Blogging has taken a backseat for me recently, and that goes not just for writing new posts but for reading friends and family blogs as well.  Those precious moments when Colin is sleeping that I used to spend in the blog world are now replaced with a nap of my own or a new guilty pleasure– Pintrest.com. Most of you that follow this blog are also on the Pintrest bandwagon and know how addicting that site is.  Admitting you have a problem is the first step right?

Here are some of the highlights of things we’ve been doing when I’m not pinning:

We took a trip to Mesa Verde National Park. I highly recommend going there if all your children are over the age of 10 and you are not in your first trimester of pregnancy! Seriously it’s such a cool place but I just could not enjoy it. The winding mountain roads did not go well with being pregnant (ya’ll know I am pregnant right? 22 weeks now), and worrying Colin would fall off the cliffs kind of took the fun out of it for me.

The Cannon cousins getting ready to ride the lift at Sundance.

Berry picking at McBrides Briar Patch in Mapleton. I went with my sisters and all the kiddos and it was AMAZING! The couple that runs the patch are the nicest people in the world and the berries are wonderful. Definitely a new annual tradition. I loved it so much I went with Stephe’s sister and her kids the next week.

I’d post more, but it is past my bed time and if I keep going the chances of people getting to the end become more and more slim.

Good night. Look for the next post sometime between next week and February.

I’ve been reading a lot of blogs today of people honoring their mothers for Mother’s Day and I felt like I should join the fun.  I know that my mom won’t read this blog post (or anything I put on this blog for that matter). It’s not because she doesn’t care about what I write, but because she never stops going all day long for even 5 minutes. Seriously.

From the time she wakes up, to the time she goes to bed she is helping someone. That’s no exaggeration either. Between taking care of my 90 year old grandmother with Alzheimers, tending at least one of her 11 grandchildren, taking meals into widows, driving little old ladies in the neighborhood to their appointments, teaching me how to cook or letting me vent over the phone, my mother is always in the service of others. Her ability to reach out to others is amazing and she is talented, creative, and genuine.

When I was in Jr. High, my mom worked at my school.  Most 12-15 year olds would die having their mom there, but I was more popular because everyone loved my mom. Just the other day a kid from Jr. High added me on Facebook and said, “you probably wont remember me but i sure will never forget your mom as my teacher at hillside. Is she still working there? How is she?”

This story just came to mind: One time my mom was at Home Depot and one of the girls that worked there was telling a co-worker about how she missed the last bus and didn’t know how she would get home. My mom drove her home– to Roy, Utah about 35 minutes from SLC where she lives. That is my mom for you, there are many stories just like this about her.

Pretty much amazing and a little crazy.

My mom holding my baby. Colin loves his Grammy.

For the last few months I have been a part of a wonderful dinner co-op with a few of my neighbors. I encourage anyone who can, to start one of their own.

Here’s how we have it set up:  Monday and Tuesday nights we get dinner (main dish and 2 sides) delivered hot and ready to our door, and on Thursday nights I take dinner to the two other families in the group. All three of the families live on the same block so taking food around takes 5 minutes round trip. Another key success factor is that we all have the same size families (1-2 little kids) so roughly the same amount of food is delivered to each house.

I was a little nervous about committing to do this since I’ve been known to be a notoriously picky eater with strange food issues. I have improved significantly over the last few years though, and decided that the dinner group would be another way to challenge myself to try new things. When they asked if there were any foods that we wouldn’t eat I bravely said, “nope, we eat about anything around here.” I did however admit to not being a ground beef eater but not to worry about it because, “it’s no big deal.” So far, no ground beef! I can not say enough good things about this experience. Honestly, the food has yet to disappoint, in fact it has been amazing. The only problem is trying to make something every week that can measure up to the great meals that have been brought to our house. The menus are diversified and planned out on a shared google calendar to avoid making the same thing as someone else that week.

A few other pros include: becoming better friends with the other families, learning to be a better cook, finding new foods that I like, getting their recipes for future use, having meals planned out weeks in advance, coming home from working in the evenings and having dinner already there two nights a week, and using the time I would be cooking on Monday and Tuesday to hangout with my family. Oh, and did I mention that there are a lot less dishes to do when you don’t cook?

Are you convinced that you should start a dinner co-op yet?

Ok, so there are a few cons to point out as well: the first is the stress of making something that will be a crowd pleaser and thinking of side dishes that go with the meal. Second, is that dinner sometimes conflicts with friends or neighbors inviting you over/out for food. Since it’s only 3 nights a week we can usually find another time to go out though.

So there you have it, an inside look at a dinner co-op. Also, one of the girls in my group posts several of her recipes on her blog. So, if you want some tried and true new recipes, go here.

P.S. Colin got his camo cast off, and after the x-rays the doctor decided that his arm wasn’t done cooking yet. We will find out on Monday if the 2 extra weeks did the trick.

P.P.S I’m still not done with my kitchen! Picking paint has taken a back seat to working in the garden, but done painting the cabinets and they make me happy.

February and the beginning March have been a bit rocky for us. We all got sick the first week of February and Colin just couldn’t get over his cough for weeks. We finally took him into the doctor and he agreed that his breathing sounded bad so he prescribed a steroid and Albuterol through a nebulizer to clear it up.

We did this three times a day for a two weeks.

Colin had finally recovered from his nasty cold/flu/miserableness by the last week of February.

Then, last Saturday night we made plans to meet up with some friends down at Riverwoods for dinner. We were outside waiting when Colin climbed up on a rock planter box and wanted to play on it. I held his hand while he made a loop around the box and then stopped and talked to Stephe, I let go of Colin, turned my head, and BAM! Colin feel off the planter box. Stephe grabbed him on the way down and broke his fall, but he still landed on the ground. When Colin wouldn’t stop crying and we knew something was wrong. Stephe pushed Colin’s shirt sleeve up and knew immediately that his arm was broken.

We rushed to hospital and got x-rays. Sure enough, both bones in his left arm were fractured. Stephe and I felt awful. It’s not only heartbreaking to see your child in pain, but there is also a lot of guilt for not preventing the injury from happening. I tend to avoid tantrums by letting Colin do things like climb up on planter boxes or get up on the kitchen counters, but I’ve learned my lesson. Tantrums are far easier to deal with than broken bones.

Today Colin got his hard cast on. He should start to feel much less pain and in 3 -4 weeks he will hopefully be good as new.

Poor little Wubs with his camo cast.

I’ve also been working on giving my kitchen a facelift, so stay tuned for some sweet before and after pictures!

Since almost everything in our house is going to eventually get a major overhaul (overhaul= tearing every thing down to the studs), I decided to experiment with paint. It took the pressure off me knowing that even if what I did failed, I would only have to live with it for awhile. I was also inspired by an article that my friend Dean shared on Reader titled, “Why Letting Yourself Make Mistakes Means Making Fewer of Them.”

Our bathroom really struggles, but the last few weeks I’ve tried to class it up a bit. We took down the awkward, bulky oak cupboard, repainted the walls light grey, then I painted the ugly oak vanity, medicine cabinet, and light fixture dark grey. I used Latex paint on the oak, which isn’t what’s recommended for long term use, but since they will be replaced within the year, I wasn’t too worried about it.

Before picture (one wall painted and cupboards removed):

After (still with only one wall painted):

Then I was inspired by this blog to do a little something creative to the ceiling:

I like it. Again, since I knew it wouldn’t be permanent, I wasn’t too meticulous when painting and as a result he spacing is really uneven. I think I’d like to do something like this again, but next time I’d use a lighter color paint so it there wouldn’t be much contrast and the stencil would be very subtle. A T square ruler would really help to keep the stencil well spaced and straight.  I found the stencil at Hobby Lobby for $16 and used a 40% off coupon so this project was super cheap!

Next I think I’ll paint my kitchen purple! I’m scared of purple, but because it just until we can remodel I think I’ll try it! Maybe something along these lines:

Ash Violet by Sherwin Williams

Or if I’m really feeling like going out on a limb:

Vigorous Violet by Sherwin Williams

Here they are, my top 10 favorite pictures of 2010. It was hard to narrow down from the 1,952 pictures taken throughout the year, but these made me smile the most.

January 2010. The last month Colin sported a mohawk.

Stephe teaching Colin all about cell phones.

We have a backyard! Even if it is just weeds right now, it’s ours.

Probably my #1 favorite picture.

Good morning.

October 2010.

Little rascally raccoon.

My sisters and I (and baby Freddy) on our New York trip in Central Park. Best trip if the year!

The year of the mustache.

Little snowman. He found these headphones in the garage and was loving them.

Happy 2011!

Normally all of my work assignments are to be kept strictly confidential as far as who I’m interpreting for, where, and the content of the information being shared. However, last week I had the opportunity to interpret for RadioWest on KUER and since it was broadcast nationally and my name and face were out there for all to see, I figured I could share this one.  There was a live video stream to accomodate the Deaf community and anyone interested in watching the interview in ASL. I was NERVOUS! There is something about being on video camera that freaks me out, even if it’s just being filmed with the family on Christmas morning, I feel awkward. This was one of those times that I really needed to bring my “A game,”  and I’m disappointed in myself that I let my nerves get to me. The program went by so fast (one hour) and the topics that were discussed changed rapidly so there wasn’t time to go very in depth on any of the subjects.

Pre-interview picture (stolen from Becca’s blog!)

Will Garrow, Ashley (the other interpreter that provided the sign-to-voice interpretation), me (voice-to-sign interpreting), Flavia Fleischer, and Ryssa (Will and Flavia’s daughter)

You can watch and listen to the interview here.

This was an amazing opportunity and an experience that I won’t soon forget. I have so much respect for Will and Flavia. They are very passionate about what they do and have dedicated their lives to education and the Deaf community.

Monday night Santa stopped by my parent’s house to check up on all the kid-os before making his Christmas rounds to be sure they were all being good little girls and boys. This was no shopping mall Santa with a strap-on beard, this guy was legit with his bushy white beard.

Colin didn’t cry at all when it was his turn to see Santa, but he isn’t one to sit still. His Santa experience as short but sweet.

This is the best picture I could get of all 11 kids.

This is my 91 year old grandma flirting with Santa and asking for a kiss for Christmas. Luckily, this Santa does rounds at Assisted Living homes so he knew how to handle the strange things that people with Alzheimer’s say and do.

“Santy Claws.” Santa looks evil in this picture, Freddy is probably crying because he thinks Santa is going to steal his soul.

Just a few more days until Christmas, I hope you are being good kids! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Hello little blog, sorry I’ve neglected you. I barley know where to begin. My last post was about buying our house so I guess that is a good place to start.

The home improvement projects are on-going and the list of things to do keeps growing. It’s a little over-whelming when we think of all the work this little old house needs, but then we think of how much we love our neighbors already and it makes all the work totally worth it. Here is a few of the things we’ve done:

Stephe and Dustin putting in a new water heater. Everyone needs a friend like Dustin, he is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to homes and construction.

Refinished floor, new paint, and baseboard in Colin’s room.

Lots of yard work to clear out overgrowth.

Good little helper.

Demolition projects, and addition remodel.

Good bye nasty carpet and linoleum.

Hello pretty, clean new wood floor.

So, that is a little preview of how the house is coming.  In other news, we had a fun Halloween dressing up as Star Wars characters (nerds!). Colin’s Luke Skywalker hair inspired our costume theme this year and I rigged together some last minute felt get-ups.

The first weekend in November I went with my sisters to New York City for a spontaneous sisters trip. Leaving 8 kids at home with dads (Freddy made the traveling team), we were foot loose and fancy free for four days of shopping, site seeing, and playing.

Central Park

House, Halloween, New York… what else? Oh yeah, I woke up five days ago with Bell’s Palsy. What?! Yeah, that happened. As far as Bell’s Palsy goes, my case was very mild. I caught it early and was given medications that has already taken care of most of it. I still have trouble closing my right eye and my mouth is working around 90% now. For your enjoyment, here is a picture of me trying to smile the day after this all started:

End of marathon post! Whew! I leave you with my favorite picture from Thanksgiving.

Love!

Happy 1st birthday to Colin!  We bought you a really awesome present to celebrate– a house! Hope you like it.

This is our new house! We love this little place and all the neighbors we have meet so far. We are waist deep in projects to get this house the way we want it, but it seems like a perfect fit for us. I’ll be posting before and after pictures of all the work we do on it so stay tuned.