FINISHED!

I just wanted to share my excitement of finishing my courses for the semester. I finished my last class in 1 week-literally! I still have 1 month before the semester is over for me, and I'm going to try and finish 2 more classes. It doesn't cost me anymore to finish more classes, so i might as well save money than take a 1 month break.

YAY! for me! lol! It really is nice to see progression, and feel accomplishment.

Powder training

I wanted to blog about this before I forgot. This is the funniest and cutest story ever!

On Sunday evening Dawson comes running in naked! He keeps doing this, especially since he would rather be naked than wear clothes/diaper any day, at any time. I guess he just thinks it's easier to be naked. ... So does Dawson's dad. J.D. will come home, and take off his clothes because he is more comfortable just walkin around in his G's..or sometimes without. ;)

Back to the story- Dawson is naked, and loving life.
Me "Dawson, do you need to go potty?"
Dawson, "No potty."
Me "Well, you need to go get a diaper soon okay?"
Dawson "k."
Dawson runs off. J.D. and I are busy working on school stuff, and all of the sudden we hear water in the bathroom. In case you've never been to our house, the bathroom is in the most awkward spot- right in the middle of the living room basically. So you can hear EVERYTHING!

I go running into the bathroom and see Dawson facing forward on the toilet and going potty! He had climbed up there..somehow.. and was sitting backwards from the normal way you sit on the potty. make sense? I thought it was pretty smart of him to figure that out and just go on his own. Plus he didn't even tell us! He climbs off, flushes and says, "Hands! Hands! Water!" So I put his stool in the bathroom so he can wash his hands by himself too. I went back to studying, and Dawson goes off on his own again...

Next thing, Dawson comes running in to me carrying a diaper, and lays down...except he was COVERED in baby powder! He had powder on every spot of himself, except the spot that it really goes. HAHA! He had tried so hard to do everything on his own, potty, powder, and just needed help getting the diaper on. I was so proud of him, but in my mind I kept thinking...what does the bathroom look like, if you look like this?...

After putting on his diaper, Dawson went to play with his toys and I headed towards the bathroom. Powder was EVERYWHERE! EVERYWHERE! He didn't miss a spot, literally! The whole bottle was basically empty. I couldn't help but laugh at the situation. Dawson is so smart, and tries so hard.

Needless to say, instead of potty training him (he's got it down) I am going to be 'powder' training. :-)

Dawson's Birthday Party

We threw a party for Dawson 1 week early (on my brother Matt's birthday) because it worked better for everyone's schedules. We had a blast! It was pretty small, and only a couple of friends. Mainly family. J.D.'s family was missed-they couldn't make it because of a family funeral.

My mom thought it was funny that my 2 best friends growing up were Brie and Andy- my mom had them both in preschool and just mentioned the fact that we were all best friends since we were Dawson's age, and now our kids our best friends. There was only 1 family of 3 there that my mom didn't have in preschool. Pretty fun party/reunion!

Dawson definitely scored at his party. He was tired right when we started, but as we opened the gifts, his face just lit up with the biggest grins! He said, " wow!" & " Cool!" and just got big eyed over all of the gifts. Thank you everyone! He immediately put on his new hat, and back pack!Aunt Jori and Carson got Dawson some Cowboy guns with a holster. HE WAS SO EXCITED! He just kept saying, "boom! Boom! Boom!" Thank you Aunt Jori and Carson!
The pinyata has a story to go along with Dawson riding it. I took Dawson to K- mart in St. George to find a pinyata. They didn't have much selection. BUT, Dawson started yelling, "horse! Horse mom!" Get the horse!" I kept looking through wondering where the horse was. Turns out, it was actually a mexican bull. I put it in the cart, and Dawson rode the 'horse' throughout the rest of the store. :-) And that's why he's riding it now.

He didn't want anyone to hurt the 'horse'...so he cried during most of the pinyata hitting time. :(
Here is my friend Brie and her daughter Addi hitting the pinyata! It was so cute to watch the little ones hit it.

We tried to get him to hit the pinyata..but he didn't want to hurt the 'horse.' From here on, all the cousins got to hit the pinyata but it never broke...only when Uncle Matt's turn came.

I promised my brother that he could hit the pinyata because it was his actual birthday that day. He hasn't hit one in probably 20 years-that's not exaggerating! I spun him, and spun him, and spun him around. I figured it was only fair since he was older-lol! He totally PEAKED at the last second and whacked the pinyata! Well, this bull didn't even bust, it just broke the rope part! lol! Matt actually loved doing this, and he tore open the pinyata and threw the candy EVERYWHERE!

After the pinyata, we did the cake. I couldn't do a fancy one like last year because there were too many candles between Matt and Dawson. It was so cute watching them blow out the candles together! You can see how excited they both are!

Dawson did get a scooter for his birthday, and besides the guns (which he NEVER puts down) he loves his scooter..aka 'bike' (is what he calls it)

Afterwards, we ended with a little kite flying. Cedar is the perfect place for this because the wind never stops blowing. Everyone just LOVED this part of the party. Dawson kept running around with his, and kept getting it caught with other kites.

Here is Brie and I! Best friends since preschool! Her daughter is one of Dawson's girlfriends.

I have to put this on here-this is my other best friend Andy and his wife Kenzie (she is pregnant with a little boy!!) I told them I was taking romantic pics of them at the party and I wanted to post one to show them I wasn't lying...lol!

That night, Dawson put on his new pj's, his new hat, and new guns! He is the cutest little cowboy!

Dawson's buddy Brenton couldn't make it to the party, but he came over to play today. Dawson got this little 4 wheeler from both grandparents and his own parents. Since Dawson can't drive very good, Brenton drove. SO CUTE!

Thank you to everyone for the gifts. We definitely missed the Steven's side of the family! We had such a good time with everyone who was able to make it!

What's going on now....lol

Well, as usually, the Stevens household is crazy busy.
J.D. is going to school taking 16 credit hours, and applying to Dental Schools, and getting ready to re-take the DAT. He just got a calling in our ward, but it is more of just a sunday job and doesn't take up time on any other days.
Me: I am going to school and being a mom. I have 1 class that i'm currently working on. I plan to have it done in 2 weeks and i will then have my ASSOCIATES! Finally! I have more than enough credits, but I was missing a 1 science credit...so I will have that soon!! I am excited to have something to show for all the work I have done. I have a calling as enrichment cordinator-which does take up time, but it's stuff that's right up my alley of fun. I stay at home with Dawson all day and take care of him. It's been easier to do that since he is more independent and growing up so much.
Dawson: He is talking and conversing so much! He loves to tease his mommy, and push every button as far as he can. He is so smart too! He likes to do everything that I do-which J.D. doesn't always approve of..things like painting nails, wearing earrings and necklaces, cooking, and cleaning. He also likes to copy J.D. when he shaves his face. haha! He is so much fun!

We just go all the time and try to enjoy life day by day.

My Cute Baby Boy

Dawson is so much fun! He has SSSSSSSOOOOOOO much personality! He is learning so much. There isn't a day that goes by he doesn't make us laugh. He loves to help J.D. and I with everything! Yesterday he helped me glue jewels on invitations, and then went to help J.D. build fence. He doesn't just watch, he holds things, or gets things, and he picks up the process of how to do things really quick! He keeps us both on track.
I don't know if he's ready to be potty trained or not, but he loves to tell me every time there is "yuckies" . I love this little man so much! He is so creative in how he plays, and talks, and he even likes to play jokes on J.D. and me.

After telling me he has "yuckies" Dawson will run away and play catch me if you can game..

Dawson feels that his stuffed animals all need to experience the thrill of riding his horse, Don't forget your hat Mr. Bear!

Dawson found ribbon, and wanted to wear it..So I tied it around him-he's such a cute present!
SUCK IN!!

I love my little cowboy! (we brought a horse down to ride, and so i put J.D.'s saddle on our foot rocker so Dawson can ride a horse anytime- he always asks, but I can't saddle a horse, only J.D. can...so this is our at home horse)We have been in Holden a lot lately. Dawson loves his new cousin Destry, but he especially loves her toys. So here they are playing together.

A weekend in Kanab, he found Aunt Amy's doll chair.
He thought it was just perfect for his size!

Besides the saddle/foot rocker horse, we also have this horse. And Dawson goes to town on it! His face tells it all. We have taught Dawson to wear a hat if he doesn't want mom to do his hair, and he has to wear one when he rides a horse. So if he can't find his cowboy hats, he resorts to others...

and another other...he is so funny!

And too end off our busy days, Dawson loves to sleep with his daddy. :-)
I love how J.D. holds his head

So there's our little boy in a nutshell, however he is much more than all of this. I don't know what we'd do without him. I love spending my days with him. I'm pretty sure I'd be lonely without him.

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!