girls trip and bedtime routines

May 2nd 2011
Last Monday I was sick and I spent most of the day in bed. Jon was a sweetheart and didn’t say one word about my laying in bed all day…not even “how you feeling?” or “can I get you anything?” But the fact that he didn’t say “Just get up and you will feel better.” or “so are you going to milk the goats or not?” means that he recognized that I really was sick. The next two day’s I spent in a mad scramble trying to get my house in order for the upcoming weekend. The Easter weekend didn’t destroy my house but it did not leave it sparkling clean either. And I still was sick.
On Thursday Morning Nanette picked me up and I left for a girls trip with the Woodin girls. As I was leaving I told Jon. “Hunter’s bus comes in one hour…Don’t miss the bus!” he tells me he will not miss it and waves good-bye. An hour and a half later I got a call on my cell from Jon with the question “Where exactly IS Hunter’s school?” Yes they had missed the bus and Jon was driving him to school. I called later that day to make sure that Jon started watching for the bus so he could get Hunter off the bus. Jon told me to leave him alone and not call him because I was “roaming.”
We had a blast just being girls with No kids and no Husbands. We went to the Desert Star Theater and watched Sheer’luck Holms and laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. We also did some shopping and watched the movie at the Joseph Smith building about Joseph Smith, which I had never seen before and I cried a whole bunch in it. On Saturday we spent the day at Lagoon and enjoyed the snowstorm and the bits of sun we saw all day long. We all got feeling pretty sick pretty fast because there were no lines for any rides because well it was snowing. After a while the Bumper cars were the most appealing ride and we did that ride back to back to back a few times for the fun of it. And since it did not make any of us want to hurl our lunch up. Somebody thought it would be really fun to do rattle snake rapids on this trip. Yes we got very wet. And no I was not talked into doing the ride again. I took pictures instead. The hand dryers in the bathrooms became our friends in a hurry and we did our best to try and dry ourselves off under them. It was snowing on us off and on all day remember.
We had a fun in the hot tub and there are some very fun and embarrassing moments throughout the whole trip. We kept on getting locked out of our condo and had to have the maintaince guy come and help us every day.
Mean while Jon is at home with all of the six kids and me not there to help him. I know that he is very capable but I was worried. I called him on Saturday morning and he told me to just not worry about anything and that he had everything under control. Later Stiles called me and informed me of all that they were doing…so glad that kids knows that he should check in with me. Then Jon saw that he was on the phone and ordered Stiles to hang up because it was costing us roaming fees for Stiles to tell me what really was going on. When I got home I actually found that the house was still standing and kind of cleaned up. The dishwasher was running and some laundry had been washed and dried. And Jon listed off the honey do projects that he and kids managed to do. He even took all six kids to the store…Gold star there don’t you think. The only project he didn’t get around to was that a child had stuffed a hot dog down the drain in the bathroom sink and they had not got around to getting it out and so that sink is still currently off limits. Jon said that taking care of the kids for three days and not worrying about work was like a vacation. He really enjoyed spending time playing and working with his kids and also admitted to me that my job is full of a bunch of mundane tasks that really get old and boring in a short amount of time. Thanks honey!
Two weeks ago the relief society president in our ward asked me if I would sing a song in relief society on May 1st. Thinking that it would just be a little part of her lesson and that there would only be about 20 sisters in attendance I agreed. She then handed me music to a song I had NEVER heard before and then a few minutes later announced that on May 1st there would be a Visiting Teaching Conference during the Regular Meeting time and that the Priesthood would be taking over the primary and YW so that ALL of the sisters in the ward could be in attendance. I about puked…mostly because it was said that Bro. Woodin and the elders would be taking the primary…that is SCARY!!!! Then I realized that I had just 5 minutes prior agreed to sing a solo at this meeting. It took a lot of convincing of myself that I was up to the task. Even though I have sang in choirs and with small groups I have NEVER sung a solo for a large group or even a small group for that matter. My voice teacher had arranged for it but I always somehow managed to be sick that day or magically forget about it. My good friend Heather was awesome and worked out the accompaniment so that I could follow her on the Piano and helped me through the parts I was struggling with. When it came down to the moment, and all of the women in our ward were crammed in the relief society room with the bishop, the laurels, and member of the stake RS presidency, I managed to sing the song without hitting any wrong notes and nobody threw any rotten veggies at me. Still I will not be campaigning for the opportunity again.
A little story about my My William and My Waytt. Just to contrast the two and so you can see how silly and stubborn William is. I like little stuffed animals on my kids beds. A teddy bear is just a must for a child’s bed in my opinion. Well since I make the beds for theses two little bedlamites I usually place their two or three little stuffed and fluffed animals on their pillow for the day. At Christmas time Grandma Woodland gave a very cute gram cracker colored teddy bear to my Wyatt. We call him “Gram Cracker Bear” and Wyatt has always, ever since Christmas, loved to wrap his one arm around this bear as he is going to bed. I think it is precious. And as I put him to bed each night I love holding Gram Cracker Bear out to Wyatt and watch him reach up for the bear in earnest and then pull the bear close and cuddle up. Well after this touching scene ends I then turn around and have to chase William and convince him to change into his pajamas and then after 3rd and 4th drinks, and prayers, I will manage to get him to his bed side. As I am pulling the blankets up to his dear little chin he will reach up to the Lamb that he has had since his blessing day and grab the lamb from his pillow, and hold it out to me almost in distaste of the creature for me to take away it from him, and I am not allowed to place the lamb anywhere but on the floor, the foot of the bed is not OK. And then William will grab his blankets and pull them completely over his head so there is no chance for bedtime kisses or hugs. Such different kids.

Love Monica and the rest of the folks at the Woodin Nickel.