It Really Is Possible

To have a perfectly wonderful family outing with a group this size.

It seems like so many of the outings we've had in the past few years have been tons of work with little reward.

Saturday was different.

We got home from a week in Idaho at 2am.  We were pretty tired.  We didn't get much done, but we did get the car unpacked.  We even cleaned it out and vacuumed it.  It has been a good 6 or 7 months since that happened.  We tidied up the house and decided to appease Nathan's longing to take his report card in to Krispy Kreme Donuts to get free donuts for A's. 
It was right about dinnertime, and we had some cash on hand, so we decided to take the kids to the Mexican dive we discovered when we were getting our snow tires off a couple of months ago. 
It was clean and quiet.
It was empty.
What more could we ask for our rambunctious bunch?
The food was delicious, with even our pickiest eaters enjoying it.
The whole thing went off without a hitch. 

We were all pretty full for donuts, and the HOT light was off.  Nathan needed a new suit for his upcoming ordination and we were down the road from Burlington Coat Factory.  We decided to come back for donuts after doing some shopping. 
Nathan was hesitant about getting a suit.  I sensed a bit of a power struggle between him and Dallin.  Dallin REALLY loves it when young men wear suits, and he REALLY wants our boys to wear suits when participating in the ordinance of the Sacrament.  Not just a white shirt, but a suit. 
Nathan was definitely leaning in the "white shirt only" direction. 
Dallin said he'd settle for slacks and a blazer. 
I was worried that we'd be there forever trying to appease both parties. 
When we got there, I took Nathan to the suit row and suggested he look around just in case he saw something he loved.
He did! 
They had his size!
I picked up a shirt that was lying on a rack out of the package, and it was his size.
Meanwhile, Dallin was in the shoe department trying to find the match to the perfect shoe he had happened upon.
I sent Nathan to the fitting rooms while I found a selection of ties that I thought would look great with the suit.
The whole thing looked great. 
I took the little kids to the toys and made several trips to the potty while Dallin and Nathan found the package to the shirt and got ready to check out.
No power struggle, no hours searching for the right thing, just easy-peasy.

Back to Krispy Kreme we went.  The HOT light was on! We stood and watched the donut machine for several minutes before ordering.  We ordered and enjoyed and came home to bed. 

Such a blessed, blessed day! 
I felt such happiness and hope that we really can have a wonderful time as a family in public.

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