Weekends are hard work around here...

We started off with a bang on Friday. We took an impromptu little road trip to... wait for it.... Provo! (You know you're jealous.)  My in-laws were leading a Marriage Enrichment weekend down there and my MIL had forgotten something she needed. So we loaded up the car, put a movie on the portable DVD player for the kids and hit the road.  The funniest thing to me was how excited the kids were to have a picnic and movie night in the van. Evie in particular said several times, "This is just like camping!"

Saturday started early for me and was spent mostly cleaning the house and doing laundry to get ready for house guests.  I had run down my list of must-do's with Brian that morning: 1) Clean the downstairs bathroom, Jake's room, sewing room and toy room, 2) vacuum the downstairs, 3) pull out and sort through all the clothing the girls have grown out of so that Evie's hand-me downs go to Lila and the stuff Lila has outgrown can be packed up for my cousin's little girl, 4) sweep and mop the kitchen floor.  While Brian started lunch I ran down to switch over a batch of laundry, which led to the realization that the garbage can of dryer lint was overflowing to the point of ridiculousness, so I decided to empty it. But I couldn't get to it with out moving two boxes of Christmas decorations, six empty totes, an old t.v. and about fifty more pounds of assorted crap. I ended up cleaning the laundry room too. Which irked my husband as he told me later about this conversation...

Scene: (Jake walks through the kitchen carrying an item for the D.I. out to the van.)

Brian: What is your mother doing down there?

Jake:  She is cleaning out the laundry room.

B:  What?! Why?

J: I don't know. Why are you mad at her for cleaning the laundry room?

B: I'm not mad that she is cleaning the laundry room. I just really question her timing when she has all these other things she said she wanted to get done.

J: Oh. Well, just so you know Dad, I am taking your wife's side on this one...

B: Go away Jacob. (yells as Jake leaves) And DON'T go tell your mother what I said!

I couldn't be too mad at Brian because I am just so happy that my laundry room is clean and organized. Seriously, I think the last time you could see this much of the floor was before we moved in! And I still got everything on my list done. Bonus! Although I didn't finish mopping the kitchen floor until 9 p.m....

We sat down to eat dinner and I was so tired I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to make it upright again. I sat there thinking that we needed to get up really early the next morning to make it to our cousin's missionary homecoming, who's church meeting starts at 9 a.m. and lives about an hour's drive away.  Really, really early. Jake finished eating and I said to him, "Honey, run downstairs and get clean underwear and jammies and then come up and shower." He started to argue with me and say that he wanted to shower in the morning so I interrupted him to say, "Jake. We have to get up at the butt-crack of dawn to get out of here on time, so everyone is showering tonight." He stopped on the top step and asked, "What part is that, Mom? Like is it the beginning or the end of the morning."  I tiredly replied, "The butt-crack of dawn," thinking that emphasizing dawn would make it clear. Jake puzzled that for another moment and then understandingly exclaimed, "Oh! So it's in the middle!" I was laughing too hard to set him straight after that.

We ended up leaving only slightly later than we meant too and still arriving pretty much on time and the rest of the day has been full of visiting with our family and getting to catch up with two cousins who are newly returned missionaries.  Well, most of us visited. Some of us napped...

My kids have been in heaven getting to hang out with all their cool, older cousins. They have especially enjoyed getting to know Matt and Andrew again.  Matt rode home with us and the first ten minutes of the drive was a serious contest to see who could talk his ear off first.  Evie had to take the prize when she proudly, if somewhat randomly, announced, "Hey! Matt! I can spell my name!"  Matt very kindly replied with, "You can, huh? Okay let's hear it."  Evie smiled hugely and said, "E-V.....  Mom! How do you spell my name?!"

We rounded off the evening with all heading over to my dad's where we watched a movie and then made breakfast for dinner. It was a whirlwind visit, but we love having Tiffany and Steven (and Matt!) to stay.  This weekend has made me start getting excited for the upcoming holiday season and spending time with our extended families.  I just need to start cleaning my house like a marathon instead of a sprint, you shouldn't need to take a muscle relaxer after mopping the floors...