More Halloween

More photos from Trick-or-treating and 50 cent corn dogs at Sonic - wahoo!

Lea's pretty hair - the bun was quickly removed after tears (from her) and replaced by a slightly curly ponytail.

 Darth Mal, Spidey, Darth Vadar with the pretty ballerina (aka Princess Lea)

A pirroutte.......whatever, a turn.

This is how you shoot spidey-webs while eating a corn-dog

Darth Vadar force on Darth Mal - scary!!

 

Even more scary is the grumpy ladybug.....wow she was grumpy to start, but it got better.

the Crazy Dominican Scorpion even made an appreance

To which he almost died after scaring Erin at her door - yes that's a real knife - he freaked her out by pounding on the door and saying he wanted candy and he knew she was in there. (sorry erin, we had no idea he was going to do that, should have known though....geoff and pete is just as bad a combo as Jeff and Geoff.) She answered the door only after finding out it was them, with a knife and phone in hand ready to dial 911, saying "this is what I have for you Pete!"  Pete also scared some of the kids walking down the street, but they laughed - just plain crazy when you get the whole group, not just the crazy guy. :)

Abbey quickly got the hang of Trick-or-Treating and no longer wanted to be carried - she "ran" and attempted to keep up with the big kids. Her bag was filthy by the time we got home. All of her candy had a nice layer of dust on it. Who cares though - she had a blast!

At Palfreemans - before the mob followed us to the door.

Halloween house at the end of the street - the picture does not do justice to the detail this guy goes through to decorate. He starts Oct 1 and just keeps adding more every day. Christmas is awesome too!

Happy Halloween!

BOO!
Abbey climbed up on the chair behind me at the computer and this is what I saw: expecting my cute little baby and this mess showed up.....any guesses as to what is on her face?!

 

It's chocolate pudding left over from Lucas' lunch. He had left it on the table, she climbed up, ate it, then threw away her garbage. Cute baby!

Ward Halloween party: We have the best Activities Committee!!! They do so much work and we are so grateful!

PRE-PARTY:

HAY-RIDE - achoo!
Not the best for place for 2 highly allergic individuals of everything nature, but we survived - for the kids right?

Jeff and Spiderman's alter-ego Lucas - no masks at the party, besides I have a phobia of sharing hats, masks and anything that covers the head....except if  I own it. Spiderman is on loan from Beckers, so no mask.

Kirsten Findlay and Abbey - notice the addition to her costume - a cute bunny nose. I do not own one tube of lipstick (so what?!) :) - had to borrow from Lisa (party was in their backyard - they actually have a lot of backyard!)

Darth Mal Ethan, Storm trooper (I think..) Noodle, Princess Ballerina Lea and Princess Fairy Ally riding along with Geoff the "Fair and Noble for taking his kids to the Halloween party without his wife and attempting to fix a wiggly princess's hair".... :)

3 gorgeous Ballerina Princesses! Halle B, Mary, Lea

AFTER THE SUGAR:

ACK!

A little dazed, extreme bunny hat hair, and mostly wiped clean nose - I think it was on my shirt or Jeff's shorts.

Spiderman does not want anyone to know his true identity. Sorry.

WATCHING THE BYU GAME AT BECKERS: Sad little game against TCU.....sorry no pictures of the grumpy adults

Movies for the kids

Baby races:

What do you think they're talking about.....looks like trouble!

Where's Ally?!

Oh that's where she went - silly baby!

MLB and the young at heart

If you've ever wanted to play Major League Baseball, but you're past the prime age of MLB today, no worries - there is a division for you! Starting at age 35, you can play, go to the Championships and even to the World Series! Today we went to a game for the 65+ age group. My uncle (Arlo - my dad's younger brother) was called this week to come play for the team Dodger Town West - hoping to make it to the World Series in Cuba. My brother, Steven, and his kids met up with us and we went "out to the ballgame". There's something special about this league though. There's no sponsors, no overpaid athletes, no promotional gimmicks, no tickets to buy or parking to pay for, no 7th inning stretch, not even a working scoreboard. There is, however, the best of the best group of athletes who want to and enjoy playing the game. Not for the money obviously because we walked right into the park and probably doubled the number of fans for 4 fields with our small group (8 of us). It was amazing though - these guys are impressive and just as competitive as ever. They still get mad when they strike out, thrown out or hit a pop fly for an easy out. They still get upset with the refs for making a poor call, they cheer on their teammates and coaches can get away with calling their players "kid". And although they run a "little" slower than your average player, they love the game!

Arlo said he hasn't played baseball in probably 8 years - he's been playing slowpitch softball, but hasn't played baseball since he attended a Fantasy Baseball camp. He has his own baseball cards, jersey and wooden baseball bat. Aside from being an amazing and talented athlete, he's truly an amazing individual - happy all the time - just all around great guy! The kids cheered him on and called him "grandpa" "sorensen" and they loved missing school to go to a game.....shhhhhh, don't tell. :)

Quick side story: One of Arlo's teammates, asked where the kids' grandpa was. "Grandpa is in Norway." huh? They repeated it as I clarified we were watching Grandpa's brother and Grandpa really is in Norway. Oh, then he really is in Norway - yes he is. :) Smart kids!

First at bat - base hit

Playing shortstop

covering second for a base hit

Tanner with the help of Steven, retrieving a foul ball - the guy in the purple is NOT my brother - he's behind this guy holding Tanner, just happened to be in the shot - they were quicker than my camera to get the ball down.

One phrase comes to mind: "Please return all foul balls to the box on the third base side. Watch for cars, Thank you." Was spoken every time at my brothers' little league baseball games. Got a baseball gum if you returned the foul ball. SWEET! :)

ST-T-T-T-RIKE!

Swing batter, base hit!

My girls in pink! Go team!

Sorensen family fan section

gettin' a little exercise - our own 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th, inning stretch

2-hand touch football and catch on the side

Stealing 3rd!!!!! Go, go, go! (He had just stolen 2nd on the pitch before) - SAFE!

Meeting the pro - way to go Arlo!

A future MLB player - Tanner Sorensen

The game was pretty intense - came down to the last inning, runner on 3rd for the tie run, runner on 1st for the go-ahead, winning run. Arlo's team was ahead 5-1, they went 3-0 outs and back to the field. The other team scored 3 runs off one stand-up triple. Score is now 5-4 Dodgers still up by 1. The guy who hit the triple and is on third is one of the quicker guys on the field and can easily score given the chance. Hitter up, swing and high pop-fly shallow infield, caught by the 2nd baseman - batter's out - game over! Dodgers Town West wins! IT WAS AWESOME!

Halloween preview

A little preview of things to come this weekend. Grandma Riz made the girls tutus for Halloween and to wear every other day they please. I wanted to make them with her when we went to the BYUvUNLV game, alas not happening as that was the 2 weeks of illness we endured and survived. It's lovely to have my house back to normal and healthy. :) Lucas got a water coloring thing and loved every minute of it. I think the wood absorbed a lot although the placemat he was using was completely soaked too.........inspiring creativity right?!

BYU trip!

ROAD TRIP!!! After reading about a friend's adventures to the BYU game in Texas, we (erin) had this great idea to go on our own road trip. Requires much effort when wanting to go anywhere with 3 children. We decided to take a road trip to the BYU vs Utah State game. It just so happened to coincide with General Conference. We were able to round up tickets for Conference and headed to Utah with the Beckers.

DAY 1:
We left at 3:30 am.....Friday October 2nd - had to be there for game time at 7 pm. Before the sun was up, we headed out.
Stop 1: Flagstaff for fillerup - 28 degrees and freezing!
Stop 2: The Gap (45 minutes before Page, AZ) - interesting, still cold and we parked next to Beckers, one care on their side and other a foot from our van - stuck in the middle of a domestic distubrbance, several "F"-words later - in a matter of seconds, we hurriedly backed out of the gas station and left!
Stop 3: - unscheduled visit with Kanab Police Officer - Lea took a picture of the police car, but the picture was accidentally deleted from her camera. Two tickets (both my Jeff and Geoff Becker) and $180 later, we continue to Kanab for brunch around 10 am at Wendy's in our fav gas station there.
Stop 4: By now - for us, we're 2 stops too many for our trip to Utah.
Stop 5: trade drivers for our vehicle, my turn - just before entering the I-15 from the 20. Right before Beaver.
Stop 6: Some construction, but whew, we made it to Springville Walmart for diapers and a long-sleeved shirt for me. It's cold! It's about 3 pm now and we're headed to BYU Bookstore - I love this place! Beckers are on their way to see family - we'll re-convene at the game.
Stop 7: BYU BOOKSTORE! On our way into the Wilkinson Student Center, I hear "Jeff! Jeffrey!" At this I turn around to see someone I should know holding the door open for me. I did a double take because he was in the group calling Jeff. It was Jeff's cousins (dave's girls) and their mom Jane. They were on their way to the bookstore too. Warm hats and new BYU shirts, we're back out the door to my aunt's house (my mom's sister, Marietta).
Stop 8: We're finally somewhere to unload and relax. The kids are free to run around. My cousins were there and their kids. My Aunt and cousins were kind enough to watch our kids while we went to the game. When I was younger, my family spent countless hours at Mare's house when we'd take our trips to Utah from Washington. Brings back a lot of fond memories being there and hanging out with family. Lea and my fav cousin Jenny... :) has a daughter Lea's age. They had a great time together and were sad to part ways the next day as we headed to Salt Lake to stay with Jeff's brother Nathan and family. We gave our Sunday morning tickets for Conference to Jenny and her husband.

Lea, Elise, Lucas

Stop 9: Off to the game! Grab dinner at Burger Supreme - now it's 6 pm and closing in on kick-off. If anyone knows Jeff, we don't miss kickoff - it's frustrating for him, me I don't care, but Jeff loves every second of the game experience....notice I didn't say the game....it's the game experience..... subtle difference.
Met up with the Beckers again, Jeff's brother Steven and Elise (not the same as the little one mentioned above) and still more Risenmays we found - Amy, Paul and their son. Quickly downing as much Burger Supreme as we can, we take the rest with us and head to our seats - 3RD ROW!!!! (from the top of the stadium...) After much heckling from Jeff and other disgruntled BYU fans, several rounds of the wave and the BYU fight song, BYU wins something to something... :). I was just happy to be there - feeling 20 again and carefree!

Walked to Steven's apartment and played Beatles Rockband for a couple songs while traffic dispersed, then headed to my aunt's house for the night.

 End of day one: it was a long day, but so happy to arrive safely and had a great time with family and friends. 

DAY 2:

Spent the morning with Marietta, then headed to Salt Lake. Jeff was going to the Priesthood Session of General Conference and we wanted to spend some time with Nathan and his family during the day so the kids could play. 
Stop 10: Nathan's and then to the park. Back for dinner and men to Priesthood (also had tickets for my nephew Brendan and his friends who were down from BYU-I) while Mandy and I watched a movie and the kids watched a movie downstairs. Worked out great and we enjoyed being with them. I saw them this summer for the Risenmay reunion at the Oregon Coast, but Jeff was unable to take work off and join us. It's been a while since they'd seen each other - April at Eric's (youngest brother) wedding.

Lucas, Anna, Lea and Abbey

Everyone had a good time at the park.....Jeff showing off his rodeo skills.

"Should I eat it?! Mom said 'No rocks, no dirt, don't lick the sidewalk, but she never said wood chips....'"

Nah! I'll just pick it up and throw it down - who needs toys?!

DAY 3: On the road again.....

Day 3 was much like day one. Back on the road again. Alot of stops: Panguitch, Cameron, us in Flagstaff, etc, but we made it home and it was a memorable trip. More photos from the Cameron stop:

Babies "driving", the kids running crazy between the vans to bust out some energy and on to the final stretch of the drive. Good times!

Choose this Day

From President Eyring - Choose this Day. My spiritual filling as we're home from church for another week - just in case we're still contagious for something. Lea had a low grade fever 100 and I was exhausted - thankful for a day of rest. Happy Sunday!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Cw8I8eukaI