The Selin's: Our Way of Life

Another Birthday Boy

2011-12-03T23:33:00.000-08:00

Yep, we have another birthday boy for the month of November...Christopher! To say it's a crazy 2 months between November and December is an understatement. Anyways, Chris wanted to keep the day low key so that's what we did for the most part (I may have had a few tricks up my sleeve!)

We started the day with a birthday breakfast of again cinnamon rolls and fruit. After getting ready for the day we headed out to lunch- sushi! We went to Simply Sushi and loved it. We left totally stuffed. The kiddos loved playing with chopsticks and eating edemame.

If Chris had it that way that would of been everything we did for the day but I wasn't gonna have it! We all went home and took napes then I headed out and picked up his favorite- In and Out- for dinner. We ate then his parents, Jen, Kohen, Lisa, and the Fuller's all showed up for cake and ice cream! He didn't know they were coming so it was a nice little surprise for him. We ate chocolate cake, Chris opened his gifts, then we chatted for awhile and called it a night! He said it was simple but perfect. We love you hubs and your an awesome husband and father! We are lucky to have you!

One Year Older and Wiser Too

2011-11-30T10:55:00.000-08:00

My little Dawson turned 5! How can it be?? He seriously is growing up too fast and if I think of him in kindergarten next year I get anxiety. Anyways, he had been waiting for his birthday for what seemed like forever and a day so when the day FINALLY came (thank goodness I don't think I would of survived another day of him asking!) he was over the moon excited. We decorated his door Transformers-style since that was the theme this year. He of course loved it and we proceeded to have his favorite breakfast of cinnamon rolls, oranges, bacon, and juice.

He opened his first present of the day...the Batcave from my parents. He has wanted it so bad and to say he was over the moon in an under statement. I'm pretty sure he has played with it every day since!

After we headed to the clubhouse to set up for his Transformer party. The boys all arrived and they first did their Autobot "training" to offically become Autobots to help destroy Megatron (aka obstacle course.) They got cool transformer sunglasses and a temporary tattoo after.

Next was pizza, presents, and then cake! He was spoiled for sure and loved all the gifts! PS I love the picture of his buddy Landon with the frosting smile!

We ended the party with a scavenger hunt to find Megatron. He had the Allspark and it had the goodie bags inside. My awesome hubs made Megatron and the Allspark. The boys got to take down Megatron (aka knock him down and go nuts) and after took turns hitting him down with a bat (again my awesome hubs would re-set him up each time...oh and they all wanted to do it twice so I think he re-set him up like 15 times!) The boys all had fun and Dawson exclaimed "this is the best day ever!!" so I think we done good.

After clean up and naps we headed to Build a Bear to do our tradition of the kiddos getting to pick and make a Bear. This year was a Koala with a birthday shirt, jeans, and cupcake. He wanted to name his Birthday Koala Bear so we shortened it to BK Bear.

We then headed to Cracker Barrel (his pick!) for Birthday dinner with the Olsen/Olsen/Jesperson clan. He found a stuffed fox there once and fell in love with him...I didn't let him buy it and there were some tears shed but I told him he could put it on his list. Tammy gave it to him for his birthday and he was so excited to see that fox! His name? Foxy. (Notice he is pretty literal with their names...he also has a doggie, turtlie, etc.) After a delicious dinner we went home and all crashed after a fab day!

My friend Jill had a Optimus Prime cake pan and so we borrowed it and made a cake for Sunday night. I baked it and since Dawson is really into drawing/coloring/etc. I let him frost it. He did not too shabby as far as putting colors in certain spots according to the picture. We had cake that night with my sisters and a few of Lisa's friends. Dawson loves her friends because they pretty much play with him nonstop whenever they are around. So we had one last celebration and called it an awesome birthday weekend. Thanks to everyone who celebrated and spoiled Dawson....he is one loved boy and we are thankful for you!

Our Sister Surprise

2011-11-27T13:42:00.000-08:00

My sister Missy and I decided she needed to come visit sometime this fall for funsies. What would be a more perfect time than Dawson's birthday? None! So we decided to keep it a secret from the kiddos and my sister Lisa who lives out here and surprise them. I took Dawson to preschool one morning, picked Missy up from the airport, and returned to pick Dawson up from preschool with Missy in tow. Dawson was shocked to run out to the car to see Missy there with me and was so excited to see her...his face was priceless! We then headed to Old Navy to surprise Lisa. Her boss went to get her telling her there was a mad customer waiting for her, but she came out to see Chris, the kiddos, and me then Missy stepped out from behind a rack of clothes. Again another priceless reaction...she almost had a heart attack I think!! It was pretty funny.

For the rest of the trip we were pretty much on the go; eating, visiting places, and celebrating D turning 5. We went to the VIP night of H&M thanks to my friend Brandy and scored some cute clothes, went to the mall, ate at Cafe Rio, visited Gardner Village, ate at Italian Village, had Dawson's party, etc. It was a blast and so fun to hang out with Missy! Thanks for visiting us and making Dawson's birthday!

Wedding Day Bliss

2011-11-25T22:26:00.000-08:00

Our friends Brittney and Michael got married beginning of November and little Miss Em got to be the "flower girl" aka the cute little girl dressed up for the reception...she's the cutest flower girl ever if I do say so myself! Dawson looked pretty studly that day too ;) Oh yeah, and the bride and groom weren't too shabby...kidding! Brit was gorgeous and Craigo was a handsome groom!

Color Me Mine

2011-11-15T09:18:00.000-08:00

I got an awesome Groupon deal for $50 worth of studio time at Color Me Mine for $10. I knew me and the kids wouldn't use the whole 5 hours worth of studio time before it expired so we invited our friends Jill, Parker, and Dixie along to use up some time and get our paint on! Parker is Dawson's age and Dixie is the same age as Emerson so it works out perfect...oh and Jill is my age so we all have a buddy :) When we got there there was a table ready for us and a lady to assist. Jill and I wondered as to why this lady works at a place like this with kids because to say she is kid friendly is a joke! But we still had fun nonetheless. Dawson picked out a gecko as well as Parker, Emerson an owl (surprised I'm sure!) and Dixie a pony. The boys did awesome carefully painting parts and the girls did what we call a rainbow tie dye swirl effect ;) They also made something else I can't mention yet though cause it's presents for Grandmas that is sure to be loved! We ended by grabbing lunch at Cafe Rio and us mom's chatting while the kiddos goofed around. Here are some pictures of the kiddos getting their paint on:

Fall Time Fun

2011-11-13T20:28:00.000-08:00

This year for the month of October I decided to do 31 days of Halloween with my kids. I planned a different activity/meal/craft/treat everyday for the entire month and it ended up being a lot of fun for the kiddos and I as well! Everyday Dawson was so excited to see what we were gonna be doing that day and I think it gave them something to look forward to. I am not gonna go over the whole month but here are some highlights!

*We decorated a Haunted Gingerbread House. It was pre-assembled and I didn't check it so of course it was cracked. We made so and re "glued" some pieces and even added a graham cracker panel. It was a bit ghetto but it worked.

*We went to Ride to a Witch with our friends Jill, Parker, and Dixie. The kids had fun and the witches were pretty funny. Us Mommas even snuck in some material and bead shopping! PS check out the picture of Dixie and Emerson. They are best buddies and I just love how they are posing with their arms around each other!

*Of course we had to go to a pumpkin patch and get pumpkins...tradition, right?

*We decorated Halloween sugar cookies as a family! Well, Emerson globbed frosting on one and starting eating right away and Dawson carefully decorated (he did good!) and then said he wanted to not eat them and keep them forever....yeah...that didn't happen!

*Dawson got to dress up for preschool. They made trick or treat bags, decorated cupcakes, then the kids in his class trunk or treated to the moms outside.

*We went to the library Halloween story time with the Holyoak's and Andrus'....the kids got to listen to stories, sing and dance, then trick or treat around the library.

*We went to a Halloween party Jen ans Jer threw then one the Jesperson's threw and had a fabulous time at both. Chris and I were Mary Poppins and Bert.

*We went to Boo at the Zoo with Aunt Jen and cousin Kohen. It was definitely crazy crowded but I figured it would be so I wasn't surprised by it. I was surprised and impressed though with how many trick or treat stations there were and how much candy they got!

*We carved pumpkins with our family and Lisa and a bunch of her friends. It was a really fun night with a lot of laughs...poor Alexus and Chris had these pumpkins that were practically petrified and almost impossible to carve!

*We ended the month with trick or treating of course! We had a bunch of friends over (Andrus', Holyoaks's, Peterson's, and Tuckett's) and Aunt Jen, Uncle Jer, and cousin Kohen to eat, play, and go trick or treating. It was crazy wild with a dozen kids but they had a fun filled night trick or treating together.

1st Day of Preschool

2011-11-10T08:23:00.000-08:00

To say Dawson was excited for his first day of preschool is an understatement! Last year he did a joy school but this was his first day of real preschool. I got to go with him the first day and absolutely love his teacher. She is so fun and so awesome with the kids, but also is an amazing teacher. Dawson loves going and is learning his letters and sounds even better than he already knew them and can read some simple words already. He is always coming home with cute crafts and stories of what they did that day....I sure hope he always loves school this much!

End of Summer Round-Up

2011-11-07T20:07:00.000-08:00

After our big trip at the end of July we tried to soak up the last month of summer and do some fun stuff. We swam a bunch, went to parks, the zoo, and anything we could think of! We made a point though to have a camp out in the backyard since we didn't get a chance to go somewhere. We did tin foil dinners in the fire, roasted mallows, and pitched a tent in the back. We started out with all four of us in the tent but after about an hour it dropped to two because Emerson was not going to sleep and it was already 11pm! So her and I went inside while the boys enjoyed the night in a tent for two.

I also wanted to let the kids one night "paint" with pudding. We stripped Emerson's down to her diaper and put D in his swimsuit and they got to paint each other and play with pudding to their heart's content. At first they weren't so sure and Dawson even said wait, but we will get messy...but they soon learned that was the point and had fun. The summer went wayyyyy to fast in my opinion but thankfully we had a nice mild-warm fall to still get out and do stuff. My kiddos are definitely summertime lovers!

Chicago Vacation: A Short Novel

2011-11-01T18:54:00.000-07:00

I have been putting off blogging about this trip because I knew it was pretty much gonna be a short novel! We went to Chicago in July and had the best time ever there and did so so much, it was so fun. We couldn't of asked for a better trip and were spoiled rotten that's for sure! Here is what we did:
1. Splash Park- Veteran's Acres Park had a new splash pad so we decided to test it out. Emerson wasn't a fan but Dawson loved it and even tricked Becca into playing with him aka getting wet.

2. Six Flags Great America- I hadn't been in forever so I knew this was a must! It was a ton of fun, the kids loved the rides especially Dawson. Me and Chris even got to ride us some roller coasters while my mom who doesn't ride them tended to the kiddos! It happened that we went on one of the hottest days we were there and it hit over a 100 plus humidity. Yuck. I have never felt so wet in my life...even the poor kiddos were red faced and sweaty! The girls would pour water on Em's legs and she laid there in relief as they did it was pretty funny.

3. Beach and Housewarming Shower- They had a new man made beach in Crystal Lake so we decided to try it out. The kiddos loved playing in the sand and the water was warm so it got an A+ from us. Later that night we threw my sister Missy a surprise shower for moving out on her own.

4. Bowling- I got to catch up with some dear friends of mine (Mikie B and his wife Gina with there little girl Makayla, Laurel, and Katie) at Pinstripes Bowling Alley. Katie's fiance works there and got us in for free and also got us free food and we just tipped well....major thank you to them it was a BLAST and such a nice place! Dawson loved goofing around with my friends and even made Laurel dance with him!

5. Rockford Children's Museum and Food- the family headed up one day to the Children's Musuem and we goofed around, took a family "portrait" in a giant pin board, and then headed out to dinner at New Sunny....my favorite Chinese place ever! We also ate at Tommy's and Georgio's while we were there...yum!

We did a bunch of other things while we were there too...visited my grandma a bunch, cooked ribs, saw my uncle, celebrated Emerson's birthday, went to Julie Ann's, walked around Downtown, and just hung out!

For the last four days of our trip we all headed up to Wisconsin Dells, where my parent's got us a BEAUTIFUL hotel condo there. It was a-mazing! The resort had 3 indoor and 3 outdoor water parks so pretty much majority of the time was spent there. We did venture out some though and ate at a family favorite, Paul Bunyon, saw Tommy Bartlett, ate at Monk's, shopped, and ate at Rocky Rococo. It was pretty much an awesome 4 days and I wish it was double the length we had there! When we left Dawson even cried saying he didn't want to be so far away from Grandma and Grandpa because he had such a fun time with them and was spoiled rotten! Thanks family for an awesome trip! PS Nebraska is a place I couldn't live. They do Cruise Nights and have scary bugs that swarm your car....enough said.

Miss Em turns 2!

2011-08-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

My little Emerson is 2 and I just can't believe it! She has such a personality now and talks so much it has been a pretty fun age so far. We have definitely had our moments of drama and tantrums, but for the most part it hasn't been bad so far! On her actual birthday day she woke up, had her door decorated, ate breakfast (pancakes with sprinkles!), then opened a couple presents.

After getting ready we headed out to our tradition of going to Build a Bear on their birthday and lunch. This year Em chose a cat and shocker, dressed it in a Tangled dress. They had so many cute outfits but she would not deter from it! One fun thing about yearly letting them do this each year is seeing what they choose because of their current interests. After that we went to Cheesecake Factory and had a delicious lunch and cheesecake. Emerson got sung to and a sundae. She was pretty pleased to say the least!

For her party we had an owl themed party since she absolutely loves them. I did a smores bar with various smores desserts, we sang, opened presents, then swam. At the start of her party is was down pouring but cleared up and was sunny for the second part...perfect! For party favors I made each child an owl that matched their bedroom and a tag with the child's name and a poem. I was please with it. Emerson was spoiled and received princess dress up, shoes, and accessories, and a play kitchen! She had a great day and thank you everyone!

A few days after Emerson's party she had her 2 year check up. She weighs 19.2 lbs and is 31 inches long. Small and petite like she always has been! She checked out great and the doctor said she talks really well and her vocab is at a 3 year old level. She pretty much uses 2-3 word sentences, like "juice mom, please" or "open please mom" etc. She will repeat and catch on to most words we use now. She knows the word no well and can be stubborn. She definitely has sass. She loves Tangled and anything princess. She has to sleep with her stuffed owl nightly and loves anything owl. She is my shy one, and runs hot and cold on people. She's a big time Momma's girl. She loves to copy Dawson. She is a picky eater, but loves and would live off of dry cereal, pretzels, crackers, yogurt, milk, and fruit if I let her. She will not touch bread or cheese (weird huh? They are child staples!) She is really sing-songy. Where ever or whatever she is doing she will sit there and take a word or two and sing it over and over like "happyyyyyy...happy....happpeeee!!" or "Momma, mommy, mama!" It's really cute and makes us smile everytime. I have a kids CD and she loves the song You Are My Sunshine and asks to listen to "Shine" over and over. She is also a total girlie girl. She loves wearing her bracelet and bows. She got lip glosses for her birthday and constantly is putting on "lips." She is such a fun happy girl and brings a lot of smiles to our home. We love you our little Emerson!

God Bless The USA

2011-08-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

To kick start the 4th we always attend Taylorsville Dayz. It's usually the weekend before the 4th, and it's just become tradition to go yearly. Our friends the Olsen's introduced us to it and we have loved it ever since. We go the night of the fireworks, usually arriving about 6pm or so, that way we can stake out an area in the field, listen to the music, eat, socialize, and browse around the booths and such. The night ends with one of the best firework shows ever in my opinion. In the midst of it all I forgot to take a lot of pictures. Oops.

For the actual 4th of July, we kept pretty busy starting the day out with the parade with Jen, Jer, and Kohen. Chris and Jer staked out seats the night before so we didn't have to go ridiculously early, and Jer also brought his canopy cover which we ended up using not because it was hot and sunny but because it was rainy on and off. After lots of floats and candy catching we headed home to rest and have the kids nap, then Jen, Jer, and Kohen came over and we bbq-ed a delish meal then headed to Sugarhouse for another round of fireworks. The boys were even kind enough to wait in a 30 minute line for funnel cakes...thanks hon! It was great fun and since it was a little overcast not too hot. After the fireworks were over we headed home and crashed from the activities. Oh why the title? Well Chris loves the song God Bless the USA and plays it every year all through out the day on the fourth. Needless to say 9 4th of Julys together means I've heard the song a whole lot. A WHOLE lot.

Summer Happenings

2011-07-15T09:38:00.000-07:00

I got discounted tickets to the dinosaur park in Ogden so we took a family trip down to it and loved it! It's really a neat place and I liked it more then I thought. There is an inside part with robotic dinos and dinosaur bones, then you head outside and they have all these life size dinosaur replicas. You get to walk around and go on "hidden" trails and at the end they have a play park area and digging area. The kiddos loved it despite the 100 degree weather that day!

We also went to the zoo for my nephew Kohen's birthday, which is also a favorite always. This time they have a dinosaur thing going on with robotic replicas there thru out the zoo and Dawson loved it. Emerson didn't. They made noises and moved which turned her off right away. But we still had fun and enjoyed spending the day with Kohen on his birthday!

Lastly we went to the Lindon pool with some neighbor/ward friends to go swimming. It's a bit of a drive but it is such a nice pool it's totally worth it. The kids had a blast and played for 4 hours! The only picture we got was them drying off in the sun. We just love summer time around these parts and getting out!

Girl's Day Out

2011-07-13T09:27:00.000-07:00

The boys went to our ward's Father and Son's Campout so that meant me and Em could have a girl's day/night! They went last year but she wasn't even one yet so there wasn't much we could do that she would get but this year was a different story! She woke up and got to have breakfast in my bed and we snuggled and had fun. After we got ready we ran some errands then I took her to Petsmart to see the animals and she loved it. They had baby kittens there and she was in heaven! I spoiled her and she got fries for lunch then we headed home for a nap. After naps we played, had dinner, then went out for ice cream with cousin Kohen and aunt Jen. They played and danced then we wrapped up the night with her favorite movie Tangled in mom's bed...she even got to sleep there for the night! The best part was once she realized it was all her her little personality shined out and she was so talkative, goofy, and fun. I love spending one on one time with my kids and think it is so important for them to have that! Love you girl and I look forward to more girl's nights with you!

Yoga Anyone?

2011-07-11T21:16:00.001-07:00

They think they are pretty funny. And they usually are.

T-Ball 2011

2011-07-01T10:07:00.000-07:00

Dawson is playing summer t-ball and he is loving it. That might be because his three buddies Landon, Connor, and Parker are all on his team- so fun! This is his 2nd go at t-ball, and this time they are the Giants. I could tell he still remembered most of how it worked from last time. He just loves playing sports and it's fun to see him learning how it works! PS- It's been more fun for us too to have our friends there to chat with and watch their boys play to!

Our First Battle Wound

2011-06-29T11:39:00.000-07:00

**Warning long post, I typed it out in detail!

Tuesday, June 14th the kiddos and I headed to the movies for the summer movie then after went to Click-Fil-A for lunch with my friends Summer and Lindy and their kids. It was free receipt Tuesday so we could get our same meal for free another day in June...sweet deal...but the events that transpired weren't so sweet!

The kids ate then after they were done Dawson went into the play area with Landon, Ty, and Reece. They were having fun but Lindy's boys Ty and Landon came out complaining of a bully; and later I found out my friend Jill who happened to be there too said her boy Parker said a kid was pushing everyone in the play area and he didn't want to play in there. Not too long after Lindy's boys came out I was chatting away with Summer and Lindy when next thing I know Dawson comes running to me bawling, holding is head, and he has blood on his hand. I didn't assume anything bad but when he pulled his hand away Summer, Lindy, and I all gasped at the big gash he had above his right eyebrow.

I immediately grabbed him and put napkins on it, saying we need to go because I knew without question it would need stitches. **Backing up, Chris was actually on the phone with me when this happened because I was asking him if he wanted me to bring anything home for him for lunch...so I told him he needed to leave now Dawson is hurt. As I'm trying to collect my stuff, I had so much help. One lady asked if I had a maxi pad to help soak the blood and I said no so another lady passed one over as another lady was handing me a big band-aid. Summer told me to leave everything she would clean up and Lindy grabbed her boys out of the play place to help me out to the car. The owner of Chick-Fil-A also came over and asked if I needed ice, and I told him that would be great but we really needed to leave to get him stitches.

*Sidetrack...As I mentioned, Lindy went to grab her boys and when she went into the play place she said a little boy was standing there almost in tears saying I'm so sorry I didn't mean to hurt him, we were playing and he tackled me and I pushed him. She said she noticed there was ledges around the play place with sharp corners, thinking that's probably where Dawson hit.

Lindy carried Emerson out to my car and buckled her in, the owner Rob carried my purse and opened my car for me so all I had to do was concentrate on Dawson. Rob offered to follow me to the Instacare but Lindy said she would since Chris wasn't there yet.

I drove so fast, I felt so so so bad for Dawson, blood scares him and he doesn't cry easily so seeing him bawling over it made my heart hurt so bad for him!! When we got to the Instacare Lindy again was awesome and took care of getting Emerson out of the car for me and inside so I could go right in with Mr. D. (Did I mention Lindy is 9 months preggo, due in like, 2 weeks or less when it happened?? Yeah, she is rock-star..I owe you Lindy, thanks again for the millionth time!)

Inside they checked us in and as they did that a nurse came out and put numbing cream on it and wrapped his head with a blue bandage and told him he looked like a pirate. That and the fact the bleeding stopped perked him up and he went running (with me telling him WALK PLLLEAASSEE!!) to show his buddy Landon his new pirate look. They put a movie on for the kids as we waited for his numbing gel and Chris got there right before we headed back. Dawson was so brave and talkative to the nurses and doctors as the prepped him and told them all about Batman and his love of superheros, then they started the stitching. He seemed pretty numb so they started and he did ok but started to whimper after a couple so they gave him a shot of lydacane and that made him cry again and made me almost start to cry! It was so sad having to sit over him holding his hands and watch him hurt. They finished with a result of 6 stitches and told him he was Super Dawson. They were so nice to him and the kids walked away with certificates for ice cream, stickers, and suckers.

I called the owner Rob back and he was glad he was ok and asked if we could come in or call later so they can get some info. We called the Grandparents assuring them all was well and headed home. My sister Lisa who is living with us wasn't home but showed up not too long after us with a bunch of gifts for Dawson. My mom and dad (aka Grandma Dar and Grandpa Roger) back home told her to get something for Dawson from them so he got a big Optimus Prime (he has wanted one for awhile) and a sand bucket with little toys and treats. Chris and I got him a balloon and Batman cartoon movie, then Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Dave stopped by later with a card and truck movie. He later proclaimed this was the best day ever due to his spoils...Chris was worried that meant he didn't mind getting hurt but Dawson told us he doesn't like getting hurt "it's scary" so I think we are safe that he sees the bad in it still!

We went back to Chick Fil A that evening and Rob wasn't there so a lady got the info they needed and we had Dawson show us where he fell. Under the big viewing window there is a ledge and he fell right in the middle of the ledge onto it, hitting his head there. As I thought about it there was no way the boy pushed Dawson off him because Dawson tackled him, because he would of fell backwards then not forwards. Like I said though, the kids were all complaining of a bully pushing, so I figure that's what really happened. As we were leaving after giving our info a lady came out asking us if we were the boy who got hurt because she had some stuff for us. They proceeded to bring out ice cream for the kids, balloons, and a bunch of certificates for free meals there. They were really so nice.

The next day a lady from the offices called to check on Dawson and told us that they would cover all out of pocket expenses for us! SO nice because we haven't had to meet our deductible this year for Dawson so it would be all out of our pocket!

5 days later, Sunday...aka Father's Day, Dawson was suppose to have his stitches out but Chris didn't think they looked ready so we were gonna wait til Monday. BUT as Chris' family was leaving Dawson comes running up crying and bleeding a little, he had bumped his head and it popped open part of the cut without breaking the stitches. We decided to take him in to have them look and see and the doctor said he actually wanted to take them out so they don't leave a scar and put steri-stripes on instead. So they removed them and put on the steri-stripes to hold it closed as it finishes healing. Let's hope Dawson doesn't do anything to it again and it heals! The good thing is he isn't too scarred by it and is still the same running, jumping, energetic boy he is; but the bad thing is he wants to do all that and I have to tell him to slow down and he careful!!!

Hopefully our first battle wound is our last...I had just a couple weeks before thought how lucky we were to have not had to deal with stitches, injuries, broken bones, etc. but obviously I thought too soon! Let's hope there is no more because for as scary as it was we all came out unscathed and had so much love and help!! Thanks again everyone :)

Our Christopher

2011-06-27T12:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to our hubby/dad Christopher! He is such a wonderful husband and father, we couldn't ask for more. This year we surprised him with breakfast in bed and a golf certificate to go golfing a couple times this summer. We went to church then came home and BBQ'ed that evening...his favorite thing to do!

We love Christopher because:

-He is always going with the flow. He is up for anything, and never complains about the activities we do or not having enough time to himself. He always plays with the kids and interacts with them.

-He teaches Dawson how to be a man. Sounds weird but he is already teaching him the ways to be a good guy when he grows up. He tells him to treat me nice, to never put girls down, to open doors, to kill spiders for me, and be respectful to ladies.

-He makes us all laugh. He never likes seeing someone feeling down and always does something to make them laugh. If Dawson is hurt and crying he always has him laughing in a few minutes.

-He never gets mad. Dawson has definitely tested his patience but it is very rare for Chris to total loose his cool. He is the calm level headed one out of the two of us.

-He is an equal to us all. He isn't above helping, changing diapers, doing dishes, etc. He automatically helps out where needed without being asked.

Thanks for being such a great husband and father! Your the apple of Miss Emmy's eye, she gets so excited when you walk thru that door. You are Dawson's best friend and role model. He loves you like crazy. Your are my love and an amazing husband! We love you!

Park City-Memorial Day Weekend

2011-06-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

For Saturday and Sunday night for Memorial Day weekend we stayed in a Townhouse at Bear Hollow Village in Park City with Christopher's sister Jen, her hubs Jeremy and their son Kohen; and Chris's cousin Selina and her hub Cameron and their daughter Preslee. Lisa came up during Saturday day then back up and spent the night Sunday with her friend Brittney. When I checked in the guy said that he gave us his favorite and one of the nicest townhouses there and he was right! There was 3 50 inch tvs, 2 family room areas, one with an xbox. A huge kitchen with a balcony off it and a private hot tub, and 3 bedrooms. It was awesome!

We didn't plan too much really and just went with it and did what we wanted. After we settled some of us went shopping at the outlets and got some amazing deals on kids clothes. I stocked up for next summer, buying things for the kids at $3 and $4. We all met up for dinner at Red Rock. It was pretty good. After we went home, put kids to bed, and all us adults played games then went in the hot tub!

The next day we woke up and had a big breakfast, went to the outlets, made lunch, then the kiddos took a nap. While they did us girls crafted and the boys and Dawson went to the Olympic Park to look around. We got combo passes at a good deal to do the ziplines/slide there but because of weather they closed it. They told the boys they would honor it in June if they wanted to come back OR would let them ride the bobsled. Well the bobsled is $60/person and we paid $20 for the pass so it was an offer they couldn't pass up and went for it. They came back to get us girls to watch so we packed us all up in the cars, watch them sign their lives away, and took a fast ride at 66 miles an hour down the bobsled run with an experienced driver in tow. After their thrill for the day we came back and made a big dinner, played games, put the kids to bed, hot tubbed it again, watched a movie, then called it a night.

Monday we packed up and headed home, thinking the weekend went too fast. Thanks again everyone for a fun weekend!

Best Buds

2011-06-23T13:43:00.000-07:00

Yes Dawson picks on Emerson. Emerson bosses Dawson around and gets mad and screeches when she doesn't get his way. But, for the most part she totally adores him. She gets so excited when he has been gone at a friends and comes home. She laughs at him and copies him and calls him Dawsie. Dawson takes care of her, he makes her laugh, says when she sleeps she is his sweetheart and when she is awake she is sassy. For the most part they are best of friends. Here are pictures of the good times.

Fuzz

2011-06-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

Emerson has this strange but hilarious yet sad fear of fuzz. If she sees anything fuzzy on the floor she flips. If it's on her she goes into freak out mode. She runs/walks around it and stays away as far as possible from it. She even has issues with cotton candy. Our strange silly girl.

See, I'm not talking about a little eww thats gross...total freak out loses it. She is such a girl.

Dawson's Milestones

2011-06-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

In May Dawson turned 4 1/2 and finished his first year of preschool. Here is some facts and things about Dawson now:

-He can recognize almost all letters in the alphabet and write them.
-He can spell and write his name.
-He draws elaborate pictures with animals, peoples, castles, dragons, houses, etc.
-Knows how to call 911 and when to call.
-Sings and remembers a lot of songs from primary at church and preschool.

-He loves transformers/spiderman/batman/superheros. That is the big thing now.
-Loves animals...he can watch animal documentaries and remembers facts and animals from them. His primary teacher told me once he was showing his class a pretend opossum in his hand and telling them about it.
-Because of previous two mentioned, wants to be a superhero and animal doctor when he grows up.
-Loves pb & j's, fruit, popcorn, chicken nuggets, broccoli, and of course any treats.
-Dislikes sauce of any kind...that includes dressing or anything like that.
-He has a big heart. He always tells us he loves us and how we are his best friends. he talks about how much he loves his friends. Most the time he is sweet with Em and shares. He calls her his "sweetheart" and helps her.
-He wants to go on a mission to "his mom's house."
-He is 100% typical boy with lots of energy. Lots.
-Plays all sorts of imaginary games and has a great imagination...one day our house was the zoo and he put differently animals around the house in areas and carried his keys cause he was the zookeeper. I got a private tour even!
-He always asks me what we are doing. When I wake up mom what are we doing...then what after that then what after that, etc.
-Loves to joke and tease.
-Loves to cozy up and snuggle us, especially when he goes to bed at night.

Mother's Day

2011-06-19T16:14:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day was relaxing and simple, the way I like it. I woke up to breakfast in bed, flowers, homemade cards, and a pedi gift certificate. For some odd reason Emerson was wearing Dawson's pj pants on her head and calling it her hat. We went to church, I relaxed and took a nap, then went to Christopher's parent's house for dinner and to see his Grandma who was in town from Tennessee. Dawson loved all the attention and fun he had from Grandpa Dave and everyone.

Spring Time Activities

2011-06-19T15:03:00.000-07:00

When we had a few days of actual springtime weather, we took advantage and did some fun activities with the kiddos.

I went with my friends Summer and Stacy and all our kids to the zoo one day. The kids all had so much fun with each other and loved the animals. It was nice to get out finally and enjoy some decent weather.

Chris and I took the kids and went to Day Out With Thomas. We rode on Thomas the Train then did a bunch of activities they had like mini golf, story time, a play area, balloon animals, temporary tattoos, (Em loved hers and kept showing me and saying tootoo!!) and met Sir Topomhat himself. After we grabbed lunch at Granny's Drive In (best shakes and food!) Then called it a day and headed home!

Easter 2011

2011-06-17T22:53:00.000-07:00

Easter In a Nutshell:
- Took the kids to Wheeler Farm egg hunt...they loved it
-Got a pic with the Easter bunny...Emerson wanted nothing to do with him surprise.
-Colored Easter Eggs with Jen, Jer, Kohen, Selina, Cameron, Preslee, and Lisa.
-Set out carrots and a note for the bunny.
-Woke up, searched for baskets and eggs...got spoiled!
-Wore new Easter duds to church.
-Went to Olsen's for a fab Easter dinner and another egg hunt for the kids and candy bar hunt for the adults.
-Came home and had wayyyyyy to much candy from it all!

Baby Chicks

2011-06-17T22:48:00.000-07:00

We had two baby chicks for a month in March. I was not thrilled, and stressed out til the day we got rid of them. Dawson and Chris will never be allowed in Cal Ranch again during chick season due to them wanting to try something for fun. I told Chris he needed to find a home for them day 2 of having them, so I knew there would be an out when they got too big. Chris said it would be fun for Easter to have chicks, then called Wheeler Farm to see if when they got bigger they would take them. Wheeler Farm says they don't but get a lot of calls this time of year because people get chicks for fun for Easter...yep we were those victims. Luckily he found some bird farm/saver/taker place for them. That de-stressed me a bit knowing I could send them on there way when I couldnt take it anymore. If it was Chris' way we would of tried the egg thing for funsies, but they lasted about 4 weeks before they got ugly and I couldn't take them. The end.

Turning 28...

2011-06-17T22:41:00.000-07:00

...is wayyyyy tooo close to 30! None the less, I have some amazing people in my life and that's what made my birthday fun. My friends Summer and Stacy took me out to lunch one day, another day my awesome visiting teachers Shanna and Danielle took me out to lunch, then I had a joint Birthday celebration with the Olsen-Olsen-Jesperson clan to celebrate mine and Dave's birthdays. Sunday, my actual birthday day my amazing hubs and sister cooked me my favorite dinner of ham and cheesy potatoes with strawberry shortcake for dessert! I must admit though, one of the best parts too was getting my Silhouette for my birthday! Thank you Mom/Dad/Grandma/Uncle/Chris for getting me it...I LOVE it!

Disney Dreams '11

2011-06-15T16:28:00.000-07:00

We Went to Disneyland beginning on March using our income tax return. The Fuller's were going and it was sort of a last minute decision to go. Since we aren't sure where we are gonna end up next fall and will be poor college students, we decided to take advantage of it being in driving distance and go. I think at the ages my kids are it's so fun and magical to them and makes it so fun to go.

We headed out at 3am in the morning figuring we could get a chunk of the driving done while the kids slept, then get in in the early afternoon to be able to do some stuff. Dawson slept well but it was hard on Emerson. She couldn't get comfy and just would cry on and off and was done by the end of the drive. Once we were there and out of the car she was happy though. The best part was we left here and it was cold and we got in California we had 75 degree weather. It was a.maz.ing. We checked in them went to our room where the kiddos had a special gift on the bed....pj's with a note! Dawson got Lightening McQueen jammies and his letter was from Lightening McQueen himself welcoming him and wishing him a fun time at Disney. Em got princess jammies and a letter from Belle with the same sentiments. They loved it and thought it was pretty cool. We unpacked and with a rush of excitement had energy to go shopping downtown and out to dinner at Rainforest Cafe. We always hit up the big store there for our shopping. Dawson got his pirate sword he wanted, a Buzz astro blaster, goofy, and a couple little things here and there. Emerson got a Minnie and Mickey stuffed dolls, pettiskirt, and a few other little things. After we shopped we ate and the kids loved Rainforest Cafe, we got to sit right by the elephants. As we were walking back, they had a jazz band playing and a bunch of kids dancing and Dawson jumped right in and got his groove on! Afterwards we went back to the hotel to crash for the night so we could get a good nights rest before the next day of fun!

Our first full day there we went to Disneyland. For some reason we always go left and into Adventureland first, and ride the Jungle Cruise. Of course the kids loved that one, especially Dawson with all the animals. After we took turns hitting up Indiana, then we all went on Pirates. I think that's what scarred Emerson for the rest of the trip because she did not like it and after that she did not like any ride. She didn't mind It's a Small World but thats a slow boat. Every other ride when we got in line and got closer to the ride she would point to the outside and say go, go and cuddle up to us and whimper. Then when we got on a ride she "took the position" as we dubbed it and would curl up right next to us with her head down on our lap. It was sad but kinda cute too. Dawson of course was like what's next lets ride another ride and wanted to go none stop. When there was a ride he was too short for he hated to wait. Pretty much that day was spent riding rides and seeing some characters along the way.

Day two we started the day with the character breakfast. It's a little pricey but I love doing it with the kids because they get to see so many characters and it's so fun for them. Plus it's a yummy big breakfast!! Emerson loved the characters but if they got too close she wasn't a big fan. Dale started joking with her and went in to give her a kiss on her head and after that she would NOT look at him!! Dale was a hoot though and was flirting with Lisa big time...He was yawning and putting his arm around her, stroking her hair, and giving her big fat kisses on the head. Too funny. Of course when Miss Minnie Mouse came out though Miss Emerson could not get enough of her. She LOVED her....hugged her, kissed her, touched her, showed her her food, everything. I guess the girl knows what she likes! Dawson just loved it all. After that we headed to California Adventure, did the rides, watched the Monsters Inc street show, and Dawson participated in the Toy Story soldiers street show. Very cute. We ended the night with the World of Colors show which was awesome. So magical and I loved watching Dawson's and Emerson's faces!

Day three we were back at Disneyland. The lines were so short our first couple days we spent the last day doing our favorite rides over and over. Dawson could of rode Buzz Lightyear a million times if we let him!! One of the highlights of the trip for me and Lisa was when we got our picture taken with Mark Ballas from Dancing with the Stars! Lis saw him in a store by Space Mountain and ran to me yelling so we went back and asked for a picture with him. I told him I would vote for him during the season (he was with his partner Chelsea there) and I kept my promise. He was looking at Captian Eo shirts there so when he wore it during practices on the show it made me and Lis smile cause we were there when he got it ;) Anyways, that night we saw the fireworks show (awesome!!) and then scooted over to watch Fantasmic, my favorite show there! After three long days and a late last night, we called it good and headed home to the hotel exhausted (but sad to go too!) Even Mr. Dawson who has non stop energy crashed in the stroller on the walk back to the hotel.

Sadly the next day we packed up and headed home. We are already to go back, and Dawson asks everyday when we are. It's just so fun with little kids and brings so much more magic into the trip!! I think we are maybe gonna have to go again in the near future!

PS On our way home we decided to stay the night in St. George to break up the trip. We last minute booked a place without knowing anything about it but figuring hey, St. George isn't ghetto. Well we pulled up to the one ghetto place there, get our room in the BACK next to bushes, garbage cans, and an ally. I felt totally unsafe so we for $25 canceled and booked at another hotel. When we pulled up it was like a dream compared to the first place!! It was an adventure to say the least!!

Sledding in Febuary

2011-06-15T16:19:00.000-07:00

We finally went sledding once this winter. Dawson loved it, Emerson hated it, Lisa majorly biffed it, 'nuff said.

Hearts, Leprechauns, and Tricks

2011-06-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

Since I'm so far behind on blogging I decided to to a joint post for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and April Fools. Since the weather is still usually cold during these holidays and we are trying to break up the day and do something fun, I like to go all out for these little holidays and make it a fun day for the kids. Here's a break down of what we did:

Heart Day:
-Kids woke up to their doors "heart attacked" and a kitchen decorated for the event.
-They got some treats and little toys
-We did a Valentines Breakfast of love potion smoothies, heart shaped homemade hot pockets, and heart pancakes with strawberry sauce. Yum!
-We went and saw Gnomeo and Juliet after breakfast, came home and had naps.
-That night Chris took me out to Outback while Lisa and her friends had a I Hate Valentine's Day girl's party and watched the kiddos for me.
-We came home and watched the movie Valentine's day

St. Patty's Day:
-The night before the kids set their shoes out to see if they got lucky and a leprechaun left them a treat the next morning.
-Turns out they got a "pot of gold" with a rainbow AND their doors decorated.
-Came out to a kitchen decorated for the day and a green breakfast.
-Wore green, had a green lunch.
-After naps, Dawson woke up to a sneaky trouble maker leprechaun who left foot prints on the walls. We gave him a net and he followed it trying to catch him. The trail followed outside where there was a path of shamrocks that led to the fence door. He escaped this time but next year we will get him...
-For dinner we did the traditional corn beef, cabbage, carrots, and potatoes with rainbow jello for dessert.

April Fools:
- Didn't do a ton, but made "peas and carrots" cupcakes for dessert.
-Told Dawson if he ate dinner good he would get a special treat. When I gave him his "peas and carrots" he was heart broken and almost started to cry!
-Convinced him to finally tried it and said "April Fools!" it's starburst! He thought it was pretty funny. Emerson wasn't fazed and dived right in and chowed it.

Miss Emerson at 18 Months

2011-06-14T15:46:00.000-07:00

Well, at 18 months weighs in a 16 lbs 14 ounces and 100% sass. She is so much fun. She finally started walking at 18 months and now is Miss Independent wanting to walk everywhere and do everything herself. She loves anything girly- getting nails and toes painted, dressing up, bows and hats, princesses, and most of all her pink owl. She is totally obsessed with owls!! She likes to eat crackers, dry cereal, pretzels, noodles, chicken nuggets, fries, bananas, yogurt, milk, corn, and potatoes. She says a bunch of words and pretty much can communicate. She isnt potty trained but tells us when she has a dirty diaper. She only uses her binky and night/naps and knows to throw it back in the crib. She makes a handful of animal noises. She looooooves songs/singing. She adores Dawsie aka Dawson. She is just a little ball of fun right now and we love her so much!! PS Miss E got her ears pierced too!!

Lisa's Roaring 20's Party

2011-06-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

Since my sister Lisa has been living with us and was turning 20 on January 23rd I decided to throw her a surprise bash. I decided a Roarin' 20's party was perfect for turning 20. I sent out invites and had everyone come dressed up to fit the theme. Chris blind folded her and she thought she was going to a surprise restaurant for dinner but instead everyone surprised her at the clubhouse. She was shocked! I brought a costume with for her to change into them the festivities began!

-I set up tables with black silver and white decor
-We had a pasta bar with salad and rolls and sparkling cider to "bootleg"
-Listened to 20's music
-Had a photo booth with props
-Opened presents
-Had cake and sang!

Hope it was fun for you, Lis! Happy Birthday!

Special Delivery

2011-06-14T15:13:00.000-07:00

My parents and sisters were in Disney World for Christmas and when they got home Santa had left some presents for us at their house, so she sent them out. To say some is an understatement!! We got spoiled rotten. When the UPS guy came he delivered 6 huge boxes. When we unpacked them it was like Christmas morning all over again! My parents are awesome!! PS On top of that they sent out a bunch of stuff they got the kids from Disney World too so it was like major spoilage!!

Christmas Eve and Christmas

2011-06-14T14:58:00.000-07:00

I know I know...pathetic to blog about Christmas in June but at least I'm doing it....I just want to jot down key points to remember

Christmas Eve:
-In the morning saw Tangled
-Came home for lunch and naps
-Left to go to Chris' parents for the evening
-Got a call from Jen and Jer to help get Kohen out of the locked car
-Finally got to Chris' parents...luckily he got put on call so he didn't have to go in right away.
-Ate dinner, opened presents, hung out.
-Came home, Chris got a call to go into work.
-Did our night traditions: looked on Santa tracker to see where he was, opened 1 present (pj's), wrote Santa a note, left out cookies and cocoa. Set out carrots and reindeer food for the reindeer.

Christmas Day:
-Chris got home from work, we opened gifts.
-Had a breakfast of cinnamon rolls, oranges, and bacon.
-Lounged around, played with toys, played games, and relaxed!
-Made a bunch of snacks/appetizers to munch on for lunch.
-Took naps!
-Made a HUGE Christmas dinner with turkey and ham and had the missionaries over for dinner!
-Played games with the missionaries, had dessert.
-Crashed after a fun filled day!

Dawson got: A truck set, a pirate ship, toy story dress up, and some little things, movies, etc.
Emerson got: A mini kitchen, cookware, fairy dress up, and some misc. things

Happy Birthday Sarah!!!!

2011-03-27T07:23:00.000-07:00

Hello blogging world, this is Chris! So, today is Sarah's Birthday, and I thought I would make a little post about her! Last year i did a little post using Sarah's name. This year I am going to use the word BIRTHDAY to do so!

B - She is the most BEAUTIFUL person ever! I was looking at her yesterday and was just taking in at how blessed i am to have a beautiful wife!
I - For me Sarah is INSPIRING! I see how faithful she is to the Lord and how full of love she is towards others. I see her do all kinds of cute crafts. She sure inspires me to be a better person.
R - She has a smile that just RADIATES!! When I first met her I remember thinking at how this girl just smiled and it seemed to light up a room and radiate...I remember thinking that it was such a happy smile! Then you get to know her and her awesome personality just radiates towards others and lifts them up! Then she has a great love that radiates from her! She is a very caring individual and loves to help out others!
T - My wife is so TALENTED! There are so many times I come home from work and she has made an amazing dish for dinner! She loves to cook and it good at it! She is also talented with anything crafty! She took up sewing last year and has had so much fun at it, and has done very good at it too! You should see some of the things she just whips up...it is amazing!!
H - Sarah is just a HAPPY person! Not only that, but she makes me so happy too! She loves to have fun and enjoy life, and she cares about the happiness of others around her and tries to make them happy too!
D - In my opinion my wife is the most DELIGHTFUL person to be around! I think anyone that spends a few moments with her feels the same way! I love to spend time with her and to have fun with her! Last night was a delightful time I had with her...we watched a chick-flick and she pulled out her new silhouette machine she got for her birthday and together were figuring out how to use it. It was anything extravagant that we did last night, but because we were just spending time together it was just delightful!
A - Sarah is just plain AWESOME! It seems that she just excels at anything she put her mind to, whither it is raising our kids, cooking a meal, doing a craft, being a mom and a wife...she just seems to do everything just awesome!
Y - Sarah may think that she is getting old, but she is a very YOUTHFUL person! First she still looks you, and there are times when we are just goofing around and having fun and she will be in a fun goofy mood, and gets this cute awesome laugh that I adore!

Sarah, thank you for being you and being such an awesome wife and mother to our kids. Words cannot express how I feel about you! You are the love of my life! I love you so much!! Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!

December Lights and Activities

2011-02-06T08:20:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love the month of December and all the fun activities and traditions leading up to Christmas! Here is what we did (and the reason why I haven't blogged in so long...but at least it's January and I am up to December, right?)

1. Decorating the tree- We always make a day of it and put up our tree, decorate the house, hang up lights, and watch Christmas movies. I dig it, enough said.

2. Seeing Lights- Every year we love to drive around and see all of the cool Christmas lights. It was pretty fun this year with Dawson because he got so excited over them. We always make it a point to see Temple Square, the Christmas Utah house (if you haven't seen it you should, it's pretty cool), the Night Before Christmas street, and also the leg lamp house. We stumbled upon the leg lamp house a few years back and have gone back every year. It just cracks us up. The whole house is completely dark except for the leg lamp. It's like electric sex gleaming in the window. Sorry if I offended...but it's classic...you've all seen A Christmas Story, right???? Sorry again, but I had to.

3. Gingerbread Houses/Cookies- I grew up always making a gingerbread house as a family and baking Christmas cookies so it's a must still and I carry on the tradition with my kids now.

4. Festival of Trees- As I probably mentioned before back in mine and Christopher's young days with no kids we volunteered at this awesome festival that raises tons of money for Primary Children's Medical Center. Now with kids we go every year as spectators to all the fabulous trees they have and have fun seeing Santa, playing in the Kids Korner, and getting fat off of the delish cinnamon sugar scones.

5. Gift Exchange- We got together with the Olsen/Olsen/Jesperson clan for our Christmas gift exchange. The best part is we always hang out, eat, and enjoy the company. This year we switched it up and went to Iggy's for dinner. We also got to enjoy Carole and Lisa's company this time...score!

I hate having to do so much catch up on my blog but I loved just not caring and focusing 100% on my family for a couple months. I sort of pushed aside crafting, blogging, sewing, etsy, and my regular things I do to fully enjoy the holidays and not feel stressed about doing those things on top of all the other things that makes the season feel so busy. None of those things are hard to do and blogging is easy, but they just together get time consuming so I decided to push them ALL aside. I have to say...it was nice and a lot more calm.

PS- Here is a picture of D with Santa, he loved him, Emerson on the other hand freaked. Major. This is also a picture of how Dawson decorates the tree :)

A Camping We Will Go

2011-02-04T10:15:00.000-08:00

Well, go to the front room at least. Every now and then on a weekend night Chris and Dawson will have a "camp-in" night in our family room. They bust out an air mattress (once even the tent for kicks!), sleeping bags, and a lantern and "camp" under the light of the tv of whatever movie they decide to watch. I am a sprawler so I use those nights to take advantage of having the whole bed to sprawl about.

As Cute As She Is...

2011-02-02T00:02:00.000-08:00

...I don't think she can even pull off the "mullet" look; so I gave Emerson's hair a trim. It was getting so long in back but not so much on the sides so I bucked up and trimmed her cute little baby hair. I am glad I did, it seems to look a bit thicker now, and sort of curls right under. I know, she's cute.

On another "first/milestone" note; at 17 months Emerson became a walker! It's so funny to see little tiny Miss Sass toddling around the house. She thinks she is the bees knees.

PS- She is such a girlie girl. My sister gave her a fairy princess dress up for Christmas and she brings it to us to put on her. Anything that is or resembles a bracelet/necklace she wears. She loves her purse. She thinks she is a mom and I call her "Little Momma" because she constantly carries her baby doll or pushes her in the toy stroller. If she doesn't have her doll she says "bebe bebe bebe" until you give it to her. She is just like I was when I was little.

Thirty, Flirty, and Thriving

2011-01-30T07:22:00.000-08:00

My husband turned the big 3-0. Where or where has the time gone?? I can remember when my parents were 30! Anyways, the kids and I are just so lucky to have such a great father and husband in our lives. He is such a thoughtful hubby, always helping and making me smile. He is a hands on dad who makes the kids laugh non stop. He is the whole package, and our family would not be the family it is without him.

This year he really didn't want to do much but stay home for his birthday. We hung out around the house and got deep dish Chicago style pizza for dinner (his one request.) We had cake after, and Jen, Jer, and Kohen stopped by to say hi and give him a sweet card. It wasn't glamorous but it was a wonderful day!

One More Makes Four...

2011-01-28T15:06:00.000-08:00

...is our blog title but also the age Dawson turned on November 12th! I just can't believe how big he is! Four has proven to be a fun age. While there are still some time outs and occasional listening problems; Dawson is a fun, talkative, imaginative, 100% boy. He loves helping out. He loves being a big brother. He pretends all the time. He loves being funny....making faces, silly voices, telling jokes. He is a total Momma's boy but his Dad's little buddy. He could care less about food, it's something that interrupts his play time unless it's candy. He is still small, weighing in at 31 pounds, putting him in the 5th percentile I think. We love this little guy to pieces.

For his birthday this year we did some fun activities on his birthday day and a kids party the next. Friday was his birthday and we did our usual traditions. He woke up to his door decorated all pirate themed. We had his favorite breakfast, cinnamon rolls. After lunch and naps we went to Build a Bear so he could make his birthday bear. This year he chose an army one with an army outfit. After we went to McDonalds (his pic) with Jen, Jer, and the Olsen/Jeseperson clan for a birthday dinner. The net day we had his pirate themed party with a dozen of his friends. They got pirate hats and eye patches and searched for buried treasure. He loved every minute of it and still asks me when it's gonna be his birthday again. Sorry buddy, you still have 10 months.

Lisa's Baptism

2011-01-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

My sister Lisa came out here beginning of June because she wasn't doing the greatest and didn't have the best of influences friend-wise in her life. She stayed for 3 weeks, then my fam came out to visit. She was gonna go back home with them, but felt she should stay longer. About a month and a half later the missionaries came over for dinner and she decided to learn more. After that was a series of ups and downs for her, she looks back now and says she knew it was right but fought it because she was scared to change. Eventually after some neat experiences she decided to get baptized. I was totally shocked! She got baptized October 23rd and it was an awesome service. I felt the Spirit so strong and I could see how happy and at peace she was. Afterwards we had a nice luncheon, and she got some neat gifts. Still to this day I am so surprised and happy at how much she is changed, she has such a glow about her. It was such a cool experience. I love you, Lis!

October Thrills and Chills

2011-01-23T20:00:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love all the fun Halloween festivities they have around here in October. The kiddos and I take full advantage of them to get out of the house and do something different!

1. Breakfast with a Witch- This was a first for us, and definitely not a last. Gardner Village serves up a delicious breakfast of french toast, fruit, eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage, juice, and hot cocoa all the while witches walk around and chat and mingle with you. The kids get a paper for the witches to autograph, and at the end they do some fun songs, dances, and performances.

2. Witches Night Out- Every year I go, every year I love. This year was another great girls night with Tammy, Brandy, Cassidy, and my sister Lisa. Don't we make a fun batch of witches? PS Tammy and Lisa even got brave and danced up on stage!

3. Cornbelly's- We had never been before because it's a bit pricey, but this year they did a season pass on groupons for $12 so I decided to take advantage of it and get us tickets (a normal one day was $8!) We went 3 or 4 times and it was just a fun Halloween activity for the kids. They had so much to do there....big jumping pillows, slides, corn mazes, dress up, a cow train, etc. etc. Lisa and Chris even did the haunted corn maze one night and had a good spook!

4. Monster Bash- For the second year in a row my friends Summer, Stacy, and I threw a neighborhood Halloween party for the little kids around. Everyone brings food to share and we play games, do crafts, and the moms get to chat as the kids run around like crazy! I thought they were a pretty cute bunch!

5. Pumpkin Carving- The Jesperson/Olsen clan invited us to have a FHE/pumkpin carving night. Brandy gave a cute lesson called the chocolate chip ghost and we then carved our pumkpins. Here are the pics of our work and some of our own cute lil' pumpkins in our lives.

6. Halloween Parties/Trick or Treating- Our ward did their annual Chili Cookoff and Trunk or Treat on Saturday the 30th. There was so much yummy food! The weather on the other hand was not so yummy, and so we had the trunk or treat inside. Despite the cold Dawson and Chris did some door to door trick or treating after as well. On Sunday the 31st Tammy threw her annual Halloween Party where costumes are a must. Chris was a patient and I was the nurse. I got brave and made the kiddos costumes this year- Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. I am really thinking I will have to take advantage of the themed costumes while I can!

The Start of Fall

2011-01-20T13:47:00.000-08:00

Well, considering i have catch up to do from September and on, I better start blogging again, huh? Here is a quick review of what we did the end of summer/start of fall time!

1. Park City- We like to take advantage of the cheap deals you can get in Park City during the off season of summer/fall and rent a condo for a couple of nights and just RELAX. We played games, ate food, shopped outlets, went to the slides, and had our friends the Andrus' up for a day to hang out. It was fabulous and so nice to get away for the weekend!

2. Dawson Starts Preschool- Yep, we have a preschooler and he LOVES it. He gets so excited whenever he goes and has learned so much already. He is so good at writing his letters and now writes his name. His love of drawing has taken off too. I can't believe he is so big!

3. T-Ball- Dawson did a season of t-ball during the fall and had a lot of fun. He loved hitting the ball and running bases. Outfield? A little too boring for him. The majority of the time he was out in the field he was digging in the dirt not paying any attention. Why bother when you have a gigantic sand box to play in, right? At the end of the season their coach bought them pizza and handed out trophies which Dawson thought was the coolest thing ever.

4. The Circus- Christopher and I plus the kiddos went with Jen, Jer, and Kohen to the circus back in September. It had all the classics of lions, elephants, tight rope walkers, clowns, and trapeze but I think the coolest thing was at the end when we left and we were walking down the sidewalk we had to stop so the elephants could cross. They were literally right there 6 feet away from us! I don't know if I ever saw Dawson's eyes so big!

5. BYU Football Games- Football season hit and D and Chris went to all the home games with his dad and Cameron. I am so glad the boys can have this tradition and that Dawson gets to spend quality time with his dad. One of the games we got free tickets and Lisa, Emerson, and I tagged along. It was fun and Lis got hit on by Cosmo....he stroked her hair and said call me, ha!

6. Misc.- Here are some random pics of the fam that I like!

Summer Review

2010-10-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a review of what we did as summer dwindled away and the weather was still nice and warm...

1. Kennecott Copper Mine- We live so close yet we never took Dawson so we figured it was time to visit the Copper Mine (did you know you can see it from space?)...especially since they were doing a special where it was free to go...score! Dawson loved seeing the HUGE trucks, tires, rocks, and tools. Emerson sat back and chilled in her stroller. Chris and I laughed at Lisa's fear of looking down. Good times.

2. Fishin' with the Boys- Chris took Dawson fishing with his Dad and brother in law Jeremy. Words could not describe the excitement on Dawson's face getting to go fishing with his new Cars fishing pole. The kid had a ball and couldn't stop talking about it. Note- We still have two fish in my freezer that Chris and Dawson are "still" gonna eat one day. Can I just say I hate seeing them look at me?

3. Playing Around- Some days we just hung out and played around the house.

4. Cowabunga Bay- Jen and Jeremy found buy one get one free passes to Cowabunga Bay so we decided to give it a whirl. We decided it was somewhat fun, but not our favorite and not worth the price. Dawson, Emerson, Jen, Kohen, Lisa, and I loved the lazy river and pool with kiddie area cause it was so warm and fun for the wee ones. We weren't a huge fan of the slides because the water was so cold and there were tons of water guns and sprayers that people could nail you with so it felt like I was CONSTANTLY getting pelted by some punk kids. But Jer and Chris enjoyed it and it was entertaining while we were there.

5. Camping- Chris, Lisa, Dawson, Emerson, and I decided to take an overnight camping trip to Jordanelle. It definitly is a pretty place and the lake was beautiful, but we had a rough start for sure! You have to carry in ALL your stuff and they are suppose to have these carts to put your stuff in and pull. Well, they had one cart that had a flat tire that someone else was using. So here we are half laughing half crying carrying kids and camping gear a ways in. It was terrible!! Luckily we found the cart and the second half of carrying our gear in wasn't bad. We had a slow start setting up and getting dinner going but after a couple hours things settled and we relaxed around the fire. The kiddos did great and loved playing in the dirt. A highlight for Dawson? Peeing on trees. No joke. In fact, he loved it so much he sometimes now opens our sliding glass door and pees off the porch into the grass. We are working on that one. (Boys are a joy, right?)

6. Shaved Heads- Chris has begged me to let him shave his head forever but I kept saying no. I'm not a fan of the shaved head. I like his hair. Yet somehow this summer he convinced me to let him shave his and Dawson's heads. My little boys hair was all gone and I was sad. So was Dawson. He did not let Chris live it down. If you asked him he said he was bald and that his dad cut off all his hair and that is was really mean of him. Luckily both of their hair grows fast and they are back to normal now.

Giveaway!!

2010-09-16T00:12:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone head over to Sumo's Sweet Stuff (http://www.sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/) to enter a giveaway our Etsy Shop Just Our Style is doing! It starts at 10am and you can win some pretty cool stuff if I do say so myself :) You also get a sweet discount code too if you go take a look for 30% off every item on the store so check it out!

Over-Blogged

2010-08-02T17:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, I did it again and I went and over-blogged. I think I just did about 8 or 9 posts to finally catch up. What can I say, I have been just having too much fun this summer and haven't wanted to sit down and play catch up! But I finally have, for the most part. Sorry for the overload!

Emerson's First Birthday!

2010-08-02T16:33:00.000-07:00

Emerson turned one on July 6th! How did my baby girl turn one?? I just can't believe it! We absolutely love her to pieces. She is so mellow, easy going, and so much fun. She will copy her brother and has a handful of "tricks" she does now. While she is easy going, if you cross her she will let you know and the sass will come out. She gets jealous if Dawson is sitting on my lap and will squeal and push him away. She doesn't like being told no or not getting her way. Here are her stats and some facts about our little Miss Emerson.

Stats:
Weight: 14 pounds 10 ounces (0% TINY!)
Height: 27.2 inches (4th %)
Head: 16.9 inches (4th %)

Yep, she's petite. The doctor said since her brother was little too he's not worried, she just has small genes. She is right on track with her development and put up a good fight with the doc when he did the exam. He said even though she is little she is a tough strong little thing!

-She loves stuffed animals and babies. She cuddles them and rocks them.
-She can sign milk and food, and uses them to let me know when she wants them!
-She likes to growl, fold her arms, wiggle her tongue, blow raspberries, say shhhh and no no no, play peak a boo, clap, give high fives, waves, says go and points, "talks" on the phone, and point to things and say "dat" like she is asking what is that??
-Despite her size, this girl likes to eat. She will eat anything and lots of it.
-She is standing and cruising a little.
-She still has no teeth (Brother didn't get them til 13 months!)
-She hates being told no, getting things taken away, and brother rough housing her.
-She is all over the place and crawls like a maniac and pants when she does...makes me feel like we have a little puppy.
-She loves necklaces, bracelets, and anything girlie.

For her first birthday we had it at the park and did it 4th of July themed since she was born two days after. I had lots of cute decorations, and I made cupcakes and borrowed my friends cupcake stand but due to the CRAZY wind we couldn't use a lot of it. Oh well. The kids played with water balloons and got gift bags with sparklers, star beads, candy, and glow sticks. We did BBQ sandwiches to eat. Miss Emers looked so cute in a red, white, and blue tutu I made her and she loved opening her gifts and eating cake. We had our family and friends there so despite the wind it was a perfect day! PS The pic is of her and her friends Cooper and Remi. We had to get a pic because they are all the same size but Remi is 2 months, Cooper is 4 months, and Emerson is a year old!

We also have a tradition where every year on the kid's birthdays we go to lunch and take them to Build a Bear to make a stuffed animal. We usually go to Cheesecake Factory because it's by Build a Bear and so far the kids don't care where we eat. I got the Thai Lettuce Wraps which are an appetizer but can EASILY be a meal. They are DELISH!

The 4th of July

2010-08-02T16:20:00.001-07:00

Fourth of July= Parade, BBQ, and fireworks. Need I say more? My family was in town so we went to the West Jordan Parade, BBQed some delish Asian Kebobs, and lit our own fireworks. It was a fab day.

Taylorsville Dayzz

2010-08-02T16:05:00.000-07:00

We have gone to Taylorsville Dayzz for I think 4 or 5 summers now, and it has become a beloved tradition of ours! Our friends the Olsen's invited us the first year and we have gone with them every year since and have so much fun. Hands down the have the best fireworks show and always a great impersonator. This year they had beatles impersonators and we loved the music. We always go early to kick back, eat, play around, look at booths, and chat. This year I was so excited my fam was in town to come with us! Jen and Jer also met up with us and I loved being around friends and family that I love!

The Fam Comes to Town

2010-08-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

My family got to come out and visit us this summer for vacation and we had the most fun week ever! Dawson and Emerson loved having someone to constantly hold them, dote on them, play with them, and give in to their every command. While they were here we got to go to Taylorsville Dayzz (more in another post), a neighborhood/ward BBQ and Softball game, see a movie, eat Cafe Rio, go to the aquarium, celebrate Em's first birthday (more in another post), celebrate the 4th (again, another post!), go to a Rodeo, and play at the Gateway. We ate a ton, laughed a lot, and had a great time. It's amazing how fast their trip went and we were sad to see them go!

A First Time Auntie!

2010-08-02T15:24:00.000-07:00

At the end of June I became a first time Auntie to the CUTEST nephew ever! My sister in Law Jen and her hubs Jeremy had their first baby, a boy named Kohen Jeremy Atkinson. He weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces and was 20 inches long. His momma Jen is a rockstar at the parenting thing and Jer is the cute doting dad. I just love my Kohen and it's so exciting to have a cousin for D and E!

Soccer Mom

2010-08-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am officially a soccer mom. We signed Dawson up for 3 year old soccer at the Kearns Fitness Center and he loved it. He couldn't wait to get his uniform and ball. When he received his soccer shirt and shorts he started stripping down right there to put them on. They had 4 practices then 6 games. D did pretty good, but he is totally the kids who gets distracted and picks up rocks, blows a feather around, and goofs around with his team mates. He kept having to tell him to run and play. When it was over though he started to cry because he didn't want it to end, so we promised him we will sign up again. Did I mention how funny it is to watch 3 year olds play? They are a little herd running around together in mass chaos, kicking it out of bounds, picking up the ball, and scoring on the wrong goal. Hilarious!

Father and Sons Campout

2010-08-02T15:09:00.000-07:00

Chris finally didn't have to work this year for Father and Sons Campout and so him, Dawson, and Chris' dad Dave got to go together for the first time! To say they had fun was an understatement! They put up the tent, cooked dutch oven, roasted corn and smores, slept in the tent in a CRAZY, POURING rain storm, and had breakfast the next morning. Dawson met some little boys and they had fun running around and getting dirty.

Summer Days

2010-08-02T14:47:00.000-07:00

We have been keeping busy doing lets of fun activities this summer! I absolutely love summertime with kids; going out, enjoying weather, and not having to bundle them up! That is a lot of the reason why I am so behind on blogging because I just hate sitting at home. Anyways here is a list of things we have been up to and some pics to go with some of them...

1. Summer Kids Movies- We have done this for 3 summers now and I LOVE it! Every Tuesday during the summer they show a kids movie at 10am at the Jordan Landing movie theater. It's $5 for a pass for 10 movies or $1 each movie if you don't buy a pass. It's great because the kiddos love it and I don't have to worry about them being quiet because it's already noisy with all the kids there!

2. The Gateway- We have a pass to Discovery Gateway and Dawson just loves it there. He requests to go all the time. He plays and learns while I sit back. Sweet. We also hit up the fountains there at the gateway, a nice way for kids to cool off! We went one day with a group of us moms (Summer, Lindy, Paige, and I) and let the kids go wild!

3. Day Out With Thomas- The Heber Valley Railroad had a Day Out With Thomas activity that is every little boys dream. Dawson loved it. We road on Thomas, got pics, played with trains, got a temporary tattoo, did a maze, met Sir Topham Hat, and lots more.

4. Thanksgiving Point- I forgot my camera for this one! But I went with my friends Summer and Stacy to the Children's Discovery Gardens and the kids had a blast. They ran around in the Noah's Ark splash pond forever. We walked around and did a few other things but it was 100 degrees out so we left for lunch pretty quick!

5. The Zoo- We got to go to the Zoo with our friends Summer and Josh and their kids Reece and Remi. Dawson and Reece love playing together and loved being able to walk all around the zoo and not have to sit in the strollers. They loved all the animals there and we saw the cutest baby elephant!

We have also had playdates, gone swimming, gone to the aquarium, the library, and Wheeler Farm among all of our activities! PS Emerson isn't mentioned a lot in this post. She tags along and sits back and chills where ever we go and points to things and babbles away. She is such a fun girl and SO easy going!

The Tie Shirts

2010-08-02T14:39:00.001-07:00

So after my Disney post, I had a few requests for the "tie shirt" picture. As a background for those of you who don't know the story, I have made Dawson some cute t shirts that have a tie on them, and Chris and Jer thought it would be hilarious for the three boys to have matching Disney tie shirts. I said no and that they would look like huge nerds. Well....the first day we got to Disneyland, we rode a few rides then took a potty break. Next thing Jen and I know, the boys are coming out of the bathroom with tie shirts they snuck and made. Awesome. To rub it in my face even worse, they got a ton of compliments. I still say they are nerds. Except the short one, he is cute!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!

2010-05-28T09:28:00.000-07:00

Yep, we took a vacation to see The Mouse. At the end of April we loaded up the van and headed to Disneyland with Chris' sister Jen and her hub Jer. Our first stop was Vegas. We left at like, 3am and got into Vegas by 9am and spent the day there poolside and relaxing to break up the drive. We ate and swam and ate and swam. Can I just tell you how nice it is to leave behind 50 degree weather knowing that day you will be in 80 degree weather by the pool. It was delightful! Dawson was a fish and had no fear of the water slide. Emerson swam and napped pool side. Vacation suits my kids. Here are the pics to prove:

The next day we loaded up again and headed to the sunny state. We arrived in the afternoon and explored Downtown Disney, did some shopping, and ate at ESPN Zone that evening.

Monday morning we got up bright and early and headed to Disneyland...which we did Tuesday and Thursday as well (yay for 3 day park hoppers!) Our days were filled with rides, characters, and parades and shows. Dawson loved seeing the characters and we got him an autograph book so every time we saw one he asked if he could write their name for them. One of the mornings we did a character breakfast and the kiddos couldn't take their eyes off of them. Here are some facts about the trip:

Dawson's Favorite Rides: Jungle Cruise, Buzz Lightyear, It's a Small World
Emerson's Favorite Rides: It's a Small World (she would point and yap away) and Pirates of the Caribbean (a slow dark boat ride that would put her right to sleep!)
Chris' Favorite Rides: Tower of Terror, Indian Jones, and Space Mountain
Sarah's Favorite Rides: Indian Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean

*The boys (Chris and Jer) were obsessed with finding the hidden Mickey's on all the rides and would ask the workers were they could find it.
*Emerson did great and would fall asleep in her stroller or our arms at her nap times (score!)
*Jen is prego and could ride a ton of rides actually and was a total trooper thru it all!!
*They had the cutest parade that stopped in fron of you and they would sing and dance and the kids got to go dance with the characters in the street.
*After 3 days you get sick of park food.

On Wednesday we had a beach day. We went to Huntington Beach and it was about a 70 degree dayand really windy so it wasn't ideal but the boys still played in the waves while the girls laid on the beach.

PS I am done for now...did you make it to the end of the looooong post?? But I may be posting some more pictures because we have a ton!!

My D & E...

2010-05-20T15:24:00.000-07:00

This month has brought two milestones- Dawson turning 3 1/2 and Emerson turning 10 months, so I thought I would do a little joint blog about the two of them now.

Dawson: This kid has an imagination and a half...I can hardly keep up. Once I figure out how to bottle up his energy and sell it I'll be a millionaire. Eating, sleeping, getting dressed, etc. is all stuff that takes away from playtime in his opinion and is just not important. His favorite things to pretend to be are a fireman, cowboy, pirate, puma (random, I know), dinosaur, and a grocery store check out guy. One day he put on his little blue apron, turned his little play table on it's side, and stuck a plastic bag on the leg of it. He proceeded to get out his fake food and run it along the edge of his table, then drop it in his bag. I asked him what the heck he was doing and he told me "working at the store, mom!" Oh, duh me. Everyday is something new with this kid and sometimes as nuts as he drives me, he can always make me laugh.
Loves: Playing, watching movies, Diego, Dora, playing with Max, Mac and Cheese, fruit, strawberry milk, baths, and opening Emerson's door when she wakes up from naps.

Hates: Having to take a nap (but I still make him and he still falls asleep), sauces of any kind, time outs, disappointing mom.

Emerson: Not much has changes with this little Love Bug of ours. She is still our happy go lucky, mellow babe....but definitly has a bit of sass in her. As previously mentioned, she is army crawling everywhere and will get up on her hands and knees and will do a few crawls but then gets down and scoots again. She can go from laying down to sitting up on her own and pulls herself up onto her knees, but not feet yet (about time to drop the crib mattress!!) She has figured out she can scoot over to Dawson and take toys away from him now, which makes me laugh since it has always been the other way around. I don't think Dawson finds it too amusing though.
Loves: Watching and playing with Dawson, playing with toys, the cat and dog, baths eating anything, and having lots of attention.

Hates: Getting her face wiped, being left alone.

The Sillies with Dawson

2010-05-05T21:07:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was laying next to Dawson in his bed (after books and prayers he likes which ever one of us to lay down next to him for "just two minutes" and cuddle)and we had a little conversation that went something like this:

Me: Dawson, do you remember when you were a little baby? It seems like you were just inside my belly!

Dawson: Yeah, when I was a baby inside your belly I saw your dinner!!

Gotta love the things kids say.

Easter 2010

2010-04-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

Easter egg hunt and party at Jumpin' Jacks...
Easter Carnival at Wheeler Farm...
Coloring eggs with Jen and Jer...
Writing a note to the Easter Bunny and setting out carrots...
Setting out the empty Easter baskets...
Waking up to hidden baskets, carrots eaten, and an egg hunt...
Finding it all...
Eating candy at 8 am...
Having a big breakfast...
Watching Conference...
Wearing new Easter outfits...
Going to the Olsen's for Easter dinner and yet another egg hunt...
=One FABULOUS Easter!!!

My Sincerest Apologies

2010-04-22T22:36:00.000-07:00

I really needed to catch up on my blogging so I am apologizing for my 6 posts overload! Still have Easter yet to do too! Sheesh.

Dawson....

2010-04-22T22:25:00.001-07:00

...is proving to me the little comedian of the household. We sure do love our silly little 3 year old and the stuff he comes up with!

Miss E at Nine Months

2010-04-22T22:14:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe how close we are to Emerson's first birthday! I know I always say it but it seems like just yesterday I had her. Sheesh! Time is flying. Anyways, we took her to the doctor and she is doing great! She weighed in at 13 pounds 11 ounces which puts her in the, well, 0 percentile, or not even on the chart. She is petite to say the least but as the doctor said, we already knew she is small and her brother is the same way. She was 27 inches for length putting her in the 36th percentile. She is clapping, waving, sitting with complete ease, and as of this past week...army crawling everywhere! She is such an active little bug and loves to move and get places. She seems pleased as punch with herself now that she can do that. When you set her down and she seems something she wants she gets all excited and makes a dog panting noise as she scoots her way over to it. She loves to mimic what Dawson is doing...especially if it's yelling or singing. Dawson can make her laugh with such ease and I have loved lately listening to them play and laugh together while I am doing something. As my friend Tammy always says, she is just the happiest little baby and we love her to pieces!

Golden

2010-04-22T21:57:00.000-07:00

This year I celebrated my GOLDEN 27th birthday (I turned 27 on the 27th in case some of you weren't sure what made it so golden) and it was fabulous! My husband with the help of family and friends made it a very special birthday indeed. I woke up (after sleeping in!) to my favorite breakfast of cinnamon rolls, bacon, and oj topped off with gold roses (he spray painted them!) and gold wrapped gifts! After we got ready for the day he took me out to a new cupcake shop that opened in Draper called the Sweet Tooth Fairy that has DELISH cupcakes in tons of flavors. I loved it and it's the cutest little shop...you should check it out. That night we headed out to Olive Garden with Jen, Jeremy, The Olsen's (Tammy and Rob), the other Olsen's (Jared and Cassidy), and the Jesperson's (Dave, Brandy, and cute little Cooper.) When we got there I was all concerned about a table but turns out with the help of Jared, Jen, and Jer, a table was already ready AND adorned with gold balloons and gold candies and confetti down the table. My sneaky husband did good I would say. We had a fabulous dinner and it was finished with a cake my hubs brought and some great gifts. I was truly spoiled and have the best family and friends ever! Thanks to everyone for making it such a wonderful day indeed (makes nearing 30 less bitter tasting!)

A Quick Trip to The Grandparents

2010-04-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

During Dawson's first year of life I made it a point to visit my family a few times since babies change so much in their first year of life. I want to do the same with Emerson, so during one of Chris' 5 day stint of off days me and Miss E headed to Chicago to spend some quality time with the family. It was fabulous to relax and do nothing but spend time with my family and they sure loved the little gal...but then again how can you not?! I sure missed Dawson (and Chris) but it was fun to focus on Emerson and give her lots of attention. Here are some highlights from the trip:

*Celebrating an early birthday with my family and grandma with my mom making my favorite dinner (ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, and rolls...yum!) and having pie for dessert!
*Late night Taco Bell run tradition
*Bathing Em in the kitchen sink
*Lisa dressing up in my mom's old 80's clothes and acting like an idiot (no mom, you still can't wear the denim Noah's Ark shirt when you guys come out here!)
*Junk food binge with the sisters
*Shopping for the kids' Easter outfits

A Note to Myself:

2010-04-22T21:38:00.001-07:00

Can lids are sharp...Be careful around them...You don't want to get stitches again...

Disney on Ice

2010-04-22T21:24:00.000-07:00

When I got an email from ticketmaster about Disney on Ice coming to Salt Lake City I knew we had to go for two reasons: 1- They were doing Cars for part of it and I knew Dawson would love it and 2- It would get us pumped up for our upcoming trip to Disneyland! Anyways, we got a deal for buy one get one free tickets so our whole family went with Jen, Jer, and Jer's mom Becky. We made an evening of it and hit up Applebee's at the Gateway for dinner before. Dawson loved the whole show and the look on his face was priceless! It's amazing how kid's can make things so much more fun and magical. We saw the World of Fantasy show which featured Cars, Tinkerbell, The Little Mermaid, and Lion King. We all enjoyed it and Emerson did great too! Dawson even got to walk away with an awesome light up sword thanks to Grandma Springer (thanks from mom and dad too...that sucker cost $20!)

PS The cars for Cars were life size cars driving on the ice...it was cool!

A Picture(s) is Worth a Thousand Words...

2010-04-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

I couldn't help but laugh at these pictures Christopher took of Emerson the other day...this is how I imagined the conversation to go if Emerson could talk:

Hi Daddy, you want me to sit and look pretty and smile? Sure thing!

Wait a second, what is this thing Mom is constantly sticking on my head?!

Huh...so that's what it is. Interesting....

Looks good, so it must taste good...let's take a big mouthful of it...hmmmm....

Ick!....yuck!...blech!...

You really should of warn me. BUT I'm a baby so I still love you and will still smile for you!

The End!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!!!

2010-03-27T09:39:00.000-07:00

Hello blogging world, this is Chris! Today is Sarah's birthday, so I thought that I would post a little blog about her. The kids and I love her so much, and are so blessed to have such a wonderful wife and mom! Sarah is:

Super crafty! Anyone that knows her knows how she loves to do crafts! She makes some quite amazing things with those hands of hers! She will often stay up late because she gets so involved in what she is doing! I absolutely love to see the wonderful things she makes!

Angelic. Sarah is angelic in the way she does service for others. She always seeks to help people in need, or just doing something small for a friend to bring a little smile on their face. She also does so much for the kids and I too, and that we thank her for very much!

Ready. Sarah is always ready for anything. She is the exact opposite of a procrastinator! She just seems to always be on the ball!

Amazing cook! Along with her being crafty, she loves to cook! (this is great because I love to eat!) She is always trying some new recipe and they always taste really good...in fact...I don't think she has ever made anything that has tasted bad!

Happy! Sarah loves life and loves to laugh! Dawson will often do something a little goofy just to get a reaction out of Sarah and make her laugh! She has a very contagious smile and laugh! She is so much fun to be around!

Happy Birthday Sarah! You truly make our home a wonderful place to be! I love you so much!

Holidays and Milestones

2010-03-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

Here is a little catch-up of some "events" that have happened around the Selin household!

-Valentine's Day was a regular love fest around here! It is so much fun to get into holiday's with the chillen's to break up the everyday grind. I decided I had so much fun decorating Dawson's door for his birthday and he loved it so much to do it for other holidays too. So in the morning the kids woke up to their doors decked out in hearts and streamers, followed by some little valentine's on the kitchen table and D's fav breakfast of cinnamon rolls! Later that evening Jen and Jer came over for dinner and cookie decorating. I made glace icing for the first time and we had so much fun with it. Jer should seriously go into the cookie decorating business, because he out did all of us with creativity and beauty!

-Our little lady Emerson turned 8 months on the 6th of this month. I went and visited my cousin who just had a baby yesterday (congrats again, Selina...she is beautiful!) and I just kept thinking, wasn't Emerson this tiny just yesterday?? Time sure does fly. We sure do love our little bean, she is so much fun! Some facts about here:
*She is sitting all the time now and prefers it over laying down.
*She is trying to figure out how to get mobile. If something is out of reach she reaches, squirms, and tries to roll to it. She has been trying to get her knees under her and has been successful quite a bit lately. She rocks back and forth when she is up on all fours, so I am just waiting for her to take off.
*She copies Dawson. If he is singing, shouting, talking, being loud, etc. she does it right back. She loves watching him play.
*She is such a good little eater! Dawson was so so picky so she has been a dream! Anything I give her she loves. She likes all baby food, but still loves veggies the most. She is not the biggest fan of baby cereal. She loves puffs, yogurt melts, graham crackers, rice, pieces of beans, and other little soft stuff she can gum.
*If you wave at her, she waves back, but it's with a fist.
*She reaches out for you now.
*She is a good little sleeper, you lay her down and she goes right to sleep. I have noticed unlike Dawson, she is a light sleeper though but will always go right back to sleep at least!
(The other day she decided to check out under the bed...)

-I was out of town with Emerson over St. Patrick's Day (another post!) so I gave Christopher strict instructions on making St. Patrick's Day fun for Dawson, and he so kindly obliged. The night before he had D set out a pair of shoes to receive some treats from the Leprechauns as he slept, and what do you know it worked! He woke up to some candies in his shoes. Christopher also decorated his door for him (and me :) with shamrocks and a sign. Isn't he a great dad and hub? That day they had green food that consisted of green eggs and milk for breakfast and green mac and cheese with hot dogs for dinner. They also wore green to make sure they didn't get pinched of course! Em and I celebrated 1200 miles away in Crystal Lake with my fam by wearing green and eating my grandma's traditional corn beef and cabbage dinner....yum! Unfortunately I had the camera so Chris only got pics on his phone which I need to get from him. Here is an oldie but goodie of Dawson on his first St. Patty's day...cute little man!

Just Our Style

2010-03-10T10:23:00.000-08:00

A few friends of mine and I started an Etsy shop last summer, I made a few things then had Emerson and didn't really have a lot of time to put into it. Well, for the last two months I have finally been back at work crafting away for some hot new items in my shop. I got them all up and posted so I just had to put a plug out for you to all check it out! You can click here, or I have a link for it on the right side of my blog under check these out, just click on Just Our Style. Here are a couple of things in the shop to entice you...

Bib Necklaces- These are really hot and trendy right now! Dress up your everyday outfit with one! How cute would it be with capri's and a tee this summer?

Headbands- I am a lover of headbands...most days my hair is thrown back into a ponytail and I love how a headband jazzes it up a bit! I think these two headbands are fab!

What Mom doesn't need some style when they are changing diapers? Well you can add some with these fun wipe cases! There is even a boyish one to compliment your little man. These would make a great baby shower gift too!

Make sure you check out the site for a TON more of these items and other stuff as well!!!

Finally...

2010-02-10T22:00:00.001-08:00

...I have played catch up. Oh how I have put off blogging lately but it was time to just sit down and get my hands in gear! So now you get three blog posts...sorry for the overload...

A Bit of This and a Little of That...

2010-02-10T21:31:00.000-08:00

I really dislike the months of January and February when the holidays are over and your left with blah, drab, cold weather and trying to figure out what to do to make things fun. We have been trying to get out and do some fun stuff like the aquarium, Discovery Gateway, the library story time, or even lunch and playing at Arctic Circle. So anyways, we really haven't done anything note worthy this past month, but here are some fun moments from around the Selin house.

-Brother and Sister cuddle time. Ahh precious moments.

-Camping out in the front room in Dad's tent. This was done by the men in our house. The ladies slept in their own beds, and Em joined them in the morning for some cartoons.

-Spot the kids. Can you find my kids amongst all of their cute cuddly animals??

-Trying out new sleep positions. This kid is everywhere when he sleeps which is why he still needs the protector bar thing...otherwise he would fall out of bed nightly.

-And last, feeding the baby. This is usually done by mom and dad but Dawson wanted to give it a whirl one night. I love how he opens his mouth wide when he is trying to get her too and at the end when he says I got it! I may do that too sometimes when I feed her...

Emerson at 7 Months!

2010-02-10T21:14:00.000-08:00

Every time I do a monthly post about our little Emmy, I get a little sad because she is that much older! We have reached 7 months, and we have had so much fun with our little bean! She definitly is sassy, but totally sweet and it's so fun to see her personality emerge more each day. Here are some things about our little girl now:

-She loves her veggies but not so much her fruits and cereal...weird huh? I am dead serious when I say her favorites are beans and peas. She eats them so easy and then you stick some pears in the girls mouth and she pulls a face. Not normal for a baby...Dawson used to make it sound like we were torturing him when we fed him peas! I wont complain though!
-She loves to make this loud, high pitch screaming noise just for fun. She likes to be heard. She also makes this noise when Dawson is bugging her and in her face and swats him away....I think I already know whose in charge.
-She gives Dad the biggest smiles. He walks in the room, gets home from work, or picks her up and she is smiling ear to ear kicking her legs.
-She can sit up pretty good now. Still wobbly, and still needs someone there but she is getting better day by day.
-She does this funny thing where she makes fists and shakes her wrists back and forth. Her Aunt Jen dubbed in the motorcycle because she looks like she is revving one when doing it.
-She loves attention and is so content to sit on your lap and be held. She loves grabbing your face and putting your fingers in her mouth.
-She is mellow and easy going, but if she is not happy with her current situation she will let you know it.
-She can grab things and pass them from hand to hand, or rolls to get places.
-No crawling yet but when she is on her tummy she will push her top half up with her hands and get her chest off the ground.
-She still hates getting her shirt put over her head and getting strapped into her carseat.
-She is loving baths now.

Christmas in February

2010-02-10T20:46:00.000-08:00

Pathetic right? I am officially finally blogging about Christmas. I have not been in the mood to blog....so I haven't! Alas, I figure I really should quickly blog about Christmas so I can remember it later. Here is the Cliffs Notes version.

-Christmas Eve we wrote a letter to Santa, left him his cookies and cocoa, hung up the special Santa ornament, tracked Santa on Santa Tracker, then were off to bed so he could make his arrival.
- Christmas morning Dawson woke everyone up at 7:30am and we made our descent down the stairs to find that Santa had spoiled us good!
-Dawson got a power wheels 4-wheeler, his yellow race car he asked Santa for, a fire truck, a train set, playdoh, and much much more.
-Emerson got some bongo drums, a pretty pretty purse toy, a shape sorter, clothes, and again, much more.
-Chris got a bunch of gift cards, Gestures, movies, and more gift cards.
-I got new clothes, Catch Phrase, jewelry, ugg style boots, a chi, etc.
-Missy and I made a big brunch breakfast and we lounged around and played with all our new toys.
-My parents made a fabulous turkey dinner with all the trimmings and my Grandma came over.
-Later we went outside and played in the snow. We got the idea to hook a rope on the back of the van and had Christopher pull us up and down the road. It was a blast, and it gave my dad a heart attack. You know the dad from Father of the Bride who worries about EVERYTHING?? Yep, that's my dad (what if you guys smash into the exhaust!!?? was his biggest worry.)
It was a fabulous holiday and I loved every minute I got to spend with my family! Here are a bunch of pics from it...sorry for overload :)

Christmas Pajamas!

2010-01-20T11:57:00.000-08:00

Yep, still playing catch up, still trying to get motivated to blog and do stuff. This darn blah weather makes me want to curl up on the couch and do nothing...kinda impossible with two little ones. Alas, here is pics from Christmas Eve. Every year we open one present on Christmas Eve and it's Christmas pajamas. I of course had to get pics of the kiddos and well, I just love the series of photos that happened while trying to get them to both look at the camera and smile. It's classic.

And for kicks, one of all of us in our duds:

Em's 6 Month Stats!

2010-01-12T18:24:00.000-08:00

Because I didn't have them yet with her 6 month post, here is Emerson's 6 month old stats!

Weight= 12.1 pounds (1%)
Length= 25.5 inches (37%)
Head Circumference= 16.1 inches (11%)

Yep, still our little bean. Doctor says she is following the growth curve and developing great, just petite! Funny thing is, I was so nervous this doctors appointment because with Dawson's six month appointment his growth had slowed down so that's when we started putting butter in his food and supplementing him so I had this slight fear it was going to happen again! It didn't though- Dawson at six months weighed 11.3 pounds so Emerson is almost a pound bigger. I told our doctor how I was glad she was growing well and he said I didn't need to worry especially since her big brother is little just like her so obviously it runs in the family! I am so grateful to have happy, healthy kids...what a blessing! And just for kicks, here is a funny video of Emerson's new favorite trick.

Our Trip to Illinois

2010-01-09T18:32:00.000-08:00

We got to go back to visit my family in Chicago for Christmas...we were there for a little over two weeks actually and we had a blast! Before I do my Christmas post I just wanted to blog about some of the stuff we did while we were there.

*We went bowling as a family to the new Brunswick Zone they have there and let me tell you, it was pretty cool. We had couches to sit on, cosmo bowl with cool jams and lights, our own little server to bring us our shoes and yummy munchies like nachos and wings, and when it was Dawson's turn the bumpers popped right up in the lane.

*We made a gingerbread house, which has been a tradition for my family growing up and one I continue to do now too! Dawson loved eating gobs of candy and smearing tons of frosting all over the place. Me and my sisters also made a TON of Christmas cookies! I love holiday baking!

*We piled in the cars and drove around to look at the lights, another Springer family tradition.

*We went to downtown Chicago (brrr...it was CHILLY!) where we looked at the Macy's window display and checked out the Kristkindle Festival. It is this cute little outdoor festival with tons of German style food (mmmmmm....potato pancakes...) and a bunch of little shops. Oh, and Santa of course! It was wonderful this year because they had warming tents you could go sit in so you weren't freezing your butt off the whole time. I kept wishing I was Emerson, being pushed in a stroller, covered in a bunch of blankets!

*I got to catch up with some of my friends over dinner and see another and her cute little family while ice skating. It's always so fun to see my friends I grew up with and see where they are at now! PS- Dawson is not an ice skater...at all!

*For New Years Eve, my family always makes a big dinner and we pig out. Since we were leaving on New Years Eve, we did it on the 30th instead. This year we went BBQ style. Chris made 6...yes 6 racks of ribs that my mom bought; and with it we had delish bbq pork sandwiches, salad, cheesy potatoes, rolls, and cheesecake and cookies for dessert. We were stuffed!

We had so much fun with my family and I could not believe how fast our trip went! I just love our traditions we have and I love all the activities we do. My parents always took us to do fun stuff growing up and I love that we still do it and that I now do it with my kids. I also love how much fun we all have together and being goofy with them!

Emerson at 6 Months!

2010-01-06T11:10:00.000-08:00

So I totally forgot to blog Em's 5 month post and realized it just a few days ago...whoops. Oh well, time flies so quick we are already at six months!! I cannot believe we have reached the halfway mark to her first birthday, really, how did that happen??? I feel like time is just flying! Anyways, we are loving our little girl and she is so much fun! Here is some stuff about her at six months! (I'll post her stats after her doc's appointment on the 12th!)
-We started solids. At first she didn't like it at all. But then I made her cereal a ton thicker and now she eats it well and seems to enjoy it. We have tried squash too and she seems to like it. My friend Summer told me about Mum Mums and so I decided to try them with Emers and she LOVES them! They are these rice rusks that dissolve super easy. She just holds one and goes to town on that thing!
-She is rolling everywhere. Tummy to back and back to tummy!
-She is mimicking now. The funniest is her fake cough. If you cough she will cough back and it's so cute.
-She babbles. And babbles. And babbles. Her newest noise is Ahhhh babababababababa!
-When she doesn't like something or doesn't want you to do something she lets out a very girly assertive whiny shriek. I already feel the sassiness!
-She loves watching Dawson, our dog, and out cat.
-She got an exersaucer for Christmas and is loving it!
-She can sit up with help.
-She is very good at pulling off her headbands (I just love that- sarcasm!) and is grabbing for stuff.
-Everything goes right to her mouth and she drools like it's going out of style.
-She hates getting her face wiped, her shirt put on, and being restricted.
-She loves to touch faces and she is a cuddler.
-She is a good sleeper and really mellow.
-Emerson loves her feet and hands!

This and That

2009-12-15T09:49:00.000-08:00

We have had so much going on lately that I have been so bad at blogging, so here is a catch up of what we have been up to before Christmas comes and I have a whole other set of posts to do! (PS one of my New Years resolutions is to be better at blogging again and start Tasty Tuesday!!)

*I love putting up our tree and Christmas decor together as a family. I think this stems from years of my mom having us decorate together the day after Thanksgiving while rockin' out to some Christmas tunes.

*We are going on week three of big boy undies with no accidents, so I feel like I can say we are pretty much potty trained. He tells us when he has to do his business, but we still remind him some to go pee, which my doctor said is normal for awhile. He does big boy undies when he naps and pull ups at night, but he always wakes up dry so maybe after some time we will drop the night time pull ups! I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders!

*Emerson is just oodles of fun now. She rolls tummy to back and back to tummy now. She is learning how to blow raspberries. She loves her feet, Dawson, the animals, playing with toys, and cuddling. She is napping in her crib and doing tons better. You look at her and she smiles....and her laugh melts my heart. I love this girl to pieces! PS I don't know how she got her foot out but she is constantly moving those legs so I am guessing one popped out!

*Christopher and Dawson have loved going to the BYU games together with Chris' dad and sister. Dawson got so excited this year to go. Christopher taught him to say the Utes are bad guys when you ask him what he thinks of the Utes. He tells you the Cougars won and the Utes lost. Can you tell these two boys bleed blue?

*I have an addiction. I am a craft-aholic. I dunno why but lately I cannot get enough of crafting. Here are a few of my favs lately- wipe cases, material flowers, and a feather wreath for Em's room.

*Christopher and I volunteered for a few years at Festival of Trees, and while we haven't lately because of kids, we participate by going to it each year. The kids corner and Santa were so fun this year for Dawson. He loves his "elf wand" and going in the bubble booth. He was hesitant about Santa but swallowed his nerves and sat on his lap (on two different occasions) and told Santa both times he wanted a yellow race car. The trees at festival were beautiful and the scones delish like always!

*On December 3rd Christopher and I celebrated our 7th anniversary! I am so grateful to be sealed to him forever! What a wonderful husband he is- love you hon! We decided to keep it simple this year and just go out to dinner. We had Mrs. Call babysit for us and had a quiet dinner just the two of us...it was fantastic to just eat and talk just us!

*Last but not least, we have had tons of snow here in Utah and unfortunately when it started Dawson had a cold that lasted about a week. Everyday he asked to go out and play and every day I had to say no. BUT FINALLY yesterday Christopher was home and Dawson was better so the two of them bundled up and headed outside for some snowballs, snowman, and Christopher being Dawson's personal sled puller. I was laughing so hard as I watch that kid flying around the back yard at high speeds giggling with glee!

How...

2009-12-09T11:14:00.001-08:00

...does one get in this predicament??

One Year Older and Wiser Too...

2009-12-02T11:48:00.000-08:00

Christopher had what he calls his 1st 29th birthday a little over a week ago. He wanted to keep it simple, so that's what we did. That morning Dawson and I headed out to do a little shopping and brought back Star Trek from the redbox because Chris has been wanting to watching it. We pretty much hung out that day and took it easy, just how we like it! That night we headed out to dinner with Christopher's parents, his sister Jen, her hub Jeremy, and his sister Heather. We dined at Texas Roadhouse and got our fill off of rolls, salad, steak, and potatoes...yum! We sang to him, ate Coldstone ice cream cupcakes, and he opened his goods which included some games, fishing stuff, golf stuff, Rock Band stuff...pretty much all guy stuff. The kids and I are so lucky to have such a great Dad and husband in Chris...he is always right there supporting us and loving us. He works hard so I can stay at home and he is right there helping me with the kids when he is home. We love you!

Here are a few random things about Christopher that you might not know about him!
1. He has a love for mullets. Thanks to the lovely invention of camera phones my husband tries to photograph a "good one" on the sly. I take the "do I know you?" approach when he does this.
2. He accidentally blew up a toilet on his mission (he thought the best way to extinguish the lit firecracker in his missionary apartment would be to put it in the toilet bowl water. It didn't go out, and instead blew up.)
3. He makes great ribs and chocolate cookies. Outside of that he isn't allowed in the kitchen because he gets too experimental. Ask him about his Mexitalian dish.
4. He got hit by a parked car on his big wheel in a parking lot when he was little. Gave him a fat lip and everything! He still blames it on the car.
5. When he was 16 he made his car float by driving it into a huge puddle in the school parking lot. Turned out to be a lot deeper than he thought. He had huge waves on each side of his car and knew he was in trouble when water started pouring into his car. RIP Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme.
6. He has a ridiculous fear of bees. I always joke the guy will take a bear for me but not a bee.
7. Christopher has never had a job outside of health care. He got his CNA when he was 16 and has been wiping...I mean...helping people since! He currently has his RN and wants to go into nurse anesthetist.
8. He has never broken a bone. Which is surprising from the stories I have heard of him when he was a child.
9. Christopher can pack down food like a 6 foot 200 pound guy. He can eat 28 wings, has his picture on a wall at a mexican restaurant for eating a 3 pound burrito and hopes to be the next hot dog eating champion.
10. The only kind of movies that will bring a tear to his eyes are "touching sports films." Rudy gets him every time.

Parrrrrtteeeeee!

2009-11-22T19:06:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun this year planning Dawson's birthday knowing that this year he fully understood what was going on! What a fun age 3 is, I loving knowing that he gets the concept of birthdays, parties, presents, cake, etc. So anyways, this year his birthday fell on a Thursday, so we decided to have his party on that following Saturda1211y. We of course had to make his actual birthday fun still though! Our friend's the Pace's told us how they decorate their kid's doors so when they wake up the morning of their special day they have a decorated door and I fell in love with the idea so I just had to do it (thanks Carrie!) So the night before we decked out his door and in the morning he woke up and open his door and was so excited to see it and the present in front of it. We let him open it (it was Gator Golf from my parents) and then we had his favorite breakfast of juice and cinnamon rolls. After we hit up the doctors then went to lunch and build a bear, which is a tradition we have done since his 1st birthday. We ate at Cheesecake Factory where he got sung too then hit up Build a Bear (he talked non stop all day about it until we finally got there) and he made a dark brown bear that he dressed up like a fireman. He named it Firetruck. After we came home, all took naps, and had a fun relaxing family evening watching the movie Up. I think Dawson would give the day a 2 thumbs up.

That Saturday we had his birthday party at Jumpin' Jacks. Can I just say how nice it was to NOT have to clean before, prepare food, decorate, etc. and just show up somewhere and have them clean up after us? Fabulous!! It was totally stress free for me and I loved it. I made some cupcakes, bought ice cream and balloons and we were set. We had family, friends, and some of Dawson's friends too. Usually Jumpin' Jacks is really mellow and not busy but for some reason that day everyone and their mother decided to come. It was still fun, and the kids loved it, but it was loud and crazy for sure! The kids played, Dawson opened presents, we had cake and ice cream, then we played some more! Dawson came home with a trunk full of toys that has kept him busy for hours since. I decided not only were the presents for Dawson, but me too because he has been so content lately playing it has been great! Thank you everyone who came and supported D! What a blessing it is to know we have such great family and friends that love us and our little man!

Dawson at 3!

2009-11-19T11:19:00.001-08:00

Yes, my little Dawson is 3 and I cannot believe it! I am enjoying 3 and all the imagination, independence, energy, and talking that goes with it. It still amazes me some of the stuff he says now, and how he is speaking in full sentences holding conversations with people. At his doctor's appointment, Dawson weighed in at 27 pounds and was 35 inches tall. He hit the 10th percentile for weight, jumping from the 2nd percentile he was in, well, for all of his previous life! The doctor said he is healthy and on track, and was impressed with him being able to identify some numbers and letters (that made me feel better because I feel like I need to work on it more with him!) Everyone has told me 3 is the magical number for potty training, and as of this week I am wondering if it really is true. The last 4 days in a row he has FINALLY started telling us he needs to go poop and has pooped in the potty! Hopefully he will keep up with it and we have turned the corner. He does well with peeing in the potty, but we still need to remind him every hour but now he goes and does it himself. He actually now has to be a "big boy" and stand on his stool to pee. Cross your fingers for us that we have figured it out! As of this week I have started to have "preschool time" with him for an hour twice a week to work on letters, numbers, shapes, songs, etc. I was worried about him sitting for an hour but he seemed to really enjoy it, and it kept him quiet during Emerson's morning nap...bonus! Here is some stuff about Dawson at 3:

*Some of his favorite foods are all fruits, corn, peas, peanut butter, cheese, cookies, yogurt smoothie drinks, chocolate milk, mac and cheese, grilled cheese, lasagna, and bread. He hates sauce and anything that looks saucey he says ewww mom, it's sauce!
*He loves animals, especially cows, horses, dogs, lions, elephants, and giraffes.
* He can identify the letters A,B,C,H,O,R,S,T and numbers 2,5,8, and 9.
*He can get frustrated easily lately. If he is trying to put on his pants or do something and it's not working out he gets angry quickly.
*He is now amused by good guys vs. bad guys and he is a typical boy who likes rough housing, pretending to shoot things, playing chase, and being loud.
*He is really sweet with Emerson and is soft with her most of the time, and he calls her "pretty girl."
*He hates naps and always tells me he doesn't want to take one but always falls asleep.
*He is a mama's boy through and through. He will push limits with Chris and not do things as easily for Chris but the minute I tell him to do something he will do it and not push it.
*He still loves playing cars and dinosaurs.

We love you Dawson!

Emerson at 4 Months!

2009-11-16T19:20:00.000-08:00

So, yet again I have some catch up to do. We will start with Emerson's 4 month update since that happened first then move on to Dawson's 3rd birthday (next post!) Anyways, I scheduled a doctor's appointment at the same time for D & E since her 4 month appointment and his 3 year one were less then a week away. It was on the 12th, Dawson's birthday, but it was in the morning and I knew he wasn't gonna have any shots so it would still be a fun day for him. Anyways, so that's why I am later on her 4 month update...but here goes!

I am lovin' 4 months! Emerson is becoming so much fun with all the interaction we have with her now. She smiles non-stop, coos, makes the funnest noises, and laughs. She has a lot more head control now and can roll from tummy to back. She weighed in at 10 pounds 3 ounces, still 2nd percentile, still mini, BUT Dawson was 10 pounds even at this age so she is actually a bit bigger then he was at this age! She is 24 inches long, putting her in the 57th percentile, making her long and skinny, and giving me an explanation why she still can't fit her jeans around her waist! Here are some tidbits about Em right now:

*She sleeps great at night. Naps are a different story. If she is in her swing or we are holding her she cuddles in and sleeps for a good 1 1/2 to 2 hours. If we lay her in her crib, she sleeps 45 minutes then wakes up screaming. We are working on it.
*We have hit the "distracted eater" phase. She eats good for the first 5-7 minutes then wants to eat, stop, talk, eat, stop, look around, talk, eat, stop, etc. When we burp and switch sides I'm lucky if I can get her to eat for 5 minutes with out her wanting to look all over the place!
*She can roll from her tummy to her back.
*She laughs at funny noises, singing, and making silly voices and faces.
*She really has taken a big notice to Dawson and loves watching him. If she is crying and I need a couple more minutes before I can get her, I can tell Dawson to go talk to her and she will stop crying as soon as he does....ahhh the perks of an older sibling!
*She is liking baths more and kicks and splashes.
*She loves grabbing toys and they go straight into her mouth. She will now be entertained by "playing" with her toys.
*She's a drooler.
*She still gets dolled up everyday with a headband and bracelet.
*She likes sitting up and has started sitting in her bumbo more now.
*She does the cutest nose scrunching smile, and does it mostly for her Daddy.
*I dunno if it is a coincidence, but at times if Dawson is playing and he is being loud and rough, Emerson will make this whiny, bossy, loud noise that almost sounds like she is telling him to knock it off. I think she is gonna be the boss of him.

We are loving our little girl and think she is the cutest thing around!

Halloween '09

2009-11-01T21:20:00.000-08:00

To end the month of October and finish all of our Halloween festivities, we had a very enjoyable Halloween day. Dawson was a dragon this year and played the part well and Emerson was a ladybug. Can I just say, she cracked me up in her costume. I would just look at her and giggle. She was so round and poofy in it, like a throw pillow. You could sit her up on the couch and she wouldn't move at all because her costume held her in place. Everytime she wore it I swear she would give me a look like, seriously mom, again? Then she usually would just fall asleep because she couldn't move or do anything in it. Too funny. Anyways, we took it easy in the morning, lounging around and doing nothing (so nice!) then went to our ward's Trunk or Treat. Christopher walked around carrying Emerson as Dawson went trick or treating. He loved it this year. Last year was fun, but this year, he totally understood what was up and was 100% into it. After the trunk or treat we headed over to Tammy and Rob's for the Olsen's annual Halloween Bash. Again, it was a great time and Tammy threw a wonderful party with yummy food and fun games. The costumes were a no fail either. Chris and I were from the 80's, Tammy and Rob were the Blue's Brothers, Cassidy and Jared were Jon and Kate (hilarious!), and Dave was a baker and Brandy had a shirt with an oven that read "bun in the oven" (super cute!) There were many more great costumes there too. What a fun Halloween we had!

Catch Up!

2009-11-01T15:48:00.000-08:00

So I have a bunch of catching up to do so make sure you scroll down to see all three new posts and check back soon for some more!

Fall Festivities- Part 2

2009-11-01T15:27:00.000-08:00

Here is Part 2 of our fun fall activities!
1. Library Halloween Story Time- The library does a Halloween themed story time for the kids that is always fun. The kids get to come in costume and read a few Halloween stories, sing some songs, then make Trick or Treat bag. After the kids get to Trick or Treat around the library. This year we were joined by Summer and Reece!

2. Halloween Playgroup Party- This year my friends Summer, Stacy, and I threw a little Halloween Party for the kids. We had lots of spooky food like mummy dogs, deviled eggs, bones and blood (breadsticks and sauce), mummy pizza, and a TON of goodies! The kids got to make a visor craft, play games, and run around and scream. Us Mommies got to chat!

3. Carving Pumpkins- This year we had dinner and pumpkin carving at our house. We enjoyed Taco Soup, Rolls, Salad, and an array of goodies then got our carve on. Dawson was absolutely disgusted with the pumpkin guts and I wish I got his face on camera when I first lifted the top off my pumpkin and a bunch of goop came with it. It was priceless. I would say we have some pretty good lookin pumpkins! After we got out our costume box and goofed around...I think Dawson makes a pretty cute girl, and I got to see what Emerson might look like when she is a bit older (but with blonde hair!)

Fall Festivities- Part 1

2009-11-01T15:01:00.001-08:00

We have had a busy October. I LOVE all the fun activities there are to do around here during the fall time, I try to take advantage of it all! Here are some of the things we did this month:
1. Wee Witches Weekend at Gardner Village- This is the second year they have done this and the second time we have gone. This year we went as a family and it was a great time! The kids get to wear costumes, walk in a parade, do crafts, get their face painted, they have food, all the witches are out, and this year they had a scavengar hunt that ended with a cookie.

2. Ride to a Witch at Gardner Village- This is our third year doing this, and it is becoming a tradition to go with Jen, Jeremy, Selina, and Cameron. Unfortunatly, this year Selina was out of town, so we will catch them next year! It used to be Ride With a Witch and you took a carriage ride with a witch who told stories and did "magic." This year, you took a wagon ride to this old train car that is the witch's home. You go inside and they talk to you, then you go outside and it's all decorated with lots of fun stuff.

3. Witches Night Out at Gardner Village- Every year I go with my dear friends Tammy, Brandy, and Cassidy to Witches Night Out. This year unfortunately our lead Mama Witch Tammy was sick with swine flu, so we had to go without her and it just wasn't the same. We were joined by Cassidy's two sisters and had a lovely time eating dinner at Winger's then enjoying the festivities of music, sales, cackling, and a butt load of witches at Gardner Village. PS This year Tammy got us these super sweet long eyelashes. I opted for silver ones....they were a bit catastrophic, but the black ones that Brandy and Cass had were great! Note to self, get black next time :)

4. Pumpkin Patch at Wheeler Farm- This year we went to Wheeler Farm to pick our Pumpkins...for the fabulous price of $7 a person you get a hayride, corn maze, hay maze, and a pumpkin of your very own! Who can beat that? We were join by the Fuller's and Dawson and Parker even walked away with some sweet sword balloons. We also checked out all the animals, and got to feed a cow some grass, which I think made Dawson and Parker's day. This thing would seriously slurp the grass with half their hand. There was some major disinfecting going on after...we don't want to start a cow flu epidemic now do we?! Sorry, bad joke.

Let Me See Your Cheese!

2009-11-01T14:49:00.000-08:00

So as I blogged recently, my awesome friend Carrie took pictures of our cute little fam (if I do say so myself!) She is a great photographer and so fun to work with...I think she took close to a million picks of us (ok not that many, but a lot and we have a ton of cute ones!) It was so hard for me to decide which ones to print for my house! Here are some of my most favorite ones (I love the ones she posted on her blog too but I left those ones out since you've already seen them :)

The Sillies with Dawson

2009-10-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

Here are a few things that have come out of Dawson's mouth lately that have given us a laugh. They might not be as funny as if you were there, but we found them humorous!

Chris: Dawson, we need to go now so we need to pick up your toys. I'll help you if you want.
Dawson: That's ok, I'll watch you do it (as he leans against his dresser.)

Yesterday I was putting on orange and black striped tight for Witches Night Out (post to come about that) and Dawson walked into the room. He gave me a weirded out look and said to me "That's not right, mom."

While I was driving the other day, the car in front of me did a fast stop so I was forced to too. Dawson said: "Be careful, mom!" "That too fast." "Go slow!"

Newest excuse to not do stuff: "I'm too little."

Newest excuse on why not to take a nap: "No thanks, mom. My ears get too hot."

When he sits on the potty to go pee, he will push and if it doesn't come right away he tells us, "It's not working." When he finally goes he says, "It works!"

Chris and Dawson go to BYU football home games and watch all the away games on tv, and this year being older Dawson has gotten into it a bit more. He must listen to what Christopher says cause today he was watching the guy run the ball and said "Go, go, get in there!"

When he does something wrong and knows he is gonna get sent to time out he tries to get out of it by coming up to us, giving us a hug and kiss and saying "I'm sorry mom/dad, that's my fault."

Emerson's Baby Blessing

2009-10-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday Emerson was blessed by her Dad, Chris. We had our close family and friends in attendance, and it was a beautiful blessing. Tammy and Cassidy were kind enough to write down the key points of her blessing for me, something I wish I had done with Dawson. Here are some of the things she was blessed with:
-She is a special daughter of God
-She will be blessed with faith throughout her life
-She was blessed to know of her Savior and His Atonement and to be close to Him through her life
-Blessed to know her parents love her so much
-Blessed to be valiant, faithful, keep the commandments, and be baptized
-She will be blessed with a righteous young man to take her to the Temple and treat her like a queen
-Blessed that when the time comes she will teach her family the Gospel
-Blessed with knowledge
Afterward, everyone came to our house to eat and socialize! We had tons of food, everyone was kind enough to offer to bring something...and I mean everyone...I told some people not to worry about it and we STILL had tons of food leftover. Thank you to everyone who came and helped out and showed your love and support!!
PS My friend Summer let me borrow her daughter, Reece's blessing dress. Her Mom MADE it! Amazing huh? It's beautiful and I thought Em was gorgeous in it!