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.