The Results are In. . .

I will not be serving another term as a City Council Member.  The voters decided that they wanted two fresh faces, so Steve Holbrook and I are done.  I'm not upset about losing the election.  I was prepared for that.  I'm a little surprised that I did so poorly, but I deserve that since I did almost nothing.  The last 6 weeks has been a little too intense and I just couldn't do any more.

I am grateful for the people who supported me.  Ed did a lot of work for my campaign and never complained about the time or cost.  Ken and Reta Greenwood spent many hours putting up and taking down signs.  Jim Hewitson also helped with my signs.  Without them my signs would still be in a box in the garage.  I had several donations that defrayed the cost of running a campaign and I am grateful to all of those who supported me financially.  I feel the worst about them because they did not get a good return on their investment.

I am also grateful to the people who did not support me.  High on that list would be Parker and Reed.  Parker did help me put up one sign, but in general they let me know that they did NOT want me to run and they did their very best to ignore the whole campaign.  I know that my service has affected them adversely in many ways and I appreciate the fact that they put up with the craziness for the past four years.  I am quite confident that neither of them will ever run for office.

I cannot say that I am sad to see this chapter of my life end.  Many days have been difficult.  I like to make a positive difference in life and I was not always able to accomplish that.  I have let the tension and differences of opinion turn me into a far more negative person and that is not something of which I am proud.

On the positive side, I have been able to see some amazing things accomplished in our city and I have met some really great people.  I have been busy- which was something I really needed.  I have been able to affect some positive changes and I will be able to walk away knowing that I served the citizens of Lehi with my best efforts.

So what now?  That is what has me worried.  I feel like my life has been on hold, waiting for the results.  Now I can move forward, but I don't know which way to go yet.  I'm not very adept at patience, but I am sure that my days will fill without much trouble.  I just want to make sure they are filling with activities that mean something.  We shall see.

And I thought I was safe!

Imagine my surprise when I looked at my blog tonight and found out that I had been hacked. . . by my husband! He is very supportive of my endeavors and thank you to all of you who are supporting my run for city council. So far it has been mostly fun. . . except for the one bully I ran into last week. After listening to him rant and rave about EVERYTHING for about 20 minutes I decided to push back a little. My daddy taught me how to deal with bullies! He calmed right down and by the end of the discussion we were almost friends. Scary.

I have been so busy that I don't have any coherent thoughts in my head, so here are some short ramblings.

• So, how about BYU beating Oklahoma? Time for the west to gain a little respect from the BCS.
• And why do we always find work projects to do on Labor Day? This year we stained the decks at the cabin.
• I watched Camp Rock on the Disney Channel. . . and enjoyed it.
• At what point do you stop having brown hair and have gray hair instead? Is it at the 50% mark or where? Ed needs to know.

Sad, huh?

Family Portraits

Don't those two words just strike fear into a mom's heart? First you have to decide what to wear. Do you go matchy-matchy, coordinated, or anything goes? Unless you go with the last option, at least one person in the family doesn't have the right thing to wear. That means you have to go shopping! I decided on the coordinated look, but of course, I didn't own one thing that was blue! And I didn't want to go with a neutral color. Now, I like shopping, but there aren't many choices for men and women "of substance" and the teen set has their own ideas about what is hip. So, we ended up at the mall where C. J. Banks became my favorite store. I got two jackets for $34! Wooo hooo! Colby's friends helped me convince him that this Aeropostale shirt made him look extra handsome. So, once you get the clothes and they are all ironed and ready to go. . . that's when the hard part begins!

Every family has at least one member who does not enjoy being in front of the camera. With little children this is a nightmare, but as they get older you can reason with them a bit more. Bribes seem to work better asthey get older, too! (Especially when witholding the car keys is a true threat!) For this event I warned the kids what we were going to do and why, and they were pretty easy going about the whole thing. I needed a good photo of me and one of the family for the campaign materials, and once I explained that this family photo was going to be mailed to every single house in Lehi, cooperation soared.

It's nice to have a photographer in the family and I consider Dan Rice's sister Deana as an extended sister! She met us down by the railroad tracks behind the old Peck's Lumber. It was easier to be relaxed with someone you know and trust- and who understands your paranoia about double and triple chins!!!

Here are some of the photos she took last Monday- I am really excited to use these not only in my campaign materials, but in many Heritage Makers projects! Thanks, Deana!

All photography by Deana Phlegar. Contact me for her information!