From November

Front porch photo op.

Welcome Fall. Little fox. Scuffed boots. Love her.

Thanksgiving 2015 and 14

Yes here we are... Thanksgiving 2015

 I am so blessed.

We were hoping to make it out to Cali, but last minute decided that the weather was too bad to travel in (and the thought of getting stuck in snow on the pass (Tahoe area) with 4 kids ((one of those being a toddler)) was less than desirable). So unfortunately we missed out on family gathering, but we did enjoy a delicious dinner and a very happy day.

I told Ryan that we had arrived at adulthood because we did the whole Thanksgiving feast ourselves. I don't know why that qualifies us for something, but I just felt very accomplished ;)

The day's activities included:

cooking (my mash potatoes and gravy turned out AMAZING btw)

setting a fancy table

morning delivery of spice cake and thank you notes to some of the people who bless our lives

gratitude photo scavenger hunt
football

family bracket air hockey tournament (Sophie was the champ this year)

 Return of the Jedi

and of course the making of our christmas countdown paper chains

 Wednesday I did all the shopping (kind of crazy, wouldn't reccommend that but ces't la vie!) and the kids and I did all the baking. We made spice cake and three pies. Two pumpkin (one with graham cracker crust and the other with a chocolate wafer crust) and an apple. With all the little hands in the kitchen I completely left out a main ingredient in the pumpkins and burnt the crust badly on the apple. The pies were definitely not the prettiest but despite the mistakes turned out pretty tasty.

The kids enjoyed themselves and learned some skills I think.. and I was reminded again how important these little moments are with my children. I could have done it all myself... and it would have been done quicker and the final product would have been better. But then moments of laughter, sharing and learning, mistakes, patience and togetherness would have been lost...  and those moments are so much more important than a perfect pie.

And flashback to last year's Thanksgiving (2014) at Molly and Nick's

Does that face not say it all... STUFFED!

 Christmas paper chains

 family, beautiful table, yummy food

 the pies... mmmmm.

 Blessings

First day 2015-2016

I am a little late posting these but- here are our FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL photos:

My Jack started Kindergarten!

 A little nervous

(holding tight to his buddy Caleb)

 Only lasted a few seconds... and then just like that he was off to conquer the playground.

 My Porter bud-3rd grade

what a stud

 My sweet Sophie Anne- 5th grade. Here she is (this photo was actually taken the second day of school- she checked out midday to get braces!!)

Exciting times! 

from June

(Father's Day photo.)

Ry what would I do with out you! You are strong, patient, positive, and oh so fun! You are the boy's hero and Sophie's love.  Thank you for working and providing for us, thank you for listening and trying to solve problems, thank you for playing catch, fixing bike tires, wrestling, bird watching, hugging, laughing with and loving our children... and me.

We had Stake Conference this weekend. I balled my eyes out during last night's meeting. I truly felt like Heavenly father was talking to me personally. It's through these little moments or tender mercies (which I have been receiving a lot of lately) that I know I have a Father in Heaven who knows me and cares about me... even cares about all the little things that matter to me. I feel grateful.

Jack had his final preschool program and graduation Monday night. Afterwards we enjoyed some ice cream. Jack really enjoyed some ice cream (see photo below for proof). I loved his program. Tonight my favorites were Zip a dee do dah, Let's go fly a kite, and 3 cheers for the red, white and blue. I love that Jack knows all the words to so many of these little tunes and I love to hear him singing them around our house. Good music is such a wonderful thing!

Our little Caleb hit 18 months this week.

Beautiful blooms and chubby baby feet make me happy.

So do beautiful sunsets. Can you believe this is no filter. Gorgeous.

Weekend plans

Sophie and I leaving for Women's Conference 2015

Saturday evening Sophie and I attended the Women's session of Conference together.  I love that we can go together and share that experience! The meeting focused on strengthening and protecting our families. On the way to our after meeting treat we talked about specific ways we could do this within our own family. We decided we would share some of our ideas in family night with the boys on Monday.

Afterwards... Sweet Tooth Fairy for cupcakes

She chose Raspberry Lemonade. I chose Strawberry Shortcake.

Back tracking to Friday... we headed to Provo for the BYU Kid's Camp put on by the football players. We met Ryan at the stadium after school/work. The boys headed off on the field of Lavell Edwards Stadium for some drills while Sophie, Caleb and I had our first encounter with Waffle Love (i'm in love!) and checked out the newly renovated Bean Museum. The boys loved their time and Ryan took the cutest videos of them running, and passing and tackling. Sophie and I enjoyed the museum. We loved checking out the Boyd K. Packer section. Sophie loved seeing his drawings and carvings beginning at age 10. She could really relate to his love for art, nature, and animals, especially birds. It was honestly so fun for me to watch her soak it all in.

Caleb was a good little boy riding around in his stroller for about the first 10 minutes at the museum, then cried and flung himself around wildly until i unbuckled him and let him down.  He was freeeeeee! And he proved it by running from one end of whatever room we were in to the other end. He was really quite entertaining hurling himself around... his little body careening this way and that at full speed.... most of the time yelling (in a happy tone), but yelling nonetheless in very LOUD tones. Everyone we passed smiled but I was feeling thankful at each passing that the museum was free admission to them and they weren't paying for the Caleb Show! In his defense it was probably the waffle kicking in.  

Caleb blending into the Waffle Love mural (pre-sugar spike)

He's finally here!

Caleb Blaine Sorenson

arrived December 17, 2013

8:26 p.m.

8lbs. exactly  22 inches

Still Pregnant

Yep, I'm still pregnant!  40 wks and counting.  But it's a full moon tonight so we'll keep our fingers crossed ;)

My parents came into town, yay!... and Saturday night we took the kids to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point and feed the reindeer.  My Dad snapped this shot of Ryan and I.

(Prego belly in full effect- love it!)

We took our annual "Christmas Family Picture" on Sunday (yesterday) after church- with the tripod and timer of course.

Love this time of year and love my family!

And here are some family photo outtakes for your enjoyment :)

Ry and I have the "deer in the headlights look" in this one

It's practically impossible for Porter to hold still for longer that 30 seconds

We're cold and done

Thanksgiving Pregnant Brain

Quick story: Thanksgiving came this year and it ended up being a quiet holiday, just us and the Jaworskis... and lots and lots of amazing pie from The Chocolate!  Molly and I divided up the food assignments. I was assigned the turkey because we would be hosting.  I didn't mind one bit.  I had done a turkey three or four times before and they had all turned out great and were really fairly easy I thought.
So this year I prepped the turkey as usual- cleaning it out, rinsing it inside and out, drying it and then stuffing it with lots of aromatics; herbs de provence, sage, salt and pepper, onions, celery and carrots, lathering it with butter and more herbs on the outside... it looked great!
I got it into the oven and about halfway through the cooking when I added a little chicken stock to the bottom of the pan I realized the pop up timer was no where to be found.  I had remembered seeing it while rinsing the turkey.  'Strange' I thought, but I had a turkey thermometer so no worries.  At the end of the cooking time the meal was coming together, everything looked delicious.  The golden beautiful turkey was taken out to rest while I made gravy.  Ryan began carving a short time later but seemed to be having some trouble...  where the tender breast meat should have been located seemed instead to be all bones!  What?  What kind of weird turkey was this?
Anyway, after a few moments Ryan figured out my huge pregnant brain mistake... I had roasted the turkey upside down.  Yep, it was awesome, and that explained not being able to find the pop up timer! So we had a turkey that was golden brown and beautiful on the bottom, and white and shrivelled on top.  Mmmmm ;) Embarrassing.

Jack's turkey hat

Luckily we had no other food disasters that night.  I think my homemade apple pie made up for the turkey incident thank goodness!  I rocked that crust!

The end.

Update

October

 November

 December

I am 39 weeks today! This has been a hard pregnancy, harder than my others... but now that I am finally almost through my focus has changed.  I don't really care or dwell anymore on the physical trials associated with carrying this fourth baby, they are what they are... I now just feel so anxious and excited to meet him.  It is hard to imagine him right now, but I wonder about this boy and can't wait to hold him and fall in love.

Life

After church photo in October- primary program was coming up...

They chose/wrote their own lines-

Sophie's line: When I was baptized I felt peaceful and happy

Porter's line: I can choose the right and follow Jesus Christ

Jack and Sunbeam class singing: Do As I'm Doing

 Picking up Jack from preschool.  Every Tuesday/Thursday I pick him up and we chat about every detail of his time there.  He tells me about his friends, a funny song his teacher taught them, or an art project they worked on.  I love listening to his little voice... and his dramatics!  I stare into his eyes while he's talking giving him my complete attention, and ask questions so he knows his momma loves him and cares about everything he does.

Sophie...  she does everything with her whole heart.  Her Dad says she fiercly lives and fiercly loves!

This photo was from our school's fun run.  She really trained for this thing because she wanted to be first in her grade over the finish line.  She was third.  She ran her little heart out.  As I watched her run her laps I cheered her on and my heart ached with love for this passionate little child of mine.  After crossing the finish line she ran straight to Jack and I- hugging us while explaining her feelings and physical trials at each moment of the race and how it was harder than she thought it would be... but stating that she was still the first girl!

Here's Sophie again on Conference Weekend.  I was so impressesd with my amazing 8 year old who decided for herself that she wanted to watch every session and take notes on every single talk.  And she did!

Nature girl

Porter and Ryan watching the Cougars beat Boise State.  Porter had a great time with his Dad.  The highlights: Churros, the Imperial March, and staying up past 10:30.  Our sweet boy crashed out on the car ride home- using the extra coat his Mom made him take (just in case) as a pillow- with a smile on his face knowing that Sophie and Jack had been in bed at 8:30 that night :) 

Porter recently lost his first two teeth- within a week of each other. I just think this photo is hilarious.  Here we all are piled in the kid's bathroom to watch the second tooth (which was hanging by a thread) be extaracted.

Banking on the tooth fairy to deliver :)