The McGarys : Our Week Alone

Last week Brad went to a week-long Scout Camp and left Kallie and me to fend for ourselves. It was really just Mon through Sat but the camp was 8 hours away from Jax so they left a couple days early so they wouldn't have to travel on the Sabbath or miss church. Our friend Tony graciously offered to drive his own car alongside Brad as a second leader, even though he doesn't have a calling in scouts. Brad was really grateful to have him come, but I wouldn't be surprised if Tony regretted his decision before the first day came to an end. Why you ask? Well, when they were about 2 hours from camp Brad and Tony found themselves in a 3-car crash on the freeway. A fourth car was involved but only enough to cause the entire accident and run away. Our van (that we've only owned for a few months) was mildly smashed in around the front corner and door on the driver's side. Tony's car...was totaled. So that's really awesome for him and his wife. I feel so bad that the worst of this happened to the person that volunteered to go out of the goodness of his heart. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of Tony's car; just the other two cars:

Our van

The 3rd vehicle

Brad called me as they awaited the cop's arrival and all that came to mind was, "Huh. On the first day? Before you even got there? That really stinks." I hope it's obvious by my light-hearted description of this event that no one was hurt. On the contrary while Brad and Tony were sorting everything out with the cops the boys plopped down on the side of the freeway and started playing cards to pass the time.

Making the best out of the situation

They dropped off the vehicles at an auto shop, rented a couple more and continued right on up to camp. I was a little surprised at how casually they continued their trip. I thought they might at least consider the possibility of canceling the whole thing and coming home but what can I say? They are SCOUTS.


Brad had a productive week at camp

Actually Brad's pretty good at widdling (?) wood. He made a sword

And he made a Harry Potter wand

That same day our Relief Society had an Enrichment activity called "Christmas in July". They had five or six women teach a holiday craft (me being one of them). When the rep first asked me to choose and teach a craft I stared at her like she was from outer space. Don't get me wrong, I think crafts are awesome and cute but they do NOT come naturally to me. I can make one with someone by my side every step of the way but coming up with my OWN craft idea and teaching it? I accepted the task but gave that very sincere warning. With the help of Traci, the craftiest woman in our ward, I copied a craft found on Pinterest and figured out how to make it. It was probably the cheapest one ever made because Traci already had 90% of the materials.

Still, I was nervous to teach on the day of the event. Since Brad was gone I had to take Kallie with me (thankfully daycare was provided) and I was paranoid I didn't have enough material so I stopped on the way to pick some extra Spanish moss from a tree I saw. Turned out only 4 people ended up making my craft out of the 15 that signed up. I was a little disappointed. It turned out pretty cute though:

Baby Jesus ornament

The next day at church I was able to sit with our friends Wayne and Molly specifically so Kallie could play with their boy Sam and be distracted through sacrament meeting. It's getting exhausting to entertain her and let her climb all over my pregnant belly. As soon as the meeting ended I stood up to leave and noticed a big spot of something orange smashed into the bench...right in the spot I had been sitting. Oh no. I inspected my skirt and sure enough that same huge spot of melted CHEESE was all over my butt. Wayne offered to take Kallie to nursery so I could run to the bathroom. My wonderful friend Heather lives really close to the church and offered to run home to grab me a clean skirt. I was so grateful!

Kallie now repeats everything she says at least five times. As soon as I lift her out of the crib every morning she says, "Babble babble mock? (milk)." As she pats my leg to get my attention, "Mama! Mama! Mama! Mama! Babble babble walk (and point)." She ate "monko" (mango) for the first time tonight and loved it of course. What fruit does she not love? During the week Brad was gone I killed four cockroaches. Ever since then Kallie points to one of the spots in the house we spotted a cockroach and says "BUG! Ewww!" And every time she hugs one of us or her stuffed animals she says, "Awww!".

Kallie's knees are constantly scraped up and bleeding because she trips and falls so often they never get a chance to scab over and heal. I'm guessing they'll eventually get REALLY calloused. Poor thing. Every time she falls she says, "Okay?" cuz she's so used to hearing me ask if she's okay and every time she stands back up she bends down to inspect her knees and then looks at me and says/signs "Owie. Hurt."