April 2016

April 1st marked the 14th anniversary of us moving to North Carolina.  We had a fun dinner.  Nick invited his best friend to join us and sleep over.  After all the at-home festivities, Steve went and saw his friend and favorite artist, Kev, perform.

Saturday morning Steve and I got up early and went to help clean the church.  Sister Beckworth and I spent the entire time cleaning the chapel.  All the seats needed to be vacuumed because there were a lot of glitter dresses for Easter and the seats were rather sparkly.  It was a fun time.  We had a soccer game in the afternoon and I took Nick's friend home.  Steve and Andrew replaced three windows at our house and then went to Andrew's house to give it a good power wash.  During all this service we only got to watch three conference talks from the Saturday session.  Steve and the boys did their traditional run to Rita's and then to watch the priesthood session of conference at the church.

Naomi's soccer team - (front row left to right) Nate, Ryan and Nick.
(back row left to right) Coach Riggins, Jake, Naomi, Brandon and Little Jake

April 7th I subbed all day and was tired so we ordered pizza while we watched the finale of the last season of American Idol.  It was a tough one this time because we all really liked both finalists. Portia or Trent were both equally matched for the win.  During the finale the other contestants come back and sing as well.  One of the encore songs was "All By Myself".  The guy singing was from the South and had a slight accent even while singing and so it caused the words to be said slightly differently.  Naomi got very confused and then laughed.  "Mom, it sounds like he is saying 'Obama's elf".  We got a really good laugh over that one.

April 8th Nick came home from school limping slightly.  He had twisted his ankle really good during physical activity and it was quite swollen and very sore.  He is out of the frisbee and running business for at least a couple of weeks.

April 14th was a late night (until 7:00 instead of 4:30) rehearsal for "Jungle Book".  I got to go in and help with the pizza dinner to get the kids through the last hour.  It was fun to see all the hard work they had been putting into this production.  Each one of the kids was focused and ready to perform.  It made me even more excited to see the performances the next two days.

I subbed for Mr. Willits the week of the 11th-14th while he was on a school field trip.  One day I got to the high school and realized I didn't have my cell phone with me.  Mrs. Norris tried calling my phone to see if I had just lost it in the bottom of my back pack.  No luck.  The last time I remembered having it was over at the middle school and sending a text to Mr. Willits.  I ran back over to the middle school and there was my phone sitting right where I left it.  Mrs. Dettrey started laughing when I picked it up and told me that when it started ringing one of the students thinking it was his iPad frantically tried turning down the volume on his iPad.  You need to know that this particular student is constantly in trouble for playing music on his iPad in the middle of class.  Everyone got a good laugh about that.  Also, my ring tone is the Chipmunks singing "Funky Town".  When Nick heard it (his class just happened to be in the library at the time), he came over and unlocked the phone, took a selfie and reset my wallpaper to his photo.  The kids all loved that he bombed my phone.  What a nut.  Below is the wonderful picture that was waiting for me on my phone.

The kids did an amazing job on the 15th and 16th.  They put their hearts and souls into their performances and it showed.  The audience loved it and the cast was all smiles when it was over.

The cast and the sets.  Aren't they amazing?!!?!

Naomi as part of the chorus until it was time for her to go on stage as part of ...

...Kaa the snake.  

The cast bowing to a standing ovation. 

Naomi and her fellow members of Kaa

SheerKhan, Anusha the monkey and Naomi.  

The night of the 16th I got to drive some of the girls to a dance in Ablemarle (about an hour away).  It was such a blast.  I just sat and listened to the conversation while driving and trying not to laugh too hard.  Girls definitely have different topics of discussion than boys.  Very entertaining.  It was a fun night getting to watch all the kids having a great time on the dance floor.  

April 20-22 Steve and Jeremy got to go as chaperones on the Sound to Sea field trip.  They had a great time.   Jeremy especially had a great time scaring the boys he was in charge of.  They would not go to bed and so he would sneak across the floor and under the beds while they were talking and pop up and scare them.  It was a highlight for him.  

Steve loved this picture of a bird fishing for dinner.  

See all the birds following the fishing boat?  Kind of funny. 

Jeremy out exploring on the Sound side.

Little crabs everywhere.

Jeremy with his Uke, taking requests 

The whole group

Watching the sun rise one last time before heading home.  

 I got to sub for Mr. Patterson (physics teacher) and learned so much about circuits and how they work.  I even took our circuits game and let the kids mess around with it.  They had a contest to see who could get the propeller piece the highest in the stairwell.  

On the 22nd I picked up Steve and Jeremy and went straight to the elementary school to watch Naomi sing with the choir at their art show.  

The 23rd was a youth temple trip.  It was just me and the boys driving down as Jeremy needed some hours towards his license and we couldn't have anyone else in the car while he was driving.  It made for a relaxing drive.  We had a great day.

April 24th we were all really antsy during sacrament meeting and decided to go on a family excursion to get rid of that feeling.  We drove to Blowing Rock in Boone and had a great time exploring around there.  We also stopped in and visited the campus of Appalachian State.  Jeremy fell in love with the town and the campus and everything.  It is one of his top picks now.  

Waiting while we bought tickets.  

Doing a little rock climbing.

On top of Blowing Rock.

I just loved this picture and had to include it in the blog.  

Same with this one. 

Naomi is taking in the view from the observation deck.  It was stunning. 

Nick doesn't like heights and it was a long way down from the observation deck.  Jeremy is trying to persuade him to come take a look.  

Family picture.  

More rock climbing.  It looks like they are really far up, but the ground is just out of the picture. 

You go, girl!

Group photo on top of Blowing Rock. 

The view from on top of Blowing Rock.  

Blowing Rock from a distance.  Pretty impressive.

April 28th we were sitting at dinner as a family when Steve got a text from one of his scouting buddies.  Dennis asked him why he wasn't at the scouting dinner that was going on at that time.  Steve told Dennis he didn't think he needed to be there.  Dennis then sent a picture of one of the slide from the presentation announcing that Steven Cannon had been awarded for outstanding trainer for Mecklenburg County.  WHAT!!!?????!!!???  No one told Steve he needed to be there.  The next day Steve went down to the scout office and picked up his award.  Apparently the person who was in charge of making sure everyone getting awards was invited forgot to call everyone.  Oh well, the award is pretty, stinking cool and much deserved.  

April 29th I got to attend my first middle school pep rally.  It was so much fun and incredibly LOUD!!  The high light for me was watching the bouncy ball soccer game.  Below is a picture since words so not do this wonderful sight justice.  Some of those riders are teachers which caused all sorts of fun and mayhem.  It only took a couple of hours for my hearing to return after leaving the gymnasium, but it was worth it.

April 30th I found out that I will be the coach of Naomi's soccer team for the late spring season.  I was supposed to be the assistant coach to her current coach, but he had to back out after I had signed Naomi up.  This should be an interesting experience, but I am excited.  Wish me luck.