I'm Ready for Summer

I'm already sick of the snow and the cold. It is so bloody cold outside - I don't even want to leave the house. And I'm usually not a big homebody. I like to be out doing stuff. Anyone want to go to St. George over Martin Luther King? Even the 40's sound better than the teens or 20's! And, you would be able to be with me on my birthday. What could be better? I just hope Mark can come!

I'm Really Not That Bad...

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It's Time

I really enjoy getting our decorations out at the beginning of the season, but, as soon as it is over, I am ready. Ready to get it put away. Is that bad? I took the tree in our basement and the decorations down yesterday. Tonight Mark took Will and Ben to the U basketball game and Max and I stayed home. Max was such a good helper...




He helped me take down all of the ornaments from the tree. Mostly he was dancing on the tissue paper I used to wrap the ornaments. He is such a monkey!




Max loves his binky. All of my kids have. I figure that it is better than a finger. At least you can take a binky away...someday!

Christmas

Christmas eve in their new jammies

Will asked Santa for Guitar Hero III for the Wii. Well, he never ceases to amaze us. But, when we opened the box there wasn't a game to be found. Just the guitar and some stickers. We were bummed because it is no where to be found. Santa told us to return it to Toys-R-Us and got it for the 360 instead.

Will and Ben also got new Razor electric scooters and new helmets. Ben loves the Philadelphia Eagles, so he got an Eagles helmet and Will got a U helmet. They are dying to use their scooters once it stops snowing!

Max got a bunch of toys and a new chair for his room. I figured that he needed a new chair. He always drags out his Bumbo and squeezes into it. Then, when he tries to stand up, it is stuck to his butt! He was so excited and a bit overwhelmed.

Mark got some new clothes, a guitar stool (he is currently taking lessons), some new tools, an Ipod speaker for his office, new shoes and some cologne and personal items.

I got..... a new Nikon camera and a Flip camera :) I was totally surprised!!! I've been taking tons of pictures and having so much fun! I also got a cute Yoga outfit, slippers, face stuff, and a speaker for my Ipod.

Christmas Eve we spent with my family at my mom's house. We participated with Steve's kids by doing a Christmas Jar to a needy family at my mom's school. I hadn't ever heard of that book, so it was something new for us. Will got to help deliver the money, PJ's and food to the family. It was a great experience for my kids. They have so much and don't realize how blessed we really are. I've been thinking about that a lot this past year. We are so blessed!! There are so many people out there hurting. It is sad that we only think of service during this time of year. We really need to start doing service all year long. Maybe that can be a resolution for our family...

I Wish

Wouldn't it be fun to do this someday...



I think of the mall at Christmas time. I was at Fashion Place the other day and was turning down an aisle to find a parking place. There was this lady at the far end of the aisle, with her reverse lights on, backing up the whole length of the aisle. She was following an elderly man to his space. I decided to sit and wait and watch. She backed up to within six inches of the front of my car. We sat and waited for him to back out of the stall. I thought to myself, wouldn't it be funny if he hit her car? She was driving a gold Mercedes. Sure enough, he backed right up into her car. I just laughed, drove around her and left her to deal with her problem. It was GREAT!

I'm Exhausted

Today was Max's second Nursery experience. I stayed with him the entire time, he didn't last the last time he was in Nursery, so I decided to stay with him to warm him up to the idea. Besides spilling water all over his treats twice, he had a fun time playing with all the kids. I'm kinda holding off a bit waiting for the new year when all of the bigger kids are gone. Luckily, we won't be at our ward next week due to Ryan's farewell, so the next time we go it will be the new year!

After church today I was a little ambitious and decided to make some treats! We made marshmallows from Alton Brown's recipe. They were really easy to make and they taste so good! I thought that my Kitchen Aid was going to blow up! I probably shouldn't make marshmallows every day.



While those were cooling, I grinded some wheat and made wheat bread from a recipe that I've never tried. The bread was just alright. I won't be making that recipe again. Sorry, no picture!

While the bread was rising, I made some carmel. I LOVE carmel, it is my most favorite candy!!!



I'm going to cut it tomorrow and wrap it in cellophane and maybe give some out to neighbors or take to the extended Cannon family party on Christmas Day. Or, I may just eat it all myself! As you can see, we've already snuck some.

My legs are tired! I also made dinner, but Mark was kind enough to clean up my mess!!! He is such a good guy!

I said that I would make a dessert for Christmas Day and I think I am going to make a Gingerbread Trifle. I found this on someones blog and it looked wonderful. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Merry Christmas! We won't get to rest until Wednesday!!!

Cannon Christmas Party

Friday night Mark's mom had all of us up for our annual Christmas party. We had a wonderful dinner, which consisted of Prime Rib that Les & Sue cooked, we brought 10 pounds of King Crab legs and made some steamed clams. We had so much food, but we ate almost all of the Crab. Regrettably, I didn't take any pictures of the food!

After dinner, the kids were so anxious to open presents. They were being so reverent, waiting for the appointed time.

Hailee waiting so patiently, she mad me laugh!

Emilee, Will and Ben

The gang

Finally! Max entertaining us by playing the piano.

Ben opening his Megatron

Grandpa Les and Max. Max has had a few run-ins with some furniture in our house. Poor guy!

Max and me

Mark and Will

Will opening a Transformer in his undershirt (he was hot).

Grandma Sue opening a present with a little help from the kids!

Overheard in my Car

"If you think you hate it now, wait until you drive it." (Vacation)

You've all surely heard of the websites "Overheard in New York, Overheard at the Office" and such. Well...

Today, while driving around this beautiful Salt Lake valley, I overheard a conversation between my little guys. Yes, they are still little.

Will-"Ben, you know that girl so and so in your class?"
Ben-"Yes"
Will- "She was totally checking me out after school. She's hot!"

How do they even know about "checking people out" and being "hot"? I laughed so hard! I need to start writing down all of the hysterical things that Will and Ben say so I can blackmail them when they are older, along with all the bathtub pictures from when they were small.

A Little Survey...

Mark and I were just at lunch and this song came over the restaurant. It might just be one of the most annoying Christmas songs around. I have two others that are on the Forgotten Carols that make me change the station when they come on the radio. They are: Mary Let me Hold Her Baby and I Cry the Day I Take the Tree Down. I tried to link the songs, but I couldn't find them online.

My favorite radio station is on XM104. It is classic Christmas, and I love it!

What are your least favorite holiday tunes???

Family Get Together

My sister Karyn's in-laws live in Scottsdale, so they are heading down there tomorrow for Christmas. So, we had a little "party" yesterday so the cousins could exchange their gifts for each other. My mom and Steve were not in attendance. Steve's daughter, Tiffany, had her farewell today so they were busy getting all of the food ready for that event. We just got back from her farewell in Payson. She will be serving in the Tokyo North Mission, but will be in the MTC until mid March learning Japanese. We are so excited for her and know that she will do a wonderful job. This month is the month of missionaries for us. Ryan's farewell is going to be on the 30th of this month.

To start off our party, we took the kids sledding at Bonneville Golf Course. Only part of us sledded because Charlie and Camden were sleeping at my sister's house. We had so much fun! They raced down the hill and I even took Max on a few rides. I don't know if he liked it or not. Our sled always turned backwards, so he couldn't really see where we were going.

Max and me

Willbur

Karyn's little girl Lily

Benny

Max, Mark, Lily and Jon (Karyn's husband)

I think this picture is hilarious with Will mid-air.

After sledding, we went to Karyn's rental to open presents. The kids always have fun opening gifts. Who doesn't?

My brother's little boy Camden and they are expecting another son mid-January.

My little nephew Charlie is sitting on Jon's lap. He is so cute and looks just like Lily!

We had dinner reservations for the Red Iguana and the dinner, as always, was excellent.



I cannot believe that Christmas is almost one week away. I need to evaluate what I have and what I still need. Time flies!!

I Love to See the Temple

Mark and I were able to attend the Salt Lake Temple with his little brother Ryan tonight. He is preparing to leave on his mission on January 17, 2008. He reports to the MTC in England on the 18th of January. Mark's parents and his sister Kim were also there to cheer him on. It was a great experience to be able to share with Ryan and I so glad that we were able to attend. I hadn't been to do a session at the Salt Lake Temple for so long. The temple is so beautiful and we had such a nice time. The temple workers were so nice, I really enjoyed the temple because of them, they have such sweet spirits.

When I met Ryan he was just a little guy, only three years old. My how he's grown and how old I've gotten. It brings back such great and sad memories of when Mark left on his mission to Portugal. I was so sad and two years seemed like such a long time!!! I remember thinking the end would never come. And now to look back at that time and how much we've accomplished since then is amazing. It will be sad to go to their home and have him not be there. Max probably won't even remember him - he doesn't really like him now anyways. Max is such a mommas boy! Tonight my mom and Steve came out and watched our kids. Max cried and was upset to see me leave, which made me feel good to know how much he loves me. Will and Ben were just excited to wrestle with Steve.

After dinner we went to Settebello and had the best pizza - I highly recommend the Bianca, it is delicious! We've been there before, but we introduced Mark's family to the restaurant and they loved it. We didn't get home until 11:30 and my mom and Steve were both laying on the couch, exhausted! They wondered how we do "life" everyday and that only the young can raise kids. I guess they wore them out!

Thanks to Ryan for letting us share in this special night with him. We are going to miss him very much.

Les, Ryan and Sue

Kim and Ryan


My camera didn't take the greatest pictures. It was so cold outside and the choir performance had just let out at the Conference Center, so it was crowded. I guess I need a new camera. **Hint, Hint**

Gingerbread House

Yesterday, while at one of my favorite places (Costco) I decided to pick up our annual gingerbread house. Like Sherine, I'm not very crafty, so when there is an activity all packaged and ready to go - I'm game. Next year I want to purchase a Gingerwood House that Mindy has on her blog. That is such a great idea. It is sealed wood that, when you are finished, you just wash off the boards and you're done. They even have an example on their blog of a Halloween House. Fun idea!

My boys are typical boys, they do everything so fast. We left the house to them to decorate and we just sat back and watched.

All Max wanted to do was eat the "nany". I'm sure that the gingerbread doesn't taste very good, but he didn't care.

Mark and I put the house together and left the rest up to them.

Ben was having so much fun that he didn't know he had frosting hanging from his nose!

Will was basically more interested in decorating his gingerbread man. To heck with the house!



Ben's gingerbread man

The finished product. It was seriously lacking candy in many spots, but they had fun and that is all that matters. This morning when I woke up, the house was falling apart. So, I had to throw it away. Shhhh, don't tell the boys. They haven't said a word about it!

Tonight Mark and I had his company party. We had dinner downtown and they purchased tickets for everyone to attend the Jazz game. It was fun to get to see everyone. It is so hard to park downtown lately, that I usually don't get to his office very often. We try to go to lunch at least once a week, but I usually wait at the street and he runs out. I'm missing our favorite lunch spot - Caputo's. With Mark on his diet, it has seriously curtailed our eating out. He has lost over 25 pounds. YEAH!!! We left the game at halftime so we could get home and put the kids and us to bed.

Mark has been extremely busy at work. They are working on this huge project for his group and he's been going to work for a daily conference call that takes place at six. Yikes! The firm's lease is up shortly so he's been in charge of all the plans/meetings with architect's/realtors/arranging offices at the new space and everything that goes into a large company moving. He has had help from the boys in New York, but he is the local guy on the move. Supposedly demolition of the space they are moving to starts tomorrow. It has been a long road, but it looks like it is finally happening. I am so blessed to have such a great husband. He is such a hard worker. Everyone loves him at his office and he does such a good job!!! The President of Merrill came up and told me what a great job Mark is doing. What a guy!!

Mark works for Merrill Lynch Bank and has for almost three years. He was working at Zions Bank and hated his job. One Sunday, I was reading the newspaper and happened upon an classified job for a VP at Merrill. I told him about it and he emailed his resume to them. He interviewed with the local guys and they flew out people from NY to interview him as well. Long story short, he got the job and it has been the best thing ever. They are so great to us and he loves his job. He doesn't sell financial planning, they actually have a bank that is headquartered in Salt Lake. I don't really understand what they do, but it is an Investment Bank and they deal with millions in all types of currencies. He speaks to people all over the world. I am just so happy that he found something he loves and enjoys going to work everyday. That makes all the difference in the world!

What Color are You?

You Are a Yellow Crayon

Your world is colored with happy, warm, fun colors. You have a thoughtful and wise way about you. Some people might even consider you a genius. Charming and eloquent, you are able to get people to do things your way. While you seem spontaneous and free wheeling, you are calculating to the extreme. Your color wheel opposite is purple. You both are charismatic leaders, but purple people act like you have no depth.

What Color Crayon Are You?

The Boys Are Back In Town

Will and Ben had their first Jr. Jazz practice on Saturday. This year they both get to be on the same team, which is great. Last year they were on separate teams and our Saturdays were comprised of mostly basketball. This will be Will's third year and Ben's second year. They are so fun to watch!