Christmas Pictures

Richard has always wanted me to send Christmas cards and I've only done it about 2 times in our whole married life. Last year (the second time) I decided that I was going to continue to do them every year and made a list and addresses of our friends and managed to keep it. When I mentioned to him last week that we needed to get a picture done so I could make cards again I was a little surprised at his un-enthusiastic response since he was the one who really wanted me to do this. Then came time to take the picture and I've realized that picture taking may be the one thing that would make him not care if a card was sent out at all. First of all, we really didn't have time to take it. Second, it was just luck that Stephen came to our house Saturday and would be there to take the picture. Thirdly, the kids had friends over and Richard had quite a list of things he wanted to get done. I ironed a few clothes in the morning and just said to myself if it happens it happens. When we were getting close to no daylight, I just started getting everyone dressed and told them, "just a few . . .I promise." I started with the kids first. Porter would not put down his bat or cars and when we finally got him to put them down, he would not sit with his sisters, nor look at the camera + he insisted on playing swords with sticks. When I was ready to just pack it up I got the girls to tell their dad to step away from something he was working on and put on new clothes for a quick family picture. We managed to get Stephen to snap a few on the porch - let me add that Porter would not sit next to the girls without being gross and wipe gross things on them. I snatched him up and we took two pictures and called it a day. I would never waste a photographer's time nor my money to get this done professionally. Richard hates this saying, but "It is what it is" - and I'm fine with that. I need to make a collage of all the stick hitting, car running, pouting children - these three were by and far the closest to ok that I got. We do love to get cards from our friends however, and have learned that you don't get as many unless you send one as well. It is sad that some years come and go and a Christmas card is the only communication we have with all the people we care about. With the passing of our good friend Kelly, our hearts have been reminded of how blessed we are to have such wonderful friends and want them to know how much their friendship means to us. You'll just never get that perfectly posed beautiful picture from us . .and I guess if you're our friend you already know that.

Friday Night

Hanging out . .Savannah is at a sleepover. I'm not sure what movie was on. I think maybe an Indiana Jones. I was playing Dabble on my phone.

Fright Night

Minecraft cuties!


Father's
{I promise I did not plan these two pictures. so cute!}
Son's



Super Girls!



It was very impromptu, but FUN to trick-or-treat with the Cluff's, Jewkes', Hanks' & the Roner's

Trunk or Treat

Saturday we went to the ward Fall Festival where the kids got to trunk or treat and get a good start on filling up their candy bags for Halloween. I put Richard in charge of Savannah's costume last minute and he did such a good job pulling off the creeper costume she wanted to be (wouldn't be anything else). I threw together a pot of chili, remembering past years of running out of food. I was so exhausted and if anything took shortcuts with my recipe and this goes to prove how good my recipe is: I won first prize in the chili cook-off. Thank you Carolyn for passing that recipe down to us! My kids had a wonderful time. I lost Porter and went to every activity center looking for him and found him in the bean bag toss on the stage. Apparently he kept getting back in line. The girls loved the hay ride and being with their friends. We all headed over the pirate ship after. A local man and his wife who formerly worked for Disney builds this enormous Halloween attraction in his yard with haunted cemetaries and a huge pirate ship. All the neighbors help with parking and dressing up and being part of the huge set. It scares Porter. He woke up the next morning showing Richard and I his scared face going through it. Tonight is officially Halloween. Our heat went out last week and we haven't had a second to get it fixed so Richard may stay home and meet a guy coming out to look at it. We will probably get our kids together with our other friends kids and let them go together.

Roundy family History

This is a picture of the home of my Roundy ancestors. On a website I have linked it shows the address to be 334 W North Temple Street . Shadrach Roundy joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1832. He and his wife Betsy literally wore out their lives in the service of the Lord and in establishing Zion in these Latter Days. That legacy has been exhibited in the lives of many of their posterity and it is my hopes to keep it alive for my children and my posterity. Here is a link to some of their history.

**sidenote** I just googled that address and on one side of the street is the LDS Business College and on the other side a Howard Johnson Express Inn.

Cardon family history

Phillipe Cardon

Marthe Marie Tourn (Phillipe's wife)


Jean Paul Cardon (my line)

Marie Madeleine


I recently found a link to a story published in the Friend in 1971 that tells the story of my Cardon ancestors from Italy and how the daughter of Phillipe Cardon (a great . . .grandfather) had a dream of messengers coming to tell her about a book and the truth in it.
This is the link from the Friend.

And here is the link of her story that goes all the way into the Salt Lake Valley.

Marie Madeleine would of been a sister to my ancestor Jean Paul. He was 6 years younger than her.

**Links to Phillip, Marthe, and Jean Paul histories can be accessed by clicking on their names.

My little seedlings

So Richard and his friend Ryan tilled me up a new garden space several months ago. I was going to get in on the tail end of tomato and peppers for the season, but never got around to it. I remembered I had some seeds for a winter garden I had in mind so on Sept. 9th, I put in some kale, cauliflower, broccoli, radishes and beets. Right after I noticed my beets sprouting up we got some pretty heavy rain and after it let up I walked up the hill to look at them and noticed them laying flat on the ground. They had really taken a beating, but after a few sunny days they perked right up and have done really well. I've never had success planting from seeds in Ga. Usually I'll just get something to sprout and realize I haven't done enough to keep the deer away and they eat it up. Richard made sure I had a pretty good fence this time since our garden is right in the path of where all the deer come through. This means lots of yummy veggies this fall that my kids eat and lots of greens & beets for my smoothies. I can't help but relate this to what has been happening to my girls lately. I am so proud of their little testimonies and how amazing they handle and withstand the attacks they get from their friends and even the dad of the neighbor kids last week about our religion. I find myself having two conflicting emotions about this. The Utah raised girl in me is so sad because I know how easy it could be for them. A bigger part of me realizes that this is anchoring their roots a little deeper than mine probably were at a much younger age. It truly amazes me to see them defend their beliefs. I literally have no words to describe what that feels like as a mother to see that. It's also a little funny to me having a 13 year old telling my 7 year old that Jesus didn't die on the cross for her . . . really?

Miramar Fall '11

Our fall trip to the beach had a little twist this time. Richard's cousin Cindi was having her wedding reception in Pensacola, (about an hour away from our condo)so we were able to have a little reunion with many of his relatives down there as part of our trip. Stephen put us up at the Hilton right on the Gulf and we were able to spend a day on the beach there. The waves and current were pretty rough and while it was fun to have big waves in the gulf, I spent most of our first day poolside with Porter. He had fun in their kiddie pool. The kids were happy to be with their cousin Jordan and they had fun exploring the hotel and walking down the pier and spotting jellyfish. We didn't see any big fish, although typically you do see sharks down there. Jon and his fiancee Courtney came down as well, and it was fun getting to know her better. She is really sweet and my kids all like her. Saturday night we went to Cindi's reception and got to eat a lot of really good food and be with Richard's parents, Josh, Melissa, and some of Richard's uncles, aunts and cousins. It had been almost ten years since we had spent much time with them so it was fun to see their children and catch up. The kids loved the chocolate fountain and Cindi let the girls take home a bouquet of roses. From there we headed straight to the condo. The Boland's had been there all day and we have been so many times to this place it is starting to feel very homey to us! We spent the rest of our vacation at the beach, boogey boarding, catching fish, and crabs and digging in the sand. Our friends the Hanks and the Cluffs were all down there as well and we all got together Sunday night to go crabbing on the beach at night with flashlights. Can't we all just move down there? Unfortunately we didn't find anything. We had a little cloudy, windy, and rainy weather and on Monday after lunch it kept us in the condo. Overall, it was so relaxing to be able to get away and be with so many friends and family. I didn't bring my battery charger, so I saved what juice I had to get our typical shots of the kids enjoying the beach.

Lately . . .

We have been busy since I've gotten back from Utah. We have been up to Ellijay for the Labor Day Weekend to visit the Boland's. We've been down to Warner Robins for Pa's retirement dinner and for our 6 month dentist appointments. (No cavities and no recommendation for orthodontic work for Savannah!) Soccer has begun and takes up 4 nights a week plus two games on Saturday and we are getting ready to go down for our semi-annual Destin trip with the Boland's. Richard is helping to coach Cardyn's team, so we break practices up between us. Both the girls have had really successful seasons so far this year and we have enjoyed their games a lot. Yesterday was General Conference and I have to say I really enjoyed it this year. My kids sat through both sessions and did Fabulous! We did start the little game where you pick a word at the beginning of conference and every time you heard that word you got a piece of candy. We have decided that we are going to keep a running list of our words we pick and retire them so we have to pick new words every conference. We would have cleaned up one session if we had picked the word "Devil" - "Covenant" - or "Book of Mormon". We decided "devil" wasn't allowed. Porter's "password" (as he called it) was "prayer" - he kept going to the tv and saying, "Come on I'm praying for candy!" He wanted to watch church again this morning.

Utah

Porter and I made a visit to Utah the end of August to spend some time with my sister and our new neice/cousin. Adelaide Norton was born August 11th and she is the sweetest baby!



Aside from getting through security in Atlanta ( he didn't want to take his shoes off) & he'd been up since 4 am - he did great while we traveled. We had such a good time visiting with my family. It was really fun to see all the cousins together. They ran races, played ball, went to a cool playground, threw rocks in the river (up the big mountain as Porter would say), went to church with Pa, had a bbq at Pa's house, ate Deb's famous pizza, juiced with Aunt Anje, watched movies, played at the Allred's house and Uncle Dane time. It feels like you try to cram so much in the few days we had to visit and of course I fall short every time. I enjoyed some early morning runs, staying in my old room, driving up to the temple that Richard and I got married in. That brought tears to my eyes to see it and remember that special day. It probably wouldn't do that to me if I lived there and saw it every day. I'm so grateful for all the people who came to visit me. Thanks Anje, for letting us come visit and spend time with you and your cute family. I miss y'all - so much . . . I loved every minute of our visit!