Hunter Swift, Tina, Soren and Alana

Some Pictures

2011-08-24T11:56:00.000-07:00

Funny moments

2011-08-15T01:07:00.000-07:00

Hooray! I've waited and waited for a kid who was old enough to talk and say funny things, and now my day is finally here. Soren, like most 2 1/2 year olds, is a major crack up sometimes with the things he says, and I thought it would be good to write some down so we can laugh about it now and later. (Some are probably more funny than others, but I want to remember them all.)
Soren actually speaks quite clearly and has for some time but there are still, of course, some words he just can't quite get the hang of. Here are some funny words he likes to say:
- "elegator" (elevator.) I've told him numerous times , "It's eleVator, sweetie," but he always tells me that's how he wants to say it. Whatevs.
- "buh-lella" (umbrella.)
- "conditionary" (air conditioner)

A few funny things he's said and done recently:

He likes to ask lots of questions and lately he's been asking about animals and their habits. "Mom, does ladybugs poop?" "Yes, Soren, ladybugs do poop." "Mom, does lizards poop?" "Yes, Soren, lizards poop. All animals and bugs poop." "Does ants poop?" "Yes." "Does bears poop?" "Yep, they poop too."
He also likes to ask about the food on his plate. "Does any animals eat olives?" "No, Soren, I don't think any animals eat olives." "Does any animals eat cheese?" "Yes, Soren, you know what animal likes cheese. What animal is it?" (laughs and throws his head back like this is a huge joke) - "Mouses." "Yep, you're right. Mice eat cheese." "Does any animals eat apples?" "Yes, Soren. Horses like to eat apples for a treat." And it goes on and on...

We were at the Orange County fair with my sister, Julia, and just checking everything out. We went to see the little arena where the "Alaskan racing pigs" perform a few times a day. They weren't racing right then, but they had people in the stands and there were two little tractors in the middle of the arena. Kids had apparently signed up earlier and were taking turns doing a mini tractor pull. The hosts would call a kid up and put different amounts of weight in the back depending on the kid's age, and the kid would start to pedal and see how far they could get. It was kind of cute, and Soren was enjoying watching the kids so we stayed and watched for a little bit. After a while, the announcer says into his microphone, "Next we have 12 year old Alexis," and the crowd cheers for her as she gets ready to go. Soren scrunches up his nose and looks around and has kind of a confused look on his face. He asks, "Mommy, where's Alexis?" I point to the girl sitting on the tractor and tell him, "right there" but he's still confused. "Where, Mommy?" So I show him again, "Right over there -- sitting on the tractor." He keeps bugging me and saying, "I don't see Alexis." All of a sudden it dawns on me. Soren, being the auto enthusiast that he is, is looking for "A Lexus." Ha! I started cracking up, and explained to him that, no, there was no Lexus, but the girl's name was Alexis. He looked at me like that was the dumbest name ever, since it was really a car, but at least we solved the mystery. :-)

It's really funny to watch Soren interact with other kids at the park, etc. He always tries to play with older kids who, most of the time, have no idea what he's talking about and don't always want to play. The other day we were at Chick-Fil-A (love it, by the way) and after we ate I told him he could play in the "playing place," as he calls it. There were a few kids in there who were all friends and probably about 4-5 years old. They were playing games and running around and he was just joining in and copying whatever they were doing. They were playing a game where the ground was lava so you couldn't touch the ground, but I guess Soren didn't get the memo and was just running around in circles. One little girl was very concerned and kept yelling to him, "You're melting! You're melting!" Finally Soren answered back, "No, I'm not. I'm Soren David Swift!"

The first week of August Soren, Alana, and I drove up to Nor-Cal accompanied by my sister, Julia to spend a little vacay time with my family at a timeshare in Windsor. It was awesome to get to see almost everyone. We were only missing Annelise and Matt (and Hunter, but we get to see him a lot.) One afternoon, we were out at the pool. My dad took Soren over to the little kiddie pool, which was about a foot deep. According to my dad, Soren was running fast all across the pool, but he tripped a little and fell down. My dad was just in the process of saying, "Hey, Soren, are you running?" Soren answered back, "No FarFar, that's not called 'running,' it's called 'falling down.'"

I'll have to think of more things he says, because I know there are so many that I don't want to forget, but I guess I've gotta start somewhere, right? I love, love, love that boy. He definitely pushes my buttons every now and then like any typical 2-year-old, but overall he's a great kid and so much fun to be around. I love my little Soren-Man. :-)

Boss!

2011-07-12T00:51:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July!

Soren is becoming a Big Boy!

2011-06-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

We started with giving him a Big Boy Bed. Now its on to Potty Training.

More Picts of Alana.

2011-06-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

Some more picts of Alana!

2011-06-07T18:46:00.000-07:00

9 Days Old.

Alana with 10 month old cousin Ty.

Some more picts of Alana

2011-05-30T12:01:00.000-07:00

Alana with Mommy

Alana with "Mor Mor" (Tina's Mom)

Alana with "Far Far" (Tina's Dad)

Alana with Grandma LaReta (Hunter's Step Mom)

Alana with Grandpa Dave (Hunter's Dad)

Alana with Uncle Jeff (Hunter's Brother)

Alana with Great Grandma Joan (Hunter's Grandma)

Alana with Grandma Marcia (Hunter's Mom)

Taking home Alana.

Alana Noelle Swift

2011-05-27T17:47:00.000-07:00

We welcomed a healthy baby daughter into our family today.
Alana Noelle Swift

5/27/2011 9:18am
8.1 lbs, 20"

New Big Brother Soren with Little Sister Alana.

Soren playing baseball.

2011-04-03T03:14:00.000-07:00

Soren and the Cars (Part 2)

2011-04-03T02:35:00.000-07:00

Back in August we posted a video of Soren and his Cars Video , We decided to try it again.

Soren Potty Trained?

2011-04-02T23:58:00.000-07:00

Well for the first time Soren has sat on the potty and not been scared and actually had a couple drops come out. We are so proud.

Grandma LaReta and Baby Reef (Soren's Cousin)

2011-04-02T23:51:00.000-07:00

Soren

2011-04-02T23:38:00.000-07:00

Soren playing with his cars.

We have been finding Soren watching TV in his room like this.

This is what Mommy finds when she comes home when Daddy and Soren are playing forts.

Disneyland with Family

2011-04-02T23:06:00.000-07:00

Tina's family came down to visit and we all went to Disneyland.

Russel, CJ and Baby Ty.

Soren and Far Far.

Hunter, Far Far, Russell and CJ on Space Mountain.

Soren and Mommy on Dumbo.

Mor Mor & Far Far, and Soren & Mommy.

On Mr. Toad.

Daddy and Soren getting ready to ride the Toy Story ride.

Soren scored 7,700 points all by himself.

The Family.

Far Far and Hunter on California Screamin

Soren driving with Daddy on Autopia.

A Dream Come True!

2011-02-07T00:51:00.000-08:00

So for work I had to go to San Francisco for an Industry Trade Show tonight. A company rented out AT&T Park where the 2010 World Series Champions Giants play.

I was able to make it on the field (although you weren't sopposed to), in the Giants's dugout and even got to hit some balls in the Giants batting cage and meet Rich Murray (Eddie Murray's brother) who played infield for the Giants 1980-1983.

Brownies? Cake? You say "tomato..."

2011-01-26T03:12:00.000-08:00

Lately, as should be expected, I guess, Soren has definitely developed more of an independent opinion about many things. He speaks in pretty complete sentences and surprises me many times with the correct use of different words that I didn't know were actually incorporated into his vocabulary. It has made life easier in some regards and, yet, much harder in others. He is now much more opinionated about which breakfast cereal to eat in the morning, which book to read at bedtime, which car to play with, which movie to watch, etc. He often says, "No, I don't like that one" over and over until I find the "right" one for that day.
Just the other night we had some friends over for dinner and I made brownies. Later that night, the pan of brownies was sitting out and I was in the kitchen snitching a piece. Soren heard me (have I mentioned yet that he has BIONIC EARS when it comes to food??? Forget sneaking anything, especially with a wrapper, even if he's in the other room!) and came in the kitchen. Of course he asked what I was eating and I told him it was a piece of brownie. He said, "Oh. Brownie. It's cake." I replied, "Yes, you're right, Soren. Brownies are like cake." He gave me this very serious look and said, "No, Mommy, it is cake." (Like, duh, Mom, what are you trying to pull on me? I know cake when I see it.") I started laughing, because this is SO typical these days, and I guess he was basically right. Silly me. I should have known.

(And, yes, it is 3 am and I am at work right now. Not imaging any patients at the moment, but suffering from hospital-gurney/pregnancy-induced insomnia. I really should at least try to get some sleep.)

We are having a Girl.

2011-01-10T14:32:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T22:55:00.000-08:00

Some Cute Picts of Soren

2010-12-14T08:37:00.000-08:00

Ahhh, December!

2010-12-03T12:09:00.000-08:00

'Tis the season to be jolly! I love Christmas time and I'm so excited that it's finally here. We just got our tree up and decorated (a real tree, of course) and the house smells so great. Soren was pretty excited about the whole ordeal and did his best to put ornaments on, although he wasn't very successful without help. He also "helped" Daddy put the star on the tree. Hunter almost lost an eye in the process, but we got it up there eventually. (Videos to come shortly.) I've had a lot of fun putting the DVR to good use and recording all of the Christmas cartoons to watch with Soren. We've been listening to a lot of Christmas music around here too. Soren is very curious these days and at least 3 times a song asks, "What a song called?" I've been impressed, though, because he can now recognize quite a few different songs when they come on the radio, even if the versions are different than the ones we have on cd. We'll be sitting there and doing something else and all of a sudden he'll say, "Hey! Sleighride!" and then I'll realize that, yes, the song is on in the background, even though I didn't hear it earlier.

As for the family, Soren is growing and getting more fun and more rambunctious every day. Overall he really is a good kid, but we are definitely seeing signs of 2-year-old defiance every so often... Sheesh. He loves to ask, "Why?" about practically everything, even though I'm pretty sure he has no idea what the heck I'm talking about 90% of the time when I explain things to him. He loves going to the Nursery at church and playing with the kids there. I'm told he is a good singer when they sing songs, which makes me happy. :-) He still loves to read books and has some of them mostly memorized, which is kind of fun. Soren also still loves cars and trucks. He wants to know what all of the cars on the road are called. Right now, he can easily identify a Mustang, Corvette, Camaro, Suburban, Prius, Corolla, Cadillac, Mercedes, Audi, Jeep, taxi, police car, fire truck, mail truck, UPS truck, moving truck, tow truck, garbage truck, mini van, "Mini car" (Mini Cooper), Slug bug, school bus, RV, and probably more that I'm forgetting right now. It makes driving around much more fun for him, since there's almost always some car around that he can shout about. It's funny to see his mind work. About a month or so ago, we were at the church out in the parking lot, walking back to our car. He was naming cars that he knew, and all of a sudden he stopped and kind of looked up at this big car with a puzzled look and said, "Cadillac Suburban...?" It was an Escalade so, yes, basically a big Cadillac Suburban. Hunter and I both started laughing. It was funny of him to put the two together. He's a smart cookie, that kid. (And we aren't biased or anything.)

Hunter is still in school, just plugging away. He recently got kind of a promotion at work and no longer works in the Sales department, but is the company's Business Analyst. It's pretty nice because he's no longer on commission, which is nice for him, but he's really busy. It's okay -- keeps him on his toes. At least now he more or less knows what his day will entail instead of making cold calls all day, hoping for success. I'm proud of him for working so hard and becoming such a valuable asset to the company.

I am still working for the hospital in Laguna Hills, and have been picking up some hours here and there at the San Clemente hospital, which is really nice. It's probably about 1/4 the size of the other hospital, which means it's way less busy, and it takes me about 8 minutes to get to work instead of 25. This past week I worked a ton, since everyone wanted to leave for the Thanksgiving holiday. The money will be nice when the paycheck comes, but it was kind of killer. From Thursday - Sunday morning I was on call for I think 63 hours straight, and that was after already working 2 days earlier than week. Crazy. I still like doing ultrasound, though, and I'm really lucky to have this job and to work for good people. I'm also really lucky that Hunter is so supportive. He had - I mean got- to stay home with Soren all weekend while I ran in and out of the house, back and forth to the hospital and napped off and on in between. Plus it was our anniversary the same week and he even remembered to buy me flowers. Happy. :-)

So, as for the rest of our family, I guess the big news is that there is going to soon be more to our family. Yes, I am pregnant, and so far things are going okay. I am just over 14 weeks along right now, which means that I'll be due June 2nd (which means that I am expecting a baby anywhere after June 9th...) We are pretty excited around here. Soren likes to try to look deep into my bellybutton and he swears he can see the "little tiny baby" in there. He gets a little upset when I try to explain that the baby is inside and he can't actually see it, so I usually just let him think what he wants. At least we have a few more years (hopefully) until he starts asking how it got inside of Mom's tummy...

Well, that's the latest and greatest. I have, of course, performed several ultrasounds on my own stomach, and have determined that, since I can't make out any boy parts, this one is probably a girl, but I'm not going out and buying anything pink yet, because I'm really not 100% sure. Still, a girl will be fun. The practical side of me says that having a boy would be way better, since I have all of the boy stuff already, but girls are just so dang cute. Either way, I'm fine. I just hope that everything goes okay and that we have a healthy baby.

Honestly, I almost feel a twinge of guilt that we have been so fortunate in our endeavors to get pregnant both times. (In fact, I kind of thought this one would take at least a month or two longer than it did, but I guess there were other plans in store for us...) I have so many friends and close relatives who are currently experiencing and have recently experienced trouble with infertility, and it breaks my heart for all of them. They are fabulous people who would all make the best of parents and, yet, things just aren't going the way that they had hoped they would. I know that everyone has his or her own struggles in life, but I just feel very, very blessed that Soren has (so far) turned out to be a sweet, fun kid and that we have another baby on the way. I just hate the fact that our happiness may in some way contribute to sad feelings for those who cannot at this time share in those same blessings. I know it's easy for me to say, but I know that there is a plan for each of our families and we will all be able to have the blessings of parenthood no matter our situation, but especially if we are living right and staying close to the Lord. He is mindful of our heartaches and our joys and wants to pour out numerous blessings on each of us. We just have to trust in His timing. (Sooo much easier said than done sometimes!)

With that, I hope everyone is having a great early December. Like I said, we will be posting a couple of videos soon (hint, hint Hunter...) and hopefully more pics as well. Hunter recently went to a couple of car shows, in Vegas and L.A., and now our camera is full of random cars, but we'll get on it and see if we can't actually post some more pics of our holiday season around here. And if you're really, really lucky, we might even get organized enough to take a *real* family picture and post that too. (But please don't hold your breath.)

Love you all! Sorry this post has been so long and wordy, but sometimes I just want to write stuff down so I remember it later on, since my journal-writing has kind of been non-existent for the past year or two... Happy December!

Not a great pic, but head is toward the left, rear end tow. the right, face is down, spine along the top. Little bits of arm under the face area, top of the legs bent under rear end area. (This was Hunter taking a picture of the screen as I scanned my stomach.) I could point out a whole lot more anatomy, but I don't think any of you really care that much nor could you really see it, even if you pretended like you could. ;-)

Our 4 Year Aniversary

2010-11-24T09:31:00.000-08:00

Today we celebrate our four year aniversary.

Tina I love you so much. The last four years have been a amazing. You are a great wife, a great mom and a great friend. Thank you for all that you do.
I look forward to our future and to see our family grow.

I love you.

Hunter

Halloween

2010-11-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

Hunter carving his pumpkin.

Soren seeing whats inside of a pumpkin.

Helping mommy.

Soren saying cheese like his small pumpkin.

Our Family, Pumpkin style. (Mommy, Soren and Hunter's pumpkins).

Soren Halloween Costume:

Brian Wilson
Closing Pitcher for the World Series Champion
San Francisco Giants!

Fear the Beard!

He had sooo much fun being Brian Wilson and even kept the beard on all night!

Soren actually made it to on the SFGate website:

Soren's 2nd birthday

2010-11-10T10:34:00.000-08:00

It's been a few weeks now, but I still can't believe that my little Soren is TWO years old! (And then when he starts throwing a major fit when Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is over, I realize that, yes, the twos are definitely here.) I wasn't in the mood to throw a huge bash or anything so we decided to have a birthday dinner at Marcia's house with close family members. We ate lasagna, green beans (Soren's favorite), salad, and french bread, and had cupcakes and ice cream for dessert. Looking back, I could have made it so much easier than I did (like not making two kinds of cupcakes and frostings from scratch) but it was fine and everyone was fed, which was the most important thing. Special thanks to Marcia and Bob for letting us use their house. Someday we'll have a big enough kitchen to host our own parties (*sigh*) but until then, it's so nice to have a real house so close. As you can see, Soren quite enjoyed his cupcake with the "little tiny baby candies" (sprinkles) on top.

The happy fam. Soren insisted that we get birthday hats for his birthday. (Don't know where he got that idea -- TV, maybe?) So everyone obliged and we looked quite festive, if I do say so myself. (Streamer decorations courtesy of Hunter...)

With Grandpa and Bill, sneaking him an early present to open.

Fun, new police car. Complete with siren. (This is one that will stay at Grandma's house...)

Admiring his spoils. Probably 90% of his toys were cars, trucks, or other vehicles. He was in heaven.

What's in here?

It's a picture of Grandpa Dave surfing! (And the Giants game was playing on the t.v. in the background, so that's why our whole family was dressed for the occasion, sporting our orange and black.)

Attempting to figure out the remote control monster truck. He does pretty well with it, actually.

Even Dudley got in on the party action. Soren thought this was really funny.

All of the party guests: Besides Marcia and Bob there were Uncle Jeff & Aunt Amanda, Grandpa Dave and Grandma LaReta, and Great Grandma Joan and Bill. Thanks, everyone, for your love and support. We had a great night!

Misc Summer Picts

2010-10-31T20:17:00.001-07:00

Here are a bunch of random pictures from throughout the later part of summer. Enjoy!

We visited our friends, the Myers, in Temecula for a weekend. It was probably the first time the boys really played together, which was cute to see. Bethanie and Jared built this awesome sandbox in the backyard and Soren LOVED it. He even woke up that morning and the first thing he wanted to do was go outside and play with the cars in the sand.

Awww, look at them playing so nicely together.

Hmmm, I wonder what will happen if I put just a little bit of sand on his head?...

Aw, forget it. Let's just dump it on!

See, Soren? Isn't this sandbox so much fun?

Hey, you're right. That does look like fun.

Aren't we just so glad they play so well together these days? :-) At least they had fun.

Playing with the cool funnels and contraptions.

And the part he couldn't stop talking about for weeks afterward -- playing with the cars and trucks in the sand.

Lunch on the porch with Mommy. (It was his idea, actually.)

Cheese!

Our spread. (Or what's left of it.) Soren loves cucumbers, by the way. The other day I was cutting up some little spears to eat with dinner. After we were all done and he got down from his highchair, he somehow found the big chunk of non-cut cucumber on the counter and started chomping down. He ate almost the whole thing. Silly boy.

Exploring the rocks in the yard. Who knows, maybe he'll study geology, just like his Aunt Isa.

Playing "Horsey-Horsey," or I guess it's "Liony-Liony" in this particular case... Soren thinks it's funny when I say the word "buggy" in the song. It's his favorite part. Brings back lots of FHE memories. Poor Dad, with 6 kids this is enough to break your back! At least by the time he had Julia, there were others of us who were big enough to be helper horseys.

For any of you who didn't already know, I chopped my hair a little while ago. These pictures aren't the most awesome, but it's all I've got lately with my hair actually down and done. Turns out ever sincecollege and especially since I had Soren, my hair has been getting curlier and curlier. It's pretty amazing how curly it is if I just scrunch it up and don't straighten it. The go-to style, I'm sad to say, is still the ponytail, however. Some old habits die hard. (Like the desire to sleep in instead of waking up early to blowdry and straighten my hair for 45 minutes. No thanks!)

My sister, Julia, came out in September for a Muse concert and, lucky me, I got to go with her. We had a lot of fun and, judging from her reaction at the concert, I'm pretty sure it was one of her best b-day presents ever. (See, September. That's only 2 months behind. We're getting caught up, slowly but surely...)
This is our best pre-concert rock-on, super excited pose. Kind of dorky, I know. Hunter was rolling his eyes.

All dressed up and ready to go par-tay!

Cute Soren and Mommy. (Sorry, I guess these are a little out of order.)

And this blog is being funky and is not letting me add captions to each picture so below is Soren and his bestest friend, Eeyore, reading him stories before bedtime. He loves Eeyore and he loves reading books. I'm hoping the same is true 10 years from now. (At least the reading part. I guess I do hope he has other friends besides a stuffed donkey at that point in his life.)

The last one is just Soren all cutie in the carseat. We are SO lucky that he doesn't mind being in his stroller or in the carseat. He's a pretty easygoing kid all around, thank goodness.

August at the D-L

2010-10-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

We're doing a recap of summer/fall events, so here goes.

In August, what started out as a small, Lel-Curt-Carl trip to Disneyland turned quickly into a big, (almost entire, sorry, Ceej) fat Pedersen family D-L extravaganza. Maybe not quite, but it was super fun to have so many of us there and it was a great excuse to renew our season passes, which we may not have otherwise done. It's so much fun going with Soren these days. He is so into everything and just loves it. In fact, he talks quite often about going to Disneyland "today" (every day almost) so I'm really glad we have the opportunity to go throughout the year. His current faves are the Tiki room and driving his very own car on the Autopia. (Shocker...) Good thing we love Disneyland!

We're here!

So happy to finally be here. (Sorry, Kai-Kai. Cut off your head.)

Cool dude, sportin his new Wall-E sunglasses (matching with cousin Carl.)

Soren LOVED "Light' Ma-Queen" and Mater, and cried when we had to leave after the picture.

"...It's the heart of America, the heartbeat of a holiday!.." (Quick, name that tune.)

Waiting in the Toy Story line with Auntie Isa. (Which, by the way, is maybe my new favorite ride. If anyone reading this hasn't had a chance to go on it, it's super fun!)

Crazy old Uncle Kai-Kai. He's always good for a laugh.

Here - push your own dang stroller!

Poor baby. All tired out.

This was the end of the second day. (Sorry, not many pics from this day, but our camera is so annoying to lug around.)

The boys. I mean, the official members of the Mickey Mouse Club. See? They even have the sweatshirts to prove it. (We took at least 5 pictures and I think Kai was the only one even sort of looking at the camera in all 5. This was the best one we got.)

Well, it was a fun time, as usual. Remember, Mom and Dad, you bought SEASON PASSES, so you'd better put them to good use and come on back down here!

Soren Talking and Playing with his Cars

2010-08-13T07:11:00.001-07:00

From the mouths of babes - (part 1 of many, I'm sure.)

2010-07-21T22:30:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd write this down before I forget to forever.
It had to have been at least month or two ago, but Soren and I were home and were playing around in the front room. I was kind of walking around, picking up toys, etc. All of a sudden as I bent over to the ground I heard repeated over and over, in a sweet little voice, "Mommy. Big. Butt." (What the?... I mean, I know I could stand to do a few dozen more squats here and there, but really? From my one year old?) I was a little shocked and I turned around quickly to see Soren sitting on the couch with my phone, pushing and showing me the big, round buttON in the middle. I started cracking up, and said, "Yes, Soren, that is a big button on Mommy's phone." Ha. I guess you had to be there to get the full effect.
And the fun begins, with a talking toddler.

Update

2010-07-19T02:45:00.001-07:00

I'm not going to make excuses for not having blogged a lot lately. We're just going to move on with our lives and try to make up for lost time.

Soren these days has been SO busy. It's hard to believe that he's now 21 months old (which is 1 and 3/4, which is almost TWO!) He has started talking up a storm, and I can usually understand him, even if it takes a few tries. His latest fascinations are trucks, cars, trucks, waterfalls, getting into my purse, and more trucks. He also knows all of his basic colors, and he loves to point them out. We'll have to turn on a recorder one of these days when he's in the car because it's pretty hilarious sometimes to hear him as we drive down the road. He gets really into all of the surrounding cars and trucks and loves to shout them all out to us as we pass them. "Blue truck, blue truck, Blue truck, BLUE TRUCK! - Yeah, we heard you the first time, kid. "Mail truck! Yellow car! BIG white truck! Garbage truck --coo (cool) garbage truck! Bike! Orange truck! Black car!" It's quite an earful. He actually gets all upset if we pass the freeway onramp and don't get on, because he knows that's where all of the "beeg tu-rucks" (big trucks) are. If there aren't any trucks around, he'll usually ask, "More trucks, please," and sometimes makes special requests, like "garbage truck, please!" I just tell him to keep looking. At least it keeps him occupied! He's mildly obsessed. Totally Hunter's kid.

He keeps us on our toes, that's for sure, but it's usually a lot of fun. Mostly for the grandparents, here are more recent pics of the crazy kid and his daily doings.

A day in the life of 21-month-old Soren:

Posing for the camera in his jammies.

I only put this picture in for my dad - I know he'd agree that this clearly shows how much Soren does sometimes look like me:

Making funny faces at breakfast time:

And then pulling various objects out of his nose after breakfast time...We left him in his highchair for shall we say an extended period of time one Saturday because Hunter and I were doing housework and he seemed to be perfectly happy sitting there. Yes, he was occupied all right, and had apparently discovered the joy of an empty nose paired with small, edible objects. Turns out I'm pretty sure it was much more fun stuffing them in than it was getting them out. Hunter had to hold him down and I attacked with the blue hospital syringe/bulb thing and a pair of tweezers. He had shoved a couple of soy nuts and a pumpkin seed up both nostrils. No wonder he was so happy all morning.

Here are the findings from our excavation, complete with boogers... (Gross, I know.):

Playing with cars on his racing track. We finally found a toy that keeps his attention for more than 90 seconds:

Looking at waterfalls. Or in this case, "baby waterfalls," which is what he started calling the ripples around the big rocks in the river by our house. He has to stop and look every time we walk out to the car.

Playing with friends, like Diego:

Running around half dressed. (Thank goodness it FINALLY got warm here. What was up with that drizzly, overcast, nasty weather through the beginning of July? Kai, you would have loved it.)

Playing soccer in grandma's backyard. What a great kick!:

Maybe this is his goalie stance???

He loves his new cement truck from Grandma and Grandpa:

Eating dinner. He's getting way better at feeding himself. (Thank goodness, since he pretty much insists on doing it himself every time now.)

Certainly that face was not from something I made...

Bath time! Probably doesn't happen as often as it should these days, but isn't that what swimming in the pool is for? No?

Brushin' teeth. ("Do you know 'bout Grandpa Gum, doesn't have a tooth in his head...") Better believe I sing that song every night!

And then it's Soren's turn (far more sucking than brushing, but we're working on it) :

So, Dad, there you go. No more phone calls just to say "hey, you haven't updated the blog in a while." (At least not for 6 more weeks.) We love our crazy baby! :-)

Soren in Grandma's Backyard

2010-06-04T15:03:00.000-07:00

Soren on the swing with Dudley.

Soren helping Grandpa water.

Soren at Park

2010-06-04T14:57:00.000-07:00

New of Soren

2010-06-04T14:54:00.000-07:00

A Dream Come True.

2010-05-21T22:23:00.001-07:00

OK, a couple weeks ago I posted a couple of pictures of my car, a white 2009 Pontiac G8 GT. Well yesterday I had a rare opportunity to take my car to an actual racetrack for the day.

First of all I want to thank my wife for even letting me have a car like mine, and for putting up with me always doing stuff to my car and for allowing me to do something like this.

It truly was a once in a life time opportunity and was more fun than I have ever had.

Here is a video of my adventures:

Soren's Smiles

2010-04-22T20:22:00.000-07:00

Soren has been smiling a lot lately, and thought these were some great pictures of his smiles.

:-)

Soren at the Zoo.

2010-04-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

Tina's parents and sister, Julia, came down for a few days. We took Soren to the zoo for the first time, and he had a lot of fun hanging out with the family and seeing all of the animals. It was a day full of Soren making animal sounds. Roooaaaaarrrr!

We now have season passes to the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park (since it cost just as much as paying full price for everyone), Disneyland (till June), and SeaWorld. (Before you think that we are too spoiled, the SeaWorld and Zoo passes were b-day gifts.) Let us know if you ever want to go!

Soren's first Owie!

2010-04-11T20:08:00.000-07:00

Soren fell and got his first real owie.

Soren at the pool.

2010-04-11T00:47:00.000-07:00

We took Soren to the pool today. It is the first time since last summer. It was a lot of fun. Soren loved playing in the water. Here is a short video.

My G8!

2010-04-09T23:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I haven't ever posted anything about my car on this blog before, but for those who know me, know that I am really into cars and that I really love my car! Well I took a couple pictures of it and wanted to show it off.

2009 Pontiac G8 GT
6.0L V8 with over 400 horsepower.

Easter Picts

2010-04-04T22:35:00.001-07:00

The Easter Bunny visited our house and Soren enjoyed the spoils all morning. (Which is probably why he didn't really eat any breakfast and not much lunch either.)

Soren with Grandma Marcia and her brother, Uncle Phil.

Tonya and Soren.

Hunting for Easter eggs.

Still searching the backyard with cousin Peyton. (And check out Zahra in the background stuck behind the gate. "Hey guys!...")

Easter Picts 2

2010-04-04T22:35:00.000-07:00

Andrew and Zahra (Tonya and Matt's kids.)

Cutie cousin Tristen.

Soren and Mommy.

Zahra.

Soren had a lot of fun on the kiddie swing.

Grandma and Grandpa. What a great picture!

Not quite big enough to reach, but who needs pedals when you have a nice Grandma to push you around?

The fam.

Tamara and Tonya.

Check out those big blue eyes.

Andrew and Zahra, relaxing after a long day of egg hunting, running around, and lots of good food. Happy Easter!

So we got a new camera!

2010-04-04T21:31:00.000-07:00

Our old camera broke so we got a new one and it takes much better photos. So check back often we will be posting more pictures now that our camera works.

Some Cute Picts of Soren.

A fun little video of Soren and a ball.

2010-03-16T19:57:00.000-07:00

This past month (or so...)

2010-03-14T23:58:00.000-07:00

These past weeks have been a little crazy, but fun nonetheless. Yes, it was my b-day on the 10th and it was just peachy. Now I am officially out of my 20's, which is a bit weird to say, but I guess it had to happen sometime.

Anyway, to appease those of you who are seeking an update, (the least of whom is my husband, who has been bugging me to put up a new post) here are a few pics of recent happenings:

I wondered why he was being so quiet. (It's certainly better than scrounging through my makeup bag and eating my lipstick like I've found him before.)

"Oh, hey mom."

A while ago we visited our friends, the Myers, in Temecula. It was the first time the boys could really play together. (Well, sort of. I guess play near each other is more accurate.)
The moms tried to get a picture with both boys...

Neither one was really having it.

Soren and I got to babysit for our friends, the Camachos. This is their new baby, Diego. ( I think he was about 6 weeks.) Soooo cute!

Soren was fine with the baby around, but was a little annoyed that I wouldn't let him drink the baby's bottle or suck on his pacifier. (Although you can see that I didn't catch him in time on this one -- he's got it in his hand.)

Hunter and I went to Vegas with my sister, Carolyn and her husband, Russell. We had a super sweet time. (Well, about as much fun as you can have not drinking or gambling...)

Russell rented this hot yellow Corvette for his b-day. The next morning he and Hunter went to some deserted parking lot with their cars and did goodness knows what. (Don't ask, don't tell is kind of the policy there. I've come to realize in those situations, I usually just don't wanna know.)
Boys...

The pretty fountains at the Bellagio. They were pretty impressive.

Inside the Bellagio garden.

Sisters!

Soren and I went to Disneyland 3 times in 5 days. (These pics are just from the first time. More to come...)

My friend, Sarah, babysits for Ella (18 months) so they invited us on a double date to the D-L. It was a super fun day.

Yes, this was the best picture we could get of Soren with the glasses on. He loved the ride, but not the 3-d glasses.

The 2 kids were so cute playing together, and Soren loved this cannon on Main Street.

Hey look, I'm over here!

No wait, I'm over here! (He played this game for a looooong while.)

And he even snuck a kiss before the day was done. Following in his father's footsteps, I guess...

Soren LOVES Goofy, so I was really excited when he was out and we got to take pictures. Soren was practically hyperventilating when he saw him from afar. Unfortunately, not quite as into it when we got up close.

He was a little better with Mickey.

That's all for today. More pics soon, I promise! Bye, folks!

Happy Birthday Tina!

2010-03-10T10:03:00.000-08:00

My lovely wife's birthday is today. Happy Birthday!

I hope you have a great day and a wonderful year.

You are an amazing wife and great mother.

We love you so much.

Love,

Hunter & Soren

2010-02-17T21:54:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I know I've been slacking on the whole update-the-blog thing, but here are a few pictures of fun things we've done lately.

I realized that I never posted any picture of Soren at Dave & LaReta's house. We met up with them after we got back from Northern Cali for Christmas. Soren was spoiled by his grandma and grandpa. He got lots of books (which he loves) and, mom's favorite present, he got a REAL Giant's jersey. Wow, this kid is sportin the jersey and stylin' way beyond his mom and dad. (I, for the record, still wear my brother's jersey from Little League, when he was on the Giants team years ago. It still has the huge, red Little League patch on the sleeve. A little embarrassing, yes, but I'm just not willing to fork over the money for the real thing and it does the job.)

Soren loves the ottoman these days. I know that deep down inside I will be very happy once we get rid of our slightly unattractive blue (humongous!) couch, but for the time being, I am glad that we have kid-friendly furniture with soft edges. Soren just loves to climb all over the couch and the ottoman, and it's funny to watch him because he's just short enough to have some trouble getting up about 60% of the time. Sometimes he gets frustrated when he can't swing his leg up, and me sitting there laughing at him probably doesn't help. Kids are just so funny when they get themselves into little predicaments. He really likes to sit on the floor, lean his head back onto the couch, and "walk" his little feet up the side of the ottoman so that his rear end is suspended in mid-air. (Hence, the photo.) It's really funny looking and he'll start shaking his bum up and down which is even more funny. Cracks me up, this kid!

Soren has always been a good carseat sitter. He is generally super patient and doesn't complain when we run all over. (Although he will probably get a huge shock someday to find that not everyone's mom drives somewhere and then spends another 5 minutes parked in the car with the radio on, putting makeup on before getting out. For now, that's pretty much all he knows, and he's really patient and waits for me in his seat. What a great kid!)

Soren's been really into wearing hats lately. A couple of months ago I couldn't get him to keep one on his head, but now he thinks it's so cool and will put on any hat he finds around the house.

A sunny Saturday out with the fam. I think Soren looks SO old in these pictures. What a little ham!

In January, we went to the BYU / SDSU basketball game with our cute friends, Sarah and Ben. (Oh, sorry Ben. Maybe I should say "our cute friend Sarah and our manly friend Ben?...")

We won and it was a great game. We definitely shut the SDSU fans up, which was great. It was super fun hanging out with the Reinharts.

(**We went to the UNLV game a couple of weeks later, but we won't post about that...don't really want to relive that memory, although it was seriously almost humorous by the end of the first half.)

We are doing well and have been loving life down here in San Clemente. Love you all!

Petting Zoo

2010-01-27T14:43:00.000-08:00

At the very beginning of January, we had a Saturday with not much to do, so we decided to take Soren to a local petting zoo. They had lots of goats and sheep, horses, pigs, turkeys, rabbits, guinea pigs, geese (annoying!), cows, llamas, birds, and a big turtle. It was a beautiful day and he had a lot of fun running around in the goat pen. (Until he got knocked down by one of them, which I knew was bound to happen.) There was a big penned off area with tons of rabbits and guinea pigs and people could buy little cups of lettuce and carrots to feed them. Soren wasn't too into the little rodents, but he was really digging the free carrots everyone left all over the ground. (So gross.) It was a fun afternoon with the boys and it was fun to show Soren all of the animals, even if he was more into the playground than anything. :-)

2010-01-04T10:14:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to take family pictures for a while now, but we just haven't done it. We were all dressed up after church and I said, "Quick! Grab a camera and we'll snap something by the Christmas tree!" It's not quite the quality as getting real pictures done (hence, the black stripe down the side...) but it'll have to do for now. Funny thing is, I always vowed I wouldn't be as lax about getting family photos done as my mom was. (My mom, mind you, is great at many things, but getting frequent family pics taken was not one of those things.) We would have to remind her every 4 or 5 years or so that it had been quite a while since the last endeavor, and we were tired of having a brace-face picture on the wall when we had the braces off years ago. :-)
Turns out, I'm just as bad or maybe worse than she was so far. Oh well. Not losing a whole lot of sleep over it. None, in fact.
Hopefully there will be more to come shortly!

Photos of this Christmas Past

2010-01-03T23:01:00.000-08:00

This past month has been wonderful, full of Christmas spirit and fun times. I'm pretty sad that I have to take down all of the decorations and that The Coast 103.5 isn't playing Christmas music around the clock anymore, but it happens every year. At least it means that baseball season is one month closer...
We had a great time up in Northern Cali with my parents and siblings. My parents recently remodeled the downstairs family room (made it lots bigger) and it is awesome! We finally had enough room to spread out and open presents all together without losing half the stocking stuff down the couch cushions. And now there's actually room for at least 5 or 6 people to fall asleep on the couch at night. Just what the doctor ordered for the Pedersens...
So here are some choice pics from the last few weeks. Enjoy:

Hunter, Soren, and I spent one last time at the D-L during the holidays, and it was a lot of fun. We lucked out with Mickey; he happened to be walking out just as we were getting to the park, so there was no line. Score! I thought Soren might be a little scared, like he was with Santa, but he LOVED him! He couldn't take his eyes off Mickey the whole time, and even when we were done, he was trying to run back and see him. So precious.
Come on, everyone who goes to Toon Town has to eventually get the "stuck in jail" picture. :-)

Soren's favorite thing -- driving the car. I think Hunter's created a monster.

My baby and me. What a sweetie. We waited in line for over 20 minutes for Small World and (I can't believe I'm actually saying this about that ride) I thought it was worth the wait.

Our cute little Christmas tree.

We went to a Christmas dinner with Bob & Marcia and Soren had fun running around, playing on the piano (while the pianist was already playing -- good thing he didn't mind) and he really enjoyed this sucker his daddy gave him.

And....this Santa visit was much like that last one. Oh well, we'll try again next year.

However, he did enjoy opening the present that Santa brought. (Elmo playset.)

While up north, we went to my grandparents house for my Mom's birthday lunch. Soren really liked playing with this circus set that my sisters and I used to love and, apparently, my mom played with it when she was little too.

Strapped into the booster seat with a towel, and loving sitting with the big folks at the table.

Christmas day, opening presents. (I'm kind of sad I didn't take more pics of this stuff. Sorry!)

Yikes... Good thing she is already married.

Reading his new book with Mormor.

He LOVED trying on Aunt Julia's new shoes and trying to walk around in them. He thought he was really hot stuff.

Mom, posing with the new Disneyland puzzle that I was convinced would be a cinch. Maybe I was a bit off in my judgement. Still, I think it looks pretty cool now that it's done.

So this is basically the only semi-group shot I got the whole time. Kind of lame, but it was pretty funny playing Quelf with the fam. And, might I add, CJ and I tied for the win, thank you very much. I'm also very proud of Mom for staying mostly awake for the entire game. Goo' job, Mom!

We had a wonderful year in 2009 and are excited to begin a new year and make many more memories. Merry Christmas!

Dancing

2009-12-19T15:42:00.000-08:00

We are serving in a Spanish Ward for church, and they had a Christmas party and dance that was a lot of fun. Here is a video of us dancing. On our first date we went dancing. We don't dance often but nice to know we still got it.

Soren & Santa

2009-12-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

Some new picts of Soren

2009-12-10T13:46:00.000-08:00

Soren:

Soren & Mommy:

Soren & Daddy:

Soren and MorMor:

Soren & FarFar

Soren Sleeping

2009-12-10T13:38:00.000-08:00

We have been catching Soren sleeping in some funny positions.

happy 3 Year Anniversary

2009-11-25T23:15:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it has been 3 years. I am such a lucky guy. You mean the world to me. You are a great wife and a great mom. Thank you for your love and the good times. You are truely what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving.

I love you!

Your Hubsand Hunter!

Happy B-day, Mr. Mouse!

2009-11-18T19:21:00.001-08:00

So, in case you haven't heard, today, Nov. 18th, Mickey Mouse turns a whopping 81 years old. (So, Pedersen family, I guess that qualifies him as an "old hoagie," right?) He has changed a little as he's aged throughout the years, but I'd love to look as good as he does on my 81st birthday. Here's to another 81 years!

On another note, Soren and I went to the park today and played for almost an hour. He LOVES it, especially now that he can run around and climb on things by himself. Probably about 6 weeks ago we went to the park and he was kind of scared to go down the slides with me. He didn't cry, but kept trying to turn around and was clinging to my shirt. When we went back 2 weeks ago I wasn't expecting much, but he absolutely loved the slide and now he'll walk right up and practically throw himself off all by himself. (I have to remind him to sit down first.) It is so much fun to see him so excited about it.

Today also marks his first "real" bloody battle wound, as Soren tripped on the sidewalk and hit his mouth forward on the ground. Ouch! It wasn't really that bad (in fact, when he first fell I was thinking, "why the heck is he crying so hard? He must just be tired" because I thought he just fell on his tummy and hands) but it did bleed a little and it left him with a really cute little fat upper lip. :-) I'm sure this is the first of many to come...

It is so much fun to be able to really play with Soren these days. I mean, it's a pain chasing him around now that he is at the "human tornado" stage as he tears from room to room, but it's cool that he is starting to get it when we play.

Today he actually threw up a little. (I'm hoping it's nothing, so we'll see how tomorrow goes.) And when I say "a little" I mean that he emptied the entire contents of his stomach twice tonight. Once all over the carpet and the bathroom floor and once all over himself, me, his blanket, and Eeyore. Lovely. The good thing is that he's still been really happy and he loved having two baths. The point of the throw-up story is that after his second bath, he was laying on his changing table and I was putting on a diaper and I was joking with him about being "throw-up boy." Then I gave him a little replay action and said, "This is what Soren did:" after which I made a lovely puking sound and pretended to throw up on him. (Lovely, I know.) Let me tell you, he started busting up laughing. I mean, he thought this was the funniest thing ever. So, of course, I did it again. And again. And again. I seriously thought he was going to make himself sick just by laughing so hard. I have never heard him go that crazy laughing, so it was cracking me up too. He is just such a happy, silly kid and I love it that he can interact with Hunter and me like a real little person. Because obviously if he thinks I'm that funny, he must have a very keen sense of humor. After a ridiculous evening cleaning up a bunch of barf by myself (since Hunter was gone at class), it was one of those golden moments that I will remember and cherish.

Mom life -- it sure isn't super glamorous, but it's fun. :-)

(Mickey picture was taken from disneyclipart.com.)

Soren's First Haircut

2009-11-08T22:14:00.000-08:00

So, I know everyone was really loving the long, flowing sideburns our little man had goin' on, but it was about time to say "adios" to the crazy hair days. We went to a place in Mission Viejo called "A Star Is Born," which is just for kids. I thought about saving the $19 and just cutting it myself, but I was too afraid I'd make him look really weird, so we just went for it. Soren had a great time sitting in the yellow car, wiping it off and "driving" with the steering wheel. (He is SO Daddy's little boy in that regard, and he can even make car sounds.) There was so much to look at and he kept whipping his head around, but that's the good thing about a kids salon -- they expect that kind of thing, and just went with the flow. (And didn't cut his ear or anything when he jerked around.) Now he looks pretty much the same, just a little older and less ragamuffin-y. They gave him a cookie and a certificate with his picture on it when we were all done.

"Before" (It actually looks pretty tame in this picture compared to some days.)

During:

After: (Kind of hard to see it, but it does look much better. So there you go, C.J.)

Happy Halloween

2009-11-08T21:52:00.001-08:00

Getting ready to "trunk or treat" at the ward party.

I caught a little monkey! And check out his super flooding "12 month" costume. Those stirrups are supposed to fit under his feet...

Trunk or Treating with Daddy. All he wanted to do when he got candy in the bucket was sit down and take it all out. Needless to say, his costume was a little dirty by the end of the afternoon.

Jeff & Amanda came over the night before to carve pumpkins.

Eww -- pumpkin guts!

The final masterpieces:

He's giving us the "run around"

2009-11-08T19:16:00.000-08:00

Soren and I were able to go to a free class at "The Little Gym," a gym for babies and kids. He had fun playing with the balls and bubbles and climbing on the mats. He loved hanging from the bar, but mostly he just enjoyed having such a huge space to run around. It was fun, but not quite enough to pay the big bucks they were asking to actually sign up. (We can run at the park or jump on the couch for free.) Still, a nice change from the usual scene at our little condo.
We've had many requests for updated video of Soren walking, since the last time everyone saw him he was barely taking his first steps. As you can see, he's improved just a little. (And now we can't keep up with him!)

Some new Picts

2009-11-07T16:27:00.000-08:00

So here it is, in no particular order: a montage of cute Soren pics with a bit of commentary.

He spends a lot of time in the highchair these days. Mmm - chow down on that cheese!

So on Halloween, we gave Soren an orange lollipop (reward for all of his hard work walking around bumming candy for his mom and dad) and he, of course, loved it. Hunter and I were kind of in and out of the room doing other stuff and Soren just kept sucking and sucking, on either end of the sucker. It was pretty gross, but nothing less than we expected. I came out to check and he was making pretty good progress. Then a few minutes later I walked by and didn't see the sucker, so I thought he had dropped it.

Upon thorough investigation of the chair, the bib, and the floor, I discovered the remains of half of a lollipop stick stuck on his shirt. So looks like he really enjoyed the sucker, stick and all. (Look closely, you'll see it.)

Disneyland, at the petting zoo, making friends with the goats:

Soren loves riding the carousel.

Now this is the crazy-hair Soren we were so used to. :-)

Getting ready for bed. (Mommy looks a little tired too...)

Sportin' his new Buzz Lightyear jammies, from Grandma Marcia. Doesn't he look SO old, wearing these big-boy clothes?

Soren loves to sit with Mommy and play the piano. He even turns the pages on the books like he sees me do and finds just the perfect song before he continues playing.

And...a few more highchair pics, just for kicks.

See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!

Happy 1st Birthday Soren 10/18

2009-10-17T23:30:00.001-07:00

Soren had his 1st birthday party today.

It was a jungle theme birthday party, so Soren dressed up in his Halloween Costume.

We love our little monkey.

Video of Soren eating his cake:

Thanks for everyone that came and celebrated Soren's Birthday with us!

Bath Time With Soren

2009-10-17T23:29:00.000-07:00

Soren Walking!

2009-09-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

For the last couple weeks Soren has tried to walk but would only take a step or two and then fall down. Well tonight he took his first real steps (all it took was some candy.) We are so proud of him.

Disneyland Picts

2009-09-21T23:36:00.000-07:00

BYU

2009-09-21T23:31:00.000-07:00

Soren, when BYU is winning:

Soren, after Saturdays BYU Game:

We all felt this way!

New Picts of Soren

2009-09-19T00:52:00.000-07:00

Thanks Sarah for taking these picts.

Soren Surfing (Complete with Wipeout)

2009-08-29T23:38:00.001-07:00

Cute pict of Soren

2009-08-28T07:14:00.000-07:00

Soren at 10 months.

Copy Baby

2009-08-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

Family Picts

2009-08-13T19:31:00.001-07:00

Oregon Trip

2009-07-29T08:33:00.001-07:00

We went up to Oregon to go camping and fishing
at O'Dell Lake with Soren's Great Grandparents.

Soren with his Grandpa at airport.

O'Dell Lake, Oregon

Kokanee Salmon

Soren and Hunter Swimming in Crescent Lake.

4 Generations of Swifts:

Bernie, Dave, Hunter & Soren.

Jeff & Amanda's Wedding

2009-07-29T08:20:00.001-07:00

Recent Picts of Soren

2009-07-29T08:18:00.001-07:00

Like Father, like Son.

Father's Day

2009-07-29T08:13:00.000-07:00

At Ballpark pizza.

Family Picts

2009-07-03T23:57:00.000-07:00

Pedersen Family
Back Row:
Hunter & Tina Swift, Annelise, Kai, Julia, Russell & Carolyn Gourlie, Leslie & Curt Espinoza.
Front Row:
Soren Swift, Linda & Chris Pedersen, Carl Espinoza.

Pedersen 4th of July

Tina on SYTYCD

2009-07-01T23:40:00.001-07:00

Tina

So You Think You Can Dance!?!

2009-06-30T23:13:00.000-07:00

Oh, I know I can dance, and I certainly danced the afternoon away, up on my feet for hours as I cheered on the remaining 14 dancers as they tore up the floor today in Hollywood. Yes, that's right -- my darling husband scored tickets for me to see the taping of only the very best show in the whole wide world. What a great guy I have! If you haven't seen this show, it's like the dance version of American Idol only, in my opinion, SO much more entertaining. My friends, Sarah, Dollie and I drove up to Hollywood, made it there just in time after traffic on the 101 (surprise...), sat in line for quite a while, clapped and clapped until our hands practically bled, screamed and yelled until our throats were hoarse, rolled our eyes at the numerous girls wearing way too short skirts, and had a blast overall. Thanks, girls, for coming with me! It wouldn't have been nearly as fun all by myself. A special thanks to Sarah who is a bit more vertically challenged than I am which caused the stage crew to have pity on us and move us around to the side of the stage, instead of being stuck behind a sea of tall people. The view was fabulous, even though we were kind of watching the dancers' backsides while they were talking to the judges...
The sad thing is that we weren't allowed to bring phones or cameras or anything, so no pictures. Still, it was a lot of fun and I'm SO glad that I got to go. It's not every day that you get to see your favorite TV celebrities up close and in person, doing what they do best. Cat Deeley was just as beautiful as she seems, Mary Murphy's scream wasn't nearly as annoying as it sounds on TV, and even Mia Michaels, the guest judge, (who can be pretty opinionated) wasn't too harsh on anyone. We even got to stay for a pre-tape of Kelly Rowland (singer from Destiny's Child) performing her new single, which was actually pretty good.
All in all, it was a super fun day. And it gave me something else about which to blog besides our cute little baby. Speaking of which, a very special shout-out to my mother-in-law, Marcia, who watched Soren all day, on short notice. I don't know what we'd do without her! Thanks, Marcia, and thanks, Hunter. I can't wait to see the actual show tomorrow night! :-)

Soren's Crawl

2009-06-22T14:50:00.001-07:00

Soren's Bath Time

2009-06-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

Zippy the Chimp

2009-06-22T10:21:00.001-07:00

3 New Videos of Soren

2009-06-11T00:14:00.000-07:00

He is growing up so fast as you can tell from these videos.
(PAUSE MUSIC ON RIGHT TO LISTEN)

Some new picts

2009-05-28T22:52:00.001-07:00

Hunter with Soren (Great Picture)

Soren isn't crawling yet, but he is spending more time on his stomach.

Soren has been been getting so cute lately.

He is really good at sitting up.

And lots of smiles and laughs.

Soren with Dad.

Soren with Mom.

And last but not least....

What happens when you give Soren a bunch of cookies to eat?

He never figured out where that last cookie went.

Hunter's Graduation

2009-05-22T21:30:00.000-07:00

Hunter's graduation from Saddleback College was today. He graduated with an Associate in Arts Degree in Business Administration & an Associate in Arts Degree in International Language.

He is now attending Pepperdine University (Business Major).

He even made the Orange County Register Newspaper.

More pictures:

Soren's first time at the Pool.

2009-05-17T22:53:00.000-07:00

So we took Soren to the pool for the first time. We dipped his feet in at first and he started to cry, but once he was in the water he had a lot of fun and ended up being in the water for over an hour.

Here Soren is just relaxing on his crab, taking in the sun.

Soren, already swimming on his own.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T22:42:00.000-07:00

Today was Tina's first Mother's Day as a mother.
Soren is so lucky to have her as a mom. We love you so much!

We went to Hunter's Dad for Mothers Day.

It was good to see everyone. We got to take this family pict.

Bill & Joan, LaReta & Dave (The Hostess, lol)

Hunter, Tina & Soren, Jeff & Amanda.

Here is Soren in his Hawaiian Shirt that LaReta

brought back from her trip to Hawaii.

Here he is with Great Grandma Joan & Bill.

Soren & Grandma

Soren's First Steps

2009-05-08T08:24:00.001-07:00

They weren't real unassisted steps, but we are still real proud.

New Soren Picts

2009-05-06T23:13:00.000-07:00

Thanks Brittany for taking some pictures with your new lens.

A day in the life

2009-05-04T13:57:00.000-07:00

WARNING -- THIS POST CONTAINS AN EXCESSIVE NUMBER OF SUPER CUTE, IRRESISTABLE PICTURES.

Okay, so we have taken quite a few pictures lately, and I decided to just stuff them all into one post, instead of breaking them up into multiple posts. So there are lots of pictures in this entry, and I'm sure most of you are not complaining. Soren is now about 6 1/2 months old and is getting bigger every day. He's become a lot more fun and active, and has now even graduated into size 3 diapers so, if nothing else, at least we know his rear end is growing! These days he loves to babble (we'll post a video soon) and stick out his tongue, grab anything within reach, dance around with his mom, flip upside down, bang his hands on things, play in his crib when he wakes up, and EAT! I swear, some days it seems like he eats at least twice as much as he did a couple of weeks ago. Good news is that he loves all of the different kinds of baby food, even the peas. No, this kid is not picky when it comes to food. (Hopefully it will stay that way -- keep your fingers crossed!) Here are some recent photos documenting a day in the life of Soren Swift. (Well, a few days...)

Chillin' with a bottle. Soren LOVES a good bottle, and he loves to play with his feet on everything while he eats.
So, he's become quite the acrobat. This is typically how we find him in the swing if I attempt to put him in -- all leaned forward. He thinks it's funny to stop the swing from swinging by hanging onto the bars on either side.
This is what happens when he sees something desirable outside of the swing: Good thing I remembered to buckle him in!
And this is what happens when Daddy decides it's a good idea to give Soren the spoon to feed himself. (I was not home at the time -- it' s usually not nearly this gross.) Like I said, eating is a big priority for Soren and, like most kids, he has taken to whining and grunting when we aren't fast enough with the next bite.
But apparently breathing isn't a priority, since both nostrils are clogged up with rice cereal... Good luck with that, buddy.
Soren loves to read his books.
Okay, or maybe it's still all about eating...
Horseback riding. I mean, dog-back riding. (Thanks, Grandma Joan!)
I really can't believe how big he looks sitting up on this thing!
Yep, there's the tongue.
He thinks he's so big -- sitting up and playing with stuff over his head.
Okay, Mom, this is the one that I think kind of looks like my baby pics a little. Hunter laughed at me when I said that like I'm trying soooo hard to stretch and find something that looks like me, but I really see it here. I think it's the cheeks or the expression or something. (Come on, Hunter, just give me one picture.)
We went to Costco to buy some diapers and look what we found when we opened the box! And only $42.99 -- what a steal!
There's that tongue again. He must be deep in concentration.
Eating again??? I swear we feed this kid. :-)
Hmmm... maybe this side.

Yep, looks pretty good. Soren had a great time exploring all sides of the box flaps.

Yeah, life in a box is rough, but somebody's gotta do it!

Here he is, all dressed up and ready to go. This was the first time I had put this outfit on him, and I can't believe how dang cute he looked! (Never mind the orange tint on his cheeks -- I think he had carrots a little earlier and I must not have washed his face as well as I thought...)

My two handsome men. (And - p.s. - Hunter has lost 19+ pounds over the past couple of months. Doesn't he look good? Way to go, my dear!)

A rare picture these days -- buckled into the car seat and still smiling. Judging by his typical reaction to strapping him in, I'd say Soren has decided that he's way too old to still have to ride in a car seat. That stuff's for babies!

After a long day, and staying out with Mom and Dad past his bedtime. Nighty-night, little cutie!

Mormor & Farfar

2009-05-04T11:34:00.000-07:00

So here we go -- installment #2 in this most recent string of blog posts. We had a fun visit from my family a few weeks ago. It was Julia's spring break, so my mom, dad, Julia and Annelise drove down to So Cal for a while. They stopped in Solvang for a day or two, then to Disneyland and then down to San Clemente. The girls had to leave after only a day with us, so most of the weekend was spent with just my parents. We always love it when they come down to visit. Good thing we live so close to Disneyland or we might never get to see them! :-)

We went up to visit them one night at their hotel in Anaheim. From the roof, we watched the fireworks from Disneyland:
Soren snuggled with Mormor on the roof, enjoying the show (although we're pretty sure that 99% of the time he had no idea what he was "supposed" to be looking at...)
Of course, there will be sushi!
Striking a pose at the restaurant. Man, he is one "cool dude."
Playin' with that Farfar guy:
We took a quick trip down to the Dana Point Harbor and walked on the beach:
Soren, enjoying the feeling of the sand between his toes:
Slobbery guy riding on Daddy's shoulders: (which was a cute idea until he puked and it just barely missed Hunter's hair)
As you can tell, it was a rough weekend for the folks. It's not easy keeping up with that little guy!

Easter

2009-05-04T10:42:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is going to be yet another catch-up session for the blog. Hunter specifically assigned me the task of putting up all of the updated pictures, etc. today, so hopefully I can get it all done.
Easter was a great day. We went to church in the morning, which was really good. I sing in the ward choir and we did a couple of numbers. I may be a little biased, but I think it sounded pretty great! After church, we drove with Bob and Marcia to her brother Phil and Dottie's house to hang out, eat good food, and enjoy the day. It ended up being a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun visiting with everyone and - of course - eating LOTS of yummy food. My stomach still growls when I think of those dang chicken wings -- YUM! (And I'm not even really a buffalo wing fan, but these were just so good.) Soren had fun meeting all of the cousins and watching them play. It had been way too long since we've seen everyone, so we hope to get together again soon.
Above all, we as a family are truly grateful for our Savior, who is the real reason we celebrate Easter. He lived a perfect life and died for us, then was resurrected so that every one of us can also live again. We each have people in our lives who have meant so much to us and yet have passed on. It is through the selfless acts of Jesus Christ that we know we can live again with our families and friends. What a great thing to celebrate! Happy belated Easter, everyone!

Soren with Hunter's cousin, Tonya:

We couldn't get any of the kids to look at the camera, but it's cute nonetheless. Soren, Tonya, and her two kids, Andrew and Zahra.
At the end of the day (notice the switch into pajamas) saying goodbye to Uncle Phil & Dottie. Thanks for hosting a fun day!

Soren at Ikea

2009-04-07T22:23:00.000-07:00

Soren really liked this hand puppet at Ikea.

Soren's 2nd Trip to Disneyland

2009-04-07T21:31:00.000-07:00

Tina and Grandma Marcia took Soren to California Adventure at Disneyland. Marcia had never been to California Adventure and it was a good time for her to hang out with Soren and Tina for the day.

Grandma and Soren with Fantasia Mickey Ears.

But we decided to buy him this hat,
it is much more practical then the ears.

Brittany & Owen stopped by to hang out as well.

Here Soren is bragging to Owen about his new hat,
apparently Owen wishes he had a hat also.

LaReta's Birthday

2009-04-07T21:17:00.000-07:00

Last week we got together for LaReta's 50th Birthday. We all surprised her at breakfast at Jolly Rogers in Dana Point.

Grandpa & Grandma Swift with their grandson Soren.

I love this picture with Grandpa Dave and Soren.

Great-Grandma Joan (Hunter's Dad's Mom) and Bill.

Jeff (Hunter's Brother / LaReta's Son) and his fiance Amanda.

HunterSwift.com

2009-04-05T16:19:00.000-07:00

You can now go to http://hunterswift.com to access this blog.

Nice facial hair!

2009-04-05T15:47:00.000-07:00

Our little friend, Owen Asay, just turned one year old and he had a mustache party. Soren had a great time playing with the bubble machine and trying to eat his mustache, until we got smart and attached it onto his binky. Good times!

Hunter Showing Off

2009-04-05T15:12:00.000-07:00

Hunter's company recently put in basketball hoops.

Hello again!

2009-04-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and family! Hunter has been getting after me for not having updated the blog in a long time. For those of you who have been anxiously awaiting new baby pictures, I whole-heartedly apologize. (We are fully aware that there are no people anxiously awaiting pictures of me or Hunter, and we are not at all bitter.) :-)
Here's a quick Soren update: he is currently 5 1/2 months old (he'll be 6 months on the 18th) and, as of the most recent doctors visit last week, weighs 16 lbs 6 oz (45th %ile) and is 27" long (80th %ile). Soren's most recently learned baby tricks include eating rice cereal from a spoon, sitting up by himself - even while playing with toys in front of him (and only occasionally losing his balance and falling over), grabbing anything and everything within reach (watch your dinner plate!), and -- drumroll, please -- sleeping through the entire night.(Hallelujah!) Yes, for the past few weeks Soren has been going to bed between 8 and 9 pm and sleeping without waking up until 7 am. Not bad!!! This is without question his Mom's favorite new skill.
Here are a few more of his favorite things these days:

Chewing on his bib and/or pulling it off:
Just chillin' with his stuffed animals:
Watching his Baby Mozart dvd (thanks, Lel) in his little seat. I don't know what it is about that low-budget movie, but he is pretty much fixated whenever it comes on. I try to keep the dvd-watching to a minimum but, let's be serious, a mom's gotta have a few minutes to herself to get something done!
Maybe this isn't one of Soren's favorite things as much as it is mine and Hunter's. I just think he looks so dang cute with his shirts stuck on his head!...

Soren's not at all excited about eating time...
Yum, yum!What? Do I have something on my chin?

Well, that's about it for now. I will be posting probably a few different things today, so stay tuned for more updates! :-)

BYU vs Pepperdine (Which school to attend?)

2009-03-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

Well we have been debating on which school I should go to. I got into both Brigham Young University and Pepperdine University. After much thought and prayer, we contemplated all of our options, and we feel that we have made the right decision and Pepperdine University won.

I am still am, and always will be a huge BYU fan. I wouldnt have been able to get into Pepperdine if it wasn't for my experience and credit at BYU.

So I am officially registered and enrolled into Pepperdine University's Graziado School of Business. It is a fulltime night program that allows me to finish my BA in 2 years and an MBA in 1 extra year, all while allowing me to keep my job, stay here in beautiful San Clemente, CA and be close to our friends and family. (Not that we don't have friends in Utah, but I think it was the weather that really was a negative factor about BYU).

I start May 4th and will be pretty busy for the next couple years. I am really excited. It was a hard program to get into and I think I will learn a lot. So wish us luck.

Soren's First Trip to Disneyland

2009-03-11T17:39:00.000-07:00

You get to go to Disneyland on your Birthday for FREE, so for Tina's birthday me and Soren joined her.

Soren kept doing this on all the rides... don't know if it was too loud, or if he was scared or what?

Tina's Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TINA!

2009-03-10T09:03:00.000-07:00

Hope you have a great birthday. Love Hunter & Soren.

Laughing Soren

2009-03-09T08:02:00.000-07:00

He just started to do this. It seems like everyday he is growing and getting more of a personality. We love him so much. This is Soren newest video. He is so cute laughing.

Hunter's Work Ski Trip to Utah

2009-03-09T07:56:00.000-07:00

The company I work for DealerSocket had a Sales Meeting in Utah this last week. We stayed in a huge 9 bedroom house in Sundance. It was a lot of fun.

Got to go skiing for the first time.

Soren trying to be like his daddy.

Soren with Grandpa Dave and Grandma LaReta

2009-03-09T07:54:00.000-07:00