In true Israelsen fashion

First off, a cute pic of Boozer. According to Evan this puppy is "birdy." Whatever that means. I guess it means the puppy will "point".

 And I think there is some unwritten law that if you are an Israelsen man, you HAVE to buy a pony and a cart (it even flows through marriage so that some of the in-laws [Pulsiphers] are affected by this as well). This also includes the unwritten law that dogs, chickens, goats, pigs, etc. will at one time live at your residence as well.

 Lindsay's pigtails. She wasn't sure if she liked them or not.

Riley is wearing Hy's old yellow shirt so that she can match Poppa. They went to IF the other day and Riley called her "nockethead" and told him to wear his yellow shirt so they could match.  Well, a few days later when Poppa called Riley and told her to wear her shirt again, she whined and groaned saying, "But Poppa, I already look nice"(meaning she was already dressed). She didn't wear her shirt that night.

Story time with Dad! When things are slow during the winter, I love that Ev is home more. He gets to eat breakfast with us (ok, who am I kidding? he usually MAKES breakfast for us) and he reads the kids their bedtime stories. The best is when he reads Hank the Cowdog.

We had eye appointments with Dr. Elliott this week. Hy looks awesome and doesn't have to go back. Riley's surgery went great and Dr. Elliott said that he wished all surgeries ended up so great. She still has to get checked again, but she's looking terrific!

 

We also had the nasty flu bug this week--starting with Hy, then Lindsay, then me and Riley had it yesterday. I hope that Ev and the rest of the family we've been around don't get it! It's a nasty bugger :)

While we were gone

I tried to use pics from my mom's blog, but to no avail. So just use your imagination.

Little, baby Neener left on her mission to Nashville, Tennessee.  I think she cried more when she hugged me than when she hugged Decca. Sorry, Dec. It was lots of fun to see all of the friends and family that came for her farewell. I pretended that they were actually there to see me.

Hyrum cried at night when he talked to us on the phone. He missed us.

Riley could care less. She was with her grandmummsie (although she threw a stink about taking off her princess dress for dinner. But when she got hungry enough, she took off her princess dress). I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up and she replied enthusiastically, "A cheerleader!" Oh boy!

Lindsay seemed to miss me us a little bit, but she also became friends with the Grandmummsie. Evan thinks she learned to understand the English language since we came back. She nods her head and yesterday, she climbed up the stairs for the first time.

Apparently when Mom & Dad came back from dropping Neener off, my children had quite the adventures at the neighbors house: Riley had makeup--which she applied all by herself, Lindsay had rolled off the bed, and Hyrum was shot by a bb gun. The kids were good, but the neighbor looked close to tears. Good times, good times.

Direct flight to Spokane, kind of

Week without the kids....woooo-hooo! It has been forever since Ev and I have gone even to Walmart without at least one of the kids dragging on our shirt tails. So when I found out the Rex's and Bingham's were going to the Farm Credit Service conference, I was all on board. So we left late Monday afternoon and drove to Boise, then flew to Salt Lake, then flew back up to Spokane (it was the cheapest flight).  The food was delicious, the company was a little rowdy, meeting new people was interesting, and the conferences were educational and entertaining.. We probably had too much fun, but I loved it!

 

(all pictures were used without permission from Jami's camera)

Denny's, after 3 takeoffs and landings, and a long day and we're still looking hot and sexy.

 Jami & Zeb Bingham. These guys were the quiet book worms of the group.....or not.

 

 Kallan and Rosanne. If you ever want an interesting topic, just ask Kallan about middle-aged women who have had lots of kids. Puts you in a chipper, romantic, Valentine's Day mood :)

 

And I'm pretty sure that Jami will sale this picture for millions of Rosanne and I at the airport. It is just so hard to avoid the paparazzi.

Sledding with the Bankheads

 Tuesday morning, we got a 6 am automated call from the school, and.....SNOW DAY! NO SCHOOL!
Crystal Bankhead and boys invited us for some fun sledding and hot chocolate. I hurried back from my haircut (with Neener) and away we went. Tracy had built the boys a little snow pile and Crystal pulled us behind the 4-wheeler. It was fun! I haven't been on a sled for a long time. I'm usually the designated driver. And we had hot cocoa to warm us back up after we were done!

For fhe, we took pictures of all of us for the" new year's resolution, goal, progress, what-we-learned-last-year" paper. Here we are in all our pride and glory. And yes, Evan looks stoned, but he was really SOOOOO excited to be doing this for fhe. :)

 

Then, my little budding photographer, Riley, wanted to take a picture of Lindsay. I didn't know it was a whole photo shoot until I got my camera back. "Work it Lindsay."





 

Here's Riley showing Lindsay how it's done.

 

Our children invade our bed most mornings. Evan and I have considered selling our bed/bedroom to them and moving downstairs.

 

Last night, before bed, Riley comes in and tells us there is a monster in her room.

Ev: What color is it?

Ri: Purple.

Ev: Does it have pink.....fingernails?

Ri: Yes. And they scratch me.

Ev: Oh. Well, go kick it.

(Riley leaves and comes back.)

Ri: I kicked it.

Ev: what did the monster say?

Ri: Ouch.

 

I had just finished clipping Hy's hair and Ev was the next one in the hot seat.

Hy: "Don't worry, Dad. Mom will do your hair fast because you don't have very much."

 

We have a new song in our house called "The Sad Chicken Song". It is based on the true story of a little boy who lost his second library book that he ever brought home and he was going to have to pay for it with his chicken money. It goes something like this:

"I don't want to go to schoooooooool. BOOO-HOOOOO

I lost my library booooooooooook. SOB.

And now I can't be a chicken farmer anymore because I have to use my chicken money to pay for ittttttt!  WHINE"

For some reason, Riley requests Evan to sing it on a regular basis... :)

 

Lindsay is okay with her dad; she doesn't adore her poppa; she doesn't worship her grandmummsie. She is the first child that LOVES her mama. She is my only child that is a mama's girl. I must admit that I kind of like coming in the door and being mauled by my little Lindsay. I think I'm going to buy her a pony.