Interesting day

(Still in Utah...)
Yesterday we drove up to Provo to have birthday dinner with my brother, Spencer. He turns 25 on Sunday. Wow, do I feel old... We went to Outback Steakhouse and it was really yummy! I haven't been there for quite some time, but their Outback special was still great and to change it up from my usual I had a sweet potato instead of a regular baked potato. I'll have to do that more often. :) The kids did pretty well, but they got pretty out of control at times. When they are sitting together they just cannot seem to leave each other alone. This will make out trip home next week interesting with my mom and sister both traveling back with us so every seat in the van will be filled. We'll have to try to keep someone in between them most of the time.

Anyway, last night we stayed at Spencer and Missy's (his wife) apartment in the basement of her aunt's house. Today we were kind of all over the place, but I wanted to take the kids up to Temple Square so they could see the temple and I could get some cute pics. Well, as usual, they could not control themselves. Why is it that whenever we take them anywhere in public they feel the need to climb, run, yell, make noises, and touch everything in sight? We sat down on one of the beautiful little "islands" in the walkway that is full of gorgeous flowers. Well, I told them to sit, but they of course decided to march around on the grass around the flowers and that is so not acceptable to me and as they were doing this and I was trying to get them to come sit some nice sister missionaries stopped and started "visiting" with us. They thanked us for teaching the kids to respect the area (to not run around the flowers). Yeah, do you think the kids were listening and obeying? Brandon was the only one sitting however, he decided to lean over a little so Kate couldn't walk by so she kicked him in the face. The blood started flowing. My mom and I were livid with her, but how do you discipline your child in the middle of Temple Square where everything is supposed to be all calm and peaceful? I just wanted to scream at her! She could tell how upset we were and she actually sat on the side while we helped Brandon get cleaned up.

Total frustration is setting in with my children. Ben and I teach them about obedience and respect, but these are the 2 things they are having the most difficulty with. Anyone have any ideas for me? Something has got to change!

Sorry for venting the frustrations, but a friend of mine posted on her blog today that she didn't want people to think that her life was always happy and perfect--here's one of my times!