adventure

Jolly Holiday Surprise Adventure | Cover

For the last month or so, I have been on an interesting journey of discovery about myself. I’ve been struggling with depression and anxiety for several years and it has zapped all the creativity out of me. But I have found myself wanting to dig myself out of this hole that I have been in and I have been actually having fun creatively again and that is an amazing breakthrough. I have discovered that I get burned out when I try to do just one kind of creative thing. But if I do a little of blogging, a little scrapbook designing, a little crocheting, a little bit of wood crafts, and a little of graphic design, etc, I find myself being exhilarated by the things that I am creating and it makes all of my other creative projects better. I have been dabbing it a lot of different things lately and I am finding success and JOY again and it is making my life so much happier. I’m so excited about transferring my blog over to WordPress and I’m excited about reformatting my posts and making everything so much more organized and better. I’m excited to blog again. I’m excited to design again. And I’m excited to SCRAPBOOK AGAIN! I have been making plans and getting organized and I have a lot to do and a long ways to go on my blog redesign, but I’m working on it and I’m excited about how its going.

One of the plans, is that Thursdays are my actual day to scrapbook pages. I’m so excited to finally be scrapbooking my family’s Disneyland 2014 trip. I haven’t actually scrapbooked in a long time and it feels really good. This trip was truly amazing and the highlight of our family adventures. So today, I only scrapbooked the cover of this album, but I love it already. It’s so good to re-live this great moment in my family and to HAVE FUN creatively again!

I used my Happily Ever AfterZ: True LoveZ Kiss and the Project Mouse Kits by Britt-ish Designs & Sahlin Studio

jollyholidayheader I’m so excited to share my family’s magical Christmas adventure of 2014 with you!
To see all the postings in this series go HERE.

Magical Mousetery Tour | June 2016

Welcome to the next
MAGICAL MOUSETERY TOUR

Thanks for joining me here on my blog! If you haven’t been here before – please take a look around and make sure to download all my Freebies.

Take a look at all of my products in my store HERE.

This month, we are on exploring
A MAGICAL ADVENTURE

Pick up all the fun freebies on the tour to have a great mega kit full of papers and embellishments to scrap all of your Disney adventures!

Check out my contribution:

DOWNLOAD LINK

Welcome aboard the June 2016 Magical Mousetery Tour. If you’re following the Tour route from start to finish, you should have arrived here from FranB Designs and your next stop will be Designs by Romajo. If you get lost along the way, head on back to the main Magical Mousetery Tour post to view the master list and get back on track.

Be sure to follow the tour through the BLOG and on FACEBOOK!

Have fun and please feel free to leave your comments, questions, and suggestions by leaving a comment! I love to hear from you!

Jolly Holiday Surprise Adventure | Intro

For those of you who don’t know – I’m a bit of a Disney Geek. I love the movies and I love the history and I just love it. Once I had children, I think that love has just grown. Sharing these special movies with my kids has been incredible and it has cemented that love for Disney in my heart. Growing up, I was a bit of a tomboy, so I enjoyed Disney movies but the Princesses never meant much to me. Now that I have a daughter, that has really changed and I love it all – especially the Princesses. I love that Disney brings out the magic of fairytales and using your imagination and I love that my kids get to experience that – you know what its even more than that – I love that I get to experience it too. It brings out the kid in all of us – the wonder and the magic – and I think that is a wonderful thing!

I love Disneyland too. I have been there a total of 4 times. The first time was in 1990, when I was 11 years old and we went with my mom’s side of the family. It was a great trip and I will always remember the time we had with my uncle’s family. We didn’t get to see them much so this was amazing to spend so much time together and it just felt really special. I’m not sure how many days we actually spent in Disneyland, but my brother got sick and had to be in the hospital for awhile, so our trip was extended, so I think we spent several days inside the park.

The next time I went was on my Senior Trip in 1997 and it was only one day. I remember really enjoying spending that day with my parents and it was so fun to have them all to myself.

My 3rd Trip to Disneyland was also just one day. I actually went on my sister’s senior trip with her and my parents in 2000. My sister spent the day with her friends, so once again I got to hang out with my parents and it was nice.

My last trip was in 2009 and I got to bring my kiddos and my husband for their first trip to Disneyland! My mom’s side of the family got together again and we went to California – together on a bus! We also did Universal Studios, Knott’s Berry Farm, and Sea World, so we only had 2 days to experience Disneyland and California Adventure. It was an awesome trip and even though my kids were younger, they still talk about it. They loved it and even my husband said then that we should come back someday.

Eight months ago, I decided that this had to be the year that my family went to Disneyland again. My kids are getting older and they might soon grow out of their Disney phase (I hope they don’t). My daughter still loves dressing up and being a Princess and JJ loves Cars and Star Wars, etc. So it just seemed like the time.

I discussed it with Joey and he agreed, so I started planning. I pretty much immediately decided that I wanted to give my kids something that I always wanted when I was young – A DISNEYLAND SURPRISE TRIP! I knew that it would be amazing and I just wanted to do it. And then the next decision – when to go…..it didn’t take me long to realize another dream. I wanted to see Disneyland at Christmastime. Once we made that decision, I have just been so excited! It has been a long 8 MONTHS! I don’t think a day has gone by that I haven’t done some planning or something for this trip. Disboards.com has been an amazing resource! I want so much for this trip to be completely magical and wonderful for my family. Joey and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary this year and instead of doing anything, we decided to go all out on this trip. We have scrimped and saved and planned to make this happen. It has been our anniversaries, our birthdays, and will be our Christmas!

There were a couple of things that Joey insisted on that I completely love that we get to do. He wanted to stay in the Disneyland Hotel and he wanted to fly there! Of course, I wholeheartedly agreed to both of those things! 🙂 So we are spending 7 nights in the Disneyland Hotel, 5 days in Disneyland, and we are flying with JetBlue (first class, no less)! Now after all the time and planning – it is finally almost here! In 21 days, we will be at Disneyland and I can’t wait!

Anyways, I can’t wait to share this amazing adventure with you! I hope you won’t mind all the posts in the coming weeks as I share all the details with you!

jollyholidayheader I’m so excited to share my family’s magical Christmas adventure of 2014 with you!
To see all the postings in this series go HERE.

Life 2012 | Moving Cows

I’m finally getting to blog about our annual trip to Bull Rush (my family’s land on the Arizona Strip). I remember that growing up this was always something I looked forward to. Every year in the first part of June, we would head out to the Arizona Strip for the week to move our cows to the summer range at Sink Valley (my family’s ranch near Alton, Utah). It is always a time of work, play, talks by the fire, and great family memories.

I’m so happy that my kids have had the chance to experience this special time. Even though, my kids are what my daughter calls “city kids,” I grew up a country girl and I’m glad that I’m able to give my kids just a little part of the country life. Sometimes I long to go back and live in my small town and raise my children the way I was raised. But things are different now and even if we could go back – it just wouldn’t be the same. But at least a couple of times a year they get to spend time with the family at the ranch and I hope that it will still be something that they will have so many great memories of – the way I do.

We left Orem in the afternoon on Sunday, June 3rd. I was sad that Joey couldn’t come with us, but one of these years I hope he can use his vacation time to go with us! We got to Bull Rush before dark and I was really glad “Toothless,” our old mini-van made the trip across the rough dirt/gravel road. It was good to see all the family-including many of the Harris Family (cousins on the Sorensen side of the family) that I hadn’t talked to in awhile. I love that people will come out and help! We slept in the van that night, since my parents occupied the house. It was not the easiest night – pretty uncomfortable, but we survived. The rest of the nights – my parents slept at Sink Valley after hauling a load of cows – so we got the house. The Harris Family and my sister Kori’s family had nice trailers to stay in and many of the kids slept out on the springs around the house. It was quite the camp!

The next several days were spent gathering up cows, branding the calves, teaching my kids to ride a horse on their own, exploring, and lots of memories. I got to pick up my old job of vaccinating the calves during branding and my kids got to come and help me. The kids had such a great time playing with their cousins and getting dirty. It was definitely really hot too – and that is not my favorite part of being out on the Strip. I was able to spend a lot of time with Kori – and it was really fun catching up with her and I really enjoyed the nightly cook-outs and just being together. I enjoyed connecting with my little nephew, Dustin who is just growing up so fast. One night – the kids and I sat and watched a big moon rise and it was an amazing experience. The land out on the strip is so flat and stretches out for miles and so watching the moon come up from the far distant mountains is just really neat. It was fun to see the gorgeous sunsets that are always present out there too.

Unfortunately, it has been an extremely dry year and so the cows suffered quite a bit. Many of the cows ended up missing and later we discovered that several died trying to get down a canyon to water. We really really need rain. We did take a trip and hike to the canyon to see if we could find the cows and the kids enjoyed looking off into the “big ditch.”

Beth had the chance on to go with her grandparents on the Peterbilt to Sink Valley on one of the trips and she spent the night there. She loved having all the attention from the grandparents and Uncle Clint and the much cooler air at Sink Valley. She especially loved playing in the treehouse and hanging out with her pal, Smokey the dog!

For the weekend, we ditched out on the final couple of days trying to search for missing cows and headed off to cooler weather to Sink Valley. We went to Orderville first and showered. It felt so good! Then we spent the night at Sink Valley and it was fun to visit and be with my parents. We loved having a cook-out and we even watched a movie on Grandpa’s old setup of an old tv with a vhs player and a car battery!

The kids love playing on the tire swing, the treehouse, and the old farming equipment.

JJ’s favorite was riding on the old buggy that Grandpa has been building out of all different kinds of parts.

We left for home on Sunday, June 10th and it was good to get home and see Joey. We really missed him. It was a great week though and I hope that we are able to keep it a tradition for many years to come!

** Here’s something ironic for you – we really did go to move cows, but it turns out that I didn’t take any pictures of the cows! LOL

My 2-page Scrapbook Layout:

I used my A Little Bit of Cowboy Charm, plus a layered template from the ScrapDelicious My Creative Life Workshop

Life 2012 | Spring Break

This is going to be a rather long post….but I needed to get the memories posted!

Amidst an emergency room visit and sickness, our Spring Break Vacation was actually a time of relaxation and peace. I really enjoyed the time of leisure. I mostly stayed away from the computer. We watched movies, we played the Wii, we did puzzles, I made meals for the family, and we just spent quality time together. It’s just nice to get away from normal life from time to time.

It all kind of started on Wednesday, April 4th when the kids and I used different flavors of Kool-Aid to dye our Easter Eggs. It was so fun and I can’t wait to try new flavors out next year. Before we dyed the eggs, the kids used crayons to draw designs on the eggs. We found out that the blue Kool-aid turned out the best!

The next day (April 5th) the kids still had to go to school and I cleaned and packed and prepared for our trip. In the evening, Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen and Uncle Clint arrived. We had a good visit before all heading off to bed.

Friday, April 6th, the kids skipped school and helped me with the last of the cleaning and packing. Grandpa and Grandma had some errands to run as well. Finally in the afternoon we we were ready to leave. We traveled the 2 1/2 – 3 hours to Eden, Utah, also stopping to pick up some KFC for dinner.

We arrived at our vacation condo and started unpacking and settling in. I was taking the last stuff up the stairs to Joey and I’s room and Beth and JJ followed me up the stairs. We had opened the windows because it was a little stuffy. As I went through the door with Beth close on my heels, there was a gush of wind that slammed the bedroom door shut……with Beth’s poor left ring finger with it. She just happened to be turning around to talk to her brother and her finger was right by the hinge when this all happened. I quickly opened the door and was shocked to see the blood pouring from Beth’s finger. I was also shocked to see that I could actually see Beth’s bone and the skin around her fingernail was just hanging off. Beth took one look at her finger and just started bawling, with the tears streaming down her face. I went into panic mode and Joey ran up the stairs and picked up his little girl and ran her to the kitchen.

After a quick Priesthood blessing and getting some ice for her finger, we rushed off to the hospital that was 1/2 hour away in Ogden. Thank goodness that Grandpa & Grandma were there to take care of JJ. Beth was in a lot of pain on the way down. Joey is amazing when things happen – he stays completely calm, while I panic. He drove, while I held on to Bethie Girl. We tried to keep her distracted, but she was in pain and really scared to go to the hospital. We started talking about how it could have been worse and it was awesome to hear Beth say, “Well, it could have been worse – it was my left hand instead of my right hand, so now I can still use my right hand.” We kept talking about how much we were blessed and it really seemed to help her.

Once we got to the hospital (at about 6:30pm), things got a lot worse. Beth was really scared to be at the hospital for some reason, even though we told her that now we had doctors/nurses to take care of her. The worst 15 minutes or so of my life were when they brought in the big needle to numb up her hand. She screamed and we had to hold her down and tears were gushing out of her eyes and she just kept saying, “No, I don’t want it, please don’t let them do it!” They gave her 2 shots by the knuckles of her finger and it was so hard to watch that happen. I just held her other hand and kept whispering calming words to her, as my own tears flowed from my eyes. I wished so hard that I could take it for her. It even made Joey tear up, not being able to do anything for our little girl. But finally that was over and it numbed her finger so well. It took the pain completely away from her and it was such a relief for all of us. Beth had to get a x-ray of her finger and it was actually kind of a fun adventure for her since it didn’t hurt anymore. She liked that they showed her the pictures of her hand. She was fine seeing the x-ray picture, but she wouldn’t look at her finger anymore (ever since that one glance at it after it first happened). It was extremely scary for her.

Another relief came when they told us that nothing was broken. Unfortunately, they had to call in a hand surgeon and he was at the other hospital, busy with other patients. We ended up waiting about 4 hours before he was able to meet with us. In the meantime, we watched some tv, played on my phone, and the nurses brought Beth some coloring pages to color. It was such a relief to have her out of pain. Joey and I both went through some waves of emotions about having our daughter go through something like this, but we made it through.

Finally the hand surgeon showed up. Unfortunately by that time the pain meds were wearing off and they had to give her another couple of shots. It wasn’t as bad this time because it was mostly numb. Then, they cleaned the wound up and the surgeon sewed her up, using 4 stitches. They let us know that they call it a partial amputation and she would eventually lose her fingernail, but that it would heal just fine. They put a splint on her finger, bandaged it up (in pretty purple and blue bandages), and sent us on our way. It was after 11pm at this point and we were tired and hungry. We stopped to get some ibuprofen and tylenol at Smith’s before heading back to the vacation home. On the way home, Beth’s finger started throbbing and I was sure that we were going to be in for a long night. Beth kept asking “why did this have to happen” and “this is the worst vacation ever.”

When we arrived, we found JJ still awake and really glad to see us. He had been pretty anxious and worried about his sister. He gave a bit of a hard time for Grandpa and Grandma. We were able to visit with him for a bit and get him to go to sleep. Grandpa was already in bed and Grandma and Uncle Clint were ready to go to sleep too. We got Beth in her pajamas and put her in bed with us. By this point she was not hungry, but Joey and I took turns eating. Then, Beth just konked right out and surprisingly didn’t wake up all night. Joey and I did not sleep well after the whole ordeal and thinking that Beth was going to be in pain.

There was a few times where Beth needed some medicine, but throughout the whole vacation, she was just happy and calm. The prayers offered by all of our friends/family were heard and answered by our loving Heavenly Father. I know that he was with us and I just feel so blessed. Beth was able to enjoy the vacation and, besides just having to use one hand most of the time, did really well. I’m just so grateful for this true miracle that our family experienced.

On Saturday, April 7th, we had planned on going on a hike, but we decided that that wouldn’t be a good idea for Beth. So, Grandpa and Grandma went into Ogden to run some errands and meet Uncle Lane. We had a quiet morning just kind of settling in and relaxing. I began making preparations for the evening’s Easter dinner by making some crescents, putting the ham in the crockpot, and preparing the funeral potatoes. Uncle Clint and JJ were quite the buddies and had a good time playing the Wii together.

After Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Lane returned, we went on a drive around the Pineview Reservoir and explored the surroundings. It was quite the adventure with “Hospital trips, billboard watching, dead ends, and bears with chainsaws!” Just kind of a joke that came up as we were driving. We were driving around, getting a little lost, finding deadends and billboards, and all kinds of funny things. We were saying how this vacation was just so exciting, being sarcastic, and it ended up being pretty fun because we were all together and that’s what really mattered anyway. We were able to find President David O. McKay’s home in Huntsville on our drive.

After we returned from our drive, I stuck the food into the oven to cook, while Uncle Clint and Uncle Lane took my kids on a Easter Egg Hunt. Grandpa, Grandma, Joey, and I sat down and watched “Sons of Katie Elder.” It’s always fun to watch a John Wayne with my Dad.

Then we had a wonderful Easter Dinner together. I am so happy that we were able to spend this time with my parents and brothers. It was so great to just have some fun times together.

On Easter Morning (April 8th), we woke up and had did our traditional Resurrection Rolls and talked about the Savior. I also started a new tradition with some special plastic eggs, filled with scriptures and a special symbol that represented the scripture. It was special to read these with Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle Lane and Clint. The Easter Bunny found us too. There was candy and the kids got Squinkees – Beth’s was Disney Princess and JJ’s was Disney Cars. The kids had a fun time playing with their squinkies throughout the rest of the vacation.

It was sad to say goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle Lane and Uncle Clint. It was so fun to have them stay a couple of days with us.

Most of the rest of the vacation wasn’t really eventful, but it was nice to just spend time together.

We played the Wii and watched lots of movies:

We did a lot of coloring and crafting and decorating:

We went on walks and played at the park:

We did lots of puzzles:

We made treats and just spent lots of quality time together as a family. I feel so blessed for my hubby and children.

Our last big adventure was that we celebrated Beth’s 7th Birthday during our vacation. On Thursday, April 12th, we started the day with a special treasure hunt for Beth to find her birthday gifts. The clues were written by her Dad and they all rhymed! It even included a clue, put up on the Wii – the kids thought that was awesome!

Once the presents were found – Beth had to open them! She got some Magic Treehouse Books, a jump rope, a princess dvd game, kids headphones, and the highlight……an ipod touch, with lots of fun apps, including books already installed! (actually we just converted my old iphone into an ipod touch for her – the phone part doesn’t work now. 🙂 Beth was THRILLED!

We then had to have cake and ice cream!

Then we headed off to Ogden to have a checkup on Beth’s finger. Everything looked great. They said she would need to keep the splint on her finger for 3 more weeks, but could have the stitches out in a week.

The sad part of the day was dropping Dad off at the Trax Frontrunner station. Joey had to do his podcast and a Political Convention, so he wasn’t able to spend the last couple of days with us.

After returning to our condo we had breakfast for dinner, more cake, and lots of playing with Beth’s new toys! She said (like she says every year), “it was the best birthday ever!” She’s so excited to be able to text her cousin, Whitnee every day now! She loves all the fun, educational games I put on there and I even got her some Rainbow Magic Fairy e-books that she can read. She was even thrilled that now she can read her scriptures on her ipod too! Definitely a hit!

Well, we started the vacation with chaos, that I guess we needed to end it with some chaos as well. I was in the shower on Sunday morning, when Beth ran in and said that JJ was acting really weird and shaking. He had been experiencing what I thought was just allergies, but it turns out that it turned into a sinus infection, which included a fever. I ran down the stairs in a towl, with shampoo still in my hair. JJ was having a seizure (after a couple of years without one). I had really hoped he had finally outgrew his febrile seizures. 🙁 By the time I got there, the seizure was over, but he was still unconscious. It freaked me out a bit because this time, he still had his eyes open. I held my boy for awhile, just making sure he was breathing okay and whispering prayers up to Heavenly Father. Finally when I calmed myself down, I asked Beth to keep an eye on him while I ran up and finished my shower. JJ was still sleeping, as I hurried to pack the car with all of our stuff. He finally woke up and we spent some time with him, giving him a shower and meds and just making sure he was alright. Beth was a real trooper and stayed calm – even helping me to calm down. We finally got everything loaded and we left Eden about noon. It was such a relief to get home and be with Joey. He was so devastated that he hadn’t been there to help. But, JJ was doing much better by the time we got home. (Of course the next day we went to the doctor and got meds and he stayed home for the first couple of days of school the next week – but everything was fine.)

So that was our Spring Break 2012 Adventures! It’s never completely sane, but we still had a good time! Now onto our next adventures of this life…..

Life 365 | Week 36

Monday, August 30, 2010

I participated in a designer contest and was so excited to find out today that I was selected to become one of the new Faith Sisters designers! I really loved how my mini-kit turned out for the designer contest and am so thrilled to be a part of this great site!

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Through freecycle we received a fun mini-trampoline and the kids have really enjoyed it. Beth was so excited to be preparing for her big day tomorrow! We had a meeting with her soccer team today and she got her new uniform!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

A big day for Bethie today. Her first day of school AND her first soccer game! Joey was able to come with us for her first day at school and it was fun to see her so excited! She got to ride home on the bus with her brother and of course later, we went to see her play soccer! She has a lot to learn, but it was fun to see her get in there and try!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

After the kids got home from school today, we set off on our great vacation adventure. We rode the bus to the Trax Station, rode the Trax to the Frontrunner station, and took the Frontrunner all the way up to Ogden. The kids loved the adventure, especially JJ! They colored in their notebooks and played their Leapsters and just enjoyed the ride. Meanwhile, Joey took our van up to Eden and got our room keys and unpacked and then he picked us up in Ogden and we headed through the canyon to our Worldmark Condo. We picked up some Alpine Pizza and spent the evening settling into our “vacation home.” The kids love our little place – it has a loft and a room for the kids, but their favorite part is the little room under the stairs. The kids are switching off with one of them sleeping in the room under the stairs and the other one sleeping in the bedroom and then they will switch the next night.

Friday, September 3, 2010

After having a wonderful lunch at The Eats of Eden, we headed into Ogden to go to the Treehouse Museum. It was so much fun! There was crafts, playtime, computers, books, puzzles, dress-ups, and all kinds of adventure. We ended our visit by attending the little theatre, where the kids got to act out the story! Beth was being a little scared about that so she just watched, but JJ jumped in and was a bear! It was such a fun place! We traveled back to Eden and went swimming in the fun pool before making dinner and hanging out in our room!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Our adventure for the day was visiting the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park. We saw lots of bones and dinosaur statues and the kids even got to choose a geode, which they cut open right there at the museum. We spent the rest of day hanging out in our little place – watching a little tv, playing the wii, reading, and working on the computer!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

We spent a relaxing Sunday inside. I made a breakfast casserole last night and we stuck it in the oven for a wonderful brunch. We just played and hung out in our room and Joey made us a wonderful dinner of pork chops and potatoes.