Cannon's Birthday Weekend

Cannon woke up to me singing happy birthday to him. With a smile he got up hoping the day would turn out the way he hoped(us beating Thermop.) I try to make all their favorite meals on or around their birthday. So we started with Cannon's new favorite breakfast, Chocolate chip pancakes. The rest of the fam elect to omit the chocolate chips but enjoy the meal all the same. We did gifts in the middle of breakfast because we knew the day would get ahead of us and we wouldn't be all together again that day until late that evening. I think Cannon was thrilled with his gifts. He then went to school for a Friday half day. Cannon invited a friend to come home with him after school. Then around 2:30 the basketball team came over and we had a BIG sandwich and cake. It was fun. Cannon loves to include the team in on his birthday. We then cleaned up and headed out to the games. First was the JV boys games and all went well and we killed them hoping this would be an omen for the rest of the night. The girls game was close but we just couldn't finish. Then the boys game. We started a little rough but then pulled ourselves together and looked like we might repeat our victory from the year before. We fell to an eight point deficit after half but fought back and took a five point lead. Honestly at that point I thought the game was all but ours. Thermop took a time out with four minutes left and we fell apart. Unfortunately we never seemed to get back in the game and we lost. So most of Cannon's birthday wishes came true. We came home and played Cannon's new game and tried to forget the hard loss we had just endured. All in all Cannon had a great day. On Saturday just Cannon and I headed to Powell for the basketball games. We first stopped at the Chinese food place,Cannon asked for sweet and sour chicken for his birthday and this was an easy way of appeasing him. We stuffed ourselves at the buffet and headed to the game. We didn't win but Cannon and I had a great night just being together. It is amazing how enjoyable the conversation was. I had a chance to let Cannon know how pleased I am with the choices he is making. We also discussed how sacred the priesthood is and it amazed me what he had to say and the knowledge he had already. I love him so much and am grateful for his influence in my life! It is a great day to be a mom!Cannon received the Aaronic priesthood on Sunday. Joel came from Billings and Cannon got to be ordained by Michael before sacrament meeting. The bishop called him to the stand to be sustained and recognized for getting his faith in God award. He then got to pass the sacrament for the first time. Michael blessed the sacrament and Cannon passed and it was a great day! The priesthood is a blessing that will abound in our home over the years and I am excited to watch it come to pass.

Cannon Is 12!

Happy 12th Birthday Cannon

I can't believe this day has come! Cannon is 12 and has become such a wonderful young man and I am soooooo proud(but in a good way)of him. Cannon has taken on the role of oldest very seriously. He sees my need for help around the house(usually when my eyes are bulging out of my head and my hair is on fire) and always pitches in and tries hard to change his attitude and he always does more than his share. On the other hand while Michael is gone so much during basketball season he also tries to take on the role of father and you can just guess how the others, especially Cole, respond to this. Cannon really is trying to help but that is not how it ends up most of the time.

Cannon as a baby never had time to sit still long enough to hug me or give loves. The funny thing is as he has gotten older and started school he has become more affectionate(making up for lost time.) Cannon still will sit on my lap in public and every day when he leaves for school(mad or not) he yells out from the front door I LOVE YOU! Some mornings it impresses me soo much because maybe the morning did not go the way he wanted and I am pretty sure he doesn't like me much but he still makes a point of telling me he loves me. That is an attribute I think he got from his dad. And some day when he is a husband it will be a great strength.Cannon has always had a passion for sports. This year Cannon has been able to participate in middle school athletics and he has loved every minute of it. He got to first play football. It was a trying season but Cannon still worked hard and enjoyed time with friends. They didn't have the winningest season but Cannon found out how tough he was every single game. Next was basketball season which is his favorite sport(I wonder why?). Cannon was excited to finally get to play with his friends on a team together. In the past on rec teams they always seemed to get split up to keep the teams even. They did well together. Cannon got to play on the upper grade teams and got a lot of experience. Cannon is a hard worker and wants to win. I wonder where he got that competitive nature from?!

As you can tell I am extremely proud of the young man Cannon is becoming. He is leading the way for his brothers so well I couldn't ask for more(well maybe a little less fighting with siblings.)

With turning 12 Cannon will get to receive the priesthood. Wow that doesn't seem to be real. I remember turning 12 and thinking I was sooo old. I look at Cannon and I realize I was wrong. I hope we have taught him enough that he sees and understands the responsibility of the priesthood. I am sure we will have many family home evenings on the topic.

Happy Birthday bud. Keep up the good work.

So!

Are you all wondering why I have a picture of Travis with his shirt on backwards? Well this is how Travis looks every day when he comes out of his room after dressing himself(yes he is almost 7). Travis rarely ever puts his shirt on the right way the first time. I know it has nothing to do with his ability to dress himself it has every thing to do with the fact that Travis lacks the ability to stay focused on anything that isn't horses or cows. Almost every day either when he gets dressed in the morning or after his bath at night Travis will come out dressed with some or all of his clothing not assembled the way it is intended to be. Every time I mention to him that his shirt is backwards he always responds the same way "SO!"

This morning Travis was getting ready and was struggling to get his shirt on and when he came out of his room he was extremely frustrated that his clothing was not cooperating. Right away I could see the problem. First he had his undershirt on backwards and he was trying to put on a button up shirt but he was trying to shove his arm through the wrong hole while forcing the sleeve to go in-side-out. I really wanted to take his picture but he was far to flustered to then ask him to be still while I took his picture. I love my Trav he is always doing something funny with no intention of humor.
Now you can have a little laugh too.

First Time For Everything!

I just thought I would let everyone know I just boiled chicken without it boiling all over the stove! Sometimes you have to be thankful for the little things. Good luck in your cooking endeavors today!

A "Grizzly" Weekend

Well it was a long weekend of basketball. It started Thursday night with Wind River. We played them in the East/West tournament first game of the season and did not fare so well. We did better against Wind River but still fell to the Cougars(which is hard because I never like to loose but the W.R. coach is such a great guy that it is hard to stay mad for long.) Friday night we played the Burlington Huskies, in my mind one of our rivals. Burlington is in our district but I really hate loosing to them. But even though I wanted to win it didn't seem like some of the boys wanted it as bad as I did. We lost for the second time this season to the Huskies so the good news is we don't have to play them again this year the bad news is we lost twice to the Huskies booooo. Saturday we played our first conference game. We came out on top of this one. I was a little nervous after the night before and how the boys were feeling. We played the Shoshoni Wranglers. The Grizz came out confident and on fire. We couldn't miss in the first quarter and the team really seemed to be playing together as a unit. We went on to dominate the whole game almost to the point that I felt a little sorry for the Wranglers. It was nice to see the team smile and have some fun. I love my Grizz. Good luck in future games boys.

Mom Will You Play With Me?

Yesterday we woke up to a beautiful dusting of snow. While I was doing the bathrooms Adam came in and asked if I would go have fun in the snow with him. Usually I would put him off or tell him to go out by himself but due to one of my new years resolutions I finished what I was doing got in some warmer clothes and out we went. The sun was bright and it was pretty warm outside. We decided to make snow angels.

Adam's snow angel .

My snow monster I mean angel.

We then had a very short lived snow ball fight. Adam didn't like it that I could hit him so many more times than he could hit me. You all know me no mercy! Unfortunately the snow was not quite wet enough for a snow man so we played follow the leader. I had to step in Adam's footsteps as I followed him. That is when I realized how many more steps it takes Adam to get somewhere than it takes me. I knew his stride was shorter than mine but wow he really does have to work hard to get from A to B. I think about how he had to climb up the mountain when we went sledding and it was hard for me and it had to be really hard for him! We then tried to take some pics together but that didn't turn out so good but here they are. Adam kept saying the sun was too bright and it was hurting his eyes.

Thank goodness for children that keep me young and having a bit of fun. We had a great afternoon Adam came inside had a little hot chocolate and feel asleep on my bed. I love being a mom! Life is good.

Changes in the Family

Sunday Adam graduated to primary and that means all of my children are in primary! I can't believe that. It seems like I just brought Cannon up from nursery to primary. When I think about Adam sitting in those Sunbeam seats it just makes me feel sorry for his teacher! Put his cousin that he loves so much(Ben) in the mix and who knows what will be said and done in primary. Cannon will turn 12 this month and I can't wait to see him pass the Sacrament. It also means his dad will be his teacher and Scout master, that could get interesting. I guess it is about time they get a little more father/son time. Scout camp this year will take Michael and Cannon away for a week. Can you say peace and quiet?! I love my boys but when one of them is gone the other three seem to get along much better. Anyway we are growing up in the Simmons family and I am excited and I also would like to slow it down a little. Having a family is the best gift Heavenly Father has given me.

Sledding

We went for a little sledding trip on the Big Horns with some of Michael's family. It takes about two hours to get to the spot we like to sled at and it is well worth the drive. All of the boys had such a great time. Even Michael and I took a trip or two down the hill. Michael went down once trying to stand up. I didn't get to see him but he claims he only fell twice. Unfortunately my camera died right after this picture was taken so I am hoping Emily will share some of the pics she took. Michael had the bright idea to get all of us (Michael, Rachel, Cannon, Cole, Travis, and Adam) on one sled and go down together. We all crammed on and down we went. I thought for sure we would wreck but we made it all the way down the hill(I laughed the whole way down.) We had a great Christmas break. The boys did their fare share of fighting but when we did something together as a family we had a wonderful time. I am so grateful for our family and our health and the opportunity we had to spend some quality time together. Michael was so helpful over the vacation and I think I fell deeper in love with him(maybe that is good considering I won't see him again until spring.) We had fun with friends and extended family also and are thankful for those who are willing to have our crazy boys around. By the way my arm is soar from playing the Wii. How sad is that?! Maybe with the boys in school I will get a little more time to "train" on the Wii to get into shape.haha I hope you all had a great holiday and Happy New Year.