I'm Alive!

Don't worry my pretty little readers, I am alive and well!

I know it's been 2 months since I last wrote...

Lots has happened!

Both good and bad.

So I will just bullet point, and add pictures, to review.

November after the 11th, which was the last post:

*I found out I was pregnant

* I started miscarrying the night of Young Women in Excellence

This is a celebration we have for our young women in the church 12-18 and all they have spiritually accomplished in the year!

*We traveled to Colorado for Thanksgiving with Mr. Dawson's family

*Finished miscarrying the day before Thanksgiving

* Fantastic time visiting with family and relaxing

December:

*My hair was THIS long!

*I held my 3rd violin studio recital in Kansas

It also happened to be Ellie's first violin recital, spur of the moment decision on her part!

Don't worry we are working on posture! =)

*Mr. Dawson finished the semester with flying colors!

*We traveled to warmer weather and stayed 3 weeks in Arizona visiting family.

*Christmas was awesome

*My cousin got married

*We celebrated 5 years of marriage!

 *Attempted a Family Photo

 *Added another temple to our list of visited! 

The Gilbert, AZ temple!

*I also got my hair cut...as you can probably tell! =)

*We evaded the polar vortex by staying in AZ for a total of 3 weeks!

And I think that is about it!

2014 is the year!

I feel it!

It's going to be an awesome year!!! 

I can't wait to see what it brings!

Stitch Fix

Have you heard of it?

I just heard of Stitch Fix from Lisa-Jo

Seems kinda cool and exciting!

I signed up, and am on a waiting list

Once they take me off I will let you all know about how it works for me!

I am pretty excited!

My wardrobe could use a few things that I wouldn't necessarily grab off the rack for myself that spices up my current wardrobe!

We shall see!

Violin Lessons

Disclaimer:

I in no way whatsoever forced my child to play the violin.

She decided she wanted to have violin lessons herself.

The part that I hated was that Ellie wanted to carry/wear her violin on the airplane back from AZ to KS and many many adults were making comments and looking at us like horrible parents.

They just didn't know that SHE asked to bring the violin back home from gramma's house and have lessons with mom!

They presumed that we were forcing her to play the violin and such terrible people we were to do that to a kid who doesn't even look like 2.5 yrs old to most people.

Anyways, I behaved and didn't react to the stares and whispers that we of course could hear clearly.

We have lessons whenever she asks, I don't force them, and we do our best.

She can name all the parts of the violin

Go to rest position

Ellie can do a form of "Belly-Up"

Almost has a bow hold

Justin hasn't had lessons since April 2012 I think

So he will do lessons when Ellie does lessons

We are still working on posture while learning Lightly Row

New Years in AZ

So I finally uploaded all the pictures taken in the past 4 weeks....

Here are my favorites from our New Years festivities in AZ.

Sleeping with Grampa

Dressing up like Cinderella with her headband and shoes!

This is the way Ellie puts her headband on!

Pancho made by Great Gramma Gayle

Jumping on the trampoline with Grampa

Horse riding with Gramma

The Zoo with Cousins!

Ellie was our navigator and a very good one at that! 

She could look at the map and point at where the animal was located that we wanted to see!

(Kinda hard to capture via camera!)

Happy New Year!

I think that 2013 is going to be amazing and full of so many good things!

I am just filled with excitement and hope for this year!

My sister will graduate from High School

We will each turn a year older

We are in our 5th year of marriage

We are seeking out the best way to grow our family and beginning to at on them.

We are starting to look for possible summer internships for Mr. Dawson

We are getting Mr. Dawson ready to officially enter the PHD program this fall.

There are other family resolutions/goals that we are working on, but I think that the biggest one is to make sure that our desires are aligned with our Heavenly Father's desires for us.

Happy New Year Everyone!