While my aunt and uncle vacationed in Panama, the cousins and I stayed in South Jordan, Utah to see if we could survive a week of normal routines without the adults. We kick started our week together off right; Madison and I pampered ourselves with pedicures while the other two were off socializing. The following night we designated family night and ate dinner at Olive Garden then went go-kart racing. Although Tanner won, Madison came in a close second. And all three of the cousins beat the other girl, so it was a success.
Since we were on a family togetherness streak, I decided to see if I could extend it one more day. This is when I learned how mothers manipulate, for good purposes of course. To try to get Madison and Lashay to come to church with me, I told them I still needed support when seeing my ex-boyfriend, which wasn't a complete lie. They both readily agreed without any complaining, but an even bigger shock was that Tanner drove himself over. Of course, I didn't reveal my surprise because they would have deterred them all from staying at church. My reason for the girls being there with me worked phenomenally well at first; during sacrament they massaged my back, hugged me, and complimented my looks, especially when Graden bore his testimony. However, it all backfired at the Break-the-Fast, a huge dinner after our block of meetings on Fast Sunday. As the Relief Society President, I am always running around doing things and that Sunday was no exception. Consequently, I just had to show my cousins where the food was and leave them to eat. Mistake. Aaron Hammond, Graden's cousin, roommate, and my 'third roomate' sat down and introduced himself, like the gentleman he is. When Mads heard his connection to Graden, she apparently uttered an "ewww" and another unkind remark, so we had to apologize via text later that night. Besides that incident though, the whole day went smoothly and Tanner even thanked me for taking them to church. To celebrate this mini-vicotyr, we made Pozooki (semi-baked cookie dough topped with ice cream) and played games that night.
The rest of the week went according to schedule - yes, we had a schedule. I had written down each day and posted it on the refrigerator with our meal sand activities. I was just waiting for the girls to mock me, because my sisters would have, so imagine my shock when they all referred to it, wrote things in, crossed off the things we had done, and got excited about our upcoming activities.
After Sunday, I was on a roll with manipulation and decided to stage a secret FHE. It all began with dinner, which we obviously prayed over so there was the first step done: prayer. Then we read Casey and Haleigh's missionary emails: there's the spiritual thought. Then we made Pinterest crafts - flubber and mugs: there's the activity. We wrapped it all up with Pozooki, again: the treat, because it is just that good to have two days in a row. Essentially, we checked off every aspect of the typical FHE assignment board without Madison and Lashay suspecting anything. It was a proud moment for me.
Tuesday I took a break from being a responsible adult, which means I obviously have a long way to go before I can be a full-time mother. It was an extremely rough day at school. After picking Madison up from work, she wanted to clean the house. What a noble idea. But I wasn't feeling noble. Instead, I took a bubble bath while reading What Alice Forgot. Thankfully, the next day I was back to fulfilling my role and Thursday even sacrificed grading to help Mads answer her boyfriend back to Prom. We spent the evening blowing up balloons, making signs, and preparing for her to arrest him.
To finish off our time together, the whole family went bowling at Fat Cats and enjoyed delicious Pizza Factory breadsticks. Madison and Jared dominated in the first round of bowling, but Tanner, Lashay and I recovered grandly and defeated them the second round. The next day we cleaned up, finally, and then welcomed Doreen and Graham to Utah with signs that looked embarrassingly similar to those of the missionaries' families waiting at the airport to welcome them home after two years. "Who's your missionary?" we were asked and that made use realize that we should step off to the side because we were just waiting on an aunt and cousin we had seen six months earlier. But we still hugged them hard! And then I went to Provo for some girl time with Ashley Porter and Lauryl because 10 days of driving, cooking, and cleaning showed me that motherhood is selflessness 24/7 and I need to work up to that. But it's completely worth it!
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