Halloween 2008

We went to the "Boo at the Zoo" on the last day. We had a good time, but I would suggest going one of the first days. It was really crowded. Ryan was obviously a little worn out.

Our little tree frog.

And the little tiger.

New background, finally!

Yes, I've finally done it. I changed the background from that pathetic generic one, thanks to Kristy! I promise to have a more visually pleasing background from now on....

Ammon's birthday

Happy 3rd Birthday Ammon!

Ammon and his friends (Matthews and Montierths) celebrating his 3rd birthday.
Ammon said this was his favorite birthday present (a digital camera). He has taken almost 400 pictures since his birthday!
I asked Ammon what kind of cake he wanted. We looked through some pictures online so he could pick one out. He settled on a "snake cake." (It was actually supposed to be an inchworm.)

Pumpkin patch

We went up to Ceresco to the Martin Hillside Orchard to pick out a pumpkin. Ammon, Ryan and Caden had a good time playing with the pumpkins, climbing up the haystack and wandering through the cornmaze.

I couldn't resist catching a shot of my two handsome boys dressed up for church. (Thanks Grandma for the suit!)

Ammon sleeping

We're always finding Ammon in funny sleeping positions. Yes, he is under his bed in the third picture. We'll find him under there every once in a while and have to find a way of getting him back in his bed without waking him up.

Cousins

Before leaving Utah, we were able to get a picture of all the cousins on the Cannon side of the family. I can't believe I got a shot with only one looking away!

6 Years!

Kristy had this on her blog, and I thought that since Jeff and I also just celebrated our 6 year anniversary, I would do the same.

1. What is his name? Jefferson Stanley Cannon
2. Who eats more? Jeff
3. Who said, "I love you" first? Jeff did
4. Who is taller? Jeff
5. Who is smarter? It depends. Useless facts and nerdy math and science stuff is Marianne's area, Jeff usually gets the rest.
6. Who is more sensitive? We both have our soft sides.
7. Who does the laundry? Marianne
8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do if it's not against the wall.
9. Who pays the bills? Both (and the wonderful feature of autopay on our online banking)
10. Who cooks more? It used to be Jeff, now that I'm home during the day, I do.
11. Who is more stubborn? Jeff would say that I am, but I don't know if I know a more stubborn couple than we are.
12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? Jeff. Marianne struggles in this area.
13. Who has more siblings? Jeff
14. Who wears the pants in the relationship? We are equal partners.
15. What do you like to do together? Sports, play with our children, watch movies after the kids are in bed.
16. Who eats more sweets? Marianne, hands down.
17. Guilty Pleasures? Jeff:Xbox, Marianne: hard to say, there are so many...
18. How did you meet? My friend was Jeff's roommate at Snow College.
19. Who asked whom out first? Jeff asked me out to a movie (screen on the green) where we watched the 3 Amigos.
20. Who kissed who first? Jeff did! That's a funny story.
21. Who proposed? Jeff, at the stroke of midnight on New Year's.
22. His best features and qualities? Hardworking (sometimes to a fault), dependable, athletic, great dad, fun, sweet...

Here are a couple pictures from the past 6 years:

4th of July

We went camping and 4-wheeling up in the Uintas over the 4th of July weekend. We met up with my mom, Jim, Daniel, Aunt Karen and Uncle Gene. My cousins Staci and Kjerstin and their families came up the next day, just before we were about to leave so we didn't get to spend much time with them. This was Ryan's first time camping, and he handled it like a champ. We got some fun pictures, but I'm still kicking myself for leaving the camera at camp when we went on a "short" ride. The views were beautiful with the wildflowers in full bloom. We also saw a cow moose and her calf! We stopped along the trail for a quick break, and it just happened to be about 20 yards from the moose just downhill from the trail. It was pretty neat, but also a little unnerving. We stayed pretty close to the 4-wheelers and kept an eye on her. Neat experience though. Weekends like this make me really look forward to moving back to Utah so we can do more things like this with family.

Grandpa brought his gas-powered remote control car. The 'boys' had a good time playing with it on the dirt roads.
Marianne and Ammon in front, Uncle Gene bringing up the rear in his new, smooth-ride Grizzly.

Oregon Trip

The kids and I made a trip up to Oregon to visit my Dad, Theresa, Logan and Samuel. My sister, Michelle and her daughter, Danica, also drove down from Washington and my grandparents came up from Fresno. It was really nice to see everyone, since we don't get the chance to travel up that direction very often. (Sorry Tim and Anja, timing was really bad so we weren't able to come down, we'll have to try again later.)

Grandpa Mike with Ammon

Grandpa Mike with Ryan

The "Snake Hunt"

Lola, Michelle, Ammon and Danica

Great Grandma and Grandpa with Ammon and Ryan

Four generations! (Ryan was taking a nap)

Ammon and Danica cooling off, it doesn't reach 100 degrees in this part of Oregon very often!

Dad and Theresa watching the kids play in the pool.

Cousins

Kids with Uncles Logan and Samuel

Ryan update continued...

We thought this was all over, but we got a phone call this morning from the ER doctor saying that one of Ryan's blood cultures grew bacteria, so we had to go back in for antibiotics. Luckily they decided not to do another IV, he just got at shot in each leg and he takes an oral dose for the next 10 days. We were really surprised they called us back because he was acting like he felt so much better. So, the poor kid had two viruses and a bacteria (I'm not sure exactly which one he had, they just told me the family of bacteria; it's in the family that causes bacterial pneumonia, strep, and staph). I sure hope my life gets boring again soon.

Ryan update

Ryan is doing much better today. No fever and he can breathe easily. We went in for an ER follow up, and we found out he didn't just have croup. He had rhinovirus (common cold) and parainfluenza type 2. They are still watching a couple bacteria cultures to see if anything grows, but the doctor is pretty confidant that was it. Since it's a virus and he's doing so much better, we don't have to go back and no medication! Hopefully things will settle down around here now.

Emergency Room :(

I had my first experience taking a child to the emergency room this morning. I imagined Ammon would be the first to go with some sort of injury from jumping off something, but I was wrong. I woke up to a sound that sounded like the dog barking and a weak cry at 3:30 this morning. Ryan was making both noises as well as snorting and gagging on junk running down his throat. When I went to pick him up, he felt really hot. We all got a yucky cold, and he started having the same symptoms yesterday, but I was worried with how hot and weak he was. I checked his temp and the armpit reading was 102.6! After giving him Tylenol and feeding him, I checked it again and it was still 101.5. So, I packed him in his carseat and headed to the ER. I was hoping they would tell me to just give him more fluids and Tylenol, but they were as concerned as I was, especially since the rectal temperature was 103.4 after having Tylenol in his system. The poor little guy went through quite an ordeal. In just a couple hours, he had a thermometer stuck up his bum several times, a "pee bag" taped to him, two pokes for an IV, 240 mL saline pumped through his IV, snot sucked from his sinuses twice, a lumbar puncture, chest X-rays, and an arm bar to keep his IV from coming out. After all that, the doctor was still concerned about him because he wasn't putting up much of a fight and he was acting too sick to send home. So, Ryan and I got a lovely ambulance ride up to Primary Childrens Hospital. He got checked out by the pediatrician and they gave him a steroid to reduce the inflamation in his throat and an antibiotic. We're still waiting on the results from the cultures to see if he has a bacterial infection, but for the meantime, they're treating it like croup. We were able to take him home (the nurse told us we're really lucky, they hardly ever send babies home the same day after having a fever that high), we just have to take him back in the morning to the doctor to be looked over again and get his second round of antibiotics. He has been so sleepy, but a real sweety for how bad he feels and everything he's been through today. I'm so grateful for the hospital staff we worked with today, they were awesome! I think I handle emergency situations and times like this pretty well, but they made it even easier to stay relaxed and help Ryan be as comfortable as possible.

Disneyland

Here are some of the highlights of our Disneyland/Southern California vacation. Jeff, me, Ryan, and Ammon as well as my brother, Daniel, Bryan and Dana (Jeff's parents) and Ginny (Jeff's sister) made the trip. The pictures are somewhat misleading though... Ammon is pretty happy in most of these pictures. He didn't take a nap the entire trip, so I'll let you use your imagination of what the other moments were like.
http://www.rockyou.com/show_my_gallery.php?source=ppsl&instanceid=115249611

Catching up

As expected, we've had a very busy last couple of weeks. My last day of work was on Monday, June 2nd. We packed and got everything ready to head out to Utah on Tuesday. Drove on Wednesday (Ryan cried for half of the 14 hour drive). Jeff started work on Thursday, then we drove to Elko that night for a quick visit. Came back to Salt Lake Saturday afternoon for a barbecue with friends. Church and a birthday party on Sunday. Jeff worked while I got everything packed for Disneyland on Monday. We flew to California early Wednesday morning and got back late Saturday night. Here we are Monday, and I think we're still recooperating. The craziness has not ended, but at least we can take a quick breather before heading back to Elko for my Mom's birthday this weekend and flying to Oregon on the 25th!

Early Retirement

Well, I did it. I made it through another school year. The past two years have been interesting, to say the least. I am looking forward to staying home with my kids next school year. We are driving to Utah on Wednesday to spend the summer. We also have a trip to southern California and another to Oregon planned this month. We sure are going to be busy in the month of June!

Sleep!

Ryan slept through the night! For the first time, the little guy slept from bedtime (about 9:30 pm) to 5:55 am. I was shocked when my alarm went off at 5:30 and I realized that I hadn't been up to feed him yet. I actually got up to make sure he was breathing because I couldn't believe it from my experience with Ammon's bad sleeping history. I'm just crossing my fingers that this keeps up.

Back to work...

Today was my first day back to work since Ryan was born. I was not ready to go back, but for how much I was dreading it, the day went pretty well. I sure missed the boys! It really made me feel good when a couple of my students told me that they missed me and they were glad I was back. I am as bad as the kids, I've been counting down the days to summer vacation (when I "retire")! Jeff is home with the kids while I'm at work for the next two weeks. Here's a picture Jeff took today.

First Swim of the Year

Jeff and Ammon decided to go down to the pool today since they just opened it last week and it was a nice day out. Ammon was really excited when they left, so I was surprised to hear him crying and carrying on about 10 minutes later as they came back through the door. Ammon was obviously not hurt, just throwing a fit, so I asked Jeff what happened, thinking Ammon did something that made Jeff mad so he brought him home. Jeff said the water was really cold, but that wasn't the worst part. "The worst part was there was a dead opossum on the pool! And I didn't realize it until we were already in the pool!" Gross! Needless to say, they will be draining and cleaning the pool, so we won't be able to go swimming for a little while longer.

Blankets Everywhere!

Ammon's newest thing is to get as many blankets as possible and spreading them out on the floor. This morning, he pulled out about half of the baby blankets (I cut off his supply, otherwise, there would be many more!) and made himself a little nest in the living room. It was a little irritating (because I was just thinking about having to fold them all and put them away), but fine until I realized he took the sheets off my bed after I wouldn't let him take any more blankets out of his bedroom! He never ceases to amaze me with the ways he finds to make messes around the house. Luckily, he likes to clean, and I can usually count on his help cleaning up afterwards.

A "Real" Haircut

As many of you know, I am very boring and conservative with my hair. For most of my life, my hair has been long, no bangs, no artificial color, no nothing. Partly because I'm worried about it looking stupid, but also because I'm lazy and I don't know how to do all the cute things other girls do with their hair. Well, I got brave and asked Kristan to give me a real hair cut (not just trimming the ends like usual)!

Brothers

Ammon and Ryan are sporting the outfits their aunts (Lindsay and Ginny) picked out for them. Ryan is a month old here.

Children's Museum

Ammon loves the children's museum! Here's our most recent visit.

Ryan

Caught!

This is how we keep finding Ammon when it gets a little too quiet around the house. He really likes to help, sometimes too much!

Zoo

Our first real outing after Ryan was born was to the Omaha Zoo. It appears Ammon has found his mirror image!