Mason's 12th Birthday!

Okay, so it is not exactly Mason's 12th Birthday yet, it is not until May 3rd, but this was the only time we could do it as next weekend he will be gone on his first overnight scouting trip (Lance is going too, that makes me less nervous).


He told me he wanted white cupcakes, I always try to convince them to get chocolate, but they tell me that is more for me than them! I got some anyway just in case the other kids wanted chocolate (okay, again another ploy just to get chocolate ones!) I love Taylor's face in this picture!


Sheldon (laying across), Austin, Kevin, Zac, Marcial, and Mason.


Lance got Mason a sleeping bag that will be good for his overnighter next weekend and the rest of us got him an iPod touch, which he has been wanting forever! Taylor was even more excited I think than Mason was for it. He came to me one day and said, "Mom, we need to get Mason's iPod set up for him." I just kept saying we will do it later and eventually he said, "Mom, can I just hold it and touch it for a second then!!" He is so funny! Now they both have one to play together!


Mason and Zac have known each other since preschool. In most of the pictures, this is what Kevin is doing to Mason's head, no idea why!


The boys went geocaching, we actually tried to find this cach before but were unsuccessful, I knew they would be able to find it though. I love their mustaches! Austin gave these to Mason. Mason also received a watch, money, candy, a bug robot, Lego's, iPod touch, and a sleeping bag. I also got him a suit and white shirt for when he gets to start passing the sacrament!!

Mason, you are a wonderful kid and we love you!! I can't believe you are going to be in middle school next year. I am proud of how smart and kind you are. Mason gets to be in advanced Math, Reading, and English next year! Even though I know you are getting bigger, I know that you will still let me cuddle you, tell me you love me, and let me give you big LUVS!!

Alyssa's 7th Birthday

For Alyssa's birthday we went over to Elite Gymnastics where she takes gymnastics. She wanted to do a Hello Kitty party, so went shopping to find her the perfect Hello Kitty shirt to wear. This was the perfect place for a party, everyone wore themselves out, especially Grandpa Cannon climbing the rope all the way to the ceiling.


All of Lysa's friends that came.


They all loved the rope and the foam pit.


Sierra, Kamri, Jordyn, and Alyssa (Jordyn is one of Alyssa's favorite people, she is the cutest and nicest girl!)


Alyssa told me that all she wanted for her birthday was a water bottle like the one I have (CamelBak one with a bite down straw) so that is what I got her! I am waiting until she gets older like the boys and wanting more expensive things.


Alyssa and Gracie, these girls are tough! The adults were playing just as much as the kids, the kids were just a little bit more daring though!

Four snowboarders and a cute little skier

For Christmas this year Joel and Holly gave our family tickets to go snowboarding up at Lost Trails in Montana, about 45 minutes away from Salmon. Mace and Taylor have been snowboarding for a few years now and Lance is awesome, so Alyssa and I decided it was our turn to learn.


Paige, Taylor, Mason, Sedonna, Leah, and Lysa. Ty was sick, so he spent the whole day in the lodge.


The last time I actually snowboarded was about 13 years ago when Lance and I first got married, and I went a couple of times and that was about it. I went skiing when I first had Taylor and tore my ACL and after that winter sports just didn't appeal to me anymore!! I decided that since Alyssa was old enough to go now that I needed to buck up and go again.

We headed over to the bunny hill to practice for a little bit and Lance strapped Alyssa into the snowboard and she started bombing it down the hill and she got to the end and crashed. She said she was hungry and wanted to go back to the lodge. Not a good first time experience for her. She told me that she didn't want to snowboard anymore so we put her in her cousins skis and Holly taught her how to ski and she did WONDERFUL! By the end of the day she was going down the hill by herself.

I didn't mind the bunny hill, except for that dang tow rope!! The first time I held on and went up with no problem but the second time it got the better of me!! Seriously that was harder than learning to snowboard. After practicing for a while I told Lance I was ready to hit the hill, but when we got on the lift we kept going and going and I kept seeing harder runs and moguls and I was just praying I wouldn't fall of the lift (I don't think screaming while getting on the lift was very helpful either!) Joel told the lift operator I was coming so they slowed it down a little for me so I wouldn't hurt small children or Lance while getting off. I don't think I did too bad, but the boys had to wait a little for me. I was just so amazed how awesome all of my boys were on the hill! I was even getting a little teary eyed of how proud of them I was!


This kid is AMAZING!! I was sitting in the lodge watching the boys come down the hill and I was feeling a little bad that Mason was always behind Taylor, and then all of the sudden Mason comes bombing it out of the trees doing these two huge jumps and landing them! Here I was thinking that he was a little behind in skill level, but nope he just wanted to take a different way to catch some air!



Taylor is an all-around athlete, good at everything he does, and snowboarding is no exception! Mace and Tay were so cute when we went on a run, they kept giving me pointers and telling me I was doing a good job, even when they had to wait for me. I told them they were better teachers than their dad.


Hanging at the bunny hill. My favorite story of the day is when we first got up to the snow hill. We were all getting our stuff ready to go when Mason realized that he left his coat back in Salmon. We all laughed, really you forgot your coat??? He ended up wearing mine and Lance had an extra jacket that I wore. Mason will never live that one down!


Lance and Joel, Lance snowboards and Joel skis, they went on a lift that took 18 minutes just to get to the top! The mountain had seven inches of powder from the night before so these two had a blast!!

Finally Done!

This post is just for me...

I am finally a college graduate with my BS (Bachelors of Science) degree in Psychology. It has taken me such a long time to do this, but it has been something that I have REALLY wanted to do for myself. My next goal is to get my Masters and possibly PhD, which might be another 5 years to accomplish. I am so grateful for a helpful husband and children so I could be away from home some nights, study instead of play (which Lysa would actually help me with my flashcards), and not be a very good housekeeper or cook.

I started a new job doing PSR (psychosocial rehabilitation) work which I must say my very first day I wanted to quit and didn't think I could handle or stand the smells or mess that I saw. After processing the first day and having a heart-to-heart with my supervisor, who knows I was having a tough time, I came to realize that it might be hard and some days flat out suck, but we are all people and some of us might need more help than others. I just need to treat them how I would want to be treated or how I would want someone to treat my kids.

This is my second week now and I am liking my job more than the previous week and I love working with the kids, which I actually thought I would like the adults better, so I guess it is a good thing I am going into School Psychology. Kids give me hope, hope that I might be able to do something tiny to help them. I know they will teach me patience and give me insight to help me later on with my School Psychology career.

Enough of my ramblings, but I do feel lucky to be able to find this job while Lance is looking for another one. I am still doing transcription for MountainStar as well as transcribing for a couple of other doctors that I picked up on the side. I am very busy lately and feeling guilty that I am away from home a lot! This puts a damper on my running and working out schedule, but I would rather spend time with my family and time is a precious thing to me right now.

Christmas 2010

This year for Christmas we headed to Lance's parents house in Buhl. We got there Christmas Eve and played the present game where we each pick a number and then take turns picking a present and if you like someone else's present you can take it. I was at the end so I traded presents with Alyssa (who got a 12 pack of chili) so she could pick again. The boys ended up with some model airplanes, Lysa ended up taking the scrapbook paper, Lance got a fly fishing pole and case, and I got the chili. Karen said that she had an extra surprise and that she put some extra money in someones present. Everyone was really excited and started opening their presents looking for the money, we found it in the box with the chili! Karen said whoever picked the chili was very practical and thus they got the money.

We finally got the kids to bed and then set everything out for the next morning. We got to bed around 12:30, and around 3:00 I could hear the boys upstairs sneaking around. I went up around 6:00 and found Taylor looking through all the presents under the tree. We eventually all got up around 7:00 and started opening presents.

Mason got a Stereo with CD player and play for his iPod, a Snap Rover robot, plants versus Zombies, some games, and grandma and grandpa got him a big lego crane set. It took him about 5 hours to put this together on Christmas day.






Taylor got an iPod touch, some apps downloaded on it, case, screen cover, a watch, some games, and the crane lego set from grandma and grandpa Cannon. Taylor was my favorite on Christmas, he has wanted the iPod touch forever and even saved up money to get it, but I had already bought it this summer, so I had to convince him for five months to try to wait and maybe Santa would bring it to him. Needless to say, he was so excited Christmas morning!




Lysa got an American Girl doll with reddish curly hair, earrings, some outfits, a barbie scooter, and a ton of craft supplies and projects from Grandma and Grandpa Cannon. We had to bring home all of her craft stuff in a Tupperware container. She gets very spoiled by Grandma.





Lance got the best present of all, the kids wrote him cards and said, "Mom said it was okay for you to hang up your mountain goat (that is at the taxidermist right now) INSIDE the house(and not in the garage) when it gets done! He also got some stuff from his dad like the fly fishing pole and accessories and some money to get some new waders and boots. He gets spoiled by his dad too, which I am grateful for.

I got a Camp Chef, from Lance and the kids, which I have been wanting for camping. I also got some gift cards from Karen, some kids books which I can use for work, and a tied dyed sweatshirt that Karen said she saw and knew I would love.



Our favorite Christmas present that we received this year was from my parents, they gave us a pool table. We actually got it the week before Christmas and we have been having so much fun with it. Thanks Mom and Dad!


We had a great Christmas and are looking forward to doing some snowboarding soon with the passes that Joel and Holly got our family for Christmas (they said it was the only way they could bribe me to come to Salmon).

Christmas Tree

This is our biggest Christmas Tree yet! They never look that big when you are cutting them down. Lance and I had an adventure just trying to get the Christmas tree back to the cabin. We cut it down and then McGuyver (Lance) whipped off his snow pants belt (he was even willing to use his shoelaces)and tied the tree to the snowmobile and we started back. On the way back, we we got stuck on a hill (which we both fell off the snowmobile), the snow pants belt broke and we lost the tree. The tree was dragging so much snow with it that it kept slowing us down and if we stopped we would get stuck (which we did!!) I told Lance that I would turn around backwards and hold onto the tree, but that wasn't going to work either. We finally went back to the car got rope and tried it again. We just had fun the two of us looking for the tree. The kids were back at the cabin just playing in the snow.


We were happy that we could actually hang ornaments on the tree this year. Last year they would just fall off. They usually fight on who gets to put the star on the top, but this year it was so tall that Lance ended up doing it.


After we decorated and got all cleaned up we played some Uno to end the night. We are all so excited that it is Christmas time!!

Happy Halloween!

Mason told me he wanted to be a clown so I found a cute clown outfit, but he wanted to be a scary clown (I think clowns are scary enough as is) with scary make-up, but I am not a make-up artist and had no idea how to do that so he got happish clown. Lysa was happy being Hannah Montana and she kept begging to wear bright red lipstick (she also begged to wear it everyday to Kindergarten too). She eventually settled for lip gloss and some blush. Taylor (disco man) cracked me up the whole time we were out trick or treating. He kept saying, "Mom everybody is laughing at me." I tried to explain that it was a good thing and that they thought his outfit was funny and cool. Right as soon as we got home he went in and took it off and that was that! He told me that next year he wanted to be something scary. I didn't get a picture of Lance, but he was dressed up as Bret Michaels from Poison, mullet and bandanna, he had a good time rockin' that outfit! We had a great Halloween with way too much candy!


Seriously, how is this not the cutest 70's outfit ever! I tried to make him take off the shirt underneath, but he didn't like chest bearing look! I also tried to show him some disco moves, he was just too cute and laughed at me and said no way!


Cute Hannah Montana. We think she looks like our neighbor's little girl with this wig on.


Mason the clown, he can also make some balloon animals and swords. I think Mace liked this costume, especially the nose!