I've deciced . . .

     that maybe, just maybe I should get an iphone.  I would say that I NEED an iphone, but honestly, I don't think that I really need one.  Jared has been telling me to get one for awhile but I kept telling him that since he had one, I didn't need one, I could just use his when I needed/wanted one.  But, if you can believe it, he is a bit stingy with his.  He likes to keep it with him and he's really not into sharing it.  The first time I thought one might be handy was when they started instagram - so I downloaded it onto Jared's phone and would use it, but he would be a titch ornery when I would, so I quit.  But, it seems like a pretty cool thing so hmm. . . maybe I should get one.  But, who gets an iphone just for instagram?  Seems kind of ridiculous, right?
     So, with that, let me tell you about yesterday.  I LOVE going to the parade of homes, any one really.  I remember growing up going with my mom and her friends once, listening to their conversation all the drive up, then going in these amazing houses and dreaming of what mine would be like one day.  Since then, I think the combination of the smell of the new house, seeing what is in style now, and the nostalgia of it all lures me in.  Utah Valley's is the one I went to when I was young so it is the one that draws me in the most.  Last year, I wanted to go so badly, I remember lying in bed wishing so much that I could be there, but knowing there was no way I was strong enough to go so I have been planning since then to get up there.  This is particularly hard since it is baseball season and I know Jared will never take the time to go with me and I like to be home to attend the kids games so I have been worried that I wouldn't get there.   But, on Tuesday night, I was thinking of the things I had on Wednesday, and it seemed the perfect day.  There was nothing going on during the day, and in the evening, Josh had baseball practice, Jake had baseball practice, Josie had gymnastics, Jaxon had baseball practice but that is it - I think, unless I missed some things, which is possible.  :)  But, I didn't feel I really needed to be to any of those things -well, maybe Jainie's game, it was her last one, but I knew she wouldn't mind if I missed it.  I had also been wanting to spend some time with Jaxon, I don't get to really even see him much anymore and I need to know where his head is at so with that, I asked him to go to Provo with me and off we went.  (Of course, Jenevieve was also with us, but she doesn't talk much. :)).
     So, we were off, like a herd of elephants, as my dad would say.  We got off a little before 10:00.  Have you ever had that weird feeling when you are going or doing something?  Well, I had a sense of foreboding the whole time, but I still wanted to go.  (Don't worry, nothing really bad happened).  Anyway, I made sure that we prayed before we set off, which I am pretty sure is why we didn't wreck or anything.  Anyway, there were a couple other things I wanted to get done, Costco - we had NO toilet paper in the house, really, none.  How does that happen?  I can tell you, "we" like to use a LOT of t.p. around here.  And, we needed to pick up a few other things.  And, I wanted to get Josh a bike for his birthday, a specific kind of bike.  I looked up on the internet where they carried them and thought I could remember the addresses.  And, Jaxon has decided to run cross country but needed running shoes so I thought we could stop at a store and get some for him.  Plus, I wanted to try a shaved ice place I heard about which is supposed to be so good.  And, I wanted to go to Kneaders for lunch, because I loved it last time and it has been calling my name since then.
     Now keep in mind, this post is really about how I should get an iphone.  So, the night before we left I looked up the address and directions for the first p of h homes.  It was clear up in Woodland Hills.  Unfortunately, the directions were horrible - horrible - horrible - cannot stress that enough.  We were driving in circles and couldn't find a sign or anything.  Needless to say, I broke down and called Jared.  Graciously, he found the road that I was on and the one I should be going on and guided us there.  The whole time Jaxon kept saying, too bad you don't have an iphone.  I just ignored him, told him it wasn't necessary and that I could follow a map and once we got to the first house, we could get a book, then just follow that.  Perfect.  Still doing great.  Well, we pull up and noticed that tickets are electronic, which I don't even know what that means - do you have to show them your iphone everytime you go to a house, or what?  You can only buy paper tickets at houses 2,11, 18 & ?.  I have no idea where those houses are.  Oh, and you can pay if you scan in the code or have cash.  Great!  Luckily, after the 3rd trip to the car, we scrounged up $24 to get us in.  Evie was in her backpack, after waking her up, we had the camera out and ready; ready to go.  We walk up to the door and it is locked!  Yep, closed up.  Great, I send Jaxon back to the sign to see what the hours are - not posted.  I knew Sunday and Monday were closed but it was Wednesday, why wasn't it open?  Of course, I could have looked it up on my iphone, as Jaxon mentioned, but wait, no iphone.  So, we called Jared.  He was loving it I am sure.  He looked up the website and found out it doesn't open til noon (I think this is ridiculous btw, some of us have to get home at night)  It was 11:15.  So, we left.  We asked Jared to give us the address of two other houses and the closest Kneaders.  I was a bit distraught by this time, I must admit. Frustrated.  But, put on a happy face and moved on.  Off we went, back down the mountain.  As we were driving I decided that we may as well go to lunch, we were both hungry as was Evie.  Plus, the closest house that had paper tickets was in Lehi - past Provo.  We could follow regular directions to find the Kneaders by BYU which was yummy - we both were feeling refreshed and back to conquering the day.  We decided we had better try to find Josh's birthday present next.  The problem was by this time, I couldn't remember much about where the bike store was.  I drove back and forth for about 1/2 hour before remembering which road it was on then luckily stumbled upon it (wouldn't it have been nice to have an iphone?)  Anyway, we went in, very excited to be able to get something productive done.  Turns out they didn't carry this type of bike - nope - they had some in Riverton that they could get down to the store in a week or so, if we knew exactly what we wanted. :)  Isn't that great?  So, once again, disappointed, we left.  I was about ready to call it a day and head out.  But, Jaxon convinced me we should go try to find the house in Lehi.  We called Jared to get new directions, however, this time he wasn't as accommodating.  He obviously doesn't go up north much because he told us the address - which sounded easy like 12300 W. 100 S. in Lehi - something like that - told us that we should be able to find it easily and hung up.  I wasn't nearly so confident.  But, we decided to give it a try.  Sure enough, we got over pretty far before the city must have changed bc instead of being far west we were now like 500 E.  What?  So, we turned around wondering what to do.  Somehow, luckily we had noticed that there was a p of h home on the road we had been driving on, yep right on the same road (but they didn't have paper tickets so I wasn't sure if we could pay there or not).  We decided to head there and at least get directions to this other house.  So, off we went again.  Keep in mind it was about 3:00 by this time and we had only eaten lunch so far and had a nice scenic drive while arguing about who got to choose the radio station - we ended up listening to a few songs a million times over.    Well, when we got to the house, we found out we could pay there, they had a computer and then they gave us 2 numbers on a sticky note to carry around with us.  Great, hope I don't lose that.  But, we did get to see that house, which was a nice house, very cute, my FAVORITE house because of it's simplicity to find and it was nice.  And, now we had a MAP!  It was like gold, that map, we could find all sorts of things.  (I think this could turn into a nice object lesson lesson, don't you?)  Anyway, we did end up getting to both the other houses in Lehi.  I even nursed Eve in the garage of one. :)  I was so excited, I just knew our luck had changed, but I was also exhausted - physically (still don't sleep much, you know) but emotionally drained as well.  It was about 3:45 by this time and I decided I wanted to get home to Jainie's last game so we thought we'd better go look at the next bike shop.  Which we made it to in great time, but once again, no bike.  They didn't carry the "right" brand either.  Jaxon thought it would be nice to go to one more house on the way home, so we followed the map to one in Salem - we got to the one we didn't mean to get to, but at this point, we weren't too particular.  Then, we took off for home.  So, all in all, it wasn't horrible.  We made it to four houses, found out there are no bikes in Provo/Orem that we want, didn't get to Costco or Jaxon's shoes, but had a nice lunch and conversation together.  And, we made it home in time for Jainie's last game.  Which she told me afterward that she didn't really care if I was there or not anyway, dad was there and he could take pictures.  :)  Which poses the question, "how much pressure do I put on myself to make sure I get everywhere and everything done when the kids don't care anyway?"  Hmm.  Oh, and every house we went to, when they looked at our numbers, asked, us, "Don't you have a smart phone?"  NO, we don't!  However, I am considering investing.  Question is: How long will it last with all the kids playing with it and me dropping it every few seconds.  I guess I need a pouch. :)

(PS I know this post has some grammatical errors and I switch from present tense to past several times - but it is long and I don't feel like reading it again to fix it - so if you happen to read - please try to ignore it, or send me a msg telling where to fix it and I will. :)).

You can see Evie was LOVING it!  She was really good.  I wish I would have gotten a pic with Jaxi but he wouldn't hold Evie (too much pressure if she cries, he usually loves holding her) so was taking all the pics for me.  I love the wallpaper behind me.

 This whole house had this shade of purple throughout.  The wallpaper has peacocks on it - it was pretty sweet.  Yep, wallpaper is making a come back!

 I loved this little sitting area with fireplace and the cement patio.  

 Okay, this pic is in a garage and Jaxon thought it was sweet that there was a urinal in the back of the garage - no walls to guard or anything.  Man heaven? Yes, and a tv which was showcasing all wakeboarders - U. Trev would've been lovin it.

 I love a big, open basement where the kids can hang out and the whole family can sit and hang out together!

And, this pic Jaxon took for Josie - this was open but closed and there was a mirror on front - I told him he should make her one.  He does have shop next year.  :)

Update:  I did figure out how to use instagram on my ipad, thanks to Andy and Brooke so I am on there and having so much fun with it.  I need more friends on there, so if you are on, let me know so I can follow you.  I still would like an iphone however for all the other conveniences but smokes! they are spendy.  So, I am loving my ipad for now.  Also, I did get back up to the p of h with my mom and sisters a week later.  Unfortunately, Jaxi couldn't go, he was on a scout camp and was bummed I went without him.  But, now it is closed.  :(  I did get to 5 more houses - so 9 all together - not bad for living down here and trying to get up there a couple times.  And, we got Joshi's bike - and Jaxon's shoes (in R) so everything did get done.  AND, I got a yummy snow cone in StG last weekend so all is well.  :)