Disney on Ice

We went to Disney on Ice and it was AwEsOmE to say the LEAST. We loved it!!! You should have seen all of the little girls in their dresses!  At first I was worried that it was an all girls event, but as soon as Mickey and Minnie and the clan came out on to the ice Dawson's eyes were glued after that! He doesn't like to admit it but he is such a little ROMANTIC!! 

A little romantic

Today Dawson and I played with dinosaurs. We had the dinosaurs battle each other. Once most of the dinosaurs died a horrible death by being eaten, there were two T- Rex dinosaurs left. I was ready for the next battle and all of the sudden Dawson, said... Hi whats your name, so I answered, speaking for my dinosaur. All of the sudden his dinosaur starts kissing my dinosaur on the lips. He said that my dinosaur was pregnant with an elephant and that the two T-Rex dinosaurs were going to have a baby!

WOW!

THE BEST ADOPTION POST EVER!

Even if you are not linked with adoption PLEASE read this.  This is the best explanation that I have ever read! Thanks Andee Leigh who wrote this! Here is the link to her site:

"Wish I had parented?"

The adoption walk is coming up!

Dawson's funny

This morning Dawson and Dan were talking about their muscles. I came in and asked Dawson if he would make me some breakfast  for me.

 He said, "I'm just a kid mom".

Dan said, "Dawson I will help you okay?"

Dawson said "okay Dad, I'm going to trust you" (to help me make breakfast).

He is so literal, yet he has this really funny sense of humor. Then we were then sitting on the table discussing what we are going to do today. Dan wrote down, kiss Dawson, so Dan started giving Dawson kisses and he's sitting here giggling. Now Dawson is dictating to Dan what to put on our to do list. He said, "put down clothes, laundry, watch Wipe Out, sleep, um let me think", then he mimics Winnie the Pooh and starts tapping his forehead, ""think, think, think," and then he spouts out "Let's Have Fun!"

An update: I just got my cereal poured by Dawson, it went everywhere  but he got so much into the bowl he was so proud of himself. We gave him a high five and he's feeling pretty good about himself!

Fun with Shaving cream

A few Sunday's ago Dawson ran upstairs to go potty before we left for church... it was taking a little while so we told him that it was time to leave, he ran downstairs and said, don't worry guys I'll clean it up! As Dan loaded Dawson in the car, we both glanced at each other, so I went upstairs to see what he got into. Our house is pretty child proof but there are always possibilities. So I went into the bathroom and he had emptied Dan's entire can of shaving cream while he was "using the facilities" he also covered the vacuum with shaving cream. Why is it that when you are a mother and your child does something like this you can't get mad at them?? Of course we had him clean it up!

We are all trying to get a little stronger

For some reason every time I post a video it repeats it and won't let me erase the second one

Pears anybody?

Hmm. At least he put it back on the plate

Ha ha I love this little boy!

Dawson made this picture for his birth family who were in town last weekend

It's Christmas time!

Yesterday we ( I ) began to listen to Christmas music. I know, I know. It was still Halloween. Which we had an awesome Halloween! Dawson scored 2.8 pounds of candy. Regulation my friend regulation. We had candy for breakfast, then had a good portion of oat groats with cinnamon and banana's- YUM!

But if you are like me and you enjoy the Christmas season, I highly suggest the Josh Groban Holiday station on Pandora. 

Last year, since Halloween was on a Sunday, we did our trick or treating on Saturday. So...we put up our tree that Sunday, October 31st. I am not sure when we will get our tree up this year, soon, so very soon.

I feel like so much of the Christmas season is about commercialism. The gifts.... but its not about that at all. Yes! We still do gifts and enjoy it, but we really love starting the season early in our family because we have the  time to relish in what the holiday is really about, Christ, love and giving.  So to you our readers I wish you       Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Halloween Everybody!!!

Dan and Dawson played Halloween music while they read ScArY (not too scary) stories each night in the dark with a flash light and try to spook each other. They also decorated Dawson's room with all sort's of decorations. We have been roasting marshmallows with a candle and dressing warmer. We have done a lot of fun Halloween activities and we went to a football game last night in which our team won!! Happy Hallows eve to everyone!!

Happy Birthday to our friend

Me and Dan, we are team mates

I am so glad I have Dan by my side

Simplicity

Dan and I are doing major reorganizing our entire house!!! We have been redecorating, switching rooms around, our goal is to become more simplistic.

I have been reading a really awesome book

Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne and Lisa M. Ross

I love it! There are a few other's that I have been reading lately.  And organizing even more. I asked Dawson to put all the toys he wants to keep on his bed, and he did an AwEsOmE job! The rest we donated or.. we put in a storage bin for our future children. He still has many toys left, and super hero dress ups but it is to nice to organize all of his things.

 I usually enjoy organizing, but I have not gotten rid of a lot of stuff... I donate a lot but I have gotten down to the nitty gritty. And after reading the book I am pairing down even more. A week ago Dan and I had talked about getting and i pad or something, how nice would it be to organizing my grocery shopping, schedule and everything else.... but after reading this book I have decided to UN-PLUG!

Neither Dan or I have a Face book account and I have decided to text less and check email less. I rather see someone in person, or talk on the phone. In which we got a land line, using a cell as much as I have can not be good for my health.

Although we have our work cut out for us, it already has made things more relaxing, calm and peaceful. 

 President Thomas S. Monson said: “If you are concerned about providing financially for a wife and family, may I assure you that there is no shame in a couple having to scrimp and save. It is generally during these challenging times that you will grow closer together as you learn to sacrifice and to make difficult decisions.”¹⁰

And Dan the Man, or should I say MY MAN was recognized as a Leader at work and was given an award at an award Banquet.

Proud of you Dan the man! You are Dantastic and I honor you!

Thanks Dan

Thanks Dan for all of our conversations! I Love YOU!!! woot woot!

The rOlleR cOaStEr........

A few weeks ago, Dan, Dawson and I all went and did the Alpine Coaster, in Park City. You start off being pulled up a mountain and then the track turns and you begin your CrAzY decent down the coaster. Dan had me load onto my coaster car first because he knew that if he and Dawson went first I would back out!! He also knew that if I took Dawson I would cry the whole time because I would be scared for him and scared for myself and sure enough I would have to be assisted down.

 I want to show you two videos that I am sure depict Dan and Dawson's trip down and then my trip down, but before you see them I want to explain how they work. There is a lever you pull back towards you to brake and to go there is no gas you just push the lever forward...a little forward so you don't crash or.... as Dan did with Dawson, a whole lot of lever all of the way. Me, I did not use a lever only for breaking. See if you don't push it forward gravity and the hill take you down. There was a moment when I was going down a spiral as I was before Dan and Dawson and I had to yell and pray that they heard me... SLOW DOWN!!!

Although you are strapped in you still swing from side to side so Dan had one arm around Dawson so that he would not sway and Dan had the other arm pushing down on the lever full throttle.


Here is what my ride was like ( but in the video its a guy!!) way ScArY!!!!!

Here is what I imagine what Dan and Dawson's ride was like:

In a few days this will be us... and on this one... I go FULL THROTTLE!!  It's so much fun and a little tip..the  side that says "SLOW" are not they are the older tracks and they are actually faster than the others!! WOOT WOOT!

"Are your gonna put it on tid wock"

Today Dawson wanted to play a Curious George game on PBSkids.com. Whenever we let him watch DVD's on the computer we put a kid lock on the computer so that he can not get online. So when he asked if he could play Curious George he said, "are you gonna put it on tid wock tuz I will be sad if you do" I thought that was pretty funny!

He seems to be exploring his independence. Last night before Dan could even announce what we were having for dinner he said, "I don't want that I want something else"

A few mornings ago I made him an awesome breakfast, and he looked at it and began to pretend to be sick. He continued to fake vomit (dry heave) just typing this it makes me want to throw up, the sounds were so real. He just didn't want to eat what I had prepared, he wanted "sumfing different".   I told him he could either eat his breakfast or go take a nap! Well after an hour and fifteen minutes he FINALLY ate it. Please tell me this happens to you too!!! Please comment!!

Planking

Dawson's baby

Sometimes Dawson has to come to church activities with me. We did an activity where we handed out water balloons and told the children that they were to be treated as a baby. The objective was to see how long each  lasted with out being popped. Dawson was given a balloon too! Out of all the 8-11 year old's, he was the only child left with a balloon. He took it sooo seriously that when we got home from church we put it in a container to be safe. 

 Over the weeks it went the way of all water balloons.

Now we just need to figure out how to get rid of it with out him being too upset! 

I just asked him now that it popped can we throw it away?? He adamantly said, "NO" why? be tuzz it's my baby!!!

so here is sits on my kitchen counter, because its his "BABY"

He has also told us that when we do have a baby that if any kids are not nice to the baby at the park he is going to punch them in the face. So we talked about "appropriate punching" and with Dawson's questions we all three came to the conclusion that there are sometimes that you may need to punch someone in a life or death situation but not at the park. There we told him to walk away if someone is not being nice and to take his baby with him!! We also told him to focus on the nice kids at the park so that he can make friends with them. We also talked about conflict resolution, I think it went well.

We eat our boogers!

The other day Dawson asked why his teachers won't let him eat his boogers while in class??

We are really trying to vamp up our culinary skills at home as a gluten free family:

In an attempt to take matters into his own hands, due to my lack in culinary skills and good recipes, Dawson has tried the following:

Earwax: tastes like soap

Ants: good

Dirt: good

Boogers: good and comforting at night time

poop: worst ever (accidental ingestion, long story)

finger nails: good but not allowed (not to say the above list is acceptable but nails?? those cant be good they're so darn sharp!)

Too much gluten free bread: rapid fire diarrhea

Ice cream: good main course!

To support him in his adventures we shared some boogers as a family: I think these are dinosaur boogers, these are a lot bigger than human boogers!!

Swimming

This picture makes me laugh!

I think we are going to put Dawson in swim lessons! I used to be an instructor but I think it will be good for him to take a class with his peers!! We also want to get in soccer however he wants to tackle while playing soccer. We told him that's only okay in football and he won't play tackle football until he's 8. I saw that there is a father's son wrestling class at our rec center for boys Dawson's age... hmmm

An innocent conversation

Minutes before kick off to the Utah vs. BYU football game Dawson and Dan were at the park. There was a little boy dressed like this.........

Dawson looked over at him Dressed like this...

the conversation went like this...

With much attitude Dawson said to the little boy...

"you're going down"

(the conversation between the two little boys was innocent because they were on the swings at the same time)  

Me and Dan and our future selves ....together

This post is brought to you by the letter C

 Today Dawson demonstrated his ABC skills by creating the letter C with my....strap from the clean laundry pile. I think this is a sign that the preschool program we do at home is going well!

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
E. M. Forster

Chickens

My mom got some chickens and Dawson has loved holding them!! His favorite is Ms. Sophie (above).  We hope to have our own chickens someday!

We are out of toilet paper and other things...

Dear blog readers or should I say, reader, there have been some requests for some updating.... things have been a little like this note in the bathroom that my love wrote sometime in the wee hours of the morning... so so sorry Dan.  

 Ive been a little more occupied than usual!! 

Please stay tuned!!

This ones for you ROCK STAR!

Are you in?

We need your help! Please share the love! Scholarships for birth mothers  is doing a yard sale, August, 20th in Provo, Utah from 8am-1pm. If you have anything you may be able to donate let us know you can contact me via email: itsusdanandemily@gmail.com


The following is a quote from their website: Scholarships4birthmothers
"This is a non-profit organizations started just for birthmoms!!

WHAT WE ARE ABOUT!!

At the beginning of every semester we will accept applications for the available scholarships.


The scholarships are exclusively for girls who have placed their babies for adoption.


All the funds can be donated to our fund at the bank and can be made by businesses or individuals. Even if only 100 people donated 20 dollars each that is 2 x 1000 dollar scholarships.


Everyone who donates will have their name and a link to their site or information or it can be done anonymously.


For more information email
birthmothers4adoption@gmail.com"

I found it! in the bread machine!~

I want you all to know that we will be posting more pictures! We have looked and looked and looked for our camera and could not find it, Until I looked in the bread machine! I will not say who I think it was that hid it there but, it wasn't me and it wasn't Dan!

"I'm so drinky"

Dawson doesn't want to sleep in his own bed tonight. He had announced that he is hungry, there might be monsters, he is cold and that he does not have a choice to go to bed. A smart one we have, so his solution is that he watches a movie while Dan and I sleep. He promises that he will keep the noise down so it won't keep us up. When we told him that a movie was not an option he told us that he is so "appointed" ( disappointed). His little words make me smile! Yesterday he said, "I'm so drinky" (thirsty).

He is also discovering new things. He had his first little "man sweat". He was running around outside and felt the top of his head. He asked why his head was so wet? I told him it was man sweat! And it was sweet like sugar not stinky!

Oh, I love this little boy!!!

Why?

what does it mean when you go for a Sunday walk and you tell your husband that you feel a little discouraged and with out missing a beat a bird poops on you?

Later reviewing what happened the conversation went like this:

Emily: Dan do you realize that right when I told you that I felt discouraged a bird pooped on me?

Dan: No, Emily it was more like this, "Dan I kind of feel dis...AHHHHH!

Romeo Romeo

Where art thou Romeo??

Today was a day, it was a good day! We talked to Dawson's Birth grandma who ate a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch just like we did two states away! Coincidence? I think not, we are family!

It's HOT all of the sudden we have gone from snow in June to above 90's, still in June. My air conditioning went out in our car and I just have not felt like going anywhere!

Ideally in the mornings I take a shower before Dawson wakes up...today he woke up right after me. In such a case I sometimes will wait until Dan comes home from work so that I can have a shower with out my super hero sidekick, after all even super hero's don't reveal their entire identity!

Evening was approaching and Dan was due to be home. I really kind of felt crummy after cleaning and doing other projects around the house. I really wanted a hot shower, I felt.... grimy!

I decided to take a shower really really fast and when I say fast, 15 minutes in my long shower! I had the feeling to close my front room window... but why? I have my clothes with me, I will change in the bathroom when I am done, it's perfect!

So here I am 2 seconds into my hot shower and momentary escape with soap in my hair and I hear... HI MOM!!! I look down and a little naked Dawson hops in.....uh.... Hi Dawson?! 

I told him to hop back out, I hadn't realized that the shower curtain had collected a ton of water....Swoosh!!  the floor was an instant swimming hole. I quickly threw my towel down mop up the water (which was my only towel in the bathroom). I quickly told Dawson to go get another one from the clean laundry upstairs. I told him there is a big red towel in a blue laundry basket in daddies office. 

He comes back down and hands me a hand towel :). I tell him to try one more time and tell him again where to find the big red beach towel ( because I know there will be more water to be mopped up).

While I am waiting for him to bring me the towel I finish rinsing out my sudsy hair and my privacy curtain falls from my bathroom window. Yes, this is over a 2x2 foot window. We have privacy glass but we have been told by neighbors that it conceals nothing! Nothing...

I have no choice but to rinse off  and pray no one sees me in the window!

I dry myself off with the hand towel...I couldn't put my dry clothes on sopping wet, have you ever tired that? I have it doesn't work and while I am about to prance my way down the hall into our bedroom,  I notice... my front room window is WIDE OPEN! Well if they didn't see it before they have seen it all now and I prance gracefully down the hall trying to conceal my self and I leap into my room where I know I have a clean towel ( yes my folded laundry piles are everywhere in fact today is laundry party day where we all work together to put it away, because sometimes I just do not get it all done, who does).

I dry off, ah I think to myself.. okay okay start all over again, it's going to be a great evening. Where are my clothes??? AH! I forgot to grab them on my way down the hall... I prance back down the hall into the bathroom and get dressed. 

Okay, Okay it's going to be a great evening, I can't wait till Dan comes home! I mop up the little wet foot prints from Dawson going back and forth trying to find the right towel. 

I feel the need to air out my feelings... I go into Dan's office, hello red towel!  I sit down and in a millisecond I think, Oh there is that water bottle I thought to take downstairs with me before I showered so Dawson doesn't ...oh too late, water everywhere.

Okay okay... get this out, Dan will come home, it's going to be great, wait no, I'm starting to feel a little frustrated......  WHACK!!!!

 the sound of a little Dawson on the hard floor, I thought I had cleaned up all the water but Dawson must have found a little bit of water on the Kitchen Floor and slipped on it! I race down the hall, while Dawson tries to make his way to me at the same time bloody lip and all

and with typing these last three words Dan just pulled up... 

Shake it momma!

I was teaching Dawson how to cut watermelon with a butter knife, a good song came on the radio and he said, " shake it momma' I busted up laughing so hard I almost peed my pants. Then I start signing and he says, "mom, don't sing" no matter how hard I tried he would not tell me why? I wonder if it has anything to with the same reason when I sang to him when he was ten months old and he covered his ears and shook his head back and forth??? 

This is Beautiful!!

Crocodile tears

Tonight, before Dan came home from work, Dawson fell asleep long before his bedtime!! We couldn't get him to wake up. I came upstairs and it was late (10:00pm). Dan fell asleep in our room just as Dawson woke up! he said, I am going to go get daddy. After I relayed the news that Dan had gone to sleep for the night, Dawson cried and cried and cried, the went into the bathroom and came back out with a huge roll of paper towels ( ya know the paper towel rolls that are like twice the size of normal ones?) clutched under his arm. It was really random to say the least so I asked him what he was doing with it? I was trying not to laugh when he said, "it is for all my tears, because I didn't get to wrestle with daddy"

Here you go..

Being a mom there are a lot of situations that make you wonder.... where did they come up with this stuff?  I was having some private time in the potty and Dawson ran in, I said excuse me privacy please  so he ran in and gave me a kiss and ran back out!

or when we are in the car and he asks us, " if we know how to drive this thing" why he says this we do  not know we are careful drivers!

Then he said mom! I need a girlfriend! Dan and I tried not to laugh and so I asked  him what he would do with his girlfriend? He said, " go shopping and stuff, talk and hang out." Huh?  Well I guess that exposes what Dan and I do at home.

What's for dinner?

After an unsuccessful dinner for Dawson, he finally decided he was hungry. Upon questioning what he wanted to eat he said, "frosting".

Hmmm...Now that I think of it he may be on to something!