Snow Days and Drill Teams

Last week I took Mckenna to the State Drill Team Competitions. It was suppose to be for us to be able to watch Terra finally dance since this is her last year in high school, but wouldn't you know it- Kearns High didn't make it to the competitions this year. Such a Bummer.

So, it was then, a get ready for Competition season foray, to watch Snow Canyon and Dixie compete. I cancelled us participating on the trip the week before going because i just decided that it wasn't a necessary trip ,but then 2 days before everyone was leaving i decided i needed to go; to see Diana, and just to get out of Dodge! It was a good thing I went!

Since we were also planning on visiting Diana I was going to drive seperately and Heather and Camrey would drive in their car, but then at the last minute we ended up driving all together so whenever the team went we had to go since i was driving some of the participants.... I guess with all the funereal activities for President Hinckley Diana was going to do and us driving and such, it just didn't go as planned! Sorry D!

We watched the high school teams; Dixie rocked the Military Division (but didn't place-which was weird. Snow Canyon did okay but placed higher than Dixie and I thought Dixie was better- i guess with judges it is all symantics,) we went shopping, we ate out at PF Changs (for lunch,)it was yummy! But the biggest eye opener was the fact that i didn't know that 4 teenagers could spend so much money when they had so little space to take things home in! For example; Saturday night we went to Wal-mart to get sweats for their annual decorating team sweats and jersey party. But with the superbowl the next day and the fact that we did have 4 teenagers and 2 pretweens who love stores, we were at Walmart for almost 3 hours! They bought so much stuff!

I am so glad that Mckenna is a girl because i love shopping with her and for her, but i am also glad that i only have one of her because the 4 we were with at times were driving me crazy! They had already driven the other 2 adults nuts to the extent that they didn't want to be with them anymore, but being in a strange area you can't just emotionally shut down like the other two adults did. I guess the other thing is that these teenagers are Kyler's friends, so i felt a little responsible for them, maybe more than the other adults because we have a deeper connection. They spend time at my house, they ask constantly for advice, one of the girls was Kyler's first crush and girlfriend in sixth grade (yes, they think that they are going out- where i don't know- because no one can drive. i mean, they don't spend time with each other except for in class and most of the time were too shy to even talk to each other except through notes- so how can they be "going out?!") and so i ended up doing alot with them and for them that i might not have necessarily done had Mckel not gotten tired of them!

THEN......Sunday.... and time to go home! And Low and Behold! Here came the drastic SNOW!

The lady at the Hotel counter told me that morning that 2 cars had driven to Nephi only to turn around because it was so bad! So, I called Matt and asked for his advice. Then i called the Utah Road Conditions phone line and heard message after message about this road being icy and snowy, this road being layered with snow and snowing. Then I got the times for the big storms to hit in each area we were driving in and I decided that I had no time to dally and had to make a decision quick! I mean do I try to attempt to go home or stay in Provo and wait until it blows over? I talked to the other two ladies, they wanted to drive home. Well, that is fine, since Mckel had 4 wheel drive, but i was driving my honda and it for sure doesn't have 4 wheel drive, just front wheel drive and that wouldn't do me any darn good in a snow storm, so I in my infinite wisdome called Matt again and asked his advice.

Now, one tidbit of background: Matt has never been wrong about any gut feeling that he has had or when he points out to me that usually my instincts are correctand I should follow them. So, I know for sure that I darn well better follow those feelings! But dealing with other peoples personalities is always a struggle for me, because i don't want to hurt other's feelings, or even come off as forcing the issuse, but when he told me not to attempt to come home and that he was going to pay for all of us to cram into a hotel room and pay for food, i knew what I had to do! It all came down to convincing the other 2 adults that Mckel shouldn't drive with any of those kids she was responsible for in her car. Two of the girls wanted to go home no matter what- the other two's parents didn't want them to risk it! Heather is a school teacher and she was really pushing to leave since she didn't have a subplan done- I told Mckel that if she wanted to leave with the 2 girls and Heather and her daughter and leave the other 2 girls with me and Mckenna then that was up to her ,but that Matt had never been wrong. I also told her that if i was the other 2 girls parents I would be very upset if I had found out that an attempt to go home happened and there was a huge- I mean HUGE risk of sitting on the side of the road in Beaver/Fillmore/Scipio waiting for a snow storm to pass.

After 45 minutes of pushing the envelope on discussions of what should be done (which was crazy to me since he had already checked out of the hotel and were in their lobby!) Mckel decided that she was going to stick with me and keep the group together. Heather called her mother-in-law and asked if we could stay in her basement in Murray since it has bedrooms that she and Mckel could escape too! I was willing to stick it out with the older girls and not have a bedroom even though Heather offered me one. I just knew the girls would be uncomfortable with Heather staying in the family room area since they didn't really know her. It was a good thing we stayed and hunkered down for the night because it was the worst snowstorm that anyone had seen in a decade in Southern Utah (yes, even more than night before the big flood happended!)

Matt called me and told me it had started Hailing while we were driving up to Murray. It was flurrying at Pt. of the Mountain and semi slick so it was a good example to the girls and the other ladies of how the drive south would have been. Then about an hour after we were settled in for the afternoon, Matt called and said it was snowing! Then Devin in the evening sent us a picture over my cell phone with the craziest sight- at his friends house it was 6 inches of snow and still snowing! Then next morning he sent a picture from his bedroom window and their was a foot of snow in our backyard!

I will never ever doubt Matt's feelings on any given subject! I realize that the reason i decided to go on this trip after i had decided not to was for 2 reasons. One, i really needed a break-but also helped a few girls understand the protection of mother's when it comes to their boys and dating .But, the biggest one of all! Mckel and Heather would have tried to drive home during a very, very bad storm and would have followed that storm all the way home! Lindsey's parents were up in the Cedar Mts. when the storm had just started. What normally takes 45 minutes to drive to get home took them 3 hours! So, i really feel that I was put in that situation to be the grown-up and make the hard decisions and not anything anyone else could say will convince me otherwise!

We did have a lot of fun though while we were tucked into the basement of Camry's very nice grandparents! (who by the way one of them works as a Church missionary in the Conference center and was very tired because she had been working during the view and funereal of President Hinckley and preparing tickets for General Conference!) I was so excited about this part of the trip because we got to watch the original Annie (i love that version- Carol Burnett is classic Ms. Hannigan!)

I decided that the highlights of the trip were playing games, Mckenna and Camry getting to be better friends, me getting to know Heather better and being able to help the "4th wheel" to the 3 muskarettes when she was going through a very bad case of nerves and homesickness! You know me- I love to play shrink or solve a problem when it comes to kids!