Did you get a text?

"Hey mom. Can I play with your phone?" .....is how it all started.

It was a pleasant day at Lagoon. The kids had finally earned their season passes and we were enjoying our first Lagoon day of the year. The kids were so excited and anxious. Knowing many of their friends had also gotten passes, they were on the lookout for someone they knew. As we stood in line for the Log Flume, the kids were bored. They were tired, and hot, and bored. Connor then asks an innocent question (or so I thought),"Hey mom. Can I play with your phone?" This question had been asked many times. "Sure," I reply. Handing over my phone I had no reservations. Connor loves to play with my phone. He likes to take funny pictures, record a silly video, text his dad or change my ring tone. My phone doesn't do anything too fancy afterall. I've had it for several years. I handed him my phone with the hopes that it would bust his boredom. After a few minutes he hands it back. I put it in my back pocket and that was when it all started.

My phone vibrates (indicating I've received a text). And then it vibrates again, and again, and again. What is going on? I'm thinking to myself. I never get this many texts at a time. I pull my phone out of my pocket and it vibrates again. This is crazy....5 new texts the screen reads. As I go to read them, it vibrates again, and again. I can't even retrieve the texts because too many are coming in at once. I finally get the first text and it reads: 'nope'. The second text comes across the screen: 'who is this?', followed by more vibrations.
"Connor, what did you do to my phone?" I ask.
He shrugs his shoulders. More vibrations. Text number three:' we are on our way'. I have no idea what these people are talking about.
"Connor, did you text some people?"
"Ya," he replies.
"Who?"
"I don't know," he says. More vibrations.
"I was just texting to see who was at Lagoon."
Aaaaahhhh. Text number four: 'not me....I wish'. It was all starting to come together now. In his excitement to see friends at Lagoon, he decided to send a text (from my phone) to see who just might be at Lagoon. More vibrations. Next text: 'who r u? and why would I be at Lagoon?'. Nice. Now remember that I've had my phone for many years. During this time I have stored a lot of numbers in my phone. From room moms I've worked with, to bishopric members, young women leaders, pizza places, old neighbors, and people I just needed to maybe call once. As it turns out, this is the message that was sent TO ALL 67 NUMBERS STORED IN MY PHONE:

'Is anyone at Lagoon?'.

Innocent enough, but wow did I confuse a lot of people. I also reconnected with many people who I did not care to reconnect with. More vibrations.

"How do I fix this?" I ask Tony. We decided to send a simple text letting people know that we were sorry and that Connor had been playing with my phone. More vibrations continue and add to my embarassment. After a little reprimanding, Connor soon realized that he would not be texting anyone on my phone for a while. As the day continued on we started to look forward to the texts and laughed at all the crazy responses. It has been days since this incident and I am still receiving responses. Just for fun, here are some of the dozens and dozens (45 and counting) of texts I have recieved.....

'No I wish I was. We are at tumbling.'
'This is Kathy right?'
'We left a little after five. Have fun if u r still there!'
'What do you mean?'
'We are on our way'
'Who is this?'
'Yeah, I'm totally at Lagoon...not'
'We're chillin' at the mall with some chick-fil-a'
'No, why?'

Some lessons learned. 1)Don't underestimate the technological ability of your 9 year old. 2)Only keep numbers of people you want to talk to in your phone. 3)People take all texts you send seriously - so be careful.

Happy texting!!

Blessed

If I could sum up my Mother's day this year with one word it would be, blessed. I feel so blessed to be a mother and to have children. I also feel blessed to have a good mother and mother-in-law. And I can't help but think this year of both of my grandmothers who are on the other side. How blessed my life was to have them a part of it. What great women I have been blessed with in my life. And, more than anything, I am so grateful for the blessings of motherhood. The good and the bad, the sweet and the sour, the fun and the hard. I can't think of a more refining job than that of a mother. I am truly blessed.

1 week old

Can you believe it? Their eyes are open, they've got their feathers and they squawk when they are hungry. It's amazing what can happen in a week. So Cute!!

Hatched

The birds have hatched!! Checking on our nest today I was shocked to find the cute robin blue eggs replaced with tiny balls of flesh and fuzz. I thought for sure that we would be waiting for weeks and weeks for these babies to arrive. And, to be honest, they are the ugliest things you have ever seen. If you did not know they were birds, you would think they were aliens. In my mind I envisioned these beautiful, feathered, squawking, cute-as-can-be baby robins hatching from their shells. Was I wrong (you can obviously tell that I grew up in the city)! Their eyes aren't open yet and there are no beautiful songs being sung. I'm sure that will come. And we will wait with anxious anticipation for our 'ugly ducklings' to blossom.

We're expecting....

Quadruplets!! BIRDS that is. Yes, I said BIRDS. There is no baby in my womb, just eggs in our nest. Some cute robins have made a nest under our deck (of all places?). Tony discovered it a few weeks ago and we've been carefully watching and protecting it ever since. We don't have a due date, but we will keep you posted. Aaahhhh the beauties of spring!

Wishful Thinking

All of our kids love to say prayers at our house. We are never hurting for a volunteer to say the prayer. Of all the kids though, Cody insists on saying prayers the most. The rest of us oblige because we love to hear him pray. He always says the cutest things. He usually prays for things that he wants to happen. For example,"please bless that I can ride my bike," or,"please bless that I can play with Dad", or,"please bless that we can go outside and play". Depending on the day he will pray (or wish) for different things to happen. The other day he got quite creative on his prayer wishing. This is how the prayer went...

"Dear Heavenly Father. Please bless that I can be Gaston and be strong and punch Connor in the face."

Hmmmm. Tony and I opened our eyes and looked at each other. We shrugged our shoulders and let the prayer continue. What do you do? Connor thought it was hilarious and we all got a good laugh.

(Maybe we're watching a little too much Beauty and the Beast)

simple things

It's the simple things that make you happy.

(the note inside said, "Thank you for everything")

Sunny St.George

Every year over spring break we head to St.George with the Allred family. This has been a tradition since before Tony and I were married. His grandma has a house there where we all stay for the week. The kids out number the adults, so you can imagine the craziness and noise that happens when we all get together.
Some of our fun included a day at Snow Canyon. The kids love hiking on the red rocks and playing in the sand. The adults tolerate the sand and hate the mounds of sand that we bring home with us. We also had a great picnic where Cody ate most of the box of Oreos and only licked the frosting and left the cookie parts (do you think he ate his lunch?). We also had a great time at the city square where the kids played in the water. It was a little chilly, but the kids played and played until they were so cold that they cried to go home. An afternoon was spent shooting out in the desert. The boys really like this activity. The wind was too cold for the moms and the little kids so we took shelter in the car and ate licorice. All in all it is just fun to get away and have a change of scenery. Enjoy this quick sneak peak........

mommy time

I don't know about you, but I need 'mommy time'. By this, I mean time alone. No kids, no husband, no noise, just quiet time to myself. This 'mommy time'(as I call it) is what helps keep me balanced. This time helps me remember myself amidst all the craziness of being a mom. I try to find a moment or two of this time each day. Some days I am more successful than others. One favorite 'mommy time' thing that I enjoy is playing the piano. Doing this uninterrupted with 3 children around is impossible. I have tried. At one point I did get really good at playing the piano with Cody hanging on my arm. Now that he weighs 41 pounds that is a problem. To find this time (and to enjoy it) I usually wait till late at night when all the kids are asleep in bed. It's dark, it's quiet and I'm alone. Just me and the piano playing what I want as loud as I want.
One late night I was enjoying this 'mommy time' when a little body comes out of the dark shadows and into the front room. It was Cody(I bet you could have guessed). He was all bewildered and squinty-eyed from my light on the piano. "Mom," he says in a half-asleep voice. "Can you turn it down? It's too loud and I'm trying to sleep." I laughed and laughed. This is a Cody moment I want to remember.
So my daily quest for 'mommy time' continues. Whether it's just my 3:00 coke during nap time, or a successful piano session, the quest will and must continue.

Toothless

Lauren finally lost her first tooth! She pulled it out in the car on the way to St.George. For days before our trip Tony tried to pull that little thing out with no success. The pliers even got a turn and couldn't do it. So wouldn't you know that Lauren would end up doing it herself, in the car of all places. As she pulled it out I was busy making her tooth bear because I knew the tooth would probably fall out on our trip. I finished the bear just before we arrived in St.George. Her tooth now had a nice home, and the tooth fairy found us all the way in St.George :). Lauren couldn't wait to show off her toothless smile to everyone.

An end of innocence

For Lauren's birthday she wanted to get her ears pierced. After some thought and consideration, we agreed. As excited as I was for her to get her ears pierced, there was a part of me that didn't want to let that innocence go. Wearing real earrings is just one step closer to being older, more mature. One more step away from the innocence of childhood. A clear sign that my little baby girl is growing up. But, my feelings aside, we headed to the mall. Lauren was so excited.

Upon arriving at the jewelry store in the mall, there was another girl ahead of us waiting to get her ears pierced. She was bouncing off the walls with excitement (literally). I asked Lauren if she wanted to watch this little girl get her ears pierced and she said 'yes'. This will be great, I thought to myself. Lauren can watch this little girl get her ears pierced so when her turn comes she won't be scared. As the little girl hopped into the chair and the lady started prepping her for the piercing, she started to freak out. FREAK OUT. Like weeping and whaling and gnashing of teeth. I'm not even kidding. My great idea of 'let's watch this little girl get her ears pierced' went crashing out the window. I tried my best to divert Lauren's attention so that this little girl didn't completely freak her out. After 15 minutes of the freak out, and the lady and mother doing all they could to calm this girl down, she ended up not going through with the piercing. What a great example.

Now, Lauren's turn. After the freak out girl, I was not sure how Lauren would do. Keep in mind my reservations of the whole innocence thing. Lauren hopped up in the chair. She picked out the earrings she wanted. The lady marked her ears then asked me to ok the marks. 'Looks good,' I said. She called another worker over to help. Lauren held my hand, we counted to three and, click, it was done. Just like that. No drama, no stress, no crying. Lauren was so excited to finally have her ears pierced. In the 2 minutes she was in the chair she even drew a crowd of mall on-lookers watching 'the cute girl with the long hair getting her ears pierced'. I was so proud of Lauren. She was so brave, tough, and strong!! Especially after watching the freak out girl. Not once did she say she was nervous or scared. I really learned a lot about Lauren during the short 2 minutes that she sat in the chair to get her ears pierced. I asked her if it hurt. She said no. Meanwhile, the freak out girl was still freaking out. I told Lauren to go tell her that it didn't hurt. She did. It didn't help.

All the way home in the car Lauren kept saying,"I can't believe I have my ears pierced." I was really happy for her. Now that a few weeks have passed, I still feel a twinge in my heart that a little innocence is gone. It didn't help that 2 days after the ear piercing I wake up to Lauren tapping me on the shoulder saying,"Mom, I have my first loose tooth." Sigh

Before

The crowd

After

Glamour Girls

Lauren and her cousins enjoyed a day of pampering for their birthday's thanks to Grandma Juju. We met for punch and cookies and opened presents. Then we went to Snip-its and the girls got to dress up. They also got their hair done, nails done, make-up and did girly crafts too. They enjoyed a giant cake with 18 candles on it representing all their years added together (7+7+4). We ended the day with dinner at Applebee's with Grandpa. The girls had so much fun and loved every minute of their pampering!! Next year the mom's might need to join in.