Not just survive

RD has wanted to go to the annual AGPA conference for a long time, and now that he's at BYU he got to go! For a whole week, sunday to sunday.
woo hoo.
Usually when RD's gone on trips I just survive. A whole week, full of kids activities, was before me, and I really wanted to do more than just survive. So on Sunday I fasted and prayed I'd be able to thrive, not just survive, while he was gone, and have the energy and strength to do it.
And it totally worked!
Instead of hiding from life, I kept us busy. And did some atypical, make-it-easy-activities. And made sure to read my scriptures every day. Monday was a half day of school, so I let them all stay home. We hung around, played some games, and went to the dog park for the first time. The kids liked watching padfoot explore, and we appreciated how our dog doesn't ever jump up on people, as a bunch of dogs there jumped on us.

 

Tuesday was errands, soccer practice and Moana coming out, so I bought it and we invited some friends over to watch it. I think I liked it better than anyone else, but it was fun.
Wendesday was crazy with piano lessons and Reese working on a project with a partner, and driving up to the Lehi rec center to take Grace to a brithday party and Cameron and Bree swimming. They all loved it. Cameron soaked me with a water sprayer, and we had fun in the lazy river. Cameron even got Bree to climb around the waterfalls, and she decided she loves swimming. We got home after 8 to make a waffle dinner, and the kids were really helpful since I was getting a migraine.
Thursday was the best day. Bree had speech (at 8am at BYU) and an open house at her preschool where she showed me what she learned about exercise. I hung around to observe speech sine I had to be there half an hour later for the open house, and heard Aubree say 'dog' and 'duck' correctly over and over! It was a huge achievement for her, and her therapist and I hugged when we met, and she said she'd teared up when Bree said it. And my sista came down and spent the day. We put up the hammock, and Bree and James swung in it and played with the gnomes.

We had a picnic, ice cream, and basked in the gorgeous weather. It was perfect. I've been wanting a hammock for so long, I'm so glad we finally got one. I could spend the spring in it. She left when we took Reese to soccer practice, and after picking him up 2 hours later we ate dinner at the creamery.
Friday we cleaned then spent it outside, mostly in the hammock, and had another movie night, with the same movie, but different friends. The kid who didn't really like Moana said it was growing on him, so it was totally worth it.
Saturday was the usual chore/soccer games day. But it went fine, and I took Reese to his back-to-back soccer games. I sat on the bench as Reese was behind me, and the coach came over to ask if i had a kid on the team. RD usually takes him, but I have been to at least a handful of games! The last day's usually the longest, and it was, but we did fine. I really missed RD,  but I tried really hard to do well, and I was so grateful I did! it was kind of amazing I did, and the kids were really good. Pretty awesome what fasting and prayer and scriptures can do.
Not that I want him ever going on a trip again. He came home bearing cookies, doughnuts, and super long gummy snakes. It was a sweet reunion.