Deep Thought. Doesnt happen too Often..

all my life my dad has said, "you need balance."

like i wanted "balance."

all i wanted to do is be with friends. (or boyfriends)

or listen to music. or play soccer nonstop.

or whatever else a teenager does.

i remember having it in my head that what i wanted to do is what i should be able to be doing. who needs balance? just live your life, right?

well within the last week or so i have realized how much we ALL need balance in our lives.

everyone.

It seems to me that to be truly happy, you must master being well balanced.

Today I googled "how to be happy." It is an interesting thing to research. There are TONS of different approaches and "solutions." This is a short paragraph that was on about.com -

While people have many and varied goals that they pursue, there is an almost
universal underlying goal to virtually all pursuits: the goal to be happy.
People who spend a lot of time making money generally do so because they
believe that the money itself will make them happy, or will guard them
against things that will make them unhappy. If the focus isn’t on the money,
but on the jobs that bring the money, those jobs are generally thought to
make people happy. People strive for that perfect relationship, the perfect
house, the beautiful body, the approval of others, all in an attempt to be
happy. Sometimes these things make us happy; other times, we stress over not
having reached our goals, or we reach them and find that we’re still not happy.
Other times, we focus so intensely on one goal that’s thought to bring happiness that we don’t have time for other things in our life that will make us truly happy. This can all be confusing, and begs the question: how does one reach the goal of being happy?

I like how it said (in reference to goals) , "we reach them and find that we're still not happy." It does seem that when we are finished with school and have money and a home/family things will be great! But i know we need to be happy in every single stage of this life. I am happy for right now. For being married to my best friend and getting to be with only him. Until we have babies..which will be different, but just another stage we will be happy in. I think that if we have balance in our lives and live the way we should, we will truly be happy. Some things i have been trying to do better lately to make me better "balanced" : reading scriptures more/prayer, eating right, running more, less computer/tv time, more time with family and friends, cleaner house, writing in my journal, service, being happy at work (even when snowbirds are cranky), and on and on...

I am working hard to be well rounded and know that even more happiness will come into our lives because of it.

Suns

Last night I put on one of these. Picked up some of these...

Arrived here.And had an amazingly wonderful evening watching the suns kill the hornets. go suns. (i think my voice is going from yelling) Crossin' my fingers for them to beat the lakers tonite.
everyone should have a suns date night! cheapest tickets are usually around 15 bucks. so, 30 bucks plus a few to park - its pretty much the same as going to a movie.

Ta Da

So our life is this exciting. We both got glasses. Dont be alarmed, its still us. Just a little more square. Some other random things we've been upto... going to soccer games...

Justin is in another art class this semester - thank goodness its his last! He is an amazing artist, but it takes up so much time! Here are 2 of the sketches he did towards the beginning.And this is one of my little projects. I went to Goodwill (on half off Saturday of course) and found two fabulous chairs. Not bad - two chairs for EIGHT BUCKS. One i painted green and the other a light blue. I bought some cute green fabric that is going to be on the seat...now all i need to do is find some better batting and a stapler.

Drews Wedding

Yesterday my cousin Drew and his sweet new wife Chloe were sealed in the Mesa Temple. We love them and are so happy to have her in our family! She was gorgeous!!Here are some pictures of their big day.. My friend Melissa and I.Chillin with the Crandells. Amanda came down from Thatcher.My hott husband - dont ask....this van was parked outside the temple. Pretty sweet ha!Family Picture.

November 6, 2009

Happy birthday to me. What more could I want on my day. An awesome husband who got me flowers the night before b/c he leaves too early for work... and a night ahead full of friends at dinner. Thank you for all the birthday wishes!!

This Weekend

We went to Snowflake this weekend. The weather was perfect. My cousin Drew is getting married this coming Saturday and his cutest soon to be wife, Chloe went through the temple there. It was awesome. We then got to visit Justin's grandma Marzell who lives in Snowflake. It was great to be able to just be with her and listen to sooo many great stories. It's amazing to me how you start to realize things when you grow up. You learn that your parents, your grandparents, and everyone else all goes through the same things. Not exactly all in the same way or at the same time...but everyone goes through life. We go through childhood and deal with the struggles that go along with friends and fitting in. We pass through junior high and high school, just trying to survive the peer pressure and again, "fitting in." We all seem to strive to be somewhat normal and live a "normal and happy" life. Most have great and fond memories...we also go through sad times, depression, and feeling let down. We learn and grow. Our testimonies change everyday. Everyone knows what its like to be newly married. You know what its like to struggle on various levels. You also know what it's like to be so happy and in love. Justin's grandma said, "You are struggling together, and that is all that matters. You get to be doing it together." She had so many stories of her testimony, love, family, and all of the things that truly matter. I am grateful to have been able to visit her and feel of her love. It is always good to hear and record the stories of our parents and grandparents...it's their life's story. Someday I know our kids will love to hear some of them.

That's my little thought for the night.

Dad's Birthday

Yesterday my dad turned........a year older :) Happy Birthday to him! I love him more than anything.Justin took some pictures of my brothers and sisters that we printed out for my dad. I think they turned out cute. Its weird that all of them are the same size or taller than me now. You would think my mom would be a little crazy after 6 kids in 8 years!

Pumpkin Party

We had our second annual pumpkin carving party w/ our friends last night. I havent been too good at blogging in the sense of writing lately. Just take too many pictures. They tell the stories I suppose :) We had a lot of fun! The Rohners.The Stenquists.The Goodmans.The Sorensens.The Nyes.The Crandells.Cute cute Babies!And the mess begins! I was surprised at how empty my pumpkin was...there was hardly anything in it. Mostly just the gunky stringy things - not too many seeds.Some of the Finished Pumpkins!

Aww - cute. The little love pumkins haha!

It was a fun pumpkin carving night!

Birthday Babes

Last night we celebrated our little niece's FiRsT BiRtHdAy! Too many pictures to choose from..but Kennedy is too cute! :) With Aunt Jenny!She loves her grandma!And unlce Justin!"Why do I have a bow on my head and why is everyone singing to me with fire?? I love the presents and cake though!!"My favorite picture of her!Of course, among her guests was little cousin Sadie.We also celebrated RYDEN'S second Birthday!! We went to Chuckee Cheese.

Happy Birthday Babes! We love ya!

Our Awesome Trip!

Two Years

We are going on vacation for our two year anniversary (the cruise) ... I cant believe its been two years already! Maybe, just maybe the next two we will have a baby to add to the mix.

Dear Justin,

Thank you for marrying me.

Thank you for being nice to me.

Thank you for the example you are.

Thank you for working so hard.

Thank you for everything you are and for everything you will become.

There is no other place for me...only by your side.

I love you more everyday.

Happy two years babe.

Bon Iver

Their concert last night was RefReShiNgLy AmaZiNg. I thoroughly enjoyed it, comprable to Coldplay - i think so. We went with our friends Shane & Ashley and had so much fun. Just glad Diana & I decided not to run at 5:30 this am b/c i would have died. Enjoy the pictures and video (sorry its not too great..a new camera is on my list!)

If you havent heard them, do it.

The New Temple.

The Progress on The Temple is coming along! I think these pictures are amazing. It feels neat to be able to watch the process and see this wonderful temple be built!
Its so gorgeous, i love it!

A Little Bit of Everything

First things first...we are LOVING our little niece Sadie. She is getting so big already!! I took her and Amy to the doctors office and she weighed 9.9 on 9/9/09 - funny! We love her :)

A few weekends ago, Justin & I had our very first SUSHI experience. HA! I am usually a baby about trying stuff...but I tried almost everything our friend Brandon made. (Brandons an awesome Sushi chef at a restaraunt in Scottsdale.) Nope. Not a big fan of the ginger or the wasabi..yucky.Can't remember what this was called..but it was surprisingly good.I debated on whether to even put this picture up..I gagged and gagged...probably should have thrown up. It was disgusting!! Just the texture made me sick! I can still taste it!! gooJustin was lovin' it. I did NOT try these.This was an awesome dessert! It was kind of the Sushi version of fried ice cream. YUMM!On Saturday, we went rowing. Yes I know...you didnt know I was a "rower" :) Well my dad, brother Taylor, Justin, and I went rowing with a rowing club on Tempe Town Lake and it was really fun. What made it even cooler was that Fall Frenzie is going on so we could listen to all the music on the other side of the lake. Theres a lot more to rowing than you would think and it was fun to learn!My little sister Alli plays volleyball for Stapley and its been fun watching her :)Other than all of our fun "firsts", we just been lovin life and chillin with good friends! Counting down the days til our cruise in just a few weeks!

THe end.

Who knew..

WHO KNEW...

That so much happiness

Could come from such a small blowdryer? :)

We had to get our nails dry somehow..

Coming Up

I made a list.

And my list goes something like this.

Things we ARE doing in the next 6 months. Possibly by the end of this blessed 2009!

(no particular order, but they WILL be getting checked off and more i'm sure will be added.)

Fossil Springs

Suns Game

Camping on Mt Graham
The Brand New Concert

Pumpkin Carving Night

Snowboarding at Brighton

Bowling

Disneyland (justin has never been!)

Christmas Tree Finding Excursion

Cruise to Mexico (coming in 36 days! wahhhhoo)

Ice Skating, the real kind.

ect. ect.
I'm dreamin' big. Time to start planning!

The NeW PlaCe

Welcome to our New Place...

I made a real long slideshow with WAY too many pictures,

but I don't know how to put it on the blog.

Try it out...if it doesn't work then don't worry.

I put MORE than you would ever care to see on this post.

Enjoy!

We are glad to be all settled in! (minus the office, whoopsie)

http://picasaweb.google.com/aubrysorensen/OurNewPlaceKitchen.

Its kind of a hole in the wall..but I love it none the less.The

Living

Room.Bathroom Number One.

Its teal-ish and off the hallway.Bathroom Dos.

In our room. The green one :)Our Bedroom

The End. Come Visit!

Oh New Mexico

Figure it out. I was almost taken out by a huge rock falling off a mountain in New Mexico due to the loudest/scariest thunderstorm ever. Was a few inches from me head. Long story...a very well drawn picture tells it best. (Justin was there, but he ran ahead to put my backpack in the car b/c both our cameras were in it.)
On our way to New Mexico - nice day..right.

What it looks like there...DRENCHED and sad that we didnt get to do the whole hike..but def happy to be alive. :)
Never been more scared.

She is here!

Miss Sadie Sorensen has finally arrived! Her birthday is August 5, 2009 and she weighed 9lbs 2oz - go AMY! As you can see...we are kind of in love with our child that isnt really ours. But kind of :) She is so adorable!

On the flip side...WE ARE ALL MOVED IN! We love our house and pictures are to come very soon..i know this isnt like me - Im a very behind blogger these days. For those of you who are like me and sometimes live for seeing friends blogs, here's a sneak peek picture just to hold you over :)

All in a weekends work.

This weekend started off with an awesome pedicure with my friend Amy Crandell - we found the best place in Chandler, it was amazing. Then I headed down to Thatcher with Amy Sorensen for her baby shower/24th of July! Here we are at the shower...she got SOO much stuff! And everything was SOO Cute!! Jenny & Kennedy.We then went to the parade in Pima, then fireworks.
We are back now..and its off to packing!!! Our place is a disaster, but its coming along. I will post again when we are all moved in!