Little Monkey

This little child of ours crawls and climbs on everything and everyone! He's actually becoming quite the coordinated little boy. It amazes us how he just figures everything out. He can jump off anything without any fear and make it! He has managed to clime onto the car, or truck, and just keeps trying to get higher and higher! He definitely gives us a scare, but we are proud of him for learning how to get around more and more.

We are loving Dawson more and more everyday! We love how he is learning so much and mimics everything we do. It's hilarious! He truly is the funniest little man. When we are acting goofy, Dawson will say, "You turkey lurkey!" or "You stinker!" We love how much he loves holidays and family. i don't think a day goes by where he brings up a holiday or wants to see his cousins, grandmas, grandpas, and aunts and uncles.
Dawson we love you and love watching you grow!

Crazy, Special, Funny, Smart, Beautiful

I'm a bad, thought I was funny, mother. Awhile ago i told Dawson that dad was 'Crazy!' So Dawson went up to J.D. and said, "Dad! You're crazy in the head!" I couldn't help but laugh because I just said crazy, Dawson made up the 'in the head' part. How can one not laugh?

J.D. laughed and said, "No you're crazy in the head!"
Dawson, "NO!!! I'm not crazy in the head, you're crazy in the head. I'm funny."
J.D. "Well what's mom then?"
Dawson, "Mom's funny. Dawson's funny, and you're crazy in the head."

It was the funniest thing ever! Unfortunately, Dawson is still saying all of this and has been for weeks.

Yesterday J.D. told Dawson, "You are so special."
Dawson, "I'm not special!"
J.D. "Yes you are. You are special. You are smart. We just love you bud."
Dawson "No! I'm not special, I'm not smart. I'm Dawson James Stevens. I'm funny."
J.D. tried to explain what special and smart were....but Dawson doesn't quite understand yet. So J.D. said, "Well you are special and smart and funny. You are a good boy!"
Dawson, "No dad! You're crazy in the head. Dawson is funny."
Me "Dawson, mommy is special and daddy is special. It's a good thing to be special."
Dawson "NO mom! Dawson is funny. Mom's not special, mom is beautiful."

Isn't that the sweetest thing? I couldn't help but just smile and leave it at that. He is the sweetest boy and even though he may not understand some words, he does have some good ones down for now! :-)

Halloween 2011

I'm horrible and didn't get hardly any pictures. I didn't even get any of J.D. and I :-( However, I want to remember what we did. Last weekend was my birthday! I am a quarter of century old now. J.D. took me to get some new dress boots and black shoes. It was so much fun! My mom took us out to eat at the pizza factory. Then- Jori's ward had a trunk-or-treat that night, so we dressed Dawson up as Thomas/conductor and went trunk-or-treating! Dawson was LOVING it!

While we were there, there was some cute princesses dressed up. Dawson pointed to each of them saying, "And that one is mine, and that one is mine, and that one is mine, and that one is mine, and hers is mine,........MOM! I got all my girls! YES!" J.D. and I busted up laughing- Dawson called dibs on all the princesses there! lol!

Daddy and Thomas Conductor! Dawson just won the cake walk!

Fishing pond! Dawson got a glow in the dark ghost eraser and spider ring!

All week he's been going around saying "Trick or treat!" He wanted to go every single day.

on Monday, we had a crazy busy day. We had all these plans, but in the end we went trunk-or treating again, then trick-or-treating, and then to a party. Dawson was buddy the dinosaur on Dinosaur train. We bought face paint stuff and Dawson was ALL FOR IT! He did his own make up , and then we covered it with orange with blue triangles. He was so stinking cute! He absolutely loved how he looked. I was a dead nurse, and J.D. was a dead hunter. We have my dad's 4-wheeler, so j.D. drove that around as part of his costume. It was so awesome! I would dare say J.D. is way better at putting on make up than I am. I remember he had to do my make-up when I had my picc line from being pregnant. My arm was so sore in the beginning and he did my hair and make up for about a week. No one could tell the difference. He has skill! lol!

Jori and Carson were here as well with our fried Brittney and her kids. We got SO much CANDY! Dawson was singing on the streets between houses, "Triiiiiick OOOORRR Treeeeaaat!" It was so cute- everyone was laughing and saying how cute he was. We cruised through one of our old neighborhoods! Dawson kept saying how cold it was, we'd ask if he wanted to go, and he said, "No- I gotta get all the doors and all the candy!" He was the most amazing 3 year old trick or treater out there!

This was the only pic I got of Dawson in his Buddy the dinosaur (from Dinosaur Train) costume. He had a head topper thing, and his face was orange with green triangles.

When we got home....11...lol, I went to clean off Dawson's face and he said, "NO! I want to be orange!" He didn't want to take it off. The next morning, he wanted to be orange again and go get more candy. :-( we explained that the next holiday is Thanksgiving and he gets to see Taylee, Brant, Kyson, Jetta, Tilden, and Destry. He flipped! He kept repeating all of their names and is now so excited for Thanksgiving.

One thing we have really found that Dawson has a passion and love for is holidays. He LOVES them. it makes it so much fun for us! So stevens' family- see you at Thanksgiving. We are already ready at our house! lol!

Lake Powell

My sister Amy got us a weekend on a houseboat! It was so cool! This houseboat had 4 queen beds, and HUGE deck on top, a deck out front and back, a paddle boat, an enormous living room with a big flat screen, and huge kitchen. This thing was the bomb dot com. We took it to the big sand hill by lone rock, and then parked at lone rock for the weekend. The weather- amazing. Everyone else had clouds and wind in utah... but not Powell. It never seems to fail us.

This is us at the sand hill... I'm in the white pants and Amy is in the black... and my mom is in the gray. It took us 15 minutes to climb this thing! All 3 of us were so out of shape! By the time we got to the top, the kids had climbed up it three times! lol! BUT we made it all for the thrill of running down it! Not much for the climb...lol

Here are the kids at the top....for the 4th time! lol! I think they got more of thrill out of running down it than the adults did.

James dug this hole... and kept digging..and digging... until he could stand in it and have his head covered. James is 6'3! It was so cool! He dug so far down that water started coming up through it. It took them 15 minutes to fill it back up again! lol! The things we do for entertainment!

Here is my lovely mother! Her pig tails are so cute!

My mom is this amazing braider for hair. When I was little, my favorite way she did my hair was a circle braid. I felt like Heidi (ya know the movie- I loved it). Anywho, it was so hot and my hair was not working out so well...so my mom came to the rescue. Isn't this amazing? I kept it in til I went home and showed J.D. ( J.D. went hunting with Chet, so he missed out on Powell. :-( Anywho, I got home, excited for J.D. to see my hair. I said, "HUN! do you like my hair?" His reply, "um...you look like a polygamist, so no." I guess I won't be doing my hair like this ever again. We caught a huge cat fish! We were going to grill it, but it didn't sound good for dinner so we let him go. Lucky sucker!

Here is some of the crew on the paddle boat. These guys thought they were going to go far out on this thing..... they didn't get very far. haha!

My sister's friend borrowed a razor! Dawson wanted to ride this thing all day. He was in his glory!

Here is 9 year old Tason driving this thing! Plus Layne, Rylee, and Dawson!

A huge THANK YOU to Amy for getting the houseboat and inviting us to go! We had a blast!

Yuba with the Stevens'

This year we had only two lake trips, but they were AWESOME! We first spent a weekend at Yuba with J.D.'s family for labor day weekend. Chet and Bobi Sue brought their boat, and mom and dad Stevens brought their jet ski's! It was a blast! As you can see from the pictures below. We camped there Sunday night and it was so amazing. We went tubing, a little fishing, and little jet ski scrambling, and enjoyed some yummy smores!

J.D. did a little wake boarding...

He is just Oh So Fine!

Here are the girls! Bobi Sue, Loni, Destry, and me. It was so much fun! We went for another tube ride on Monday, and the wind was so strong, the waves were like ocean waves! it was unreal crazy!

Dawson got to ride for a bit on the tube- he didn't like it too much. He was brave and tried it, but then he just wanted to ride in the boat.

We put J.D., Parker, and his friend on the tube....needless to say it was just way to tempting to make sure this was a rough ride! lol!

If you can click on this pic to make it bigger, do it. Uncle Parker's face is priceless!

Everyone went on rides and I decided to stay on the beach for a bit and create this masterpiece! This is the best sand castle I've ever built. I would have kept going, but my sweet Dawson decided this was too good to be true and had a blast kicking it over.... little turd!

I think Dawson would have ridden the jet ski's all day if he could. He loves to go for rides on anything and especially loves it if he gets to drive.

It was such an unforgettable weekend! We can't wait to go again!

Happy Birthday Dawson!

Dawson turned 3 TODAY! it's not official until 5:26 pm (the exact time born). lol! Today, he woke up singing "Happy to ME! PRESENTS!" It was the cutest thing ever! Everyone he talks to that's what he says. He never fails to include the 'presents' part. AND... Dawson asked for a shark cake and fish.... so that's what we got him! We got him EIGHT fish! and the shark cake is in the works... lol!

Dawson- we love you so much! You never fail to make us laugh and keep our days full of joy. You are so much fun to be around, and we are so lucky we get to spend so much time with you. You are growing into such a gentlemen. Today, without mom or dad reminding you, every time someone said, "Happy Birthday" to you, you immediately smiled and replied, "Thank you!" We love how you remind us to say prayers every night. As of today, it changes often,
you love sharktales,
can repeat most lines in any cartoon movie,
love pizza, homemade orange chicken, especially love POP (pepsi or coke),
LOVES talking to people on the phone or face to face,
you are a true cowboy in every way,
have a sincere and fun love for family,
you always want family or 'the kids' to come play,
you are definitely in the stage of everything is 'mine,'
you are still really tall and thin compared to the average,
you're attention span is unreal long for a person of your age,
everyday you want to go to school with mom,
you are very coordinated in shaking your bum ...and you shake it while you say,
"Bou chicka wow wow" or "Shaka bum, shaka bum, shaka bum bum bum"
you care for everyone and have show extreme concern for others when they are sad/hurt,
you are officially potty trained and never fail to remind us that you still want stickers for going potty,
you took a big hit catapulting over your bike yesterday (hit a huge rock with your head) but you got back up and rode again after a little lovin' from your mom,
and you hate to be called anything but DAWSON.

On your birthday this year we had pizza and a green shark cake. Grandma Shelley, Jori, Carson, and Sari came over to join. So far you've gotten 8 fish, 2 huge battle ships with sharks, an outfit, and a history book from Grandma. We love you and love watching you grow. :-)

Lightening Storm

First- I seriously am regretting leaving my camera in Holden. Last night was UNREAL! I've never seen or been through anything more life threatening. So...sorry no pics- just use your imagination.

My niece, Dawson, and I went to the Kanab Cowboys football game in Enterprise last night. We got there, started watching the game...randomly we would see lighting that lit up the entire sky. It was pitch black, and then BOOM! At the time, it looked so cool and I started wishing I had my camera to take pics. With 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter- we notice the lighting was getting really close....and we were sitting on metal bleachers...with no cover... and water everywhere because it had been raining. Did I think I was in the red zone... yes at the time...until later.

The ref's called the game- told everyone we had to get in the gym, in a car, or under the pavilion. My family and I went to our individual cars. I turned on the radio just to kill time and it was perfect timing to hear, "Severe lighting and thunderstorm warning for Iron County, Northeast Washington County, especially 12 miles north of Enterprise and hitting New Castle. Destructive hail storm. Winds up to 70 mph. Stay AWAY from windows, find shelter immediately. Storm lasting from 9:25-!0:45." Needless to say I was really freaked out. I was going to head south to my mom's and go the st. George route, but we decided i could probably get ahead of the storm. I was nervous because anyone who's been the Cedar route to Enterprise knows that there is a turn off just about 12 miles north of enterprise at the junction.

We start driving..I'm trying to hurry to get ahead of this thing, but instead I drove right into the middle of it. Hail the size of golf balls..possibly bigger was beating on us in every direction. I thought to myself- maybe this is actually the red zone of danger... It was kind of scary, but we were okay. Then, we made it to the turn...started over highway 56...little did I realize there were power poles and power lines crossing over highway 56 for a good 5 miles. All of the sudden- about 40 yards in front of us BOOM! Lightning hit a power poles, I swear the ground lit up, and sparks were flying EVERYWHERE! I tried to gradually slow down because we didn't want to get hit by the power line. We made in through, but hail and lightening were flashing every 2 seconds all around us. You could tell when it was hitting the ground too. We quickly said a prayer and we DID beat the storm to Cedar City by 20 minutes.

Now... after we made it to the beginning of the storm and just passed, on the left side of the road was a HUGE herd of deer! Here we did slam on our brakes because they were everywhere! I would say over 20 deer. I wish my thoughts were to look for a buck...but they were

"Great...now we have to worry about deer!"

For some reason, after what we'd been through this seemed to be so funny. lol! Anywho- I know most of us heard and saw the north end of the storm... so hopefully you have some kind of idea of what the middle was really like. After we got home and watched the storm hit cedar, I watched with a little worry. In the sense that, I'm no longer naive about lightening never hitting me and the realization of how 'real' lightening can me.