Can you believe this???

When our friends came up here from Dallas a few weeks ago, they showed us this picture they had taken on their drive up to Minnesota.......



Can you believe this?? Not only did they see Blake and Sorensen on the same sign, but Sorensen was spelled just like we spell it AND the same street has both of Blake's names....go one way and it's Sorensen, go the other way on the same street and it's Blake!!! They took this somewhere in Kansas....thankfully Melissa was quick enough to whip out her phone and snag a picture while the light was still red!!

Father's Day

Sunday we celebrated Father's Day and I think it may have been the best Father's Day we have done for Matt. We had gone to church on Saturday evening, so we had a relaxing morning at home. We made some coffee cake and stayed in our pajamas for longer than I am usually comfortable with, but I have to admit it was relaxing and the kids loved it. Then around lunchtime, Matt, Wyatt, Sadie and I went Maxwell's for lunch (Matt's favorite place for wings) and then on to the Twins game. (Matt's brother Tyler stayed with Blake, who naps everyday from about 1-4pm, so the game would have been a horrible idea for him! Everyone had a much more enjoyable time and Blake was just waking up when we got home.)
The twins won in the 9th inning and we were even able to see a homerun (=fireworks at Target Field). We got home and then Wyatt had baseball practice, which was actually a father-son game in honor of Father's Day. Wyatt had so much fun and at the end of the day, he said that was his favorite part of the day! Sadie and Blake and I went along to watch for a bit and take a few pictures.

Wyatt wanted to wear his Twins jersey he had worn to the Twins game

...almost made it!

Then we came home and Matt got to go for a bike ride on his new bike with his brother. We got him a new bike for Father's Day and he could not wait to try it out. (He had to know ahead of time to get fitted for it and get the clips changed, but he was no less excited---thankfully he doesn't care about surprises like I do.)

Blake...the little operator...watching Uncle Ty

Matt had been telling the kids how his new bike would help him go faster (it's incredibly light) and the kids stood in the driveway and asked Matt to bike as fast as he could

It was such a beautiful night that we played outside for the entire hour while Matt and Ty were gone and then had dinner afterwards. When he got home, Blake couldn't wait to get on the bike. Maybe Matt will have a racing partner someday!

It was a great Father's Day and Matt said it was perfect....relaxing, spending time with family, good workout, great food, great weather....it really couldn't have been a better day for a better guy. Matt is such a wonderful Dad and I am so thankful we could make his day so special. We are at a very busy stage in our lives right now but Matt seems to be able to do it all.....spending time with the Lord every morning, working out and staying in shape, working hard to provide for our family and give his patients the best care, serving his wife constantly, helping around the house and taking time to play with the kids and 'be present' when he is with us, despite how tired or exhausted he may be. We are so blessed to have such a great man in our lives. Happy Father's Day babe!!!

Good friends, good times

Almost a year ago, some of our neighbors made a very difficult move to Texas. It was a very sad day (click here) but they promised to return for our neighbor Andrea's graduation in June 2011. And thankfully the year went fairly quickly and we were so excited to have them back for a week. It really felt just like they had never left.....we all just picked back up right where we had left off (even the kids!)

The ice cream truck......a special treat for my kids since I rarely say they can get something, although I do love that we have an ice cream truck in our neighborhood!! (It's run by a high school kid who bought an old van, converted it, and makes all kinds of money off the rest of us--pretty smart kid!) But I don't think I will ever get sick of such a wonderful sight as this....

Grace, Kendall and Wyatt are all the same age (and Sadie, who thinks she is the same age!)

Thankfully we had some nice days to spend at the pool also

Lillie and Sadie

Lillie, Kendall, Grace and Wyatt

Blake loved looking at himself in my camera phone

Pointing to himself, saying "Bay...Bay" for Blake

Blake was exhausted and took turns hanging out with the kids in our neighborhood, but he seemed especially fond of Nate and his water gun.

Who ate the rest of the dried strawberries?

On the Van Beveren's last night in town, we had a cookout and bonfire.

Doesn't this look like the place to be?


Andrea (my kids' favorite babysitter) and her mom Carol, our next door neighbors


Blake saw no reason why he couldn't go where the big kids were....but he found it a bit tough to get out

Sadie started the week playing with Wyatt and Kendall and Grace, but once her and Emmy realized they were both 4 years old, they decided to play with each other instead. Hilarious!!

So while the other kids were playing hide-n-seek, they sat and read books...
..and played with their babies...

I thought this was too funny....nothing like a mobile firepit!! Matt and Joel brought it down the street and the kids brought the firewood.
We had so much fun while the Van Beverens were in town and it was almost harder to see them leave our neighborhood, knowing that it might be awhile again before we saw them. But we are that much more aware that everyone may not be in our neighborhood forever, so we need to enjoy what we have right now. And we are thankful, everyday, for how blessed we are to be where we are.

my little sister-in-law all grown up...

When Matt and I started dating, my sister-in-law was just 7 years old.....and now she's graduating from high school. We are so proud of all Mollie has accomplished and are excited that next year she will be headed to Kanakuk Kamps Link Year. (I was a counselor at Kanakuk and Mollie was a camper there for several years---truly, it is an unbelievable place and she is one of only 50 people chosen for this experience.)

Sadie and the guest of honor

My brother-in-law's wife, Christy, made all these cupcakes for the party

She is a wonderful baker and put so much time and energy in to these

The highlight of the party for my kids? The cotton candy machine!

Sadie and Auntie Cam

Mollie and Christy

Wyatt, Sadie, Jana (Ty's girlfriend) and Uncle Ty

Matt and his parents

Notice a pattern here in Blake's food consumption?

Kyle and Christy brought along their new puppy, Oswald Rutherford Sorensen the 3rd....or Ozzie for short...a basset hound puppy

The bros

The guest of honor and her brothers......this was right before the 'incident'

As the guys were putting Mollie down, they accidentally dropped her in an attempt to be discreet with her dress.....seconds later, Matt bent over Mollie to make sure she was okay while she simultaneously decided to get up, throwing her hair back over her head and whipping her head up towards the sky.....and then the incident happened.....

Matt's nose and Mollie's head collided and we all heard a crack that sounded like two crocket balls hitting each other....

He was in so much pain....but couldn't help but laugh at everyone's comments!

not too bad...after about 20+ minutes of icing

Blake was pretty concerned

But while Matt was recovering, Wyatt and Blake were playing crocket with both of their grandpas

..and a short while later, Sadie walked up to us, proud to show off what she had gathered....

..until we all explained what those were for and how they needed to stay in the ground...but she still wasn't too upset about it!

A bit more crocket...Matt's Dad, brothers, Cammie's boyfriend and Wy

I think this may have been #3 or #4 for Sadie....

..our little operator, attempting to turn it on himself..

Grammy (Matt's grandma) and Mollie

The sibs

When I was taking this picture, Wyatt yelled out, "That's a small family".....What?? Not sure what would constitute big, then

The whole crazy crew

And the next day at brunch....we were commenting about how Mom thought she had gotten a big enough table when they redid the kitchen, but leave it to us to outgrow the biggest table...

It was a great weekend in Madison and we were so excited to be able to be there to celebrate with Mollie...and great to see the rest of the fam!