December 2024

 

December 1 - We started off the month by visiting the Giving Machines.  This has become a tradition for us.  Every year Rick and ElleRene send money instead of gifts and we are to use the money to help those who are less fortunate.  We love the Giving Machines because our helping hand reach is wider with the aid of the Church.  This year we got lucky and went on a night where there was a live nativity.  I learned that sheep are not as soft as I thought they were.  Avian loved petting the donkey.  

He was so cute and little. 

Choosing what to purchase.  

Nick wanted to use his money to buy new shoes for someone.  Val wanted their money to be spent locally.  Avian just likes buying chickens!

A surprise dusting of snow.  It made everything look extra festive. 

I love the glow of the Christmas tree.  

December 4 - We were supposed to be hosting a dinner with Ms. Matocha (Avian's high school art teacher), but Ms. Matocha had a family emergency and was not able to come.  Avian invited Leah, Anthony and Thatcher to dinner instead and it was a fun night catching up with everyone on what they have been doing since graduation from high school.  

December 5 - Avian and I went to the band concert to support all their friends who are seniors this year. I loved just being able to be there as a spectator and not having to help in any way.  They sounded really good.  

December 7th - Was our every other month trip to the temple with the RS presidency.  I did the work for a relative who was baptized in Palmyra, New York,  confirmed in Fortaleza, Brazil, initiatory work done in Provo, Utah, and endowment done in Columbia South Carolina.  It was a pretty cool experience.    Steve enjoyed Christmas shopping while I was gone.   

December 8 - Steve and I visited Holly, Shelli and Tammy and took them their Christmas gifts.  Since I was laid up most of the summer with the broken leg, I spent a lot of time crocheting.  I made a couple dozen crocheted dish rags and paired them with a small bottle of dish soap.  I told them I was giving them a new dishwasher for Christmas.  

That night, Nick came by and we had shrimp linguini and cheesecake for my birthday.  All the kids were there which was the best present of all.  I also got Snoopy wrap (makes me think of my dad) and some bee earrings (Dad and SCAD).  Avian finished a painting my dad had started of me.  It was kind of like Natalie King Cole doing a duet with her late father, Nat Kind Cole.  I am sure Dad was smiling down from heaven on that collaboration.  Avian also made a recording of my Mom and Dad leaving a voice message wishing them a Happy Birthday.  It was good to hear by Dad's voice again.  

December 9 - I got to work and found a basket full of goodies from the PTO.  It was a serious gift basket with a water bottle, a neck fan, a personalized beach towel,  and an Amazon gift card.  I love working at LNC.  Our PTO is the best.

Avian drove to the Raleigh area to have their initial appointment for testosterone hormone replacement therapy.  Val went with them and they had a great time spending the day together.  Steve and I went to the pharmacy to help them get the prescription filled as we needed to get their name changed in the system as well.   

Kathy (my sister) sent me this gorgeous, beaded bracelet.  She is so talented!

The picture my dad started and Avian finished.  

December 10 -  It was a shoe shopping with Val and Avian.  We were looking for the perfect shoes to go with the outfit they had purchased for graduation.   We found the cutest boots and a sweater to match in case Val got cold since the dress was sleeveless and graduation was in Decemberrrrrrr.  

Val modeling the dress they purchased for graduation.  

December 11 - After finishing up Battle of the Books after school, I headed to the LNC staff party.  We ate great Mexican food, played Bingo and had fun talking to co-workers.  At the end of the night they announced a $1,000 bonus for all employees.  I love working for a place that values its employees.  

December 12 - Val completed his last two finals EVER!!.  I went to my last physical therapy appointment.  We are both free!  

December 13 - Graduation day from UNCC for Val.  The morning was a little rough as Val was nervous and their stomach was not cooperating initially.  We got them calmed down and headed to campus for the big day.  It was a long time in coming, but it was worth it.  We left Val to go in and get lined up and we found our seats.  I had never been in Halton Arena before and it was bigger than I expected.  The procession started right on time and the whole graduation was very organized.  I didn't think they would be able to get everything done in the two hour time frame, but they did it.  

Here they come!

Val heading to their seat. 

Val having their picture taken in front of the bell. 

Walking across the stage.  Hallelujah moment for Val!

After all the graduates walked across the stage there was the ceremonious ringing of the bell to congratulate all the graduates.  

It's official - Val is now a graduate of the University of North Carolina Charlotte with a degree in Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies.  

After graduation, Val wanted to have some pictures taken in some of their favorite spots.  

In front of the door leading into the loft area.  We were not able to go in as the area was being remodeled to better accommodate the students.  This is where Val spent hours with the gaming club where they served on the board as the activities director for two years.  Lots of happy memories.  

The view of the plaza (another favorite spot) from right outside the loft area. 

Climbing the sculpture in the plaza area.  

Close up

These little guys delivered food orders around campus.  Every once in a while they would get stuck on a curb or something and Val would help them out.  They are also covered in stickers lovingly placed on them by the students.  

Afterwards, we went to Mr. Tokyo's for lunch.  We had a little bit of a wait as Val's friend, Mo, was stuck in the traffic trying to get off campus.  It was worth the wait though,  Mo is fun and the food at Mr. Tokyo's is amazing!.   It was a nice way to end the day.  

December 14 - Nick stayed over again since we would be getting up early to go to the Huntersville Half marathon.  This is another yearly tradition Nick loves.  It wouldn't be Christmas without it.  

On your mark, get set...

GO!!!

We ran down to the corner to get this shot of Nick running along Highway 73 before heading in the neighborhoods.  

Coming up the finish chute.  

Nick was under his target time.  He ran the half-marathon in 1 hour and 45 minutes.  Impressive.

AND he is still smiling.  

We all went home afterwards and took a nap.  I wasn't feeling great and ended up staying in bed the rest of the day.  Too much excitement for my body to handle in one short weekend.  

December 15 - I was still in bed sick so Steve went to church alone.  He had a meeting with the bishop and was called as a teacher for the 4-year-olds.  He is going to love it and the kids are going to love him.  

December 16 - Steve and Avian went to Target to get a few of the last things on their lists.  When they came out of Target the alarm on the Xterra was going off.  When they got closer, a guy asked them if this was their vehicle and then explained that someone was just trying to break into it and scared them off.  Whoa!!  I am grateful for people who are observant and help protect personal property.  . 

December 19 - Steve called to tell me that he also got a bonus.  We are buying each other plane tickets to Utah for Christmas (trip in January).  This is going to be our first trip to Utah just the two of us since we moved to North Carolina.  In order for us to do such a big trip we would have had to fly someone from the family out to watch the kids while we went to Utah to visit family.  That just never made sense to us.  Also, with the food allergy situation at our house, we didn't feel comfortable asking just anyone to watch the kids.  Now that they are all grown up and taking care of themselves, we are finally doing it!  I am so excited.  

December 20 - Val, Avian and I went shopping to enjoy the Christmas spirit in the air.  That night Steve and I went to dinner with the O'Briens.  They introduced us to a really good BBQ place.  I have driven by it hundreds of times but have never gone it.  It was most excellent - both the food and the company.  

December 21 - Steve helped a fried, Josh, turn a wood lamp for his wife.  Josh loved learning how to use the lathe and the lamp was gorgeous.  She later told me that it was her favorite gift he has ever given her.  I took the time to go and visit Cindy and to take her all the gifts her students had dropped off for her while she had been home caring for her sick husband.  I got to meet her family as well.  It was a good visit.  

December 22 - We only had sacrament meeting which was a beautiful, musical program.  Everyone went home to spend the time with their families for the holidays afterwards.  Steve and I went to visit the Turrubiartes and take them some treats.  I also love spending time with Blayke and miss serving in the Relief Society with her.  She is such a force of positive energy.  I love her.  

I called Avian and had them start the Zoom call with my mom and Kathy.  It was a treat for Mom and Kathy as Avian doesn't really like being on the Zoom call and this forced them to talk since they were the host until I got back home.  After getting off the Zoom call, Steve and I booked our flights to Utah for the last week in January!!!

December 24 - Nick stayed the night so we could all sleep in the next morning.  It was a relaxing Christmas Eve with our traditional dinner of Christmas Cradles.  We went to be relatively early. It was nice.  

December 25 - The theme of the day was chill and relax.  We talked with Steve's Dad and opened presents, and ate cinnamon rolls shaped like Christmas trees, and napped and played with our presents and ate cheesball and crackers and talked to more family...  We basically did whatever we wanted.  That afternoon we had a yummy dinner complete with rolls, mashed potatoes, ham and roasted green beans.  There was pretezel jello salad for dessert.  

Val gave Nick a Lego Lamborghini.  It was so cool when Nick got it all together. I was impressed he did it so quickly because it has a working piston set and drive train.  He was one happy boy!

Taking a mid-afternoon nap.  Building a car is exhausting.  Avian and Jeremy managed to stay out of the line of the camera.  They were around, I promise.  

Avian painted this for Steve.  It is his favorite view of the sun going down over the Sound. 

Avian painted this for me.  It is my favorite view of the sunset on the ocean side.  They both look like photographs, but they are oil paintings.  The detail is insane.  You can see the bubbles left by the receding waves.  I love it!

December 26 - We spent the day rearranging and getting a start on organizing Val's room.  It was a BIG project.  

December 27 - Val had some friends that were flying in from spending the holidays abroad and they needed a place to stay to rest up before driving the rest of the way home.  It is always fun to meet my kids friends.  Tim and Claire were very nice and we enjoyed having them as guests.  

December 30 -  Avian and I spent the day running errands and getting everything ready for taking them back to school.  We tried to get as many things as we could find on their class lists in order to free up time on move-in day.  Back at home, I finished up some year end stuff for Relief Society and Rose came over for dinner.  

December 31 - Avian went to a party at the Licastri's and was spending the night there.  Nick went to a party with his friends.  Steve and I invited the sister missionaries over for some Chinese food and then went to a party at the Townsend's.  On the way there, we swung by the Licastri's to pick up the truck.  Avian had driven it to their house as the Ford was overheating and we didn't want to drive it more than absolutely necessary.  Steve and Jeremy went in to get the keys after which, Steve and I drove together in the truck and Jeremy followed us to the Townsends so he could leave early if he wanted to.  By the tie we got to the Townsend's house, Jeremy's eyes were swollen and itchy.  He had played with the dogs at the Licastri's house and was having a good reaction.  Steve ended up driving Val home so they could take a shower and stop the itching, but he came back.  It was a fun party.  We played a game where everyone was given four pieces of paper.  On each paper we were to write the name of an actor, a verb, a food and a movie.  All the pieces of paper were then put in a bowl.  We divided into two teams.  The idea was each team would be given one minute to try and guess as many of them as possible.  Round 1 - you could use words to help them guess. You played round one until all the pieces of paper were out of the bowl.  You put all the papers back in and then played the subsequent rounds.  Round 2 - you could only use one word.  Round 3 - charades.  It was tricky because you had to remember what had happened in previous rounds and what items/names were in the bowl.  It was really fun. The team with the most points at the end got bragging rights.  It was especially fun getting to know the other people at the party.  It was a good grouping of people.  

Goodbye 2024!!  You were a good year!

November 2024

LNC created a display to thank all the donors over the years to help LNC grow into what it is today.  Our kids have left their mark on LNC through the years and it is memorialized in this display.  

This is Reginald. He is my office mate.  Cindy moved him into my office (temporarily) while cleaning up the Halloween decorations.  I asked her to let him stay.  

November 2nd, Steve went to Swannanoa to help with Hurricane Helene clean up.  I went walking with Sandra and made it 3 miles.  That is HUGE.  My knee and foot cooperated with me today!  When I got home I pulled weeds in the front yard. Nick came over to get some help with fixing his Squidward costume before he went to another costume party that night.  It is always so much fun when he stops by.  I miss him.  

November 5th, ELECTION DAY!!  I had an appointment with Matt at OrthoCarolina to talk about my stiff shoulder.  I wanted to rule out a rotator cuff tear because my shoulder was getting more sore and not less.  Everything checked out and I was given the diagnosis of frozen shoulder.  He opened a physical therapy prescription for the frozen shoulder in addition to the knee.  Rebecca is going to LOVE this.  The good news is that this will resolve without having to have surgery.  

November 6th, Trump is president again.  NOT A HAPPY DAY AT THE CANNON HOUSEHOLD.  Jeremy was especially upset and came into my room talking very loud about all of his concerns.  I tried to calm him down by telling him it might not be as bad as he thought it would be and he broke down and told me he has been on hormone replacement for the last 18 months to transition to a woman and she would like to be called Valentine.  That took a hot minute to get used to, but it also led to a great discussion about how she feels much happier and hasn't had a drink of alcohol since deciding to move forward with the HRT.  Kamala gave a beautiful concession speech all about the importance of a smooth transfer of power and setting a good example of what democracy should look like.  I am still sad though.  

November 8th I helped Val (I shortened Valentine to Val although it usually comes out as Jer-Val.  I am working on it) clean her room.  They have a talent for letting it get really messy between cleanings.  

November 9th, I cleaned the house and mowed the lawn.  Nick stopped by again after getting his hair cut and before going on a run.  I had to rush out the door because I needed to be to the church building to meet with the visiting Church authorities that were in town for Stake Conference.  We were getting a new Stake Presidency and that always causes quite a stir.  Our first meeting was with Elder Corbitt (Area presidency) and Elder Bednar (Elder Bednar's son).  The really razzed me about my University of Utah binder and I got called on a lot in the subsequent meeting where they were training all the ward presidencies. I was really impressed with how well they remembered names and really hit on all the concerns we had shared with them during our first meeting.  Afterwards, they still razzed me a little bit.   It was all just fun and games and they asked me if I would be okay WHEN the Utes lost to BYU that night in their big football rivalry game.  I told them that the Church would still be true no matter what happens.  Unfortunately, the Utes lost to BYU that night.  Oh well - just proves that miracles still happen.  

November 10th we were up bright and early and on our way to Savannah to hear Avian perform with the SCAD Jazz group.  We picked them up and headed out to Tybee Island to walk on the beach for a little bit.  I love recharging at the beach.  There is something so soothing and powerful about the ocean that really makes me happy.  

We found some sanderlings!!!

I love the moss hanging from the trees. 

There were also ferns growing on the trees as well.  The ferns made them look extra fancy.  

We went to the Flying Monk for lunch and killed several hours walking around and looking at all the cool shops.  When it was time for the performance, Avian changed into their Beetlejuice costume and we walked over to Ogelthorpe Hall.  They sounded soooo good.  We were really impressed.  

After the performance, we walked Avian back to their dorms and said goodbye.  The ride home was not as smooth as it usually goes.  We were at a complete stand still on I-26 due to a car accident.  We had no where to go and just had to wait it out.  It was okay.  We Zoomed with Mom and Kathy for 40 minutes of it and that helped pass the time.  When we finally got moving two and a half hours later we saw that there several crews cleaning up debris from an accident involving a car and two trucks that were pulling utility trailers.  It was not a pretty sight.   We thanked the cleaning crews and told them to be safe as we drove by as I am sure others were not being very nice about the whole delay thing.  We got home around midnight when we should have been home by 10:00.  Oh well.  We made it home safely and that is always a good thing.  

November 13 - Avian turned 19!!!  That is completely bonkers that our baby is 19!!

November 15th we headed back down to Savannah to bring Avian home for the holidays.  They were so excited to have finished their first quarter so successfully.  All their professors were really nice and loved having Avian in their classes.  One professor, who never gives 100%s because "there is always a small mistake or two" gave Avian a 100% on their final project (it is the Master project - pictures are at the bottom of this blog).  They also made the Dean's list.  Once we got Avian all packed up in the truck and were ready to head out, we stopped by the Riverfront area and explored for a little bit.  It was super pretty and I completely understand why everyone who mentions it absolutely gushes about how amazing it is.   

The view of the bridge from the Riverwalk area

It is such a beautiful bridge.  

You can take a riverboat cruise and see all the sites along the river.  

The shops all have a very Charleston vibe about them.  We loved it!

Thank goodness this drive home was a lot less eventful as our previous drive and we made it home in good time.  Avian brought everything in the house and then promptly got in their car, drove to Sipco and then went to visit Leah (all of which were completely expected).  

November 17th we celebrated Avian's birthday as a family.  I miss having everyone together all the time. 

November 19th I took the day off and Avian and I had a spa day.  We both got our hair cut and then spent the day shopping and getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  

November 23rd, while helping Val with some of their laundry, one of their shirts had some color bleed onto the off-white portion.  I knew this was a possibility with the embroidery and was there right when it finished washing to take it out, but that was not fast enough.  We tried several things to get rid of the color transfer, but decided that dying it was going to be the the best option.  I had seen a video of someone using avocado pits and skins to make a dye and we decided to give it a try.  It worked and we ended up doing two shirts.  They are a really pretty and earthy pink color.  

November 25th was our annual Serve and Play Day at LNC.  We traditionally take the Monday before Thanksgiving break and do some service around campus or the community.  This year the HS did the work on cleaning up the school campus while the MS and ES worked on care packages for the victims of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina.  It was a fun day!  

November 26th was a remote day for LNC so I decided to take the opportunity of an empty school to clean the green chairs in the Media Center for Cindy.  It was a good and rewarding project.  The chairs looked amazing when I got done with them.  

November 27th I edges the yard and Avian mowed.  Edging the lawn is a huge step forward for me after my knee, foot and shoulder injuries.  I am grateful to be healing and getting my mobility back again.  Nick joined us for dinner and spent the night so he wouldn't have to drive up early the next morning to do the Turkey Trot 5K.  All my kids under one roof for the night - HEAVEN!

November 28th, we went to cheer Nick on while he ran the Turkey Trot 5K which has become a yearly tradition.  It was raining which made running a little bit more difficult and treacherous.  That didn't stop Nick, though.  

I thought I found an out of the way spot to take pictures.  I was WRONG!  They all cut the corner and came up on the sidewalk. I just stood still until they all passed.  

Nick made his goal of 22 minutes!!

The traditional post-race picture. 

Later that day we had our family dinner.  It was small this year, just the way we wanted it.  We had rootbeer floats for dessert as that is what everyone wanted. 

November 29th Steve when out shopping and Avian and I stayed home to get the house decorated.  Avian helped sort all the ornaments and color code them so we could make Christmas boxes for each kid as they are all getting older and may want to decorate their own places in the coming years.  When Steve got back from shopping, he spent some time in the garage playing with his new planer.  Avian and got the house looking festive for the Christmas holiday.  It was a good day.  

November 30th Steve spent the day in the garage making a charcuterie board for his boss.  He had drawn her name for the company gift exchange.  It turned out amazing - as always.  

One big one or four little ones.  It is gorgeous!

While Steve was playing in the garage, Donita and I went to see Wicked.  We had front row seats which were REALLY close, but it did not detract from the awesomeness of the movie.   We have to wait another year for the second half of the movie!!  It ended at Defying Gravity.  So GOOD!!!

Corn Dogs - a juxtaposition

Avian's copy of the master

The master