Hunting Season...I got mine

No, I don't mean an animal, I mean a new project and something I have been looking for forever.

Yesterday we created a new weekend project. Good thing it is close to the weekend. I would hate to have to start this at the beginning of the week like the last project we started on SUNDAY night. We stopped at a new little store that has drawen our attention a few times in passing. It's a new consignment/antique store on 24th. There it was!!!!


The new funiature addition to our house. A high chair built in the 50's or 60's. It's ugly now but freshly painted with flat paint and scraped a bit to make it look old. After this weekend it will be beautiful and hopefully won't have to be under paint any longer.

Great bargin, great project. Now to find a spot for it:) Happy Hunting.

Halloween Party

Here are the photos of the FTC Halloween Party. It was a blast and we all enjoyed ourselves. We can't wait for Christmas. That means another party.

Crazy Carving

Friday night led to a spooky porch and lot of fun. What has been an annual event at Aunt Mandy's house for a few little ghouls and bugs grew by leaps and bounds this year. It used to be a rather small event. Everyone was much younger and so it turned out that Gene and Myself ended up carving all of the pumpkins or helping out a lot and it usually ended in making cookies after the pumpkin seeds came out of the oven. This year we sent out actual invitations and planned to have dinner and carve pumpkins. The evening started out with Zack and Uncle Gene making ghosts to put along the sidewalk. Then everyone else shows up with pumpkins. Dinner was great and then onto the pumpkins. It was a blast. We filled up a huge tub with "guts" and everyone did a great job with carving. No tears and lots of imagination. Then we took them out front and put glow sticks in them. WOW!!! It was so neat to see them all. Lena and Zack stayed over and had a sleep over. It is so much fun to listen to them falling asleep and telling each other lots of things that they know.

Bella turns 1

Bella made it. It's nearing the adoption day anniversary. That means she already had her technical first birthday be we celebrate in October (so she does not have to celebrate with the humans) Wow a lot changes in a year. She has gone from weighing 4 pounds to weighing 64 pounds. She used to eat one cup of food 4-6 times a day now she eats 6 cups a day. She used to love to be held. Her favorite spot was in my arms with her head on my shoulder. That doesn't happen anymore unless I lay on the bed and she decideds to "doggie pile." She used to fit under the bed. Now she has to work to get under there. She is still the fastest runner in our house. She has now found her voice and loves to bark at the "boyfriend" dogs. She showes off to them also. She loves to find her treat ball and bring it to you so you can give her a treat. She loves to pester Rex and snowflake. She is nosey about what she can see out the front window. Thank goodness potty training went smoothly. Now she only has accidents when the humans don't understand "ping pong dog" She still likes to shower, only now we don't fit in with her. She loved to play hide and seek, catch, tug and re stack the wood pile. I think Belsa is part bunny because she hops about everything. When she starts running at her clocked sixty miles an hour sometimes she can't brake and so she tumbbles and jumps to stop. When she dreams she has this cute little bark and her legs move really fast only that she is on her side so there is not forward momentum. It's so funny and we have a lot of pictures of that. Belsa loves the neighbor. If we tell her Sam is home she will run to the front gate and jump up and down so he can pet her and tell her what a good dog she is. She loves to go for a ride. If we start loading the car she is ready to do. She is also waiting for the snow so she can pull the sled and go hiking in snow. It's much harder and she loves it.

Mountain Men know how to party

Yesterday was the mountain man Halloween party. It was a ton of fun and great to see everyone participate and get involved. The kids, I use that term liberally, love getting dressed up in costumes and loved playing all of the games. Trunk or Treating was a hit and everyone got a bag full of goodies. The little kids loved the fish pond. Skeleton search, bobbing for apples, coloring contest and all of the goodies you could wish for. Kitty Rocha took first prize for disgusting while some of the adult costume contestants had some "Sick Tricks". The chili was great. The desert spread was unbeatable. I can't wait until next month. The Turkey shoot will be a great meal I am sure. We are planning on camping for three days so we hope the weather holds.

guess who???

The standard got a great photo of JOHN! No finger in front of his face or anything. Hopefully this will work and you too can see it:)Click on the title to see the photo

It's all becuause of the GENE

Many of you may not know that I come from a very punny family. No, I don't mean funny I mean we like to use puns. It's all because of our father "Gene" He has a sense of humor that could out wit the best of them. He taught us all not to sweat the small stuff and that all things are better with a laugh. So the other evening I was searching for funny Halloween costumes and came across a page that was created just for ME. Punny Halloween Costumes. Wow what a list. I read and laughed. My husband could not understand how three words could make me laugh so hard. I found the perfect costume for my Wednesday night party...."dressed to the 9's" I was so proud of my costume. I got ready with all of my "9" taped to my shirt. I got there and NO ONE got my costume. I had to explain it all night long. Soon I was taking all of my "9's" off so I wouldn't have to explain what I was. I guess I will have to try again with my next punny costume on Saturday:)

Happy Hallowee

Tonight was the start to the Holiday mayhem that will soon, nope too late it is here. We took all of the clients from the group home to the Enable Dance. If any of you know anything about dances you know that our clients will do anything to be able to go to the dance. You don't need rhythum, dance steps, or even to know or like the music. You just have to move around, smile a lot & listen to a lot of small talk. Eating doughnuts, drinking drinks and enjoying the evening. Everyone likes showing their costumes off and showing each other everyone from their homes. Sometimes it's nice to just sit back and watch all of the goings on. Here we are off to the races and parties and get togethers. Hold on to your hats its gonna be quick and you are about to get blasted with a bunch of blogs. The title is "Happy Hallowee" because Basie ate the "N". Maybe that story will be here soon!!!

Gotta Lovett and Hiatt

We had a great night with Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt. Thanks to Kigsbury Hall for bringing in some great performers. They put on a great show and used a lot of dry wit and humor. Some folks didn't find it at all funny but I was thoroughly entertained. Two and a half hours of great music. No intermission, WOW when I grow up I want to be able to do that. I didn't have many expectations for this show because how can one go wrong with two great entertainers. I was holding out for two of my favorite songs, one came early in the night and thanks to the encore I got the other. John has some amazing guitar skills. Lyle has one of the most amazing voices. It would make the hall ring. Stories about their past made you become "part of the family" Being in a great venue helped to make it seem as though you were right there being part of the show. Both of them are releasing new albums in the next few months. I will be standing in line for both. Thanks honey for the "great date!!"

Grapes of Wrath

Today was grape day. Having never tackled this task before on my own my only recollection of doing grapes were limited to my childhood. One time during grape juice I fell out of the window three times despite the warning Grandma George gave me. Once my now brother in law, then guy dating my sister brought me a tea set, and other times I just remember having to let the juice out of the steamer and listen for the marbles to rattle. When my wonderful father called on Monday and asked how many grapes I needed or wanted I was speechless. I had no idea how many grapes I needed. I told him I wanted an ice cream bucket full. He chuckled and said I may need more grapes if I wanted to make juice with them. I was not sure what I wanted to make with them. The only three things I can think of that need grapes are Juice, Jelly & Wine. I knew I was not in the wine making business so that left me with Juice and Jelly. I know the last time I ate PB & J was when we were camping. If I am at home I prefer PB& H. I can't tell you when the last time I drank grape juice was, so I told my dad I was unsure of what amount of grapes I wanted. He said maybe I should start with a bushel. I agreed and he said he was picking them now and would deliver them if I wanted him too. Sure thing, I am no dummy so if you are picking I am grinning:) We met Monday night to exchange grapes. I was a little shocked when he pulled open the trunk and there was a HUGE laundry basket piled high with the most beautiful grapes. I was so excited even though I had no idea what I was making with them or how to go about it. I started trying to recall what my job was while helping my mom. I came to realize my biggest job was stay OUT OF THE WAY! Now I started to wonder what was I doing with a bushel and a half of grapes. We came home and I started looking for recipes of grape things. The best canning things were...you guessed it Jelly and Juice. Well, I guess that makes me a pro. I knew that's what we were making. I took an inventory on our bottle situation and decided that it was best not to can jelly in quarts so I was in need of bottles. After a trip to the store I was ready to start. Reading and calling and Internet helped me get started and then things got moving so quickly that there was no time for electronic devices it was all up to me. Make a decision, try to remember, reason and logic all came into play. By the time John came home from work we officially had.....12 half pints, 12 pints of jelly and NO more sugar in the house, and 4 quarts of juice. Every thing but one half pint sealed. I guess that means tomorrow I can eat a PB & J,with fresh JELLY!!!!! Grapes go on for ever. I just have to state that fact so next year when I think I need more than a bushel of grapes I will have a memory of what I need. 8 kids or 1 bushel of grapes is plenty.

Snow is falling

Monday morning we woke up at 5:00am to get a start on the week. I let John out of the drive way. It was wet outside but thre was not snow yet. After I showered I was working at the desk when the worlds loudest hail storm hit. The dogs were at the back door wanting to get in as soon as the hail hit the ground. When I was ready to leave there was a good two inches of hail on the ground. I picked up three handfulls and stacked them up to make this years first "Snowman". I guess it is not really fair to call him a snowman when he was made completely out of hail but none the less it was a lot of fun to create him.
Tuesday was a cold day. One of those to the bone chilling days. When we were getting into bed we added an extra down comforter to the already flannel sheeted, and wool blanketed bed. We love to snuggle into such a warm bed.
Wednesday apears to be a better day. Hopefully this weather will hold to the weekend.

Tiny T meets Sage

We took Tiny Tatonka to meet Sage. Sky made sure she had her blanket on and was well taken care of.

Sky helped M hold Sage.

Sky found a boggier and had to get it. Luckily it didn't end up in his mouth.

M loved holding Sage. He is a tiny little guy.

Here it is the comparison. Sage 4 lbs Tatonka 4 oz! She does have more hair but they can wear the same diapers!!

Brotherly Love

So, when we bought our house we knew there things to be done. Nothing really big but some small things. To me the most important was rewiring the garage. There were a couple of when reasons for getting this done. First and foremost was the fact that whomever had initially run wire did it when the house was built in the early 1900's. Now remember that building codes at that time were more relaxed than they are now, so they just used the same cloth wrapped copper wire as the house is wired with. The years and enviroment had taken a serious toll on the wire and insulation leaving exposed wire. We thought they were not 'hot' when the light on the back porch was off. Imagine our suprise when we were helping Nash unload his tipi poles and accidently touched the wires together and they sparked all over.

Enter Uncle Vince and his expertice with electrical stuff. We talked about updating the wire and connections when we first moved in, but we just couldn't find a time that was mutually workable. Last Saturday, the 3rd, I recieved a call from Vince wondering if it was a good time to check it out. It was and we agreed to meet at the house in a half hour.

When Vince got to the house we did a quick walk through and determined that it wouldn't be too hard to do the job the next morning. On Sunday morning Greg showed up having heard that we were going to be doing a project. Vince got here a little later and we went to home depot to get parts. A couple of hundred dollars later, we had what we needed to do the job.

Just as we were going out to work it started to rain. It was confrence week end. For the benefit of the non LDS and non Utah natives, that means it was going to rain. Vince and Greg were both ready to be tough guys so work on we did.

After about 5 hours we finished installing new, weather resistant wire in a manner more consistant with current building codes. We also installed a 4 foot shop light in the garage so we can find things, even at night.

There really is not a suitable way of saying thanks to Vince and Greg for braving the elements to help us out, but thanks just the same. It is a great feeling knowing you are loved by family. Guys thanks for your help. We love you and appreciate you and all the help you are willing to give us.

Photos from the BIRTHDAY party

Lapp Dance

On the day that all of the sisters went to lunch together we stopped in to see Drew, our brother. He just happened to be at work so we paged him to the front office. We asked the lady to "page Drew to Paige." She just looked at us as if we were the crazy ones.
Drew came out into the lobby to see what was needed. We were standing under a caribou. We started joking about the elk, deer, moose. He promptly explained that it was similar to a reindeer and made a comment about Lapps. Well you know where this headed. Soon we were laughing and joking about Lapp dances, Lapp clothes, Lapp stances.
We can hardly wait to all get together for Thanksgiving because Drew is going to teach us all how to Lapp dance. We are making our Lapp outfits and are anxious about this Family Thanksgiving.
Casey from channel 2 news has even offered to bring a camera crew and film our new found Family Tradition.

Who knew?

Sisters

"Sisters are like stars. You can not always see them but you ALWAYS know they are there."
Last week, Paige came to town to offer support to her big sister:). As you know, Elliot is leaving on a mission in a week and so Paige came to his farewell. We sisters love to find an excuse to get together and when we do, well...WATCH OUT! Both of the John's just roll their eyes and find a different corner of the house to hang in while we are together. No one gets the "Israelsen" humor better than one of our own. We become quite punny & always find a song to sing that relates closely to something we are talking about.
This week the sisters had a plan to go to lunch for sure. We also invited the sister in laws that are around to come with us. We had a great visit at lunch and enjoyed each others company.
We can't believe that we will all be together again in November. We have to go out again because we should be able to get Kathleen and Ami and all of the GIRLS. This should be a great time....If I were you I would not choose the same restaurant that we all go to our you may be that customer that thinks it's RUDE of people to laugh in the restaurant.

Crips, crunch, cold

Fall has made it here. The nights are feeling like a nice snuggle in bed would be wonderful. The furnace kicks on in the night. Mornings are getting harder to get out of bed because bed feels so good. Spending time in the kitchen is much needed, cookies, soup, & bread. Working in the yard bedding everything for winter hoping that next spring you have a lovely bed of flowers waiting for you when the snow melts. Picking the last of the crops so you can spend a little more time in the kitchen. Leaves are changing. The night sky is bright. Compost is ready to move to the beds. Closets need to be changed around so warm stuff is out front. Decorations await hanging in the house. Insects are disappearing. Dogs are not shedding as much. I love this time of year.

One Toe, Two Toe, Red Toe Brown Toe

So today I had my ingrown toe nail pulled out. I am not to fond of this toe as it has been ingrowing for about 16 years. For all of those years I have just used nail clippers and pulled really hard. Sometimes it bleeds, always hurts, but only for a bit and then I am ok for a few weeks. A few weeks ago, while we were camping I stubbed my toe on our big box. It made me say bad words and I couldn't stand to put my foot under the covers so I came home and made an appointment withe the podiatrist. Greg came down to take me to the doctor because they told me I may not want to drive depending on the sevirity of the toe. He numbed me up and then went to see other patients. When he came back and started digging I flinched, he put my foot back to sleep and continued. Finished and showed me the "tree" he pulled out of my foot. When we got home Bella and Rex were really interested in my foot. Bella thinks she is supossed to lick it over and over. It hurts like crazy. Doc said "keep it higher than your heart" I guess he thinks it is possoble for me to lay down and stay there all day. I can't it sucks to be in bed. So I did stand for a while but it only makes it hurt more. So now here I am in bed, blogging, facebooking and watching one of my favorite TV shows "Ghost" Hoping that when I wake it feels like new.