This will be a quick overview of my summer 2011. I hope you have time to look at lots of pictures. These aren't particularly in any special order, but you might get an idea of how busy I am always kept.
We were able to spend several camp outs with Scott and Kari's new family. The adoption will be final on December 22nd. Hooray! Below are Daniel, 1; Christina, 3; and Jefferson, 2 years old. They have been in the family for 14 months now. We have had lots of fun with these new little grandchildren. Here they are enjoying our fifth wheel trailer.
Having a special hike with grandma and grandpa. Scott and Kari came too, so they could carry the kids when they got tired. I love to take my grandkids on hikes and tell them the names of flowers, point out interesting rocks and bits of wood and even look at bugs, flowers and mushrooms. Our hikes are always educational in one way or another.
I made quite a few trips to Logan and it seems everytime I went there were some repairs to do on dad's house or yard. Actually it is my sister Monica's house now. She bought it this spring. Dad wanted things taken care of now that he is 91 years old. He can really use the help now with the yard and he feels much better having someone at home with him during the night. Monica still works full time and dad is certainly well enough to take care of himself. We are all very grateful to Monica for helping dad. It has been lots of hard work for her. Here Monica and dad are fixing the evaporative cooler in case I needed to use it while I was visiting. Another time that I visited this past summer the refrigerator went out and I shopped for a new one with my dad. The next time I was up, there was a plumbing leak he and Monica were working on.
Here I'm watching dad come down the ladder. I had been handing up tools and making sure no one falls (?) I really don't know what I could have done to stop that. I did spend some time holding the ladder though. Greetings from my dad and Monica. And thanks for fixing the cooler!
I went hiking with Natalie and her family to Grotto Falls, not far from their home in Mapelton. Here are Hadley and Cole enjoying the hike. We crossed the stream many times on logs or split logs.
I spent some time at Melanie's house enjoying her family. Here are Brad, Trent and Melanie. We were enjoying a pleasant day watching the kids ride bikes and Hailie showing off her riding boots, which she got for Christmas from grandpa. She was also did a little riding on a small dirt bike belonging to the neighbor.
Theresa and I, along with Kevin, were able to go see Ashley finishing her first half marathon. The start of the race was in Provo Canyon and ended in downtown Provo. Way to go Ashley. She has a medal to show for her efforts.
We were able to enjoy our time share houseboat two weeks this past summer. In June we actually rented a second houseboat and had a Sorensen family reunion. We had six of our children and their families come. It was such a good time. For some of them, it was their first time. We love the water, riding the wave runners, rowing the kayaks and riding to remote canyons on John's ski boat. The younger people also had some awesone hikes. That was basically everyone except me and one or two other adults who helped watch the little kids. Most of our kids are very brave and love to jump off the third deck of the houseboat into the water.
Jeff and Anita with some of the kids, not all theirs, go a very long ride on the waverunners. They drove them from camp all the way down to the marina when it was time to go home.
Scott's little 2 year old Jefferson had so much fun playing on the beach. He just could not get enough of sand and throwing rocks into the water. He didn't particularly like riding in the kayaks and canoes, but he loved the beach and the houseboat!
Here is a shot of Eric with the trailer he was making for his brother in law. He and Kevin work together at Nationawide where they build tanker trailers for semi truck. They are both great designers and welders. Kevin is also in the engineering program at BYU.
Eric and Alisyn became parents in April, bringing our 24th grandchild into the family. Now, with Scott's three little ones we have 27 grandchildren. Here Eric is enjoying a little 'down' time with his son, Stryker.
Sometimes we suffer. It's not all fun times. Angie's Kamden had an aweful accident with a skateboard!
Here was another trip to Logan to spend time with my dad while Monica had a little vacation.
This is such a beautiful yard to spend summer days in.
During August we helped Ron and Peggy move into their new home in Payson, Arizona. Ron brought household goods up from the valley and Warren and I went down to Payson from our camp in Happy Jack to help unload and unpack. There are elk in the yard every night in the remote part of Payson the house is in. They are also proud owners of two horses and several chickens, as well as the other animals they brought from the valley. Here we are putting up the bird aviary. Warren is outside and Ron and Peggy are inside the aviary tieing things up and putting in screws.
We saw many flowers this summer at Happy Jack.
Here is Warren driving the houseboat during our September Lake Powell trip with our friends. Melanie and John came as well as John and Linda Berry, Diane and Barry Nielsen and Warren's brother Kendall joined us for a few days. Everyone was calling Warren the Rear Admiral, which Melanie promptly had stitched onto a shirt for Warren for his birthday.
More to come real soon. This is only about half the summer.
