Clothes and Coupons (The Cannon Fam Dwayne, Helen, Miranda, Cassie and Kymia)

March 25, 2014 

The Coupon Extraordinaires

Here are the coupon masters Dwayne and Helen. Dwayne's dad is my grandmothers brother so Dwayne is my dad's cousin. I think that makes him my second cousin? (Im not sure the genealogy term for how we are related.) Dwayne and Helen have three daughters Miranda 15, Cassie 12, and Kymia 2. Dwayne and Helen and I have the best set up because they have a 2 year old daughter and since I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old (and since both of them and myself have shopping problems) we can all trade toys and clothes!

On this particular day Dwayne was able to show off all of his coupon freebies and give me some tips of how to build some of my own stock piles. We met at their house and I took some of the stuff Aspen had grown out of and Helen gave me all of Kymia's stuff for Hazel to grow into. Within a few weeks I had found even more stuff for Princess Kymia so they came to our house to play and I got a few shots of the girls playing together.

Aspen adores Kymia. She will ask all the time to play with her. She also knows that all her clothes go to her after she grows out of them so if she drops something on a shirt she will say, "Mom, you need to wash that out before we give it to Kymia." or she will say, "This is too tight. Lets give it to Kymia." Its really funny hearing this come from a 3 year old. Kymia has her own area in the spare room and when something doesnt fit anymore Aspen knows where to put it. These girls have brought Helen and myself together as friends and  I hope that these girls can grow up and become good friends just as Helen and myself have. 

Marrying off Taryn (Nicole Luna)

3-29-2014 (Bachelorette Party)

4-12-2014 (Wedding)

Nicole and I became friends because we are both besties with Taryn Young (now Goeppner). I have known Taryn since High School and I blogged about her and her fiance back in November when I went to visit them in their new home in Jasper, Indiana. I first met Nicole when Taryn and I started hanging out again at Ball State. Nicole and Taryn were roommates before Taryn and I were roommates post college. So Nicole and I have never lived together and dont know each other extremely well but we share a very special relationship with Taryn. I have spent the past few days trying to dig up some old pics of us from the college days. Here is one Im proud of...

Ahh...Sweet memories. This doozy was taken right after I turned 21. We went to a restaurant and I decided to order a margarita and it tasted AWFUL! I made Nicole assist me in completing the task of drinking it. 

Here are some blog worthy bachelorette party pics.

Now fast forward 8 years and LOTS of margaritas later and here we are at Taryns Bachelorette Party. Nicole was the MOH and the head planner/organizer. She takes this position quite seriously and did an awesome job! 

We all met at Crowne Plaza Hotel late in the morning. This is when I was somehow served champagne for my breakfast followed by a 99 proof of something or other. Woo Wee! It all went straight to my head. But made for a good time. We went to PF Changs for lunch where I had a margarita which was apparently really strong because the other girls gagged when they tasted it. I couldnt really feel my tongue or taste anything. I told the waiter (who appeared Chinese) that it was a fantastic margarita and that the Chinese made them better than Mexicans and he proceeded to tell me that he was actually Mexican he just worked at a Chinese restaurant. Im still laughing about this. 

After PF Changs we spent the rest of the day getting nails done, hanging out at the hotel, and then going to the Spaghetti Factory. After this we went to Howl at the Moon and then to Kilroys. We ended the night around 4 am. I dont think Ive eaten so much in a 24 hour period since college!!!  

It was so much fun not only the drinking and the laughing but all the memories that flooded back as we were able to spend time with each other. It was great to be able to reminisce but also make new memories. 

A few weeks later we were able to meet up again in preparation for Taryn and Kyle's wedding day. Since we all live so far apart (Taryn in Jasper, Nicole near Valpo and myself in Indy) we had a full weekend in Jasper for the wedding! Nicole and I both arrived Thursday night. Friday we decorated the church and did the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner and then Saturday we had all morning to get ready together and then do pictures. The wedding took place at 3. It was so great to be able to spend so much time with Taryn and Kyle and to be able to help them prepare for their day. Here are some of the wedding pics...

Like Seriously!?! Is this not the most gorgeous bride ever? She should be on a magazine cover!

The whole wedding party!

All of us girls! I love these. 

The three of us right before she said, "I DO!"

So now my friend is married off and I probably wont see Nicole for a long while but I did enjoy the new memories that we made (and some I dont even remember ie: the reception). Girls lets plan to meet again soon! 

How Far Do We Have To Go Today? ( Susan Myers)

2-1-2014

Ahh...Susan. She is such a breath of fresh air. She is always smiling and positive and full of curiosity about things that are going on in my life. Even though we live polar opposite lifestyles ( shes single, career driven and lives alone and Im a married stay at home mom) we both have found such a great friendship among one another.  She always seems to have great advice to help me to look at situations differently and to cool my head so to speak. She has great problem solving skills when it comes to things that stress me out the most. She will usually ask me an open ended question and then I will talk for what seems like an hour and she will queue in occasionally with such great wisdom. Its almost as if she missed her calling to be the social worker and I am the one that should be the frazzled, confused stressed out client!  

 Even though I have not known Susan long we struck up a friendship and have spent a lot of time together these past few months. I first met Susan when she joined in on our life group at church last Fall. In December, Luke and I were looking into joining a gym and she had mentioned to me how much she liked LA Fitness. This is where we decided to join and Susan and I ended up starting to work out together. She learned about how I was going to start training for the mini marathon and she agreed to do some of the training with me on the treadmill. I learned very fast that treadmill time can be sooo boring!!! But doing it with Susan made the time go by so much faster. Have you ever tried doing 9, 10, 11 or 12 miles by yourself? Its absolutely mind numbing.

 During the past several months we've been able to learn about each other. I'm sorry to say she has probably learned more about the drama of marriage and children from me than she has cared to take in but she doesn't seem too scared since she still keeps coming back for more!!

The original day that I needed to blog happened back in February but we have spent several hours upon hours together since then because she has been by my side to push me through training for my first half marathon. Since Susan works in the fitness field and she has completed a full marathon herself she is full of advice on the subject. I know I would have completed the training by myself because I was very dedicated to a promise I made to myself but without Susan it wouldn't have been fun at all. She definitely made all the miles that I had to log more enjoyable and also held me accountable to show up! Susan I cant thank you enough for all the pushing that you did to get me across that finish line. Thanks for being a great friend. 

Baby Oliver! (Rachel Skirvin)

January 30, 2014

Aspen, Hazel and I took a field trip to the south side to go meet our newest cousin, Oliver. He is such a little sweetie:) 

Oliver is the first baby born to Luke's cousin, Rachel. Rachel and I became Facebook friends through Luke and I getting married but I really knew of her long before I ever knew Luke....

When I used to work as a case manager at The Villages. I grew very fond of Rachel's father, Skirv aka Richard Skirvin or Uncle Dick. Even though he wasnt my supervisor and didnt work on my floor he was a fellow social worker and he had a wealth of knowledge so I was always picking his brain. I remember one day he said why do you always come to me for answers and I replied with because you are old and you just know things. He got a great kick out of that. I can guarantee that you have never met anyone like him. He is just one of those people that will always make you laugh. Because he has no filter and he is straight forward with judging everyone!(and I am the same way maybe thats why we get along so well) I remember one time when I was probably in my third trimester with Aspen I walked in and he said well you are looking mighty fat today. And I said well at least Ill get skinny again, you wont ever get taller! (hes only about 5'4). He also has so many stories that will make you think REALLY, are you telling me the truth?  I know that Ive had a lot of weird and crazy things happen in my life but Skirv could seriously top every story I can tell. I definitely miss working with him. He would tell me stories about his crazy partying days but he would also tell me about his kids Rachel and Aaron. He would tell me about Rachel and her love for animals, horses in particular. She has a few that she keeps on his property and she also does horse riding lessons. He would tell me about how she went to school overseas for an equestrian degree and show me baby pictures of her.

After about 3 years of working with Skirv and hearing about his family he told me about his nephew Luke. He called him while I was in his office and we ended up exchanging phone numbers. I remember talking to Luke and telling my friend Sarah during a staff meeting. I think her direct comment was NO you can not marry Skirv's nephew HAHA. I wasnt really thinking I was going to marry a person I hadnt met yet but low and behold we met and the rest is history. 

Rachel Im sorry you are getting kind of a short stick of a blog post since my relationship with you more revolves around your dad but I do want to thank you for letting us visit! Congrats on the beautiful baby boy. Aspen was in love at first sight and is still talking about him. Welcome to Motherhood! Enjoy every minute of the sweet newborn stage.

Birthday Night (Shawn Matney, Terri Dowell, Laura Titara)

January 25th, 2014 

First, got to start off by saying that Shawn and I are together all the time and we talk mostly every day. She's the one of the only stay at home moms that I know and her daily phone conversations make me sane. She has two boys that are 4 and 1 so when we are together its nonstop excitement with 2 boys, 2 girls lots of fairy costumes and batman figurines. We both volunteer together frequently at a clothing pantry at a nearby church. We both also share a love of coupons, yard sales, cleaning, organizing and decorating. I'm currently working on introducing her to Harry Potter so that she can enjoy it and I don't have to be a nerd by myself. 

Currently, Shawn' s a busy lady. Shes running her household and taking care of two small boys while also pursuing her degree. She cleans houses and also volunteers at her church. It was a rarity that we got out together without children so that is why I chose this occasion as an event to blog about. :)

Four of us gals went out on a night on the town to celebrate my dear friend and BFF Shawn's 28th birthday! 

Shawn and myself

Terri (Shawn's Mom) and Laura (Shawn's other bff)

It was a fun night. We met at Terri's house and rode together to Mass Ave. I've never been there so I was all about trying something new. We had dinner at a pub called Ralston's. They had the coolest door. Ever since Ive seen it I keep seeing mosaic projects made from bottle caps. Im seriously inspired by this and want to create a masterpiece but Im still unsure what I would glue a bunch of caps to. I also think I need to start drinking some capped beverages in the meantime until I figure it out.

After dinner we went to see live theatre at a place called "Theatre on the Square". If you havent been there I strongly recommend it.

 http://tots.org/

The play that we saw was called "The Love List". It wasn't the greatest play but I loved the lay out of the place. It was vintagey and a tad bit creepy but definitely my style. Haha. The way that it is layed out you go in to watch the play but the seating makes it so that you are almost part of the actual stage. Definitely up close and personal with the actors/set. Since Im in love with live theatre i would go back given the chance.

I thought that we were going home after dinner and a "movie" because well Im a mom and old and thats usually where a night would end. Well no, I forgot how much of a go getter Terri is and Laura is right there with her. Shawn and I were in for a treat because our dinner and a movie turned into shots at a karokee bar.

I remember taking this picture but since I was in the backseat I have no idea where we were. I can tell you that we were the only ones there because it was the middle of a snowstorm! Ill spare everyone the video footage of Terri and I singing En Vogue's "Never Gonna Get It". Seriously, I honestly do sound much better in the shower. 

So fast forward and we finally leave the bar, its almost 2 am and I am telling these people that I need to get home. Id been up for what seemed like days and since it was 2 am it really was. So we get back to Terri's and Im brushing all the snow off my car and they start talking about going to Denny's. Umm...Im not about to miss out on Denny's! So ....

So we are all being loud and obnoxious and laughing hysterically because we ended up with the weirdest waitress because who else would work at Denny's at 3am? I dont even remember at this point what she was talking about because I was sleep deprived and had been drinking but  Laura and I go to the bathroom and see this guy.....

Just sleeping in the corner. We asked the waitress who then proceeds to tell us that its her boyfriend and he had came to pick her up but she picked up another shift so he fell asleep because he didnt want to go home to talk to her mom. It was the longest drawn out story but long story short Shawn got a free Grand Slam and ice cream! We took some other pics with the guy that were on Laura's phone and I think she got his phone number and texted them to him. This girl is a trip!

So that sums up the evening!

 Shawn thank you for being such a great friend for the past 9 years! 

We need to get out more!