as Merilee Boyack would say) of something I like to do from time to time? Yes, that is definitely important.

Actually, my son Christopher made the decision for me. I told him after school about all of us possibly going to a GOP picnic/meeting at a park and he groaned because typically he doesn't enjoy being dragged to political meetings. I also think he secretly looked forward to playing computer games when I was gone. But when I told him later about deciding to stay here in town and go to the class, he just about threw a fit because he was looking forward to having dinner at a park. Well, there you go. I really didn't want to cook dinner tonight either.

Amazingly, by the time we needed to leave I was showered and dressed with hair and makeup done, all four kids in the car, diaper bag/shoes/socks/bottles/sippee cups/extra blankets packed, and out the door without too much of the typical stress. At the Lehi roundabout I realized I should check the rush hour traffic report, so I turned on the radio & the first thing I heard was a reporter mentioning that traffic was moving just fine down in Utah County. How nice! We sang "I Love to See the Temple" when we rounded the corner on University Parkway and the Provo Temple came into full view. I told the kids how my mom used to walk me around that temple in a stroller when I was little and they were students at BYU. I found Rock Canyon Park without too much difficulty (thanks to Provo City's wonderful Parks & Recreation website) and what a fun surprise to see the big yellow smiley face garden on the green hillside of a private home neighboring the park! I kept driving till I could see "political type" people (or just someone I recognized) and then nabbed one of the last parking spots by our reserved pavilion.

What a beautiful day for a picnic! And what a great location! The view from the parking lot - overlooking the valley and Utah Lake near sunset - was stunning. Add to this the golden sunlight reflecting off the jagged cliffs of Rock Canyon, making them stand out against the vibrant blue sky and creating an almost surrealistic backdrop. Finally, factor in the fragrant, fresh canyon air, the delicious catered BBQ meal, a huge playground that invited and entertained my three oldest children, and the fact that this pavilion was close enough that I could always see my children on the playground, far enough that their noise didn't detract from hearing whoever was speaking, but isolated enough from the football games & events of other groups that I didn't have to worry too much about my kids and WOW! Like Mary Poppins would say, this place was "practically perfect in every way!"

I enjoy coming to central committee meetings because I'm beginning to feel like I'm finding friends who share a common interest in politics, particularly conservative politics. Most of my friends/neighbors/family members/church acquaintances typically don't get that excited over elections or legislative issues or stuff like that. I learn a lot of "lingo jingo" from simply asking about things I'm not sure about, like when Dave Lifferth explained to me the "Lemmings for Obama" phrase and Mark Madsen clarified his role on the national GOP platform committee (quite an honor - he & Becky Lockhart were the two people chosen to represent our state on that committee) in comparison to the role of our national committeeman and committeewoman. In a way, I see my interest in politics like a hobby, much in the same way as people who like football tend to hang out together & talk football, same with scrapbooking, biking, computers, or whatever. It's just an added bonus that politics also incorporates public service - a pretty awesome institution if you ask me.

I got to chat with Lauralyn Eberting, chair of the C&B Committee, and briefly with David Starling, also a member of that committee. It looks like (finally!) we have some work to do, and I'm excited that the summer is over and at home we're settling into a school routine that will hopefully allow me more time to help move thoughts and ideas along on this committee. I also enjoyed talking politics with Ken Sumsion, and I'm impressed that he not only remembered my daughter's name but that she and her brothers all came to see him up at the capitol this year. (It's a family tradition, every Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to visit our representatives at the State Capitol and thank them for their service.) He's really good with connecting with the youth - I can see him doing especially well with the school groups that visit up there frequently. I'm kind of sad that more of my Eagle Mountain political friends weren't there - Heather and Dee and Ryan and Jennifer and Dannon, etc. but, oh well. At least Erin was there with Mark, and even though we didn't get to talk much, they liked that I wore my Mark Madsen for State Senate Tshirt. I told them that even though Mark won at the convention, I wanted to send a subtle reminder to the folks here that Mark was the best person for the job right now so don't even think about running against him next time. Erin wanted to put that on a plaque :)

Well, soon it was getting cold and windy and it was time to leave. We had such an enjoyable drive home. Our conversations wandered all over the place: the translated City of Enoch, the reason why we have Patriot's Day, why flags are flown at half mast, why the Pentagon is called the Pentagon, how the phrase "Let's Roll!" got started by the courage of regular Americans who chose to rush the terrorists and die to save other innocent Americans, why the War on Terror was started, the war in Afghanistan & the Taliban, the war in Iraq, the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein's shenanigans with the UN about nuclear weapons, why some people think the war in Iraq is wrong, how President Hinckley declared over the pulpit in General Conference that it was his opinion that the current war (in Iraq) was justified, how people tend to sneer at McCarthyism but Ann Coulter's book, Treason, taught me that there is sufficient evidence that there really were spies in the State Department, what McCarthyism was all about, along with the rise of Communism and the Berlin Wall, Kruschev pounding the podium with his shoe and shouting that he would bury America, how our new GOP VP Sarah Palin probably has more security clearance and military intelligence than we're aware of because of her position as the commander-in-chief of the state's active militia, right there next to Canada and only miles away from Russia. Wow!

Hannah and Chris just kept asking more questions and I kept thinking of things I could share with them and before long, we were already home! Isaac and Geoffrey were already asleep or close to it, Chris went to bed soon afterwards, and Hannah finished her dishwasher job then went to bed while I wrote this blog.

The benefits for my children? Instead of sitting all night playing computer games and going to bed far too late with no chores done, they got fresh air and active outside time, a new place to explore, fun things to see, a yummy dinner and dessert, attention from Ken and Mark and Lauralyn, an interesting discussion on the way home, and a quiet way to end the evening.

The benefits for me? I got a break from cooking dinner, a rejuvenating trip to a canyon park, a chance to learn some more political stuff and enjoy talking with my political friends, a way to show support for Mark's campaign, a break from the normal ongoing tasks of laundry/dishes/paperwork, encouragement from Dave to start contributing to this blog again, and a totally fulfilling drive home sharing with my children things that I love and my convictions about what is right and wrong.

Now, looking back, I don't think I would have traded this evening for a hundred loads of folded laundry!