Random Pictures

Ava and grandpa in the snow

Yeah! Cash is sitting up on his own

Ava and Cash in their wagon they got for Christmas

Christmas #2

This year we were lucky enough to celebrate Christmas twice, this time with Mike's side of the family. This year Mike's sister and her family were able to come over from Kansas. They spent Christmas Day somewhere else, so a couple of days later we all got together, had dinner and opened presents. Ava had a blast playing with her cousins, and we found out that we have one more on the way, congrats Teri and Rob! The kids got spoiled. I don't know where we will put everything. We are so blessed to have so many family members who love us. Thanks everyone for a great Christmas!

(Ava opening her first present)

(Yes, those are all the kids presents, Santa didn't even spoil them that much.)

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was busy, busy, busy. First we woke up with the kids and opened their presents from Santa. It was fun, but I think I expected more from it (Ava still doesn't quite understand the whole Santa thing, maybe next year. ) After we got dressed, we headed over to my parent's house for breakfast and to open presents. Usually my brother and his family come too, but they got snowed in (we missed you guys.) We then went to my grandparents house, where we had lunch and opened more presents. After that we visited 2 more grandparents. I was surprised how well the kids did with no naps. Not more than 5 seconds after we got in the car after our last visit, they were out. I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas, thanks to everyone who helped make it that way.

This is what a long Christmas Day and no nap do to you!

Christmas Eve

Every year for Christmas Eve we go to my parents house. We eat & eat, play games, chit chat, and just relax. We all had fun. It was nice to get together with everyone, and to see some friends we haven't seen in a while.

After the party we put the kids into their Christmas PJ's. They looked so cute!

I had to post this picture, I thought it was so darn cute. It is Cash and his cousin Max. We could take a hundred more pictures and never get one like this again. So cute!

Christmas Party

Last night was our annual Sorensen Family Christmas Party. It's always so much fun to get together with the family, especially for the kids. I don't think Ava sat down for more than 2 seconds, she was constantly running around. She had so much fun playing with all her cousins, but that quickly changed when we attempted to place her on Santa's lap. We have been trying to explain the whole Santa thing to her, but I don't think she quite gets it yet. So after about 15 minutes of crying she settled down, but stayed her distance. On the other hand Cash did great on Santa's lap, just looked up at him and stared. Besides the Santa incident it was a fun night. Looking forward to next years party!

(Cash and Santa)

(Ava crying)

(Cash taught Mike how to suck on his thumb!)

(The Fam)

(Cash "Party Pooped")


P.S. Congratulations to my brother and his wife on the birth of their beautiful little girl.

LET IT SNOW!

Yeah, it finally snowed!

After it finished snowing on Saturday, we let Ava go out and play in it. Last year she was only 9 months, so I don't think she remembers it. She looked so cute in her snow clothes, and had lots of fun teasing Chief and making snow angels with her daddy. Poor Cash misses out on everything, he was sleeping. But I'm sure there will be plenty of other snowy days for him. Here are some pictures.

I feel bad, I only really post pictures of Ava so here is a picture of my cute little boy.

The Butler Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Up Down

Ava and I play this game called up down where I throw her up high in the air and catch her. She was getting really brave and liked going higher and higher, so I had Rach take some pics of us outside. She is really active and loves playing. I am so happy that she is a healthy kid. She would rather play and read than watch TV. Yes!

Temple Square Lights

Last night Mike asked me if we wanted to go up and see the lights at Temple Square. I thought it might be fun for the kids to see them, and to have some family time. We asked my mom and dad to come with us. Little did we know that there was something going on at the Conference Center so there were hundreds of people, it was crazy. Plus we got some cardio in, walking as far as we did! Besides that the weather was awesome and we all had a good time. It was fun to hang out with the family. Here are some pictures from the outing.

(Cash's hat kept falling down over his eyes. He was quiet and never cried so half the time we didn't know it was like that, poor kiddo!)

Not Again!

I vaguely remember the day back in 1994, but I remember I was so excited. It was the day I was getting my braces off. I remember how slimy and smooth they felt, and I could eat anything I wanted without having food stuck all over. Well about 13 years have passed and my teeth have been fine. Until one day my permanent retainer popped off and I had to get it fixed. Well to say the least, and without going into detail, it was glued on wrong and caused major problems. So after seeing my dentist, a periodontist, and an orthodontist, they all came to a conclusion. BRACES!! (Are you kidding me.) As you can tell I wasn't very excited, but if it was going to fix me, then let's do it. So yes, I have braces again. But this time only on the bottom, so it's not that bad, I can kind of hide them with my lips. But those of you who have had braces know how sore you get when they're first put on. And how your cheeks get sores and cankers from rubbing on the metal. I feel like the biggest wuss. And I know Mike finds me really attractive when I talk, I haven't quite figured out how to move my lips around the braces. But I guess things could be worse, I could have no teeth!

Our little model

The other day when we got home from church, I snapped a few pictures of Ava. She was funny, she was posing for me on the couch and acting goofy. She looks so grown up, she's not a baby anymore.

Halloween!

This Halloween was much more fun then last year. Ava still doesn't quite understand the concept, all she cared about were the other kids and of course CANDY! She was on such a sugar high that night, but she was so cute. Earlier that day we went to Sandy Regional Rehab Center, where my aunt Shauna is staying right now. They had trick-or-treating with all of the patients there, so my mom and I took Ava and Cash. Ava had a good time and got lots of goodies. After that we went over to my parents house and had some homemade chili with breadsticks, and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, YUM! Mike, Sara, and Max came too. Max was so dang cute, he was an Oompa Loompa from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I wish I would have taken a picture. Ava, Max and Grandpa played the whole night while the rest of us watched. She slept really good that night!

Cash Laughing 2

Another video of cash laughing. Sorry about the quality, it is from my cellphone camera!

What a Mess!

I don't think Mike and I have ever had a Family Home evening together since we've been married, bad, I know. Since Ava is starting to get older we decided that it would not only good for her, but for us as well. It went okay, I guess. The attention span of a 19 month old is um, about 2 seconds, so we had a short story about Noah and the Ark, then painted pumpkins again but this time on paper plates. Kind of weird, I know, but Ava enjoyed getting messy. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. And thanks to our cute little boy Cash, he just sat there in his bouncy chair and smiled. He's such a good little boy!

Pumpkin

Last night we decided to let Ava paint her pumpkin for Halloween. I spent time cutting out a stencil of a bat and traced it on the pumpkin, thinking she would try and paint the bat. That plan didn't work out, so I just let her do her own thing, and she had a blast. It turned out beautiful!

Happy Birthday

Today was my mom's birthday, so the kids and I spent the day with her. First we took her to lunch, went shopping, then went back to her house and hung out. I love my mom so much. I appreciate all she does for my family, especially the kids. She is such a great example to me. Happy Birthday Mom, we love you! Here are some pictures I took of the kids and Grandma today.

Family Halloween Party

Every year Mike's family has a Halloween Party, costume required. So this year Mike and I went all out. I found these costumes and I had to get them. I had to get past the thought of embarrassing myself, and just have fun, despite what I may look like. Mike and I just laughed at each other when we put them on, they were way too small. They rode up in places where they shouldn't ride up, and were a bit too see through when the camera flashed (so I am sorry), but we had a blast! Everyone loved our costumes, and yes we won the costume contest, yeah!! (if anyone doesn't know who we were, we were Adam and Eve)


Ava was a cute little bumble bee, and Cash just dressed up in Halloween fashion. What a fun night!

If Ava had hair

As most of you know, Ava has not yet been blessed with a full head of hair. So when I picked up a wig for my Halloween costume, I decided to try it on her to see what she would look like with hair.

As you can tell she wasn't crazy about it, but didn't she look beautiful!!

This is what her hair really looks like. One day I decided to see if she had enough to put into a pony tail, and this is what we came up with. She was so cute. She held really still while I was doing it, after I told her how beautiful she looked, she smiled and tilted her head. I love her with or with out hair.

Happy Cash

The Hunt

This year Mike was lucky enough to draw out for a deer tag in the Book Cliffs. I guess it is a hard tag to draw out for and only a certain amount of people get them, so he was really excited. So a couple of weeks ago, he and his dad went hunting. Mike was only going to settle for the best. They went down a couple of days before the hunt started so he could scout out the big ones. He shot at one but unfortunately missed it, and was kind of bummed. But the next day he got his chance again, and prevailed! It was a 4 X 4 and 25 inches. Good job babe! Here are some pictures.