The Avenger's Midnight Showing

Justus and his friends planned way in advance to go to the midnight showing of The Avenger's.  They also all dressed up.  Justus was The Incredible Hulk.  He bought Hulk contacts (which were very uncomfortable), a purple shirt and a lab coat - all for this very special event.  His friends arrived a little late and were in a rush so I didn't get a picture.  But they each dressed up as a different character in the movie.

Tori and her friend Bria also went dressed in their Avenger's t-shirts.  Adri's in her p.j.'s.  She did not go the the movie.  It was a school night! 

They went to a movie theater that was a little further away so they could watch the movie in IMAX 3D.  They absolutely loved the show and were glad to be some of the first to see it.

It did come with a price though.  They were all a little late for school the next day since they didn't get home until 3:00 AM.  And they felt like zombie's all through what school they did get to.  I would have fallen asleep during the movie!  The things kids can do!

YES!!!

SCHOOL IS IN SESSION!
Bye, bye kids - mom loves you!!! :)

Tori - a mighty 9th grader! (she prefers 'freshman')

Adri - an awesome 6th grader

Justus - a sophomore in High School

Easter Weekend

Saturday we went to Jake's mom's for an Easter party and after a very rainy egg hunt we ended up with 3 baby chicks!  Our house is turning into a zoo!!!  Here's a picture of the kids holding their babes.  Justus has decided to build a chicken coop out back.  We'll see how that all turns out.

You can tell that Justus was woken up way to early Easter morning by a very eager Adri.  He got a new suit for church and he looks very handsome in it.  What's even better is he actually likes it!

Tori also got woken up too early.  She was trying really hard to show some excitement, but it just wasn't there.  She got a new Easter outfit to wear to church and a really cute necklace.

Adri was so busy unloading her basket she hardly had time for a picture.  She also got a new outfit for church and some summer shorts.  The candy seems to be her favorite though!

The Easter Bunny even brought us a waffle maker for breakfast.  That was part of the reason I forgot to get a picture of them in their Easter duds before church.  We kind of ran into a few problem making our waffles.  But after one trip to my mom's and a trip to the neighbor's we were finally able to fill everyone up!  Church was nice.  I taught the lesson in my Primary class and was so scared that the kids would be bouncing off the walls, but they weren't.  They sat quietly for the most part and listened to the Easter lesson.  After church we went to my mom's and had another great party, but I forgot my camera! :(

It's Official!

Justus is an Eagle Scout!  He met for his eagle board of review last night and became an official Eagle Scout!  He didn't think he would survive all of the paperwork, but he did it!  YAY!  Now we just have to wait a few weeks for the paperwork to come back and he can have his court of honor.  We're so proud of you Justus!

~AND~

Adri graduated from the D.A.R.E. program.  Way to go Adri!!!  Justus and Tori are jealous of her cool shirt.  When they graduated D.A.R.E. their shirts weren't nearly as cool!  

Annual Gingerbread House Making!

Tori really gets into making her gingerbread house.  She always seems to take the longest, but her house always looks very precise and beautiful.  Adri made sure that Grandma Sorensen didn't forget about the event.  The minute she was home from visiting cousins in Ohio Adri got right on her about getting it scheduled.  Grandma didn't fail us!  She built 17 houses for all the grandkids and one for herself!  Justus is boycotting cold weather and refused to do a typical gingerbread house.....  see more below!

Here's Adri working on her gingerbread house.  This is very toned down for her.  Usually she's trying to put as much candy on as possible so she can snack on it later.  She did however insist on blue icing.  It came in handy for Justus' too.

This is Justus hard at work on his beach house.  Ha, ha!  The kid cracks me up! 

We do know how to build a mess!  This is Grandma, Wendy (working on baby Allie's gingerbread house, Adri and Codi.  See that tummy hiding behind the chair?  Codi is due in 2 days and insists that baby boy will come exactly on time.  We hope she's right!  We can't wait to meet him!

Tori, Mallory, Josie and Gracie are working hard.  Tate is being crazy! ;)

Tori and her beautiful house!  Great job Tori!!!  She has to have everything just so, right down to the pattern of cookies on her roof and perfectly aligned fence.

This is pretty much what happens to Adri's gingerbread house.  It goes within days!  Wonderful work Adri!!!  Maybe just a bit messy though!

And here we have Justus' master piece complete with ocean, thatched roof, surf board and palm tree!  Way to get creative Justus'!

All he wants for Christmas is a real good tan!  

Justus' Eagle Project

Justus was lucky to get his Eagle Project planned before the bad weather started.  His project was cleaning up Sandy Beach and Swede's lane by Utah Lake.  He had a great turn out from friends, family and ward members.  It was cold, but luckily the rain held off.  Justus made these invitations up and took them to church and to his friends at school.

Everyone met up at the church.  This is Caiden, Colton (aka Smitty), Justus and Wes.

Wes, Tyler, Smitty, Jasper (our dog), Justus, Corbin (aka Lefty) and Jake.

Me and my mom.

Wes, Caiden, Adri, Justus, Tori, Kelsie and Smitty.

Tori, Kelsie (Tori's friends who I begged to come and help us) and Grandma Bonnie.

Olivia and Justus' Aunt Abby.

This is us getting started at Sandy Beach.

Zeke, Garrison (cousins) and Adri.

Tori, Kelsie, Grandma Marilyn and Grandma Bonnie.

Kelsie and Tori by the STOP POACHING sign.

Lefty, Justus and Smitty hauling a heavy tire.  You can't believe the junk that people left there.  There were even dirty diapers!!!  Quite a few!  It was SO GROSS!

Wes, Smitty, Lefty and Zeke

Sean brought his big truck and we were happy to have it to help haul stuff home.

Sean, Caiden, Jake and Matt.

Zach and Zeke.

Caiden and Tanner.

This is when they found an interesting dead thing.

Zach, Hayes and Grandma Bonnie filling up their bags.

Hayes, Kelsie, Tori, Grandma Bonnie and Tyler.

Me, Kelsie, Grandma Marilyn and Tori.

The whole crew walking back to the trucks with the last of our trash.

This is Justus' Grandpa Mike.  He took most of these pictures which we were VERY grateful for. Justus' mom got busy picking up trash and only took a few pictures.  He and Grandma Bonnie also brought hot chocolate and donuts and served everybody from the back of their truck.  By then everyone was cold and hungry, so the hot chocolate and donuts were great!

Trevor (one of Justus' YM leaders) was great to bring his HUGE trailer and bobcat to help us out with the big stuff.  There was absolutely no way we could have done it without him! 

Trevor's big trailer after we filled it up.

This is his trailer when he went to unload it at the garbage dump.  WOW!  Justus picked a project that really made a big difference.  The land owner came down as we were working and he was very grateful for all of the hard work and he said he had never seen girls help out at an eagle project.  Go girls!

Jake even filled up his trailer!

Great job on your Eagle Project Justus' - we're so proud of your hard work and a BIG THANKS so everyone who took time out of their day to come and help!!!  We ended up with 24 helpers!