4th of July

This year was a little different for us. It was a first to not be near family and not spend the holiday in Holden or Kanab. It was sad, and wasn't near as eventful as the ones we've had. BUT it was nice to spend it together. We went to the parade and got plenty of candy. That night we did our own fireworks with some friends. Saturday night was the big town fireworks (Up here they do things in a 2 day event instead of everything in one day). 

 My mom sent all of her grandkids 'America' outfits and 'America' swimsuits. Dawson absolutely loves America clothing. He is definitely proud to be an American. He loves our country and he is only 5, yet he understands we are free because soldiers fought for it. 

 I love the boys' hats! 

 Monty B is growing up so much! 

 These two love each other so much and have so many smiles and laughs to share with one another.

Happy 4th of July America. I'm so grateful to live in this country. I'm grateful that I get to raise my family in such a great country. I'm grateful that we have our freedom. I can't wait to own a home and live the American dream. :-)

So Sweet and So Loved

The other day I asked J.D. to run to the store for me. Dawson jumped right up to go with him. We live so close to the grocery store, we usually just walk if we only need a couple things. When they came back, they surprised me with a card, some gerber daisy flowers, and ice cream treats. 

It was so sweet, and made my whole week! It makes me feel so appreciated and that my hard work at home goes noticed. It made me want to just work harder. I love my family and am so blessed. Love you guys and thank you J.D., Dawson, and Monty. 

The Restaurant & The Sausage Link

Once in a while we treat ourselves to a nice dinner out. Here in Glendive, there isn't much to choose from, so eating out doesn't happen very often. Just for the sake of ourselves not getting sick of what's available. :-) 

We decided to try the east side of town and we picked CC's Family Restaurant. I ordered a sausage skillet (breakfast is 24/7!) and J.D. ordered the country breakfast with sausage. Now, when JD ordered his, he didn't think it would come out looking like this....

This picture does not do this justice! This sausage link was ENORMOUS! J.D. and I just started busting up laughing when we saw it. 

J.D. said, "I did not think it was going to come out like this when I ordered."

This sausage link was so big in length and circumference he couldn't even finish it. It was a pretty fun dinner needless to say. 

Stuck

Dawson loves to see if Monty's things will still fit him.... Dawson is skinny and surprisingly he manages to squeeze into many things that he should not be able to. However.... squeezing out of them is not as easy. Dawson also forgets how child proofed things are.... 

 uhhhh..... ya. I'm stuck. 

 Let's see if I can still get around with being stuck in the stroller...

Dawson buckled himself in. Remember, the straps are fitted to Monty's waist. I was nursing, so I couldn't get him unstuck for about 10 minutes. It was pretty amusing on my end. 

Road Trippin to Uncle Chad's

The boys and I drove down to Belle Fourche for one last time to help my brother move. As Monty gets older, he isn't very fond of the car seat or the car..... he hates facing backwards and is persistent with screaming so he gets what he wants. So we had a 'no rush' ride home. We stopped in Bowman, ND and caught a few pics. 

"Oh Hello there camera," says Monty. 

 Big grins and a long tongue from Dawson! 

We had such a good time hanging out and moving Chad. We are going to miss living close to them. 

Comparing Boys and Summer Update

We love watching Monty try to talk or make noises or just blow bubbles...

he has quite the mobility with his tongue

Dawson had quite a tongue too... Maybe it's genetic?

 As much as I try to get things done around the house, Monty loves to be held. He will sit by himself for awhile, but after a few minutes he will topple over and bonk his little head. SO, I opted for the box approach which was extremely successful until ..

.. he started to try and eat the box as you can see on the bottom left corner. And then he started to push so hard with his legs he ripped the box and fell back on his head anyways. I pushed it by the couch so he couldn't push back and fall over again... he just got smarter and stronger. He would push and straighten his legs, using the couch for leverage, he actually stood up (on a diagonal).

 I remember putting Dawson in a box to play too.... yes, this is Dawson below. He had longer hair than Monty does at the same age. However, Monty was born with a lot less. 

We had a play date with some friends and went to the splash pad! 

 My handsome Dawson is ripped! He says he's got pecks that are like his dads. 

 The next Sunday we left for a road trip to Worland, WY. Monty did so well in the car and was the happiest baby all the way there. On the way back, a completely different story. 

 We stayed in Billings on the way down and had to go swim. The boys looked so cute in their matching swim suits.

After leaving Billings, we quickly crossed into Wyoming. We were so excited to see something familiar... a Maverick! We haven't seen one since we left Utah. So seeing one meant we were closer to home. :-)

We saw this awesome wall painting on the side of an old building. 

We saw this sign that said 'hyart'... we thought, "Yep that is art that is high up. High Art."

 On the way back, we took the scenic by way over Big Horn National park. It was GORGEOUS! 

 The scenic by way started to get really interesting and we fell more in love with this drive.

 AND THEN! we saw MOOSE! 3 wild moose just chillin' on the side of the road. It was so cool! We had to stop, and then every one else passing by stopped too. 

 Here was 2, and then about a 100 yards down there was a cow. 

 It looks like Ireland because of how green it was up there. 

 Coming down off the high mountain we got to see this. It felt like we were on top of the world.

Thank you Wyoming for the beautiful drive. On the whole trip we saw badgers, raccoons, beavers, cranes, moose, and deer. It was pretty eventful! 

Kick off to Summer

Every Wednesday we head to the library and go to 'baby bookworms'. It's a singing/reading time that is free for the kids. Fortunately, the person who does this at the library on Wednesdays is our Stake President's wife. She absolutely loves Dawson and misses him if he doesn't show up. Monty loves it too! He could be totally asleep, but once he hears the singing he is up and at it. 

This last Wednesday they did a science show for all the kids to kick off their summer reading program. Dawson's goal is to read a book with us every night! So far so good. My goal is to read to him every night, and read at least 5 novels. So far I've read 2 which were absolutely awesome! Julianne Donaldson writes books that are similar to Pride and Prejudice. So to add to my reading I have watched Pride and Prejudice a million times already because I love it. 

The science show was outside, so we had to get Monty his sunglasses. He loves them!

MK loves Monty soooo much! 

 I asked my mom to send a baseball cap for Monty because I couldn't find any in the stores close by.... she sent a big surprise for everyone! Dawson is wearing MK's hat and thought he looked so cute! He definitely looks cute! He wants to wear this outfit (minus the hat) every single day. He loves America stuff and more importantly he loves swim shirts. 

 I went to our storage unit to drop off more clutter in our house and as I turned to close it, I sliced open my foot on the sharp concrete edge. It doesn't look terrible, but it was so deep it's still tender and healing. No bueno! 

 Monty loves to be like the rest of us. He screams as he watches us eat dinner or lunch. SO, I decided if he was that interested in eating solids (not baby food cuz he likes that and eats it every day (twice a day) but it's not his favorite), I decided to give him a graham cracker. HE LOVED IT!! He loved it so much he would eat and make noises of 'mmmmm'. 

 I laid Monty about 2-3 feet below the head of the bed. However, those blinds look so fun to play with. It was raining this morning which made it seem like the blinds were making noises and saying 'come play with me.' So Monty arched his back, bent his knees, pushed off with his feet and eventually made it to those glorious blinds. I was in so much shock, but proud that he figured out a solution to his problem and acted upon it. :-) Such a smart boy! 

We've come to find that Monty is extremely persistent! He never lets up, especially for things he wants. If he wants to be held, he will just squeal and scream FOREVER until I pick him up. I like to just wait and let him calm himself down, but it's not like he's upset. He's just being extremely loud and doesn't stop. This is no joke or an over exaggeration. After about 3-5 minutes I can't take it and everyone is getting after me to "please get Monty so he will be quiet." 

If Monty wants a graham cracker he will do the same thing. If I go to clean him up, he actually cries because he just loves to knaw on that cracker and suck it down. 

One thing that we've found calms Monty down (to where he's quiet) is bath time. He loves to splash and kick and splash and kick. He loves to play with Dawson in the bath too. Don't get me wrong, he's still hyper active, but he's more quiet. 

The other thing that Monty could go HOURS doing is being outside. He could be starving hungry, and my milk could be going hard because he hasn't eaten in 4-5 hours, BUT he could care less if he is outside. It doesn't matter the weather, he will look out the window and just squeal to go outside. You don't have to give him attention, he will just watch nature as it is and be so content and happy. I love this about him. We go on so many walks and it makes us all happy.