November & December

November wasn't very eventful for us other than Thanksgiving. I was still trying to get over being sick, and all of us couldn't wait for Thanksgiving break. We were all pretty burnt out. 

We celebrated Andee's 3rd Birthday. We let balloons go and watched them until we could no longer see them. We also had some cake and ice cream. My mom came up which made it more special. :-) I love it when she comes. Time definitely helps, but all of us still have our days when tears find their way from memories. Dawson seems to still be affected by the loss more often than the rest of us. He has more nights that he just wished she didn't have to die, or that he could have his sister back. It surprises me how much he remembers from it all. Each night when Dawson says his prayers, or even the family prayer he never fails to ask that we get to keep this baby and that she will be healthy, strong, and nothing will be wrong with her. Maybe some of this seems a little too personal to put on the blog, but I really don't want to forget how we all were feeling at this time. I also want to journal it for Dawson since he isn't quite old enough to really want to journal. Monty says "Andee" and he really loved letting the balloons go. He cried for the balloons more than Andee though. :-) It just made us all smile and laugh. Monty seems to always do that for our family. He has a natural ability to just make us laugh no matter what mood everyone is in. I watch Monty play with the cousins that our Andee's age and it always makes me think that that's how him and Andee would be playing together. Quiet thoughts of Andee always make their way into my mind and at those moments time stops. 

Here our some Monty moments of November... He is quite the character! He has a new love for cooking...

He found excitement in coloring...

He likes to picnic and found that he doesn't really like cheddar cheese..

He loves his Uncle Parker!

And he likes to read to Grandma Marjorie.

For Thanksgiving we spent it in Holden with the Stevens' side. It went so fast and smooth, but then around 2 J.D. and I headed down to St. George with the kids. We had to get our black friday shopping done and we refuse to go anywhere except St. George because its the least crowded. We were very successful and we got everything on the list. We were done shopping and finished up the next morning at the last store. We love black friday shopping. It is so nice to shop and get good deals, and its kind of a date night for J.D. and I. We meet so many people standing in lines, and with J.D. being so friendly, we make a lot of new friends. This most recent black friday, we actually only stood by people that we had common acquaintances with. People that knew my family from Kanab and I didn't even know who they were. It made for a really nice evening and more enjoyable. 

December

This month was almost too eventful after our calm November. We set up our Christmas tree and put up all the decorations. I really wanted to start focusing more on the Savior because Dawson is getting older. We had fun, but we had a different kind of Christmas Spirit fun. We watched the Nativity, several versions throughout the month. We read about the birth of Christ. We made cookies with the cousins, and sent letters to Santa. (Dawson even got a letter back from Santa!) We made Christmas countdown chains for Monty and Dawson. Monty pretty much destroyed his by the end. He just kept tearing more links down than he was supposed every night. We couldn't help but laugh. We went to a Polar Express night in Oak City with our friends too. We had hot chocolate, cookies, coloring, singing, story time, and we sat on Santa's lap. 

December 8th was Monty's 2nd birthday! He got a power wheels 4 wheeler (one that was Dawsons, but had been stored away for a couple of years), an outfit, some cars, money, and other little toys from the cousins. We had lots of cake and lots of ice cream. Monty however, was more excited about the kids playing with him. That is pretty much the high light of Monty's favorite things to do. 

He loves ice cream!

And he loved his 'camo' overalls from Nanna as you can see.... no pics please!

We also took him on a buggy ride to the park for 20 minutes before it got too cold. Being outside would be the other favorite thing to do for Monty. He could care less about the cold, he just wants to be outside. It was so fun to celebrate this day with him, but it was so hard to face the reality that he is 2! Time flew by way too fast! 

December 11th we headed up to the doctors office to have our 20 week ultrasound! Clara and Bryant met us at the doctors office and watched monty so J.D. and I could go in alone. I could hardly wait to confirm our thoughts about the baby being a girl! Within 5 minutes we knew! It's a girl! Everything else looked so good too. She was so active and SO LOW! We didn't get a profile shot because she was so low and hiding. Trust me, I could feel how low she was and she wasn't going to budge for a picture. We go so many fun pictures. We came out of the ultrasound room into the waiting room and both of us were smiling beyond belief. Clara immediately knew when she saw us smiling so big. Monty was SO good for Grandma while we were away. He just played and played and didn't even notice we were gone. It was so nice to hear that. I am pretty attached to that little boy and I hate hearing him cry. 

You can see how she is holding her hands over her ears and covering he face. This was the best profile we could get. 

Afterwards we went to Monty's doctor's appointment and found out he isn't as big as we thought. He is in the 30 percentile for weight (which is not what you would guess based on his broad build), and in the 80th percentile for height. He is built so different from Dawson, it kind of surprised us. He was also told many times that his development was amazing and he was doing things that surprised the doctor. She couldn't believe his coordination skills. That's our Monty though. He is fearless so he gets lots of practice doing things that most 2 year olds don't do. He keeps up with Dawson pretty well. 

We came home in high spirits and couldn't wait to tell Dawson. Dawson already knew though. Monty already knew. Monty is the one who would only say "Hazyn" when we would ask him to say Hazyn or Cannon. (Cannon for a boy and Hazyn for a girl.) We would ask Monty, "Is the baby a Cannon or a Hazyn?" His response was always Hazyn, AND we could never get him to even say the name Cannon. Dawson just kept telling us, I know its a girl mom. He never felt that it would be a boy. I guess both my kids were more in tune than me. 

The rest of the month we continued to get ready for Christmas. Dawson did service by shoveling sidewalks for others on our street. They built lots of snow angels and snowmen. My mom came up to spend the weekend and brought the cutest gifts for Hazyn. We opened up our Andee tote to get out all of the girl things. I think I was more ready to open this up and go through everything. Had Monty been a girl, I'm not sure I would have felt the same excitement. I don't think I would have been ready. My mom helped me make my first ever batch of caramels which kind of turned out. :-) Our elf even made an appearance and decided he would come in on a wrecking ball..... or a light. lol!

Christmas was so special. We love that Holden has a primary program (15 minutes) of the Nativity. We all go and watch, and then sing some Christmas carols. Santa surprised us all and came to hear what the kids wanted for Christmas. Monty was not a big fan. lol! 

As you can see...

We came home and opened up our 1 gift....which was pajamas!

Dawson was beyond waiting any longer! 

Monty didn't really get it, and was just happy for Dawson. SO Dawson helped him open his gift. lol!

And then they immediately changed and ran around in their new pjs! They are so cute! 

I love how cute these boys are. 

We all made it to bed early that night and no one woke up until 6am. Dawson got an electric scooter, a universe pop out book, Halo, and a basketball! Monty got a truck to ride in, a movie, and a little couch. Santa spoiled our family with Clue and Connect 4 as games, as well as a few other movies. 

Obviously the couch was for Dawson too...

Monty only wanted the couch when Dawson had his turn. 

The scooter.....with a stuff mouth full of candy! 

Clara, Bryant, and Parker came over and looked at all we got. Parker had to try out the truck while Monty rode on the tailgate. 

Then we went to their house for breakfast and more gifts. The boys got tickets to the planetarium! I got a rolling pin made out of the same wood as Andee's crib. J.D. got a 'salt' gun. It was so fun to hang out at their house and play with everyone while we relaxed and ate breakfast.

J.D. and I packed it up and headed to Kanab for a couple nights. It was Carson's baptism the next day. We also opened gift cards for Sakura from my mom and dad. Dawson got an Art kit and Monty got a drum set. With all the new toys, we hardly knew where our kids were that day. 

Dawson helped with the packing too....

We also finally got Dawson's room finished. We started it and finished within 5 days. What a relief to have another project done!

Before pics....

After pics....

Everything is organized and put away!

BUT the soft carpet made for a better invitation for landing... Monty got this great idea to jump off of Dawson's top bunk! Dawson thought it looked fun, so both boys were jumping off the top bunk onto the bean bag. This did not end well for Monty. He missed the bean bag and landed hard on his foot. For 3 days he wouldn't walk on his foot unless he had a shoe on. He sprained it pretty dang good. My brother, the foot doc, came the next day and told us it was just a sprain. Thank goodness! I did not want to pay for a broken foot. lol! 

We had a blast that night with Chad's family. We stayed up really late catching up and the kids running around wild. We made a really big breakfast, and they headed to St. George. We headed to St. George. We headed there New Year's Eve and spent the evening at the Washington Rec Center. We rode a bull, played laser tag, and swam our little hearts out until 10 pm. We left and all crashed at the hotel really fast. The next day the kids swam at the hotel and played in the ball pit. The adults got to go out for a really NICE evening at Sakura. It was OH SO DELICIOUS! We didn't even have to wait because we got there a little early. We laughed so much and really had such a good time. Our cook was HILARIOUS! We came back to some tired kids. They older cousins babysat and wore them out. lol! We left the next morning and came back beyond exhausted from all of our vacationing and Christmas hype. What a great month and holiday. So much family and so many memories made. 

All of this led us right into the New Year excited for what 2016 will bring besides a sweet baby girl added to our family, a wedding of my brother and my best friend growing up, 

and a summer of my first garden.