Remodel Continued

Had to add this pic of Ky at the grocery store - he likes to lounge in the cart and smile at everyone!

This post is mainly for Rachel and Steve. For any of you interested, Brett and Teri have their new door and flooring done. Now all that's left is flattening out the walls in what used to be the office (they are textured right now) and painting them along with putting up some trim and chair railing - then on to the kitchen. All this has been put on hold though until Christmas is over, but I wanted to post pics of the new flooring and new door which is my absolute favorite - oh and the new book case in the new office!

The new front door and the entry way with the new wood (carpet isn't new in this pic)

The new bookcase - sorry the pic is kind of dark

All the furniture from the living room in the dining room in preparation for carpet being laid & the living room empty!

The new carpet! And the newly painted wall behind the entertainment center (they also painted the ceiling in the old office area)

Left: Close up of carpet and wood from entry way. Right: close up of the wood encasing the step down into the old office.

Not a good day for Kylan!

Today Kylan had his 9 month doctor appointment. Last appointment they told me that he wouldn't be getting any shots, but that he would have to have some blood taken to test for anemia. So, stupid me, I thought that they would take blood like they do when they are newborn - little prick on the foot (not that that is great, but better than what I am about to describe). The appointment went well (I will give his new stats in a moment), then we go down to the lab to have his blood taken. To set up the story, Ky was ready for a nap right when we were leaving for the doctors, so he is really tired and getting more and more tired. I had also thought about bringing in his stroller, but didn't, so I am holding him, my big coat, and his diaper bag and walking all over the hospital. We finally get into the lab and then inform me that they are going to take it out of his arm - what?! his little veins couldn't possibly be big enough, and how are we going to keep him still!! They put him on the table, and one lady tries to stick him, the other holds his arms and I have to hold his legs. THREE (thats right, 3 and the first one invloved a lot of "digging") tries later, they finally get blood!! I had to use all the strength I had to not cry! Shots won't seem as bad next time, that's for sure. So, here is the little guy with bandades on both arms that I now have to try to pull off! Poor little boy!!

Well, here are his new stats:



Head: 75th percentile (17 1/2 inches I think)



Height: 28 9/16 inches (75th Percentile)



Weight: 21 lbs 10 oz (she didn't tell me percentile because this is lower than what his curve has been due to the 1 1/2 weeks of liquid diareah and increased moving abilities - I was told to feed him an extra serving of fruit a day!)

Overall, he's doing well, but I think I will be opting not to do this test with any future children!

Yea!!

My brothers (Kal, Kade and Kort) are getting home today from BYU Idaho! This is my favorite part of Christmas - Family coming home!!!
ALSO!!! We got Kent's travel plans this week - he leaves there on Tuesday, February 26th and arrives in Reno on Thursday, February 28th at 6:15pm!! I feel bad for him that he has to travel for 2 whole days, but I am SOOOOO excited to see him and for him to meet Ky, so watch out all the other uncles out there, the "favorite" uncle is coming home soon (Kent is every little kids favorite - he can make anything into a game, if you don't believe me ask Reed and Carissa about the back ticking game he made up - and remember he "doesn't make the rules, he just inforces them").

"O, Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree"

We finally put our Christmas tree up and Tim and Gavin got our lights put up yesterday. Kylan is becoming more interested in the tree. We brought it in while he was taking a nap, so when he woke up he kept looking at it and then looking at me like "why is there a tree in my house?" When I started putting the lights on he wanted to play with them, so when I wouldn't let him he just left the room like "this is no fun, so I'm doing something else." We put it in the bedroom right off the living room, so that way if he does start pulling things off of it we can just close the door. At night Kylan will have us pick him up and then start pointing to the tree. Today he crawled over by himself and would touch the lower branches. Maybe he was just scared of it, he is a wimp that way.


Kylan is also 9 months old as of tomorrow - this 9 months went way faster than the 9 months I was pregnant with him! Here are his new tricks:

• Stands up and then lets go and sees how long he can stand - I swear he does it on purpose most of the time


• walks along everything


• shakes his head no (latest one, but I don't know if he knows it means no, he just likes to do it)


• screams really loud when I do something he doesn't like - we are trying to stop this one!


• makes lots of noises with his tongue and wants you to make them also


• gives awesome (french) kisses - but after one shakes his head if you want another one (maybe he does know what it means)


• says "uh oh"

I don't know his weight or height - I think I have an appointment next week. He has probably lost weight though since he has had the flu. He is no longer throwing up, but things are still not good coming out the other end! Poor guy! He is such a good little boy though. Always smiling and laughing - even when he is sick!

Getting back to normal . . . whatever that is!

Our chaoitic and tiring week is over. It was great to be with so much family, although the occasion was sad. I am so glad that I was able to meet most all of Tim's family and they are all wonderful, warm and loving family. Tim's aunts and cousins have a way of making you feel so comfortable and like you have always been a member of the family. I also loved watching the numerous hugs that take place everytime any one entered or was leaving the house. I am so happy to be part of this family. The outpouring of kindness was awesome this last week and I would like to thank anyone who reads this blog and helped out. It was very much appreciated.

With everything that was going on, once again I have pretty much zero pictures from this last week (Rachel, please send me any that you have). The ones I have posted are of the three youngest grandchildren at Candace's last night. I will also try to post a video of us trying to get a picture of the three of them - quite a work out to get a 17 month old, 11 month old and a 9 month old to hold still for a picture! The old picture has always been my favortie. Teri has it hanging in her room. It is of Teri's full sisters and parents: Val, Teri, Beckie, Avon and Barbara.

Avon Rascon Young

On Friday, November 30, 2007 Avon Rascon Young left this world to help ride herd with the cowboys who have gone before him, his friends, who like him, were the icons of rodeo in days gone by. If he could have chosen how he would pass to the arena of heaven it would have been exactly how it came about, on his beloved horse, riding wild and free with his boots on and his spurs pulled tight.

Avon Young was born April 17, 1940 in Tucson, Arizona to Phillip and Maria (Valencia) Young.

Avon has lived in Fallon for thirty years. He worked for twenty-five years for the Laborers Union, retiring after being injured on the job.

Avon would want to be remembered as a cowboy. For many years he belonged to the PRCA, he participated in steer wrestling and bull riding events.

He spent the last twenty years on his little dream ranch working his animals and doing what he loves best: being a husband, father, grandfather and friend to all.

Avon is survived by his wife Darlene Young; daughter and son-in-law Teri and Brett Sorensen all of Fallon; sons and daughters in-law, Dustin and Georgia Young of Pocatello, ID; James and Wendy Young of Boise, ID; Thomas and Molly Young of Petaluma CA; daughters and son-in-laws, Valerie and Gary Schneider of Tucson, AZ; Rebecca Sharp and companion Dan McQuaid of Apache Junction, AZ; Debra and Scott Grove of Blackfoot, ID; Trina and Steve Krouse of UT; grandchildren, Josie, Sienna, Curt, Christy, Ryan, Jessica, Jay, Brian, Angela, Rachel, Gavin, Tim, Tonya, Carly, Cameron, Billy, Michael, Justin, Brendt, Maddy, Ashley, Whitney, Kayden, Gracie, Jaclyn and numerous great-grandchildren, brother Reynaldo Valencia; Phillip and Lynda Young; sisters Betty Lee and Wayne Elledge; Hannah and Ray Carillo; Melda Farber all of Arizona; Rachel and Michael Bowman of Tacoma, Washington.

Tim and I have both lost two wonderful grandfathers this year; both very unexpected. They were both wonderful men with huge hearts who loved all of us very much. While it is hard for us to be without them, we know that they are happy and that we will be reunited with them one day!

Thanksgiving and Potty Training

Well Alisha don't feel bad, I too have no pictures of Thanksgiving day. I had my camera, however when I pulled it out to use it it had no memory card because it was still in my computer! So, no pictures! We did have a great Thanksgiving weekend though. We had Thanksgiving dinner at my Grandma Schanks and almost all of the Schank cousins were there which meant that there were about 50+ people not counting all the kids. It was so much fun and so weird at the same time to have little kids playing that were mine and my cousins. Ky loved having all the cousins around to watch and play with.
On Friday all who could in the Schank family went to the temple. This is the night that Uncle Ernie and Grandma Schank work so it was really special. It was awesome to be in the temple with so many family members!
On Saturday we had a going away dinner for the boys who headed back to college on Sunday. Sunday and Monday were spent sick ( I had a cold and some other problems) and then today we are back to normal life with Yound women in Excellence happening tonight! Overall a great weekend!
Now on to potty training. Go back about a week and a half: Kylan went 3 days without going #2 in his diaper. It was amazing! This included a day at Grandma Kenna's where he went on the toilet for her too. So, being stupid I thought we had it made. Well, Saturday we went to Reno for half the day for the UNR game. He fell off the toilet that morning which was traumatic and even though I brought his potty seat for him, he would not go in Reno and I could tell that he was holding it. After that day I couldn't get him to go on the toilet for a few days - he would cry hysterically every time I put him on the toilet and my child never cries like that! I gave up for a couple days to give him a break and then the last couple days he is back to going a couple times on the toilet and a couple times in his diaper. I don't know if I traumatized him that Saturday or what. He is also crawling everywhere now and I think that maybe he doesn't like to be interrupted while he is playing. I guess we'll just have to see what happens!

New Baby!!

No, I'm not having a new baby, but my friend Karin had her little Brooklyn a couple days ago and there are pics on her site, so be sure to look at them. She is beautiful!

Remodeling

THis post is for Rachel. Here are the pics of the remodel at your parent's house. Today was the first time I've seen it with all the walls down. It looks awesome! I can't wait for it to be finished! I'll try to be better at taking pics and updating you! (While posting I realized I forgot to take pics of the new office - aka Cams old room. I will be sure to do that next time!)

First pic is from the front door, second is from the mud room

These are from the kitchen

First pic is from the hallway; second is from the living room.

For those of you wondering, my in-laws are remodeling their living area. These pictures are of what used to be two rooms - a living room and a formal living room that they used as an office. They have taken down the wall in between and taken out a fireplace to make it all one big room!

N-E-V-A-D-A!

We had an awesome weekend! It all started with Kal, Kade and Kort coming home Friday night. Kylan wasn't even afraid of them like we thought he would be! He has loved having them around. He has a whole new audience now! Saturday we all went up to Reno. We did some shopping at The Summit. Grandma bought Kylan a couple cute new outfits (Grandpa said we can't go shopping with Grandma anymore:). We then ate at BJ's (very good food). After that we all went to the UNR v. Santa Clara game (thus the title which is the last part of the UNR school song, the only part I know). Kylan LOVED the basketball game. He just sat back, watched, clapped and entertained everyone around us! Today we went over the Uncle Derild and Aunt Lynne's for dinner. Kylan loved watching Uncle Kort and Carissa play Dance Dance Revolution. By the way, Carissa is the ultimate dancer. Her older brother won't even play with her anymore because she beats everyone! Overall a very good, fun (and tiring) weekend!

Grandma taking Grandpa and Ky's pic outside the restraunt; Kade and Kal before the game started

Our seats were almost at the top, good thing there aren't really any bad seats in Lowler; Kade demonstrating what he can do with his fingers

Ky cheering on the Pack! By-the-way they won!

P.S. I am so amazed when I go to games now. I can't even believe that you can't get tickets and when you do that you actually have to sit in your assigned seat! I remember going while I was in school and you could pretty much sit wherever you wanted and getting in as a student was guarenteed!

Updates

I haven't blogged (other than crazy 8's) for awhile, so I thought I would update you on what's been going on.


Kylan Using the Potty: Things are going well in this department. He definitly knows what to do when I put him on the toilet, and he goes about 3 times a day when I am really good about putting him on. On good days, when he does go in his diaper he doesn't go very much and waits until I put him on the toilet to "let it all out." We have had a couple falls off the toilet which have been very sad!
The Family: Above is a pic of Billy on prom night. He went with Alex Faught, Russel Smith and his date Felicia Sinnett. They all looked very nice. Brett and Teri are remodeling once again and I am so excited about how it is turning out. I will have to take some pics and post them on the progress they have made. It's supposed to be done by Christmas.
Basketball tryouts just finished. Bill is on Varsity and Cam is on J.V. which is awesome because they are traveling together this year. My dad is assisting on Varsity again this year.
Kal, Kade and Kort will be home this Friday for Thanksgiving and I am so excited. They are so excited to see Ky, so I haven't broken it to them that he will probably be terrified of them. Actually I know he will be since when Teri took him down to see great-grandpa Sorensen today at lunch he totally freaked out and screamed everytime he saw John or the nurse. Hopefully he will warm up to them quickly. I guess they will just have to come to my house a lot during the day while they are here, darn!
Well, that is it. I may not be able to post again until after Thanksgiving. The Holiday rush is already upon us! So I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving! Eat lots of turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie and then when you think you have eaten enough eat my share of all of it too becasue I don't like it!

Crazy 8's!

Traci Lewis tagged me to do this one, and since I might be waiting for Kylan to fall asleep for awhile (being able to stand in his crib is making it harder for him to fall asleep) I thought I would do it right now!
1. 8 things you are passionate about
Tim
My Marriage
Kylan
My Family (Schank's and Sorensen's)
Being a good mom
Teaching (I miss it terribly)
My Church Calling
My House
2. 8 things I want to do before I die
Have more babies
Go to Hawaii with Tim and someday my kids
Go to Europe with Tim
Go on a mission with Tim
Be a grandma
Be in the temple with all my brothers, their wives, my husband and my parents
Be in the temple with all my kids, their spouses and my husband
Be in the temple with all of Tim's family and their spouses
3. 8 things I say often
Love Ya
Be careful (especially right now during hunting season)
Kylan, NO!
You're a crazy boy!
Yea Kylan
Okay
Patty Cake, Patty Cake . . .
Thankyou
4. 8 things I have read lately
Ensign
Young Womens Manual 2
Lahontan Valley News
Children of the Promise series
Hearts of the Children series
cook books
my friend's blogs
What to Expect the First Year
5. 8 things I could listen to over and over
Kylan laughing
Kylan saying Mama or Dada
Rain on the roof while I am sleeping
My mom's laugh
My Fergie CD
Tim saying he loves me
Kylan's snoring
Christmas Music
6. 8 things that attract me to my best friends
Honesty - I think everyone who has done this has said this, but it is true!
Laughter - all my friends love to laugh and they all have the best laughs
Being able to pick up right where we left off no matter how long it has been
The fact that most of them are also my family members - what better friends to have!
They can laugh at themselves!
The fact that they always come through when it matters most
That they knew me back when and still like me!
They still talk to me no matter what!
7. 8 things I have learned this year
Its okay to cry even if there is no real reason to
Poop on your hand, while really gross, won't actually hurt you!
Babies can put a lot of weird things in their mouths and live
(Still learning) It's okay for my house not to be perfectly clean at all times, because that is impossible with a baby!
I can survive on a lot less sleep than I previously thought
Forgiving people you love isn't too hard as long as you have faith
Labor and delivery are a GIFT after 9 months of pregnancy
You can wear flip-flops in negative degree weather and not get frost bite!
8. 4 people I think should do Crazy 8's
Rachel Lewis
Mary Sorensen
Kelsey Jardine
Kim Sorensen

New Pictures

On Saturday Tim, Ky and I went to Reno to have some Christmas pics taken of Kylan. It was the best day in Reno that we have had yet with the baby. He slept the whole way up. We went to Costco first, and since he LOVES riding in carts, he was totally happy. Next we went to the mall, bought him a new shirt at Macy's and then went and had his pic taken at Kiddie Kandids. He LOVED having his pic taken and was totally posing for the lady. Grandma Teri showed up at the end of the photo shoot which was great because she played with him while we picked out pics. We then all went to Claim Jumpers to eat and once again he was an angel, entertaining everyone around us and our waiter even brought him a (free) plate of kiddie food, then he slept the entire way home. He didn't cry once! It was awesome. Anyway, here are his pics from the photo shoot.

October Birthdays

I've been horrible at telling people happy birthday on my blog, so here are the important October Birthdays:
My friend Jessie K. - Oct. 1st
Grandma Kenna - Oct. 11th
Uncle Johnny - Oct. 25th
Uncle Wade - Oct. 31st
For those of you keeping track, that is right 3 out of the 4 kids in my mom's family were born in the month of October! We love all of you and hope you had very happy birthdays!

Happy Halloween! (Yea, it's over)

Kylan our cute little cow (the tail was my favorite part)

Grandpa and his two favorite cows; the whole fam at the ward Halloween party. Aren't we a good looking group!

My least favorite holiday is finally over! Yea! Now onto the good holidays, but before we do that I do have to post a couple pics from Kylan's first Halloween. We went to our ward Halloween party on Tuesday night which was a lot of fun. Both Ky and Bradon were cows (we didn't plan it) and there was another little boy in our ward who was also a cow so we took pics of Grandpa with his favorite cows. Wednesday night we had my fam over and ate white bean chili (very yummy) corn bread and veggies and dip and my cousins handed out candy. After that we went out to Robbie and Candaces to their haunted aly, which I didn't go through but Tim did. They put so much work into and it is really scary, however I hate being scared and since I had had to sub O hour that day and was subbing the next day, I wasn't much in the mood for being scared. Overall it was a great first Halloween as far as Halloween's go!

P.S. I am putting off the actual act of Trick-or-Treating until I absolutely have to do it!


P.S.S. I don't know about anyone else, but I feel like telling all the high school and middle school age kids who show up at my door to GO HOME!

To the Mommys in the Audience!

I just wanted to throw this idea out to all the mommys who look at my blog. I hate changing diapers, absolutely HATE it. I do it because I am a mom and it has to be done, and I even change my nephews diaper for the same reason, but I absolutely detest it and am looking forward to potty training (I may be crazy). Which brings me to my point . . . My mom read this article about moms who are now beginning to put their kids on the toilet at 4 months old and then they are potty-trained by 18 months. I decided to give it a try and believe it or not it is working. I didn't start until a couple weeks ago. I just bought one of those seats you put on the big toilet and so far so good. I only put him on 2 or 3 times a day. At first as soon as I saw him grunting I would run him to the bathroom and sometimes he would be done, but we made it a couple times. Now the last couple of days I will sit him him on right after his naps and when he wakes up in the morning and he will go both number one and number two on the toilet. He still goes in his diaper of course, but he really seems to prefer the toilet (who wouldn't).
I don't know if it will help in the long run or anything, but I figure if nothing else its getting him used to the toilet (I know kids can be afraid of it), the clean up is easier and I don't have as many smelly diapers to dispose of! Let me know what you think, and if you have tried it let me know if it made a difference in the long run!

"She's Leaving on a Jet Plane . . ."

Well, Carly, aka Sister Sorensen, began her journey to London, England about 2 hours ago. She is going to be such a great missionary, but saying goodbye wasn't easy. Excuse the large number of photos in this post. I posted all of them mostly for Steve, Rachel, and Tonya since they were unable to be here for the final farewell. We all went over to President William's house for Carly to be set apart at about 4:00 yesterday. President Williams did such an awesome job and gave Carly a great blessing. After that we all headed to Reno and met at the Macaroni Grill for dinner and then we all stayed at Circus Circus. We played some games and had some ice-cream and then went to bed to wake up about 5 hours later to take Carly to the airport. All in all it was a great night, but a tough morning. Carly did really well though and once she left us she never looked back! We love you Carly and will miss you but we are so proud of you!

Bradon eating noodles at Macaroni Grill; All of us at dinner

Teri, Carly and Brett at dinner; Carly and Karly at ice-cream

Teri, Carly and Brett at Airport; Ky, Me, Carly and Tim

Gavin, Billy, Carly, Tim and Cam; Rayanne, Bradon, Teri, Carly, Me and Ky

(EARLY) Christmas Time

I'm sure that you have noticed that I have already changed to a Christmas theme. I know it is early and I apologize to all of those who (like me usually) hate how Christmas seems to start earlier and earlier every year, but I do have a couple reasons for this early change:
1. It takes me a LONG time to get my header the right size, shape etc, so I wanted to use it longer
2. Since Carly leaves on her mission this week, we are having a "fake" holiday season for her. We had Thanksgiving yesterday and we are playing games, listening to Christmas music and watching Christmas movies tonight, so I am in the mood.
So, enjoy and forgive me for being so premature with the Christmas stuff! By the way, above are pics of last night with the Sorensen Fam. The Top one is Grandpa Brett, Ky and Carly, Next is Bradon with his fly swatters, and last is Carly and Ky.