The Lovable Tease!

Monty is growing up so fast and is so smart!

As I have said before, he loves Dawson. Here he is jumping on Dawson. This lasted for about 2 minutes and he just giggled everytime he came plopping down on Dawson.

We went to the park and Dawson loved pulling Monty in his wagon. Monty loved it just as much!

Monty puts EVERYTHING in his mouth and just laughs while doing it. He will look at me with the biggest grin and try to crawl away as fast as possible after showing me he has something in his mouth. He is such a trickster!

This is the teaser look. He looks like he is going to give me the wrapper..... think again! He turns and crawls away the minute you start to fall for prank. 

And then there's the door..... which he often tries to open and escape out of. He crawls so fast to the door once someone opens it. He has been successful a few times which keeps him hopeful to escape again. 

He is such a little tease! After bath time he will sit in the tub, then stand up, put his arms out like he wants to get out..... the second I reach to get him out he plops right back now and crawls around giggling and squealing. This happens more times that I can even count. Finally I just grab him and he SCREAMS because he is so mad. He cries, blinks his eyes, and he lets you know he is mad. He pinches, arches his back, screams, hits, bangs his head against me, and doesn't quit. He throws the most amazing fits and tantrums.... he is persistant, demanding, and it seems like he doesn't forget. 

On the other hand, he is so sweet and loving. He gives everyone the biggest hugs and squeezes your neck. He reaches for J.D. the minute he walks in the door and gives him a tight squeeze. It's so cute! He loves to cuddle and play with my hair. He talks to me and sings all the time. 

He waves good bye and hello. He blows lots of bubbles. He can take 1 step on his own. He loves to play ball. He is the happiest kid next to Dawson. He can say mom and dad. He says "Daw" for dawson. I can't believe he is almost 1!! 

Bismarck

We decided to go to the temple for Andee's birthday. The Billings temple was closed which turned out to be the best thing ever. It meant we get to go to Bismarck and we LOVE it there now. 

The temple was amazing! J.D. and I took turns going to sessions while the other stayed at the hotel room with the kids. We stayed at a place right across from this HUGE mall and the hotel had an indoor waterpark that was free for guests! We had so much fun! 

Inside the mall they had the coolest bunny jumping exhibit. We had to try it out! 

Here is Dawson read to go!

Dawson kept flipping and flipping and flipping and flipping ......

Monty was loving life driving around.... 

At the temple it was small, and a little different compared to busy Utah temples. They don't charge to borrow temple attire and there is very few people there. However, it was really amazing how close and personal all the workers were. We loved it and needed to go to the temple since we don't get to go very often living 3 hours away from the nearest temple. 

We can definitely say Bismarck is one of most favorite cities we have ever visited!

Andee Would Be 2

It was a pretty hard year this time around for us since we couldn't go see Andee's headstone. BUT we still had amazing things happen. 

My sister Jori and her kids, and my mom went up to see Andee's headstone for us. McKynlee is so close to Andee, this picture really grasps that too. 

They got pink balloons and wrote messages to Andee, and they decorate her headstone with such cute decorations! 

Carson and Mckynlee let their balloons go right after they sang Happy Birthday to her. 

This is her headstone, BUT it's done wrong. The top is perfect, but the base was just replaced because the first one they did was wrong. They did this one, and it's wrong too. SO the right base is getting done as we speak. 

Mckynlee drew her pictures. I love it! 

My mom and sister Jori went and walked around the cemetery. Meanwhile MK was singing songs to Andee..... how do we know?? Well, after a while of walking around, Jori couldn't find MK. They ran back to the car and found her sitting by Andee's headstone and singing songs. 

We decided to go to the temple for her birthday. We left Friday night (which was her birthday). Before J.D. got home I went to check the sunset. 

On our way to Bismarck we saw the most incredible harvest moon. Not only was it a harvest moon, but we have never seen the 'man' on the moon so clear. We could see the entire face! We decided it was Andee smiling at us. 

My sister Amy and her kids let balloons go, and so did my brother Chad and his family. They all wrong notes to her. Loni's little girl Destry drew Andee a picture too. Thank you to everyone who thought of Andee or texted me and let me know they were thinking of her. It means the world to me and I don't have words to express how meaningful it is that they make her a part of their lives and kids' lives. 

We love you Andee M'lee! Happy 2nd Birthday in Heaven!

Halloween 2014

Halloween in Glendive was pretty dang chilly. I thought I knew the meaning of that word.... but I actually just learned it this year in Glendive. Regardless of the freezing cold wind, we pressed forward to get as much candy as possible and show off these cute boys! 

We picked up Dawson's friend Isaac and hit up a TON of businesses from 3-4. They put a map in the newspaper that shows which businesses are expecting trick or treaters. It's pretty cool to see all the fun things they got just from these businesses. At 4 the college put on a trunk or treat for the city. So we headed up there and they had a small petting zoo set up! It was so cool! 

Here we are after the trunk or treat! 

Dawson was a skylander, Monty a monkey, and Isaac a ninja!

The week before, our ward had our trunk or treat. It was full of tons of games and lots of cars with lots of candy. The whole city is invited so we saw a lot of non members come. It was pretty fun to see our others friends there. 

Since Monty refuses to walk still, Dawson pulled him around in his wagon. This was a big hit and we got lots of "Ohhhh how cute!"

Dawson was excited because he knew that while taking Monty trick or treating, he was basically getting double the candy for himself since Monty doesn't eat candy like that yet.... Dawson said, "I love taking Monty because I get his candy too!" smart kid already using his little brother.....lol!

The night before our ward trunk or treat we carved pumpkins with our friends the Jacobson's! We had entered into a pumpkin contest for the trunk or treat. 

The finished product! 

Monty got plenty of attention while we carved. This is Charles and is always the first to come take Monty from me at church while I teach. Monty is his little buddy. 

J.D. and Justin Jacobson weren't much into carving, but they were good observers and talkers.

It was a pretty awesome halloween and we look forward to the next year! I hope it's warmer though!

Soccer Season Comes to an End

I can't believe the improvements that Dawson made in soccer from last year, and then through this season! He is incredible and rocked the soccer field. I have to brag because he learned some amazing skills this year and we couldn't be more proud of him. We had parents complimenting him all the time and telling us how good he is. (Given he is one of the older ones of the league. Next year might be different, but he will just learn so much more!)

I think I mentioned how we have been pushing good sportsmanship on and off the field. He has mastered it! The kids he ran into, he would help up. He never talked about his goals on the field. He would just give me a thumbs up which was my proud mamma moment. He  never failed to look for me and give me that thumbs up. I absolutely love it. After helping each person up, he would yell, "Mom! I did a good sportsmanship!" haha! It was so cute and the other parents just giggled and smiled. We are so proud of this little guy!

After the game, we left for dickinson in soccer attire and everything. We had to pick up stuff for the shed and grocery shop at Walmart. It was just a quick trip and when we got back Dawson wanted to go kick the ball around for fun. So we walked over to the park and had SO MUCH FUN! 

Monty loves soccer....mostly because it's what Dawson loves. 

Dawson is such a good big brother and gets a kick out of Monty's laughs and giggles when Dawson plays wit him. Dawson would kick it right to Monty and even though it pelted Monty in the head a couple of times, Monty just laughed so hard and Dawson fell over rolling with laughter as well. 

I kinda mentioned how Dawson had the upper hand since he can actually walk and kick the ball. Monty had to crawl on the cold grass (his hands were freezing, but he didn't care!) So Dawson decided to get down on his level. 

Dawson would get the ball to the goal for himself and for Monty. Another proud mom moment. 

We were so grateful for the coaches we had this year and skills they helped Dawson develop. We are excited to see what next year holds for us. Especially since Monty will be walking and will be able to better keep up with Dawson. :-)

The Big 28

Sadly, I didn't take one pic my whole birthday. BUT, I'm happy to say it was a great day. That morning my friends made pancakes and hot chocolate for me. We then watched a movie and lounged until it was lunch time and I had to pick up Dawson. I went to pick him up and J.D. was home from work! He got home early that day! He watched the kids while my friends took me out for lunch. After that I got to spend quality time with J.D. and the kids. It was a much needed day and much needed time. 

We went to the movies that night and ended the day off with a pepsi. :-)

All throughout the day I had lots of birthday messages, phone calls, and texts. Thank you to everyone! I received lots of cards which made me feel so special. J.D. got me my first pair of snow boots (since I was born! I've never bought snow boots in my life), crest whitening strips since Dawson noticed my bottom teeth were a little yellow, new razors, and a new shirt. 

Thank you to everyone for making it a special day for me! 

The Shed

Since we moved up here, we had to rent out a storage unit for most of our stuff. Unfortunately everything up here is extremely expensive. Finally we were fed up with paying so much for a storage unit. SO, we built a shed. We planned and planned, and then one day we just went to Dickinson and decided to buy everything. 

Every weekend J.D. built more and more. Finally we had most of it done. 

Then I spent a week painting every day trying to get it done before it snowed. 

I had to get it painted before J.D. could add the trim, drip edge, and shingles...

We moved all of our stuff out the week of halloween, and it snowed the next week. Crazy right!? Just in the knick of time we got everything moved and we are saving ourselves so much money every month! I'd say for our first shed we did a pretty good job. 

Quick Trip to Utah

The weekend of general conference we headed to Utah for the annual Shelley Boys Spike Elk Hunt. I decided to tag along and go visit my mom and J.D.'s family. Getting started for the trip was almost a joke. Literally.

Friday- J.D. had to work... ALL DAY. The frustrating part about that was the fact that he had gotten off early almost every day that week. Of course they would work as long as possible the last day of the week, the one day we wanted him to get off early. He was told it was going to be an easy day and would probably get home around 4..... ya right. More like 10:30. Now, to make matters worse, J.D. took the truck keys with him. which have the storage keys. which meant I couldn't get him packed to go until I could get all the orange and hunting stuff out of the storage. Plus, my sister Jori needed all the maternity clothes back since she is starting to get a belly. SO I got as much packed as I could.

I had to get the truck a temporary registration sticker (THANK GOODNESS it was only $3.00)(More of a Thank GOODNESS as you will find out why later on in this post.)

J.D. gets home. Showers. Packs. We head to the storage unit. Digging through everything as fast as we can. Cop shows up, "It's too late to be cleaning out your storage unit." Well, we had to explain everything. Then show him we were really the owners of the storage unit. Then we had to show him that the truck was registered. Then he finally left and we found everything within the next 5 minutes, not even kidding. Had the cop not shown up, we probably would have been out of there much quicker, but he stalled us another half hour. UUGGGHH!

To the gas station to fill up. J.D. had to vacuum out the work truck really quick and wipe it down since some coworkers were coming to get it the next morning. We also wiped down our truck in the mean time. We take the work truck home and we are off.... at 12:30 am! We were really hoping to get most of the miles done in the night so the kids would sleep, but that didn't happen.

I took the first shift.... the dvd player and radio stop working. SO, no music or movies for 17 hours +. Perfect right. Everyone falls asleep as I try and make it to Billings without falling asleep. Driving without sound is soooo boring. HOWEVER, on my little drive I saw a shooting star! I thought, "Oh my! I've got to make a wish! I've got to be specific. If I could have 1, just 1 thing right now what would it be???" I put a lot of thought into this wish. Finally I figured out how to word it so I could get exactly what I wanted without wishing for 2 things by putting an 'and' in there. SO my wish....

"I wish my kids would be good on the road trip."

Well folks, my wish was granted. The boys did PHENOMENAL! We drove and drove and drove for 4-5 hours at a time. Then we'd stop and play at a church or Mcdonalds for 1 hour, then drive again for 4-5 hours. It was unreal. I couldn't believe it, but my wish seriously came true.

We got to Highway 20 at 7:30. Jori picked me up and drove me and Monty to St. George. J.D. and Dawson headed over to the east side of Escalante to hunt and camp.

I didn't hear from the boys for a couple of days. I had the grandest time with my mom. We crafted. We talked. We listened to conference. We went for walks. We lounged and I got to nap. We ate lunch together. It was so nice!

We spent a ton of time lounging in the back yard in the beautiful warm sun!

Monty LOVED it! Jori had to cut my hair outside and I laid Monty in the grass. He laid there the whole time and then some! He just relaxed completely and didn't move. He was so content.

He is so cute!!

He crawled around a bit afterwards and he wouldn't let his knees touch the grass. It was so funny!

We played at the park and just enjoyed the time we had together since it was so short. 

AND THEN...... 11:30 pm on Monday night I get a call from J.D. The 4 wheel drive won't work. We already knew the engine would have to be replaced soon, but now the 4 wheel drive, and electrical for the dvd/cd player. SO J.D. explained that he didn't think we'd make it back to Montana with the truck..... So he hustled down the mountain the next morning and we went shopping for a new truck in St. George. We couldn't find anything. We headed to Holden. On our way we looked in Cedar City and Fillmore. No luck. We called Delta... no luck. So we enjoyed our 1 1/2 days in Holden.

We got lots of cuddles in with Grandma ...

and Grandpa!

                                  

The last night we were there we got to see Aunt Loni and her girls! Monty was loving Collins and Destry. Dawson got to play with all the cousins and was too fast to catch any pictures. Therefore, most pics I have are of Monty and the family.

Big loves with Loni.

Big loves with Destry.

And big loves with Collins.... except by this point Monty had enough loves. :-)

On our way up to American Fork to see Chet and Bobi Sue, we kinda had some more issues with the truck. We pretty much had to buy a new truck to get home, or walk..... I wasn't walking that's for sure! 

We stopped at 4 dealerships and no luck. We had decided that we could probably make it home at least if we had to... even if it meant going 40 mph the whole way. However, the last dealership in American Fork that we went to had exactly what we were looking for. In fact, they had a whole lot to choose from. We immediately walked up to this one and we were sold. We test drove it to Chet and Bobi Sue's since there house was 5 minutes away. J.D. dropped me and kids off and I left our fate up to him. Around 2 o clock he pulled up with this and all of our crap in it. lol!

We had to have a step installed and a dvd player. So we got to stay the night at Chet and Bobi Sue's! Which was SO nice. We needed that time with them since we haven't got to spend hardly anytime with them since we moved. Our kids played and played! 

Monty learned how to crawl up the stairs!

He ate so good too! 

Then sadly, it was time to go. 

Dawson was excited to try out the new dvd player....

J.D. was looking mighty fine in his new ride. (He was the most excited because he can now start his hot shot business. I think he is definitely hot enough to be a hot shot driver.... haha)

On the way home we saw more bucks than we have ever seen before! It was absolutely crazy! We made it home at 7:30 Saturday morning and had to get ready for Dawson's soccer game. Short, but sweet! We miss our family so much and can't wait until it's time for us to move back.

We are sad that we didn't have time to visit any friends, but next time! 

Sleeping Through the Night...??? JINX!

The sleep training began months ago..... but we have failed and failed and failed. Finally about 1 month ago I couldn't take it anymore. Neither could J.D.. Monty had been waking up every 1-2 hours. He was throwing fits every time he woke up and would get frustrated with nursing. His two bottom teeth had just come in and needless to say, we weren't functioning because of lack of sleep. Someone even asked me if Monty had allergies because of the puffiness under his eyes.... no allergies, just no sleep. I was done. No more. 

SO it began... with batman pi's... 

We bot him some new pi's that were more breathable and didn't make him sweat so much. Also, changing him was much easier than unbuttoning a one piece pj suit. 

It started with me on the couch, and Monty in a pack n play since we don't have room for a crib. J.D. and Dawson were sent to our bedroom to shut the doors and get a good night's rest. For 2 weeks, I would lay Monty down with a binkie and walk away after one late night feeding. I would wait 2 minutes, go back and lay him down, and walk away for 3 minutes... I would add a minute each time. I wouldn't feed him if he woke up, I'd just lay him back down and walk away. 

WELL, this was exhausting after 2 weeks. BUT it was good because I was able to come to terms with the fact that he really was okay without eating and he wasn't hurting himself. SO then I just started to lay him down, walk away until he went to sleep. If he woke up, then I would lay him down and walk away without going back in. He CRIED and CRIED, but after 1 week of this he did it! He slept through the night!! I didn't, but he did! 

This was the morning after he slept through the night! 

He did it again and again.... Then after 4 straight days, my mom came into town and we had a chaotic weekend. He only woke up once or twice, but still.... my hard work and long nights were reversed. THEN we had to get 2 immunization shots. That blew it all! He screamed and whined for 2 days straight. LITERALLY with no exaggerations. He screamed unless I was holding him... but still even then. Since then, (a week ago) he has had  a constant runny nose, red eyes, diarrhea, stuffiness, and aches. 

He has also started throwing these fits about going to sleep. He will toss and turn and whine and scream when he is so tired and refuses to go to sleep. This got so bad yesterday, I finally put him in the high chair with a little food and I turned around to finish making dinner.... 

2 minutes later I found this. 

He is this exhausted. So I'm going to return back to letting him cry it out once he gets feeling better. We have accomplished a lot even though we've regressed a bit. He isn't eating through the night and sustains himself for a good 8-10 hours. He isn't waking up as much as he was... and he is becoming better with self soothing through out the whole day. I also can just give him his binkie and he lays right back down by himself. I don't have to do anything but put the binkie in. 

Other than that, he is such a cute little boy. He loves Dawson and loves Dawson's approval (laughter) over anything he does. He giggles right along with him. Dawson has taught him how to 'mark it with an M' on Dawson's hand for the Patty Cake song. It's amazing! Dawson also taught him how to motion 'bye bye." 

Dawson loves to have Monty use his stuff. Above Monty is sitting in Dawson's chair eating a sausage pancake corn dog.... Dawson loved it so much he took the picture. 

Monty loves to pull out the dvd's, crawl like a stink bug, and pull on my hair. He is very persistent and can hold a straight face longer than anyone I know. 

He is standing on his own and can stand from a sitting position. It's so neat to see him grow and develop. He is SO strong. He has a deep crispy voice which is crazy for this little baby. Everyone comments on how his voice is already deep... lol! He is the ward's favorite baby and buddy. He is passed around while I teach my 6-7 year olds. The last thing I want to mention is that how much he loves the outdoors. Monty begs to go outside. He will stand next to the door and bang and bang and yell and yell. He will crawl outside so fast if the door opens for just a second. If the door gets shut before he makes it outside he cries with anger. 

It's the funniest thing to see how smart he is at 9 months. 

He is such a cute baby and we love him so much!