The highs and lows

On Tuesday morning, you may recall our family room looked like this:

Yesterday, I tackled it.  I worked long and hard, I unpacked and moved stuff and made decisions and was excited to have it in shape by the time the kids got home from school.  They would be so surprised!

It looked like this when they got home:

Braeden came in and plunked himself down on the couch that was in a completely different spot than where it had been that morning.

He.

Didn't.

Notice.

A.

Difference.

I pointed it out to him and he said, "Oh, wow.  Good job, Mom."

Then he started looking at his phone.

All that work in the family room made me exhausted.  I thought this move would be easier because I don't have to stop and take care of little children during the day.

Maybe it would be easier if I had to stop and take care of little children during the day.  I'm tired.  I do force myself to take breaks to do things like prepare for school for Mark.  I'm still tired.  Maybe I'm old...

In addition to feeling tired, I was feeling anxiety of one kind and another.  I had tried to keep it from Adam because with starting a new job, I didn't think he should have to deal with me too.  (That never works, I don't know why I try.  Adam can tell I'm anxious and he can handle it.  I still continue to be delusional at times...)

Tabor called yesterday afternoon.  He was on his way to Tooele for a horse sale.  (Tooele is about an hour from my house.)  I started telling him about Things and I started crying and then his phone cut out because he lost reception on his drive.  He said later that he was glad he wasn't on the phone with his wife in that scenario.

I forgave Tabor for hanging up on me in my distress though.  He called back.

He had to get his animals attended to and called about 8:00.  He said, "Be brutally honest with me.  Is it too late to come over?"

I told him to come.  We'd have root beer floats.  (I'd bought the stuff for root beer floats to celebrate the first day of school but we were all too tired for celebrating.)  I called Ammon and invited them as well.  Their children were asleep so Melanee stayed home but Ammon said he'd come over later.

A while later, Mark told me he had a surprise for me.  He told me to close my eyes and I didn't trust him completely but I sort of squinted my eyes shut and followed him to the front door.  He flung it open and there stood Marianne and her four girls!

I said, "You heard we were having root beer floats!"

I had forgotten that they were in Utah for an orthodontist appointment.  Marianne had said they wouldn't have time to come to my house but they would come on Sunday when she takes Clarissa to BYU.

It was a lovely surprise!  I kept waiting for Enoch and Olivia to show up but they never did.

Tabor took longer than expected to come so I called him.  He said that he'd gone a different way.  He said it was a way that would have been faster if he'd been on horseback.   Also, Tabor needed directions to my house.  I don't really know how to do it yet.  I use my phone to guide me but I was using my phone to talk to Tabor.  Tabor said, "Is there a grown-up I can talk to?"  I got Adam's phone and did a terrible job directing him (it didn't help that he was making me laugh so much that I'd get distracted) but he finally made it here.

Happiness is sitting around my family room with my...family.  I've never had that many siblings in my house at one time.

Adam snapped a picture because he said I looked so happy.

clockwise from top:  Clarissa, Liberty (who has pants on, they are light colored), Deseret, Emma (who doesn't have pants on--she was in her pjs when they all came), Tabor (eating his dinner), Ammon, Mark, Marianne, Braeden and me.  Carolina is the adorable centerpiece.

I looked sort of bedraggled but I'm glad I looked happy too.

Because I was.