Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas: mellow and relaxes - just our little clan. We enjoyed a stress-free Christmas Eve day (a quick trip to Walmart for a handful of things that morning and then we just hung around for the rest of the day). We had turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy and peas for dinner, with Sparkling Apple Cider. We haven't established a firm Christmas Eve food tradition yet (we heard about a couple of people who do homemade pizza on Christmas Eve, which peaked our interest a little.... maybe we'll try that next year). We talked about what Christmas really means as we sat around the dinner table. That evening we had a Family Home Evening where we read the scripture from our Christmas chain (our chain this year included a scripture or a story from the Friend or a song each night, which has been a nice way to incorporate the true meaning throughout the entire month). We prayed and then watched "Muppet Christmas Carol." The kids got treats ready for Santa and then headed to bed. We got going the next morning at around 7 AM. One of the best parts of Christmas is being a parent and seeing the look on your kids' faces on Christmas morning - really, it's magical. We opened presents: the last presents were the new quads we got (one was in the garage and the other was wrapped up in the front room). Sean watched as the kids took turns riding the little quad later that day. The kids played and played with their new loot. Tom and Carolyn and Rachael and Great Grammy Dick came over that afternoon for dinner: ham, scalloped potatoes, rolls, roasted vegetables, orange salad and pie for dessert. It was a perfect kind of day. Ben: Legos, Erector set, Mario Brother figurines, Spider Man toy.

Everyone: quads and helmets, tickets to Cliffs Amusement Park

Thanksgiving

This year we wanted to get out of dodge for Thanksgiving....but we didn't really want to drive all that far, so we coordinated a Thanksgiving holiday in Heber, AZ with Grandpa and Grandma and Great Grammy Dick. We stayed at their friends, the Moore's, cabin. It was great! We had a tasty Thanksgiving dinner (we made most of it before we left and carried it with us: I made homemade sausage and roasted mushroom stuffing, sweet potatoes, raspberry pretzel jello, cranberry sauce, two kinds of cheese balls and pumpkin pie. We also had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, peas and homemade apple pie. Delish. We spent the rest of the weekend watching movies, playing games (the kids were introduced to the game, Sorry, and they loved it), riding quads, playing outside, doing a little exploring and hiking, crocheting (a new skill I learned from Sean's Mom while we were there). We also had a bonfire in the yard and roasted hotdogs and made smores. Sean and Grandpa took the kids fishing in a fishing boat. They came home with 5 fish: Nathan even boasted about catching one (it did get caught on his hook, although Sean reeled it in). We went to church on Sunday morning, ate homemade lasagna that Grammy Dick made and then packed it up and headed home. It was a very relaxing and fun weekend

Family Pictures

We had our friend, Misty, take family pictures for us. We went up to Sandia mountain and spent an hour getting all sorts of shots.

Halloween 2012

Another great Halloween holiday. This year most of the celebrating occurred on the same day, which was kind of nice. We went to the elementary school Fall Festival the weekend before (always a fun time). Nathan dressed up for his preschool party the day before Halloween. Then on the actual holiday the kids dressed up for school. They have a costume parade and then class parties. I took the boys and went to watch the parade and then make our rounds to the parties. T

hat night we stopped by the Beehive Home (an assisted living home) and the kids went trick-or-treating from door to door. Then we headed over to our ward party. It seemed a little smaller this year, but the kids still came away with plenty of candy. Sean made his famous chili, which got gobbled right up. He put in ALL the peppers and spices....and it was spicy, but not kill-you-dead spicy. It is delicious. He always decks the trunk real good and then passes out the candy. On our way home we stopped by a couple of houses on our street. They were thrilled to have trick-or-treaters and the kids walked away with full size candy bars and handfuls of candy. A fun time for all. I pretty much let the kids have at their candy. I've decided I like this way better. They eat and eat and eat....and in a few days the whole loot is gone. Their happy....and I'm happy that it's out of the houses sooner than later.

Balloon Fiesta 2012

This year we decided to go to the Balloon Fiesta on a weekday morning. We got up early on Thursday morning and headed to the park. We got there just in time to get on the field, eat some breakfast burritos and start to watch the Special Shape balloons take off. There weren't as many balloons as the Mass Ascension Days, but there were a lot of fun shapes to look at. The kids wandered around collecting balloon cards. We dropped off Nathan at preschool on the way home (just as his bus was leaving for their field trip to the Air Museum) and then we got home in time for the kids to change and get to school by 10 AM (just a couple of hours late). It was a perfect morning - not too cold or windy. We were lucky we went when we did because that weekend the weather got pretty cold and wet.

State Fair 2012

I signed up with a friend of mine who organizes a home school group to get into the fair each year. When you go with the group you get in free. I decided to pull Caelan, Ben and Megan out of school for the day and we all spent a fun day at the fair. The day we went last year was super crowded, especially all the kids events, but this year was perfect. We had a great time: *Climbing and exploring all sorts of military vehicles (it was Military Day) *Watching the Pig races *Getting a milk shake from the dairy *Watching the White Lion show *Climbing the rock wall (Ben was a little monkey and went up twice in flip flops, Caelan also made it to the top, even when it got kind of hard for her, and Megan made it about half way) *Seeing lots of goats and sheep and pigs and cows *Going into the petting zoo and feeding the animals *Exploring the kids section, "Old McDonalds Farm" *Having fun in the "Agventure Land": corn box, riding little tractors, making coffee filter painted flowers, saddling a fake horse, making your own scarecrow, etc. *All the kids got to ride one ride (Megan, Ben and Caelan all went on the ferris wheel and Nathan rode the motorcycles). *Checked out the craft winners (the kids loved the Lego displays and a couple of the wood carvers made the kids wood owls) *Ate cotton candy and freshly made donuts - good fair food. I honestly didn't think we would last so long (I thought for sure one or more kid would have a melt down at some point), but we were there until after 4 PM and we all left happy.

Piglet Plunge

There was a Dirty Dash race in our city last weekend. I ran the race and then went back later for the kids to do the Piglet Plunge (just one mile with a few of the pits and obstacles). Ben loved it. He was all about jumping in the mud, climbing over obstacles, etc. We ran with friends of ours, so Ben was right there along with his buddy, Aaron the entire time....and they ran a good portion of the race (and picked off dry mud and giggled and such during the walking times). At the end Aaron and his brother, Jacob, completely dunked under the last mud puddle. Ben wanted to do it, but couldn't quite get himself to go all the way under. He was muddy up to his chin, though.

Good times. I haven't done any kind of race in years and this definitely got me itching to do another one.

First Day of School 2012

Ben is in 2nd grade with Mrs. Huffaker. His best bud switched schools, but he has made some new friends and it enjoying his class.

Summer Trip 2012

We had a great summer trip in July/August.We were gone 18 days, we traveled through 10 states, we attended 3 family reunions and we traveled almost 4,000 miles (and our van made it without a problem the whole way). Here are some of the highlights of the trip: *Camping at Carlsbad State Beach - we were literally right above the shore and we could hear the waves crashing at night. We stayed here during the Sorensen Family Reunion. We spent an entire day at the beach. Of the 7 hours we were at the beach, Caelan was in the water for 6 of them (she is our little fish). Sean went out in the water, intending to just wade for a bit, but a wave caught him and took him down. Unfortunately he was wearing his glasses, which were taken right off with the wave. Luckily we found an Optometrist office that gave us a trial pair to take for free. We enjoyed another day at the park visiting, playing volleyball, eating yummy food etc. *Caelan made friends with a bunch of my cousins' daughters, which was fun to watch. Nathan also made a friend, Brinlee. They played and played together. One day she fell and got hurt and Nathan put his arm around her and walked her to her dad (it was so cute). I sent my cousin a message after we left the reunion telling her how fun it was to watch those two little ones play together. She wrote back saying that Brinlee had been telling her that Nathan is now her boyfriend. HA! Love it. *We hit up Los Hermanos on our way from southern CA up to Northern ID, which is always tasty (and brings back fun memories). *The trailer story (but that deserves a post all on it's own) *Camping at Farragut State Park (about 20 miles outside Cour d'Alene, ID). It was beautiful. We played at the lake, went boating, had campfires, took a day trip to a mountain resort, found a delicious ice cream parlor and got homemade ice cream cones and had a fun time visiting. *We made the next trip to the final reunion in Boise, ID. For this reunion we stayed in an empty house with some mattresses for beds. *For this reunion, the Taylor Reunion, we had a couple of swimming pool parties, we watched "How To Train Your Dragon" outside, and I actually got to watch a little bit of the Olympics....finally. *We spent one day floating along the Boise river. There were only three decent drops and Grandpa Sorensen fell right out on the first one, which gave us all a good laugh. *We spent one night camping at a Reservoir about 30 minutes away. The grassy campground was right on the lake, and the water was super shallow so the kids spent lots of time way out in the water. We boated and jumped off the dock and made smores and had a fun little overnighter. *I met Corbin in Eagle Mountain, UT at Charity's house and we caravanned together back home to New Mexico. Fun, Fun Trip!

Summer 2012

This year we made a list of some things we wanted to do during the summer, and then I kept track of things we could cross off the list (plus other fun things that we didn't put on the initial list). Here is our Summer 2012 List: *Balloon Fiesta Museum *Visit 3 new local parks *Fishing (Caelan caught her first fish....all by herself) *Nature Scavenger Hunt *Make a volcano with baking soda and vinegar *Bowling *Board Games *Make a fort *Geocaching *Splash Park *Sidewalk chalk city *Swimming and waterslide *Cheap Movies ("The Lorax" and "Mirror Mirror") *Library Story Time *Bird of Prey presentation at Tijeras Library *Water Balloons *Sprinkler on trampoline *Homemade icecream *Jambo's Amusement Park (in Phoenix) *Snow cones *Slip n' slide *Teddy Bear Picnic *Visit and tour gold mine (in Colorado) *Hike *Make kaleidoscope *Barbeque with friends *Banana splits at ice cream parlor *Mentos and Diet Coke experiment *Free lunch summer program *Sleep on trampoline *Visit the aquarium *Make rain stick *Free Slurpie Day at 7-11 *Galloping Grace Horse Ranch *Daily reading time *Visit lego store *Wii family competition *Hinkle Family Fun Center Free Friday (golfing and arcade) *Boating *Float down river *Camping *Outside movie *Garden *.....plus our big summer vacation Sounds like a pretty successful summer. Let's do it again next year.

Spider Man Boys

4th of July 2012

We didn't have any plans made for the 4th of July, so we asked if some people wanted to come over to barbecue that night. We ended up going to the Moriarty parade that morning, which was a pretty good parade for a small city: lots of horses and animals,tons of candy (I mean the kids had bags full of candy), some fun floats, just long enough. And before it started our good friend, Misty, did a little face painting on all the kids. Then we picked up some fireworks to shoot off later that night. 4 families came over that afternoon for food and fun. We smoked brisket and chicken drumsticks (both so, so yummy). We had star shaped watermelon and corn casserole and veggies and homemade potato salad and mashed potatoes and other fruit and cupcakes and homemade ice cream (of course - it wouldn't be the 4th without it). 19 kids were running around the house and they were all playing great together. At one point I think almost ALL of them (from ages 12 to 2) were playing the same thing. The adults chatted and played a game, and then it was time to head over to do fireworks. Moriarty, the city next to us, doesn't have any restrictions on fireworks. We went to the park and people were lighting up fireworks left and right. It was like it's own city show - it was great....and LOUD. We spread out blankets and ate popcorn and watched fireworks until the police department shut it down (people not be responsible, etc). Good times!!

Spelunking

We had a fun family day on Saturday. We went up to Sandia Cave - short half mile hike up to the cave and then we went exploring inside. We tried to do some geocaching along the trail but we didn't have much luck. The kids loved it (except Megan who isn't so fond of close, dark spaces). Austin was all smiles inside. We all came out with a yellow film all over our clothes and skin, so we stopped at the stream at the bottom of the trail and rinsed off. Nathan went in with shoes and socks on and everything.

Memorial Day 2012

Memorial Day in Colorado This year because Sean has limited time off and he already has to take a week off for Scout camp plus at least another week for our family reunions in the summer we hoped that maybe we could do the Memorial Day trip with Sean's family a little closer to us this year. We LOVE Duck Creek, which is where we usually go, but it's a good 9 hour drive for us which means we would have to take more time off. Anyway after looking at several options Sean's parents found a cabin about 20 miles outside Durango Colorado. None of us had really spent much time there before so this was kind of a fun change. We went to a Gold Mine one day (it's a closed mine, but they have tours - they take you inside the mine in an actual mine train car and then tell you all sorts of stuff inside. When you're done you come out and can pan for gold). It was quite interesting and the kids enjoyed themselves. We found a little hike on the way back to the cabin. Sean carried Nathan part of the way up - I had Austin in the baby carrier on my back. On the way back, Megan was tired and sick of walking so Sean let her ride on his shoulders. Nathan also wanted a ride, so I had Nathan on my shoulders and Austin on my back (I felt like I was a couple inches shorter when we got to the bottom of the trail). Sean and Grandpa and Kelly took Ben and Caelan and Logan fishing. Caelan caught her very own fish - pulled it out of the water and everything. It was a pretty good size too. A couple of ladies helped show these guys the ropes...HE HE HE. Sean had a fish on his line, but he was helping someone at the time and by the time he ran over to it it swam off. The ladies gave them two other fish to take. We cooked them up and ate them that afternoon - delicious!! Even the non-trout-lovers thought it was tasty. We brought a canoe with us, but the wind picked up pretty much the day we got there. Kelly tried to go out on it but quickly came back not wanting to capsize on the lake. On Sunday we were in charge of the family devotional. We talked about Lehi's dream - and then we made a little rope course through the trees where each family walked along blind folded. Megan came down with some kind of flu/cold the last day we were there - she was pretty miserable (hot and tired and weak). She slept for a good part of the day, but two days later she was back to her regular self. We love our Memorial Day vacations.

Spring Break

We headed down to CA for Spring Break. Sean had two days of work meeting in San Diego, so he drove down with us on Saturday and then went to his meetings on Monday and Tuesday and flew home Tuesday evening. We stayed with the Sorensen family. We had a great time: Sun - Church. Charity and Chad and family got there that evening. Mon - Took Sean to San Diego. Met Aunt Lindsay and her friend at the Mormon Battalion Museum (which was awesome: videos, panning for gold, dressing up, old fashioned photo, etc), drove by the Flower Fields in Carlsbad and visited Great Grandpa Sorensen, had smoothies at Jamba Juice. Tues - Went to the beach. We have some serious beach-lovers in this family! Played in the water and sand. Roasted hotdogs and marshmallows (for smores) around the bonfire. Wed - Took Grandma Sorensen to lunch for her birthday. Hung out with Charity and Chad and kids before they left. Went to Preston's baseball game that night. Thurs - Met Bonnie (a friend from high school) and her kids at the park. Played for a while. Grandma took the kids to throw pennies in a fountain and then to McDonalds. Fri - Drove home. Made it in under 12 hours (with just me and the kiddos) - not too shabby.

Soccer

Spring soccer is here again. Ben's coach is Stephanie. I am the assistant coach. I have only ever played soccer for fun or on Intramural teams in college, but I thought I could help well enough for 7 year olds. A friend from school is on his team. They are still trying to figure out their rhythm, but Ben is enjoying it and doing well.

Birthday

Ben turned 7 years old. Since they had no school for Good Friday, Ben got to have his little party on his actual birthday (Thursday night). He took donuts to his class for his special treat. Then his good friend, Aaron, came over after school. He went to soccer practice (which he is loving, by the way) and then came home and had his birthday dinner (pizza), opened presents (legos, knights, Star Wars figurines and a movie), ate cake and ice cream (he had me make a Star Wars cake) and then spent the rest of the night putting together his Lego set while watching Star Wars. He and Aaron thought they wanted to sleep on the trampoline, so Sean got them all set up on it, and within about two minutes they were back in the house (too cold and a little too nervous to sleep out there on their own). He pulled out the hide-a-bed and they slept there the rest of the night. He spent most of the next day playing with Aaron: legos, jumping on the trampoline, coloring Easter eggs, etc. I think he fully enjoyed his day. Some fun facts about Ben: Favorite color: blue Favorite movie: Star Wars Favorite subject in school: reading (and he is a fantastic reader) What he wants to be when he grows up: police man Favorite Primary song: Latter Day Prophets Favorite sport: soccer Favorite animal: penguin Favorite food: pizza (he also likes cereal and fruit) Things he loves to do: play Uno, jump on the trampoline, Legos, play with little figurines Best Friend: Aaron Foods he doesn't like: onions, green peppers, green beans, Ben is a excellent students (his teachers just go on and on about him), he is pretty particular about his hair (he wants it combed down and parted to the side every day - NO SPIKES), he loves, loves, loves his baby brother (and all babies for that matter), he is really into Star Wars (he went with Dad to see episode 1 the day after his birthday), he is taking piano lessons and really catches on quickly (if only he would practice a little more...), he likes to run around, he just learned how to tie his shoes and he is really close to being able to ride a bike by himself (if we had one his size he would get it just fine). He will call me in to tuck him in every night. He is a good friend and is a very happy, mellow, kind, respectful boy. We LOVE him to pieces and can't imagine our lives without him. Happy Birthday Benny Boy!

Random Life

Arcade Mania: We went to Nickelcade at the Family Fun Center the other day. We're not a big video-game family, but we had fun. The kids especially liked the games that spit out tickets so they could cash in on some prizes before we left.

Children of a King: We had a FHE based on the movie, "Tangled" last Monday. We talked about how we are like Rapunzel, children of a royalty but we are separated from Him and come to a place where we are told all sorts of different things about who we are and what our purpose in life is and what the world is like. Then we get the opportunity to discover who we really are, and when we search in the right place we find out that we are Children of a King. Then we had a "Tangled" maze through the house: yellow yard strung up all through the house. At different points the yarn would split into two sections. One side would have a paper describing a lie Satan tells us in this life and the other would have a truth that our Heavenly Father wants us to know. The lie would lead to a dead end and the truth would lead us further along the maze. We ended up upstairs in the master bedroom where there were crowns for all the kids that said "Daughter of a King" or "Son of a King" along with jewel ring pops (courtesy of my friend who brought dinner over that night - perfect). The kids loved it. Spring Has Come: The weather has been BEAUTIFUL this past week. We even busted out the shorts on Sunday (and after half of the family coincidentally put on plaid shorts, the rest of us followed). This nice weather has also meant the arrival of "the allergies" (as Ben calls them), and they have hit me like a mack truck. YIKES. I've been taking allergy medicine and using eye drops and spraying nasal spray. This is the worst I have ever gotten them, and I'm hoping my body adjusts REALLY SOON.

Zoo

Caelan and Ben went with their friends, the Buck's, to the zoo. Ben's best buddy is Aaron. In fact he is just a couple of weeks older than Ben. The also have a daughter, Tessa, who is a couple months older than Caelan and another son, Jonah, who is a day older than Nathan (plus one other older boy). The kids all have buddies when we get together. Misty (the mom) took them to the zoo and they were all sorts of silly as they wandered around together. I'm glad they have such good friends here.