oops!

I just realized I never did my 2nd post about our wedding... Oh well another time. Our anniversary was great, and Neil Diamond ROCKED - even Mike had fun.

We just got back from Weldon for opening weekend of bird hunting and I'm sad to report, still no deer for Mike. He is going back again this weekend for one last go at it. He is very determined. We had a great relaxing weekend and took a few days off as well. Mike actually did a late hunt on Monday so we drove home at 3 am on Tuesday morning. I think the kids and I are still recovering from that - we are exhausted.

Isabella did shoot her shotgun but she did not respond the way Mike would have hoped. She is a bit afraid of it and it is going to take time. I doubt she will be shooting her first pheasant at the kids hunt this year. She does not want to let her dad down so she really was trying but on Monday made herself physically sick, she doesn't like to talk about it, and kept telling me that she isn't afraid etc... She is only 8 so we may have to wait until next year. Mike was bummed but he would never push her to do something she is not comfortable with, the hardest part of that learning experience is - she is our fearless child, so this is very out of character for her. I reassured her it is okay and she can try another time. - UGH!

Work is well...work. Mike's work is very very slow, so please pray for us, we need at least 50 hours a week to survive. My work is okay and I know there is going to be a layoff but I just need to have faith it won't be me. I am really trying to be my best at work and be more organized, my caseload has gone down so I am doing a bit of housekeeping now.

I almost forgot - Mike shot a rattlesnake, while hunting with ISABELLA...we had gone out that morning to shoot her gun and I asked "are there any snakes" and he replied "in 10 years I have only seen 1 gopher snake" - that afternoon the 2 of them went out and sure enough a huge rattlesnake that Zoe was pointing at in a bush. It was 4 feet long, with 10 rattles. He brought it home and skinned it, and Risa is going to make rattlesnake chili this weekend. Soren is going to hang the skin in his room and is now turning his room into a Cowboy room. Garrett let Soren borrow one of his old cowboy hats for his costume for Halloween, Soren was so excited he has not taken the hat off since. He really wants to take Garrett to school one day for share - because he is a "real" cowboy.

Have a great Thursday!
cars xxox

Our love story - part 1 of 2 posts

October 3rd, 1998 we said "I do", it was a great day and at the time 10 years seemed so far off. Here we are 2008 and it feels like it went by in a snap. Yes I joke all the time it feels like it has been 20 years, but only because I feel like Mike and I have always been together. We have accomplished alot in the past 10 years and there are never any dull moments.



We got engaged on September 27, 1997 at Foley winery in Santa Barbara - it is my favorite story to tell and if Mike is around and hears it, he still jerks a tear. I knew we were going to be getting engaged soon (I wasn't getting any younger), and he had the ring made and was in the process of paying it off, he knew only that I wanted a saphire and platinum the rest was up to him..oh that I had chubby fingers so it couldn't be some danty setting. We went away for the weekend with Shelley, Mark, Cami, and Chris, and rented a limo and went wine tasting. I honestly had NO idea he would propose this weekend. Mike is VERY private (i have wore him down a bit in the last 10 years), and he would never propose in front of my 2 best friends - that was way too predictable. We got to Santa Barbara and got in the limo and headed out to the wineries. (Side tangent - Mike was acting wierd that morning but I didn't think anything of it.)We had gone to several wineries and feeling a tiny bit "happy" and spending way too much money on wine (we were very novice wine drinkers at the time). We were are the lovely Foley winery and enjoying our tastings. I said to Mike "my ring will have to wait a few more weeks" - because he wanted to pay cash, every week he would take money out of his check to pay for it (we had combined our money at this point too). He said "let's go outside" and I thought oh crap I'm going to get a money lecture. We walk out to the porch and he gets on one knee and says "Caroline Diane Sorensen will you have the honor of being my wife" HELLO I freaked out and started crying right away....I could not believe it, he caught me completley off guard - I said yes!. I walk back in and yell out "I just friggin got engaged" - everyone was cheering and Cami started to cry. Here is the best part - I said "we need to call my dad" (side tangent - my mom had died the year before and it had been tough on all of us). and then Mike replies "he already knows" - Okay I have to say that was the best part of the entire engagement, Mike had asked my dad for my hand in marriage...for those of you who don't know Mike, he beats to his own drum, he does things his way and doesn't comform to the normal. We all cried harder - The owner at Foley gave us the phone and we called my dad (who was sitting by the phone waiting to hear from us). It was an amazing weekend, which then led up to our amazing wedding.


The rest of our weekend was a blast, we got back to our hotel and called our friends - they all happened to be in Arrowhead together and they were very thrilled. I was one of the last in my circle of friends to get married. Then we had chicken fights in the pool (another story) before we set out to a nice dinner.

It is my favorite story to tell -even better then the wedding story because it was so out of Mike's character.

"Oh Dear, No Deer....

Mike is back from Deer hunting opening weekend - with no Deer! Ugh... for me. He will want to go back the next 2 weekends to try to get one - he is so determined. Larry's son Lawrence got a deer when he was with Mike and I asked "can't that count?". Mike was really excited for Lawrence, he is in high school and it was his first deer, and he had to do all the gutting himself (mike showed me the video at 12:00am when he got home - gross!) Mike said the fires that were in the Paiute mountains were horrible and all you see is sticks for miles and miles, he said the area will probably never recover.

Yesterday they went Bear hunting as well - Mike doesn't not have a Bear tag ( I will forbid it), and I told him I don't want to hear any stories of "Teddy" or "Smokey" getting killed - the thought of eating bear meat does not sit well with me and trust me I like to eat meat. I wish we could become part time vegetarians but we just aren't there yet.

Mike is pointing to the mountain he hiked on Saturday -(I know you probably thought he was practicing his "Saturday Night Fever" moves). He does love his new "deer desert" hunting clothes, he said they were perfect.

In the past when Mike has been gone the kids weren't that fazed by it, but this trip was harder on them, they asked every night "when is daddy going to be home" - He is leaving on 10-16 for a 10 day trip to South Dakota, pheasant hunting. I think that is what rich people do , take a 10 day vacation without their family.... He has a really terrific wife.

He had a great time and hiked alot and did see several deer just no shots off for him. He was happy and you know our motto "when daddy is happy, everyone is happy".

For those of you "none" hunter type, or as Isabella learned "bunny huggers", this is only the beginning of hunting season and more entries to come about HUNTING. I will say Mike eats what he hunts, he believes in the circle of life and just doesn't do it for the "kill". He is genuine when he tells me "clean out the freezer". I better put meat back on the grocery list for now.

I am officially a "hunters wife".

xxox

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Family Night #1

Our first "family" night was a success... Soren picked "TV" as his theme, so I made a little concession stand for candy and popcorn. We ate dinner and then took showers and put on our pj's. We watched Indiana Jones first (and boy do we need a new tv) and then Mike went to bed because he had to work Saturday morning, and the kids and I watched Enchanted. The kids thought it was awesome and enjoyed every minute of it. Oh...banana splits for dessert. Friday night it not the best night so going forward we will try to pick a weeknight.

I made popcorn in a pan with olive oil and I guess I put way too many kernels because the lid started to go up higher and higher and then when I took the lid off the popcorn went everywhere (yes I turned off the gas first)... Soren and Isabella were laughing so hard, it was my favorite part of the night. The dogs had a treat on the floor as well. I now know how much popcorn to put in the pan...thanks to Parker explaining it to me the next day.

Mike gets to pick the theme for family night #2 and we will do it next week, this is going to be a hectic week. I joked that he will have us dress up as deer and quail and then shoot the nerf gun at us.

Have a good Monday.

xxox

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50's day

Today is 50's day at the kids school...they are too cute! Isabella didn't want to wear her poodle skirt that Janice made and I helped complete a few years ago...she let Lizzie borrow it.

Cami helped her finish off her outfit with a cardigan and scarf...we made her beauty mark bigger and a bit of lipstick and PRESTO - Mike is going to be in trouble when she is older. Soren got a tattoo that said "LBC Rocks" . They do fun games and rootbeer floats at lunch time today.





Look how cute Parker and Elizabeth are in this picture, Parker was trying to recreate the picture of him and Isabella from preschool - side tangent...if I was a good blogger I would be able to show you that picture now but I'm not so use your imagination (It was really darling).








Looks like they are straight out of Grease.... Rizzo was always my favorite...until now that I have a daughter and see this picture! NO Rizzo for us! For anyone out there reading this wondering why in the world we would want to move to Wildomar, CA and not stay in the OC - here is the reason:



1st Family night update - okay we have lots of family days, nights, weekends etc... that has never been an issue for us (date nights another story) but we are officially starting "Family Nights" - which when I announced Mike said "sounds like something you read on a blog" - well yes dear you are correct and it just reminded me of how fun it would be and here is where I read about it http://whittakerwoman.typepad.com/ ( need to figure out how to just say "here") Side tangent -great blog, great story, read her husbands too!

Back to family night... we drew numbers and Soren gets to go first - the kids are so excited, they wanted to do it the night I announced it. Oh they are theme nights -did I mention that part. I was raised in a "theme" based family...Mike not so much. Another side tangent (my last one) when I showed Isabella the blog mentioned above, and their family nights, she said "oh the dad really gets into it", because on Princess night the dad was in a tuxedo - when I told that to Mike he said "I don't own a tux" which I smiled and said "your suit will do" So Isabella will be happy to know her dad will "really get into it" as well.
Soren picked TV night ( the point might be to not watch TV but it is his night), so I am trying to come up with some clever stuff for tonight. I will post tomorrow with pictures.
xxox
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Oursler House update

Nothing too exciting going on at the Oursler house.... Kids are loving school and doing well, Soren is trying to go 4 days in a row without having to go back to his desk and put his head down - I bribed him. He wants some star wars toy and I said only if he could go 4 days in a row with good behavior - he is just too chatty...wonder where he gets that from.

Isabella is/was doing great - today brings home an "action plan" - she spoke out of turn and got in trouble for it. She needs to learn to control it. She has to look up 3 scriptures verses and then state what she did wrong and how to change her behavior - Mike will freak when he looks at since he doesn't really get the discipline through scripture...(yet). Her teacher showed them at back to school night last night I'm sure was waiting to use it. I guess us Oursler's are always good at being the one to try things out first. ugh!

Mommy got basically an action plan at work today so maybe it just in the air today - had to get the email from the boss that said "we need to talk tomorrow at 9:30am" - Oh goodness thought he knew me better then that - emailed back and said "I won't sleep tonight unless we talk today" since I knew it couldn't be good - sure enough it wasn't. Complaints from my transferee's about responsiveness. I am doing the best I can and trying my best to get back to ee's within 2 hours, but when you are constantly following up on other departments it is hard. I feel like a hamster on one of those wheels....someone please help me jump off. And my boss doesn't want to hear excuses. I guess he forgot that even though my caseload is lower today it was insane all summer and you know after a hurricane there is always clean up. I got the "full monty" lecture, with all the bells and whistles of- "I expect you to blah, blah blah" and "you need to be on top of them" and "what did we learn here". I just said "I will try to do better" and now having a raging headache called stress.

Mike's knee is better and they cleared him to work 120 hours a week - Praise the Lord! I think he was kidding about the 120 hrs but hey sounds good to me - we could use the juicy check.
He is gearing up for HUNTING!!! He did get his scope and got it mounted and it was under $180.00 so Happy Father's Day honey.... Hopefully he gets another deer this year, I know all of you can't wait to see the pictures, but it will make him really happy and then mommy is really happy.

Went to see Wicked on Saturday with my Cami, my grandma and Linda -It was awesome and if you have a love for "The Wizard of Oz", it is a must see. I am going to take Isabella to go see it- I think she will love it. It was a fun day.

I really want to watch Annie tonight and just sing myself to sleep with "tomorrow, tomorrow, work will be better tomorrow".....

Thanks for reading -
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xxox

A+ Teachers and "Love" update

Here is the card we made to give to the teachers last Friday at "meet the teacher" day.

One of our goals in PTF last year was to be able to give each teacher a gift card to A+ teacher supply, to spend as they wish for the upcoming school year. We as parents know that each teacher spends their own money every year on little misc items for the classroom and our children and PTF wanted to help with that this year.

We achieved our goal - Horray!!

Every teacher was so grateful and surprised. We continue to be blessed with a wonderful staff of teachers and adminstration at Las Brisas, and even with the cutbacks this year, I think it is going to be amazing. Watching everyone glorify God and be glorfied by what God is doing in our lives, is a testament in itself. We are shown daily it is not about "us" but about the man who died for us.

WOW am I preachy today or what....

To my 3 readers (one of which is my cute sister who is not a diligent reader or comment maker) - Please pray for Mike (my husband, not to be confused with Mike my boss), who I refer to as "Love". He hurt his knee and doesn't know what happened, but can't work today or tomorrow- AND...this is big..... He cancelled his Dove hunting for this weekend. I know, I know he must be in alot of pain. He is on the way now to the clinic for workers comp (I told him if it is an injury it happened at work so we can get the workers comp). He is the worst patient so pray for me too - okay always just pray for me, I can always use it.

xxox

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