Mamablog: Whirlwind Weekend!

Where to begin. . We just got over one crazy weekend! I suppose it's typical for everything -all your activities, plans, events- to fall on the same couple of days, but this was way over the top ridiculous. Aaaahhhh!

Friday afternoon, I came home after picking up Tommy and Aleia from piano lessons, and flopped on the couch, exhausted, only to realize that my weekend . . had just begun. No relaxing pizza/movie night for us! First, there was dinner. (Ha! More like grab a bowl of cereal or a sandwich and run.) Then we got to taxi all 3 big kids off to their respective places of employment. Opening night for High School Musical 3, so Eric was in for a long evening. . . Aleia and I went over to the church for the big Craft Night. . She had a lot of fun making hair bows from ribbon. I had a lot of fun hanging out with adults, sanding blocks of wood, and turning them into Halloween decorations. Tried to get to bed early, with no such luck. Of course McDonald's had Laena stay late, even though she was taking the ACT Saturday morning. . Buncha punks. Thankfully, Charlie was around to pick up Eric some time after eleven, cause I was passed out cold with the baby and Jefferson.

Saturday morning, we were up early. I ran to the gym, and ran back. Charlie dropped Laena off at the school, armed with pencils, calculator, and words of encouragement. Clint, Eric, and Tommy were herded out of their beds, much to their vehement disgust. (It's the weekend after all. . we should be allowed to sleep in!) They were made to don Scout shirts, round up some boxes, and we were off on a quest. Eric's Eagle Scout project kick-off, a food drive for the Utah food bank. While we were out picking up donations, with the help of our good friend Jack, we noticed that one of our neighbors had left a case of beer on his porch, presumably knowing that we were out collecting . . food. Pretty funny! Charlie and Lea headed off to the church for the big Daddy/Daughter activity/brunch. Poor Chuckster had to sort of bounce back and forth, for the next 3 hours, between grocery store and church gym, trying to pull off some serious multi-tasking. Clint and Eric wanted to go check out the Anime convention Saturday afternoon around 1 pm, but Charlie put his foot down when we found out that it was $20 a ticket, just to get in. . Wrongo! : ) Then it was off to Orem, for the big wedding! We scrambled to get ready. . . hopped in the cop car, and took off. Laena, Clint, and Eric naturally bowed out, claiming other plans. . (Teenagers these days!) Our Laenabug's the Belles Voix Choir VP, and didn't think she should miss the big Choir Halloween Party, which she had organized/put together. From all accounts, she had a lot of fun! Complete with plenty of high school drama, punch and cookies. : ) Clint had forgotten to ask off work at Pizza the Hut, and Eric had another big night at the movie theatre. Yeesh. Well, if we didn't get to have so much family time, at least we only had to take one car down south to Narhea's nuptials. . . Old friends of the family, those. . It was nice to see everybody again. . Her dress was beautiful, the church was quaint, (built in the 1800's) good food, etc, etc. I just felt bad that we hadn't been able to get down to Manti earlier that day for the actual temple ceremony. . Sigh. I guess when you're this busy, you can't do everything. . gotta pick and choose.

Saturday night, we dragged back in the front door, void of much energy, having fought and chased a cranky 2 yr old most of the evening. . A 2 yr old, I might add, who recently has been prone to regular car sickness. . : ) Yay! Did we collapse into our beds, you ask? Were we finanlly able to call it a night, and get some rest?! Sadly, no. We had to wait up for the teenagers, who as everyone knows, love to take their sweet time coming home at night. . One of the joys of parenting . . that I could seriously do without. Yawn. . . Anyway, baths, stories, picking people up. . . a little political debating on Facebook, brushing of teeth, and we were finally there! Bedtime ritual over! Glorious, beautiful sleep! But wait! Tommy the Tominator simply has to stay up and watch . . The Incredible Hulk! And can't seem to remember to keep the volume turned down. . . At this point, I just didn't care. ZZZZzzzzzzzz. . . .

Somehow we survived Sunday. . . I'm sure you've all heard the old saying: "You can take the family to church, or you can stay home and keep the Sabbath Day holy." I honestly thought, a couple of times, that I was gonna crack up. Just get me through this meeting, I prayed. And Charlie. . Help me not to kill these kids! : ) Chuckle. Anyway, we made it. And, through a fun twist of fate, we got to hang out with our good buddies Mike and Jamey Rail, who were up from Alabammy! Well, and . . Salt Lake. . . Their brother Dave got married again this weekend. I'm assuming Saturday. It's been way too long! : )

Yesterday I had an eye appointment. I really need something for dry eyes. . It's just way too much of a desert out here. The good news is. . I still don't need glasses! : ) Yippee! Last night we carved pumpkins for Family Home Evening. . It was a lot of fun. Tommy went to town on one of 'em, carving out a perfect rendition of my least favorite Star Wars character, Darth Maul. Yuck. Pretty cool pumpkin though. . . Or should I say . . spoooky Jack O' Lantern. . . . : ) Charlie's friend Joeshi, from Vienna, is in town this week, sister city, Coca-Cola software. . . So big C, with some of his work buddies, ended up taking him out to dinner. Those punks. Out on the town, livin' it up. . Sniff, sniff. . without me. . . (Ha ha ha) (Really, I'm not into office politics.) smile_wink Charlie's wanting to go out again, on Halloween, but we can't decide where. . I'm all for Park City, personally. . . Also, check this out! He scored 4 - eight hundred dollar apiece - tickets, court side, to the Jazz game Thursday! First game of the season. Those PUNKS! He was supposed to get 6. So guess who's staying home. Grrrr. . . Guess you gotta entertain the Viennese colleagues. . .