Honoring Motherhood, May 10th- Hurry….just a few tickets left: Call 427-9293!
 |
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ingrid has our vote for National Young Mother 2008!!!
GO INGRID!!!!!!!
She is off to the National AMI Convention to represent Utah’s Young Mothers! We are so excited for you Ingrid! Have fun and know we are all voting for you, cheering for you and hoping you have a great time celebrating and honoring motherhood for all of us!
I have been thinking of Ingrid every day this week. She is a great representative of everything AMI stands for. I’m very proud that she is my friend and that she represents Utah.
-Dixie Baker
I have always wanted to be like Ingrid Sorensen. I often wonder how she accomplishes so much. Even though she has had many responsibilities outside of the home, she has always put family first and still completed the other tasks well. She is kind and considerate and loves being a mom. Even in the face of crisis, she is able to have dignity and is humble and recognizes the hand of God in all things. She is able to take a trial in life and use that as a stepping stone to learn and grow and be a better person for having gone through it. She has my vote. She will always have my vote as a mother, wife, community leader, neighbor and friend!
-Karen Smith
What a worthy recipient of any award on motherhood! Ingrid is remarkable because of the balance she manages to maintain in her life. She is a devoted wife and mother, and yet manages to share time with her church activities and community activities as well. As I worked with her in our Stake callings, she is remarkable in her love for those she serves—she always knew the girls she worked with and loved them so much, they knew without a doubt of her love for them. Her home and garden are always beautifully maintained, she has a remarkable energy level and great taste as well, which I am sure makes her a great neighbor. I will be thinking of and praying for her and her family, and wish her everything of the best. She so deserves this award. My love to you Ingrid!
-Sandy du Toit
Ingrid has my vote because she is a real mom who is not afraid to show it! Ingrid has triumphs and tragedies, ups and downs, good parent days and bad parent days, and she is kind enough and humble enough to share some of those life moments with those around her, helping the rest of us regular moms realize we are normal and yet also encouraging us to strive to do better. She’s a good woman and a good friend who has done her best to stay on the straight and narrow and be of service to those around her all the years I have known her. Have fun Ingrid!
-Janille Stearmer
Well .. she’s the girl of my dreams and I’m her Knight in shining armor. What an amazing experience to be married to such a woman. She truly does make me a better man. Ingrid has the ability to stay calm in the most challenging of times. As a parent she sees the big picture and always looks out for the one. She puts herself last in the care that she gives, although she always looks amazing. She has a tenacity to search out knowledge that will increase her capacity as a parent. And most importantly, she is able to implement that knowledge into true wisdom. She creates a fun house to be in, where visitors feel welcome to join the harmony. And most of all, she has my vote because I love her with all my heart!
-Norm
Ingrid has my vote because she is an amazing mother! She truly loves her children and is constantly seeking to improve herself as a mother. She is able to relate to her teenagers as well as her toddler! She has spent many years carrying her wheel chair bound daughter up the stairs every night to her room and being an advocate for her rights at school. Ingrid’s love for her children and her husband are clear to everyone who meets her. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. Good luck, Ingrid. We love you!
-Danielle Kennington
Ingrid has my vote because she is a Christ-like Postitive Parent! She has been sharing her insights with our chapter every month and helping us all to be better parents. She is the most fun mom I know (including cart wheels in the middle of parade routes and building snowmen in the dark! She is beautiful, has beautiful high achieving children and succeeds at keeping an orderly home! Ingrid inspired me from a distance before I ever met her. Once meeting her, I looked for ways to be with her more often to gleen bits of mothering wisdom. She lives her religion every day. Her family contributes so much to the community. Ingrid is honest with herself and others about her shortcomings (which aren’t very many) and is actively striving to improve them. She’s fit, youthful and joyful! Ingrid makes being pregnant with number 8 look like a day in the park! Go Ingrid!
-Karmel Larson
Ingrid has my vote because I appreciate her humility. As she does the Positive Parenting part of our meeting, I am always impressed with how honest she is and how she is constantly trying to improve. I want to be more like her.
-Rachelle Gadd
Parent’s Meeting To Be Held at Timpanogos High
AMI supports the national White Ribbon Campaign to Fight Pornography and Stand For Decency. See the side bar links for more information on their efforts.
Helpful information from our State President: Annelle Doxey
Networking Resource from Communities For Decency: Cindy Moreno
Informational Meeting: April 23, 2008
What: “Pornography: The Great Lie - A Guide for Families” - Parent’s Meeting
When: Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Where: Timpanogos High School Little Theatre - 1450 N 200 E, Orem UT, 84057
Who: All interested adults, especially parents. High school and
junior high students with an accompanying adult are also invited.
Why: To provide counsel and tools to help you in the battle against
pornography.
Dan Gray, an expert counselor in this field, will be the featured speaker.
Please plan on attending. We look forward to seeing you there!
Sincerely,
Communities For Decency Board
P.S. Please refer questions to Cindy Moreno at 801-971-4029.
Notes From March 2008 Chapter Meeting-Mothers As Teachers
Thanks Danielle for typing these up! Soooo helpful to be reminded of good ideas!-Karmel
Hi everyone. Here are some notes from our discussion last night. We had 4 new mothers come, which is always exciting. Welcome friends! (Karmel, will you put these notes on the AMI blog?)
Parenting Discussion- Ingrid reviewed Dr. Latham’s Principles of Positive Parenting, which she will post on our site. Great discussion and great examples as always, Ingrid. Thanks!
Role of Mothers as Teachers:
Danielle-
1) Look for opportunities in every day situations to teach children. Examples: In the car, play word games or “I spy” games;At the store help your child sort groceries into heavy, light, small, big in the cart or help her count items as you put them in the cart; On a walk- stop to look at the new flowers coming up. Talk about the names of the flowers and what colors they are; around the dinner table. play word games “I”m going on a rocket ship and I’m going to take a bird, a butterfly and an airplane with me.” (guess the rule- things that fly)
2) Help children love learning. The relationship is the most important. Don’t force your child to read if he doesn’t want to. Instead, snuggle up together and read to him to help him rediscover his love for reading.
Some of my favorite books for ideas of simple learning activities:
The Preschooler’s Busy Book (and Toddler’s Busy Book)- Trish Kuffner
The Read Aloud Handbook- Jim Trelease
99 Ways to Get Kids to Love Reading- May Leonhardt
123 Math- Pre-Math activities for working with young children- Jean Warren
And many more!
Karmel-
Connect learning with traditions and things that you already do. This is what she does with her family:
Breakfast- They read scriptures and work on memorizing
Lunch- Famous person- They discuss a famous person (right now it’s Martin Luther King) as well as the value for the month ( Respect this month)
Dinner- Current events. They bring the newspaper to the table. Since her children are little, they use some pictures from the newspaper as a chance to talk about what is happening in the news.
By her table, she has three frames:
1- Art- A picture of a painting or artwork that she likes
2- Gospel Art Kit- A picture about a scripture story that they can talk about
3- Famous person- They put up a picture of the famous person they are studying that week
She changes these pictures when they are done talking about them (how often if that, Karmel?)
She also has a binder of fun things to do in Utah county that her family pulls out to plan family events they want to do. She got most of the brochures from the Utah Valley Visitor’s Center in Provo.
Favorite books:
Book of Virtues- William J. Bennett
Encyclopedia of Music -didn’t catch the author
Rachelle-
Check out www.starfall.com for great reading games for children
Favorite books-
Dangerous Book for Boys- Hal Igguiden (full of fun things like how to build a tree house or how to play marbles). (A different author just published “The Daring Book for Girls”)
Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons- Siegried Englemann, Phyllis Haddox and Ealiane Bruner
Feel free to add any ideas that you have or anything I may have missed if you were at our meeting last night. Great discussion, as usual!
Next Chapter Meeting
Thursday * April 10, 2008 7:30-8:30
American Mothers, Inc. of Utah Valley Presents
Lynnae Allred
Author of
Piggyback Rides and Slippery Slides - How to have fun raising first-rate children
Lynnae will lead a 30 minute discussion during our monthly chapter meeting on having FUN as mothers!
Feel free to bring a copy of her book to be signed.
Power of Positive Parenting
Our topic of discussion for this month is “Having Positive Interactions with our Children.” We will focus on Chapter 3 of the book (begins on page 37), mainly rules 1, 3, and 5. Also, review pages 372-373 (Seize opportunities to have frequent positive interactions). Practice this skill and bring your experiences to share! We are thinking POSITIVE this month! 
**Don’t worry if you don’t have the book… anyone can participate and gain from the discussion and ideas shared!
Pre-Meeting Social
Come early for a pre-meeting social at 7:00 for those who like extra time to share ideas and build friendships. We will also be planning our May 10th Event, “Honoring Motherhood” to select nominees for Utah Mother and Utah Young Mother of the year for 2009. Then at 7:30 we’ll start with our pledge and 15 minutes of Positive Parenting.
Celebrating Motherhood (with our daughters)
For our February 2008 Chapter meeting, we brought our daughters to enjoy a discussion on what we love about being mothers!
Standing Ovation For Mothers Everywhere!
Ingrid Sorensen, Utah Young Mother of the Year 2008, was invited to the state capitol a few weeks to be honored along with the Utah Mother of the year, on behalf of mothers everywhere. They were greeted by the Governor and received a well deserved standing ovation! Yeah Ingrid! Applause-Applause to mothers everywhere!
February 2008 Meeting Service
We are doing meeting service with our daughters this month through the on-line site, Hugs and Hope for Children, “Making a difference for sick kids one smile at a time.”
“Happy Mail” Wanted!
From their site: “Children fighting for their lives have very little to smile about. You can change that by sending them some “Happy Mail.” Cheery cards give these kids a few more smiles, a little more hope, and a reason to get out of bed each day.
Experience the satisfaction of making a sick child’s day and giving them something to look forward to. Send a card and a hug — one of the smiles you create just might be your own!”
February’s Power of Positive Parenting
I have scoured the Glenn Latham Positive Parenting Book and not found any chapter specific to getting your children to listen and obey. SO! Here is my hare-brained plan. We will still have our discussion be about “Listening and Obeying,” but we will apply the principles wehave learned from Dr. Latham to our problem and see if we can solve it without his help! Let’s see if the past year’s worth of lessons have had an impact — can we solve our parenting problems without looking them up in his book? Can we take the knowledge we have gained and use it in our own dilemmas? Now is the test! If anyone wants to discuss this online here in advance of the February meeting, feel free to do so! Ask a question if you have one, or offer unsolicited advice if you have some! Have fun with this! I’ll post another reminder about the topic as we get closer to our meeting.
Happy Winter, all!
Ingrid Sorensen
Utah Young Mother of the Year 2008
Announcing….
Ingrid Sorensen
Utah Young Mother of the Year 2008
I was born in Provo, Utah on March 31, 1972. I moved to Simi Valley, California at age 4, and grew up there until I graduated from high school at age 17. Family activities in my childhood included Sunday drives to the beach, frequent “dates” with Dad, and trips to Utah to visit extended family each summer. I came to BYU and studied only one year before I met my husband Norman Sorensen. We married that summer and started our family right away. We now have 7 children, from age 17 to 2, plus our 8th baby is on the way, due in July. We came to Provo, Utah in 1994 to raise our family. We love our historic neighborhood and the surprising diversity of Provo’s people. We love hosting an annual 4th of July party, and at Christmastime, we host a live Nativity pageant called “Night in Bethlehem.”
A few thoughts about Ingrid, from Karmel
(Chapter President and Friend)
I admired Ingrid from a distance for many years and then invited her to join AMI knowing she would be an essential asset to our local chapter. She has proven herself irreplaceable as our Positive Parenting Committee Chair. She attends every meeting and event possible in support of AMI and strengthening her own family. Through her dedicated leadership skills, Ingrid played an important role in planning our participation in the Provo Freedom Festival, many family service projects, monthly events to promote families and our 1st area mini conference. In addition, she serves as a Stake Young Women’s President, encouraging, leading and inspiring hundreds of youth. One of her youth described her by stating, “it’s weird how she can be ‘totally in touch’ and an adult at the same time”. Ingrid is admired by youth, our chapter members and all who know her.
As a mother, Ingrid is a fun-loving, creative, dedicated mom to 7, soon to be 8, children. Often mistaken for a teen herself, Ingrid was seen doing cartwheels along the parade route as our AMI chapter pushed strollers and rode bikes through the Provo Parade. Led by their mother, the Sorensen family rises early to gather for family scriptures and has a strong spiritual bond and commitment to one another. Ingrid leads by example in all areas of her life, even taking kids along with her on occasion when she goes running. Ingrid is naturally beautiful, intelligent and ambitious.
Not only will Ingrid represent American Mothers well, but her entire family will be a fabulous representation of “a dedicated force strengthening the moral and spiritual foundations of the family and the home”. Ingrid’s lucky to have a supportive husband, Norman, who is a gifted speaker and leader in their church. At several occasions I have been impressed with how well-behaved Ingrid’s children are. Her teen daughters, as babysitters, were on-time, brought babysitting bags filled with ideas, cleaned up and got rave reviews from my little kids.
The Sorensen family has also been dealt a few blows of tragedy over the years. Their pain has become a source of strength that they use to strengthen others. They are a beacon of light in our community and will be a shining example of goodness, hope and inspiration. Ingrid is a super star mother ready to promote AMI, exemplify motherhood and encourage women of Utah and America.
