Outside Camping Again

Dawson has a love for camping...or the mountains. He always wants to go camping, so if he can't go up in the mountains to get it, then he fixes his own problem with this alternative. I think its a pretty good, but uncomfortable solution. 

J.D. is good enough to go out and lay with him for a bit! If it were up to Dawson, he'd stay out all night. 

 Dawson is definitely my son as you can see him play with his own hair! It's so cute! He made this bed all by himself!

Hunting

For the pheasant/turkey hunt, J.D. was SUCCESSFUL this year! He even managed to take Dawson a couple of times- which you could tell how much fun Dawson had! It's fun to see J.D. teach him how to hunt and watch the love for hunting grow inside Dawson. I think for Dawson he just loves going out in the mountains and being with his dad- which is the best part for J.D. too. 

Here is the pheasant! Dawson didn't watch J.D. clean it or anything, so when J.D. walked back inside with meat in his hands Dawson kind of had a break down. We had to teach him that it's just like chicken at the store and that's what you do after you hunt. We made orange chicken with it and Dawson did end up eating it. After he realized it tasted good, he stopped having his break down and I think he grasped the concept. 

 Here's the turkey! J.D. was stoked to get one! He clean it up and we were going to eat it.... but J.D cleaned it in an apartment he was working on (dust and chemicals), so afterwards when we realized the place he'd cleaned it probably wasn't the best idea we ended up chucking it. I was totally fine with it. lol!

I love knowing that if anything were to happen in this world where I couldn't get meat from the store... I have a reliable hunter on my hands who would never let me starve! Thanks hunners! You are so amazing!

Father's Day

We didn't do much for father's day this year. We mostly relaxed and took it easy because I still struggle with being sick some days, and it was stake conference. Dawson did manage to snap some pictures of J.D. though! 

For a Father's Day gift I let Dawson pick out something and then I picked out something. Dawson got J.D. a Sponge Bob puzzle. When Dawson picked it out he said, "Hey, me and dad can do this together." It was so sweet and I loved how picked something he could do with his dad! I got J.D. some new basketball shorts.... and on the card I wrote, 

"TO: DAD

FOR: MOM

FROM: MOM"

The story behind this... J.D. gets frustrated because I keep wearing his basketball shorts and then he doesn't have any to wear. My side of the story is that his shorts aren't too tight around my waist and don't make me sick like my shorts do. SOOO when J.D. read the card first he just busted up laughing! He couldn't stop laughing after he saw what the gift was! It was hilarious! 

It was a great Father's Day. I'm so grateful for J.D. and how amazing he is. He works so hard and never fails to let his family come first. He is the greatest father to Dawson and will be for this one as well. He plays with Dawson and always gives him so much attention. I love watching them play together and see Dawson learn so much from him. He always lets me know how much he loves me! Plus- he's so hot and extremely good looking! Happy Father's Day Hunners- I love you!

Chef Dawson

I can't remember if I've posted about our little chef running around here yet, but if so...here's some more. He is quite the little cook! I made some aprons/super hero capes out of J.D.'s old shirts. I took the shirt, and cut out the front and arm holes (keeping the collar and back side). Dawson colored the back and slipped the collar over his head. I am going to cut the collar and put velcro on it... and WAALLAA- an apron/super hero cape. It's perfect, and cost $0.00.

He then asked me to make him a chef hat like the rats (ratatouille). So with 2 pieces of paper and 8 staples later, he had himself a chef hat. He was SOOOO excited! We decided mac and cheese was the lunch option for the day, and then the cooking began. Dawson grabbed the oven mits, his apron, his chef hat, and a spoon! It was so cute and he put it all on by himself! He is so creative and smart!!

 He is so funny! He has the funnest facial expressions!

 He helped cook it all until it was done! He finished the job and it tasted so good! I would dare say he might be able to cook mac and cheese by himself within a year....lol!

I am pretty sure his talent for cooking comes from his dad- J.D. doesn't mind cooking at all and usually does it more than me. Dawson likes helping with all the cooking and is getting so much better at eating it! He always reminds us that he's going to grow up and get strong like his mom and dad one day. He tells us that he needs to eat so he can get strong muscles! It always suprises me about how much he puts together and understands- he truly is so SO SMART!

Trying to pose....

Some days we catch Dawson trying out new ways to walk, talk, run, and so on.... Today we caught him trying to pose.... and yes I mean 'trying.'

 He's still got some work to do, but he's still so cute!

 This one is my all time favorite because his face just shows you how hard he's trying... or is that the face that he thinks goes with it. I can't say I've never seen someone posing with that face before. I'm not sure what to refer the face to....

He's the cutest and funnest little boy ever! We love you Dawson and love how entertaining you make our lives!

Dawson's mouth

When Dawson gets the camera we never know what we are going to find later on. This post is definitely explaining what I mean.

 What does a kiss look like?

 "What does my tongue look like?"

" Lets see what my half smile looks like....."

 I love finding pictures that he takes! He's so curious and it lets me get a little bit of a glimpse of what goes on in that smart little head of his! :-)

 

Bonfire Time Again

J.D.'s sister, Loni and her family moved to Cedar City at the beginning of the year. It's been awesome because it's been so long since we've had family live in the same town as us. Plus, they are amazing chefs and always cook the most amazing things for us. Dawson has started to build a great friendship with his cousin Destry as well. During the summer, they go back to Holden so they can work.... so before they left we made sure to have a bonfire with them. It's so nice to have family to do things with! 

Here's the cutest little girl ever with campfire all over her sweet little face! 

 Dawson, for some reason, was being a little camera shy. However, here's the 2 munchkins sitting in their little campfire chairs. They absolutely loved being outside and watching the fire.

 This is the best shot I got of all of us... me of course taking the picture. It was a perfect night for a bonfire in our secret place. :-)

 Silly Uncle Daniel with Destry's campfire face! lol!

 Dawson kept trying to stick out his tongue too... but he wouldn't look at the camera!

 Mommy and Dawson! All it took was his mom to take a picture with him for him to smile at the camera! He's such a turkey!

We had a blast, and the food was delicious! The smores of course are the favorite for us :-)