Happy New Year!

To sum it up, we had a very nice Christmas. On Christmas day, Jacob for some crazy reason decided to clean up the basement. Ha! I was actually really happy about it- we got it nice and organized and now have a DI pile and a garbage pile to get rid of. I've never done that before on Christmas, but we had fun together. The day after Christmas was spent ripping up the kitchen floor and tearing out the bottom cabinets, and Saturday was spent knocking out a wall and laying down the Hardibacker board for the tile. Yahoo, huh? We actually had fun together and had some good laughs. The girls enjoyed way too many movies to keep them occupied! I made Jacob move my fridge back and forth a few times while I decided exactly where I want it. He LOVED that. What a great fella. Monday night my little handyman made me a makeshift holder for my sink so I no longer have to do my dishes in the bathtub. Ya, let's just say I REALLY appreciate a sink now more than I ever have. If you ever get sick of looking at your pile of dishes, live without your dishwasher for a week. If that doesn't do the trick, try washing dishes in the bathtub and then you will really be counting your blessings! We'll lay the tile Thursday (Happy New Year!) then grout on Saturday. Keeping off the floor for 3-4 days is going to be quite a challenge. It's been a crazy week! I've made way too many trips to the Home Depot and am sick of looking at tile. But, once the tile is done and the new cabinets are in, I'll feel like a new woman!

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

'Twas the week before Christmas and all through the house, the dishwasher leaked- a perfect job for a spouse. We pull out the washer and what do we see? The floor underneath is rotted as can be!

Pull out the wrench and warm up the drill, this is obviously much more than just a little spill. Rip up the linoleum, uncover the mold, the insurance adjustor comes Monday we're told. So for Christmas this year the kitchen's a mess, we'll be shopping for new tile and maybe new cabinets, I guess. But 'tis the season for joy, our blessings are still many, even if the "leak" drowns out our last penny.

Everybody Needs...

A Bath Buddy

A Riding Buddy

A Daddy

A Hand to Hold

A Best Buddy

Thanksgiving Update

I'm always behind on blogging! Oh well. Better late than never.

Thanksgiving was tons of fun. We were up in Logan and joined the Israelsen side for lunch. Of course we barely made it through eating before Allie decided she needed a nap and was in no way willing to compromise on that. So unfortunately our visiting was cut incredibly short. We still had a great time.

While up in Logan, Jacob surprised me with tickets to go see the Forgotten Carols-LOVED IT! However, McLean has added too much to it. I liked it better when I saw it a few years ago. But, still the perfect way to kick off the holiday season.

The 29th we celebrated Kenna's 3rd birthday with the Otte clan. It was so fun to play a few little party games with the cousins. Absolute chaos but it was a lot of fun. Yep, my little firstborn is 3! I truly can't believe it. She's knockin' at the door of the Sunbeams! Wow, we are graduating nursery. I thought it was crazy when she started nursery! Even crazier than that, Allie starts nursery in less than 2 months! Time flies. We'll hear wedding bells before we know it. Okay, whoa, slow down.... don't even want to think about that.

We celebrated with the Israelsen clan the next day, so Kenna got two cakes! She is sure blessed to have two awesome families who love her.

Before we headed down South, we stopped in at Temple Square and saw the lights. It was SO SO FUN! I haven't been there for a few years and I just ate it all up. The weather was amazing and the lights were beautiful and the Spirit was so peaceful. I love that place. Another perfect way to ring in the season.

Want to give a shout out to Grandma Shelly- she had a hip replacement last Friday (on her birthday- but what a heck of a gift, huh?) and so far is doing pretty darn good. So glad everything went well, mom. You'll be waterskiing before you know it! HA! You just keep on getting better. Sure love you.

Good luck to everyone on all the shopping and wrapping and eating and caroling and baking and eating and trimming and stressing and eating and tree-gazing and cocoa-sipping the next few weeks. I love stoking up the fireplace so our house is super toasty, then Jacob and I can snuggle on the couch and enjoy all the fun Christmas lights. Take time to enjoy the season and remember how incredibly blessed we are that the Savior came to Earth, and all the remarkable things He has done- and continues to do- for us.

Catch Up

Happy Halloween! Jacob's sister Andrea and her husband Ben blessed their baby the first Sunday in November, so we headed up north for the weekend. On Halloween, I had been doing applesauce all day with my mom (thanks mom, you're the best!) and then all of the sudden it was time to get the girls ready to go trick-or-treating. I was pooped, so the girls got a quick costume change and we headed out the door. Allie was my little lion cub and Kenna was a princess. Sort of. It's as princess as she's gonna get, anyway! She is all farmgirl, so princess almost doesn't fit. A week before Halloween she was invited to a princess tea party, so I found a cute little outfit at Family Dollar and I figured we'd get some good use out of it. Yep, I'm sure a fancy mom! As long as she got to hold her plastic pumpkin to collect candy in, life was good and she really could have cared less. We stopped in at Hayley's house up the street and not only got to see Hayley but also the whole Johnson fam! For anyone not familiar, Hayley is as close to sister as you can get without being biologically related. We pretty much grew up with the Johnson clan and I miss them a ton. It was so good to see you Hayley and Linda and the rest of the gang! Sure love you guys!

During the visit up north, Jacob was mostly out at the farm (shocker?) and that is really where Kenna wanted to be the whole time too. The camera never made it out there but they sure had a good time riding horses and doing all the farm stuff. She helped her Aunt Marlene make cookies, and I believe the cookie beaters aren't quite the same. I suppose "help" is a very subjective term, huh? The girls sure have some great Aunts and Uncles who give them lots of love. And patience!

We finally got to meet our new cousin Olivia! She was definitely worth the long drive up to Idaho. It was so fun to spend the day with family and I couldn't get enough snuggles from sweet little Olivia. Kenna especially loved holding her first Israelsen cousin. Allie really needed a nap and didn't cooperate so well with me holding a different baby, but I still managed to hold Olivia a bit. It is still just amazing to me to see a baby just lay there so content as can be. We are so happy for you Ann and Ben and can't wait to see little Olivia again! Okay, I guess we want to see you too. Ha!

Here we have Kenna who somehow managed to pop a seam and empty out the entire contents of the little green bean-bag-like pillow that used to sit on her bed. Looks like snow, but it actually is teeny tiny little styrofoam-like balls that created the stuffing for the pillow. Yep, all over her floor. Fortunately it hadn't been scattered yet. Jacob and I had just sat down to rest and have some peace and quiet for the night when Kenna came in and asked us to "come see!" The peace and quiet was delayed a bit as we roared up the vaccuum. Kinda looks fun to play in, though. I still find those little bits around my house every once in a while.

Don't have a picture, but I spent a few days up in Salt Lake with my sister this week. Jacob had to be in South Jordan for meetings Tues-Thurs, so the girls and I bummed a ride. Matt (Steph's husband) was out of town for work, so we were single moms together for a few days. Love you Steph! It was kind of a whirlwind with no husbands and 4 kids, but it was so fun to chat and stay up late. Okay, then we really paid for it. Not quite sure how we did that when we were younger. That wasn't that long ago! Let's just say we are looking forward to a girl's retreat sans kids in the near future. Thanks for being such a great hostess Steph!

A House of Order

So I walked into the living room yesterday to find this second picture. And I sighed. Yep, that's my house folks. Let me break it down for you: A) the cushions have been pulled off the couch- every single one of them. B) the Tupperware has obviously been invaded and who knows where else the other pieces have been scattered. C) this picture was taken right about high noon and my child is still in her pajamas- well, to make it even better she is actually only in half of her pajamas. D) speaking of pajamas, they are covered in chocolate milk. E) said child is covered in snot due to the cold that has been passed around to all of us. F) hair has obviously not been combed in about 3 weeks. G) This is only ONE of two children, and the one who does the least amount of damage in the house. Hmm. You always wonder what life is like at other houses? Well there you have it. Yep, usually there is some sort of mess somewhere in the house and I can really let my mind wander and feel guilty about not having things always "looking" just so. But you know what? After I took a deep breath, I took a second look at that. Just look at that cute little thing kicked back on the couch just as content as can be. So I guess I'll be just fine if my house is torn apart at high noon on a Wednesday with lots of chocolate milk and snot. Perhaps we need to just throw the cushions off more often.

First picture: What is better than a good pumpkin carve? That was FHE this week. We got the ol' punkin carved and ate M&M's. Obviously Kenna was in heaven and loves to look at her punkin all lit up. She wanted to fill up her pumpkin with M&M's. Ha! Nice try sweets, nice try.

If there was a third picture it would be of our company this past week. (Woops, guess we were having too much fun to take pics). Wednesday and Thursday we had Grandpa Clark and Uncle Benson (Israelsen) stay with us. Kenna LOVED Uncle Benson and thought life was great when she got to snuggle with him to fall asleep. Thanks for being such a good sport Uncle Bens! They were our little slaves getting in some gravel and had quite the trial getting another load of wood for us. Then Friday-Sunday Grandma Shelly and Grandpa Kerry (Otte) came down to see us. We went to see "Beverly Hills Chihuaha" and depite a few tense moments, Kenna really liked it. Other than that we just enjoyed each other and were spoiled rotten. We are always so sad when family has to go back home. We sure love you guys!! Thanks for all you do for us. We are so blessed with such awesome families.

I Hope They Call Me on a Mission....

I had the coolest experience the other day that I always want to remember, hence I add it to my little e-journal I've got going here.

I never went on a mission, but have always had such a great respect for the wonderful people in my life who did serve. I've never considered myself a missionary, and in fact have always been so nervous about sharing my beliefs with strangers. I always get to upset with myself about that, because if I truly believe, then I should have no problem sharing it with others regardless of them accepting it or not- Something I have been working on. Well, recently our ward has been doing a continous fast to help boost our member missionary efforts. Our family took our turn a few weeks ago and I KNEW that opportunities would surely come, so I am going to have to get over this little shy thing of mine. Well, the other day my doorbell rang, and there stood a cute little black lady selling some cleaner of some type. She introduced herself and was really so sweet. So I listened to her schpeel on the cleaners and throughout the conversation just tried to make small talk with her. She was actually really fun to talk with and we laughed a little bit here and there. It wasn't too long into the cleaning demo I had an instant impression I needed to make a missionary opportunity out of it. I started asking questions about her and her job and found out that this cute little black girl was 20 year-old Carmelita from Detroit, Michigan who was hoping to start nursing school in January. We laughed at how our culture out here was pretty different from what she is used to back in inner-city Detroit. As the conversation was winding down, I asked her if she had heard of the church while being out here. She hadn't, and I continued to ask her if she belonged to any church of her own. She didn't. Now was my time. Normally, this is where my heart starts thumping out of my chest and I can't get myself to talk. But this time was different, and I suddenly felt like I knew just what I needed to say and the words just rolled out. I told her we belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and we believe in the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ which is a companion to the Bible. She was so cute and pulled out a paper and wrote down the name of the church and also the church website. (This is where I needed a spare copy of the BOM, and will definitely get some). I invited her to look it up when she gets back home, and if she has a chance on Sunday to find one of our churches. (She is staying in Beaver for a few weeks while they go around selling their cleaners). She was really open to hear me out and left with a smile. As the door closed, I realized I was feeling the Spirit so strongly and that I had truly been guided through my little missionary experience. I may never know what turns out with cute Carmelita, but I pray she also felt the Spirit and that a little seed was planted that hopefully in time will grow to give her the most incredible gift she could ever have. In no way do I mean to boast, because I have a LONG way to go. I also realize there was a lot of things I could have done differently. I konk myself over my head not finding out where she lived in Michigan so I could get the missionaries to her door. But I was so grateful for this little experience, as small as it was, to teach me that I can be a missionary. I look forward to future opportunities and hope that whenever someone comes to my door, even if they are trying to sell me cleaner, they will leave with much more than they came with and hopefully will be touched by the Spirit. I challenge those of you reading this to find missionary opportunities of your own. I would LOVE to hear your stories! Thank you to all you wonderful people out there who are such great examples to me and help me strive to be better.

Where Does The Time Go?

Today I have been trying to organize my pictures while both girls are napping. Let's give a quick hallelujah to a double nap! Anyhow, I've been going through all the pictures on my computer and putting dates on the hard copies so I can put them into albums. We just won't talk about how far behind I am. I still have oodles on my memory card that need to get printed. Somewhere in the hundreds.....(groan). Anyway, back to the story. So I'm going through my pictures and started looking at the shots from when Kenna was a baby. Oh my goodness! I can't believe how I have forgotten what she was like as a little tiger. Now she's become my walking talking little angel/devil. (I say that with oh so much love, mind you.) I can't imagine what it will be like someday when we sit around as a family with teenagers laughing at all our pictures. THEN I will really wonder where the time has gone. But, just for fun I put up pictures of my babies who are no longer babies. Even my little Allie isn't really a baby anymore. NOPE, not quite baby hungry yet, don't you worry. The days of perma-scream-infant are still a little too fresh in the ol' noggin. But I definitely look forward to more sweet little ones to come. I need to have these moments to remind me that being a mom is one of the greatest blessings I will ever have. Somedays are more devil than angel, if you will, and I need some rejuvination every now and then. Ah yes. Looking at baby pictures is rejuvination for mom and redemption for the kids. Of course this double nap thing is scoring the girls some really good points too. Love you my ladies!

New Cousin!

We have our first Israelsen cousin! YAY! Little Olivia Pulsipher was born September 10th and is doing very well. We are just so sad we live so far away. Jacob's sister Andrea and her husband Ben live up in Idaho. I am just dying to see the new little bundly of joy. Hopefully we are up there before too long. Congrats Ann and Ben! We are so excited to have Olivia in the family.

"WHY?" This is the word I hear at least 2.6 million times a day. It doesn't even really seem to matter what answer I give either. Kenna is never satisfied. I am really trying to be creative with my answers too. Why is Dad at work? Why can't I go outside? Why is Allie crying? And everytime I give an answer she just keeps asking why. Circles and circles. The other day I tried to repeat the same answer over and over to try and wear her out, but I ended up wearing out and quitting first. Nice.

Here is another cute Kenna moment. A few weeks ago she was riding in the car with Jacob at night and looked out to see the moon. She always gets so excited when she finds it and says, "Hey, it's the moon!" Then she said, "I need to get some of those....oh what are they called? I need to get some wings so I can fly to the moon!" So cute. Then the other night when we were driving home she found the moon and was watching it, then after a little while she said, "Hey, the moon is following me!" Jacob looked over at me and said, "I don't think I realized that until I was like 6." HA! Thank goodness our child is smarter than us. We must be doing something right.

So for some sad news, our dog Sydney has diabetes. Yep, who had any idea dogs could get diabetes? It really is so sad. In order to keep her around, we will have to give her a shot of insulin every day. Hmm. The poor thing is so skinny and is just not doing well. We have been resolved to the fact that we are going to have to put her down. Now you have to know that I have really come to love this silly little furry creature. Jacob got her as a puppy on the day we went on our first date and she came with us on the horse ride. Not only that, she has been with us ever since we've been married and has made the trek with us on all our moves. But, I suppose that's how life goes. Amazing how attached I get. I tell Jacob she is kinda like our first kid. I'll keep you updated.

Whew, that was somber. We really have been having fun down here lately. To try to be brief, I will update along with the pictures.

#1 is at the County Fair on Labor Day. In the morning Jacob and I ran our 4th 5K together. It was really fun. I am quite proud of myself! I improved my time just a hair more. We had a little neighbor girl watch Kenna and Allie while we ran and then immediately afterwards there was a parade. Kenna LOVES parades! Allie just squirms and wants to wander everywhere. She hates being confined and gets pretty ticked when she can't move around, but we managed. Then we went over to the fairgrounds and Kenna was so excited to ride the carousel. Jacob kept holding on to the tail of the horse and Kenna kept pushing it off because she wanted to do it all by herself. Everytime she came around she would wave like crazy, it was so fun!

#2 is at the State Fair in Salt Lake. After growing up on a farm where horses were readily available, Jacob was pretty dismayed to be paying to let Kenna ride the pony, but after her sweet little smile and all her excitement, Jacob probably would have paid for it a few times. These little girls have daddy wrapped right around their little fingers! She got to ride all by herself and she was the proudest little girl there ever was! Allie just watched and squealed for Kenna. Maybe next year little Allie! We had such a fun time at the fair with some of Jacob's family. It made us homesick. We weren't ready to come back to Cedar City.

#3 is also at the State Fair. They have a little pre- 4-H show, so Kenna and daddy went out to practice a bit the night before. She was in heaven and thought she was big stuff. They got so many stares and comments, it was so fun to watch people gawk at them. Then the next day was the little show and she walked around the arena like she was quite the little cowgirl. They gave all the kids a little blue ribbon at the end and she displayed it proudly!

#4 is me and my ladies last weekend. We decided to go for a ride up the canyon and around by Cedar Breaks. It's really pretty up there. We drove around by Navajo lake to let the girls play for a bit, but it was really windy and cold. Yep, jackets and shorts. That's great parenting right there folks, go ahead and take notes. This picture turned out really cute of the two girls. It's hard to get them both smiling decent and looking at the camera. No, I'm not trying to look like Tina Turner, it was just windy. But I would like her legs....

Allie got the shaft on pictures, I guess. Don't you worry, she definitely makes her presence known. She climbs on EVERYTHING and I have to watch her close. She is finally starting to take a few steps and is so very proud of herself when she does. Still waiting for an official first word, but sometimes she calls Kenna "na." Not sure if it's on purpose or not. Guess we'll just keep waiting!

Issues

I truly am so sorry to all those out there who think WalMart is a dump. I admit, I love a good trip to WalMart. They just have lower prices- and then when I can throw a few good coupons in there to top it all off.... aaahhhh, it just doesn't get much better than that folks. Who needs marijuana when you can get an equally great high by saving an extra $5 in one shopping trip simply by using coupons? I think I need to get a T-shirt that says "I have issues."

So thanks to daddy who loves to spoil his little toddler, Kenna has discovered the joy of the ice cream truck. I think she also has discovered her talent of super-human hearing. The other day she comes running as fast as she can into the kitchen and says, "Mom do you hear it?!!" I couldn't hear a thing. "It's the ice cream truck!" she yells. By this time, she is so excited I think she is going to burst. She runs at mach speed back into the front room to look out the window. I follow her in and still can't hear a thing. She keeps insisting that the ice cream truck is coming. I open the front door and listen for a minute until I finally can hear the faint little jingle of the ice cream truck coming up the street. "MOM! LET'S GO, COME ON!" I don't even have time to give the old money-doesn't-grow-on-trees speech. Besides, based on her excitement, I'm afraid saying no will ultimately scar her for life and send her to a mental institution. So we try to calm her down enough to throw on her shoes and head out to the ice cream truck. Okay, I admit it. The past few times the ice cream truck has come, I have really had my eye on the Choco Taco. But it's only Thursday, and I don't splurge until Sunday! What ever is a mom to do? Well, friends, I am proud to say the Choco Taco stayed in my freezer until Sunday. HA! How ridiculous is that? Jacob sometimes wonders about my little methods. However, I was sorely disappointed. The picture looked much better. Oh well. Now I know.

We've been trying to teach Allie how to walk, but she still just likes to fall down and crawl. She is the funniest little thing in the world and is always pulling the cutest little face. She pulls her little mouth into an O shape, her eyes light up big, and then she bursts into a big smile. It is so cute. She especially loves to look at herself in the mirror and pull her little face. We just laugh. I've been trying to teach her to say "mommy." So far all I get is an occasional "mmaaaaa." But she says it so sweet and I love to hear it. Other than that she is the loudest little screamer in the world. The kitchen window sits low enough that she can pull herself up to look out. If she looks out and can see Jacob or Kenna in the backyard she just starts screaming and smiling.

Not too much else has been going on. The weeks just fly by. I am looking forward to the weather cooling down a bit. I better be careful though, because it'll be snowing before I know it. I'll be grateful for the heat I guess!

MOMMY OLYMPICS

It has been fun this past week to watch a little bit of the Olympics. So to keep alive the Olympic spirit in my home, I give you The Mommy Olympics.

**Good afternoon America, we are here LIVE from the famous downtown of Enoch, Utah. There sure is excitement in the air as we begin the umteenth annual Mommy Olympics. You know, this event dates clear back to Eve as she started out as the world's first mommy. Tradition holds strong as moms all over the world continue to show impeccable skill and precision in maintaining some form of peace and harmony in the home. Let's see how mommy holds up in 2008.

EVENT #1: SWIMMING
Welcome to those of you tuning in as we broadcast our first event Saturday night here at the ever-popular bathtub. You all know how the song goes, Saturday is a special day and mom is gearing up to get ready for Sunday. Here we go in 3, 2, 1... and Mommy is off! My goodness there are two little squirmers in the tub, I don't know if she can pull this one off. Whoa! Look at that form as she whips out the baby wash. Water is splashing all over, I don't think she can even see! But she is sure holding up as baby #1 is washed and ready for the shampoo. There is a lot of screaming here, that is one grumpy baby! Here comes the rinse..... she's running behind, she'll really have to make up some time on the toddler. Scrub #2 is going a bit smoother, she's even getting a little help from the 2-year-old. Mom is showing excellent maneuver skill as she dodges a fast one from the flying rubber duckie. She is sure picking up time here as she washes her last set of hair. Can she do it? She picks up hooded towel 1... now towel 2.... she's pulled the plug and OH! Mom gets the girls out of the tub in record time! Dad doesn't even have time to make it in the house to help! Mommy is soaked, but those girls are ready for bed. Gold Medal #1! Watch out Michael Phelps, mommy is in town.

EVENT #2: CURLING
This event has proven to be a real time-consumer for mommy. It seems she constantly has a broom in her hand. The girls are occupied in the back, it's the perfect time. Mommy has to be swift before the girls realize they can come destroy the dirt piles. And she's off! Look at that broom go, it's all a blur folks! She sweeps left, she sweeps right, the piles are growing quickly. Here's the real challenge... can mom get to that cheerio that rolled under the table and is stuck in the corner? I hear the girls, they're heading this way. You better hurry mom! And she's got the cheerio in the pile! Uh-oh, missed a piece of 4-day-old hot dog on the floor under the high chair. She sees it... look at her whip that broom around! I have never seen a broom do that before! She's got the dustpan, but the girls are coming in.... She sweeps pile 1, pile 2, pile 3, pile 4, and pile 5 and scoops up the last of it just as a little hand dives in. She did it! The dustpan is emptied into the garbage can just in time as Mommy scores her second Gold!

EVENT #3: HURDLES
Mommy is finding that there is always something lying around on the floor. She's geared up and ready as she attempts her 3rd medal. It's 5:00 and Mom is getting ready to sit down on the couch and rest for the first time today. She is sitting down in 3,2,1.... and there is the scream from the baby in the bedroom. Mommy is off and running! She is really picking up speed as she heads for her first hurdle. Oh my it's a big one. She better get some good air so she can make it over that baby-doll stroller. She's up and.....lands perfect! No time to rest for hurdle #2, the pile of blankies. Way to clear it mommy! Look at her go as she jumps right over the choo-choo train, the shoes, the stuffed animals, and the sippy cup. She shows quite a stride on the last hurdle as she gets her left leg just barely up and over the toddler. Mommy makes it in record time to wipe a tear and give a love to the baby who just got whacked by big sister. Way to go mom! And WOW- Did you see her red face as she tried to count to ten and not yell at big sister for hitting the baby? What sportsmanship mommy! The medals are really adding up here for mommy. We'll see if she can keep her winning streak alive.

EVENT #4: SHOTPUT
The Mommy Olympics sure has some dirty events that challenge even the best mother. The diaper has been changed and boy is it a smelly one! Let's take a look at the track mom needs to finish to get the Gold. She'll start in the back bedroom by the changing table, then head down the hallway, round the corner into the kitchen, head out the back door and lastly throw the diaper trying to make it into the narrow opening of the garbage can. It's a tough one, can she do it? Mom's got the diaper in hand.... hold your breath, the fumes will slow you down mommy! Ready, set, and GO! She's out the door of the bedroom at top speed. Down the hallway... Watch out for daddy in the road!... She skids around the corner.... Time is ticking.... She can't hold her breath much longer...Almost to the door... Whoa! She sure is flying as she gets ready for the toss....She pulls her arm back and there is the throw. It's going, going..... and I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! The diaper bounces off the rim of the garbage can and barely makes it in! Mom scores again! The crowd goes wild as everyone takes a big breath!

EVENT #5: FENCING
Mommy has the knife in hand. The crowd is anxious. It's 6:30 and the family is sure hungry. Can she get dinner on the table before the starving group lands into a famished heap? And the microwave beeps... She's off! The microwave flies open as mommy grabs the defrosted chicken. Look at that meat slap down on the cutting board! The knife is flying as mommy cuts up the chicken and throws it in the fry pan. Holy Cow! Watch out folks, here come the vegetables. That woman sure can handle a knife, look at her go! Chop! Slice! Watch your fingers mommy! And the veggies are in to cook. The table is set as mommy throws the hot pad on the table.... Here comes the chicken.... Mom better show some hustle and grab the tortillas warming in the oven... Family is at the table.... Uh-oh, run back quick to the fridge for the sour cream... And she's done it again! I don't believe it! Fajitas are on the table and ready to eat at 6:59! Another world record for Mommy! Once again Mommy scores Gold with dinner.

Thanks for tuning in folks! Once again we are wowed as mommy manages to keep it all together. We send a big hoorah for all those great moms out there who keep scoring Gold. Join us again tomorrow as we start the Mommy Olympics all over again....

Events

What? A new post and it hasn't been a month yet? Wow, both my girls must be having a nap or something to give me a second to myself! We've had an eventful past week so I wanted to make sure to squeeze it all in.

First of all, HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY ALLIE RAE! Our little Rae of Sunshine hit the big year mark on the 8th! I can't believe it has been a year. It was a bit of a wild start with her, but we couldn't be happier with the sweet little girl she is becoming. Her sweet smile, her big, bright blue eyes, and her cute little button nose make our home even that much greater. Her squeal adds quite a few decibels to the house as well. My goodness can that girl scream. She was with me in Relief Society yesterday while Jacob taught in Young Men's. She is actually becoming fairly difficult to contain at church (countdown to nursery!), but was doing all right in Relief Society. We made it all the way to the end of the meeting until she worked her way over to the piano during the closing song. She managed to squeeze in behind the piano and loved putting her hands on it to feel the vibration. I was looking over at her, and she looked up to catch my eye and then let out 3 of the loudest, happiest squeals I have ever heard in Relief Society. All I could do was laugh. She was behind the piano and no one could see her, so of course all eyes were on me and joining me in laughter. But she wasn't done yet, oh no. She kept squealing and laughing all through the song until I finally had to go over and pick her up in order to keep some form of reverence in the room! Such a little character. We went in to her year check-up today and she is not happy to report she got 3 shots, but she did good. The picture is of her in her new carseat she got for her birthday. She looks so darn cute sitting in the backseat and seems to really like the new view. I look in the backseat of my car and see two cute little ladies staring back at me and I think, "Holy cow! Those are mine! I am just an old mom with 2 carseats in the back of my car. When did that happen?" Nope, definitely not announcing a third carseat any time soon.

I'm afraid to say Allie's cake and ice cream got postponed until last night because Jacob and I ran another 5k on Saturday. Yep, my third 5k! I shaved another 2 minutes (almost) off my time and managed to get 3rd in my age group! WOW! Then I thought that there was probably only 3 of us in the age group. Ha! I'm not really sure. Gosh dangit I was so proud of myself. Never in a million years did I think I would ever do anything like that. Jacob got 2nd in his age group. It was a lot of fun. I stood there after the race and told Jacob that a year ago I had delivered a baby less than 12 hours earlier. It was quite an incredible feeling. I think I was feeling a little better this year than last!

On Saturday Jacob was sitting on the couch trying to eat some leftover pizza and Kenna kept trying to climb on him and was bumping him. I was sitting down on the floor smiling to myself and watching as Jacob kept getting more frustrated. Pretty soon Jacob got sick of it and all the sudden grabbed his pizza, moved to the other side of the couch and said, "Gosh Kenna, you're not the boss!" Oh my goodness, all I could do was start laughing! He looked over at me and started laughing too and said, "That was not what I meant to say!" It was the funniest thing. Maybe you had to be there, but in my mind all I saw was a cute little blonde-headed 10-year-old boy getting mad at his little sister. We just laughed and laughed over that one. He really didn't want me to add that, but I just had to put that memory on paper. Sure love ya, Jacob! You definitely keep me laughing with all the funny things that pop out of your mouth.

I am proud to say that after nearly 3 years of being down here in Cedar City, we have finally seen a show at the Shakespeare Festival. Our neighbor who works for the festival got us some tickets to go see "Fiddler on the Roof" in trade for some tractor work. We did dinner and then the show. It was so darn much fun. I haven't been to a show for quite a while and I absolutely loved it! It made me want to get up on stage again. They actually did a really good job with it. It was such a fun little date night. Jacob really quite enjoyed himself as well. I must say, however, I make a much better Grandma Tzeitel. Ha!

We have a neighbor who built a bunch of train-like carts he can pull behind his 4-wheeler. He is such a nice man and has been taking a bunch of kids for rides the past little while. He's more popular than the ice cream truck! He stopped by our house Saturday night and Kenna got to take a ride. At first she was hesitant but ended up loving it. It was so fun to see her in it. Such a big girl! Allie stayed behind and was in heaven crawling up and down the sidewalk waiting for her to come back. As long as that girl can be moving, she is happy.

The countdown is on as we wait for our first Israelsen cousin. She is due to join the family the middle of September and we can't wait for a new baby in the family. Good luck on your last month Aunt Andrea! We are so excited for you and were so sad we had to miss the baby shower. This living 5 hours away sure is a pain sometimes. Thank goodness for the internet, I suppose.

Israelsen Summer Updates

Ya ya, it's been a while. Summer has been crazy and getting down to fire up the computer has been a task, but I'm here! Warning: this is a lengthy update. I just like to print this off for journal stuff so I try to add a bunch of stuff.

To update from the last blog, the wheat grinder is fabulous! I have made two batches of bread so far. The first batch wasn't my favorite but the second I made just today is so so yummy. It works like a charm. There is nothing quite like a fresh piece of bread right out of the oven. Mmmmm.

Next update: I feel pretty confident in saying Kenna is officially potty trained! Can you hear the heavenly choirs singing? I sure can. I don't go through near as many diapers- yay! She is really good at letting us know when she needs to go potty and is quite proud of herself. I am also very glad to say she doesn't have to have a sucker every time she poops, either. Yep, I resorted to sugar. What can I say? I was desperate to be done with the whole thing!

Speaking of my eldest little angel, we apparently have bears in the house. I have not actually seen one myself, but quite often find myself helping Kenna scare one out of a room when she is going in it. I try to downplay it so her imagination doesn't start to really kick in and scare her, so I'm trying to be inventive in my approach to the bears. This morning however, she said she "catched the bear." So funny. It is so fun to see her language develop. Lately she is learning how to use is, am, and are, and of course they get easily mixed up. She told me the other day, "I is funny!" She obviously has quite the imagination. We went to the park today and she had to come sit by me at the picnic table so we could eat "dinner." The table was empty, but boy was it delicious. Then we had to move around the table eating at a bunch of different seats. She is always pretending something with her baby and her stuffed animals.

Over the 4th of July a friend and I went up to a craft fair in Brianhead. I made a bunch of cute baby headbands and hooded towels. I must say, they turned out very cute. (Okay, thanks a ton to my awesome mom who made most of the towels- we spent a day while I was up North making some and had such a good time). We did the craft fair for two days (thanks daddy for having two days of bonding with the girls!) and it actually went really well. It was fun and I sold a pretty darn good amount for my first time. I had a lot of people ask about a website, so now I just need to decide how serious I want to get. Trying to sew with my two little darlings is quite an endeavor. I'll have to see what I decide.

SO- one of my husband's great talents is that he can be a real sweet-talker. Another one of his great talents is that he is a pretty good runner. So what happens when you combine these two great talents? Well friends, you get me, running a 5k. Yes, you read that right. ME. The one who would drive past the track at Sky View after school and laugh at all the hoo haws out there running on purpose. For some reason however, I told Jacob I would do it. We went up to Nephi a few weeks ago to the Ute Stampede rodeo with some cousins of Jacob's and discovered there was also a little "fun run" the next morning. Now, I don't really understand the title. I have never considered putting those two words together in the same sentence. On the way to the "fun run" I was quite certain I was heading into a death trap. Jacob was getting all geared up and was talking about how fast he wanted to run and the time he wanted to beat. My mind was in a daze- quite frankly I just wanted to cross the finish line. Alive. My only salvation was my wonderful sister-in-law Marlene who was so so kind to come run with me. We started off and my goal was to just make it through the first stretch before I started walking. Jacob of course was long gone. But we got that far and just pushed a little further to the next stretch. Before we knew it, we hit the two mile mark! "Holy cow, I think we can make it Marlene!" She was so good to endure all my cheering for us. Jacob finished and came back to find us and ran the rest of the way with us. Yes! For the first time in my life I ran three continuous miles! Mar, I couldn't have done it without you. Now here is the real kicker- I have since run another 5k. Yep, we went up to one in Beaver on the 24th. I am so proud to say I shaved 5 minutes off my time. And can I just brag about Jacob? He took second out of everybody. Way to go Jacob! He kicks my tooshie. We are planning on running one down in Hurricane in a few weeks. Hopefully I can shave some more time off. I'll keep you updated. Call me crazy but deep down I am starting to enjoy this running stuff.

A few weekends ago we headed up North to my family reunion at Bear Lake. We had a ton of fun. Allie LOVES the water and Kenna just likes to play in the sand. Fortunately after a few handfuls, Allie quit eating the sand. Jacob fried his legs playing golf with all the boys. Just goes to show that his legs NEVER see the sun. They probably see the sun about as much as a golf course sees Jacob. But, he was a good sport and had fun. Of course we didn't get as much time as we like up there, but we take what we can get.

My little Allie is getting her molars. I have decided they are the bi-polar molars. She is happy one minute and grouchy the next. Hmm, or maybe she is just a girl. Wow. She is still not walking yet, but loves to crawl and is starting to climb on things that are low enough. I was loading the dishwasher yesterday and turned around to see her standing on the door of the dishwasher and holding on to the top rack. Whoa there little lady! I had her downstairs the other day and she was too quick and got up quite a few stairs. I came running just in time to catch her before she hit the bottom. Ya, I felt like a million bucks. Parent-of-the-year award right there. Always on my toes.

Jacob and I were talking about small miracles the other day and for journal sake want to remember two little experiences we've had that remind me we are truly looked after. The first one was after a trip to Logan a few months ago. We always say a prayer before we leave to make sure all is well while we are gone and that we can travel safe. Well, we had just gotten home in time for Jacob to hurry and shower and get to work. Just before he pulled into the parking lot at work, the car started lurching and having some serious problems. It ended up needing a huge repair with the computer system and was out for a few days. Jacob called me to tell me about it and we both new immediately how blessed we were to make it home okay and that it wasn't until we were home safe that the car started having problems. The second one was a few weeks ago. Jacob had forgotten to turn the sprinkler off before he went to bed, and had it been left on all night, it probably would have ended up leaking a ton of water into our basement. Well, for some strange reason that night I had a crazy dream (I don't even remember what it was) but it made me sit up in bed and say something about water. It woke up Jacob and he remembered the water and ran out to turn it off. It was the weirdest thing. I didn't even know there was water on that needed to be turned off. Once again, we knew that we have these small little miracles that constantly remind us that the Lord is truly looking out for us. Hopefully I can slow down enough to recognize God's hand in my life because we are so incredibly blessed.

PICS:

My wheat grinder-love it!

Kenna got hold of the butter (and ate most of it-yuck!)

Allie's first piggy tails- can't believe she's almost 1!

June at the Israelsen's

I just purchased a wheat grinder. I've been hesitating, they aren't the cheapest little gadgets in the world. Oh by the way honey, if I forget to tell you and you read this, I just bought a wheat grinder. He he he. But, I finally decided that having 500 pounds of wheat will do me absolutely no good unless I have a wheat grinder. I'm certain using a stone from the backyard will get me tired much too quickly and we'll just starve- or just resort to eating wheat berries. I think it's a good purchase. I'll let you know how my new kitchen toy works. I'm excited to fire it up when it comes.

Pretty much Jacob and I have decided potty training is definitely not a strength either one of us possess. I'm not sure if I just have an incredibly stubborn 2 and 1/2 year old, or if I have really faulty training techniques. I will however, rejoice in a poop-in-the-potty triumph we had a few nights ago. I caution you, I am a mommy and I say it just how it is, so if you don't want to hear the potty talk, just skip on down to the next paragraph. Anyhow, we caught Kenna squatting and got her to the bathroom before the dirty missle had landed in the pull-up, and judging by the screaming it was much to her dismay. So to try to not make it a horrible experience for her and never have a potty success again, I tried to be as happy and excited as I could when she finally did her duty in the potty.
Me: "YAY Kenna! You did it, I am so happy for you! See, going in the potty is fun! Poo-poo loves to be in the potty and is so happy!"
Kenna: (she cocks her head to the side, scrunches up her cute little face and says,) "Mom, poo-poo can't talk. But it's nice!"
Yep, it sure is my little darling, it sure is. Yesterday I told her she could wear her very special panties but she couldn't pee in them or they would get all wet and dirty. So what does she do? She takes off her panties to pee on the carpet. Finding Nemo was much too enthralling to leave for the potty, I guess. Nice. I guess I'll just keep trying.

So I took Allie to the Dr. yesterday. She woke up with a fever and it would't come down, so when it hit 103 I called the Dr. Her ears looked good and from the blood test they couldn't tell if it was viral or bacterial but just in case put her on an antibiotic. She's been pretty fussy today, but hopefully will get back on track soon. Jacob got the random yuckies too, he came home from work sick yesterday but is better today- he must be anyway, he is out mountain biking. Yep, bikes are the newest project around here. Jacob found one on KSL and we picked it up with our bike cart that we also found on KSL in Salt Lake on our way home from Logan. Since then we have also added a bike from mom and dad Israelsen's (for me), a bike rack, and a helmet to the bunch. We've actually had fun taking the girls out for a few rides. They look so cute sitting in the bike cart together.

Last Saturday we met up with some friends (Mike and LeeAnn Adams) who have property up the mountain and got a jump start on firewood. Chances are if we wait much longer, we won't be able to afford the gas to get up there! They have two little girls too, so it was fun to get out and get dirty.

Our trip to Logan was a lot of fun. Kenna was in heaven having so many people to give her attention and play with. My mom and I spent the better part of a day sewing some really cute hooded towels that I am going to try and sell at a craft fair up Brianhead over the 4th of July. I'm also doing some cute baby headbands, so we'll see how they do.

Well, I guess it's time to go, Allie is on my lap screaming. She just isn't appreciating the blog. Hopefully one of these days I'll get the motivation (or time) to add some pictures.

The life of a two-year-old

I found a little line-up of Kenna's animals in the hallway yesterday. She told me they were in timeout because they didn't listen. Hmm, wonder where she got that from? She is such a parrot sometimes and has a killer memory. Yep, that means BE CAREFUL mom and dad! A few weeks ago I sang in sacrament meeting. When I got done and came to sit down, Kenna hopped into my lap and said "you're a good singer mom!" I looked at Jacob to let him know I appreciated the prompt, but he was just as surprised as I was and said that one was all her own. Then she grabbed my face in her hands and said, "That was wonderful! I'm so proud of you!" It was the sweetest thing in the world! I was really trying to figure out where she would have got that from and then finally I remembered. Later on that day when Kenna had a great potty moment I heard myself saying, "That was wonderful! I am so proud of you!" I instantly knew where she got it from. Ha! I'm so glad to know that the positive things are remembered as well as some of the not-so-fun mommy moments like timeout.

Well, it's official. My little Allie can crawl! She finally got her coordination figured out. It is so cute. Fortunately she still is content to stay put for the most part, but when she fully discovers her mobility I am really in for it. She is constantly moving some part of her body. Whenever she's in her carseat, she kicks her legs and gets herself rocking like crazy. It is the funniest thing to watch. I sometimes forget about it, but whenever we're in public and she gets a-rockin' we manage to get all sorts of attention. Especially when she kicks so hard the carseat falls back and she gets stuck. So then she'll just sit there and kick her legs some more. Silly little thing! It has been so fun with her lately. Jacob and I often comment on how nice it is we can really enjoy her without all the fussing.

This past week we finished up getting the side of our driveway done. We put up railroad ties for the back support, then planted some bushes in the front and filled it all in with some pretty red rock. It ended up pretty good, I must say. Tons better than it used to be. Considering what we had to start with when we moved in, we have made vast landscaping improvements. I just really have a hard time paying for rock. What? Paying for rocks? Even worse is having to pay for a load of dirt. Dirt? Now come on. What's next? Paying for worms? Wait a minute, they do sell worms. If that's the case, I really need to get in the business. Kenna at least would love it. Last week I showed her a grub worm that was crawling on the driveway and it instantly became her new best friend. Nice. Way to go mom. Now, I really struggle with creepy-crawly things, but am trying to not give Kenna the same heeby jeebies, so ya, I showed her the worm. She carried that thing around all afternoon! She kept squishing it and telling us how cute it was. Cute is definitely a stretch. Um, not even in the same ballpark my sweet little princess. I can think of a whole slew of other words to describe a grub worm. I tried hard to remain optimistic without letting my detest of the grub show through. She showed anyone who came within 50 feet. I told her to feed it to the chickens but she vehemently declined the offer saying, "No, it will die!" Well, I thought, it would meet its demise either by being pecked or smothered to death. Now if I were the little worm, I would opt to just get the whole thing over with quickly by the chickens rather than a slow, painful death in the grimy little hands of a two-year-old, but whatever. We add the grub worm to a growing list of creepy-crawlies Kenna has had to manipulate and investigate. We've already had grasshoppers, ants, and regular old slimy brown worms. I'm not sure what I'll do when she wants to hold a snake.....

We're Alive!

WOW. Almost a month since my last post? Woops. But, definitely time for an update. I have so much to update on this could take forever. I will try to abbreviate.

FIRST AND FOREMOST: I must tell y'all about my new BLING! So our anniversary was May 6th. Yep, the big 4! Yay for us! I ended up in Logan on Monday the 5th, and Jacob had to be up in South Jordan for work on the 7th and the 8th, so we didn't even see each other on our anniversary. Kinda weird, but okay. Anyhow, the girls and I finally met up with dad in Salt Lake on the 7th and stayed in the hotel with him. We were in the hotel getting ready for bed when Jacob handed me a little bag with a letter in it. He wrote me a beautiful little love note (sigh, I loved it) that had a huge wad of cash in it. I wondered "what the heck?!" Okay, didn't wonder, said that right out loud. He said he had been saving up. Hmm, nope, I do the checkbook, there is no way that amount could fly under the radar. He persisted and told me he wanted me to go buy the tracer band I've wanted to go with my wedding ring ever since we got married. I told him there was no way I was going to spend THAT much money on a ring for myself, and we could figure something else to do with it, oh, like put it into savings. Well, I finished getting ready for bed, hopped back into bed, and hopped right onto a little box. I can only imagine the look on my face seeing as though I had a really good idea of what was in that little black box. All I could do was huddle into Jacob and cry! He said, "you don't even know what it is yet!" I carefully took off the wrap and peered into the box to see an absolutely BEAUTIFUL diamond band. I was thinking of a nice little silver band but Jacob got me the the little silver band that included a row of amazing little diamonds in it. WOW. Double triple holy cow I can't believe it WOW. I was stunned. Floored. Humbled a bit, even? I just couldn't believe it. How did he do it? How did I not know about it? Well let me back up (this is getting way too long, but I just have to tell the whole story). A few weeks before my birthday I found a business card for a jeweler in Jacob's shirt pocket. I just smiled and kept it to myself wondering what my sneaky little husband was up to for my birthday. Well, my birthday was just perfect so I didn't worry too much about it. Then a while after my birthday, curiosity got the best of me and I asked Jacob about the card. He quickly came up with an elaborate story that he was helping out his brother who was looking into getting a little bling of his own for a special someone, but had been sworn to secrecy. He really is quite the little actor, and I ate it all up and my curiosity was satisfied. I was so fooled. I was actually thrilled that Karl was looking into getting a ring! So Jacob completely had me blindsided on our anniversary. It was like a little fairytale. I still look at it like a little girl and watch it sparkle. The bad news? I can't get my camera to take a good picture of it. I'll see if I can get it figured out. But if I keep putting off the blog it will never get updated. The other bad news? I was actually really very disappointed that Jacob's brother Karl isn't looking for a ring! And about the big wad of cash? Here is the most amazing and kind and thoughtful thing my husband could do: he sold a heifer. I don't think anyone truly understands how incredibly loving this is. Jacob, the animal lover, sold one of our heifers and took a large chunk of the profit just for me. So, the cash in my love note was the remaining amount from the heifer. Sounds silly, but it was one of the kindest gestures a girl could ever have. Thank you Jacob for being so wonderful. You don't know how much that meant to me. It's not the diamonds. It's knowing that I am married to a man who loves me more than anything in the world. Again, wow.

Okay, this is long. What else has been going on? Well, the girls and I drove with Grandpa Kerry down to Arizona for my cousins wedding. The trip actually went pretty well considering it was a 7 1/2 hour drive. Then we had a really quick trip up to Logan and Salt Lake and, like usual, didn't have nearly enough time to see anyone we wanted to see.

Kenna has some great news to share: she has had some great success on the potty this past week! YAY! Each day gets a little better so hopefully soon we can say she is officially potty-trained. I LOVE IT!

Allie is just a happy little cuss and cute as can be. She can't quite crawl but is trying to figure out how to get her caboose to catch up with the front of her body. Too fun! I am a little worried, though. When she gets going she won't stop which means I will be incredibly busy.

Well, that's it! Hopefully things will slow down a bit so I can be better at updating.

Oh, the pictures: First is me and the little ladies on Mother's Day. Thanks to Grandma Marsha for the incredibly cute dresses! Big shout out to Jacob (is he on a roll or what?!) for the beautiful corsage. The second picture: I came into my bedroom to find my silly little girls peeking out from under my bed. Still not quite sure how Allie got under there, but I have a suspicion her sister helped out a bit.

The Perfect Day

This week absolutely FLEW past. I just can't go another day without the update on my awesome birthday last Friday.

First thing in the morning Jacob got up to get ready for work and then left just like he usually does, and I stayed in bed. Well, the next thing I knew, Jacob had come back and brought me breakfast in bed from IHOP! Oh it was sooooo good and such a great surprise! I made him come snuggle with me in bed and share it. He decided IHOP would be a much better choice then his own cooking. I had to agree (I say that ever so lovingly). THEN when I told my sweet husband that he better get back to work before too long, he gave me my next surprise and told me he had taken the day off to spend with me. That right there was seriously the BEST gift for me! I was so excited. So we got up and got the girls ready and let Allie have her morning nap. After that I decided I wanted to go do some shopping. Right before we left I thought to myself that it was just barely noon and I already had a perfect birthday. So we went in and ended up at a yummy restaurant where I love to get soup and salad. We hadn't been in there too long when the next thing I know, my parents, yes, MOM AND DAD who I haven't seen for about 3 months, came around the corner of the restaurant. HOLY COW!! I couldn't believe it! All I could do was cry! It was such an incredible surprise. They ate lunch with us and I was in heaven being so spoiled. I was with the people I loved most and I couldn't ask for anything more. We came back and when we were unloading mom and dad's car, Jacob pulled out yet another surprise- a double jogging stroller! YAY! Let me back up- the day before I had been on a walk with the girls and our other stroller popped a wheel and pretty much died a miserable death. So I called Jacob and told him to get on KSL and find me one (I refuse to spend a fortune to get a brand new one- those suckers are expensive) anyhow, he had found one and my parents picked it up on their way down. I love it! It runs like a charm. I was just on cloud nine all day long. Jacob's sister Marlene came to town that night also, it was so fun to have so much family around. Later that night we topped off the day with an ice cream cake. The top of it had crushed pieces of Reese's Peanut Butter Cup on it and Kenna looked at it and said, "Hey, it's chicken poop!" Yep, that's my girl. Well, that was my day. It was so perfect. Thanks first to my awesome husband who went to so much work to make sure I had a great birthday and then for the incredible surprise of having my parents come down and also Marlene. What a blessed girl I am. What's next? Well, next week a road trip down to Mesa for a cousin's wedding. My dad is driving us down, so we'll see if we all survive 7 hours in a car! Wish us luck.

All in a day's work

So I made bread on Monday. There is nothing quite like a piece of hot, homemade bread fresh out of the oven. Mmm mmm! Fortunately I had already indulged in the first slice before Kenna got to it. Yep, I left the bread too close to the edge of the counter and my dear little 2 year-old got hold of it and worked her magic on it. At least she was able to destroy only one of the loaves. I'm learning to never turn my back. On our car ride home from the store this afternoon, I decided to let Kenna snack on a banana. She has done it before and eaten it like a good little monkey. Well, of course today I looked back to find her squishing it between her fingers. Nice. I was able to pull over and take care of the situation before she decided to finger paint with it. My little destroyer has been wreaking all sorts of havoc lately. Needless to say, my patience has been tried!

We spent the day Saturday out in the yard trying to liven up our driveway a bit. Kenna loved being out helping her daddy. Allie got out in the sunshine a bit too, and was thoroughly enjoying her time munching on the grass. Kenna loves to sit by Allie whenever she is on the ground and always manages to really get on Allie's nerves. She tries to love her, but really it's just pestering. Poor Allie is going to look like a mangled loaf of bread! We were over visiting some neighbors, and Kenna found some little flags that the power company puts up to show where the power lines are and she decided to make them her own. What was one of the first things she did with her flags? Oh, she just whacked her sister right in the legs. Yeah, double nice.

Anyone else follow The Biggest Loser? Yep, forgive me for abandoning Idol, but I really got into The Biggest Loser. Last night was the finale and it was so amazing to see how the people changed. WOW. I was definitely cheering for Ali to win. She looks absolutely stunning. If you didn't see it, Google it to find her before and after shots. Makes the poundage I want to lose look like a piece of cake. Or, I mean, a bag of carrots. Of course, if I went away for a few months and had no worries and someone to cook and clean for me, I would come out looking like a rock star too. Hmm. For now I'll just settle with running around trying to keep up with a two-year-old and hauling around a 20+ pound baby. Throw the carseat in the mix and we're looking at a good 30 pounds. Now calculate the times I haul the carseat out of the house, in and out of the car to make a few stops, take it in and out of the shopping cart, and lug the monster back into the house, it's amazing my arms don't look more like Popeye's. Maybe I should do lunges while holding the carseat. Then my legs will look like Fabio's. Hmm. Then I could compete on American Gladiators. What could my gladiator name be? I think Crush is taken. Amazon? Titania? Grinder?

Little Bo Peep

Kenna has some of those "Kidsongs" DVD's that she loves to watch. Yep, they're a buck at WalMart and just as cheesy as can be, but Kenna loves it. One of her favorites has a song about Little Bo Peep. So now Kenna loves to go out in the backyard and grab a long piece of rebar that has a crook at the end, then wander around saying "Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep and can't tell where to find them." She says it over and over as she goes all over the backyard. I actually think she tries to herd the dogs with it. It's so funny to watch how she can be in her own little world sometimes.

Jacob has been staying pretty busy with tractor work. He loves his, I mean MY, little tractor. We got it on my birthday last year, so I remind him I let him borrow it. I did drive it the other night actually. AND I even dug up some dirt with it. Yep, I am really quite impressed with my tractor driving abilities! I am definitely diversifying my talents.

Shane, a good friend of Jacob's, and his wife Rachelle came down from Logan and visited last Saturday. Jacob was in heaven with a familiar working buddy and I really enjoyed a fellow mom to sit and chat with. We got a babysitter Saturday night after the Priesthood session and went and had a fun "grown-up" dinner together. Once again, it made us miss being at home around good friends we have a history with. We love company!

Allie is getting pretty darn good at sitting up on her own and is quite proud of herself. Still not sure when she'll start crawling, it will be a while. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that milestone or not! She gets bored easy and I can tell she is just itching to move around and investigate things, she just doesn't quite have the mobility. So I think she will be really happy when she can crawl around, but I'm afraid my world will suddenly explode. Kenna leaves everything out, Allie finds it and puts everything in her mouth, mom is always running around. Perhaps I should enjoy the days of baby confinement!

Oh, bad news. My memory card on my camera is almost full. But I can't delete any because I haven't gotten them printed yet! Oh, I am so far behind! I'm going to have to do it a little at a time otherwise it will cost me a fortune. My internet is way too slow to do it from my computer. Nice one Britt.

Just Say No.....

....To Easter candy! So Sunday is my "day off", if you will, and I indulge in a little eating o' the treats. I was quite pleased to remember Easter falls on a Sunday and really enjoyed indulging in the spoils of the Easter Bunny. That was until about 4 p.m Sunday afternoon. I started feeling a little somethin' somethin' happening in my gut, but thought it was perhaps one too many peanut butter eggs. We sat down to a nice dinner of roast, potatoes, and green bean casserole and I could only manage a bite or two. Well, let's just say the Easter Bunny left a little more than sugar in one of those colorful little plastic eggs because by 9:00 I was spending way too much time with my face in the toilet. Yep folks, the flu. AGAIN, I must add. That is the 3rd time in less than two years! In pleasurable fashion, it eventually went to all of us with the exception of Allie- thank goodness. Fortunately, Kenna's was confined to her diaper and I didn't have to deal with the joy of spontaneous pukage. Jacob was about 12 hours behind me. By Monday night we were thankfully back to normal. However, I completely rid my house of any evidence of Easter. That included baskets, grass, eggs, and ESPECIALLY candy. Even though it was a bug instead of sugar overload, I still can't even look at those once-tempting mini snickers. I have decided though, that it actually is a great side effect. Perhaps Weight Watchers should invent a sick pill to take after you eat treats and then you won't even want them anymore! Ha! Hey..... I'm going to be a millionare.

Can we all give a hooray for my little Allie? She is finally, I repeat, FINALLY able to take soy milk! I never thought the day would come! I am still mixing it with a bit of the old stuff, but she seems to be tolerating it well. Now my budget can breath a little bit. Now I can pay about $12 a can for formula instead of about $35, AND I can get it in a store. Yeehaw! The Lord truly blessed us through this whole expensive formula ordeal. We were always able to find it cheaper. I have to say that we are such an incredibly blessed family. I pray that I will always take the time to recognize the Lord's hand in my life.

Last little bit- I have really been getting into the whole food storage thing lately and am quite enjoying it. But it makes me feel like I'm a little old lady. Ha! Just want to put a little plug-in out there to my fellow domestic goddesses- just a few extra dollars a week will make a big difference in the long run!

It's a Wild World

We've had quite a few new additions to the family lately. Thank goodness, (for right now) I wasn't pregnant with any of them!

The first is the arrival of our baby goats. I am happy to say the mama goats have all kidded out and we have nearly tripled our herd. We now have a total of 10 baby goats, and I just have to say they are the cutest little suckers. This mom instinct can really be tricky and frustrating though, because I get so worried about these silly little goats. Jacob just laughs at me. They are goats for crying out loud! I was so excited to see a few of them when they were delivered. It is amazing how the whole process works. The poor little ladies lay down trying to push those little babies out and I want to yell out- "push hard!" Yes, I know you are laughing at me. I try to not make the darn things human, but I connected with my little lady goats with this whole birthing thing. Then I got a bit frustrated and wanted to tell the dang thing to just push harder. "Harder you dang goat!" I decided against it. The neighbors might think I'm weird. I'm actually starting to think I'm a bit weird. I decided I know how it must be for Jacob when I am in labor. It's a VERY good thing he didn't yell at me to push the darn thing out. He wouldn't have much of a face left if he did. I think Kenna loves the little dudes most of all. "Ooooh, they're so cute!" she says. She loves to sit on the hay and hold them. She pets them then tells us to be quiet because they're sleeping. What a little mom. However, as cute as they are, they will soon get big and then the cuteness quickly wears off. We plan on selling them in a few months. What a cruel world! Ha!

Next is my chickens. Yes, I requested the chickens. I got sick of all the bugs in my backyard last year and figured they would be a great deterrent. Plus, I can get some eggs! Score! Not a bad deal. Kenna also is a big fan of the chickens. She loves to chase them in the yard and of course- hold them. She is very protective of being the one who gets to collect the eggs and put them in the fridge. Many thanks to mom and dad Israelsen who came down to visit last week and brought down our birds. Yes, notice that is plural. We didn't just get chickens, we also got wood ducks. This is Jacob's little project. (Okay, fine- they are all Jacob's little projects. Some I just get a little more involved in than others.) He is in the process of getting a little pond set up for his wood ducks.

Our last addition to the group is the pending arrival of Sydney's puppies. Yep, lucky for me, just another little set of babies to be worried about. They will also be such cute little things. I'll keep you posted. I definitely think that is enough animals for now.

We had such a good time with Jacob's parents last week. It was so fun to have family close, and I was in heaven having extra hands around the house. The girls got spoiled! We got a little homesick for wanting to be back up north. But, our time will come. We love to have people come visit!

Tidbits of the week

Aaaaah. Two girls sleeping, and mom has some time to herself. Where do I start? Do I get in my Pilates? Do I take a nap? Do I attempt to sew some curtains for Kenna's room? Do I indulge in a little Ellen? Na. I'll go catch up on the computer. Drown myself in the world wide web.

Speaking of going to sleep, it is so fun to see how little family rituals start to form. When Kenna goes down for a nap or to go to bed at night, she loves to sing songs. Sometimes it varies, but the beginning song is always "I am a Child of God" and the end one is always "Should've Been a Cowboy." So fun. This afternoon she sang along with me during "I am a Child of God" and it was so sweet. She was so proud and had the biggest smile on her face. What a great little moment. Actually, Kenna loves to sing songs all the time. She is always asking me to sing songs. Lately her favorites have been "Bingo" and "The Farmer in the Dell." The other night she was running around in circles in the front room clapping her hands and singing "b-i-n-g-o." Occasionally we hear just a "n-g-o," it's so funny. Of course Allie has to get involved in singing too, so Kenna will help her do all the hand motions to "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man" and "Once There was a Snowman."

So you can just call me the Karl Malone of the Enoch 4th Ward. Yep, last Saturday I decided to join in on our Relief Society basketball game. Ha! It was actually really quite fun. There is nothing quite like watching a group of mommies run around the court trying to shoot some hoops. Jacob had to laugh, he said there is a lot more giggling and "oh, I'm so sorry, are you okay?" then there is when the Elders play! I do have to brag, however. We only had 4 of us show up and we kicked some serious lady butt! Go us! I kept having flashbacks of my beehive days- you see that was the last time I played a real game of basketball. My body recovered better 15 years ago, I hate to say it.

Also just want to pass on some friendly mommy advice. NEVER let a 2-year-old eat more than 2 prunes in one sitting. Wow. Hello diaper duty.

Frazzled

Jacob and I were talking the other night. He was telling me how grateful he is that he isn't a woman and therefore doesn't have to deal with all the lotions and potions and physiological goodies and toiletries that come with it. I told him I was glad I wasn't a man. If I was a man, I wouldn't be a mommy. Along this theme, I am quite certain men did not engineer the McDonald's PlayPlace. Quite simply because they are not mommies and didn't take into account how their little creation would affect women. Let me back up...

This afternoon all I wanted was to treat myself to a soda and let Kenna play in the PlayPlace. All was going well. I had a good phone chat with a great friend (love ya Ky!) and Allie was napping. Well, the conversation ended and shortly thereafter Allie woke up and was quickly getting very angry. That was my cue to get Kenna off the slide and head on home. Normally Kenna sticks to the perimeter of the play area, so I peeked up the slide expecting to see her. Just my luck, she has gone a little farther up. "Kenna sweetie, time to come down," I so kindly holler up. In response, she starts to cry. Nice. I try to coax her down, but she just keeps crying even more. Allie is her competition with a great little scream back at our table, so at this point I really needed Kenna to hurry down. My options were limited, so against my deepest desire to just be an adult and stay out of the child's toy, I decide to go around the first bend of the twisty slide to pull Kenna down. No luck, she's up farther. I'm pleading, "Please Kenna, Allie isn't happy we need to go get her." Kenna just keeps crying even louder. At this point I find myself stuck in an incredibly difficult spot. Figuratively and literally. As I am trying to keep myself positioned above the bend of the twisty slide without losing my grip, I look down the slide to hear my screaming infant, then look up to hear my wailing 2 year old. Hmm. Why the heck am I not a clone?! Think quick Britt! "Kenna, NOW!" No luck. Anger takes over and up I go, further into the slide. Another bend, no Kenna. Where is my child! AaAAAAH! Who invented this rotten playground? Men! I am imagining all the parents on the outside who could probably look up and see my shadowy figure slowly making its way up the slide. What's wrong with this picture? I haven't even mentioned the fact that I am trying to work my way around little kids who keep coming up and down the slide wondering what in the world I am doing in their domain. I thought, "Trust me my pint-size little friends, I would rather not be in your territory right now!" To make things even better, there is a strangely familiar foul stinky odor coming from up above. Yes, friends, Kenna has not only fixed herself at the top of the slide refusing to come down, but has managed to poop up there. After what seemed like climbing the 4-mile-long intestines of McDonald's, I found Kenna at the top of the slide and over the breezeway trying to go down another slide. From down below Allie is giving me the death scream. My life is going in slow motion. I try not to breathe in the smell as Kenna fortunately works her way over and I grab her leg. I've got her, now go Britt, go! Down we go the 40 million bends of the slide. I just couldn't get down fast enough. Trying to maintain some form of dignity, I pry myself out of the opening of the slide and drag Kenna over to rescue Allie. You are darn right everyone was looking at us. I'm trying to pretend to be a calm, cool mommy as I throw our stuff together to leave and never show my face in public again. BUT- the story does not end. Oh no, I have no such luck. Allie is hysterical, so to try to calm her down I pack us all into the bathroom to get some water to make a bottle. My hands can't move fast enough. The whole time Allie is screaming, Kenna is still crying, the bathroom has a horrible echo, and to top it off there is a ridiculous TV blaring at us above the sink. WHY IS THERE A TV IN THE BATHROOM? Is nothing sacred anymore?! Sweet relief- Allie starts on her bottle and calms down. Next: smelly toddler. I turn Kenna around and look down her diaper to survey the damage, only to find that she was obviously sitting down when she did her business. It has reached the top of her diaper and I have put my finger right in it. Inside I feel like a full moon has come out and I have turned into a ravenous werewolf. Aaarrrrgggh! The TV was still blaring and I wanted to just throw the changing table right at it! Take that, CNN! I just had to stay focused- change the diaper, get out of the store. I repeated it in my mind. Go to your happy spot! Finally, the diaper was changed, the baby was calm, and we exited the store and didn't look back. As I was driving away I had my initial thought: men obviously did not engineer that PlayPlace.

Okay, I admit it. I laughed on the way home as I imagined myself climbing up the slide. I would have never imagined all the adventures I would have being a mom. But I have to say, when I look at the sweet little pictures of my babies, just like this cute one of my little Allie, I think of how incredibly grateful I am to be a woman and a mommy to these beautiful little spirits. Even if it means contorting my body into the twisty slide at McDonalds.