Fall Family Pictures

Now that the Christmas season is just about here, it is time to start thinking about the famous family picture and writing the yearly Christmas letter. Since Blaine leaves this task for me each year, I thought I would get a head start and get our pictures taken over the weekend. Yesterday we had our family pictures taken at Memory Grove Park in downtown Salt Lake City. We asked my brother, Brandon, to take our picture for us and he did a great job! I wanted the classic picture of the colorful fall leaves on the ground and on the trees, which is just what we got! Even though Cannon threw up SEVEN times the day before we had our pictures taken and was a little fussy and cold taking pictures at 9:00 in the morning, he was still a pretty good sport. After an hour of picture taking, these are our favorites:



This one is my favorite of the little guy:




Happily swinging after having NO fun taking pictures:

Pocatello Zoo

Since Blaine flew to Spokane, WA to go on his annual fishing trip with his dad, Cannon and I went to see my brother and his wife in Pocatello, ID over the weekend. While there, we decided it would be fun to go to the little zoo located there. No offense to the Pocatello Zoo, but I would definitely consider changing the name of the place to "Pocatello Farm", or "Pocatello Wildlife Park", or something along those lines, because there were no zoo animals there! The zoo did have two bears there, which were neat to see. But other than that, just your normal deer, elk, cougar, cows, goats, rabbits, eagles, and a lynx or two. When we went on Saturday, the zoo had a special Halloween activity going on, called the "Zoo Boo". Kids were to come dressed in their Halloween costumes and receive candy at each exhibit. It was fun going to the zoo when everything was decorated for Halloween, including the zoo workers and some of the animals! It was especially fun seeing Cannon interact with the goats in the petting zoo section. Enjoy the pictures below!...

Pocatello Zoo:




Cannon picking out his candy after seeing a rabbit, baby elk, and grizzly bear:





Cannon wasn't too sure about the goats at first, but after staring them down for awhile and a peck on the cheek, he was good to go!...








Leaf Pit:




Thank you for taking me to the zoo Uncle Kyle and Aunt Tanaira!

Witches, and witches, and more witches, oh my!

Last weekend we took Cannon to Gardner Village to see the famous display of witches, which are displayed each Halloween throughout the outdoor shopping mall in West Jordan, UT. In addition to the cute little shops, places to eat, and the overall historical attraction of Gardner Village, there is also a small petting zoo for the kids to enjoy. Cannon could not get enough of the goats! That boy LOVES animals! Blaine keeps telling me that one of these days he will come home with a puppy. I still can't tell if he is serious about it or not. All I know is that I would not have the time or patience to worry about a puppy right now, in addition to our little one year old. But, soon enough we will have to get a dog for Cannon. Every boy needs a dog, right?

Anyway, the only part about Gardner Village that Cannon enjoyed were the goats. He did not care for the witches and might have even been a little frightened of them. But, I don't know, maybe you can be the judge of that after looking at the pictures below! :)

Cornbelly's Pumpkin Patch

Over the weekend Cannon went to his first pumpkin patch! We met up with our friends, Mark and Stefanie, and their two cute kids at Cornbelly's. For those of you that have kids and would like to go to a pumpkin patch before the end of the month, Cornbelly's is a fun place to take the family. Along with picking out your own pumpkin, at Cornbelly's you can also go on a mini train ride through a corn field, go through a corn maze, shoot pumpkins, watch a pig race, eat fair-type food, and of course, take tons of pictures! For older kids there are also various slides to go down, a large jumping pit, and some kiddie rides. It was great weather and I think we all had a good time!





Nice picture taking spots (Cannon wasn't too enthusiastic about sticking his head in a hole toward the end):




Going down one of the slides (Blaine decided it would be funny to let Cannon go down by himself. However, since Cannon's shoes had rubber soles, he stopped midway on the slide and just laid there without crying or moving. It was pretty funny! You will see what I'm talking about in one of the slide pictures below):




Having fun pedaling around on little tractors and riding the train:





Cannon sitting with Grace on the BIG rocking chair:


More picture fun:

Cannon + Candy = Walking

So Cannon took his first three steps last Sunday, the day before his first birthday. He only takes about three-four steps at a time, but at least it is a start! His favorite thing to do is crawl up to something sturdy, stand up, look at his destination, and go at it full-force, almost like a lunge. However, over the week, his lunges have become less sloppy and more like actual movement. While attempting to walk, Cannon's hands are always way up, up, up in the air, which we think is just the cutest thing. It is also funny how Cannon won't always want to try walking, unless candy is involved. If we sit a few feet apart with candy in our hand or lap and reach out to him, calling him over, he never waits a minute to perform his drunken sailor walk over to us. Without candy, on the other hand, is another story.

Also, Cannon had his one year doctor appointment on Wednesday. He is still at 15% for height and weight, measuring 28.5 inches tall and 20.8 lbs.

Before I end this post, I have to share a funny story...well, funny now, not funny at the time! So yesterday afternoon I put Cannon down for a nap just before noon. We are now attempting the one nap per day deal, and it is not going well, might I add! Around 12:30pm I heard him up and talking in his room, and thought, "what the heck?, it has only been 45 minutes! I am not getting him up now!" Thinking that he would soon fall back to sleep since he wasn't crying, I went downstairs to get ready for work in the hopes that he would fall back to sleep if he didn't hear me getting ready in the room next door. Then at 1:40pm, I realized that Cannon was still awake and happily talking gibberish in his room. Knowing that he probably would not fall back asleep at this point, I went back upstairs to his room to get him up and ready to take to the babysitters house so I could go to work. When I opened the door to Cannon's room, he was standing up in his crib with the biggest smile on his face. I thought nothing of it, other than the awful smell of a messy diaper, until I got closer and closer to his face. Once up close, I noticed Cannon had poop smeared on his face, hands, legs, feet, and pretty much all over the sheets and bumper of his crib. I was completely mortified and must have showed it, because after one close-up look at Cannon, he started to cry. At that point, I did not know what to do first. I decided to pick him up and place him in the tub, clothes and all, and just wash all the poop off him. Let me tell you, this was probably close to the most disgusting thing I have cleaned up in my life, and I am a nurse!!!

On a happier and less disgusting note, I posted some pictures of Cannon walking below. Videos, you ask? No, just action shot pics. I have no idea how to video tape Cannon with our little camera, even though I know I could, if I knew how. So, pictures are what you get on here since I am not tech savvy.