From Drab....

....To FAB! I love my new cabinets! They turned out beautiful. I got to see them as they started to install them on the 17th, then headed up to Logan to drop off the girls. We went on the trip with two other couples from Logan, so I headed down south with them. When we came back down to Cedar to pick up Jacob, I got a quick peek at my new cabinets completely installed (at 4 in the morning) before we headed off for our trip. I am loving all my new space. Now my coat closet will actually hold coats instead of cans of food! Yay! Who new wood and tile could be so exhilarating? (Yet so @#$!%@# at the same time.)

Unfortunately I, on the other hand, have gone from fab to FLAB since being on a cruise ship for a week. Ya, really good food. 24 hours a day. Bad for the midsection. Of course Jacob can eat all he wants and comes back just the same. What the heck? I was standing in the wrong line when metabolism was handed out in the pre-existence. We had SO MUCH fun, and loved being able to just focus on each other for a while. We started off in Vegas where we went to see the Tournament of Kings at Excalibur, which was a lot of fun. Then the next morning we headed off to San Diego to load up on the cruise ship. San Diego was beautiful and WARM. It was such a welcome change! Our first stop was Cabo San Lucas where we had an absolutely amazing margarita on the beach, rode wave runners in the ocean and drank all the salt water you could ever want, saw real tropical fish (not even in a tank like I'm used to at Wal-Mart!), played in gigantic waves that knocked us all over and filled every possible crevice with sand, got sunburned, saw sea lions (did you know sea lions are really smelly?), and tried our best not to get run over by all the crazy Mexicans selling us everything imaginable. I loved it! Even the pictures with the iguanas cost us a buck. Ya, they threw the crazy little monsters at us then expected us to pay 5 bucks. Sorry, we're cheap, they only got a dollar. Ha! There was so much fun stuff to look at, I could have gone through a fortune. Jacob is still ticked I paid $5 for a bracelet when he was absolutely certain I could have gotten it for 50 cents. Of course he thought we should be able to get everything for 50 cents. Nice try love. Our next stop was Ensenada. We wanted to snorkel, but it was a little too cool and overcast. So we went out to "La Bufadora" which is "the blowhole" and saw what looks like a small Old Faithful coming out of the side of the rocks. Eh, it was okay. I guess now I can say I've seen the blowhole. But the best part was the huge walkway just filled with little vendors and once again, everything imaginable for sale. The people were absolutely hilarious. We'd ask "How much is this?" They'd say, without fail, "For you my friend, today is 20 dolla." Then we'd say, "Ah, no thanks, too much." Then when we'd walk away they'd come back with, "Okay, okay, then just for you, 19.99! And I give you free bag!" I loved it! We ended up with a hammock chair (the girls are just loving), a poncho for Jacob, and an awesome blanket. The bargaining was so much fun. And if they didn't have what we were looking for, they'd drag us along saying, "I know a guy, come, come" and take us down a few shops to a friend. We only had 2 hours there because of the bus and were so bummed, we could have spent all day there. The churros were mouth watering. And my tacos at the little makeshift taco stand with homemade tortillas were just as tasty. Aaah. Before we got back on the ship we made one last purchase to get Kenna a little leather purse and a bracelet, and then two cute little sombreros for the girls. Kenna takes her purse everywhere and is quite the sly one at collecting coins to fill it with. She actually has quite a haul saved up! In between our stops in Mexico we spent the days lounging in the sun in our swimsuits, sleeping, and eating. It was so much fun. The second day at sea was starting to get a bit old, but when it comes to lounging and getting a cold drink whenever I want and not having to do anything, I don't complain!

Thanks to our parents, the girls had a wonderful time. The first part of the week was spent at the Israelsens where they completely wore out Grandma Marsha, played with all the animals, and were spoiled with lots of loves and attention, then the last part of the week was spent at the Otte's where the girls got some good 1 on 1 time with Grandpa Kerry for a day. My parents brought the girls down to Salt Lake to meet me when I flew in. Yep, I figured the long drive down would be enough, and the thought of having to pass my house, drive all the way up the Logan and then come all the way back down again was enough to encourage me to get a flight home. I was SO glad I did. Jacob drove home with our friends and then we met up with him Sunday afternoon. I ended up staying the night in Scipio Saturday night. The quick change in elevation sent me swirling and it was best if I didn't keep driving. I felt okay when I left Salt Lake but before long I needed to just park the car. Anyhow, that's the past little while in a nutshell. I'm sure after I post I'll think of a bunch more details about the trip I wanted to write about. Oh well. My brain has just been frazzled since being home, I'm still trying to adjust. Oh well, we'll be back in the same ol' routine before long. But hey, at least the same ol' routine now involves me loving spending time in my new kitchen!

BON VOYAGE!

So, pretty much I am so sick of the kitchen. I just have to keep in mind it will all be worth it when it's done. That's the key- when it's done. We just have all these little odds and ends that keep taking time and drive me nuts. We got the tile all done and it's really pretty. I have decided I HATE doing grout. Wow am I glad that's over. Jacob and I got a bit of a late start the night we did it. At 2:30 in the morning I was wasted and crashed. Jacob stayed up until 4 finishing it. What a trooper! I would post a picture, but my picture thing went funny and I don't have the patience to figure it out. The grout ended up drying lighter than I wanted, so I need to see if there is something I can treat it with or whatnot to make it look darker. Of course I can't really fully enjoy it yet though because it's always such a mess in there while we're still trying to get all the the little things taken care of. At least the fridge, the stove, and the sink are no longer in my front room! That was quite the experience. Needless to say my entire house feels like a massive disaster zone that absolutely refuses to stay clean. But, the cabinets come Saturday and I can't wait! I'm not sure if I'm more excited for our cabinets or our cruise down to Mexico next week...

Yep, Jacob and I are treating ourselves to a week long cruise down to Mexico! YAY! We've been planning it since July and I can't believe it's already here. So I will head up to Logan on Saturday to drop off the girls and miss my new cabinets coming in. BUT, we're driving to San Diego with friends and will stop off to pick up Jacob so I'll get a quick view of my cabinets then head on down to MEXICO. Aaaah. A nice cold margarita on a hot sandy beach. That's what I'm talking about. We have a stop in Cabo San Lucas and a stop in Ensenada. I'm keeping my fingers crossed the girls behave themselves for a week. We are so blessed with awesome families who are willing to take on the little ladies for a week. Our families are going to need a vacation after it's all said and done! Thanks SO SO much family for being willing!! I hope the girls get spoiled rotten and love every minute of it. I admit, I have a bit of anxiety about leaving the girls for a whole week- it will be really weird. Not because they won't be well-taken-care of, but because I've never been without a little one for more than 24 hours in over 3 years! Today we went to WalMart to get Kenna and Allie a new suitcase. We found a cute pink one that has a handle and rollers and- oh my goodness- Kenna thought it was the greatest thing next to Old Yeller (she LOVES that movie). She rolled that thing all around the store and insisted on carrying it out to the car herself. It had to sit right next to her also. As soon as we got home she had to fill it up with all her stuffed animals that she wants to take to Grandma's house. Hmmm, hopefully we can share the room with a shirt or two. Hopefully after another 2 weeks I can feel like my life will be back to normal..... But then again, what exactly is normal?

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!