Trying to take a deep breathe

Bare with me as I take a moment to share with you one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. Really, truly. I'm over it now (okay not really, but I hope to be soon) but I thought I'd record the happenings of today so that when Joni is my age, and raising her toddlers, she'll know that her mom really does understand how frustrating it can be.

Our friends Jason and Janessa invited us to go up to Bridal Veil Falls for a little Sunday walk. We love it up there and were excited to go. They have a little girl, Hannah, who is about a year younger than Joni. They enjoy playing together, but for some reason Joni gets really territorial with Hannah. We think maybe because she's younger, and Joni actually feels like she has some power in the situation.

When Joni started her little power-party, trying to take things from Hannah and getting anxious about every little thing she was doing, I tried to talk to her about it - but to no avail. The more I tried to calmly talk to her about it, the more Joni worked herself into a tizzy. I kept telling her I would take her back to the car if she didn't calm down. She persisted to adamantly show me that she was not backing down. So I strapped her into the stroller, and began the looooong walk back to the car. This is where it gets embarrassing.

Imagine the biggest, craziest fit you've ever seen a toddler throw....now triple that....ten times. That was Joni. She was screaming, non-stop, at the top of her lungs. Of course our Elder's Quorum President and his family just happened to be there. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I swear his wife gave me the look of death. I had to pass the base of the falls, where about 40-50 people were (previous to this moment) enjoying a quiet summer evening. As we approached the busy area, everyone stopped talking and playing, and paused to watch the screaming maniac who at this point was flailing around in the stroller. I am sure it caused many to wonder if I was kidnapping the poor child. By the looks they were all giving me, you would think Joni and I each had two heads.

Then the day would not be complete without me running into a family from...get this...my MISSION! Hello! After trying really hard to talk and "catch up", and saying "what?" about ten times (because of the screaming), I finally gave up and sheepishly told them I better just go.

We finally got to the car, and after threatening to take away anything and everything Joni holds dear if she didn't stop screaming right that instant, she finally calmed down - only to start up again when Tom and crew also showed up at the car, because then she knew we really were going home. Let's just say that we, uh, came very close at that moment to becoming a family who spanks.

I hesitate to even post this, because any words I say could never do it justice. *sigh* Maybe you just had to be there to appreciate the true hysterics of it all.