2012

Life 2012 | Grand America’s Scavenger Hunt

One of our Christmas traditions is to do a fun activity everyday as a family. Last year the Grand America’s Scavenger Hunt was one of our favorites and so we had to do it again!

It’s a beautiful hotel and they have these fun windows that they decorate all up for Christmas. This year’s theme was Christmas Around the World. We picked up our “passports” and had to visit the windows for the way different countries say “Christmas.” At the end we had to get our passports stamped at the toy store and then we got to visit the bakery for a yummy cookie! The kids love the activity and this year’s was really awesome with the realistic passports! So fun!

I used a template and Luv U 2 Pieces by Down this Road Designs

Life 2012 | First Day of School

JJ and Beth are going to a new school this year. The School District opened up a couple of new special classrooms for Autistic children and they moved JJ over to Orem Elementary. I was also able to get Beth in as well, so now they are both at the same school this year. I was also able to get Beth on the same bus as JJ, which just makes it easier. I hope they will both be able to adjust to a new schedule, make friends, and learn!

JJ is technically a 5th grader this year (although they have different age groups in his special classroom) and his new teacher is Mrs. Vitone. JJ has grown so much and I love that we are communicating so much better. He loves playing games on the computer, the Wii, apps on the iphone/ipad, and his Nintendo DS. He thrives on structure. He is starting to enjoy reading and he likes to help out around the house. He loves watching his dad on the computer and I can just see him growing up just like his daddy. JJ LOVES Agent P/Perry the Platypus, Phineas and Ferb and all superheroes. He likes to run and to draw. He’s always so busy and hardly ever sits/stands still. He really enjoys movies/tv and his favorite food is pizza. I love watching my JJ grow and use his imagination in all that he does.

Beth is in second grade this year and her teacher is Miss Funk. She loves reading, playing with friends, and doing crafts with her mom. She loves My Little Pony, Disney Princesses, and horses. She likes playing on the computer and playing soccer. She thrives on attention. She’s emotional and has a good heart. She has recently taken over washing dishes, because she knows her mother doesn’t like it and she finds enjoyment in it. Her favorite food is Ravioli and Potatoes, Ham & Cheese. I love my Bethie girl and I love seeing her learn and grow!

My Layout:

I used my School YearZ Kits.

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 | Doodley Names

We have really been having a great time with our @Home Summer Camp!

Our first Make-it-Monday was really fun. I taught the kids a little bit about Negative Space and I blocked out each of our names in the negative space and then we filled in the other space with doodles and coloring! They turned out really cute.

I found the idea HERE.

2012 | Weekend with Mallory

The last week in April, I got a call from my brother. He had decided to take his wife on a fun little train trip for their anniversary, but they needed someone to take care of little Mallory. Of course, I was delighted to do it for them. A few days later, Cody and Becki and Mallory spent the night at our house and then in the wee hours the next morning, they left on their adventure.

Having a 2-year-old around the house was an adventure as well, but one that I enjoyed so much. It made me miss having a toddler pretty bad. I enjoyed getting to know Mallory more and we had a great time.

After getting the kids off to school Friday morning, Mallory and I had the house to ourselves. We watched a bit of tv, ate some breakfast, and ran some errands. And of course we had to hit the park for a little while. Mallory adores swinging on the swings at the park! We did a little grocery shopping and visited Uncle Joey at work for a bit. We had lunch and then I got to sing to Mal and we both had a bit of a nap before my kids got home from school. JJ adores his cousin and he loved coming home and getting to play with her. I swear he is the only one who can make her laugh so hard. I always love to see the special relationship that Mallory has with JJ. We ended up going to the little park in our trailer community for some playing too. Then of course we had to watch “Meet the Robinsons, ” which I’m pretty sure is Mal’s favorite movie. It was darling to see her giggle and enjoy it. We had Chili for dinner which Mal just gobbled right down. After getting my kids to bed, it was a bit of an adventure trying to get Mallory to go to sleep. She was missing her parents pretty bad. I sang to her and we watched part of Meet the Robinsons yet again. We hit a snag, where she kept asking me to sing, “the dog song.” I couldn’t figure it out, so I ended up calling Becki, where I was informed that she was saying “duck” not “dog.” So once we solved that mystery…we sang “5 Little Ducks went out to play” and she calmed right down. I thought she would sleep with me, but for some reason she really didn’t want to sleep in my room, so she ended up sleeping on the air mattress. Once she got to sleep, she slept all night.

On Saturday, we went to the park again and Mallory loved swinging. We came home and had Mac & Cheese for lunch. We played and played and played. The kids loved playing outside with Mal. We also finally got Mallory to take a little nap before her Aunt Ashley came over to take her for a little while. I spent some time with my own kids and we had dinner and cleaned up before Mallory came back to us. After getting my kids showered and off to bed, it was some special one-on-one time for Mallory and I (Joey had gone to a movie with a friend.). This was probably my favorite couple of hours that I had with Mallory the whole weekend. We watched some tv, sang some songs, and I finally felt like we really connected. We started actually having a conversation and giggling and snuggling. She would not go to sleep, but I was enjoying her too much to really make it happen. I was kind of sorry to hear the knock on the door and see Cody and Becki arrive back. I had been having so much fun with my niece. But Mallory was so glad to see her parents and she just wouldn’t let go of them. It was fun to visit with Cody and Becki for awhile. Joey came home soon after they did, and we all stayed up and talked for awhile, before all heading to bed.

It was such a fun weekend with Mallory!

Life 2012 | Line Drawn

Beth can get pretty particular about things and she enjoys bossing her brother around. He’s pretty good about letting her get her way, although sometimes he has to break free and do his own thing. Both of my kids can go through lots of blank paper, drawing their little hearts out.

One day, as I saw we were getting low on paper, I just tore off a big sheet of my brown butcher paper and let them have at it. It keep them busy for a couple of hours, filling every inch of the thing. But the first thing, that Beth had to do was draw a line down the middle. She had to make sure that things went her way and that the drawings were separate. Silly kids.