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....

Today I got my grades from all my classes. I guess they let you know in advance so you know how hard you have to study for finals.....I'm doing good in all my classes, thank goodness! I have two classes that you have to master certain criteria in order to pass. So even if you make a B in the class, if you fail one of the topics, you fail the class. I thought it was crazy but they're part of our teaching classes. It makes sense that you have to master the material. But as of right now, as long as I don't bomb the finals, I'll pass with no problem. I'm almost sad to see this semester end but than again, not really! I think I'm most excited about selling my books back this week. Since I get them off a scholarship.....free money for me! Yay!

We had all 6 of our elders over for dinner tonight. We try to feed them at least twice a month ( all of them together). Sometimes we make it, sometimes we don't but it's always so much fun having them over. Dawson loves having all those "big boys" over to play with. He has one favorite, Elder Cardoso. He's from Mexico and has been out for about a year I think and Dawson thinks the world of him. He calls him Hawks, who was his first companion here. I'm not sure why he won't call him by his real name but Hawks it is for now. (I know he knows Cardoso's name because that's what he calls him when he not around) As soon as he gets here, Dawson pulls him into his room to play with and has to sit next to him at the table. I hope that being around the elders so much and having family membes serve missions will help Dawson to go when he gets older. I'm praying it will be an easy decision for him.

I have a few pictures from our trip back home that I finally loaded onto the computer. Jut thought I would share them with everyone! Yes, James is very dirty because he had to change a tire and it being Monroeville, there's not a tire store open on Sunday's so he and Bro. Marion improvised....aka, they had to blow the tire onto the rim. Very interesting!!

Bird Feeders

I've been promising Dawson for the past few weeks that we would make bird feeders. The plan was to do it with a few of his friends but between Brooklyn moving and it being cold when Kaeli was here we never got around to it. So we finally made them yesterday. They were just the simple pinecones rolled in peanut butter and bird seed but he really enjoyed making them. We have even had a few birds "stop by" the house and eat off of them! Dawson tried eating them as we were making them. It was funny watching him try to get all the bird seed off of his tongue. He didn't like the way it tasted. Hopefully he won't start eating the cat's food next!

Today is also Uncle Chuck's birthday. He is on a mission in Raleigh NC and is quickly approaching his one year mark in July. I am so proud of him going and for how much he has grown already. He's currently in Rockingham NC and is training a greenie. Happy 20th Chuck!

All boy....

There is nothing girly about our little man and he, like most boys, loves making bodily noises. After I helped him get dressed today, he had an awful noise come from his rump. I went to check if there was anything to be cleaned up ( it sure sounded like it needed to be!) and Dawson starts laughing so hard he can hardly stand up. It was just gas but the smell was HORRIBLE! Dawson says, "I have gas on Mommy!" and laughs even harder. Everyone he has talked to today, from Daddy to the check out lady at Wal-Mart, he has told them that he had gas on me. LOL, sometimes kids say the darnest things. He made up for the lack of sweetness ealrier at bed time. We always read a few books together after family prayer and tonight as we were reading Dawson sang a song to me. Granted, it was as loud as he could possibly be, he had the cat by his neck and it was so random it was hard to keep track of but it was so cute too. The most I could make out of it was that the cat was his baby and he "lobed" him and his cars race really fast. I wish I had recorded it. It is something I could have shown on his first date! He is always singing songs so maybe I will try to catch one on video this week.

Only two weeks of classes left then finals!! I can't believe this semster is over already. Sometimes it seems like we haven't been going very long, other times it feels like it has been forever. I'm glad I went back to school though. I have spent so much time taking care of our family that is was a nice break to have a few hours a day all to myself. At first it was hard leaving Dawson with the babysitter and not being worried about him but now I look forward to it. It's not that I don't love being around him, just the opposite is true, but I have found part of myself that I forgot was there. I think I am a better wife, mom and individual because I take this time out for myself. I've always ejoyed learning new things and having challenges to overcome and going back to school hasn't been any different. My perspective on class has been completely changed. It means more now and surprisingly I use a lot of the stuff I learn in Ed. Psy. at home with Dawson. It was a little akward at first being the only mom in class and my stomach growing every week instead of being cute and little like all the other girls in class but I feel good about what I am doing and I'm glad we didn't wait to have kids. I think I have overcome that fear of people looking down on me because we had children so young. I know what we are doing is right and I'm very proud to be a mommy, no matter what circumstnace I'm in. I'm glad to have to the summer off to be at home with Dawson adn Ellie but I know I'm looking forward to the fall as well when classes start again. Just wish me luck that I won't have Ellie before finals. They say I will probably have her around Mother's Day weekend (9-11) even though I'm not due until the 21st. My last final is May 8th!!!

Roll Tide!

So I'm not very good at keeping up with this blog. Maybe after classes are finished in three weeks ( I can hardly wait!!!) I will have more free time. Though that seems like an unlikely event considering we will be adding another member to our family....maybe it will get better. This past weekend was really fun. Kim and Curtis came and spent the weekend with us and even though not everything turned out exactly as we had planned, I throughly enjoy it and I can't wait till they can move up here and we can hang out all the time.

I did learn a few important lessons this weekend. First and foremost, my child's name is not Dawson, it's Dolphin (only if you are asking Kaeli though!). I'm considering getting it changed since she cannot seem to remember that dolphins swim in the ocean and Dawson is the little boy who walks by and pushes her. Yes, he's a bully but he does it out of love. Remember how we use to chase boys around the playground and try to kiss them?....same thing, same result. Second, investing in solid furniture to put toys in is VERY important. Dawson has a lot of his smaller toys in a plastic storage bin/shelf thing that, until this weekend, has never been empited before. For some reason he decided that ALL the toys belonged on the floor in his room. So he managed to pull all three drawers out and dump the toys out on the floor. I am very OCD about how his toys are organized ( I know, they are just toys but it's something I'm working on) and it took awhile to place them in their proper place that night. Luckly the boys cleaned up the rest of the house while I sorted toys. I tried not to notice all the misplaced things or the poorly folded clothes since they were trying to do something nice for Mommy....I really did appreciate it though and I loved hearing them sing our clean up song as they were working. Third, the sheriff's department here has some crappy officers. We won't go into detail about the deputy who thought he knew so much about children that when Dawson was having a meltdown ( it was nap time and he was hungery, he rarely ever does this) that he could come and tell me that I was hurting my child. Dawson was sitting on my shoulders ( at 8 1/2 months, he doesn't fit on my hip anymore!) and he crying because he wanted to walk. With an extra 70 thousand people on campus, that was not about to happen! Anyway, the guy was a total jerk, totally inappropriate and I think he felt a little stupid after the look Kim gave him and his partner taking my side of the story. I could understand if I was yelling at him or spanking him but he was just sitting on my shoulders and I was simply holding on to his ankles. Oh well. I think that guy was bored being there anyway. LOL, I wish I could have caught the look on Kim's face in a picture though. Worth a thousand words!!!! Fourth, things work out in the end. We, being Kim and I and ALL the kids, didn't ever make it into the stadium for the A Day game but I am glad we didn't. We watched it from the comfort of our house with ALL the babies asleep and our very smart and thoughtful husbands got sunburnt sitting in the stands. James told me later that they went the oposite direction of everyone else when the gates opened. Result?....they spent the next two hours baking in the sun. I'm glad I didn't get sunburnt or the babies. So it worked out in the end after all. And last but not least, goldfish are better in smaller containers. All who were there know what I am talking about. Enough said.

All things considered, I enjoyed this weekend and it was a change of pace from our normal weekends. It was nice to forget about school and finals for a few days and spend time with people I have been close to for a long time.

Our weekend

It's been a few days since I've posted something. It was one of those weekends that everything seemed to happen at the same time. Of course we had General Conference but we stayed home and watched it since Dawson was sick with a runny nose and fever. We went to Target Saturday to get him some medicine and there was a car show there. The boys have been talking about going to it for weeks so we walked around for a little while to see all the 'cool cars'. Ok, Dawson and James walked around. At 8 1/2 months prego, I waddle more than I walk and since I've already been diluated for the past month, I can't waddle around to much. Dawson had to copy everything Dad did and was so cute trying to see all the motors. There was a fire engine and ambulance there as well. Anyone who has been around Dawson knows he LOVES fire engines. I couldn't count the number of books he has on them. The fire fighters were nice enough to let him climb in the truck and play around inside. He was a little scared at first (they are pretty big!) but after Dad got in there, he was thrilled to death! We also got to go the park with Brooklyn and Aidan on Friday. Dawson stays at their house while I go to class everyday. They had a lot of fun playing and we made it home right before it started raining
Conference was really good as well. My favorite thing though was during Elder Ballard's talk at the end of the last sessions, Dawson woke up and watched it with us. I don't know if you noticed his tie but Dawson has one JUST like it. Dawson was a little upset that he had his tie on but when Elder Ballard said he wanted to talk to the children, I told Dawson to listen very closely because this man was very close to Heavenly Father and if he said something, it was just like if Heavenly Father was talking to him. I didn't think he would care but he sat up and really listened! James had walked out of the room and came back in during Pres. Monson's testimony. Dawson ran up to him and said "Daddy, daddy, he's talking to me!" It really touched me to here that. I hope Dawson always remembers that the leaders of the church are talking to him, no matter what his age is! It was a fun weekend but between everything, we are worn out. We're going to sleep a lot this week and get ready for the A Day game this coming up Saturday. We are so excited and can't wait for Kim and Curtis to come up with the girls and play with us!

Toes in the sand

Today was such a normal day. The only thing interesting was I took a test. I feel overconfident that I did well on it so I'm afraid I failed it. You know what I mean? And I got to talk to Crystal for awhile today. It always makes my day to talk to my big sis. I hope everyone is feeling better! The picture is just for you Crys.... I don't know how Dawson got the webbed toes in the family but there they are. Maybe he won't notice them when he gets older!

It's five o'clock somewhere

This past weekend we had the chance to go to Gulf Shores for the weekend. My best friend, Emily, was getting married there and we took the oppurtunity to make a mini vaction out of it. I love going to Gulf Shores. I think part of it is the fact that it's the beach and part of it is because I spent most of my childhood there. The place is small enough to know your way around easily and big enough to have lots of things to do.

We spent most of our time with Emily at her wedding but we did get to go to the beach for a few hours on Saturday. It was still a little cold and the water wasn't quite ready to get in but that didn't stop James at all. He's such a little kid at the beach. He jumped in fully dressed Friday night! We even got Dawson in there for a few mintues but he didn't enjoy it to much! He would rather play in the sand or chase the sea gulls than go swimming.

Sunday we went to church with Mom. It was so good to see everyone again. It's been about 8 months since we have had the chance to go back to Monroeville. It still looks the same. I don't know if it will ever change. Dawson got to ride on Marion's tractor and he thought that was awesome. He has a book about tractors and for some reason he remembered that Marion's was blue. Everytime we read the book he tells us that's Marion's tractor. All the way down there Friday he kept asking if he could ride on it and now that's all he talks about. He's told everybody that he sees that he got to ride on that tractor. Silly boy!

We have a cat named Midnight. He's just a regular black cat but Dawson loves him to death. This morning when I went to get Dawson out of bed, I told him that I loved him like normal. He looks over at Midnight and says "Midnight love Dawson?" He just stares at the cat for a minute than says, "Midnight can't tell me" I told him when he purs he's saying he loves him. It was a cute moment for me.