Fly like an Eagle...

The most excitement I get these days is when I successfully make it through the day without getting puked on, pooped on, can clean faster than my girls make messes, get a 20 minute nap in, or have actually go out on a date with my husband (I think his name is Jeff if I can remember right), none of which have happened yet, but a girl can dream. So, it was pretty exciting last weekend when the girls and I braved a gloomy weather forecast, and traveled to my parents house for the weekend, and yes it took almost an hour (and a minor cryfest by me) just to get to Brigham City, which is only 25 miles away, between getting a wrong order at Wendy’s, feeding a screaming baby, finding a bank that was supposedly on the way, forgetting the car was out of gas and having stagnant snow melt from above overhang whipping me in the face while pumping gas, etc. We started off the weekend terrorizing the disco party that my brothers held in their basement. The effects were state of the art, and eventually after threatening the DJ to stop playing Gnarls Barkley, the music improved and Morgan, Kaitlyn, and Addy stole the show. They were breakin’ it down like they were the disco diva’s of the night! It was a blast even though I paid for it the next day by staying up waaay too late (1 AM!!!), then having to feed a baby throughout the night. Saturday I went to an excellent conference with my family on creating anything I desire for the new year (abundance, passion, joy, unity, travel, freefall- to name a few). That night Karly dragged Jefferson and I to see P.S. I Love You, and it was bad enough that we were third row back, but other than Gerard Butler’s face that close, it was a precious night out wasted on a really bad flick (Sorry Karly, present company excluded, we just have opposite taste in movies!). The next morning the weather wasn’t looking too bad at my parents’ house, so Rachel and I began to drive up to Sundance to get tickets to the film festival. As soon as we hit Provo Canyon we were in a major blizzard and began sliding all over the place if we drove over 10 MPH. The good news is we were going slow enough to notice a bald eagle preening on a branch right off the side of the road. It was the most incredible scene and something I would’ve given anything to have my camera with me to capture. This juvenile eagle was sitting on this branch facing the massive storm head on as if to say “bring it on, you’ve got nothing on me”! It was the most bold and beautiful sight, which I had to enjoy with the window rolled up, for when I attempted to roll it down I was blinded by the force of wind and snow being sucked into the car. As we journeyed on, we got to the turn off up to Sundance and were informed that we needed chains or 4 wheel drive to proceed up the canyon, neither of which we had. We flipped a U and began driving back home when I suggested hitchhiking the rest of the way. Rachel kept driving because she thought I was either kidding or too suburban mom wussy to really do it. I told her I was up for it so we turned around and parked the car off to the side of the road. The first car that turned the corner was a Subaru-shout out to all wheel drive- that Rachel flagged down (I let her use her I-still-look-like-I’m-hot-and-25-charms on it) and they picked us up. It just happened to be 3 Aussies headed up to get tickets as well, so we had a great time chatting with them and enjoying their chipper accents. We were the only ones that day that braved the conditions to get tickets and the girl selling tickets was so bored she mixed us up some hot cocoa and begged us to stay and talk as long as we could. We made it back to our car with a farewell to our new friends, who we hope to see at the festival, and continued back down the canyon. Ahhh takes me back to my wild and adventurous days of college and backpacking across Europe with Rachel, where we also hitched in Switzerland! Our good fortune almost ran out (we had Duane on standby to come rescue us) when Rachel only had one working windshield wiper and the dysfunctional one kept sabotaging the good (and I use the term generously) one so we had to take turns getting out of the car, at risk of getting pummeled by a careless driver, and fixing it in the blinding, freezing onslaught of snow. We made it back in time to take a short break and then I jumped back in the car with my girls to challenge myself to another harrowing ride back to Providence (canyon closed, wrong exits, horrible roads…)! All in all it was a fun weekend that was worth the death-defying driving experiences for a little break from the norm, aka diapers, tantrums, never ending laundry, more diapers...!

P.S. I Love You Karly (you’re the only one that probably looks at my blog!)

P.P.S. A side note on the Eagle totem: The eagle teaches us that we have the ability to soar to great heights if only we will find the courage to do so. Once we dare to reach, we find that the up currents and thermals of the Universe will support us. Through Eagle we learn that the joy and freedom we gain through reaching for the Sun is worth the fear of singed feathers. Bring it On!!!