For the Longest Time...

It has been such a busy month that time has just flown by. I haven't had access to a computer for a while now either and I'm just getting back into the swing of things. I have had almost 3 weeks of vacation now. It's been wonderful. My first week was in Calgary with my mom. My sister was in from Seattle with her 3 boys and it is so much fun to have our kids play together. My girls and her boys all have a corresponding cousin that is no more than 3 months different in age. So they all have a blast. The first week we were at Gran's house (My mom) and we were getting things ready for my Grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary party in Lethbridge. My sister, Brittany also came up from Utah, so it was all six of us girls here in Calgary for a few days. It was so great to all be together. On Thursday night, Jarett came to Calgary and joined us and the next morning we headed down to Lethbridge. It was awesome.

Growing up, I was very close to my cousins. They were closer to what most peoples relationship with their siblings is. So to see all of my cousins again was so much fun. We were so sad that the cousins from Utah weren't able to make it, but we had 12/17 of the Grandchildren there and 19/21 of the Great Grandkids. We had a luncheon at my Aunt and Uncles house followed by a little program for my grandparents. The Great Grandkids sang to the tune of Book of Mormon stories. My mom had re-written the lyrics to tell the story of Gran and Grampa dating and getting married etc. Then the Grandkids sang about all the things Gran and Grampa do for us and in general that makes them so awesome to the tune of Beautiful Dreamer. This is an old song that Grampa played on the piano all the time. It's a song that I've been determined to learn so I could always hear it, so I had the opportunity for this. When my Grandparents heard these songs, they both started to cry and it was such an amazing experience. My Grampa turned to us and told us all "today I am the richest man in the world". It was so profound to me. It was a great reminder that the most important thing in the world is family. Nothing gives us more happiness or more joy than being around those that we love. My goal is to be like my grandparents one day and be able to look at my grandchildren and see them all happy and making the most of their lives. See them all married in the temple or working towards that and all doing good things. Can there be anything better in this life? Anyway, after this, Jarett closed the little program by singing "Always" by Irving Berlin. This was a song that was sung at my Grandparents wedding , but it was completely impromptu. The congregation stood up and sang it without any planning. It seems right out of the movies in my mind. This has become a special song in our family (obviously) and it was sung at my mom's wedding and at both my sister's and my wedding too.

Anyway, after going to church in their ward in Lethbridge, we took off to go camping for a week. We went down to Montana and tented (just a reminder that I'm in my last trimester) next to Flathead Lake. It was as relaxing as could be with 12 kids under 12. One day all the kids were watching a show and the moms (except me) were all gone shopping and I just layed down in a dingy on the beach and read a book for about an hour. It was heavenly. Anyway we had a whole lot of fun and it's always great to let the cousins play while the adults talk, right? The only problem was just how quickly the week went by. Anyway, now I'm back in Calgary and we're actually in the process of deciding when exactly I'm going to be back in Edmonton. It could be another week with the Mullen cousins or they might take off back to Seattle and then we'd come right home. Anyway, we shall see....

I'll post pictures later. I took over 500 and my computer is being retarded and so I haven't been able to take them off of the memory card yet. Thank heaven for sisters computers.....

Going Private

I have decided to join the band wagon and privatize my blog. If you would like to be able to continue reading my blog, email me at acahoon@gmail.com or leave a comment. I need your email address to make sure you can still get in. I will be making the change on August 1. Thank you.

The Books Continue

So, just for an update.... I just finished reading David Copperfield (a WONDERFUL read for anyone who is wondering). I am now going to start *drum roll*

GONE WITH THE WIND

Anyone who wants to join me - let me know.

Kienna's Fourth Birthday!!

Yes, my little blondie is four years old. I can hardly believe it. She is such a sweet heart and is just so cute. Anyway, here are the pictures from her party.

Kienna opening her first present - a kite.

This isn't a great picture, but it's a good "before" picture. About 30 seconds after this shot was taken, a HUGE hail storm came in. We all bolted to the car grabbing a child, present or camera and waited until the end of the storm (this being about 5 minutes later). The kids were screaming and I forgot to grab the keys....so I had to run back and forth and finally we were all in the car when the hail stopped. After the rain slowed down, we decided to finish the picnic and kite flying.....seeing as the hot dogs were all ready 2 seconds before the storm arrived. So here are the after pictures.

Aunty Kimmy

Gran

Auntie Brookie

Aunty Hayley

Mommy and Saryn (she cried for so long after the storm, it really scared her)

My little girls after being soaked.

A couple of the presents....do they look a little soggy?

Kienna by her sopping presents.

The curly haired wonders that we were all so jealous of.

Kienna's barbies that she got.

Kaia wrapped this present by herself, it looked better before the rain too.

Saryn holding the barbies. She wouldn't let go for so long and she'd follow my Dad around and introduce him to them. "Prince Phillip" and then "Sleeping Beauty". I think she told him that at least 20 times.

Don't you love how the paper tore? It just kinda melted off the presents.

Of course, once we wanted to fly kites, the wind totally died.

Jarett and the girls admitting defeat.

Hayley didn't give up. According to the kite, it will fly in winds of 7km/h and up. Hayley apparently can run that fast....haha.

Yes, my parents are just that cute. My Dad pushing my mom on the swing.

We went home for the cake (for obvious reasons). So here is the Family around the cake.

Our little family - Saryn insisted in sitting in her booster for this. I think it's because she knows that's where she'd get the cake.

The cake
Kaia picked all the colours and told me where to put everything. She was super excited for Kienna to see it.

Apparently Kienna was tired by the end of the day.....

Update!!

So we've had a busy couple months and I've been negligent in updating my blog as much as I would like. I apologize for the severe length of pictures on my blog, but since I LOVE pictures, I have to have them posted. These were taken a couple days to a week after Kienna's broken collar bone.

Sundance Lake

One of the only times Kaia has fallen asleep watching a movie. Kienna did too, but that's not quite as surprising. They fell asleep just before I had to teach piano and they slept through the entire lesson.

Ramsay Park: We came here for Mary Grace Anderson's Birthday and had a BLAST. The kids love this park and I FINALLY remembered to bring a camera. We played on the park and with kites and all sorts of fun. It was a great day.

Kaia loves this, as you walk it turns under your feet. She's getting quite good at it too.

Kienna picks flowers constantly and gives them to me (it's very sweet, but I'm sure the people who landscape the parks aren't thrilled with her)

Look how happy this child is, she couldn't play on the playground because of her shoulder, but she had a riot in the sand (followed by a very good thorough bath).

Saryn lovin' the car there.

Kienna playing in the sand.

Kaia on the elephant teeter-totter.

Gabe eating cake.

Kaia chased the kites like crazy and tried to catch them when the guys lowered them.

Saryn thought she had died and gone to heaven. She chased after the kites and would point at them to tell me where they were. She was SO cute.

Kaia finally caught the kite.

This is possibly my favorite picture of Saryn. She was running after a fallen kite and obvious very excited.

Saryn pointing out the kite to me.

Saryn likes to freak me out by doing this. She hangs on all the bars anywhere. Then lifts up her feet (below) and swings like a monkey. This girl is getting us ready for the busyness of a boy.

Kaia's first try at Monkey Bars EVER. She did really good. She made is across two or three which is more than I've ever done in my life.

Hazel loves to be in charge with Saryn and I think Saryn's finally come to terms with it and so they're getting along quite well. Of course, anyone who will push Saryn in a swing is considered a hero in her eyes.

Sadie, Mary Grace and Kaia on the 3-way teeter-totter.

THE DENTIST
It was all the kids first visit to a dentist that wasn't with their Aunties doing the cleaning. They all did really well. Saryn rode in a chair too, but it was while I was in the chair, so I didn't get a pictures. For the first part though, she was quite content watching Nemo.

Betsey Stanford cleaned Kaia's teeth. It's a small world. (Betsey and I were in Young Womens together and have known eachother forever).


On the way to Calgary for the Long Weekend.

Kienna picking a flower (again) in Red Deer while we were stopped doing an errand.

Saryn putting her fingers through a pretzel.