Women's Conference

Once a year there is a Women's Conference for all the women in the church, broadcast all over the world. The Relief Society general presidency speaks to us and also one of the First Presidency. Yesterday I got to attend at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City with 20,000+ other women (Amy T- I saw you singing, you beautiful lady!). It was a great experience and so fun to go with Krissy and Stephanie. We also got to eat at the Lion House (SO YUMMY!).

Soccer!

Soccer has been really good for the kids, they love it! For me though, I'm really glad this is the last week! 3 kids in soccer, on 3 different teams, in 3 different locations...um, WHAT was I thinking!? Yeah, I'm a little worn out. And I think the kids are sick of cereal for dinner! Haha!

Me and my Sydney

Me and my Zack

Watching Syd run (she's in the red capris) that girl can run!


Zack is so cute to watch! He bounces all over the field!



Summer was a good sport too, watching, and running around all over the place with us. Thank goodness for parks at every soccer field!

Nick's Address

I got this email from Brooke and thought I would post it here;

Hello Everyone,
I promised when I got Nick's address I would send it to everyone
so here it is:

SR Miller, Nick, S.
DIV 437 USS KEARSARGE
BLDG. 7114
Recruit Training Command
Great Lakes, IL 60088

It says in the letter they sent me not to send any big stuff
or food so just letters for now I guess. I'm not sure when his
graduation date is yet but I will keep everyone posted. He wrote
me a few lines at the bottom of the letter they sent me and he
wanted everyone to know that he is doing well and he loves and
misses everyone.

Evie and I are doing well. She had a hard time the first week
but I gave her a picture of Nick and she carries it around with
her all the time and gives is hugs and kisses. It's very sweet.
I know she misses him.

Ok well hope everyone else is doing good!

Much Love!
Brooke

It's that time again

I am home today with a migraine that started last night and has only gained power since then. I can hardly walk around so my kids are home too (since I can't drive them to school). I'm surprised I can actually sit up and look at the computer...I'm actually squinting and wearing my sunglasses, but I had to blog a little and may post some soccer stuff later.

My kids had ice-cream for breakfast! Yep, the "mom of the year" award goes to me! What better dream for the kids than to have the day off from school and free reign of the house (and food!)

Proof right there on her face of the rainbow ice-cream...



My brain does not work when I am like this so I'm going to lay down. :)

Goodbye Nick!

9/14- We had a goodbye party for Nick who is leaving for boot camp for the Navy! He'll be in Chicago for the next several months and then stationed somewhere next summer. We're proud of Nick, and Brooke and Evie (his wife and baby) and will miss him SO much!!!!

Family Fun

Sat 9/13-we went up Provo Canyon to our favorite place, Big Spring Park, and went on a little hike. The leaves are starting to change and it is gorgeous!







Tom "feeding the little chicks"


Syd with a "wishing flower"



looking at grasshoppers


finding acorns



Sunday 9/7-party for Syd and Marcus at the Millers

Emma & Syd

Jon & Marcus






9/6-Tom teaches Zack how to ride a bike without training wheels

Traditions

I wanted to get some of our family traditions on paper (aka the blog) and I also want to hear about YOUR traditions! I love, love, love, getting ideas!

Birthdays- ah , the festivities. We do... a b-day poster with pictures and things about the child and hang it up in the kitchen the week before their birthday. We also wrap their presents and put them up on the mantle or the piano the week before (my mom thinks this is mean and tortures the child but they love it, it creates anticipation)We take them on a date with mom and dad, a family fun activity, wake up the child singing happy birthday and have donuts the day of, and of course the party! Our kids have a choice of a friend party OR an extra gift from mom and dad. I like when they choose the gift!

General Family- Family dinner! 95% of the time we sit down and have family dinner and while we eat we go around the table and tell what the best parts of our days were, the other 5% we eat upstairs in front of TV (I know, very bad!) :) We try very hard to do scripture study everyday after dinner, and family prayers morning and night (definitely not perfect at this yet but we never give up!) Tom and I take turns (usually weekly) taking a child out on a date. They get to pick the activity. Truly worth the effort, we and the kids love it! We also try to do a family activity every week. Tom is a good story teller and will tell stories to the kids before bed, it's funny when they ask me to tell a story and I can't do it well at all, ...crickets chirp.

Sundays- we go to church :), have a big family meal (usually right after church if I am on top of things), go for a walk or a drive, visit with other family members, watch family videos, have FHE, and we love to have cheese, crackers, and fruit for dinner. And much more frequently than I'd like to admit I love my Sunday afternoon naps! :)

Family Home Evening- we do ours on Sundays for now, while I am working. We copied a few ideas from our friends (the Stewarts) when we attended one of their FHE. We have a child conduct, using Savannah's Karaoke machine as a mic, it is so cute to watch this. We also added "Daddy's Corner" where Tom does a mini-lesson on a topic and we focus on it during the week and report back. We do opening and closing prayers, songs, a game, a lesson (from the scriptures), and everyone's favorite part...treats! We use our puppet theatre frequently, made by grandma, to teach lessons about the scriptures.

July 4th- We get up at 5am and go to the Provo Balloon Festival, get McDonalds breakfast and drive up into the mountains. We buy fireworks and light them off in front of our house, or go watch the "big fireworks show". In the past we have also gone swimming. This year we started a new tradition, taking the ski lift up Sundance Resort, it was awesome!!!

Christmas-We take the kids to Temple Square, do a carriage ride, and get hot chocolate. Participate in a service project, go to Festival of Trees, Christmas Eve we do a pinata (one year when the kids were very little we had a Rudolph one and when we broke it open the girls totally cried saying "you killed rudolph", it was sad but the candy comforted them! We have a big candle lit dinner, the kids get to open their PJ's from mom (that I made), we do a lesson about the Birth of Christ, the kids draw a picture with their name on it to mark their place for Santa to put their gifts, we watch a Christmas Carol (my favorite is the Muppet one!), and drive around to see everyone's Christmas lights. Christmas morning we turn on the fire, Tom rings a bell and says "Santa's come" and the kids get to come downstairs and open gifts. One tradition from my family I would like to do is have the stockings at the end of each child's bed. The reason we haven't done it yet is because Tom doesn't want to miss anything (when it's on the end of the bed the kids can open it whenever they want... I remember waking up at 4am to open mine!) We then have a late breakfast at my mom's house, if we are in Utah, and have English Crackers (the fancy wrapped napkin things that you pull apart, they pop, and there is a prize and a paper crown, everyone wears their crowns!) then we stay and my mom makes a big dinner. On boxing day, at Tom's parents house, we have a treasure hunt with the Speak and Spell, remember those?! Everyone runs around following the clues and eventually we find the treasure, gifts! One tradition we loved doing at Tom's house is bringing a meal to the homeless shelter in Santa Fe on Christmas Eve, serving and eating with the people there.

New Years Eve-we love to take the kids to a local hotel for one night and just swim in the pool and have fun together!

Fall/Halloween-caramel apples, picking pumpkins and carving, making leaf collages, decorating and crafts, and watching halloween movies like Corpse Bride, Nightmare before Christmas...

Easter-we do our "gentile" activities (dyeing eggs, candy hunt, baskets) on Saturday and a lesson focusing on the reason for Easter, our Savior, on Sunday.

St. Patrick's Day-ALL green dinner, usually green pancakes or waffles, green drinks, green eggs, green muffins...

Beginning of School Year-Tom gives the kids a father's blessing. I also want to steal Mindy's idea of doing banana splits, 3 huge scoops and a bunch of toppings! Totally awesome idea!

End of School Year-I haven't started anything yet so if anyone has some great ideas to share...

General Conference-Besides watching conference... we go into the mountains in between sessions. With conference coming up does anyone have some fun ideas to keep kids entertained for the 8 hours? My kids are getting older so they can watch and have a conference packet or something. I would love to hear what works for you!


Now what are your family traditions?

You spin me right round...

baby right round, like a record baby, right round, round round...




This had double meaning, spinning because I am spinning under a hectic schedule and spinning because of my kids doing soccer. After 3 weeks of my kids missing their soccer games and practices I have felt sufficiently guilty enough to make myself leave school at a decent time to take them to the activities I paid for and they chose to do. BUT, what in the world was I thinking signing up THREE kids for soccer who have games/practices every week at the same times but different places....I am SO NOT a super soccer mom!!!!! I am happy to report we all made it through the week. And my kids are happy, so I am happy! Zack was REALLY nervous to go on the field, he just wouldn't play and I was getting frustrated. Finally Sydney went out and ran with him up and down the field, encouraging him. It was adorable! She had her hand on his back and when he felt comfortable, after a few minutes, she left the field and he had so much fun! He keeps asking everyday if it's time for soccer again.

As for my spinning schedule it will be better on Monday because I have 2 more awesome para-educators starting! Hallelujah!!! Now we can start taking our lunch breaks, not to mention being more effective in the classroom! I am SOOOO relieved! There will be 5 adults and 12 children! Totally awesome! I think the spinning will start to slow down now...

Sydney's Birthday

Sydney wanted to go to the Mayan for her family date, it's a fun place but they don't sing anymore to birthday guests and gave some lame reason like the song being copyrighted. But it was still a fun time especially since it was the same day we did the museum and Antelope island, we had to stop at my mom's house in Sandy to put their clothes in the dryer...


She wanted Jawahs on her poster, in true Cannon style

cute dress from Grandma & Bapa

I LOVE her face and Savannah's...

Surprise! She has wanted a "big girl, non baby bike" for a long time


When we asked her what type of b-day cake she wanted she said cheesecake but then changed her mind and wanted "custard cake" which means "Trifle" a British dessert! I am so proud! :)

B-day morning donuts

Don't you think she will love me for all these early morning pictures when she's older?! I think they're cute!

Some pictures of her from 2004





What is your favorite...
Color- blue
Toy- teddy
Activity- ride my bike and draw
TV show- Spongebob, Invader Zim
Food- lasagna
Animal- elephant
Music- Curious George

What is something you DON'T like?- eat seaweed soup, clean my room
What do you collect?- crystals
What do you want to be when you grow up?- work in a pet store
Where do you want to get married?- At the Temple, the Salt Lake Temple
How many kids do you want?- Two, Chloe and Max
If you were an animal what would you be?- a cat