A day with Dad

Of course when J.D. and Dawson spend the day together...there aren't any pictures! Even though, J.D. told me that Dawson pulled out the camera, there wasn't any pics taken. BUT I need to write about it anyways.

I have been so busy trying to finish up summer school and needed a Saturday to do some work, so J.D. took Dawson for the day. The first thing they did was go fishing at the lake here in Cedar City. They had a blast! J.D. said Dawson was loud and trying to talk to the fish...they all got scared away. lol! Then, they went to McDonalds, got there food and went to a park to play for a couple of hours. Dawson loves it when dad goes to the park because he just acts like a kid with Dawson. They are best friends.

They were gone for 5 hours! Couldn't have been a more perfect day to spend time with dad, but it got better..... Grandma Shelley, Aunt Jori, and Carson came over to go spot lighting up on Cedar mountain with us! We saw SO many deer (some bucks and little baby deer too). The other night we were up there and saw an ENORMOUS buck- we were hoping to find him again, but we didn't. We'll probably go up several times because this buck was picture worthy! Dawson and Carson kept saying, "I see one! There's one!" Even if they didn't see one, they just wanted to join in! lol! It was so cute! When they both really saw one, they flipped out! Aunt Jori said, "It's Bambi!" After that, every deer was Bambi for the boys. It was Grandma Shelley's first time spotlighting. She loved it!

I have to tell a quick story so the kids can have something to hold on Aunt Jori when they grow up.... For some reason, anytime Jori or I ever go hunting with anyone, they always get a deer. (I was with J.D. for the first time hunting together and he got a deer..need I say more?) This has happened to us so many times, and the story I want to tell is of our first time hunting. The Shelley boys were on their annual hunting trip (not Elk this particular year). The girls all went up to their camp for a day and Jori and I really wanted to go experience what hunting was all about. So Choc jumped in his beater truck and took us around to the points. At the third point we saw a huge buck! Jori and I were freaking out- there was a buck, a doe, and two little fawns. Choc jumped out, and shot at the deer twice. There was a huge hill behind the deer and we thought it fell down it... anyways, Jori started bawling! At first she said, "Get him!" but then she went hysterical. She kept saying, "You shot Bambi!" Choc and I just started laughing! Jori was probably 6 or 7, so she didn't really understand...and Bambi was a bigger movie back in the day that we watched a lot. To this day, we never let her live it down... and she still believe Bambi is out there.....jk...maybe.

We tracked the deer down and then Jori said, "You shot Bambi's dad!" She was horrified that Choc would do such a thing...and when we got back to camp, she just left and didn't say another word about the buck. BUT she brags about how we got a buck 'that one time..' And since then, anytime Jori or I go hunting, the boys always get a buck. :-) Maybe they should start taking us on the Elk hunt...

Happy 26th J-dizzle!

J.D. turned 26 on the 31st of July (yesterday). He is getting so old! lol! We were all pretty sick, so we didn't do much. Some of our friends brought by some cupcakes, so we put some candles on them just so J.D. got to make a wish on his birthday. That's about all that we did besides sleep. We put candles on a cupcake for Dawson because he absolutely loves this part of anyone's birthday. We would light them, sing, Dawson would blow them out, and we would re-light again. lol! It was so cute! Then, I decided to shove a cupcake in J.D.'s face... so Dawson followed. :-)

Of course, J.D. didn't laugh when I got him, but he couldn't help but laugh when Dawson got him...over and over and over again.

And finally J.D. got to taste his cupcakes. haha!

Thank you to everyone who called or messaged for J-dizzles birday. A big thanks to Dan and Brooke for the cupcakes. Happy Birthday J.D.! We love you!

Dawson's Photo taking skills

Dawson loves the 'cammer.' He is always asking for us to take pics of him and his moments, and he loves to look at the pic after to make sure it was really of him. lol! He also loves to take pics himself, and here is some of his work.

I think he did a great job!

Yo!

Many who know Dawson and have seen him in his prime time will understand when I say he is such a goof ball! This kid is getting so sarcastic, HILARIOUS, and is so darn witty! He catches us off guard all the time with how smart he's getting. We love it! Even with his tantrums- which he is excellent at performing- he never fails to make us laugh...as he will not fail at making you laugh as you view these bad boys. This is his own doing and 100% his idea to have me take pics of him.

Say hello to my underwear/cap head gangsta boy! lol!PEASH! (that's how he says it)

He was giggling just as much as we were!

One day, Carson and Aunt Jori suprised us and came to stay for a night. We pulled out the pool and this is what we got :-)

They were relaxing like it was a jacuzzi especially for them. We had so much fun with them and were so glad they came to stay.

A Quick Update..more to come

There are no pictures, but I just wanted to write a few things down so my yearbook/blog book for this year includes majority of our life.

Dawson is on a potty training roller coaster. That's the best way I can describe it... I guess I could also say he just wants to do what he wants. He will go four days-no accidents-excited about stickers and getting a bike...then it's back to diapers for a couple of days..then back to big boys...then diapers. Get the picture? He has had a couple accidents, and I have always made sure to not make a big deal, explain that he needs to try to make it to the toilet, and never get angry. I don't want to traumatize him with this whole thing. He is the one that freaks out the most. He screams and says, "YUCKIES! MOM! AAAAHHH!" It's so sad. He just feels terrible. When he has had an accident with poop he always resorts back to diapers. (this has happened like 3 times, that's it. I think that's pretty good) Yesterday, he realized he was pooping, screamed and I told him to go finish on the toilet. He did and came back and put some new big boys on! So I think we progressing since he didn't resort back to diapers. He totally gets the whole thing, but I'm just going to let him keep deciding.

We basically lost Dawson at Denny's and had no idea! We have been pretty freaked out by this experience. We went to Denny's to eat. We got up to go pay and I headed to the lady's room. Dawson followed me in and before I went in I said to J.D. "I'm going to the restroom." He didn't hear me...even though I thought he did. J.D. paid and went to the truck. I thought he was out waiting for me, so when Dawson wanted to leave the restroom .. I said, "Okay" thinking J.D. was right outside. I came out of the restroom, and went to the truck. J.D. was outside with Dawson, but some lady brought Dawson out to J.D.! It was so scary! We both didn't really know what to think. I'm so grateful that somebody was willing to help Dawson find his parents, but what if it wasn't a nice person and they took him...?? So many thoughts...but I'm glad he was found. :-)

I have 10 days left in my first semester at SUU. It's been... a nightmare! Not the classes, but just SUU in general. The financial aid office, the registrar's office (which is worked out now), and a HORRIBLE adviser who refuses to let me graduate with the degree I want to graduate in. Sounds ridiculous, and it is! However, that's all I'm going to say because I really just want to graduate happily. I think once I get things worked out with a different adviser I will appreciate graduating more. I just want to remember to advise anyone I know to try not to transfer, finish with one school,...and between J.D. and I- not SUU. I don't mean to offend anyone who's gone or is going to SUU, but just with our personal experience (not just mine) we really just want to be done with them. Our favorite place we've gone to school was UVU! Best college/university in the state... seriously! And we've have classes from USU, Snow, SLCC, Uof U, UVU, Weber, and now SUU. Sad...we've actually only attended, combining J.D. and mine, Uof U, USU, UVU, and SUU... Amazing uh?

Our roles have completely changed here for us. Now that J.D. is done with his degree, he's just working. Since I'm going to school, I've completely slacked off on household duties. So, J.D. comes home every night, cleans the house and watches Dawson while I study. I try to get what I can done during the day, but it's nearly impossible. When school starts I will be gone a lot in the mornings and evenings whiles J.D. gets to do everything I used to. ... haha- we actually try to do things together for the most part and I love it. The stress levels for both of us have really gone down. We always try to do a 20 minute clean up every night-which gets our house pretty darn clean since it's so small. It's just nice to share roles instead of relying on one another for certain things. I think that's some really good advice for our future children. :-)

J.D. turns 26 in a couple of day... we really are getting so old, I feel like. All of the exciting ages have passed...we can rent cars, legally drink (but we don't) car insurance has gone down, we are legally adults, we can rent motel rooms, own time shares,....i can't think of much else. I guess the only thing left is turning 65 to get senior citizen rates...lol! Dawson is 2 so we have to pay for a plane ticket for him, but we still have a month in a half left to get him in the movies for free! lol!

4 days and what...

Dawson went four days with no accidents! He did so amazing! He was on his way to getting his bike from his sticker chart (that's what he wants is a bike. Every day we hear, "Mom Dad, I want a bike. i need to go to the store and get a bike."). After 4 days... he was done. He screamed and threw the biggest temper tantrum over getting a diaper. He refused to wear 'big boys' and just wanted a diaper. He didn't care about his bike, or stickers... He was done. He could care less about it.

So we've decided to not fight this battle. He has it all figured out, he knows how to do it, but we aren't going to force it. I especially don't want to fight this battle because I don't want to traumatize him. So... back to diapers and I can only hope that he decides to go 'big boys' all the way sooner than later. I am hating diapers... it's hard to think of having another one because I'm hating diapers that much.... It's even harder thinking that I will probably end up in them again one day when I'm old...I hate getting old. That's all I wanted growing up...lol!

Potty Trained!

Dawson is officially potty trained! Given-today for 2 hours he wanted a diaper because he was TERRIFIED to go to the doctor's office. He was screaming and kept saying, "Doctor hurt me. No doctor." He repeated this over and over while we were there. So given... I completely understand why he wanted a diaper. BUT the rest of the day he wore his sweet boxer briefs that he loves!

Why now....well, thanks to Aunt Jori, Dawson decided he finally would give it a go. He has understood the concept for a long time now, but he he would always just ask for a diaper. He mentally didn't want to transition yet. Aunt Jori showed Dawson how much fun it was to try and hit cereal in the potty. Carson actually showed him, but Jori got Dawson involved. Then Dawson wanted to try it himself. So he aimed and hit the cereal! Then, Aunt Jori gave Dawson some 'Cars' stickers. She explained that he gets to pick one out every time he goes potty like a big boy. Today he didn't even tell me that he had to go potty and actually when 'stinkies' in the potty twice! He loves picking out his stickers afterward!

Sitting on his 'Cars' potty with his 'Cars' stickers! He's so excited!

He got 2 stickers because he went stinkies and potty! He is so proud of himself! So is mom and dad! Good job buddy! He's wearing his 'Cars' boxer briefs (they are a little big...but those are the ones he wanted...I had no other choice but to get those. haha!)

I recently re-did a $5.00 dresser (that J.D. said was disgusting and there was no hope). I did it because I wanted Dawson to be able to reach his clothes, and especially his 'big boys.' It turned out amazing and he loves that he can get himself dressed without help. He's becoming so independent. Here's the dresser-

The spray paint was a stone texture. It really feels like stone too! We love it!

When we went to get the knobs for the dresser, Dawson was on cloud 9 again...which means he got to be a cowboy for the day and see all the cool antique real cowboy stuff. (We went to an antique depot). It is my all time favorite place! We got each knob for only 80 cents a piece! Online it would cost $4.00 per knob at any other store.

Another Mr. Independent story is the cereal story. One morning I was SO tired! I told Dawson I needed more sleep and to just go play for a little bit. He sweetly gave me a kiss on my cheek and said, "K Good night mom." He left the room and shut the door. The next thing I know, Dawson is waking me up and telling me his hands are went. I asked him what was wet? He said, "My cereal on my hands." I got up, went to the kitchen, and there it was.....milk all over the counter, his mini 4-wheeler, and the floor. His cereal was in a bowl and had milk filled to the rim of the bowl.

Dawson uses his mini 4-wheeler as a step stool all the time. He just drives it into the kitchen and away he goes. Well, this time he decided he was hungry. He poor the perfect amount of cereal into a kids bowl. Then got the milk (there was at least a half gallon left) and tried to poor his milk. He did such a good job trying to do this on his own! He's so smart! He helped me clean up and and then ate a new bowl of cereal! I just love this little boy so much!

He is growing up so much! We are so excited to see the kind of boy he's growing into!
Side note: the doctor's visit was to check out his throwing up issue...we came up with a couple different options and we are starting more process of elimination now that he's older. We've eliminated quite a bit, but the things we are looking at start out small. I think that he has a something that is common with first born males with the emptying part of their stomach being to small. This is just my instinct, and I want to write it down just to see if I'm right. I thought it had something to do with a breathing problem...but after research, I think it's this other thing..can't remember the name. I will figure it out and then post it later. :-)