Rocks, Regattas, HoRses, and Rascally Relatives

The day after the wedding, the Cannon Clan (all of them minus Chad and Sarah, who inexplicably went on their Honeymoon instead of joining us) headed up the Weber.  Actually, everyone went to the cabin except for us.  That's because Sadie decided to have another spur-of-the-moment fever of 101.  So we decided to stay home on Friday night.

Saturday morning, Sadie woke up happy and ready to go.  So we piled into the car and headed up the cabin.  We didn't arrive until around 10 AM, so we figured we missed scones.  Luckily, everyone at the cabin was lazier than us, and we showed up just as scones were being served!  Sadie and Jack ate their share, as did Toots and I.  Special eggs were pretty awesome too!  We love Pops' cabin breakfastses.

After that, we headed on a hike up to the waterfall and to the natural spring.  G-man was in the bjorn, while J and S hiked; at least for part of the way.  After throwing rocks in the waterfall, and narrowly avoiding polluting the spring on several occasions, we headed back to the cabin.  On the way back, Jack was riding comfortably on Pops' shoulders.  The sway of Pops' gait must have worked some sort of magic on Jack, who slowly slumped over on Pops' head, falling asleep.
 
He ended up bent in half, with his head lower than Pops!  Totally zonked--no one could wake him up.  I swear he is narcoleptic.  He slept the whole way back to the cabin, and then for an hour or so on the couch back in the cabin, where several cousins did their best to wake him up.


After eating a late lunch and relaxing for a few minutes (and between G's naps), everyone headed out to "build" their boats for the regatta.  This mostly consisted of grabbing one or two slabs of wood or branches, nailing them together, and then writing your name on the back of the wood.  Some of the cousins got crazy, though, putting three pieces of wood together to form a yacht. 

Down to the bridge we went, where Heber, Curtis, Pops, Chris and I had cleared the river of any major obstacles.  Actually, Curtis and Richie had spent an hour or so destroying the beaver dam, so that there was a stronger current going through the stream.  Poor beavers.  Anyway, we ran three races, with Jack winning one of them and Sadie winning the longest one--which went all the way down to the busted up beaver dam.  Both were very excited with their wins, particularly once Pops announced that the prizes were candy.  It was hilarious to see the cousins all lined up on the bridge with their boats, a reincarnation of all of my generation of cousins doing the same thing 25 years ago.


Following the regatta, S and J just wanted to throw rocks in the water.  So we did that basically until it was dark.  Jack just loves being around water--especially if there are rocks.  He could stay there all day and night, and wouldn't care if he starved.  Sadie also loves throwing rocks, and this time she had some wading shoes on to get in and really have some fun.

After eating some burgers (Pops forgot the steaks, and had to run to Oakley to get some ground beef!), we put the kids to bed and then sat around the fire chatting.  I remember when I was younger I couldn't figure out why my parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents would want to sit around that fire and chat all night--it seemed so boring!  But it really is awesome just sitting around telling stories, making S'mores, and drinking Cokes.  Black Nibs also made several cameos at the cabin (hate that you can't get those in Texas!).

Sunday morning, Sadie and I actually headed out to do some fishing.  Toots also came along.  It was fun to try it out, although the fly on our pole was actually not a full hook--so we had no hope of catching anything.  But it was fun to show Sadie how to do it, and to be out on the river.  Mike and Richie had much more luck, catching several fish on both Friday and Saturday nights. 

Although she had fun, Sadie was much more excited to feed the ponies.  This is her absolute love at this point in her life.  She talks to them, rubs their heads, names them, soothes them, and asks them if they want apples and carrots (even though she feeds them mostly just grass).  It's pretty hilarious, actually.  I wish we could buy her a horse so that she could have one all the time, and learn how to ride.  But she is happy just feeding them a couple of times at the cabin.

Before heading out, we had a testimony meeting in the cabin.  I have always loved having church at the cabin--it's fun to just be in your jeans and t-shirts.  We got to hear stories from Mike and Richie's trip to South America to help soon-to-be-missionaries prepare for the missions, and then Curt's stories from his never-ending world travels.  The spirit does seem to be strong when you're up in God's country.  Love that place. 

Oh yeah... family pictures for EVERYONE!!

 

 

 

 

Red Butte Gardens

The reception was beautiful!!  Sarah had the most beautiful dress and I loved the color scheme.  There was a cellist playing during dinner and the food was exquisite.  Salmon and sushi.  I couldn't be more pleased!  The only thing worrying everyone was little Sadie.  She was losing steam fast.  She needed to be in all of the pictures so we couldn't just take her home.  Chase and I asked her to be brave and try to get through just the pictures and then she could lay down as long as she wanted.  In the mean time a sweet friend of the Ngo family went to Dans to retrieve some Tylenol. 

She was very mellow and pretty dazed but she got through the pictures. She just wanted me to hold her and that's all I wanted to do.  Like I said before, worse timing ever!!

 

Good news is Jack was having a great time!!  His main concern was to water the flowers.  Have you seen Red Butte Gardens?  There are flowers everywhere!!  He spent a lot of his night taking his cup to the water spout and taking it out to water some of the million flowers outside.  He was very lively running all over the place and smiling to everyone who greeted him.  Happy little guy!

 

George was passed around because no one could resist his squishiness.  One woman (I have no idea who) held him for quite a while while we took pictures of the flower girls. 

My favorite pic from the wedding is the one below.  I love that there is complete chaos all around the happy couple.  Pops seems to be yelling at the photographer, Connie seems to be settling him down.  Holden looks like a fly just buzzed in his ear, George is most likely sounding like a regular yellow canary, Sadie is expressing her misery and Jack is "along for the ride" as always.  Who knows what I'm doing.  All I know is it's not the most flattering picture of me.  Amongst all the turmoil Chad and Sarah are totally in "la la land" and couldn't care less about the craziness all around them.  Just look at those two.  Have you ever seen such bliss?

 

 

After all the pictures Sadie had earned her prize.  It was her turn to lay down and lay down she did.  Sadie passed out in our reclined stroller for two hours.  Mostly she just missed everyone eating and chatting.  When the music started playing and everyone started getting down on the dance floor Chase decided it was time to wake her up.  The Tylenol  and two hour nap had worked wonders.  She was thrilled to be dancing around with her daddy and uncles.  It was a great way to end the night for her.  I would have felt so bad if she missed the whole thing.    

It was exhausting, beautiful, delicious, joyous and exciting all in one night.  Congratulations Chad and Sarah!!  We are so happy for you and so excited to have a new sister in law!!

 

Chad and Sarah!!

It's always nice having an excuse to go to Utah for a couple of weeks.  I guess Chad and Sarah getting married was important enough to get us to leave Texas for a little while (wink..wink..)  I LOVE weddings!  Did you know that about me?  Some people loath a wedding but I TOTALLY look forward to them.  I love that the whole family is reunited for the occasion.  I love having Sadie and Jack play with all of their cousins and I just love the whole romantic aura a wedding presents.  It always reminds me of my wedding day and that makes me happy.  Makes me feel 24 all over again.

Chad and Sarah are an amazing couple.  I felt such an amazing spirit during their sealing ceremony in the temple.  I don't think I've been that emotional in the temple since my wedding. Elder Evans spoke of their future children rejoicing to see their parents get married and the spirit further solidified to me that this plan that our God has for us is eternal and such a blessing for us here on earth.  I am excited to see what these two love birds accomplish together. 

Chase and I practically sprinted to the temple to get there on time and after huffing and puffing we realized Chase didn't have his temple recommend.  I went through to explain to his family what was going on while he tried to get the stake president on the phone.  A few minutes later Chase came waltzing in.  I guess the temple worker trusted him enough to let him in.  After telling him it was his brother's wedding he took pity on him.  My dad met us after the ceremony with the kiddos so we could take pictures.  George passed out for most of the family pictures and Sadie and Jack continued to ask for treats.  If you smile for the camera, you get treats. 

 

We all had lunch at the Blue Lemon and then headed home for naps and get ready for the reception.  Everyone looked great and we were the first Cannons to arrive (miracle or miracles).
It was then that I looked over at Sadie and saw her almost asleep at one of the tables.  Sadie is pretty wired most of the day so when she's tired at 5p.m. I know something is wrong. 

Her cheeks looked flushed and her eyes were bloodshot.  It couldn't be worse timing (actually George throwing up the night before takes the cake for worst timing).  It was looking pretty grim...

to be continued....

5 months

Oh George!  You are going to give me some serious gray hairs!!  He is such a happy little baby but all I do is worry about him.  After hitting his 5 month mark I started giving him more solids.  He had handled oatmeal great so I continued with that.  At this point he was nursing for five minutes and that's it!  He is so aware of his surrounding world that I can barely get him to latch on and stay on for longer than that.  It's really frustrating because I know there's more milk in there and because he's not eating it, I'm not producing as much anymore. 

Isn't he a cutie anyway, despite his rambunctious little ways?  I really love this little one of mine. 

At his four month appointment he was 14.5 lbs and then went slightly to 15 at his 5 month weight check.  He is slowly losing percentile and it worries me.  He was at 40th percentile and I worry that with him only eating for five minutes each time, he won't be getting what his littleness needs. 

He's getting pretty long too!  Lately we've been sitting him up in his bathtub because he's getting so strong. 

George is totally rolling over from front to back and back to front.  He can now officially sleep on his belly like nature intended.  He loves sleeping on his tummy and sucking on his little fingers. 

Whenever we get the Dargers and Cannons together the little ones are usually sleeping at different times and one day they were finally both awake at the same time!!  Aren't they handsome?!
He has really become a finger sucker.  I tried my hardest to keep sticking a pacifier in but George LOVES those two little fingers!!  One day as we were busily running all over the house getting things done we found G passed out on his blanket in the living room. That's how you know you're a third kid if you are neglected long enough that you fall asleep to pass the time. 

The event that marks his fifth month would probably have to be when Chase was out of town and he decided to vomit for three hours straight.  It was terrible.  I've never experienced a newborn throwing up like this.  I had given him oatmeal around 6 that night and he started vomiting around 9 and continued until Chase's flight came in at midnight.  This is how he found us when he got home.  Both of us passed out on the living room floor.  We have since given him oatmeal again and he threw up again so we're taking an oatmeal break:-). 

He's practically perfect in every way.  If only I could get him to nurse longer and snuggle up every once in a while.  He's far too busy these days.  He's has so much energy and spirit!  We love our little Georgie!!

Happy Birthday Jack!!

It is becoming more and more obvious to me that these birthday parties are getting a little out of hand.  When I told Jack his birthday was today he said "NO!  I already had a birthday at the bounce house!!"  I should have just kept it simple.  I just don't want him to look back and see that Sadie (who requests a new party every year) has had a fun friend party every year and wonder why he never had one too.  So we threw him a Cars birthday party pretty similar to the one we threw for Sadie when she turned three. 

We had a lot of fun making cupcakes and I used about an entire ink cartridge printing up the labels for those water bottles.  We actually kept a lot of the decorations we used for Sadie's party and put them up in the back yard for another "carnival" like scene.  We had the tire toss, face paining, towing for a prize and lots of other fun games.

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually it got pretty hot so we had a water balloon toss and ran around the back yard to get some wiggles out before we started the whacking of the pinata.

 

My simple little Jack preferred to just play in his sand box with his trucks instead of participating in all the festivities.  As soon as we started hitting the pinata Jack officially woke up and realized all the people in his back yard were actually there to celebrate HIS birthday.

They make these things nearly indestructible these days.  After everyone had a whack the whole car came tumbling down totally intact and Chase had to rip it open and spread the candy out for all the kiddos.  Did I mention those pinatas could be made of steel?  That baseball bat snapped in half!

Jack was more excited about his candy from the pinata than his cupcake and although we sang Happy Birthday, he didn't touch his cake.  I think that's three years in a row he hasn't eaten his birthday cake.  3 for 3!  Not bad buddy!

Although he seemed pretty mellow throughout the whole party he got pretty wild after everyone left and we let him open his presents.  He had fun in his own way and that's all that matters.  Good news is, I don't have to plan another party until January when George turns 1.  The month of May just about puts me over the edge but I love these little guys so much that I do it anyway.  Happy birthday my little Jack.  I'm so glad you're mine!!