My family is so great!

Today I had a day off of work, so I decided to sleep in. I had be awake for about two minutes when I heard my Skype making noises that someone was messaging me. I got out of bed and saw that Sarah had sent me a message. She was just trying to see if we could chat. I quickly grabbed a shirt to put on over my tank top, and switched my camera on. What ensued was an hour of hilarity, as I met some of Sarah's students, saw how she interacted with them, judged two girls' shorts and let them know they were too short, and just was able to chat with Sarah. She is so great! It was SO nice to catch up and plan some stuff for the summer. It just made me all the more excited to visit the Coleman fam this summer.

Also today, I saw some pictures of Curt and Cole on a canoeing trip. Curt aptly entitled this picture: "Lewis and Clark-Dawg". I LOVE IT! Notice that Curt didn't have a paddle, so he had to use a branch. We Isenbargers sure are resourceful! Guys, I love you, and you make me wish I were living in Indiana so I could have this much fun with you!

Creative Visiting Teaching

Tonight was American Idol & Glee, so we had a bunch of people over to watch the shows. Both were really disappointing episodes, but we had a great group of people over. Our visiting teachers, Collette & Marietta, were both in attendance as well. They are so wonderful, I can't even tell you. They come every month and leave us with some great words of wisdom. This month, they mostly hung out with us, but when it came time for the "What can we do for you?" moment, Jessie brought up the fact that she wanted to go over oral injections again. She wanted to brush up on her skills, and Collette just finished school a little while ago. So they grabbed a couple of Q-tips, had Marietta lay down, and they went to work. I decided I had to document the moment.

So, there you go!

Goodbye to Banessa!

Today I had to drop Vanessa off at the airport because she is going home for the summer. I am truly going to miss having that girl live so close to me. She has become a really important addition to our family out here. She loves Braden and Addie, and they definitely love playing with her! I tell you, I'm really going to miss having a tanning buddy, too!(Don't judge me or my hair- it was WINDY that day!)

But she is moving on to bigger and better things- namely, MARRIAGE! She and Curt will be able to spend the summer together before getting married in August. Although we will miss her over here, I'm sure she will have the best time back in Indiana with her family. Girl, you had better keep in touch!

Y'say Somethin?

This has become Braden's favorite phrase in the last few weeks. If you ask him a question, whether he heard you or not, he likes to look at you with wide eyes and ask, "Y'say somethin'?". It is pretty darn cute and hilarious. Ashley and Kyle have been trying to figure out where he picked it up, but I just can't stop laughing about it.

Tonight was Ashley's birthday party, and I was able to get off of work early to head over to their home. We had a birthday cake with pink frosting and a sunflower made out of marshmallow fondant, courtesy of Kyle. It looked great!

After dessert we had a few games of Wii. Grandma Lu STILL kicks my trash at Cow Racing! I don't know when I will be able to beat her. Braden has also gotten pretty great at sword fighting. We actually tried to beat him, and he would fight back and win. The kid is crazy!

**On a work-related note, today was check-ins, and I have to say it was the EASIEST one I have ever done! I didn't have to deal with any upset people at ALL on Monday- that has NEVER happened. I was actually able to get off of work on time, there were no tears, and I wasn't ripping my hair out! What a relief!

ASHLEY'S BIRTHDAY!

Today my sister Ashley is celebrating her birthday! Girl, I can tell you that there has been several times in the last few years that I don't know how our family ever got along without you, or even how I got along without you! :) I hope you have a great day filled with fun and laughter. Jess and I want to come visit soon so we can party!

Anyways, to demonstrate how amazing Ashley is, here is a little list of fun facts that you may not know about this awesome woman:
1. She can pretty much whip up any kind of dinner you'd like, improvising with the ingredients she has. Plus she can make it milk-safe for Braden. It's true. I have seen her do this. She has magical powers.
2. Ashley loves her family more than anything in the world (except maybe motorcycles). She has come to the rescue of several family members many a time, and will drop anything she is doing to help. I have seen this first-hand a few times in the last two years!
3. She is an incredible example and mom to her kids. When I babysit Braden and Addie, I am in a constant state of wonderment at how a two-year old and a nine-month old can behave they way these kids do. They are angels, and it's because Kyle and Ashley made them that way.
3. Ashley can sport the short OR long hair-do! Not many women can pull both off, but this lady looks amazing with either style.
4. Ashley can name ANY kind of motorcycle out there. And she is teaching Braden to identify them as well. What a rockstar.
5. She is a very "crafty" woman. In both senses of the word! She can plan some great surprises and keep the secret so you don't suspect a thing, AND she can make some amazing things! Check out her latest craft, Trin was lucky enough to get one for her birthday.It's a cute little bow holder. It is so adorable!
6. Ashley is getting to be quite the accomplished photographer! She took some cute pictures over Easter while we were at her parent's house. This is my faveCHECK OUT THEM SKILLS!

I love you, Ash. I am so grateful for the addition you are to our family. And I will be eternally grateful for the pep talk you gave me two years ago when I was taking out my endowments. I don't think you will ever understand how much that meant to me, but I couldn't love you more.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

updates coming soon . . .

I just need to finish checkouts and checkins and then my life will be gravy. Life has been very busy with work, but hopefully I will get you some cool musings soon.

The return of GLEE!!

Tonight was a GREAT night TV-wise! I got home from work JUST in time to get set for American Idol to come on. I was curious to see Adam Lambert as a mentor and see how the week would go. All I can say, is: not bad, guys! I was really only bored by Andrew and Siobhan's performances. Leave it to Siobhan to ruin my favorite Elvis song, "Suspicious Minds". I had to listen to the song five times to restore my faith in how good the song is. Really.

We kept having teaser moments during the show for the upcoming episode of Glee, and we kept getting more and more excited! It didn't disappoint. We had drama, humor, and TONS of great singing! This show rocks my socks.

And the Sue Silvester version of Vogue? I'm a FAN! Check out Nathan from So You Think You Can Dance- he's the white dancer with black hair slicked down. Awesome!



I. Love. This. Show.
A lot. :)

Lazy Day and Stake Conference

Today was kind of weird for me. Jess and I woke up around 9 a.m. . . . and didn't have to do anything. I went in her room and we talked for a bit, and both of us had no idea what to do with ourselves since church didn't start until 3. So we decided to laze around. We had a birthday lunch to go to at 1, but until then, we were free. So we dinked around on the computer, looked up stuff on the internet, and I rediscovered my love for the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah". Jessie showed me the version that she wanted to download on iTunes, and I decided to just see if there was a version on YouTube that I liked. I prefer it sung quickly and loudly. This is a little fast, but close to what I like:


This song rattles your bones and sings to your soul! While Jessie was in the shower, I turned this up full blast on my computer and just sat back with my eyes closed. I had my heart in my throat, goosebumps on my arms, chills going up and down my back, and the music just rolled over me and filled my ears. I got a little emotional, I'm not going to lie! This is a piece to inspire.
Anyways,
We went to a lunch for our visiting teacher on her birthday and had a blast just hanging out with some ward members. It was a gorgeous day, so the windows were open and a breeze was coming in. Smiling, laughing, eating, talking, gorgeous day, can it get better?
Oh, yes.
Stake Conference was a great meeting today. Even though they split our ward and took some of my favorite people for the new ward, I think this will be good. A smaller ward = getting to know people better. At least, I hope.
After Stake Conference we had some people over for a rousing game of Fireball Island. This game's notoriety is quickly growing in our ward. We sent out a text to about 14 people, expecting to have maybe 8 or so, but EVERYONE showed up! Our kitchen table was crowded! It was a great time, and a great way to end the night. We even had people come up to us at ward prayer and ask if they could come to play a game next Sunday. Ha! The fever is spreading . . .

Choose the Sprite when a Coke is placed before you . . .

. . . just one of the cool attention-grabbers that were used in tonight's adult session of Stake Conference. I almost burst out laughing when I heard that. Cheesy? Yes. That is why I love it.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Today was a GREAT day! I lazed around this morning, since I had gotten some cleaning done on Thursday, and while I was on the internet, who should Skype, but Lindz?! She and I chatted for over two hours. This is how much I love my bestie, people! Lindz and I can be half a world away and we still crack each other up. She even told me more about her plans to move back to the states this summer. I can't wait!

After that I got ready for the day, had some lunch, and ran a few errands. Before we headed to Stake Conference at 7, we got a bunch of people together to grab a bite to eat. I was excited that we got to try something new that most of us had never had before: Smokehouse BBQ. Jess and I split a sampler basket, and HOLY COW! Their BBQ sauce was magic. I almost wanted to pour it on my bread! The place had a very casual and family-friendly atmosphere, we ate off of paper plates, had plastic silverware, and plastic cups. Nice. Definitely not somewhere you'd want to take a first date, but very fun.

Stake Conference came next, and I got to hear one of the ladies from my Relief Society talk on preparedness. She shared a personal experience that really had me thinking about what I need to do to start preparing myself for any kind of emergency that might arise. Then I thought of the food storage Jess and I have in our pantry. And felt better. :) THANKS, MOM!

The after party was at our new Bishops house, where he and his sweet wife got around 20 half-gallons of ice cream out for us to have banana splits! They are so cool, I am SUPER pumped for our new bishopric. They are all so wonderful. They get so excited to be around us and be able to plan cool activities. Maybe one day I will post one of their emails to my blog. Stinkin' hilarious!

Well, gotta head to bed tonight. No church until 3 pm, so I wonder what I will do tomorrow? Hmmm.