Mark had three days of "roading" at 6:00 AM which almost killed us dead. How on earth did we survive early morning seminary?
Sometimes I'm so very grateful we live in Utah! (Release time seminary!)
Roading is part of driver's ed. Mark went out with a teacher onto the freeway and did brave things like a U turn on State Street. (That's why they do it at 6:00 AM. Way less traffic.)
Even though getting up that early almost killed us dead.
The first day of roading, Mark drove to Timponogas High School which is where he needed to be. Driving with a bleary eyed 15 year old when you just woke up yourself and are nervous about the kid driving anyway is not a winning combination.
Let's just say I was grouchy.
The second day of roading, Adam took Mark and Mark drove and Adam didn't say a word because neither Mark nor Adam are too excitable.
Let's just say I'm the excitable one.
That night, Friday, we invited the Porters to go to MOD pizza with us. We are maybe going too often. But they'd never been. All our other kids were otherwise employed (literally--they all have jobs) so we took Mark and their youngest, Jack, who just turned 14.
We had a great time, because MOD and good friends and marionberry lemonade. Then we visited their daughter, Louisa, at her job, a Hawaiian shave ice stand. Jack wanted to go to his very first stake dance which was Saturday night. He wanted a wingman and Mark, who's never shown the slightest interest in going to a dance, agreed to go.
The third day of roading, Saturday, he finished a little early and we were going to go to Provo to pick up Braeden but we had extra time. I offered Mark breakfast at Kneader's. It wasn't open yet.
That made me feel a little sorry for myself that I was out in the world and Kneader's wasn't even open yet.
We had bagels at Einstein Brothers instead and sent each other memes in the car while we waited for Braeden to be ready.
I can't tell you how many times Mark has sent this same meme to me.
The problem is that I laugh every time.
It was so nice to get Braeden back, however briefly. There's a lot to love about that kid. Every week I cry a little when he tells me about EFY. I love to see the ways he is learning and how his empathy is expanding.
It's not all uplifting and spiritual experiences though. He told us about some boys who got a frisbee stuck on a roof. In an attempt to get it down, they tied their lanyards (complete with room keys and meal cards) together and threw them up on the roof. Of course they got stuck too. They sheepishly went to tell Braeden. The great thing about counselors who were very recently teenagers is that Braeden didn't get upset (which I can't really imagine anyway) but was sympathetic. Later he met up with Sam (who is attending summer term at BYU) and Braeden boosted Sam up and Sam was able to retrieve everything from the roof.
I guess a takeaway is when you're a 14 year old boy with bad ideas it pays to know big boys.
It was a family effort to get Braeden turned around from one week at EFY to two weeks at EFY in San Antonio. I did laundry and Emma and I helped him pack (and I also decided for some reason it was a good day to go through every stitch of clothing that boy owns and have him say yeah or nay. His closet and drawers were bulging with clothes he no longer wears.) I would toss things to Emma and she would fold them and Braeden tried to stay awake. Meanwhile, after mowing the lawn and doing some yard work, Adam and Mark drove back to Provo to return Braeden's room key which he'd forgotten to turn in. (Braeden's forgetfulness: a big reason why he can be sympathetic to imprudent teenage boys.)
We took Braeden to the airport and it was fun to all be together for a little while. You may or may not believe this, but we stopped at MOD for lunch. Admitting you have a problem is the first step, right?
But Braeden and Emma hadn't gone the last time and Emma hadn't gone the last three times we'd gone and she was feeling slighted.
We can't have that!
Getting Braeden ready culminated in Adam insisting we buy Braeden some new shoes. Braeden insisted he didn't need new shoes but guess who won that one? Adam, who never wants to spend money on himself, will always want to spend money on someone he loves who needs something. At the shoe store, Adam was explaining to the nervous looking salesclerk that Braeden was on his feet all week on college campuses and that he needed sturdy shoes. The salesclerk asked, "EFY counselor?" Yes! Then we noticed Braeden was wearing an EFY t-shirt with a big EFY emblazoned at eye level for the guy (he was pretty short).
So I guess we could have led with, "He's an EFY counselor..."
Sometimes we forget we live in Utah.
We were at the New Balance store in Fort Union. Emma sent me this on Snapchat:
Is she the only one that noticed NB combined with Union Park would become bunion? And they're a shoe store? People ought to run their signs by people like Emma.
Also their huge balloon letters on their lawn. I saw a collection of balloons that read GUESS WHOSE 40?
Um...it's my 40? It's your 40? That guy's 40?
After dropping Braeden at the airport we took Emma to the world's biggest Costco. She wasn't as impressed with it as Mark and Adam and I thought she should be. I always think it's a fun place to go though.
From there we drove through Sugar House and saw where Adam works (Emma hadn't been before) and Adam stopped at a rug store.
It may seem like a strange choice because we aren't really in the market for a rug but it was an amazing store and Adam is a spontaneous guy with a thirst for adventure that is sometimes quenched by a stop at a rug store. It was Adib's Rug Gallery in an old converted movie theater. It was pretty amazing.
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| not my picture--I found it online |
If you ever need a handmade Persian rug and have tens of thousands of dollars to spend, you should definitely go.
Our last stop was the grocery store where Emma sent me this:
One of the delights of modern life is getting texts and snapchats from your kids when you are together and they are slyly noticing and commenting on things you don't notice.
At home, Emma went to hang out with friends and Mark didn't get ready for the dance. Unlike me and my first stake dance, Mark took zero time with any sort of preparation. He mostly was interested in the refreshments.
Which surprised exactly no one.
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