One Beautiful (Stressful) Day

On June 26th, my youngest cutiepie turned 8 and she got to have a friend Birthday party and I made her a special cake. The cake was a little different this year but it turned out really fun.

On July 4th (yes, the 4th of July), K got to be baptized. We got up around 9, rushing around so that we could go to the parade. It was the nicest parade ever since it was overcast, I love storms!! After the parade, I made lemon bars, coconut bars and brownies for after the baptism. Here is my recipe for the coconut bars which I found in the Taste of Home Magazine and I tweaked it a little:

Coconut Bars

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 15 full crackers or so)

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 cans (14 ounces each) sweetened condensed milk

1 package (14 ounces) flaked coconut

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

24 whole almonds, optional

In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into an ungreased 13 X 9 pan. Combine milk and coconut; carefully spread over crumb crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the chocolate chips and peanut butter. Microwave on high for 1 minute: stir. Microwave 30-60 seconds longer or until chips are melted; stir until smooth. Spread over warm bars. Garnish with almonds, if desired. Refrigerate for 1 hour before cutting. Yield: 2 dozen.

Now for the Baptism story:

After I got the treats done, we threw on our church clothes and went up to the white church. Of course, S could care less about getting dressed and was more concerned about getting his train into his backpack (which I have lost and have had to buy a new train since then :( ) When we got to the church, we gathered all our stuff, you know, suits and white dresses and towels and stuff to keep the kids busy, etc and I noticed that S had managed to get out of the car and he was making a beeline for the church. I think he tries to find the biggest group of people and then decides to go right through them, much like a bowling ball going down the alley towards the pins. (Can you hear the sound of a bowling ball hitting the pins? I am cringing right now) Luckily the people see him coming and move, so I picked up my pace and tried to catch him. I can't find him in the hallway so I hurried and put K's stuff in the bathroom next to the font and hurry down to the chapel.

I don't know where my husband is at this point or E, my second daughter, for that matter. I get into the chapel, with K and M trailing me and I see S up on the stand, trying his best to yell into the microphone with all the Stake leaders milling around him. If they touch him, he does his best impression of Muhomed Ali, cutting and weaving and screaming, "You are hurting me!!" I tell K to sit on the front bench to wait for her father, who's still not there, and M to sit in the middle bench and go to grab S who repeats his statement from before and adds loudly, "Don't smack me, mommy!" I assure him I won't "smack" him and smile wearily at the people filing into the chapel. Then S yells, "I have to go poop and potty!" Where is my husband?? I tell M to wait there, thinking that the bench would be saved for my family because she is sitting there and I grab S by the arm and hurry to find the bathroom, which is all the way to the back of the church.

Meanwhile, while S is taking his sweet time on his throne, the chapel is getting full and another family has taken over the pew I left M in. By the time I get back in there, they had filled up the whole row and were even sitting by M! I asked her why she didn't save our spot and she replied "You didn't tell me to." By this time, I was going into nervous breakdown mode and had S in a arm grip that he was trying to wriggle out of. My husband was finally sitting with K, oblivious to all this drama so far. He hurried over to me and asked what was the matter? "Oh nothing", I snarled (yes, I am sorry to say I did snarle), "just go sit with K" So I was in the top corner of the chapel and all of my family, In-laws and my side, had sat clear on the other side of the chapel, just so they could watch my meltdown, not really, but I should have sat in the back instead of the front, don't you think?

The program started and I realized that I had not seen E all this time. I mouthed to my husband, who was having grand time sitting with sweet K, "Have you seen E?" He could see I was wrestling with S, who decided he wanted to torment the gentleman behind us. My husband got up and asked my dad if he could go look for E in the hallway. 5 minutes went by and my dad appeared in the doorway, shrugging his shoulders. I told M to stay put, gripped S by the arm and went to see if I could find E. As I was getting to the back of the church, all kinds of things were passing through my brain as to what might have happened to E as all mothers think of from time to time when their kids are lost. Kidnapping, being lost and afraid, etc. The thought came to me that I should look in the car and I thought "Why would she be in the car? That is ridiculous!" But I hurried and looked out the window at my car which was hidden behind a bush. Dragging S, I went outside but couldn't see anything. I peered into the window and still didn't see anything, I stood back up and out of the corner of my eye, saw movement. E was in the car this whole time!! I had tried the front door handle but it was locked, I tried the second door handle (it was locked too!) and it opened (I want to thank tithing for that one!).

I had a rush of emotions go through me, relief, peace, suprise...then anger. I asked E if she was all right (she had been in the car for more than 20 minutes!! in July!!! Thank heaven it was overcast that day but even still!!) and then I told her to get her butt out of that car! What was she thinking?!! It was then that my meltdown reached the melting point. I was still gripping S by the arm and proceeded to give E a piece of my mind. I think at some point I must have looked like a lunatic, throwing a temper tantrum like I did. Oh, did I mention that when I opened the car door, the car alarm went off? I practically threw S at my dad, grabbed E and marched into the church and into the boy's bathroom to retrieve the car keys from my husband's suit so that I could turn off the car alarm, still ranting and raving at E. She could have died from heat exposure!! I could have gotten a ticket or gone to jail!! E's excuse for sitting in the car? Not that she didn't know where we went or that she was lost or even that she didn't know how to open any other door (S's door is child locked so you have to open it from the outside).

It was because she didn't want to sit by M in the chapel.

She sat and pouted in a hot car because she didn't want to sit by M in the chapel. M was being mean to her on the drive up to the church. I was totally speechless with anger. I marched back into the chapel where I had missed all but the last talk and just tried to breathe so I could calm down.

At this point in the program, the Stake leader announced the order of baptisms and can you guess? Our ward was dead last!! I wanted to laugh or cry, I didn't know which one I should do. So then we waited and waited, at least 30 minutes went by while all the other wards filed out of the chapel. E decided she wanted to change part of her outfit and I kept telling her no, they were going to call our ward anytime. Finally, I said "You have two seconds to change. Hurry!" A couple minutes later, they called our ward and we walked to the back of the church to the font. I sat down in front and didn't even realize E wasn't there again. K got to be baptized first and she looked so cute in her stake baptism dress. I went back to help her get dressed in her white dress that her grandma made and when we came out, E was sitting there crying. She had been in the other bathroom messing around all this time and missed K's baptism! I asked her where she had been and she said "You didn't tell me to hurry! and I wanted to see K getting baptized!"

You will be glad to know that the rest of the day went better. K looked beautiful in her baptism dress and the dinner was nice. My mom and dad were there with my grandma. My aunt and uncle came along with their son and his family, all 4 of Big S's sisters came and even one of Big S's nephews and his family came from Idaho. I am sad though that I didn't get a picture of this motley crew on this crazy day, but seriously I am just glad it is over and nobody died!