Nathan's Journal: November 2011

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Christmas with the Sorensens

Some highlights from our Christmas holiday: *Snow *Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen, Corbin, Kyra, Preston and Jesse came to our house for Christmas. They had quite an adventure getting here (car breaking down, squishing into a tiny little car, getting in late Christmas eve night), but they made it. *They joined us for church and even participated in the ward choir *We went sledding on Christmas Eve and found such a great place that we took the rest of the family back after Christmas. Corbin even helped the kids build a snow fort in the side of a little hill. *Christmas morning with the all of the magic that entails. *Hot chocolate party with Aunt Kyra

Thanksgiving with Friends

We had a lovely Thanksgiving yesterday, minus the knee blow out that Dad got during his Turkey Bowl (football game) that morning. Poor guy can hardly move. We had our friends, the Bucks, over for dinner. All of the kids in our two families have a "friend" that is basically the same age (Aaron and Ben, Tessa and Caelan, Jonah and Nathan)....and then there is Megan and Jacob (Megan who is 5 years old and Jacob who is 10 and a half). Our feast included turkey, gravy, sweet potato casserole, green beans, peas, homemade rolls, raspberry jello salad, corn souffle, stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, apple-ginger ale, and party punch. Later we went to some other friends' house for dessert (the table was packed with desserts: probably 15 options), and the kids all played wild together. It was a great day. Earlier this month we had a Family Home Evening on Gratitude. Throughout the rest of the month we wrote down things we were thankful for on popsicle sticks and put them in our "Thankful Jar." Here are some of the things on the sticks:Church, Running vehicle with no payment, Missionaries, Veterans, Jesus, Priesthood (and that we can be healed through it), Food, God, Austin, Holy Ghost, Clothes, Nature, Daddy and Mommy, "Best Wife and Mom ever," Holidays, Family, I also did a little photo session with the kids. I wanted to do family pictures for our holiday card, but then Sean broke himself and I didn't want to make him have to move around all over outside (we'll have to do the family one later).

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Tattoo Artist

Nathan found the permanent marker. Looks like we have an artist on our hands.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Salmon Snagging

Dad really wanted to try for better luck at the salmon snagging excursion (he had gone a couple weeks earlier with the scouts and got stormed out) so we decided to take a little family trip up to the lake for the weekend. We headed up after the kids got out of school on Friday. We stopped and had Blake's burgers and fixed the tail light on the van (after getting pulled over and given a warning for it) and then made our way to El Vado Lake. We reserved a little cabin right there by the lake. It was a cute two bedroom wood cabin right along the river. We hung out that night. Dad took Caelan and Ben over to lake and threw in their line a couple of times. The next morning we got up and made breakfast right there in the cabin: eggs, potatoes and sausage. We caught two deer fighting in front of the cabin, which was pretty entertaining to watch. The kids played with a few dogs that were wandering around in front of the cabin. There were also some bear statues that the kids had fun climbing on.

Then we headed over to the Lake Heron and fished. Dad helped the kids with their rods. We stayed in one spot for a couple of hours with no luck (there were probably 20 other fishermen around us and no one was catching anything). We tried another spot and there was no luck there either. We drove by two other spots and asked around, but apparently the fish weren't out and about that day. We decided to head home. The kids had a blast playing along the water front and climbing the rocks. We stopped in Santa Fe at a Spanish foods store and picked up some spanish sausage and then got dinner in Albuquerque before we arrived home. We'll have to try it again next year. It was a fun family getaway, even if we came home empty handed.

Friday, November 18, 2011

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

"I'm so glad when daddy comes home. Glad as I can be. Clap my hands and shout for joy and climb upon his knee. Put my arms around his neck, hug him tight like this. Pat his cheek and give him what? A great big kiss." Dad is one of Nathan's best buddies. He loves to climb all over him, have Dad throw him in the love sac, wrestle on the floor, read books and just be together.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Fall Festivities

Fall is such a fun season in New Mexico: the state fair, the Balloon Fiesta, Halloween, etc. Plus this year we added onto that with a new baby. We found a fun pumpkin patch to go to the weekend before Halloween. They had hay bales to climb, yummy sugar roasted nuts to eat, a corn maze (it was the end of the season so a lot of the corn husks were dying but the kids still had fun walking along the paths) and big pumpkins to take home. Then we got to Halloween. It seemed like the celebrating just kept on going. We went to the kids Halloween parade at their school on Friday and Nathan wanted to dress up like the rest of the kids. On Saturday was the ward Halloween party complete with trunk-or-treating. On Monday (the actual holiday) the kids dressed up again and went trick-or-treating in the Walmart and at the Beehive Home (an assisted living home). I think we ended up going through 15 costumes between all of us. Fun times. Nathan was a construction worker, a pirate and Shrek...and was totally adorable in each one. He even let me paint his face for 2 of the costumes. Dad always lets the kids choose the pumpkins that they want him to carve. They chose Slimer, ET, Hello Kitty and a haunted tree. Dad's a pumpkin carving master! This year I decided to try a "free for all" with the candy, instead of rationing it out every day for a couple of weeks, I pretty much just let them have at it. I think I like it better that way - it gets it out of the house sooner and it makes for only a few days of sugar highs.