The Drew Israelsen Family

These pictures were taken at a get together we had on Sunday afternoon. Missy came to Utah to visit us and we had a great time catching up with her.

This is one of my favorite pictures I have taken of Robert this summer. He was just outside enjoying the sun and playing in the water. It shows so great the joys of being a kid!!

The other day while we were at the Aquatic center Lena was running on the wet concrete and needless to say her face met the pavement! It actually skidded across the pavement. When it happened I really didn't think it was that bad but the next day it looked like I had beat her! She looked in the mirror and said "I look like a monster!" Today if I put her in front of the mirror she won't even look at herself. If she does catch a glimpse of herself in the mirror she starts crying and says she needs medicine because it hurts. What a DRAMA QUEEN!!!!!

The kids haven't been swimming at grandma's for quit a while so I called her the other day to see what she was doing and she had some time for us to come over. Robert, Lena and myself put on our suits and headed over for a dip in the pool. It was tons of fun for the kids to spend some quality time with their grandma. I must say I enjoy her company myself!!

Lena and Robert both absolutely love the water they just can't get enough of it, which is why when our neighbors said they were going the the aquatic center today we packed up some lunches and headed out with them. We arrived before the pool opened so we went down the street to the park and played and ate our lunch. We learned at the park that if you push a 95 lb kid fast enough the centrifugal force will send him flying out of the merry go round!! Poor Tanner, he recovered okay and was even able to laugh about it. Robert and Lena both loved the slides at the pool. We all took turns taking Lena down the slide because she was so fun. The entire way down you could hear her yelling WHEEEEEEE!!!! The first time I took Robert down with me I wasn't holding him up at the end and he got dunked really good, but he was a great sport and continued to go down the slide. We had a great family day and we are all VERY worn out and ready for bed.

The neighbors have the perfect incline in their driveway for rolling down on a skateboard. All the kids love their driveway. Robert, Tanner and Christopher had races down it the other night. It was pretty funny to watch you could hear them yelling "cowabunga dude"! If you look closely you can see that Robert has his rock on hands going on while he rolls down the hill. He is such a character, sometimes he says and does things and I have NO IDEA where he comes up with it!

Today I went in to get my haircut and Robert was in need of one so I put him in a chair. Little Lena came over to me and said "I want a haircut mom." Well we did it, we finally cut her beautiful white hair!!! The lady who cut it was very sweet and could tell that I wasn't sure about it so she saved her locks for me and put them in a bag as a keep sake! She looks adorable and I really like it a lot! Here are some pictures we took when we got home so everyone let me know what you think!!!

My brother Mike and his family stopped by our house for a visit the other night. All the kids wanted to stay over so me being the softy for kids that I am said SURE!! They all had a lot of fun and we eventually found all of them something to wear to bed! (poor Tristan was jumping on the tramp and lost his pants though) We colored played the WII and had a great time outside! Thanks for spending time with us!!

I want to wish my husband a HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! He is an awesome dad and I love and appreciate him very much!!! I honestly couldn't ask for anything more!! He loves me and the kids unconditionally and shows us that he does everyday! The kids and I woke up today and cooked him a nice breakfast and then we all curled up on the bed and watched Alvin and the chipmunks. Later in the day we had a cook out with my family and everyone seemed to really enjoy being around. The kids loved seeing each other and even though it was HOT we stuck it out for hours outside and just enjoyed the conversation! I love you all and thanks for joining us. I really hope that Lena grows up to have the same close relationship with her dad that I have with mine! He has always been my HERO!

Well the day has come...Lena has advanced from curious child to TERROR!! This is the scene I found when I went upstairs from doing laundry. AHHHHH Lena what are you doing? All she could say in response was "HI MOM!" She had decided to take it upon herself to get her own movie out of Robert's room. Robert has always been one to climb on, in and around everything and anything. Lena has always been a big chicken when it came to that sort of thing. Well it is safe to say her fear has passed!!! I just can't imagine what she will do next!!

Robert and his friend Christopher have a new favorite game and it is Lego Star Wars for the Playstation 3. They will spend hours trying to defeat "dark vader" and love to be "rodger rodger" They get so excited while they are playing that they continually jump up and down. You will never catch them sitting down while playing the game. Neither one of them had a clue that I was taking these pictures of them. As you can see Robert takes his game playing very seriously. At least he is working off some of his untamed energy while he is playing.

We had a cookout at Brady and Bonny's house and Robert and Lena loved chasing the goats! Rob was a little stand offish at first until his sister got right in there and went after them, then he decided it was ok if his little sister could do it so could he.

Drew and I took My mom and step Dad to the show last night as a Fathers day birthday combo gift. Drew's mom had seats right next to us and Melissa and Anna joined her. We had a great time and really enjoyed the show. I wasn't actually aware when we bought the tickets that it was a Saturday's warrior, white star combination and none of us had ever seen the white star. It is the continuation of Jimmy Flinders life (post Saturday's warrior). Jimmy's son sings a song in it about his dad and how he looks up to him and there is a part in it that hit all of us setting there pretty hard. He started to sing about how he was on a camping trip and got lost for 2 days and his dad found him. (As many of you know Drew got lost in the Uinta's on a family camping trip.) He talked about the comfort he felt in his fathers arms. It was pretty AWESOME to say the least. At the intermission break Melissa looked at Drew and said "I think that song was written for you." We had a good night with everyone and recommend the show to anyone who has the chance.

We have been wanting trees in our backyard since the only one we have is my poor apple tree that has already been completely eaten by one of Drew's dogs. So we went to Sam's club and they had a great deal and we came home with 5 new trees. I can't wait until they get big and we have shade in our backyard!! Drew felt really ambitious in the morning when we started planting the trees and decided to stain the fence as well. Half way through Drew said we should finish another day but....you know me I hate having something half done so of course we finished the job in one day. We were both beat and in need of a shower by the end of the day but the fence and the yard look great!

We went to Stacey's house on Friday night for our weekly steak cook out (ok it's only been two weeks in a row but I think we should make it a ritual). Robert and Landon decided that they wanted to have a sleep over so Meg and Lena felt a little left out. Stacey kept Rob and Landon and Meg came home with us. The girls had a great time!! They played princess, house (of course Meg was the mom) and tooted away on the flutes that Uncle Chad brought home from Mexico for the kids. These girls are so funny together!! Their imagination runs WILD!

The other day I walked up stairs and there was Lena on the potty wearing her sun glasses of course. She has such a funny personality and there is rarely a day that goes by that she doesn't make me just laugh!! I love her so much and love spending time with her.

No Drew does not own a Harley. This is his friend Mark's bike. He was just sitting on it and dreaming. He took it for a ride up the canyon and really enjoyed it. Maybe some day he will have one just not today.

So I got a guitar for Christmas and have only learned 2 cords and have NO IDEA how to tune the darn thing. Looks like it is my turn for lessons next!

This is how Drew wishes he could play the drums but I must admit he is getting better.