BRADEN TURNS 2!!!

Today is Braden's 2nd birthday and we celebrated with some of his favorites. Ashley is so friggin' good at doing stuff like this and incorporating people's favorite things into important days. Example: Braden loves Sesame Street, so Ash made him a Cookie Monster cake. And it was SO good! It looked just like Cookie and must have taken hours to make! Also, Braden has gotten into counting a lot these days. So his table with his cake had little decorations on it that were foam numbers. So cute. And lastly, Braden ADORES the Wii! So as a special treat, he and all his guests (family of course) played Wii games! It was a great party.

Braden, you are one special little guy. I love you so much and am so blessed to be living so close to you. You are always ready to play and run around with me. I get tired sometimes, but I have SO much fun with you! Here are some of my favorite memories of you so far:

1. I had a large purple purse that I decided you would fit quite nicely into. So I had you step into it, and I picked you up and carried you around in my purse. In revenge, you got into my wallet while we weren't looking, and pulled out all my pictures, cards, and money. Nice.
2. You had a bouncer that you absolutely ADORED! Kyle and Ash caught you falling asleep in it, but then waking up suddenly just so you could bounce some more. Oh, it was so cute!
3. When I would come over, you would answer the door. The first thing I would see was a big smile on your face and a "Ilsa!" I loved that!
4. My favorite thing right now is how excited you get when you go potty. I love the happy exclamation of "pee pee!!!" and the high fives given to anyone in the room. You are so cute.

Elder Isenbarger's Release Date!

In today's email that we get weekly from Cole, who is serving a mission in Russia, he told us his release date! He is coming home on December 23, JUST before Christmas! Woo hoo!!!! I really am ridiculously excited. It has been a long time, and it will be good to have all the family home for the holiday. Now I need to find a countdown widget to add to my blog!

Tribute to Curt Dawg

Today is Curt's berfday. And I wanted to write down some of my favorite memories of him from over the years.

1. Last Thanksgiving Curt decided to do some impromptu choreography to Trinity's constant playing of Jingle Bells on the player piano at Grammy's house. It. Was. Hilarious. I have not laughed that hard for a very long time! Check out this to see what I mean:


2. Curt used to have this weird need to mark his territory. If you went in his room, you would see Curt's name on everything. Folders, pencils, books, the carpet, carved into the desk, the dresser, etc. I can remember watching him trying to get his name that he had written in green marker out of the carpet before Mom saw it. Oh beautiful.

3. Curt and I only had one year of high school together, but I can remember being so happy to see him in the halls. He would still say hello to me, even though I was his annoying older sister!

4. Curt dancing around Kyle and Ashley's kitchen with his brand new nephew, Braden. He and Cole decided that Braden needed to start working on his dance moves at an early age.

5. Curt & Cole are the best of buds. They didn't do anything without the other during the years they were in high school together. AT ALL! Inseparable. And they fed off each other too when it came to humor. It made for some incredible family dinners and get-togethers.

6. Curt and I used to grab hot chocolate a lot of mornings before seminary. We would stop at the gas station and load up our refillable plastic mugs that we bought. It was great!

7. Curt used to get bored while waiting for nap time to be over. So he got creative and started going out on the roof to play around. Too bad Maxine Bell was a good neighbor and let Mom know.

There are too many to mention, but Curt, I hope you know how much I love you! You are fantastic and I am very privileged to be related to such a great person.

BYU vs. Oklahoma

Tonight Jessie and I decided to have friends over for a combination house warming, football season opener party. BYU had all the odds against them, and it was an absolute FANTASTIC game! The final score was 14-13, and it was a nail-biter to the very finish!

We had a lot of great friends over for tons of food and lots of loud cheering. I think we might have raised the roof off the house a few times, but it was worth it! We even taught Braden to make the touchdown signal, and do a touchdown dance!

2 Down, 11 To Go!

Jess texted me yesterday and suggested we knock off another Utah temple on our list tonight, so we headed to Mt. Timpanogos for a session. It was awesome! We got a little lost on the way, but we could still see the temple from a distance, so we kept saying, "You're never lost if you see the temple!" Loved that Conference talk. Anyways, we got there in time for the 7:00 session, but it was PACKED! There were two guys going through for the first time, and they brought along around 50-60 people with them! It was pretty crazy. But we got in the session and I had a really neat experience.

Through the session I just kept thinking about how much I love the temple and the ordinances performed there. The Celestial Room was especially beautiful, and it was really nice to be with family so I get a taste of what heaven is like.

We got lost *again* while driving home, but we had a lot of fun doing it. There were a few goofy moments and a few moments where we did or said the exact same thing at the exact same moment. Creepy . . . But we stopped at Denny's for dinner and had a great time swapping memories from our childhood. It just reminded us once again how amazing our family, especially our parents, is.

Provo and Mt. Timp down, TONS left to go!!! :)

The Mayan

Tonight I went to a work dinner at the Mayan, which is a Mexican restaurant that features a huge waterfall and pool in the middle, and every half hour people dive off into the pool for entertainment. It's a lot of fun. Tonight, however, I was reminded of a funny story . . .

I was eating my dinner when one of the divers from the restaurant came up behind us and started messing with my coworker. You know, putting pepper on her arm and pretending she was going to eat it, only grunting instead of talking, she was playing the part of a "jungle native" I guess. This started some of my coworkers on a trip down memory lane of the last time an entertainer startled me.

We were in Vegas for a work retreat and they took us to the Cirqu du Soliel show, Kaa. The show hadn't even started and there were people zooming across the theater above us on zip lines. To get us all into the setting of an Amazonian jungle, they had actors running around in loincloths, body paint, and spears. I turned to talk to a coworker, and one of these actors came up from behind me, perched on the arm of the chair, leaned forward, and grunted right in my ear. Without thinking I screamed and swung around and flailed my arm- he got smacked off the chair, and fell into the aisle and just looked at me with a dazed look on his face. The people around me were laughing uproariously, but all I could do was go beet red. Oh geez. The actor winked at me as he was getting up, but he sure as heck didn't mess with me any more!

Maybe I should have smacked the girl at the Mayan. Would make for a funny story. :)

What a CraZY day!

Today Becky moved out of the apartment so Jess and I don't have to share anymore. Weird! The carpets are being cleaned on Monday so I can't move any furniture in, but I have started on my closet. By the way, my closet is ridiculously huge!!! The land lady was telling us about a guy who used to rent from her that actually moved his bed into the closet, and made his actual bedroom into another living room for hanging out and entertaining. Too funny!

Errands came next- Target, Costco, Best Buy, Wells Fargo, and the RC Willey Outlet. It was so crazy! We got our internet router though and with a little help (thanks, Levi!) we have wireless in our apartment now! Woo hoo!!!

Jess and I also went bed shopping today. I have no idea what I'm looking for, so it was nice to have J around to help. She's bought a bed before. Anyone know of any relatively inexpensive bed places around Provo where I can get a good bed? Any help or advice would be great!

Pics to be posted when I finally get my stuff situated. We will see what happens!

Happy Birthday to my Mama!

This is one important lady to me. Jessie and I went to have ice cream with a guy from our new ward, and all we could talk about was our parents and how cool they were. It got me thinking about some of my favorite memories and attributes of my Mom. Here we go:

- Mom went to all the Nadiator swim meets for the younger kids in our family. Through blistering heat and high humidity, she cheered us on the whole time.
- For a Young Women's evening at church, Mom wrote a letter to me telling me how proud she was of me and how great of a daughter I was. This came at a time when our relationship wasn't the strongest, and I remember thinking that was a turning point. I also still have the lovely crystal snowflake ornament that came with the letter. It goes on my Christmas tree each year. And I remember that night each year.
- When I was delivering papers one day, a neighborhood kid threatened me. I ran home to Mom, told her what happened, and she bulled right out the door and straight to where he was and straightened him out. He lied and told her that I was making things up, but she never wavered in her support of me. She told him that she believed me 100%.
- Mom loves to have fun. Here we are messing around on one of our million air mattresses at home. I was launching her up into the air. This is just before we got yelled at by Dad. He couldn't hear the phone conversation he was having. Mom and I just collapsed into a fit of giggles!
- Mom welcomes all her kids' friends in her home. We have had tons of holiday meals, weekend trips, and fun nights in our parents house with "temporary" members of the family. It is so great!
- Mom made our house a true home. We had a sanctuary where we could be around our family and feel the love and support of great parents.

These are just a few instances, Mom. You are so wonderful and I am truly blessed beyond measure to be your daughter. I love you so much!!!

Temple dedication

Today was the dedication of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It was amazing! Jessie and I got tickets from my bishop in my last ward and we have been looking forward to this dedication for a long time! We ended up going to a local church building that was the Polynesians stake- we were the only white people there! :) The music numbers were so amazing since the men had no fear and really sang out. Jess and I both were amazed at hearing all the parts being sung so beautifully.

President Uchtdorf commented in his remarks that we should all go home and write in our journals about our experience the day. Some of the feelings I had are a little to personal to share on a blog, but what I can say is that I was so moved at the progression of the Lord's work. There is another House of the Lord on this earth that we can go to for worship and learning. I love the temple and am so glad that I have made and kept those sacred covenants. I have so much to learn still, but I am so excited to have a lifetime to discover that knowledge!