Merry Christmas

Sadly I did not get around to sending Christmas cards and letters this year. However, for those who check this blog, I wanted you to know that we are wishing you a Merry Christmas. I hope that the season brings you happiness and that this wonderful time of year reminds you of the Savior and the gifts he has given to us.

Samichlaus Party

Samichlaus is the name for St. Nick in Swiss-German. Since before I was born, the Cannon side of the family has been celebrating Samichlaus Day, which falls on December 6. The tradition comes from my Grandparents, Ted and Janath Cannon, who served missions in Switzerland and Germany. I love how they brought pieces of the Swiss-German culture home with them and shared those cultural tidbits with their family. It is a tradition I hope to continue with my children and grandchildren in the future. Because the Cannon family is so large we now celebrate Samichlaus Day with our immediate families, and when my parent's aren't on missions of their own, we have the Samichlaus party at the Ranch.

December 6th is a big day for Swiss children. They usually await the arrival of Samichlaus impatiently and slightly frightened, because with him comes a black clad-henchmen named Schmutzli, who in the past would whip the bad children with a stick. Samichlaus comes to their door, enters and consults his big book of sins, co-authored by village parents, and does some light-hearted moralizing. He will also praise the children for the good things they have done. If the children agree to be better and earn forgiveness by reciting a poem, Samichlaus allows them to reach into his bag for some treats and small presents.

Samichlaus comes every year to our family as well. We are lucky that his companion Schmutzli does not come with him.

The kids, and uncles I guess because that's Uncle Dave on the right of the picture, eagerly awaited the arrival of Samichlaus just like the children do in Switzerland. Everyone was so excited when he finally arrived!


Even Brian got caught up in the anticipation and he walked around the house saying "Santa? Santa?" as he ate his pre-dinner cookies and crackers.


Samichlaus came to the door and was invited to sit down. He took each child one by one and praised him/her for the good things they are doing and then said at least one thing he knew they needed to work on.

The older children took him seriously and promised to improve. Then each person received a stocking full of surprises.


This was Brian's mad attempt to get as far away from Samichlaus as possible. Maybe he knew Samichlaus knew his sins.

When Brian was safe on his Daddy's lap, he then let Samichlaus tell him that he has been a happy energetic child and that he needs to work on not sucking his thumb so often.

Although Brian was not so sure about facing Samichlaus, he was sure he loved what Samichlaus gave him. Thank you Samichlaus!


Rather than reciting poems for Samichlaus, the older children each played him a Christmas song on the piano.

Then he was generous enough the give small gifts to the adults, and he left with the family singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."


After watching Samichlaus walk off into the woods, the Swiss feast began! My mom makes an incredible cheese fondue (without the wine of course) and we all gorged ourselves on the chocolate and cheese fondue, quiche, wurst, potatoes, and much much more. Thank you Mom and Samichlaus for a fun fun night!

Thanksgiving

Because my parents are leaving in January for another mission, we are trying to spend as much time with them as possible. So we decided to spend all of Thanksgiving at the Ranch rather than split up the time between two families. It was so fun and definitely delicious. Thank you Mom!

Brian was a happy eater (which is unusual) as soon as he realized he could sit and eat with Jordan.

I surprised both of these tables and snapped the pictures while they were eating. Thanks for humoring me everyone!

Alli and Caitlin who will be one year on Thursday. Happy Birthday Caitie!

Brian and Jordie doing what they do best: pulling every toy imaginable off the shelves.

Alli's dog Spike could not keep his eyes off that turkey. He watched my Dad carve the whole thing.

Mandy's Wedding

On Saturday, I got to watch my baby sister and the last of five girls get married in the Salt Lake Temple. I still can't believe little Boo is married. She was so perfectly beautiful and unbelievably calm and composed the entire day. Welcome to the family Brian (Mandy's husband) and congratulations you two! I didn't get any pictures of just the bride and groom together, but we'll have plenty from the photographer soon.

Mandy and Brian with some of her nieces and nephews. My Brian started on big Brian's lap, but he squirmed off in order to sit by his best buddy in the world, his cousin Jordie.


These two were the most entertaining couple on the temple grounds that day.

Five Sisters: Melanie, Allison, Mandy, Jenny, Emily

She was so gorgeous! I love you Mandy!

Brian's parents hosted a perfect wedding dinner the night before the wedding. After years of not being able to play our instruments together, my sister's and I played our traditional wedding song "My Fair Lady" for the dinner. I definitely miss playing with all my sisters and mom.



Melanie played for Mandy's reception at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. She didn't even need to look at music most of the time. Amazing.

After Wedding Dinner: Allison, Mandy, Me, Emily, Eliza, Mom, Grandma Joyce

Waiting for the temple stairs.

Brian loves flowers.

Throwing the bouquet.

My older sister Emily was able to fly up from Texas for the wedding, and she brought her new baby Eliza, whom I was so happy to meet for the first time!

Besides the bride, Melanie's kids were by far the cutest things at the reception! I love these kids: Evan, Vivian, Mathew, Clara.

Snow, Leaves and Land Cruisers

Brian's first time playing in the snow was a fantastic experience, thanks to his love of anything outside, and a really energetic dad that makes sled runs and builds snowmen in our awesome backyard. I'm so grateful for a child that loves being outdoors and enjoys a good adventure.





Before it snowed, Brian and I bagged a lot of leaves. Contrary to other years of leaf cleaning, this year was quite enjoyable, I think mostly because Brian liked it so much.





While Brian and I kept the house going, Mark was spending countless hours in the garage with his Land Cruiser.

Yes, that is a complete engine, and yes, Mark pulled out his broken engine and replaced it with a working engine, all on his very own. Well, he did have the help of that huge crane you see in the pictures, which takes up one half of our garage.


Mark spent night after night in the above (or similar) position. One night he didn't even come to bed. He just worked all night in that cold garage while I slept soundly. Then he came inside in the morning, showered and went straight to work. Thank you Mark for your hard work and know-how to save us thousands of dollars. And thank you to Daniel for letting Mark drive your car to work while the Land Cruiser was out. I'm glad she's back.

Halloween and Before

Brian's Aunt Vivian made this panda costume for her little guy last year, and it fit Brian perfectly this year. Thank you so much Vivian for letting him borrow it for Halloween! Here's our darling little panda.


We took him trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. Half the night we went with our friends/neighbors, the Whites. Here is Brian with his best friend Kilee.



The other half of the night was spent with Uncle Tony and Aunt Margaret. Brian loves piggy back rides from Tony.


A few days before Halloween, Brian and I got to go trick-or-treating to Nai Nai's work. He loved visiting his Nai Nai and got to practice taking candy from people, which he likes a little too much.


Last week it snowed for the first time this fall. Brian sat for much of the day on the windowsill watching the snowflakes fall to the ground. He even wanted to eat his snack there.



Our friends, the Whites, also invited us to go to a little pumpkin patch that had food, games, hayride, etc.

Brian and Kilee had a blast together. Brian ran through the little kid's maze over and over again.


The favorite by far was the bounce house. Luckily we got there early before the bigger kids took over. These two buddies had the whole thing to themselves.


They are so cute when they see each other.


I hope everyone else had as fun an October as we did. We are excited to bring on the holiday season!

Arches - Xiao Wang Di

I'm Brian in the U.S., but in China they would call me "Xiao Wang Di," or the Little Emperor. I guess it's because I have six servants, I can't always remember their names, so I just call them, Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, NaiNai, and YeYe. Or Ehh when I'm lazy works with all of them.


Well, I'm getting along in years (read:months), and at a mature 18, I figured it was time to see the world...
It was time for me to see what Arches National Park was all about.
I enjoyed the view from my throne, and whenever peasants would walk by I would casually smile and receive gifts of trail mix and fruit snacks. I even got down to enjoy a ceremonial sand burial and smell some rare desert flowers.


I ordered some of the servants to take me to Double O Arch, but it took so long I fell asleep just before I got to see it. I was angered that I missed it, but luckily for them I found a sweet truck in the sand. I let them carry me to a couple more arches, including Landscape Arch to make up for missing Double O. It was interesting, but in the end I ordered both of them to jump off a sand hill to their doom.


Overall, I would say the trip was tolerable. The weather was always nice, and I got to eat some very authentic Chinese food. Who knew the best Chinese restaurant is in Moab, UT.

I wonder what I'll go see next weekend...

I'm starting to get the feeling that the servants are conspiring against me. I think they are bringing another King/Queen in to undermine my authority...