still going strong!

So we had an accident the first night with Dawson sleeping in underwear and one later on the next morning but since then we have been dry! He even got up in the middle of the night to potty! So no wet sheets this morning and I had let him sleep in a little bit. We're ready for another great day! This is a lot easier than I thought.....

Dawson has been saying lots of funny things lately. The other day he took a pillow off our bed and was pushing it around the floor. I caught him and told him thanks for adding to the laundry pile for the day. His response.....no problem mom! He also makes up conversations for everyone who can't speak for themselves (sister, the dogs, scoop the tractor) each morning Dawson helps me feed and water the dogs and he'll use this "deep" voice and say "mommy give me my food, hurry mommy" I guess that's what Duke and Leo are thinking when we feed them. Silly boy!

I just wanted to let James know I was proud that he passed the initiation to the car club. He was voted into the No Limits club this week. I wasn't to excited about the club at first but after meeting everyone and seeing all the wonderful things they do to help the community, I had a change of heart. They definetly aren't your run of the mill car club.....at least from the ones I saw in Huntsville. Congrats baby! I also want to say what a wonderful husband I have. He has been working from 6-9 almost everyday for the past few weeks so we can have a great Christmas and get completely out of debt. He works really hard during the day and still comes home and plays with the kids and spends time with me. I don't know how he manages all of it but I am so proud of him! Thank you sweetheart!!!!!

Day one.....

So before Ellie was born we started potty training with Dawson and he did really well. I thought this would be so easy and we'd be done in no time. He caught on fast......then we hit a major road block......sister was born. From the day we brougt her home, Dawson has refused to go to the potty. Oh he'll occansionally go, if he's naked or if he thinks he can go with Dad in the store. I even threatened to not let him turn 3 (I kinda feel bad about telling him that) if he didn't start using the bathroom. He CAN do it, he just doesn't want to do it. I heard from a friend at church that she just quit letting her son wear diapers and within a week he was popping and peeing in the toliet. So I ran out of pull ups Sunday night and decided that was it. No more diapers, period. He wore one of Ellie's to bed (yes, he's little enough in the waist to wear her size 2 diaper. He can actually wear a 1 but its somewhat short in the behind ) and this morning we took it off and have been diaper free all day. We went to the store for a few hours, played outside the majority of the day and had a nap without ANY accidents. Not one!!!! He is even in bed with his underwear and told me he wouldn't pee on Bob the Builder tonight. (I'm glad I got him those sheets last week! Extra motivation!) Why didn't we do this sooner?! I know he will mess up sometime but I am so proud of him. I kept telling him every hour or so that I was really happy and proud he was still dry. He gave me huge high fives and hugs. Hopefully the rest of this week goes as well as today. Keeping my fingers crossed!

7 months!

Ellie is now 7 months old as of today. I can't believe my little girl is that old. Here are a few things that she is doing.....

Sitting up by herself

She has one tooth and a few more on there way

Smile, laugh, giggle

Blow baby bubbles

Feed herself toast/crackers

Pick up her toys and play with them

Make really cute noises when she awakes even though she gets up at 5 in the morning..

Sleeps from 8-5 during the night

Loves playing with her big brother and laughs constantly at him (is that a good thing?)

And the biggest one of all......she's crawling!!! She has been army crawling for weeks now and even had a few days when she would do an inch worm crawl. She would tuck her legs under her, stick her butt straight up in the air and slide forward on her arms. But now she has been crawling on her hands and knees for a few days. She's still a little wobbly and can only go about 3-4 feet before she falls but we can count it right?

We are so glad to have Ellie in our home. She is a wonderful little girl. Happy 7 months princess!!

8 Tag

8 places I like to eat…
Cypress Inn
Macaroni Grill
TGI Fridays
Cracker Barrel
City Cafe
Longhorn's
Mugshots!
IHOP


8 shows I like to watch…
CSI
American idol
Anything on the food network or HGTV
That's about it

8 things that happened yesterday…
It took 6 hours to make an 1 1/2 drive home from Gadsden (altenator belt came off and kept coming off)

James went and bought me tons of stuff to help me get over my cold....thanks baby!

I got tons of fresh garden veggies from Belinda....yummy!

Our neighbor came over and stayed later than I wanted him to

Dawson "played" his Bob the builder song for me on the piano

I picked out lots of toys for the kids Christmas

Both my kids went to sleep early........thank goodness!!!!

I came home from vacation to a clean house......I love coming home to a clean house and I will become obsessive about cleaning before go out of town......who are we cleaning for (Crystal).....the robbers!



8 things I love about Fall…-
Cool weather

Pretty leaves especially in Gadsden and Huntsville

Family gatherings

Cute sweaters and hats

Late nights curled up with my hubby in front of the fire place

Hearty soups and stews for dinner....they are the one thing I have never messed up knock on wood..

The festive mood everyone seems to be in all the time

The great sales this time of year

8 things on my wish list...
A new car

to finally have Dawson feel better....he's been sick for two weeks now

To travel to Italy just for lunch one day

Just be able to go anywhere I want to without having to worry about planning for it or the cost

For everyone in my family to at least give the gospel a chance...it's such a wonderful thing!

To give my kids the best start they can possibly have and for them to find true happiness in their life

To learn to not look back so much and fret over the past.

For it to snow enough to play in this year.


8 people I’m tagging…
Ann
Jessica
Joane
Sis Beck
Kim s
Megan
Kim
Kira

I can't rememer who has all done it so if you have sorry!!

Thanksgiving and Iron Bowl

We had a great Thanksgiving! We spent the weekend at my dad's in Gadsden and had a small Thanksgiving dinner with the family. Belinda did a great job! We had some trouble getting over there that made us a little late, the altenator wasn't working prpoerly but thanks to my wonderful husband and some redneck engineering (there are no part stores open on Thanksgiving)we made it just fine. I'm really thankful he knows so much about working on cars! Ellie really enjoyed Nana's sweet potatoes and Dawson ate plenty of the ham. But poor Dawson has had a bad cough all weekend which has dampened the weekend a little bit. I did get to hit the stores early Friday morning and that was a blast! We got some great deals and a few times we got the last item left! So we were standing at Wal-Mart in the toys department and were trying to decide if Ellie would be old enough for this walker/ride on toy when some lady picks it up off the shelf. She asks Belinda - Were you looking at this? Belinda tells her yes and she GAVE it to us! What the crap! It was the last one on the shelf and the last one in the store......poor girl, you can't be that nice on black Friday! Next time we looked at something, we put it in the buggy first then talked about it! We only spent a few hours out, from about 4:30 till 11:00 because for the second half we had Ellie and it was pretty cold out! The only thing we didn't get to do was to go see the lights at Noccalula Falls. Dad lives a few miles from them and they are so beautiful!!! You can takea train ride through the whole park and they have plenty of animals for the kids to pet and look at but it rained everyday and when it rains, they lose it down. I guess it gives us an excuse to come back!




A little update on James- he's doing alright but he's still pretty sore. His arm has almost healed up but part of the skin they used to close the wound has died and it has reopened. Pretty gross!! So tomorrow he will have to have it restitched and hopefully it will work this time. He took the rest of the stichtes out himself. Yuck!


All I want to say about the Iron Bowl is that it was the best game this year. To completely shut out auburn made my week! We watched the game with my dad and Tommy (both bama fans) and Belinda and Noah(both auburn fans) so I tried to be nice and not cheer as loud as I wanted to but as soon as the game was over James and I went to the kitchen and did a victory dance. Sweet victory!!! Roll tide!!!!!!!!! To make the game even better, both my sick kids slept through it. I'm glad they got to rest and I could watch the game uninterrupted. Roll tide roll! Gators here we come!

it happened.......

So today the inevitable happened. James totaled out his Harley. I knew it would happen, I just wish it had happened on a different week. We buried my grandfather a few days ago and I'm not over that and its a story to tell when I feel better about it. James is alright.....right now he has quite a few stitches and we are waiting on the rest of the tests to come back. So far there are no broken bones. Hopefully there are no internal injuries either.

So let's start from the beginning. I wasn't to thrilled about him riding the motorcycle but boys will be boys and he has had the motorcycle for about two weeks now and he has riden it constantly! But today I've felt weird all day. Other than going to class I stayed home and cleaned my house since it was neglected during the past week. But everytime James called I had the feeling to tell him extra that I loved him and to be careful. Somehow I knew it would be today. How grateful I am that I had that promoting!!! I was about to start dinner when I thought to call James and see where he was since he was a little late. I had the nagging feeling that something wasn't right. He answered and told me he had just wrecked the bike and I needed to come get it before they towed it off. Man was I scared!!!! I dressed the kids and had to change the carseats into the truck and take off. Luckily he wrecked near the house and it didn't take me long to get there. He was in the back of the ambulance when I got there so I checked on him, kissed him, all that good stuff then set out to try to get that nearly 500 pound motorcycle into the back of the truck. Thankfully there were three guys there to help - well do most of the work- and the truck is lowered a good bit. James, this is the only time I will be thankful you got us in so much trouble lowering that truck!!;) After we got the bike loaded, I followed the ambulance to the hospital. I have never seen so many people in the ER before!! There were tons of trauma patients and James was one of them. I was so grateful that Megan was working that night and got us back to the x-rays really fast! And she was so sweet to spend extra time with James helping him when he needed it. She was a life saver as were the home teachers who came by and gave James a blessing. And thank you so much Palmer family for watching the kids!!! That is a blessing beyond expression!!! So now we are just waiting for the CT scan to come back. He's throwing up a lot and that is worrying me but with his stomach problems it could just be stress. Let's hope so!

So how did this happen.... It has rained here off and on all day so the roads are wet and according to the witnesses a lady cut James off and stopped in front of him. He couldn't stop in time so he rear ended her and flipped over his handle bars and over her car!that's all he remembers! I know it hurt!

And so we wait.....I will update tomorrow and post some pictures. Thank you to everyone who called, came by or who are helping out. It means a lot to us to see how many people care and how many have sacrificed to help us out tonight! I also want to express my deep gratitude for the temple and the covenants we make.there. I know James was protected tonight. You can physically see the evidence with the road rash never going past his knees or elbows. I was told tonight that I would have lost my husband if he hadn't been wearing his helmet but I know it would have been worse if other commandments hadn't been kept either. I know Heavenly Father watches over us and loves us dearly. I don't know what I would have done had we lost James tonight.I am so glad for the protection he received tonight.

Veteran's day

I wanted to personally thank all the men and women who have served our country. It takes a special kind of person to fight for people you have never met and to put your life on the line for them as well. I think it is a noble and Christlike way of life. I would like to express my deep gratitude and respect for Dennis, Papaw, Grandad and granddaddy for their service in the Navy and Army. I love you guys more than I could tell you. Thank you again for all you have done for us!

Dawson

This is a little late but........

Dawson has turned 3!! I can't believe our little boy is 3 years old. It seems like yesterday we were rushing to the hospital to have him. So here's a little bit about Dawson and a few things you might not know about him.....

Dawson was born on Nov 3, 2005 at 846 in the morning. He was in a huge hurry to get here because we almost didn't make it to the hospital. My water broke at the house and when we got to the hospital you could already see his head. But everything turned out just fine and we even made it home in time for the Alabama game that Saturday.

His first year was great. He slept through the night by six weeks and it seemed like he never cried. Cousin Savannah taught him how to crawl at 8 months while we were visiting my sister in WA. A month later he was walking all over the place and hasn't slowed down yet!

We had no big injuries during his first year but as soon as he turned two he stuck his finger in a door and broke it. A few weeks later he fell in the bathtub and chipped his front tooth. I have yet to find a dentist who will fix it without putting a silver cap on it. It won't hurt him so we haven't put a cap on it since its his front tooth. Now bruises and cuts are a daily thing.

Dawson has grown into his nickname hot rod. Everywhere he goes he acts like a car. Seriously, he will stand in one spot and "rev" his engine up then take off while shifting gears. He can sound just like a car shifting. He even gets the number gears right. It's quite funny to watch! Needless to say, he loves any kind of car. He loves Thomas the train, Diego, Bob the builder and anything having to do with Lightening McQueen. He loves to play footballs and soccer. And dawson loves to run!!!! He also loves to help dad fix anything he can. He has his own set of tools that he uses to work on his toy cars.

Dawson thinks his daddy rules the world. He is his daddy's shadow. He even asks dad to move the sun if it gets in his eyes. How cute! Dawson is also a spitting image of James. Anyone who has seen James when he was little can atest to this. Anywhere or anything dad does Dawson wants to do too.

Some of Dawson's favorite things to say....
What's that for?
Let's take the truck daddy! (notice mommy and sister are not invited to ride in the truck)
I can't find the word!( this is when he gets tongue tied)
Ship!! (yes, he's trying to say a different word, not a good word but we won't blame dad for teaching it to him!)
That makes me nervous!(he got that one from me...I say it all the time)
I can't believe this! (usually he says this when he gets in trouble or has to ride in the shopping cart)

Some of Dawson's favorite foods......chicken and french fries(he will only eat these when we go out to eat. Good luck getting him to eat something else!)
Strawberries especially at Pa-pa's house
Hot dogs
Any fruit really
Green beans but only because of Grammy......thanks mom!

We had orginally planned to have him a birthday party at mom's the following weekend but we had an unexpected event happen so we'll have to reschedule. James and I did take hime out to the Mercedes museum which he LOVED and out to dinner at Ryan's. Dawson gave the waiters an evil look when they sang him happy birthday!!! We also took him to Toy's R Us to pick out a gift. Later that night we gave him a few more presents and had a birthday cake for him. Since he's been getting presents all week long from various family members, he thinks it's still his birthday! Thank you again!

We love you Dawson! You are wonderful big brother and the best son we could ask for. Happy 3rd birthday Dawson!!!!!!

Here are a few pictures of the kids from over the summer...
We took Ellie swimming in July, she didn't like it to much! Eventually she warmed up to the idea of swimming Dawson loves the movie Cars. It's been out for years now but it's still pretty big and it's about the only thing we watch when he's awake. We got him his own camping chair...it's Lightening McQueen and the shoes as well but those were retired shortly after this photo A few of my favorite pictures of Dawson in Dad's sunglasses....
And one of me and my babe.. Ellie's first trip to Mugshots (my favorite hamburger place in T'town, if you have a chance, try the peanut butter burger. I know it sounds gross but it's really good. The owner gave one to James to try and he brought it home to share and it was actually good. I wouldn't order it all by itself but we will get another burger and the peanut and split them. It's good that way. )

We took the kids to the park alot as well. Here are a few of my favorites from then...


I think Ellie looks a lot like me....
And a few more of the kids after church one Sunday...


Alright, that's enough photos for one day. Hope everyone enjoys them!

I know it's been a while since we've posted anything on our blog. Can I blame it on having another child around now? Things have been busy with adjusting to our now 4 month old ( I can't belive she's that old!) and with school starting again. I always have such a hard time with getting into classes. Apprently I can't fill paper work out very well because this is the second semester I had to start late because I answered one question wrong, the same one I messed up last semester. But after a while and the school getting shut down for the hurricane, I've finally started classes.

The kids are wonderful. Dawson is so independent. He likes to dress himself and pick out his own clothes. He has this yellow tank top he loves to wear and I have to sneak it away during his bath so I can wash it. I don't know why he likes it so much but he would wear it every day if I let him. And he loves Ellie. I don't think she cares all that much for him but he loves to hug on her and kiss her all the time. Sometimes she will smile and laugh at him but more than not she gives him "the look". He doesn't like her to sleep. He'll yell "Ellie, wake up!" if she falls asleep in someone's lap. Poor girl, she better get use to it though. Ellie rolls over and smiles and even laughs now. I have enjoyed having her around so much. It's not as different as I thought it would be.

I'll have lots of pictures to put up later this week but I thought I would catch everyone up!

Everything is changing..

Things have been so different since Ellie has come home. They haven't been bad...just different. We have a different schedule, different things to do and it has been a lot of fun. Dawson still hasn't gotten that jealous bug yet and I'm hoping he doesn't. He loves to hold Ellie and I've caught him picking her up twice (scared me really bad!). He always wants to play with her and loves to throw balls at her....he has a hard time understanding that she can't catch them!! But he makes sure she is in the room when we say prayers at night ( he tries making her fold her arms....still working on that!) and he loves to have her lay in bed with him while we read books.

Ellie is a such a good baby. She sleeps at least 4 hours at a time and usually only cries when she wants something. She likes to cuddle but she doesn't mine being by herself either. Our biggest problem is the cat being jealous of her. He is use to getting a lot of attention and we've neglected him lately.

We took the kids (wow, that looks weird) to the Quad to play yesterday. It was such a pretty day and we had a great time. Dawson chased squirrels around the trees and Ellie caught the attention of everyone who passed by.

I did accidently bloody Dawson's nose the other day. He was jumping over my leg, a game we play alot, and I moved my leg and he landed face first on the ground. His nose bleed so badly! He cried for a few minutes and I cried for a while. I felt so bad! But now we've had our first bloody nose. I tried taking a picture of it but they didn't turn out to well. Oh well! We'll have to be more careful next time!
a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8lipsA20-N2hn2Mzk26EDZpcJ5GV0Md55ye83c6wETHlB-mIDDrQRVMNUF7Wft6BekXStwljQ5mgoJXDfG96FYXzJusJ1TpPP-6j4gbcYjLVfmsLfPsfjhzm21Ys8YnCcRKHV0tFkr48/s1600-h/DSC02279.JPG">
Flowers Dawson picked for Ellie James playing Dawson like a guitar

She's here!

I know this has taken almost a week for me to do but Ellie is finally here and we have pictures!

On Thursday morning I started having contractions but they weren't to bad so I went and finished my exams and folded some clothes and I even spot cleaned the carpet in our living room. We went to the hospital aorund 2:30 that afternoon. By then I was almost 7 centimeters. Thankfully Megan came and took Dawson for us. (Such a life saver!) Things progressed normally from there. We decided to speed things up a bit and we broke my water around 8:30...then everything nearly stopped. But after some medications, my contractions came back and Eloise Michelle Brannon entered the world at 11:52 on May 8th weighing 7 pounds, 1 ounce and 19 1/4 inches long!!

We are really glad to have her here. And thank you so much for everyone who came and visited us and has brought us meals. You guys are truely a blessing! Dawson has really taken to Ellie too. He knew exactly who she was when they brought her in the room. He said "There Ellie, I lub you" So sweet! He tries holding her all the time and loves to sing to her.

We'll post more later but enjoy the pictures of our newest member!

Friday is the big day!!

We went the doctor today and we decided to have Ellie on Friday. I'm at 5 centimeters today and I don't want to want any longer. Actually there is a good chance we won't even make it until Friday according to the doctor. As long as it's after lunch tomorrow, I don't care at all! Reality is finally setting in. There is still alot that needs to be done before she gets here and not much time left to do it all. My biggest thing is to make tomorrow extra special for Dawson. I really hope he doesn't feel left out when she gets here. I keep telling him that everyone is coming to see him and Ellie, not just because she's going to be coming home with us. I"m not really sure he understands. I do know that the other day he was sitting in my almost nonexstience lap and had his hand on my belly when Ellie kicked him really hard. He jerked his hand away and said "What's that for Mommy?" He didn't care for her moving under him very much!

We took Dawson swimming today again. James and Dawson usually go everyday while I cook dinner but today I decided to go too. It was a little cold but very fun. Dawson said he was going to drink the pool and I think he really tried!


He was so proud of himself for walking down the first three steps all by himself. The water was almost to his shoulders at the bottom.

James wanted to take pictures of me and Dawson but at this point in the game, I don't think so but here are a few of my favortie pictures of the two of them.


James tried splashing Dawson too. I think the picture turned out pretty cute.


Finals are almost over. Only one left to go and so far I've done good on all of them...I'm so glad this semester is almost over!

***This is not for those with weak stomachs....we will be talking about poop.***

This week has seem to hold a common theme for us. Up until now, Dawson has never been concerned about what comes out of his bum but now it is a real fanstination for him. We've been potty training (again!) and he won't poop in the potty. He'll ask for a diaper than do his business. Twice this week he has rubbed the poop all over his walls. We've had sme serious talks about how yucky that was and how it might make us sick. After the second time, I thought I was done cleaning up others poop. Wrong! We woke up this morning to a horrible smell coming from the bathrooms. Apparently the sewer had backed up into our bathtubs and overflowed one of our toliets. It was the grossest thing I have ever seen or smelt! It took them until after lunch to finally get the drains working again...but we still had to clean the mess up. After about an hour and a half of scrubbing ever inch of both bathrooms, I think we got it all. I have never used so much bleach and Comet at one time but I feel assured that there isn't the slighest bit of anything left. James is cleaning the carpets for me right now just so all the floors are clean and there's no chance any germs are around. Hopefully we won't wake up to this ever again!

But other than our adventure this morning, today was fun. We met up with some friends at the park. The boys played soccer and I even had a few minutes of adult conversation without hearing "hey mommy, hey mommy...". The boys even went swimming after we got home and all the elders came over for dinner. Poor Dawson was exhausted by the end of the day. But he's sleeping so soundly now! This is a picture of Dawson and Will from today. Will is our neighbor across the hall and Dawson's adopted big brother.

One Down, Four to go..

This week has flown by! Tuesday we had a cooking class at church which was so much fun! We learned how to cook light and I have been craving salads ever since. I went to the store to find some fresh lettuce but it was gross looking. I haven't had a chance to go back and look again.
Wednesday we had our doctor's appointment. I am glad t o say that everything is going good (other than the 2 pounds I gained this week...what happened to losing the weight?) and we are currently at 4 centimeters and PRAYING nothing changes before next Thrusday. My last test is at 11:30 that day so if she could just hold off one more week....If it weren't for finals, they would have induced me yesterday. But the Doc said if we wanted to (and assuming she hasn't made her appearance) we could have little miss Ellie next Friday. Reality hit when she said that. I could have another child by next weekend..crazy! I'm excited for her to get here but I hope she waits till I finish this semester.Plus my doctor was kind enough to go on vaction this week. I really don't want anyone else delivering her.
Today I took one of my finals. At least that one is done and it wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. But it's off to study for tomorrow's...I'll post some new pictures up this weekend when life calms down a little!

I got tagged!

A. Attached or Single? attached
B. Best Friends? James, of course
C. Cake or Pie? I love anything sweet but the Oreo pies are awesome
D. Day of choice? Sunday, we have an excuse not to go anywhere or do anything other than church
E. Essential item? my craftmatic bed, well worth the money it cost. I have never slept on a more comfortable bed.
F. Favorite color? red!!
G. Greatest Accomplishment? my family
H. Hometown? It's a tie between Gulf Shores and Uriah, I like them about the same and spent equal amounts of time in both
I. Indulgences? I eat Blue Bell Vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries after Dawson goes to bed every night. Though I ran out of berries last night....note to self to go to the store AGAIN today
J. January or July? July, no school!
K. Kids? 1 1/2? Dawson and Ellie -who will make her appearence in the world very soon, less than three weeks!
L. Life is incomplete without? my family of course but I don't know if I could live without my "me" time, very important to me or unlimited long distance, I enjoy bugging my family all the time
M. Marriage date? May 28, 2005....a few weeks away!
N. Number of siblings? 10 - 2 step sisters, 3 step brothers, 3 half brothers, 1 bio bro and 1 bio sister, I think that's everyone
O. Oranges or Apples? Apples, granny smith's are my favorite
P. Phobias or fears? I'm still afraid of butterflies, not run away freaking out scared but I don't like them to be near me at all. A little weird, I know but hey- if I have to have one flaw...lol, just kidding!
Q. Quotes? It's nice to be important but more important to be nice
R. Reason to smile? my family and soon I will be able to see my toes again and wear normal clothes (and hold my little girl!)and classes are over next week!!!!
S. Season? I love them all but I like all the holidays during the winter
T. Tag three friends? Kim, Joane, and Elizabeth
U. Unknown fact about me? I'm pretty open so I don't know.....I can BS my way through almost any paper/essay question. I don't know how this happened but its not the first time, I had an essay question on a test a few weeks ago that I knew nothing about and one I knew (or thought I knew) everything about and I scored higher on the one I made up stuff about. Weird, but so is that professor....happens all the time though!
V. Very favorite store? TJ Max, Kirkland's, Goody's...any place I can find a good deal really
W. Worst habit? Putting things off until the very last minute....isn't that paper due this week...and finals are next week....
X. X-ray or Ultrasound? Ultrasounds, I get to have one on Wednesday! We're trying to see how big Miss Ellie is, I'm measuring a few weeks ahead of schedule
Y. Your favorite food? chocolate and strawberries and when the two get together, it's magic!
Z. Zodiac? Aries

Take me out to the ball game....

Last night we took Dawson to his first baseball game. Alabama played Auburn at home and even though we lost 5-4, it was still a great game. We had four of the Elders meet us there so that was neat too. One of them is from Jamacia and had never watched a baseball game before. Dawson couldn't decide if he liked the game or thought it was boring. He nearly fell asleep a few times but we didn't get there until 8:30 and he's usually in bed by 8.
They have fireworks on Friday nights (one ofthe reasons we went to this particular game) and we thought he would like them but he didn't. I think it was the lack of sleep combined with the loud noise but Dawson got a little upset by them. One the way home he wanted to see more fireworks though, go figure. I'm glad we got to go. Maybe we'll go to a few earlier games next week!

Recess on the Quad!!

Today was awesome! The Univeristy is very good about doing lots of cool things for the students and today was one of those days. They had tons of games, inflatables, free food!!, and cratfs for everyone to do for a few hours to help relieve the stress of finals. We went for about an hour and a half after my classes today. The boys got to slide down the huge slide and even the Elders came out and joined us. The best part was I got to spend some much needed time with my best friends Jennifer. We've known each other since we were 6 and even though we grew up on opposite ends of the state, it's funny how similar we are. I guess that's why we've stayed friends for so long!! We haven't gotten together as often as we would have liked this semester but we have at least one more year together before she moves to Huntsville. I love her to death and I envy the fact that she can embarrass James.....no one else has done it. She can tell you that story! Dawson also got to break the Elmo pinata and there was this mechanical bull there that was just to much fun to resist. Yes, I got on the bull ( 9 months prego and all!) with Jenn.....only for the picture though! James thought it was such a bad idea, he wouldn't even help me on the thing! But it was fun...alot of fun! James tried riding it a few times but never quite made it to the 8 seconds. Poor Dawson didn't want anything to do with it!

We also had a doctor's appointment today. I'm 9 months today and doing fine. I lost another 1.5 pounds, I don't know if you are suppose to do that but I'm not complaining. The thing I don't get...I've had ice cream after dinner every night for the past two weeks. It seems to help my heartburn (which I got a prescription for today....probably more excited about that than I should be!) But I'm 2 centimeters now, I'm not worried, I stayed that way for a month with Dawson. She's head first, thank goodness and everything is normal. The doctor says Mother's Day weekend is when we'll have her, I'm saying May 16th and James is saying May 20th. We'll have to wait and see!

We had the two of the Elders over tonight again. Will and Jennifer ate with us as well. We had a good discussion about the gospel with them. I love to have the missionaries teach in our home. Sometimes it's a little hetic with Dawson running around but he's learning to sit and be still during the lessons. The Spirit is just so strong and I love hearing about the Restoration over and over again. I think I learn something new or think about it a little differently each time. I love hearing the basic principles of the church taught. I think that's why I love going to the Gospel Principles class instead of the adult Sunday school. Everything is so basic, so simple yet so profound. It was a wonderful way to end our fantastic day!

Here are a few more of my favorite pictures from today....