New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve day started with a trek to Chuck E. Cheese with Shelley, Jake, Evan and Skye. Ava's first time. She loved it! Then home for a good nap so she could party the night away and welcome in the New Year.


Ava adopted Grandma as her absolute best friend for the New Year's party. They had so much fun together taking care of "baby."


Ava tootin' her New Year horn.

A final 2007 farewell as I head off to feed Ez, knowing full well Ava will most likely get my New Year's kiss from Dad.


Instead of a New Year's kiss, Dad gets a New Years bop!


Ez finally decides to wake up and join the party.

Cabin Time!

Grandma C let Mike and I take his family up to her cozy and comfortable cabin near Duck Creek at Strawberry Point for a few days after Christmas. To put it succinctly, we had an absolute blast! We played in the snow, took Ava sledding, snowmobiling, had a bonfire (thanks to Mike and Scott who dug the fire pit out of three feet of snow), played games, ate good food, and started making plans to build our own family cabin someday. Thank you grandma!!

Christmas Day

Christmas day was full of family, but my favorite memory was watching Ava and Pops get to know each other one on one. It was such a cute sight! They played and played together.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was awesome. It all started out with a breakfast at Justin and Jamie's where we got to see Mark and Bekah (HURRAH!).


The evening festivities took place at our house with catering by Wingers, lots of games, and a nativity play put on by the Sorensen Clan. Just in case you want the cast list, here we go:
Mike- narrator
Ryan- Donkey
Brooke-Mary
Scott, Dana & Shelley- wise men
Daniel (Mike's cousin)- Joseph
Ava- Angel
Ezra- Baby Jesus
Dave- Innkeeper
Kelsey- Shepard
Dennis- Star of Bethlehem

I was video recording, and Carole helped queue our actors for their parts.


Grammy gets some Christmas Eve cuddles from our boy!

This is the Place Park

My cousin, Jody, won tickets on the radio for admission to This Is the Place Park in SLC. She kindly gave Mike and I a pair, and we snatched the opportunity to check it out. Mike had a few vacation days he needed to use up before the New Year, so it made opportunities like this easy for us to have a night out with the kids. They also gave us the week between Christmas and New Years off-we just LOVED having him around and couldn't be more grateful. Anyway, This Is the Place was a fascinating Park, complete with a train (trolley) ride, original and replica homes and in-costume characters typifying 19th century Utah. It was so fun.

Ava and Dad learn the Virginia Reel. I didn't think Ava would catch on, only being two, but she did a great job and loves dancing with her daddy (and Ezra). :o)


She got to kiss Baby Jesus. Baby Jesus is her favorite Christmas character. She threw a big fit when I was taking the nativities down, poor girl. She talk about him, sings about him, loves reading about him. She even told me, "Mommy, you are not a woman, but Mary is." I'm not going to compete for womanhood with that amazing lady. She's right, compared to Mary I am no woman. Anyway, she tells the nativity story pretty well from the taxes to the angel to the gold, frankincense and myrrh, if you need a narrator for next year's pageant.

Ava saw a donkey shaking and hiding in the corner of the stable and said, "Come her sweet donkey, I will give you rubs." Too sweet!


My handsome boys. Aren't I a lucky girl???

Ava's First Sword Fight

Meet Jess and Danny. Jess is my sis, Danny's the fiance. Congrats!!! They plan to marry May 31. Ava loves them both and can't wait to see Jess as a "beautiful bride," and Danny as her "handsome groom." Anyway, Danny only has nephews. His parents were so kind to invite us up to their beautiful home to meet the family, and Ava had her first experience with wild and crazy little boy "fighting" play. Check out the intense look on her face. It had up CRACKING up with laughter. Wish you could have seen it live.

She also learned how to "die." So funny.

Ava Meets Santa

Ava waiting her turn in line to meet Mr. Claus.


When asked what she wants for Christmas, Ava replies, "I want to open my presents!" So easy to please. After hopping off his lap, Santa gave Ava her first taste of candycane, a new Christmas obsession.

A Day in the Life...

These are my babes having the time of their life together. Crawling up and sliding down Ezra's mattress, and wrestling before bedtime. They are such good friends already!

Ezra's Walking!!!

I realize that I am way behind on blogging, but this just had to be publicized! Ezra took his first steps on Monday, Jan. 14th. Another nine month walker in the Sorensen family. Luckily he doesn't yet realize what he is doing. When he does, I'll be in for trouble. For now we are just excited 'cuz he's as cute as can be on his little feet.