Meanwhile... back at the Ranch

Ben found out about a scholarship he could get to go to Washington D.C. for free this week during Easter break. It is for National Student Lobby Day this Tuesday, March 18. In spite of turning in his application late, he got the scholarship and is having a great time going to meetings, seeing national monuments (by day and by night) and living a life of luxury with all expenses paid. He told me he had two lobster tails for dinner tonight. The one downside is the room he has to share with another guy only has one (fortunately king-sized) bed! After being prepped in meetings all weekend he gets to lobby before Congress on student issues. I am amazed by his courage and confidence, but I know he will be great because of the way he throws himself into things like this. Last October he ran for President of the APTASA (American Physical Therapy Association Student Assembly) and came in a close second. I would have supported him if he won, but I was glad he didn't.

Things have been kind of crazy back here at home while he's gone. Friday after dropping him off at the airport I got yelled at for taking someone's parking spot (accidently- I pointed to the spot and they nodded and I thought they meant I could have it!) I can laugh about it now, but I cried when I got home from the store. I left to go to the bathroom and when I came back to the kitchen they boys had poured a bottle of chocolate milk on the floor and were crawling and pushing trucks through it. Ben called about then and I wondered if it were possible for him to change his mind and come home. But he got on the plane and was gone. I was sure lonely. I wished I could invite somebody over to hang out and maybe help me a little. Of course all my friends down here are married with kids and husbands of their own to take care of. I talked with my family and they have a full house, so I can't really go visit them. Butmy sister Amy said I was free to come stay with her family in Escalon. I had to stay until today at least for my calling at church and I'm meeting my visiting teachers at the park with their kids on Monday. I might not go at all because Craig may be sick.

Saturday was better. I planted some vegtable plants in our front yard. It is really sunny and hot there, so they should do really well. That took all day- I built a trellis for the squash and cucumbers to grow on because we don't have much space. I also had to move the tan bark off the area I wanted to garden and trim back a bush. While I was building, Joey dumped out the box of 1 1/4 inch nails and Brigham of course started putting them in his mouth. I am still keeping an eye on him and his diapers for any sign of a possible swallowed nail. My boys had a lot of fun being outside all day and "helping" me. I felt like I accomplished something good, which is always nice!

Today was another story. For some reason both boys woke up at 3:30 and were not interested in going back to bed for and hour or so. I missed out on choir practice and tried to keep them occupied until Church started at 12:30. I got them there early for a change, but there were still no bench seats available. I knew Church would be hard with out Ben, but it was! Before we even left the house Joseph kept saying he didn't want to go to church. Even Nursery did not intice him, he wanted to have it at home. We sat in the back and before the meeting started they kept crawling out the door. I didn't have much patience or any help. We roamed the halls, spent time in the mother's lounge, changed diapers twice and I listened to what I could and tried to hold out until I could take Joe to nursery. Brigham was pretty easy to handle on his own. He fell asleep at the end of Sunday School and slept right through Relief Society, even when I passed him off to a friend. Joey asked for me before Nursery was over, but I was in a better mood then and he was more calm.

One of our friends asked about Ben and commented his wife would not have let him go. Maybe next time I won't either! I am stressed with watching my boys all alone, but the bitterest irony is that this is his break from school and we could have actually spent time together. It is kind of funny how hard it is when he is gone, even though he is usually gone all day at school anyway.
One sad, yet funny thing that happened when Joey woke up last night was that our computer was making noise and he asked what Daddy was doing on the computer. He got out of bed and walked over to the computer and then started crying when he saw that Daddy was not there.
I hope I can do better and be more patient and take care of everything at least until Ben gets back Thursday night. I was reading through some old letters from my Grandma and was struck with what a positive outlook she always had. I must confess that is something I need to improve on (if you couldn't tell.)