Dresing up is fun for Who?

We all know who has the most fun with this activity. Poor Wrigley, this is usually a daily ritual around here. The attention doesn't really seem to bother Wrig much. When she's had enough for one day she'll just get up and walk away.

Good Morning

***Disclaimer: Due to the amateur filming and editing of this video, viewing may be extremely boring and only appeal to grandparents. View at your discretion.

My Little Surfer Girl

Every day is a new adventure with this little girl. She is fearless, crazy, and more reckless than ever. Its a miracle how durable these little creatures really are.

I remember how worried I was with her in the beginning. Every little movement made with care. If only knew what was in store. In one afternoon she hit her lip on the rocker which immediately started to swell and bleed, banged into the corner of the door while she was running at full speed, and touched the oven door while it was open (no serious damage done there thank goodness) when I was taking the french bread out.

Sometimes I swear I witness these accidents in slow motion. Most times I can't seem to move fast enough to help her avert the danger. Bottom line is the kid never sits still!! Do boys really have more energy then this? Some days I don't know how I will keep up with 2 of them.

No Way...I did it!

I feel like I have just finished a marathon. I 've read over 1,700 pages in the past 2 weeks and I have to admit, I loved it! Mind you it wasn't the most stimulating reading ever, but goal accomplished.

I told myself that I was going to FINISH 1 entire book by the end of the summer, and now I have finished 3. This is no small feet by my standards. What next, maybe a little house work, after 2 weeks of slacking it sure could use it. (I'm told that I have to teach myself the concept of moderation.)

If anyone has some great recommendations for a book that they have just loved, send them my way. I may be about 25 years late but I tell you this reading thing has turned into one of my new favorite pastimes.

Family

THE ORVINS

I love that I am part of such a diverse and wonderful family. Which has grown by4 people since this photo was taken. Melinda-Bryce's wife, Stacey-Devin's wife and Sarah and Finley are missing, and 2 babies are on their way. A little boy to the Cannons family and a little girl to the Orivns (Bryce & Melinda) Each person is so unique and talented. I truly admire so many of there great qualities. I love you all so much.

A few funny things.

Finley is getting cuter and funnier every day. Her little personality makes me laugh all of the time. She hasn't said many new words lately but this one caught me off gaurd. We were driving Chad to work last week and he asked her if she felt hot in her car seat and and she said "Yep!" Just to make sure, he asked if she was cold and she said "Nope!"

I know she understands what I am telling her because every time I catch her eating something she's not supposed to she throws it as if that'll hide the evidence. We'll be driving in the car and I can hear her munching an her hair clip or shoe and all I have to say is, "Finley", and the bow or shoe comes flying into the front seat.

Just a ride in the park

Saturdays are Chad's long ride days so Fin and I decided to meet him at a farm that is near the end of his 20 mile bike ride. She loved the slide and goats but most of all her freedom. Acres and acres of farmland to explore. The slide was the biggest and fastest one that she has ever been on. You can tell by the look on her face that she may not have been ready for such a speedy ride.

She also had her first taste of a little sip of heaven... the Capri Sun. She has only had juice a couple of times but based on her reaction we may have to buy some more of these (We usually stick with the hard stuff, like Rootbeer! We ain't raisin' no sissy!).

Go Baby Go!

Reading away...

If there is one thing our little girl loves to do, it is to look at books. This is what she was doing when I walked into her room Sunday morning. She has just learned how to climb up onto the rocking chair. This was the first time she brought along a book.

Saturday at Cannon Beach

We had such a FUN trip to the beach last weekend! The food was delicious and the weather was great (well it was a little chilly, you could probably tell by the way Finley was dressed). Some stranger actually said laughing, "The only way she can get away with wearing that outfit is because she is so darn cute...She looks like some kind of fancy rooster!" She did look a little silly wearing jeans under her dress and then topping it off with a read hooded sweatshirt. But I want my baby warm. She loved playing in the sand with her dad. It was such a relaxing afternoon. We are lucky to live in such a beautiful place!

Hello again!

Its been a while. We are in the process of selling our home and it has been all consuming! Cute little Finley is always trying to help make messes. What she doesn't realize is that we could use a little more help to "CLEAN" messes. Someday she'll understand... maybe!


***This photo was not staged. She really walks around like this! She is a crackup!

Me

The job I liked most:
Candy Taster (when I was 12 years old) for Amoral Candy Factories in Chicago they would pay us $10 and give us a bag full of candy just to taste test other CANDY can you think of a better job!

The jobs I liked least:
1. Fish Factory Worker, Peter Pans Seafoods, Valdez Alaska
2. Cherry Factory line worker. I really can't think of worse work then factory line work.

Favorite Movie:
Bottle Rocket, I think I've seen it over 100 times...It still makes me laugh.
HATE, HATE, HATE scary movies, I can't even watch commercials for them!

Places I've lived:
I've lived in 14 cities across the country and in 7 cities abroad, but my favorite place I've lived is Southern Utah. To me it's one of the most beautiful places in the world. The day I had to move I actually cried. That's a huge deal for me since I usually cry about once every other year.

Shows I enjoy:
The Today Show, 30 Rock, Lost, Desperate Housewives, and Barefoot Contessa (this is my #1 show right now, its on twice a day)

The 1st time I saw Chad...
Well I was in shock, (we actually liked each other in 5th grade). He ran into me on campus at the U. I hadn't seen or talked to him in over 13 years. He was tall dark and handsome. What more can you ask for. I couldn't tell if he was married because his hands were in his pockets. Turns out he was mine for the taking. I knew after our 1st week together, he was the one for me. We still dated for another year and a half though.

Places I've vacationed:
1. Puerto Rico, I have family on my moms side who still live there.
2. Interlocken Switzerland, an outdoor enthusiasts mecca
3. Machu Pichu Peru
4. Cairo Egypt, and Petra Jordan, a dream come true. I grew up as an Indiana Jones fanatic!
5. Denali National Park, Alaska - GO PREPARED!

Favorite Foods:
Hummus and pita Greek food rules, so does watermelon, grilled tuna fish sandwiches, Dr. Pepper, and smores. (Believe it or not thats the combination of food I am eating right now! pregnancy , you gotta love it!)

There you have it that's me in a nutshell.

I think I'd really like to live in this house.

I love how warm and inviting it looks. I also like that it looks a little messy and lived in. There would be less pressure to keep it spit spot. And I've always wanted a fireplace in my kitchen, how cozy. A big inviting garden out back filled with delicious fruits and veggies Chad would love that!

Look at what I can do!

Fin is almost 14 months old and seems to be growing bigger by the minute. She is pretty tall for her age and people alway think that she is older then what she really is. She is definitely a handful. Some days I can't wait until her dad gets home so I can have a little break. But yesterday was an especially good day. She was making me laugh so hard!

At breakfast her chair faces our big pear tree that is off our deck. While I was trying to coax her into eating, she kept pointing to the tree and saying, "dogbird, dogbird"! We have a million different kinds of birds that nest in our tree, and she is alway saying birdy but not this time. So I turned to look, and sure enough stuck high in the branches was a striped cat. She does't know the word for cat yet, so I thought it was pretty smart that she put those two words together. A cat looks like a dog and birds live in trees so "dogbird" made perfect sense!

Her new favorite foods to eat are:

watermellon, peaches (she has to hold the whole peach herself though), raspberries, spaghetti carbonara, and rootbeer.

Her vocabulary has expanded to include:

Daddy, dad, mommy mom (although she almost always calls me Amy, or Aim) doggy, dog, wrigley (a little garbled), ducky, birdy, tree, ball, book, looky, look, more, no (she normally uses this when I ask, "Are you ready for naptime"), love you, hi, amba (amber), and grama.

These are some rare shots. I hardly ever have a chance to watch her fast asleep anymore. After a long hard hard game of fetch with Wrigley she was out cold. What an angel when she is sleeping!

Bubble Time

This is one of her funniest times recorded. We love to hear her laugh!, and she does it quite often. Her "happy hour" starts right before bedtime. I think its our favorite part of the day! She is one silly girl.

This clip got a little messed up but you can get the gist of it. The laughing went on for a while and at one point she had laughed so hard she made herself cry. I thought she might even throw up (she's been known to do that). Anyway all of that was recorded over by some trivial bathtime shots. I was really bummed out. At least we were able to save some of the fun. Enjoy!

We are having a what....!

Today was a very exciting day for the Cannon's! We are thrilled to be welcoming a little baby boy into our family this coming Christmas. Chad had a dream that this baby was going to be a boy and he was right. He was also right about Finley, he had a 50/50 shot so I won't give him too much credit, although technically it was all up to him. I guess secretly I really was hoping for a little boy too. The technician said he has a very healthy and beautiful heart and that he looks perfect. We can't wait to meet our little Christmas baby, only 5 more months to go! We love you little guy.

Here is a little help for those of you who are ultra sound challenged:
Our baby boys head is to the right and chest is to the left. This is a side profile he is laying on his back with his nose up in the air.

Chad beloved birthday gift

I can't tell you how gratifying it is to finally give a gift that the recipient actually loves. I say finally because I am not a great gift giver. Usually I am a really LAME gift giver. I have been know to give a lot of IOU gifts which no one ever likes to receive. An example would be one year I gave my brother a trip to NYC for New Years Eve I wrapped up a magazine cutout of the Big Apple and in sharpie wrote "redeemable in the year 2000", 1997 was the Christmas I gave that lame gift... and did we ever go. Well sadly no. I also give gifts that I can borrow and use myself which actually may be worse then the redeemable gift. I'm sure my mom and sisters hated to open their gifts and quickly realize that it was something I loved, and would soon be taking it over. But this year for Chad's birthday I managed to get him a non clothing-only he could use-gift, and it was a big success. I bought him a brand new baseball glove. The excitement on his face said it all!

Surviving the Heat

These past couple of days its been in the hundreds. And while some of you out there may not be strangers to the heat, we definitely are up here in the northwest. What makes matters worse is the fact that we have no air conditioner. Yesterday the thermostat in our house read 96 so Finley and I spent the afternoon out in the kiddie pool with the ice cold water from our garden hose. She cried when I took her out. Poor thing, if it weren't for her prune like feet and purple lips I would have left her in there longer. Try explaining things to a 1 year old and see how far you get.

The High Life- Hair Art and More

This is the collaborative creation of three brilliantly talented individuals. My brother Bryce his beautiful wife Melinda and my brother Rockford. This is soon to be known as "THE" place in SLC to have your hair styled and to buy original works of art. I am so proud of them.

The High Life opens the end of July.
If you live in the City this is a must see. So check it out!

Independence Day

We celebrated a great 4th of July with a trip to the Portland Zoo, a train ride to the Rose gardens and a fireworks spectacular. For Finley it was more of a Spooktacular, poor little kid she was scared half to death. We made it through the first 3 booms and that was plenty. The sad part was how happy she was just moments before. Completely unassuming, she had the same reaction to the fireworks as she did the first time I took her to get immunizations. Happy and smiling one minute and in a complete frenzied panic the next.












Goofing off just before the fireworks ... traumatized by the first boom!

Some Zoo highlights: For Finley it was the Trout and the Ducks. No, not the lions or the monkeys, but the Trout and Ducks. Mine was the sea lions, they are massive. You don't quite realize until your right next to them. Chad's was feeding time with the cougars. They just threw in a baby male dairy calf and let them have at it. (Gorey picture enclosed) please sensor for small children.

Happy Birthday Chaddy!