The Jellybean Race

Every St. Patrick's Day since I can remember my family has had a Jellybean Race on St. Patrick's Day. The winner of that race gets to pick where the family eats out that night. It was always a HUGE treat, because being one of 8 children you can imagine we didn't go out to eat as much when all of us were still home. I can remember going out to eat while on vacation and before my brothers went on missions, but other then that, it was ALL ST. PATRICK'S DAY...... and I looked forward to it EVERY year.

The Rules?

-push a green jellybean from the starting line to the finish line

with just your nose. And your hands have to be behind your back. No pushing it with your head, sticking it up your nose, between your glasses (my personal favorite cheating trick when young) or in your mouth.

I ended up being one of the best in my family growing up.........okay, maybe me and my brother Matt, but still........ When I got married to Brooks, I did not like losing to him over and over and OVER again. Now that we have kids in the equation, it's a different story. Because WHO KNOWS WHERE THEY'LL PICK TO EAT and I'm the one that has to make it work in the budget! So in order to prevent any "mishaps" as in how Bronson originally wanted to take the whole family to Red Lobster (Ummmm, I don't think so)......I would casually ask the kids where they would go, IF they won.

Bronson said Red Lobster

Camden- Funnigans (it's a fun indoor slide place but you pay "concession" prices for their food and times that by 5 eating kids)

Emerson- Funnigans

Aleeya and Iris didn't really have a chance.........let's be honest.

I talked it over w/ Brooks before so we can rig the race. ;) We decided one of us had to win.

In the kids' heat, Camden won. He always does.

In the parent's heat...........I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON!!!! It's either because he let me win or I don't have the pregnancy holding me back as usual. I'm pretty sure it's the first reason though. (Camden whined all day before saying, "Daddy is going to win! I HATE when Daddy plays because he whacks it with his nose like a golf club!!!!")

So Camden and I played each other. I personally wanted to go to Golden Corral......just because it plain ROCKS and it's super easy with kids and half of mine eat free anyway. I tried to convince Camden that Golden Corral has a big ol' ice cream bar with gummi bears, jellybeans, brownies, etc. Because if he DID change his mind, then I would, you know...........well......let him win. But I still wasn't sure he was going to pick Golden Corral. So I beat him. Mean huh.

And...............he was just plain devastated and crying, and saying it wasn't fair because the big kids (meaning parents) will ALWAYS win! Then he told me how he REALLY wanted to go to Golden Corral. (ding ding ding, the MAGIC WORDS!). So I kindly talked with him and said, "Camden, you're right, it's not fair, so from now on, whoever wins the KIDS heat, gets to pick where we go eat." That seemed to make him feel better. Then I said. "So where do you want to eat Camden?" And he said:

Score.

The kids were awesome. Food was awesome (I seriously think their potroast is the best ever) and Bronson kept saying "I'm in paradise".

But before you think I'm a mean, conniving parent, in my defense, I must say,

MY DAY WILL COME.

My mom reminded me that when the kids started winning the race, she couldn't do anything about it, it was wherever they wanted to go.....period.

Then she brought up how I won one year when I was younger (seriously, didn't I just say I was AWESOME at it?!) I picked a nasty Chinese restaurant that EVERYONE hated.

But rules are rules...........