Kirtland Rocks. Driving Doesn't.

Final Stats 3 nights away 1 hotel room and a basement 1 crowded truck 6 1/2 hour drive 9 hours to drive it 6 stops 4 cups of vomit plus... 200 people fed 7 meals in 3 days 1080+ miles driven We finally got home from our Youth Conference trip to Kirtland last night just before 10pm. We left at 12:30 for the 6 1/2 hour drive. All three kids have fevers and Ben filled a big gulp sized cup 4 times with vomit. The last hour and a half we just let Jacob scream his guts out because we had stopped six times already. Poor kids. They are all still sick today and Jacob must have it the worst. He won't stop crying. While I was sitting in the truck miserable listening to Jacob scream at the top of his lungs and Maddie break down in tears because she was at her wits end (he was screaming directly into her ears) Brian had a different take on things. His comment was that we were missing some prime teaching opportunities. WHAT?!?! "What was he thinking?" was all I could think. Once explained, I had to begrudgingly agree. Ben has always been our rock star snuggling baby. He would crawl up on top of my shoulder and perch in my arms for a nice long nap or to just be near me. When we had Maddie she was only two days old when I figured out that she wasn't going to calm down that way. She wanted, no demanded, to face outward. She would never settle down unless you faced her away from your body. When she was nine months, she got a rotten fever that lasted about five days. She was absolutely miserable. Sometime during that sickness, she must have felt bad enough that she relented and wanted to be cuddled and cradled in our arms. She's been a decent snuggler ever since, though no one will ever hold a candle to Ben. Jacob hasn't exactly been a rock star snuggler either. Not as bad as Maddie, but lets just say closer to the Maddie side of the spectrum that the Ben side. Brian was simply stating that if Jacob was so sick, maybe he would learn to want to snuggle too. In any case, Kirtland was great. Dispite the rotten drive home, we had three other fantastic days together touring and serving.

Costco Boredom

While figuring out how to feed 200 people for three days out of a tour bus, I called Costco at our destination to see if they would be willing to pull our order so all we have to do is pick up and pay. They were totally willing to do that as long as I could provide the SKU # of every item I want. Ugh. But, okay. I can spend two hours at our Costco doing that, or 8 hours during the trip with people waiting on me and in a flustered panic we won't make it back to the park on time to feed everyone. I chose the lesser of two evils - get all the SKU #s. Knowing I have to fly out tomorrow for my grandma's funeral, I literally only had a few short hours before I couldn't do the job anymore. So, I told the kids to go puddle jump in the front yard for 30 minutes to get the wiggles and whines out. Then I packed up the crew for a nice, long Costco run. Before we even left, I explained to the kids, we weren't buying anything, I just had to write down lots and lots of numbers. I figured Ben could help with the numbers, brought a blanket for Maddie Mae and made a bed for her in the main basket and had bunches of toys to entertain Jacob in his chair. Nothing went according to plan, but with the big bribe of a smoothie after we finished, they stayed basically well behaved. Seriously, I had some blessings from above, because there is no way that ever could have happened right in the middle of nap time without some divine intervention. And I'm grateful for it. My favorite moment of the day? Ben stands up in the main part of the cart, then kneels (dramatically). Points to the bakery cookies for which I am obtaining SKUs for each individual flavor and says to Maddie with all the flair you would expect in a Shakespear play, "That's the cookie I've ALWAYS wanted!" Then he threw kisses at it and told Maddie to look at it.