"This Isn't Valley Forge"

I was dragging my feet when we went up to Midway on Wednesday.  We just up and left.  Corey and the kids packed food and clothes, I just got the toddler and baby ready.  We still had dirty dishes in the sink and plates with uneaten food left on the table, I hadn't had a chance to recover mentally from our scout den meeting which for some reason really drains everything from me, and Wednesdays are my crazy busy day for many reasons anyway, so after scouts was over all I really wanted to do was go lay down for a bit.  But it was too late to cancel our reservation, so off we went.

On the drive up the canyon, there were signs over the freeway that read "WARNING WINTER STORM TOMORROW AT 5PM"  Ok, I thought.  5:00 is about going to the the time that we'll be driving back up to Midway tomorrow after school, that's not good...  The kids had eye exams on Thursday, but I decided to cancel those, so I stayed put with the kids at home and wasn't driving up and down the canyon.  We just sat around all day watching Animal Planet and Discovery TV, but Abi was buggin' me to take her somewhere, I had no energy to go anywhere with 3 little girls, so she nagged all day and I said "no" all day feeling guilty and irritated each time.  My overall feelings most of that day were mopey and put out.  I tried to talk myself out of it.  Yes, I'd rather be home.  But yes, it's good that we're here cause we're not sure how much we can depend on our indoor plumbing to function properly.  Yes, I'd rather be home, but we have food, clothing, shelter, and are warm.  Time to remember George Washington and his rag-tag army that fought for my freedom and get some perspective again.

When we were living in out of suitcases for 9 months with 7 kids in a small apartment in Chile (poor me) Corey said one time "Come on, this isn't that bad... it isn't Valley Forge!" (At that time he was reading a George Washington book.)  His "This isn't Valley Forge" comment returns to my memory often when I'm feeling like a victim.  Suck it up, don't complain, you've got it amazingly great by almost every earthly standard out there.  So Thursday afternoon we just happened to watch "I shouldn't be Alive" about two guys in Alaska - (crazy what they went through, wow...) which reminded me of people who really do face extreme and desperate circumstances, and I thought~ "Yes, there's a storm coming in, and I'm feeling a little ticked cause we were warned about it yesterday on the drive up and could have avoided this whole situation... but remember 'Worry is the facade of taking action, while Prayer actually is.'" - (That gem is from A Thousand Gifts) So instead of worry, a text from my mother reminded me to pray.  (...Although part of me was shaking my head thinking that if Corey and the kids got stuck in the snow somewhere it would serve them right and prove that I was right in what I wanted and it would have been better to stay home in the first place).

Corey and the kids did have scary conditions as the drove up Parley's Canyon.  Corey finally decided to pull off at Kimball Junction and wait for the snow plows to clear things off a bit.  And as he was getting off the exit that was when they got stuck.  An angel named Drew came out of nowhere and helped them get the car into the McDonald's parking lot.  After chillin' there for an hour, they decided to scoot over to Walmart and buy tire chains for his car.  The usual 1 hour drive from SL to Midway was instead for them a 3 hour winter adventure.  "Just trying to make memories!" he said with a smile after they arrived safely back. 

We all went swimming and had a great time, that made the whole trip worth it for me, fun to see Corey throw the kids and see a swimming pool for the first time through Sophia's eyes. After time in the pool, we ran through the freezing snow storm back to our room.  Back in our warm quarters, I laughed as the kids were sad that the tv wasn't working.  "Oh no, NOW what are we going to do?!?  The cable isn't working!  Call someone to go out in the storm and get the snow off the dish or I might be bored the rest of the night, or even worse... have to engage in conversation with my family."  I was glad it wasn't working, and we all did have a little chat about the snow and life and other stuff.  But when any of the kids grabbed the remote to see if maybe the tv was working, this guy to the left came into my mind and I just had to laugh.

We drove back to Salt Lake yesterday.  The weather looked pretty good when we left Heber, but as we drove it would look bad, then worse, then scary, then ok, then scary again.  We both slid a little on the road, I got ahead of Corey when he stopped to pull over and clear off his windshield.  I let him know the road conditions ahead of him, I was so relieved when I got out of the canyon.  We went to his parent's house for a pit stop and I could hardly believe all the snow.  And it's gonna get sooo cold this weekend.  Looks to me like it's time for a little vacation in Costa Rica.