This is for you, Lindz: "Beeesst frieeeends!"

Today my bestie is celebrating her birthday. Abroad. And I am not there. :(

Thankfully, I have my blog to give a tribute to one of the best women I have had the privilege of knowing. Lindz, you and I have had the BEST times together! I miss you like crazy, but I am so proud of who you are and what you are doing. I hope that next year we can celebrate your birthday over here . . . :)

In the longest run-on sentence/list known to man, I want to just go on about some fun times we have had.

The Youth Conference that started it all, water balloon fights, fun times in Molten Lava and Hooptie, getting grounded and not being able to hang out with you, talking in Seminary, making Bro. Butterfield cry (I REALLY feel bad about that one!), Hooptie breaking down on the way to Tuscola, orange tic tacs and a gas station where we were gonna get killed, driving to your house in a van with no brakes, singing and playing at the pianos at our homes, you making purses for us, "What?" pants, breaking the gate at Girls Camp, Resusci-Annie in the freezer, stealing the golf cart only to have to push it back because it ran out of gas, "I'm just gonna go get the canoes", sneaking out of Girls' Camp with Noah, trips to the Tuscola outlet mall, I Love Lucy, green gogurt and throwing it up, talks in beds, breaking beds, breaking shower rods, sharing music, making you read really fast and stress out with Pirates of the Caribbean, volleyball games at King Henry, living together and LOVING it, oven boxes, fake engagement websites and pictures, recording a CD for Hopson's grandma, skip-bo, your mission, taking you to the MTC, seeing you in the MTC and crying my eyes out, all the mischievous times we had, you talking me through rough times, heart to hearts, going through the temple and having you there, "Magellan!" in low voices, Krista face-planting it on a mattress, slipping on Dr. Pepper, garbage bag sliding, watching movies together, Mansfield Park, boy drama, busting up my back, Mama Shep & Papa Shep- the origins of the nickname, doing crafts together, dinner with Noah and the butter knife, David Cassidy's "I Think I Love You", our own Trans-Siberian orchestra music video, watching Jared fall out of the hammock, the radioactive bushes, the womb, "I'm gonna puke!", "Are these lights going to come on EVERY time we stop?", singing at the top of our lungs to too many songs, "For Good"- Wicked, creative badminton, Ultimate Frisbee, touring Oxford, back massages, back scratches, broom hockey, hockey games, and so many more, I can't even list them.

I love you, Lindz. I hope things are going well and I WANT TO SEE YOU SOON!!!! :) Hope you have a great birthday!

Happy Birthday to Miss Trinity

Girl, you are too many things! I was looking through my photos from a loooong time ago, and there was one of us asleep in a rocker at Grammy's house. You were just a few weeks old, and I had been holding you and rocking you until we both fell asleep! Too sweet.

Trin, you are such an amazing girl, so tender-hearted and fun. You should hear your Aunt Jessie talk about the stories the two of you have! It makes me jealous that I haven't ever been able to be close enough to you to make those kind of memories. I know you are the sweetest little girl, and I know you will stay that way. Some of my best memories of the holidays over the years have involved you:

- doing each others hair and makeup for Thanksgiving
- ice skating together
- Barbie and the Twelve Dancing Princesses
- playing Bejeweled and logic puzzles with you
- playing on the playground by Grammy's & Boompa's
- singing "Trinity Lynn", "Aunt Lisa", and "Boompa" at the top of our lungs
- doing ballet together and singing

These are just a few! I love you so much girlie, and I hope I get to see you soon! Have a FANTASTIC birthday!

I GOT A TURKEY!!!

Tonight was a dinner/ fun night for the office staff at The Branbury. I think that we are all getting a little stressed out, so I thought it would be fun to do dinner at my place and then get some bowling in. Loren loved the idea and kind of took off with it, he made us some of the best food I have had in my life! He made a filet mignon with a garlic butter sauce, risotto with pancetta and marscapone, a spinach salad with red onion and feta, and some crazy brownies for dessert. We were all SO full! It's a good thing we had to go to THREE different bowling alleys to find some lanes for us to use. It gave us time to digest all that food.

We finally made it to Miracle Bowl, where their league was just finishing up. We played a few games of pool, Loren kept pumping quarters into this hunting video game, and then our names were called for the lanes. Overall, I was the best bowler of the night, but Dot and I both got turkeys! That's three strikes in a row for all those who have no idea what that means in bowling terms. :) I have only done that one other time, so I was ridiculously happy!

It was really great to bond with the team a little more, and I hope it gives us enough energy to kick off this leasing season with a bang!

Ward FHE Olympics

So, my team pretty much swept the Olympics. Really. We represented Tonga and KILLED IT!
For FHE tonight, the ward had some Olympic events for the FHE families to participate in. Let's take it event by event, shall we?

Winter Javelin
RESULT: GOLD!
We had to throw a "javelin" (straw) as far as we could, and alterations were allowed. So we decided to attach the straw to some keys for added weight. Boy, did it work! Keith and Mike were able to slide the keys the farthest distance, and blow away the competition. We even hit the opposite wall in the gym! Woot!

Snowball Eating Contest
RESULT: GOLD & SILVER!
This was "Chubby Bunny" without talking. We had to see how many large marshmallows we could stuff into our mouths. Little did anyone else know, but I can fit my entire FIST into my mouth, so I knew I had this one in the bag! We were allowed two people to compete, so Megan and I decided to take it to the next level. Bronze medal- 10 marshmallows. Silver- 15 marshmallows. Megan really packed them in! But even she was no match for the "Mouth of the Isenbarger Clan". I kept packing marshmallows into my cheeks like a squirrel with acorns. the gold medal went to me with a whopping score of 19! I think I should probably be a little more careful about confirming the fact that I have a big mouth . . .

Skeleton & Luge Relay
RESULT: GOLD!
Mike & Megan, Keith & Jessica. How did anyone think they could top the awesomeness of these pairings?! Mike & Megan did the "luge", a relay where Mike pushed Megan on a four-wheeled scooter from elementary school around a large obstacle course. Then they tagged up Keith and Jessica, with Jessie having to be on her stomach on the scooter and Keith used her feet to negotiate the course. Seriously, our team led by a good five seconds!

Hockey Relay
RESULT: BRONZE!
Sarah, Emily, and Jessica snatched the medal on this one, they had to put on a hockey uniform, use a broom to push a tennis ball down the length of the gym, and shoot at the wall. Then they had to push the ball back to the next person in line. We did really well to get the bronze, but I missed most of this event because I was in the hall choreographing and practicing for the next event . . .

Office Chair Figure Skating
RESULT: BRONZE!
Lauren and I spent some time in the hall getting together a great routine that included spins, gliding on one leg, and some amazing team work. We even had a "lift"- Lauren got up on the chair with her arms stretched out to the sides, and I was sitting in the chair ahead of her, holding her under her arms. We were a smash, but in order to be fair, our routine only got us the bronze. Oh well!

All in all, it was an AMAZING night! I had such a blast and I will admit, it is always fun to be the winner. Yay, Tonga!

Service Fail

"Give up. At some point, hanging in there just makes you look like an even bigger loser."

Jessie helped me make my bed this morning as we were talking. I thought it was really nice, so I decided to make hers while she was in the shower. Her bed was all taken apart, so I spent a couple minutes putting pillowcases on, putting shams on, and getting the blanket all tucked in nicely.

When Jessie came out of the shower, she said, "Oh, thank you, Lisa." with a little grimace on her face, and she then told me that she actually hadn't made the bed because she spent a lot of time the day before trying to get her things lint-free. She has a blanket that has a lot of fuzz that comes off it, and gets on everything else. So she had worked so hard to get the lint off, and by me making her bed, I spread the lint all over it AGAIN!

Whoops. Sorry, Jess.

Looking for the "silver lining"

Can you have a "Mulligan" on a day like today?

I had a not-so-nice day today, and I'm venting on my blog/journal here. I woke up a little later than usual, so I was rushing off to work, and as I was driving into town, I had a cop pull up behind me at a stop light. I wasn't aware that I had been speeding, but I started glancing nervously in my mirror. When the light turned green, the cop flipped on his lights, and I was toast. So I signalled, and moved over to the side of the road . . . but the cop went past me, and pulled over the car in front of me. I let out a HUGE sigh of relief, but then realized that I was going to be pretty late to work if I didn't hurry up a little. I guess being ten minutes late to work isn't as bad as getting a speeding ticket AND being more late to work. Tender mercies.

BUT WAIT!

I had a situation at work with an EXTREMELY sensitive family. The two kids who live at The Branbury are the kind of people that just cry at the smallest thing. And Mom got involved. She thought that I had made her kids cry by being mean to them. And she decided to send an email to the owner of the Branbury. No joke. So I spent a chunk of time trying to get that craziness settled. By the time it was done, I just wanted to quit right then. I am very professional when I do my job, and to have someone who wasn't even involved in the situation come out with fists swinging, I get a little upset.

BUT WAIT!

On my way home to get a little bit of rest before the RA meeting tonight, I rear-ended a van. She needed to get over quickly, and decided to slam on her brakes when she couldn't get right over. I slammed on my brakes so hard that there were columns of smoke coming from my tires. Yeah. Her van had no real damage to it, and my car only came away with scratches on the front end, but I got a pretty good jolt and my neck and back hurt. Nice.
I think the woman might have been an illegal, because when I went over to the van to make sure everyone was ok, she wanted to drive off right then. She didn't understand English at all, and when I asked her to look at the damage, she got out of her car for two seconds, but when it didn't look all that bad, she just went to get in her car again. I suggested we call the police, and she just shook her head "no" and drove off. Weird. Once again, though, tender mercies for it not being worse than it was. And for the lady not wanting to call the police! :)

BUT WAIT!

I had to oversee a very hard meeting tonight. I had to chastise the RA's and have a "come to Jesus meeting" to remind them about what their duties are and how they need to pick up their performances. Not my favorite thing in the world. For the most part, I think people took it all right, and the tender mercy was that I was able to get my message across in a tactful, yet firm way. At least I hope I was able to! There weren't any tears, mean looks, or snide comments, so I think the mission was accomplished.

Tender mercies involved in 3 of 4 situations, maybe this day wasn't as bad as I originally thought. I'm off to pray and thank God that things weren't worse!

A GREAT chick flick!

Young Victoria. See it. Enjoy it. Cry over it. Fall in love with it.

This is what happened to me tonight. It's a little-known movie that Jessie saw a few weeks ago with our neighborhood literary ladies, but I couldn't go to. So Jess arranged for some more ladies to go watch it last weekend. Once again, I was a no-go. But Jess is a determined little lady, and got the Isenbarger/Weaver women together for a Gal's Night Out. We went and saw the movie, and then split some yummy desserts at Macaroni Grill afterward.
My thoughts: great story, great actors, great sets and costumes, KILLER soundtrack! This is a clean, fun, happy story that the ladies will absolutely adore. Go see it!

Jess, it was a MEGA score for you! Thanks for sharing it with me!

Desk- day 7

I HAVE TRIUMPHED!!!! That stupid desk just got pwned by me! After a friggin' week of struggles, I was able to have Keith show me how the sliders worked, and then I just slammed that desk together. It is complete, and I couldn't be happier! FINALLY!!! And doesn't it look pretty?
I probably pounded the pieces together a little harder than I should have, but that desk had it coming!!! Ahhh. The mess is gone, and my score is finally even!

Desk- 7 Lisa- 7 . . . MILLION!!!

Valentine's with the family

Today is a day that people normally spend with their sweetie. They hug, and kiss, and celebrate their love with chocolates, teddy bears, chalky sweetheart candies, dozens of roses, and mushy cards.
NOT FOR ME, THOUGH! I got to celebrate the "Day O' Love" with the people I love best, my family. Jess and I had the crew over for dinner and games. We spent a lot of time planning and preparing a meal that was VERY dairy-conscious for Braden, but included some of Curt's favorites since he was in town.
The dinner was a little bit of an adventure, with a few dishes giving us a little bit of trouble. But in the end we were able to pull a good meal off with Rouladen, homemade bread, seven layer salad, peaches & pears, and mashed potatoes. Jess also topped things off with a Skor cake! We had a lot of fun, with tons of laughing and funny antics! Jest check out Kyle helping me with the bread -------------------------------------------->
We had a little bit of an episode where Braden was wheezing, so Kyle took him home to do a treatment really quick. There were a few bumps, with Kyle forgetting the house keys, Curt going to the rescue, and Braden having his first experience of 'using' the outdoors! :) Thankfully, they were able to come back relatively quickly. While we were waiting, though, the girls decided to play a quick game of FIREBALL ISLAND!!!! We started really getting into it, and having a great time. That is, all of us except little Miss Addie. She seemed pretty bored with the whole game. She spent a large portion of the game looking like this
<----------------------------------- Cute girl! Well, the ladies were duking it out, but in the end, Jessie came out victorious. You should have seen us throwing down cards and fireballing each other the whole time! It was pretty darn hilarious. We were standing up and laughing at the very end. After the game and the boys came back, we enjoyed running around with Braden, and playing with Addie. Vanessa found a great new place to hide, and we decided to pack Braden and Adie into the space as well. This is how it turned out ----------------------------------------->
Oh, those kids are so much fun! And Vanessa is fitting right in. Braden has already formed a little bit of an attachment to her, cute boy. He is so fun to have around and enjoy. He's always so polite, and really loves his little sister. It's obvious in how he plays with her, and how he always makes sure she is ok. Those kids are SO great!
All in all, I would say this is the best Valentine's yet! I got to spend it with the best people in the world, the one's that love me best, my family. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Friends are amazing

Here is a Facebook post to Curt that my Mom put on her blog, and I thought it was pretty funny, too. We have some great friends!

From Mark Bernson:

Knowing your family... Jokes:
1. Are you and Cole going to get together to create and algorithm to decipher which baby belongs to which sibling?

2. For your parents sake you might want to invest in the "Hello, my name is..." stickers.

3. At least hand-me-downs wont go out of style.

4. Parents Visa Commercial: Back to back weddings - 40,000 dollars; Shopping for baby gifts during the holidays - 100,000 dollars; The look on your faces when you see the Curt and Cole families role up in a Charter Bus... Priceless.

Anyway, congratulations!

That pretty much sums up what we are all feeling now!

Saga of the Desk- Day 5

Still haven't been able to figure the dang sliders out. I've just been living around the mess that stupid desk is causing. Can you tell I'm frustrated?! Keith hasn't been able to come over and clue me in on the great "Secret to the Sliders" that has become the bane of my existence . . . GRRRR!

Desk- 5 Lisa- still 0!

MY FAMILY IS FRICKIN' MARRIAGE CRAZY!

Curt and Cole do everything together. In elementary school it was recess and swim team, riding bikes and paper routes. They shared a room all through their childhood, shared a car in their teenage years, and shared the same interests: sports, music, and girls.

But I think they may have taken this one a little too far. THEY GOT ENGAGED A DAY APART! As we were celebrating Cole & Emily's wonderful news of their engagement, Curt was flying out to Utah for Valentine's weekend, and a little visit with his family and sweetie.

Just a few hints that Curt was going to pop the question:
1. He told me over Christmas that Vanessa was "it" for him. What a cutie!
2. He had me put a very mushy and romantic message on the roses that I sneaked into her room for her birthday.
3. He told me I had "no idea how head over heels" he was for her when I called him out on said message.
4. He missed his flight on Friday morning, and instead of waiting for the afternoon flight, he purchased a SECOND ticket to get to Utah faster!

I tell you, Jess and I were buzzing over this! Curt wasted no time, and the first night he was here, he proposed. I got a few texts from Vanessa before the family breakfast we had at Kyle & Ashley's, and I knew they had gone and gotten engaged!

I love my family, but this is going to be one HECK of a summer- two weddings and a baby! Oh, dear . . . Congrats, you two crazy lovebirds!

Emily Anne & Dat Dragon

So, it's been months and there have been a few things happen in my life that are pretty important. This was the news I finally decided to get off my butt and actually blog about, though!

COLE & EMILY GOT ENGAGED!

It's really a funny story. Last night, I was in bed and trying to go to sleep when my phone beeped, saying I had a message. I was a little irritated, because people know they can't text me that late, so I grabbed my phone fully expecting it to be something stupid. Instead, I saw that it was from Cole, so I opened my phone and it was this:

No message, no smiley emoticon, no following text, just this. So of course I get crazy excited and call him right away! He didn't answer the first time, so I kept trying back and he finally answered. We chatted a little about it, and decided Jess needed to be in on the action, so I went into her room and woke her up from her TylenolPM stupor. She and I talked with Cole for a few minutes and got the details, apparently Cole proposed to Emily on the ice at the University Armory in Champaign. Luckily, one of Cole's high school friends hid in the bleachers and got a video of the proposal. That is definitely something I want to check out! Cole sang a song to her and asked her to marry him. What a goober!

Well, welcome to the family, Emily. You have pretty much been an unofficial member of the family for so long, but now I can call you "Aunt Emily" without Cole getting worked up! You two are the cutest. Love you both.

Desk- Day 2

Tried to get a little more done on the desk. Got to the point where all the pieces are glued to one or two other pieces, and sitting in clumps all around my room before I realized that I didn't know how to open the sliders that were going to be screwed into my drawers. I poked, prodded, pounded, pried, pleaded, and was perturbed (how do you like that alliteration!), but in the end, the sliders triumphed. I went to bed angry and frustrated, with bits and pieces of my desk all over my room. I literally had to make a path to get to my bed. This is quite the project. I will just have Keith help me figure it out. :(

Desk-2 Lisa- BIG FAT 0!!!

This is another one. This song is one of Lindz's favorites, so I think of her when I hear this!

I can't get enough of this!

No, really. I watch this several times a week and can't get over how absolutely brilliant it is! All the different groups nail their dances and just make me want to get up and dance! ENJOY THIS!

Desk- Day 1

I am putting my massive desk together- BY MYSELF! I'm going to do it. I started around 10 at night, and after taking all the pieces out and setting them up according to letter, I realized that there were a million pieces to this thing! I had pieces A- F1. Yeah. They ran out of letters for the amount of pieces there were, and STARTED THE ALPHABET AGAIN!!! I knew I was in trouble. Here are the pieces that I could fit into my camera screen. There are more around the corner, and more by my feet. It was ridiculous.Oh, and after I had unloaded all the pieces, taken the packaging off of them, ordered them, and put all the garbage into the original box, I found out that THE INSTRUCTIONS WERE MISSING!!! I got into a little bit of a panic, and started rifling through all the pieces. It wasn't stuck to any of them. So I looked around my room- no luck, either. Then I look at the HUGE box the desk came in that I had stuffed all the packing material and plastic in. I just felt that the instructions were in there. So I took everything out, and lo and behold . . .Just my luck. And the box is so long, I can't reach in and get them. I had to pul on of the desk pieces out and use that to knock the instructions loose and slide them toward me. At that point I wanted to call it a night, but NO! I am able to do this!

This is how far I got that night before reality hit me, it was 1 am, and I was stuck.
Yeah. Just the hutch was done. And that took me almost 2 hours. This is going to be quite the operation . . .