Blue Koi in the Pond!

Ben bought some blue koi for the pond.  I realize one looks very orange, but that spot on his back is indeed blue.

Ben let them acclimate for awhile in the bag. 

When he set them free, they weren't sure they wanted to leave the safety of the bag, but they finally swam out.

They swam around for a few minutes...

And then they headed over to their new friends in the reeds.

Blast From the Past, A Cycle

I got a little melancholy when I began scanning yesterday.  This is my grandmother, Ida May Burton  Cannon, perhaps 1915. 

This is my handsome grandfather, Collins Telle Cannon.  A caption which I cropped off says this was taken at Niagara Falls.  Dad had written on the back that he knew his father visited the falls, but it was either on his way to France on his mission in 1910, or on his way home a few years later.

This is their son, my father -- Collins Burton Cannon.  Their family lived in Logan in the 1920s.  I'm loving his outfit.  And the slice of watermelon.

This is my father and my grandmother when Dad was about 16.  I was stunned to see this picture today, even though I'm very familiar with it.  That smiling mug on my father reminds me of my grandson, Will.  I didn't have a current picture of Will to scan in, so you'll have to trust me.  

But I did scan in this totally adorable picture of William.  He is the child who christened me Dewey when he tried to say Julie. 

And here is a picture of my Cannon grandparents, perhaps in the 1950s.  The shelf on the wall now hangs in my house.

In 1989 Ben and I visited my Aunt Marilyn and her husband who were serving a mission in Mexico.  Bill took this picture of us in front of the Mexico Temple.  Listening to conference while scanning makes me think, at least sometimes.  My grandparents are dead.  I wonder if someday descendants will see this picture and not have a clue who Ben and I are.

This is the family of my father:  he is in the lower left, then Nana, Janet, Daddy Cannon, Maydae, Joan and Betsy.  Only two are still alive, and if you need Joan's address to send her a birthday card, email me.

I, too, have a family, although they didn't pose quite as nicely.  The occasion was  Dave's 13th birthday.

I know I've scanned in a lot of pictures over the last few years of my kids and ducks, but honestly, we had a lot of ducks in Clear Lake because we lived right on that bayou.  The duck in the center of the photo adopted us.  Her name was Molly.  She loved pool parties, but her pool behavior sometimes left a lot to be desired...

This is one of my favorite memories!  These ducks hatched one day after Cori got home from kindergarten.  She and I had a really fun time helping them get from the planter near our house to the gate.

This duckling fell in our pool, and Corinne rescued it and helped him rejoin his family.

We had a lot of fun with critters from the bayou.  Corinne caught this turtle herself and named him Shelley.   (Clever child....)  We kept him only two days until we realized he needed to be back in the bayou.

Corinne has always been an animal lover.  She loved Lester, and by golly, he was the best cat ever.  He let her drag him around all day long and then he'd sit on her lap in the evenings.

Applesauce was a good cat, too.

I was flooded with memories when I scanned in this picture.  I went totally nuts when I had a baby girl after four boys.  See the glimpse of that little house on the right?  I sewed it for Corinne.  I still have it, and in fact just put it away after Camille's visit.

I believe I have mentioned before that Corinne was the cutest child ever.

And she grew up to be pretty cute, too.  Another copy of this picture is on permanent display in my living room.

Is this a hoot of a picture?  Jeffy on the left -- Sammy on the right. 

I scanned in a lot of pictures of Dave today.  He was a beautiful child, too.  He probably doesn't want to hear that today, but it's true.

My laugh of the day came when I read the caption which explained that  on  Christmas Day, 1988, Dave played with Ben's present.  Like anyone would even recognize that contraption as a movie camera.

Of course, Dave grew up to be very handsome, like all the men in our family, including my grandfather.

And now we are back to Will, the great-great grandson of the woman at the top of this post.

Fun, Games, Spring!

Ben and I had some visitors drop in for a week.  Adele is the happiest baby I have ever met.  And I've met a lot of babies...

Camille liked my applesauce chocolate cake.  That made me happy!

I felt it necessary to educate Kyle on important matters, such as Calvin and Hobbs.  Steve helped out.

Of course, we ate a lot of Cafe Rio.  In fact, I overdid, if that's possible. 

Our egg hunt was a big success!

Kyle had a lot of fun taking pictures with my little camera. 

Of course, he's learning from the best.

I'm jazzed about the two new games I have. 

But Camille loved this old one, Corinne's Light Bright.

Kyle challenged his dad in Crossfire, another old favorite.

We took the kids to Mary's house to visit Max, who was extremely excited to play with the kids. 

We had to rescue the kids from all that fun by putting them in the little fort where they could be safe.  Unfortunately, Camille tumbled out of the fort, and who was the first one to kiss her better?
Right:  Max.

Provo has a lot of parks, and we visited several.

With perfect weather, we all had a great time.

Kyle taught Papa Ben the finer points of tic tac toe.

We spent some time along the Provo River.
I tried to take some good pictures.  How's this?

Steve was happy to cooperate in helping me get some good splash shots.

Kyle helped, too.

Camille and water mix very well.

Adele and I parked ourselves in a quiet place and watched the fun! 

Back at the house, we had an un-birthday party.

Everyone got a candle on their desserts.

And everyone got something to unwrap.
Some gifts were better than others, but everyone was kind enough to look pleased.

And we went to the zoo!

This was not my first time on a carousel.   

Even Papa Ben had a good time!

The animals were crazy.  This leopard didn't know this was his own tail.

I already miss them!