Kristi's Surprise Vacation

A few months ago, I decided that Kristi and I needed a vacation before we had this third child. I figured that we would have a tough time finding babysitters for our two boys, let alone finding sitters for three kids. So, from here on out, we're consigned to family vacations (which I'm actually looking forward to, but will probably change my tune after the very first day of the very first one).

Another reason why I wanted to do this is that I have seen that our life here in this tabernacle of clay can be a very fickle thing. I could literally pass away any day. Our day-to-day existence really is a blessing from God. I'm sure that a bunch of you reading this know that we had a tragedy in Southern Utah a couple of months ago. I knew several of the people that died in the plane crash, and I knew a few of those that were left behind. My mind wandered a lot the first few days after the accident. I kept thinking of the pilot's 7 year-old son who celebrated his birthday the day after his father died in the plane crash. If you want to read more about what happened, click here. After my soul searching, I decided to take some of our savings and go on a fun vacation before stealthy ninja #3 arrives in Feb. I digress, but I'm really stoked on another boy...

So, I began planning by asking around to see if anyone would want to go on a 5-day vacation with us. Since we would be using our savings, and I'm so cheap, my options were limited. Everyone I asked said that they couldn't go - so I asked if they would babysit my boys while I took Kristi on a very short week-long vacation. One person I asked said yes, but sounded a little worried. I asked him why he sounded so unsure, and his delicate answer was, "Well, they umm... move around quite a bit." My reply, "You mean they're rowdy?" He concurred.

I was planning this even before our trip to Logan for Labor Day, and Kristi was completely oblivious to all of this. I was able to arrange free lodging in So Cal the nights before the cruise, as well as free and secure parking. I informed all of the parents of the kids that Kristi babysits with plenty of time to find other sitters. I had everything all set. Then, about 5 days before the vacation, Kristi and I were talking before bed and she said something about hanging out with Ron and Elaine. I said, "we have our 'special date' on Saturday... maybe they can come too." By 'special date,' I meant cleaning the house for Ron & Elaine (who would be watching our kids here at the house for a few days). I wouldn't let her plan anything for Saturday because I knew she would freak if we left the house dirty. BUT, to my dismay, she got really gitty and said, "Ooh! Are they really coming with us?!" I chuckled and said, "Oh, if you only knew..." To which she replied, "I already know, Jer - Are they coming with us, really?"

At that point, I was like, "HOLD UP! WHAT do you know and WHO told you?"

Then, I found out that when we left our phone chargers in Logan, after her phone died, I lent her my phone 'for emergencies' since we don't have a home phone. She turned it off and went about her day. She turned on the phone and saw 4 voicemails. She just knew they were from me trying to get a hold of her. Well, they weren't - she must have forgotten that we were chatting on google talk like every 20 minutes that day...

One message was from her brother saying that he would watch our kids, one was from my buddy in SoCal saying that we could crash at his place, one was from ROYAL CARIBBEAN, and the other was from Ron and Elaine saying that they could watch our kids at our house while we were on vacation. So, it was ruined a full month before we even left!

Did Kristi say anything to me? NO! She just kept to herself - all mums! I felt like I had been played like never before.

Needless to say, the vacation was awesome and well-worth all my troubles. Pictures in the next post.

PS - sorry to be so verbose here, but I really had to get this off my chest and vent to the blogging universe. Now, I believe I am at peace...