layout

Life 2014 | Exploring Indian Ruins

Beth is fascinated with different cultures and history, especially with the American Indians. It actually runs in the family, coming from Grandpa Sorensen. Growing up, Grandpa always took his kids to Indian ruins and special historic places. So, for Beth’s Birthday trip, she really wanted to go see Indian Ruins and Drawings. Grandpa obliged her and took us on two days of adventures near Orderville. We hiked and saw lots of Indian Drawings on cliff walls, we hunted arrowheads and pottery, and we even hiked down to see awesome Indian ruins! Beth’s cousin Whitnee joined us for one day and we had a lot of fun hiking and playing in the dirt. We also roasted hot dogs and just enjoyed being together. Beth will remember this forever!

Here’s the layout I did:

I used “Fill’er Up Templates 3” by Britt-ish Designs, “Tribal Neutrals” by Grepic, “Shadow Spirits” by Zais Digital Scrapbook, “Wood Tribal Papers” by Baer Design Studio, and “American Indian” by Roxanne Buchholz

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 365 | Week 10

Monday, March 1, 2010
JJ hasn’t really had too much homework in the past, except for a bit of reading. This week, his teacher decided to start some spelling/handwriting homework and JJ was so excited to get to do a little work at home. It was fun to see him so excited about school work and to see more of what he is learning at school.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010
I haven’t felt real well this week and have been spending most of my time working on design stuff. What really helps me to be creative is watching movies while I work. The past little while I have been watching Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. This show was really the only tv show I watched when I was a kid and its been fun to watch it again.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Beth loves it when I let her take a bath while I take a shower – usually in the middle of the day when I finally get around to it. She will play in the bath tub for over an hour before she wants to get out!

Thursday, March 4, 2010
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! JJ came home with lots of tales of fun Dr. Seuss activities they had at school today and immediately got out his Dr. Seuss books to read for the rest of the day!

Friday, March 5, 2010
No school today and we woke up to some snow. It was so pretty and peaceful. I’m still not feeling real great – so the kids and I hung at home today. Joey took Mike Casetta to a movie for his birthday and we went over to the Casetta’s house for a surprise party when they got out of the movie.

Saturday, March 6, 2010
Since we had the birthday party last night, Joey went to do his podcast today instead. We just hung out at home again today. When Joey did get home, the kids and him played a little game – a mixture of soccer/keep away/and just passing the ball. Joey’s foot is still not doing too well, and he is still on crutches – but the crutch seemed to come in handy tonight in their game!

Sunday, March 7, 2010
With me not feeling well, Joey didn’t think he could handle the kids alone in church since he’s not getting around too well. So we stayed at home today. Joey and I slept longer than the kids and when we finally got out of bed – this is what we found. The kids had built themselves a fort. I think I am pretty lucky to have 2 kids who will entertain themselves!

And here is my weekly layout:
I used my FriendZ from the Wood & Digital 365 to create this layout!

Life 365 | Week 9

Monday, February 22, 2010
I spent all early afternoon getting Beth registered for Kindergarten. I still can’t believe she is going to Kindergarten next year. Because Foothill Elementary isn’t our area school (since JJ was placed there for his special class) – I had to get signatures from our area school so it just took awhile.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010
It was JJ’s first Blue and Gold Dinner for Scouts and this marked the Scouts’ 100th Birthday so it was pretty special. JJ helped me make a fun cake that we entered into the cake contest and he got the Most Festive Cake Award. They got to play games and have a pizza dinner and we got to watch a wonderful Indian hoop dancer! A fun night!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010
I have come to really love Freecycle.org. I have gotten rid of a few things that have become useful to others and have gotten things myself. Today, I got an awesome Toaster Oven! So cool and its FREE!

Thursday, February 25, 2010
I got out my manual plastic binding machine and we made some heart and star books out of construction paper. The kids really enjoyed getting to draw and color in them!

Friday, February 26, 2010
It was kind of a downer week for me this week. Just everyday and design struggles got the best of me this week and left me kind of down. But after some amazing emails from Amy and from a new friend, Tristi, and from my visiting teachers, I just felt lifted up. And it became even better today when Tristi emailed me letting me know that both of us were featured in the Mormon Times, since we had both blogged about our experience of getting to know each other a bit better. So fun!

Saturday, February 27, 2010
We donated some of our books to a special company who is giving books to Africa to encourage literacy. It was fun going through all of our books and having the kids help pick out some that they don’t read anymore. I hope that the kids are learning a bit about service and sharing.

Sunday, February 28, 2010
We have decided to start reading books with our kids. I’ve never really had a good schedule of reading to the kids and so I really wanted to get this started. We are starting with the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia and we have read the first couple of chapters so far. The kids seem to enjoy it so I hope they get a lot out of it.

And here is my weekly layout:
I used my “Digital 365” kits to create this layout!

Life 365 | Week 8

Monday, February 15, 2010
We did some deep cleaning of the house today. It was such good weather – it almost felt like Spring. It really felt great and after being sick all last week, it felt good to get the house all clean and sterilized and aired out.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen and Uncle Lane and Uncle Clint arrived today to spend a couple of days. It was great to get to visit with them. We got some KFC take-out, played some Wii and just visited.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010
A busy day today. Grandpa and Grandma and Lane went to to Salt Lake City to do some shopping, take care of some business, and a special banquet for Lane. Clint got to hang-out with us all day. We took Beth to school and Clint got to play some more Wii. We then picked up JJ and Beth and took them to the dentist. Later JJ had Cub Scouts and we got some pizza while Grandpa and Grandma went to dinner with Max and Janice. I also had my Wednesday night crop.

Thursday, February 18, 2010
Grandpa and Grandma and Lane and Clint left for home today. It was so nice to have them here. Beth and I did a project today for her school. Tomorrow is Beth’s 100 Days of School and they were asked to create something with 100 things. We decided to make a beautiful bead necklace with Beth’s favorite colors – purple, pink, and red. It turned out great. Joey came home from work feeling really awful and barely able to walk – another gout flare-up. Later coming up the hall to the bedroom, he gave me a scare by passing out. But he came to – pretty quickly and we got him to bed. It was a pretty awful night.

Friday, February 19, 2010
Joey worked from home today. It was a real awful night and his ankle is so swollen and it is hurting him a lot. We took him to the doctor and now it might not be gout. They aren’t sure what it is. They took some fluid out of his ankle and there was lots of blood, so it is pretty scary and it was so painful. But after getting all that out of his foot – he feels a lot better. We will have to wait for the fluid to get tested before we will get answers on what it could be. But he felt better so he was able to go do his podcast tonight. We also got to babysit Kalissa all day. She is very cute and it was fun to have a baby in the house. After school, Beth enjoyed getting to play with her and feed her! She was a great little helper!

Saturday, February 20, 2010
The kids like to put on “shows” for Joey and I. They are so funny. They spend tons of time getting everything ready and then when they start the show they get so nervous. Today’s show was JJ’s magic tricks (where he pretends to make cards disappear) and Beth’s Storytelling from her books. They were cute at the end where they took hands and gave a bow! I spent the morning and early afternoon at the Stake Center for a Women’s Conference where we had a luncheon and some classes. The women in our ward choir sang a song at the opening session and it was really nice to be able to participate in that.

Sunday, February 21, 2010
Joey’s foot is still hurting pretty badly, so he wasn’t able to go to church with us today. I had to sing in Sacrament meeting so I left the kids home with Joey – went and sang and then came and got the kids for Primary. Later, the kids looked so cute cuddling up to their dad today for our family movie.

And here is my weekly layout:
I used my “Polka Dot Frenzy” to create this layout!

Life 365 | Week 7

Monday, February 8, 2010
The kids still were not up to going to school today so we hung out in our pjs all day. Our fun activity for the day was doing a little beading! Beth made a necklace and JJ made a bead string. They had a great time!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010
We decided to give the kids just one more day at home. I was not feeling so great and was just really tired so I decided to just give the kids their bath/shower at the same time tonight. Beth took the bath and JJ took the shower and they loved it!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The kids went back to school today. They were so sick of being outside and so they were so delighted! They both had a great day and were in much better moods than yesterday!

Thursday, February 11, 2010
Joey’s gift to me for Valentine’s Day arrived today – beautiful, delicious chocolate strawberries! It was such a surprise and they were so good. Definitely made my day!

Friday, February 12, 2010
The kids’ had their Valentine’s Day parties at school today! We made some fun Valentine boxes last night and so they were so excited to come home with them – full of candy/cards. For snack, we made some fun heart sandwiches and cookies. A fun day!

Saturday, February 13, 2010
Joey survived his podcast last night, but still felt really awful today, so he spent most of the day in bed. I did a lot of designing and the kids enjoyed playing together, especially when Beth got out her Barbies for a picnic with Chef JJ “making” the food! It was very cute!

Sunday, February 14, 2010
Happy Valentine’s Day! It was Stake Conference at church but Joey still felt so awful and I think another round has hit me, so we just stayed home. Joey ordered pizza and so we just snacked on that all day, played a little Wii, the kids colored and pasted hearts on paper (making “Valentine Books”), Joey edited his podcast I did some design work, and we just hung out again….I wish this sickness would leave our house!

While playing Wii, Joey had an adorable conversation with Beth that just completely touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes: “Daddy, do you know what I want to be when I grow up? These are some things I think it would be good to be: I want to be a ballerina, I want to learn to play hopscotch, I want to be a lady doctor, and the best thing is that I want to be a Mommy just like my Mommy.”

And here is my weekly layout:
I used my Mini-KitZ Collection to create this layout!

« Previous Page