It Must Be Summer Time

We've been trying to soak up some sun lately and have fun. Last Saturday we decided to head up the mountain for a little 4-wheelin'. It was plenty dusty, but we had fun taking a picnic up the mountain and just ridin' around.

Two peas in a pod!

A handsome daddy and his pretty little lady. Even though her hairdo only lasts for a few brief moments. Here we see the pony tail is long gone. She also manages to get one heck of a shag on the back of her head. What a character!

The girls' favorite part was playing in the stream. Of course they ended up getting soaked, but loved every minute of it. I think they would say it was definitely worth the ride home without their pants on!

It's been pretty darn nice down here, so we filled up the pool. Wouldn't you say this is such a jolly little picture? Let's hope the pool lasts a week before popping.


This has become our daily tradition the past week: A nice sticky popsicle. Kenna starts asking for one as soon as breakfast is over. All goes well until Allie inevitably loses the last bit off her stick, and comes into the house quite unhappy holding the dirt-covered remains of her popsicle that have left a colored trail all the way to the kitchen. Sigh.

Last but not least: here we have Kenna who apparently has just initiated herself into one of the deep jungle tribes of Africa. Why do I think she really has learned her lesson from the previous umpteen times she has been entrusted with a pen and ends up drawing all over any uncovered portions of her body? Sigh. Yep, motherhood at its finest right there. Somedays I think that for every step I take forward, I take 3 more back. I just didn't even have the energy to get into the "our bodies are special" talk. So what do I do? Just take a picture. There's something in children's ears that automatically cause a deaf shut-out when a mother starts talking. Unless, if for some interesting reason, the words "treat" or "park" are mentioned. I wonder why that is...

Spring!

Yep, that's Allie. Kinda looks like she's doing a little dance on the electric wire up in the clouds, huh? Please don't call us in for child abuse- the kid loves it! She kept asking to do it again and again. You should really see the looks we get when Jacob does this. Something between amazement and sheer terror. I really don't blame them. It's just not normal to see a toddler free-falling from 15 feet up in the air. I admit, I get a bit nervous. Let's just say I REALLY trust my husband. Obviously Allie does too! Now Kenna on the other hand, hates it. She will cling on for dear life if daddy even lifts her up above his head. The contrast between my two little angels is pretty funny to see.

The picture was actually taken at the Logan cemetery. Jacob's Grandma Falslev passed away a few weeks ago and we traveled up to Logan for the funeral. The funeral was beautiful. It's incredible to be able to honor a person who has spent 80 years of life and has many wonderful events and accomplishments to look back on. It's even more remarkable to think of the sweet reunion that occurs in those first moments after one's passing. How grateful I am to know that life continues. Not only life, but happiness. I was honored to be able to sing the closing song at the funeral. It was quite a challenge and very intimidating, but I am so grateful to say that it turned out well- all due to much help from up above. I don't want to make a habit of singing at funerals, however...


Ahhh, look at my cute little ladies. They really are so stinkin' cute (even if getting a really cute picture of them in their really cute dresses is near impossible). They made me grateful to be able to celebrate being a mother this past Sunday. It's also because of them I have developed an even greater respect and admiration for my own mothers. I am so blessed to have an amazing and talented mom and a very loving and wonderful mother-in-law. They are such great examples to me and I often find myself shaking my head wondering, "how did they do it?" Thank you to all the beautiful women in my life who help inspire me to be better. It's good to give ourselves a pat on the back every once in a while. Way to go moms!

What Do You Do For Fun?

Kenna loves to put a leash on our dogs and walk them around the backyard, so it really came as no surprise to me this afternoon when she hooked the leash up to her sister and drug her around the backyard. The crazy thing? Allie was actually game for a good 5 minutes or so. I never know what to expect next out of these two little hoodlums!

One Year Older and Wiser Too....

I am now 3 days in to my 29th year! It's weird to be on the far side of the twenties. It really didn't seem too long ago I was just beginning this decade. Recently we had the opportunity of celebrating an 80th birthday with Jacob's Grandma Falslev. How amazing it must be to look back on 80 years. That makes me still a baby, really. So I'm not going to say I'm old. It's all relative. Actually, something about approaching my 30's makes me feel like I'm really just beginning. Quite honestly, I would hate to offend my aged, more seasoned comrades out there. You see, if I'm old, then what does that make someone whose just ending their 50's? He he he. Love ya moms and dads!

So, speaking of birthdays, it was a good one. Jacob and I got a babysitter and headed on down to sunny St. George for a much needed afternoon sans kids. Now for anyone who is a little less familiar with my eternal companion, he is all farm. So for him to voluntarily a) go shopping with me, and b) on a sunny Saturday afternoon, was nothing but pure love. First stop: Old Navy. Jacob just followed me around like a little puppy exploring territory for the first time. As I perused the aisles I would often hear him make comments such as, "people really do this for fun?" I found a few things to try on, so we headed into the dressing room. Let me remind you, we had only been in the store about 15 minutes, so I was a bit baffled when Jacob sat down on the little bench, stretched out his legs and sighed, "Wow, I am so tired. My legs ache, and my back hurts." Yes, this is my husband who will be out on a farm hauling hay, riding a horse, wrestling cows, and shoveling manure from sun up to sun down. Then he adds, "I don't know how people do this all day." Huh? The best, however, came when we were about to leave the dressing room. He piped in with, "This is why I never try things on because it's such a pain to go put it all back if it doesn't fit." I looked at him a bit confused and told him we can just leave it at the front of the dressing room area and they will put it away for us. The look on Jacob's face was absolute disbelief. "They will?! That's why I never try things on because I don't want to deal with the hassle of having to go put it all back! Are you sure?" I went right up and handed my clothes to the nice employee who gladly took them for me. Jacob was stunned. I was cracking up! In our 5 years (almost- May 6th!) of marriage I never knew this about my husband. He was so very entertaining to shop with! You can only imagine how fun he was at the mall....! I LOVE YOU JACOB! Thank you for such a fun afternoon.

Has anyone ever eaten at the Texas Roadhouse? My oh my, it was the most amazing birthday dinner. Jacob had eaten there with work a few months ago and said it was really good, so while we were down in St. George, we gave it a try. I really can't begin to explain how delicious this meal was. Am I really ranting and raving about food? Yes, I do believe I am. It is so very deserving. As soon as we sat down, we were greeted with a basket of yummy, fluffy, rolls with a cinnamon honey butter to go on them. Right from the start my caloric intake for the day was completely out the window! To make matters worse, they just kept refilling the basket. Dangerous people, dangerous! So I ordered the ribs and steak. I sit here at the computer at a total loss of how to describe the taste of such a divine carniverous indulgence. I think Jacob got more amusement at me eating and savoring every bite than I did with him in the dressing room at Old Navy. If you ever want really good food, you now have my suggestion. I don't know if there are any up north, but come on down to see us, we'll go with you! Okay, maybe after we save some more pennies. A bit pricey, but YUM!

So, there it is, my birthday. Topped it off with a little dish at Cold Stone Creamery and called it a day. The best part really was just spending time with my sweet little family. Before I know it I'll be officially entering my 30's. Until then, I'll just enjoy another great year.

Getting up to speed

I am so proud to announce we now have high-speed internet! YAY! Wow, what a difference. So now when friends post the cute little videos of their kids on their blogs, I can actually watch them! Now I can get a post done in a decent amount of time. Next step is to learn how to download my own home videos..... whoa there, don't want to overdo it.

Easter was tons of fun. Saturday we just barely missed the city Easter egg hunt, so we just hopped on in to get some breakfast at IHOP. The rest of the day we colored the eggs and just had tons of fun together. The girls loved to color the eggs.

The Egg Hunt was also very popular. Candy is always a big hit! Kenna was thrilled to look out the window to see the eggs out on the grass and realize the Easter Bunny had made it to our house.

The only downfall to Easter was that we didn't get to spend this beautiful holiday with family. But how grateful we are to our Savior who makes it possible for us to be together forever. What a wonderful day it was to remember the great events of Easter and try to teach our girls the miracle of Christ's resurrection. I truly know He lives.

The other night while I was cleaning up dinner, I played a CD of some of the girls' fun little animal songs and I looked over to find Kenna singing to the honey bear. The picture didn't take good enough to show her little cross-eyes because she had the bear right in her face. My little diva:

And last but not least is an Israelsen classic. We needed to move our goats down the street to a new pen, so what better to do than to load up the whole fam-dam (baby goats included) into the truck and head on down the road? HA! This is what life is all about folks. Too bad the mama goat didn't get to join us in the truck. She had to ride on the flat-bed trailer. In the back. Tied up with bale twine. Classic. Watch out, here come the Israelsens! The whole way Jacob was worried I was going to be so embarrassed and was quite certain he had failed as a husband and father, but I LOVE IT! Thanks Jacob for always taking us on such great adventures! The girls are lucky to have such a great daddy.

GOOD RIDDANCE

Good Riddance to last week! It was the horrible-terrible-no-good-very-bad-week at our house. Let's recap: It started innocently with just a regular old cold for Kenna. A snotty nose, the works. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Well, that wouldn't be enough of course. We needed to add an eye infection to the bunch. Kenna's poor eyes were red and full of boogers. So, we hopped on the prescription train with the eye drops. Anyone tried to put eye drops into the eyes of a 3 year-old peacefully? I doubt it. It got to the point that Jacob pretty much had to sit on Kenna to hold her arms and legs down, then I would restrain her head in between my legs and try to pry her little eyeballs open long enough to drop the medicine down in. Follow that up with lots of loves reasurring her that we really do love her, despite our actions to the contrary. Keep in mind that Allie is always doing whatever Kenna is doing, so it was only appropriate that she got the cold also, followed up by the green-booger-red-eye infection. Nice. In fact, one morning she woke up and one of her eyes was pretty much swollen shut. Now we had two little ladies to traumatize with eye drops. Kenna always volunteered Allie to go to the slaughter house first. True love right there, my friends. Well, what would make the week even better without a good old ear infection? Add an antibacterial med to the mix. Fortunately Kenna liked the taste of it. Unfortunately, she got the runs. Needless to say, we had some extra laundry. So, what would be expected next? Allie to get the ear infection, of course. So I had Allie a Dr.'s appointment on Tuesday afternoon to look at her ears. In the midst of getting ready for the appointment, I set down the little baby I watch when all of the sudden- AAHHHRRRGGGHHH @#$#$%&^%#$%^$@!##@$! My lower back went out on me, and for the amount of pain it caused, I was really thinking a little baby had popped out right above my tail bone. I sat there on my hands and knees trying not to pass out while the pain got to a manageable point. All I could do was cry! So I slowly got up. I moved really slow and thought that maybe I could manage through the day if I just took it really easy. Well, after kinking it just right again and sending the most horrific pain through my lower back, I called Jacob in tears desperate for help. Thus began two days of Mr. Mom. Between the Dr. visit for Allie, the chiropractor appointment for me, the shopping for prescriptions, taking the girls to Scouts, cooking (aka heading out to get hamburgers) poopy diapers (which was my comic relief), tears and screams, Jacob was wondering if his sanity would ever return. Let's just say, he would much rather be doing a LOT of other things. He did so great though, and I was so very grateful for his help. You know, moms are just best at being moms and dads are best at being dads. Fortunately, life is getting back to normal the way it should be. I don't think I'll complain about housework and diapers too much more, now I'm just grateful I can do it. You really don't know what you have until it's gone. I can gratefully say this week has been much better. Knock on wood.

Knuckleheads

I gave birth to two cute little knuckleheads. There really is not much more to life than eating cookie dough, riding on a tricycle with a crazy headband, and eating cereal in a hat and snowpants. We sure have fun with these two little squirts!