Disclaimer

Okay so all of the pictures and labels below do not match! How frustrating. I should probably go through and redo them all but I am not going to so...sorry. Just enjoy the pictures :) Argh!!!

Halloween Birthday Spooktacular!

This weekend we hosted a big Halloween Birthday party for Matt who is turning 30 today, Karilyn who's birthday was on Halloween and Genny who's birthday was yesterday. We had so much fun and had about 40 people in attendance who all dressed up. I think that we are going to have to make this a tradition!

Matt and I dressed up as Fred and Wilma Flinstone. I am proud to say that I, with a ton of help from my friend Karilyn, made our costumes! How cute :)

Me and the girls

Pete and Genny as a prego cheerleader

Melvin and Karilyn

Our neighbors Patrick and Amanda Rhodes and their brand new little baby Jack.


This one was Hilarious! Meet our good friends Chris, Melvin and Pete. A while back we were all hanging out and I had mentioned how I think UPS/Fedex delivery guys are really hot and that I had never really seen a delivery guy that wasn’t. So as a joke on me they all dressed up as super sexy short shorts delivery guys with special delivery packages all for me. They were SO funny and of course they took first place in the costume competition.





This was one of my favorites! Jake came as a Mormon Missionary!!! He even made his own missionary name tag and carried around the book of mormon all night. And the best part of all...he's not even Mormon. So fun!


Our neighbor Keith and his little girl Cameron

This is Michelle and Garette. I love their costumes. Michelle is due in six weeks so if you look really close you can see that he shirt has a picture of a bun in the oven with the timer set to 7 weeks. Her husband is dressed up as the bun maker! So cute!!!

Brian Lynn as a 50's guy

Becky, Jessica and Karilyn

Rick, lindsey and baby Leo


Matt and Kate Lowry

Matt's team from work

Rick and Lisa

Brian, Matt and Jake

This is Angie as the perfect 50's wife

Bill and Shelly Haugh

Carlos from the Hangover...he took third place in the costume competition

Court, Lindsey and of course...Carlos.

A little Rockband fun. Lowry and Melvin showing us how it is done.



Jake's mormon missionary costume recieved the second place prize

The youngest two party animals Cameron and Leo...aren't they adorable?


Matt and Karilyn blowing out their candles. We had three birthday cakes and about 80 candles combined. The fear of burning down the house was all too real.


And when it was all said and done this is what our six month old puppy Mosi did to our garage. Somehow the little stinker got out of his kennel and ripped into all of the excess garbage from the night before. Believe me the pictures do not do justice. All of this combined with his little doggy doo doo and throw up was just more than I could handle. Will somebody please remind me why it was that we got a dog?

A Good Ol' Barn Warming Party!

My brother Rob and his wife Chelan and there little girl Charlotte were up here a couple of weeks ago and we went to a good ol' fashioned barn warming party with an old fashioned apple press and everything. It was so much fun. Chelan's family lives about 30 minutes from us in a little town called Ridgefield and they had just built a new barn so we had to break it in. It was a very fun fall activity and we had loads of fun with them :)

Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza!

This weekend we had some good friends over for dinner and pumpkin carving. It was a lot of fun. Pumpkin carving has come a long way since I was a kid. Now days you have all of these fancy tools and sketches to put on your pumpkin to create pumpkin materpieces! I carved a whicked looking spider into my pumpkin and I have got to tell you...I felt pretty cool.





Here we are showing off our finished products! We thought that it would be hilarious to put our little creepy gremlin in the back of our pictures...just to add a little spook to the occassion.

Beautiful British Columbia

This weekend we met up with Matt's family in Seattle for Fish and Chips and BYU football. It was so fun seeing Jared and Leslie and their little boys Vale and Noah as well as Matt's parents. They are all wonderful people and we love them tons!Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures...I don't know why? Anyway while we were there we watched BYU crush Oklahoma and it was AMAZING! Matt has been living on cloud nine ever since. Matt actually woke up on Saturday morning stating that "It's like Christmas morning! Only better!!!" Having the cougars win only made the kick off of college football all the better. Go Cougars!

After the football game on Saturday night Matt and I drove up to Vancouver British Columbia with our good friends Melvin and Karilyn. Vancouver BC is only about a 5 hour drive from our house and we had never been to Canada so we decided that now was the time. I was very suprised by how incredible the city was. I see why they call it "Beautiful" British Columbia. It really is beautiful. We had so much fun. Thanks Melvin and Karilyn for letting us crash your vacation.


The 2010 Winter Olympics are going to be held in Vancouver BC and I can totally see why. This city is awesome. I never realized how big of a city Vancouver is or how beautiful it is. So in support of the Olympics I purchased Canadian gum :)

A picture of where we stayed. It is the tallest building in the back. How fun!



The Ferry boat ride to Victoria. We were on the Ferry boat for an hour and a half and it was so gorgeous. We even saw some whales playing in the water! I felt so lucky!


While there we visited the beautiful Bushardt Gardens in Victoria and they really were beautiful! I have never seen such beautiful gardens. We were oohing and awwing the whole time! If you ever make it over to BC you HAVE to go to the gardens. They are awesome.











I wanted to get some sort of souvenir for our house while we were there but I really didn't see anything that tickled my fancy so I started playing around with my camera and found this really cool option that allowed me to pick up only the color of the flowers and I think it turned out really good. What do you think? I am going to pick a few and frame them for my hallway...(this is me trying to be domestic).










As you can see our trip was wonderful and we will definitely be going back for more BC fun.

Out Seattle Weekend-cation!

This last weekend we headed up to Seattle with a few of our friends for a Mariners vs. Yankees baseball game. It was so much fun to get a way for the weekend and breathe in the beautiful Seattle air. The Mariners ended up losing 2 to 5 but it was still a good time.




Matt and I stayed downtown at the Hotel Monaco which was absolutely wonderful because it was located just a few blocks away from Pike Place Market. We slept in until about 10:30 then strolled down to the Market for hot delicious Russian pastries and fresh fruit that we enjoyed on the boardwalk. This was one of those moments of complete Seattle bliss. I really do think that Seattle has soul healing abilities :) Later that morning we met up with our friends Pete and Genny and headed over to the west side of Seattle. We were feeling young at heart so we rented tandem bikes and road about 5 miles down the coast line and it was AMAZING! For any of you who are considering a visit to Seattle I would totally recommend this. It was so much fun and it was absolutely breath taking. After our bike ride we treated ourselves to some delicious ice cream cones and fish and chip's - life just doesn't get better than that :)




I LOVE SEATTLE!!!

The Fabulous Fox Family!

This weekend Matt's sister Betsy and her family came to visit us from Utah and it was so wonderful to have them here. They got in Friday evening and we played hard all weekend. It was so fun to have a full house and to actually be utelizing all of the extra rooms in our new house!I think we might have to take it a little bit easier on them next time or they might not want to come back. Here are some of the pics from the weekend.

Me and Betsy at the Camas Days Parade

As a child I NEVER got this much candy at a parade. I guess it pays off to be cute.

Me and baby Cannon

Clark - out looking searching for creepy crawly's

Little Faith taking a breather

Sweet Bethany

Hiking up Beacon Rock

Matt and Mosi

The whole crew at the bottom of the hike. Everyone was a little bit sore the next day but it was worth it!

Poor Mosi

The saddest thing happened today. I have been needing to cut Mosi's nails and have been putting it off because I have been afraid of cutting them too short. Dogs nails have this area called the "quick" which is the blood vessel and nerves that feed the nail and if you cut it too short it will bleed and hurt your dog. So in preparation I bought the special dog clippers that have a guard on them so that you don't cut them too short. Well...I am obviously not advanced enough to be cutting my dogs toe nails because on the first toe nail I cut it too short and it started gushing blood. I started freeking out not knowing what to do. First I tried applying pressure but that wasn't very effective. Then I went up into my first aid kit and tried to put a band aid on it...I knew that it wouldn't work but I felt that I should at least try...my puppy was bleeding! When that didn't work I took paper towels and tightly wrapped up his foot and then secured it with masking tape. Then I got a big bag of ice and wrapped it around his foot to vasoconstrict the vessel and stop the bleeding. This worked like a charm. I felt very proud of myself and I just had to take a picture of Mosi because he looked so cute and tortured. After the damage had settled I googled "What to do when you cut your dogs toenail too short". I found that when this happens you simply apply flour, cornstarch or bar soap to the tip of the nail and it will stop the bleeding...go figure. I learn something new every day. I still think my way was more effective.

Forth of July Extravaganza!

Alright so 4th of July in Washington is pretty much the most fabulous thing in the world. You see in Washington it rains a lot and so the risk of starting a huge mountain fire with out of control fireworks is very low. So because of all of the moisture there aren't any restricitons on what you can and cannot blow up. I have attached a video that will give a slight idea of the fun that we had but once again...it doesn't do justice. I do have to say though that I have discovered a hidden pyro within myself.

Meet our new puppy!

This is Mosi the newest member of our family! His real name is Villamos which is a hungarian name for a street car. You see Mosi (pronounced "Moshy" like Yoshy) is a Hungarian Vizsla and we decided that he needed a name that took him back to his hungarian heritage. We also liked it because it had two sylables and ended in the "y" sound which aparently is the proper way to name a dog. Who knew?



We had been looking for a Vizsla for a long time but never found one that fit our budget and wasn't like a million miles away. So we finally found Mosi in the great land of Utah! So Matt jumped into the Car on Thursday night and Saturday morning around five o'clock he returned with our new little puppy! It was a crazy trip and I bet if you asked Matt to do it again he wouldn't but...WE LOVE OUR NEW PUPPY! By the way, these pictures don't do justice. He is way cuter than what I could capture in a photo.

Two girls and a mountain

This is me and Genny.

Genny is a super athlete who played soccer at the University of Utah. Me...I am a super athlete at heart; I am just missing the talent portion of actually being a super athlete.
That's right we took the road less traveled by or the road that only crazy people take. I guess you could say we were feeling adventurous!



The view from the top. Isn't is stunning?!? I live here!! I still can't believe it!!






The pictures make it look like it was a cake walk but in reality we actually hiked over 9 miles. That's right 9 MILES! We really did have a lot of fun though. It was so beautiful and refreshing to be in the mountains. One of my favorite things about hiking in the Columbia Gorge is the way it smells. When the sun shines down on the trees it has the sweetest smell. It is like a wonderful aroma of fresh strawberries, bright flowers and sunshine. I don't really know how to explain it but it really is wonderful. It just makes a person happy :) Thanks Genny for braving the wild with me!

My quick trip home

this last weekend I made a quick trip to Utah to see my family and had so much fun. I hadn't been home in almost a year and a half so it was really good to see my family. The weekend was super busy but I was able to see a lot of people including my friend Tasha and her new baby Terran, My friends Holly and Becky who I love dearly, Matt's parents who were kind enough to let me borrow their car since I am not old enough to rent one on my own...lame! The main reason that I went down was to do a baby shower for my friend Carrie. I didn't get very many pictures but we had a lot of fun together. I love her dearly too!
The beautiful mother to be Carrie. Her baby girl Annabelle is due in September and I am so excited for her! congratulations Carrie :)


After the shower I headed down to Toquerville to see my family. While there we decided to head up to Zion. Since moving to Washington I have been craving red rocks so we had to go. We had such a great time. The weather was perfect and I was feeling energetic so we decided to hike Angels Landing which is a six mile hike that we did in two hours! We had tons of fun!
On the shuttle ride up the canyon.

Me and my little brother Josh. He is 13 and is so funny.

Me with my little sister Samantha and her husband Jordan

Me and my mom

Me and my little brother Eric...he is 16 and is getting so BIG!

Goofing off along the trail.



On top of Angels landing. This is by far my most favorite hike ever. Once you get to the top it is absolutely stunning. It is three miles up and totally worth it.




After hiking we decided to take a quick dip in the river...with our clothes on! I felt like such a kid again. It was freezing cold and it felt soooo good :)



I was able to stop by Cedar City to see my two sisters Noel and Crystal and their kids. It was so much fun to see them. My sister has a pool and the kids had fun playing. I love my nieces and nephews so much and it was so much fun to spend some time with them.

Jacob jumping over Cayden. I tried to get pictures of their faces but they thought it was hilarious to move right as I was taking the pictures. So, this is what you get.

Semeran and her frog...gross!

Ethan, Emery and Serena

Emery and Serena

The twins Aubrin and Emery...they look nothing alike.

Ethan and Aubrin

Me and Serena

If you can't tell from these pictures I love my family so much! It was so good to see them and I already miss them all!

Better late then never...

Here are some move in day pictures. We moved into our house almost two weeks ago and it is so freakin' awesome! We love it. I will hopefully get some pictures of the actual house posted later this weekend so be checking for updates :)
Karilyn and baby Cale hanging out in the love sac

Karily and cale again...just because they are so cute (this is actually Angie's baby...just wanted to make sure I gave the mom credit for the cute baby!)

Some of our friends who came to help out.


Matt and Chris moving in the new washer and dryer

Drum roll please....

The time has finally arrived. Matt and I are buying our first home!!! After a whole lot of looking and a whole lot of cramped up days in our apartment we have decided on a cute little house in Camas Washington. We are hoping to be able to move into it by next weekend but it might not be until the following week. We are super super excited! Our house will even have AC!!! Can you believe it Air Conditioning!!! No more sweating to death in the bathroom while I am trying to get ready! No more swollen extremities due to the overwhelming heat! And best of all...Betsy, Abe and all of their kids can come and stay with us when they come to visit in July (hopefully you guys are okay with this). We are so excited!!! Anyway, here are a few pictures of the house.

We wanted a picture with both of us but once again the camera is broken and the blackberry is filling in; not automatic picture taking mechanism on the blackberry!

This is the entry way...Isn't it lovely!

This is the kitchen! Look at all that counter space!

This is where you will all sit when you come over for delicious meals!

Here is the view from the back...isn't it serene. We are going to have some awesome BBQ's back there!
Come one come all to the Casa de Cannon!

Cancun

Alright, enough is enough! I have been seriously neglecting my blog for the past few months and I really have no good excuses. I have actually been feeling guilty for not updating my blog. What does that say about me? Maybe I just don't have enough things to worry about in my life. Anyway, In an attempt to make up for my lack of blogging I thought I would post some pictures from our trip to Cancun. Sadly though, I do not have a lot of pictures. When we first got to Cancun I anxiously whipped out my Camera to start taking pictures and...it wouldn't turn on. I thought that maybe the battery might be dead so I charged it for several hours and it still wouldn't turn on...this was a very sad moment for me. So the pictures that I have were taken on Matt's blackberry. However, I didn't think of this ingenious plan until the second to last day of our vacation. DUH?!? I guess I am not used to all of this modern technology. So basically you are just going to be viewing a whole lot of pictures from our outing to Tulum.

We spent our vacation with some of our dearest friends, Carrie and Eric. Carrie and I were roommates when I first moved to Salt Lake and fell in love with Matt. She and her husband got married about four months before Matt and me. Eric just barely graduated from BYU with his MBA and they are expecting their first baby in September!!! It is a girl and her name will be Annabelle! We are super excited for them :)

Matt and I at Tulum

Matt in Tulum

This is me...in Tulum

The resort we stayed at was AWESOME! It was called Ocean Coral Turquesa and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a stellar Vacation. The pools were awesome, the rooms were beautiful, the beaches were amazing and the sun was hot!

Golfing

As many of you know Matt is an avid golfer and I am...well... sweet enough to grace him with my presence about once a month :) This last weekend we went golfing at Camas Meadows and it was so fun. First of all it was a gorgeous day, I was with my sweet hubby and we saw baby geese. I don't know if a day at the golf course gets any better than this.

Girls weekend!

This last weekend two of my very best friends came to see me and we had such a great time. We all became friends in 8th grade when we tried out for Cheerleading. Of course we all made it and have been the best of friends ever since. Becky just recently got back from serving a mission in Omaha Nebraska and Holly is expecting her first baby in Septemeber...It is a girl! Since we haven't been together in about two years they thought that they would come out to see me in my new domain. It was supposed to be terrible rainy weather all weekend and I was really bummed but we got lucky and the sun was actually out a whole lot more than the rain. Here are some pictures from our trip:

This is us in downtown Seattle and Pike's Place Market. At Pikes place Market they have rows and rows of fresh flowers for way way cheap! They are so beautiful.




We took a really fun boat ride around Seattle. It rained a little bit...but that was to be expected.



These are some pictures from Deception Pass State Park. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to in my whole life! I love bringing people here because it is honestly just stunning!





Thanks again girls for coming and seeing me! I love you both so much and meant the world to me to have you here :)

The beautiful Columbia

When the sun shines in Vancouver I feel obligated to get out and enjoy it. This weekend was absolutely beautiful so we went for a walk along the Columbia river. When we go for walks like this it makes me really want a dog. If anyone knows of anybody selling yellow lab puppies let me know...I want one really bad!


For those of you who have been asking for pics of Matt's new truck here it is.

I love getting spoiled!

My sweet Matt spoiled me rotten on Valentines Day and I loved it! First he sent these beautiful flowers to my work...which I loved! Then he picked me up and took me to see "He's just not that in to you" which I thought was pretty sweet because he really had no desire to see that movie. Then he took me to dinner at this very authentic absolutely fabulous restaurant called Piazza Italia in downtown Portland. Then to my absolute suprise he slipped a little black box onto the table. I LOVE little black boxes! Inside was this beautiful ring. Isn't my husband the sweetest?

Gal Pals

Since moving to Washington I have made a few really good friends. One of my good Friends is Angie and she is prego. See Angie and baby Cale below.

We decided that instead of doing a traditional baby shower we would do pedicures and lunch instead and I have to admit that it was a lot better than the whole "name that melted candy bar in this diaper" game.
This is karilyn...isn't she cute!

This is Genny...she played soccer at the University of Utah...she pretty much rocks!

This is me...of course

And sweet Angie...only three more weeks to go!

Love you girls! You make living here so much fun :)

I loath doing Laundry

This is my little brother Charles who is serving a mission in Mexico; isn't he adorable?

Well this past week in the letter I wrote him I told him about how I was seriously considering hiring someone to come in and fold my laundry because I hate it more than anything in the world. this is me...hating laundry.

This is how he replied: YALL CAN PAY ME THE BIG BUCKS TO FOLD YOUR STINKIN LAUNDRY. YOU KNOW YOU SHOULD COME AND LIVE DOWN HERE FOR A WHILE. YOU WOULD RETURN REALLY HAPPY AND ANXIOUS TO FOLD YOUR LAUNDRY BECAUSE IT JUST CAME OUT OF A DRYER AND IT SMELLS SO GOOD AND IS SOFT AND WARM......THAT KIND OF THING CLEARLY DOES NOT EXIST HERE. I WASHED TODAY WITH A CRAPPY LITTLE WASHING MACHINE THAT REALLY DOESNT WASH VERY WELL. WE HAD TO RINSE THE CLOTHES IN A DIFFERENT BUCKET OF WATER AND THEN WRING IT OUT BY HAND AND HANG IT UP ON THE LINE. AFTER WICH IM GOING TO HAVE TO IRON ALL OF MY SHIRTS BECAUSE THEY WRINKLE HORRIBLE WITH THIS METHOD OF WASH. AND ON TOP OF ALL OF THIS, MY GARMENTS ARE STALE AND CRISPY WHEN I PUT THEM ON AND HALFWAY CLEAN HALFWAY NASTY. SO BE HAPPY TO FOLD CLOTHES MIST. ;)


I will never complain about folding my laundry again! Well...at least not to Charles :)

25 things

This is a face book thing but not everyone is on face book so I thought I would post it here too. Enjoy :)
1) I have never dyed my hair. I curse my hair everyday and say how much I hate it but deep down I really do like my hair color. I am going to be sad when I get old and my hair turns to a nasty shade of mouse brown.
2) I can out burp anyone I have ever met. It is a secret talent that totally disgusts my husband and my mother but I am very proud of it. I consider it my one true talent.
3) I am a "pumpkin" addict. Any food with pumpkin in it is cherished by me and I loose all self control.
4) I cry in about 90% of movies. Even comedies...it is quite pathetic.
5) I love to drive fast with my music turned up loud. Back in the day I received several speeding tickets for this which brings me to number six.
6) I had my drivers license suspended twice before the ripe old age of 20.
7) I failed a library literacy class at SUU and had to retake it. It is the only class that I have ever failed.
8) I love the smell of homemade bread. In my mind it is the smell of home.
9) I once had three dates in one night...the second one was with my Matt...the third one was with another Matt.
10) I hate going shopping with a list. It is the most tedious task and I always feel defeated in the end.
11) I once tripped and split my chin open in high school because I was chasing a boy.
12) I love my family and I would do anything for them (and that totally includes Matt's family too!).
13) I have had more broken bones and stitches than any of my brothers and sisters combined and I have 14 so that is quite the accomplishment. I am actually suprised that I am still alive.
14) I openly hate to run. I sometimes ask myself while I am running why I torture myself this way but by the end of the run I feel so proud of myself for the accomplishment that I do it again.
15) I have some kind of sick Pavlov association. Every time I walk through my front door I have this sudden urge to pee. I can't believe I just wote that. That sounds disgusting. But it is true. I can't help it! It is beyond my power!
16) I love friends episodes. I can watch them over and over and over. I think that I like them so much because I was forbidden to watch them while I was growing up.
17) I hate olives. I thought that once I got older and my taste buds had matured I would change my mind but nope. I still absolutely hate them.
18) I am very sensitive about my feet. As some of you may know I have my fathers feet. It is a curse that will follow me until the end of time. I used to not even wear flip-flops but then I got over that and embraced my own personal canoes. Now I have a loving husband that refers to my toes as "finger toes" and has even been known to hold them like hands. I am so lucky.
19) I have four friends that I consider best friends and I feel truly blessed to have them (Carrie, Tasha, Becky and Holly).
20) I love everything about the beach. The smell, the sand, the air...it is heaven.
21) My husband is my favorite person. He sometimes drives me crazy but at the end of every day I am glad that he is mine.
22) I cannot fall asleep at night without first brushing my teeth. If by chance I do fall asleep I wake up in the middle of the night for a quick brush.
23) I am amazed by people who can get from one place to another with just an address. My whole driving life I have been spoiled with mapquest and Navigation. I really don't think I even really know how to use a regular map?
24) I just ate like 6 chocolate chip cookies and now I feel sick...I have a true fear of becoming a diabetic. If only I had a little bit of self control.
25)Ummm...I'm done with this list. 24 things is really too much.

Just DUNE It!

This weekend the sun decided to come out and shine so we took full advantage of it. We headed down to Florence Oregon where they have some of the most awesome sand dunes that run along the Oregon Coast. It was so incredibly beautiful and so much fun! We ended up renting four wheelers and riding up and down the coast. We had so much fun. It made me feel a little bit guilty though because my little brothers would just die to be playing on those sand dunes but...I still had a lot of fun!

Sunset on the beach

After we got done playing in the dunes we went for a walk on the beach just in time for the sunset. I have to admitt that I am falling more and more in love with the Oregon coast. It is so beautiful and we always have so much fun when we go. Going to the coast always makes me think of my mom. She instilled a great love for the ocean in me and I always think of her when I am there. I love you mom!

Friendship in the purest form

This is hilarious! visit our dear friends Doug and Sarah's blog at http://sarah-wawaland.blogspot.com/ This will make each and everyone of you want to be a better friend. We love you Doug and Sarah!!!

The time has come

As many of you know...my husband is balding.

I know you are all thinking..."but he is so young!"

Life can be very cruel...I don't even think that he ever saw this comming!

It has been a well fought battle to keep his hair but in the end all good things must come to an end.

Christmas

I feel some sort of obligation to update everyone on our Christmas nightmare. We did in fact make it to Utah but it wasn't without a fight. It ended up taking us about 21 hours to make it to Salt Lake and the whole time we were saying to ourselves "this is the stupidest thing we have ever done in our lives!" The roads were absolutely horrid and more than once I thought that we wouldn't make it to Utah alive...but we did and it was worth every bit of it.
Once we were there it was worth every painful minute of the drive. we were so glad that we were able to make it home for Christmas. Being with family just made everything better!

A no good very bad day

What started off as being an exciting road trip turned into one of the most horrible days ever. Yesterday Matt and I loaded up the car with all of our Christmas presents and ski’s and started our trip to Utah in our rear wheel drive vehicle (first mistake). We got about 40 miles down the road and had to pull over to put chains on our car. At this point we were still pretty optimistic. We figured that once the chains were on it would be smooth sailing. Right? Ummm, not so much. About 10 minutes later our chain on the right side broke and did some pretty serious damage to our rims which will have to be replaced (first big expense). So there we are driving along with one chain and the roads were getting worse and worse and our car was sliding more and more. Then POP! There went the other chain. We were able to salvage the chain on the left tire but knew that we had to pull over or we would probably die.


So we slid (literally) into a cozy little hotel just off the freeway called the Columbia Gorge Hotel. This was the best part of the experience because it was like a winter wonderland. It was honestly the most picture perfect hotel I had ever been too. They had delicious hot apple cider and a cozy fireplace to warm us up from the harsh winter storm. At this point we were pretty heart broken. We knew that we weren’t going to be able to make it to my family’s house in Toquerville and I was crushed. But we tried to make the best of it so we decided that we would just stay there for the night and buy plane tickets to fly out of Portland into Salt Lake (big expense two) the next day.



So we woke up early the next morning to find an extra foot of snow on the ground. Although beautiful it was very discouraging, especially when we found that our piece of crap car couldn’t get out of the hotel parking lot. So we called Enterprise and rented a car so that we could get home (extra expense number three). We ended up just leaving our car at the hotel and will go and get it when the weather gets better…who knows when that will be. There was so much snow at the rental car place that we had to be plowed out by a bronco.

Once we got on the road we were happy that we were no longer in our Infiniti. We would have surely died…the roads were absolutely horrible. They hadn’t been plowed and cars were sliding off the road everywhere. What a mess! Once we got back to our apartment we pulled up the internet to find that all of the flights going out of Portland International airport were being cancelled and the news was predicting snow snow…more snow…ice storms…freezing rain... and heavy winds. At this point we both just wanted to crawl in a whole and cry. But we tried to be optimistic and say “well at least now we get to watch the BYU basketball game and the Las Vegas Bowl football game”. Well as you all know BYU lost both games. What a terrible no good very bad day. It makes the song “I’ll be home for Christmas” all the more meaningful to me. We were SO excited to come home for Christmas and now…I don’t think we are going to make it. What a sad day.

Countdown to our highly anticipated Christmas trip to Utah!!

Where did I find this guy?

We found this unique tree on our hike and Matt thought it would be funny to stand in it and make a heart with our arms. If I wasn’t so crazy about him I would question his manliness :)

Back woods adventure

So I decided that since we live in a new state we should send out a Christmas card this year. So a few weeks ago my friend Genny and I went out hiking behind a lake close to our house and we found all of these beautiful trails and bridges and waterfalls and it was just gorgeous! So I thought it would be fun to take Matt out to the same spot to take pictures. Ummm…think again. So before we left Matt was asking how far it was and I said that I thought it was like half a mile. So we are into the hike about ten minutes and he starts complaining… “This isn’t half a mile…How much further…You said that there wouldn’t be hills…This better be some beautiful bridge…” you get the point. Anyway, once we got there it really was beautiful and we had a good time…I almost fell into the river…but it was fun. Here are some of the pictures that didn’t make the cut. By the way, my little brother Paul was our photographer…I love that kid.

Thanksgiving

This year we did Thanksgiving with our good friends Chris and Angie Beasley. They were kind enough to have us over for dinner and it was delicious! We have become pretty good friends with them since moving to Vancouver so it was nice to be in good company. However, this was our first Thanksgiving without family and I have to admit...I really missed family. Not to say that we didn't have a great Thanksgiving because we really did...I just really missed my family. So if any of you are reading this blog know that you were missed greatly and that we cannot wait to see you all at Christmas!
Here are some pictures of the festive event!

Sweet Alaina

So as some of you may know I teach CTR 6 in my ward and this week one of the little girls in my class had to be hospitalized for a ruptured apendix. We found out about it on Sunday and so I had my class make her cards during class. I called her parents and left a message saying that I wanted to come and see her in the hospital and bring by the cards. When they called me back they said that Alaina was really excited to see me and asked "Do you think Sister Cannon would come and paint my nails?" Obviously I said of course and planned on going and seeing her yesterday morning. Sadly, about an hour before I was supposed to go see her she had to go back in for surgery so her mom told me she would call me later in the week to come see Alaina when she was feeling better. However, last night at about eight o'clock I got a call from Alaina's mom asking me to come to the hospital. She said that Alaina had been asking for me all day and really wanted me to come. So I went to the hospital and gave her a little mini pedicure and manicure and foot massage. It was really funny because about 30 minutes before I got there they gave her her pain medication as well as bendydryl so she was pretty groggy and sleepy and was really fighting to stay awake. Right after I finished we tucked her into her bed and she was asleep before I left the room. This was a fun experience for me and made me miss all of my little nieces!

Happy Birthday Charles!

This post is dedicated to my brother Charles who is serving a mission right now in Mexico. I have been missing him a lot lately and just thought I would post some pictures so everyone can see how cute he is! These pictures were taken last Christmas just before he left for the mission. We went four wheeling out behind our house in Toquerville and had so much fun. Gosh! I miss this kid! To see more pictures of Charles and his mission visit his blog on my list under Charles Canfield. Also, I expect all viewing this blog to be thinking of the cutest girl in the world to set him up with when he gets home. He will be home in February of 2010!

Following up on the Tag

My friend Angie tagged me earlier this week so...here it is :)

1. What I'm passionate about: Life and finding the joy and meaning in it.
2. Things I want to do before I die: I want to have a happy family that loves each other and that loves the Lord. If I have that than nothing else really matters to me. But on the fun side of things I would like to go sky diving, heard cattle on an over night excursion, go surfing, perfect the art of baking the perfect chocolate cake and be a world traveler!
3. Things I have learned from my past: That it is not worth it not to forgive. That having good friends really is important and that they really do help mold the person that you become (I have been blessed with awesome friends whom I LOVE). Life is better when you study the scriptures, pray with purpose and serve others. Family really is the most important thing in life and serving others when you are feeling down is generally the recipe to a better day.
4. Places I'd love to see: Prague, Italy (especially the Almafi Coast and Rome), I would love to go back to Spain with Matt and lay on their perfect beaches, Really I would just like to travel all around Europe…Any where would be awesome. I would also like to travel the good ol’ US. I would love to go back to Boston with Matt since that is where he served his mission, I would love to see New York City and go lobster fishing in Main and I would really love to take a vacation to Barbados…just because it sounds exotic and wonderful!
5. Things I currently need or want: A house…but this is more a need than a want and I just need to be patient. I also need a hug right now. Is there anyone out there giving them out right now?
6. Favorite TV shows: The Office…I freakin’ love that show! American Idol, I am a junkie. And I am also embarrassed to admit that Friends and Seinfeld are still at the top of my list for my favorite TV shows…what can I say? I just can’t let go of the past 
7. Favorite restaurants: Paradise Bakery (basically this is just for their cookies), Pikes Place Chowder House (Best Chowder in the world!), Raw (a sushi place) and Café Rio…I miss that place like crazy.
8. Things that happened yesterday: Yesterday was a good day. I had an interview yesterday morning that went decently well. And then my friend Genny and I went hiking up to Beacon Rock and it was gorgeous! It has been raining pretty steadily for the past two weeks but yesterday it was sunny and beautiful. We had so much fun. While on our hike we made friends with some little old people that told us about this mineral springs resort just a little further down the road. So we went and checked it out and it was beautiful. While we were there we treated ourselves to a delicious Cobb salad. We felt like we were at an exotic location and it was a lot of fun. Then I came back to the reality of my life and went to work…that was the worst part 
9. Things I look forward to: I am super excited about going home to Utah for Christmas. I really miss my family and friends. I am looking forward to finding a job so that I can feel like a whole person again that actually does something to benefit society. I am excited for summer to come so that we can buy a house here in Washington and start our own little family…I think that I am starting to get baby hungry!
10. Things I love about fall: I love every thing about fall. It is the most beautiful time of the year to me. I love all of the colors and the cold crisp air. I love big sweaters and cute boots and the anticipation for Christmas to come. I have also discovered that I love Pumpkin Patches! They are so much fun 
11. Things on my wish list: That the stock markets will start to behave themselves so that my husband won’t have to work so much overtime and I can actually see him during the week. A house…is any one getting the impression that I really want a house??? I would also like a puppy…but I think I want a house first  I am such a brat.
12. Who I tag next: My wonderful sister-in-law Betsy…whom I love.

Fall in Vancouver

I love fall! It is one of my favorite seasons and it has been especially beautiful in Vancouver this year. I went for a walk right next to my house this morning and took some pictures and they turned out beautifully. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful place. I feel blessed :)