Blessing Day

Day-Old Child

My day-old child lay in my arms, with my lips against his ear.

I whispered strongly, "How I wish -- I wish that you could hear.

I've a hundred wonderful things to say ( A tiny cough and a nod),

Hurry, hurry, hurry and grow so I can tell you about God."

My day-old baby's mouth was still and my words only tickled his ear.

But a kind of light passed through his eyes, and I saw this thought appear;

"How I wish I had a voice and words; I've a hundred things to say

Before I forget I'd tell you of God -- I left Him yesterday.

I am so happy that Cannon and Lilly were able to share their special blessing days with each other. It is a day that will always be a tender memory for me. They are such beautiful babies with little spirits that bring so much love into our lives.

Getting this family picture was quite the chore. It is sad that Cannon is screaming because this little guy hardly ever cries. Ella was pouting and crying as we were taking pictures, I can't believe that she is smiling. Not only is she smiling, but if you didn't know her you would almost believe her to be an angel! My mouth isn't quite smiling because I think I was in the middle of mumbling some sort of bribe (or threat) to get her to smile. Oh- the truth behind the scenes, right?

After church, Gary and Katie Martin were gracious enough to let us have a luncheon in their beautiful backyard with family and close friends to celebrate Cannon and Lilly. The weather was great, the food was delicious and the relationships were strengthened- life doesn't get much better than this.


Erin and I had fun planning this "gathering" for our babies. Just pretend I am holding Cannon, he was asleep in his car seat (shocker) and I didn't want to disturb him.

Poor little Ella had to take a time-out (look in the car). Poor little pathetic girl.

Family Weekend

Last weekend was a very busy, very FUN, weekend. My parents drove up from Utah with my brother Russell, his wife Merrilee, and their two kids, Ryker and Kate. I have been lucky enough to see my mom every few weeks since Cannon was born. Cannon loves my mom and I think he gave her his first real smile while she was here.

Maybe soon we'll catch one on camera.

Friday night we all went out to dinner. After dinner we came home to watch the Jazz game and have root beer floats and scotcharoos that my mom made. Ella and Ryker had a great time without any arguments. It was so nice for the adults to be able to catch up and have real conversations without having to referee the kids. Saturday morning we went over to the church for a primary activity. Things were so crazy for me that morning, I forgot to grab my camera. Luckily my mom had hers in her purse so we could snap a few shots. Ella's friends, Tanaya and Kahmea wanted to be in the picture too.

This little girl in the pink shirt next to Kate was just darling. She carried Kate around, held her hand to lead her around the room, and just made sure Kate's every need was met.

After the primary activity, we piled in the car and headed up the freeway to Yakima to watch Ethan's game. Here is a picture of Ella and Ryker holding up the posters that Ethan had made for them. I didn't think about getting a picture of them with the basketball player- oops.

After the game, we went over to the Dyno putt-putt in Granger for our friend, Benjamin's, birthday party. The kids had a great time playing mini golf, riding go-carts, eating pizza and being silly with their friends.

Saturday was so busy that my mom and dad said they would take Ethan and Ella over to the hotel that Russell and Merrilee were staying at to let them swim with Ryker and Kate. I ran to Wal-Mart to get some last minute groceries for Cannon's baby blessing luncheon the next day. When they got home from the hotel Ethan said, "Camille showed up at the hotel!" I was so surprised! Camille and her kids drove all the way up to Sunnyside to be with us for Cannon's blessing day. It was so exciting. I just love my sister and was so glad that I would get to spend some time with her. It meant so much that she would do that to be with me for such a special weekend. Sunday morning, we went over to the hotel and joined them for the continental breakfast. The kids were so excited to see their cousins.

My sister stayed an extra day to get some dental work done- well that was the logical excuse for staying an extra day- so I took the kids to Burger King to play. I miss them so much already and wish we lived closer.

Arizona

We had lots of fun on our family vacation to Arizona last weekend. The same airline that has cheap flights, just added a new destination- Mesa! We were excited to get out in the sun. Kent found a great resort that had a golf course and water park on site. Our room couldn't have been located more perfectly with our patio walking right out to the water park and the front door opening up to the courtyard pool. Ethan and Kent woke up early to do some golfing then we all went and enjoyed the weather poolside.

This picture I love. I can't tell if Ella is pointing at Ethan as if she is embarrassed to be with him, or if she giving me the "cut it" sign to stop taking her picture.

Now that he put his goggles up, Ella is okay to accept him as her brother.

If Cannon isn't sleeping- he wants to be.

Maybe we should've given Ella a spray tan too..?

The kids took a break from the water to play on our iphones. Hmmm...

My old roommate, Rhonda, (she's also a close friend of the Copeland family) lives in Arizona. We were so happy that she took time to come hang out with us while we were there. She made the weekend so much fun. At first, our little Ella wasn't sure what to think of this person crashing our family vacation. Rhonda bought Ethan and Ella some ice cream to try and win them over. Ethan was hooked right away, but as the pictures will show, it took Ella a little convincing...

...and that is the smile that changed the weekend. Ella had let Rhonda in. Rhonda had no idea what she was in for as Ella's new bestie.

Once Ella realized how fun it can be to be friends with people, she introduced herself to a little girl at the pool and had some good fun playing with her. Ella is quite smart, she found a girl that was older than her and would throw the toys in the water to make her new friend dive for them. Luckily the girl thought that was pretty fun.
Ethan was happy that Rhonda was there to throw the football with him. Kent was happy too because he was able to lay out and relax while Rhonda did all the work :)

After Rhonda got to know Ethan better and saw how much he LOVES sports and football, she gave him this signed BYU ball from the bowl game. Thank you, Rhonda!

Rhonda's friend told her about a fun place to go with kids. We are so thankful for the recommendation because we all had a blast! First of all, you have to wear socks, but we were all in flip-flops so we had to buy socks. Love it! This place has massive tunnels and bridges that lead to places that leave you wondering which way is up. Rhonda sat with Cannon for a bit while Kent and I tried to keep up with the kids. I never have felt so old. I have the bruised knees and scabby elbows to prove it. Kent and I looked ridiculous but had a great time laughing until it hurt. I loved it when Kent's back button got stuck on the net and he couldn't get through, creating a traffic jam of kids wondering what was going on.

Then Kent sat with Cannon while I went AGAIN with Rhonda and the kids. It was just as hilarious the second time, but my elbows were not happy with me.
We had fun eating at Benihana's. Ella didn't care for the food, but had was very entertained with the exciting show.

Lots of yummy food on our trip.

Yummmm!

Breakfast at the Waffle House. That is an experience in and of itself.

Breakfast at Mimi's. Rhonda was so great to let the kids hang on her, talk her ears off, sit in the backseat of the mini-van rental, sing Barbie songs with them, splash in the pool with them, and overall love them.

Even though the kids were SUPER excited and hyper, we had a wonderful family vacation with our little family of five. We are glad that Rhonda spent so much time with us, it wouldn't have been the same without her. We are looking forward to flying her up here to babysit our kids so we can go on a weekend get-away without them.