Pirate Photo Shoot to a Santa Shoot

Dawson was getting pretty creative one evening after J.D. got home from work. I was able to go relax and read my book while J.D. watched the boys. Dawson decided to do a pirate photo shoot! 

He set up this background and told J.D. to lay down.

 Dawson took J.D.'s photo with the iPad and then he needed his pic taken too!

 I was so impressed with his set up! He did an incredible job!

Then it was Monty's turn. Dawson found this hat that the hospital gave us when Monty was born.

 He is SO cute! I love how much Dawson involves Monty. Dawson did these pictures all on his own as well as putting on the hat. 

Monty absolutely loves Dawson and loves the attention he gets from him.

Big Weekend in Belle Forchay (actually Belle Fourche)

We went to Belle Fourche for a weekend to watch our nephews wrestle for Region, see our niece in a play, and see Chase get baptized. My mom, Amy, Kortni, Choc and his girlfriend Kayla all came out from Utah too! It was a BLAST! So refreshing and a much needed catch up with our family. 

We got lots of catch up hugs during the wrestling matches. I would dare say we were the loudest crowd in the stands. You can't count on the Shelley's to be loud and heard when cheering for their own. :-)

Amy and Chase

                                        

My mom, Daxon, and little Monty B. Such a fun Grandma that we all can't get enough of. 

We went to a play that my niece was the star of. Mikinzie did such an amazing job and the play was SO funny. All of the kids were so enjoyable to watch. Monty was so good during the play too so I actually got to enjoy it too. My brother Choc and his girlfriend Kayla got her some pretty flowers to congratulate her. 

The next day we went to church and the chapel was a fourth the size of a chapel in Utah. It was so cozy and small. J.D. was a witness for Chase's baptism, and I led the music while my sister Amy played. My mom did the Holy Ghost talk which she has done at every grand child's baptism. We love it! Lots of people from the ward stayed after church to watch the baptism and we had cupcakes afterwards.

Here we are with Chase and a glimpse of the lovely Jaidon photo bombing us with his arm. 

 That afternoon we had a lot of down time and we decided to show are talents with our flexibility that our genetics blessed us with. Amy is the most limber next to my sister Jori. Here is Amy, at age 40....

Jori pulled it off too! a

 Of course Chad had to try....

 Then we all did leg lifts. You can tell I'm definitely not as flexible without stretching, and I'm gonna totally fall over.  However, Jori and Amy have beautiful unflawed leg lifts. 

 We went to Mt. Rushmore the next day we went to Mt. Rushmore! We were so excited that J.D. could get the day off and come with us. I'm holding Monty on my little chest/back carrier if you are wondering where he is. It was kind of cold, but it was nice because the park wasn't packed. 

We saw Mountain Goats! They were just roaming the area and happened to be 10 feet away when we got there! It was SO COOL! 

I had a HORRIBLE tooth ache and had to go into a dentist in rapid city because I was in so much pain. (When we got home I went in to see a different dentist, but by then the toothache wasn't as bad because the dentist in Rapid City gave me an antibiotic for the infection. I do have to get a root canal done, but the infection was causing the most pain.) 

So we left Mt. Rushmore a little early to see the dentist and then met up with my family at Golden Corral to eat. We had so much fun! It was delicious especially since I hadn't eaten in about 3 days because of tooth pain. The dentist gave me some strong IB profin and tylenol which relieved so much! I ate a ton! The kids loved holding Monty while I ate too. 

Here is Dax and Monty!

We decided to go to a park while we waited until it got dark. Auntie Amy had a huge surprise for the kids! She got every kid a nerf bow n' arrow toy!! They had more fun with those than we had all weekend. We played there until the rain started to come down. 

Afterwards we went to Walmart and the mall. We had the most delicious julius' and window shopped until it was time to go. This is where we had to say goodbye to my mom and sisters. It was so sad and we all shed lots of tears. It was such a perfect weekend and we all felt so rejuvenated after spending so much quality time together. I'm so grateful we all got to see each other and we all made it home safely. 

Too Tight?

Since Dawson was little, he was always trying on things that were too big... like my shoes, or things that were too small, like a teddy bear jacket.

It didn't end there though, because he is still trying on jackets that are too small.... like Monty's coat.


He is sooo funny! He is always telling me that 'he thinks ___ will fit him.' He will then say that he used to wear it 'yesteryear' and it will still fit. So he attempts trying on many things, and it just makes us laugh.
He is such a character!

The Yellowstone River Bridge

The weather is finally warming up so we took our first walk. We live right by the old bridge, so we decided to walk it. Dawson was a little scared because it really is so run down and doesn't look super safe, but it was okay. We chose to walk on the road part on the way back because it looked much safer.

We waited for J.D. to drive across the new bridge to wave to him on his way home from work. He is in the white truck. They honked the horn the whole way so we would know which work truck he was in. It was so much fun to wave to him.

Dawson was yelling so loud.
We watched ice chunks float down the river and looked at the ice on the side of the river. It looks like seals, but it's just huge ice chunks. Apparently the ice chunks broke apart and the river got so high it washed away 2 homes just south of us. You can see how it looks like wreckage, but it's just ice.

We actually live in the flood plain, but it has never gotten high enough to flood where our home actually is. Everyone we talk to here is very talkative about the river. It's always the topic of conversation. So if you want to start meeting people, just talk about the river and people will just start chatting away.

We also found a small park just across the street from us, so we will probably be playing there a lot this summer. I am so excited to be able to go on walks. I just put Monty in the baby carrier and he absolutely LOVES being outside. Both him and Dawson would rather be outside any day. The only thing we are waiting for now is the wind to calm down. Monty has a hard time breathing with the wind, so we have to go early in the morning or right before sun down when the wind is more calm.

Church

My mom bought the boys these outfits for Christmas and I can't help but love making them match. So every week at church we get to be proud parents of these handsome kiddos.

Dawson loves his outfit and loves being the same as Monty. He is so proud of his little brother and definitely likes looking good. Dawson always asks me if his hair looks okay, especially if he wants to take off his hat. He will take it off and then come over and say, "Mom, does my hair look okay without my hat?" It suprises me how self conscious he is already at 5 years old, but I'm glad he wants to look clean and handsome too.


Thank you Grandma for the outfits! 

Playdough

The other day I was trying to think of something different to entertain Dawson. We didn't want to spend money, and we had played every game you could possibly think of. So after much thinking, a playdough commercial came on the TV, and that's when we decided to try making our first playdough ever. We searched for the best recipes and found the perfect one. 

It was SUPER easy and it turned out to be the better type of play dough; the kind that doesn't dry out too fast and is super soft. We started out with 4 colors, but then Dawson decided to combine them all..... so we just have one color left. Dawson had a blast for about 20 minutes.


He used the cookie cutters to make all sorts of things and used toothpicks to build up with them. As much fun as it was, he has yet to play with it again.... He usually likes to play with stuff when J.D. or I play with him. So I guess when I'm interested again, he will be too. lol,

Some recent things Dawson has said....

I woke up one morning and I was doing my hair curly. Dawson came in and asked, "What are you doing?"
Me: " I'm doing my hair."
Dawson: "Why are you doing it like that. I don't like it."
Me: "Well I just woke up and started doing my hair so mom could look pretty today."
Dawson: "Mom, you are beautiful when you wake up."
Me: "You think mom is beautiful when I wake up and don't do my hair?"
Dawson: "Ya, every morning you are beautiful."

It melted my heart and completely made my whole day! I love this little guy so much and being sweet is such a genuine characteristic that he just has all the time. As he gets older he just gets sweeter.

Muscle Definition

Our little....husky Monty is growing and growing and growing! We find out next week what how tall he actually is, but for now he seems like one healthy baby. He has little rolls all over. He isn't fat, it's more like stout and husky. :-) We like to refer to his rolls as muscle definition....

He is so much fun! He smiles so big and when he is sad, he pops out his bottom lip so far. His cry is so sweet and melts your heart. He never screams, he just whimpers if anything. Don't get me wrong, he does cry. It's just a sad little cry, nothing loud or frustrating.

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He has a little umbilical hernia that you can kind of see in this pic. It seems to be going away though. He likes his binky, but isn't attached to it yet. He loves to have space and lay on the floor. He will lay there, on his back, for an hour if we let him. He plays with this little play set thing and is starting to reach for the toys hanging. The toy has a mirror that faces him and Monty will just grin and grin at himself. He has started to giggle! It's so cute! He loves talking to you and never fails to make one smile. He likes to watch movies, or just sit up in your lap. He will sit with you forever! Just as long as he is sitting up and facing out.

He is sleeping pretty good. He will go 5 hours, and then every 3 hours after that. He is so different from Dawson. I can lay him down awake and he will fall asleep. He will probably start rolling over soon...he is getting so close! He scoots on the ground.... I don't think he knows what he is doing, but he will arch his back, push up with his arms, and his little feet flex, and then he pops his feet to a point and it scoots him forward. He will do this over and over again... but he is so little I'm pretty sure he is just doing tricks. lol

He loves his mom. He absolutely loves Dawson. He likes J.D., but in the end he always wants his mom. I don't mind it at all. I prefer it actually. He loves to be swaddled and knows it's bedtime when he gets swaddled.

He is a funny little eater, and EXTREMELY loud. I get embarrassed to talk to anyone on the phone while he is eating because the person on the other end of the line can always hear him. I am embarrassed to feed him in public because he is so loud! lol! It's hilarious! The positive side to that, is that he eats fast. He hates switching sides. When he pulls off one side and I bring him up to burp him, he will fuss and fuss and fuss. And then he burps LOUD, whimpers because it hurts to burp, and then finally gets to eat the other side. I think he'd rather eat all one side and finish, but it would make me lop sided and his burp would probably hurt worse.

The last update is he has started to teeth! His poor gums are so swollen and those teeth just go up and down. We can always tell when they are coming up again because he will get fussy, clear runny nose, lots of drooling, and he just pries on his hands with his mouth. He doesn't really run a fever which is nice. I hate teething and can only imagine the pain.

We love our our little husk. He is so much fun and we finally feel like he is just fitting into our schedule and lives. We love watching him learn and grow, especially because he is so happy about it.