Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Since I talked about my gramps in my last post, I just wanted to wish him Happy Birthday. He's 84 today. He went to the hospital yesterday because he was having muscle spasms. They gave him some shots and he's just fine. Grandma told me that he was up at 3 in the morning shaving yesterday. He knew he had to go to the hospital and had to be clean shaven. That's so Grandpa...love that guy!

PBS series "The War"

Aaron is into war documentaries and we have been watching the new series by Ken Burns on PBS called "The War." This series talks about stories from veterans that served in WWII. What their lives were like before and after the war. My grandpa served in the 342nd Armored Field Artillery unit in the Army. He was the leader and gunner on a tank. (There were 5 other men in the tank with him.)Out of hundreds of men in his company, he was one of 12 men chosen to be a gunner. In addition to his duties as a gunner, he would sit in the tank above the driver and give commands to the other guys in the tank by using hand signals. He also would tap the driver on the shoulder so he would know where to go. Here's a picture of him with the tank. He's the one on the right.

Grandpa never spoke of the war, not to my Grandma, not to Mom and her sisters, not to anyone. It's only been in recent years that he's talked about it. I can recall a time when he told me about his group liberating a concentration camp. When he and his group entered, what they saw...he told about how one of the men dropped to the ground and was crying while kissing his dirty boots. I can't even imagine what Grandpa saw, what he experienced, how many of the friends he lost...

If you get a chance to watch "The War", I highly recommend it.

While we're on the subject of war my cousin, Justin, will be leaving tomorrow to do another tour of duty in Iraq. He'll be there for 6 months. Please keep him and the other soldiers in your prayers. Thanks!

Week 2- DWTS

I have laundry and housework that I need to finish this morning but I've just got to sit down and talk about Dancing with the Stars. Everyone I'm sure has their favorites. My favorite girls are:

Marie- of course, she is my favorite girl. Not the greatest dancer but she is so much fun to watch. And then to see Donny cheering her on last night...love it.
Sabrina the Cheetah girl- Paige enjoys the Cheetah girls (or anything on the Disney Channel) and so she is rooting for Sabrina to win. When the girls come out in their costumes, she says, "I like that dress but she needs to cover up just a little." I agree...some of the costumes they come up with, wow!
Jennie Garth- Maybe it's just me and the 90120 nostalgia but I'm rooting for Jennie. And poor little Derek falling down...poor kid.

My favorite guys:

Helio, the race car driver- He is the guy to beat, in my opinion. Who thought a race car driver could come out and do as well as he has. And even more important, he seems really comfortable being on stage, he doesn't seem to let the nerves get the best of him. The best choreographer, hands down is Julianne Hough. She makes her partners look good and she knows how to put a good dance together. Very talented girl.
Wayne- He's the older guy, what can you say? There's a slight disadvantage because he's limited on what he can do. I can see him being around for a while because he is so well-known.

I'm including a video of Sabrina and Mark's dance last night. I could not stop laughing at Len and Bruno. Watch the part when the judges are giving their thoughts.

Here's the link. I still trying to figure out the video thing

://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pBy1N4oqrY




I need to get motivated to go and do my housework...have a good one!

I've been "tagged"...

I’ve been tagged by my former roommate and friend EmmaLee. I really enjoyed reading and learning 7 things I didn’t know about her so I will be a good sport and participate.

Here I go…7 things about me you probably didn’t know:

1. I have to wear a Depends undergarment when I jump on the trampoline with my kids. True story and every mom out there knows (or has experienced) what I’m talking about. I don’t actually wear one but I only have a small window of jump time because I will pee in my britches.

2. My nickname is Kissy. Kissy Coo to be exact. My dad gave it to me when I was a baby. I used to torture my brother Wes by pinning him to the ground and kissing his cheeks until he cried. Dad used to call me Kissy when we were out in public or even worse, when guys would pick me up for dates.

3. My Mom almost named me Summer. My birthday is in July and she liked the name. Summer Sorensen…I don’t know about that, though. Or Summer Hammond, too much "m" action going on.

4. I used to twirl baton and I was in a baton group for a few years called the Rangerettes. I got to the point where I could twirl 2 batons at once. My goal (once I got to be a teenager) was to twirl the FIRE batons. It was so awesome and kind of scary to watch! My teacher Becky stopped teaching to raise a family so I never got to live out my fire baton dream. Hmm…I wonder if they sell those on ebay…

5. I can whistle really loud. A useful skill I’ve learned along the way.

6. I play the drums. My dad has played for years and he started teaching Wes and I when we were about 5. I was a band geek for years but I didn’t play in high school. My uncle Kelly, Wes and I had a band when I was a teenager, it was so much fun! Our band name was "KissyKillerWhiskers"- all of our nicknames. Wish I had my own drum set…I play when I go home to Utah for visits.

7. I haven’t broken any bones so far.

I’m now tagging Amanda Jane- my bf since our days at Vernal Junior High. You're it!

Round 1- The Dancing with the Stars gals

Ok, so what did you think?

The question I have today is where did that Cheetah girl come from?! Wow, she was awesome. I agreed with the judges, that was the best 1st performance of anyone on that show. Looking forward to seeing them dance again.

Marie really is such a great entertainer, just like her brother. I loved her attitude and she was having so much fun. Jane did great too. She's very elegant, if you watch her arms and fingers, you can tell she's a ballet dancer. They all did well for the first night.

So the guys are up tonight...I'm interested to see how Floyd Mayweather (the boxer) does...still pulling for Wayne Newton...speaking of "pulling", that guy has had a lot of plastic surgery, wouldn't you say?

one of my favorite tv shows is coming back...

and I'm really happy! I don't know about you but, I'm looking forward to new stuff on TV!! When "So you think you can dance" is not on, my other favorite show is "Dancing with the Stars". I've never been big into ballroom but I have a great appreciation and love of what they are doing, and that is dancing.

Aaron is a Dallas Cowboy fan and so I thought maybe Emmett Smith being on the show would get him to watch...um, no. He said he totally lost all respect for him but I on other hand was blown away with his stage presence (all you dancers out there know what I'm talking about) and ability to perform. And then last year we had Apollo Anton Ohno, the speed skater. He and his cute little Utah partner tore it up!!! This year, I am rooting for...


http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/index?pn=bio#t=star&d=23276

I really wish it would have been Donny but I'm pulling for Marie. Jane Seymour has had ballet training so that will give her a little bit of an advantage, it will be interesting. She's so little and dainty, the Latin dances may eat her alive. I hope Wayne Newton does ok. He is "Mr. Las Vegas" ya know. He may surprise us all coming out of the gate as the "old guy"...we'll have to wait and see...

little update

Just wanted to update the ol' blog. I forgot to post about Braden's baptism. It was a really neat experience. We have Stake baptisms and I was a little sad because I really wanted Braden to have his own little day, like we did when we were kids. We got a call that morning saying that he would be the only one baptized that day. It was nice and I bawled my eyes out when we sang my favorite Primary song of all time- "Baptism". Braden thought I was losing it (he gave me this look like, 'What is wrong with you?') but I just reassured him that I was just happy.

I take a lot of pictures but that day I was a slacker and I should have taken more. We came back to our house for a BBQ (Braden chose the menu) and a nice swim. I took some video of that- I need to figure out how to do that. (Janeece if you're reading this, I enjoy your little videos)

Here's a few pics of Heston's 1st birthday and some pics of Paige just being Paige. She loves Shakira and to hear her sing "My hips don't lie" is too cute!

gotta go!

k

Happy 1st Birthday Heston!

Happy 1st Birthday Heston Robert!
I'm so thankful for this little guy...he's growing up so fast...

The picture in the middle is Hes with my Grandpa. The way Heston is looking at him is just priceless...(Heston was named after Grandpa. My gramps is the handsome guy in the uniform in my previous post.)

Happy 8th Braden!

Happy 8th Birthday Braden!

I love this kid so much...his little "GQ" look cracks me up!

family history

I really enjoy doing family history. I never thought I would say that but it's true. I love hearing stories and finding pictures and getting to know these people who are a part of me.

I'm very grateful to have grown up in the same town with both sets of my grandparents and also my great-grandma. Each one of them experienced many trials in their lives...I'm always humbled by what they experienced. They are truly an inspiration to me.

(Top-Lois Hacking Gray and Robert Marcell Gray)

Calvin David Sorensen and Vel Lavaur Reynolds Sorensen

the purple horse shirt

When we were in Vernal visiting, I decided to take my kids to the rodeo. They had never been and I thought they would enjoy it. We went to the trading post and picked them up hats and t-shirts. Paige picked this number for 2 reasons: 1) it's her favorite color and 2) it had pretty horses on it. Once I bought it for her, I could not get her to take it off she liked it so much. It's so ugly it's cute!!

Braden picked one with a dinosaur on it.

My brother Wes has been dating a girl named Ricci. Her kids Hunter and Gavin are in the pics with the kids. It was fun getting to know them better.

my boys

Can you tell which one is Heston and which one is Braden? It has been so much fun putting my favorite baby clothes of Braden's on Heston. I still can't believe it's been 8 years since Braden was 8 months old, now he's almost 8?!!...I'm tellin' ya, time flies!!!
All 3 of our kids look so much alike in their baby pictures.
Braden is in the bottom pic, Heston is in the top.

pics

Some recent pics i thought I would post.

frogs

Paige is learning all about frogs in preschool this week. She came out of the school this morning wearing this visor and I still can't quit smiling...

new pics

Here are some recent pictures of the kids. We are all looking forward to Christmas and our visit to Utah.

my love of pictures

I love pictures. I may not update my blog enough but I take a lot of pictures. I enjoy taking them, sharing them, collecting them, especially of my kids. My motto is-

You can never take too many pictures of your kids!

I had Aaron take this picture of Paige and I during our visit to the beach. As I was looking at this picture, I realized that I need to take more pictures of me with the kids. I told you in my previous post that my face is still a balloon after having Heston but that's no excuse. I even have a tripod so I REALLY have to excuses now.

I need to go shower and get through my to-do list for the day.

Thanksgiving 2006

We spent our Thanksgiving this year in California with Aaron's older brother Matt and his family. They live in Temecula, it's about an hour north of San Diego. On Friday, we went to the beach in La Jolla to take some family pictures. We were hoping the kids would get a chance to play in the sand and look for seashells but the tide was too high. I didn't get any pictures of my sis-in-law Alisha!!! I need to have her send me some! I need to include some pics of me with my family but I just had a baby 3 months ago and my face still looks like a balloon, need I say more?!

We've been staying busy with school, soccer and other activities. We are looking forward to Christmas. Christmas is so much fun with little kids! Mom always used to tell me that the best times in her life were when Wes and I were little kids during Christmas. We will be spending it here in AZ and then we are planning to go up to Utah after Christmas for about a week. I'm looking forward to going home. I'm looking forward to see my grandma and grandpa. I can't wait for them to meet Heston. Heston's middle name is Robert, after my grandpa. He's so tickled about that and can't wait to meet his little namesake. It will be great to see all my family and friends back home. And to play in the snow for a little bit!

Our baby boy is FINALLY here!

Our little boy is here!

Heston Robert Hammond
Born August 20, 2006 at 10:53 p.m.
8 lbs. 14 oz. 21 1/2 inches

We are enjoying every minute of him. He looks like Braden and Paige but he has his own little look.

Is it August 13th yet?!

I live in Arizona and it's August and I'm a week away from my due date, my doctor won't induce me, enough said!

it's been a while...

I forget that I have this blog...I've been a huge slacker about it.
This is what's new in my life since October

-Braden enjoyed his fall soccer and t-ball. I really enjoyed being the soccer mom this year and Paige is so excited to play soccer just like her brother.

-Braden's enjoying school and hanging out with his friends. Paige is now a Sunbeam and is so happy to be in Primary with Daddy and Braden.

-We went home to Vernal this year for Thanksgiving. Everyone was so excited about hanging out together and just having a great time. The mood this year was different. My cousin Luke passed away on November 12th. He fell from a ladder at his house, he was only 24. He called me right before we left for our trip to Disneyland. We grew up together, I used to babysit him... he was like a little brother to me. He served as a Marine for 4 years and had been working in Fort Hood, Texas as a firefighter. He always wanted to be a fireman. He was fasinated with fire trucks and he was our little pyromaniac. He was living his dream...something he always wanted to do. One of the fireman that he worked with sang, "I Can Only Imagine", it was amazing. Having his fireman "brothers" there helped all of us. The Vernal firefighters put his casket on their trucks and we all followed behind them in our cars to the cemetary. He would have loved it! When I see or hear a firetruck, I miss him.

-We spent Christmas here in AZ. We had a great, low-key Christmas. I made homemade waffles that morning and a turkey dinner that night and in between we just played and enjoyed each other, it was great.

-Another big change in our lives in the past little while is that we're going to have baby #3!!! We get to find out on Thursday what we're having so that will give me a good excuse to update my blog. Paige wants a girl and Braden is fine either way. I was very sick the first 3 months. I was so happy to be feeling better around my 3rd month. I was so miserable! But I'm feeling great now. I'm a little scared about taking care of 3 kids...having 2 was super hard for me. I'm hoping I'll adjust easier this time around. And if I don't, I'll just do what I did last time and just roll with it. Moms can be so hard on themselves sometimes...I think we expect too much at times. A baby is an adjustment and it takes time to get a "normal" routine going. Lack of sleep doesn't help either. It'll all work out...

I'll check back in later to tell you what we're having!
k