Uncles, a Sleepout, and a Recital

So you heard my lament about not getting any pictures with Aunt Marlene and Aunt Maria when they came to visit, so I am pleased to say I did not repeat the same offense when Uncle Daniel and Uncle Seth came the following weekend!  Yes, we somehow managed to get family to come down and visit two weekends in a row.  We loved it!  When someone will drive 5 hours to come see us, we feel pretty darn special.  And when someone will drive for hours through less-than-scenic central Utah?...

  

Well, that's love folks, love.

Okay fine, I actually only got one picture when the Uncles were here.  And it's fuzzy at that.  Better than nothing, right?  Besides, if Uncle Seth found out he didn't get on the family blog, he just might disown us.  For life.  We can't have that.  Of all the projects they got up to over the weekend, this is the only measly picture I came up with:

 yippee!

Contrary to the vibe coming across in the picture, we really did have fun!  Jacob kept them busy with tractor work, vaccinating cattle, hanging up a basketball hoop....and who knows what other little projects I never heard about.  Ty loved having some extra testosterone in the house for a while too.  Thanks Uncles for a great weekend!

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So we recently added a new addition to our backyard in the form of a travel trailer.  We haven't taken it out for an actual campout yet, but hopefully will soon.  In the meantime, the girls decided to take it upon themselves to have the very first sleepout in the trailer.  Of course they had to take out every pillow and blanket they could find in the house.  Don't forget every girl has to have a change of clothes available at all times, so they had to take out a new wardrobe as well.  After all, those closets in the trailer aren't there just for looks!  I honestly thought they would only last about 10 minutes out there before they were scared out of their minds and wanted to come back in, but those two ladies stuck it out the whole night.  They proved me wrong!  Here they are getting all settled in for the night-  with their reading material, of course:

Sorry Lexi, you have a few more years before you can stay with the big girls:

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 Kenna started taking piano lessons last October, and Sunday evening had her first piano recital.  Thank goodness she was third in line-  that was about the max amount of time we could keep Lexi and Ty quiet before they had to be politely excused.  Oh the joys of having young children...

Kenna did a SUPERB job!  Here she is performing:

     

And here with her fellow piano students- she is the really really cute one in pink on the far left:

And with her great teacher:

Way to go Kenna!  We are so proud of you!

The Past Little While

What have we been up to, you ask?  Well here's a little update for you.

KENNA
Kenna got an outstanding student award for the month of February at school and Jacob and I got to go and beam with pride as she was presented in front of the school...with about 15 others, but she most definitely was the awesomest!  Not a real word, but just for now it is.  Behold, the Tiger of the Month:

She also likes to let the creative juices flow and came up with her own creation.  In a very Kenna-like fashion she left a note with it (we get many notes from Kenna).  The note says:

Do not

throw

away!

To:  Dad 

and 

Mom

My secret 

sauce 

ingredients

honey

&

mustard!

I think she's on to something.....


ALLIE
This little lady finally lost her third tooth.  It wiggled and jiggled for almost a week.  She refused to let me tie some floss up to it and hook it to the door knob.  What?  Trust issues?  It was literally hanging by a mere thread of skin.  Here she is demonstrating the old push-your-tooth-out-with-your-tongue trick.  A clear indication it is time to just yank the dang thing out: 

Thank goodness for goldfish crackers which finally facilitated the popping out of the tooth!  I love her new toothless grin:

And that wonderful, beautiful, awesome, talented, beloved tooth fairy is so wise, she brought Allie a new toothbrush instead of money.  It even had Hello Kitty on it.  It was a win-win situation.


TY
Ty man is so funny.  He says the silliest things!  He is so full of life, it is so incredibly enjoyable.  Of course let's not forget he is definitely ALL boy and comes up with some of the craziest, rowdiest things as well.  He LOVES his daddy and wants to be just like him.  Jacob found a pocket knife sitting around that, thank goodness, mostly just folds out into a pair of pliers.  It even has its own little case just like Jacob's does.  When he gave it to Ty, it was almost as though Jacob handed him the moon!  He was so excited!  He even had to sleep with it that night.  Here he has on daddy's shoes and a belt with his knife and case attached, just like daddy:

We got him this belt when we were down in Vegas and it has his name on the back.  He always manages to lose it for a week or so, but then we he finds it again he gets so excited and says, "Hey, it's my T-Y belt!"  Not his name, just the letters, T Y.  You can take a wild guess what his two favorite letters are.

The other day I was cutting up some strawberries and he grabbed a strawberry, looked up at me so serious and said, "Hey Mom, can you cut the weeds off?"  Ha!  So here he is demonstrating strawberries with and without the "weeds."

LEXI
Last but certainly not least is Lexi.  Ty's little sidekick.  Those two are quite the combination.  However, when Dad is around, she loves to be right there with him.  He took her out for a little 4-wheeler ride the other night and she could've stayed on that thing forever!  She was in heaven!

Friday night at our house has become "Family Movie Night."  Here the kiddos are getting ready to settle in for another rockin' Friday night at the Israelsen Home:

Kenna and Allie are practicing their acting skills by pretending to be less than enthused.  Sometimes a mom just doesn't ask questions.  No acting here for Lexi, she is overjoyed to snuggle in!

And I am so ashamed to say that I didn't even get a single picture from last weekend when Aunt Maria and Aunt Marlene came down to visit.  Such a shame!  We had such a fun time with them.  Please come back!  We need some picture redemption!