Yes, I am borrowing words here from one of my favorite children's books, but nothing else describes how terrible my day really was. This day was not today or yesterday, or even last week. It was two weeks ago tomorrow, and here is where I feel even worse about it. As you can see in my last post, it was the day that Chad's little brother got married. I was looking forward to that day so much, and it did not go smoothly at all for me. It was one of those days that nothing was in my favor. For your sympathy, pity, enjoyment or for posterity sake, I will tell you all about it, but be warned, it is a long story.
My horrible day actually started the night before. Here it was the night before the wedding and I was still without nothing to wear in Nicole's (the bride's) colors for the pictures and the reception. Chad have given me a gift card for Christmas for clothes and so I was going to use that. He got off of work early, but by time I made it into Provo, the one store that I had money for was closed. Great. So I go home empty-handed and wanting to cry that I will look so horrible and out of place at the reception.
Then, just before going to bed Chad reminds me to get my temple recommend out because I always keep it in my temple bag. I pull it out and go to check the date on it, 100% certain that it is not expired and thinking "Oh, how terrible would that be if it was expired!" Ha ha, yeah. I pull it out and it expired back in June! I have not been to the temple since May when Jack was born. He was too little and still nursing to even think about leaving him that long. Somehow Chad and I got off schedule because we usually go together to get them renewed, but his doesn't expire until next year. Well, I kept hope that night that a phone call from my bishop would do the trick in the morning.
Chad and I get up at 5:00 a.m. to make sure we have the babysitter arrive and we leave in time to head up to Salt Lake. We make it up to drop Jack off at my sister's house before heading to the temple, only to discover that my sister thought that I was bringing all of my kids to play at her house. I guess her kids had been up for hours so excited to see them, and so they looked very disappointed that I left them at home. It was a miscommunication, but I still felt terrible.
We arrived at the temple with just minutes to spare, but to my utter disappointment and because my recommend had expired so many months, more than a phone call was needed. I was left in the waiting room feeling very left out while Chad went on ahead.
Oh, but the bad news is not over. Chad, Jack and I head back down to Orem for the luncheon. The plan was that I would change Jack into a nice shirt and tie for the luncheon, since we left so early in the morning and he was still in his pj's. Only a few minutes before the luncheon started did I notice that the baby bottle filled with soy formula that Jack had refused at my sister's house had opened and spilled all over the inside of my bag, but most importantly all over Jack's change of clothes. So, even though everyone at the luncheon was in Sunday dress, little Jack was in his footed striped pajamas...just peachy. I know, it was not a huge deal. But I really wanted him to look nice since we were dressed up and Nicole's family and some extended Hunsaker family was there too. And now everything in my purse smelled like sour milk.
After the luncheon we take off for home. We knew it would take awhile to get the kids dressed in their duds for the reception. While I am busy ironing, and getting our stuff together Chad takes a nap, which honestly did not help. We leave for the reception, back up in Lindon and it is a BLIZZARD! It was a complete whiteout and we were forced to go super slow and make it there just in time. The reception hall was absolutely charming and we were having a great time. However, only about 1 hour into it Jack started to get fussy, since it was about his bedtime. I held him while Chad and the kids had some dessert. Then, it was my turn. I was hungry so I gave Jack to Chad. Jack got fussy and Chad had enough of him before I was even finished. Chad was getting snappy with me and wanted to leave. Well, I wanted to stay, but I was frustrated with Chad and Jack and was anxious to go home and put the day behind me. So, we left. I wished we would have stayed. Not only did I miss the actual wedding ceremony, but I missed them cutting the cake, the garter, dancing. I just feel like I missed it all and it makes me sad.
But anyway, we did leave. We got on the freeway and headed home. We left the reception about 7:00 p.m. and were only about a 35 minute drive from home. We got to Orem and the University Parkway Exit and saw all the red brake lights. Chad and I both had the thought to get off at the exit, but we ignored it. We stayed on and just as we passed the exit we came to a complete stop. To make the story here short (okay, too late for that) we were stuck on the freeway for 2 full hours! We maybe moved 3 car lengths in that period of time. Big deal right? Well, if you know me, I am claustrophobic and have major anxiety with traffic and being stuck anywhere. This was my nightmare come to life. Not only that, I had 4 kids in my car, who I was trying to pacify. Keaton was the best of the bunch, and didn't complain much at all. Emmi kept yelling to the car in front of us, "Hey truck, it is OUR turn!!" Then, as the hours flew by, she started crying for her blankie and for some water. Yes, I had no water, no food, nada. Jack was good as long as I was nursing him, but cried the rest of the time and would not sleep. But I felt the worst for Sam. He was getting over a bad cough. I had no water to help him when he started to really cough, so he threw up twice all over his coat. He was crying for water as well. It was breaking my heart. Our saving grace was my new iPhone that Chad gave me for Christmas. I was able to let the kids (and Chad) play games and even read stories to pass the time. After being at a complete stop for 2 hours (and watching men get out and pee off the side of the freeway. Thank heavens none of us had to go), we finally started to move. It was now 9:00 and it took us another hour to get home, the roads were so bad. We reached home just after 10:00, 3 hours after we had left the reception and I put myself right to bed. Needless to say, I was very content to put the day behind me, and I will always carry a little water and food in my car.
