I promise I will post pics of this christmas...but not till next year :) lol! We have been gone since the hour school let out. We've went to Kanab for 2 1/2 weeks, and then to holden until sunday. It's been a crazy break, but so much fun to see so much family. So..until next week...Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Here is the St. George costume!
I'm not one to forget about Thanksgiving, because I love the holiday! But I have to start my christmas projects early otherwise I get stressed out. So, when I was a little girl, my mom had a book she made filled with christmas stories, 1 for each day. Unfortunately as I got older it was forgotten about. I want to bring it back into my family. So! If anyone knows of what I'm talking about, and knows where I could find something like this..or has one I can copy please comment and let me know. I really want to have it! Thanks!
Here is Uncle Chet, Jetta, Taylee, Grandma Stevens and Tilden ready to go on another "vroom vroom"
This is Aunt Loni... I think the picture explains it all...
All in all we had a very good time! Sunday evening Great Grandma Stevens came up to see our campsite. I have more pics, but on grandma stevens' camera. :)
Here is a pic of our haunted gingerbread houses! Mine is the tall one, and yes it is SUPPOSED to be crooked. Dawson really helped out a lot with his. He liked to eat the frosting off of it.
I absolutely love Halloween! I love this time of year too! It's cool enough in the mornings to go for a nice walk with Dawson. The leaves are changing colors! So far for Halloween we have made Haunted Gingerbread houses...I didn't get pics sorry! AND last night we carved pumpkins with our friends. They turned out so amazing! We had a blast too!
Well, as you read before, it took Dawson 25 min to cry himself to sleep the 1st night. It was so sad. At 5 am he woke again and was trying to eat me alive. So I fed him a bottle and asleep he went until 7:30. It's amazing how good sleep can change a person. Dawson was so much happier (some may say he's already happy, but he has been super whiny), he played better independently, and listened to me. It was amazing, and he still loves me.
Night 2... well we got home at 10:00 and I laid him down in his crib with no bottle since he had one about an 1 hour before. He throws up if he gets too much. It took less than 3 min! I didn't even go in to check him on the 3 min mark, he just fell asleep! Whoo hoo! So me and J.D. went to bed. It was 10:20... Dawson didn't wake up wil 5:30! I gave him a bottle and he was trying to sleep, but I needed to change him. Once I did, he threw up all over me. It was okay cuz he had slept for 7 hours. That is a major improvement. I'm okay with once a night, just not 4-5 times a night of waking up. So, quick bath, and he went to sleep on his own. He slept til 8:30. I feel so refreshed. I actually kept waking up because I'm so used to it. I can't remember the last time I got 7 hours of sleep. Anyways, thank you to my good friend Britt for letting me in on this strategy of getting a child to sleep. It worked! :)
So I have 2 stories. First, I forgot to mention that last week on Sunday, Dawson threw up in sacrament. It was EXTREMELY embarrassing! J.D. had just barely brought him in from being noisy, and up it comes all over the bench, the aisle, J.D. and down the hallway. It was a first seeing that for both of us... AND i had to say the closing prayer....
2nd story, we are trying to get Dawson to sleep through the night... It is so sad. I wouldn't worry about it, but he is waking up 4-5 times a night. NO JOKE! I am so exhausted. So we started yesterday... he did okay. i laid down on the floor the whole night next to the crib, and when he'd cry I would let him hold my hand. Tonight was a cut off from that. I had to just let him cry for 3 min.. comfort him, lay him down and wait 5 min. if he cried still, do the same thing then add 5 min each time. It went on til I had to wait 25 min and he fell asleep. I sobbed! i know I've mentioned I can't handle hearing him cry, but J.D. took a stand and said we had to do this for his own good. I just wanted to hold him and rock him, but J.D. said not to undo what we've accomplished. It's the most heartbreaking thing that has ever happened. I am still up because I'm so traumatized by it. I feel like a bad mom. :( I know I need sleep, I'm wearing down fast and get onry fast because I need sleep so bad. J.D. has school so he doesn't help in the night which makes it harder. I hope this really works.
Here is the shark tunnel! It was pretty cool to see there teeth! :)
Here is Shamu! Dawson was way into him! We didn't get to ride any rides because Dawson couldn't walk. ... weird rule, but the lady wouldn't let us. It was fun besides that :)
We went to California for a family vacation before school started. We have seen the Atlantic Ocean (which we thought was way cleaner and warmer), but we needed to see the Pacific. Dawson was actually scared of the waves! I didn't think he would be, but be was. There was a storm out to sea so the tide was way high! It's amazing how strong it was too.
After Dawson played with mom for a bit in the tide, he got used to it and like it more. J.D. went out on his own and was riding the waves. He said it was FREEZING!
Here is our family at the pacific ocean for the first time! :)
We went to Holden for a couple of days. We hopped on Ringo for a bit. He is such a bouncy horse! My boobs hurt after riding only a block! :)
Of course Dawson had the time of his life. J.D. really loves taking him for horse rides. The next morning J.D. went on the mountain with his brother Lucas for a long 6 hour horse ride. They had a real good time. It brought back many memories they said.
We went to Grandma Shelley's to celebrate my dad's birthday. He's... old. :) We got massages from my sister and here is Carson ready for his!
And one of my favorites, Dawson chillin with his Grandpa. He seems to have a pretty cool bond with him. My dad isn't much for playing and taking care of kids, but he will if it doesn't involve too much work. Dawson just loves to sit with him and watch movies.
In the past month Dawson has just been cruising with crawling and also walking along furniture. He can stand on his own for a few seconds and it's always getting longer. He loves to climb on things-as most children do. He just thinks its the coolest thing that he knows how to climb on the couch, on the arm of the couch, onto the kitchen counter. (yes, he does this many times a day) I am always saying feet first when he goes to climb down and he is a pro at it now! I feel like he really understands me. He just scoots on his tummy until his feet are at the edge and pushes himself down. He never fails! Good job Dawson!
J.D. left last Thursday to go to cali again... :( It is truly an adjustment to have him and not have him. Thank goodness the summer is almost over! I like it better when he's here, except I do like having a lot of room in the bed to kick and roll... I like to cuddle, but a big bed is also nice. :) It's better to have him here though.
Dawson is doing so much! He repeated 'No' to me today after I said it to him... I know.. scary right? He fed himself with a spoon and has continued to since yesterday. He's a smart bugger! He can climb couches to counters in the kitchen now... go figure! He loves to dance! It's the cutest thing to watch him head bang and bounce. What's even more amazing is that he's on beat! He loves to cuddle and hold on to my neck with both hands while he falls asleep. He is standing all the time now, but isn't really into walking yet. I'm not forcing him at all.. I figure let him do it on his own. He'll figure it out. His yeast infection is finally going away! Whoo HOO! I hate them!
As for me, I am still staying at home. We have hardly been home this summer, but I'm starting to actually feel like I live in this apartment. I am looking for a 1-2 nights a week job. So any Cedar Citians hear of anything, please let me know. I finished Dawson's scrapbook for his 1st year. I know he has a month left, but I don't have anymore room in his book... Until further notice we are doing great!
This last Monday we went up north to visit Uncle Choc and get J.D. a scope for his rifle. We decided to start at Cabelas. Dawson loved seeing the fishes, and animals. We were there for 3 hours! Mom was ready to go home... but we had to go to Gunnies in orem. We found the scope he wanted and they mounted it... it took 2 1/2 hours because J.D.'s rifle isn't an ordinary one.. So we finally left and they closed. Next thing we know... J.D. can't pull his action out on the gun.. so to make a long story short, we stayed at Uncle Chet and Aunt Bobi Sue's house ( :( they weren't there though) Thank you Thank you for letting us stay though! We got everything fixed in the morning and headed home.
We then went to St. George and had a blast at Grandma Shelley's. She bought a sweet pool thing and Carson and Dawson went skinny dippin! Whoo hoo! They loved being naked!
To end off our fun times, Dawson is a pepsi lover.... (I wonder where that came from... yes, I'm a pepsi-holic. They say pepsi runs in the shelley blood ) Dawson found a can and couldn't resist the taste. Naked and a pepsi just might be in his top 3 things. Playing in water would be first :) I think I will send this to pepsi Co. for advertisement.... lol!
WHOO HOO to J.D. he's 24! His birthday is the 31st of July, but my family had a celebration for him last weekend. We are going to Holden this weekend for his family celebration. At my mom's house we had a BBQ with homemade ice cream and peach cobbler! It was so yummy. Then we played Buzz Word. We then opened presents. It was such a good story I'm going to tell it.
So for years J.D. has wanted a rifle. We always found reason not to get one. This year my whole family pitched in to get him a good rifle. Me and my brother Matt went to the pawn shop in Beaver while J.D. was in cali workin. We got a rifle, some shells and a case. The day before the party J.D. said, can we go look at guns.. I replied," J.D. I'm so sick of hearing about getting a gun. We will get one when we have the money. All day thats all I hear.." He simply said, "Thats the first time 'today' I've mentioned it." Well when we opened presents I wrapped the shells and hid the gun in the other room. J.D. opened the shells and said, "... did you get me..." I said, "It's for when you do get a gun." Then I ran into the other room and grabbed the case (which had the gun in it) I came out saying, " I got you a case too, so when you do get a gun you have it. " Then he could feel the case was heavy. He thought I put his 22 in there... hahaha! Then he pulled out his rifle. He was so exstatic. It was so funny! Now.. he wants a scope... you'd think he would be more happy with just a gun. lol
ANYWHO! Happy birthday to my love!
At my mom's new place she moved to they have a community pool. While visiting her we went swimming. We love it! It was perfect to do on such a hot day in St. George. Plus, Aunt Jori and Carson got to go too!
This is my hotty hunners! :) He's so dang cute!
Our pride and joy full of smiles!
Here is everyone except me (taking the pic)
This is our sweet nephew Carson. He is so much fun! We just love him to death! He is a character!
