Where Have We Been All Summer?

I did not take much time for blogging in the summer, so I thought I would do a little catch up. We had a great summer! I think summer time is my favorite. There are so many fun things to do. Our clubhouse and pool were finished in May, so we spent a lot of time at the pool. This is a picture of Marc's family swimming. Everyone got together for the 4th of July. Our family overtook the pool, and everyone had a lot of fun!

Dash and his cousin, Cache, love to swim and eat chips at the pool. They aren't afraid of the water!

Marc's Diet

We had a weight loss competition in Marc's family to get ready for Lake Powell. This is how Marc started off his diet- a big chocolate milk shake. He didn't win, but he still lost weight!

This was the first dessert to kick off the Lake Powell feast. We all dug in with our spoons to eat this ice cream sundae out of the "pig trough."

All ten of the McCann siblings came on our trip to Lake Powell! We had a big celebration before Andrea leaves on her mission. Our talent show was dedicated to her this year.

Marc entertained us by jumping, flipping, and diving off the houseboat.

This is my favorite thing to do at Lake Powell! Water rocket wars! It gets pretty crazy!

One of the highlights of the trip was reading books from the Twilight series. Even Marc's brothers couldn't resist reading them! (Not really. It was part of their skit for the talent show.)

Marc and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary while we were in Lake Powell. It was a lot of fun! We even had fireworks to celebrate.

The Perfect Day- 6 Years Ago!

This is our first ripe tomato! It was my first ever attempt at growing a garden. All we had were tomatoes on our balcony, but the kids loved to water them. They tried eating the tomatoes, but they didn't like them.

We celebrated Dash's 2nd birthday! Grandma Jackie bought him a shaggy dog cake.

He loved blowing out the candles! He did it several times before we finished singing.

We also celebrated with his cousin, London. They share the same birthday! It was her first birthday this year.

She dug into her cake, and then was nice enough to let Dash join in. But she didn't want to share her new little bike that Grandma bought her. She kept pulling the other kids off of it.

What a cute little angel, or at least he was then! Now the terrible twos have kicked in. He's learned to climb out of his crib and he loves to throw tantrums, but we still love him.

This is Kylie's favorite meal. Cheese tortillas, chips, salsa, sour cream, and green sauce! She always wants to eat it down stairs.

We went camping and bought Kylie a princess fishing pole, so she could go fishing with her dad. Kylie caught her first fish! She was so excited, but holding it wasn't her favorite part.

Kylie started preschool! She has wanted to go for over a year, because her friends went to school. This is a picture of her after her first day. She loves her teacher Miss Ann!

Stadium of Fire

Kylie was so excited to see Mylie Cyrus perform at the Stadium of Fire. When we told her we were going she yelled in excitement. We watch the Disney show Hannah Montana all of the time, and we listen to her music almost every time we are in the car. Even Dash loves her. He calls her Han Tanna.

Kylie said, "Hannah Montana is going to sing and give us toys." Hannah didn't give her any toys, but when we got there Grandma Jackie had a Hannah bag with some treats inside. Kylie screamed again, because she was so excited.

Kylie begged for popcorn, so we finally gave in. She enjoyed eating her popcorn and watching the fireworks. The whole show was amazing! It reminded me of how grateful I am to live in America. We are so blessed!

She is wearing a Hannah Montana dress from Walmart. Don't take your kids shopping at this age. They want everything!

Chef's Table

For Andrea's birthday present we took her to Chef's Table. She is leaving on a mission to Nauvoo in the fall, so we decided we would do something extra special. It is her favorite restaurant. She took Marc and I there when each of us graduated. It was so much fun to dress up and go out for a nice dinner. The atmosphere was great with a beautiful view of BYU and the Provo temple, and the food was amazing. Everything we ordered was delicious. The Tuscan tomato soup is my favorite. I wish I could eat like that everyday!

Kylie's Half Birthday

My mom and I went to the cutest store in Highland called Dear Lizzies. They have tons of cute stuff and in the back they have a place to eat. It is the perfect place for a girls night out, with pink covered chairs and crystal chandeliers. They sell the cutest flower cupcakes, sugar cookies, and big lollipops for the kids. We were inspired with creativity after visiting that store.

I decided we would try to make flower cupcakes for Kylie's half birthday. Kylie is always asking when her birthday is. When we are saying goodnight she will often say, "Tomorrow's my birthday!" So Grandma Jackie and I decorated cupcakes all day, and then we had a little party. Not much of one. Marc wasn't even there, but Kylie loved it. Everyone enjoyed eating the cupcakes. It was a fun day!

Green Slime Tastes Good!

Does this look appetizing? Maybe it does with my great photography skills, but in real life it is bright green and scary. The kicker is it is healthy for you and tastes delicious! I got the idea from my brother Tyson and his wife Audra. They said they mixed pineapple juice and spinach in the blender. They said it was good, so I had to try it. I did and it tasted too healthy for me, so I added a banana, a handful of strawberries, and some ice. I created a healthy, tropical smoothie. You know it is good when your 3 year old says things like, "This is so good," and "Mmm this is delicious!" Kylie kept saying things like that as she ate it with a spoon. Kylie is eating vegetables and she likes it! So if you want to try it here is the recipe:

Tropical Spinach Smoothie
In blender mix:
3-4 cups spinach
1 banana
5-6 strawberries
1/2 c. ice
1/2- 1 c. Dole pineapple juice (the cheap brand was not sweet)
1/2 c. vanilla yogurt (opt.)

DisneyWorld

Last week we got back from a wonderful trip to Orlando, Florida. We went with my parents, and Tyson, Audra and baby London. It was so much fun to spend time with them and not worry about my kids. I am a huge Disney fan, so it was a dream come true vacation! Who doesn't want to be a princess and live happily ever after? I know I do and I have my prince to enjoy it with.

Kylie was so excited when we got home and had presents for her. She wore this dress everywhere for a week. It is a nightgown, but she loves to wear it anytime of day. Dash was excited to have us home too. He gave me lots of hugs. It was good for all of us to have a break from each other and realize how much we love each other.

We love our missionary!

O.K., so Marcus, my little brother, has almost been in the MTC for two weeks, but I just got these pictures on my computer. We were all so excited for him to go, but we all cried at the MTC. When I see people cry I start crying. My mom burst into tears when they asked her to place Marcus' missionary tag on.
The night before, it was such a neat experience to be there when Marcus got set-apart. He bore his testimony and said he was ready to serve and he bore a sweet testimony of the Savior.
We are so proud of him and love sending same day packages to the MTC. His favorite has been chips and salsa. He said they had a fiesta several nights in a row. He loves the MTC, and will be leaving for Seattle next week.

General Conference

This is one of Kylie's favorite things to do. She would sit in the sink and play all day if I let her.

Wasn't General Conference great?! My favorite conference talk was by Elder Ballard. If you didn't hear it you can go to lds.org and listen to it. He talked about young mothers. He said, "Recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times, but amid the challenges there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction." That is so true. These pictures remind me of some of those shining moments.

Elder Ballard talked to the children and told them to help their moms and to tell them they love them. Hopefully Kylie will listen and stop telling me she hates me. Although sometimes she says, "Mom, you're my best friend!" She can't make up her mind I guess. But I always tell her I love her.

Holidays Past

Kylie was so excited to wear her Easter dress. We did her hair and she posed for pictures.

Dash and Kylie made Easter bunny ears at our ward primary activity. They hopped around like bunnies.

I know Christmas was a while ago, but I just uploaded these pictures to my computer. This was the first snow of the season. Marc and Kylie built a snowman with red kool aid hair and we went sledding. The kids loved it (and so did Marc and I)!

Tile, Tile, Tile!

Today marks the first day of a long month. Marc has a big tile project he's doing for the next month, so we won't see him that much. He is amazing at laying tile. I had no idea how valuable it would be for me to teach him how to lay tile!
Today is also ten years since Marc's dad passed away. He has been greatly missed by everyone. I never met him, but from the stories I hear I can tell he was an amazing man who loved the Lord. He and Andrea raised a wonderful son. Marc just got released from the bishopric in our student ward yesterday. It was bitter sweet. We will miss the learning opportunities and all the wonderful blessings, but we are glad to have him sitting by us in Sacrament meeting. It has been a circus every week.

More Pics

Marc posed for me while I practiced taking silhouette shots. He's holding a football.



This is Marcus' self portrait, which means he took it himself. I thought it was cool and he doesn't have a blog, so I thought I would post it on mine.

I love the temple!

O.k. so it had been a long time since I posted, but yesterday was great. Marcus went to the temple for the first time. It was so great to be together as a family in the temple! Marcus leaves on his mission to Seattle on Apr. 2nd. We are so proud of him. These are some pics that I took for my photo class. I'm taking a class from Nicole Hill with my mom and Marcus.