Happy Birthday Ashleigh!!!

This was a big one. I hope you had a wonderful day. Kai, a yet-to-be-named baby girl and I love you.

Hope you enjoyed your cake and the time spent with your in-laws, nephews and nieces.

It's A.........

GIRL!!!

We're shocked but thrilled. Kai seems to have known all along. Isn't that amazing? The technician and the doctor both came to the same verdict separately so.... Guess we can start thinking pink. How fun! :) They said everything looked good so we are now feeling able to take a very grateful deep breath.

Here is her first picture:

Happy Birthday Jack and Jake!

Happy 1st Birthday Cousin Jack!


Happy 5th Birthday Cousin Jake!


It was fun to get to celebrate with you both! Hope you had a great day!

Kai spent most of the party riding on/ driving Kennedy's Jeep. It is way fun!

Tomorrow- Blue or Pink???

So tomorrow is the big ultrasound day. It's funny how you wait and wait for something and then it seems to just suddenly sneak up on you. We are excited to find out what we will be having, but we are also just as anxious to get a look at this little one. This is one of those times in life where you feel like you are getting a sudden huge glimpse at your future. It is strange to have so many strong opposing emotions (excitement, nervousness etc.) all at once. Our hope is just to have a little one that we can meet in person at the end of the summer and get to watch grow up.

Looks like the poll is 50/50 at this point. Classic! Our extended family members seem to be pretty evenly divided as well. In our neighborhood and our friends from Pep there seems to be a a lean towards boys being born- as in most are having or have had boys. Kai has said it was a baby girl since day 1- we have no idea where that came from but he has stuck with it. If it's a boy it is going to take some convincing to get him switched over. :) Either way (girl or boy) it is going to be an adventure. We'll let you know how it goes tomorrow!

Busy Week

I had a big work event on Tuesday of this week so Kai got to hang out at his buddy Andrew's house (that is where he goes the one morning a week I work), get picked up by Daddy and put down for his afternoon nap )so Daddy could work from home for a few hours), and then taken to Grandma and Grandpa's so Daddy could attend the event with Mom. Needless to say he had a blast.

The following day he and I were feeling rather tuckered out. After a solid 3 hour nap I woke him up and brought him up to the couch. I went in to the kitchen for a minute and when I came back this is how I found him. Talk about a sleepy head. :)

Prayer Sheriff

Mommy (during prayer): "Fold your arms."

Kai: "Close your eyes."

Kai is the Proud Owner of his first ...

Passport

One of my proudest achievements

We drove home tonight from Costco along 2100 South from 300 West to 2500 East and hit all green lights. We cheered through the last 4 or so. Kai thinks I'm the coolest.

Happy Easter 2008!

Decorating Easter Eggs with Daddy last night:




On the Hunt:






The Big Find:











Many thanks to Beckham and Hudson for tipping off the Easter Bunny about the scooter. We hear that B &H have upgraded now to to bigger kid ones, but we don't have big kids around us to figure that out from yet. Kai is already the envy of many of the kids in the neighborhood- these haven't hit it big here yet with the 2+ year olds due to the fact that we are just getting to play outside again. Kai would also like B & H to know that he is still carrying around the mail they sent him a few weeks back. It is so exciting to get mail!!! The scooter was the ultimate incentive for Kai- he has been talking about it for weeks now. We're not sure this scooter really calls for a helmet, but Kai has been asking for one since last summer (see some previous posts) so it seemed like a good enough fit. Kai has always been a safety first kind of a kid. :)

Happy Easter to All!

*We also want to point out to anyone interested that we have put up a poll on the side of our blog where you can take a guess at whether we will be adding a boy or girl to our family.

Helping Spring Along!

Is it Spring Yet?

This weekend we had a snow storm again. It was beautiful, but we had had a few nice days the week before that made it less appealing at this time of year. Needless to say we are all feeling ready for some warmer days so we can enjoy some outside time. Since it is only March we still might have a few more storms to go though. Here is a picture of Kai today which I feel like further illustrates this desire.

In other news we had a fun time at the FLYNN (Lance's grandparents) family St. Patrick's Day party last night. Kai's favorite color these days is green (green spoon, green bowl, green cup please) so he has been appreciating all the green.

I'd also like to say congrats to one of my best friends Rebecca and her husband Joe on the arrival of their first baby on Friday. Charlotte was due in April so she made a slightly early arrival. We are so excited for this new little family.



Congrats also to the Mullins who just found out that they will be welcoming another little girl to their family come July. Kirsten and I are once again expecting about 3 weeks apart in July and August. These cousins around the same age sure are fun.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Weekend Wrap-up

We headed to Provo this weekend to watch Pepperdine play BYU in Volleyball. On Friday night we made the trip with Lance's parents and on Saturday night our friends Wes and Amy joined us. We had a great time both nights despite the fact that Pepperdine lost. Kai loves adventures with his grandparents. He also thinks Wes and Amy are so much fun. He pointed out that Wes has a beard just like Jesus. :) One of Lance's friends and teammates (Scott W.) is now an assistant coach so it was fun to get to visit with him as well. He also hooked all of us up with tickets for both nights which was great. Another neat fact was one of the current players on the team has a brother with Angelman Syndrome. Now that is really a small world.



One of the things that assisted Kai is the drives back and forth from Provo was his new "ipod". "Just like Daddy" he keeps saying. It has been a good under $5 purchase for us because the ear phones are small enough for his head and also work in our portable DVD player for the car which we use for longer trips.



And lastly on Sunday night Lance and I were making dinner in our little kitchen and I realized that Kai had joined us. I guess he just wanted to be a part of it all. So far he still seems to be mostly using his left hand for coloring, throwing etc. It will be interesting to see if that sticks. Lance and I are both right handed so....

Sunday Night at the Sorensons

Daddy on phone.



Daddy hangs up.



Kai: "Who was that, daddy?"



Daddy: "Multiple Sclerosis."



Kai: "Huh?"



Daddy: "Multiple Sclerosis ... Can you say Multiple Sclerosis?"



Kai: "Mupitle Spleroso."



Daddy: "Good."



[pause]



Kai: "What did he want?"



Daddy: "Money."



Kai: "Oh."



Mommy has sprite in nose from laughing.

A Few of His Favorite Things

We've been enjoying being back to normal life again after our sickness weeks. We've been busy with all of the normal things. The weather has actually been sunny and warm enough to not wear jackets for a few days which has been so nice. Unfortunately it is really too early to get used to it yet. Another storm is supposed to be on the way this weekend. But for now we are loving it and the fact that it has melted almost all the snow.

A few of Kai's favorite things from this week have been getting to check in on Buster (grandma's kitty):


More fun at gym today:








Oh, and getting a mini otter pop at his doctors office for his "a few weeks after being sick" follow-up. This was his first otter pop. I don't have a picture of that one, but trust me he thought it was great. He already loves that place due to the huge fish tank and after stickers, but this was a great added plus.

Great Grandma Sorenson

We decided to take care of some grand-filial duties on President's day, instead of going to work. We made the trip to Gunnison to visit with Great Grandma Sorenson. Kai thinks she's great and enjoyed playing with some of the same toys Grandpa Brice used to play with. Here are some more pictures.

Catch Up

I am going to attempt to catch up with this blog on what we've been up to for the last few weeks. A little over 2 weeks ago Kai started to have an off and on again drippy nose. It progressed to a lot of nose running, and then a cough, and then a come and go light fever, constantly wanting to be held (which is very unusual for Kai),3 throw-up episodes in one night, and finally our first diagnoses of an ear infection. On top of all of that fun I took a turn at a night of the stomach flu and Lance went to a work conference in LA for 3 days. We now seem to be finally be getting back to regular life again and boy are we grateful.

In the midst of all of that we were able to venture out for Grandma Sorenson's birthday dinner. Thankfully it was somewhat in a break between the illness extremes. As you can probably tell in the pictures poor Kai wasn't feeling quite himself. It was yummy and fun to get to see everyone. Even the Mullins made the trip out from WA to help celebrate the birthday weekend. Too bad we didn't get to see them much due to being sick.







Yesterday we went over to our friends the Myers to help celebrate their little boy Carter turning 2. The Myers were our friends from London. I watched their little girl Elsa for them while we lived in London. Elsa was only 4 months old when I started watching her so it was a very tender time for all of us. Our families continue to have a very special connection. Here are some cute pictures from the party.


Elsa is getting so grownup!


Do you think Kai liked the gift we gave Carter in this picture? :)

At this time we are especially grateful to having everyone feeling better and grateful that Lance is back home with us again.

Happy Birthday Grandma S.

Hope you had a great "special" birthday today.

Kai's Reaction When.....

.........he found out that he is going to be a big brother in August 2008! Mom went to the doctor last week and got to hear the heartbeat for the first time. So far so good. We are feeling very grateful.

Gym Class

Kai just started a gymnastics class with his neighborhood buddy Amanda. Today was the second class and they did great. It really looks so much fun. After traveling so far to gymnastics gyms growing up it is so amazing to have such a nice one right here by where we live. We were excited that Kai and Amanda were able to do the whole class by themselves with the teacher. Not bad for almost 2 1/2 year olds.

Here is Kai going down the tumbling strip in to the foam pit:

Wild Man Singing

Here is a wound up Kai doing a little song performance. Sorry for all the bouncing.

Note how he asks Lance not to contribute in the second video. Ha! :)

January Zoo Trip

On Saturday we had a nice break between cold weather and snow storms so we decided to take advantage of it and head for the zoo. The weather was actually quite comfortable and we had a great time. A few perks of the trip were getting to see the new baby giraffe, seeing the very active tiger up close and personal, and turning in our vouchers for free yummy hot chocolate. Yesterday we had a big snow and tonight it seems to be starting up again so we're glad we made the most of the break.

President Gordon B. Hinckley

President Gordon B. Hinckley, who led The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through twelve years of global expansion, has died at the age of 97.

If only we could each accomplish a small portion of what he did in his 97 years.



On April 6, 2004 his wife Marjorie passed away. At the General Conference following her death President Hinckley said:

"My children and I were at her bedside as she slipped peacefully into eternity. As I held her hand and saw mortal life drain from her fingers, I confess I was overcome. Before I married her, she had been the girl of my dreams, to use the words of a song then popular. She was my dear companion for more than two-thirds of a century, my equal before the Lord, really my superior. And now in my old age, she has again become the girl of my dreams."

How comforting it is to know that they are once again together. Our thought at this time go to their family. We have had the opportunity to become friends with 2 of their grandchildren while living here in Utah. We cherish some of the fun and special anecdotes they have shared with us about their grandparents.

President Hinckley's special connection to England and English/ Literature made him all the more dear to us.


"Our whole objective," says Hinckley, "is to make bad men good and good men better."

Deep Snow Today

January Fun

Today was a beautiful day so we decided to take Kai out for a little sledding.







And here is a sideways video clip. Mental note that I can't hold the camera up and down while on video. I know my Mom has a way to fix this, but it is getting late so it will have to do for now.



In other news Kai has a new FAVORITE bath toy. For the last couple of months he has been obsessed with the kids tv show Little Einsteins. It is a cute show and if he is going to like something it is nice that it is one that at least attempts to teach about music, art, and geography. They are doing something right because Kai loves it!

Happy 3rd Birthday Cousin Kennedy!

Cousin Kennedy turned 3 on December 31 and had a super fun birthday party at Fat Cats. We loved the bowling, pizza, cupcakes and arcade games. Happy Birthday to Miss Kennedy and thanks for letting us help you celebrate!