Happy New Year 2010

Another awesome Sorenson Family Tradition that started a few years ago because we were all sick of New Year's Parties that never seemed to work out. We now have a family New Years party. This year we started early at 4:00pm so that we could have lots of time to play games and have fun before midnight. My mom always cooks the best prime rib ever and we eat stuffed mushrooms, mountain dew love (I think thats what its called) and lots of other delicious things! After dinner we start the games and the fun doesn't stop until the New Year (ask Trisha, who tried to take a short nap just before midnight, and got ridiculed by not only my siblings but also my nephews who love this tradition just as much as the rest of us). This year our games included guitar hero and some other wii games and a good game of Ticket To Ride that ended just before the new year. As the time gets close to midnight, we bust open the Martinelli's and prepare to make some noise and a big mess to celebrate the new year. We all stand in the family room of my parents house, we grab handfuls of confetti and we count down with the ball in New York. As the countdown hits zero, there is massive amounts of yelling and screaming and jumping and there is a storm of metallic confetti flying everywhere possible!! After that the confetti fights start. I may be to blame for this because I used to like to have confetti fights and my nephews caught on (who knew they would remember such things) and now they gang up on me and they especially like to throw it in my face. I got plastered with confetti!! Next comes our oldest family tradition for the New Year- leaving the house and making obnoxious noise outside so that all of our neighbors know that it's the new year. We used to run around the whole block banging pots and pans when we were teenagers but after we ruined all of my moms pans and got older, it has changed to just making noise in the front yard. Next the kids and the wussies go to bed and the rest of us (usually just the siblings cause the inlaws don't seem to enjoy staying up late like we do). For the die-hards, the party wasn't over until after 3:00am. Despite the fact that Lisel kept telling us that she was so tired she was gonna vomit, she stayed up. The best part of all is trying to find places for all of us to sleep. We were everywhere in my mom and dads house. Shayne was on the couch in the family room that was covered with confetti still, Trisha was on another couch, Lisel and myself were on the floor. It's all worth the fun that we have together as a family!!!

Sitting around the table after dinner (you can see the "new" kitchen in the background)

Guitar hero. Its funny to look at what the people in the background are doing, mostly Matt

Lily holding Clara

Mario Kart was another big hit

All of the Martinellis and soda that we consumed

Shayne, Megan, Lisel, CJ and I played Ticket to Ride. I won!

Makin noise!

We laid on the ground so that we could get a good picture of what the party looks like after midnight. We try to tell my mom that she should get the paper confetti but she just loves this stuff and she cleans it up every year!

We got invited to dinner with two of our good friends from Boston. Esther moved back to Utah a few weeks ago and had us over. Esther was one of Trishas roommates in Boston and a good friend to both of us. We are excited she is in Utah now! She also invited Tristan. Tristan was one of the first people that I met in Boston because we had mutual friends that always had us over for parties. Later she moved in across the driveway from Trisha and we became even better friends. Both of them have had immense impacts on our lives and we are grateful for their friendships. It was great to see you girls! And Thank you to Esthers sister (Amy) for letting us have dinner and chat at your house!

Saturday we went to Lunch with our friends, Jill and Rob, and then we all went to see Sherlock Holmes as well. We don't make it to Salt Lake very often these days, so when we do make it and we get to hang out with our friends we are so happy. Jill has been one of my best friends since we were in the Sound of Music together at Eisenhower Jr back in 1997. I'm glad that even though both of our lives have changed a lot and we've both started families that we are still friends!

On Sunday we headed up to Richmond, Utah (about 20 minutes North of Logan) for the baby blessing of our new niece, Clara. It was such an amazing blessing, given by her dad who is both blessed with an amazing ability with words and a spirit that can touch any heart. Clara is already blessed to have such great parents. We had the chance to eat lunch at their house and hang out with the family for a minute. We also got to tour their house and it is beautiful! We left Richmond early to make our 5 hour journey back to Vernal. Trisha was sick so she slept nearly the entire drive (from Logan until Roosevelt) and I jammed to my music and enjoyed the scenery around me. This time we drove through Morgan, Utah (up Ogden canyon) cause that's where our friend Ester grew up and we wanted to see what it was like. It was small... Actually it was an amazing drive and it was nice to see some different scenery.

Here's to hoping that 2010 is just as great as 2009. Hard to top but it could happen...