A Letter From Santa

With little ones, it's easy to get caught up in all the fun that goes along with the season and, like most parents, we try to find ways to make sure we focus on the reason for Christmas- Christ.  So this year I took a few different ideas I've heard of here and there to put together something that we will do this Christmas to help out in the "true meaning" department.  So as we were putting up the Christmas decorations, the girls discovered a little package in the mailbox from Santa.  In it was a little stuffed Santa Claus who has served as our house elf the past few years and a copy of this letter.  So far it has been going well.  Not to mention it has made my shopping and budgeting so much easier!  Merry Christmas to everyone!  We hope you all can feel the love of our Savior this time of year and remember the greatest gift we all have received.

Dear Israelsen Family,

          Merry Christmas!  I can’t believe it’s that time of year again!  What a wonderful year it has been.  You have a new baby sister, that is so special.  Kenna, Allie, and Ty, you have all been working hard to be such good helpers to your Mom and Dad, I am so proud of you.

          This year I have something very important to tell you.  As Santa Claus, I have a very special job.  Christmas is such a wonderful time of year, for it’s the time we remember when Jesus Christ was born.   Christmas is the time to celebrate our Savior and to help share His love.  Heavenly Father wants all of His children to know how much He loves them and how much Jesus loves them.  Unfortunately, there are many who have forgotten this.  This is the special job Heavenly Father has given me: to help the world remember Jesus this time of year.  I hope when people think of gifts at Christmas, they remember the greatest gift we have ever been given- our Savior Jesus Christ.  So this year, I want to work extra hard to do my job and help you remember why we celebrate Christmas. 

          When Jesus was born, there were three wise men who came to see Him.  They each brought Him a gift.  Do you know why they were wise men?  Because they knew exactly who Jesus was and how very special He was.  They knew that He would show us the way to live and that someday He would die for us so we could live with Him and Heavenly Father again.  The wisest people in the world are those who look for and follow Jesus.  So this year, you will each be getting 3 gifts from me to help you remember the wise men who found the Savior.  I pray that each of you will continue to follow Jesus and keep making good choices this next year.  So guess who I am sending to come to your house?  Brumphy!  He is so excited to be back at your house!  He loves the Israelsen house because he knows they are such a special family.  He has a very important assignment from me this year.  First of all, whenever you see Brumphy, I want you to remember that we are celebrating Jesus this Christmas season.  And when you think of Jesus, you will want to make good choices and choose the right.  When Brumphy sees all the good things you do, he will report back to me.  I can’t wait to hear of all the wonderful things you will do!  

          Thank you for being such a great family.  I love you and am so excited to bring you 3 gifts this year, just like the wise men brought to Jesus.  I am most excited to hear all the good things you do!

Much Love,

Santa Claus

  

7th Heaven

I'm afraid I have a major birthday lover in my crew.  To say Kenna was excited for her birthday last week is a major understatement.  Perhaps an appropriate word would be elation?  We have (or rather, she has) been counting down for her birthday pretty much since Allie's birthday in August.  The day finally came and we now have a 7-year-old in the house.  The requests for the day:

For breakfast, pancakes with sausage and bacon.  Yum.

For her gift, she really wanted some Stompeez slippers-the unicorn ones to be exact.  The eyes pop up when she walks:

She had a little pile of gifts waiting for her on the table when she got home from school.  She kept looking at them and tried her hardest to refrain from ripping in to them so she could wait for Dad to get home from work to join in all the fun.  You see, brand new 7-year-olds can exert great patience.  She waited.  And waited.  And finally just couldn't stand it anymore so opened up "just one" gift.  The smallest one, of course.  Then about a half hour past, and she kept staring at the rest of them.  Trying to keep from drooling.  Then just couldn't wait any longer and opened another.  To sum it all up, basically about a half hour before Dad got home she had them all opened.  The problem was Dad had told her in the morning that she could go ahead and open them before he got home, so that was just rolling around in her brain taunting her!

For some evening birthday entertainment, Kenna wanted to go.....drumroll please....rollerskating!  A friend had a birthday party at the roller rink a few weeks prior, and ever since Kenna had been beyond excited to take the family skating for her birthday.  Fortunately, on a Thursday evening, we basically had the rink to ourselves.  Which is best, because a certain member of the family HATED rollerskates:

We now know Ty does not like roller skating.  However, take off his skates and let him run around and chase us all over the rink?  Now that is more his style.

The girls were sure troopers, bruises and all.

We topped off the birthday festivities with some birthday "k"ake and ice cream.  A "K" shaped chocolate cake with strawberry frosting, as per birthday girl request.  Dad got a little to anxious to get it served up before we could sing and blow out the candle, so we had to put a few slices back together for a pic.

Happy Birthday Kenna D!  I will forever remember the very first day you joined our family.  It was so fun (albeit a bit exhausting) to share another birthday with you!  Looking forward to number 8. 

And since little Lexi Lou didn't get a picture, I have a darn cute one to throw in the mix here.  She loves to use her elbows to push herself up in her chair and sit up straight and tall.  Such a cutie!  I just love how her little ears poke out.  At her 6 month check up last week, we learned this little future basketball player is in the 99.25 percentile for her height.  Way to go Lulu!

Thanksgiving Checklist

Turkey...check.

Potatoes....check.

Rolls...check.

Pie...check.

The flu....check.

What?  The flu?  UNcheck, UNCHECK!

To sum up our Thanksgiving weekend, we were sick.  We drove 5 hours to get sick.  Jacob spent Thanksgiving in bed.  I think he had some ginger ale and a few bites of apple for Thanksgiving.  Then he managed to share the love with pretty much anyone who so much as even looked at him.  I, being the lucky one who gets to sleep next to him, was a benefactor as well.  The only good thing was that it didn't hit me near as hard.  And at least waited until after the actual Thanksgiving feast and a bit of absolutely ridiculous why-do-I-do-this Black Friday shopping.  I at least got to enjoy turkey!  Sometimes a crystal ball would come in so handy.  We could have avoided being so generous.

Again to the Israelsen clan:  WE ARE SO SORRY!


Here are the two lone pictures I took of Thanksgiving lunch with the extended Israelsen crew.

Kenna and Allie feasting on candy corns with some cousins:

And Lexi with the gorgeous Aunt Connie:

Overall, we loved being with family (even if they didn't love us so much by the time it was all said and done).  We topped off the weekend with hearing Uncle Benson speak in Sacrament meeting prior to his departure to the MTC in a few weeks.  He did a superb job and will be a fantastic missionary.  Watch out Mexico, here he comes!  I won't even attempt to pronounce, or spell for that matter, the name of his mission.

Us and Benson:

Benson and the two newest grandbabies:

We had lunch at the Caine Dairy in Logan, and the mini cows in the front entrance were a big hit with the kids:

Another Thanksgiving down for the books.  Very....memorable.

And I need to throw in another little memory- Kenna's first little tumbling performance at a local Christmas Craft Fair.  She's a future member of the Fab 5 US gymnastics team.  Well, okay.  That's a stretch.  At least she's fabulous to us!

 

Happenings

October.....gone.

November....almost gone.

2013 seems to be just about halfway over.

Before I turn 40 I better get another update in, huh?

For some reason, we manage to get people to drive south for 5 hours to visit us every so often.  Our good looks?  Our charming personalities?  The beautiful expanse of cedar trees?  Hmm, must be our good character because cedar trees are nothing but overgrown sagebrush if you ask me.

Well, no matter the reason, we LOVED having family come down the past few weeks.  Our first visitors were Grandma and Grandpa Israelsen.  We get plenty of love and attention when Grandma and Grandpa come, and we are always sad to see them leave.  While they were down we managed to head into town for the annual Sheep Festival complete with a parade of tractors, sheep camps, horses, and of course, sheep.  Kind of fun to see a whole bunch of sheep trotting down mainstreet.  It was a perfectly beautiful fall day to spend together as a family.

The following weekend Uncle Karl and Aunt Julie came down to visit.  We laughed and ate and had just a great time together.  I would love to show you it all, but well, I didn't take a single picture.  I was so engrossed in all the fun!  Thanks so much for coming to see us Karl and Julie!  We can't wait to meet our newest little cousin next year.  Another little lady- go figure.  Looks like Ty man is going to have to work overtime to keep the Israelsen name going strong!

And of course I need to throw in Halloween.  Halloween Israelsen style, that is.  I'll let the pictures do the talking.

And let us not forget another visit from the toothfairy.  One of my favorite parts of being a Mom is watching my kids encounter each little milestone.  And have maybe just a twinge of sadness that tooth by tooth, my little girl is quickly becoming my little lady.  I'll just enjoy these baby teeth as long as I can, I suppose.

Intelligence

During a visit with my dear Visiting Teachers a while ago, I was discussing with them about my two oldest ladies.  When Kenna and Allie are in public, such as school or church, they really are good little troopers and are actually quite a bit on the shy side.  When they are at home, however, they are two big balls of energy who seem to have more personality than their sweet, kind Mother knows what to do with.  The one Sister said she had read somewhere that when children exhibit this kind of behavior, it actually is a sign of intelligence that they can differentiate between times of needing self control and others when they are able to let loose a bit.

Well, yes, of course!  My children are extremely intelligent!  Please, I don't need a study in a journal to tell me that!  For example-

The other day we were in the van riding back from town, and it just so happened that the girls had switched booster seats to sit in.  They were having one of those afternoons where they just kept getting on each others nerves.  Here is the conversation in the van:

Allie:  "Kenna, I just farted in your booster."

Kenna (trying to be oh so non-chalant):  "I don't care."

-silence in the car for a few moments as Kenna is deep in thought-

Kenna:  "Oh yeah Allie?  Well that's a fart-switching booster so now it's in yours."

Yes I do believe that's intelligence right there.

Stuff

I could lament about the lapse in blog entries....

.....but I won't.  So goodbye to things I am not blogging about but really should. 

So here is a bit of a snapshot of the Israelsen comings and goings as of late:

I'm lovin' my new jogging stroller.  My days with it are so limited!  We are soon to bid a fond adieu until warmer weather lest I subject my poor babies to frost bite. 

Ty Man loves him some little sister, and insists we always take a picture.

Little sister loves her some fingers.  Yes, she really is the most lovable, adorable, sweetest little lady that ever did exist.  And 5 months?  Really, 5 months?  I can't believe it.

The girls did a cheer camp and performed during half time at the high school football game.  Pretty much well on their way to fame and glory.

And of course they looked equally darling sporting their tiger hats for hat day during Red Ribbon Week at school.

'Tis the season for all things Halloween, and the ward Halloween carnival was the highly anticipated event of the week.  Kenna was adamant she be a witch.  Allie was initially going to be a cat, but soon switched to the dark side with her sister.  And close in tow are my little punkin and flower.  Love me some cute kiddos all dressed up!

And don'tcha just wish you could come snuggle up with us on a cozy Sunday afternoon as we read a chapter or two out of Charlotte's Web?

Yep.  Yep you do.

In a Nutshell.....

I am so overwhelmed to update this bloggity blog. Life has seemingly gone into turbo mode and I am doing good to keep my head above water some days!

So here is a marathon that hopefully will cover our last month.  Nothing is going to get all the attention and details it deserves, but hey, beggars can't be choosers.

Let's start with some visitors:

We had a mission buddy of Jacob's and his wife and 3 boys come to visit for a night, and it was also the same weekend Aunt Marlene came down for a visit.

Here we have the makeshift breakfast table with part of the crew.  Oh ya, when you come to visit we roll out the red carpet, baby!   The kids thought it was just amazin'.

Is it any question Aunt Marlene is absolutely loved and adored?

We enjoyed a good ol' hometown 24th of July parade where Dad and the kiddos got to ride on the ward "float"- or rather a big flatbed trailer with some bales of hay on it.  Ahh, such cute little pioneers.

Dad and the girls had to break in the playhouse with a delightful sleep over.  It was reeeeeeally tempting, but after a lot of back and forth, I just ended up sleeping in my own warm comfortable bed.

Our family vacation this year was a week-long trip up to Logan.  I can't even begin to give this week the time and detail it deserves, but you can trust we had a perfect time and it went by entirely too fast.  First up was Allie's birthday, complete with swimming with some cousins, ear piercing, and cake:

Of course we can't forget the final triumphant year for the Israelsen clan at the Cache County Fair!  I'm quite certain Jacob, being 32 years old, still got a butterfly or two in his tummy awaiting this big weekend.  Just like the good old days.

Uncle Benson pretty much reigned King of the Fair and won every category he was in.  Since Benson isn't one to toot his own horn, we'll do it for him.  YOU ARE AWESOME Bensy!  Here is the master at work:

Yes, he is holding a blow-dryer.  Pre-marriage I would have never used the words "cow" and "blow-dryer" in the same sentence. 

The Israelsen grandkids all got to show a heifer and they thought they were in heaven with their blue ribbons and 2 whole bucks.  Ty got excited to lead his heifer at first, then soon changed his mind and decided to supervise outside the ring.  And I'm quite certain that only a handsome little 2-year-old boy can wear snakeskin boots with silver rimmed toes and actually be deemed cute doing so.

We attempted the rodeo Friday night and got rained out after about a half hour.  I was SO BUMMED.  It was going to be so fun with the entire Israelsen clan.  Ty could have cared less about the rain.  He and Kylie thought splashing in the bleachers was the best thing that could have ever happened!

And I have a zillion more pictures of the fair I could go on and on about but this post would never end.....

We went up Smithfield Canyon with the Otte clan to do some S'mores.  Here is the grandkid lineup (minus a sleeping Lexi):

The week culminated in the blessing of our Miss Lexi.  It turned out to be a beautiful day.  Even if I did escort the entire Israelsen family to the wrong church.  Not my most shining of all moments.  I try to keep it so my frequent brain lapses affect only me but I struck out on this one.  Fortunately we all managed to make it to the right church just in time.  Look on the bright side- we at least were at the right denomination!

My mom put her talents to good work and sewed Miss Lexi's blessing dress.  The picture doesn't even come close to showing it off, but it was absolutely beautiful.  It meant so much to have it come from Grandma Shelly!  

The proud parents:

The proud Israelsen Grandparents:

The proud Otte Grandparents (who leave for the Ft. Worth Texas mission in a matter of days!):

The proud new shiner.  Ty managed to fall down the cement steps of the church.  Thankfully after the meeting was over.

We were so sad to see the week end.  All good things must come to a close, I guess.

We made it home just in time to meet up with some friends who were visiting from California, who happen the have the cutest twins you ever did see!  The only downer was we didn't get to spend as much time with them as we would have liked.

We didn't have but a few days left of summer before we jumped right into SCHOOL!

Here we have the cutest first-grader in the world!:

And of course the starting of school wouldn't be complete without a 500-year flood.  It was crazy rain and a lot of people flooded.  My poor neighbors were a casualty.  You can't even tell where the curb and sidewalk are in the picture.  The following Monday was a city-wide service night to help out all the homes that had been damaged.  It was so neat to see so many people out lining the streets helping wherever they could.  

And a week later we have the cutest Kindergartener in the world!:

But of course we can't forget the wildest and cutest 2 year-old in the world!:

My bookshelf is empty for obvious reasons.


And last but certainly not least, the cutest 3 month-old in the world!: 

And there we have the past month and a half.  I barely skimmed the surface, but now I can check this off my list.  Now on to the other 9,457 things left to do.  And then start again the next day......