October

October kinda slowed down for us. Mainly because we had so much help from everyone, it made being sick not so bad and helped relieve some stress from our family. 

When we moved in, we knew the house was definitely ready to move in, but we had some updates that needed to be done right away. For one, I just wanted a really clean, new toilet to throw up in. They had never changed the toilets in the house, and when J.D. changed this one...he said he had never changed a toilet in that condition before (he has changed a lot of toilets!) It was going to be a couple months before we could get the toilets, BUT our close friends in Holden America surprised us with this AMAZING DELUXE, top of the line, can flush a bucket of golf balls, slow to close lid, toilet!!!! It is absolutely heavenly! When you sit on it, you feel royal. The lid really closes so soft! AND the flush.... it's fast, quiet, and truly a glorious sound. Honestly, there are no words to describe my gratitude and excitement. We don't even use the other toilets and there are 4 bathrooms in this house! 

We were able to make it to 1 of my nieces volleyball games in Fillmore. She is only in middle school, but she is so good and talented! I had to go home and couldn't watch the rest of the games because I was not doing very good with being sick... but they came over afterwards and visited us. Good Job Rylee Jill!

Dawson got his school pictures back too! He still is waiting for those 2 front teeth to grow in... but he is still just so handsome and I love the memories.

For fall break we headed to St. George! Thank heavens for my mom driving to come get me and driving me home. I can't drive long distances because I throw up too much... :-/ During the time we were there, I had a really good day and it happened to be on my parent's anniversary. SO I took them to Golden Corral (Dawson said that would be the best for them, lol).

Monty loves that corn on the cob!

My mom loves these boys and they love their grandma!

And my dad was a good sport and allowed a pic with him. :-)

The rest of the days I spent in bed just trying not to throw up. My kids spent time in the road....

watching movies with grandpa.... See Dawson in the back? Well my kids got a flu while they were there and threw up too. Monty, then Dawson, and then I got it and it took a week to recover for me.

After getting better we came home and spent time with the cousins. Monty loves "his" Jetta, Brant, and Tilden.

I made it to 13 weeks, and was just missing all my decorations for fall. It's my favorite time of the year and Halloween is my favorite holiday. So even though we have boxes everywhere, I decorated.

Monty pulled out all the costumes and tried on each one. This is the penguin costume I found last year on clearance and tried to buy it big enough for Monty to wear this year....It was a little small and fit more like a shirt...I tried some pants on with it, but it didn't work too well.

It then came to the 30th, and it was my birthday. I was 14 weeks and and I just wanted to really get ready. So I put on make up, and went to Fillore to the store and to get Dawson's pumpkin at the school. I felt like I hadn't been in public for months.

And then came Halloween! That morning I had the boys dressed so cute and matching I figured I had better snap some pictures or I won't get another chance for a while. So here they are!

 I love how sweet they are to one another. Monty just loves to play with Dawson and cries when every morning when he has to leave. Dawson is so good to him and will pick him up, hold him, bounce him, pat his back and reassure Monty that he will be back soon and they can play.

 The time came to actually dress up... and of course Monty wouldn't put on his conductor outfit, so he was a cowboy. Monty is not into dressing up like Dawson was and still is. Jetta was so cute as a rodeo clown! She pulled Monty around to each car. Monty was on cloud 9 because he had 'his' Jetta, he didn't have to walk, he was getting candy, and there was plenty to look at!

 Dawson had the hardest time trying to make up his mind of what he wanted to be. He tried on costumes all month. Finally, he ended up being a ninja.... the morning of school. It was a little chaotic because he changed his mind with 20 minutes before he had to head to the bus stop. He loved it though and was happy!

 We had to go trick or treating to grandma Marjorie's house and Monty loved her even more because she had GOOD candy! Grandma was so happy to see all the trick or treaters and have company.

All in all, October was a good month. I am 15 weeks now and starting to get on top of the sickness. I still throw up here and there, but it's not near as much. I am also starting to feel the baby! I love it! I felt Monty the first time at 15 weeks, and this baby I felt around 14 weeks. only 25 more weeks left!

September

My life has been rough this month and will be for awhile.... like 7 more months. Yes, J.D. and I are expecting another baby! We are so excited to add this 4th baby into our family! Dawson says, "Mom I hope its a girl because then I don't have to watch 2 Monty's." lol! He also says we need to even out the boy vs girl numbers. He is so sweet! Monty already says the baby names we have chosen, but doesnt give into letting us know which it really is. One thing is for sure, there is only1. Thank heavens! With all the multiples you hear about lately, it freaked us out.
We printed out a paper that showed the stick figures... Dawson with a Big Brother sign, Andee with a Big Sister sign, and Monty with a "Big Brother April 29th" sign.
What's even more exciting is two of my closest friends are pregnant and due around the same time!! It is going to make our friend reunion so much fun with all our kids the same ages.
 In the beginning, we were going to try and keep it a secret, but my hyperemisis does not permit that.

We tried other methods of medicine first because the zofran has this big law suit out against it. Come to find out, the evidence isn't that strong and I got to a point that the benefits outweighed the risks and I needed to take it. 

I am so grateful for priesthood blessings as well. I am so grateful that I have a husband who continues to strive and stay worthy so he can be prepared to give a blessing. For the first few weeks I was struggling emotionally, mentally, and physically. I didn't think I was going to make it. Heavenly Father answered so many prayers and sent many angels my way. 

Right after finding out we were pregnant, we were in the middle of buying our first home! Things worked out so well and in a way that we never saw coming. We had originally started buying a home before we moved back to Utah. We spent 6 months waiting on Utah Housing only to find out they wouldn't sell us the home because of a street running through the property. There was now tons of legal things with previous owners that they had to deal with before selling us the house. So we were homeless again...still... and continued to try and look at every possibility in Holden. (Slim pickings). One day I told someone, "I just wish someone would come up to me and say, Here have my house." Then J.D. said to me, "Someone has said that..." It was our very close friends, Roger and Lorna Stevens. When they had offered their home to us previously we were already in contract with another home. We had forgotten. So we called them up and went to look at the house. 

Here is a pic that I quickly snapped. 

Before going any further, I need to let you know, this is the house that J.D. and I met in!! So where our story began, is where our story has led back to, and where it will end. They dropped the price to our budget, and were so kind through it all. Both families prayed and prayed for each other and for things to all go smoothly. They received many blessings and so did we. 

We love this home and continue to make it ours. Lorna will come by and just loves all the renovations. She is so supportive in always telling us to make it our home and she doesn't have any thoughts or hard feelings towards changing things. They lived in this house since 1981, and in Holden people love their memories. We couldn't' have bought a more perfect house for our family. 

Here is Monty helping sign the documents to the house! It's official!

Now we are pregnant, and trying to move in.... I wasn't much help, nor am I now. The ward has been so kind and loving in bringing meals so my kids can eat a healthy meal, they have come and cleaned so our home can feel of the spirit and helped me not feel stressed with a dirty home, and they continue to help take my kids to the park or to play so they can get some fresh air. J.D.'s shifts during this whole time have been in the afternoon and he was able to take care of Dawson getting to school, Monty eating breakfast, and getting some other work done because of this. These are my angels. I wouldn't have made it without them. 

I found old photos in my moms photo stash and I had to post them because they are pretty sweet.

This is my dad's dad on the left, and his brother on the right. Grandpa Earl and Uncle Ralph.

 Here is my Dad's cousin Debbie and my brother Choc.

This is my dad's mom, Grandma Betty Lou. I have the most special memories with her and am told I look quite a lot like her... she is much older here, but in her younger years I do resemble her. Maybe this is what I'll look like when I'm old....

Here is my dad's dad. Earl Shelley

Here is my mom! What a hottie! 

This is my sister Jori in her younger years.... still strutting

 The weekend after we found out we were pregnant we headed to St. George to see my Grandma Biel. (That's my mom's mom). She played with the kids and then sadly she had to go into the hospital and was stuck there for 3 days because she had pneumonia.

 We did get to visit her in the hospital and it made her day!

 The next week we closed on the house! Yay! Monty felt he needed to close as well.... We did move in that weekend, but we are still moving in because of how sick I've been. We are worn out.

 We celebrated Dawson's 7th birthday! I just can't get enough of this kid! I love him so much and I don't know what I would do without him. We took a few friends to delta to eat at Mcdonalds and go swim. We had so much fun!!! When we went swimming there was a professional diver there that works at Sea World. He was doing amazing dives off the high and low dive. It was so worth going!

I asked Jori if Danny would make Dawson a cake because I had no clue where my baking stuff was at. He made the coolest cake ever!!!!

Dawson's reaction!

 The hunting cake!

 While moving in, we still have to entertain and have fun. This house is a kids play yard inside. The cousins taking advantage of all the space!

 And Dawson showing us his cool eye ball tricks. He learns so much at school.....

We have had such a crazy month and now onto October!!

July & August

I can hardly remember everything which serves me right for not updating the blog. After the friend reunion, July went by so fast! We spent the 4th in Fillmore and it was so bloody hot. All I can remember is how hot it was and how I just wanted to go home. We did have the best seats in the house for the fireworks and Monty couldn't stop saying "WHOA! Wow! WHOA!" Needless to say, Monty absolutely loved it. He made the fireworks entertaining to the rest of the family. Well just kept giggling over Monty's reactions. I didn't get 1 picture because is was too hot to even think about anything but getting home to the AC. 

During the middle of the month, we worked on selling our 36ft trailer, and kept praying about a certain house in Holden. We decided to go look at the house and after 2 different walk throughs, we were ready to try buy it. We talked to the owners, and I need to record how  close we are to the family. They are Stevens', but related 4 generations back. The house that they lived in, now we live in, is the house that J.D. and I met in. We met here at this house where our friends reception was at. I even stayed the night in the house. This family has known us as a couple from day 1, and J.D. spent his childhood playing here all the time. It's a 5 bedroom 4 bath house, with a huge sunroom and jacuzzi in the back. Knowing that, there was no way we could afford this house. J.D. called the dad and explained we just couldn't do it. The dad said, "Well, what can you do?" J.D. told him our max budget and he dropped the price 40,000 dollars from the price they wanted to list the house, just for us, just so we could purchase the home! J.D. said, "What? No, Roger you can't do that. You go home and pray about it and talk to your wife." This family wanted to help us and kept telling us that they knew it would be okay and they wanted us to buy the house. They didn't want anyone else, and they felt right about us. Side note: this family is the most in tune family I have ever known. They are such a huge example as to what I hope to be more like. 

Back to the house.... after the owners lowering the price, both families (us and them) and miracles happen. For starters, we had to sell our trailer and refinance our truck to actually qualify for our max budget. That very weekend we texted everyone we had every had any interest in the trailer and told them we would lower the price to 5800. (this is after we refinished the entire thing). We had a buyer. The next day a completely random person called and wanted to pick up the trailer that day and give us 6000. SOLD! 

Meanwhile, I was in St. George and went into the bank and had the truck refinanced within 20 minutes. We waited until Monday to do all the paperwork for the house and we were on our way to closing. That weekend was my mom's birthday! She had posted a gourmet fruit cake that looked so good to her on Facebook. I decided to attempt baking it for her for her birthday.... it turned how pretty good, but too healthy for my liking. 

My whole family was there and I got some pretty sweet pictures of Uncle Matt and Monty playing ball.

And, my family got Monty addicted to pepsi.....

We also got pictures of our two little boys who both have lost 1 front tooth! 

Later that month they both lost the 2nd front tooth. Carson should have his by Christmas, but Dawson might be singing that song "All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth" because we have yet to see those permanent teeth come in....

Until we closed (which didn't happen until the 2nd weekend in September) we had visitors from Montana! The Oellermanns came and stayed with us for a couple of days and got to experience a real 24th of July in Utah. In any other state, its not as big of a holiday. Any who, the Oellermanns came and we went to the reservoir, we hung out and visited Thursday, and Friday after the celebrations they headed back to Montana. Our kids had so much fun playing at the reservoir. No one else was there and we had the entire beach to ourselves. 

While the Oellermanns were there, we had more visitors come from Arizona! J.P and Jessica Cosper stopped in for breakfast on Thursday morning. So we had a big breakfast all together! We last saw J.P and Jessica at their wedding. So our reunion was long overdue. It was so fun and we laughed so much together. We were all ready for a nap by 10. Once again, too early in the morning to think about pictures. :-) 

Friday we had went to the Holden parade and breakfast for the 24th of July. Adler got to walk with Dawson and be in the parade too! 

Aren't they so cute!?

I had to get this cute pic of Tilden, Monty, and Brant waiting for the breakfast prayer to be said. Monty absolutely loves these 2. He gets so excited just seeing them! 

That afternoon, after the Oellermanns had to go, and J.D. got home from work, we headed down south to a family reunion at Lake Powell with the Shelley's. We had a blast!!! It couldn't have been a better weekend to go. The beach was packed but we happened upon spots right next to each other and the whole family had fit all their campers and tents. We ate so good and just enjoyed spending time with one another without any stress. 

We got back to Holden on Tuesday and we were so worn out, but we still had birthdays all that week to celebrate. Tilden turned 9 on the 28th, Brielle turned 2 on the 29th, and J.D. turned the big 3-0 on the 31st. For J.D.'s birthday I took him to the Red Iguana in Salt Lake. Oh MY! Best mexican food I have ever had!! 

AUGUST

We continued to work on closing for the house. We didn't have to pack anything because all of it was still packed from moving in March from Montana! 

We celebrated Jetta's birthday! She is quite the teenager and is good at being one! :-)

Dawson started his 3rd year of soccer and did an amazing job. However, he seems more concerned about good sportsmanship than actually making a goal. I can't even tell you how many kids he helped up from being knocked down. I have a video of him helping 4 kids in 1 minutes. He is such a good kid! I love that he is so aware of others and what is really important. On another note, he is so good at soccer. I love watching him dribble the ball down the field. I didn't get to watch him as much this year because I was grabbing Monty and trying to keep him off the field. 

We would go home every night and Dawson would kick the ball around with Monty.... so now we've got Monty kicking every ball around the yard and house. He's pretty good for only being 1! Monty is absolutely amazing when it comes to balance and coordination. He has been riding Dawson's scooter all summer and needs no help. This is a 2 wheel scooter, not a 3! We get lots of comments about his balance and coordination for being 1. He is built like a man already too! Broad shoulders, thicker thighs, puffs out his chest.... I have no clue what's in store for us later on with Monty. He understands everything and loves taking off his diaper. 

On a really good note, Dawson couldn't be a better big brother for Monty. Dawson teaches him everything and thinks Monty is just "soo cute and funny". Monty wants to be just like Dawson and do everything he does. 

Monty has even learned how to make his tongue into a straw like Dawson....

Dawson started school on the 19th! His teacher is Mrs. Beckstrand and she couldn't be more perfect for Dawson. She is big on reading and is very calm. Dawson says,"she's even calm when she gets mad!" lol! Dawson is really good at getting his homework done, but still hates to wake up in the morning. J.D. goes down at 6 am and just talks to him for 30 minutes just to get him in a good mood for the day. J.D. is the perfect dad for him and I love that he is willing to do that just so Dawson has good days. 

Parker started the same day, and we had to get a picture of these handsome boys together! They looked pretty sharp their first day...and everyday after that. 

Monty got in the groove of school schedule too. He found a back pack and made his way to the truck and then screamed because he couldn't get on the bus with Dawson. 

Also, Lynette and Shane came to visit at the end of this month! It was the best visit ever. We loved watching Monty and Ally together. They are only 10 hrs apart in age. They were so cute together. Dawson loved playing with Cam and Chase. He told me after they left, "Mom, I just love my cousins." Poor Cam broke his arm while he was here! I still can't believe how calm and tough he was. He cried little bit, but never screamed or complained. Shane has been to medical school and knew it was broke when he saw it. It's pretty nice to have doctors in the family. 

The day Lynette left, we had to make a trip down to St. George and Kanab because my nephew returned home from the Billings, MT mission! 

We got back to Holden fairly early and J.D. got to spend some time with the boys. I'm not sure if I've mentioned, but J.D. is the favorite according to the boys and they make it obvious....

 I have 1 last pic to show for August and it was a Sunday during church. Monty is a little pill 90% of the time and we are willing to do anything to make him be quiet in church....

And that is all until September's update..... life got a little crazier believe it or not....