Now that the long wait is over I'm prepared to deliver a report of what our family has been up to. Here goes...

My brother finally got married! We were so blessed to be able to attend the wedding in Washington D.C. The trip was tough (especially since we had to leave Ian behind), but it was well worth it! The wedding was beautiful and spending time with family was so great! Here are the pictures of our trip.

The kids spent time with their Aunts wandering the temple grounds during the sealing. It was nice to be in the temple and think about my children joining me there someday.

He might look disgusted, but he really loves his Mommy!

Holly got to snuggle with Grandma, Grandpa, and pretty much anyone else who wanted to hold her. She was very sweet and cute, so I'm sure it was hard for them to resist.

It was so great to have all my sisters together again.

Cousin Cadence loves Holly. He decided to show her how a real kid handles a bottle.

This is Holly with her new Aunt Martha.

Atley just wanted to be sure we had all the pictures we wanted. I think he's hooked on photography now because he won't leave our camera alone!

Our family has been enjoying the spring, though it's been really rainy which makes it hard to get out much. We love to be outside and play with the sidewalk chalk, go to the park, and take walks together. We had a visit last week from our family which was so much fun!

Here's a person-by-person update to break down all the wonderful things we've been doing!

Ian - Our husband/father has been hard at work in school this semester. We're expecting his mid-term grades soon and so far he's doing great! I don't want to brag or anything, but I married a smarty! Since our stake changed boundaries we're now in a new ward, which means new opportunities to serve. Ian was called as the "Proclaim the Gospel Committee Chair" in the Elder's Quorum. It's similar to what he was doing as the "Ward Mission Leader" in our previous ward so it was a pretty easy transition.
Since the spring semester is on, naturally so is Saturday Sports! Ian's participated in frisbee, flag football, softball, soccer. He loves getting a break to run around and play sports with his buddies. He's also been involved recently with our intramural softball team. He hurt his hand a little bit, but it's healing quickly and he'll be back to 100% real soon.
Me - I've been hard at work trying to hang some picutres and keep the house clean despite the efforts of an energetic toddler working against me and a sweet little girl trying to distract me. I've had a lot of help from Ian and Atley even tries to pull his own weight. He's always looking to help me with the dishes because the water is so fun to play in!
I've also been working on my new calling in the Stake Primary Presidency. So far it's been really great to learn about and be part of an organization that I haven't been involved in since before I was 12! Our Stake is mostly made up of nursery aged children (under 3), but I think that's even better because I can learn what I need so I can help another ward or stake where ever we move to.
Another project of mine has been making cute little fabric flowers for Holly to wear. As soon as I get one completely finished and ready to wear I'll post some pictures.
Also, our family has been getting into a health craze lately so the kids and I have been doing a lot more walking. I'm hoping it helps my energy go up and Atley's go down! We just throw Atley in the stroller and Holly in the carrier and take a walk to where ever my feet carry us! I had a physical assessment done and it looks like it's really starting to pay off. The next step is getting a nutrition plan and sticking to it so that the exercise really pays off!
Atley - Our little baby is gone. Atley has been growing by leaps and bounds! After we returned from Washington D.C. we moved Atley into a toddler bed! He loves his new bed so much and even though he can get out on his own, he's very obedient and stays in bed for nap and bed time.

Atley also visited the doctor for a check-up and some immunizations. He is now over 22lbs and 32in! See what I mean!? Once upon a time, he was only 6lbs 3oz and 19in! Wow!

A kind neighbor of ours volunteered to give Atley a haircut, too! I knew he needed it, but I was much too scared to do it myself so I was grateful for the help! They put a movie on for him, gave him a sucker, and trimmed all of his beautiful baby hair goodbye! Now he looks like a big kid!
Atley started nursery a few weeks back. He had a rough start because he missed his Mommy. Afterall, she is pretty cool! The more he attends primary the more I think he enjoys it. His teachers are so caring and they love welcoming him to nursery each week. I'm really grateful for the effort they put into teaching him.
One thing that really impresses me about Atley is his vocabulary. He may not be the fastest runner or the best climber (for which I'm grateful), but he does know a lot of words! Here's a list of some of my favorite things he says:

Kitty, Dog, Mama, Oiseau, Manger, Au revoir, Holly, Ball, Head, Hair, Toes, Foot, Eye, Mouth, Nose, Shoes, Chausettes, Fleur, Eat, Hungry, Hug, Kiss, Jesus, Temple, Chalk, Swing, Outside, Get up, Sleep, Night-night, Bed, Toys, Movie, Show, Hello, Bye-bye, Je t'aime, Miss you, car, keys, and SO MUCH MORE!

Here's the video of Atley interacting with his favorite new animal in the neighborhood.

Holly - This little preemie baby is growing but she's decided to remain a baby a little while longer than I expected. She's now 6 1/2 months old, but still only 11 1/2 lbs! The doctor tells us that she's growing well, but she's small, even for a preemie! She's quite long though compared to her weight (22 3/4in) so she's a skilly little baby. Also, she's a little bit behind developmentally (she's not sitting yet), but she's anxious to catch up. We expected it because of her prematurity so she's not really behind, but she's certainly not a typical 6 month old!

I certainly can't complain about her though. She's turned out to be a GREAT sleeper and prettier than I would've imagined. I love her little gummy smile and her girlish laugh. She's now sleeping in the crib that her Grandpa Sorensen made and she loves it! Much to my dismay she likes to roll onto her tummy and fall asleep. She's really good at rolling and loves to grab anything she can reach (including my hair). She's becoming more of a snuggler and she holds her own bottle like a pro!

Holly loves all the walking we've been doing. She gets to ride in the carrier or the stroller and see so many new things. She's usually rather quiet on our walks, but to me that just shows that she's taking it all in!

So, that is what has been happening around here. I hope each of you are able to find the joy in each day! If not, you might want to borrow my kids for a day to make finding the joy easier :)

Patience

Our computer is back and better than EVER! With our repairs, which were FREE (thanks to the extended warranty), we got an updated operating system! That might now mean a whole lot to those of you who aren't as nerdy as I am, but in simpler terms it means it'll be a lot longer before I feel like my computer is out of date!

Updates are coming, I promise. Things have been VERY busy around here and we definably want to share that with you, but as Elder Uchtdorf says "...without patience, we cannot please God; we cannot become perfect. Indeed, patience is a purifying process that refines understanding, deepens happiness, focuses action, and offers hope for peace." (Ensign, May 2010) I'm just helping you all along your way to become patient and pleasing God! How thoughtful, right?

We Mourn the Loss...

You might be thinking to yourself right now 'Yes! Another Sorensen blog post...finally!' Well, don't get too excited. This isn't a happy post. I'm writing to let everyone know that our computer is currently out of commission. For no apparent reason our computer decided it was due for a crash. We'll be able to get it fixed, so have no fear, but not without a price. All of the information stored on our computer will be totally gone. Thankfully, because I've been keeping a blog we have many of the pictures online, but even so there are some that will be lost forever.

Now that I'm done sharing my sorrow, I must say, until we get our computer fixed, it's going to be a little while until we post again. I'm sure by then we'll have a lot to share. So though you must wait, there's a lot to wait for and it'll be worth it!

Update

Our lives have been so BUSY lately! The weather is getting nicer and we love it that way. There are only 3 weeks left until the semester is over (yes, Ian is singing Hallelujah as are we all!). He's been working hard on his school work this semester and we're so proud of all the work he's done.

Here's an update on the kids:

Atley-Atley has been sick for about a week and a half. Nothing major, just runny nose and nasty cough. They say things like this should clear up in 7-10 days but we're still patiently waiting for it to move on to someone else. Hopefully not someone in our home. We've been washing like crazy and keeping the kids apart so Holly doesn't get it too. Here's what's new with Atley in picture form--

Because Atley was sick we let him stay in his PJ's all day and watch a movie with Dad. You can still make great memories when you're sick, right?

A little while back a friend of mine gave us some cupcakes so I shared one with Atley. He may be messy, but he finished the whole thing!

We've been having night time diaper troubles. Atley seems to get pee all the way up his front no matter what brand or size diaper I put him in at night. I only do laundry one day a week (to save on electricity) so the only PJ's he had left was one of my t-shirts! So cute!

Our little boy is still a dancing machine. Don't worry, I think grace comes with age!

The next two videos are of Atley reading his new favorite book "Where the Wild Things Are." He roars at the pages all day long and is always bringing the book to us so we can read it to him. Unfortunately this particular edition of the book has been loved a little too much by Sorensen children and Atley finally tore the pages out. I tried to put it back together, but the love continued and so my fix only lasted about a day.



Holly-Our sweet little Holly is still sweet, but she's not as little anymore! This week she is 4 months old! After a visit with the doctor we learned she now weighs 9lbs 5 oz and is 22 1/4 inches long! Though she's still a month behind her age group in some things, we've noticed she's anxious to catch up! The doctor is really impressed with her growth and development and who wouldn't be! Here's a Holly photo/video update.

I found her sleeping this way in her cradle. It made me smile.

Look at those big cheeks!

Beautiful eyes!

Bath time! She's finally growing out of her sink baths though I think she really loved her private hot tub!

Holly loves to wiggle in her chair. The nurses in the NICU always said she needed to get a jump start because she had a lot to do!

I love to hear Holly talk to me. She doesn't talk as much as Atley did, but she is really smiley!

This is a good talking video, but I think she was talking to Atley, not me.

More wiggles. So cute!

We were trying to get Holly to laugh for the camera, but Atley was the one cracking up. If you listen carefully (and ignore Atley), you can hear her laugh and it's so cute!

Holly and Atley get along great! We see almost no sibling rivalry and they really love each other. Holly loves to watch Atley do his big boy things (playing with toys, walking, laughing) and Atley loves to give Holly hugs. They continue to be a great blessing in our lives, teaching us everyday that God puts us in families to help teach us who he wants us to become and give us the necessary challenges and experiences to get us there. We thank God for the blessing of our two children each day.

Huh-Low!

Our family went on an outing and I decided to take a video. Check it out!

I was just taking a video for fun, but I was able to capture the first time Atley said "Hello!" I was so surprised to hear it that I instantly stopped the video to hug him! He waves and says "hi", but Hello was a new one for us and I think it's so funny the way he says it! Perfect for sharing!
As for other recent goings on, we had a short, but great visit with Grandma and Grandpa Sorensen. We were able to take a 4 generation photo, which is something that I'm sure they'll come to treasure.

We were still in our pajamas :-)