here comes santa claus...

My Christmas shopping is 99% done. I did almost all of it online. I got it done early so that I could spend time making a lot of gifts. Unfortunately, I've been super busy with my jewelry business this holiday season. But that's not really unfortunate. I guess other people wanted a "handmade christmas" too - so I'm glad I can give that to them - just my family may not get it. Oh well, we've more than enough presents to substitute if I don't get it all done. So - that being said - I've been SUPER BUSY! Today I took the day off (of jewelry) and just cleaned my house. It took all day long. And it's still not 100%. That's how neglected it was.

Tonight was the christmas program at the elementary school. Zane volunteered for a solo part in one of the songs and did great! I was quite impressed with their program - they kept it short, but the kids were really good. They have music class once or twice a week with a music teacher that is just at their school. I think they are lucky to have that! In fact Zane asked for "Boomwhackers" and "Handbells" for christmas as a direct result of this music class.

So - other than being busy with Christmas - not a lot is going on - so I thought I would jot down some general stuff about the kids.

Zane is doing great at school. He has learned cursive this year, and is working on learning multiplication. He really loves his teacher. He tries so hard at school, and I'm very proud of him. He loves to play with the neighborhood boys. Generally I have 1-3 boys at my house 3 or 4 times a week. They all come over and play various video games of course. I'm certainly glad to have them here, and glad that Zane is happy to be home and play!

Lily is really growing up - getting smarter every day. Right now - what she most wants to do is watch tv and movies. It's hard when I'm so busy, to get her away from it. She sure loves to follow her big brother and is really quite a sweet little girl. She loves her playdoh, and often surprises me with things she says. She's always been the one with a great sense of humor. She really understands humor. It's easy to distract her when she is grumpy with a tickle or a "Don't You Smile". She is so easy going (most of the time) and certainly the peacemaker in the family.

Evan is all boy. He loves to make messes and throw. I can't believe how fast he can destroy the entire house. It's quite amazing. He gave up the binky a couple of weeks ago too. Just out of the blue. He was definitely the easiest one of the three to give it up. Maybe potty training will be that way too?? He is so sweet and talks SOOOOO much. He has an ear infection right now - and the only reason I knew he did was because he told me "ear hurt". I don't think I've ever had a child of mine tell me that. ESPECIALLY at 20 months old. He LOVES Santa and babies. Lately - all he does all day long is chant "Tanta, Tanta, Tanta, Tanta". Crazy boy. Luckily we've already seen Santa 3 times this year. He loves to carry around baby dolls, and hug them, and say "ni-night". Whenever I put him in bed he tells me "Bye Mama". It's super cute.

John and I are still in our weight loss adventure. John has lost close to 50 pounds now. I'm hovering around 20. I wish my loss was going a little faster - and that it was more noticeable to me- but really it hasn't been difficult so I can't complain. Especially since I have not exercised one single bit. Gotta love that. But I imagine I will have to pretty soon if I want to keep losing.

I'm too tired to add pictures right now - but I will soon!

thanksgiving 2010...

Boy, it's nice to not travel for Thanksgiving and still get to see a lot of your family!
We actually had our family thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday due to scheduling issues on turkey day. John's parents were going to be serving dinner for branch members at the small branch they attend - so we decided to make it easy and just do it Weds.


We felt like we still needed to have turkey today, so we also had a small turkey feast for just our family. All the good stuff: turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, home made rolls, red hot applesauce jello (that's the stuff!!), and pumpkin dessert. (Yeah yeah, those aren't recipes from weight watchers). Super yummy!!

While I was cooking this morning, I got out some stuff to have the kids make these super cute pilgrim hat treats. They really enjoyed making them but definitely enjoyed eating them more!



Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks Dan & Charity for having us over and thanks to everyone who made such yummy food! We are so thankful for our families and friends and love and miss you all!

halloween 2010...

Ok, I've put off doing a post for Halloween long enough. I didn't post pictures yet, because frankly, I don't have very many or good ones for that matter. We had our ward Trunk or Treat on the Friday before Halloween, and that night John and I came home completely sick with fevers and what turned out to be an all weekend lasting sickness. I didn't even get any pictures of our (John and mine) AWESOME costumes! I went as Medusa and John - a greek man that I turned to stone. Bummer! We didn't carve pumpkins (too sick), my kids hardly got a decent trick or treating - just 20 min. with a really sick Dad at the mall, and minimal pictures. I kept telling myself that I would dress them up in their costumes again and take some pictures - but it hasn't happened. I think since next week is Thanksgiving - that ship has sailed. Although our pumpkins are still on my dining room floor waiting to be carved...hmmm. So here's what I've got:

Can you tell what his costume is? I thought it was great!

The same monkey costume that I made for Zane at the same age.

My pretty princess. Still not sure if it was worth making, but it did turn out BEAUTIFUL!

visiting the PHX...

We drove out to Phoenix over fall break a couple weeks ago. It's not a short drive. I don't really know what I was thinking. It was a little bit of a rough weekend. We forgot Zane's medicine, and the kids slept horribly - which leads to bad things - but it was nice to be there and see my family. Despite the stress, it was a fun few days!

Dad got us some free passes to the Phoenix Zoo, which is always a favorite. We spent the morning there, before it got too warm, and the kids loved it. Evan and Zane had a blast on the carousel, but Lily wanted nothing to do with it. I started to get her up on the dolphin she had picked out, and she completely freaked out and lost it. She is my fearful one for sure. We realized we did a lot of playing at the zoo, but didn't spend a lot of time looking at the animals. Oh well, the kids had fun!

We did plenty of shopping, complete with a Build A Bear experience (thanks Mom and Dad!), and even took a quick dip in Amanda's pool. Really too cold for an unheated swimming pool in October. Even in Phoenix. And especially in the late afternoon shade. Too bad I didn't get pictures of that! Love you all and thanks for putting up with us. Can't wait for the holidays!

red jello...

school carnival...

Every school year the elementary puts on a carnival. Each of the classes has a game where the kids can win prizes. They also had a cake walk, a pop toss, and a whole bunch of very large bouncy inflatables. Our kids were in heaven. They had a blast playing the games, eating cotton candy, and Evan especially loved the bouncy house. He got right in there with the big kids and fell over and over again, laughing and laughing. I was a little worried, but he was having a blast!! Lily won some cookies at the cake walk (musical chairs). Lily and Zane did a "bopping heads" music video - which I may or may not post here... it's a little uh... annoying? I guess.

I couldn't get a good picture of the kids in the bouncy house this time, but if you look closely that is Evan in the background on his knees, and Lily in front by the net.

the sillies...

Some pictures of the kids and their silly adventures...

little stinker.


self-photo.

Lily wearing her baby blessing dress as her wedding gown, and Zane posing as the groom. All Zane's idea of course - I wasn't too thrilled he got her in the baby dress at all!

I got out the Halloween costumes. Evan insisted on leaving his monkey costume on, and this is where I found him. He's never fallen asleep on the floor before (in fact none of my kids hardly ever do this). So cute!

Her first hair cut! I am sad, I feel like I cut off tooooo much!

Lily's nice big shiner. She's never had one before. Of course, we are getting family pictures this weekend, so it is fitting. Lovely!

rainy days...

I love rainy days. A couple weeks ago it rained on and off most of the day. After we took Zane to school, Lily and Evan got all dressed up to go out and splash a bit. I had to take a video because it was too cute.

smarties, braids, and climbers....

We had the first Parent/Teacher Conference of this school year. They always make me a little anxious. I see Zane's teacher every day and I know that she adores him (how could you not?) - but I still get nervous that I'm going to get hit with something terrible. Especially after the incident at the beginning of the year with some of the staff members. (I'm not going to write about it because Zane reads the blog, and it would upset him). Here is the report: Zane tested at a 5.3 STAR level on reading. That is almost middle of 5th Grade. He is in 2nd grade. His math was at 2.8 which is really good too. She is going to have him tested for the Gifted program, which we think is great. She has had no attention problems or behavior problems at all. She did say that she turned his desk around because he kept getting into it. Too funny. WAY TO GO ZANE you are doing AWESOME!

Lily has an aversion to having her hair done. Most of the time the only way I can get her to let me put a ponytail or braid or any sort of clip in her hair is if I refer to it as a "Princess Pony", etc. So, one day I somehow was able to talk her into letting me braid her hair. It turned out cute and fun, and I think she actually liked it. She left it in all day and even slept on it! Sweet girl!

Here is what the little stinker is into lately. He loves to climb. He loves to slide (and he can actually do it quite well on his own!). He talks sooo much and has been cuddly and giving hugs lately, which is so fun. I love him to death!!

a camping experience....

We headed down to Roswell, NM this past weekend. It is where our LDS Stake Conference is held twice a year. It's a couple of hours away. John was singing in a special Men's Chorus for the meeting which included an early morning practice, so we decided to make a weekend of the trip. We had already planned a hotel for Saturday evening, but thought we ought to try a night of camping. The youngest two have never been before. There is a small campsite a short distance from Roswell that is very family friendly called Bottomless Lakes State Park. I have to say that "lake" is used in the LOOSEST sense of the term. It should probably be called Bottomless Puddles. Anyways - we arrived around 6:30pm ( a little toooo close to bedtime) and got set up.

When we arrived, the camp hosts stopped by our site with a big bucket and asked the kids if they wanted to see a rattlesnake! A few days before, a camper had shot one that was trying to get in his tent. There are so many things wrong with that sentence. They hadn't been able to find the snake until that evening when a new camper was setting up camp. I have to say, the snake was the size of one you would see at a zoo. IT WAS HUGE! All in all - the wildlife seen on the trip: lots and lots of dragonflies, mosquitoes (8 bites and counting for me!), antelope, a tarantula, and some sort of humongous porcupine looking beast.

After dinner (in the dark) - we tried to get the youngest to bed. Evan wanted nothing to do with the tent. Anytime you put him in there, he tried his best to get out. John ended up taking him for a short drive (it was 9 pm at this point - 2 hours past his bedtime) to get him zonked out. Once he was asleep - he was ok - at least until 1 am when he woke up screaming. He ended up on the air mattress with John and me, so we didn't get much sleep. Other than that - we really can't complain! The kids did great! It was a chilly morning, so we decided to skip playing at the lake (they have a nice sandy beach and a playground), and headed in to the big metropolis that is Roswell, NM. It's sad - but it really is big compared to Clovis.

Evan escaping through the bottom zipper of the door. He unzipped it himself. Pretty clever little kid!



Roswell is known for the big UFO cover-up that happened back in 1947(?). We went to the International UFO Museum and Research Center and that was disappointing. It was nothing more than a glorified science project. However, it did make me interested in reading more about the "conspiracy". Roswell has fully embraced the aliens. I think it might be a requirement that if you own a business, you must have some sort of large alien sculpture outside your door. Not only that - it must be hideous. "Downtown" Roswell is complete with street lamps the shape of alien heads that glow green with black eyes painted on. This is not a joke.

Zane pretending to be scared of the "alien" in the glass and Lily trying to copy her older brother, but really kind of concerned about what is in there.

Lily liked the "happy" alien.

Yes, I know, I look thrilled. I really was having fun. I was just squinting at John trying to figure out if he was ever going to take the picture!

We then spent the afternoon swimming at the pool and went out to dinner with extended family. It was quite a nice weekend getaway. Stake Conference was edifying even though we sat in the very back on the hard chairs. Zane played on uncle Dan's iPad the entire time, and Evan slept. Very good. It was really nice to have a fun outing!!

princess party...

Last weekend, John took Zane to the high school football game. Football is big out here (people in Clovis think they live in Texas). And there is only one high school. The whole town gets into it. Lily was upset that she didn't get to go, so we had our own Princess Party. Evan went down for the night, and we got all dressed up in our princess outfits and had a "tea" party. She only lasted about 20 min. before she was ready for bed too, but it was fun, and she sure is a super cute girl!

*Lily has a hard time smiling for the camera. This was one of the attempts. Click on it to see it larger, it's really quite funny!

the plagues for fhe...

Since I am the first counselor in Primary at church, I am in charge of sharing time often. I had the month of August. Last week our lesson was on how Faith precedes the miracle, and that signs do not give you Faith. We talked about the plagues in the bible on the people of Egypt and then contrasted that with the story of the Brother of Jared from the Book of Mormon. To teach the plagues, I had three kids come up and dress as Moses, Aaron and Pharoah. They loved it. Then we acted out each plague and had Moses/Aaron ask Pharoah to "let my people go" and have Pharoah say "no" (occasionally he would say "yes" only to then say "no" again). We talked about how Pharoah had been given all these signs, yet he didn't believe. I then told the story of the Brother of Jared and how he had so much faith that he knew that his rocks would be light if the Lord touched them, and then because of his faith, he saw the Lord. I painted some rocks with glow in the dark paint - and then also gave them each one to take home.

Since it went so well in Primary (and Zane didn't get picked to get dressed up) - we did the story again for family home evening. Here are the cast of characters: Zane - Pharoah, Lily - Aaron, Evan - Moses. So fun and so cute!

first day of school...

School seems to come earlier and earlier every year. Zane started school last week - big 2nd grader! I'm still anxious about the school and his teacher and how it will work out, but I imagine I will be like that at the start of every school year. So far things seem to be going ok for him. Although this school does seem to be very strict and controlling - which I'm not sure how I feel about - the jury is still out. Barring any more mandatory "tuck in's" of shirts, or scary "corporal punishment" policies - I think it will be ok. I sure do love this kid, and he is really growing up!

cannon girls extravaganza weekend....or CGEW...

I sort of lied a little bit in my previous post of not having any vacation this summer. I got a vacation, but my family did not. Every year, we Cannon girls get together for a weekend. This particular weekend, we combined it with throwing a baby shower for the youngest Cannon girl, expecting her first baby. So, the week/weekend was actually spent together planning, shopping for, making, and doing her baby shower. Sort of a vacation and sort of not. John and I actually got to spend a couple of nights together in Albuquerque before I left for Phoenix. Turns out the NM Bar was the same week I was leaving - so we worked that in. While in ABQ, I got to have lunch with a couple of BYU friends from way back when, nice to see you girls!! Thanks for the yummy lunch Taffy!

(*Depressing side note about ABQ: it was our first ever night(s) together away from the kids since Zane was born 7 years ago! So, BIG thank you to the MIL for watching my kids and feeding my family dinner all week. And of course John as well, while I was gone!!! *mwah*.)

This is where we stayed in PHX:




For the shower: I was in charge of decorations and also one of the cakes. We decided to do a silly cake a la cake wrecks. We picked a funny yet, mostly tasteful one to copy. I baked and frosted it in it's entirety and I think it turned out FABULOUS!!!!! Not to mention the frosting I used was DELICIOUS. It is now my favorite go to recipe for frosting for everything from now on. Maybe I will share in a later post. (Now, I really hope you understand, this cake is a JOKE - really totally not meant to be serious)

The cake:

The original post where the idea came from:
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2009/04/belly-cakes-continued.html
(and yes, in case you were wondering...we filled the belly with red tapioca pudding and a plastic baby and Meme removed it with kitchen tongs, I have the video to prove it hehehehe, don't you wish you were there?!!)

Pics from the shower:


My gift to Amelia was also a decoration. I made a diaper cake with some appliqued onesies and burp cloths I made in addition to a layer of diapers.

I love the pom pom flowers! Thanks to my sis' for helping out with those, I was DEAD tired at that point. (Hmm, not sure the rug in the background went with the decor!)
Do you take a picture without your tongue hanging out Vic? I already know your answer...you have no opinion...and we love you anyways!
I love this garland. It is the colors that Meme is going to use in her baby's room, so I hope she can put it to use in the nursery as well!!


The game I was in charge of - what goes in must come out. If you look closely at the picture, no further explanation is needed.

And now the lovely ladies:

Minus Amelia - plus Vicky!

Aren't we gorgeous?! Love you all and miss you!