Christmas, Corbin's Birthday and Other Happenings

On the Sunday after the reception I just needed some serious recoup. I took a 2 hour nap and lounged a lot that day. We ate Cannon family Sunday night dinner and started some games but we left early to go and meet up with our friends. Scott is still best friends with his core friends from high school. They are awesome. We all get along great. We had a fun time visiting with them for several hours. We already started planning our next big trip without kids: 2016. Can't wait.

Christmas Eve started out raining, boo. But it quickly turned into the most beautiful snow and it snowed all day. It was so beautiful. Salt Lake is so beautiful. Scott's parents have great views out their front porch and their back porch. I love it. We ended up going back over to Phil and Micaela's to make some rolls. Micaela mixed up the dough and I rolled it out and cooked them. It was nice to do it over there because we got to hang out some more and plus I could contribute without crowding the kitchen. Here is the roll recipe. So good! Thanks again Micaela. Later that night we had Janet's homemade chicken noodle soup that is so yummy. We decorated gingerbread cookies and then proceeded with the Cannon family Christmas Eve talent show. It was fun. The Cannons are FUN! Scott and I did a dance. It was awesome. If I ever get a hold of the video I will post it. We finished off the night with Musical Scrooge.

Christmas morning was fun. It took a long time to open presents. There were a lot. We pretty much just lounged all day and then had Janet's Christmas dinner that night. The boys played video games after that and the rest of us just hung around a little bit. We finally broke down and played a game it which made the night.

The day after Christmas Scott went with his friends skiing. He hasn't skied in 8 years! They had fun. I was happy they got to get together and play like that. Janet took me to the new outlet mall in Alpine (I think). We picked out some cute kid clothes.

Thursday was Corbin's birthday. We went to the Pizza Factory for lunch followed by bowling. It was fun. The girls were being extra tired and crabby but ended up surviving all right. That night we had dinner and cake and presents. Nicole made a movie trailer of the day. Check it out here.

On Friday we drove home. We stopped once to fill up. Our kids didn't even get out of the car. I don't know how they do that? I have to have bathroom break. They are such good little travelers. Piper slept for only 20 minutes but she was a quiet little mouse the whole way home. After we got home I went and ran some errands. I wanted to celebrate Corbin's birthday again with just our family. Saturday we had another Corbin birthday celebration. We went out to eat and had cake and presents again. One day is really not enough. Today me and the kids stayed home from church. They have pretty bad coughs. I have been working on the computer a lot today. I had a lot of catching up to do.

Read the blog post below to find out about Chase's wedding.

Shepard

Angel

The Nativity Story

Skiing with buddies.

Happy Birthday!

Sparkler!

My robot cake. Ha!

He's growing up!

Chase's Wedding and other Happenings

Well I survived putting on another wedding. I'm glad Keaton is still on a mission so I can take a breather between weddings. Christmas time is a crazy time to get married. It is beautiful though I will give them that. We ended up driving down to Utah on Sunday December 16th. Our kids were sick and we decided since we wouldn't be going to primary anyway we might as well just head down to Utah. This ended up being a blessing as we were able to beat the worst of the storm and travel on clear roads. On Monday we went to lunch at Hires and just hung out. Janet was busy doing last preparations before she would be stuck babysitting and hosting for a long time.

On Tuesday Chase got married. I thought that we were supposed to be at the temple at 2:10. I guess that was when the sealing was to be performed. So when we walked in a little after 2:10 we didn't understand why everyone thought we were late. Lucky for us they were delayed and we just made it! It's a good thing because Elder Russel M. Nelson sealed Chase and Rachel. It was so cool. He gave them an apostolic blessing. Luckily Scott was there with his mad brain skills and as soon as we were out he started furiously recording it in his phone. Rachel was also sealed to her family that same day. Elder Nelson attended a stake conference in Pennsylvania and introduced himself to Rachel's family. Her dad had been investigating the church for 10+ years. Elder Nelson told them that when they were ready to be sealed he would perform the ceremony for them. After Rachel's dad joined the church her mom wrote Elder Nelson a letter reminding him about their conversation and the secretary set it up. Cool huh?

After the sealing we had a luncheon at The Lion House. Justin and Rachel made a wedding video and we watched that after the dinner. It was so cold at the temple that day. I was not dressed properly to walk around temple square. Scott's parents and our kids came to see the lights that night but Scott and I just bolted because just getting back to the car was painful enough. Temple square is beautiful and magical at Christmas time. I wish I could have enjoyed it more.

On Wednesday we went to the new museum at USU. It was huge! Afterwards we went to Hires and then Scott and I headed up to Arco to do the reception. We left our kids with Nana and Papa. We thoroughly enjoyed the drive alone! We also enjoyed the drive from Salt Lake to Arco much better than the drive from Salt Lake to Boise. That night we just had a nice long chat with my mom and Kelsey and Justin. On Thursday I started the chicken noodle soup. In the afternoon we went up and did almost all of the setting up. That night I needed to get something at the church and much to my dismay the parking lot had about 15 cars in it. I was so nervous at the thought of what could be happening to all of my wedding decorations. When I walked into the gym it was empty. Relief! Then I heard the sounds of tons of young children. Apparently there was a cub scout meeting that night. Luckily one of the leaders arrived early and saw the wedding decorations and locked the gym. Love her! In the 10 minutes were were in the gym there was constantly some kid trying to bust their way into the gym. All was well and nothing was even touched. That night we had a version of Christmas Eve with most of the fixins along with lots of Christmas carols. Rachel's parents came over for that.

On Friday I baked and cooked most of the day. I broke the rules and just cooked all of the cupcakes at the church. It was so much easier that way. We had some close calls and near disasters but in the end all was well and prayers were answered. The reception went well and we had fun but it was not well attended. That was a bummer. Luckily our family is so big that it looked rather full even without the numbers. Chase and Rachel cut the cupcake, raffled prizes, and had the garter and bouquet toss. The best part of the night was their first dance which was a choreographed number (by Rachel) with several song splices. It was the best! I loved it so much!

 It was crazy to look at everything at the reception and think about how I hand made practically everything there. I spray painted, glittered, gathered branches, cut fabric flowers, and hot glued til the cows came home. I thought it looked really good though and I was happy about it. I thoroughly enjoyed making everything. Putting it all together and making sure the party goes well is a little more stressful to me. It was also crazy to do the decorations and the food. Insane. Thank you Jeff and Janet for watching my kids. I couldn't have done it without you.

After the reception most of my family including my mom stayed up past 1:00 in the morning talking. The next day most of us headed home early. We gave Justin and Kelsey a ride to the airport. It was fun talking to them the whole way down. We met up with Scott's family at Cafe Rio. The rest of the day not much else happened. Although I did discover a new store pretty close to Scott's parents house that I will have to revisit often. I love that store. It's a Downeast Outfitters clothing and furniture outlet. It was awesome. I loved it! I spent a good portion of my Christmas money there. My friend Jen told me that it's Pottery Barn furniture. No wonder I loved it.

Here is the facebook link to pictures from the reception.

Pipers First Steps and Santa Comes Early

Well this week has been a week of making lists and scratching items off lists. It has been busy but not overwhelming. We took gifts to our children's primary teachers and sent off most of our Christmas cards. I decided to not do neighborhood treats this year. Something had to go. Scott and I both went to the temple separately this week. That seems to be the easiest way for us. It's better than not going at all. I had some girls over and we watched The Holiday on Tuesday night. I love that movie. On Thursday we had our annual Beal family Christmas dinner at Lance and Katie's house, that was a good time. After we got home Piper just got herself up and started taking her first steps! That was very exciting. She hasn't taken any steps since Thursday night however. Gabby didn't take her first steps until she was 15 months as well.

On Friday night we got a babysitter and went and bought our kid's Christmas presents. It was fun. After we got home I wrapped all of the presents. Originally we planned to somehow miraculously pack for our family for almost 2 weeks, pack the last of the wedding supplies, and pack our kid's Christmas presents. As I looked at our couch that was filled with presents I realized that this was not going to happen. Scott and I discussed it and decided that having early Christmas morning the next day made the most sense. So I ran to the store at 11:00 at night to get a few supplies so we could have a proper Christmas morning breakfast. When the kids got up we told them that Santa came early and we all had a grand time. Our kids had so much fun playing with their presents all day long. Luckily they are young enough to not really care or know the difference.

Our kids have colds right now and Scott and I were discussing church and we decided that we would go to Sacrament meeting and go home afterward to not spread the sicknesses within the primary classes. As I thought about that I thought we might as well just go to Salt Lake right after Sacrament meeting. We had to do all our preparations today anyway, plus with only going to Sacrament meeting that makes for a long day of waiting to go to Nana's house. So we are headed out in the morning. I hope I don't forget anything important. I have so many things to try to keep track of right now. Well it's going to be a busy week. Wish me luck.

Corbin likes to hold and wrestle with Piper. She is not so sure about this.

Gabby has been obsessed with her ballerina costume her Aunt Colie gave her.

"Christmas Eve"

Presents!

This may be the same thing from the ward breakfast. Whatever it good that's why I served it.

Scott built a garage for Corbin's spider robot with his new lincoln logs.

Gabby got an orangutan and she LOVES it so much!

Corbin's sweet car robot.

Ward Party...Boom Roasted!

Wow, it has been one stressful week. Planning a ward party is a ton of work. Not only is it a ton of work it is so hard to figure out how much food to buy and coordinate the whole thing. I did entirely too much. I did delegate I swear, especially at the end I really called for some reinforcements but I basically did all of the decorations and food buying and planning by myself. Scott helped of course but really this is more of a woman's department. Scott was especially helpful the day of. It is very handy to have a tall husband to put up all of the decorations. It is also helpful to have a techy husband and one with a good emcee voice. We had a committee but it was too small and there wasn't anyone really to delegate to. I delegated the program to the other couple and that pretty much left Scott and I to do the food and decorations. Truth be told that's probably the way I would have chosen it anyway because I am a bit of a control freak and if Scott and I are in charge of something I want it to be good. The food had to be good so I wanted to be in charge of that.

Long story short after weeks of planning and preparations it was good! I don't mean to brag but really the decorations looked awesome and the food was delicious! We had breakfast for dinner. We had breakfast casseroles, pancakes with all the fixings, clementines, muffins, chocolates, and a hot cocoa bar. I think of the best things was that I had fun Christmas music playing for people when they walked it. I think music totally helps set the tone of  the party. We also set up food on both sides of the gym to cut down the line. There was hardly a line ever. Sweet! During dinner we were treated by the youth doing a Rudolf the Red nosed Reindeer flash mob. After dinner there were reindeer games set up in the back for the kids. We had a photo booth with props and Minute to Win it games set up across the hall. The games were cut a little short due to starting late and a guest Santa who was a little bit of a diva. He handed out goodies and led the program explaining to the children why Santa is like Jesus (they both give presents, have beards, yadi yada). We then watched the Breath of Heaven video online followed by the ward singing Silent Night. We ended and then watched the flash mob video of the Hallelujah Chorus. I'm so glad it is over and I'm so glad for all of the help that I received. Another victory for Team Cannon. (That is how we like to refer to ourselves). Ha.

I have to say that my kids are awesome and they are so good. I love them! We took them with us to the church to set up and we were there for 3 hours and they were great! I pretty much ignored them all the whole time and they were happy little clams. Piper got a little tired at the end but it was nothing a little chocolate couldn't fix. What little troopers they are. Luckily that night I asked my visiting teacher to watch them while Scott and I went to the church to do the final preps. We were at the church for 8 hours on Friday. For real! I think this ward party is going to make Chase's wedding seem like a cinch! One great thing is that another ward was coming in to set up for their ward party in the morning and they used all of my decorations. That made me so happy because it is so hard to take them down when you just barely put them up. I was really glad they got used for more than one party.

Saturday we sort of tried to recover but we did get to go to my friend's ugly sweater party and that was really fun. The best part is I made my ugly sweater and Corbin said "mom you're making a sweater." Me: "Ya." C:"Oh it's beautiful!" When I went to get dressed Gabby said, "oh are you wearing your new sweater cuz it's so cute?" Funny kids I guess it is pretty cute if you are a little kid. I also made a hot cocoa mug that had our Twilight picture on it. It said "Wishing you a Merry Christmas and may your love last FOREVER! Love Edward and Bella." Scott came up with the wording. We ended up stealing our present back. We couldn't part with it.

This week is operation try to recover/get ready for Chase's wedding and Christmas on the road. We are leaving in a week. I'm kind of having a busy life right now. By the way kudos to anyone who actually read this whole post!

Getting things gathered the night before.

One of our big shopping trips. One of many.

I cut out and hot glued each of those candy cane pennants. My mom and sister helped at Thanksgiving. 340 total to be exact.

I was pretty burned out by the end and I'm terrible with snowflakes so I asked the Young Women to cut out all of those. I then sewed them together.

 

Scott made the big snowflakes. He's got some mad skills!

Everything had a sign and label. It was cute.

We had a funny picture of the Bishop with the Young Women projected up on the stage.

Each table had muffins, clementines, and chocolate. Along with games and activities.

Photo Booth with props. Darn it we didn't get a chance to take a family photo!

White elephant gift that we couldn't part with.

I decided to hang up the snowflake curtain after the party.

Ugly sweaters! Or beautiful according to my kids.

 

Corbin came to lay on me while I was taking a nap. He is not my little boy any more. That boy is heavy! Ha.

Lindsey feeding Piper cheerios at church.

New Kitchen Chairs!

The ward party is less than a week away and that is a relief. This week I am going to buy a gazillion pounds of bacon, butter, and much more. It should be interesting. I can't wait for it to be over. I sure hope it's good or at least good enough. That is on most of my thoughts these days. On Friday night I wanted to go Christmas shopping with Scott but I couldn't find a babysitter. I finally decided we should take the kids with us to window shop. It was fun. We got a Wendy's frosty on the way home. Families are fun! Scott went to Texas this week and brought home bags full of clothes from Nana. The kids were super excited to get some cute wintery pajamas. The girls looked especially darling in their matching Sunday outfits. I should have taken a picture! We were in a rush to get to church early to put up our ward party signs and after church we were in a rush because we had a meeting with a member of the stake presidency. More to come on that later. Anyway point being I didn't take a picture.

My friend Chelsey came over a few times this week and I helped her sew Christmas stockings. I still haven't caught the bug to want to make my own family Christmas stockings but that got me a little closer.

This week I went to buy some ugly sweaters for a Christmas party next week. I bought some at the first thrift store I went to but there were two others close by that I couldn't help but take a peek on my way home. Luckily for me it was a huge success. I walked into Goodwill and found 4 kitchen chairs in excellent condition for $9.99 a piece. I bought them straight away and brought them home. My friend Jen gave us her old kitchen table with chairs years ago and we were and still are so grateful. Our old kitchen table set from IKEA and it was very small and lightweight. The black chairs that Jen gave us were definitely past their prime. So for years I have been casually on the hunt for new kitchen chairs. Every time I would go to garage sales or to a thrift store kitchen chairs were on the back of my mind. It wasn't until last week that I was victorious and in a big way. I think the chairs match our table perfectly. You just don't find 4 matching chairs that aren't attached to a table. Amazing! This summer I had bought a couple of wooden chairs at a Thrift store so this weekend I painted those right up.Victory!

Gabby wanted to wear her witch costume last Sunday. She wore it the whole day. She even took a nap in it. She has definitely outgrown it. In the back it didn't even cover her bum. She looked like she was going to The Howl at Utah State.

We sent Keaton a Christmas letter and had the kids paint a picture for Uncle Keaton. I was impressed by Corbin's skills and I was sad to give the picture away so I snagged a picture before we sent it.

Nana presents.

Our old black chairs in the back.

The dark chairs I bought this summer.

Voila!