Rast Family Criminals

Ok I have been a terrible blogger for the last few months, but I had to record something that happened this week which was so funny.

When the girls first got here, they were fascinated with getting gas, so I taught them how to put gas in the car. Since then they have taken turns getting gas and get such a kick out of it. Good for me right? Especially in the freezing weather.

Well, last week we went to Roosevelt to visit my family and we stopped in Heber for gas. I gave Lena the debit card and went to use the bathroom. When I got back she was done getting gas so we drove away.

About an hour and a half later we were still en-route to Roosevelt when I noticed a car was tailing me. I sped up. They sped up. I wondered why they wouldn't pass me so I went faster and faster. Finally, I was going 80 miles an hour and very annoyed that the car was still tailing me. Suddenly red and blue lights were flashing. It was an undercover cop car and he was pulling me over.

He came to the window and I apologized for speeding. He said, "It's ok that is not why I pulled you over, I pulled you over for something that happened in Heber, do you know what I am talking about? "

I immediately thought, "oh no what did the girls do now." I told him unfortunately I didn't know what I had done.

He told me that we had not paid for our gas and wondered why. I started laughing and told him I let my kids do it and that I was very sorry. Thankfully, he was a cop with a merciful and kind nature and also got a kick out of my predicament.

So after talking to the Sheriff's Dept. I was able to pay over the phone and got away with speeding and stealing gas without even a ticket. A Christmas miracle.

Now the Oven

Yesterday, seconds after turning on the oven, smoke came pouring out, filling the kitchen. I opened the oven door and something was seriously on fire. I pulled it out with a wooden spoon and threw it in the sink. As I was running cold water over it, I recognized Sara's shirt.

Of course, Sara had no idea how her shirt got in the oven. The kid!!! I can't even imagine what would possess her to put her shirt in the oven. Any ideas? She wasn't upset in the least that her shirt was burned to ashes. Now I have to check behind the fridge and the oven!!

Behind the Fridge and the Garden Hose

Let me start this post by saying that in the six years I lived in my house without the girls, nothing has ever fallen behind the fridge.

The other day I heard something fall and turned around. Sara was standing by the fridge looking suspicious. I asked her, "What just fell?"

She said, "Nothing." I looked everywhere on the floor and truly there was nothing. I was confused, it had been a big noise.

"Sara, what was that?"

She looked at the counter and back at me, guilty, but still not confessing.

"Sara!" in my newly acquired stern mom voice.

"Something behind the fridge."

"What?" I leaned over the counter and looked behind the fridge in the small space I have between the fridge and the wall."

There was my plastic pitcher. I didn't think anything would fit behind the fridge and I guarantee it didn't just fall there. Sara was supposed to be putting it away, but it goes in a high cupboard, (not by the fridge.) Instead of putting it away she had put it there. I told her she would have to get it, so I pulled out the fridge and she climbed behind it and began to pull things out.

The Pitcher

A water bottle

The measuring cup for our air popper

A bag of very hard marshmallows

One solid hot dog bun

A hard- black banana

A green-moldy cinnamon roll

A bag of stiff hoagie buns

A squash

The tray to our toaster oven

A spoon

All of which I am 100% positive did not "fall" behind the fridge. The question Jeff and I have is why did they put them behind the fridge? We decided it is where they put things when they don't know where they go, or are too lazy to move them off the counter when they are doing dishes. Even if by some miracle they accidentally pushed them there, they couldn't have done it without knowing.

Judging by Sara's face as she pulled each item out, she is probably responsible for most of it.

A few of those of things I had been looking for, for months. I had searched everywhere for the thing to our toaster oven and our popcorn popper. Of course, the girls had never seen them. The hard-brown banana explains the unidentifiable stench in our kitchen, the source of which, we never discovered. Kids!

The Garden Hose

The other day as I was walking out to the garden, I noticed this hose going into the bathroom window.

Knowing Lena was supposed to be cleaning the bathroom, I hollered up into the window, "What are you doing?"

She poked her head out. "When I clean the shower I get wet, so I use the hose and don't get wet."

I laughed and told her, "I enjoy your creative thinking but don't do that again."

"Why?"

Honestly, how do you even answer that? Because???

Lena's Bike

Last summer when Lena first came from Ukraine, we took her to the store and let her pick out a bike. She insisted on a smaller Hannah Montana bike even though we encouraged her to pick a bigger one. She rode it for a few months and then said she wanted a new bike, complaining it was too small. I told her that we bought her one bike, so if she wanted a different one she would have to buy it herself. I told her I would be happy to show her ways to make money, but I was absolutely not buying her another bike.

This was the beginning of Lena's Entrepreneurial ventures. After trying many different things, she decided one day, that she wanted to sell wheat bread. So, I taught her how to make wheat bread, including grinding the wheat. After a few times of showing her, she could do it all on her own and was in business. I expected her energy to fizzle after a few weeks. Surprisingly, not only did it not fizzle, she made a regular business of it and has been at it for a year now.

So far, she has made over $700 in her business. She put off buying that new bike till last month, when she decided she needed it to do a triathlon with me. It was so fun to see her excitement when she took the money to the store and finally bought her bike. She was equally excited to open her first bank account and get a debit card.

Jeff and I have been amazed by her hard work and ambition.

Sara and Lena's Triathlon

The girls did the Share a Smile Triathlon with Mary and I. Thank goodness grandma came along to be the cheerleader. First, I forgot my camera, so we had to use grandma's iphone. Second, the girl's were freezing after the triathlon and of course, I didn't think to bring them anything warm to wear. Good thing grandma had extra coats in the car.







The girl's did awesome. Too bad our camera skills with the iphone were lacking, they were so cute. It has been fun to watch them progress. When they first got here, they didn't know how to ride a bike or swim and now they are becoming pros at both.

The Spudman

Mary and I did the Spudman triathlon in Burley, Idaho last weekend. Jeff came along to be our driver, bodyguard, and cheerleader. He got the new iphone before we left, so the whole trip we heard about and saw demonstrations of his new apps.

We camped on the banks of the Snake River, where the race starts.

Mary borrowed Sara's Jr. Dome and it was very small. We pitched our tents when it was light and didn't realize we had pitched them right under a huge park light.

Jeff and I didn't get much sleep. We giggled over Mary's Jr. Dome, the park lights and taking pictures with his iphone.

This is a picture from our tent at 6:00 a.m.

I swam in wave 2 of 8. I have a rule, no pictures in my wetsuit, or of me racing but I figured this didn't count. We all look the same.

The 1 mile swim was first.

Then the 24 mile bike. This is Mary lest anyone thing that fine body is mine.

Crossing the finish line after the 6 mile run. Mary was so proud of this picture she took, that she begged me to put it on the blog. It did break all racing picture rules, but she insisted so to appease her I have posted it.
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I was glad when that was over.

This is Mary picking up on some guy she thought was cute. I only got a picture of his feet, as she would have killed me otherwise. Jeff and I were watching from a distance laughing. While driving away, Jeff wrote Mary's number on a paper and gave it to him. Mary and I ducked in the car and of course couldn't stop laughing. On the way home, when we wanted to get something to eat, Jeff jokingly remarked that we should fast for the boy to call. He always keeps us laughing.

Elise

Since Dona is one of my best friends, naturally my kids love her daughter Elise. Sara and Elise have been best of friends this last year. If Sara is around, Elise won't go to anyone else. After considerable begging Dona finally conceded to let Elise go to our ward with us. Sara and Elise wanted their hair the same and then they wanted pictures. It turned into a photo session and Elise posed adorably through the whole thing.

Jackson Lake

Our friend Mary and her family have a tradition of going to Jackson Lake every summer. Mary and I have been friends for 16 years and for all of those 16 years she has been trying to get me to go to Jackson Lake with her. This year Jeff and I and some of our other friends finally did it. We went with Mary to Jackson Lake. After the trip Jeff and I both conceded that it was awesome and that we should have listened sooner.


The water was a little chilly, as a river flows from the Glacier mountains into the lake , but the kids didn't mind a bit.


Chandler and Elise kayaking off shore.

The Smith family brought their kayaks and we floated down the Snake River one evening. We saw all sorts of wild life and the kids were in heaven. So was Jeff. I think the girls and I got a bigger kick out of him than any of the wild life.


Mary has been telling us about swimming behind Moose Falls, in Yellowstone forever. I wasn't sure how the kids would feel about it, but of course they loved it. A hot spring runs into the river so the water is nice and warm.





This was such a proud mom moment for me. Lena told me last summer that she wanted to learn to ski because I loved it so much and she wanted to be like me. They have both tried but haven't been able to get up. On our Jackson trip they both did it. They were so proud of themselves and couldn't stop talking about it. Watching them being pulled behind the boat I felt more than ever that they were really mine.


Another of Mary's musts was Jenny Lake.


This is my nerdy husband, putting on a show. Other people at the lake were laughing at him but he didn't care. Anything to make me and the kids laugh.




We drove the boat across the lake to Leeks Marina and got ice cream cones, another Cannon tradition.

Parker doesn't like to get in the water much, but he loves to drive the boat.




I didn't know if the kids would come home friends or enemies after roughing it in the wild for five days. We have the bears in Yellow Stone to thank for a successful trip. We had a bear in camp almost everyday. The Park Rangers would come warn us and then blow whistles, and throw rocks at the bears to get them to leave. After watching two older Park Ranger women throw rocks at a big bear and blow their whistle, I figured we weren't in too much danger. The kids weren't so easily convinced. After the first whistle and bear experience the kids went everywhere together. They made sure no one was ever alone and they were always plotting what they would do if a bear got one of them. Maybe it was having a common enemy, but whatever it was, those bears sure got our kids on the same team. Jeff and I couldn't have been
happier.

Lena Lena Lena

Sara burst into the house crying, "Lena ruined my tomatoes."

"What did she do" I asked

"Go see" she said, storming off to her room.

I walked out to Sara's garden box. All of her once green tomatoes were now red. Lena was standing next to the garden box laughing.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"I painted them red."

"With what?"

She held up a paint brush and a bottle of red paint. "I wanted her to think they were ready, funny huh." And she started laughing again.

How could I not laugh?

Another night I came home to this flower bouquet and card on my counter. They were from Lena. The card said she loved me and she was sorry for not being nice to me. I laughed but even harder when I noticed the bouquet was made up of my bushes and the neighbors flowers. Despite all the trouble she causes, she is exasperatingly lovable.

Our skydiving Grandma

Jeff's mom has always wanted to go skydiving. For Mother's Day we all chipped in and paid for her to go.

The kids watched in amazement as their grandma prepared and then jumped out of an airplane. They thought she was crazy.

All the grandkids ran to meet her when she landed. They were glad to see she was still alive.

We sure love our grandma!