Jace and Austin plan a day at Lagoon

I would have loved to hear this conversation.  They have become such good buddies over the summer.

LASIK

LASIK is awesome.  I wish I would have done it ten years ago.  (When Matt got his eyes done).  It was a piece of cake, painless and I can see!!!  The reality that I never have to wear contacts/glasses again after 20+ years of constant wear has me giddy!  I would do it over in a heartbeat.  I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (Although I really had a hard time watching the video of my procedure afterward.  Ick, it looked nasty, but was over really fast.  And it didn't hurt.  Yipeee!

My eye doc says my eyes are bruised from the suction.  Matt's eyes didn't bruise at all when he had it done, but I do bruise very easily.  My kids say my eyes look freaky.  I have to agree.  Between bloody eyes and a week of no makeup I do look pretty freaky, but at least I can see!

Baptism Boy

February 5, 2011

Matt and I are the only ones looking at the camera. I think the kids saw Grandma walk in the door.

So handsome! What a fun day! We had fun lunch at our house after the baptism, it was so neat to have so many family members there. We love you Zack!

The night before the baptism, Derek woke up not feeling well. He ended up having a fever and a sore throat. As Matt and I were taking his temperature, pumping him full of motrin, and trying to help him get back to sleep, Zack came running into our room, crying pretty hard. When I got him calmed down enough to talk, I asked him what was wrong. He said his throat hurt and his head hurt and he was sick and couldn't get baptized! I told him he could still get baptized and he said, "Really? Can dad give me a blessing so I will be better?" Ah, the sweet, simple faith of little children! Matt gave him a blessing, we took his temperature (fever) and loaded him up with motrin as well. He woke up feeling great and had a wonderful day.

Great to Be Eight

Well, it is official, we are getting old! We have an eight-year old. Today is Zack's eighth birthday and it has been a weekend-long celebration. We began on Friday with taking treats to Zack's class. When it is your birthday, the whole class makes you cards. I got such a kick out of reading the cards the kids made. Some were funny, some were lame, some were incredibly creative and one hearth-shaped one said, "I have a crush on you." The girl even signed her name! Zack was so embarrassed. Not yet!!! I don't want to start this yet!

That night we had a friend birthday party. We had 15 boys over at our house for an "AllStar Birthday Bash." It was really fun, we played a lot of games, (favorite of the night was an "agility challenge" where they all stood in one corner of the room with there feet planted as they tried to dodge the stuffed animals Matt and I threw at them.) We had great music, like "Eye of the Tiger" playing and had an awards banquet when we finished our games. (hot dogs, chips and soda. Then we had our awards banquet (medals, etc.) and cake. It was really so much fun.

Saturday morning, after Zack's basketball game, we headed up North to visit family. Matt's parents gave Zack his scout shirt and book. He was thrilled. He has been counting down to Cub Scouts for the last three years. (not even kidding. This morning he passed off his Bobcat and started on his Wolf. He is rarin' to go.)
On the Sorensen side of the family, we have three birthdays in three days. Zack, Carson and Derek. We had little party for them and it was so fun. Such cute boys.
After the party at Sorensen's we headed over to my parents for some gifts. Zack was thrilled to receive all the Book of Mormon scripture stickers (for the scriptures he is getting for his baptism).
Today is Zack's actual birthday. He had very specific requests for breakfast and dinner. He is such a funny kid. He opened one present before church, a suit, and the rest later on in the day. He didn't get too much, but a much needed new bike was the best gift ever. He had a great time playing Legos and playing with his dad today. We ended the day with Great to be Eight. What an awesome day. Zack is such a great example. He is a smarty pants and a hard worker. He is so good with Sydney and can always calm her down. He is so much fun and we love him to pieces. Next stop: Baptism in two weeks, he can't wait!

A No Fail Diet

So, if any of you gals out there are looking to shed a few extra pounds, I have a no-fail diet for you. Here it is:
1. Have a baby
2. Run around like crazy for the next three months because it is the busiest summer you can remember.
3. Care for all three kids as a yucky virus rips through the family.
4. Catch yucky virus for yourself.
5. Sweat, chill, fever, sweat, over and over and over.
6. Watch as virus develops into pneumonia.
7. Proceed to do absolutely nothing for two weeks, while others clean, cook and care for your family.
Voila!
*Really, though, pneumonia stinks. I still have another week I am supposed to "take it easy" on the horizon. I want to take care of my family! Only problem is, if I stand up for too long, I start to get dizzy and weak in the knees. And although the weight loss thing is true, do not try it at home.

Baby Shower

A few weeks ago, Matt's mom and sisters had a little family baby shower for baby Sorensen. It was so much fun. They had decorated the basement for the party and made delicious food. And little baby girl Sorensen got some really, really cute clothes. Thanks for such a fun day, family!

A Day Off

Today I took the day off. I didn't answer the phone. I didn't cook anything. The little boys and I stayed in our pajamas until we had to leave the house to mail Jamison's banana bread. (that was after lunch). We read books, watched Lion King (Derek is very concerned about why Scar wants to be King so badly. Also, what happens to Mufasa's claws when he dies. Austin tries to sing the songs, but gets mad if anyone else tries to sing.) Derek built an awesome fort and we ate our weight in Goldfish Crackers. Now all three boys are playing something involving Derek being a pizza delivery man. (We have never had a pizza delivered, so I am not quite sure how he knows about that.) Moments of all of them playing together SO nicely are rare. No one has cried for at least an hour. I am enjoying every second! This was so much fun, I might take another day off tomorrow!

Teaching R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Conversation at the dinner table last night:
(Zack is setting the table and sits down in a chair.)

Me: Zack, will you please go sit on the bench seat next to Derek? It is hard for me to sit in that seat right now.
Zack: Is that because you are so fat?
Matt: Zack!! You can't say that to your mom!
Zack: But she is so fat!
Matt: Zack, we do not ever call people fat.
Zack: It's just mom.
Matt: Zack, when you talk about people like that, it hurts their feelings.
Zack: But it doesn't hurt mom's feelings, she is just fat cause of the baby.
Matt: You don't know what hurts people's feelings. Mom will get skinny again sometime, but you don't EVER tell anyone they are fat because that is RUDE.
(I was long gone at this point, hiding in the pantry because I was laughing so hard.)

Today I took the boys to the dinosaur museum while Matt was working. When I took off my jacket, Zack looked up and said, "Mom, that sweater is way too small for you." Thanks, son. I can always count on you for complete honesty.

Church, Space, Nails and Chairs

Derek, just home from church. Sat in his chair all through Sharing Time, with the promise of a peanut butter bar when we got home. He did great, even in Sacrament meeting. Matt's new trick is to read to him out of the Book of Mormon during Sacrament Meeting. Derek loved it. At one point he brought his scriptures to me and said, "read to me! We were on the part about they have to leave their house."
Austin stayed in nursery the whole time with minimal crying and even had fun! Since we came home from Uruguay, he has hated nursery and many weeks of sickness has left him unfamiliar with the nursery routine. (Plus, he has new teachers, who are actually awesome. I think they were a big part of the reason he stuck it out yesterday. But, he was quite anxious at first. It was the first time Matt has been able to go to Priesthood, probably since I started Primary. He was either in nursery with Austin, or subbing for a Primary class last minute. What a good husband!)
Zack loves being a big kid in Primary. He loves his class, loves his teacher and loves having mom in Primary. (Notice they all have the post-church untucked shirt and messy hair.)
They are just cute together and have been playing together so well the last few weeks. Derek keeps saying to Austin, "Want to go on an adventure?" And then Derek thinks of an "adventure" for them to go on.
Zack's Grandpa Sorensen told him all about the first landing on the moon, which led to other discussions about Space and eventually the Apollo 13 mission. Zack had to make his own Apollo 13 out of paper and promised Grandpa he would put a picture on the blog. He loves to make things. Also, his disgusting thumbnail situation is greatly improved. His nail is really close to falling off, and thankfully, there is a brand-new nail already growing. We were worried the nail may not grow back after the infection. He is kind of excited for his nail to fall off. It has been hanging on, bothering him for a while.

Also, I received an email from my cousin-in-law with a link to ksl classifieds. Someone was selling chairs that matched the kitchen table I bought a few months ago on ksl. I had really wanted more chairs, but hadn't taken the time to look for them. We currently have seating for five, which will be fine for another year or so, but we need six! So we called on the chairs, they were available and a decent price and Matt is picking them up today! Hooray! Now we will have seating for eight, which is what we wanted in the first place. Thanks for looking out for us, Diana!!

Derek the Sunbeam!

Oh, my little Sunbeam. Derek was really excited about being out of the baby class (nursery). He really liked it and although he is the oldest kid in his class, he would not sit in a chair, only on the floor (?) and insisted on standing next to me while I taught Sharing Time. That is definitely better than screaming or tantrum throwing (which he isn't in to, but I really didn't know what to expect.) I just had a scary thought. What if Derek never sits with his class, always with me, and Austin, who refuses to go to nursery without Derek, is on my lap and my new baby is in one arm while I scan class lists in the other. (I was thinking specifically of when Matt goes backpacking this summer or something. Can you imagine? The image of myself with my entourage of three children while trying to maintain order in Primary made me laugh pretty hard. I think the weekend he goes backpacking, I will be going to stay with my mom or his mom.)

Mothers Without Borders Boutique 2009

It's he-re!! Today and tomorrow, November 6 and 7, the annual Mothers Without Borders Boutique will be held in two locations: Chantilly Mansion in Layton, Utah and the Mellor Hidden Meadow Reception Center in Lehi. We are open from 9am until 6pm, there will lots of amazing things!! Come say hi, Tara will be in Layton all day today and I will be in Layton all day tomorrow.


Come and check it out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. The last 4-5 days I have felt so much better!! Still nauseous, but that horrific exhaustion is gone. Hurray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Big 30!!

Last week I turned 30. Unfortunately, I still feel like a 15 year old pretending to be a grown-up. We had a week of celebration. Matt and I got to go on a great birthday date, thanks to his parents, the 5 of us ate an entire Costco cake (it took us a week), I got some great presents and just had fun.





On Friday night, my sister Tara threw a bday party for me at her house. It was really fun to hang out with family and Tara planned some fun things. I love pie, so she ordered everyone to bring a pie and I had to taste them all and choose the best. They were all so good. I only took teeny bites of each one, and I still couldn't eat any for dessert later. Then we moved on to games. Tara and David had compiled a list of songs (starting in 1990, til now) that either remind me of a certain year, or a song I loved that year. I won't put all of them down here, but some of them were:

*I Saw the Sign-Ace of Base
*Alone-Heart
*Don't Stop Believing-Journey
*The Macarena
*The Promise-When In Rome
*If I Could Turn Back Time-Cher
*Wannabe-Spice Girls (Sabrina, Jackie and Lorna, I KNOW you remember this)
*Blue- (Liz and Brooke, do you remember dancing to this at Trolley Square? It always reminds me of you guys.)
*Viva La Vida-Coldplay.
*Inevitable-Shakira (not Americanized, skanky Shakira, more wholesome Colombian Shakira)

Those are just a few, but Tara would play a bit of the song and guests would have to name it. Afterward, we played Laurie Mad Libs. Tara had printed out all these true statements, leaving one word blank. It was funny to see what people came up with. (However, the most hilarious part was Tara and I on the phone earlier in the day making them up. I was laughing so hard I was crying. ) It was a blast. I loved the mix CD and I have been listening to it all weekend. I love 30!!

General Conference Idea

I have been trying to think of ways to make General Conference special for my kids. We were going to go up to Temple Square and listen on the grass tomorrow, but since there is snow on the ground and I am wimp about the cold, we scratched that idea. We made a yummy, special breakfast and then set up our tent.

Last night, my sister, Tara, told me about this cute idea she had seen on this website. The night before General Conference, the family spoke about King Benjamin and how he gathered his people together to hear him speak. They pitched their tents to face him and everyone had to be quiet enough so that his words would carry to everyone. Last night, I spoke with the boys about King Benjamin and talked to them about how neat it was that we were going to hear Prophets speak and so forth. Following the lead of the family I mentioned earlier, this morning we set up a tent, facing the TV, we filled it with treats and crayons and General Conference coloring packets (thanks, Christina!). (The family on the site built a fort.) We put a sign on top that says, "Shhh, Reverent Zone". The boys loved it and did pretty good. Zack and Derek were pretty quiet throughout the first session, but were definitely ready for the break. (Thankfully, Austin was asleep, or it would not have been quite so calm.) It was a fun idea and so I wanted to share. Everyone have a great weekend!!

No Photos of the Sarah Palin Costume

I have had several requests for pictures of my Sarah Palin costume. Not gonna happen. It doesn't translate very well in the pictures and I will leave it to your imaginations. But it was awesome. (It helps that I have the hairstyle down, since as Amy remembers, I fixed my hair like that everyday in 9th grade!)

Tag

8 TV Shows:
The Amazing Race
The Office
Sid the Science Kid (PBS Kids)
Fetch with Ruff Ruffman (PBS Kids)

*That is all I have, as you can see we don't have cable, which is good for our family. And the majority of shows I watch are with kids.

8 Restaurants:

Costa Azul/ Cafe Rio
Jason's Deli
Magelby's Fresh
Black Angus
Olive Garden
Mi Ranchito
Sweet Tomatoes
Maple Gardens

8 Things I did Yesterday:

10,000 loads of laundry (ok, really 8 or 9)
played outside with the kids
got most of the house pretty clean
made soup for the ward Halloween Party
went to the ward Halloween Party
wrestled with Derek
read books with Zack and Derek
rearranged Austin's room

8 Things I am Looking Forward to:

Halloween!
Thanksgiving
Decorating for Christmas
Having all of my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving!
Going on a date with Matt sometime soon.
Getting Derek potty-trained. (he has zero interest.)
Ridding poor Austin of ear-infections.
Christmas traditions

8 Things on My Wish List:

Plants in my front yard
a bigger kitchen table
A vacation with Matt
Taking the kids to Disneyland
Visiting my parents in Uruguay
Visit every continent (it doesn't hurt to dream big!)
Pay off the house!
lots more food storage.


I tag: Tara (just in case you ever decide to start blogging again)
Christina J.
Emily
Jami C.

Issues

Well, today was a pretty good day. Derek has not been to time-out a single time. We made cookies. I showered AND FIXED MY HAIR. (which is really a miracle.) I even mopped the kitchen floor and entry hall. (another miracle. one of my least favorite chores since the tile stretches all the way from the front door, through a hallway, past a square of carpet we call the family room, and into the kitchen, which is quite a large kitchen and I don't feel justified in mopping just the kitchen, I have to do the whole tiled area.)
Anyway, on with my story:
There will be a couple little side-stories in here, so bear with me. Oh wait, I need to do one more side-story before I continue with the main event. I have phone issues. Okay, I have a lot of issues, people spitting, clowns, and the stinky mink farm near my house. But back to the phone issues. Over a year ago, Matt bought us a set of three cordless Panasonic phones. They each had their own charging station and we placed them in the kitchen, master bedroom and office, respectively. Now, just for reference, the office is in the loft area of our house. The desk is scooted up against this half wall and about a foot of railing that overlooks the front hall. The phone is on the edge of the desk, probably a good foot away from the railing. (Can you see where this is going?)
So a month or two ago, Matt was on the computer, I was standing next to the desk chatting with him and the children were running amok. The phone was on the couch, directly behind the desk. I picked it up, so as to replace it in its little phone cradle home. I was reaching for it, I swear I do not know how this happened, but as I was reaching, I lost my balance, the phone landed haphazardly in the cradle, but the momentum of my reaching was so great that the phone continued past the cradle, through the bars of the railing and down to the tile floor, a good 15 feet below. I ran down the stairs to pick it up and discovered the battery lying next to the phone. I put it all back together and saw that the screen was slightly scrambled. Only the top half of any number, name, etc. would show. Not too bad considering how far it had fallen. We re-assigned that phone to the master bedroom, because we don't use that one as much. One phone down.
About two weeks ago I was talking on the phone and making lunch. I opened the cupboard right next to the fridge to get a glass and at that moment Derek swung the refrigerator door open with such force that it hit my arm and I dropped the phone. On the tile floor. I frantically checked it to make sure it was working and discovered the screen was completely useless. Not even half of the info showed up. Nada. I put off telling Matt until I was running out the door to a Relief Society meeting that night. He took it fairly well, considering. Two down.
So today, after a pretty good day, I took Austin to see his pediatrician. (Where both Zack and Derek were very, very much not on their best behavior. The verdict was that the poor baby has another double ear infection. That would be his third since the first of September. So I came home and put Austin in his high chair for a snack, set the other kids in front of the TV and called my insurance company to see what a set of tube is going to cost me. (not too bad, and poor Austin will finally have some relief). After I finished with a very nice and helpful customer service rep, I called our favorite ENT for an appointment. (she knows us well.) I was talking to the receptionist when Zack and Derek started screaming and fighting and going completely crazy. I retreated to the front room, to escape some of the noise, because I literally could not hear anything this lady was saying. She then asked for my insurance number, and i realized the card was back in the kitchen with my wallet. I ran quickly past the screaming children, and as I rounded the corner, you guessed it, I slipped on a patch of tile that was not completely dry and landed on a knee, elbow and my wrist hit the ground a milisecond later. The wrist that connects to the hand THAT WAS HOLDING THE PHONE. THE LAST REMAINING PHONE WITH A WORKING SCREEN. And.....I saved it. I saved the phone!!!!! At the expense of having bruises for our family pictures on Saturday. (thank goodness I'll have long sleeves.) Matt is so proud. And the receptionist never even knew what happened. I jumped up, hobbled to the counter and gave her the necessary information, hobbled back to the phone cradle and gently placed the phone in its resting place. And now, the kids are still fighting, Austin is still crying and clinging to me and my knee and wrist are throbbing. I think I need a bubble bath. OR a shopping trip, or dinner out, for saving the phone, at least I should get dinner out! Oh, wait....since I broke the other two phones, maybe I will just go for the bubble bath.

Just a few tidbits...for mi madre

This past Saturday we took the boys to the first BYU game of the season. They were pretty good, considering we made them sit on a hard little bench for nearly four hours. They were all singing the fight song (ok, not Austin) and cheering with the crowd.
Austin really enjoyed my birthday cake.
For my mom, who really wanted to see how my garden grows.
And again, for mom who wanted to see the aforementioned cute dress and coat. Thanks mom! And also, thanks to Stephanie for planning a fun, fun, fun Thompson Girl Cousin sleepover on Friday. It was a blast!

It's My Birthday, Shout Hurray!!

Can you say SPOILED ROTTEN!! Today is my birthday, hooray!!! I had such a fun, great day, (except for the part where a neighbor asked if I was turning 34!?!? I mean, I don't mind looking my age one bit, but to tack on an extra five years!!! He is so not getting any Christmas cookies this year!)
I started the day by sleeping in, (thanks, Matthew!) and then we had a nice relaxing day at home. My parents called from Uruguay and told me to go buy something from them (I currently have a blank check from them to reimburse me for some recent purchases to send down to them...so they said add a bit more and get myself something fun!) So Matt and I and the kiddoes headed to my favorite store, because I already knew what I wanted, a really cute coat. But when I got there, I found a dress that was also REALLY cute and I had a hard time deciding between them. When I finally did decide on the coat, Matt bought the dress for me anyway because the gifts he had for me were all ordered online and none had arrived yet, :)

We got some take out for lunch and just played with the boys and Matt entertained them while I enjoyed cleaning out some closets without interruption, which I quite enjoyed. Then, in the evening, Matt's whole family came down for volleyball, pizza and cake and wow, I got spoiled rotten. My awesome in-laws gave me some haning baskets for my deck that are going to look so pretty. My sisters-in-law gave me all kinds of cute things, including 18 pairs of socks!! I was admiring Kailee's cute socks on a recent trip and mentioned that I didn't have any cute socks. :) And then Matt handed me a whole bunch of gift bags and in each one was a printout of one of the gifts he had gotten that were still in route to our house. :) He is a dork, but a very cute dork. I was laughing so hard. So possibly tomorrow, or in the next 3-5 business days, I am getting some jeans, some Broadway soundtracks and a ClearPlay DVD player!!! I am really excited about that last one. (It filters content on DVDs according to what settings you have it on.) So, yes, I am spoiled rotten and it was a very fun day. Now, I get to have a soak in the tub with a good book while Matt puts the kids to bed. Could life be any better? I think not!

Run, Laurie, Run

This past Saturday, I ran in the Ogden Relay Marathon. It was so much fun. Really! I had been totally dreading it, but was surprised at how much I enjoyed myself since, 1. I am not athletically inclined and have a particular loathing for running, and 2. because when my sister talked me into doing this I couldn't run more than a block before I was winded and trying not to throw up. Luckily, I only had to run five miles, which to all you athletes out there is not much at all, but to me, it was plenty. I spent the entire night before, alternately comforting a fussy Austin and having nightmares of falling flat on my face in front of thousands of people. My team was made up of my sister's sister-in-law, Tiff Ralphs, my sister-in-law, Mikel and my brother-in-law Chad. Four things made the experience truly enjoyable for me:
1. Running down beautiful Ogden Canyon in Spring.
2. Getting to the area I had to sit around and wait for my team member to arrive and discovering that Matt's awesome cousin, Steph would be hanging out there, waiting for her team too. (Nothing makes time fly like chatting with someone fun!)
3. Mikel handing off to me and asking if she could keep running with me, having company was so much better than running alone! (Superwoman Mikel just kept on going and ended up running a total of 19 mi!)
4. The adrenaline rush and accomplishing a goal that seemed way out of my reach only two months before!
Here I am fake running because Matt was parking the car when I actually finished and handed off to Chad. (He thought I would be much slower, but thanks to me trying desperately to keep up with Mikel, we were pretty fast.)
Our team, minus Tiff, who has to race home to feed a starving baby. It was a fun day!

I am.....oh bummer.

Take the Quiz here!

You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense and Sensibility. You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

So I took this quiz three times and each time I came up with Elinor Dashwood. No offense to any other Elinor Dashwood types out there, but I was hoping for Elizabeth Bennet. Oh, well, Elinor has her good points too. And if I had to choose between Mr. Darcy and Edward Ferris I would probably choose Edward. So there you go. My mom and sister and I had tons of fun guessing who eveyone would be. Take the quiz and find out who you are!!

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Sidenote: Just so you know, it is not like I do not like Elinor or anything, she is actually one of my favorite characters. I was just kind of surprised by my results. I can see how I am Elinor, but I also see pieces of myself in all the Jane Austen heroines. But my Elinor side is strongest. Some of the characteristics are things I recognize in myself, and can appreciate, but others are both good and bad. Let's just say it has been fun and informative for me to think about the pros and cons of these characteristics. Thanks for sharing which character you are!