Be Prepared

This is a two part bad news/good news post about the importance of being prepared.



First the bad news. We had a scary experience Friday night as we were playing games at my parents' house. The adults were playing cards upstairs and the kids were downstairs playing and watching TV. As we were playing, we heard a LOUD series of crashes and glass breaking followed by screaming. My heart sank, I threw my cards on the table, and ran downstairs as fast as I could. I saw my parents' three section entertainment center on the ground. The TV, VCR, DVD player, all the DVDs and videos were on the ground, broken glass everywhere. Sean, Olivia, and their cousin Kirsten were all underneath. I did my best to lift enough of the entertainment center up so Sean could get out (Darin was there at this point. He lifted it up the rest of the way, and I pulled Sean out.) Olivia was able to crawl out. I heard Kirsten from the other side. I couldn't see her so I didn't even realize that she was there at first. She, too was able to get out safely. Other than being a little shaken up, all three kids were fine. As I sat on the rocking chair with Sean, and saw the aftermath I shook my head in disbelief, knowing that we were definitely protected from serious harm. My mind went to stories of kids being killed from falling TVs, and I knew that this could have easily been fatal. I felt so blessed that they were all safe, and I know that it wasn't just luck. Also not just luck was the fact that David was sleeping safely in a bedroom down the hall, and Warren had just come upstairs a few minutes before it happened. I also feel SO grateful that my parents' one and only concern was the safety of our children. After I knew everyone was o.k., I turned to my dad and said, "It looks like we owe you a TV." to which he replied, "You don't owe me a thing. I'm glad everyone is o.k, and it's much less expensive than a new barn." (When my dad was 5, he hosted a hot dog roast in the neighbor's haystack and started the barn on fire. It was destroyed.) Thankfully, we now have three little witnesses who will remind the other grandkids to follow the rules. (There are two little doors on each side of the entertainment center that are much too tempting not to play in. That proved to be the culprit of the fall.) We continue to feel very blessed, and feel like it is our responsibility to share our little story so it doesn't happen to you! Please talk to your kids about not climbing on or playing in entertainment centers, bookshelves, etc. and if you have tall furniture that could potentially fall, please secure it to the wall. The bad news portion of the post is over...on to the exciting portion of my post that still has a valuable lesson in being prepared.

Here's the background story. Thursday night we went on a date, and a girl in our neighborhood babysat for us. When she got here she told us that Benji, winner of "So You Think You Can Dance" was at her house. (Her dad was a mission president in Mexico when Benji was on his mission. Benji spent three weeks at their house recovering from an illness and got to know the family very well.) I was so excited, and we tried to go to their house to meet him, but he had just left. Joe, their son, assured us that next time he was over, they would let us know. Fast forward to the next evening. I had spent the day babysitting and cleaning, and it was the first and only time in over a month since I started exercising regularly that I didn't change out of my exercise shirt. I had also just waxed my eyebrows and upper lip, and my skin was bright red and it was stinging like crazy. In an attempt to soothe my skin, I put baby oil on the sore parts of my face. Paints quite a picture, doesn't it? I was talking to Keri on the phone, asking her if Jamee had had her baby yet and telling her that I doubted if the redness on my face would ever go away. I was just ready to hang up and get in the shower when Olivia ran up to my bedroom and announced that Amy had brought Benji by for us to meet. I panicked. I was not in a condition to meet anyone, let alone a celebrity. If I had been thinking clearly, I would have taken 30 seconds to wipe the greasy baby oil off my face and throw on some make-up, but alas, I was not thinking clearly, so I ran downstairs and outside. I was so embarrassed!!! He was so kind. He got out of the car, shook our hands, and chatted for a few minutes. I wanted to ask him all sorts of questions like what he had been up to, his coolest experience so far, will you show me some moves, etc. but my brain was so focused on the fact that I looked the way I did that I just stood there and let Darin ask the questions. AARGH!!! We got our picture taken with him, and he left. The moral of this story is...Be prepared, people! You never know when a celebrity will show up in your driveway! It was fun afterward to talk to Darin about his celebrity sightings. He said he has met Marie Osmond and Chuck Norris, and we sat next to Steve Young at Stake Conference when we were first married. I really don't have any other celebrity sightings to share, but I would love to hear yours! If you haven't seen "So You Think You Can Dance", you can go to YouTube and search for Benji Schwimmer. There are a ton of videos. The boy can move! Here is (some of) our family with Benji (Sean is hiding behind Darin's legs, and Warren was playing in the backyard).