After Christmas

We've had a fun time in Arizona while here for Christmas. We went to the park one day, and the kids had a blast playing with their cousins and Grandpa and Grandma. Ben got out all sorts of energy running all over the place. We love to watch him run - he has great form: arms in close and bent, and he pumps them real good as he goes. He drew with chalk, swung on the monkey bars, got pushed on the swings and ran around with Logan and Caelan. The next day we found a fun indoor playground called Makutus. It is a big conglomeration of slides and climbing compartments and tunnels and ropes. The kids loved it. Great Grammy Dick paid for all of us to get it - so kind.

Christmas 2007

We went to our ward Christmas party earlier this month. There was a nice dinner and program and then a special visitor. Ben was pretty excited to see him come in, but when it came time to go and sit on his lap his attitude changed a bit. He pretty much completely ignored him - he didn't get excited about the candy cane. It was like he was just going through these crazy motions and just waiting until he could get away...he he he. He did enjoy eating his candy cane afterwards though. Christmas was spent in Casa Grande with the Dick family. We went to church with them on Sunday. On Christmas Eve Grandpa prepared the family home evening lesson. He and Grandma both bore their testimonies about the Savior. It is such a blessing to have grandparents who know and teach their children and grandchildren about the gospel and the Redeemer. We had a tasty Christmas Eve dinner. We woke up Christmas morning to a room full of gifts and balloons. I loved to watch Ben's face as he entered the room - so magical and exciting. I think the balloons thrill him almost as much as the gifts. He got a little tool set, which he spent much of the rest of the day playing with. We spent the day playing with our new things and enjoying time together. We got together with Great Grandma Dick for Christmas dinner.

Coloring

Tonight Benny colored permanent marker all over our white pantry door (in our rental house). Surprisingly I reacted very calm. Sean got on the internet to see if there were any brilliant ideas to remove permanent marker. We tried Ajax and liquid dish soap, which really lightened it up. Then we tried hairspray and a lot of muscle and we got it mostly off (the corners have a little hint of light blue, but most people wouldn't ever notice). Yay!

Bath Buddies

Ben loves taking baths...especially with his bath buddies, his sisters. I love to watch them play together. Even when we are at a church activity or a play group, Caelan and Ben (and Megan is starting to join in their fun a little more) just love to play with each other. One of their favorite things to do whenever we got to Grandpa and Grandma Dicks house is to play in their master bathtub. It has a great little slide on one side (not really a slide, but a good decline that the kids love to use as a slide). They climb up on the side of the tub and scoot over to edge and slide down....over and over and over again.

"Bue-ing" Guy

We were in the car the other day and Ben trying to tell me something. I can pretty much communicate with him about most anything these days, but I could not for the life of me figure out what he wanted. He kept saying something about a "bue-ing guy". I asked him about several things that I thought he could mean: something blue, something new, something about blowing, etc, etc. I was not getting it - he knew it and I knew it. Eventually we just had to settle on that. The next day we were in the car and he had brought along a few of those little plastic green army guys. From the front seat I could hear him playing with his guys and then I heard it, "bue, bue, bue." It was his little army guys fighting...and it dawned on me: "bue-ing guy" meant his little army men. HA! Love it.

Halloween 2007

I found a cute little Fiona princess dress at K-Mart two days before Halloween. It was 50% off, and even though it was a little big I bought it anyway. Then I thought it would be so cute for Ben to be Shrek. The costume wasn't too difficult to put together. He wore a sweater of mine and some dress socks of Sean's. I constructed the ogre ears using green duct tape and fastened them to a headband. I made the brown vest out of an old brown towel and quickly sewed the two front ties onto it. We painted his face green and he was set. Super cute. We had a fun Halloween party at the church. They have a great Trunk-or-Treat each year - lots of lots of people from the community come as well. The kids made out with full bags of candy.

Pee-Pee

Ben went pee in the toilet this morning. It was the first (and only) time so far. Progress. - Yay!

Church Boy

Ben loves Nursery. He has always loved Nursery. He's been going to a year now. I actually thought he might have a hard time going (he has always been a little more attached to me than Caelan was at that age), but he just went right in. It probably helped that Caelan was still in Nursery when he started. Even after she started going to Primary he still had no problem going in. I'm so happy that he is excited about going in each week.

Navajo Lake Camping

We had a Sorensen Family Camping Trip at Navajo Lake (outside of Cedar City in Southern Utah). We camped just across the street from the lake in our pop-up trailer. Jenny and Kelly and the boys met us up there for a couple of the days. One day we drove over to Escalante (a pretty long drive), but we had fun climbing on the all the rock formations. We hit a deer with our minivan on the way back to camp that night. Another day we drove over to Mammoth Caves (in Duck Creek - just a few miles) and walked through the cave. We didn't think the littlest kids would enjoy that very much - the darkness and cold and such, so we left Ben and Megan and some of the other youngsters behind with Sean. We also took a little hike along a pretty shabby (and falling apart trail) to a small waterfall and a beautiful view. We even braved the water in the lake one afternoon. It was pretty chilly, so we were only in it for a short time. The morning that we were packing up it decided to down pour (you know, one of those Utah storms that comes in with a vengeance). We drove down to Cedar City and stopped at the park at the base of the mountain. We barbequed and played volleyball. The kids played in the little creek and then in the mud. It was funny to watch Ben, who usually doesn't get into that crazy, messy boy business. He got right down in there with Jesse. They were running and jumping into the mud and then rollin' around in it. Grandma was getting a real kick out of seeing Ben in there like that. Then we headed home.

Playing with Daddy

Daddy is the jungle gym around here. The kids LOVE to climb all over him and wrestle him and have him throw them into the Love Sac. This is almost a daily occurrence here at our house. Another one of their favorite games is when Dad throws the couch pillows at them. The run down the hall and he tries to launch the pillow far enough to hit them. There have been a couple of real good hits that have taken the kids down. But they get right back up and want to do it all over again.

Trip to Rexburg

Another trip was made up. This time we went all the way up to Rexburg, ID and stayed at Garrett and Melanie's house. Then we all headed down to Provo for new baby Lana's blessing. We ate and played at the park afterwards. We had the whole Sorensen clan (except for Erin). It was a HOT and humid day. The kids found the water faucet and ended up getting themselves soaking wet....and who could blame them - we all wanted to. We headed home straight from the park, and ended up convincing Garrett and Melanie to let us take Genevieva with us for the next two weeks. Fun! Happy 4th of July! We have had a house full this month. We brought Genevieva back home with us from Utah. She stayed with us for two weeks, and we had lots of fun (and some drama too - silly girl...HE HE HE). Well then Caleb and Corbin also came to stay and play for a couple of weeks too. Aunt Lindsay also had a little free time and came down for a few days. We've had a blast - mostly swimming and staying cool. On July 4th we celebrated with a barbeque and swimming at our house. The Armantrouts joined us. And of course the festivities are only complete with homemade ice cream (which we made in delicious fashion). Then we went to the church parking lot and watched the Boulder City firework show from the bed of Dad's work truck. Ben loved watching them, but the noise must have been getting to him - he kept covering his ears with his hands. The power went out one night right after all our company left. Dad busted out the flashlights and headlamps. The kids thought the headlamps were the way to go. The power only stayed off for an hour or so, but it sure was fun while it lasted.

Fudge Bar

I wonder if Ben liked this fudge bar??

CA

We headed down to CA for a little visit (Charity and Chad were going to be in town for a few days). All the grown up kids decided to go to Magic Mountain one day. It has been years for some of us. Grandpa and Grandma graciously watched the kiddos for us, and they took them to the Wild Animal Park. What fun! The kids had fun climbing on all the animal statues, riding the train around the park, petting the animals in the petting farm, and checking out all of the other animals throughout the park. Then of course Ben had some great fun with his buddy, Jesse. Who can beat the entertainment that a big cardboard box can provide?

Wild Animal Park

The kids stayed with Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen for a few days. DUring their visit they went to the Wild Animal Park (that is a favorite destination among the Sorensen clan). They rode the train around the park, saw all sorts of animals and got carted around in Grandpa's big wagon. Fun times.

Happy Boy

Ben is such a happy kid. It really is pretty rare for him to be grumpy or difficult. He is mild-tempered and just goes with the flow, which is great when he plays with Caelan. He lets her take the lead (which she is more than happy to do) and he just goes along with it. Win-win for both of them, although I'm sure this will change to some degree at some point. I love the way his smile lights up his whole face. So cute.

Good Big Brother

Ben is such a good big brother. He has LOVED Megan since she was born. He has always been very soft with her. He loves to get down on the floor next to her and just watch her. And she can get him laughing like no one else (and visa versa). He thinks it's just hilarious when she grabs at his face or smiles at him....or actually when she does pretty much anything silly or out of the ordinary. I wondered if there might be a little jealousy, especially since they are so close to together, but he has never shown anything but complete adoration for Megan.

Water Boy

After the wedding ceremony we were all exhausted. We had some good sleeping that night. The next day we were right back to being outside: hanging feet in the pool and playing with the new fountain for the kiddos. That fountain provided hours of excitement for this little guy. He loved to swipe his hand through it and then lick the water off his hand. And he and Caelan just LOVE the pool. Even though it was too cold to swim, they waded on the steps and swooshed their hands and feet through it. Grandpa and Grandma's house is like a playground for them.

Jenny's Wedding

We went to Arizona for Aunt Jenny's wedding. She got married in the Grandpa and Grandma's backyard. Her colors were purple and black and she wanted the kiddos to be in the wedding. Luckily it was just the holiday season and I was able to find these colors fairly easily. I found a cute vest suit set for Ben from Burlington Coat Factory. We got all ready and I left the two kiddos in the house ready to walk down the isle as I went to sit in my seat with Megan. I have to admit I was a little mortified when out they came - Caelan was looking great and Ben was walking out with his binkie and blanket and a bag of Cheetos. It got a good little chuckle. I talked later to the wedding planner lady and she said that Ben wasn't too excited about going out, so they did whatever it took so he would walk down the isle. Funny boy. He loved spending lots of time by the new fountain (which was added to the yard just for the big day). It was a miracle that we got through the entire day without him getting soaked in either the fountain or the pool.

Piano Boy

I got a new keyboard for Christmas. Ben loves to climb up on the stool and pretend that he is playing. It's even better when the power is actually on and he can get sound coming out of it.

Nursery

Caelan started Sunbeams in Primary. Ben is still in Nursery. He started last October. He actually went in pretty well for the past few months (I think it has something to do with the fact that Caelan was in there - they are buds), so we'll see how it goes now that she is going to Primary. All the primary children got crowns today. I wanted to get a picture of the kids after church - first day of Primary for year. Ben was not very keen on the idea.