In a Nutshell.....

I am so overwhelmed to update this bloggity blog. Life has seemingly gone into turbo mode and I am doing good to keep my head above water some days!

So here is a marathon that hopefully will cover our last month.  Nothing is going to get all the attention and details it deserves, but hey, beggars can't be choosers.

Let's start with some visitors:

We had a mission buddy of Jacob's and his wife and 3 boys come to visit for a night, and it was also the same weekend Aunt Marlene came down for a visit.

Here we have the makeshift breakfast table with part of the crew.  Oh ya, when you come to visit we roll out the red carpet, baby!   The kids thought it was just amazin'.

Is it any question Aunt Marlene is absolutely loved and adored?

We enjoyed a good ol' hometown 24th of July parade where Dad and the kiddos got to ride on the ward "float"- or rather a big flatbed trailer with some bales of hay on it.  Ahh, such cute little pioneers.

Dad and the girls had to break in the playhouse with a delightful sleep over.  It was reeeeeeally tempting, but after a lot of back and forth, I just ended up sleeping in my own warm comfortable bed.

Our family vacation this year was a week-long trip up to Logan.  I can't even begin to give this week the time and detail it deserves, but you can trust we had a perfect time and it went by entirely too fast.  First up was Allie's birthday, complete with swimming with some cousins, ear piercing, and cake:

Of course we can't forget the final triumphant year for the Israelsen clan at the Cache County Fair!  I'm quite certain Jacob, being 32 years old, still got a butterfly or two in his tummy awaiting this big weekend.  Just like the good old days.

Uncle Benson pretty much reigned King of the Fair and won every category he was in.  Since Benson isn't one to toot his own horn, we'll do it for him.  YOU ARE AWESOME Bensy!  Here is the master at work:

Yes, he is holding a blow-dryer.  Pre-marriage I would have never used the words "cow" and "blow-dryer" in the same sentence. 

The Israelsen grandkids all got to show a heifer and they thought they were in heaven with their blue ribbons and 2 whole bucks.  Ty got excited to lead his heifer at first, then soon changed his mind and decided to supervise outside the ring.  And I'm quite certain that only a handsome little 2-year-old boy can wear snakeskin boots with silver rimmed toes and actually be deemed cute doing so.

We attempted the rodeo Friday night and got rained out after about a half hour.  I was SO BUMMED.  It was going to be so fun with the entire Israelsen clan.  Ty could have cared less about the rain.  He and Kylie thought splashing in the bleachers was the best thing that could have ever happened!

And I have a zillion more pictures of the fair I could go on and on about but this post would never end.....

We went up Smithfield Canyon with the Otte clan to do some S'mores.  Here is the grandkid lineup (minus a sleeping Lexi):

The week culminated in the blessing of our Miss Lexi.  It turned out to be a beautiful day.  Even if I did escort the entire Israelsen family to the wrong church.  Not my most shining of all moments.  I try to keep it so my frequent brain lapses affect only me but I struck out on this one.  Fortunately we all managed to make it to the right church just in time.  Look on the bright side- we at least were at the right denomination!

My mom put her talents to good work and sewed Miss Lexi's blessing dress.  The picture doesn't even come close to showing it off, but it was absolutely beautiful.  It meant so much to have it come from Grandma Shelly!  

The proud parents:

The proud Israelsen Grandparents:

The proud Otte Grandparents (who leave for the Ft. Worth Texas mission in a matter of days!):

The proud new shiner.  Ty managed to fall down the cement steps of the church.  Thankfully after the meeting was over.

We were so sad to see the week end.  All good things must come to a close, I guess.

We made it home just in time to meet up with some friends who were visiting from California, who happen the have the cutest twins you ever did see!  The only downer was we didn't get to spend as much time with them as we would have liked.

We didn't have but a few days left of summer before we jumped right into SCHOOL!

Here we have the cutest first-grader in the world!:

And of course the starting of school wouldn't be complete without a 500-year flood.  It was crazy rain and a lot of people flooded.  My poor neighbors were a casualty.  You can't even tell where the curb and sidewalk are in the picture.  The following Monday was a city-wide service night to help out all the homes that had been damaged.  It was so neat to see so many people out lining the streets helping wherever they could.  

And a week later we have the cutest Kindergartener in the world!:

But of course we can't forget the wildest and cutest 2 year-old in the world!:

My bookshelf is empty for obvious reasons.


And last but certainly not least, the cutest 3 month-old in the world!: 

And there we have the past month and a half.  I barely skimmed the surface, but now I can check this off my list.  Now on to the other 9,457 things left to do.  And then start again the next day......

No Commentary Necessary

Mi Vida Loca

Pretty much I am way behind.  Hopefully I can do a quick catch-up and do the past little while some justice.

First off, a huge shout out to the newest 2 year-old of the family: TY!  Happy Birthday little buddy!  And really, balloons is all this kid could ever hope for for his birthday.

 But the birthday fun doesn't end there, oh no.  Right behind Ty by only a day is Jacob's birthday!  So a shout out to the newest 32 year-old of the family: JACOB!  According to Jacob, it's "just another day."  Whatever!  And really, getting rid of the balloons is all Jacob could ever hope for for his birthday.  Perhaps the BEST birthday gift for Jacob was that his special day fell upon the same weekend his brother Ross came down for a visit.  He actually was a SAINT (yes Ross, you are a SAINT- did you know that?) and delivered some cattle down to us that he went and picked up in Montana.  Jacob was in heaven having a brother down to work with.  Poor Ross got worked to death.  Not only doing all the farm goodies we (we meaning Jacob) get up to, but also working on the playhouse.  Yes, the playhouse:

 It seems to get bigger every day.  Anyone looked into the price of lumber lately?  Ya, we might have a second mortgage just for the playhouse.  But hey, it got my parents down here for another visit.  Yay!  My Mom and Dad came down over the 4th of July where Dad and Jacob spent some more blessed hours on the playhouse:

And I must add that no one fell off said playhouse, as I was quite fearful they might.  Hope the kiddos appreciate this!

But of course Dad managed to do some other VERY important work as well:

And looks like Mom got the shaft on pictures this trip, but is much loved nonetheless (insert smiley face).

Let's see where are we on catching up?.....

Oh yes, our experience which qualifies us for parents-of-the-year:

So the Saturday Uncle Ross was here, Lexi and I headed off to do my grocery shopping (which now happens once a week- on Saturday when I can leave the majority off the kids behind) and Jacob and Ross headed off with Ty, Allie, and Kenna to the Home Depot.  I had been in town for a good 2 hours when Jacob called to decide where we could meet up to grab a quick bite to eat.  After a few groans from Kenna on deciding where to eat he asked me where Allie wanted to go, and I said, "I don't know, why don't you ask her."  The reply was, "Well, she's with you."  Suddenly I could see my face start to go pale and I asked Jacob to quick teasing me like that.  To sum it up, he wasn't teasing.  We unfortunately experienced a classic "I thought she was with you" parenting moment.  So there I stood, tearing up as I stared at the Cool Whip in the freezer aisle, imagining poor Allie having a come-apart when she realized we all left her.  I called a neighbor in tears and asked her to run over and make sure she was okay until I could get home.  Can I just add how much I do not like crying in the middle of the grocery store?  SO NOT FUN.  Nor do I like trying to pretend I'm not crying and end up gushing while on the phone with a neighbor.  Embarrassing.  I rushed home, ran in the house, and found Allie just as content as could be sitting on the couch watching cartoons.  I was crying and swooped her up and gave her a big love.....and she sat there and looked at me like I had lost my marbles.  Basically she was happy as a little clam and probably wished I had been gone another hour or so.  Uh, okay.  I certainly wasn't expecting that reaction!  Fortunately she was just fine.  Not one of my finest parenting moments.

Moving right along here....

My little ladies had their first opportunity to show an animal a few Saturdays ago.  And of course the animal of choice was a goat.  Yes, a goat.  When Jacob and I were dating, he informed me that goat people are weird.  I like to say there are exceptions to every rule....

Here they are in the show ring:

Kenna ended up feeling a bit too far out of her comfort zone and the poor thing stood there crying most of the time.  But finally after a while decided it was okay and dried up.  Winning $9.00 wasn't a bad deal either!  Of course the winnings were by default- they were the only ones in their category.  But hey- a winner is a winner!

Now if the goats don't do it for you, perhaps the ponies will?

Yes, two little divas on ponies.  Nothing like a leisurely summer Sunday afternoon horse ride, huh?  Now me, on the other hand, I prefer to sit in the house and ooh and aah over this:

 What a perfect way to end this blog entry, I think.

Called To Serve, Y'all

Giddy up!  

My parents have officially been called to serve in the Fort Worth, Texas Mission.

HOORAY for Elder and Sister Otte!  

Will I miss them?  Yes.  Much.

Will I survive without them?  It's questionable, but probably.

Will they be amazing missionaries?  Absolutely.

So excited for you and your upcoming adventure Mom and Dad!

As of Late.....

2 weeks and we're still alive!  We certainly got off to a bit of a wild start.  But hopefully, maybe sorta kinda, we are somewhat starting to come around...ish. 

Here is a look at our past week two weeks:

A few days before Lexi was born, Kenna managed to get a cold.  About the day before Lexi was born, Kenna started to lose her voice and was having a bit of a hard time breathing.  By Friday (when I was still in the hospital), it was obvious she wasn't getting better so my angel mother toted her and the 2 other chillins into the Doctor's office.  The Doc diagnosed her with croup and prescribed a steroid pill.


Speaking of angel mother.... I really could not have survived the first few days without her.  She did laundry, cooked, cleaned, spoiled, hugged, kissed, loved, and let me cry all I wanted.  Oh I could have kept her for another 6 months!  I LOVE LOVE YOU MOM!  A thank you doesn't even come close.  And notice Kenna in the back wearing a mask.  Poor little lady.

In the meantime, we came home with little Lexi.  She is absolutely lovable, and huggable, and kissable.  Ty especially loves to give his sis some kisses.  For the most part he is actually really soft with her.  And of course baby equipment is always much more fun when you are way too big for it:

  

So by the Monday night after we got home from the hospital (Memorial Day), the steroid Kenna was given was obviously not working and she was really sucking in to try to breath.  My angel mother and I loaded her up (with Lexi in tow) and headed to the Instacare.  Of course the Instacare was closed, so we then headed to the ER.  The ER on a holiday.  Ya, love it.  To sum it up, we got there at about 7:45ish and left at about 2:00ish.  2:00ish in the morning.  Yes, that is over 6 hours in the ER.  The majority of the time spent sitting and waiting.  And feeding a baby 3 times.  And crying when after the breathing treatment I thought we were all done and finding out we had at least another 2 hours so she could breath in the cool mist saline.  Mind you we had already been there for at least 3 hours by that point.  It was all I could do to keep it together for my poor Kenna's sake.  I don't know how many nurses gave me the look of insanity when they found out I was in the ER with a 4-day-old.  What do you do?  Stuck between 2 of my babies.  I did what most mom's would do.  I will forever remember my dear, sweet, wonderful, amazing mother standing next to Kenna for 2 hours holding that tube up to her mouth for her to breath in the mist.  I truly could not have done it without her.  Being a mom just reinforces my need to still have a mom!  And am I ever grateful for the one I have.  Beyond grateful.  It was a loooonng night.  One I wish never to repeat.  But thank heavens it's all over and said and done and Kenna is doing well.

Here is how Kenna felt about being sick and having to stay away from Lexi: 

 

And here is how Allie feels about holding Lexi:

She also is a great help when Ty decides he gets mad that Mom can't help him right away.  E for effort, Allie!

My dad was able to come down for Memorial weekend, and once again I loved it!  That man can whip up a mean Sunday dinner (complete with homemade apple pie) and have it cleaned up before you can blink.  I'm still trying to figure out how to recruit him to come down every Sunday.  My parents are just downright amazing, what can I say?  Ty man especially loved his Grandpa.  What little boy wouldn't love another man to rough and tumble with?  Here they are playing with a little brush the girls had that popped in and out.  He just thought it was hilarious!

 

But of course it's been all about a cute little lady in the house.  It is amazing how much a new little spirit adds to the home.  I think we all are smitten with our new little addition and can feel she is still so close to heaven.  Here I caught the tail end of a sleep smile.  Oh how I love newborn sleep smiles!

After her first bath.  I think we can all agree there is nothing quite like a new baby fresh out of the tub.

Can't believe she's been here 2 weeks!  It's going too fast!  Thank you for adding a new little piece of  heaven to our home Miss Lexi.  

 

She made it!

Welcome Miss Lexi Israelsen to the world!

We got to the hospital for the induction at 4:00 a.m. on Thursday and she made her grand debut at 4:51 p.m.  It was a long day full of all sorts of little surprises.  The greatest surprise of all being our little girl tipping the scale at.....

.......9 pounds 4 ounces!  21 inches.  Future linebacker.  No wonder I was so blasted uncomfortable.

I have so much I could write about but the words are a bit blurry as I write.  Exhaustion is a great descriptor for the moment.  As well as sheer elation.  We are all absolutely in love with our new little sister.



Hence the exhaustion:

Seriously, after 12 hours, 2 IV's, 2 epidurals (the latter to the rescue literally without a minute to spare) I am looking like Miss America I think!  He he he.

Out of order, but oh well.  The girls were so excited to come help Dad pick up Mom and Lexi from the hospital.

Our new little toddler:

Hopefully more to come.  For now we'll endure a bit of time keeping her on the bilibed lights.  And of course endure random, unexpected moments of hormonal eruptions from my eyeballs.  But, as we tell the girls, they are definitely happy tears.

Moments

I snagged this completely impromptu picture of Allie the other day.  Something about it makes me smile one of those deep down everything-in-life-is-perfect-for-just-this-one-moment smiles.  I just had to share.

Can't believe we are so close to having another little girl join our family.  Looking forward to another everything-in-life-is-perfect-for-just-this-one-moment smile when we finally see her for the first time.

And then become a zombie for the next.....oh.....4 months.