Christmas 2009!

(above: Corbett and his Grandma and Grandpa Sorensen at Grandma's work)

What a great Christmas we had!! Corbett made it so much fun! Cody took Wednesday off work and took Corbett skiing up at Beaver. This is Corbett's cousin Zach helping him onto the magic carpet. Zach helped Corbett all day! Cody and Corbett both have season passes so it should be a good year for them. Corbett did great. Cody says he feels like a fish out of water because he has been a snowboarder for so long and now he's skiing to help Corbett. While they were skiing I had time to myself so I finished up shopping and cleaned the house.

We went to Idaho to Cody's parents house for Christmas this year. We left early Thursday morning. One of the highlights for Corbett was going to the fire station in Rigby to see the fire trucks (where Cody's mom does EMT call)! Talk about heaven for a little boy! Corbett got to see a lot of different fire trucks! Here he is again with Grandma & Grandpa. They have a lot of fire hoses! While we were there we had such good food (I even made tiny spicy chicken for Christmas Eve)! We played games and visited and then on Christmas Eve we opened small presents from each other. We read the Christmas story from the bible. We also put reindeer food out and Corbett was so excited because it was very obvious there had been some reindeer there sticking their noses in the snow and eating the food he left for them! Cody's dad had to work on Christmas Eve at 7pm until the morning at 7:30am. We tried to keep Corbett up late so he'd sleep in, but against all odds (Corbett is a big sleeper) he woke up 10 minutes before Kim got home, it all worked out though and Kim was there when he came in the livingroom to see if Santa came. We enjoyed opening presents and seeing Corbett's reaction to his presents. We had a nice Turkey dinner at Cody's grandma's house which is connected to his parents house. Below: Cody and Corbett with Cody's Grandma Sorensen.After another game of Ticket to Ride we headed home. We made a stop on the way to see Rhonda's family and their Christmas. Of course they had a game for us to play as well! I don't think I've ever been so content with a Christmas season! Saturday Cody and Corbett went skiing again and this time I went to watch. It was great fun to see Corbett ski! Here he is on the magic carpet with Cody. At first he had a meltdown and I thought we wouldn't get him in his skiis at all. He recovered luckily and had a good day of it. Tammy's kids were there and they stuck close by Corbett and helped him all day. They wouldn't leave his side. This has been a good year for us. We've been very blessed! Our twins are starting to kick me every so often and we'll find out in a week what they are! I couldn't ask for more this Christmas season!!

'Tis The SEASON!!

(This is the look Corbett insists on giving when I pull out the camera lately!)

I love Christmas time! I never knew how much fun it could be though. This year Corbett is SO excited! I was sure we would have another year where he was happy he got presents but didn't know why or where they came from. If you don't know Cody is kind of a grinch when it comes to silly Christmas fun. He will do it if I force him and that's it! But Corbett is all about Christmas!! It was so much fun decorating the tree! First of all we picked out a REAL tree this year! It's our first one, until now we've always had a fake one. Corbett and I decorated it while Cody was at work. First Corbett said, "Mom, our tree looks nice!" Then when I asked him how the lights look he said, "Perfect!" He also took the Tigger ornament out of the box and said, "Mom, I'll put the Tigger ornament on the tree because he is wonderful!" Besides that at one point he put on a Santa hat and started singing Jingle Bells! What a fun kid! So that was our first Christmas activity. We made a chain so Corbett can see how long until Christmas (he asks constantly). We've also been to my Grandma Thorson's Christmas party and out to dinner with friends as a yearly tradition for Christmas, such a fun time! Corbett and I went to the ward party but Cody was out of town. I think we're about done shopping and READY for Christmas! This is MY year, it's been more fun than I ever imagined! Corbett loves the snow too! (Cody can't wait to get him to the ski hill!) We can't get him in the car without a fight because he's busy climbing up every snow hill he can find! We feel so blessed this year with our twins on the way and so many other blessings! We're thankful for the Savior at this time of year and for his life! We're trying to teach Corbett the meaning of Christmas but so far he's come to the conclusion that Jesus would like a daddy horse birthday and then he changed his mind and decided he'd prefer a superhero birthday instead! We're working on it! Merry Christmas!
Below: We Three Kings... (We were learning the letter K for preschool this week) Emery was asked to do a service this week in primary so he chose (or Camie chose for him) to shovel our driveway! Thanks Emery!Corbett loves to wear his ROCK ROCK ROCK shirt and pretend he's in a band. He thinks he's getting an instrument from Santa but Santa thinks the instruments in his price range are obnoxious!

Trip to Aspen - the good, the bad, & the ugly!

This past weekend we went to Aspen, Colorado for Cody's work. It was definitely NOT our favorite trip so far. We'll start with the GOOD parts of the trip. It was great spending time together as a family and getting away. We always like seeing new places and going on adventures. Corbett was a real trooper in the car. He also got to swim for a LONG time at the recreation center where Cody was working! He LOVED it and he got really brave in the water. They gave him some goggles and some things to "dive" for (the water was only 2 ft deep) and I threw them out to him a hundred times (at least) for him to find. We ate at a place that claimed to have the best ribs in Colorado. Cody had them & they were pretty good from what I hear. On the way back we got to stop and have brunch in South Salt Lake with Kiel and Jen and their kids. It was great to catch up with them! So I think that about wraps up the good parts!
On to the BAD... So when we got there, the hotel room we had was reserved by the guy who was originally supposed to do the job. It was REALLY old, we couldn't get the Internet to work, but worst of all it had 2 beds that could not have been twin size. They were very small! Also Corbett got bit by something and had bumps and swelling. It worried Cody a lot and he was up all night checking on Corbett. It was SOOOOO cold there. From what I hear it was really cold in Logan too though. We couldn't really go outside. We did see a little of Aspen. Corbett and I tried to go out and see the shops but it was too cold. The second day Cody did most of his work. Corbett and I had to hang out at the rec center all day. He swam the morning but then we were pretty bored. We had a TV to watch but there was A LOT of noise and people coming and going. They were going in and out of an ice rink that was SO cold every time someone opened the door...BRRR! The driving was LONG and tiresome. So that's the bad.

Now for the UGLY! Two things made the list of the ugly. First on the way there Cody got a ticket. He had done so well the entire way there with no speeding at all. Then there was a spot in Colorado where the speed drops to 60. We missed it and Cody got pulled over. Then we found out that our insurance cards were expired and we haven't replaced them. This cop seemed to think Cody should get life in prison (even though we have insurance) somehow we just don't have new cards! Cody will call the court on Monday and hopefully they will work with us! So the other thing that makes the list of the ugly is the job Cody had to do. From what I hear it was UGLY! We were hoping to be on the road by 3 or 4 o'clock but we finally left around 8pm. We had to be back for a baptism on Saturday in Logan (congrats to my nephew Derek) and we were looking forward to having time with Kiel & Jen so we drove as far as we could that night and woke up and drove the rest!
Overall I'm just glad to be home! Hopefully someday we'll have good memories of this trip! For now though, as soon as Cody was done with his work we were more than happy to high-tail out of there!

Funny Stuff

While Cody was in Las Vegas he went on the New York, New York roller coaster. He brought back this picture. When I tried to teach Corbett how to do this with his hands he said, "no, it's like this!" and made the face in this picture.

my new hobby

I love taking pictures. Three of my siblings asked me to photograph their families, okay, twist my arm! Here's some of the results. Eric's family... Rhonda's family...and Sandra's family...

Christmas Party

We wasted no time getting to a Christmas party after Thanksgiving. Cody's grandma is on a mission in Salt Lake doing Family History work. She lives in an apartment that overlooks Temple Square & she reserved a room in her building for a family Christmas party. We had good food and entertainment, walked down to see the lights on Temple Square for the first day they were on, and got to see the Scottish version of Santa complete with bagpipes! Cody's family has a lot of Scottish ancestry. Above...Cody's cute grandma with Santa. Below...I saw grandma (Cody's mom) kissing Santa Claus...(don't worry, it's legit!)

Our family with Santa!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We ate at the "greenhouse". My grandpa, Joe, owns a green house. We worked there while growing up. I was paid 50 cents to transplant a flat to start. My mom had to check each one. I think I was 8 years old when I started. We literally eat Thanksgiving dinner in the greenhouse. There's really not room in the house, my grandma has 12 children (double that with spouses), 50 grandchildren (almost double with spouses), and probably up around 100 great grandchildren. Recently my grandpa has experienced some health issues and has had some close calls. We're grateful to have the chance to spend Thanksgiving with him there in the greenhouse. After the dinner and lots of visiting and catching up with family we went to my parents house where we shot off air rockets. The kids had a ton of fun. Of course we spent plenty of time pouring over the ads, deciding if we wanted to wake up at the wee hours of the morning to shop, and we had plenty of pie and leftovers to stuff ourselves. I'm grateful for my family, they are always there for me and my little family. My grandma & grandpa and all 12 kids at Thanksgiving this year!
This photo gives me nastalgia! Although we didn't have "advanced" equipment like this while I was growing up, we spend countless hours playing in the greenhouse, mostly on Sunday evenings!Corbett launching his rocket, his was a good one!If you want to launch your rocket you better get in line!The nice thing about air rockets is the kids can make their own and after the launcher is built it costs nothing for each launch. We used to launch engine rockets, cost is about $1 a launch. Air rockets go plenty far and the kids can launch their own fairly safely and be able to find them afterward!My dad is a sucker for Sarah, and the other kids. He lets them get away with anything! Where was this side of him when I was growing up!?!

Preschool

Corbett has been in preschool for about 3 months now. I've been impressed with the amount he has learned. He can now say all the letters along with their sounds, and recognize each one. He loves preschool, and I do too (well not so much on Wednesdays, that's the day I get to do preschool and everyone else gets an hour and a half of freedom!) But I really do enjoy watching the boys grow! It's nice to have a schedule and nice for Corbett to learn structure. Corbett goes to preschool with 2 of his cousins who are within a couple months of his age (they will all be 4 yrs early next year). Each mom takes a day to teach. We bought a workbook at Sam's Club for each of the boys for preschool age and the boys do work pages out of that, learn a letter each week, & whatever else you want to teach them. We have them do the pledge and weather every day. Today was Sandra's day to teach and was the first time Corbett wrote his name remotely legible so being the proud parent of a first child I have to post it!

Grateful For...

This is the day I am most grateful for so far in my life! A lot of people are posting what they're grateful for on facebook but I thought I would just do a blog about it. You might say I should pick my wedding day as my favorite day...being Cody's wife is great but THIS is what I waited way too long for, to be a MOM! A lady taught our relief society yesterday who never got married. She stated that she would have given her life to be a mom. I feel the same way. I'm so GRATEFUL that I've been given that chance! We're so grateful that we also have 2 little babies on the way as well! To us it's a MIRACLE! I know that will become one of my TWO favorite days, when I get to hold them also. Our lives are so blessed because we have Corbett! We love him so much! I have too many friends who also face infertility, some resolved and some not. We hope they will all get the families they want! They are such amazing, inspiring women!! I love this video, but I warn you, I cry EVERY time!

Life Without Cody

I've been informed that my blog is getting boring because I haven't updated lately. So, here's a post, boring or not, better than nothing? Cody's parents came to see us last Friday. They took Corbett to see Wild Thing at the theater and I got a break! It was a fun visit!...we had dinner at Olive Garden and just enjoyed their company. Rhonda brought Ryan (& Sarah) over to visit for a day this week, we had a CRAZY time with kids running everywhere! Cody has gone for a 10-day work trip to Las Vegas. He's at a show called IAAPA. It's the "big" show for his industry. We contemplated driving down to see him but haven't done that...yet. We miss him A LOT! We've had family and friends take care of us though so it hasn't been too bad. The Grovers (our neighbors) made us a turkey dinner on Wednesday! YUMMY! Sandra fed us a nice Sunday dinner and afterward we all headed over to Rhonda's for a while. For the first few days Cody was gone I was too busy to notice, I'm the Enrichment leader and we had our Super Saturday, only it was on Friday so we called it Fabulous Friday. It was a success as far as I know and I'm SO happy it's over! Saturday Corbett & I got movies and goodies! So 5 more days without Cody, we'll have to see what kind of fun we can drum up!

Sweet Relief!

Today I went in for a doctor appointment. I'm 11 weeks along. I had no real reason to worry, only the past miscarriages with our previous twins. I was SO relieved and HAPPY when we had an ultrasound and it showed both babies moving, kicking, and punching, with heartbeats of 162 and 174!

Halloween 2009

I'm joining the masses and making our Halloween post. This was the first year Corbett grasped the concept at all. He had a lot of fun at our trunk or treat and collected plenty of candy to make him sick for quite a while! Cody made Corbett a Jack Sparrow tattoo!

The night before Halloween we had a fun Halloween party with my whole family. The guys didn't stay for the games, they went to the USU game instead. Even my parents made the trek. (in the winter my parents have season tickets to the USU games so we get to see them a lot more often!) We had a soup dinner and plenty of games for the kids. Here's Corbett and his cousins eating donuts on a string!
I made these cupcakes for the party, (got the idea from my friend Allie's blog). Corbett helped me make them. I showed him a picture of what they were going to look like and after that he kept referring to our party as the "yucky party"!

Holiday FUN!

I think the holidays have officially begun! There are parties to plan, treats to eat, and fun to be had!! Even as I type this I'm listening to Charlie Brown on the T.V.!! I'm a sucker for the holidays, I love them!! Luckily Corbett is feeling much better (he experienced swine flu last week) and we are ready for Halloween! Last night the Larkins invited us to their ward function, where there was a sort of haunted house, a train ride for the kids and a wagon ride, plus donuts and hot chocolate!

Then today I took Corbett out to the library where they had pirate stories and a treasure hunt, along with a "craft" where they made a parrot. They said to dress your child as a pirate or in their halloween costume, for Corbett they are the same thing!

So we woke up to snow today and it's still coming... below is a picture of Corbett in front of the snow storm, this is before it really started coming down. The weird thing on his shoulder is his parrot he made at the library.