Life in the Slow Lane: Being a Mom in Utah

"An article I wrote for a local newspaper in which I was a featured column about being a mom in Utah. Fun stuff!" - Jeannette Villatoro


Life In the Slow Lane: Being a Mom in Utah





So, here I am relaxing on a lawn chair in the backyard. The sun is beating down ever so gently, an ice cold lemonade is in my hand, and a huge grin is on my face. I am watching my husband fight with the weed whacker, trying to get that little string to work. Now this is entertainment.

"Mommmm!" Oh no, what is it this time? Celina, my 6 year old daughter and oldest child runs to the backyard in a very authoritative fashion. "Mother! Oscar made bologna soup in my new shoe!" Now, raising four children can certainly make a gal quick-witted and fast on her toes, but I was finding it difficult to register this one. I reluctantly pop out of my chair and follow my daughter as she stomps up the stairs. When you are a mom, some things just require a visual explanation.
I finally arrive at the scene of the crime and I am shocked as to how accurate Celina's complaint really was. There it sat; her once pretty and pink princess shoe with a puddle of brown water and bits of bologna floating around. The first thing that comes to mind is hiding my impending smirk and maintaining a serious poker face as I know Celina would expect. The second thing is what on earth made Oscar, my 5 year old son, think up this catastrophe? Well, I am sure you moms out there can agree that sometimes, just sometimes, it is better not to ask.

This soft and easy Saturday morning has inevitably turned into a circus. I take Celina's shoe and dump out the mess in the grass, letting my two vacuum cleaners that are shaped like dogs eat up all the evidence. My identical twin girls Skylar and Madison, 3 years old and my youngest munchkins, stand in the yard and giggle at Daddy while he frowns and struggles with that silly yard machine. As I am picking up the random toys scattered in the backyard, I look up at my twins, smile, and put my head back down as I finish my chore. "Wait a second!" I quickly look back up and try to make sense of what I just saw. "Madison Ava and Skylar Mia! You girls come here right now!" As they slowly scoot toward me, looking guilty and holding hands, I see that my eyes were not playing tricks on me. My twin girls had powdery white hair and skin. "Who did this?", I asked with my hands on my hips. Pointing at each other, they answered as they always do, in unison of course, "The baby did it!" I stood there trying to look upset when suddenly my twins cock their heads to the side, smile a sweet little smile, and deliver their stock reply whenever they get into trouble; "Are you happy to me now?" Later as I was tidying up our bathroom, I noticed that my husband's new bottle of foot powder was entirely empty.

Isn't being a mom precious? Well, yes it is. Our homes appear so quiet and peaceful from the neighbor's view on the outside, but on the inside we are wranglers of chaos, menders of dresses, shhhushers of screams, pirates, chefs, and the apples of our husband's eye. I will be writing about my many adventures as a stay-at-home mother living in Utah.



Thank you for reading, and remember: Keep a smile on your face, a kiss planted on your husband's lips and a hug always ready for your kids!



By: Jeannette Villatoro © 2008