Cannon's Room

My goal today was to finish putting Cannon's room together. His room is huge and there is plenty of space to play! He also has a large closet so we were able to store all of his old baby things. The closet door broke, so we need to get that fixed. His room is also by far the hottest room in the house. We keep his curtains and blinds closed all day and that really helps with the heat. We also got him a fan that we keep in his room.

The view from the door:


The view from the rocking chair:


The view from the crib:


The view from the tent:




His room is pretty much set up the same way it was at our old house, but with more room. I am keeping most of his toys in his closet. We will rotate through the toys or just pull them out as needed. I got really sick of having all the toys out all of the time and then having to clean them up. This way we will keep some toys downstairs and some out in his room, like the stuff he plays with everyday (his trains, cars, Mr. Potato Head, and books).

Today was also Ryan's first day at work! It was just orientation stuff, so kind of boring. I did learn that his company offers a discount to Disneyworld!! So you know we will be hitting that up soon!

1,214 Miles

After 1,214 miles and 36 hours later, we arrived at our new home in Clearwater, Florida!

Tuesday night, we headed to College Station. We stayed the night with Kristina and then left at about 5:30 Wednesday morning. This saved us two hours and we got to let the boys play together one last time.



So far the drive was fine, except for the speeding ticket on got in Conroe, Texas! Since we left so early, Cannon slept for about an hour. The next stop was Crowley, LA. We let Cannon and Blue play at a park and then we got Subway for lunch. At the park, Cannon got his first bee sting!










Louisiana was SO humid! Even Blue got tired after just a few minutes of chasing the frisbee.

Cannon slept again for about another hour. We then made our way to Slidell, LA where we stopped at a mall. Since Ryan was driving that huge truck, we ended up getting ahead of him. We played in the mall in a kids area for about 40 minutes until Ryan arrived.

Then we made our way to Foley, AL. This was a little detour, but we had to go to Ryan's favorite restaurant, Lambert's, home of the flying rolls! We had to wait a super long time to get in and Cannon was so over tired. He loved playing on the wooden train outside and eating the rolls, but he ended up having a meltdown in the restaurant and wouldn't eat his dinner. We ate quickly and then left. I felt bad for Ryan that we didn't get to have the experience he was hoping for, but maybe we'll get to return another time.





We left Lambert's at about 9:30. Cannon fell right to sleep in the car and slept all the way until we got to our hotel in Pensacola, FL, which was around 11pm. We were all exhausted and went right to bed.

The next morning, Ryan and I got up early to get a head start. We let Cannon sleep as long as he wanted, which was until about 7am. That was pretty good for him since he was sleeping in the same room while we were showering and making a lot of noise.

This next leg of the trip he was a little fussier, but not as bad as I had expected. We stopped in Lake City, FL at a McDonalds for lunch. The workers there were so nice to Cannon, like Chick-fil-a nice! He had brought in his Woody doll (his new favorite toy) and they were playing with him and saying how cute Cannon was. Cannon barely ate any of his lunch, but he did offer some to Woody. They had a great playscape inside, including basketball. I just let him play and not worry about his eating. I figured he could eat in the car if he wanted to. The lady sitting next to us had accidentally bought two too many hot fudge sundaes and she gave them both to me! I thought that was so nice of her and it made me think how nice the people in Florida are.

We met up with Ryan at a rest stop and brought him some lunch. Cannon fell right to sleep and slept for over two hours! This is by far the longest he has ever slept in his car seat! I was elated as this took up most of the drive!

We made it to our apartment at 5:30pm Thursday evening, which we learned is the worst time to do any sort of heavy outdoor activity. We were very happy to get here. About 10 people from church met us at our home to help unload our truck. I am extremely grateful for them! Cannon was so excited to see his stuff again. When he saw Ryan's car he started giggling and laughing. It was so cute!

The whole drive went better than I thought. Cannon did awesome as did Blue. Blue's vet has prescribed an anti-anxiety pill for her and it worked like a charm. She really just slept on her pillow in the back seat. We had brought a portable DVD player for Cannon, but I never used it. I probably should have pulled it out on that second day, but I forgot about it. I also thought he would never want to go in the car again, but he has never complained about being in the car or his car seat. The drive here was absolutely gorgeous! Louisiana was mostly bridges, swamps, and forests. Mississippi and Alabama were also really green. Everything was pretty exciting for me to see.

Now that we have been here for a few days, we are starting to settle in. Cannon is adjusting beautifully. We have been trying to prepare him for over a month. He seems to understand what is going on. There was a fish fry church activity on Friday and we went to that to meet people. We had a great time, ate delicious fish, and Cannon met a boy his age. Today we went to church and I met two other girls who just moved here too. Cannon was excited to go to nursery and didn't even care when I left him. I am just really pleased with the way everything is going! The house is still a mess, but most things are in their right places. Here's a sample of what things look like.

Front room, from the view of the door.


We will put the computer behind the couch when we get our computer armoire.


The dining room. The laundry room wasn't large enough to put the freezer and the washer/dryer, so it has to be here. The filing cabinet is just there for right now.


And the kitchen.


We are in a two bedroom townhouse, but it's two-stories. It feels a lot bigger than I thought it would. There is also a screened in balcony just outside of the front room area. Cannon likes to play with his basketball hoop and since it's all screened in, the balls never fall! There are also stairs that go down to a grassy area so he can run around and play with his baseball. This complex has three pools and a playground. We are also about 10-15 minutes away from some beautiful beaches, so we have lots of exploring to do this week!

We Were Here

Ryan and I got back from Hawaii today and we had an absolutely amazing time! Since we are moving tomorrow, I'll have to save this lengthy post for another day. But here's the proof that we were actually there.

Why?

Why do they always have to lay on the clean clothes?

Feeling Sentimental

It has really started to sink in to me that we are really moving, soon. Next month will be my 10 year anniversary of moving to Austin and I have to say that moving here was one of the best things I have ever done! Austin is very dear to me and I think little pieces of me will always be here.

Friday was my last day of work and I'll admit that I was counting down the days. At times I really loved my job and other times I dreaded going. Most of the time it was stressful. The women and children I worked with were very needy and it took a lot out of me emotionally and mentally. Despite all of that, I gained much more out of the experience than I had ever thought I would-both professionally and personally. At first it was just a job for me to earn extra money doing something that I could do, but it turned into much more than that. Their program was in bad shape and I helped to make it a family-centered and positive environment. I had some amazing experiences and I really grew to love the families. On Friday, the moms and children put together a little surprise party for me. They decorated the room and made some adorable cupcakes and a cake. They told me some of the things they had learned from me and how their lives will be better. I really fought back the tears--mostly because I get really embarrassed when I cry in front of other people. When I saw how much they loved me and how much they were going to miss me, it made me feel guilty for ever wanting to give up on them. So a little piece of me will be at Austin Recovery and with the moms and children of Family House.

Sunday was yet another reminder of us leaving. Lots of people at church have taken their time to chat with us about our move and express their happiness for our new opportunity. When I first moved here, the Cedar Park Ward became like a family to me. When I look back at the person I was 10 years ago, I realize how much I have grown and changed for the better. I have had many wonderful examples of what is really means to be Christ-like. Cedar Park grew into my home and a piece of me will stay here too.

It's also knowing that it will probably be a long before we can get another picture like this:



These last few weeks we have tried to see some of our old friends, visit some fun places, and get in some of our favorite Austin restaurants. Due to time and monetary limitations, there's no way we can get to do everything. But for memory's sake, I'll list some of my faves:

Chez Zee-our first date
Amy's Ice Cream
Congress Bridge and the bats
Gourdoughs donuts
Round Rock donuts
Homeslice Pizza
Fliphappy Crepes
Boating on Lake Austin or Lake Travis
Oasis-bad food but great views
Juan in a Million and my favorite breakfast burrito, the Don Juan
Chuys, particularly their jalapeno ranch dip
Town Lake
Zilker Park
Rudy's BBQ-at least we can order their sauce and have it shipped to us
Dart Bowl
Hairy Man Trail-yes that is the actual name of the street
University of Texas
Schlitterbahn
Floating down the Guadalupe River
Chinatown
Roys Hawaiin Fusion-the best crab cakes
Trulucks-the best chocolate cake
Gold Class Cinemas-now called Ipic
The Children's Museum
360 Bridge
6th Street
Book People
Whole Foods-the one downtown
Hey Cupcake
Leslie-our favorite homeless man; okay, not an activity, but I still remember the first time I saw him!

And the list goes on. Some of our greatest memories are here and Austin will forever be in our hearts. We would love to move back here one day, but I know that that might not be in our plan. So on to new memories, new experiences, and new adventures!




Our delicious crepe breakfast!


In Austin, good things come out of trailers.


Our first apartment when we were married; Oak Meadow Circle in Southwest Austin


Town Lake and Congress Bridge


Lake Austin and the 360 Bridge


Cade, Reece, and I on top of the UT tower


Engagement pictures-this one obviously didn't make the cut!


Jack Johnson concert at the Backyard (pre-engagement)


Ryan. This is how he looked the first time we met, but wearing a suit instead of orange.


Me and my dad.

My HEB Buddy

HEB is one of my favorite grocery stores. I signed up Cannon for their summer reading program. All I had to do was read him 10 books and then mail in the form. He LOVES reading, so we wiped out the 10 books in one day. Yesterday his t-shirt came in the mail, along with a certificate, a sticker, pencil, bookmark, and 20 points (you can redeem points for prizes). I just thought it was a cute little thing to do. He was so excited to wear his t-shirt today!

Nothing Much

Nothing much has been happening around here, except trying to go through all our stuff before we pack. I hate moving, but I do like that I get to go through all of my stuff and get rid of things. It's in my nature to be a pack-rat, but I also don't like clutter. So this is a good way for me to get organized again.

We have also been trying to hit up our favorite Austin places before we leave. We have a season pass to the Austin Children's Museum and I've taken Cannon there twice in the last two weeks. He LOVES it there and I wish we could go more often.
Cannon has been into cleaning up lately, or "keem up," as he calls it. I'm not sure where this has come from, but I'll take it! I'd like to say that it has come from my superb parenting skills, but I have to admit that I've been slacking in that department. Cannon's hair is growing and getting out of control, but I love it! I'm really not quite sure what to do with it. I am in love with his curls and his wild hair totally fits his personality. I'm just going to let it grow and see what happens. Cannon also loves to sing, but usually not by himself. Every night he requests three songs that Ryan and I sing to him: Teach Me to Walk, I Love to See the Temple (or just "Temple" according to him), and Three Little Ducks (Cannon calls it "Quack, Quack, Quack"). He can sing the first and last parts of Teach Me to Walk, with a few words in the middle. He can also sing most of the words to I Love to See the Temple. And he just does the actions to the duck song.

Every night we read scriptures as a family before bed. Cannon knows ALL the pictures in the front of the Book of Mormon. I was pretty impressed and tried to get it on video. Well, he was being a total buster because he knew I was trying to record him. So he pretended like he didn't know anything and then started calling everything "Poo" and cracking himself up. I was getting so frustrated, as I was trying to capture my child doing something intelligent, but it turned out to be a pretty funny video anyway.

On Memorial Day, Rob and Bev and the kids moved to Bloomington, Illinois. Robert got a new job as a talk show host for the Cities 92.9 FM morning show and has been up there since the end of February. Bev stayed back with the kids so they could finish school. So that weekend they packed up and we had a giant slumber party for two nights (including Rick, Kristina, Cole, and Lyla). There were six parents, six kids, two grandparents, one dog, and a partridge in a pear tree. Crazy, but what a great way to spend our last few days together. The kids are loving it in Illinois and are really fitting in to everything there. Jade and T have even started golf lessons, and according to T, he is a professional now. I have no idea when we will see them again, but I hope it won't be too long!


I tried to get a cute snapshot of Papa holding his baby girls. But by the time I got my camera out Ally had had enough! I just thought it was funny because Lyla woke up with some crazy hair!