The first day of Freedom...I mean school!

waiting...

...and waiting...

...and even more waiting!

Today is the first day of school!! The kids got up at 6:45 because they were so excited. They were ready to go by 7:45, so they only had an hour to sit around and whine about how bored they were, and "mom is it time to go YET?". Finally, the blessed moment arrived. I took a quick picture or two, hustled them into the car (only had to turn around once to get my checkbook for lunch money) and they were off!


Now, what to do? I have sufficiently wasted nearly an hour of my "free time" reading blogs, and generally messing around online, so I think it is time to get down to business. I will have a full day of straightening my bedroom, possibly washing some dishes, making watch bands, and there is a slight chance I will even get dressed! I have paid my dues with years of crying babies, dirty diapers, and terrible twos, and now I finally get to enjoy the reward....7 hours of quiet time, 5 days a week!! WOOHOO!! :o) I really do love my kids, and I may even miss them now and then, but a little peace and quiet will be much appreciated. Hooray for school!

Crazy Cannon Girls' Weekend Extravaganza in San Diego!!

The second annual Cannon Girls' Extravaganza took place in San Diego last weekend! We had a blast!! We stayed at a very nice hotel in Del Mar. We did lots of shopping, eating, chatting & shell hunting on the beach. I am a little retarded at the whole picture uploading thing on blogger, so all the pictures are out of order. Oh well, at least you can see what a fun time we had! The other girls took lots of pictures too, so I will post them as well as soon as I get them. (Ha, Ha! I am the first one to post!!)

Saturday, hanging out on Coronado Beach.

Lunch at Coronado. YUM!

Hotel Del Coronado (thanks abi)...so cool!

View from Coronado Bay Bridge

Sunday, lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in La Jolla.

Seashell hunting on "Shell Beach", La Jolla

Shell Beach, La Jolla

Lookout wall for Seal Rock, La Jolla

San Diego Temple...it's a castle!

It was so fun! :o) We had a great trip & I can't wait until next year! Thanks mom, for everything! PLICKETY PLOW!

This Summer in Pictures

Here is the summer-in-review with lots of pictures. The summer started off with Madison's 10th birthday on the last day of school- May 22nd. She had a fun party with her friends and got lots of great presents.



Andrew's 6th birthday was on June 10th. He had a party with friends as well. The string on his pinata broke after only a few whacks, so Cory decided to throw it up into the air a few times, and let it break open when it hit the ground. The kids didn't care how the pinata broke, just that they got to enjoy the goodies inside!

On June 14th, we went to Salt Lake for a family reunion and a trip to Hogle Zoo.

On July 7th, we went to Sand Hollow Reservoir with some friends. Here is a picture of me desperately trying to knee board. I WILL figure it out one of these days. We will take another trip to Lake Powell next month, and I will give it another shot then. Keep your fingers crossed for me! ;)

Zachary's 8th birthday was on July 21st. He opted for a family party with dinner at Winger's (his favorite, mostly because of the "all-you-can-eat" popcorn!) and then a round of bowling afterward. We had a lot of fun, and everyone enjoyed a good laugh at my "granny bowling".

The crowning event of the summer was Zachary's baptism on August 2nd. It was a lovely day with lots of family, good food & fun. We are so pleased with Zachary for getting baptized!

Now, summer has nearly come to a close. School starts on the 14th (just one more week!). With all the kids in school full-time now, I just don't know what I will do with myself! I am sure I will be able to keep myself busy. The kids are excited about their teachers for the year and I know it will be a great school year for them all.

Memory Lane

MEMORY LANE- I found this on a friend's blog & thought it looked like fun!
Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! I guess good or bad, but be nice!!!!!!!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

I keep them around for the laughs...

Okay, that isn't the only reason, but they do keep me in stiches. Here are my favorite funny moments from each of my kids recently.

First, and the one we are still laughing about, is Zachary. About a week ago we were driving home from Girls' Camp and all the kids were exhausted, so they were asleep when we pulled into town. We drove around a big corner, and all of a sudden, Zach says "Woah!" and then mumbles very quickly, (still mostly asleep) "twinkle, twinkle little star" and then wakes up. I am laughing just typing this, it was sooo funny!! We still tease him about that one. He may never live it down.

Next, is a pre-teen moment courtesy of Miss Madison. Yesterday night she came into my room and said, "Mom, I have lots of mosquito bites on my legs and they are itching really bad." And I said, "Where did you get mosquito bites?" She said, "from Girls' Camp" (which was over a week ago). I said, "No, you don't just have mosquito bites now from Girls Camp." so I leaned over to inspect her legs as she pointed out the small, itchy red bumps. As I looked closer, I noticed that she had tried to SHAVE HER LEGS!! When I asked her, she told me that she had shaved them in the shower earlier with just water! Ouch!! She is still learning that lesson. I told her not to be in such a hurry to grow up!

Last, but not least, I was talking to Andrew tonight after dinner, and out-of-the-blue he says to me, "If you take something back to the store to get your money back, you might not get your same money back that you paid, but you will get the same amount." I am not sure where that came from, but I thought it was very astute for a six-year-old. He often makes me think, "where on earth did you come up with that?" Such a clever boy!

Seems Like...

I am always playing "catch-up" with my blog! Summer has been busy here. I have been working a lot on my new jewelry line: interchangeable watches. I have a blog & an Etsy shop set up, but I am still in the beginning stages.

Cory has been working hard as ever and we are looking forward to him having some time off next week. We are planning at least one trip to the lake as well as a few days in Salt Lake. I promise, I will take lots of pictures!

The kids have been playing with friends a lot. They like to play night-games outside and the other night I finally had to send everyone home at 10:15!

A couple of weeks ago, we went up to Salem (by Payson) for a Family Reunion. It was for Cory's Grandma's family. We hung out at the park, ate lunch & the kids played on the playground. Then we drove up to the Hogle Zoo with Cory's sisters and their kids. Our nephew, Brayden was celebrating his 2nd birthday, so we spent the afternoon at the zoo. It was fun. One of the elephants was celebrating her 48th birthday, so it was pretty packed. It was hot, but we had a good time. We got to see the White Alligator, which was cool even though it looked like it was dead. It was a really long day because we drove up and back in one day, but everyone had fun.

Vote For ME!!

I am a finalist in a beading contest! Please, vote for me!! To vote, go to: www.beadingdaily.com/beadstar. You can only vote once per e-mail address. (and it will set a cookie on your computer, so if you know how to clear your cache & you have more than one e-mail address, vote away!!)
I am #12 in the "Stones" category. You have to vote through each category to get to mine, but that's okay, because my sister is also a finalist!! She is #15 in the "Crystals" category, which is the first one you will come to! So, exercise your right to vote and start clicking now! :o)