Good-bye Courtney

One of Rachel's friends is moving to Utah. So we had Courtney over to play for a while and I was able to take "just the girls" to McDonalds. They have had lots of fun together, laughing, giggling, screaming, playing, watching Rapunzel, eating french fries and drinking sprite and licking their ice cream before it melted away. Courtney would always have fun little "just get together" parties and invite Rachel. She also gave Rachel a special matching necklace with her name on it and Rachel hasn't taken it off yet. Thank You Courtney. Rachel is going to miss her and wishes her all the best in her new home.

Pet Sitting

So our poor children who are pet deprived, got so excited to pet sit. A family from church was going out of town for about a month and needed someone to watch their 2 fish, cockatiel(Liberty) and hamster (Snowball) and someone to mow their lawn. I thought it would be a great opportunity for kids to work and earn a little bit of summer money. Rachel and Matthew got the job of taking care of the animals and Ethan's job was mowing.

We had a great time with the pets. We lost the hamster only 2 times. The first time Ethan found it right away and the second time we had to go to sleep not knowing where it was, but Rachel found it in the morning in Matthew's closet. And they loved walking around with the bird on their shoulders and the bird loved being petted. The only problem was every once in a while he would leave his mark, thank goodness it wasn't my job.

They all returned home yesterday and we had to take some pictures before they left our home, so here you go.








And just a little plug for Ethan, he has been mowing our lawns for about 2 years now and loves the idea of having a real lawn mowing job.

Top Ten Tuesday- What I Love About Summer

What I Love About Summer, besides vacations!

1. Not having to make school lunches.
2. Not having to wake my kids up in the morning and not having a bed time if we don't want one.
3. Having my chauffeur duties lightened.
4. No homework struggles and less paper clutter.
5. Smiling when I see my kids in outfit #5 for the day & not caring what they wear, if it is ironed or even clean.
6. Playing Referee when my children have spent way too much bonding time together.
7. $1 Summer Movies, Popsicles, Bahama Mama Slushies.
8. Hanging out at the pool in the hot days of Houston.
9. Greeting each child in the mornings as they wake up and come downstairs.
10.Creating great summer memories together with my children.

Memory Lane Monday-TWINS

MATTHEW & RACHEL





We have recently had twin boys born into our family, boy/girl twins born into our ward and new twin girls move in our ward. Having talked recently with a couple of the mom's has caused me to really try hard to remember life with my newborn twins, Matthew & Rachel. I don't remember much. I feel like I am no help at all when asked for advice. I do know that after the first 3 months the fog did start to thin out and I could remember a little more. It also doesn't help that the first 4 months of the twins life on video was recorded over with their first Easter. I try not to think about that too much. But I do love to look at their sweet pictures and that is my trip down Memory Lane for this Monday.

Spiritual Thought Sunday-HOPE

My first "Spiritual Thought Sunday" is from a wonderful Relief Society Lesson that we had today. The lesson was on "Words of Hope and Consolation at the Time of Death."

Grandma & Grandpa Morris

My Mom's parents, Claude and Ruth Morris died when I was about 13, I think. I have fond memories of them and love and miss them. My dear Grandfather, John Geroge Cannon died while I was pregnant with my twins in 2000. I love and miss him. He was always smiles. He was known for his great missionary work and he always had a story to tell. I think what hurts the most is that he left my wonderful Grandma, Rachel Cannon, (I would be put on her bad list if I mentioned her middle name)behind. She misses him so much and often feels lonely.

Grandma & Grandpa Cannon

Being 1500 miles away, it is a little hard to help. But we do try to talk to her on the phone as much as we can. She is 88 years old, 50 years older than me, (yeah, go do the math)and I feel like I need to cherish the time we still have together in preparation for her leaving this mortal life.

I love knowing that through the plan of salvation there is hope. The spiritual thought I loved from the lesson was from Joseph Smith, who endured many losses in his lifetime.

"Those who have died in Jesus Christ may expect to enter into all that fruition of joy when they come forth, which they possessed or anticipated here... And when the voice calls for the dead to arise, suppose I am laid by the side of my father, what would be the first joy of my heart? To meet my father, my mother, my brother, my sister; and when they are by my side, I embrace them and they me..."

AND

"The only difference between the old and young dying is one lives longer in heaven and eternal light and glory than the other and is freed a little sooner from this miserable, wicked world. Notwithstandy all this glory, we for a moment lose sight of it, and mourn the loss, but we do not mourn as those without hope."

To all my friends and family who have lost a love one, I am sorry for your loss and hope that you are feeling the peace and love you need for strength.

Days of the Week

I am going to try something new, for me. We will see how long I can keep it up or how often I actually do this, a little is better than none. But, to help me learn to express my thoughts and share my feelings better, to think more and about others, to better keep a journal and to make our blog more interesting; I am going to start posting a special blog for each day.

1. Spiritual Thought Sunday
2. Memory Lane Monday
3. Top Ten Tuesday
4. Wordless Wednesday
5. Thankful Thursday
6. Just For Fun Friday
7. Self-Portrait Saturday

Please feel free to join in and share or comment whatever and whenever you want.

Oh My Gosh, I Won AGAIN!

Can you believe this? I woke up this morning after having a great date night out with my husband and found out that I won these Adorable flip flops. I just let Rachel pick the ones she wanted and she picked these. Heaven Sent makes them and A Savy Baby had the giveaway. But I just have to tell you that I check out the Tip Junkie daily, my good friend Laurie is the Tip Junkie, her blog is so fun, and she has been celebrating her year anniversary with a 20 Day Giveaway. However, I have yet to win one of her giveaways, her blog leads me to some great Mom-Prenuers blogs with some wonderful ideas, products and giveaways. So there is my plug for my amazing friend/superwoman Laurie. And Thank You Savvy Baby and Heaven Sent for the cute flip flops.

I Won! I Won!

Okay so after about 2 weeks of being totally addicted to this whole wonderful blogging thing and trying to win some of these "Oh So Cute" items some talented women have been giving away, I finally won. I can't believe it. I am so excited, this made my whole week and after today I think I deserve it.

Today was a summer day of not enough exciting things for my children to do to be entertained or to entertain themselves and we had a FEW meltdowns. But I just won a fabulous prize from Handmade by Annabelle via SuperMom Central, I have finished my cake for this weekend, I am going out on a date with my wonderful husband tonight (after calling 15 girls, looking for a babysitter - my least favorite thing to do) and tomorrow night I get to go out with the girls. WooHoo! Thanks to you all for your generosity and kindness.

My Cakes By Melissa Button

I am so excited. I just designed and figured out how to make a button to link you to my cake blog. For me it was a huge deal and I love it. Now I just need to figure out how to get the code so others can put this oh so cute button on their blog, Anyone?

Happy Birthday Uncle Stu!

I think the pictures say it all. Uncle Stuart will have a fun birthday. We hope you are enjoying your new home and job in Beautiful San Diego. Happy Birthday and we love and miss you tons.

Happy Birthday Aunt Sarah!

Today is our Aunt Sarah's birthday so I thought I would give a little tribute to her via our blog. Ethan says Aunt Sarah is smart and a Good Aunt. Matthew thinks it is cool that his Aunt is a Scuba Diver. Rachel says she is "COOL." And Lauren wants to give her some pajamas(?). She is also known as our "In House Nurse." And we love her for all her birthday cards, texas visits, phone calls and her love for each one of us that truly shows. We hope you have a great Day!

Triathlon #1 & We have a Winner

BEFORE THE RACE
END OF THE RACE
Proud Parents

Waiting for the Results



And The Winner Is...

I was introduced to the kids triathlon by a woman at one of our swim meets from the other team, Camille. Her son and Ethan were always head to head in their races and we started talking as we were timing next to each other and she told me about the Kiwanis Triathlons. So I looked it up and talked with my brother, Ryan, who is the triathlete, marathoner, iron man, 100 mile runner in the family and here we are at our first triathlon with Ethan. There is a recommended training schedule, but Ethan wasn't too consistent with it. This Triathlon was going to be a trial run for us all and a chance for Matthew and Rachel to see what it was all about.

Well, Ethan came home with a 2nd Place Trophy. He did a great job and loved every minute of it. He saw some things that he would do differently and is ready to improve his next race. In order to do this you have to sign up with USA Triathlon and with Kiwanis Club of Houston in their series of 7 races for 2008. We got in on race #4 and won't be able to race again until race #7 due to family vacations. However, it looks like Matthew wants to join the ranks also. This was a very well organized and good experience for us and we look forward to watching our kids improve their times while keeping in shape. We are really proud of Ethan and Ethan is really proud of Ethan. Congratulations Son!

Cub Scout Day Camp

We just finished a week of Cub Scout Day Camp for the Texas Skies District. It was 3-8 (twilight) everyday this week and we are sad that it is over but too tired to admit it. I volunteered as a Den Leader and was able to have Ethan and 7 other great boys in my den. As a volunteer I am able to bring siblings of my scout, so for the second year in a row, Matthew and Rachel were able to come. Matthew had a great time. I know because he was the wettest and dirtiest one at the end of each day. Rachel was with all the girls and her den leader completely spoiled those girls. They definetly got the royal treatment they deserved. Ethan says his best part of camp was the BB guns, that I was his leader and flag football. He really said it in that order.

I had a wonderful group of boys in my Yellow 122 Den. The theme for the camp was Olympics Around the World. Our den brought home the gold in their BB gun competition. We had lots of bullseyes. One day I even got four bullseyes, which meant four marks on my face. They did Flag Football, Ultimate Frisbee, Archery, BB guns, Art, Showman & Craftsman where they built a stool and a hook rack. The twins did Archery, Marbles, Maps & Compass, Baseball & Soccer.

They each recieved special ribbons throughout the week. Rachel got Good Leader and Willing to Try Anything ribbons. Matthew got Homerun Hitter and Bullseye Boy ribbons. Ethan got Best Buddy and Football Star ribbons. Camp was lots of fun for us all. Lauren even had her special fun as she went to a different friends house each day to play and loved every minute of it. Thank you so much, Aitran, Melissa, Emily & Janet, for serving me so I could enjoy the blessings of serving the scouts.

Cub Scout Wagon

While my Mom and Dad where here, my Dad helped Ethan and Steve help me get ready for Cub Scout Day Camp. I needed a contraption to be built for my wagon to hold all the necessities of camp. So with a little PVC pipe, glue, cutters and paint I am ready to go. Thanks guys!