The Struggle Bus

Sometimes things just don't go like I plan and sometimes it's because of my kids.  I took the boys to the grocery store to get supplies for the annual banana cream pie/Father's Day desserts (one for church and one for Randy's dessert) and what should have been no big deal turned into a small adventure.  Landon stayed in the van while I grabbed a few items and when I came back out, we couldn't get the van to start because the battery was dead.  Landon learned the hard way that you don't turn off the engine and leave all the things running while you sit and wait for your mom.  Of course my little jump start kit thing was not in the van and of course Randy was out on the lake with his seminary kids so I told the boys we were walking home because I was not about to call a friend to bail us out on a Saturday night.   It was only a couple miles and luckily not terribly hot.  

Walking home, mostly uphill, but we can do hard things!

Landon and I drove back to the van in Randy's Audi and after some nice guy in the parking lot helped us pop the hood, we were able to jump start the van with only a little help from the Audi Owner's Manual and Ethan on FaceTime.  Landon and I were quite proud! 

And this random picture of my boys carrying trash bags down the same street was due to the garbage man strike.  Nothing stresses me out more than garbage cans not getting emptied!  The City arranged for a drop-off station and the line of cars was seriously a couple miles long. 

Imagine sitting in your car with stinky trash for hours, just to drop off your trash at a designated site.  I did what any Spjute girl would do and figured there had to be another way so I drove past the line of cars, parked at our office that was conveniently located just past the dump site, and walked our trash bags over.  As we walked into the parking lot a worker immediately started yelling at us that walk-ups were not allowed so I smiled really big and the guy took our trash bags anyway.  I think it helped that I had cute little boys with me.  We walked away trying to avoid the evil eye from everyone who was waiting in the line of cars.  Major win for us!  I am thankful for the garbage men, even if I don't think they need a raise :)