Halloween....

Halloween is not my favorite holiday. I hate to admit that...It seems so stuffy and lame of me. Im not sure where my dislike came from...especially considering my own Mom was so obsessed with the holiday. She made it so much fun.... (this is her in costume circa 1981)


but... I just cant get into it. Cant figure out why. This year, however...I seemed to have found a small bit of enjoyment out of it at the last minute. I dont know if it was the fact that my children all chose relatively simple and inexpensive costumes...

(Addison in the costume she wore last year)

(Evan chose to be a skeleton, wearing the cloak he wore for his last years costume..and I had already bought the face paint last year when Halloween items were on clearance!)

(Ian chose to be Indiana Jones..in his own clothing with uncle Nates fly fishing hat and a leather jacket we found at the D.I. for $20...the whip was from scout camp...)

Maybe it was the fact that I was just too dang busy to stress over everything like I normally do, but whatever happened, I really had a good time tonight! It did start out kinda miserable though with the rain...

but thankfully, by the time we actually went out to trick or treat, it had mostly stopped. We went to Nate and Alisa's first to show costumes and ended up trick or treating with Soren. That was fun...I love that age (2-4) when holiday's really start to become THE MOST EXCITING THING IN THE WORLD to the kids. Soren was having a ball! We left there after hitting a few streets and went back to our old neighborhood to finish up. It was fun seeing all the people from our old ward/neighborhood. The kids made a haul of candy that ought to last them 6 months but will actually only last about 6 hours....ugh. I, of course felt obliged to eat all of Ian's "peanut" items. Darn that peanut allergy!
(Here is Ian "re-creating the cover of the Indiana Jones DVD cover...can you tell he was really into this costume? )

After being home for about 20 minutes, I noticed that I hadnt seen or heard from Addison...this is how I found her. Completely Sacked out!

10 Years Ago....

I gave birth to my first baby...Ian Kenneth Shannon.

It was not an uneventful birth. After my water broke early, the contractions stopped and 19.5 hours later I was finally ready to push. Unfortunately, due to an epidural that never completely "took", I was forced to push without much pain medication.... it took 2.5 hours of pushing to finally hold him in my arms. 2.5 hours of pushing, puking on the nurse, and tearing....a lot. Lets not forget the fact that the doctor had to twist him a full 3 times to get his gigantor shoulders out. "Here is your future football player" the doctor said... all 9 pounds 13 ounces of him. Well, guess what Doc.... Football player he is not. What I got though, was the most lovable, squeezable, kissable, teddy bear of a son that a mother could ever hope for (and he would probably be mortified that I wrote that :) I cannot believe it has been 10 years already. It feels like it was just a couple of years ago..... Words can't express how much I love this kid so I wont bother trying. I am so proud of him....my little Alex P. Keaton :)



We promised him a big birthday party for his entrance into the "double digits". He has been very excited to hit this milestone...much more so than I have - that is for sure. So we invited his entire school class since they have all been together since Kindergarten. I figured half might show up.... out of 24 kids, we had 18 come to the party! It was a smashing success. I rented out the bowling alley at the University of Utah for 2 hours and let the kids go for it. Self contained entertainment....it was awesome, and loud, and crazy but totally worth it. Ian was on cloud 9. Denver was in town for a visit too so that made it even better for him. Also, my mom was in town helping my brother with his boys since Alisa had been out of town on business....it was fun to have her at the party as well.

Here is Addie striking a pose for the camera since she wasn't doing much "striking" on the bowling lanes!

And here is Ian methodically explaining the scientific facts about bowling and how to properly pick up the ball and throw it down the lane.....

Here is my nephew Soren, "secretly" assisting his big cousin in the gift opening department ;)

If you know me, then you know I love to make my kids' birthday cake from scratch each year. This year however, Ian was kind enough to allow me to purchase his cake from Sams Club #1. because I would have had to bake 3 cakes to feed all the guests..... and #2. between my school and our weekly chaos, I would have never had time to do so. It killed me to do it but I have to admit it was such a huge relief!!! By the way, I have to say that for store bought cake, this was pretty dang good...and I am picky.

He got a lot of really fun gifts and his friends were all so cute...they were huddled so close to him while he was opening the gifts that I thought they might literally smother him. It was Awesome....he had such a great time :)

He Is Growing Up....

Well, Evan has passed out of the little boy stage and this picture really shows it! Look at those 3rd grade chompers. Isn't he handsome....?

My Cousin Lauran....

Tonight we went to the wedding reception of my cousin Lauran. I can remember when she was born nearly 23 years ago... She is the daughter of my mom's brother Barry. Here is mom with my uncle, the father of the bride.... ( and below with Addison who really wanted a picture with Grandma!)


Bary and Jill have 4 daughters and they are all turning into the most amazing women. Truly, he and my aunt have done something right because they are just really good girls. Emily is the oldest and served an LDS mission to Texas.


She also just recently graduated from college in the same major that I am in. Lauran and her husband both served LDS missions in Seoul, South Korea and are just the cutest couple. It was fun to see her tonight so happy and looking gorgeous in her white dress. I hope they have many years of happiness together.

We Also Sing....

Every year I participate in a choir called We Also Sing. It is made up of over 300 women and the director is Merrilee Webb, who happens to be my Junior High School Choir teacher. I just Love to sing. I dont know if I am any good but I sure dont care....I love doing it. I look forward to this experience each year and cant imagine not participating. After 10 weeks of practices (only once a week) we put on a concert. Normally it is held in the old Tabernacle on Temple Square but this year, it was held in the Marriott Center on BYU's campus. It was a whole new experience.... I really learned to love the pieces we sang this year even though at first I was a little hesitant of how they would turn out. My mom is in town and so she, my aunt Debra and my two boys came to listen and support me. These are my crazy boys after the concert.

Funny story....my mom says that during the concert there were some obnoxious 18 year olds talking and laughing and kicking the seats. I guess it got pretty bad . After a few minutes of it, Ian, my oldest, got up.. walked over to them and said "excuse me, but if you guys don't knock it off I am going to get security to throw you out..." Gotta love Ian....he takes after his mommy.....

The concert was bittersweet this year as normally my Grandmother would have also attended. She hadn't missed a concert yet. I was at a rehearsal the night that she passed away.... I remember we were singing the song "Omnia Sol" and I was thinking about her because it is a song about passing on and I knew she would be leaving us soon...my mom called during the song to tell me she had passed. I had a difficult time getting through it last night....but I know she was there with us in spirit.

One of the great things about the choir are the wonderful women I have met. Two in particular have become dear to me. This is Julie and Kim.


We sit together each Sunday during rehearsal and they really make me smile. I will miss seeing their happy faces each week and cant wait until next year when we get to do it all over again!!

Catching Up....I Think?

Here it is 2:00 in the morning....I should be in bed but just finished writing a paper that is due in the morning and then decided I better get this stuff posted before another 2 weeks goes by and I am even more behind. 3 posts follow this one that should catch up all my pictures and activities over the month of September anyway. We are quite busy and some days, I'm pretty sure I bit off more than I could chew this Fall. One more month of soccer though and that will relieve some of the stress! Wednesdays are the worse days with school, then dance for Addison at 3pm and then scouts for the boys at 4pm then soccer practice for Evan at 5pm. Needless to say, Wednesday's dinners usually consist of pizza. Monday and Thursdays are Taekwondo. Here is Evan waiting for his test....does he look nervous?!

Friday's are Ian's soccer practice and of course Saturdays are the soccer games. Tonight we had to go have the boys tested for the Taekwondo Belt Ranks. They got their orange belts a couple of months ago and this was for an added stripe to the orange belt. I think they did pretty good and will probably pass...but then what do I know about Taekwondo!



Starting tomorrow morning Evan begins Chinese lessons twice a week before school. I couldnt pass up the opportunity for him to be exposed to learning a foreign language. It think it is so good for the brain to open up that type of learning. Ian is starting Spanish lessons twice a week next week. So, between the family we will have French, Russian, Korean, Spanish, and Chinese speakers....not too shabby!

Addison continues to test my patience as apparently all 4 years old do. Her tantrums leaving me tearing my hair out. She cries a lot and is very defiant. Of course I love her just the same but am anxiously looking forward to this phase going away :) She enjoys school once she gets there...same with dance. Its the initial leaving her there that causes the most tears.


Next week is my fall break from school and I am soooo looking forward to it. I'm not sure what I will do with myself for a whole week by myself during the day. Sleep. obviously I need more of it!! Denver is working hard in South Carolina. I know he is tired too and missing us. He is coming to visit toward the end of October to celebrate Ian's birthday and visit with everyone. Then it's back to the grind!

Here are some videos....one of the boys taking their Taekwondo test and the other of Ian getting my nephew Jude to laugh at him. Sweet little thing.....

Happy Birthday to Soren....

Keeping in mind how behind I am on posts, here is a few little pics of Soren who turned 3 in September! They had a fun little party for him and we got to attend. He was soooo excited for this day. Nathan said he kept checking outside for the delivery man to see if he had delievered his "birthday" yet...as though the party was going to be shipped via UPS. So funny... We sure love him and enjoy any chance we get to go over and see him and sweet little Jude. Just look at this face....couldn't you just chew on those cheeks!

I have had the opportunity twice now to babysit them while the parents went out. All 5 kids in one house with a newborn was a "hopping" good time let me tell you! I dont know how these moms do it with 6 or 7 under the age of 8. But it is fun once in a while to be with my cute nephews!!

Soccer Fun....

I havent been as good about taking pictures of the boys' sports this year. But here is my attempt one weekend to capture the essence of our Saturday mornings. Keep in mind that I rarely get to watch an entire game of either boy due to the juggling I have to do between games. Both boys play on Saturday mornings between 8am and 10am on different teams and on different fields. It takes creative measures to get them both there and be able to actually watch a game.


This picture below shows both Ian's on the team. Their coach needed to call one of them something different to keep confusion to a minimum. The blonder boy is Russian and speaks little English and the coach kept yelling "Russian Ian" at him which seemed inappropriate so I offered him the name "Ike" for our Ian. Ian's middle name is Kenneth and so when he was little Denver often called him Ike. So this is what he is called now on his soccer team.


Here is Ian sitting....on break...his favorite part of the game. I have to say that Ian just isnt much of a runner. I think we are going to encourage the coach to try him out as the goalie so at least for part of the game he will actually have an excuse for just standing there!

One of the things that I adore about the games this year are the locations of their fields. Although the boys play at different fields, both of them are located on the same hill above the capital and offer the most spectacular view of the city in the mornings. Not much shade however...but oh, what a view!


And here is Evan...he is so enthusiastic about soccer. He really enjoys it and has improved so much this year! He goes to school with all of these boys on his team so they play soccer at recess together as well. It has really been fun for him to be on the same team again this year.

He is really improving on his running and getting to the ball faster. Last year he hung back a lot for fear of getting kicked but this year he is really digging in and getting a little more aggressive. If there is one thing my boys are not, its aggressive. Not that its a bad thing...unless there is a soccer ball to get to!


Evan likes to play the goalie occasionally and seems to have a knack for it. It makes me a nervous wreck...especially if a ball gets past him but he seems to take it in stride. Here he is about to stop a ball...check out the determination on his face...Love it!


He loves to drop kick the ball out of the box....he says this is what he practices the most at recess every day :)

And here is miss Addison....the mascot I guess. Poor thing gets dragged around all day with me...but she is a good sport as long as she gets a treat when we are all through! One more month of this craziness and then we can rest until Spring soccer!

Neglect....

It's Sunday night...10 minutes before midnight and I thought I better just throw something up here for the time being until I can get my pictures off of the camera and into a better post. My blog feels so neglected. I just haven't seemed to have any time for it lately. I know I have great excuses... school, kids, school, housework, school....etc. but I need to get caught up. Fall is already flying by. I cannot believe it is October already. Denver has been gone since the end of July but it seems like he just left. Anyway, between school for me, soccer and taekwondo and scouts for the boys, dance classes for Addison and my choir on Sunday's I just dont know where I can find time to squeeze in anything else unless I do it at midnight! Here is a pic of me and Addison at Taekwondo...do I look tired?? I think so.....


I am going to try to do a full fledged update tomorrow though...its a light homework week for me so I will get it done! On another note, I had choir rehearsal tonight and it was amazing! I have never left rehearsal feeling like I had just worked out. I was dying for some water afterward. During the practice, we sang the song "Waika" which is sung in Hawaiian. It's a beautiful song just by itself but tonight Merrilee brought in a friend of hers who is actually Hawaiian and she danced a Hula during the song. I have never seen anything so gorgeous in my life! I have seen Hula's before but none of them moved me this way. This girls eyes were just emulating love through them at all of us as she danced. Incredible. I want to take Hula lessons now....wonder where I can squeeze those in!

Ok...until the next post, hopefully tomorrow :)