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!

alert! alert! front tooth missing!

Zane has started his own blog. If you are interested in following it, email me and I will set you up. I'm keeping it private for obvious reasons! He has typed his own titles, posts, and everything. He comes up with what he wants to say, and how he wants to say it. I have very little to no influence (except to keep it safe and appropriate), and I think it's been turning out great. He is such a little smartie.

Thus, I stole this post title from his blog. He lost his first front tooth a couple of weeks ago, and then just this weekend lost the 2nd. It is so fun to see kids with their front teeth missing. Here he is in his toothless glory!

summertime...

Since most of our summer was spent moving and getting ready to move, we haven't done much else. Just getting settled and enjoying being around family. School starts in less than 2 weeks. Doubt there will be much in the way of vacations. So, I don't have any cool vacation pics to share. I'm still not used to the fact that you can actually go outside in the summer here. We end up not going outside a lot unless it's swimming at the Lindsey's pool (plus our yard is all weeds - the hard stick kinds, not fun to play on). I imagine I'll get acclimated back again at some point. Enjoy the pics I have and don't complain...