Stake Conference in my Pajamas

My life is forever changed.  Today was stake conference which means every six months we go to church and sit for 2 hours listening to our stake leaders.  It's great as an adult but horrible if you have kids and since I have five kids it's extra horrible.  My boys are usually antsy and asking "how much longer?" after about twenty minutes so the two hour meeting feels eternal.

Randy is in Utah for the weekend and I was dreading the thought of stake conference on my own but my friend/neighbor Barb, rescued me again.  She really is the best!  Her husband {named Randy} takes care of all the tech/video/broadcasting for stake conference so it can be streamed and viewed at 2 locations.  Barb emailed me the link enabling me to watch the live stream of stake conference from my house.  I watched conference in my pajamas, snuggling with my boys and enjoyed every minute of that 2-hour meeting.  It was amazing!  I wondered how something that wonderful could not be bad?  I mean it was just too good to be true.  But it was true!  Now my dilemma is how will I go back to sitting through stake conference at the church ever again?  It's like going back to dial-up internet.  Or black and white television.  Or horses instead of cars.  You get the idea.  But today I'm just thankful and so happy.

Landon wasted no time bringing in all the Legos and Ethan got extra comfy on the inflatable couch

Seeing my boys snuggling makes me happy

 Also, while we are on the subject of Sundays and church, I must share this story of the 2018 Epic Parent Fail.  A few weeks ago when Laura and her family was in town, we come home from church in three different cars.  Typically after church my boys come find me, begging and pulling on my arms to stop talking to my friends, and practically drag me to the parking lot.  This time was no different so I sent Landon to get Parker from his class as I rushed to gather up my things amidst the dragging and pulling.  I got out to the parking lot and all the kids rushed to jump in the cars and make the fastest exit possible.  We arrived home about fifteen minutes later and began our traditional Sunday lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches when Randy got a phone call informing him we had left Parker at church.  I freaked out.  Randy drove to Parker's very kind and hopefully not judgemental Primary teacher and picked up Parker.  When Parker got home, he walked right past me, throwing the picture at me that he made in Primary and burst into tears.  I immediately hugged him and apologized and hugged him some more and promised I'd never leave him again {fingers crossed}.  Once he calmed down I looked at his picture and almost started sobbing myself.  In his cute hand writing that I could barely decipher, it said:

Dear Mom, I love you  Thank you for loving me  Love Parker

Can you believe it?  Reading it was like being stabbed through the heart with a knife.  Seriously, I felt so bad.  I'm the worst.  The worst.  Now I know how the mom on Home Alone felt.  It's time to teach my kids what to do when they get left somewhere, not if.

I mean, who could forget this cute kid?  Me.  That's who. 

Bean is Bean

This kid kills me!  Sunday night he started running around with his underwear on outside his pants and called himself Super Pants.  Landon was his sidekick and they continued running around the house doing "super" moves for the next hour. 
Earlier that day Bean had an even better adventure when he disappeared at church.  We were just starting our third hour of church which is when Ethan and his class should have been coming into the Primary room where I teach.  All the kids from his class found their seats as did the kids from the other classes but there was still no Ethan.  I did a quick check in the library next door and he wasn't there.  Then Ethan's teacher told me Ethan never came into her class.  Marcus did a quick check of the building (which is very small) and had no luck.  I kinda started to panic at this point but I had other responsibilities at the moment so I sent Marcus out looking for Randy.  I told Randy to check the cars in the parking lot while I kept teaching Primary as visions of my son walking along the side of the road somewhere filled my head.  Randy couldn't find Bean anywhere.
Then it came to me.  I ran to the nursery room next door and there he was eating goldfish and playing with Parker.  And it was my fault!  I had told him to play with Parker until Randy came in because I had a million things going on and couldn't wait.  Well, Randy never came in.  I guess he forgot Parker has issues with the drop-off at nursery so Ethan kept playing with Parker and keeping him happy for the next hour.
I was so relieved!  And really grateful he hadn't decided to walk home or run away which he has dramatically threatened to do on several occasions.