November & December

November wasn't very eventful for us other than Thanksgiving. I was still trying to get over being sick, and all of us couldn't wait for Thanksgiving break. We were all pretty burnt out. 

We celebrated Andee's 3rd Birthday. We let balloons go and watched them until we could no longer see them. We also had some cake and ice cream. My mom came up which made it more special. :-) I love it when she comes. Time definitely helps, but all of us still have our days when tears find their way from memories. Dawson seems to still be affected by the loss more often than the rest of us. He has more nights that he just wished she didn't have to die, or that he could have his sister back. It surprises me how much he remembers from it all. Each night when Dawson says his prayers, or even the family prayer he never fails to ask that we get to keep this baby and that she will be healthy, strong, and nothing will be wrong with her. Maybe some of this seems a little too personal to put on the blog, but I really don't want to forget how we all were feeling at this time. I also want to journal it for Dawson since he isn't quite old enough to really want to journal. Monty says "Andee" and he really loved letting the balloons go. He cried for the balloons more than Andee though. :-) It just made us all smile and laugh. Monty seems to always do that for our family. He has a natural ability to just make us laugh no matter what mood everyone is in. I watch Monty play with the cousins that our Andee's age and it always makes me think that that's how him and Andee would be playing together. Quiet thoughts of Andee always make their way into my mind and at those moments time stops. 

Here our some Monty moments of November... He is quite the character! He has a new love for cooking...

He found excitement in coloring...

He likes to picnic and found that he doesn't really like cheddar cheese..

He loves his Uncle Parker!

And he likes to read to Grandma Marjorie.

For Thanksgiving we spent it in Holden with the Stevens' side. It went so fast and smooth, but then around 2 J.D. and I headed down to St. George with the kids. We had to get our black friday shopping done and we refuse to go anywhere except St. George because its the least crowded. We were very successful and we got everything on the list. We were done shopping and finished up the next morning at the last store. We love black friday shopping. It is so nice to shop and get good deals, and its kind of a date night for J.D. and I. We meet so many people standing in lines, and with J.D. being so friendly, we make a lot of new friends. This most recent black friday, we actually only stood by people that we had common acquaintances with. People that knew my family from Kanab and I didn't even know who they were. It made for a really nice evening and more enjoyable. 

December

This month was almost too eventful after our calm November. We set up our Christmas tree and put up all the decorations. I really wanted to start focusing more on the Savior because Dawson is getting older. We had fun, but we had a different kind of Christmas Spirit fun. We watched the Nativity, several versions throughout the month. We read about the birth of Christ. We made cookies with the cousins, and sent letters to Santa. (Dawson even got a letter back from Santa!) We made Christmas countdown chains for Monty and Dawson. Monty pretty much destroyed his by the end. He just kept tearing more links down than he was supposed every night. We couldn't help but laugh. We went to a Polar Express night in Oak City with our friends too. We had hot chocolate, cookies, coloring, singing, story time, and we sat on Santa's lap. 

December 8th was Monty's 2nd birthday! He got a power wheels 4 wheeler (one that was Dawsons, but had been stored away for a couple of years), an outfit, some cars, money, and other little toys from the cousins. We had lots of cake and lots of ice cream. Monty however, was more excited about the kids playing with him. That is pretty much the high light of Monty's favorite things to do. 

He loves ice cream!

And he loved his 'camo' overalls from Nanna as you can see.... no pics please!

We also took him on a buggy ride to the park for 20 minutes before it got too cold. Being outside would be the other favorite thing to do for Monty. He could care less about the cold, he just wants to be outside. It was so fun to celebrate this day with him, but it was so hard to face the reality that he is 2! Time flew by way too fast! 

December 11th we headed up to the doctors office to have our 20 week ultrasound! Clara and Bryant met us at the doctors office and watched monty so J.D. and I could go in alone. I could hardly wait to confirm our thoughts about the baby being a girl! Within 5 minutes we knew! It's a girl! Everything else looked so good too. She was so active and SO LOW! We didn't get a profile shot because she was so low and hiding. Trust me, I could feel how low she was and she wasn't going to budge for a picture. We go so many fun pictures. We came out of the ultrasound room into the waiting room and both of us were smiling beyond belief. Clara immediately knew when she saw us smiling so big. Monty was SO good for Grandma while we were away. He just played and played and didn't even notice we were gone. It was so nice to hear that. I am pretty attached to that little boy and I hate hearing him cry. 

You can see how she is holding her hands over her ears and covering he face. This was the best profile we could get. 

Afterwards we went to Monty's doctor's appointment and found out he isn't as big as we thought. He is in the 30 percentile for weight (which is not what you would guess based on his broad build), and in the 80th percentile for height. He is built so different from Dawson, it kind of surprised us. He was also told many times that his development was amazing and he was doing things that surprised the doctor. She couldn't believe his coordination skills. That's our Monty though. He is fearless so he gets lots of practice doing things that most 2 year olds don't do. He keeps up with Dawson pretty well. 

We came home in high spirits and couldn't wait to tell Dawson. Dawson already knew though. Monty already knew. Monty is the one who would only say "Hazyn" when we would ask him to say Hazyn or Cannon. (Cannon for a boy and Hazyn for a girl.) We would ask Monty, "Is the baby a Cannon or a Hazyn?" His response was always Hazyn, AND we could never get him to even say the name Cannon. Dawson just kept telling us, I know its a girl mom. He never felt that it would be a boy. I guess both my kids were more in tune than me. 

The rest of the month we continued to get ready for Christmas. Dawson did service by shoveling sidewalks for others on our street. They built lots of snow angels and snowmen. My mom came up to spend the weekend and brought the cutest gifts for Hazyn. We opened up our Andee tote to get out all of the girl things. I think I was more ready to open this up and go through everything. Had Monty been a girl, I'm not sure I would have felt the same excitement. I don't think I would have been ready. My mom helped me make my first ever batch of caramels which kind of turned out. :-) Our elf even made an appearance and decided he would come in on a wrecking ball..... or a light. lol!

Christmas was so special. We love that Holden has a primary program (15 minutes) of the Nativity. We all go and watch, and then sing some Christmas carols. Santa surprised us all and came to hear what the kids wanted for Christmas. Monty was not a big fan. lol! 

As you can see...

We came home and opened up our 1 gift....which was pajamas!

Dawson was beyond waiting any longer! 

Monty didn't really get it, and was just happy for Dawson. SO Dawson helped him open his gift. lol!

And then they immediately changed and ran around in their new pjs! They are so cute! 

I love how cute these boys are. 

We all made it to bed early that night and no one woke up until 6am. Dawson got an electric scooter, a universe pop out book, Halo, and a basketball! Monty got a truck to ride in, a movie, and a little couch. Santa spoiled our family with Clue and Connect 4 as games, as well as a few other movies. 

Obviously the couch was for Dawson too...

Monty only wanted the couch when Dawson had his turn. 

The scooter.....with a stuff mouth full of candy! 

Clara, Bryant, and Parker came over and looked at all we got. Parker had to try out the truck while Monty rode on the tailgate. 

Then we went to their house for breakfast and more gifts. The boys got tickets to the planetarium! I got a rolling pin made out of the same wood as Andee's crib. J.D. got a 'salt' gun. It was so fun to hang out at their house and play with everyone while we relaxed and ate breakfast.

J.D. and I packed it up and headed to Kanab for a couple nights. It was Carson's baptism the next day. We also opened gift cards for Sakura from my mom and dad. Dawson got an Art kit and Monty got a drum set. With all the new toys, we hardly knew where our kids were that day. 

Dawson helped with the packing too....

We also finally got Dawson's room finished. We started it and finished within 5 days. What a relief to have another project done!

Before pics....

After pics....

Everything is organized and put away!

BUT the soft carpet made for a better invitation for landing... Monty got this great idea to jump off of Dawson's top bunk! Dawson thought it looked fun, so both boys were jumping off the top bunk onto the bean bag. This did not end well for Monty. He missed the bean bag and landed hard on his foot. For 3 days he wouldn't walk on his foot unless he had a shoe on. He sprained it pretty dang good. My brother, the foot doc, came the next day and told us it was just a sprain. Thank goodness! I did not want to pay for a broken foot. lol! 

We had a blast that night with Chad's family. We stayed up really late catching up and the kids running around wild. We made a really big breakfast, and they headed to St. George. We headed to St. George. We headed there New Year's Eve and spent the evening at the Washington Rec Center. We rode a bull, played laser tag, and swam our little hearts out until 10 pm. We left and all crashed at the hotel really fast. The next day the kids swam at the hotel and played in the ball pit. The adults got to go out for a really NICE evening at Sakura. It was OH SO DELICIOUS! We didn't even have to wait because we got there a little early. We laughed so much and really had such a good time. Our cook was HILARIOUS! We came back to some tired kids. They older cousins babysat and wore them out. lol! We left the next morning and came back beyond exhausted from all of our vacationing and Christmas hype. What a great month and holiday. So much family and so many memories made. 

All of this led us right into the New Year excited for what 2016 will bring besides a sweet baby girl added to our family, a wedding of my brother and my best friend growing up, 

and a summer of my first garden.

October

October kinda slowed down for us. Mainly because we had so much help from everyone, it made being sick not so bad and helped relieve some stress from our family. 

When we moved in, we knew the house was definitely ready to move in, but we had some updates that needed to be done right away. For one, I just wanted a really clean, new toilet to throw up in. They had never changed the toilets in the house, and when J.D. changed this one...he said he had never changed a toilet in that condition before (he has changed a lot of toilets!) It was going to be a couple months before we could get the toilets, BUT our close friends in Holden America surprised us with this AMAZING DELUXE, top of the line, can flush a bucket of golf balls, slow to close lid, toilet!!!! It is absolutely heavenly! When you sit on it, you feel royal. The lid really closes so soft! AND the flush.... it's fast, quiet, and truly a glorious sound. Honestly, there are no words to describe my gratitude and excitement. We don't even use the other toilets and there are 4 bathrooms in this house! 

We were able to make it to 1 of my nieces volleyball games in Fillmore. She is only in middle school, but she is so good and talented! I had to go home and couldn't watch the rest of the games because I was not doing very good with being sick... but they came over afterwards and visited us. Good Job Rylee Jill!

Dawson got his school pictures back too! He still is waiting for those 2 front teeth to grow in... but he is still just so handsome and I love the memories.

For fall break we headed to St. George! Thank heavens for my mom driving to come get me and driving me home. I can't drive long distances because I throw up too much... :-/ During the time we were there, I had a really good day and it happened to be on my parent's anniversary. SO I took them to Golden Corral (Dawson said that would be the best for them, lol).

Monty loves that corn on the cob!

My mom loves these boys and they love their grandma!

And my dad was a good sport and allowed a pic with him. :-)

The rest of the days I spent in bed just trying not to throw up. My kids spent time in the road....

watching movies with grandpa.... See Dawson in the back? Well my kids got a flu while they were there and threw up too. Monty, then Dawson, and then I got it and it took a week to recover for me.

After getting better we came home and spent time with the cousins. Monty loves "his" Jetta, Brant, and Tilden.

I made it to 13 weeks, and was just missing all my decorations for fall. It's my favorite time of the year and Halloween is my favorite holiday. So even though we have boxes everywhere, I decorated.

Monty pulled out all the costumes and tried on each one. This is the penguin costume I found last year on clearance and tried to buy it big enough for Monty to wear this year....It was a little small and fit more like a shirt...I tried some pants on with it, but it didn't work too well.

It then came to the 30th, and it was my birthday. I was 14 weeks and and I just wanted to really get ready. So I put on make up, and went to Fillore to the store and to get Dawson's pumpkin at the school. I felt like I hadn't been in public for months.

And then came Halloween! That morning I had the boys dressed so cute and matching I figured I had better snap some pictures or I won't get another chance for a while. So here they are!

 I love how sweet they are to one another. Monty just loves to play with Dawson and cries when every morning when he has to leave. Dawson is so good to him and will pick him up, hold him, bounce him, pat his back and reassure Monty that he will be back soon and they can play.

 The time came to actually dress up... and of course Monty wouldn't put on his conductor outfit, so he was a cowboy. Monty is not into dressing up like Dawson was and still is. Jetta was so cute as a rodeo clown! She pulled Monty around to each car. Monty was on cloud 9 because he had 'his' Jetta, he didn't have to walk, he was getting candy, and there was plenty to look at!

 Dawson had the hardest time trying to make up his mind of what he wanted to be. He tried on costumes all month. Finally, he ended up being a ninja.... the morning of school. It was a little chaotic because he changed his mind with 20 minutes before he had to head to the bus stop. He loved it though and was happy!

 We had to go trick or treating to grandma Marjorie's house and Monty loved her even more because she had GOOD candy! Grandma was so happy to see all the trick or treaters and have company.

All in all, October was a good month. I am 15 weeks now and starting to get on top of the sickness. I still throw up here and there, but it's not near as much. I am also starting to feel the baby! I love it! I felt Monty the first time at 15 weeks, and this baby I felt around 14 weeks. only 25 more weeks left!

September

My life has been rough this month and will be for awhile.... like 7 more months. Yes, J.D. and I are expecting another baby! We are so excited to add this 4th baby into our family! Dawson says, "Mom I hope its a girl because then I don't have to watch 2 Monty's." lol! He also says we need to even out the boy vs girl numbers. He is so sweet! Monty already says the baby names we have chosen, but doesnt give into letting us know which it really is. One thing is for sure, there is only1. Thank heavens! With all the multiples you hear about lately, it freaked us out.
We printed out a paper that showed the stick figures... Dawson with a Big Brother sign, Andee with a Big Sister sign, and Monty with a "Big Brother April 29th" sign.
What's even more exciting is two of my closest friends are pregnant and due around the same time!! It is going to make our friend reunion so much fun with all our kids the same ages.
 In the beginning, we were going to try and keep it a secret, but my hyperemisis does not permit that.

We tried other methods of medicine first because the zofran has this big law suit out against it. Come to find out, the evidence isn't that strong and I got to a point that the benefits outweighed the risks and I needed to take it. 

I am so grateful for priesthood blessings as well. I am so grateful that I have a husband who continues to strive and stay worthy so he can be prepared to give a blessing. For the first few weeks I was struggling emotionally, mentally, and physically. I didn't think I was going to make it. Heavenly Father answered so many prayers and sent many angels my way. 

Right after finding out we were pregnant, we were in the middle of buying our first home! Things worked out so well and in a way that we never saw coming. We had originally started buying a home before we moved back to Utah. We spent 6 months waiting on Utah Housing only to find out they wouldn't sell us the home because of a street running through the property. There was now tons of legal things with previous owners that they had to deal with before selling us the house. So we were homeless again...still... and continued to try and look at every possibility in Holden. (Slim pickings). One day I told someone, "I just wish someone would come up to me and say, Here have my house." Then J.D. said to me, "Someone has said that..." It was our very close friends, Roger and Lorna Stevens. When they had offered their home to us previously we were already in contract with another home. We had forgotten. So we called them up and went to look at the house. 

Here is a pic that I quickly snapped. 

Before going any further, I need to let you know, this is the house that J.D. and I met in!! So where our story began, is where our story has led back to, and where it will end. They dropped the price to our budget, and were so kind through it all. Both families prayed and prayed for each other and for things to all go smoothly. They received many blessings and so did we. 

We love this home and continue to make it ours. Lorna will come by and just loves all the renovations. She is so supportive in always telling us to make it our home and she doesn't have any thoughts or hard feelings towards changing things. They lived in this house since 1981, and in Holden people love their memories. We couldn't' have bought a more perfect house for our family. 

Here is Monty helping sign the documents to the house! It's official!

Now we are pregnant, and trying to move in.... I wasn't much help, nor am I now. The ward has been so kind and loving in bringing meals so my kids can eat a healthy meal, they have come and cleaned so our home can feel of the spirit and helped me not feel stressed with a dirty home, and they continue to help take my kids to the park or to play so they can get some fresh air. J.D.'s shifts during this whole time have been in the afternoon and he was able to take care of Dawson getting to school, Monty eating breakfast, and getting some other work done because of this. These are my angels. I wouldn't have made it without them. 

I found old photos in my moms photo stash and I had to post them because they are pretty sweet.

This is my dad's dad on the left, and his brother on the right. Grandpa Earl and Uncle Ralph.

 Here is my Dad's cousin Debbie and my brother Choc.

This is my dad's mom, Grandma Betty Lou. I have the most special memories with her and am told I look quite a lot like her... she is much older here, but in her younger years I do resemble her. Maybe this is what I'll look like when I'm old....

Here is my dad's dad. Earl Shelley

Here is my mom! What a hottie! 

This is my sister Jori in her younger years.... still strutting

 The weekend after we found out we were pregnant we headed to St. George to see my Grandma Biel. (That's my mom's mom). She played with the kids and then sadly she had to go into the hospital and was stuck there for 3 days because she had pneumonia.

 We did get to visit her in the hospital and it made her day!

 The next week we closed on the house! Yay! Monty felt he needed to close as well.... We did move in that weekend, but we are still moving in because of how sick I've been. We are worn out.

 We celebrated Dawson's 7th birthday! I just can't get enough of this kid! I love him so much and I don't know what I would do without him. We took a few friends to delta to eat at Mcdonalds and go swim. We had so much fun!!! When we went swimming there was a professional diver there that works at Sea World. He was doing amazing dives off the high and low dive. It was so worth going!

I asked Jori if Danny would make Dawson a cake because I had no clue where my baking stuff was at. He made the coolest cake ever!!!!

Dawson's reaction!

 The hunting cake!

 While moving in, we still have to entertain and have fun. This house is a kids play yard inside. The cousins taking advantage of all the space!

 And Dawson showing us his cool eye ball tricks. He learns so much at school.....

We have had such a crazy month and now onto October!!