Getting dressed for the wedding

The morning of the wedding was great because we didn't need to leave our house until about 10:45. I don't know if I would have been able to have everyone ready before that time! But, here is how sweet all the kids looked in their dresses/ties!

The Day Before the Wedding

We had the BEST weekend ever!!! It was my little sister Becky's wedding on Saturday and so we started celebrating the day before and continued to celebrate the day after!



If you read my blog, you know who Kirsten is. She's my incredible friend from Ohio and she is also a good friend of Becky's. She was sweet enough to fly out for the wedding and we loved every minute we had with her. Her sweet husband, Ammon, took time off work to watch their four kids - and we appreciate him so much too!

Kirsten arrived on Thursday night and the kids were thrilled to see her on Friday morning when they woke up. They all had huge smiles on their faces and kept talking and talking to her. We dropped the kids off at school and then started our day.

Jon stayed home with Kate and Hannah (and decided taking them to music class was too embarassing and nothing could tear him away from NCAA basketball). He watched them ALL day! Thank you Jon - you are the best!

Kirsten and I had planned to surprise her sister-in-law, Becca, with a birthday lunch. We stopped at Rod Works (a cute home decor store) and Pebbles in My Pocket (scrapbook store) on the way to lunch. We just laughed and laughed - just like we had just seen each other. When we were going to the restaurant, Kirsten hid in the back of the van and I pulled up. Becca was there waiting in her car and she admitted to us that she had hoped Kirsten would be there, but when she saw that it was just me in the van, she was sad that she didn't see Kirsten. Becca and I walked into the restaurant and wait for her two cousins - Megan & Beth - to come. Kirsten waited a couple of minutes and then walked through the door! It was really fun to see Becca so happy to see her and that we had really pulled off the surprise.

We had a great lunch at Zupas! Delicious soups, salads and sandwiches!

Kirsten & I


Becca & Megan

Then we decided to go to The Sweet Tooth Fairy, which is a yummy cupcake store, for dessert. We tried several different ones and they were all great (except for the Key Lime one - just not very good). What a treat to be with all these great women!

Beth, Megan, Becca, Kirsten & I

After dessert, we drove over to Becca's house so that her husband, LeGrand and their kids could see Aunt Kirsten. (Super huge thank you to LeGrand too for watching kids!). They were waiting outside and it was so cute to see how happy they were to see Kirsten.

Brayden & Addie hugging Kirsten

Kirsten & Sophie

The Laing family & Kirsten

Can you tell that we seriously had the best time??!!

Me, Kirsten & Becca
Thank you again Becca for letting us hang out with you!

Then, we headed back to Salt Lake. We stopped again at Rod Works (to buy what we had loved before) and then at Quilts Etc. We had done really well with not buying much, but then we saw the cutest pattern for wall hangings for 12 months. We convinced the ladies there to make kits for them and then headed home.

The kids were home from school, and I had told the girls that we would paint their toenails red for the wedding, so Kirsten did that. They were in heaven!

After only being home about an hour, Jon headed to work, and we headed to Sizzler for dinner. I had reserved the banquet room so that all of our family could get together and visit before the wedding day. It was also a blast! Most of Stan & Pat's family came as well as my Aunt Claudia & Uncle Bruce who had driven from Wyoming. Plus, my cousin Ashlie and her two girls - Riley & Abby - who had flew in from Boston. It was really fun and nice for Becky to have the chance to visit with people before her big day!

Jenny & Tate

Kirsten & Becky

Hannah's dinner - watermelon!

Lindsey & I

Ashlie, Abby & I

Camille & Mike (who flew in from Phoenix) and Scottie

Dane

Emily & Becky

Jack

Hannah

Becky, the kids & I

My dad, Becky & I

Matt Nielson spinning Kate and Hannah around and around

After dinner, Kirsten went to Provo with her sister Chelsea and I took the kids to my parents house to visit. What a wonderful day! To be surrounded by great friends and family was incredible and I will remember that day for a long, long time!

Celebrating Grandma's 100th Birthday!

On March 1st, my grandma Sorenson would have turned 100 years old! Since our family looks for any reason to celebrate, we had a celebration! A few years ago, when my grandpa Sorenson would have turned 100, we had a family reunion - complete with a BBQ, games, a kickball game, matching shirts, etc. We were going to do something similiar this summer, but there just won't be time before my parents leave on their mission. So, we thought we'd celebrate on the actual day.

My dad and Aunt Claudia are the two children of Jay & Jeannette (Yes! This is who I am named after). My parents, my siblings, sibling-in-laws, my children, my cousin Meg and her husband Jason, my cousin Aaron and my cousin Matt all had dinner together at our house. My mom had made Jeannette's BBQ hamburgers & banana slush, I made her fruit salad and Meg made her marble cake.

When we sang Happy Birthday, we conferenced called my Aunt Claudia & Uncle Bruce in, as well as my cousin Ashlie and her family, who live in Boston. We wish that we had all been together, but it was fun to it this way too.

Aunt Claudia had prepared little gift bags for everyone - filled with candy, pencils that said "Jeannette 1910 - 2010" and a fresh $2 dollar bill as well as a calendar with pictures of grandma. It was a great evening and fun to reflect on the life of this incredible woman!

My parents

Mike & Candy

Getting ready to eat cake

Becky & Hannah (who is unsure of the burning candles)

Blowing out the candles

Hannah & Matt (Hannah just loves Matt. He is always so cute about carrying her around and playing with her.)

Hannah eating cake (although she usually doesn't try to eat with the fork upside-down).

Wedding Showers Galore

It has been the season of wedding showers!!! It has been so much fun to have a sister getting married and it's been fun to be a part of so many showers (and I haven't even gone to all of them)! I was able to throw a shower for her on Saturday and it was really fun. Our cousin, Kelsi, did the invitation for me and I just loved how it turned out. Becky invited her friends from high school and college and it was fun to get to know them (I spent most of Becky's high school and college years living in Ohio, so I wasn't able to know many of them). The girls came and we had lunch (chicken salad on crossaints, fruity pasta salad, veggies & dip, and chips. Dessert was a chocolate fountain with strawberries, bananas, pretzels, pound cake & vanilla wafers and cookies). Then, we played a wedding version of Scattergories. We used the letters in John & Becky's names and everyone had to come up with wedding words. Then, Becky opened gifts and we all visited. It was great!

The party favor!! (My favorite parts of parties are the invitations and the party favors!)


A couple of weeks ago, we had a family wedding shower. My aunt Mary and her girls put it together and did such a great job. It's a tradition to do a big dinner all together (including the men and children). John's parents and 2 sisters came as well and were really great sports about our huge group! We had Hawaiian haystacks and then Becky had asked Mary to play the "Hokey Pokey" on her accordion. Everyone was such a good sport and jumped right in!

This is a quilt my mom made for John and Becky

Opening gifts

Mary on the accordion

Then, several weeks ago, John's cute mom, sisters, sister-in-laws & cousins, threw Becy a shower. My mom, Becky, Candy and I all went to it and they did such a great job! We had fun games to play (including a DVD of John answering questions) and a super yummy lunch!

The table

My mom playing a game

Becky

Candy & I

We were also blessed to have a 2nd cousin, Camilla, get married last week, so several weeks ago, my mom and I threw her a family shower. Again, Kelsi made the invitation for us, we all had a big dinner together (this time BBQ beef sandwiches), they opened gifts and we had a great time.

Emily, Becky, Jack and Lindsey

Typical Hannah

My mom and Emily

Once again, my favorite part -the favor!! The shower was on Valentine's Day, so it was easy and fun to decorate for.