.....better late then never

So when we started this blog we had a lot of great goals on writing weekly and taking turns and writing real interesting details and funny stories….. Well as you can see Cass wrote the last post almost four months ago……yikes. The past four months have been great. We have finished another semester of school here at USU, Go Aggies. Also we have added a couple additions to our small family namely

1) A second car (finally) that we both love and cass even lets me drive it from time to time J But we are really loving the fact that it saves us tons on gas money. And it is the first car that we have owned with all the paint intact.

 

2) We finally entered the iPad fad and cass got an iPad mini for Christmas from yours truly

3) My dad and I got to spend a few hours together building a book case that totally rocks. If you want to know where we got the idea you can buy this one http://www.crateandbarrel.com/organizing-and-storage/bookcases-shelves/elevate-walnut-68-bookcase/s232452

the price was a little high for me so we made one ourselves for a grand total of $57 from some sliding closet doors I found at the D.I. I think it turned out even better then theirs.

Also in the last for month we had the holidays, thanksgiving we drove up to visit my brother Ben and his family. Christmas we spent in Utah running around trying to spend as much time with all our different families as we could. It was great to have a break from school and get to relax a little bit.

Cassandra is one of the best gift givers I have ever met, she will spend days and days pondering on what a person wants and would like for a present. She really out did herself this Christmas with my gift. She got me a Helicopter Tour!!! How cool is that? We went down to the Ogden Airport and hopped into a sweet little helicopter and flew up through Ogden Canyon and around Pine View Reservoir and Snowbasin. It was beautiful and had been snowing pretty hard for most of the morning but cleared up while we were there and the new snow was beautiful.

Well the last four months have had a thousand other fun things happen…..but now it is Cassandra’s turn to write on the blog……see ya in another four months.

Ever notice that even the busiest people are never too busy to tell you just how busy they are?

Well, Let me tell you, we're busy! Ever since school has started, there hasn't been a lot of free time. But I must admit, I do like it that way. I am more productive when I have too many things to do than when I have nothing to do, but plenty I SHOULD be doing. Oh one of the great paradoxes of life. :) So going along with this busyness, I have slacked on the blog. Funny thing is, I thought if I blogged only once a week rather than write in my journal everyday, that I would have more time to keep record of my life. So far, I haven't done so great, but there are many personal things I would like to improve upon and this is one of them. 

So, now I would like to just to say, I am loving this semester! No matter how busy it is. As a student, a Direct Care Associate, Director of the Service-Learning Scholars, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a Wife, a Homemaker, life is never dull, and there is hardly ever any down time, but it also couldn't be better. I am proud of all the roles I am playing right now, and I only hope to improve on them each day. I am so lucky to have a husband who supports me in all these roles and is patient with me when I tend to get overwhelmed. 

We have been married over a year now! I can't even believe it! In a lot of ways, this year went by so fast, but as I look at our marriage, it feels so natural, like we've been married forever! In a good way. I don't know where I'd be without Steve's support and love. He is always thinking of me and of ways to make me happy, and I couldn't be any happier! He planned a great trip for our anniversary to go down to Vegas and it was a blast! It was so nice just to get away and be with him and grow closer together.

Before heading to Vegas we stopped by the Manti Temple. It was my first live session! So beautiful!

Road Trip! We have the greatest time in the car jamming out to tunes and just conversing about life. :) My Best Friend

HEHE wouldn't he make a great egyptian? ;)

We went through pretty much every hotel on the strip, and they had some pretty awesome modern art!

The Beautiful Luxor hotel! It's a pyramid. Literally

So that's what they call it these days...

We went to see Cirque de Solei Criss Angel! Steve loves Illusions so I thought he would enjoy it. It was a lot of fun! :)

I tugged and pulled and finally got Steve to go on the Famous New York New York rollercoaster with me. He was SO scared ;)

Pyramid-shaped Luxor again. We were really impressed.

Of course the Luxor was Egyptian themed :)

Can't miss the Bellagio Fountains! They are amazing! Steve loved every minute It was the highlight of the trip for him.

Coca-Cola Store! You could get 16 different flavors of coke products from around the world!

We couldn't even finish them all! Some were amazingly good! Some were amazingly gross! LOL

M&M Store. SO cool :)

Paris?

Nope Just Las Vegas :)

At the Flamingo hotel there were the biggest fish we have ever seen! This picture doesn't even do it justice.

The Venetian! Looks like a little Villa but it's inside the hotel! So pretty

Steve loved the Fountains so much we had to see them twice :P

Caesar's Palace

 It was such a great trip! And so memorable! The best part was just getting to spend alone time, without homework, without work, without distractions, with my best friend.

Our actual anniversary landed on a school night, but that didn't stop Steve from wanting to make it special. We went and saw Les Miserables at the Ellen Eccles theatre in Logan. It was the first time I have ever seen the play and it was absolutely beautiful! I cried almost the whole way through. I cannot wait for the movie to come out! It is truly an inspired play.

 One of the many reasons I have the best husband in the world. Every month of our marriage for this first year he gave me roses on out "monthly" anniversaries. First month of our marriage I received one single rose on October 10, second month I received 2 roses and on down until the year mark where I received a dozen! It was so romantic in a simple way. I loved it! And I love him. :)

 I know this blog has been very long and many of you, if you even opted to read it, are thinking, wow is she done yet? But I just have so much love and appreciation for my husband! I can't believe we have already been married for a year and I anticipate the many beautiful years to come. I know it won't always be easy, this first year already testified of that, but it will ALWAYS be worth it. 
Working at a treatment center I have the opportunity to meet several different people around the U.S and even as far as Canada. Many of them have different faiths and values, and especially think Utah is so unique and, to put it bluntly as they call it, weird. One thing that has always stayed constant and surprised everyone I have met the most is how we view marriage and family. "You guys marry so young!" "You don't even have your life figured out yet!" And I often pondered on why we were encouraged to marry young. After a discussion with one of our good friends Amanda Noyes, I realized why. I realize that us not having everything and life figured out yet is what makes marriage so much more beautiful at this age. We are still malleable, changeable, adaptable, being molded. And as we find someone that we CHOOSE to spend the rest of our life with, we are more easily able to mold and change together. The Lord commanded us to be one, so as we form our lives together, this is more easily obtained than if we were done growing, done changing, we had our life figured out, and tried to put an equally independent person's life together with our own. Marriage is still not perfect at a young age we still have our own individual challenges, but we are adaptable and mold each other as well as ourselves to be one with God. I am grateful to have married Steve when I did, and I know I am still adapting and changing, and I couldn't be more happy to be able to change with Steve, grow with him, mold my life with his, and ultimately become one with him and God.

The Weber

The Weber
Everybody has a happy place. That place that you think of when you were in 7th grade health class and they had you do meditation. For some it is the sunny beaches of the Bahamas, and for others the life filled streets of NYC. Others imagine reeling in the 45 lb King Salmon in Alaska or exploring the Amazon. I have done all of these, and yes they all have their individual pleasures none of them compare to the peaceful consistent beauty of the Family Cabin on the Weber River.

The Cannons have been going up to this area for over 100 years. From the early days as the summer grazing fields of my great grandpa John M Cannon’s livestock to today little has changed in this valley.

As a kid we would spend almost two weeks of our summers up at the Weber Cabin with my aunts and uncles and cousins. Those were some very happy times.....Listening to Uncle Paul sing, Uncle Dee's Blueberry Pancakes, playing Rook with Grandpa, hiking with Uncle Joel, talking for hours with Aunt Doralee, Grandma's fudge, listening to Uncle Kim tell stories, looking at Aunt Colleen's fabulous photography, walks with Uncle Val and even the occasional quick visit of Uncle Mike......these were the best of times. As the family grew bigger and bigger the three bedroom one bathroom cabin groaned under the sheer number of people that we tried to cram into it. The decision was made to move to the next generation, so instead of me going up as a nephew and a cousin, I am now the uncle and brother. I am not going to lie I miss seeing my cousins and aunts and uncles. The cabin is not so much the pine wood panels or the non OSHEA approved windows that fall down into the walls that make it the cabin, it is the people and the knowledge that you are stuck with these people in a tiny remote cabin with only one toilet that make the cabin the cabin.

Ok now that we have all that sentimental crap behind us let’s see some pictures of this year’s cabin trip.

Let’s start with some of Cass’s flower shots.

We hiked up to the Medow one of my favorite hikes

We Made it!

The kids made it so we rewarded them with candy.....maybe a little to much for Spencer (far left)

Yay! My Brother Neil made it too!

Looking down the Cliffs

Great View

No trip to the Cabin is complete without a campfire dinner.

(No caption needed here)

More Hiking

Anybody recognize this tree? It is in a movie

Guess who the favorite Aunt is.....Cassie!

Throwing rocks NEVER gets old.

An action shot of the work project. New stone path leading to the cabin

Cass getting a drink out of the spring, so cold and so clean it is totally worth the hike.

Well I started out this post talking about how I missed having the older generation up at the cabin and I want to end this post by saying how glad I am that along with the shift in generations I have picked up another title, not just uncle or brother but husband. This is Cassandra’s second year up at the cabin but first as a fully fledged Cannon. There is nothing like sharing your favorite place in the whole world with your favorite person in the whole world. This picture sums up our time at the cabin perfectly, thumbs up and relaxing TOGETHER.