Our Little Family

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Memorial Day!

Paul and his friend went to visit another friend of theirs this weekend in San Diego. But he made sure to come home Sunday night so that we could spend Memorial Day together as a family. So very last minute we decided to go swimming and then have a BBQ with some friends at our place.

Dallas, Mary, Me and Raegan lovin' the water on a hot day

Some of the kiddos

Paul, Matt & Jenny

Ryan, Mary and cute little Dylan

The Moms

Paul & I

(not sure why I never got to taking my apron off, oh well!!)

The pool, friends, lots of yummy food and exhausted kids at the end of the day made for a fun Memorial Day!

**********

The biggest bummer about holiday weekends is Tuesday rolls around and we don't want to send Paul back off to work...but so is life.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Graduate

Brig did it...he officially graduated from Preschool!!

We were so sad that his graduation was while we were on our trip, but my mom was great and took him so he wouldn't miss out.

They had a little program and even got diplomas...Brig was mostly excited that he got to keep the hat.

Brig loved preschool...and is already SO EXCITED for kindergarten!

We went and got him all registered and he was so excited to find out he will be a Tiger Cub at his new school.

I, on the other hand, have mixed emotions. I know he is so ready for kindergarten and that he is excited, and I am excited for him too but it will be sad to have him gone ALL DAY everyday next year.

It will be a BIG adjustment for me to have him in Kindergarten and Raegan in preschool (which she is SO excited about too). I have been feeling really sentimental lately (I'm sure the pregnancy hormones are addding on to it).

Congratulations Brig, I am amazed at how much you have learned the last 2 years in preschool. You are such a smart boy.

Get ready Kindergarten, here comes the greatest Tiger Cub around!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Just what the Dr. ordered....

Okay, well she didn't order it, but she did okay it....

and it was a much appreciated getaway for Paul and I.

So brace yourself for a few posts of our adventure....

Paul won an award for work which meant an all expense paid trip to Hawaii

(thanks babe).

So with the help of my amazing mom, who flew out to Arizona to watch the kids,

off we went...

The first 2 nights we were there we had a welcome dinner and an award dinner with his work.

Yummy food and fabulous Hawaiin entertainment got us started on a great va-k!

We had so much fun just being TOGETHER. I did miss my kids, but it was so refreshing to have an entire week just the 2 of us. Getting to spend 6 straight days with Paul in such a beautiful, relaxing place was a dream.

Honestly we spent most of the time at the pool and beach just enjoying the beautiful weather and soaking up the sun (which we welcomed, considering it has been pretty darn toasty at home).

Yes, we are the only people in the world who go to Hawaii to ESCAPE the heat.

Paul kept himself busy snorkeling and swimming in the ocean...he never bores of it.

We also went kayaking in the lagoon which was lots of fun.

One day Paul was even was able to relive his glory days and go surfing, I really wanted to go and learn but with being 5 months pregnant and all I figured laying on a surfboard all day and crashing was probably not the best idea, so I hung back at the hotel and hit the spa for a massage...mmm, I'm falling into a deep state of relaxation just thinking about it.

The view from our balcony...GORGEOUS!

Paul and his buddy getting ready to snorkel.

The Hawaii Sunset...so beautiful!

(there are more posts below)

shark adventure

Okay, really probably the most amazing thing I have ever done. We drove out to the north shore and got on this boat that took us 3 miles off of the coast to literally a cage with sharks swimming all around us. You get in the cage with snorkeling gear and watch the sharks literally swim right around you. Heading out to the cage, I kept thinking I'm pregnant no one will think I am a wuss if I don't actually get in the cage. But when we got out there and you could see about 10 sharks right away swimming around, I couldnt turn down this amazing oppurtunity.

This is one of the sharks that we saw as soon as we pulled up to the cage. It was a Galapagos shark, and was about 8-10 feet long, there were about 10-12 sharks right when we got there. Paul had his heart set on seeing a Tiger Shark, and asked the driver if that was a possibility. He was told that they do get them, but they are uncommon to see. He said it had been about 6 months since they had seen one. A few minutes later a Tiger Shark about 12 feet long came around and stayed around the entire time. It was amazing!!

Paul took a lot of pictures with an underwater camera, so hopefully those turn out and I can scan a few in.

Looking back I can't believe we look so calm and relaxed right before we hopped in the ocean to swim with sharks, it's weird at the time it didn't seem scary at all. The thing that freaked me out the most wasn't the actual sharks, it was when they had us sign a release form saying that they werent responsible for any "accidents"...nice!

In the cage and ready to swim around looking at the sharks.

Paul is so fascinated with sharks, yet so terrified of them considering he had a great white shark encounter when he was surfing in high school. But he was so excited, and we BOTH loved it.

Pearl Harbor

The first day we were in Hawaii we went to see the Pearl Harbor Memorial.

What a humbling, surreal experience to be able to visit the memorial of all the people who lost their lives that day.

The U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, you could literally see the ship sunken below the water and parts of it were even above the water.

A memorial of the people who died on the U.S.S. Arizona alone.

Thank You MOM!

Like I said, my mom is so great and she came all the way to my house to spend the week with the kids. I was so lucky to be able to have her here for Mother's Day too. She is such an amazing mom, and I am so lucky to have her.

My kids were actually anxious for us to leave so that they could start the week with Nana. It was so nice to know that they were having a great time and not missing us. They went to the moves 2 times, went out to eat, went swimming and even went to Monkey Business. To say the least, they had a much more fun week than when I am around.

It was so great to come home to happy kids and a clean house...

you really are the best mom!

THANK YOU!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

boys will be boys...

The weekend before Paul and I headed off for our "getaway" (stay tuned) our ward had Father/Son Campout

They got all packed up making sure to remember all camping gear:

tent

sleeping bags, pillows, pads

lanterns & flashlights

a ridiculous amount of food for 1 night

camping stove & pots

Dutch oven

and SO MUCH more

...then they headed off for the fun adventure

After barely getting the car into the camping site they set up camp and the fun began

Climbing Trees

Goofinf off with Dad

Like Father Like Son

Brig LOVED the tree swing

And of course he LOVED sleeping in a tent with Dad

Playing with his buddies was also a highlight

And the food was a winner of course!

Like I said lots of food...

for dessert alone they had S'mores and the Cannon Boys Special Peach Cobbler

They lived it up and are already planning their next camping trip!

I loved hearing all about the trip from Brig, he had such a great time with "DAD"

I love watching him look up to Paul and want to be just like him.

I love mY bOyS

...and girls will be girls

Since the BOYS got a "boys night out" we figured the girls deserved a "girls night out."

Raegan was disappointed ALL week that the camping trip was "BOYS ONLY" so I figured I better make it a good one. I asked her what she wanted to do, and this is what I got:

"I want to

go shopping for my baby sister,

eat pizza,

get ice cream,

paint my toe nails

and watch Cinderella!!"

WHAT A GIRL

So that is EXACTLY what we did