Sunday was my turn for sharing time and the weekly theme was about family home evening, so we had a family home evening lesson in primary about pioneers. Shawn came in and helped tell a pioneer "dramatic" story that all the kids got to participate in while they wore bonnets and kerchiefs. Shawn and I wore a simpler version of our pioneer outfits from Martin's Cove too. When Shawn came to the front wearing his hat and suspenders, he said the junior primary kids' jaws dropped and eyes went wide. So cute! While the story was going on we passed around a couple jars of cream to shake so we could make butter. I have always wanted to do that in primary and our primary is pretty small, so it was a lot of fun. We also sang pioneer songs and then had our homemade butter on biscuits. I sent home a copy of the lesson with each kid to have for family home evening with their families. I had a lot of fun, so I hope the kids did too and that some of them got to do it with their families. Shawn was awesome to come in and help and to help me work on getting it ready on our anniversary (romantic huh?). He is so supportive and understanding of the time I put into my calling, even when I leave things until the day before. Thanks Babe!
On Monday the girls started swim lessons and Felicity had a little sewing lesson. She was pretty excited and nervous about using the sewing machine, but did a great job! She made a little blanket and pillow for her doll. I don’t remember exactly how long it took us, but I think it was around 3 hours. She was ready to do another project, but I was done, so I told her it would have to wait for another day
Wednesday night was busy. We had our annual chicken dinner with the ward where everyone brings their own chicken – fried, or whatever – and a potluck salad or dessert. The ward provided scones and drinks. Yummy! Shawn left straight from that for his softball game and I took my soaking wet girls home. They had asked to play in the sprinkler that was going and I said, “Sure, but don’t get soaked.” Silly mother. What was I thinking? Lydia was soaked through and through, Felicity was pretty wet too, and Evelyn was what I considered to be appropriately wet. Oh well, no big deal. It’s just water right? It was pretty hot, so who can blame them. After they changed into dry jammies I sent them to bed for some reading time and lights out so I could host our book group. We had a pretty good turnout and discussion of the book (The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield – a book lover’s gothic mystery) and yummy banana splits.
Thursday we left for Utah and the Pioneer Day celebration in Mayfield. I love Pioneer Day there! They have a great parade and all sorts of activities for the kids in the park, and auction, entertainment, and a great lunch. It’s a pretty big deal in a small town. We weren’t planning on going this year, but then I found out my grandma was going to be the Grand Marshall and my aunts were putting together a float for all the great-grandkids to ride on. How could we pass that up? I have a very happy memory of riding on a float in the parade one year with a Statue of Liberty theme. So the girls all got to ride on the float, get to know some second cousins a little better and play carnival games at the park all afternoon. What could be better than that? It was a ton of fun and I’m so glad we went. Thanks Karen and Elayne for organizing the float! When we got back to our hotel in Provo, the girls and Shawn enjoyed a nice cool swim in the pool to top off the day and then we went and got Krispy Kreme donuts. Oh how I miss the warm, melt in your mouth Krispy Kreme donut!
Friday we stopped at Ikea in Draper to look for a nightstand for Felicity and because we LOVE Ikea! Lydia and Evelyn both played in the playland while Shawn, Lissy and I shopped. Lissy was in heaven – so many bright colors (especially lime green) and modern designs – she wanted lots of things for her room! We did end up getting her the nightstand, a new lamp shade (hers was broken) and some little plastic boxes. And of course we had lunch there – gotta have my Swedish meatballs and Lingonberry juice. After that we stopped and visited with Grandma Sorenson for a little bit before heading home.
Another fun and busy week in our summer that is flying by. We get to be home for about 2 more weeks before it is off to another family reunion. I can’t believe school starts in only 4 weeks!
Pictures to come....
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Felicity's Blog
Felicity has updated her blog today as well. Here is her address to copy and paste:
http://sugarbabylou.blogspot.com/
http://sugarbabylou.blogspot.com/
Mid-July Weeks
The second and third weeks of July we enjoyed being home and getting to relax a little bit more. I’ve been in to work at Shawn’s office a few days while the girls “work on their chores” at home. Some of them are better than others at following through on that. We try to make it to the school library and the public library at least once a week to get some new books to read.
One weekend Shawn participated in the Relay for Life with a team from work. We went and hung out for a few hours and listened to some of the entertainment and walked around and looked at some of the booths. His team was running a raffle as a fundraiser, so I bought some tickets for a cute weekend bag. Guess what? I won! Now we just need to plan a nice weekend getaway so I can use it Since He was up all night with the relay, he wanted to take a little nap when he got home, so I took the girls to a movie. We’ve been using our movie passes we bought from the school to see the kids’ movies we haven’t seen yet like – Monsters vs. Aliens, Paul Blart Mall Cop, Delgo, Pink Panther 2, etc.
One morning we spent at a primary activity that some of the kids Lissy’s age helped to plan and carry out- the theme was Summertime Fun. Felicity was in charge of a rock painting station and learned how hard it is to plan an activity and make sure things go smoothly and everyone has fun. In fact, I think she came home and had a nap she was so worn out. Other stations were an ocean bingo station, a basketball obstacle course, fruit kebobs, and a duck pond. I think all the kids had fun planning and participating.
We also got in some dentist visits and a doctor’s visit so Lydia could get her chicken pox booster. Last Friday we went to the drive-in to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The girls stayed awake the whole time and we all enjoyed the movie. We didn’t stay for the second show because neither Shawn nor I thought it was worth staying up that late to see My Sister’s Keeper, though we do want to see it sometime.
For our 12th anniversary Shawn and I went shoe shopping together. Then that night we went to The Cellar – a fancy restaurant right by our house that we have always wanted to try. It was pricey, but YUMMY!
Pics from Relay for Life and my cute new bag. The crown-shaped tag says "Take me" on one side and "I'm Yours" on the other and has cute purse-shaped zipper pulls.
One weekend Shawn participated in the Relay for Life with a team from work. We went and hung out for a few hours and listened to some of the entertainment and walked around and looked at some of the booths. His team was running a raffle as a fundraiser, so I bought some tickets for a cute weekend bag. Guess what? I won! Now we just need to plan a nice weekend getaway so I can use it Since He was up all night with the relay, he wanted to take a little nap when he got home, so I took the girls to a movie. We’ve been using our movie passes we bought from the school to see the kids’ movies we haven’t seen yet like – Monsters vs. Aliens, Paul Blart Mall Cop, Delgo, Pink Panther 2, etc.
One morning we spent at a primary activity that some of the kids Lissy’s age helped to plan and carry out- the theme was Summertime Fun. Felicity was in charge of a rock painting station and learned how hard it is to plan an activity and make sure things go smoothly and everyone has fun. In fact, I think she came home and had a nap she was so worn out. Other stations were an ocean bingo station, a basketball obstacle course, fruit kebobs, and a duck pond. I think all the kids had fun planning and participating.
We also got in some dentist visits and a doctor’s visit so Lydia could get her chicken pox booster. Last Friday we went to the drive-in to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The girls stayed awake the whole time and we all enjoyed the movie. We didn’t stay for the second show because neither Shawn nor I thought it was worth staying up that late to see My Sister’s Keeper, though we do want to see it sometime.
For our 12th anniversary Shawn and I went shoe shopping together. Then that night we went to The Cellar – a fancy restaurant right by our house that we have always wanted to try. It was pricey, but YUMMY!
Pics from Relay for Life and my cute new bag. The crown-shaped tag says "Take me" on one side and "I'm Yours" on the other and has cute purse-shaped zipper pulls.
Sorenson Family Reunion
We started out July with a trip to Northern Idaho and Washington for a family reunion. We traveled on Wednesday and checked into our hotel in Coeur d’Alene. Then we drove on to Spokane to have dinner with Shawn’s Grandparents and Aunt and Uncle’s family. They made delicious enchiladas and a scrumptious salad from their garden. After dinner we had fun playing some Wii games – Wii Play and Dance Dance Revolution. 
On Thursday we spent the day at Silverwood Theme Park near Ashton, Idaho (**Correction here. It is near Athol, Idaho. I knew it was an "A" name. Coeur d'Alene is the closest big city.) We spent the first part of the day on some of the rides and then spent the afternoon at the water park, which was the favorite by far. Shawn, Felicity and Lydia all went down the velocity slides (really high and really fast) and we all had fun in the wave pools – Shawn and the 2 big girls in the big waves and Evie and I jumping the little waves. Then we all rode on a tube slide together and had a blast (even if I did have my eyes closed most of the way down).
Friday morning we checked out of the hotel and drove back to Kellogg to meet my parents and brother’s family at a rental house. It was nice and roomy inside with an “old fashioned” style. The girls loved exploring all the “secret passageways” and doors with cut glass doorknobs. One of the bathrooms upstairs had a claw foot tub and 2 of the girls got to sleep in a Murphy bed that folded up into a closet during the day. After packing a lunch we went into Wallace and went on an old silver mine tour and trolley bus ride around town. Then we played some games at the house before we went to Silver Mountain and on the “longest gondola ride in the world.” It was quite long with beautiful views. At the top of the mountain we had barbecue dinner at the ski lodge and enjoyed the views. Felicity and I even got in a couple games of tetherball.
Saturday morning we picked up some rented bikes and other equipment for the rest of the days activities. We went on a 15 mile bike ride on the old Hiawatha railroad trail. It starts out with a 1.7 mile long pitch black tunnel that slopes to the sides where there are drainage ditches for the water. Lights were required. It was a bit crowded too, since it was a holiday, so there were several accidents in there. Felicity’s light stopped working so she was wobbly and crashed a few times. Another lady stopped right in the middle of the road, so my mom ended up crashing too with my little niece on the back of her bike. Once we got out of the tunnel and a little further down the road, Lydia cam flying around a corner where someone else was stopped in the middle of the road and came to a skidding crash on her bike too. No one was seriously injured and we were all able to go on, but it was a rough start to the ride. Fortunately it is all downhill, so other than some griping and moaning from my kids, everything went pretty smoothly after that. Evelyn got to ride on a tag-a-long on the back of Shawn’s bike and had an absolute blast. The trail goes over some really high trestles too and has some amazing scenery. It took us a while, but we made it to the bottom, where an old school bus took us all back up the trail so we could ride back through the tunnel again and to the cars. In the tunnel the second time it was less crowded and a few of us opted to walk, at least until our eyes were fully adjusted. When Lydia was ready to ride I went with her and she was flying! I think I was white-knuckling it going that fast through a muddy, slippery tunnel, but we made it without any spills. The whole thing was not something that Shawn and I would probably ever choose to do, but I’m so glad mom had us all go. It was beautiful and a fun experience – even with some muscle cramps, sore bums and scrapes and scratches. By the time we got home and had dinner, we were too wiped out to go watch fireworks, so we just hung out at the house.
Sunday we went to sacrament meeting in Pinehurst and then relaxed the rest of the day. We took some family pictures in our red, white and blue outfits that afternoon and that evening we went to the Sunshine Miner’s Memorial which was pretty cool. It is a statue of a miner whose headlamp never goes out in honor of the men and women who died in the Sunshine Mine. We also looked for a geocache with grandpa that took us awhile to find.
Thanks for a fun and memorable reunion Mom and Dad!!
On Thursday we spent the day at Silverwood Theme Park near Ashton, Idaho (**Correction here. It is near Athol, Idaho. I knew it was an "A" name. Coeur d'Alene is the closest big city.) We spent the first part of the day on some of the rides and then spent the afternoon at the water park, which was the favorite by far. Shawn, Felicity and Lydia all went down the velocity slides (really high and really fast) and we all had fun in the wave pools – Shawn and the 2 big girls in the big waves and Evie and I jumping the little waves. Then we all rode on a tube slide together and had a blast (even if I did have my eyes closed most of the way down).
Friday morning we checked out of the hotel and drove back to Kellogg to meet my parents and brother’s family at a rental house. It was nice and roomy inside with an “old fashioned” style. The girls loved exploring all the “secret passageways” and doors with cut glass doorknobs. One of the bathrooms upstairs had a claw foot tub and 2 of the girls got to sleep in a Murphy bed that folded up into a closet during the day. After packing a lunch we went into Wallace and went on an old silver mine tour and trolley bus ride around town. Then we played some games at the house before we went to Silver Mountain and on the “longest gondola ride in the world.” It was quite long with beautiful views. At the top of the mountain we had barbecue dinner at the ski lodge and enjoyed the views. Felicity and I even got in a couple games of tetherball.
Saturday morning we picked up some rented bikes and other equipment for the rest of the days activities. We went on a 15 mile bike ride on the old Hiawatha railroad trail. It starts out with a 1.7 mile long pitch black tunnel that slopes to the sides where there are drainage ditches for the water. Lights were required. It was a bit crowded too, since it was a holiday, so there were several accidents in there. Felicity’s light stopped working so she was wobbly and crashed a few times. Another lady stopped right in the middle of the road, so my mom ended up crashing too with my little niece on the back of her bike. Once we got out of the tunnel and a little further down the road, Lydia cam flying around a corner where someone else was stopped in the middle of the road and came to a skidding crash on her bike too. No one was seriously injured and we were all able to go on, but it was a rough start to the ride. Fortunately it is all downhill, so other than some griping and moaning from my kids, everything went pretty smoothly after that. Evelyn got to ride on a tag-a-long on the back of Shawn’s bike and had an absolute blast. The trail goes over some really high trestles too and has some amazing scenery. It took us a while, but we made it to the bottom, where an old school bus took us all back up the trail so we could ride back through the tunnel again and to the cars. In the tunnel the second time it was less crowded and a few of us opted to walk, at least until our eyes were fully adjusted. When Lydia was ready to ride I went with her and she was flying! I think I was white-knuckling it going that fast through a muddy, slippery tunnel, but we made it without any spills. The whole thing was not something that Shawn and I would probably ever choose to do, but I’m so glad mom had us all go. It was beautiful and a fun experience – even with some muscle cramps, sore bums and scrapes and scratches. By the time we got home and had dinner, we were too wiped out to go watch fireworks, so we just hung out at the house.
Sunday we went to sacrament meeting in Pinehurst and then relaxed the rest of the day. We took some family pictures in our red, white and blue outfits that afternoon and that evening we went to the Sunshine Miner’s Memorial which was pretty cool. It is a statue of a miner whose headlamp never goes out in honor of the men and women who died in the Sunshine Mine. We also looked for a geocache with grandpa that took us awhile to find.
Thanks for a fun and memorable reunion Mom and Dad!!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Just for Joy
Here's a post just for Joy who wanted to know how I made the recipe binder cover. I'll try to explain as best as I can. I used PhotoShop, but I'm guessing any graphics/photo software would work.
I opened a new document that was 8 1/2 x 11 and had a transparent background. Then I just started playing with all the digital scrapbooking freebies I have downloaded. I ended up using an antiqued-crinkly paper for the background and then added the floral paper on top of that. I used digital stitching along the edges of the floral paper and added some digital elements - the bracket label, staples, clip and saftey pin. Then I used the text tool to add the title. For a final touch I added another digital element, an antiqued brad to dot the "i" in Holidays. I hope that helps! If you want this one, it would be super cinch to personalize it for you and send it as a jpeg. Just let me know in the comments if anyone wants one.
I opened a new document that was 8 1/2 x 11 and had a transparent background. Then I just started playing with all the digital scrapbooking freebies I have downloaded. I ended up using an antiqued-crinkly paper for the background and then added the floral paper on top of that. I used digital stitching along the edges of the floral paper and added some digital elements - the bracket label, staples, clip and saftey pin. Then I used the text tool to add the title. For a final touch I added another digital element, an antiqued brad to dot the "i" in Holidays. I hope that helps! If you want this one, it would be super cinch to personalize it for you and send it as a jpeg. Just let me know in the comments if anyone wants one.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Recipe Binder Cover
I copied my cute friend Holly today and made a recipe binder cover. I've been wanting to put together all the fun holiday recipes I have printed out and saved over the years so that I could actually find them when a holiday rolled around and use them. Plus, I got to play with my digi-scrappin stuff. Thanks for the great idea Holly!
What We Did in June
2009 June
My mom ever so sweetly pointed out that I am a bit behind on my blog, so here is a new post just for her. Once school let out things have just been busy! The longest we’ve been home for any stretch is about 10 days, so it’s been come and go, come and go. All good times though! Here’s what we did in June:
- We cleaned out our storeroom and bought a couple sets of nice big shelves.
- Shawn and I went to Martin’s Cove with our ward as Support Staff
- Felicity got strep throat
- The girls and I went to Utah and saw Singin’ in the Rain at the Hale Theater and the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Utah with the extended family girls and saw both Great-Grandmas
- Felicity and Lydia went to Day Camp with their Activity Days groups
- We participated in a neighborhood garage sale and hosted the bake sale at our house
- Celebrated Father’s Day with gifts and cards for Shawn
- Shawn went to an IDAMFT leadership retreat near Sun Valley
- Had a freak hail storm that clogged a drain pipe and caused a window well to start flooding
- We went and saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat for FHE one night
- I’ve continued to work a few hours a week when we’re home and I substituted for the school librarian a couple of mornings
- Also went to various primary meetings, softball games, a dinner group, a birthday party and a baptism
- The girls have been working on their daily chore chart to keep them busy
My mom ever so sweetly pointed out that I am a bit behind on my blog, so here is a new post just for her. Once school let out things have just been busy! The longest we’ve been home for any stretch is about 10 days, so it’s been come and go, come and go. All good times though! Here’s what we did in June:
- We cleaned out our storeroom and bought a couple sets of nice big shelves.
- Shawn and I went to Martin’s Cove with our ward as Support Staff
- Felicity got strep throat
- The girls and I went to Utah and saw Singin’ in the Rain at the Hale Theater and the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Utah with the extended family girls and saw both Great-Grandmas
- Felicity and Lydia went to Day Camp with their Activity Days groups
- We participated in a neighborhood garage sale and hosted the bake sale at our house
- Celebrated Father’s Day with gifts and cards for Shawn
- Shawn went to an IDAMFT leadership retreat near Sun Valley
- Had a freak hail storm that clogged a drain pipe and caused a window well to start flooding
- We went and saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat for FHE one night
- I’ve continued to work a few hours a week when we’re home and I substituted for the school librarian a couple of mornings
- Also went to various primary meetings, softball games, a dinner group, a birthday party and a baptism
- The girls have been working on their daily chore chart to keep them busy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)