Happy Birthday Claira

Today my oldest granddaughter turns 12. Wow, how the years fly by. It seems like only yesterday that she was a toddler just learning to walk. Now she is a beautiful young lady who loves to read, play soccer, cook and sew just to name a few things. Claira is a wonderful student in school and is very involved in 4-H. We spent a fun day together yesterday enjoying each other's company.

Tomorrow in church, Claira will be going into the Young Womens program.

So Happy Birthday Claira, enjoy your special day!

And not to be left out is Claira's brother Dallen who is always so full of energy and fun.

My friend at Orange Peanut is doing a free giveaway for cute hair accessories from the Fox Den so go sign up to win at kanzlerthoughts.blogspot.com
You only have until tomorrow night, Sunday Jan 31, to enter so hurry on over there!

YEH!!!! Progress

As many of you know, we have been remodeling our home for the last few years. Yes, years. Things got put on hold when Derek's work slowed down. No mon, no fun. Then the county told us if we didn't finish ASAP we would have to pay permit fees again. So we are back at it. Today the tub deck got installed! YEH! It was quit the ordeal. First they tried to take it up the stairs but it would not fit. So Derek took out the front window and they lifted the granite onto the roof and through the window. This thing weighed a ton. Hats off to Marcos and his crew from Capitol City Granite for getting this heavy slab on the roof and through the window. They did a great job!

I'm so excited. It is all starting to come together. Now we can start the fun job of tiling.

After that was finished we went to visit Lance and Derek helped him get his Chevelle running. He is putting it up for sale. It was a busy but fun day!

Family Time

This week has been family time and we have had fun playing. Michelle and Josh have been here this week visiting with their girls. It was so exciting to see them as we have not seen them for 7 months. Way to long to go without seeing the girlies. All our kids were able to stop by and see them either Saturday or Sunday. There is nothing better than having all of our family together. It will be sad to see them go in the morning. Danielle was the picture taker when all the grandkids were all together so I'll have to get a picture from her to post here. These are some pictures of our time together.


What would a trip to California be without a stop or 2 to In N Out. Nothing's as good as an In N Out burger.

We took the monkeys to the Zoo to see the monkeys. Josh's highlight of the trip was that one of the coachs of the New York Giants was in front of us in line to get in. His daughter heard Josh telling Michelle who her dad was and when she told him he came over and introduced himself to Josh. We saw them later and he asked Josh if he wanted his picture taken with him. Of course he did as the Giants are his favorite team.

Wednesday we went to Dillons Beach to see the ocean. It was a very windy day so we didn't stay long. We had a nice picnic and then walked along the beach Callie collected sea shells by the sea shore.

On they way home we stopped by the Jelly Belly factory and went on a tour. Callie insisted she didn't like jelly beans but soon changed her mind.

Callie and Bailey helped grandpa make banana chocolate chip waffles for breakfast one morning!

Today was a beautiful day in the seventies and the girls wanted to go to the park. They are not too excited to go home where it is snowing and 9 degrees today. We are going to miss them when they go. We have enjoyed having them here this week and playing Nerts at night. We need to recrute Michelle's college room mate Emily to play with us sometime as I have been told she is the only one to beat Josh. Play time is over so I guess it's back to business time.

Not Enough To Do

I like pink! As if you didn't know. I was kind of a tomboy when I was younger and didn't like frilly girly things but for some reason the older I get the more I like pink. So, I bought I pink hammer because it was cute and because they donate to Susan G Komen for the Cure for each hammer sold. I like to support the Komen foundation because I figure that if they find a cure for breast cancer it will help find cures for other cancers, it is the cancer foundation you hear the most about and because most of their stuff is pink. You should see my cute pink mixer. Anyway, after buying my pink hammer I thought,I need more pink tools and looked up the website of the maker of the hammer. It is made by Tomboy Tools. Guess what! They have more pink tools! I thought these would make fun Christmas gifts for the ladies on my list. I was telling Danielle about this and that they do home parties and she said, "why don't you sell them"?
Well, duh. I have nothing better to do. HA HA. I work stocking cards, selling candles plus my church job, wife, granny, mother, friend. So, I just want to let all of you know that I am now a Consultant for Tomboy Tools!
So, if you are interested in pink tools or want to host a home party (you can earn 1/2 price tools), let me know! Also, we don't just sell the tools we are a educational company and teach you how to use the tools. They also have non-pink tools for those of you who don't care for pink.
They have a tool kit complete with pink jumper cables that would be great to have on hand in your trunk and my favorite the pink utility knife. You know how you always have to find a screwdriver to change the blade in your knife. Well this one has a knob you turn with your fingers instead of needing a screwdriver. You have to see it! Any way the tools all have these little extras that only a women would think of and you don't have to worry about your husband using your tools if you get the pink ones. So let me know if you need or want anything. I can also do up a Christmas and/or birthday registry for you and you can tell your family to give me a call. Hay, these would make cute shower gifts, too! You can view the tools online but it would be more fun to see them in person and visit. So let me know. oh, if you do order online make sure you get my consultant id # from me first. Oh, and thanks to Danielle for getting me going with this.

Wild and Crazy Weekend!

My nephew Brett got married on Friday August 29.

So that Thursday afternoon Derek and I along with my brother Randy flew off to Salt Lake City for the wedding festivities. When we reached Salt Lake my brother Gene, Brett's father, picked us up from the airport to wisk us away to a BBQ at the home of the bride, Kourtney. We had a wonderful evening and a delicious dinner getting to know the Nielsen family.

Here is a picture of my Brother's family that evening. Emily, Kourtney, Brett, Corrina, Gene, Heather and Eric with Corrina's parents seated in the chairs. After the dinner we went and checked in at our hotel.

In the morning we all went to a wedding breakfast at the Joseph Smith Memorial building. This is a picture of all of those from Brett's side at the breakfast. We had about an hour in between and then we went to the Salt Lake temple for the wedding and then had pictures outside afterwards.

Here is the happy couple along with their parents after the ceremony.

Gifford and Wendy Nielsen, Kourtney and Brett Sorensen, Corrina and Gene Sorensen.

( For those of you wondering about my brother and I having (almost) the same last name, I was a Sorensen before I became a Sorenson. ) After pictures we went to my sister in laws parents and had a bite to eat. Then did a little shopping for some items needed for the reception. Then we were off to the reception at Thanksgiving Point.

It was a wonderful dessert reception with all kinds of fun desserts to try out.

Heather and the getaway car!

After cleanup at the reception we went back to the motel and woke up in time to spend 10 minutes shopping at Tai Pan before being wisked off to the airport to fly back home. If you have ever been to Tai Pan you know that is so not enough time.

We flew home and scurried to put food in the car to get to a Unsworth family reunion. That's my mother's side of the family. As I was in charge of the food and they were all waiting for us to arrive as they were getting a bit hungry. So we hurried and cooked a yummy dinner of tri-tip, salads, corn, watermelon and biscuits with brownie sundaes for dessert. Sorry, no pictures from the reunion as I was busy in the kitchen.

What a weekend!

We had a wonderful time but never stopped going.

Idaho Part Two

The above pictures show our favorite part of Idaho and the saddest part when we have to leave.

We had lots of fun playing with the girlies. They all have different personalities and are fun to be with. Marlee is the best little baby. She never cries and sleeps most of the time. Her older sisters love to hold and entertain her.

Derek helped work on Josh and Michelle's new home. I know they will be glad when it is time to move in.

Marley was blessed while we were there and then we had a delicious lunch at Josh's parents house. Sandy and Craig put on a wonderful lunch and we had fun visiting with their family.

While the men folk were working on the new house, Michelle and I took the girls to the park to play. It turned out to be a hot day! There was no shade where the playground equipment was so we didn't stay as long as the girls would have liked.

On our last day there we went with Josh and Michelle and rode the ski lift up to the top of Targhee. You feel like you are on top of the world. Where we are standing at the summit and it is 10,000 ft elevation, with a 2,000 ft vertical drop. It was windy up there and a little scary. It's hard to see the big drop in the picture. The Tetons are in the background. Derek is a bit nervous about heights but did pretty good.
Thanks again to Josh and Michelle for having us stay with you for the week we had a wonderful time.