Comments

To all my fellow blogging friends and family, can I just tell y'all I love your blogs? I love being able to pop in and catch up on people's lives. So to all you out there who wonder if I really know you exist- I do! To read all the blogs I want and to leave comments is just not in my cards with really slow internet and two little chillens. Somehow some of you wonder moms out there can do it! There have been so many times I have been in the middle of writing a comment to someone and I end up pushing a wrong button or I have little hands who turn off the computer on me and that is just the end of it. Just know I do pop in and check on ya. Thanks so much for leaving me such fun little comments, they really mean a lot to me. Maybe sometime I can buckle down and bite the bullet to pay for faster internet and I will be a comment crazed woman!

Anyhow, what's new with us? Well, my sweet little Allie is not only getting her 4 incisors (yep, those lovely razor sharp snags) but she is also getting in second- year molars! All 4 of them, too. You're a bit early my child! Perhaps it's better to get it all done at once, huh? She just can be really grumpy. Of course I would too if I had the same dental woes.

So I started watching a little 6 month old during the day. So far it's been good. She actually is a pretty good baby and the girls love her. It will be good to get a little extra cash coming in. Jacob gets worried it will get me baby hungry, but so far I am perfectly happy to let her go home every afternoon! I still remember all too well how grumpy my babies are. Who knows, maybe the baby bug will just sneak up and bite me one of these days.

Dinner

Sometimes I am just not at the top of my culinary game. I go through spurts where my menus are planned, my shopping is done, and dinners are great. Then there are other times, such as now, where I find myself stuck in the dinner dilemma. Before I know it, the clock says it's 5 and I really have no idea what to cook. Even worse, nothin' is sounding like it's gonna hit the spot. So I flip thoughtlessly through my cookbooks hoping something new and yummy will pop out at me and I will just magically have all the ingredients. Hmmm. Cold cereal anyone? Okay, that's pathetic. So last night, to try and break up the humdrum of the not-so-hot-dinner week, I attempted a chicken and rice casserole. Sounds easy enough, huh? I've had plenty of casserole successes in the past. Well, at the last minute I decided to add a touch of catalina dressing hoping it would add a little zing to the dish. Let's just say upon pulling the casserole out of the oven, it was PINK. With a little orange cheese on top. At first I thought I could get away with it because it was close to Valentine's day, and maybe Jacob would think I was being festive. It tasted okay, it was edible at least. When I asked Jacob what he thought, he pretended that I was talking to someone else hoping he wouldn't have to answer. His smile and his lack of eye contact clued me off that he was really trying hard to decide how honest he was going to be. The look on his face did it and all I could do was laugh my guts out. He immediately joined in. So there we sat at the dinner table, laughing hysterically at what honest-to-goodness looked like someone had eaten a bunch of valentine's candy followed up by chicken and rice casserole and then had vomited on our plates. I had tears in my eyes I was laughing so hard. Bless your sweet little heart Jacob for trying so hard to protect my feelings. But, I can admit when truly, dinner looks like throw up. Aaah, we had a good laugh anyway. And a bowl of cereal.

Today

Today I went to lunch with my fellow sistas in the Relief Society Presidency so daddy got the girls for lunch. Afterward, I caught up with them at the library. Let's just say my girls and the library don't jive. I tried to pull Allie away from the little puzzle she was playing with- SCREAM! Then we walked over to the movie aisle to meet up with Jacob and Kenna who were looking to check out a movie for Kenna. Well, Kenna saw us, came running over to show us her movie and SLIP- her legs came right out from under her and she landed right on her tushy- SCREAM! (Thanks mostly to me for letting a very insistent Kenna wear her slippery sparkle silver shoes today). Then we went back over to the movies and Allie wanted to pull out every single movie. So of course when I try to keep her from destroying the movie aisle I inevitably get- SCREAM! Now, my girls just don't scream. They have the lung capacity of opera stars. I always thought Kenna was loud, but Allie can really give her a run for her money. In fact, when my parents were watching her, my dad was seriously considering ear plugs. No, really, he was. In the library I was starting to worry more about paying for broken windows than I was for the destruction in the movie section. I was just waiting to get kicked out. Wow. Definitely an Israelsen trait. He he he.

After the library we decided to venture into the Dollar Store where we found Kenna a pack of cute little headbands. She can't wear just ONE. Behold, her masterpiece.

Kenna's new thing is learning about "bad words." The word most often confronted is "stupid," and Kenna is the don't-say-stupid-nazi. So Kenna reminds me a few times a day that she is not saying "stupid." I told her the only time she can say stupid is when she is talking about the dogs. Not sure if that's gonna work out or not....

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.