He Lost 2 teeth!

Dawson lost his bottom teeth! He is so excited and feels like he is growing up way too fast! 

Dawson got a letter from the tooth fairy and he has treasured it since! 

He loves to wear my glasses too! 

Christmas 2015

We spent Christmas in Glendive with my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Kyle who live in Williston, ND. It was small, but so special. I love doing our own traditions. We had fun putting up our Christmas tree, decorating it, and we had enchiladas for dinner (which was my Aunt Debbie's tradition).

Dawson loves the colored lights, but we kept changing it to white lights for J.D. and I. Monty pretty much broke all of our ornaments on the bottom half of the tree, so by Christmas our tree was half decorated lol!

Our little elf, Timmy came to our house this December too! Dawson is convinced he works at the library in the North Pole because every night he would bring Dawson and Monty a Christmas book!

For school Dawson had to disguise a gingerbread man so he wouldn't be eaten! So Dawson chose to make him look like Captain Hook......

I couldn't even tell he was a gingerbread man and he survived this holiday season ;-)

This Christmas we made our annual cinnamon rolls for friends in the area. They turned out to be HUGE this year, which was a bonus because there is more to eat right? 

One of our friends ;moved to the area and always did a Polar Express Night with her kids. SO we made it a big night with all of our friends and their kids. We reserved a Santa (who was President Clayton from the Stake Presidency). I was in charge of finding a Santa, so when I asked President Clayton he said he was done with playing Santa for his lifetime, but because he loved our family so much, he would do it one last time for us! It made it more special because he truly loves Dawson and Monty so much! 

We had tickets that had to be punched by a conductor and all the kids had to wear their pj's! 

Then we went into the gym and frosted lots of cookies, made reindeer food, and built a candy train! I had to wear my pjs too!

Dawson had SO much fun! 

Monty was with his best buddy Charles. This is the guy who got Monty addicted to Pepsi! We love Charles and his family, and Monty went to him every Sunday to sit with him. I think he associated Charles with treats and Pepsi, which will win Monty's heart any day!

We all went into the relief society room to watch a movie and all of the sudden we heard BELLS!! The kids ran down the hallway to find............

SANTA!!

We set up a sitting area so the kids could sit on his lap and tell them what they wanted for Christmas! Dawson and Monty were very first!

Monty wasn't quite sure what was going on, 

but Dawson came up to me afterwards and said, "Mom! It's president Clayton!"

That next evening, we set out cookies for Santa, and the boys went to bed immediately. Dawson and Monty both fell asleep as soon as I said it was time for bed. We told Dawson he couldn't come out of his room until we came and got him as 6:00 am. 

At 6:00 am we went to get Dawson and he was anxiously awaiting our 'OK' to come out. He had been awake for quite awhile, and was so obedient in waiting for us. 

The boys were SOOO excited to see their new toys from Santa!

Dawson got a DS! and a little movie player in the most "special box"

Monty was so funny to watch him play with Dawson and load up on candy so early in the morning. I've never seen Monty so happy so early!

Monty wanted to just play, but I had to get a picture of them with their Christmas jammies! They say "I'm a Nut" with a nutcracker gingerbread man. 

Monty got a little blow up house with tons of balls! He was in his glory!

Obviously, Dawson couldn't resist any longer.....

The kids got a few more things like a Globe

The game Trouble (which is one of Dawson's favorite games)

and lots of candy....

J.D. got a shotgun, and a couple movies. I got a jewelry armoir and a couple movies. The whole family got matching sweatshirts, the game telestrations, and then we got MORE in Utah. 

That afternoon of Christmas Day, we headed to Utah..... the roads were not so bad...

And they continued to be great the whole way....

Then we made it to Utah and it was a glorious site!

Monty started walking there and it was SO exciting!

The kids had a snow ball fight and played constantly every day we were there.

We got more outfits, toys, games, a United States map, expensive cleaning cloths, candy, and most importantly we got to spend time with family. While we were there in Holden, we walked through a couple homes in Holden. One was built by his great uncle in 1936.... which is important to remember as I keep posting of where we are at now. It was just a coincedence that we happened to just look through the house. :-)

Back to Christmas.... It was so special. There were so many wonderful things that happened in December. We are so grateful for the Savior and his life. We loved having Dawson start to truly understand the true meaning of Christmas. 

Monty 1st birthday

December 8th Monty turned 1! The day of his birthday we let him eat all sorts of goodies and made sure to give him extra loves and play time. He was on cloud 9! People brought him balloons and pepsi (which is something I did not get him addicted to.) 

Monty loves to be outside! Even though its below 0 most days. It just so happened that the day of his birthday it was quite warm out and we went to the park! He was SOOO excited to be a little cold and swing. 

We spent the weekend at a friends house and we made him a cake. We can't find any of the pictures from the night, but Monty dug right into that cake and was more than pleased with it's deliciousness!

We cut his hair as well because he was officially 1, and the shag was getting too shaggy!

He was so cute and happy while I butchered his hair! lol!

He is the sweetest little boy! He started walking 3 weeks after his birthday, and loves to climb! He is definitely a climber! 

He is fearless and can beat anyone out of a stare down. His look is intense and he is determined to get what he wants. He loves to sing with me, loves to play with my hair, loves to cuddle, falls asleep to watching Matlock, and loves to FaceTime. He makes us laugh all the time and loves to do whatever Dawson is doing. Monty has surprised me with how much he wants to do things the way big people do things. For example, feeding himself, drinking out of cup, sitting at the table and not in his high chair, coloring already, playing and building with legos, and even driving. He LOVES to play with the steering wheel! 

Monty we don't know what we'd do without you! We love how happy you are and all the big smiles you give us! Happy Birthday Monty B!

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!