Darkness Falls

On Friday night Bryan and Peter went on a local campout with the Boy Scouts in our ward. Phoebe had a game night at school, which meant Cooper and Sophie and I would have an adventure of our own.

Shortly after returning home from dropping Phoebe off at school, the power went out. The three of us gathered in our library and talked about what we should do instead of watching a movie, our original plan. That's when Bryan called and asked us to deliver a few items that he had forgotten at home. Well, if we couldn't have fun, at least we could be productive. We slowly walked through the house, gathering the needed supplies, all while staying in the beam of the flashlight on my cell phone. By the time we made our delivery, we had less than an hour until we had to get Phoebe, not enough time to go home and wander in the dark.

The power company estimated that they would have the power back on by 9:30, which would mean that once we were back home with Phoebe, bedtime would be done in the dark. We had eaten a light dinner before dropping Phoebe off, but I figured she might be hungry when she was done. I came up with a new plan for fun.

"Hey guys, what if we go get some food, go get Phoebe, then eat in the van and watch a movie on my phone while we sit in the driveway?"

Cooper and Sophie thought that sounded awesome.

The real aim of my plan was to keep my phone charging in the car as long as I could, hence the suggestion that we hang out in the van so much longer than necessary. We grabbed some fast food and picked up a very worn out Phoebe from her school and told her about our plan for the rest of the evening. That's when she started crying because she was so tired.

As we drove home I brainstormed about how to help Phoebe. Then, something amazing happened. We entered our neighborhood and discovered that the power had come back on early! We didn't need to sit in the car trying to watch a movie on my little phone after all.

In celebration, we ate our fast food picnic-style on a blanket on the living room floor while we watched a short movie. By the time we had all eaten and the kids were tucked into bed, it was 9:30. I snuggled with each child for a bit. At 10, the girls both asleep, I was holding Cooper's hand. My eyes were suddenly too heavy to keep open.

I woke up at nearly 11 at night. My first thought was, "I still need to blog and exercise." My second thought followed quickly, "Nope, I'm going to sleep." Hence no post on Friday.

It ended up being a good choice. Due to a headache and simply being cold, I woke up at 3AM, unable to fall back to sleep until two hours later. I would have really been a zombie if I hadn't gone right to sleep the night before.

On a positive note, Bryan and Peter had a much more successful camping experience than their rain-soaked outing back in May. And despite our late night adventure in the dark, the kids that were with me had a pretty good time too.