Saturday, March 2, 2024

Sorensen Christmas Party 2023

Immediately after Trek got put in as bishop of our ward at church, we rushed down to Salem, UT to put on the Sorensen Family Christmas Party (which I was in charge of this year).  We had it at my aunt & uncles house because it's pretty much the only place that can hold the entire Sorensen clan in it.

It was fun.  We did a fiesta dinner with cafe rio sweet pork, taco meat, & shredded chicken in all sorts of forms like tacos, burritos, bowls, salads, you name it.  The toppings were great & the sauces were spectacular.  It turned out to be a really delicious group meal together. . . & when I say together, I meant for all 100+ of us.

After dinner we did Gingerbread houses with all the kids which they loved.  The adults just chatted while the kids got creative.




Then we played some reindeer games by scooping marshmallows with our "hooves" in 30 seconds.






After that we did a white elephant gift exchange that took well over an hour because there were SO MANY OF US THERE.  It was so much fun.



Then we cleaned it all up & headed back home.  Canyon was very proud of his gingerbread house.



I know doing these parties is a ton of work (& yes I was pretty stressed out about it), but once it's done you realize how great it is to spend time with all your aunts & uncles & cousins.  I love it so much.

 

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Bishop Potter

In our church, we receive volunteer "callings" or "jobs" within our congregation or area that allow us to serve our communities, neighborhoods, & church members in different capacities.  Over the years I've had many callings in the church . . . mostly working with the young women & teaching music to the children, but occasional new things like helping put on summer camps for the youth, teaching early morning seminary, & being over the adult women of the church.  Trek has also held many callings in the church.  Each calling has stretched us in ways we couldn't imagine resulting in lessons learned & talents developed that we are SO grateful for.

In December, Trek got called to be the bishop of our new ward here in Utah.  The Bishop is the leader of our whole congregation so it was a very humbling assignment for him.  It's a difficult assignment.  Nobody ever feels ready or good enough to be a bishop.  It's a very busy calling & can weigh on you emotionally, but it's also a very rewarding calling where you can help those that cannot help themselves, help listen to those who need a listening ear, & serve everyone around you.

It was a emotional roller coaster for both of us.  I was nervous about how much time this calling would take from Trek's already busy schedule & Trek was worried that he wasn't good enough or that he had enough time needed to put into the calling.  But with the Lord, all things are possible.

He is going to be an amazing bishop.  It will be a learning experience for him, but a blessing to so many.


As bishop, Trek has 2 amazing counselors who will be supporting him & serving alongside with him.  He picked 2 amazing men who I know will become wonderfully close friends to Trek.  They are wonderful wonderful people & we are so excited to get to know them better through this calling.




Both my family & Trek's parents were able to come to church the day Trek was put in as Bishop & it was wonderful having them there to support him in this new calling.  We love having our family so close.



Our family is excited for this new adventure with all its ups & downs.  We will be strong together to support one another & those of our community & neighborhood.  It's such a wonderful area & we are happy to be here.

 

Laying Wreaths at the American Cemetery

After visiting the Orem Temple Open House, we dropped the boys off at the Veterans Cemetary in Bluffdale to lay Christmas wreaths on each gravestone there.  Craiger's Civil Air Patrol Unit was in charge of the wreaths so it was a great service opportunity for them.






It was cold, but they had a lot of fun together for a good cause.

 

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Orem Temple Open House

On December 16th, we had an opportunity to go through the Orem temple open house as a family.  I love temple open houses because anybody can go see inside the temple.  You don't have to be a member of our church.  They allow adults & children to go see it & it's wonderful to show the kids what we as adults have come to love & cherish.  Trek & I go to the temple as often as we can & we want to share that love the temple with our kids so that someday they'll want to come closer to Jesus Christ by attending the temple regularly.

The Orem temple is across the street from where Lorien lives so she was EXTRA excited to go to the open house.  This will be "her" temple while she's going to school at UVU.



The temple was beautiful.  Definitely worth seeing.  I loved the beautiful chandeliers & the pastel colors inside.




It was great because we got to share the experience with my brother's family & also with my mom & dad.  My mom is unable to get out much due to her health conditions, but she was able to be there with us that day & that made it even more special.

I love my family & I'm grateful families can be together forever.






 

Craiger's Christmas Concert 2023

Craiger also had a school band Christmas Concert (all of these concerts were all in the same week in December!  It was a concert every night.  It was craziness, but I wouldn't trade these experiences my kids are having for the world.

Craiger plays french horn in the advanced orchestra at the middle school.  He's gotten very good over the last year & a half.  I'm proud of him.  French Horn / Double Horn is hard to play.  He does a great job.



Rhythms & Riffs:


Arabian Dances


Angelic Celebrations


Polar Express Medley


Great Locomotive Chase


I'm super impressed with this band.  They are incredible for being middle school students.  Craiger has SO MUCH FUN with the band.  I'm glad he's involved.  It's good for him.



We are so proud of you Craiger.

 

Canyon's Christmas Choir Concert 2023

Canyon had an adorable Christmas concert for his school choir.  He was nervous to try choir this year, but he soon realized how much he loved it.  He enjoys singing & loves the friends he's made in choir.













Great job Canyon.  We are so proud of you.

 

Friday, February 23, 2024

The Giving Machine - Salt Lake City

For one of our youth activities in December, we decided to take the girls up to the Salt Lake Temple area to look at Christmas lights & all the beautiful nativities from around the world, then stop by the Giving Machine at the mall there.

The lights were beautiful.


The Salt Lake Temple is currently being updated so it's covered in scaffolding right now.  They had to dig down & replace the foundation that was build almost 200 years ago.  Now they are updating each floor to make sure it's structurally sound.  It's pretty amazing that you can do that.  The temple is beautiful.



The church office buildings a couple blocks from the temple, they had some amazing large nativities around that you could look at.  I love nativities from around the world.







Then we ended the evening at the giving machines.  I've been wanting to see one of these vending machines in person for a very long time, but have never lived close enough to one to be able to.  Now that we live in Utah, we finally got to go to one.

The giving machines are vending machines, but instead of paying for a bag of chips or a drink, you are buying something for someone else in the world that needs it.  You can buy medical supplies, groceries for a family, chickens, a goat, school supplies & much more.  The money & items bought in these vending machines go to families around the world who need it most.



I bought 3 chickens for a family & Taya bought some medical supplies.  It felt SO good to serve someone else, especially during the Christmas season.  These machines provide life sustaining things for millions of people.  I think they're the greatest thing ever.