Recent Happenings

In addition to trying find time to sneak in extra sleep minutes some things we've been up to are:

Taking the New Wheels For A Spin:


Relaxing in The Tub For the First Time:




Enjoying Meeting Cousin Kate:


Saying Goodbye to Summer at the Snow Shack with Cousins:






Being Amazed by Little Long Feet:

Catch up on summer stuff

This is Lance. Although I am not the primary blogger, I like to check in once in awhile to post some pictures for events Ashleigh was not involved with. Here are three:

GRAND CANYON TRIP: June 20-23 (Lance Sorenson, Dave Mullins, Matt Sherry, Geoff Wright and Jess Dalton)

Day One: North Rim to Phantom Ranch
Day Two: Phantom Ranch to Roaring Springs
Day Three: Roaring Springs to North Rim

All told, we did about 30 miles in 48 hours.

The last time I hiked the Grand Canyon, I think I was about 40 pounds lighter. And I felt it.









KAI AND DADDY SUPER DATE: Beginning of August

Bowling: (I bowled my best score and Kai was the only one there to witness it). Kai came in at 109 - not too shabby.

(No pictures survived.)

Sleeping in Tent in backyard:





Most common quote: "What was that noise?"

Fishing/Waterskiing/Tubing



Lunch at the Roadside Diner in Oakley

(No pictures survived.)



HIKING TO LAKE SOLITUDE WITH DADDY, GRANDPA AND COUSIN JAKE: August 23





Quote for day:

Grandpa: "Let's not sit on our patooties."
Kai: "I think we should sit on rocks."

Big Brother

Rori Slideshow

Thoughts From the Last Week

-We can't believe that Kai is now 3! (And that his birthday was only a week ago- it has been quite the week). We love him so much- there are no words.
-So fun to have Grandma, Grandpa and Whitney in Utah. It was too short, but we loved getting to show them around before we went to the hospital.
-Lance and I noted in the car that it was such a strange feeling to drive to the hospital and know that we would be having a baby in just a few hours.
-Lance gives me such courage, peace of mind and strength.
-It is really strange to be laying on the table having a C-section performed on you.
-I'm extremely grateful for anesthesia and that it made it all fine 95% of that first day. I wish it hadn't made me feel pukey the other 5% of the day.
-I realized this time how much I really wanted to be home instead of being in the hospital. Thank you to the doctor that let us come home earlier than we were really supposed to.
-We are so grateful to everyone that helped to make this week so much easier for us. We have such wonderful parents that were such a help with Kai. And our siblings and their spouses are also so great.
-Every time we look at Kai now I we are even more amazed at how big, healthy, smart, loving, and wonderful he is. It is amazing to think back to him being a newborn now and see how much he has grown and developed in to the person he is now.
-Rori has been a very cooperative nurser. We struggled with Kai so I am especially grateful for this.
-Nursing is still way more of an adventure / test of my determination than anything else in the first few days- way more than the c-section recovery (which by this point is again seeming not so bad), or even the overall exhaustion of it all.
-Rori is so tiny. It is so strange to have someone so little in our lives again. Especially someone you can put in pink. Her fingers, toes, and legs do seem long though. :)
-I am VERY grateful. Especially for my husband, for Kai, and for the opportunity to have Rori in our lives. I am also extremely grateful for the health of each of us.
-I hope and pray for strength for all of us at this time to handle our new challenges, to be able to enjoy this special time, and to grow closer together as our family has added a special new addtion.

She's Here!

Here she is:



Rori Bryn Sorenson
August 13, 2008 at 9:52am
7 pounds 12 ounces and 20 inches

Everyone is doing well. We're even happy to report that they've sent us home. Yeah!

We'll put up lots more pics later, but here are a few more first fun ones:









*We added some tunes to the blog to welcome Rori. So turn up or down your sound depending on if you want to hear. :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Kai!

Happy Birthday Kai! We love you so much and have such a great time getting to be your Mom and Dad. Hope you had a super fun day today.

Starting off the Celebration

Tonight Kai and his buddy Andrew had their neighborhood friends birthday party. Andrew's 3rd birthday was on Saturday and Kai is up next Monday. They had a great time as you can see and so did the parents. Andrew's Mom Rochelle made the super cool and yummy sandcastle cake. Oh to be so creative!

What We've Been Up To Lately

Golfing in the front yards with Romney, Addy, Amanda, and the Dads. Romney has super cool pink clubs of her own and soft golf balls. Kai hit balls for forever- the other kids moved on to other activities eventually but he loved finally getting to play some golf. I was surprised that he could actually do it. I can tell Lance is already getting excited to take him out on a course. Note who is trying to use the right clubs on the left side:







Enjoying his new booster seat. Thanks to the Edgley's for the tip!:



Loving the Zoo:





Friday Fieldtrip to FatCats. Many thanks to Kimberley's friend Amy for setting this up for us:





Getting Back to His Illinois Roots:

Swim Wrap-up

Yesterday Kai and Kennedy finished up their last swim class. The second session they had their best teacher so far and really did great. What a difference a good teacher and a year makes for this sort of thing. As an extra special treat Grandma Utah and both of their Dad's showed up to watch the last class. They were very excited about this!

One of my favorite things this teacher did was have them "swim" through a sideways hula-hoop. The first time she did this with them she started it up high with part out of the water and just kept putting it deeper and deeper until it was totally under the water and they were still going through it. They thought this was a super game and I thought it was a great way for them to get going on "swimming" under water.

So we're sad swim lessons are done for another summer, but it will be nice to have next week off. It is amazing how a 1/2 hour lesson 4 days a week can end up consuming your week so much. We'll miss seeing Kennedy, Kimberley and Jack so much though.







(This one I'm shooting in to the sun so sorry about that)