The Dicks

Growing Little "Oom-Bob"

2012-01-31T09:00:00.000-08:00

HA! - The nicknames we come up with in this house (and I'm probably the author of most of them...he he he). Austin has grown so much, and they change so much so quickly at this age - it's crazy. He is just a couple days away from being 4 months old. So, some things about our little Austin:
*He loves to be standing up (I think it's so that he can look around at everything that is going on). He has wanted to stand almost since birth.
*Because he is so social and loves to be a part of everything sometimes he can't relax, so all we do it put a light blanket over his eyes and he'll instantly calm right down.
*He is a good little sleeper: 10 hours straight at night and 2 good naps a day.
*He is a serious spitter - he might just be the winner in our family (and that is really saying something).
*He coo's and caah's and giggles, and when he smiles he whole body shakes.
*We gave him his first little taste of something besides mommy milk the other day - a pickle. He sucked right on it - no turned up face or anything.
*I got a little johnny-jump-up toy and the kids love to swing him in that, which he also enjoys (as long as he isn't left alone).
*He is a finger sucker...actually, more like a hand-muncher. He gets his whole fist in there. I keep pulling out his fingers and replace with a binkie, but when he wants his hands he WANTS his hands (and he'll spit that binkie right out).
*He is such a fun, cute little guy. We love him to pieces and bits.

Well Done Santa

2012-01-31T08:54:00.000-08:00

Santa really came through this year with the big gift - a trampoline. The kids LOVE it, and therefore the parents also LOVE it. Plus this winter weather has been lovely lately and so the kiddos have spent hours out there jumping all their energy out.

On another note - look at these cute matching girls.

Winter Wonderland

2012-01-08T15:08:00.000-08:00

We got three good sized storms during the month of December. The one with the most snow came the week of Christmas, so although it didn't snow on Christmas Day, we did have a white Christmas. The snow brought all sorts of fun (and other not-so-fun) stuff with it:
*Snowmen - we built a couple good ones (Bruno kept wanting to steal their body parts or eat them, but we managed to keep them alive for a day or two)

*Sledding - we went back to the great hill we found when the Sorensens came and went up and down that hill over and over again.

*Uncle Corbin even made a little snow cave

*Snow Days - the kids have already had several days in which school started late or was cancelled altogether
*Icicles that were over 4 feet long
*Beautiful scenery - After the storm that literally DUMPED on us it looked absolutely beautiful outside.
*Snow cones and plain snow to eat - Nathan had to grab a handful almost any time we went outside

*And horrific conditions in our driveway. I am not exaggerating when I say that our van got stuck literally EVERY time we got in it for almost a week. Even our Suburban got stuck a couple of times.

(Luckily we got our heater working this year, so even in this chilly weather we are staying toasty and warm in our house)

Merry Christmas

2012-01-08T14:39:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve had come. We were so excited that the Sorensen gang (Grandpa, Grandma, Corbin, Kyra, Preston and Jesse) were going to come down to spend Christmas with us. They were going to leave on the afternoon of the 23rd, but the roads were so icy all over the state of NM, so they didn't want to chance driving through the night with roads like that. They left super early Christmas Eve. And then the fun began: they ran out of gas, then the battery died while they were waiting for Grandpa to get back with the gas, then they felt a vibration so they had to stop to get a new tire, then something blew in the engine which eventually led to them getting a rental car (a little 5-seater Prius for the 6 of them and ALL their stuff). They finally made it at about 11:45 Christmas Eve night. Meanwhile we were at home getting regular updates on their progress. When we found out they were going to have to rent a little car I knew I was going to have to go out and shovel the driveway down to our house as well as a little parking place for them in front of the house. The van had been stuck in the same place for almost a week (we got some serious snow earlier that week), so we tried to move it...and it got stuck. We finally got it going again and it got stuck in another spot. We resorted to buying chains so that it could get some traction on the ice and snow. While we went to get the chains we decided to check out a hill that friends had told us about - a great one for sledding....and it was. We spent an hour sledding down the hill (fun). Then we got home and tried to get the snow chains on, which became a bigger project than we anticipated since the van would not move at all. When our fingers were frozen (and Sean's toes) we decided to let it sit for the night and next day and we went in to do our Christmas Eve festivities. I had decided earlier that day to save the nice dinner for the next day when the family was all here. So that night we had appetizers for dinner: 7-layer dip, little smokies in barbeque sauce and deviled eggs (not the fanciest meal ever, but it was fun). We ate it all together in the living room and then had our Family fireside reading scriptures and stories and singing songs and ended in the bearing of testimonies. The kids got treats put out for Santa and they all dressed in the matching PJs and then we put in "Muppet Christmas Carol." We sent them off to bed when it was over and they were all asleep within a half an hour. The excitement of the Sorensens arriving woke most of them up, so it was a pretty late night for the adults, but it was great. Christmas morning came and the kids waited anxiously for the music to start and then they hurried into the living room to see what they had gotten. The big gift was a spring that Santa left in each of the kids' stockings, which went to a trampoline that was in a box covered in the back of the room. I'm sure Santa wished he could have put it up, but it just didn't quite get done in time....he he he. We ate breakfast casserole and then got ready for church (we were saving the gift opening for after church). I led the choir, which sounded WONDERFUL (there were lots of voices and the spirit was there and strong), plus all my family got to sing with us. Kyra and I sang with two other women in a rendition of "O HOly Night." I was so happy Kyra made it so that I didn't have to sing the high notes. We came home and shortly after had a phone call from Caleb, the missionary, which was wonderful (especially since my dad can get a conference call going with the whole family). Then we opened presents. We ate a tasty dinner that night: ham, funeral potatoes, sweet potato casserole, raspberry jello, Gullivers corn and sparkling apple cider. It was a wonderful day filled with music and worship and family and good food and fun.

4 Main Food Groups

2012-01-08T14:18:00.000-08:00

"We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup." - Buddy from "Elf" (one of our favorite holiday movies).

Even though our holidays were a little more hectic and out-of-sorts with the surgery and such, we still managed to get in all of our sugar eating. We spent one of the kids' Snow Days making and decorating tasty treats: chocolate covered oreos with peppermint (SO GOOD), dipped pretzels, chocolate dipped cookie dough, spritz cookies, sugar cookies. Plus we still had tons of fudge left from the double batch Sean made a couple of weeks earlier, not to mention all of the goodies friends and neighbors brought over. YUM!

Surgery and Stitches and Staples

2012-01-08T13:01:00.000-08:00

This is how Sean spent much of his holidays this year. His fall on Thanksgiving ended up being a crushed bone and a fracture in his leg. He got a nice brace to wear (which should have been made out of GOLD for the money they charged for it), and then he had surgery the weekend before Christmas. The surgeon went in and put a plate in his leg and a handful of screws into his bone and then sealed him up with 23 staples. He stayed in the hospital overnight. The surgeon said everything went well, and he came out of the anesthesia with no problem. He came home and spent most of the next week on a mattress in our front room. He went into work 6 days after the surgery for a little while (I guess it's good that it happened around the holidays because he already had several vacation days). He was able to be up on it more and more by the time Christmas came, and the pain was under control as well. He went in this last week to his doctor and got his staples out and was also allowed to take off his brace here and there if he wanted to. Things are healing up just fine and he should be able to walk around on it again in another 3 and a half weeks.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T14:07:00.001-08:00

We had a lovely Thanksgiving yesterday, minus the knee blow out that Sean got during his Turkey Bowl (football game) that morning. Poor guy can hardly move. We had our friends, the Bucks, over for dinner. Our feast included turkey, gravy, sweet potato casserole, green beans, peas, homemade rolls, raspberry jello salad, corn souffle, stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, apple-ginger ale, and party punch. Later we went to some other friends' house for dessert (the table was packed with desserts: probably 15 options). It was a great day.

Earlier this month we had a Family Home Evening on Gratitude. Throughout the rest of the month we wrote down things we were thankful for on popsicle sticks and put them in our "Thankful Jar." Here are some of the things on the sticks:
Church
Running vehicle with no payment
Missionaries
Veterans
Jesus
Priesthood (and that we can be healed through it)
Food
God
Austin
Holy Ghost
Clothes
Nature
Daddy and Mommy
"Best Wife and Mom ever"
Holidays
Family

I also did a little photo session with the kids. I wanted to do family pictures for our holiday card, but then Sean broke himself and I didn't want to make him have to move around all over outside (we'll have to do the family one later).

Baby Lovin'

2011-11-25T14:01:00.000-08:00

This little guy is so squishable and squeezable and kissable. Sometimes it's hard to get enough...but we try, believe me.

Body Art

2011-11-25T13:58:00.001-08:00

I put Nathan to bed with normal, skin colored legs. The next morning he snuck up to our bed (which he still does occasionally) and this is what he looked like. Unfortunately it was permanent marker, so it took some good scrubbing to lighten up the color. It's been a couple of weeks now and his legs are back to normal. Always keeping things interesting.....

Salmon Snagging

2011-11-25T13:43:00.000-08:00

Sean really wanted to try for better luck at the salmon snagging excursion (he had gone a couple weeks earlier with the scouts and got stormed out) so we decided to take a little family trip up to the lake for the weekend. We headed up after the kids got out of school on Friday. We stopped and had Blake's burgers and fixes the tail light on the van (after getting pulled over and given a warning for it) and then made our way to El Vado Lake. We reserved a little cabin right there by the lake. It was a cute two bedroom wood cabin right along the river. We hung out that night. Sean took Caelan and Ben over to lake and through in their line a couple of times. The next morning we got up and made breakfast right there in the cabin: eggs, potatoes and sausage. We caught two deer fighting in front of the cabin, which was pretty entertaining to watch. The kids played with a few dogs that were wandering around in front of the cabin. Then we headed over to the Lake Heron and fished. Sean helped the kids with their rods. We stayed in one spot for a couple of hours with no luck (there were probably 20 other fishermen around us and no one was catching anything). We tried another spot and there was no luck there either. We drove by two other spots and asked around, but apparently the fish weren't out and about that day. We decided to head home. The kids had a blast playing along the water front and climbing the rocks. We stopped in Santa Fe at a Spanish foods store and picked up some spanish sausage and then got dinner in Albuquerque before we arrived home. We'll have to try it again next year. It was a fun family getaway, even if we came home empty handed.

Baby Blessing

2011-11-25T13:34:00.000-08:00

We blessed Austin on November 6. It was a small little circle: the bishopric, Sean and Grandpa Dick, but it was special. He was blessed to be a good influence on his family and to always know how much they love him. He was blessed to stay worthy throughout his life to do important things like serve a mission and get married in the temple. It was a good blessing and he was quiet as a mouse through the whole thing. Sean's Uncle Tom and Aunt Carolyn and cousin Rachel came too. We came home and had a roast dinner. Good day (also Megan's birthday so it was a celebration all the way around).

Twinners

2011-11-25T13:27:00.001-08:00

Austin:

Nathan:

Little Twinners

Happy Birthday to You Mega Moo

2011-11-07T15:01:00.001-08:00

Megan is now 5 years old. She's been counting down the days until her birthday for a couple of weeks now. She informed me a few weeks ago that I could get her something "beautiful or cute" for her birthday, "but not something awesome." We got a kick out of that one. Her preschool class took a field trip to Hoots (a fun place with bounce houses obstacle courses and a huge blow up slide). She took some birthday cookies with her to celebrate. Then on Sunday she woke up bright and early ready to open her presents (she had two presents wrapped from grandparents and sitting on a shelf for 2 weeks - what a temptation - but she stayed strong). She was completely and totally enthralled with everything she got: Ariel doll, a new baby doll, a panda pillow pet, a little barbie mermaid, Hello Kitty figurines and coloring book and a pony (to put on top of her cake). She asked for a "ponyland cake" and since I have no idea what that is, I made a rainbow cake with green grass and a little pond and put two ponies on top....and apparently it was just what she wanted. Her cousin Rachel came over for dinner and playing last night and brought her another little pony. She came in to me last night before she went in to bed and said, "Mom, I have to tell you something." Then she stomped her foot and said, "Best birthday ever: a present from Rachel and I get to bring my drink to bed." (I don't usually let them take their drinks of water to bed). HE HE HE. I'm glad it was great for her.

Some "AWESOME" things about Megan:
Favorite foods: Macaroni and cheese and fruits and vegetables
Not so favorite foods: potatoes
Favorite movie: Winnie the Pooh (the new one - this is what she told me). She doesn't really have one movie that she wants to watch over and over again - she likes almost all the animated shows we have
Favorite TV show (watched on Netflix): Dragon Tales, Dora, Backyardigans
Favorite color: She says brown, but she also loves pink.
Favorite song: Jar of Hearts
She is a great helper. If I ask someone else to do something, more than half the time Megan will jump and and run to do it before they can. She is also the child who will clean up rooms by herself without being asked the most (by far). There have been so many times that she walks into the house with a pile full of stuff from the van, which she has been cleaning out. She LOVES to hold her baby brother and will ask me over and over again until I finally let her. She loves to play with ponies and barbies and stuffed animals and little character figurines and on the iPad or computer. She plays make believe games with her brothers and sisters and loves to play with Bruno. She is still learning her letters (that's my fault - she must be my third child....HE HE HE), but she catches on to things pretty quick. She loves to practice writing her name, and one of her favorite past times lately is coloring (she will sit and do it for hours, literally). She is the social butterfly of the family: everyone knows her and loves her (seriously all sorts of random people in our ward will make comments to me a(bout Megan). She loves to wear skirts and doesn't mind me doing her hair every day (in fact, just the other day she asked me if I would teach her how to do hair). She is a sweet, happy, energetic, fun girl and we couldn't imagine our family without her.

This is a great picture. Nathan was picking at the frosting - look at all their expressions.

Pumpkins, Parties and Pirates

2011-11-07T14:24:00.000-08:00

We did all sorts of celebrating this year:
Fri: Rt 66 School Parade and class parties. That night was the school Fall Festival
Sat: Carved pumpkins, Sean made his chili and we went to our ward Trunk or Treat party (and came home with all sorts of extra candy)
Sun: Just ate candy
Mon: Megan's preschool Halloween performance and potluck. That night I took the kids trick-or-treating to Walmart and Beehive Home Assisted Living. That night we had Family Home Evening and talked about the Holy Ghost (appropriate, don't ya think?).

And I think we went through about 15 costumes between all the events:
Sean and I were Fred and Wilma Flinstone.
Caelan: Taylor Swift, a Vampire (gone soft - she didn't want to wear the collar or teeth) and a witch
Ben: Ninja and the Grim Reaper
Megan: Clown, Princess and a donkey
Nathan: Bob the Builder, Shrek and a pirate
Austin: Bat, an alien and Tigger

She looks so grown up in this picture. Yikes.

Megan and her best bud - cutie pies

Our Shrek

Carving Pumpkins. I gut them and Sean carves.

Fred and Wilma (I think we are dating ourselves because most of the kids had no idea who we were).

The crew.

The Grim Reaper

ET Pumpkin (I think this one was my favorite this year)

Awesome Halloween pumpkin

The pirate and the donkey

Adorable little Tigger

Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-07T14:09:00.000-08:00

We love to go to the pumpkin patch. It's like the intro to Fall (and we LOVE Fall) and the beginning of the holiday season. We found a fun little corn maze pumpkin patch to take the kids to this year. We meandered through the corn maze (and had to find little dinosaur stations along the way), the kids climbed on huge piles of hay, they pet some farm animals (and Megan picked up a chicken), we ate cinnamon roasted almonds and pecans and fresh fruit smoothies and picked out a few pumpkins to take home. Fun times.

Happiest 10 Years

2011-10-19T08:33:00.000-07:00

Sean and I celebrated our 10th anniversary last week. Can't believe it's been 10 years already, but in other ways I feel like we have been together for a whole lot longer than that. I guess time flies when you're having fun, right? In 10 years we have:
-Both graduated from BYU
-Owned or been in possession of 11 cars plus a scooter
-Lived in 5 states, 7 cities and 11 addresses
-Brought 5 children into this world
-Visited 19 temples and been temple workers
-Hiked the Tetons, Grand Canyon, The Subway (in Zion Nat'l Park) and Mt. Whitney
-Vacationed in Hawaii, New York, Victoria Island (Canada), Florida, 8 National Parks, and 2 Mexican Riviera cruises
-Experienced loss (a miscarriage, my Mom, my grandma Sorensen, my great grandma Blatter, Sean's Grandpa Dick)
-Gotten jobs, lost jobs, transferred jobs, etc
-Served in LOTS of callings in the church: everywhere from Nursery leader to Student Ward Bishopric member
-Snorkeled in Catalina, White water rafted the Snake River, 4-wheeled in Southern Utah, ziplined in Cabo, rode bikes down Palomar mountain

-And also enjoyed all the little things: driving to and from CA and AZ for family events (we could probably do that blind folded), watching Netflix movies at night together, making fudge every Christmas time, camping (whether it's big trips or short over nighters), Sunday afternoon walks as a family, working on household projects, exercising together, texting each other throughout the day about little things, holding hands, carving pumpkins into awesome shapes (I do the removing of the "guts" and Sean carves), sitting outside on summer nights, playing with our kids, quick ice cream runs to Walmart and all the other small things that make life feel full.

10 Years Down - and an ETERNITY to look forward to....

Ben's Lost Tooth

2011-10-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

Ben knocked into something last week which made him cry (he's not usually a crier when he gets hurt, so I knew it must have hurt in just a certain way). He said his mouth hurt. I looked in his mouth and noticed that his bottom tooth was loose (whatever he hit knocked that tooth loose). I told him that if he wiggled it around it would probably come out in the next few days. The next morning he woke up with a hole in his mouth - his tooth had come out during the night. Caelan helped him find it in his bed. He was so excited to get to put it under his pillow. Our tooth fairy isn't very punctual - she missed the first night, but did come the next night. Ben found a silver dollar under his pillow, plus she even left the tooth too. He was thrilled. And he is looking so great with his little toothless smile.

The Balloon Fiesta

2011-10-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

Sean's sister and her friend came into town for the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. We decided that we didn't want to wake up at the crack of dawn and be out in the cold so early in the morning with a one week old newborn, so instead we just found a dirt field right by the Balloon Fiesta park and watched the balloons launch from there. It was great - no crowds, we didn't even get there until 7:40 AM, it wasn't too cold by then, we ate cinnamon rolls in the car and we still had a fun time watching the balloons go up. It started to get windy about halfway through so lots of the cool huge balloons that we saw last year didn't actually fly: they blew them up on the field but they didn't go up into the air, so we didn't see those, but we had fun watching all the others. Afterwards we went over to the Botanical Gardens where they were having a Harvest Festival: we watched them make fresh apple cider (and bought some to take home - YUM!), rode on a wagon pulled by a tractor, saw the animals and made a corn husk doll.

Austin Thomas

2011-10-18T09:11:00.001-07:00

Our little baby is here. Actually he has been here now for a little over 2 weeks. I woke up on Sunday morning (Oct 2) at about 5 AM feeling some contractions. I was four days late at this point. They weren't too hard, but they were definitely contractions, and since I don't ever get Braxton Hicks, I was pretty sure they would eventually turn into some action. I got out of bed at around 6 AM because they were getting more and more consistent (not hard, just a little more regular). I got dressed and started to pack my things. I wanted to wait things out at home for as long as I could, so I just hung out at the house and waited for things to get more serious. A couple hours had gone by and the contractions weren't getting any harder or closer (they were still very easy to get through). They they actually started getting farther apart (this was a little annoying). I decided to take a walk down the street - which definitely helped while I was walking, but when I got back home and sat down they were irregular again. Sean kept asking if I thought I was ready, but the labor didn't seem hard enough or close enough to go in. We live 30 minutes from the hospital so I also didn't want to wait too long, but I had never waited too long before (my labors have never been super speedy ones or anything). So, at 10 AM we turned on General Conference and started watching the morning session. After the hymn in the middle (around 11 or 11:15 or so) I felt a good one, and then another one right after. I actually had to get up and brace myself for these. I went upstairs and had another one, and another one after that. At this point, I thought we had better head to the hospital. We dropped the kids off at our friends house at 11:45 and headed to Albuquerque. I had some good contractions on the way there, but still very manageable. We checked into the admissions desk at 12:33 AM. They sent me into the triage room to monitor me and this is when the seriousness began. The contractions started coming right after another and were getting harder and harder. They hooked me up to the monitors (which are totally uncomfortable - I mean I know why they do it, and especially this time when our little guys heart rate dropped pretty low at one point - but sitting up with monitors around your belly is not a very comfortable way to be in labor). I knew I didn't want an epidural but I asked about getting something else for pain. The nurse said that the midwife was on her way and would check me and then we could do something about the pain. The midwife came in - I had another strong contraction at which point my water broke. She checked me and said, "You are ready to have a baby." I was fully dialated and the baby was in position. They wheeled me up to the delivery room and had me change beds (YIKES). Pretty much the moment I got on the other bed I started pushing - the feeling to push on this labor was stronger than any I have ever had. I even gave a little yell (which surprised Sean - I'm usually not too vocal when I'm in labor) and then I pushed that little guy out. He was born at 1:00 PM (27 minutes after we got to the hospital) - BEST LABOR EVER (mild and easy at home and then BAM - painful but quick at the hospital). Sean said the room was kind of chaotic - people setting up and getting things ready - I didn't notice a thing....he he he. Everyone there was great - pretty much let me do things how I wanted and were just there to help me in any way they could. There was some meconium in my water so they had someone from ICU come up just to make sure everything was fine with the baby (it's procedure). He came out quiet, but then did some good screaming and yelling (the nurse from ICU quietly left). He laid on my belly right after he came out and while I finished up. He was perfect! He weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long and had the longest fingers. We stayed in that room for a couple hours and then moved up to my recovery room. He was a great little eater - nursed for 40 minutes like a champion. I went home the next day at 1:30 PM. It was a great hospital stay: nice and fast. Sean went and got the kids and they came to visit on Sunday evening. They were all in love and wanted to take turns holding him. We didn't really have a name picked out and weren't even sure about one until later that night when we decided on Austin. And his middle name, Thomas, is also Sean's middle name. He is a perfect little guy: usually very calm. He has moments when he is so alert (especially for a newborn) and just looking around taking things in. He sleeps okay at night - gets up to eat often but then goes back to sleep until about 6 or 6:30 in the morning when he likes to wake up for a good couple of hours. We are so happy to have him here and healthy.

Nathan is 3

2011-09-26T13:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Nathan's third birthday. He has been pretty excited about it all week. In fact a week ago we were at the store getting a little toy for Caelan to take to a birthday party. Nathan wanted to buy a car. I told him that we weren't going to buy it that day. He really wanted it. I told him maybe he would get something like that for his birthday - that is was almost his birthday. So, for the next week he used that as a reason to try and get me to buy him things every time we stepped into a store. "Can I get this for my birthday?" - He's a smart one, that kid. In fact, Ben and Nathan and I went to the store on Saturday morning. I was trying to be sly and sneak little things into the cart, but he pretty much knew exactly what we were doing and starting putting his own things in the cart. He snuck up to our bedroom on Saturday evening and opened all of his presents (except for one) - silly boy. He wanted a dragon cake, so that is what we made for him. He told everyone that it was his birthday - he was very proud of it. It was a great day.

Some fun things about Nathan:
* He is potty trained - YIPPEE (and let me just say he was leaps and bounds easier to train than his older brother)
* He loves cheese sticks, apples, crackers, cereal, eggs, plain rice, and almost anything with sugar in it
* When we have cake and ice cream for birthdays he will almost ALWAYS eat the cake and leave the ice cream (that is a total mystery to us)
* He loves to take a bath (or a shower) and will ask for one pretty much every day
* He also loves to swim in the jacuzzi
* He is a little talker and can pretty much communicate anything he needs to
* He loves to get my attention by saying, "Mom?" and then when I answer him he responds with "nevermind." He'll do this over and over again.
* He likes to play on the iPad and the computer and can maneuver around fairly well
* He loves cars, trains, balls, swords, little characters, riding the big wheel on the deck in the backyard, playing at the park and pretty much anything that his brother and sisters will include him in.
* He used to always ask for me to "spike" his hair, but in the last month or so he has switched over to always asking for it to be "down" (combed to the side). I think his brother is rubbing off on him.
* He loves to be tickled. He'll ask Dad or I to do it over and over and over again.
* He is a big helper when it comes to setting the table - even when it is someone else's turn he wants to be the one to put the plates and silverware on the table.
* He points out motorcycles, busses, police cars, big trucks, fire trucks and any other special kind of vehicle when we are driving.
* He regularly makes his way to our bed sometime in the morning and falls back asleep with us.
* He likes to tell people what to say to him ("Mom, say 'what'." or "Caelan, say 'what are you eating'?")
* He loves to get out of bed for some reason or another several times (when it is bedtime) and then he asks to be re-tucked in after every time (this is not our favorite routine of the evening, but it is pretty funny).
* He can count to ten (and sometimes up to 13 or 14) but he almost always skips the number 5.
* He loves to "help" people say the prayer.
* He would be happy to run around in his underwear all day every day.

We love Nathan to pieces. He is pure entertainment and joy in our home.

The Belly Shots

2011-09-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

I'm not a real "belly shot" picture taker when I'm pregnant, but I do like to have a couple of pictures to document my roundness for each child. Here I am at about 38 weeks. I'm round and ready to go. My due date is in two days, but knowing my children (and how much they love the cozy home I make for them inside of me), I'm sure I still have several days before he comes. At least I've learned to be patient - in fact this time around I thought I would get involved in a little project during the last week. So, I'm refinishing my kitchen table and chairs. I've sanded and primed and painted the chairs (just did the paint this morning), and now I just need to put a sealer coat on and then do the table. Just a little something to keep me entertained at nine months pregnant...HE HE HE. I am super lucky when I am pregnant - I have a pretty easy time of it the entire time, but even still by the time I am nine months along I am READY to be done. It's time for the little guy to come. Here's to hoping we have a productive week.

Megan's First Day of Preschool (Again)

2011-09-26T11:51:00.000-07:00

Megan started back up at Parky's Pals on September 6th. She was very ready to start (she couldn't understand why she had to wait an extra two weeks after Caelan and Ben started school). She is loving it. She has the same teachers as last year - they are great.

Crash and Burn

2011-08-30T10:05:00.000-07:00

Sean was gone at a Scout Training camp out for the whole weekend. He got home Sunday night. The kids were excitedly running out to the garage to meet him. Megan ran out and slipped or tripped and fell and hit her face right on our brick hearth. I ran out to help her and noticed blood running down her face. She had a good gash on the side of her eye. We checked it out, stopped the bleeding (it actually stopped pretty quick) and tried to console her while we made arrangements for the other kids so we could take her to the ER. We headed down there, but by the time we got there she was doing much better, it wasn't bleeding anymore, she wasn't showing any signs of head trauma, etc. So we called Nurse Lindsay (Sean's sister) and talked to her about it. We decided to wait until Monday morning to call doctors, check out the wound again and then go to the Urgent Care if needed. She slept with us that night (so we could check up on her every so often during the night). The next day there was a good covering over the wound. I called the doctor and then the Urgent Care and asked them about it (they said the stitches would mostly be to help minimize the scarring). After getting all the opinions we decided to just butterfly it up ourselves and see how it heals. So she might end up with a little "character mark" (scar), but so far it's really been healing up well. She also got a good scrape down the bridge of her nose and a few little ones on the side of her nose. Today her eye was swollen up. Poor thing - looks worse than it is. She's a trooper and is feeling great.

Mr. Underpants

2011-08-30T09:58:00.001-07:00

This is a common sight around our house these days. Nathan is being potty trained. I was completely and totally dreading it, but I really want to get it hammered down by the time the baby was born. I started a week before we went to CA, so I was pretty low key about the whole thing (I knew we would be leaving for a week and that would mess some things up). He actually caught on really quick. Last week he had four days in a row with no accidents, but since then he has had at least one every day (don't ask me what that is all about). I guess he is just keeping me on my toes - doesn't want to make it too easy. He LOVES to run around with just his underwear on...or not (naked buns works great for him too). Sean caught him on camera yesterday jumping into the Love Sac (a favorite trick around here) in all his fashionable glory.

First Day of School

2011-08-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of school. No more staying up late and sleeping in the loft watching movies and having sleep overs with friends and playing in the jacuzzi all day and having no schedule. Back to the grind. We prepared last night with haircuts, root beer floats and Father's blessings (which even Nathan wanted to be a part of). Then this morning Caelan and Ben got breakfast in bed. This tradition started a couple years ago when Caelan asked me on Father's Day, "When is kids' day? You know - where we get breakfast in bed?" I told her I would give her breakfast in bed on the first day of school....and it's become a tradition ever since. We got ready and loaded up the crew and drove them to school to find their classrooms and teachers: Caelan (3rd grade) has Ms. Coffee, and Ben (1st grade) has Ms. Fox. They were both excited to be back. Megan starts preschool in another few weeks. Goodbye Summer.

The Last Summer Hurrah!

2011-08-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

We did one final summer adventure (actually one of our only two trips this summer). And it all started with a blessing in disguise. I drove with the kids to Arizona to visit Grandpa and Grandma Dick. We were planning on me taking the Suburban. It gets a little better gas mileage than the van, and with gas guzzlers like ours every little bit counts. Two days before we were supposed to leave the air conditioning went completely out on the Suburban. Since I was driving through the dessert in the dead of summer we changed plans and I took the van. No one ever likes when something goes wrong on their car, but we were lucky with this one. I made it to Casa Grande with no problems (and we drove through three intense rain storms, which were kind of fun). The very next day Sean called and told me that the Suburban had broken down on him. He knew what the problem was right away was able to get it fixed with no trouble the next day (his boss let him use the company truck for the night). If I had taken the Suburban, however, it probably would have broken down somewhere along the way leaving me stranded with 4 kiddos in the dessert. Plus, then I would have had to have it towed and taken it to a shop to get it fixed (which always costs at least three times more). So who would have guessed a broken air conditioner would have really ended up being a blessing in disguise. Anyway, we had a great time in AZ: mostly swimming....because really what else can you do when it's 110 degrees outside.

Megan learned how to swim under water and Nathan went from clinging on to me for dear life in the pool, to jumping off the edge with floaties on and wanting to do it over and over and over again. He was like a little fish by the time we left. We also got some dental work done while we were there - just cleanings and check-ups and such. We saw Kung Fu Panda 2, which was super cute. After 4 days there I drove to Murrieta, CA to visit the Sorensen clan. We had lots of water fun there too. We went to Wild Rivers. Caelan and Ben wanted to go on any slide they could. I mostly hung out in the Kiddie areas with Nathan and Megan (I'm a little too big and pregnant to go down water slides). They all loved it. We also took a trip to the beach. Caelan was way out in the waves finding good ones to boogie board in on. Nathan must have thought he was one of the hundreds of sand crabs we found - he was rolling all over in the sand. We played in the water and sand and later had a fire and roasted hot dogs and yummy banana treats. Grandpa Sorensen made an awesome fort with the kids which was able to withstand most of the waves that came up on it. The kids played in the slip-n-slide in the front yard one day and went swimming in a neighbors pool another day.

Sean flew in to LAX on Thursday. We went on a dinner date that night (always fun to do when you have free babysitting). Then Sean and Grandpa Sorensen and Corbin went deep sea fishing on Friday. They had to get up at the very crack of dawn to get down to the boat. They had a fun time, and then came home and crashed for the rest of the evening/night.

On Saturday Sean and I headed to the Redlands Temple for a good friends wedding. He is friend of ours from BYU. The whole Crusader gang (that's what Sean's group was called) was there - which was lots of fun. We hung out all day with old friends and ate some delicious Mexican food at the reception that night. We got home late that night and made the long drive home the next day. Fun times.

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

2011-08-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

How does your garden grow?

Here is my first attempt at a garden. It seems like we have always either just moved in (too late to plant) or knew we would be moving by the time we would start to harvest...so I've never gotten around to it. This year, I secretly thought, "Maybe if I plant we will stay." Anyway, I got my little plot planted the first week of June. I have already picked a pepper (not bell pepper - more like a chili) and one tomato. I picked these treasures today. My yellow squash plant is growing out of control (that is the plant next to Ben in the pictures).

I have lots and lots of tomatoes on my plants that are just waiting to turn red. My cucumber plants are starting to finally grow, and I have a handful of zucchinis and peppers that are getting closer and closer to being ready. Can't wait. It's so fun.

A Clean House

2011-07-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

I am a pretty clean and organized person. I always have been. My mom used to LOVE leaving me home by myself for any length of time because she knew when she got back the house would be set straight. I get up in the morning and get to my "picking up" routine, and it's kind of hard to me to relax at night if the living room (where I am trying to relax) is covered in toys and empty cups and shoes that children have tossed here and there. So I take 5 minutes and pick up like a mad woman so that then I can sit in that room without each little thing nagging me to put it away. And I'll have to admit - I'm pretty darn fast. Maybe it's just part of me, maybe it's my years and years of cleaning houses for earn money (through high school and college), maybe it's the fact that I know me: I know I like it a certain way and since I don't want to spend half my life cleaning (who does?) I just get right down to business. But even still, when you have 4 children 8 years old and under and a husband it's one of those never-ending things in life. The house ALWAYS needs something. I don't want to be one of those crazy, nagging mothers/wives who constantly need the house to look perfect - I mean, come on, we do live in it, so I have my routines: deep cleaning Monday morning, quick once-over other mornings and then a family pick-up time in the evening (short and fast) plus other little things here and there. It's still a pretty special day when you can say "the whole house is clean." I mean, is it really....ever? Well my friends, I think today is my day. My whole house is clean: vacuumed, swept, bathrooms scrubbed, floors mopped, dusted, picked up, windows washed, etc, etc. We are renting and getting ready to renew our lease, so the property management company just wanted to take a quick look at the inside (completely understandable). We've only lived in a house long enough to have this happen one other time. Both times I knew I was totally over-cleaning: these people were certainly not going to look at the top shelf of my daughters' closet, but still - I made sure the clothes were folded nicely up there. And I was right - a person can get a good idea if you are taking care of the property with about two glances around. And that's mostly what she did. Glanced here and there. Said it looked good and headed out. Kind of a little disappointing. But I'll sit and revel in my clean house - which won't look so clean by this evening, let's just be honest. Maybe I'll send the kids outside to play for the day......Hmmm...and then I can revel while I fold laundry (WAIT - I guess that means I still have something to clean - one of those other never-ending tasks of family life). Oh well - I was close.

Independence Day

2011-07-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty simple 4th of July this year. Sean left early that morning for Scout Camp, so he wasn't with us for the festivities. We had our traditional barbeque with homemade ice cream on Sunday as a family. On the actual holiday the girls painted our toenails in patriotic style, the kids swam in the jacuzzi and then we went to the home of a family in the ward. We had a tasty barbeque, the kids jumped on the trampoline and in the jumper castle. They also played on a slip and slide and had a blast running around with all the other kids. We didn't want to leave early to go to Albuquerque to see the fireworks, so instead we just headed home and put a couple of mattresses out on the deck and slept under the stars. We saw a few shooting stars and satellites, so that was our sky action for the day (it was the first time in LOTS of years that we didn't see fireworks, but it was a great day anyway).

The Big Day

2011-07-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

Caelan was baptized on June 18, 2011. It was a wonderful day. Grandpa and Grandma Dick came in to town. Great Grammy Dick also came as well as Tom and Carolyn and Rachel. We also had Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen with Kyra, Preston and Jesse. The program started at 11:00 AM. Grandpa Dick gave the talk on baptism. Kyra gave the talk on the Holy Ghost (and related it to the story of Pinocchio - very cute). Ben and Megan sang, "I am a Child of God." It was short and sweet and perfect. Sean both baptized Caelan and confirmed her a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint and gave her a blessing in which she received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Both Grandpas stood in as well as Bro. Crozier (from the bishopric), Bro. Pearce (our home teacher) and Bro. Gardiner (the ward mission leader). My heart was full the whole day: to look at this growing daughter of mine and see that she is old enough to make her own decisions and be accountable for them. And I felt so grateful that she is able to make these covenants (and that she knows what she is covenanting to do) and have the companionship of the Holy Ghost to guide her throughout her life. It was wonderful. We had a fun, family barbeque at the house afterwards.

8 is Great

2011-06-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

Caelan turned 8 years old last week. HOLY MOLY - where does the time go? She had a simple birthday here at home with the family (we will have some other festivities next weekend when she gets baptized). Aunt Charity was here visiting, so she made Caelan an awesome sign and came up with the idea for her birthday banner. Caelan chose a Tinker Bell cake (which turned out pretty cute), and lasagna for dinner (delish). She got a fun shirt that changes color in the sun, a baptism dress, a Tinker Bell fairy set, a flower hair band and some art and craft supplies.

Some Fun Things About Caelan:
Favorite color: orange
Favorite food: lasagna and pizza
Favorite school subject: math
Favorite animal: horse
Favorite movie: Tangled, Princess and the Frog, Meet the Robinsons, Chronicles of Narnia 1 & 2 (the 3rd was pretty scary for her)
Favorite TV Show: Psych and Monk
Favorite Singer: Taylor Swift (she loves to belt out her songs)
She will try almost any food, and she is really good about eating vegetables and things she doesn't really like at dinner time. Almost every night while I am making dinner she asks, "Have we had it before and have I liked it?" She has always been a "negotiator" and it continues today. She is a real "explainer" too (why she is doing what she is doing, why she wants something, why we shouldn't do certain things, etc, etc). One of our favorite phrases that she says is, "I was going to ask...." and then she asks the question. HE HE HE. So funny. She is a good helper. She likes to cook and/or make her own food and help me in the kitchen. She loves to swim and asks to go in our jacuzzi almost every day. She is playing baseball and really likes it (and has a really great attitude). She makes friends easily and wants to include everyone. There isn't a "clicky" bone in her body. She has awesome hair and gets comments on it ALL THE TIME. She loves music: singing, dancing, practicing the piano. She loves to be busy and go places and have projects to do. She is a great student and is really responsible about getting her work done on her own. You never have to discipline too much with Caelan - a stern tone can sometimes bring tears (she's tender). Plus she has a great heart and has a real desire to do what is right and make good choices. She is a great oldest child and we are so lucky to have her.

Memorial Day at Duck Creek

2011-06-10T06:31:00.000-07:00

*Cabin in the mountains with the whole Dick clan
*Riding quads and the 6-seater along trails, through running streams, down mountains, etc
*Exploring caves
*Seeing deer and deer and more deer
*Barbequing and eating tasty food
*Going to church in Alton
*Family Home Evening about being kind in word and deed
*Family talent show (of sorts) with singing by Caelan and Ben and dancing by Corbin and Bee and Hailey (and really, all of the kids)
*Swinging on swings on the porch
*Taking naps
*Playing on the tree-trunk teeter-totter
*Fishing (even though it didn't last long - it was cold and windy)
*Doing puzzles
*Having lots of FUN!

That was our trip to Duck Creek. We headed over to Cedar City for a day afterwards to visit the Bairds (good friends from college) where we played at a cool park and watched movies and played games. It was fun to catch up. Then we headed home and managed to convince Charity and her two little tots to meet up with us and come home with us for almost a week. Good times. We had a little adventure on the way home where her car overheated and a hose burst. "Super Sean" came to the rescue and fixed it all up right there on the side of the road. The rest of the ride was smooth sailing.

Moving onward and upward

2011-06-10T06:26:00.000-07:00

Ben "graduated" from Kindergarten (that always seems like a funny way to put it). His program was actually referred to as "Kindergarten Progression" - which seems more appropriate to me. Anyway, they had a cute little program with lots of songs, and then the teachers gave out the certificates. And we ended the morning with cake and snacks. On to first grade.

To the Sunshine State We Go

2011-05-31T10:40:00.000-07:00

Sean and I had a great trip to Florida. Sean went out for an interview, and they offered to fly me out as well. We flew Sean's mom in to town to watch the kiddos for three days and we headed across the country. Neither of us had been there before, so this was a new experience. We went to Pensacola (on the panhandle). Our hotel was RIGHT ON the beach. We literally walked out the back door of the hotel and onto the sand of the ocean. We went to the Naval Air Museum (one of the best in the world - and it really was awesome), we climbed to the top of a lighthouse, we toured an old army fort, Fort Pickens, we swam in the hotel pool, we walked along the beach, we swam in the ocean (and the water was PERFECTION - warm and not too salty), we ate lots of delicious food and we just hung out together...with no kids. It was a fantastic get-away (and even more great that is hardly cost us anything to go)
And even though it was beautiful and Sean really liked the plant and the guys he interviewed with, we both kind of left knowing that we wouldn't be coming here any time too soon. So, it was a pressure-less vacation. Love it.
We forgot out camera, so these are all phone camera shots.

Happy Birthday to the Perfect Mom (for me)

2011-05-19T13:06:00.000-07:00

Who did all the "little" things that made a HUGE difference. I love You!

Father and Son Campout

2011-05-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the Father and Sons camp out. Ben was counting down the days all week long. I told Nathan on Friday that he was going to go camping with Dad. I don't think he really knows what the word, "camping" means, although we've been several times before, but he was pretty excited about the idea. When Sean got home and we were packing up the truck, every single time I walked out there he waved at me and said, "Bye Mom." He was ready to go. The boys grabbed dinner at McDonalds and then headed to the campground. It was really close, so it didn't take long. They had fun setting up camp and playing around. There was a fireside that night. Sean let the kids have a graham cracker and a piece of chocolate (because they couldn't build fires to make proper smores). Eventually they headed off to bed. That night Ben woke up at around 12:30 and had thrown up all over his sleeping bag (poor guy). Sean got him cleaned up and the sleeping bag out of the tent. He let Ben use his bag, which meant he now didn't have one. He tried to go sleep in the car where it was warmer, but Nathan woke up and FREAKED out because Ben was sleeping right by him. Sean went back to the tent and calmed him down and tried to lay down by him, but soon realized he was going to freeze all night long like that. So he quietly packed up the boys and their stuff and headed home at about 2:00 AM. They were bummed they couldn't stay the whole time, but they did get some good playing time in on Friday night.

And Ben was totally fine for the rest of the day. It must have been something he ate.

A Little of This and A Little of That

2011-05-15T15:42:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to record a few little things, and now it seems that there are more than just a few, so here is a list of randomness:

*Caelan has become a serious fan of Taylor Swift. I hear "Love Story" and "Our Song" and "You Belong With Me" multiple times every day (plus others). And she really belts them out. The other day I took her and her friend, Tessa, to dance. I came in a couple of minutes after they did and noticed that their dance teacher and all the girls were sitting on a bench. I looked through the window and saw Caelan and Tessa in front of the class singing, "Love Story" a capella to their dance class.
*Sean went to an Elders Quorum activity last weekend to a shooting range. He had a blast shooting targets and clay pigeons. It made his itch for owning a gun grow.....but I'm not sold. HE HE HE.
*Caelan got her first hit at her baseball game a week ago. She made it safely to first base and her hit brought in a runner (their team's first score of the season). I was a screaming, crazy parent. It was so fun!
*One of my favorite things is watching Ben get up to bat (he is playing tee-ball). He looks out to find me and smiles, and half the time he gives me a thumbs up before he gets to the plate. I love it!
*Caelan bore her testimony in church two Sundays ago. It was her first time ever. She likes to share her testimony during Family Home Evening, and it was sweet to see her desire to get up and share it with everyone. I love those moments - when you know the stuff that you've been teaching is really making a difference.
*Nathan has recently adopted all "tooting" noises as his own. Whenever anyone (anywhere) toots, he immediately says, "That's me," and smiles. Where do they get this stuff?
*I got released from serving in the Nursery at church and got called to be in the Primary Presidency. Nursery and then this have been my first experiences in Primary...and I am loving it. It's so fun to spend time with the young kids every Sunday and listen to them sing and hear their sweet comments.
*I am feeling like an official "soccer mom" these days (just without the soccer). I have kid activities going on almost every day. I've been pretty careful about trying not to over-schedule us (I'm not a fan of running crazy all the time), but with this baseball season there have been practices and games (on different days and times every week), plus the one class of dance that Caelan is in, plus the one class of gymnastics that Megan is in, plus mutual and scout activities that Sean is involved with, plus piano lessons (I teach Caelan and Ben myself). It's fun to see them learn and have fun with their activities, but I'm kind of looking forward to a little break in the summer. I'm thinking this is kind of what my life will be like for the next......lots of years. I feel so lucky that I get to be involved (that I'm home with the kids and have a chance to run them here and there on some days and work with them on homework in the afternoon and spend other days just hanging out at home and go to their games and school events). It's a great job!
*This is one of the kids' favorite Family Home Evening activities (or anytime activities for that matter).

Mother's Day Picnic

2011-05-09T19:20:00.000-07:00

On Friday I got to go to a Mother's Day picnic that Ben's Kindergarten class was putting on. Aunt Carolyn graciously took Megan and Nathan for the hour, so that I could just hang out one-on-one with Ben. When we got there Mrs. White had all the Mom's get their food (bagels and cream cheese and fruit) and then take a seat. The kids all came in, stood in a line and sang, "Skidamarink" while doing sign language hand motions. It was very cute. Ben was so excited to see me - his smile was awesome! Then they got to sit with us and eat too. He had made a card and a bookmark (with a flower made from their fingerprint) that he gave to me. It was special - I loved it (and what I loved even more was how much Ben loved that I was there - makes a Mom's heart happy).

Preschool Graduation

2011-05-09T19:01:00.000-07:00

Megan had her preschool graduation program (which is pretty funny considering she still has another year before she starts Kindergarten). Most of the kids in her class are going to school in the Fall though. They wore caps and gowns and everything. Megan was completely enthralled with her tassel - she could hardly focus on the songs they were performing. She kept rubbing it against her face or around her fingers. The major of Tiejeras was there and proclaimed that day, May 6, 2011, their day (the kids of Parky's Pals). After the short ceremony there was a potluck and even a jumper for the kids to play on. This has been a great preschool. I'm pretty sure I'm going to send Megan again next year. It's SUPER cheap, they go on fun field trips, the directors are great. They don't learn as much as some of the others, but they have a ton of social interaction...and anything I feel she needs work on we can do at home. She loves it.

(She is sitting right next to her best friend, Presley. These two make the cutest little pair.)

And the Boys Take the Lead

2011-05-09T06:30:00.000-07:00

Hello Baby Boy Dick. Yes, I am pregnant. We are expecting baby #5 at the end of September. The due date is Sept 28th (right in between Nathan and Sean's birthdays - we're getting a little crowded right there). We had our ultrasound on Tuesday. None of the kids knew that we were having another baby. We took them all with us. The room we were in had an extra screen on the wall, so the kids all took a seat and looked at the images on the TV screen on the wall. We told them to tell us when they thought they knew what they were looking at. Megan said, "It's a volcano. Is it Mom?" Ben said, "Space." So then we specified that what they were looking at was inside of Mom's tummy. Caelan guessed a baby. When we confirmed it Megan got so excited, "It's a baby? You're having a baby?" It was cute. They were all excited. The machine the technician used even showed some 3-D images, which we have never seen before on an ultrasound, so that was fun. They were much easier for the kids to distinguish than the other images. They loved the tiny picture of the foot and of course the face views. We're really excited to have another little kiddo to add to the bunch.

Nathan's Our New Toy

2011-04-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

We recently got a little bit of unexpected money, so after doing some responsible things with it we decided to use some of it to get an iPad (Sean's had the itch for a while now). It has quickly become a new favorite toy for everyone in the family. Even Nathan loves it - actually he is almost a little obsessed with it. The kids only get a 20 minute turn every couple of days, and Nathan wants his turn just like everyone else. He drags his fingers here and there and gets just to where he wants to go (it's crazy how fast these kids pick up on things like this). It is actually the first thing he asks Sean when he walks in the door, "my turn iPack?" We LOVE that he calls it an "iPack," and it's kind of rubbed off on the rest of us.

Play Ball

2011-04-19T12:28:00.001-07:00

Ben had his first tee-ball game on Saturday. Very entertaining to watch. In tee-ball there is no score, there are no outs, there are no strikes. Everyone gets to hit and run. They love it....and they love the cheering. Ben whacked his ball a couple of times. Our favorite part is watching him run the bases: he gets his arms pumping and everything.

Caelan also had her first baseball game on Saturday. She made contact with the ball once, but it fouled. Her team got slightly slaughtered, but she had a fun time anyway.

Day at the Museum

2011-04-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

On the last day of Spring Break I took all the kids and we went with Megan's preschool class to the Albuquerque Natural History and Dinosaur Museum. It was fun to see all of the dinosaur replicas and to learn about volcanoes and the earth millions of years ago. The kids loved the room with all of the living animals: turtles, fish, snakes, spiders, etc. We ended the trip with a stop at the park and then we ate lunch at a yummy pizza place in town, Dion's. Fun day.

The attitudes portrayed in this picture just crack me up. They really did have a fun time....HE HE HE.

Birthday Boy Ben!

2011-04-07T11:52:00.000-07:00

Ben turned 6. He has been asking about his birthday for the past three weeks. He's has repeatedly asked me when "President Conference" is (General Conference) because he knew that his birthday was two days after it. He has been so excited. He woke up and said, "It's my birthday. Am I 6 right now?" He chose to have hotdogs and chips and fruit for his birthday dinner. We had waffles that morning (another of his favorites). I asked him if he wanted to have a party or go somewhere fun. He wanted to go to Hoots (this little jumping place in Albuquerque - Megan's preschool class went a few months ago and I thought it would be fun for the other kids). He got to bring one friend with him (plus the family), Aaron Buck, and they had a blast sliding down the huge slide, playing in the jungle gym, racing through the blow-up obstacle course and laughing themselves silly. He wanted a Mario cake (it's so fun to hear him say "Mario" with the rolled R - I love it), so we had fun concocting that. He got a Toothless dragon, a pirate sword, a set of walkie-talkies and a couple other little things. It was a fun little celebration.

Some Fun Things About Ben at Age 6:
Favorite color: blue
Favorite movie: The Chronicles of Narnia (all of them)
Favorite Food: fruit (strawberries, watermelon, blueberries, apples), waffles
Food he doesn't like: He is probably our pickiest eater, but he will still eat most things put before him. Onions, peppers, tomatoes, mashed potatoes (most of the time - so weird)
Favorite treat: Kit Kat and ice cream
Favorite animal: penguin
He loves to play with Dad's new I-Pad (especially the Minion maker and the racing game). He likes to play on the Wii, but usually only stays interested for 20 minutes or so. You will almost always see this little boy with some kind of small toy in his hand. We have tons of little characters and he is usually carting around a handful of them at any given time. He likes to explore the backyard. He recently started tee-ball and is loving that. He is a really good student - he got awesome scores on the last bit of testing they did at school and his teacher really likes him. He LOVES babies (always has). He's so sweet to get right down on the floor with his face close to a babies face and stroke its face. He loves all things BOY: swords, guns - we only have Nerf style guns at our house(one day he made the crusts from his sandwich into a gun), knights, pirates, super heroes (of all kinds), cars, etc. He is a very sweet boy. He still asks me if he can "get cozy" with me while we are watching a movie on the couch, and then he snuggles up in my "boat" or right next to me. He started the "tucking in" routine at our house. He had about 4 blankets that he has to have spread over him every night along with a hug and kiss. He loves the water: the beach, the jacuzzi, swimming pools, etc, and he can take the fastest shower in the whole house (hands down). He is a good little singer and has started piano lessons. He is thoughtful of other people anywhere we go (family members, kids at school, friends, etc) and he is great friend to both his sisters and his little brother. He is an easy, mellow, very happy kid and we love him to pieces.

One Little Monkey Sleeping in the Bed

2011-04-07T11:40:00.000-07:00

This little boy has found our bed. All of our kids have gone through a little stage of waking up in the night and then coming to our bed to sleep (except for Megan). In fact we were talking about this very thing one time and I turned to Megan and said, "You are the only one who hasn't come to sleep in our bed, right Megan?" She thought for second and said, "You don't let me sleep in your bed." She's right. She is our craziest sleeper and so the couple of times that she did come into our bed either Sean or I promptly helped her back to her own bed (because there was no way we could sleep with that little girl in bed with us). So her stage was SUPER short. None of the kids had found their way to our room since we've moved. I think it has something to do with the fact that you have to walk across the entire downstairs, then up the stairs and then back across the upstairs to get to our bedroom, and none of our kids want to brave that long of a walk in the dark and quiet of night. But one night (a few weeks ago) Nathan made his first journey to our bedroom (and bed) in the wee hours of the morning. He climbed into bed with us....and that's where it began. It was like a light switched on, "Oh, Mom and Dad will let me sleep with them if I go there in the middle of the night" (because, frankly the "walk" is too much for us to walk him back to his bed in the middle of the night....HE HE HE). He figured it out real quick. In fact a week after the first trip he asked is he could sleep in our bed. I said, "Nope, you have to sleep in your own bed." Then so sweetly he said, "Sleep own bed. Wake up and sleep upstairs." Pretty bright little dude! So we've had a little visitor in our bed at least three times a week for the past three weeks. The nice thing is that he usually comes in just shortly before it's time to get up for the morning (5:00 AM or so). We don't mind this little phase - we know it won't last forever (partly because they grow out of it...and if they didn't we would "help" them to outgrow it...HE HE HE), so for the next few weeks we'll enjoy this extra little body next to us for an hour or two in the morning.

Billy Goats and Super Heroes

2011-03-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

On St. Patrick's Day Ben's Kindergarten class put on the play, "Three Nanny Goats Gruff." They did such a cute job. There were little lines here and there, and a lot of songs. I was so impressed at how the kids had all the words memorized and they were singing out. Ben played the part of Billy Goat (one of the nanny goat's sisters). He was so cute. I even remembered my camera, but when I went to turn it on I noticed that the memory card wasn't in there. At least I had my phone....

Megan went to a regional conference for her preschool last week. The theme was super heroes. Megan went dressed as Bat Girl. She has got to be the cutest Bat Girl I have ever seen. She talked about how much fun she had: super hero snacks, super hero craft, super hero playtime, etc. And they even got a little goody bag at the end with treats and a Super Hero DVD. Fun.

Saturday in the Park

2011-03-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

The weekend was beautiful!! Sunny and warm and perfect. We decided to hit the town. Sean took Caelan and Ben to see Tron: Legacy. One of his good friends worked on the movie. They enjoyed it. I dropped them off and took Megan and Nathan to Borders (for kids story time) and then we stopped at the 2-story Barnes and Noble at the mall. We perused the kids section, read books on benches, and then played with the train set. The kids also thoroughly enjoyed going up and down the escalator. We met back up with the other half and headed to the Aquarium (we have season passes). Then we took the train to the zoo and back again. We were going to spend some time at the zoo, but that place was a MAD HOUSE (I guess it's Spring). The Aquarium was just right. We stopped at Sadie's (a New Mexican restaurant - that's what they are all called around here) and got some food and then headed home. It was good, but we have yet to find a really "bangarang" Mexican place around here. We'll keep looking. Good day.

Crazy Hair Day

2011-03-07T11:42:00.000-08:00

Last week was "Dr. Seuss" week at Megan's preschool. Every day they got to wear something a little crazy. Tuesday was crazy hair day. Megan wasn't so sure she wanted me to do anything crazy to her hair, but I told her it would be fun. When I finished and she looked in the mirror she approved (I probably couldn't have gotten away with hair sticking up all over the place though). She loved Thursday when she got to wear her pajamas to school. And they even had green eggs and ham for snack on that day.

Oh, and here's a funny "Meganism" that I heard today: She was asking me for a bag to put her raisins in. I told her she could get a little handful. She said, "Mom, if don't give me a bag them I'm going to eat all of the raisins. Do you want a fat girl in this house?" What a silly nut!

Daddy Daughter Dance

2011-03-07T11:34:00.001-08:00

Sean took Caelan to their first Daddy Daughter Dance at school. I made Caelan a little flower corsage and Sean a boutineer. They went out to dinner before the dance (to Pizza barn here in town). Sean let Caelan choose the place. Then to the dance they went. Sean said there were a lot of little girls dancing in the middle(and lots of dads sitting on the sides...HE HE HE). They served root beer floats, and all of the girls got a little candy bag. They had a fun time (just the two of them together).

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

2011-02-16T11:18:00.000-08:00

At the end of January I flew up to Portland, OR (all by myself) and spent the weekend with some of my favorite people in the world - The Uppers (roommates from college). Five of us were able to make it together (coming from AZ, NM, TX, Washington DC) to Jamie's house in Washington. We spent one day driving along the Columbia River Gorge and stopping at the all the waterfalls. Beautiful! The next day we walked around downtown Portland (Powell's City of Books - a bookstore covering an entire city block and walked along the waterfront and got dessert at Papa Haydn's - Delish) and stopped at the temple to walk around. But the best part was just catching up and being together. These girls are fantastic. You know you have a solid friendship when you can come together after a few years without seeing each other and just pick right back up.

Sean held down the fort while I was gone. They had so much fun I think the kids will be excited for the next time I am out of town: donuts for breakfast, trip to the zoo, getting corn dogs on the way home and staying up late watching movies. My husband is so GREAT!

PS. In our nine year of marriage I can think of maybe 2 or 3 times either of us have gone on a trip alone without the other or the family (that wasn't work-related), so it's super odd that we happened to have two within a week.

Magic Carpet Ride

2011-02-11T08:38:00.000-08:00

Sean went with Tim (a good friend he grew up with) to Utah last weekend for a little "guys trip." They had a nice drive catching up together. Sean saw Jenny and Kelly and fam as well as Lani while he was in town. They took a trip to Temple Square on Sunday and then watched the Super Bowl that evening (with all the tasty foods that involves). Then on Monday they went snowboarding. Sean hadn't been snowboarding in about 10 years. He loved it and came home in one piece (with only a little soreness). He flew home the next morning.

I'll take an order of Sunshine Please...

2011-02-11T08:19:00.000-08:00

What have we been up to the last two weeks?....Keeping warm. We've had a couple of weeks of some record breaking temperatures. Freezing, I tell ya. I'm not sure that even in all my years in Utah we ever got as cold as we got here last week. There were a couple of nights down in the negative twenty degrees (before windchill, which made it feel about 10 degrees colder). Thank heavens our house is pretty well insulated and our pellet stove works well, because our heater decided to stop working. We managed to stay warm enough though. The cold temperatures came in with a snow storm (not a ton, but a decent amount). School was canceled for 4 days last week (and since it was so cold and the roads were pretty icy, we were pretty much confined to our house). Then there were parent conferences on Mon and Tues of this week, and wouldn't you know another snow storm came on Tuesday afternoon, which meant school was canceled on Wed too. If we would have known, we could have taken a week long trip....to somewhere nice and toasty. I'm really lucky to have kids that LOVE to play together so much, because after days and days of staying inside it's hard to not melt down. We played games, made cookies, played with play dough, made Valentine's for Megan's preschool class, watched movies, danced and sang and tried to keep busy. The weekend temperatures were nice, so I took the kids to the cheap theater to see "MegaMind" which was pretty fun. We are supposed to have several days in the 50s this next week. I'll take it.

Bargain Books

2011-01-24T10:24:00.000-08:00

Ben brought home one of those Scholastic Book Orders a couple of weeks ago. He really had his heart set on getting a couple of the books (one about mammals and one about sharks). So we finally got around to ordering online, and Ben was deciding on which book he wanted more. One was $4 and one was $5. He debated and debated and debated. Then I suggested that maybe we could go to the store on the weekend and he would be able to get more books for the same price (I was thinking of a thrift store, of course - it's a great place to get books). So, on Saturday morning he reminded me first thing. We headed to the Salvation Army and they just happened to be having a book bag sale ($3 for a brown bag of books). I think we ended up with 41 books (lots of kids books: easy readers, picture and juvenile chapter books, and also a couple other chapter books). Ben was thrilled!!

*I hear there is a thrift store in the next town that sells their kids books for $.10 all the time. That's a real steal.

Good Samaritans

2011-01-14T12:01:00.000-08:00

So this morning I jumped in the car to run to the store with Nathan. I was pretty nervous about making it to the gas station (I was totally on empty the other day but I didn't have time to stop and get gas before the kids got home from school). I even got the feeling that I should bring a gas can with me...just in case. I checked a bunch of cupboards in the garage and couldn't find them, so I gave up and headed off. I think next time I will pay a little more attention to "the feeling." HE HE HE. I was cruising along and thought, "As long as I make it up this hill then I can pretty much coast to the gas station." I'm going and going and going....and then there is a chug and another chug and the car starts slowing down...and eventually stops (just short of the top of the hill). I had my phone with me, and I thought I would call someone. I tried one person - no luck. I only had one bar of battery left and I didn't want the phone to die too, so I got out and decided to walk. My visiting teacher lived a mile or so away. Thank goodness today wasn't as cold as some of the days last week. I got Nathan and we started walking down Route 66. I was walking for less than a minute...literally...when a car stopped and asked if I needed help. They were an older couple with a young girl in the back seat. I told them I had run out of gas, and they said, "Well hop in." So I got in (no hesitation at all....you know when you can just tell people are totally safe - that was them). Anyway, they took me to Autozone to get a gas can and then to the gas station to fill it up and then back to the car. The woman held Nathan while I filled the gas can. The man then filled my tank once we got back to the car. And the little girl told me all about the Nintendo DS she was playing. Gas was in the car, the car started, I thanked the couple sincerely, and I was off.
Probably not a big deal for this couple - 25 minutes of their day to drive around a woman and her little boy to get gas....but it was a HUGE deal to me. The couple were both retired Navy. They were actually on their way to their church building (they are the janitors for it) and then they were going to bible study (the little girl mentioned). And they are the grandparents for the little girl in the back seat but are raising her like their own child. It's good to know that there are so many good people in the world - just going about their day to day lives, but helping others whenever they find the chance. It made me realize again how much the "little things" that we do matter. And I am thankful to them for their kindness and to so many others just like them out in the world going about doing good.

(Oh, and now I have to start my record again. It's been about 9 years since I ran out of gas (I mean really ran out - where someone had to come and "save" me). I'm a real push-it-to-the-limit kind of person when it comes to filling up the gas tank and sometimes pride myself on how far I can go. Guess I better be a little more careful living out in the country where there are more hills and less gas stations. HE HE HE.)

Lookin' Good

2011-01-09T18:16:00.000-08:00

I got this little suit while I was in CA - Andrea always passes on the boys clothes that don't fit anymore, so I'm sure Jesse and Preston wore this little baby when they were tots. Look how cute Nathan looks in it (he just needs a little tie). Love it.

Sledding and Sliding

2011-01-09T17:52:00.000-08:00

We had absolutely nothing on the schedule on Saturday.
NOTHING - pretty nice.
So, we took the kids and headed up to Sandia Peak and found a fun snow-playing area. We wanted to try out our new sled that we got from Santa, but at the organized place there was no metal or wood sleds allowed. So, we took several runs down the hill with our plastic sled. All the kids LOVED it. Then on our way home we found a picnic area with a couple decent hills where we could try out the new sled. It was a hit. It kind of resembles a very miniature snowmobile: a seat, handles, place to put your feet on the side ski's and even brakes. It was easy for the kids to steer and control. We all tried it out. Very fun day.

You May Kiss the Bride

2011-01-06T13:02:00.000-08:00

Erin and David are Married!! YAY!

We headed down to CA (with a quick stop in Casa Grande to see Grandpa and Grandma Dick, Lindsay and Jenny and Kelly and kids) the day after Christmas for the big day. Here's what kept us busy in Murrieta for a week:

*Shopping for dresses for the ceremony (I was a bridesmaid and Caelan was the flower girl)
*Getting pedicures with Andrea, Charity, Kyra and Melanie
*Shopping for food for the luncheon (and making Sean and Dad run back and forth between stores like ping-pong balls...with no shoes on...HE HE HE)
*Putting on a bridal shower for Erin (good fun)
*Sean and Dad went to the temple
*Preparing food for the luncheon (making pinwheel sandwiches, cutting and arranging fruit, making mini cheese cake cups, etc)
*Arranging all the bouquets and table center-pieces with Charity and Melanie. Lovely. (I really like doing that).
*Hauling all the tables, chairs, coolers, food, flowers, etc down the steep hill to the beach where the ceremony was
*Setting up and cleaning up
*Taking part in the wedding ceremony. What a beautiful day it was (got chilly just as people started to leave), the scenery was awesome, and the ceremony was tender.
*Celebrating a very mellow New Years Eve (all the men folk fell asleep, the teenagers dispersed to various friends houses and the women barely made it to midnight (mostly because the kids were going strong)) - we were worn out!! But we did put a puzzle together (New Years Eve tradition)
*Having our family Christmas exchange
*Eating dinner at Filippis
*The girls cutting and dyeing each others hair
*Going to the park (for just a short time...it was CHILLY)
*Sean worked on Dads car and helped Chad change his spark plugs
*Visiting a good friend from High School
*Enjoying time with all the fam

Congratulations dear sister and official "brother-in-law"!

Christmas Traditions

2011-01-06T12:31:00.001-08:00

This was the first Christmas that we spent at our own home with just our little family....and we LOVED it. I'm not sure we'll ever be convinced to travel again (well, maybe not NEVER). So this year we got to mix and match traditions from the Sorensen and the Dick family as well as starting some of our own. Here are some Christmas time traditions that we have:

*Putting up the Christmas decoration (sometime during the week after Thanksgiving)
*Making fudge and taking it to friends and neighbors (we delivered bunches this year)
*Watching the First Presidency Christmas devotional
*Going somewhere to see Christmas lights (sometimes this is just around neighborhoods and sometimes this is to temple grounds or to some other community display)
*Making and decorating sugar cookies
*Watching Christmas movies throughout the month (these are the ones we watch every December: Home Alone (1 and 2), How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, Charlie Brown Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, Muppet Christmas Carol, The Polar Express)
*Read Christmas stories at night (not necessarily every night, but quite a few throughout the month)
*We try to enjoy other holiday activities throughout the month: Christmas parties, Christmas parades, creche displays, holiday music performances, etc.
*And of course Christmas music on throughout the entire month (in the house and car)

On Christmas Eve:
*Open one gift (the same gift) - matching PJs for the whole family (my sewing machine was on the fritz this year, so I purchased them. Usually I make fun PJ pants for everyone)
*Have a Family Home Evening where we sing carols and read from the scriptures about the birth of the Savior. Last year the kids dressed up and acted out the nativity. This year they used our crocheted nativity dolls and used them to play out the scene.
*Eat a candle-lit dinner (pretty fun for the kids) of ham, hashbrown potato casserole, homemade rolls, a vegetable and fizzy drink.
*Watch "Muppet Christmas Carol" right before bed (and more times than not the kids fall asleep to this).

Christmas Day:
*The kids have to wait to go into the main room until they hear music playing (Sean played the Hallelujah Chorus this year).
*Santa leaves balloons all over the floor along with the gifts. When the kids are young, this excited them more than almost anything else.
*Everyone can open the little things surrounding their stockings that are wrapped as well as the unwrapped bigger things.
(This year Santa left Caelan and Megan a three story doll house, Ben a series of Star Wars characters and Nathan a construction truck.)
*One person plays "Santa" and passes out the gifts from under to the tree to their recipients.
*We open presents one by one starting with the youngest.
*The traditional food on Christmas day is still be tested. This year I made homemade tamales and we ate those with homemade beans and salad and tortilla soup on Christmas (pretty traditional for New Mexico, actually).

Christmas Parties

2011-01-06T12:14:00.000-08:00

We had an awesome snow storm in the middle of December. Because of it the last day of school was canceled, which happened to be the day of the Christmas party for both Caelan and Ben's classes. So, instead we stayed home and had our own Christmas party. We made and decorated sugar cookies and played in the snow and then watched "The Polar Express" while drinking hot chocolate and eating popcorn.

We also had our ward Christmas party that weekend. I was asked to do a musical number, so our whole family sang, "Picture a Christmas" (the primary song...which I love). Santa made a surprise visit to the party as well. You know those pictures of toddlers who are screaming and crying as they are sitting on Santa's lap. Well, that was NOT my son at all. Caelan, Ben, and Megan weren't ever terrified of Santa at that age, but they liked him more from a distance. Nathan, on the other hand, was elated at the chance to be able to sit on his lap. He was grinning from ear to ear, and he talked and talked to him. It was great. The other kids also took turns sitting on Santa's lap. We never really officially asked the kids what they wanted for Christmas this year, and they never came up with specific things that they wanted to ask for. Ben sent Santa a card at the beginning of the month and didn't ask for anything. He just asked Santa how he liked the North Pole and then wished him a Merry Christmas. Even when they sat on Santa's lap at the party it was almost hard for them to think of something to ask for.....LOVE IT! I would happy if that happened every year (wishful thinking, I know, but it sure made things easy for everyone this year).

Merry Christmas from the Dicks

2010-12-22T13:26:00.000-08:00

(Click on it to make it bigger)

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Let It Snow

2010-12-16T15:42:00.001-08:00

YAY! We got our first "real" snow of the season. There was a tiny little snow sprinkling the week before Thanksgiving, but this is the first snow that is actually piling up (we've probably gotten 3 inches so far). I was really hoping to get a good storm before Christmas, and even though it will probably melt by next weekend, it sure is fun to look out the window and see snow falling (and it has been going all day). The kids are loving it (well, until Nathan's hands get too cold - then he's not such a fan). We tried to make a snowman, but it's just too powdery...but we did make snow cones and eat them. YUM! Caelan went out and sledded down the steps on our deck a few times. We'll have to find a good hill somewhere nearby to get some good sledding in.

And even Bruno is liking it.

It's feeling SO Christmasy!!

Christmas Concerts

2010-12-16T15:31:00.001-08:00

Caelan and Ben each had Christmas music performances at their school this week. I love their music teacher (plus I just love the fact that they get to have a music class every week). The Kindergarten program was so cute, and they sang quite a lot of songs ("Up on the Housetop," "Jolly Old St. Nicholas," "Jingle Bells," "Away in a Manger," "We are Santa's Elves," a Hannukah song, another folk-like Christmas song and probably a couple that I am forgetting). I think it's so great that they performed songs not only about the fun stuff about Christmas, but also about Jesus Christ...as well as a song about Hannukah. Then the program that Caelan was in was for grades 1-3. She sang three songs: "A December to Remember," "Jammin' in our Jammies," and "Go Tell it on the Mountain." The other grades did some really cute numbers too (dancing the Hora, a little piano duet with a student and the music teacher, "Twas the Night Before Christmas (piano chopsticks- style). It was very cute. Megan and Nathan came with me, and sat really well through Ben's, but Nathan had pretty much had it by the time Caelan's program came around. So, I was pretty much holding him and taking him out in the hall throughout that part, which means I didn't get any videos of her, and I only got one picture. At least I got to be there to see it. Very cute.

River of Lights

2010-12-16T15:19:00.000-08:00

The Albuquerque Botanical Gardens has an event every December called "River of Lights." Not only are there lights in the trees and bushes, but there are all sorts of other light figurines all over the place (bugs, animals, trains, dinosaurs, flowers, etc). Plus there was a big glass enclosed snowman village. We attempted to go last Saturday night, but the traffic was horrendous, so we knew that the gardens would be super crowded as well. We decided to wait until Monday, and it was perfect. The kids LOVED it.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

2010-12-08T09:42:00.000-08:00

We are fully into the Christmas season. Sean was out of town again last week (in Texas doing some training on how to be a trainer). The kids and I pulled out the Christmas decorations for the inside of the house (except the tree). We also made some homemade Christmas card to send to servicemen who won't be able to home for Christmas, and we've been reading a Christmas story every night. Then the weekend hit...and we had Christmas activities galore. This is how our weekend went:

Friday night: I went to a Relief Society Cookie Exchange (you take a couple dozen cookies and then get to take a little of what everyone else brought....YUM). I got a babysitter (a girl from our ward)...who the kids LOVED. They had a blast with her. Sean got home later that night.

Saturday: I took Caelan and Ben and Nathan to the church for a primary service activity (we tied quilts and made rice bags for a local senior center and the kids made more Christmas cards to send away). While we were there Sean took Megan to the community "Breakfast with Santa" because her little preschool group was performing there.

We all got home around noon. Sean and I then put up the Christmas lights on the outside of the house (which look fantastic, by the way.....not very many people will see them because of where our house is located, but they look great to us - simple, but nice).

That evening we headed into Albuquerque to a Stake Center that had over 400 nativities set up around the building (anything from snowmen nativities to crocheted blanket nativities to nativity sets from all around the world).

After that we drove downtown and found a great seat on the curb to watch the light parade, which was fun. The kids especially loved when people handed out candy (we're seriously going to have a sugar fast after the holidays...).

Sunday: We watched the First Presidency Christmas devotional online while we did a Christmas puzzle (which is a pretty big thing for me...I'm not a big puzzle do-er, but I worked and worked until we finished the whole thing that night). I was going to get a picture of it, but Megan and Nathan got their hands on it before I could.

It must be Christmas Time. I love all the activities and such. It really is the most wonderful time of year.

Thanksgiving

2010-12-08T09:17:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We went down to Casa Grande to spend it with Sean's family. All of Sean's aunts and uncles on the Dick side of the family were down for the holiday. We had dinner at Grandma Dicks house complete with all the trimmings: turkey (SO MOIST), stuffing (YUM-O), mashed potatoes and gravy, green salad, brussel sprouts, roasted sweet potatoes (this is one of my favorite dishes at Thanksgiving), homemade rolls, peas, pumpkin pie, Sean's apple pie and a pumpkin ice cream dessert. I successfully ate myself to the brim...and loved it. Then we visited and took pictures and had a most enjoyable night.

I went with Sean's sister, Lindsay, and braved the madness of Black Friday (which is getting so early, it's going to have to be called "Black Thursday Night" pretty soon). We went to Walmart at midnight (absolute insanity), and then we went home and fell asleep on the couch for a couple of hours. Then we headed back out to Target at 4AM and then Best Buy and Kohls. We got some pretty great deals. I know the craziness is a little too much for people, but I actually have fun every time I go (as long as I don't have little kiddos to take along), and I think most people have a pretty good attitude about the whole thing. There is a lot of laughing about all the madness, which is fun.

We spent the next couple of days hanging out and enjoying the Arizona sun. We even got to hear Grandma Dick (Sean's mom) speak in church on Sunday (she is so GREAT). We headed home right after church. We hit some snow in Payson and Heber (both in AZ), and then we ran into some nasty ice in Gallup, NM. We saw all sorts of semi's that had slid off the side of the freeway. We were inchin' along there for a while, but we finally made our way out of it and got home safe and sound.

I LOVE Thankgiving. There's not tons of stress and events and craziness surrounding it...it's just a day to enjoy being with family and giving thanks. And honestly, we have so very much to be grateful for, it's good to really be able to reflect on those blessings.

Turkey Day Crafts

2010-11-21T17:31:00.000-08:00

I am currently serving in the Nursery in our ward (it's the first time I've ever served in Primary...and I really like it). So I've paid extra close attention to cute, simple craft ideas that I see. I saw these two things for Thanksgiving and knew that it would be fun for both Nursery and my own kids.

Aren't these little Oreo Cookie Turkeys so cute? And after the frosting dries they actually stay together really well. They are made with Oreo cookies, a peanut butter cup, a whopper, candy corns, a tiny piece of pull-apart Twizzlers (for the gobbler)and frosting.

And we made these little turkey hand print thank-you cards. My kids wanted to make some too...to take to their teachers at school. (The eyes are both "googly" eyes - the camera flash just makes them look a little crazy).

What's Been Goin' On

2010-11-16T16:14:00.000-08:00

Here's a little bit of what we have been up to lately:

* Caelan performed in her elementary school Veterans Day program. It was very well done. She asked me the night before if we could invite Uncle Tom (who is a veteran). I thought it was not quite enough notice, but after going to the program, I wish we would have. The kids sang all sorts of patriotic songs, there was a little narration, a couple spoke about their son who recently lost both of his legs from an injury he received in Afghanistan (the mother is a teacher at the school), and then the principle recognized every veteran in the audience. I actually got a little choked up listening to the music and noticing the sprinkling of uniforms throughout the room. It made me really feel grateful for the sacrifice of so many in order for us to enjoy the freedom that we do.

* Nathan and I accompanied Megan's preschool class on a field trip to a place called Hoots. It's one of those indoor jumping places complete with a giant slide, a blow-up obstacle course and more. The kids had a blast (and I even got in there and had all the fun jumping and sliding around too).

* Sean went on an overnight hiking camp-out with the Scouts. He just got called to serve with the Varsity scouts in our ward, and he got right in there with a camp out the first week. He was exhausted when he got home, but he had a good time (and they all managed to stay warm at night too).

* While he was gone the kids and I went to the Family Movie Night at the school. They showed Toy Story 3 (such a cute little show). We wore our pajamas and laid out blankets and pillows on the ground and got a few snacks that were being sold there. Overall, it was a fun night. And boy, was it chilly when we got back into our car to go home.

* Last week for Family Home Evening we made "Tom the Thankful Turkey". We all got to think of a different blessing and write it on a feather or two and add it to the turkey. The kids wanted me to make more feathers so that they could add more throughout the week. It was a hit. It is now hanging in our living room until Thanksgiving.

* Last night for Family Home Evening I decided to have the kids draw a picture of Lehi's Vision of the Tree of Life. We are reading that in our family scripture study right now, so I thought it would be fun for the kids to actually draw it all out so that they can relate to it as we read. They loved it. And I loved the posters, so I had to get a picture of them.

* I am a lone ranger this week. Wait, scratch that. I am a lone parent this week (which we all know is MUCH different than simply being a lone ranger). Sean is in Kansas until late Friday night helping with a couple of different projects at a plant up there. He is good friends with both the General Manager and Design Manager there, so it sounds like he is enjoying himself.

* We ordered pizza from a new place that we wanted to try last weekend. It was very tasty (definitely a place to go again). Here is Nathan chowing down on the Parmesan cheese PLAIN. What a nut.

* Sunday was the Primary Program in our ward (the Sunday where all the young kids put on the Sacrament meeting program). It's one of the best Sundays of the year...especially when you have three kiddos to pay close attention to on the stand. Megan was one of the few Sunbeams who sang the words to the songs. She also managed to be the only Sunbeam on the stand briefly while the rest of her class went to sit down...HE HE HE. Ben had some very awesome facial expressions. All three of them said their part clear enough for everyone to hear. I love listening to kids sing and talk about Jesus Christ. It's like pure testimony. It was a good meeting.

Megan Had A Birthday, Shout HOORAY!

2010-11-06T19:33:00.001-07:00

Today is Megan's birthday...and she has been making sure each hour that it "still" is her birthday. She did not want to miss out on any moment of her special day, that is for sure. She came in to my bedroom this morning and whispered in my sleeping ear, "Can I open my presents now?" Usually we do presents in the evening, but she just couldn't wait, so we let her do them first thing. She got a little baby doll carriage, "How to Train Your Dragon" DVD, a few "Littlest Pet Shop" pets and a tiny little stuffed animal sea otter (which she LOVES). We decided to take a trip to the zoo to celebrate. We hit up the aquarium and the zoo. The kids loved it - lots of animals to see (and most of them were very awake and active today, which always makes it fun). We got home and had barbequed hot dogs (Megan's choice, of course). Then I whipped up her "Hello Kitty" cake, and about 5 minutes after I finished, she blew out the candles and we dug right in. What a fun day.

Some things about our Megan at 4 years old:
*She weighs 37 lbs
*Favorite colors are red and purple
*Favorite animal is a horse (she is real animal lover for almost all living things)
*According to her, her favorite movie is "The Cat in the Hat" (she also likes to watch "Ariel's Beginning," "Sleeping Beauty," "Dora," etc)
*Favorite primary song is "Jesus Loves Me" (I asked her to sing it to me because I didn't know it...she made up some words). She also likes "Popcorn Popping."
*She goes to a little preschool, Parky's Pals and she has two teachers there ("a boy and a girl one"). She says that her favorite thing to do at school is sing songs.
*Some of her favorite foods are noodle soup, hot dogs, enchiladas, grapes, blueberries, cheese and salad.
*Her favorite dessert is candy (can you tell it's the week after Halloween). She also loves ice cream (of course).
*She wants to be a Mom when she grows up.
*Her favorite princess is Jasmine.
*She asks me almost everyday to put two ponytails into her hair.
*She has the best giggle known to man.
*She LOVES Bruno, our dog (probably the most of anyone in the family).
*One of her favorite things to pretend is that she is a dog (and then Nathan feeds her his food while she crawls around on the floor). She also likes to play with barbies and color and read books.
*She has really become much more mellow and agreeable in the last year. She can still be strong-willed at times, but most of the time she is easy going and can be reasoned with.
*She loves to help people (and really loves the praise for doing so).
*She is happy and fun and we just couldn't imagine life without her.

Happy Birthday Meg! We Love You Bunches!

This is Halloween!

2010-10-31T15:23:00.001-07:00

Delicious chili made - check. (Sean has a very tasty chili recipe that he actually won a ward chili cook-off for last year)

Pumpkins carved - check. (Sean did a "barfing" pumpkin and the "dog" from Ghostbusters, and I did a silhouette of a witch in front of her cauldron)

School Halloween parties - check. (3 parties to stop at this year)

Everyone in costume for a church party - check. (Even Sean and I dressed up this year: the Grim Reaper and Cinderella...quite the couple...HE HE HE)

Trunk-or-Treating and fun carnival games at the Ward Halloween Party - check.

Lots of candy being scarfed down - check.

THIS IS HALLOWEEN!

Our first "Company"

2010-10-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

Last week we were so lucky to have Aunt Lindsay come to stay with us for a few days. She drove up with Great Grandma Dick (Sean's Grandma) who stayed at Tom and Carolyn's house. We loved having her here and also enjoyed our visits with Grandma as well. One of the days they were here we took a fun field trip to the Albuquerque Bio Park. We went to the aquarium and then walked around the Botanic Gardens. Nathan LOVED all the sea life. He kept saying "feesh, mo feesh" (translation: "fish, more fish"). There was a big puffer fish in the big tank that just hung out right by the glass. It looked like it was a friendly thing, just happy for all the attention.

There was a fun Children's Fantasy garden with a huge castle and dragon and a maze and huge insect statues. The kids LOVED it. They were getting it ready to light up for the holidays. We'll definitely have go back to see it then. We walked around for a good couple of hours and there were still lots of gardens that we didn't even see. There was a special insect display where Megan held a giant cockroach right in her hand (like it was any other kind of "pet" - YIKES).

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

2010-10-29T13:31:00.000-07:00

We moved right as the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta was going on. It is the world's premier hot air balloon event. We got up ridiculously early on Saturday, Oct 9th and headed to Balloon Fiesta park. There was definitely traffic, but we figured that we planned it just about perfect (not too early, so we didn't have to stand around in the frigid air for too long, but just in time to get a little snack and find a place to stand to watch the balloons take off). It was pretty awesome! You stand right there on the field with all of the balloons that are taking off all around you. We saw fun-shaped balloons (Darth Vader, SpongeBob, a GIANT cow, the Wells Fargo Wagon and lots more). There were about 500 balloons that took off that morning. Well worth the wee early hours.

We are now New Mexicans

2010-10-29T13:18:00.000-07:00

I guess I am past due for an update. We made the big move. We sent our moving truck away on Wednesday, September 29 and then we left Visalia on Thursday. We drove most of the way, and then finished up the trip on Friday. We stopped in Albuquerque to run a couple of errands and get the keys to our house, and they we headed up to Edgewood. We finally got to walk through the inside of our house (we signed the contract without ever actually going inside - (we saw LOTS of pictures))...and we like it more and more everyday. We were hoping the moving truck would make it on Friday (if they didn't we knew we would have to wait through the entire weekend). It didn't. It didn't get here until Tuesday, which means that we slept on floors for 6 nights (2 in Visalia and 4 here in Edgewood). It wasn't too bad, but we were sure happy to get cozy in our own beds when they arrived. We spent several hours that first weekend at our new church building watching General Conference. We have really loved it here so far: super welcoming neighbors (we are the only house on the street with kids...and yet all the neighbors have made comments about how they like to hear those voices), a great ward with lots and lots of families, good school and teachers, a fun little preschool program that we miraculously got Megan into (which is amazingly CHEAP too), beautiful weather, etc. Every time I look out our windows I feel like I am in a cabin in the woods - I don't think that will ever get old. It's also fun to be so close to Sean's aunt and uncle (Tom and Carolyn and little Rachel). We have gotten together with them a couple of times, which has been nice.

At one point I walked outside and could hear the kids talking, but I couldn't see them anywhere. Then I noticed that the voices were coming from inside the truck. They had climbed way up to the top back and were reading books on the LoveSac.

Nathan is TWO!

2010-09-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Nathy's birthday. He turned 2 years old. Unfortunately he got a pretty good owie on his toe (pulled away some skin), which made him an unusually sad boy for a good half of the day. He finally came around to almost his normal self by the afternoon. We decided that we were going to celebrate today (yesterday was a pretty busy day, and we didn't think he would mind). The kids couldn't wait to give him their presents, though, so we let him do that last night. Because we are getting ready to move this week I already packed my stash of gift bags and paper. I didn't remember that until last night, so we wrapped up the presents in the kids' blankets. He was very excited about all of his presents (especially the little snake Caelan got him - yep, he liked the $.99 gift the best). We continued the birthday celebration today with cake and ice cream. He has really started expanding his vocabulary, and he constantly is telling me EVERY time he sees a truck or bus or car. So, we made his a dump truck cake - he was pretty pleased about that.

Some fun things about Nathan right now:
*He is still a very big boy (weighs around 33 pounds).
*He loves to run around, especially in circles around our kitchen
*He is a climber (at least once every day he climbs up onto the counter in the bathroom and puts his feet in the sink and turns on the water, often getting his pants and clothes wet in the process). That is one of the many places he frequently climbs.
*He is exploding is his speech. It took him a long time to start saying many words, but in the last month it seems like he is saying new words every day (and copying us a lot).
*He loves cheese, watermelon, cucumbers, macaroni and cheese, peaches and anything sweet.
*He is not a big dinner eater. Most of the time he just picks at his plate (even when it's something he likes).
*He LOVES to ride around on Megan's little trike or Ben's big wheel. He often gets on it when we are getting ready to leave for school, and starts bookin' it down the sidewalk.
*He has discovered the word, "No"...and he really likes to use it.
*He can tell me where most of his major body parts are.
*He is finally coming around to liking our dog, Bruno. Even though Bruno has been a part of the family since Nathan was born, Nathan has not been very fond of him. He is finally at a point where he doesn't cry hysterically anytime Bruno is near by.
*He loves to say animal sounds and point out any animal he sees on a walk or in a book or while we are driving. This is especially comical when he sees something in a book in the middle of church and bursts out, "Moo" loud enough for everyone to hear.
*Even though he sleeps really well at nap time and bedtime, he has ALWAYS let us know that he doesn't like the fact that we are putting him to bed (he cries every time we put him down in his bed - just for about 15 seconds until we are out of the room - I guess it's his routine and he wants to stick to it).
*He has the most jolly laugh, and his whole face smiles.
*He is very curious and loves to get into all sorts of things.
*He absolutely LOVES bath time. He would be happy if he could take a bath three times a day.
*He is a fun and happy little boy, and we all love him to pieces.

Reincarnation?

2010-09-23T22:42:00.001-07:00

All the kids had a little bowl of ice cream for dessert last night. After Nathan finished his he managed to coax a bite from Sean. Megan also wanted a bite, but Sean told her "no" and that Nathan had had less than anyone else. This was Megan's response, "When I die and then become a baby, then Daddy will give me a bite too." HE HE HE - That one gave me a good chuckle.

It's the Little Things... (and the BIG things too)

2010-09-17T12:26:00.001-07:00

Recently I have felt very aware of all of my blessings (the BIG ones as well as all of the little things too). It's interesting to me that these feelings come a little stronger during trying times. When we face pain or trials or change or even when the routine responsibilities of life heap up, it's like the Lord is helping us to see the things that really matter.
* About a month ago, the bishop of our ward was shot and killed in our church building shortly after our Sunday block. To say it was a "shock" really doesn't even begin to say what we all felt. It was a senseless act done by a man who wasn't well, and many people initially asked the question, "why?" And yet, as more experiences from that day have come out, it has become very apparent that the Lord has a plan and that for some reason this was part of it. Amidst the tragedy there has been so much LOVE - a literal outpouring of love for his family, for our ward, for each other. There has been more unity, there has been a very real presence of the Spirit to comfort and testify of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and it's very real power, there has been a new dedication to the things that are important, there has been increased faith. It has been humbling to watch and listen to the testimony of Julie, his wife. She is being comforted and lifted in ways none of us can see (despite the pain she must feel), and her faith is literally strengthening our ward and this community. The Lord is here. His spirit is with us to comfort and guide and direct us...and our Father's Plan is perfect. Sometimes we can't see it and sometimes we don't understand it, and yet I have had enough experiences to know that His perspective is clear and our becomes clearer as we trust and rely on Him.
*A few months ago we found out that we were expecting baby #5. Last week, I was 11 weeks along when I started to experience something that has never happened during any of my pregnancies. It continued for a day, and then I went in to see my doctor. My feelings were confirmed that I had had a miscarriage. Luckily my body was pretty much doing everything naturally (not a fun process at all, especially since you go through it all for a result that you don't want). The feelings I have felt have been much different that I would have thought. There has been some sadness, and yet at the same time I have had an overwhelming feeling of gratitude: gratitude for 4 healthy pregnancies and children, gratitude that I am able to conceive quite easily, gratitude once again for the knowledge of the Lords plan. I know that we experience things in this life to help us grow (grow in our testimonies, grow in our relationship with God, grow in our relationships with each other and also be able to help others somewhere down the road). For whatever reason it was the Lord's will that this turned out like it did this time, and I have faith in Him. And, so we'll just try again.
*The last thing, which probably shouldn't even be considered big news for our family anymore...HE HE HE...is that we are moving...AGAIN. We found out over the summer than the plant here in Visalia was going to be closed down (the economy in this area just doesn't let the financials pencil out). Thankfully, the company doesn't want to lose Sean, so he is being transferred to Albuquerque, NM. I'll admit, I wasn't super excited (or even happy) when we found out about another move (at that point we didn't even know where we would be going). It didn't take long for me to put those feelings aside and recognize the blessings. We are so thankful that Sean has a good job and that his company values him. We are thankful that our kids are such good friends with each other and that they easily adapt to new situations and don't mind moving (we even seriously asked them about how they felt this time around. Caelan said, "I like moving because then I get to be in a new house and make new friends." I guess we haven't scarred them yet...). We are thankful to be able to be all together (no matter where that is). And after Sean and my trip to Albuquerque I'm excited to go and experience a new place - I really liked it there. Our move date is in less than two weeks. Let the packing begin....
So, that's the news with us, the BIG news, I guess. Isn't this life great? All the turns and loops and up and downs. And I've even learned to be thankful for the tough things - they sure make the great things even that much better.

Off to School

2010-08-31T14:04:00.000-07:00

Here I am finally getting around to posting pictures of the kids' first day of school. We now have a 2nd grader, a Kindergartener and a Preschooler. That leaves just Nathan and me at home for 3 hours in the morning.....so weird. They were all very excited to start and are continuing to love it. I sure hope this excitement for education continues forever (nice wish, right?...but I'll take it for now).

Look, even Nathan is excited about the first day of school.

Pictures from Our Summer Adventure

2010-07-26T15:24:00.000-07:00

The BIG Adventure

2010-07-26T14:23:00.001-07:00

Well, we just got home (on Saturday) from our big summer trip. We were gone for 20 days (13 of which were just me and the kids), traveled about 2,400 miles and went to 3 different family reunions (plus some other visiting). Lots of fun, and now happy to be back home. Here's the condensed version of the trip:

Day 1: Drove to Flagstaff, got a flat tire on the trailer, but nothing too big. Took over 12 hours)
Day 2: Played at the Sorensen Family Reunion (kickball, building forts, line dancing, etc). Did a service project (clearing the property for more tent sites).

Day 3: Went to Wupatki Ruins (cool Indian dwellings)

Day 4: Left the Sorensen Reunion. Went to Mesa Temple. Sean met with a boss in Phoenix. Made it to Grandpa and Grandma Dick's and went swimming

Day 5: Swam and swam and swam
Day 6: Swam some more. Played Farkle.
Day 7: Went to church with Grandpa and Grandma Dick and took Sean to the airport (Nathan cried hysterically as he watched Sean walk away).
Day 8: Went to visit our favorite dentist (Grandpa). Caelan, Ben, Megan and I all got cleanings, and Caelan and Ben had some other little work done. Had a small car problem that was easily solved with a $.99 can of coke. Then swam.
Day 9: Last day of swimming. Played Farkle.
Day 10: Left Grandpa and Grandma Dick's at 5:30 AM. Traveled for 9ish hours to Brian Head, UT for the Grant Family Reunion. Had story time with my Grandma Grant.
Day 11: Went to Bryce Canyon and Cedar Breaks. BEAUTIFUL! Had a wonderful testimony meeting that night with the family. Stayed up until 4:15 AM chatting with Charity.

Day 12: Rode the Brian Head ski lift (had a small heart attack inside as all my kids rode too, but they loved it). Had a karaoke party that night where almost every person in the family participated. Caelan rocked her song, "Won't say I'm in Love" from Hercules.
Day 13: Left the Grant reunion. Had lunch at Chuck-O-Rama with Brittney and Porter and their girls and Charity and Coren and the Sorensen clan. Then drove up to Charity and Chad's that evening.
Day 14: Went to church with Charity and Chad (Nathan LOVED the nursery here - go figure). Had left over Cafe Rio salads from the reunion with Dan and Natalie and their family that night. YUM.
Day 15: Slowly lounged around in the morning. Took a quick trip to Walmart to get food for the last reunion. Drove up to Jordanelle Reservoir near Park City. Hung out on the lake. Took a ride on the boat.

Day 16: Played at the lake ALL day. Rode the boat. We all took a turn being pulled on the tube. The kids loved it. Moved our campsite up the hill. Had a family dinner and Family Home Evening that night.

Day 17: Played at the lake again. Rented and rode Wave Runners. Loads of fun. The kids really liked this. Wiped out only once with Kyra and Brooke. Ate fried burritos in the rain. Ate chocolate and graham crackers and marshmallows in our tent because it was too wet for a fire.
Day 18: Took down camp by 9:00 AM. Waited around with the Sorensen gang. Then headed to Jenny and Kelly's house in Layton.
Day 19: Spent the day at Jenny and Kelly's. The kids had all the fun playing in sprinklers, watching movies, dressing up, playing in the backyard and enjoying time with cousins. Ate pizza with Lani and hung out for a little while. Then started the journey home. I made it to Stateline where I got things ready to fall asleep in the van, but soon realized it was WAY too hot to sleep (even at 1:00 AM). So I drove for another half hour and then found a rest stop that was much more pleasant (going up that hill makes a huge difference). We all slept in the van until 6:45 the next morning.
Day 20: Finished the drive and got home at about noon. Lounged around for most of the day. So nice.

What a blast!

Keeping Busy

2010-06-28T13:32:00.000-07:00

Summer is here. The kids are out of school. It is getting HOT. And we are just trying to keep busy. Here are some of the things we have been doing lately:
* Taking advantage of all the free activities in the summer: free movies at the theater (we've seen The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything and Monsters vs Aliens), the library summer program (we saw a Marionette show and a presentation from the Reptile House, and this week is a magic show), free miniature golf on Monday night (the goal was to hit your ball before Nathan came around and threw it off the course), and free entrance into the little's kids museum on Friday mornings

* Playing at the Sprinkler Park. So far the heat hasn't been too horrible, but it's finally here (105 degrees today), so we'll be taking advantage of this fun park a LOT more.

* Making fun critters with Play Dough

* Cooking with Caelan. Last week she made chicken enchiladas for dinner all by herself.

* We have a little quiet time after lunch when Nathan takes a nap and the other kids read, practice their letters, do some math pages, etc. Ben is actually reading easy words by himself. YAY!

This week we'll be getting ready for our BIG trip. We are going to three different family reunions, plus a little trip down to Sean's parents house and another few days with some family in Utah. Sean will be with us for the first week, and then it will be just me and the kids for the next two weeks. Should be fun.

Christmas every Monday

2010-06-28T13:23:00.000-07:00

So, the collection of stuffed animals in our house is getting slightly ridiculous (and we don't ever buy any (unless the kids buy one at a garage sale with their own money) - we somehow just accumulate them). I go through the stash regularly to thin it out, and yet it just grows and grows...and each one is "special" to one of the kids (so the soft side in me can't just load a garbage bag full and toss them, as much as I would like to). So I came up with a new idea. We have plant shelves in all of the bedrooms, so I put all of their stuffed animals on their plant shelf. I let them choose a handful of animals each Monday that they want to play with that week. All the rest stay on the shelf until the next Monday, and then I pull out the ladder and they can choose new ones for that week (and put the others back). So, now I'm not constantly finding stuffed animals EVERYWHERE...plus the kids think it's Christmas time each Monday when they get to have new animals for that week. It's a WIN-WIN.

Happy Father's Day to Our Favorite Dads

2010-06-21T10:01:00.000-07:00

Sean's Dad

My Dad

And Caelan, Ben, Megan and Nathan's Dad

WE LOVE YOU ALL!

Good Things to Come

2010-06-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

I just saw this video and had to share.
I have a book that has this entire talk in it, and I have always loved it. About a year ago, the message spoke to me in a whole new way. Sean was without a job and was trying to learn a new business in CA. I was in Kingman taking care of things there (and this had been going on for a few months). We were a couple of weeks away from all moving to CA to temporarily stay with my family so we could all be back together for the summer. We were on our way home from Southern Utah where we had spent the Memorial Day weekend with Sean's family. In order to beat the horrific Hoover Dam traffic, we went through Laughlin to get home to Kingman. About 25 miles from home our car started to really heat up. We coasted down a hill right into the parking lot of a Maverick Gas Station where it died completely. Now, if you just knew all the other things that added up to this moment..... no work for 6 months, running really low on money, being apart for much of the past 4 months, not knowing what to do with our house in Kingman (considering the market), 2 other times in the past 2 months where one of our cars has stranded us for one reason or another and knowing that this problem with the van was going to be a BIG ONE plus so many uncertainties in our future. It was finally at this point where try as I might I could not keep the tears from coming. I stood there in that parking lot holding a baby with three other young kiddos wandering around me and cried. Seeing his usually-composed wife start to lose it, Sean came over and hugged me at which point we both shared a few tears together in the parking lot of the Maverick Gas Station as we waited for a kind friend from our ward to come and pick us up. I will NEVER forget that moment, those feelings...and it seemed on that day that I could hear the words of Elder Holland speaking directly to me, "Don't you quit! You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon, some come late and some don't come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come." And even though just a little over a year has past since that moment for us, I can testify that those blessings and that help has come for us. Despite the challenges we have faced, we have also recognized more blessings than we can count. His promises are SURE and His blessings DO come!

BALLOON BOY

2010-06-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

This is what the kids did for Nathan yesterday morning when he woke up. I'm thinking he didn't really mind....

Party Time

2010-06-09T14:10:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was Caelan's birthday party with friends. It was lots of fun: water slide, snow cones, fruit skewers, water balloons, the "donut game", cupcakes and friends (9 kids that came). We splurged on the water slide, but it was a HUGE hit (hours of entertainment). After everyone went home I even went out and took a turn. Overall it was a great success...and now I know why my Mom didn't do big birthday parties for us every year (we always celebrated as a family and could have a friend or two over, but the huge bashes were limited to only a few times for each of us)....They are a bunch of work. And I didn't even feel like I was going crazy or anything (it's just all the little things that really add up). I think I was on my feet getting ready from 8 to 1 (when it started) and then through the entire party (1 to 3:30) and then another couple hours taking stuff down and cleaning up. But Caelan LOVED it - so it was worth every minute.

(I was so preoccupied that I only applied sunscreen once to the kiddos. Poor Caelan and Ben are a little "rosy" today - it's not too bad, but I'm usually crazy with the sunscreen so they NEVER get sunburned. Now, they know why....)

Fruit Addict

2010-06-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

It's summer time, and I am officially addicted to fruit. In the past two days I have eaten the following assortment of fruit:
watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, apples, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, grapefruit, peaches and cherries.

In the past week I have also had pears, oranges, grapes, bananas and dried apricots. I think I have about 4-5 servings of fruit a day. There are just too many to choose from. I guess there are worse things to be addicted to, right? YUM!

It must be something in the genes because our entire family is CRAZY about watermelon. I mean, it's a serious LOVE we have goin' on here. I cut up a bowl of watermelon, and the fingers start grabbing. As the pieces get fewer and fewer the grabbing gets faster and faster. I mean, I think we would take a bowl of watermelon over a bowl of ice cream (and if you knew our family, that is REALLY saying something).

Caelan is 7!

2010-06-03T12:28:00.000-07:00

Caelan's birthday was yesterday, which also happened to be the last day of school (what a great present, right). I took donuts into her class for a birthday treat. She chose pizza for dinner, which we ate at the park. Then we had cake and ice cream and she opened up some presents. Overall it was a nice day. She really wants a birthday party with friends (she's been telling me this since before Ben's birthday in April). So, we are having a little party at our house next week. She invited her whole class at school (a couple months ago she went to a birthday party for a boy in her class - they had invited the whole class too, and Caelan was the ONLY one that came), so I'm thinking that maybe a handful of them will actually be able to come (you always run the risk with these kinds of things - I might have a house FULL of 25 6-7 year olds next week...YIKES).

Some fun things about Caelan:
* She is a great student and loves to learn (her teachers always rave about her)
* She LOVES to swim and play in the water
* She is pretty fearless (unless it comes to taking out a splinter) - she loves roller coasters and speeding on 4-wheelers and climbing up to the tip-tops of trees
* Her favorite foods are lasagna, raviolis, pizza, macaroni and cheese, watermelon and corn
* Her favorite color is red
* She is a big helper and is really responsible
* She likes to earn money doing jobs and then spend it at the dollar store or garage sales (she LOVES garage sales)
* She wants to be a teacher when she grows up
* She is pretty picky about vegetables (she must get that from her Dad..HE HE HE)
* Her favorite animal is a horse
* She loves music time at church and school and learns and remembers the words to songs really easily
* She has lost 4 teeth
* She loves to play with her brothers and sister
* She has the most awesome head of thick, blonde hair (and gets comments about it everywhere we go)
* She likes to ask questions and understand why and how things are the way they are
* She is a fan of the TV show, Psych
* She is a great reader
* She is a serious negotiator and has been since she was a little tot
* Her current favorite movie is Hercules (she can almost quote it word for word)
* She is very teachable
* She is a genuinely GOOD girl: wanting to make right choices and do the things that she knows are right
* She has a growing testimony about her Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ

We LOVE her to pieces and could not ask for better oldest child in our family. Happy Birthday Caelan!

Tough Boys

2010-06-02T10:39:00.001-07:00

Ben knows he definitely does NOT want fingernail polish on himself, but that doesn't mean he can't give his sister a nice pedicure. What a good brother.

And below is Nathy lovin' up the foot bath. See him scrub his little feet with a pumice stone. There's nothing wrong with boys having clean, soft feet, right?

Memorial Day at Duck Creek

2010-06-02T10:12:00.000-07:00

It's become a tradition to rent a cabin in the mountains of Southern Utah and get together for a little family reunion with Sean's family for the Memorial Day weekend. We left on Wednesday evening so we wouldn't have to make the whole 9 hour drive on Thursday (which isn't really that long, but we wanted to get there earlier in the day). We stayed at Nevada Landing ($29 room with two queen beds - much better than sleeping in the van...HE HE HE). We spent the weekend riding quads and the Mule (4 or 5 seater ATV - slower than a quad for sure, but still a blast, and the kids LOVED it). Megan called it "the awesome thing." Anyway, we also explored Mammoth Cave (Ben was NOT a fan - I guess the cold, dark, slippery, rocky, wet underground cave is not something he considers "fun" - everyone else enjoyed it). Sean went fishing (and unfortunately didn't get a catch, but he got a few bites on his line). We took walks on trails along the stream and through the mountains. We roasted marshmallows in the fire pit behind the cabin and also in this cool log stove. The kids played outside and got dirty and had fun with cousins. A fabulous time was had by all.

The drive home was RIDONCULOUS! I guess we should know by now to avoid Las Vegas holiday traffic at any cost! We thought we left earlier enough to beat it, but it took us 2 hours to get from Vegas to State Line. Holy Moly. But we finally made it home...eventually.

I Wanna Be A Mom When I Grow Up

2010-05-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night as we were getting cleaned up and ready to go out for dinner, Caelan came into my closet and started watching to see what I was going to wear. She gave me some suggestions, and then started to think about what things she had to wear that would be the same as what she was choosing for me. We ended up matching that night in short denim skirts and white shirts. She got even more excited when she realized that Megan had the means to match too. It took me back in time about 18 years ago to a Merrie Miss activity (church activity for pre-teen girls) where my mom and I did a little musical number in matching denim skirts (different style, for sure) and white shirts. I got to thinking about what it felt like then to be a 10 year old girl wanting to be just like my mom, and now what an equally tender feeling it is as a mother to have a daughter who wanted to be just like me.... kind of an overwhelming responsibility.

Growing up I watched my Mom....a LOT, probably more than most girls my age. We were good friends. I got to watch her be a wife and a mother and a friend and a neighbor and a sister and a daughter for a good 22 years, and I feel thankful for the uncountable opportunities to watch and listen and learn.

So, thanks Mom for ALL the lessons that I learned at your feet:
* how to prepare a meal (a tasty one) using the bare-bone basics in the house
* how to get good at the piano simply by playing the hymns over and over again
* how to sew at least enough to alter/make your daughters modest dance dresses
* how to sometimes be okay about letting the house be and spending your limited time on more important things
* how to really savor the holidays without letting the stress get in the way
* how to talk about the gospel in conversations with neighbors in the front yard
* how to support your husband in his church responsibilities
* how to develop those special kinds of relationships with your kids that go far beyond just the care-giving
* how to accept the fact that we can't do IT ALL right now, and that's okay - as long as we are doing the BEST things right now
* how to be a mother not only to your own kids, but all the friends that they bring home (and you always encouraged us to bring them to our home)
* how to say "no" when you had to
* how to be frugal and wait for good deals
* how to be patient
* how to be spontaneous - or at least how to go along with your family's spontaneity...and love it
* how to find peace and beauty in nature
* how to teach/discipline/vent without getting angry
* how to use and love music in all different aspects of life
* how to find the good in everyone - even those people that you have to look EXTRA hard to find
* how to prioritize your time which sometimes meant neglecting dinner in order to sit on the bed with your daughter talking about ANYTHING
* how to serve
* how to love....really love your children, your husband, your friends and your Heavenly Father and His Son
* And so many other lessons that I could mention here as well as those others unrealized lessons I have yet to discover that I learned from you.

Thanks for being someone I want to be just like. I love you!
Happy Birthday Mom!

PS I'm sporting my fancy hard shell back brace in the top picture (I think that's why we all chose to wear sweatshirts to that particular church YW activity...HE HE HE)

Summer Lovin'

2010-05-18T17:30:00.000-07:00

...well, almost.

Saturday was WARM here. (Thankfully Monday cooled back down - we actually got rain - and the rest of this week has been lovely).
Anyway, we were having a productive Saturday (chores, workin' on cars, checkin' out the yard sales, etc) and we went out to manually turn on our front sprinklers for a few minutes before we went out to dinner. Before we knew it Caelan, Ben and Megan were outside in their swimsuits ready to cool off. Nathan didn't need a swimsuit - he got right on in there in his clothes. I'm thinking we will be having a lot of sprinkler days coming up here soon.

Open House

2010-05-18T17:22:00.000-07:00

The school Open House was last Thursday night. Unfortunately it was at the exact time that I had a Relief Society activity (and since I missed the last one and I am over these kinds of things, I thought I better be there), so Sean did major Daddy-duty and took all the kids to the school by himself. Caelan and Ben loved showing off all of their projects, and Megan thought it was pretty neat to be able to walk around in their classrooms.

Ben and his teacher, Ms. Castellano.

Caelan and her teacher, Mrs. Smith.

You're Playing So Cool.....

2010-05-12T13:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went down to Murrieta to see Kyra (my youngest sister) perform in her high school musical, Footloose. It was so fun, and can I just say that my sister ROCKS! She played the part of Rusty, and she did fabulous (she's so darn talented). I've never seen that movie or play before - it has some great music. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
We also had a nice barbeque with Grandpa Sorensen, Dale, Debbie, Kent, Carol, Scott and Shelley and the rest of the regular gang.
Mother's Day I was served breakfast in bed: crepes, berries and and orange julius (DELISH). Sean got me a new IPOD nano(I seriously have struggles keeping these things - the screen on my last one broke which costs almost as much as a brand new one to replace). I've been running every night and wearing Sean's big one around my arm (this one is so much lighter - NICE). We went to the cemetery and put some flowers at my mom's grave and just sat and enjoyed some time there. Then the boys (my dad and Sean and my brothers) made us dinner than night. It was a delightful day. I feel so lucky to have a wonderful husband who always makes this holiday so special for me. I also feel so blessed to have a wonderful mother who truly taught me about the things that really matter in this life (and she did it with such grace), an amazing mother-in-law who is such an example of righteousness and accepted me just like another daughter in the family, and a fantastic step mom who has taken me and all of the rest of our big Sorensen clan into her heart with all of the love and concern and care of a mother. There are a lot of people in this world who are lucky to have a close relationship with one mom, and I am lucky enough to have this with three moms, and for that I am thankful! I also have to mention what an amazing experience it is to be a mother myself. I have learned more about love through having children than by any other way (and I mean love for them as well as an increased love for my husband and other members of my family and my Heavenly Father as well). They are perfect for me and I'm grateful that they have been entrusted to my care here on earth.

The Armor of God

2010-05-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

We got these cute books from Sean's mom that tell stories about different people from the Book of Mormon. Sometimes I don't love the cartoon/kids version (they can get a little too "watered down" and miss some real important gospel principles), but these books are great. The illustrations are fun, the stories keep in sync with the scriptural accounts and then they have a great section about how kids can apply these stories to their own lives (and they are GOOD applications). So for Family Home Evening last Monday we talked about Captain Moroni and how we can fortify our selves and our homes from the enemy (like he fortified cities from the Lamanites). Then we read about the Armor of God in Ephesians. All the kids took turns putting on our "Armor of God" complete with:
Loin girting - a towel
Breastplate - backpack with round cake pan in front
Footwear - Sean's snowboard boots
Shield - a pot lid
Helmet - motorcycle helmet
Sword - Ben's Batman sword

We talked about how we can be protected from the "fiery darts of the adversary" and then demonstrated it by throwing marshmallows at the person dressed in the armor. It was a big hit.

(Caelan's picture is on Sean's camera - I'll have to upload it when I can get it)

And the Celebration Continues...

2010-04-26T22:33:00.001-07:00

The birthday present that we ordered for Ben finally came in, so today we finished his month-long birthday celebration (you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find a big wheel these days). I made him his Prince Caspian castle cake and Sean put together his new big wheel bike. We took a little stroll around the neighborhood with Caelan on her scooter, Ben on his big wheel, Megan on her trike, Nathan pushing his push-car, Sean walking the dog and me just walking along (until Nathan got tired).

Duck, Duck, Goose

2010-04-26T22:12:00.000-07:00

It was a lovely day on Saturday, and the kids had been begging me to take them to the park. Sean had to work in the morning (inventory day), but when he got home we headed over to Mooney Grove Park. This is a great park in Visalia - tons of huge trees, 3 different playgrounds, ducks and geese with a little pond, lots of fields, a frisbee golf course, etc. In the summer they rent paddle boats and family bikes - we can't wait to try those out.

And of course we had to bring Bruno. He was pretty happy about it.

Playing at the park. Nathy is a little maniac on the playground.

And I just LOVE this expression. She was in the middle of telling me a very "serious" story. HE HE HE.

Grandma's Carrot Cake

2010-04-18T15:05:00.000-07:00

I whipped up this little baby last night for a Fine Arts Showcase at our church - carrot cake from scratch with homemade cream cheese frosting. It's my grandma Grant's recipe - pretty tasty. I can't remember ever making a carrot cake before (it's not my family's favorite), but it was pretty darn yummy. I'll have to do that more often. And it was a big hit at the event. Yay.

Family Fun Night

2010-04-18T14:41:00.000-07:00

So, we are celebrating Ben's birthday in stages. We were gone on April 5th - his actual birthday, but Grandma made some cupcakes for him. I asked him a few weeks ago if he wanted to have a party with friends or go somewhere fun as a family. He chose the latter. So, yesterday we did our family fun trip. We went to Adventureland - a Family Fun Center here in town. Ben wanted to ride the go-karts and the bumper boats. Once we got on the bumper boats and kids started to squirt us with their boat squirters he realized maybe that wasn't as fun as he thought (sometimes he is particular about when he wants to get wet). Caelan loved it though. Then he took a ride on the go-karts with Dad. They were the only ones on the track, so they went around and around and around and around that track. Megan was a little frustrated that she was too short to go on either of the rides (one of the photos below accurately shows how she felt about it...HE HE HE). Nathy was pretty content to run around EVERYWHERE and slurp on his drink. Afterwards we went to Me & Ed's - a pretty yummy pizza place. The kids were wired (climbing over and under the table and booths), and it was pretty ironic when a middle aged couple (just a husband and wife) sitting at a table next to us dropped their pizza on the ground. Here we are with craziness emitting from all parts of our group and this calm, quiet couple causes a big scene (oh, I'm sure they were mortified). Good times!

We've had the hardest time finding the gift we want to give Ben for his birthday (we ordered it online, but the order was canceled), so I guess we'll have one more celebration when that actually comes in - plus he really wants me to make him a Prince Caspian Castle Cake. So I guess we'll be celebrating his birthday all month.

Meanwhile....

2010-04-16T13:26:00.001-07:00

While we were sailing the seas in Mexico the kids were having a party of their own here at home with Grandma and Grandpa Dick (Grandma came the Friday before we left and Grandpa flew down to join her on Wednesday). The kids had a BLAST. They took a few trips to the park, they went and saw "How to Train Your Dragon" (which was a big hit), they spent a day at the Fresno Zoo, built Lego castles, took a trip to McDonalds and even got Happy Meals with a toy, read books, got acquainted with two new movies: The Princess and the Frog and Up (both super cute), made cupcakes for Ben's birthday and lots of other playing. I'm sure Grandpa and Grandma were ready for little vacation of their own by the time they left (carting kids to and from school, staying up all night with Megan who had a earache one night, bedtimes, naptimes, mealtimes, homework, Sacrament meeting with 4 kiddos, multiple kids finding their way into their bed at night, etc, etc). We can't say enough how GRATEFUL we are for them and their willingness to come and play with the kids for an entire week. The kids have mentioned several times this past week how they miss Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks a million!!

Party In Mexico

2010-04-16T13:07:00.001-07:00

We had a BLAST cruising in Mexico with all the married members of the Sorensen clan: Dad and Andrea, Garrett and Melanie, Charity and Chad, Brittney and Porter and Sean and me.
Top Highlights of the Trip:
1) The BEST part of ALL was being all together for a week straight - I LOVED IT!
2) Snorkeling in Cabo San Lucas
3) Slummin' and bummin' in Mazatlan
4) Meeting the awesome LDS restaurant owner in Mazatlan who was one friendly dude and hooked us up with some delicious Mexican food. YUM!
5) Swimming and snorkeling in the bay in La Paz
6) Touring the glass factory in Cabo
7) Fruit bars at the ports - DELISH!
8) Eating and Eating and Eating and Eating all the tasty food on the ship.
9) Karaoke Nights on the boat: Charity, Chad, Melanie and I all participated.
10) Trivia games in the lounge during our days at Sea
11) A VERY windy game of miniature golf
12) Sorensen family basketball game (Sean was a point-scoring maniac)
13) Finding all the folded towel treasures in our rooms each evening
14) Not having to clean, cook, make a bed, change a diaper, fold laundry, etc for 7 full days.
15) Naps whenever we felt like it (Sean took serious advantage of this...HE HE HE)
16) Picking up some fun souvenirs for the kids
17) Dressing up on the formal nights (this probably was just a highlight for the girls - HA).
18) 24 hour access to yummy soft serve ice-cream (which now I am trying to work-off, but it was worth it).
19) Just meeting up with the family each day to plan out our activities or just chat and laugh
20) 24 hours a day for 7 days with my very favorite person, Sean.

After a full week we were ready to come back to the kids for sure - we missed them a lot, but we had a REALLY great time. Can't wait to do it again in another 10 years or so.

And the other side of Easter

2010-04-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

Sean and I were leaving early Easter morning to drive down to San Diego to catch our boat, so I told the kids that I would make a special request for the Easter Bunny to come by our house on Saturday. He gladly complied. We colored our eggs on Friday night and decorated them with glitter pens (which never really dried) and paint. They were quite the site! Saturday morning the kids woke to find their individual Easter baskets on the kitchen counter. They were filled with the usual: jelly beans, peanut M&M's, chocolate eggs and of course, a chocolate bunny. They even had these little Veggie Tale gummy candies (which were really cute to look at but look pretty questionable to actually put in your mouth, which is probably why they are all still intact almost two weeks later...HE HE HE). Then we had an Egg hunt in the backyard: first I hid the eggs, and then the kids wanted to have a turn hiding them while the grown-ups looked for them. I love that part because they get so excited when they see that we are close to an egg that they almost just point them out each time. What a hoot. Then we spent the rest of the day watching General Conference and enjoying the day together.

We were happy to realize that we hadn't taken these pictures off our camera before we left on our cruise, so occasionally during the week while we were away we would pick up the camera and get our "kid fix."