Ryan Deserves An Award

Yesterday was one of those days that will go down in history as "one of the worst".  You know, one of those days that you laugh about for years and say, "you just can't make this stuff up".

It all started with the best of intentions.  Last Friday Ryan took Austin and Dallin skiing for the first time up at Sundance.  Actually, Dallin snowboarded.  But he had so much fun it was all he talked about for days and kept asking Ryan if they could go again Monday since it was a holiday.  Ryan not only agreed but decided he would take all four kids for a day of fun on the bunny hill at Sundance.  

I couldn't believe how gorgeous the weather was when we woke up Monday morning.  The sun was shining and the air was clean.  I was so jealous they were going to spend the whole day outside in such wonderful weather.  Ryan decided to also take Dallin's friend Treygan and cousin Kolby.  He left at 9 am to pick up the other two kids and then headed to BYU to rent the remaining equipment that they needed.  Then, since it was getting close to lunch he bought everyone Wendy's and then headed up the canyon.  Just as he turned to go up to Sundance the road was closed.  A police officer told Ryan there had been a mudslide and the road wouldn't be open for about an hour.  So Ryan took the kids to Vivian park to play around and try out their skis on some small hills.  When they tried to go back up the road to Sundance it was still closed.

Ryan decided that instead of giving up and going home he would take the kids to Alta instead since they also have a free bunny hill and a free lift after 3pm.  He drove to a Red Box and picked up a movie and got the kids more lunch and then headed up to Salt Lake.  Well, it turned out that Alta doesn't allow snowboarders.  So although most of the kids were able to ski and have fun, Dallin (who was the one that wanted to go in the first place) and Kolby weren't able to do anything since they only had snowboards.  The rest of them were able to ski for about an hour and a half before it was time to head back home.

When Ryan got to Orem he took the kids out to dinner and Treygan's mom came to pick him up.  Around 6:30 pm Ryan realized he had to have the skis back to BYU by 7 pm so he got all the kids in the van and headed out.  Somewhere around Will's Pit Stop he hit a deer.  And not just a deer but a 5 point buck!  As it started to sink in what had happened he realized the whole front of the van was smashed in (it was a big buck).  So my super hero husband who left with the best of intentions at 9 am to take six kids skiing got home at 9 pm with some of the kids in his brothers car and the rest in his sister in laws truck.  They were all exhausted.  Dallin, who had previously been crabby about not getting to snowboard was actually laughing about the whole day.  Even though there were still some tears in his eyes he admitted the whole thing was ridiculous.  I looked at him and said, "Dallin, you had a really bad day."

Vivian Park

Finally making it to Alta.  Don't look at Dallin too closely.

You would think on a day as beautiful as this one was that nothing could go wrong.

Now, to add my own small piece of grief to an overly grievous day...

Since it was so warm outside I decided to take Evelyn for a walk in my brand new jogging stroller.  I bundled her up and we headed out.  It felt so good to feel the sun on my face and the fresh air in my lungs.  Eve was asleep within seconds and I was thoroughly enjoying myself.  As I was coming up the hill near the cow pasture I noticed a huge puddle and a van coming down the road.  I figured I wouldn't make it across the puddle before the van reached us so I walked off the road as far as I could get and waited.  The van didn't even slow down at all and raced through the puddle at full speed sending a wave of mud all over me, the baby, and my new stroller!  Two seconds later I noticed the smell.  It wasn't just mud, but melted cow manure!  There were stinky brown splashes all over me, the stroller, and the baby's blanket.  Fortunately I had Evelyn completely covered so none of it got on her but I was completely disgusted for the rest of my walk home and washed everything the minute I walked in the door!  I even scrubbed the stroller with anti bacterial wipes but it still makes me cringe just thinking about it.

I realize there are those days in life when things just go wrong and it all seems to snowball but I think yesterday qualifies as an avalanche of disappointment and disasters.