First Half of March 2011

     I do not know why but March is always a super packed month for us.  Everything seems to happen in March.  Maybe people think the weather will start to be nice in March? I have no idea what it is but mans alive my schedule is packed this month. Here are some highlights of the first 2 or so weeks.

 Dallen and I painted one of the walls in Claira's room for her birthday.  She is not into pink anymore and wants to paint her whole room green  but I do not want to do all that work, for a color she is not going to be in love with in 2 more years.   So we painted just one wall.  It went pretty quick  but we ran out of paint half way through.  Luckily Sandy was in town and picked me up  another can.  The paint can said that it was a paint and primer in one  and would cover 380 square feet.   We were  only painting one wall so I figured it would cover.  But the paint was really thin.  I guess that is what I get for not going to Home Depot or Lowes to get the paint.   Now Dallen wants his room painted.  I told him maybe this summer......maybe.

 Claira going into her room after school that day.  It took her a while to even notice the wall. All she noticed was that I cleaned her room and made her bed.

 Later that evening we opened presents.  There was not much to open  but she got everything she wanted except some church dresses.  We looked and looked online for a week before her birthday but we found nothing that was both modest and that she liked.  So when we go to Reno next we will get a couple church dresses and maybe some shorts for the summer.

 

Then we had cake for dessert.  The weekend before  Claira had a sleep over with a couple of friends.  We watched Napoleon Dynamite, ate tons of Pizza, had banana splits for dessert (well I had bananas), and the girls played xbox and wii.   It was a night of lots of high pitched girly shrills. 

The rest of our afternoons have been filled with lots and lots of Volleyball....

We also had New Beginings at church.  The girls were in charge which was nice for us leaders.  It was nice and small and quick.  Quick is always a plus on a Sunday evening.  They made a Value Fruit Salad. 

February 2011

     February, well my household calendar is super full so we must have done a lot.  Even with all the activities with the kids I did manage to find time to do something for myself.

 

I made this bag. I love it it holds so much. I am hoping to make another one soon. 

We had wonderful spring like weather the first part of February.  Then it hit.  We got hammered with snow. Claira had the 14th off and also the 21st (for Valentines Day and President's Day).  On the 15th it was so windy that they called a late start and then the power went out so they ended up calling for no school that day.  The 16th the power was still out so no school again and it started to snow.  Luckily we had power the whole time, we are on a different power company than the school.  On Thursday  the snow had let up a bit and so they had school.  Thursday night another storm rolled in and they should have called a no school day because weather wise it was the worst day of the week but they did not.  An hour later the power went out again and so they called a minimum day.  The picture above is the snow that we got on Thursday, it just kept coming and coming.

Dallen did not have too much going on in Feb. just keeping up with his school work and scouts.  He finished up all the requirements for his bear.  So he is now a weblows.

Claira continued with Club Volleyball every Tuesday and Thursday. At the end of the month open gym for school volleyball began.  In 4-H we worked on our quilt tops for fair.  In photography for 4-H we did a fun little photo booth for the Milford Fire Department's Annual Fundraiser Dinner.  That was a lot of fun the kids learned so much from it.

Every year the 6th grade kids are allowed to attend one dance a year.  Traditionally it is the Valentine's Day Dance. At this dance they announce the King and Queen (8th grade) and Prince and Princess (7th Grade).  Claira found out on Thursday that Claira was one of the two nominations for Princess.  I thought this was pretty exciting  but Claira was not that excited.  She could have cared less either way.  Claira did not win but she was totally fine with it.  

These are the pre-Dance pictures.  A whole bunch of girls got ready together at the Fortin's house.  Claira is not really a fancy dancy kind of girl  she rather just put her hair in a pony or a bun and call it good.  For this dance we told her she had to get her hair done because she was going to be in front of everyone for the whole Princess thing.  So she agreed to let Hannah do her hair.

 

January 2011

     Hmmm  What did January hold for us?   Claira started Club Volleyball.  I figured if she wanted to try out for school volleyball team she needed to see if she really liked volleyball first.  After the first practice she loved it and decided that she was going to try out for the school team.  So every Tuesday and Wednesday night I drove Claira to town for Club Volleyball.

     We made a yummy looking turkey....

it tasted good too.

     Dallen learned how to ride his new (to him) motorcycle.  The neighbors were nice enough to come over and give him some tips.  They even gave us their old riding gear.  He loves riding but can only ride once all his school work and chores are done for the day.

Claira had a school dance towards the end of the month.  Here are some of the highlights....

     Savanah, Claira, Erika, Deanna and Julie before the dance.

       Logan and Claira dancing.

       Deanna, Heather, Julie, Callie, Erika, Savanah and Claira.

December 2010

     I have been wanting to update my blog for weeks.  There is just never any time for me to get "my" things accomplished.  So tonight I could not sleep, after laying there for an hour trying to fall asleep I decided that I might as well get up and accomplish something.
      My last post was the middle of December.  Really it was not a post at all, just a note saying to check out a contest.  Many contests have you post on your blog or on Facebook as to spread the word about the contests.  If you post on your blog about a contest you will often get an extra entry, so hey what can it hurt.

     I find it so much easier to read blogs that have pictures.  It just keeps my attention so much better :)  So lets see what pictures I have from December....

Well first pics I come across was the Janesville Wrestling Tournament.  Since there are no wrestling pictures of my own kid I will not share, but I did get some good shots.  Dallen had so much fun being back on the mat cheering on his old teammates as they wrestled.  Of course he was yelling at them telling them to sprawl and such  just as always.

     The next set of pictures is the Janesville Christmas Program.  The Jr High kids always do some type of dance at the performance rather than sing a song.  Thankfully my kid is short and was once again in one of the front rows.  As soon as the program was over I took Claira out of school for the day, all they were going to do was goof around and eat junk food.  So Claira and Jessica came home with me and had a party of their own.

                                                          Deanna Julie and Claira

Dancing Queen

     Then we have the pictures from the Soccer Team Christmas Party.  Of course it was inside in the evening  (never makes for good pictures), and the girls were always moving (also another picture nightmare).  There are a few that turned out OK.

Claira and Jessica

It was actually Holly's 12th birthday that day too.



















They had an ornament exchange and Sally and Jessica saw this ornament and knew it was a perfect one for Claira.  So they worked it so that Claira was able to win the ornament.







     At the end of the night we let the girls let off sparklers.... 

 

Jessica

     Then came Christmas but I do not have any of those pictures edited yet.  For some reason Christmas pictures are always hard for me.  I feel like it is pictures of the same things over and over again....this gift and that gift.  Plus I think it bothers me to have pictures of the Christmas mess. Kinda an OCD thing.

     After Christmas we went to Granny's to see my boys.  I had never actually celebrated KK's birthday with him ever.  The end of December is just a hard time to come down the mountain.  You never know when there is going to be snow until a day or so before hand and then you have to worry about if you can get back up the mountain when you need to get back home.  I was a nervous wreck this time coming home because I knew that it was supposed to snow.  And it did.  Snow does not bother me here but in the mountains where you have no cell service and cliffs to drive off of and trees to hit.  It has begun to freak me out ever since we spun off the road on our way home from Redding  on May 22nd.  It just took me looking down for one second and BAM  I must have hit the slick road just right and we were spinning off the road..... anyways here are some of my favorite pics from KK's 5th birthday. 

 Dallen Granny and KK

Birthday Boy

 Grampy building legos with Dallen and TJ

Claira and TJ

 Can you roll  your eyes as good as this kid?

 

Week 49- Opps

Wow week 49 last post was week 33 and I did not even post that full week  until today.  I figured now that I am home most days again  that I will start blogging again.  I changed my blogger template  I was tired of the plain boring template.  But when I did that many of my pictures did not fully show up  so I went back through my old posts and fixed all the pictures.  So I have gotten NOTHING done today.  That seems to be the way my days are going lately.   I also set up a new blog just for  pictures  so that when I enter contests and need to do blog post about photography things I can just post on that blog rather than linking my "family" blog up for all the world to access ( well easier access I guess).

So what happened in the last 16 weeks?   I was overly busy that is what! 
     Claira played competitive soccer and so we were gone every weekend from September to mid November.  We are currently on a "Holiday Break" from soccer  and practice will begin again after the Holidays. It was a lot of fun doing the whole soccer thing but I am so glad to be taking a little break.  Claira is also doing 4-H again.  I am still the sewing leader but we are calling it Quilting rather than sewing just because we are making quilts for fair. Claira really likes making the stuff this year and wants to do so many projects on her own but there is just not enough time.

     I was released from YW and put back in 2 minutes later.  I am now working with Amy Lott she is new in our ward and it seems to be going well so far. I am taking a break from the PO for a bit  well OK  I guess break is not the right word but I have had to cut my hours back dramatically  last week I only worked 2 hours the week before 3.  Yeah, big change from the 20 I was working.  Since I am not working so much I am trying to catch up on all the projects I have waiting to be finished.  I am not really making much progress on that though.

     Dallen is now doing Charter School.  I could no longer handle the stuff going on there so we pulled him out.  So far it is working out great  we were very lucky in that the teacher we were placed with is a special Education teacher and is helping him learn to "deal " with his crazy learning style,  she also happens to be a member of the church just in a ward in town.  She is giving him a lot of writing assignments to challenge him and get him to start learning how to get things that he knows down on paper.  If you are to ask him about a book that he just read, verbally he can tell you all about it but he can not seem to get it out on paper.  We picked up our assignments for the next 4 weeks ( but 2 of those weeks are Christmas Vacation so we do not have to do school work),   and in the assignment he has to write a fiction story.  The story has to have 9 paragraphs in it.  I am positive that this will be a big challenge for him  but with a whole month to complete the task  it should be doable.  Since he is not enrolled in Janesville school he is not allowed to wrestle with the team.  This was the hardest part about withdrawing him from school cause he loves to wrestle and is so good at it.  I did not want to take away the thing that he excels at the most  but school will just become harder  each year if he does not get the help he needs now.

So that is what has been going on here.  Let's see if I can keep up with my little blog at least for the rest of the year.

Week 33 August 8th thru August 14th

Sunday- We are back home and totally exhausted.  Getting up in time for church was really hard.  But Dallen was the one who was up and ready to go this week.  After church we swung by Carol's house to pick up our peaches.  They were nice and yummy! Eddie came home from work and made us some yummy venison stroganof for dinner.

Monday- I went to work in the morning.... no real new developments as to how much money the job is being offered for.  So until I even know how much per hour there is no way I am going to say either ya or nay about accepting the job.    Claira and Dallen both had soccer practice.  It is the perfect time for me to walk on the track for a half hour while both of them are still practicing in the same location.  Today though, I forgot my darn tennis shoes.  So, I ended up walking in my flip flops for a total of one mile.  After one mile I knew I was going to end up with blisters in-between my toes.   So that is as far as I went.  Hopefully this can be a routine for me.

Tuesday- The peaches were getting nice and soft, actually too soft.  So soft that actually canning them was not going to work out.  Claira and I pealed them and cut them into quarters and then froze about 10 pounds worth.  Then I started to make jam out of the other 10 pounds.  I did not have enough pectin though, so we froze a bit more and will have to pick up some more pectin soon.  Standing on my feet all day cooking is not for me!! It stresses me out big time.   I did get quite a bit of peach jam made up.  I am thinking I will us the peach jam instead of pineapple apricot for Russian Chicken, cause I really do not think we will go through that much peach jam in a years time.    In the evening we had a sewing meeting at the house.  Sandy was nice enough to spring for some Papa Murphy's Pizza.  It was a nice and easy dinner  and a good easy meeting to get the girls APRs updated and done.  Dallen and Eddie left today to go camping for a couple days up at Antelope Lake.  It is nice to have a little piece and quiet around here. 

Week 29- July 11th thru July 17th

Sunday-Today I drove down to Sac to drop Claira off for soccer camp.  Adrienne met me at Grandma's and  she took Claira down to Turlock for a week of soccer.  After the left Torrie and David came over with brand new baby Lucas and Miss Abby.  Lucas looks just like Dallen did when he was a baby.  And Dallen looked just like Lance when he was a baby.  It is kinda funny and scary how dominate the Sorenson genes are.  Later that evening my boy Kayden came over to visit.  He was so excited that I was there, he wanted me to spend the night at his house.  I told him I could spend the night one night at his house the next time I came to town.

Monday- Today I went shopping for a bit with Mom and then to lunch.  Then it was back on the road to Janesville.  Dallen and Eddie went to Reno with Shawn, Marybeth, Trevor, Sarah and Paige.  They had fun living it up at Scheels and eating sushi.

Week 28- July 4th thru July 10th

Sunday- Today was the 4th of July.  It is everyone's favorite holiday in this house but mine.  I just feel like I am lighting my money on fire and just watching it go up in smoke.  But every year I get voted out, and we go spend big money on fireworks.  At least it is only once a year.  This year we headed over to the Aston's house for dinner.  Then headed to town to watch the fireworks from the fair grounds. From there we all went over to the Satndback's to light off our personal fireworks.  It was a lot of fun and the kids all had a blast.

Monday-It is so nice when holidays are on a Sunday.  At least from a postal standpoint.  Today was a postal holiday!  It was nice to be able to stay home and not have to go into work.  Not much got done today but it was nice to just sit around and relax.

Tuesday- All good things must come to an end.  It was back to work today.  Work days after a holiday are HORRIBLE at the Post Office.  The mail was off the hook.

Week 27 - June 27th thru July 3rd

Man I have done it again, I am 6 weeks behind on blogging again.  It is going to take me awhile to remember what all went on.  The summer seems busier than during the school season.

Week 26 - June 20th thru 26th

Here it is another almost month since I updated my blog..... looks like I did not learn my lesson from last time.

     Sunday was Fathers Day.  Thursday  of last week we learned that the YW were in charge of the Fathers Day gifts in church.  If we had more time the possibilities would be endless.   Since that is not the case here, Annette came up with a great idea.  Thank heavens I have a great president, without her this job would not be so much fun, and would be quite a bit of stress.   Annette purchased some cute little boxes and decided to make some  little banana bread loafs to put inside them.  She baked everything and wrapped them up all by herself.  All I had to do was print up some Happy Fathers Day tags.   Here is what they turned out like....

     After church we came home and got started on making Eddie his Fathers Day dinner.  ( Potato Salad, Rib-Eye, garlic bread and banana cream pie for dessert)  Eddie came home and we opened presents.  He got his blanket, and a new cordless drill set and some chaps.  Shortly after, Elder Fetner and his splits companion arrived.  Our house was a total disaster with wrapping paper and presents all over the living room.  The companion  asked if it was someone's birthday....  I said no,  what is today???..... Fathers Day?!?.... Yeah..... You guys give present?......UMMM yeah........oh we just walk by and say Happy Fathers Day.   He was surprised that we did so much for Fathers Day.

     After dinner Eddie went out to look at his truck.  On his way home he was hearing some noises that he wanted to check out.  He took it for a test drive and almost did not make it back.  He got back and figured out that he had some big issues.  The Hub was bad the axle, barrings, etc.  So it was a bad end to a good day.

Monday-Eddie came home from workk and of course the only thing on his mind was looking  at the truck and trying to fix it.  With not having the right tools, an organized garage and no cement pad to lay down and work on the truck at, he decided to just take it into Les Schwab to have it fixed.  It was not an easy decision but he was already stressed out about cutting firewood before the woods are closed.  He needs the truck fixed as fast as possible.

Tuesday- This morning I called good old Susanville Towing and had them come out and tow the truck into town.  Les Schwab said they would be able to fix the truck with in about a week.  Hopefully this way Eddie can not stress so much about getting it fixed.   For YW tonight we did a "Chopped" type cook off with 1st and 2nd wards.  The girls had so much fun.  We gave them a few key ingredients and they had to make a dessert out of them.  Our girls were the ones who ended up winning!  We hope that this will become a little tradition with in the 3 wards to kinda keep us connected a little.

Wednesday-Today we just hung out waiting for the paycheck to arrive but it never came.  Claira had soccer practice and that was about it.

Thursday- Woo Hoo  the paycheck has arrived!  So we decided to head to Reno and do a real food shopping trip.  We had not gone real shopping in over a month and things were getting a little low.  We took the entire day and shopped and shopped.  We tried out a new sushi restaurant, Sushi 7.  We really liked it  it was nice and bright, the owners were very friendly  and they have kids too so they were very understanding with the kids.  The food was good too.  We even tried a roll that had banana on top of it.  It was ok I thought, Eddie and Dallen did not like it though.

Saturday- Today Eddie had a holiday from work.

Week 25- June 13th thru 19th

     Our week was super busy as always.... I thought summer would be a little less running around but I guess not.  In fact I got my oil changed when I was in Sacramento the 2nd week of May,  and I am already due for another oil change.  It has only been 6 WEEKS!

     Sunday our lesson in YW was on keeping a journal.  Not one of the girls actually writes in a journal.  I totally did at their age.   I do not keep a personal journal anymore I just use my blog as a journal.... one with things that you do not mind the rest of the world reading.  But I do have it printed out so that it is actually on paper not just in cyber-land.

     Monday was soccer.  Thank heavens we carpool with the Fortin family otherwise soccer would absolutely drain me mentally, physically, and financially.  3 hour practices are too long to just sit there and wait, and just short enough that once I did drive back home I would not be home for long before running back to town.  Thankfully  I only have to drive one way and Sandy drives the other way. 

     Tuesday the YW met here and we learned how to use Royal Icing.  It was really fun  decorating the cookies.  I think these lessons on cake decorating  have been so much fun for the girls.  Some of them have really learned a lot. 

    Wednesday we drove to Reno and picked up Eddie's  "New to Him Truck".  It was a rather exhausting afternoon.  We could not meet the guy until 4 as he had to be at work.  So there was no point in leaving first thing in the morning.  Claira had soccer so we left her with Sandy around 1.  Then we headed to the bank in Reno.  We arrived at the bank to see a note on the door. "This Branch is Closed"   What the heck we were just here 3 weeks before making sure that this bank was a "sister-bank"  to our bank in Sacramento, and that we would be able to pull out enough money at one time to purchase the truck.  So that added a bunch of anxiety.   So I called a bank on the list of "close branches"  to see where in the world they were located.  Of course they had to be in the most awkward location.  Down town Reno  where there is no parking and streets are screwy,  and it was on the 3rd floor of a medical office.  Who would have thought to look for a bank there????  So I went in to get a check printed for the sellers and plain forgot there last name.   So  down I had to go to find the boys in the car to get the paper that had the last name -  cause Eddie did not bring his cell with him.   Then back up and got the paper work.   After all was said and done it was an hour later than planned  and it was now time to get back on the road to meet the guy.  They happen to live in Red Rock, which is a very cute little valley but of course it is about 40 min from Reno towards home.   So we get there and they are very nice people.  We stayed and chatted for a while, the wife was feeling a little guilty because her husband was getting rid of his baby because of her.  She was just getting to "old" to ride in the truck anymore.  Once that was done I headed home and Eddie headed to Reno to go to Home Depot  so he could get some supplies to build a wood rack.  

(I will upload a pic of the new truck tomorrow)

     Thursday was another oh so fun day.  Registering the truck!  It took Eddie all morning.  The rest of our money was turned over to the Great State of California, and we were given a sticker to place on the truck in return.   Dallen and Eddie built the racks that afternoon, while I had a presidency meeting in the house.  It was a very productive meeting.  We planned some fun things for the girls.  That evening Claira and I got the joy of attending a 4-H counsel meeting.  It was not that bad but it just ment another trip into town.

    Friday we slept in - that is one nice thing about summer  I HATE getting up in the mornings no matter if it is 4 or 9,  though it is a little easier at 9.   Then we watched Alice in Wonderland while I worked on Eddie's Fathers Day blanket.  It is a rag quilt and dang my fingers hurt by the time I was done snipping the edges.  2 of my fingers still hurt and are a little tingly.   He better like it Dang it!   I know he will. he had been asking for one for a while now.

( I will post a picture of the blanket tomorrow  it is currently wrapped up in a box)

     Saturday (today- man I am on top of blogging this week hehehe), I took the truck out for the first time.  It is alot higher than I am used to driving and a lot wider and it is a deisel so there are a few things I am not used to.  So I did not drive as my peppy self.  Our first adventure was to the DUMP!!!   I was so excited to have a truck again so that we could make a run to the dump.  Sick I know, but that is what I was most excited about.  We filled up the truck, honestly could have gotten a little more in it  but I was not in the mood to stuff it as full as I could.  And off we went.  Of course I am so short that I had to scoot the seat up nice and close, which ment I could not even use my side mirrors.  Eddie is going to have to purchase different mirrors for me. (These ones are not adjustable.)  The guy at the dump, the worker, just sat there and gave me dirty looks while I slowly tried to back up. I think honestly he was hoping that I would hit his truck and boof it.  We got the yucky garbage unloaded and were out of there.  Man that is a stinky place. 

      Now we are just hanging out waiting for Eddie to come home from work.  The kids are playing the Wii and Xbox  ( yeah not at the same time - just back and forth between games)  and here I sit on the puter trying to stay on top of things. 

Week 24- June 6th thru June 12th

     It took me forever but I got caught up on the blog.  It is way easier just to do it week by week but sometimes there are just not enough hours in the day.

     This was our first full week of summer.   Monday, Dallen went swimming all day up at the Carters.  He always has fun running around on their ranch up there.  Claira and I went to town and ran some errons.  I  decided that at least during the summer I was just going to work 3 days a week max.  I just want to be able to have fun and actually go places with the kids while school is out.  So day one of no work turned out to be perfect that I was not there.

    Monday also happened to be our anniversary. 14 Years.  We decided to go out to dinner.  We ended up heading into town for Chinese at our regular Chinese spot. Claira and Dallen stayed home and ate our leftovers when we got back.

    Tuesday, we had another cake decorating class here.  This time the girls were to come with a cake that was fully frosted and they would do the fun decorating part here.  It was lots of fun they all have improved a lot.  Here are a few pics from that night.

Claira decorating her cake

Her final product 

Sam and her cupcake

Miss Paige

Kambry's finished product

     Wednesday, Claira ended up having soccer and Sandy was nice enough to take Claira both ways for me.  Dallen was up camping at the lake with Darrell.  He left for Darrell's house Monday night and was not going to be back until Thursday afternoon.

     Thursday, Dallen came back home.  Claira was so excited about that as you can imagine.

     Friday was the ward pot luck dinner and baseball game at Janesville Park.  So we headed over, Eddie even came with.  He actually ended up playing baseball too.  I did not!  It was a fun time.  We played beach blanket volley ball.  Eddie was himself and grabbed a hold of the water balloons and tagged Tara with them, she was a good sport though and grabbed some herself and tried to get him back.  It was quite funny.  Then we played a pioneer game of tag.  Basically everyone has 3 clothes pics on the back of your shirt and you run around and try to steal them off the other people.  Last one in wins.  The YW ended up getting me to  play that it was fun but man it is hard going against fast little kids.  Here are some pics from the evening.





     Saturday, Claira had soccer all day. It was good though cause it left me and Dallen home alone to get some things done.  She is going to have soccer every other sat all summer.  It shall be interesting.

I Heart Faces Photo Walk - Sacramento

 I attended the I Heart Faces Photo Walk in Sacramento this past weekend.  April Williams and I drove down together.  It was our first Photo Walk so we really did not know what to expect.  It turned out to be a lot of fun and we plan to attend some more soon.  I am not a professional photographer by any means but  I love taking pictures for fun.  Here are a FEW of my pictures from our walk. (The girl in most of the pictures in Marina, she was our model.)