The day after Rock on the Range, I woke up to small children jumping on me. Squeezing my eyes tight, I tried to ignore them and go back to sleep. But their tiny voices broke through anyway. Add the voice of my teenage sister, and there was no way I was going back to bed.
“Mom! A little help, please!” I called out, opening my eyes to most of my siblings. The only ones missing were Qaidys and Kohlier.
“She’s downstairs feeding Qaidys, and probably can’t hear you.” Renynn said with a grin. Eiley was wrapped around my neck, preventing me from sitting up. Once I disentangled her, I was able to rub my eyes and look at the time.
“ok, seriously?? It’s 7 in the morning. Why are you waking me up?” I groaned.
“They have to get ready for church. Rather, we have to get ready.” My mom said as she entered the room. Qaidys broke into a massive grin when she saw me. I took her and snuggled for a minute before the realization hit me.
“Please tell me they didn’t wake Ash up!”
Renynn’s head whipped around.
“Ash is here too?? I thought it was just you!” she exclaimed.
Struggling to get out from under the mass of bodies, I bolted downstairs. Running through the kitchen, I rounded a couple of corners to get to the back bedroom. Luckily, the door was closed, but that didn’t mean there weren’t kids in there. Slowly, I opened the door and peeked my head in. Ash was curled around a pillow, sound asleep.
Closing the door, I sighed with relief. When I got back upstairs, everyone was half dressed and my mom was doing hair. Renynn was standing in front of a dresser, doing her makeup with a small table top mirror.
“When did you guys even get here?” she asked, applying mascara carefully.
“Late last night. We were in Columbus for a festival all day.”
My mom came out of the bathroom.
“Didn’t that get cut short because of the weather?” she asked, helping Wyatt button his shirt.
“Yeah but we were hanging out with the rest of the guys afterwards. And went to Andy’s parents for a bit.” I explained, digging through my suitcase for something better to wear. With my family being LDS, I didn’t want to spark a conversation about my choice of pajamas. I slipped into a pair of sweats and threw one of Ash’s shirts over my tank.
In the chaos, nobody bothered to ask if I was going to church with them. At least… not until all the kids were in the car and my mom was headed out.
“You’re not coming with us? There’s a lot of people here who would like to see you.” She pointed out as I was hunting through the fridge for food.
“I wasn’t planning on being here past ten, but I’m not sure when Ash is going to wake up. And I didn’t pack anything to wear to church. My bag is literally full of shorts, leggings and skinny jeans.” I said, pulling leftover meatloaf out to heat up.
“Renynn could have loaned you something to wear. We’ll see you later.” She replied as she walked out the door.
