A new addition

On Thursday at 9:36 pm a new addition came to the Cannon family. She is the 5Th of four boys! So you know how loved she will be by all of those brothers. Her name is McKenly Lorrainee (pronounced Lorraine but spelled that way because her mother is Rainee and she was named after her grandmother. She weighed 8lbs 8 0z and is 19 inches long.

She has cute little expressions...

She has cute little lips...

She has tiny little feet...

She has a happy grandmother who loves her...

She has a whole family who loves her...

Brothers who can't get enough of her...

Brothers fighting over who gets to hold her...

She is very cute and came home to a family who have waited for a long time to have a girl besides their Mom in their family.

Welcome to our family McKenly!!!

Lincoln is one!!

We celebrated Lincoln's first birthday and I can't believe it has been one year since his birth! We watched as he opened his gifts and Laughed at the silly cookie monster, I think if I got this gift as a one year old I would think that there was another kid in the family. It was so life like and it made us laugh as it went through all of it's antics. Watch Tydon laugh and then watch Lincoln's face as he tries to figure out this silly toy. Then watch how daintily Lincoln eats his first bites of cake. It was a fun night and we were thoroughly entertained watching Tydon, Kace and Lincoln celebrate!

I can laugh now...

We meaning, Caitlin and I, and sometimes Ryan have been watching Kace and Tydon while Rachel and Nate are in Greece. They will get home tomorrow and the boys are very excited to have them come home. It is a little different having children in the house 24/7 when that hasn't been the case for many years. I have decided though that as grandparents we have gained much more patience than we had with our own children. Kace and Tydon are great little boys and it has been a lot of fun to have them here. I have especially liked there cute comments and the great prayers that they say. Like Kace's comment of "I think I will be an Oceanographer when I grow up", who at 7 years old even knows what an oceanographer is? Tydon's polite little"yes", when he wants something and his cute little comments about how dinosaurs are not real, they are just pretend. Also, I have learned that children grow up to have children of there own that are very much like them.
First, I will tell you a story about Nate when he was about Tydon's age. We were going to school at BYU and I was only working about once every 2 weeks because I had 2 little ones at home. Needless to say we were very poor college students. I had wanted a new bedspread to put on my bed and had saved money for the material to make one and found a great deal at a discount fabric store. I made the bedspread and I was so happy to have something new in my house.
One afternoon while Rainee was napping I was doing something in the kitchen and decided I better check on Nate to see why he was being so quiet. I went into my room and found him with my sharp sewing scissors and then saw what he had been working on. The bedspread was hanging over the edge of the bed and he had taken the scissors and made little fringes all along the edges. Needless to say I was not very happy and there was a lot of screaming going on and Nate was put into timeout for a very long time. I was very sad for days because I had to live with that bedspread for a very long time because I didn't have the money to replace it. I wasn't able to laugh for a very long time about this incident. But I can now and I can laugh at the incident that I am about to tell you about and it has only been a couple of days. I must be older and wiser.
This is a picture of Tydon who is definitely his Father's child.
Now to tell you about how alike he really is. The other night Ryan, I and Kace were in the computer room and we thought that Caitlin and Tydon were in my bedroom watching TV. Ryan got up and went into the bedroom and all of the sudden I heard Ryan say" Oh, Grandma is going to be very mad at you." I got up to go into the bedroom and I did start screaming, "No, No, NO," and then heard Caitlin yell." Go to bed right now, you are in timeout." He also had my very, very sharp scissors in his hands and I guess when Ryan came into the room he saw Tydon gripping the scissors with two hands and they were embedded in the middle of a ball of yarn that was sitting by my chair. He had pretty much made spaghetti of the yarn. He was working on the second ball of yarn and we then saw the rest of the destruction. He was holding the scissors like a pair of shears and was chopping at about what ever he could find that he could cut. Luckily we were in the room after about 5 minutes because I later thought of all the more he could have done. I had been working on a project, these cute little headbands and I had a pair of my circular stainless steel knitting needles to work on the project. They are made of a pretty strong wire and he had cut them into 3 places. He had also fringed the project I had been working on. I then looked at my leather ottoman and I guess he had decided to see if those shears would cut that as well. So I guess if you pass on a trait of yourself that sometimes it is intensified. I did shed a few tears and I felt sad. I wasn't angry at Tydon but I felt so bad at the destruction that had been done in such a little time. Kace did say later it probably was good that his Dad wasn't here because he would have been yelling very, very loud.

Here is the project I was working on and I did complete after Caitlin took Kace and Tydon to Logan and found replacements for the knitting needles and yarn. When I got home that afternoon Tydon gave me a hug and told me he was sorry. I don't think he knew the destruction that he did only that he was thinking "Wow, look how cool these scissors are when you pull them back and forth."

Here is the other project I had with the pink yarn, it is finished now and I was able to replace it.

Here is the cut on the ottoman, there is another cut on the underside of the piping but I think I can get some leather repair and it can be repaired.

Here is the spaghetti mess and the knitting needles in 3 pieces.

I love you Tydon and I am glad that I am older and wiser now and realize that it is just stuff and it can be replaced.

I can laugh now.

Celebrating

We celebrated Tydon's birthday the night before Rachel and Nate left for Greece. He got this truck that played some rocking music when you pushed a button and he then started showing his dance moves. I don't know what was up with the head banging. Then I looked over and Lincoln was getting into the groove as well. Tydon is such a cute, fun loving kid and it has been fun having him here while his parents are away. Happy Birthday Tydon!!

Thinking about life

I loved this picture and when I had my ah, hah moment of why I am here. It says
There are two great days in a person's life. the day we are born and the day we discover why.

Happy New Year!!!

We had a Happy New Year celebrating with friends and family. At 9:30 we decided that it was New years somewhere so we could celebrate before the kids had to go to bed. We found our old fashioned noise makers, (from the pan cupboard in the kitchen) and made as much noise as we could. I think the only things that heard us was the dogs, chickens, and some deer up on the hill.
The kids thought it was pretty fun banging all those pans and using the lids as cymbals.
Mary and Isaac came up with Mary's family. Jess and Mac, Rachel and Nate, and Caitlin also were there for the celebration. Kace, Tydon, Lincoln, and Mary's sisters kids, Kelsie, Kade, and Annalise were the noise makers.

We did the usual things we do on New Years Eve but Ryan thought it would be fun to have rooms doing different activities. So we had a card game room, a Wii game room, a movie room and of course there was the cowboy play room. Every one was able to do the activity they wanted and it was FUN!!

Of Course, just being together was the most fun of all! Hope everyone had a great New Year and I am looking forward to all that will happen in this coming year.

Christmas!!

I love Christmas and all of the sights, smells, excitement and food that goes a long with the holiday. We had a great holiday and being with loved ones and family was the best!!

Hope all of you had a great Christmas as well.

Merry Christmas!!!

Twas the night before the night before

Just some pictures of our home in celebration of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas. May all your wishes and dreams come true in this coming year.

more activities

For Ryan's birthday we went to Salt Lake and went to the Christmas concert at the conference center. We stayed overnight and before the concert we ate at Little America. Ryan had a big juicy steak and if you can see the picture below he must have really been enjoying it because his eyes are closed. He was savoring the delectable morsel.
We then walked the 5 blocks to temple square and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the season.
The lights were beautiful and even though the night air was very frigid, the sights all around warmed us through and through. (well not really, it still was cold.)

The concert was tremendous and listening to the choir sing was quite heavenly. It was a memorable night.

December's activities

The month has flown by but we have had some very fun activities. During the first week of December we were in the Stake youth Christmas Cantata. We have been practicing with the youth since September every Sunday afternoon. The music was beautiful and we even had an orchestra from youth in the stake to accompany us. I had a horrible cough which started in November and I thought I wouldn't be able to sing but during the performance I didn't cough until the very last note.( I think I was blessed.) The youth in our stake are amazing and did a great job. At the Stake Center they had the cultural hall full of beautiful nativities and creche's from people in the stake,
I was so inspired by all of the different nativities that I went home and decided I needed more in my house. I will have to show you later the ones that I have acquired.

Aren't they great and they were all displayed so beautifully.

I especially liked the one from Africa and decided I must have one like that one as well. I am awaiting it's arrival. I can't imagine anything that brought the spirit of Christmas more than to start out December with beautiful music and Nativities representing our Savior from all over the world.

Happy Birthday Mac!

Today is my Christmas baby's birthday. We came home on Christmas eve and enjoyed what it was like to have our very own little one for Christmas.
Have a very Happy Birthday!
We love you Mac!

Santa has been busy!!!

It seems like this month has just zipped by. Then I thought of all that I have been doing and then it seems like maybe I have accomplished something. I brought a hat into someone at work and one hat led to the next and the next and etc.
So, then I knew why the month has zipped by.

It's almost over! I just have two more to do, unless of course someone else wants one.

What is Thanksgiving?

Is it the Food?

After thinking about that question I came to the conclusion that it is all about the family. If you were to eat your Thanksgiving meal all by yourself it wouldn't mean very much. But sharing it with those you love makes all the difference.

We had a great day on turkey day this year because every last one of our family was here to celebrate. Our house was full but oh, it was so fun! Even my Mom and Dad came up to be with us and we are so grateful for Grandma and Grandpa Great!

Our family has grown over the years and the more we get, the funnier our family pictures have become. Have you ever tried to take a picture with 10 kids under the age of 8? I actually thought they turned out great and the weather cooperated and Mary's Dad was able to come and snap some great shots! By the time we got to the grand kid pictures though they had just about had enough and were ready to go in and eat!

So, is Thanks giving about the food? We spend all of that time preparing those foods that remind us of the holiday but I think even without the food, just being together would be enough.

We had many helping hands so our food was terrific! Even the smells coming from the kitchen were enough to fill you up.

The turkey, the ham, the stuffed mushrooms, the stuffing, the potatoes and gravy, the rolls and the pies. We had enough to last several days and it was good that we had enough people to eat all of the leftovers.

I had a great helper in the kitchen this year, her name is Livy and she wanted to help with everything I did. She actually did a great job and was a very good assistant. Sometimes I wish I could sit on the counter with my bare feet and underwear and cook to my hearts content.

So Grandma with her feet ice cold in the snow,

Stood puzzling and puzzling:

"How could it be so?"

Thanksgiving came without ribbons! It

came without tags!
It came without packages,

boxes or bags!"

And she puzzled three hours, till

her puzzler was sore.

Then Grandma thought of

something she hadn't before!

"Maybe Thanksgiving,"

she thought, "Doesn't come from a

store.

Maybe

Thanksgiving... perhaps...means a

little bit more.

Night of Excellence

Last night we had our Evening of Excellence. I think it turned out great and there were some great analogies of life that were brought up. Life is like a football game and in the pre- existence we all made a choice what team we would be on. We are all still striving to be on the Lord's side but it is sometimes hard because we have so much opposition from the other team. We have some great Young Women in the Cub River Ward and they are practicing hard to be the best they can be. We have our play books,(scriptures and For the Strength of Youth) and when we get off track of our goals we just need to get back to the basics. Saying our prayers, reading our scriptures, and attending our meetings.
We all have our tickets to get into the game and once we are in the game it is what we do with ourselves that makes all of the difference.

We have many recruits and we are excited to see what they do while in the game. We as leaders and parents are here to do all that we can to help them win this so called game of life.

Aren't these some of the best recruits you have seen!

We are going to be victorious by working together and helping each other until we get to that final goal, of course it is going to be the great "Homecoming Party" that we will have at the end when we will receive our greatest honor of "Eternal Life."

We had the coach and the Ref speak to us and give us a big pep talk on the plan of making it to our final goal. We ARE going to make it.

You Go Girls, Go Fight, Win!!

It was a great evening and one that we will remember as we go through this great game of life.