Kids Say the Darndest Things - April '14 Edition

Taken from the sidebar....

Miss B & I were talking about how old she was when she went to preschool and which home we lived in at the time. We figured out that she never went to school while living in our old home, it all happened while in the new one.....Brookelle: "So, what did I do the whole time in the old house?  Just be LAZY?!?   4/14

Brookelle and I were at McDonald's for "lunch."  She was eating chicken Mcnuggets and I was having a drink.  She pulled something out of her mouth when she was eating one of her nuggets.
Brookelle: "What's THIS?"
Me: "I don't know.  Is it a hard-to-chew piece?"
Brookelle: "Yes."
Me: "Just wrap it in your napkin, then."
AND THEN IT HAPPENED AGAIN ON HER NEXT NUGGET!
Brookelle: "What could this hard thing be in my nugget?"
Me: [joking] "Hmmm....do you think it's the beak?   Or the chicken claw?"
(Brookelle looked uncomfortable for a couple of seconds, then with a smile & a sweet voice)
Brookelle: "Mom, would you like to eat the rest of my nuggets?"   4/14

This Weekend:

* Our elementary school aged children invited us to go with them to the annual V. I. P. breakfast at their school.

We "dined" on muffins, bagels, cold cereal, & fruit.

* Matt met me at the Bountiful Temple Friday late afternoon to attend

a session together.

It was nice to be there with him again - due to our schedules,

I have just been going single a lot lately.

* When we came out of the temple, it was pouring rain!

Uh Oh.  Ryan was umpiring at the ball park, and 

the plan was for us to drop him off a car to have

when he got done with his games later in the evening.

The rain forced them to call the games early, and

he was stuck in the rain without a car.

* Matt & I finished our date night by going out to dinner at our "standby", Costa Vida, afterwards.
{It's so convenient now that we have one RIGHT IN Farmington!}

* Saturday morning, my friend/photographer came out to take

Ryan's Sr. pictures.....BUT, it was raining still!

And it was MORNING! = he was NOT a happy camper!

After an hour or so, we called it good and rescheduled

for when it's suppose to be a lot better weather.

(But, then he got to go to work - refereeing soccer IN THE RAIN for 3 hrs!)

* I went to a bridal shower brunch for our Bishop's daughter.

It was really fun visiting with the ladies in attendance and the bride & groom-to-be.

This girl really "has it together" and it was sweet to hear her fiance talk about how amazing she is.

In fact, he told the story about how he's had this certain conversation with her a few times now, asking her: 

Tell me what I even have to bring to the table?  I know I'm good looking, ;) but YOU....

you've already got all these accomplishments, talent, brains, skills, & a whole list of attributes. 

(That's GOOD he's starting out with the proper adulation for the most important woman in his life!) 

Anyway, after his comment, one of the more "mature" ladies there gave a sermon reminded

them that it is Heavenly Father's PLAN for men & women to marry and have their own family!

{THAT'S WHY he's needed}

* In the afternoon, I actually started hanging up pictures and decorations
on the walls of my "new" [20 month old] home!
I finally committed and put holes in my walls - some in the wrong place and had to do over!  {sigh}

* Went to the store and then picked up Little Caesars pizzas on the
way back for dinner.
It's Saturday night, and we are trying to follow Matt's tradition
of his youth: always having pizza on Saturday night.
(Gluten-Free Haylee eats an alternative meal}

* It was our Stake Conference weekend, so we went to the Saturday
evening session, and took Ryan & Kyle since the youth were
invited this time to what is the usual "adult" session.
We had some great speakers including one who told the story of how he
 invited a gang member, in a colorful Sacramento area, to church,
then invited him to hear the missionary discussions, then invited him to be baptized!!
He accepted it all, and actually had to get the FBI involved; be relocated and get a new identity.  WOW!
Afterwards, the parents of Ryan's future prom date approached us and we met & visited with them.

* We went to Roxberry afterwards for smoothies with Kyle (Ryan left the conference early to go "crash" another High School's prom.  It's dumb, I think).
{and then I was CHILLED and couldn't wait to get home in my warm jammies & bed!}

* We got up pretty early on Sunday morning so we could leave
our home at 8:30 a.m. (all church-dress-ready) to drive out to the Conference Center
 in Salt Lake City for our Stake/Regional Conference.

It ended up we got there PLENTY early (in our seats 47 min. before it started),
but it was good, because I like to have a good seat, close & center, so I can SEE!
We didn't know beforehand who would be speaking, but we got to hear gospel messages from
several general authorities & officers of the church, including Elder Neil L. Andersen and his wife - which was really special.
Especially because usually children under the age of 8 are not allowed into events at the Conference Center,
(frequently these live events are being filmed/recorded, so they can't have too much noise)
so it was a real treat for Brookelle & Katelyn to be able to go this time - they'd never been, yet!

* We had my cousin and her family of 6 over for Sunday dinner.
She has three daughters who match up in age with my three girls,
so they got to officially meet and hang out for the first time.
They actually live quite close, but we'd never gotten together.
They are a delightful family.  And we got to pull out our high chair again for their baby!  :)
When it was time for them to go, the girls were hugging and begging
to have them stay, asking when they could be with them again!
And, of course, they tried to pull the "stowaway" trick in their minivan.
We hope to see them some more.

* We wanted to go on a walk in the evening to assist the digestion
of our turkey dinner & brownie sundaes, BUT it started to rain again!
Aaugh!
So, we just stayed inside and put our computers, TVs, & electronics to use.
(That wasn't a wise trade off! hahaha.)

It Still Gives Me the Chills

I just finished reading this book:

{it was on my "new year's resolutions."  Yay!  Another check.}

It totally took me back 12 years to when the abduction first happened.

I remember it vividly.

I was glued to any news story about the whole case.  We're talking I was border-line obsessed with it.  This was happening in my own state, just 20 miles away, after all!

I think it was also because kidnapping has always been one of my biggest fears.  I was so scared of being kidnapped as a child.  I remember walking home in the dark and hearing people somewhere in back of me and thinking, "Who's behind me?  Are they going to kidnap me?  I can't turn around and look because then they'll know that I know they're following me.  And if they know I saw them, they'll have to kidnap me AND kill me."
(I know, irrational, huh?!?)
As a parent, now, the first thought I have whenever I can't find one of my children is, "Oh no!  Kidnapping?"  Which is kind of absurd because the likelihood of daily kidnappings where I live is very low.

For days and weeks after the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping news broke, the kidnapper was still considered, AT LARGE.   No one knew how they had gotten away; on foot, a getaway vehicle, had they flown somewhere?  Were they still in the city?  The state?  The country?  He could still be among us!  A lot of people were frightened, it wasn't just me.

I remember, in particular, just a day or two after the kidnapping, I was out walking my baby Haylee in the stroller around Farmington and on the Lagoon Trail.  I was ON ALERT and really looking into the groves of trees on either side of the trail for any glimpses of red satin pajamas (the thing she was wearing when she was taken).  Maybe they had walked up north to get out of sight of the Salt Lake City investigators?!? I thought.  My mind wandered to all the scenarios of this event and nothing else on the walk.  I even asked myself the question in my mind, "What I would do?" if I saw the girl wearing red pajamas.  I came up with the plan that we could switch clothes and then hurry back to my home to use the phone to call her parents & police.  We had to do it that way because it was also before I had a cell phone.   The clothes swap was to be used as a diversion: I thought she could put on my workout clothes (and, therefore, would be unrecognizable?) and I would put on her red pajamas, so if her captor happened upon the area, he'd spot the red pajamas, but then see ME, someone who looked NOTHING like his victim, instead, just a lady in her 30's who had brown hair (with a bad perm at the time) and he'd move on because I wasn't her!  How ridiculous that idea is if you really think about it.......AS IF a 2 month Post-Birth mom would've fit into 14 yr. old pajamas!!  :0

I remembered all of this when reading her book. 

At that time, back in 2002, I was also up A LOT during the night, nursing Haylee, and I'd think about her kidnapping some more then.  I was already thinking about it quite a bit, but probably because her kidnapping happened in the middle of the night while everyone slept, I was reminded of it again at these times.  Every noise I heard would make me wonder, "What is that?  Is someone outside my home?" and I could really freak myself out just sitting there in the dark.  In the beginning days of the crime, it seemed they didn't know anything about what really happened after she was taken from her bedroom, but there were theories.  One of the theories they were saying on the news was that her captor must've been familiar with the family's routine, staking the place out for a while, so that he could come in when no one was awake to catch him.  So, then I'd wonder if anyone was watching my home, would they know that I was awake nursing a newborn practically half the night?  And, if so, would that deter them?  So, I started turning on the front room lights, then I'd go into the baby's bedroom to feed her, so all the kidnappers out there would know that someone was up and to not come in to my home!  (A sleep-deprived mom is pretty delirious with her train of thought in the middle of the night!)  But, at the same time, it was also a VERY REAL tragedy for our state!  No one knew where the guy was or if he was on a "kidnapping spree" or if he'd moved to other cities to find more children, etc.

All these memories are still floating around in my brain!

I also recall that my in laws were traveling out of town when the kidnapping happened, but as they were flying back home, they told us they saw her picture and kidnapping fliers all over the St. Louis airport.  The news was traveling EVERYWHERE.  The TODAY SHOW was even doing segments on it for a while - all of which I tried to watch.  I was riveted!

What is also crazy to think about now is, and I was reminded about this while reading her story, that her little sister, who witnessed the crime, was 9 years old.  THAT IS KATELYN'S AGE right now.  Oh, I KNOW that would be terrible for Katelyn - she's so sensitive and empathetic to others' hurts & pain, I don't know if she could ever stop crying over it!  Also, Elizabeth's parents, at the time, were very near my same age - just slightly older - than I am right now!  THAT also made it hit closer to home for me reading the book at this time.

  Horrendous.  Petrifying.  Disturbing.  That's what it was - and is.

But, I also remember exactly where I was when the news hit that she had been found!  ALIVE even!  I was down in my basement family room at our old house.  I hardly ever have the T.V. on during the daytime, but in a rare moment, I turned it on while I was doing something one day back in March 2003.  And there, scrolling across the screen was a news ticker announcing Elizabeth Smart had been found!!!  I immediately called Matt at work and told him.  His first reaction was, "What?  That can't be true."  (He couldn't believe the "found alive" part.)  And then he looked it up on the internet while I was on the phone with him - and it was verified.  Then throughout the rest of the conversation, I heard him repeatedly exclaim, "No Way!  No Way!"  I kept the T.V. on a lot after that!  ;)


Through the years, ever since her return, if there's ever been a magazine article or any interview or the like, it STILL catches my attention.
(I think she dresses & accessorizes so stylishly, by the way!)


The whole experience & that time frame in my life has all been on my mind again this last little while as I read the book.
Interesting how some memories really stick - and other memories, like my daughter has a friend's birthday party to go to (with the invitation right on our fridge!) don't!

Realization Strikes

FIRST, it is the sad truth we no longer have something very darling/delicious/dreamy in our home.  Not a single ONESIE (the absolute cutest, most adorable, easiest to put on (even for men!), biggest I-just-want-to-squeeze-your-irrisistable-chubby-legs-coming-out-of-the-onesie, piece of baby attire EVER!!) is to be found.
Especially some that are floating around the internet these days....and it's like a little punch in the gut knowing I have no use for it/can't buy it:

 {Oh! Those thunder thighs!  Just tell me you don't want to squeeze!}

SECOND, I walk by the nursery at church.....and I keep on walking.  After all those years of dropping off and picking up AND stopping to peek in the window "just to check" on my child, now I don't - and never will again.  There's NO REASON to look in through the window anymore.  But, sometimes I do just because........well, I have no idea WHY?!?   It's weird.  I'm not part of THAT club anymore.

THIRD, it was the realization that I no longer need to shop in the infant & toddler section of the stores - I just pass right on by.  What?!?  I've been browsing that department for the last 19 years!  And I almost can't stand it.  PLEASE!  Invite me to your baby showers, so I can go back!!


But, FINALLY, the strangest thing of all - the thing that REALLY hit me - was when my daughters brought home that demographic/contact info/profile thing-a-ma-jig-er form that we HAVE TO FILL OUT LIKE THREE TIMES A SCHOOL YEAR, and there's a section on that form where we are suppose to list all preschool age & younger children living in our home (so they can plan for future student body numbers).  I have ALWAYS written names here.  But, now there are NONE.  NADA.  For the first time EVER - in the 75 forms I've filled out during the years - I left those lines BLANK.

Yep.  I'M IN UNCHARTERED TERRITORY!  (for me)

Move Over Silly, 3rd Grade Boys....

......Katelyn's got her eye on college football players now!

{Austin Cheney - our back door neighbor!!}

{Brandon Taukeiaho}

{Brian Suite}

{Kyler Fackrell}
- Matt says, "Mark my words.  You'll see him in the NFL!"

We went to the "Blue & White" game (offense vs. defense) up at USU in Logan on Saturday afternoon.

 

After the game, they let us down on the field to meet the players and gave us this poster schedule to get autographs on.  

After a hesitant, slow start, Katelyn really got into it!

She wanted to get EVERYONE'S signature.  Whenever she saw a new player, she'd ask, "Do I have his yet?" and then she'd practically run to them!

Some of the players were real congenial and would ask her name, chat with her, smile at her, invite her to come to their regular season games, etc.  She was eatin' it up!  ;)

Yep!  Just your average girl's  "football crush!"  ;)

What a Difference 31 Years Make

Haylee had her 12th Birthday this week!

And, as such, she got an exciting visit from her new Young Women's Leader, welcoming her.  She'll be entering the Beehive class now!!!  (She couldn't be more pleased - especially since she gets to go to mutual [weekly youth activity] tonight!)

One of the things that she received from her leader during that visit was her own necklace that has the Young Women's motto and logo on the pendant, "Stand For Truth and Righteousness."

{You may have noticed olympic medalist, Noelle Pikus-Pace wearing her own Young Women torch necklace on the medal stand this past winter olympics.}

Haylee immediately put it on after the leader left our home.

It's like a TRUE SIGN that she is an official Young Woman!

Then I told her that I had received the same necklace when I was a Young Woman!  

And then I thought.....

In fact, I THINK I still have mine!  I informed her.

And I went to search for it.

Found it!

But, I had to laugh at the difference.....on a petite, 65 lb., li'l 12 year old girl......

.....it looks like a LONG necklace.

And on a [more mature] lady who is.....well.....MUCH GREATER than 65 lbs. AND a foot taller....

....it's like a CHOKER!

{Time to buy a longer chain}

I guess that's a TRUE SIGN that I'm the opposite of a Young Woman!  : (

Up All Night

Last night we watched a movie on Netflix called, "I Don't Know How She Does It."  

Almost right at the start of the movie, there was this one scene/quote in there that really caught my attention....because it was SO relateable.  It shows the main character (a mom) lying in bed at night, awake, just staring at the ceiling, while her husband is sound asleep next to her.  Her voice is simultaneously narrating the scene:

"A recent study showed that 64% of women with young children don't sleep through the night. 

Researchers were at a loss to explain WHY?

They could've asked me!

At night, I, like women all around the world, do THE LIST

• Emily's Birthday party theme:  Pirates or Pop Stars?
• Things to buy:  paper towels, toothpaste, pork chops, a birthday gift for Jedda's party....
• Find out if "Jedda" is a boy or a girl
• Call that guy
• Make a play date with the kid who doesn't bite
• Refill washer fluid in car  --  Wait a minute!  Shouldn't that be on Richard's (husband) list?  Who am I kidding?!?  Richard doesn't have a list!
• Wax something.....anything!
• Call Richard's mother and say, "Hi."
• OR just email, "Hi"
• Wash Ben's teddy bear
• Renew birth control pills
• Twinkies
• Ambien
• Finish year end fiscal summary........Oh no, START year end fiscal summary
• Hamster?
• Kegels?
• Bagels

...and on and on." 

Oh. My. Word!  I have been there!!!  This was the worst for me when my first (& only at the time) child was in his toddler years.  It was so maddening because he was finally sleeping through the night, but then, there I was lying awake, thinking about EVERYTHING!  Grrrr.

And then I discovered Melatonin. 

Now that I'm past the stage where any of my babies wake up in the middle of the night for nursings, I have been doing better about not waking in the middle of the night for THE LIST.  Now, instead, I make it through the night, only to wake up too early in the morning to THE LIST, while my husband is still sleeping in.  (And then he asks me why I didn't sleep in, when I had a chance to, on the weekend!??!)

So, THEN, last night....

I don't know if it had to do with the fact that:

I had just watched this movie 

OR

I had failed to take my Melatonin

OR

That I had slept in yesterday morning, after returning home late from an extended Spring Break family trip we took, then worked even later, so THE LIST had not been attended to at it's regular time.

But, I awoke at a little past 3:00 in the morning. 

And laid there.  And laid there.  

While Matt was snoozing away....

I tried to block out my own thoughts....

....because everything/one else in the house was QUIET - and I SHOULD be sleeping!

I was still awake when streams of light started to come in between the blind slats.

And I couldn't go back to sleep because the wheels were turning:

I finally started to write THE LIST down on a post-it notepad Kyle made me that I keep on my night stand.......and this was AFTER I'd already made a list while at dinner to get me back on track after being out of town for a week.....the middle of the night stuff was all new stuff!

I asked Matt this morning if he saw THE LIST I'd made during the night.....and he's like, "WHOA!  What the...?!?  Who does that?"

ME.

Kids Say the Darndest Things - Mar. '14 Edition

Taken from the sidebar......

Brookelle: "Oh my word, _______'s (a child in her carpool) car is SO MESSY!  It's a disaster.
Me: "Really?"
Brookelle: "Yes!   Like my bedroom!"  3/14

Matt & I had attended a 3 day "Royalty & Romance" marriage conference and when we came home the girls were asking about it.....
Me: "Well, we learned this home we live in is our KINGDOM.  Dad is the KING and I am the QUEEN.   So, guess what that makes you children?"
Haylee: "Me, Katelyn & Brookelle are the PRINCESSES!"
Katelyn: "And Ryan & Kyle are the PRINCES!"
Brookelle: "So, who's the MAID?!?"   3/14

Brookelle: "You know what Uncle Mike says?"
Me: "What?"
Brookelle: "He says ALL my bones are good!"
Me: (thinking...trying to interpret the meaning for a second) "Oh!   Did he say 'You don't have a mean bone in your body'?"
Brookelle: "Yes!  Because, ya know, I don't hurt people or say bad things about them...."
Me: "Oh, yes.  That's very true about you."
Brookelle: "But, ya know ________? (a kid in her class) He only has 3 good bones, and the rest are mean bones!"  3/14

The Sacrificial Jedi Braid

Ryan started growing a Jedi braid about a year ago.....

{Summer 2013}

It started out because he went so long without a haircut, and that resulted in REALLY shaggy, long hair.  So, when he finally did go in for a hair cut, he requested she leave just a little section long, to braid.

Not everyone liked it.....in fact, at our Youth Conference this summer there was lots of talk amongst those in attendance about cutting it off in his sleep - there was even a "pot of money" out for the person who would.....but it didn't happen.  I think they were afraid of the repercussions of messing with someone's personal perogative.

It wasn't my favorite - but it's HAIR!
My view on it is this:  Children committing major sins = a BIG DEAL.  Children experimenting with hair = NOT a big deal!

As time went on, it grew a little more.  (Ryan's in the yellow shirt)

{Fall 2013}

And more. 

 And it kept growing. 

{Winter 2013-14}

And growing.... 

{Spring 2014} 

Until this is how long it has gotten today.

He took pride in the fact that, due to another friend's Bishop making him cut off his Jedi braid before he submitted his mission papers, he currently had the longest Jedi braid at VHS.

And then this morning, Matt & I attended the "Mr. Viewmont" assembly at his High School.  It is a "Bachelorette" type event that Ryan was a contestant in.
All I really knew about it was that they had to do A LOT of filming over the past month and they had rehearsals like every day after school this week!!

We watched the "Mr. Viewmont" show and we saw Ryan make it through the "interview round."
Then he made it through the "dance off" round.
Then his team won the "scavenger hunt" round, and they advanced.
Ryan was in the FINAL FIVE!

These finalist all had to do a talent in front of the whole student body as part of the live show this morning - and he was quite nervous for this part.  (He was originally going to sing, but then changed it to "Brench" pressing the Bachelorette, herself!)

So, this is how the talent section of the show played out (click to enlarge):

 (keep in mind, we had NO IDEA what was about to happen!)

(Matt's high-pitched laugh/squeel may be just as entertaining!)

I ALMOST yelled out from my seat in the auditorium, "DON'T DO IT!" 
Why was my 1st instinct to yell & attempt to stop him?  That was a weird phenomenon since I didn't like it that much, anyway.  BUT I know he LOVED it (he even said those exact words in a talk he gave in church last month!) and it had taken a long time, and it wasn't a guarantee to be crowned "Mr. Viewmont."  I didn't know if it would be worth it for him.  But, I restrained myself......it probably is not a good idea to have the mom of a teenager do such a thing!  ;)

And, in the end, he did not win.

When I relayed the experience to his little sisters, Haylee's eyes filled up with tears and she exclaimed, "He did it for nothing?!?"  (Ahhhh, she DOES care about him!!)  ;)
To which [happy] Katelyn replied, "No.  He did it for his mission!"
 (True - there's a time & a season)

What a bummer he didn't win.  (We all think he should've!)  No other contestant gave so much for his Student Body!  ;)

(But, what a fun story & memory!  And a BIG surprise for Mom & Dad.)

It's Not All it's Cracked Up to Be

My son is now 18 years old.

That means he's officially an adult.
(at least that's what he's been telling me.)

So, he had a Dr. appointment the other day, and I just dropped him off at the building entrance while I went to park the car (since we don't have an extra car anymore, I had to drive) and I moseyed on in about 5 minutes later.  It didn't matter, because he's now an adult.

BECAUSE he's now an adult, he can check his own self in at the Dr. office.

BECAUSE he is now an adult, he also has to sign all "consent to treat" and other like papers himself.

BECAUSE he is now an adult, he can speak up for himself, he doesn't need his mom to answer for him.

BUT THEN, the moment I walked into the office, the two gals at the front desk asked, "Are you Ryan's mom?"

"Yes."

So, then they waved me on over to them and started going through the whole 9 yards with ME.

I reminded them, because I'm sure they already knew, that he is 18 yrs. old now. (after all, doctors always seem very interested in their patients' DOB - they ask it a few dozen times in the paperwork, over the phone for I.D. and in person, too.)

I found out later why.

Ryan told me the initial interaction went like this - he said he felt like an idiot:

Do you have a co-pay?

I don't know.

What insurance do you have?

I don't know

Do you have medical insurance?

I don't know.

When was the last time you were seen in our office?

I don't know.

Do you know your family medical history?

No.

Well, you'll have to fill out a new information chart.

OK.  

(And then he walked away, without the forms, and sat down in the waiting room - and that's where I found him when I walked in.)

They gave ME the stuff to fill out - and I promptly handed it over to him.
After he was done filling out the information - it's on an electronic tablet these days, with a stylus AND advertisements for drugs pop up when you're moving between screens.  What the what?!? - he signed his own name (he redid it about 5 times - to get his 1st official adult signature just right, ya know!)

I think he liked how it felt, doing such an "adult" thing, and he returned the tablet back to the front desk feeling good and less like an idiot than before.

AND THEN, they asked him for the money for the co-pay of the visit.

At which point, he had to call, "Mom!" (I looked up from my book, minding my own business in the waiting room), signal me to come up to the front desk, and have me open up my purse to take care of the transaction.

Man, being an adult means you actually have to do stuff - and know stuff - and pay for stuff!
Psfff!  It's for the birds!  ;)

**********
For the record, I did NOT go back into the exam room with him.  I let him field all the Dr.'s [awkward & personal] questions on his own, as well as show his back side to the Dr. in private.  ;)  And he got poked with various needles WITHOUT me holding his hand!
I had to let him regain his [adult] dignity somehow!  ;)