Brithday fun, Lake Powell, and playing

J.D. had a birthday on the 31st of July- we went camping up in Holden with J.D.'s family. It was so much fun! We went shed hunting, cooked dinner in the dutch ovens, roasted smores, watched the Blind Side on a projector up in the woods, made a dutch oven breakfast, played phase 10, and went hiking

Here's our little man, loving the outdoors.

Taylee's family didn't know we were going camping, so they didn't bring any camping clothes. They found some of Parkers old clothes for Taylee- although if you've seen her, she is the smallest, and lightest little girl. So her dad got creative and tied some twine to make suspenders... Dawson thought he'd use the twine for other purposes like- a rope to tag around with taylee. The things kids come up with...Dawson has the funnest faces!

CHEESE!!!

Here is Taylee and Parker roasting those YUMMY mallows!

. We went to J.D.'s parents later that night and i asked J.D. if his birthday was everything he wanted? He replied, " well...there's really only one more thing I want to do." I asked, " What's that? I was thinking intimately, but he said, " Go for a horse ride." :-) So we did.

I can't tell you enough how Dawson just loves animals- especially horses. He was really good about giving the other kids turns, but when it wasn't anyone's turns Dawson was ready to go again.



2 days before J.D.'s birthday I had my family come up and we had a brithday dinner with cake since I wasn't going to attempt baking a cake while camping ON his birthday.
Here's Jori posing so dangerously...lol!

Dawson decided to share the frosting with grandma,

and mom......

and then helped himself to the rest...HAHA!

He tried to eat the candles, but soon learned that it didn't taste very good..lol!

He really loved the cake. He kept putting the candles back in the cake after licking them off, and wanted us to keep lighting them so he could blow them out again. It was so cute! i think he will be well practiced for his birthday coming up.

Here is J.D. and his cake. He loved it!

J.D. got a nice chrome toolbox earlier in the year- I told him since it was so pricey it would count as his birthday gift. He was completely fine with that. He also got a new truck- which I will have to post pics when its all clean.
I found a pic of a truck and my mom drew it on the cake and put the musketeers to look like the toolbox. That we he would be reminded of what he did get, since we didn't get him anymore gifts.

For dinner we made the Famous SECRET Tortellinni by my brother Chad. It is so delicious! Carson couldn't get enough of it.. as you can see... haha! He just helped himself.

We headed to Lake Powell after I had spent a week in Kanab helping out with my sister's kids. J.D. came to pick me up and we decided we might as well go to Powell for the day.

J.D. buried Dawson in the sand!

I really think Dawson loved this. He held so still while J.D. covered him. Dawson absolutely LOVED the water, jet ski's, and playing in the sand. I think it helped having all my sister's kids playing with him-plus the water was 83 degrees!

Here is our nephew Layne... he's totally pushing his muscle up...lol!

On tuesday we went to KOA campground by glendale to meet my sister. We brought Jessi over for the week to hang out with us. While we were waiting, I couldn't help but take a picture of J.D. and Dawson playing together.

My accomplishment

I just need to talk about myself for a moment. :-) I have finished 2 classes in 2 months. I'm so excited! I feel a bit behind, but I'm already 1/2 way through the next class-which will be a little bit less stressful since its not an objective exam, just a performance one. I am feeling better and better about the whole program, and am slowly figuring out the odds and ends.

I have to keep reminding myself that its sooo good that I'm finishing up my degree because ALL the time I think that it would be so much easier and less stressful if I weren't going to school. I think of all the things I could be doing instead of school....but I just keep going. It's definitely a huge sacrifice. I cant' wait to be done. I think the more I learn about the program, and get back into my study habits the easier and faster I will be able to go. I know I can do it because my sister-in-law did it with 3 kids at home (1 was a newborn) and her husband was in residency for medical school. That's a huge motivator because I don't want to wuss out or quit.

I have had an experience of quitting 1 class at UVU. I was SO deathly sick from pregnancy I just couldn't keep up. It was the worst feeling of my life. I was taking 15 credits, this particular class was online and the teacher said that I had to keep up, and wouldn't give any sympathy because it was online. I don't regret it because I know there was no way of being able to finish with how far behind i was, BUT I hated the feeling, and never want to feel that way again. So I am going to finish, it's just hard. But no one ever said it would be easy, just worth it.

So until I finish, I take care of our house, a stay at home mom, go to school, and try an do my church calling. It's such a busy life, especially since my husband has to work and study himself for school and the DAT- he's hardly home. I feel like a bad friend sometimes because I can't do all the fun things I used to, but I have such great friends who are so understanding. :-)

There's my venting...lol! The end! HAHA!

Summer Fun

This summer we have had so much fun! It's been super busy, but here's the tale

My mom took the kids and dogs to a creek in washington somewhere- they had a blast!

Dawsie and Mama-that's what they call eachother

Carson loves to play by himself, and isn't one for pics..

The boys spend a lot of time together- here dawson doesn't like the pics and carson does...

And they love their shades- don't get them mixed up though

We went to the Washington pool and it was fun, but Dawson was so tired after an hour..

Summer Fun Continued..

For the 4th of July we went to Holden. They celebrated it on Saturday, so after the parade that J.D., I and Dawson missed, we ate lunch and went to Yuba Lake. My brother Matt let us borrow his jet ski's.. and other than that the pictures will explain how much fun and how relaxing it was.

Here is the cutest baby in the world, Destry. She is only 2 months old and she is already out enjoying the sun

Aunt Loni and her baby Destry are lookin so fine with their shades!

Here is Taylee! always smiling! She knows all about the beach!

Here is Mama and papa...at least that's what Dawson calls them :-)
Parker is the ULTIMATE UNCLE! He is EVERYONE's favorite! Taylee loves him so much! She looks so dang cute in her shades! Parker used the goggles for shades

Parker taking Taylee out to play. He is such a good uncle!

Uncle Chet took Grandma for her FIRST ride on a jet ski!! She said it was fun, but didn't really want to drive one by herself

One of Dawson's loves is shoes...especially ones that aren't his...he stole grandma's for the day :-)

Grandpa made himself really cozy at the lake

and so did Aunt Bobi Sue! :-) She didn't get to ride the jet ski's because she was being safe and protecting our new little niece or nephew on the way!!! :-) We are so excited!

And of course Parker..there isn't many words for this one...

This is our sweet little niece Taylee! I couldn't get enough pics of her! She is so dang CUTE!

Dawson didn't quite like the Jet ski as much as he thought he would...

Here is some more random fun pics about how our summer is going

How can you resist this little man! ? He loves his hats, because he knows mom won't do his hair if he will grab a hat..this is the one he chose for the day. HAHA! He looks like a baby genius from the movie

On the 4th of July (Sunday) we got to see our new little niece Destry get blessed. It was such a neat blessing-although I didn't get any pics of Destry..I found my camera afterwards and caught a pic of Dawson in his new sunday outfit. :-)

So we got a new dishwasher and this is what I created with the box...

Dawson LOVES it! It's his new hiding spot

It's the coolest place ever as Dawson would say if he could speak his mind better...He's such a cute little boy!

We really are enjoying our busy summer and all the visitors we have had, and all the visiting we have done. :-)

An update with pictures

Our little family has been so stinkin' busy, I apologize for it being so long since the last post. We are either studying, working, cleaning, or trying to find time together. It's been a struggle trying to be 'good' friends to everyone because we definitely can't do what we used to be able to. This post shows our exciting events since the summer started-not many, but there is some. :-)

We went to Sand Hollow with my family for a day. My brother Matt brought his Jet ski's and we had a blast on the beach.

And here is our niece Lyndee with Dawson. The best thing about having nieces and nephews is having them take care of your kids while you relax. Dawson was in his glory having attention 24/7!
One of the jet ski's stopped working for a minute, so J.D. had to pull it, and our 2 nieces back to shore. He's such a good uncle.


This is our nephew Layne- he's so handsome! (workin on his suntan for the ladies)

Here is a partial pic of who came. We had so much to eat, plus it was so nice to just relax and not study for a few hours.

One weekend, J.D.'s parents came down and suprised us with a quick visit. (They needed to get away) :) So we went to a museum, shopped a bit, and then just visited for a few minutes before they left. It was fun to have them come see our new place.
Dawson loves his grandpa, he loved hiding in between his legs and saying, "BOO"

Last, but no least, Dawson loves earrings. I bought these at a yard sale and hadn't changed the clip on to regular- of course Dawson saw what I saw in them, THEY ARE SO CUTE! He had to wear them before me ;-)

For some reason he loves the feeling of slowly pulling them off...don't ask me why, but i think he looks pretty cute with them on. lol!

There isn't much else going on in our lives-Dawson is growing and talking so much. It's fun to play around with him. He is such a stud! J.D. is still working and going to school-one class ends this week-WAHOO! He is also spending time studying for the DAT this august. I'm still trying to figure out my study habits again and about to finish another class here in a week. hopefully I will post the 4th of July comin up soon after than later. No guarantees though...

We are here!

I check my blog every day, but I really don't have much to say on a new post. So this is just re-assurance that we are here. :-) Here is a little update on each of us....starting with Dawson.

Dawson is not sleeping good AT ALL! lol! He wakes up randomly screaming, he won't get out of his bed anymore to come into ours. He just sits and cries, and screams, and cries, and yells DADDY!!! Even in his naps he wakes up crying for no reason. It's perfectly silent in our house, he has been asleep for 2 hours and has woke up 4 times screaming. Maybe night terrors??? I can't figure it out. He is very attached to his mom and takes an extremely long time warming up. He is in a VERY HARD phase now. Which includes
Testing me to every limit
Screaming, crying to get what he wants
Testing how many times he can get away with something after saying, "No."
Acting out violently when he is tired
answers "No" to everything
Can't make up his mind

After all of this, you might be thinking what a difficult child he is...but he is SOOOO cute too!! lol! I'm not crazy, but I love all that he is learning and does which includes

tons of new sentences and words
Mimicking everyone
Mocking me
Attitude
Reading books to me
Singing and leading music
driving
wanting to do everything like dad and be just like his daddy
cleaning up
Cooking
washing his own hair
brushing his own teeth
and potty when he wants ;-)
getting dressed and undressed
pulling at his diaper when messy
playing games with me
and he loves to hide!

J.D. is working full time maitenance manager for studio apartments across from where we live. He is going to school and taking a DAT course as well. He is ALWAYS busy! Although, he still finds time for his family here and there.

I am doing school, about ready to pass another 4 credits and am staying at home taking care of Dawson. This may not seem like a lot for our family, but it is. We are always on a do or die schedule I feel like. hahaha! Anyways, I hope everyone is doing well and we get to see everyone this summer at least once.