Cousin Time

On October 10-11, we got to have Lea's kids over. Shayne made President's Club again, so they got an all expenses paid trip to Bermuda, and we got to help watch their kids :) They almost gave up their trip to help us with our deck. Almost. 

Danny and Skyler had a great time. Hunter and Cole tried not to be too bored. Someday, we'll have a cooler house. They were good sports about it though. One of them wondered if  Mr. Peabody and Sherman was out on Redbox yet, and Brian and I looked at each other and said, "Actually, we already have it." They were so excited, and we felt cool that we had a movie they hadn't seen, thanks to Emily and Pete. (Go Flixter!). So we had a pajama party and watched Mr. Peabody and Sherman. 

 The movie got over about 9, and I sent all the kids to bed. Cole was bummed to be going to bed so early on a Friday. I told him he could stay up and read, and I even found him a book that sounded interesting to him.

The next day, was the Rocky Mountain Invitational at BYU, which Brian helps with every year, so he headed off to Provo around 10. Hunter and Cole asked if I could take them to their house for a couple of hours. I said no. Then they said, "We're bored!" I felt bad, but the statement pushed a button and I gave them the evil eye and told them that I had something they could do. They must have heard a similar suggestion from their mother because before I could even get into what they could do, Cole said, "Not cleaning!" So I told them they better not tell me they were bored. They found an activity. But I felt bad. I don't want to be the boring, mean aunt, so I recruited Ethan to play MarioKart with them so I could take care of some much neglected things around the house that were stressing me out.

After naps, we loaded up to go to Provo. We made the mistake of picking Del Taco for a "quick dinner". They were anything but quick, and I wondered how anyone managed to go out with six kids to a public place. They struggled to sit still while they waited for their food (who could blame them? It took FOREVER!), so they kept climbing on the dividers and bugging the food line people (which I was secretly happy about, because no one seemed to be in a hurry back there). Finally, we got our food and I realized I forgot to order something for Skyler. (Seriously, how do people have six kids? They must have some kind of wonderful that I don't have.) So, I put in an order for Skyler's food, and we waited some more.

And some more.

And now sauce packets were getting squished all over the place.

And I started not being very nice.

And I'm sure everyone in that restaurant was wondering what I was doing taking my kids here, and why in the world could I not keep them under control. *Sigh*

Finally, they got Skyer's food. He took two bites and said he was done. I was pretty ticked, but he's two. What do you do? So, I not so nicely told everyone we were getting in the car. Michael slammed his foot on a sauce packet as he was heading out, and I about blew a gasket! I wiped his feet off and not so nicely told him to NEVER do that again. Finally, we were all loaded and on our way to the Stadium. Hunter remarked that I seemed a little bit frustrated. I just told him that I'd had a lot of stress building up this week, and Del Taco didn't help. Hunter and Cole then started blaming everything on Del Taco--including the traffic and our difficulty finding a parking space. It cheered me up quite a bit.

Finally we found a spot, and then the seven of us ran to the other side of the stadium so that we could pick up our tickets. We made it to the Southwest corner without injuring anyone, and I decided not to haul them all across the road to the ticket office. I asked Hunter to keep an eye on his brothers and cousins by the cougar while I ran to the booth across the street. Once we all had our VIP tickets, we walked to the elevator and headed up to the President's Loge. And even though we had all just eaten, we all headed for the refreshment table like we owned it. I got to watch the first of the division 5A bands, but then spent most of the night trying to keep active kids in line in a nice place. This is why Lea only brings Hunter and Cole up here :) And if they restrict children next year, it will be my fault.

But, when they did watch, they were adorable, especially with their huge loge passes around their necks:

 They all thought the "Witch one" was the best. Good job West Lake High School. They thought you should have won. They were all eagerly awaiting the awards to be handed out.

 When Kirt joined us in the Loge after the competition was over, Rachel ran to her Papa and started telling him all about everything that had happened, including her topple a few minutes earlier. A friend remarked, "Wow, she's speaking in paragraphs!" Which she absolutely was--it was just baby gibberish. She was also excited to see her daddy:

After it was all over, we headed to Cold Stone to have a mini-birthday party for Michael with Nana and Papa. They were kind enough to buy all of us ice cream! And they gave Michael his present--More Duplos and a pair of socks. He couldn't wait to play with them, and held the box all the way home (It was after 10 p.m. by that point, and my kids are usually in bed between 7 and 8). Brian took Lea's kids home and got them all set for bed (Lea and Shayne came home a few hours later), and, with the help of Ethan, I put my kids in bed. It was a long, long night!

The next morning, Michael had his new blocks out and was figuring out how to make all the cars in the instructions. After church. he changed his clothes and jumped back into the action;

So, lessons learned from watching Lea's kids last weekend:

#1-Lea's kids are so sweet and good. I knew this already, but Hunter and Cole were especially good about saying thank you for everything.

#2--They REALLY love their parents. They got so excited when Lea called and they could hear her voice. They counted down the days to when they could see their parents again. I wished I could have seen the reunion on Sunday morning.

#3--Don't ever take six kids to Del Taco in Provo. It's just not a good idea. In fact, if you're in a hurry, don't go there at all.

#4--If you're tripling the number of kids you currently have for a few nights, it's best to just stay home, order pizza, and watch a movie. Next time, that's what we're doing.