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The things I do for family....

Better late than never, right? I promised MiMi I wouldn't miss the party today...because I have great material! Get ready for a LONG post with a series of curse word moments!

Remember I told you our family recently went to Idaho for my cousin J's wedding? Well, let me tell you a little about the journey...

So the plan was to leave on Thursday as soon as we could. I had to be at the school for a couple of meetings in the morning, but was planning on being done before noon. I ended up not being out of the school until almost 2. I had been trying to be completely ready so we could just go as soon as I was done. I had my little checklist and had been doing laundry, and gathering up what each person would need for our short little weekend.

I wasn't sure if there would be an iron in the hotel we stayed in on Thursday night, and we had to be to the temple by 8:30 Friday morning. So I was making sure Hubby's and Bookworm's shirts were ironed, as well as my skirt and the girls' dresses. I made sure we had all 6 pairs of church shoes, tights, pantyhose...I didn't want to find ANYTHING missing come Friday morning when we were getting ready for the temple.

We finally hit the road a little after 2. We headed north and about an hour into our trip the battery light started going on and off. Fearing it may be the alternator Hubby decided we should pull off and check it before we got into the middle of nowhere. We pulled into an Autozone and they checked it out. The guy said it seemed fine and maybe we just needed to spray some cleaner stuff on the battery terminals to clean off the build-up. So we did. We hit the road again.

Well, about 10 minutes after getting back on the freeway Monkey pipes up "I have to go pee really, really BAD!" Of course she does. So off the next exit we go. Finally we're on the road again and seem to be making good time. By this time our battery light is on again.

A couple more hours down the road, we hit the Utah/Idaho border. Suddenly I get this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I'm afraid to speak my thoughts aloud. I mentally go back over my packing up process. I had checked off each of the items on each family member's list. But one item I had just listed as "church clothes". I went back over the ironing, the gathering, the making sure the guys' church shirts were clean, and hung nicely in the garment bag, as well as my skirt and the girls dresses. But I could not for the life of me remember packing my husband's actual suit. I finally asked out loud "Um, Hubby? Did you grab your suit?" Of course he hadn't. And neither had I. Guess what else he didn't grab? His tie. Which prompted Bookworm to pipe up, "Oh yeah, I forgot my tie too." Crap.

So we get to the hotel where my parents, brother, and my aunt and uncle and cousin are waiting for us so we can go get some dinner. The service at the restaurant took SO. LONG. Finally we had to give our credit card to my brother so he could pay for our dinner while we ran across the parking lot to the mall before it closed. We took my parents car so they could take our kids in our bigger car when everyone was done eating.

Now we live in Utah, the home of the headquarters of the LDS church. Our department stores are filled with all varieties of suits and slacks and dress shirts and ties from infant size up to grown men sizes. The selection at the Magic Valley Mall in Twin falls was very slim. My husband bought some mediocre slacks that he will never wear again, some dress socks (even though I ASSURED him I had packed his - he didn't trust me at this point) and a crappy tie and a belt. The tie will also probably never be worn again. We spent over $100 there, and still had to run around the mall to 3 different stores because there were no "youth size" ties to be found. We finally had to purchas a man's tie, and my son had to improvise to make it look like a good fit.

We got back to the hotel to the news that all the electrical on our Expedition had gone out on my brother while driving back to the hotel. Nice. By this time it's close to 9 p.m., but we had promised the kids they could go swimming before bed. So into the pool they went with my brother and dad, and Hubby and I took my parent's car to the Autozone. There we dropped over $300 for a new battery and alternator. We got back, and I grabbed the kids out of the pool while my husband went to work on the car in the hotel parking lot. We are so ghetto. Upon popping the hood he found that they had given him the wrong model. Back to Autozone he went with my brother. By the time I got the kids showered and ready for bed (almost 11 p.m.), he came into the room and reported that the tools he had were not the correct size, the bolt was stripped and it was too dark to try to keep working. He had switched out the battery which would hopefully get us to my mom's hometown after the temple, where he would have access to a shop and Cousin Cowboy's tools and be able to work on the car in better conditions.

After the marriage, we headed back to Autozone to turn in the old battery. EVERYTHING died suddenly. You should have seen my husband using all his strength to crank the steering wheel with NO power steering so we could pull into a parking lot. It was special. Luckily it was only a loose connection and he was able to fix it, and we made it into town where we were staying the night with family, and attending the reception.

With the right tools, and daylight, hubby was able to switch out the alternator and we had a nice little weekend with family and friends. But I have determined that maybe God just doesn't want my family to go on vacations. What do you think?

If you'd like more of wallowing in other people's misery...check out MiMi's!

Comments

Myya said…
Good thing the wedding was wonderful & the rest of your visit was good, that at least kinda takes away all the trouble you had getting there. Yikes!!!
shortmama said…
Oh wow what drama!! Glad you finally made it safe and sound!
maybe there was just something happening down the road and Heavenly Father was delaying you a little so you wouldn't be a part of it. And now you'll never remember your cousin's wedding.
Unknown said…
wow that is a lot of DRAMA!

sounds like the luck of our family


“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” ~~~Thich Nhat Han
Girl, I am tired just from reading your post!!! I hope you get to take a nap sometime soon. Hugs from Virginia! :)
J.J. said…
dude! That is pretty brutal. I am so sorry. Those trips will end up being so funny ....someday. hugs to you!!!!!!
Wow. I don't know that we would've made it that far. You all are very determined :)
Macey said…
"It was special." As in Jerry's Kid's special, right?! LOL!
How much of a loser does it make me that I JUST NOW SAW THIS?! I'm so slow this weekend. :(
Koko said…
I don't think it's God who doesn't want you to go...someone else knows how important these events are and what they mean to your kids and each other. You're doing the right thing. I did laugh about your husband having to crank the steering wheel...that is tough, but I'm sure his muscles handled it. Sigh...what a trip, but it's memorable and I bet you laugh about it someday...especially if your husband models the pants in a fun way! haha
Emmy said…
Oh no! Glad it was all able to work out in the end, but I think I would have been beyond stressed with all of that.
When we go on car trips, Eric often doesn't pack his shirts he just leaves them hanging and puts them in the back of the car... one trip we were about 10 minutes from home when he realized he had not put his shirts into the car, so we almost went on a trip with him not having any shirts.
I am surprised that Idaho didn't have a little better selection of church clothes.
Sami said…
Can I just say, that I'm glad to have me some Xazmin back?! I am. Glad, that is! I can say, that if the same thing had happened to us, my kids would have spent a great deal of time in the back of the van correcting my husband and myself..."you mean, 'dummy' don't you, daddy?" Definitely a swear word kind of weekend! Glad the wedding was good, and that your hubs is handy enough with the tools!

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