October 2020

Halloween time!  

We started putting Halloween up in September when we got home from the Ranch.  There's always lots to do with our huge yard display.  We have so many ideas for new projects to add to the yard.  For several years when Rem first started the Halloween display I was starting to dislike the month of October which is sad because it's my birthday month and I usually love it.  But with him always in the garage building something, spending money on something, only could talk about Halloween projects, I was starting to dislike it.  Finally this year I started getting more into with him and started having fun with it and liking it more.  One of my favorite things is that we started taking walks with our neighbor friends almost every single night.  We would walk around the block and enjoy looking at some of the other Halloween houses and then stand out in front of our houses and talk for a while and just hang out.  They started getting into Halloween this year too and did a yard display.  I really enjoyed our October evenings.

Harper loved watching the singing pumpkins.

One of the fun Halloween houses in our neighborhood.

Farm at Gardner Village

We went to the farm and Gardner Village with my mom and sisters and our little ones that weren't in school.  They loved seeing and feeding the animals.  Poor Harper got bit by one of the bunnies.

Then we went to lunch and explored around the shops and all the witches.  I love spending time with my mom and sisters.

Goodmans Halloween Party

Our good friends in the neighborhood always throw a fun Halloween Party.  They did it outside this year because of Covid.  Rem and I won BEST COUPLE COSTUME.  

Carving Pumpkins and Outdoor Movie Night

Our friends, the Suprises wanted to carve pumpkins together so we made a whole thing out of it.  We first went over to Gardner Village and picked out some pumpkins and then back to our house to carve them.  They picked up some pizza and we turned on a movie.  It was super fun and such a nice evening to be out all night.  We will have to make this one a tradition.

Silly kids

Our kids really love Halloween too!  This was on the 11th of October and they all went and put on costumes and went trick-or-treating back and forth to each other's houses.

Harper and her friend Julian playing.  Harper is 10 months older than Julian believe it or not.

Black and Orange Halloween Day

Another Halloween party!  We started this tradition last year where the kids invite some friends over all day long and we do a craft, games, lunch and/or dinner (with black and orange foods), treats, movie or whatever we want that goes along with Halloween.  We did it all outside this year in the driveway including the movie.  Even Rem and Bobby were doing their Halloween crafting and building some projects together.

Flag Football

Another season of flag football.  We signed up a little late because Paxton had told me he didn't want to play, but then later changed his mind.  So we didn't make it on the same team as other kids from his school.  We weren't too worried about it though because Paxton makes new friends pretty easily.  This season wasn't as great of an experience though because his coach would hardly play him.  I do admit that this is not Paxton's sport, he seems to get confused in the game so he's not the best player on the team.  We finally had to speak up to the coach about playing Paxton more because he was so bored and disappointed not being able to play.  Finally the last few games he got played more and was able to show his coach that he wasn't that bad of a player.   If we ever get him as a coach again, I think we will request to switch.  At this age and on a rec team you should play the kids equally, they are there to learn.  Paxton (and this other kid that hardly got played) will never learn if they are never played.  This coach didn't seem to understand that.

Pumpkins with the Adventure Boys

For my church calling I get to do Activity Days with the boys now that they have ended scouts.  We took quite a long break with Covid and then summer.  We finally got started back up and took them to Wheeler Farm earlier in the month and then we did pumpkin painting at the park.  They seemed to have fun but rushed through it so they could go play ball for the remaining time.

First Snow

This was the first snow of the season and Harper and Graham just had to be out in it!

Sorenson Halloween Party

We love doing a Halloween party with the family.  We have them over for soup, hanging out and seeing our fun Halloween yard.  I love seeing everyone dressed up in costume.

Cute cousins Harper, Jack and Jo hanging out.

Neighborhood Trunk or Treat Covid Style

Instead of Trunk or Treat this year they had all the neighborhood kids stand outside their homes and they came around in cars and passed out a bag of candy.  We hurry and threw on whatever costumes were most accessible and lined up at our neighbors house.

Halloween at School

We were bummed this year that the kids weren't allowed to wear their Halloween costumes to school.  But we tried to make it fun and they could wear Halloween colors and I made them each a mask to wear.

Happy Halloween

We had a lot of fun with our family Halloween costume this year.  We loved the new Onward movie by Disney and got everyone to agree on it.  It fit perfectly for us with Graham being Ian Lightfoot, the skinny brother and Paxton being the bigger and older brother.  Then Rem and I as the mom and dad (the pants) and Harper needed to be a little bit girly so we chose for her to be the biker fairy.  I went to about 3-4 thrift stores and found most of our items for cheap which made me excited and I had fun piecing it all together.  The only things I really had to buy were my blue wig, blue face paint and Paxton's blue body suit.  The rest of it was at thrift store or found items around the house.  I think it turned out really well and we got lots of compliments on it.

We love inviting my family over on Halloween night to come over for soup and trick-or-treating.  Not everyone comes every year because they like being in their own neighborhoods, but they call came this year!  It was so much fun and we had so many trick-or-treaters.  It was fun to see how some of the neighbors got creative in how they passed out candy by dropping it down a big tub from their upstairs window or catapulting it across the front yard.  When we got back it was fun to hang out in the yard and Paxton and Kai were creeping around in the fog and popping out to scare people.  We had people driving by the house probably until 11pm or so.

September 2020

Happy 1/2 birthday party for Paxton

I never did a party for Paxton back in March because of the beginnings of Covid right when everything shut down.  I originally promised him that we would do a party for his next birthday instead (we only do parties every other year), but then I started wondering if Covid would still be around and with his birthday being in March it's hard to plan anything outdoors.  So I finally threw together a quick party at the park for him.  We had planned to play at our favorite spot in the Murray river where it was shallow, but it ended up being too cold that day for water.  Luckily it was warm enough to be outside.  We just brought a basketball and football and treats and let the kids play.  They had a great time and it was the most simple and easiest party I've ever done and Paxton loved it!

Colin, Max, Brock, David, Paxton and Kai

Graham and his friend Zoey came along too.

Ranch

Another year of Heaven on Earth.  It was the perfect Ranch vacation with my parents and a bunch of their friends, my two sisters and they each brought someone and we invited our friends The Coons (they have been a few times) , The Goodmans (their first time) and the Jensens (their first time).  

Swimming, UTV rides, hot springs, golf, chalk, tie-dye, canoes, paddle boards, catching frogs and bugs, lots of card games and much more.  It was a blast! 

There was a lot of smoke in the sky from fires near-by when we first got there.  Then there was a fire on the moutain that was a little too close for comfort, luckily the winds shifted and it looked better the next morning and wasn't too much of a concern anymore.  We enjoyed the rest of the week and even got some clear skies.

Gardner Village

We wanted to get out of the house one night so we picked up some food and went to Gardner Village to walk around and see the witches.  While we were there they had someone making balloons.  Harper got a princess crown, Graham asked for a panda and Paxton asked for a basketball.

GG Hughes 100th birthday!

Rems grandma turned 100!  That is pretty amazing and she still lives in her own home and her brain is still all there.  Every time we visit when we are leaving she always has to come to the front door to wave goodbye until you are gone.  She is the sweetest lady.  She is lucky to have one of her daughters live just down the street from her that comes over daily to check in on her and have meals with her.  It was fun to go over and celebrate her!

And it begins...

Our ranch vacation was September 13th for a week long so Rem talked me into pulling out all the indoor Halloween decorations before our vacation so that when we got home we could focus on the outdoors.  Harper loves all the Halloween decorations!

August 2020

Murray Park

Another fun day at the river with a couple of neighbor friends.  I brought my water shoes this time and walked around in the water with Harper.

I love this picture of her.  She was pointing at all the bubbles that were floating by.  She loved walking through the water.

Bear Lake

We planned a trip to Bear Lake with my family before the pandemic hit, which ended up being a perfect vacation for this year. We rented a nice home that was right in Garden City. My grandma Moss came too. She did so good on the trip. We love having her around. 

The first night we took the kayaks and paddle boards out to the lake. When we booked our dates, we didn't realize it was over raspberry days so everything was so busy. Luckily we found this rocky beach and had it mostly to ourselves. The next day, we went super early to get a beach spot at North beach. We kayaked, played in the sand and went boating! The kids had an absolute blast just playing in the sand with their cousins. Right before we left the beach I got to go on a little boat ride and Paxton and Harper and a few of the kids came with.  They had already put the tube away so we just went for a ride and then Paxton, Kaleb, and I all jumped in the water for a little swim.  That night we went and got pizza at the Bear Trapper. Later that evening Rem, Jamie and Dan went out for a scooter/one wheel ride and came back with a little tiny bunny.  We named him Timmy and he was so cute. Well unfortunately, he didn't eat or drink much and died the next night. It was so sad!  Dan was determined to find some goats milk for it, but didn't get it in time.

On Sandee's birthday, which was on a Sunday Rem, Graham, Harper and I went to visit some neighbor friends that have a cabin in Bear Lake.  Paxton and everyone else went on a short hike. They had fun climbing on the trees and exploring. We hung out the rest of the day played games, relaxed, played volleyball and went on a UTV ride. 

On Monday, the beach wasn't as busy so we took our time getting to the beach. We spent a long time there. I got to ride on the boat and went on the tube with my sisters and the babies. They weren't so sure of it, but we went really slow.  Then it was time for the mamas to have some fun.  First Erika and Sandee went and then Jamie and I.  Dan drove the boat super crazy trying to kick us off the tube and he succeeded!  It was super fun though, the water was so nice and warm.  I wanted to just float out on the water for a bit.  That evening we roaster marshmallows around the fire pit.

The whole trip was awesome.  And of course we got raspberry shakes every day we were there, yum!  It was so great to hang out with my family and make good memories with them!

First Day of School

It has felt like a really long summer and I think we are ready for this day.  Paxton may be on the fence about it though, but he's excited to see his friends.  And we are all happy and grateful for these kids to return to in person school and hope that it lasts!  They have both been good about wearing masks and I made them some fun ones to help them be excited about it.

Paxton started 5th grade and has Mrs. DeMann as his main teacher, but she co teaches with Mrs. Curtis as well and she's pregnant so he will get a sub this winter for a couple months.  He was bummed that he didn't get put in the 5th/6th split, but he has some friends in his class so that's good.

Graham started 2nd grade and has Mrs. Vyuk, a very well liked teacher.  He was super excited to start school and meet his teacher and see all of his friends.

Summit Splash Water Park

Also known as Seven Peaks water park.  We had a pass that was about to expire to the water park so we went with Jamie and her family and played at the kiddie pools, wave pool, lazy river and finally I got Paxton to go on a tube slide towards the end of the day and he ended up loving it, but only got to go twice because he fought it for so long all day.  Then I finally got Graham to go on the racer slides on our very last slide of the day and he loved it also and wanted to go again, but everyone was ready to go.  Those silly kids fighting it all day, being scared of it and then they love it.  I guess I need to just force it from the very beginning.  

The Zoo

Erika had a zoo pass and invited Harper and I to join them one day.  We took the girls in their little pink cars instead of strollers and we loved walking around and enjoying the animals.  I love being at the zoo especially with my little Harper.

More Murray Park

More friends and more playing in the water.  We love this place!

Happy birthday Jake!

Jake had his birthday party with just family up at the family cabin.  We had a great time going on a ride, eating a Minecraft dinner and hanging out.

Harper loves the guinea pigs!!  She actually does pretty good with them.

July 2020

4th of July at the Cabin

We invited our friends, the Goodmans to stay overnight at our family cabin on the 4th of July weekend.  We went on four-wheeler rides, played games, made a festive dessert, shot bb guns and more.  On the 4th we headed into Midway to meet up with my parents, Trevor and Erika and their families to do some fishing nearby where they were camping.  Harper and Jo got to play together and Harper was really wanted to get in the water.  I decided to just let her inch her way in a little to get her feet wet, eventually her bum got it too, mud and all in her cute 4th of July outfit.  Oh well.  Graham caught a fish with Grandpa which he was super excited about taking it back to the cabin to cook it up and eat it and he did just that!  He surprises me sometimes with what he will eat.  

Sorenson week

We have not been on a vacation with the Sorenson side in a very long time and Covid was not helping either.  So we decided to do a stay cation and it turned out to be a lot of fun!  We each took a day to plan something for everyone to do.

The first day we went to Heber where Rems brother, Russell lives.  Some of the group met up earlier to do a hike first, but Rem had to work so we met up with everyone later.  We had dinner on the patio at the restaurant where Liana works.  Then we went to Deer Creek Reservoir to play in the sand and water.  It was the perfect evening.  I got in a float tube with Harper and the boys mostly played in the sand.  Harper was loving the sand and the kids were digging her a whole that she would put her feet in and they'd fill it up with water.  

The second day we went to Randy's house about mid day and they had quite the set up with a bounce house, dunk tank, kiddie pool, hot tub, cotton candy machine, snow cone machine, swing set and more.  The kids had a blast playing in the backyard for hours.  They then ordered pizza for everyone and we played for a bit longer.  It was a good day.







The third day we drove to Lehi where Rems brother, Ryan lives.  He got us all in to use the neighborhood pool.  It was so nice to be able to take the kids swimming.  I loved being in the water with Harper.  At one point she laid her head on my shoulder sucking her thumb and she did this for quite some time and you better believe that I soaked in every second. 

After swimming we met up at the park for dinner.  Everyone went and picked up their own food and we played and ate at the park.  We were trying to kill some time because our next plans were to head to our house to watch an outdoor movie in our backyard.  

Then a couple months later we had an adults only game night at Ryan's house and Rachael brought dinner and treats for everyone.  It was a ton of fun to be able to do adults only.  It gets so crazy with all of those kids.

This was such a fun idea and I hope we do it again!

Swimming lessons

My kids take swim lessons from an awesome neighbor that is such a good teacher.  Sometimes I would just drop them off and pick them up, but sometimes I liked to take Harper and watch them swim to see what they had learned.  Harper sure seemed to enjoy being there so it was a nice outing for us.

Getting good at their dives.



Swimming with cousins Jake and Kaleb

Happy 24th of July

For the 24th we picked up some lunch and went to Murray Park.  We played at 2 different playground and walked around and explored.  Later that evening Trevor and Sandee and kids came over for dinner, hanging out and a little bit of fireworks.

24th party on the 25th with the neighbors

The next day our neighbors always have family and friends over for a BBQ and fireworks.  We joined in and took all the many kids on lots of golf cart rides and had fun hanging out and watching fireworks.

Our first Sunday back at church, we had to document it.  I sure love this cute little family of mine.

Murray Park

On the 24th when we walked around the park we discovered this spot in the river that widened and was super shallow.  This became one of our favorite places to come in the summer because it was so close and so fun to play in the water.  Harper loved it too!


Swimming with cousins

My parents next door neighbors have a pool in their backyard and they have offered for my parents to bring their whole family over for a party so we finally made it happen.  It was so fun to swim with cousins and nice to have a private pool to swim in.  We brought pizzas over for dinner and popsicles and ice cream cones for dessert.  There was also a trampoline, playground, sand pit, blow-up slide and volleyball net.  We all had a blast!  They were such nice people to share their yard with us!