Cade the Cameraman Part II

I realize you haven't even seen Cade the Cameraman Part I yet....but here is part II. For his 4th Birthday he got a kid safe digital camera. He has loved it - and it has been totally entertaining to see what he finds to take pics of. He's getting pretty good at it to I think. I know he's better - a WHOLE lot better at picture taking than I was with my first pics. The first pics I remember taking were in Washington DC when I was 12. I have a ton of good ol' Abe Lincoln's feet. And Thomas Jeffersons. And..the grass at the white house....you get the point. (In my defense this WAS before digital cameras, much harder indeed.) Anyhow - enjoy Cade's pics from our recent trip to Yellowstone...oh and a few pics I took of him taking a pic. Actually every time I tried to take a picture he had the camera in front of his face...funny boy. Another post of our trip to come later too....stay tuned...or not. :)

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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

4th of July Festivities

So...here is a boring recap of my 4th of July. Boring for you to read. Fun for me to remember :) Spent my 4th in IF.

We had fun with Dustin and Melissa - newly engaged - Congrats! We played Bocce ball with them. They put us to shame. They are a cute couple.

Firework Show with the Cannon Fam on July 3rd. Snakes with Andrea, Sparklers with Grandpa, and can't say what it was that Grandma bought again to light off :) So funny, never pegged her for one to get such fun fireworks. She bought them on accident last year...this year....not so sure it was an accident!

Bubbles at Grandma Reeds with cousins. My sister Sarah and her 4 kids were up visiting. We had fun with Caleb, Adam, Emily, and got to meet baby Leah for the 1st time - along with Spencer (Becky's son). Fun to have all the cousins on that side together for a bit Ran the Firecracker 5K. Finished in 27:45 (I think that is my fastest 5K yet....not too fast, one day maybe I'll find some speed.)

Skipped the parade. Had cereal for lunch because I don't like picnic grub. I LOVE the 4th of July - despise the food. Hotdogs? Hamburgers? Potato Salad? Watermelon? come on - give me some veggies and pasta please!

Made homemade Rootbeer (Darth Vader Juice as Cade and Uncle Ben named it years ago) with Grandma Reed.

Skipped the big Fireworks show and that was plenty fine by me! We just did some family fireworks again, Nathan had a keyboard and played music for our little show and the kids had fun dancing. I enjoyed not being up so late. Happy 4th indeed!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day!

Here's a shout out to my awesome dad and incredible husband and super father in law.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!

Here are just a few reasons why these are some great dads:

My Dad:

- SOOOO patient, he puts up with a lot
- Love his nose - thanks dad, you gave me the same one :)

-I get his curls, I really do. I slept in curlers every day in high school except two so that I could have curly hair.....I think I got this from my dad that some family members affectionately call "Father Fuzzhead."

-he's a great listener - you can call and talk to him and he REALLY listens to you.

- I once wrote a poem to him called: "Ode to a toothbrush gagger." He still talks to me after that, I'd say he's pretty forgiving :)
-He is sooo hard working and super depenable - he'll never let you down.

-Everyone loves him - he is just the kind of guy who nobody in their right mind can hold a grudge against.

He's an awesome dad!

My Father in Law:

- He has the Cannon brain gene - and all of his kids got it - this man is incredibly intelligent - and humble about it to boot.

- He takes guitar lessons, I think that is soo cool. Eric has lots of memories of his dad singing and playing the guitar, he really helped give his kids a love of music.

-His cars are so fun! He is the kind of guy that goes out to get a hamburger and ends up coming home with a super sweet yellow jeep instead :) (Okay it has only happened once, but it is a fun story.) I loved getting to ride in his jeep - I wasn't a big fan of the jag..much too squishy, but still fun.

- He's a very refined dad - he has fun with his kids - and is a lot of fun to play games with - as long as you don't mind losing all the time to him!

He's a super father in law - I'm lucky! I serously have no complaints against my in-laws.

My Hubby:

Eric is THE BEST. EVER. Seriously. A few examples:

- last week, he showed up from work carrying in a bouquet of orange and yellow flowers with a lemon. He says - here are some ugly flowers for you....and a ....a lemon. How great is that? Huh? I laughed so hard. He wanted to get me something just completely random. I think he succeded. He made sure I didn't think it had any double meaning, like "you are sweet AND sour, or I got lemon for a wife." I didn't. I knew he doesn't think that way. He loves just randomly making people happy. For Father's Day in addition to the cologne, and Reese's Cups, and Barbecue Grill, and Pen we gave him - I got him a screw - a loose screw with a bolt and also a Pencil Torch (What is that? I have no clue - that was the idea I wanted a random hardware store gift to get him back for his gifts.)


- He is a hands on dad. I don't know if anyone else has a husband that does as much as mine. He does the laundry - washes it every week. He scrubs the toilets every week and he takes care of the kids 50/50 at night time from birth on. Whoa - am I ever lucky.

-He never complains, which makes me want to complain, because how is it possible to not ever be so disgruntled? I'm still trying to figure out this superhuman quality that he possesess.

- He is so well rounded. He knows a lot about a lot.. He is super smart, and super funny - I think so, and he never lets things get him down too much - he's always pretty bouyount in the face of any struggle.

- I like his new contacts - he's a handsome man - glasses or no glasses - he's the best :)

- I could go on and on alll day about Eric, except for the fact that I'm hot and Davy is asleep on me.

I hope everyone had a great Father's Day! I think we sure did around here!

Saturday, May 30, 2009

A Beautiful Day.

Stats for today: 1 funeral, 1 ER trip, 1 bloody nose, 0 servings of funeral potatoes = a beautiful day.

Today was a beautiful day....not perfect by any means but beautiful. Eric's Grandma Cannon passed away last Sunday. Today was her funeral. Even though, it was a crazy day, it just felt so good to be surrounded by family and to feel the love and the Spirit that always accompanies loss. I feel so fortunate to have known Grandma Cannon. I will really miss her visits, and her Silvermint bars :) When Eric and I started dating, one of our favorite activities was to go and visit his Grandparents. I really treasure all of the time I have had to spend with both Grandma and Grandpa Cook and Grandma Cannon in Logan. They are all such amazing people. I have really come to love and appreciate his grandparents. They are truly the kind of people you want to emulate in so many ways.

My day started around 2:30 A.M. Eric woke me up and said he needed to go to the ER. Poor Eric has been sick since last Friday. He just keeps getting worse. He has been on an antibiotic, but it still wasn't helping, and he was having trouble breathing....so off we went. A big thanks goes to my mom - who had stopped in the night before on her way to Colorado. I was able to leave my kids with her in the middle of the night. Hooray for Grandmas saving the day. Fortunately, Eric just has a super duper bad sinus infection, but it seems to be bacterial and so they were able to put him on a stronger antibiotic. I hope he gets feeling better soon! He's totally your a-typical man. He never complains, and he is nooo problem at all when he is sick. he is just mellow. But he doesn't EVER whine and he takes care of himself. (How did I get so lucky to get the perfect man???.......still can't figure it out some days.)

So - anyhow, we were at the ER from 3 until about 6. An hour later, I was getting the kids up and ready to go the funeral. Eric was in no condition to go. He was pretty sad to have to miss the funeral, and the chance to see his family. He also missed Grandpa Cannon's funeral because he was on his mission.

From the beginning to the end, even though I was miserably tired and starting to not feel well myself (I'm now a bass and losing my voice rapidly), David got a bloody nose, and my kids were insanely crazy and irrerverant and having to go to the bathroom ten zillion times during the whole service.....overall I felt so peaceful and good today. 128 ounces of diet coke got me through the 2 hours of driving I had to do on no sleep - and the love I felt just being surrounded by an incredible family, made it a beautiful day. Cade melted me on the drive home - talking about heaven, and how he wants to be there with his family. He told me he was so glad there was a heaven and that his grandmas and grandpas got to be there with Jesus. The simpilicity of his statements made me so happy. It is a great thing to have the assurance and peace that comes with our knowledge.

I don't like funerals, I don't like sickness - but I do love the happy feelings that family and togetherness brings. It was great to see Eric's family, and it was great to spend time with Eric, even if we were in the hospital bin the middle of the night. Even though today was crazy - I still loved it. Really my only complaint about the day was I didn't get any funeral potatoes. I think that is the first funeral I've been to where I got gipped :) (I think I'll survive.)

At the end of the day.....all the numbers and events really don't seem to matter anymore. What matters is being together. Yup - that is what made today a beautiful day.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

A Haircut, A KitKat, Flowers, A Chest, and A Bridge

My Boys and Me.... My Haircut....

My Chest.....

The Bridge....

The Bridge again....

I had a fantastic Mother's Day this year. A few days before I got a haircut. I whacked off a couple of inches - always fun. On Sunday, I got a KitKat at church, that David promptly devoured and smeared all over my outift :) Then, I got a really great decorative chest that Cade picked out. I also got flowers - so spoiled - I know.

After church we went to Logan. I wish we went to Logan for different reasons, but it ended up being a great trip. Eric's Grandma had a heart attack and broke her hip and isn't doing really well. We went to see her. Cade melted me by singing Happy Mother's Day To You to Great Grandma Cannon. We also had a great time visiting Great Grandma Cook. We went to have picnic lunch at Merlin Olsen Park while we were there. I love that park. I have some great memories there. Eric propsed to me on the bridge there and so I kind of am partial to it. Which brings me to my last mothers Day Gift - a bridge. I am a hopeless romantic - so I cauned Eric into allowing me to get a bridge for our yard. He asked me to marry him on a bridge, and I have a picture of that bridge hanging in our house, and now I will have my own smaller model bridge in my yard....when we get a yard. The bridge won't be over a pond or anything, probably just a dry rock bed (which Eric thinks is silly.) He can't understand the point of having a bridge that doesn't go over anything or to anywhere, but, nevertheless, he relented and got me my bridge. Gotta love that man.

Anyhow - I had a fantastic Mother's Day. I love being a mom, and I have two of the greatest kids ever. I know, every mom thinks that - but isn't it great - there is always someone out there to love and cheer on even the most difficult of kids. Hope everyone else had as great of a Mother's Day as I did, too!

The Big Digger

Every morning I wake up to a big BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! And to this lovely view.
We are getting neighbors. The lot across the street sold and the lot right next to us sold.

My boys are absolutely loving watching the big digger. They sit out on the balcony mesmerized for far too long. I am not quite as amused when they are beeping at me early in the morning. At least it provides some entertainment value for someone. I am happy to get more neighbors - yay! Let the construction begin.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Marathon Madness

Last Saturday I pulled a crazy. I ran the Salt Lake City Half Marathon. I was hoping to meet up with my old roomie from USU who was flying in from Washington D.C. I was late getting there...and well Shauna was even later. I should have known this would happen. I had planned to walk the silly thing - but finding myself solo, I thought - why not? I'll just run as far as I can. 2 hours 12 minutes and 30 seconds later - I stopped running for the 1st time.

I am not really a runner. Really. I can walk for FOREVER and a day, but running? Not on your life. Prior to a year ago, I had never even run a mile. Last summer I signed up for a 5K in Ogden. I thought, what the heck, I'll try running and see how far I get. I ended up running the whole thing, and it felt pretty good. So - I ran about 6 or 7 more 5 K's over the course of the last summer. In September or October I ran a 10K. That is seriously the last time that I have run and the longest distance that I have run ever. It has been a couple of months since I have tried running. I do work out - almost religously 6 days a week. I do Body Pump and Spinning sometimes, but most of the time I hop on the treadmill in my basement and indulge in my latest TV series addiction (Desperate Housewives - yes I watch that crazy show. It's one of those soap operay shows that I think is kind of scuzzy but I can't help myself to. It is just insanely WAY too much like Utah, though. Seriously, I think it should be renamed Utaharian Lane. I can't believe how much Utah reminds me of this show. I can't help but laugh hysterically at the whole thing.....anyhow....I digress.) So, I get on a treadmill and watch TV or I get on the elliptical and go pretty darn slow while reading books, magazines, and listening to classical music or minus tracks to the latest show I'm trying to play for. See - I find exercise pretty monotonous. I have to do something else while I do it. It always makes me feel happy - so I do it - but I have to have my mind engaged or else I go crazy doing it. So - if I can't read or watch something, I'm counting to 1000 several times over, or planning my outfits for the next three weeks, or memorizing something written in front of me - like the Step off this machine if you feel faint, dizzy, etc. signs, or devising nefarious schemes, etc....you get the point.

Anyhow - I ran really easily for the 1st 8 miles. In fact I was thinking, why on earth would anyone ever torture themselves enough and train for one of these buggers? See - running is misery, and so why train? Just run it - get the misery over and the challenge and the ecstasy of completion over all in a day. That was the 1st 8 miles. Easy - breezy - cheezy. No blisters, no sores, all downhill,

Boy was I prematurely cocky. I was sooooo wrong. What went through my head the rest of the way..... "Mile 9 - okay.....I'm beginnning to hurt. A lot. Mile 10 - I can't do this. I am retarded for trying. Whoa. That burns....um maybe I should've trained. Mile 11 - Okay, I definitely get why you train now! But...only 2 more miles to go, I can't stop now....the competitor in me comes alive. Mile 12 - I am still running. Stubbornly. It is an uphill battle from here, literally. I slow down - I see Maria Stone Hansen pass me - as she should - she was smart enough to train - she actually used some common sense before getting herself into a predicament like a half marathon :) I keep running, barely, but I keep at it. Mile 13 and the finish line....Wow, why is everyone screaming at me? The crowd roars...Incredible! Especially considering not a soul came to watch me run. No one waited for me at the finish line - why are they screaming? Oh....yeah...the winner of the FULL marathon finished about 30 seconds before me. They were screaming for him. great - he ran 26 miles in the time it took me to run 13.1 (well, actually a little longer because I started late.) It was fun to have the screaming, even if it wasn't in fact for me. :) As I crossed the finish line....I felt....well....absolutely NOTHING. Seriously - I was numb all over. I'm not sure I really got a runner's high, I think I ended up more with a runner's paralysis. It was kinda crazy. My hands and arms were completely numb. I literaly didn't feel anything. I figured out later it had come from gripping my music cell phone in one arm with a death grip and my water bottle in the other for the 1st 12 miles. I know they have little cups of water - but I hate stopping. If I stopped - I'd never get started again. Seriously. I can't stop for water - and well - when I'm thirsty I want water NOW. I don't want to wait 2 miles to get a little paper cup. So....I had held on a little too tightly and cut my circulation I think. A few minutes later all the feeling began to return to my body again, and the gravity of what I had just done settled in. Pretty cool feeling. Pretty darn sore legs. My knees were fine, I never gasped for air, and I remarkably somehow skipped out on blisters....but.....my calves were killing me - and every time I tried to go up or down stairs I thought I was going to die. For three days after the thing I would scoot on my bottom down the stairs because it hurt too bad to walk. Yup - my calves and my thighs. Killer.

So....just in case you were wondering if you should try to run a half marathon with no training....I'll save you the trouble of trying to find out for yourself. Don't do it. It hurts :) i was really happy to finish, but man alive - I paid for it the next few days. I was stunned actually that I was even able to do it - and my time wasn't half bad - it was a 10 minute 6 second mile pace.....it made me think, maybe just maybe I should train and try for a full...what if I actually put some effort into it what could I do???.......but then I think about it clearly and come to my senses. I just don't think I have the oomph to actually train. Yuck. running every day for months on end? No way. i think this is the only way that I ever ever would have completed a half marathon.....no training....so no pressure to finish....no torture for months....just go for it and suffer pretty miserably for a week afterwards. I still don't recommend it. I don't think I'll be trying it again anytime soon, either! If I do - I think I'd plan ahead a little better. See....its not really fun to cross the finish line and feel like you'll never move your limbs again...I think I'd rather go....WAHOO I did it.....but then again, that would require months of effort and miles on my part......I think I'm too lazy. What a dillema.

P.S. the most "fun" part of the whole shindig....it took me almost as long to locate my keys as it took me to run the bugger! They had a bag drop off. I decided at the last second I didn't really want to carry my etch a sketch key chain with me on the whole thing or my jacket. So I left it and when I went to retrieve it - it wasn't there. I stood in line for FOREVER, finally a little girl tried to find it - she couldn't. they told me to just come back later that day and look when there were less bags.....um....lemme think about that....NO! I was stupid enough to put my keys in my jacket in the plastic bag. Worse even, I had taken the van with the car seats.....even if I could have called Eric, he would have had no way to come and get me. he was at home eating waffles and whip cream with the boys and had no car seats. So I begged them to let me hop over the table and sift through the bags.....no dice. Finally I found it in the lost and found area, after going through every bag, and every bin at least twice. It was in the "Q" box. I guess I need to learn to right my last name a little clearer.....oh the joys :)

So anyhow...here's my insanity and a few pics to document it.

Start of the Race - all smiles..................

Middle of race - still okay....(there's Maria and her relative Des in the background there)

End of the race - no smiles now! Only the pain! Arghhhh!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Micro Easter Dinner

Okay - so we have moved. Moving is always a mess. We still weren't really unpacked, and somehow I had been convinced to go back to my old ward on Easter Sunday and play for the Easter program. I didn't have a lot of time to think of your traditional Easter dinner. (oh okay, even if I would have had the time, I probably wouldn't have done much different!) I got asked to play last minute for a musical review show. I totally freaked the director out when I didn't make it to one of the last 2 rehearsals, and then told her I was going to have to sight read the show, because I couldn't get to my piano! (Since I'm not getting paid, I wasn't going to break my back trying to get ready for it.) Anyhow.... the 4 1/2 hour long rehearsals in the evenings have been keeping me up late and the performances, too. So Saturday night at about 11 p.m. after the show, I went to the grocery store. I picked up Asparagus, Stuffed Clams, and some Baked Potatoes (plain and sweet potatoes.) I microwaved my entire Easter dinner in tupperware in about 26 minutes flat. No hassle - little mess - pretty tasty, too. My kind of crazy micro meal. :) I'm so glad Eric puts up with me! Cooking is so not my forte. Here's a few pics of our great last minute meal, and Cade at the Easter Egg Hunt at Dinosaur Park. (I forgot to get any Easter Baskets or anything for the kids. So in the middle of our 4 hour cleaning session at the old house, I took a break and took them to an Easter Egg Hunt. ) Oh...thanks Mel and Dustin for watching the kids so Eric and I could clean! The poor college kids got stuck with Cade's poopy mess too - ohh - I can't wait till my 4 year old figures out the whole wiping thing a little better......

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