Shelley Family Reunion 2012

This year my family rented out cabins at the highest functioning city in the United States, Alma Colorado. It's basically the top of the rockies. It was BEAUTIFUL! 

We started our trip Wednesday evening and drove to Grand Junction to stay the night. We didn't get there until 1 pm, so we were extremely grateful that we had a hotel room to sleep in. We had breakfast the next morning with my mom, Kortni, Jori, and Carson. (they stayed the night in Grand Junction as well). The boys thought it would be cool to pretend to have a professional breakfast.

 We rested for a bit before check-out and then headed up the road again. We did end up stopping to let me walk a bit and use the bathroom.

 Dawson thought it was cool to see if we could make our feet touch the tracks with the camera. He totally has my legs- lol!

 We were so excited to almost be there, be away from home, be in the mountains, and with family.

 We stopped for a good 30 minutes to let Dawson stretch his legs too, which he loved as he climbed on the fences and showed us his mad skills.

We were the second family to arrive at the cabin behind Chad's family. We were stoked when we pulled up and saw where we would be hanging out the next few days, The Dolly Varden Ranch. It included our own personal pond and jacuzzi!

 Chad's kids were already kayaking and fishing! This cabin was INCREDIBLE and HUGE! The bathrooms and showers were decked out with spa equipment and luxury. 

We went kayaking....

 Jaidon above and Miki and Dawson below. Dawson was a little scared in the beginning, but he soon learned that this was awesome!

 We cruised around (slowly) in the paddle boats...

 We fished, and fished, and fished every single day and night! Grandpa was a good help with this!

 We played TONS of card games, even the little ones got involved!

Sometimes we would just hang out and chillax because we stayed up so late and played hard all day. We are a big movie family, so we were glad there was a big screen TV to satisfy our movie need. Of course, Dawson had to have his daily dose of chocolate milk as well. :-)

 J.D., Sari, and Layne enjoying the good times. We have an incredibly funny family and ended up laughing so much! There was never a dull moment- honestly!

 Uncle Choc getting Dax to sleep. This is a genuine moment because if you know my brother, you know that he has a hard time holding babies. He is a pretty big and strong dude, so he has a fear of the babies not liking him, being scared, but mostly he gets nervous he is going to hurt them because he's so strong and big and loves to play around with them. Once they can walk, he is usually okay to hold them. Daxon has probably seen Choc a total of 3 maybe 4 times in his life and he's just 3 here. When Daxon's mom and dad were gone he started to get tired, and I was getting him some chocolate milk. I asked him if he wanted me to hold him and he said, "No, I just want Uncle Choc too." So I handed him to Choc, and he was out. I think it made Choc feel good that he was wanted and known by the little kids.

 We had a t-shirt day as well! Every sibling had a different color for their individual families to wear. Our color was tan. You can see each family by the color of shirt. The only one missing is my brother Matt. :-(

 Above is the big family picture together. Below is the nieces ranging from age 19-3. (L-R: Rylee, Miki, Lyndee, Sari, Jessi, and Breslynn)

 AND the nephews...who are clearly living upto the goof ball shelley boys stereotype. (L-R: James, Jaidon, Dawson, Chase, Carson, Daxon, and Layne).

Dawson's only request for the cabin was to have a party (his most favorite thing to do). He wanted a pinyata and a cake. So we made that happen. I set up a treasure hunt for the kids and the prize was the pinyata and cake. It was so much fun to watch those kids run all over the ranch finding clues. You'd think they would've gone to bed good, but the candy reversed that....

 All the kids got to hit the pinyata except Sari...which means this pinyata went through 13 grandkids! James broke it in the end. Here is Dawson taking his turn. The pinyata was hand chosen by Dawson....it was such an ugly dog. lol!

 Since Sari didn't get to hit the pinyata, we decided she could wear it. Thanks to Uncle Choc, the kids split up 20 WHOPPING pounds of candy!!

We also had several 4-wheelers that we all rode all over the place! J.D. even took them clear up to the top of the mountains where he found GOLD! We have had it pass a couple of tests by jewelers to see if its real and so far it is.... 

 The rest of the time was filled with plenty of entertainment, AMAZING food, and lots of memories.

Daxon, Jori, and Sari

 Jessi read books to the kids and they loved it! Here is Jessi, Breslynn and Daxon.

 Here are the 3 year olds, Bressi, Daxon and Dawson.... partners in crime.

 this re-iterates 'partners in crime.'

 Our personal jacuzzi!

 My sexy husband! I didn't know he could lift his leg this high....

 Me and my little prego belly. We told our family at the cabin what the gender was. It was so much fun and Dawson loved showing off his shirt.

 The old man- my awesome dad!

 My awesome mother- she was so happy to have her kids all there. We really did miss Matt though. :-(

Dawson and Daxon eating their candy....such silly boys!

 

We monkey'd around the cabin... that's James holding Dawson up!

 The kids played several games of pool

 And Dawson wore his pirate costume non-stop the last 2 days. He is in love with pirates and being one. I found the hat when we went shopping in Breckenridge one day and couldn't resist. This was the topping on the cake for Dawson.

After all was said and done, we had an emotional goodbye with all the family. No one wanted to leave. Dawson cried himself to sleep....in his pirate hat. 

We really had a blast. Dawson told us that he wanted to have a birthday party with just his cousins. He has dreamt of going to the cabin for month and it finally happened. He just loves family so much and I love this about him. He truly wants to be with his cousins all the time every single day. 

We drove the whole way home Monday and stopped every couple of hours with Amy and her kids. That made the drive much better because Dawson could get out and play. It helped keep us awake. We can't wait for the next reunion.

Gender Reveal to the Families

We found out on July 12th what we were having. We wanted to keep it a secret because we thought it would be fun to tell everyone all together. That meant waiting until August 2nd for the Shelley side (reunion) and then we wanted to be fair so we waited to tell the Stevens' too. 

We ended up telling the Steven's July 24th, and then a week later to J.D.'s parents on their way back from Iowa. They weren't there on the 24th, so we just had Dawson tell them over the phone. It was so cute because he's so excited! We also forgot Dawson's "my Family" shirt for the weekend :-( It was a huge bummer because that's how we really wanted to tell everyone. 

We didn't forget the shirt to the reunion this time. We put the shirt on Dawson after we arrived at the cabin and Dawson ran around to everyone showing them his shirt. He'd say, "LOOK! This is my family! This is me, this is my dad, this is my mom, and this is Andee. See? My family" and he'd point to each figure. 

Here is the shirt before the cabin, but Dawson had to wear it after we made it. 

He thought making shirts was so awesome! He knew exactly who everyone was without us showing him. It was so much fun to watch him explain the shirt to everyone. 

My sister Amy didn't get there with her kids until way late at night, so I had already taken the shirt off Dawson and left it in our room for him to wear and show the next day. All of the sudden my mom told them that they knew what we were having and to go look at Dawson's shirt. Amy and her 6 kids came running around to me and i said to go upstairs. They all booked it, racing to find the shirt to see what it said. It was HILARIOUS and WAY fun to see how excited they were to find out. It made it so special to see everyone's excitement.

22 Weeks

On July 29th I was 22 weeks. Dawson decided we needed another update photo and so here it is!

Not much change since 19 weeks, but you can see she's there. She is the most active little thing ever! I never remember feeling Dawson like this. In fact, I didn't feel Dawson until 26 weeks- and he was measuring a week behind the actual due date. This chic is measuring exactly on and I have been able to feel her for about a month now. 

I'm officially 6 pounds above my starting weight now- which is good and bad. I hate thinking of getting huge. After finding out the gender, things have become more real and much more exciting. I'm actually 231/2 weeks now and that means I've accomplished my first goal. I had a goal of making it to 23 weeks because 40 weeks seemed to far away. With how sick I had been, I needed something more realistic to help pull me through. SO- Goal #1 accomplished! The reason I set 23 weeks is because I know now that the baby has more of a realistic chance at surviving if anything were to happen. I have set a new goal of 34 weeks. 

We are also hoping that I won't have to take the medication anymore in a couple of weeks. About 25 weeks along I got SOOO much better with Dawson...so we are hoping that I'm cured of pregnancy sickness by then with this one. If not, I definitely can handle taking the medication orally and dealing with being slightly sick this time around.

J.D.'s Birthday

We ended up going to the Rockies for J.D.'s birthday the day after, but on his birthday he had to work all day and so we just had a small celebration with just us. 

We didn't have ANY cake mix, or brownie mix....so I originally wasn't going to do anything. Dawson came up to me right before J.D. was coming home from work and said, "Mom-where's dad's cake?" 

Me: "Well, we don't have anything to make a cake...so we'll just have to get one at the cabin."

Dawson: "hmmm...let me think mom."

a few seconds later

Dawson: "Mom, I got an idea. Just make pancakes. Is that a great idea?"

Mom: "Dawson you are SO smart! Of course that's a cake and an AMAZING idea!"

It seriously caught me off guard to even think a 3 year old could fix a problem with such a simple idea. Pancake definitely has the word cake in it, so it made perfect sense to do that! He's so SMART! 

So here is J.D.'s pan 'cake'. Dawson wanted to specifically do Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse pancakes. I added the eggs and OJ for a more fulfilling touch, and Dawson helped me put the candles in.

We didn't have 27 candles...but I'm afraid J.D. wouldn't have anything to eat if we did put that many on. The most important part is that he still got to make a birthday wish.

 Dawson and I sang Happy Birthday and J.D. couldn't stop grinning because this could possibly be the best birthday cake and song ever.

And there's the magical moment of making his birthday wish. 

Dawson was so proud of his dad and was so excited to have birthday pancakes for dinner. He really made J.D.'s birthday so special. 

Happy Birthday Hunners! I hope you're wish comes true! This all happened because of Dawson, so thank-you to the sweetest little boy ever!

Camping at Kolob Reservoir

 For days Dawson kept asking  us if we could go camping. He really just wanted to go to the cabin, but since we still had a few weeks until the reunion, camping was the next option. So we packed up one night and went camping to fulfill Dawson's need to be up in the mountains. 

Dawson did get a hold of the camera as usual and took some pretty cool pics. Without him I don't think I would have so many pictures of the things we do. 

J.D. and I cooking dinner which was hamburgers and chips.

 J.D. working hard on setting up the camp.

 J.D. and I loving being away from our busy street. It was so peaceful and quiet. My awesome green hat says, "I love J.D." with john deer green (a perfect gift from my mother)

 

 

 

 We couldn't camp without delicious hot chocolate! Look at that tongue (he gets that from me)!

 "ooooo it's hot!"

Another Dawson photo- I love his little feet!

 

So we had a great night, Dawson's need for the mountains was fulfilled, and we got a good night's rest without traffic. It definitely is a place we want to go back to more often- and we know a perfect location and site. 

24th of July in Holden

This year we spent the 24th of July in Holden with the Stevens' family. We had an awesome slumber party and Aunt Molly and Uncle Lucas' house. Dawson was on cloud 9! We had such a great time!

Here is the float that family used to represent the Stevens' family. It's been used before, but Dawson and Taylee have never rode it before. It was so cute! 

R to L: Tilden, Dawson (shooting), Brant, Taylee, and Jetta

 This is the bags they used to load up their candy and throw to the crowd- GENIUS!

We rode the 4-wheeler and pulled the 'horse'- we also had to wave to everyone as we drove EXTREMELY SLOW down 1 block filled with people. It was a little weird for me because I didn't recognize more than 10 people in the crowd and didn't know who I was waving to.

Here's our little cowboy ready to ride!

 And 2 hooligans before the parade started....the picture says it all.

This was the weekend we told J.D.'s family that we were having a girl! They were so excited for us. Dawson told everyone, "my baby Andee is coming." No one understood what that was since Andee could be for a boy or a girl- it was pretty funny to hear Dawson try and explain to them that Andee was a girl.

It's a GIRL!

The hospital visit was so neat. Dawson kept telling us he couldn't wait to take pictures of the baby on the computer. Everytime we go to the hospital Dawson knows exactly what machine is for the baby's heart and is so in-tune with the visit. (*to my children, read in our journal about more details.)

We got to the hospital and they told us they would be giving us a CD with tons of picture on it for us to take home. SO I have tons of picture, audio of the heart, and video of our sweet baby girl. It was miraculous to see! It made it more magical having Dawson see everything. We couldn't get a picture of her face because she was snuggle right up against the placenta and wouldn't move her face away. Dawson started poking my stomach and saying, "Come on Andee- roll over! Come on Andee baby." It was so CUTE!

Her small little feet

Yes, her name will be Andee M'lee Stevens. M'lee is my middle name, and Andee is a name that I've loved since I was 12 years old (Another post).

Skinny little leg

How we felt after the reveal:- it feels so right to have it confirmed a little girl is on the way to joining our family and it feels so right calling her Andee. I knew Dawson was going to be Dawson when I was pregnant with him. I could see him and it felt right in my heart. I have that same feeling with Andee.

Her skinny arm hiding her sweet face

Dawson is OVERLY excited it's a girl!It's like she is already a part of our family and here. Dawson listens to my belly randomly and will have hour conversations singing and talking with me and Andee. He always feels her move and laughs. For some reason she is always super active when Dawson is around. He can come sit right by me and start talking, and she'll start moving.

This is a video- which is definitely proof she is my daughter. Some of you may know I'm a hair twirler. I especially get bad at twirling my hair when I'm tired. Dawson LOVES my hair and LOVES to play with it. This video shows how closely related her and Dawson are...and that she too has the Shelley trait of twirling hair.