Easton's Christmas Program

Easton was so cute to watch in his Christmas program. He was a shiny car during one of the songs that they sang. We have been to these programs for five years in a row now! The people that own Learning Dynamics were there so I went and told them that they should open one up in Arizona! They actually have made an offer on some land there! Yay! I told them they have two years to get it done before Nile will be old enough to go.

Jasper Comes

The first part of December Jasper, Santa's elf left the boys a gift on the front porch from Santa. He left them a note telling them that they have been really good boys and that they are on the nice list. At the end it told Easton that he better not tell his mom that he hates her anymore. He was surprised that Santa knew that he had said that the day before. Santa left Star Wars Advent Calendars. Carter and Easton have LOVED them! They are so anxious every morning to open up the little window for the day. Easton is convinced that Plo Koon is in there. We've tried to let him down easy and tell him that he's probably not in there. Man, I sure hope Santa brings Plo koon for Christmas!

Time Out

The picture above is Mandy with a counter. This was so funny. They had a little store set up in the back selling books and CDs of the presenters from Time Out for Women. They had this box of counters that everyone was going crazy over. Every time anyone asked anyone about them nobody really knew what they were for, but the rumor going around was that Hillary Weeks was going to be talking about them and that you want one! So everyone was buying them...including me and Mandy. We HAD to have a counter! Hillary Weeks did talk about it and afterwards they were completely gone and sold out!

This seriously was one of the best weekends EVER! Mandy and I went and spent the weekend up in Salt Lake and went to Time Out for Women. It was so fun to just have some girl time. All of the speakers were amazing and I left with my cup filled. The lady at the top is a woman who sometimes speaks at Time Out for Women. She is such an amazing lady. Here is her story:

Mariama Kallon

Raised in war-torn Sierra Leone, Mariama Kallon saw many things as a young girl that might fill a person with fear and hatred. Soon after witnessing the violent murders of parents and siblings and spending her youth fleeing from rebels, she was introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ and found hope in God and peace in a knowledge of eternal families. She was given a humanitarian kit by the Church, which became a treasured symbol of hope that she used to bless the lives of many as they again fled for their lives. After returning to her town, she was called on a mission to the Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission, and wept in gratitude to the Lord as she visited the place where her precious humanitarian kit was made. Today Mariama stands as an example of the divine purposes of humanitarian work and tells her story to numerous audiences, urging them to participate in this work. She currently resides and works in Salt Lake City, where she has attended LDS Business College.

She is such an great lady and has such an amazing story!

During our lunch break we walked over to The Lion House for lunch. On our way over there we passed a homeless man. We decided that we should take him some soup and a roll. So we bought it and as we walked back to the convention center he wasn't there anymore. We didn't want to not give the soup to someone so we walked around Temple Square looking for someone that was homeless. Mandy and I were laughing so hard that we were on the search for someone homeless. We saw someone down the street that we thought was homeless but as we got closer we realized that they weren't. We were seriously laughing so hard and people were just staring at us. We ended up finding this poor lady that we knew was definitely homeless. When we asked her if she wanted the soup I will never forget the look that she had on her face. It was a look of surprise and shock and she anxiously took the soup. We were so glad that we found someone that could use some warm soup.

The rest of the weekend was spent seeing Breaking Dawn and at the Sanctuary Day Spa. It was amazing! The weekend went by way too fast! We are already planning next year!

My Sweet Kasey

This is my sweet niece Kasey. She decided that since we were moving to Arizona that she wanted to do a tea party with just me. She was so cute, she got all dressed up and wanted it all fancy. I showed up in sweats and was a little embarrassed so went home and changed into a skirt. She picked out the tablecloth and even poured our milk with out spilling! It was so fun to have some one on one time with her and it was so special to me that she would want to do that with me. I love her so much and am going to miss living right next door to her! All of my boys just love her-especially Nile. Nile always runs up to her and wants her to pick him up. She is going to be the best little babysitter and I'm so sad I won't be able to take advantage of that! I love this sweet, thoughtful little girl.

Carving Pumpkins

It was so fun carving pumpkins with the boys this year. Brad has been working like crazy lately so we had to do it without him. I'm still a little nervous having the boys use knives so I had them show me where and what to carve. They're pumpkins turned out so cute! Easton was very particular about what he did and didn't want. I got so busy with everything I didn't get pictures of the final product! Oh well, at least we got this one.

Carter's Halloween Parade and Party

Carter was so cute in his costume for the Halloween parade. His teacher Mrs. Johnson was dressed up like Snow White just like Easton's teacher. Later that day Carter had his halloween party. I love going into Carter's class and watching him. He is such a cute kid! Mrs. Johnson is the most amazing teacher. We lover her so much and are dying that she is not going to be Carter's teacher for the rest of the year. She is the most incredible lady. I wish her and Mrs. Johnson could be my boy's teachers until they graduate!

Easton's Halloween Party

Easton was Jengo Fett for Halloween this year. (Both him and Carter wanted to be the same thing) His teacher Mrs. White dressed up like Snow White. It was totally fitting because Easton has called her Snow White all year long. Instead of Mrs. White, it's Snow White. She is the BEST teacher EVER! Carter had her when he was in Preschool and we just fell in love with her. We wish that she could be the boy's teacher for forever! I told her we were taking her to Arizona with us!

Cook Family Pictures

I love this picture of Nile and Kelly. He loves Grandpa!

We took these pictures when the leaves were changing in the mountains. That is one thing I will REALLY miss living in Arizona is the seasons. Fall is such a beautiful time of year!

Big News In Our Family!

So we have some big things happening in our family. A few weeks ago we found out that we are moving to....

We are so excited, but sad at the same time. Brad's boss offered him to go down to Phoenix and open up an office down there. We couldn't say no. It's such a great job opportunity for Brad and it will be a good opportunity for our little family. I'm excited for some warm weather-no snow! We're trying to get a house that has a pool in the back yard so that will be fun. When his boss made him the offer we really prayed about it to know if it was the right thing to do. I felt really good about it from the beginning and knew it was what we should do. I feel like Heavenly Father really prepared me ahead of time and has really blessed us so much already. I can see the hand of the Lord in so many things already and we haven't even moved there! While I have felt so good about it and have felt so excited, I'm getting a little sad! I started packing up some boxes tonight of stuff that we don't use all the time and I was crying while doing it. We have been so blessed while we have lived here. This is where I have brought home two of my babies, and this is pretty much the only home that my kids know. We have such a wonderful neighborhood full of kids. We live right by our families and rely on them for many things. My sister in law lives right next door to me...ugh, this is where the tears start. Mandy is more a sister to me than anything. We always say that we are sisters sent to different families. I rely on her a ton. I love living right next door to my darling nieces. I have grown so much living here surrounded by so many wonderful people. I have a scripture class that I go to once a week taught by this woman that I absolutely adore and love. Susan, she is my hero. Ugh...this is where the bawling starts. She has taught me to understand and love the Bible, but more importantly I feel like I have come closer the the Savior. Her knowledge of the scriptures is amazing. She has been through so many life experiences and I go to her for so many things! I feel like I am a completely different person than I was from the day that we moved in to this house thanks to Susan and thanks to all the wonderful people that I have been privileged to associate with. Carter and Easton have the BEST teachers on the face of the planet! -That is hard to leave!

As I look back at the last five years that we have lived in this house I think of all these wonderful things and can clearly see the hand of the Lord in our lives. He has blessed us so much. It is so hard to leave that, but what keeps me upbeat and excited for Arizona is that I know that he will do the same for us there. I recently read this word art thing that said, "If God brings you to it, he will bring you through it." I have total faith that Arizona is where were supposed to be, and I know that Heavenly Father will not leave us alone.

Brad and I went down a couple of weeks ago to check it out and to try and find a place to live. I loved it! I think in my head I was picturing this....

But it's not really like that...ok, it is, but not really. It's a lot more green than I thought.. and they have citrus groves there! Did you know that?? I didn't! Like I said, I was picturing the above. I feel like this whole experience just in the last few weeks has really brought Brad and I together even more. I kept telling him that he is my rock, and with him I can do anything. We decided together that really we can be happy anywhere as long as we have each other and our three sweet boys. That's what really makes us happy is each other and as long as we have that we'll be good.

So... we're moving. It will be good. I'm excited. And this is why I will have to keep my blog up, so that our parents can see all the cute stuff their grandkids are doing and stay up to date! We are moving the day after Christmas so I don't know how much blogging I'll be doing between now and then, but I'll do my best. Then after that it's going to be a blogging extravaganza!

Recommitment.....AGAIN!

I have been horrible at blogging, horrible about taking pictures, horrible about pretty much documenting anything around here! Where does the time go!?! I really don't know what I've been doing the last six months, but what I do know is that I've been really busy! I am recommitting to being better about blogging and keeping a record of my cute sweet boys so that I can remember this wonderful time that we have together, and all of the cute little things that they do and say. This time is going by so fast, and I want to be able to have this record so that I can recall it all.

Jason

My brother created a profile on Mormon.org. He is so cute. He used a picture that we took the day he left for the Missionary Training Center, I seriously had Nile the week before so my face is like a balloon. Check out my cute brother and his profile.

http://mormon.org/me/3CF9/Jason#

Easton's Last Day of School

Easton had his last day of school. How do my babies grow up so fast? He had Mrs. Johnson, Carter's first preschool teacher. He had a fun year and loved being in the same class as his cousin Quincy.

PS The last day they always do a circus day, that's why his teacher is wearing what she's wearing.

Baby Shower

My friend Melissa and I did a baby shower for a girl in my neighborhood. We had so much fun planning it and putting it together.

Nile

Nile loves going outside and he gets so mad if he can't. He is such a busy guy always doing something or getting into something!

Nile The Hoarder

Nile wanted total control of the goldfish bag. He didn't mind sharing, but don't even think about taking the bag away!

Carter's First School Lunch

Carter's class went to the lunch room to practice eating in the lunch room for next year. It was so cute. I was so happy to have been there to watch. Carter chose pizza to eat.

Mowing The Lawn

Nile wanted to go out with Brad so bad so he let him come out and he carried him around while he mowed the lawn. He was happy as can be. Brad is the best Dad.

Easton's Distraught

Easton was so upset tonight. He was asking Brad if he was going to be bald when he was older like Brad. He was near tears when he was asking him about it. It was so cute, he was so upset about it. Hopefully he'll get the Sorenson genes and keep his hair.

Our Sweet Nathan

My sweet cousin Nathan passed away today. He had to go in for emergency surgery in the middle of the night and didn't make it. Nathan was the light in our family. He would always get so excited to see you. I can still hear him say "I love you" It always melted my heart.

Our favorite things about Nate:

Nile- "I love that he helped take such good care of me while my Mom and Dad were in Hawaii. He called me Nills instead of Nile."

Easton- "I liked wunning (running) with Nate and Carter"

Carter- "I liked laughing and wrestling with Nate"

Christine- "I liked when Nate would come up to me and say, "Time to go home" and I would pretend to cry and say, "No, don't go!" and he would get a huge smile on his face and pretend to leave.

Brad- "I liked when Nate would laugh, it warmed my heart"

We love you Nate. We are so happy to know that we will see you again!

Easton's Fourth Birthday

We had the family over for Easton's birthday and had Cafe Rio. I think he had a great day and got some fun stuff. Of course all of the Star Wars stuff was a hit. I love being a mom to this little guy.

A few little facts about Easton:

-He is very tender hearted. He's tough, but he is tender hearted

-Lover of Star wars, Spiderman, Batman, anything tough and boyish

-If you threaten him that if he doesn't pick his toys up that you're going take them away, he will threaten you right back that he's not going to cuddle you anymore or that he's not going to be your mom anymore.

-He is very bossy, especially if you're telling a story, he likes to try and tell you how it should be

-He is a home body and loves to be at home

Easton's Birthday Morning

This is Easton opening his birthday presents. The boys love Star Wars, they're actually more obsessed. Everything around here is Star Wars.

Nile's First Birthday

I love this picture above, this is so typical, trying to keep the kids from blowing out the candle too early.

I can't believe that my little baby is not a baby! The first year wen by so fast, but man it was a stressful one! This little guy is our million dollar baby for sure! This little guy started out after 2 weeks having Pyloric Stenosis. During that surgery they found that he had a high chance of having a hernia so he had surgery for that. He wouldn't drink bottles and after a couple of stressful months and doctor visits each week trying to find out why a baby wouldn't drink his bottle we found this special formula that did the trick, along with acid reflux medicine. Then several months later and many ear aches later he has tubes put in. We wouldn't trade this guy in for anything though. He brings so much happiness and joy to our little family.

A few facts about Nile

1-He screeches like a hawk. Not because he's mad, just to talk

2-He claps by making a fist and using his other hand to hit his fist

3-Forget toys, he loves to play with the dishwasher and the oven, or anything else that he shouldn't play with.

4-If he really likes what he's eating he will say "mmmmmm" as he's eating it.

5-He loves my Mom, and if we stop by her house and we don't go in he get's mad

6-He loves his two older brothers and wants to do everything that they are doing