Facebook= TMI

I have come to the conclusion that I have a love/hate relationship with facebook. I have seen the best and the worst in people on there. I love seeing the happy moments where friends are having babies, getting married, etc... but too much lately have I seen friends lose their way. And when I say lose their way I mean it's completely falling. I am not a perfect person let me clarify that, but I think I try to be a good person. Some of my friends are casual some are really good friends. They are losing all those great qualities that made me become their friend in the first place. I feel at a cross roads when it comes to friendships. I have moved on from most of my friends in high school and have banded together with my family. Family is the most important thing in life and I love my husband and baby. I have seen people fall away from the lds church and try to give excuses left and right for the reason they are the way they are. These are the reasons why I am at a cross roads. Dawson is my son and I want him to see good influences in his life. I have had wonderful influences in my life and so has Lucas. If it wasn't for those influences life could be a lot different. I want my son to start out right in his life. Now does that mean I completely ignore those people in my life. No I won't I will still love them and talk to them when they need to. Until the day they can be a better influence on my son I will not associate with them as much as I have in the past. It just saddens me to see those that are awesome wonderful people choose to walk away from what is most important. I used to be the girl that would not be afraid to voice my opinion to my friends. It sometimes was good sometimes bad. I had an experience that made me not want to ever have conflict arise again in a friendship. I didn't want to face conflict again and wanted to just stand to the side. I so much did this that I chose not to say anything. That again was not such a good idea and regret not voicing how I truly felt. I think I realized that you should say what you feel but just try to be as tactful as possible. Let them know you love them and you will always be there for them but you don't agree with what they are doing. Now, does that mean voice your opinion with them every chance you get? No, do it when they ask your opinion or if the timing is right. Timing is the key because you could bring it up at a horrible time. Now if you do all of this right and they choose to be mad that will be their own problem. If they listen and appreciate what you say then that is great. Sometimes saying something is what people want you to do. Sometimes people cry out for guidance you need to give them it if this is the case. But other times people may not want to listen and that is fine. I think I learned a lot while teaching, I learned a lot about what to do when conflicts arise. It has helped me learn how to handle situations when they occur and how to react. But, here I am at a crossroads... do you let go or hold on to these friends? Sometimes we have to let go of these people and sometimes we can help change a course that we didn't know could be changed.

Park City and Yellowstone

Finally back from our wonderful vacation to Park City and Yellowstone. We first went to Park City last Monday. We stayed at a wonderful resort called New Park Hotel. Thank you to Amber for giving me the idea of this awesome place to stay. We enjoyed our stay and swam a lot of the time. We also slept in the nice bed and lounged in our private hot tub. Dawson loved swimming so much, I did to but I am allergic to chlorine unfortunately. I usually am fine for one time swimming but if I do it more I break out if rashes all over my body. Well, I did and it still is here a week later. Anyway, we stayed at Newpark for 2 nights and just relaxed and enjoyed our time there. We then took off on Wednesday to Yellowstone. I actually drove there not Lucas that has never happened before. Lucas had some back issues he was dealing with so I said I would be brave and drive the way to Yellowstone. I actually did it and he and I are so proud of myself ha ha. We arrived at our first camp spot called "Buffalo" it is located in the Island Park area just outside of Yellowstone Park. My parents have property but have yet to build a cabin so we stayed at the camp site. My mom made all of us white chile and it was delicious. We met my Uncles partner for the first time and hung out with their kids. That night I had a hard time sleeping because it was hard to have Dawson cuddled up to me and also hoping nothing comes to get us in our tent ha ha. I heard some moose in the early morning and then I had a dream once was charging me. I had taken Benadryl that night so that explains my weird dreams. The next day we decided we would go rafting. We had our niece Mila in the raft with us and proceeded to tell Lucas he hadn't been helping at all with the paddling ha ha. We couldn't help at laugh she is only 7 years old. We got stuck on a couple rocks and our raft was slowly sinking but Lucas kept blowing in the hole to pump it up. I didn't even get wet luckily and my Dad met us at the end. We then made hobo dinners that night, and it was raining and storming. Lucas and my Dad made a covering for them so the fire wouldn't go out and our dinners would cook. They were successful and the dinners were delicious! The next day was Friday and we packed up our stuff and headed into the park in Yellowstone. We stayed at a place we stay at every time we stay in the Park. It is called Madison and it is located the west side of the Park. We set up our stuff and even chopped up a picnic table because our camp site had a tree fall over onto it the night before. Dawson helped Lucas put together the tent. The picnic table was destroyed and the camp host said we could use it as fire wood. We drove to Haden Valley and saw some Buffalo. We were kind of in a hurry so we weren't able to do much sight seeing. We did see a Moose on our way back to our camp spot. When we got back we had Taco Salad and my mom made us some yummy peach cobbler with Vanilla ice cream. We made it in her dutch oven and it was soooo goood! Then in the night I woke up and smelt some animals in the area. I was just hoping nothing would come bump in the night. The next morning I took my nephew Jack to the river with Dawson. Sure enough I had smelt something! Buffalo were right by the river and so I went back to our spot and told the others. My niece Lillie has really bad anxiety and made sure we didn't get too close. We then decided we should go sight seeing and see some animals. We went to Grants Village and ate some lunch and played in the Lake. Lillie helped me pick up some obsidian and I found her a piece too since she helped me. The clouds were getting darker and darker and heard thunder. We decided we better get in the car before we get caught in the storm.We then drove for a while and my parents decided to make some dinner nearby. I had shared a pint of ice cream with Lucas from the Fishing Bridge store. It's a tradition for me to always get the ice cream they have there. Also to get the yummy Farr's chocolates at the "Hungry Bear" grocery store in Island Park. I love the traditions so I have to do it especially if it is yummy. Lucas and I really wanted to see a bear so we looked around and sure enough we saw a Mamma Grizzly and her 3 cubs! We were so happy Lucas took a pic of the momma bear while the cubs were running around.We did momentarily see a wolf, well Lucas did I saw a spot but we were more interested in seeing a bear. Seeing a wolf is awesome though but it was just too far away to spot. I was very happy and satisfied with our finding. We then decided to go back get some food and head back to camp. We ate smores and that night we heard coyotes yelling pretty loud. We thought it may had been people screaming but I figured that out that it was coyotes. We said 3 prayers that night because we were nervous. I was a little on edge because of the bear attack 2 weeks before. And it was for no reason so I was a little scared. Dawson slept through the whole night and snuggled up to me. I was glad he was there to comfort me while I was scared. My brother was snoring loud and sometimes I would freak out and think it was an animal. They slept in the tent trailer and my parents slept in their camping van. We made it through the night and took off the next day. We had lots of fun and I will always leave stuff out but it was fun. I love camping and roughing it. Dawson had such a great time and he was tired by the end of it. He went to bed early we we got home that night and slept for 14 hours with minor interruptions. Here is a picture of me wiping off his face when he is done eating one of the days. I had to share his facial expression is too funny. :)

Vacation Tomorrow Whoot Whoot!

Going to Yellowstone and Park City Tomorrow we will stay a couple nights in Park City with our very own hot tub in the balcony of our room. We also will have a jet tub in the bathroom whoot whoot! I am so excited to go camping with some of my family and bring along Dawson with us. We will be going rafting this time and have dutch oven and hobo dinners. I am so excited and I can't wait to start my vacation. I love camping so much I even went when I was pregnant and big. Not the most comfortable but I enjoyed every second of it. I will tell you all of the fun when I get back. I actually wrote a long post but I accidentally deleted it. I put a few thoughts on here then I deleted it on accident. Guess I wasn't supposed to write it ha ha ha. I am so excited yippee!!!

I want to be Betty White when I grow up

I feel like I am up a bit too early for my liking this morning. Dawson didn't sleep well, it may have been what he was sleeping in.. or a sign of teething. I feel like an insomniac the last month. I usually nap with Dawson, but I may not take a nap so I will be tired by tonight. So, we don't have A.C in our home we have a swamp cooler. We got the A.C unit in our window last summer during my pregnancy. It helps so much at night. We haven't turned on the swamp cooler because it is just a pain in the butt. Our house gets pretty warm though, so we are looking into get A.C put into our home by the end of the week if all works out well. Tomorrow we are going to get an estimate. So, last night I was watching Betty White on "The Tonight Show". When I get old I want to be like Betty White I decided. She just doesn't care what people think. She has fun and lets loose, just makes the most out of life.

Backstreet Boys!!!

I also failed to mention that I went to the Backstreet Boys concert:). I went with my sister in law Rachel. We had so much fun, we went to Tucanos before we attended the concert. That was really yummy food, and I had great company. I am really glad she married Paul, we have gotten to hang out more lately and she is a great girl. Lucas likes to call The Backstreet Boys "Porn for women". I say "Well at least I am not into Twilight". I gotta like something right? I just have always liked them they have songs that are fun to sing and dance to. Also when I had went to their concerts in the past I have had great memories. The first time I went they sold out their first so they put on a second. This was the "Millennium" tour. Me and my mom spur of the moment went to get tickets. We had to go back that Saturday in the wee hours of the morning. It was the most horrible process to get concert tickets. Well I got to go with her and my sister. We had the worst tickets but we had such a great time. It was nice to see my mom let loose and to also have fun with my awesome sister. The second time I went it was right after my sister got back from her mission from Nauvoo. This was "The Black and Blue" tour, and I will always remember that time. She had just gotten back from Nauvoo, and I had been missing her terribly and it was great to spend time with her again. I just have had some great memories when I have attended concerts.

Wow.. It's been a while.

Yes, it's been a loooonnnggg time since I have updated this. Mostly because I have no idea what I am doing on here yet. Dawson is 7 months old now and he is just the best little baby anyone could ask for. He laughs so easily, and is a happy boy. Having him was a spiritual experience, you can really feel it. Lucas had mentioned feeling this way as well. We like to call Dawson "Captain Grunts" because he likes to grunt all the time. Sometimes when he is frustrated or when he just likes to get attention. People mostly say he looks like me or he is a good combination of both Lucas and I. He of course has my eyes, they are a dominant trait in my family. Having a little boy is awesome, I know girls always want a girl... but I didn't. I wanted a boy first, I am the first one my family to have a boy first. I would love to have a little girl but I just wanted a boy. I would have loved whatever I was given but I just had a feeling I had a little boy waiting first. Lucas says I am a "Boys mom" meaning I am good at taking care of boys. I have said "You don't think I will be good at raising a girl, I was an Instructor at a Beauty College I think I can handle it" haha. He then will say "Oh I don't really mean it like that" ;). Lucas likes to tease me he is such the classic boy that probably teased a girl in elementary if he had a crush on her. He thinks it's funny when I get mad at him, he will add fuel to the fire. He isn't like that all the time, he is a really sweet husband that would do anything for me and Dawson. He is a very thoughtful man and we have had a lot of good times together. I can't believe we are fastly approaching our 3rd Anniversary of being married. We are still trying to think of what to do for it. We usually go out of town, but we have Dawson now so that changes things a bit. I don't believe in leaving a baby over night with someone until they are at least a year old. It's fine if someone thinks different but that is what I think. So, after having a baby I took a look at my body and thought oh my bleep you look like crap ha ha. Well, I felt like crap I got my Gallbladder out almost 2 months ago. I was living in pain for 5 months. Now, I have lost over 45 lbs and still am working on losing more. I have my ups and downs with it but I weigh almost 20lbs less than when I got pregnant with Dawson. Marriage really makes you pack on the lbs if you aren't careful. I will get to my goal weight eventually, at least the goal is in sight! I just have the extra skin from the pregnancy takes a long time for that to go back. I have heard you should give yourself a year in the belly region. Did you know it takes 3 years for your body to fully be healed from giving birth crazy huh!? So onto the next topic.. I really wish our house would sale but the stupid housing market is not on the mend like people have said. I blame it on Obama the idiot that he is You wanted change america so here it is! He just makes things worse. People have the argument of Bush and all but I didn't really like him all that much either. I think he did do some things well but some things he messed up on. As for as Obama he has just messed up on everything. I honestly wish the house would sell, it's such a pain in my butt! So now we are re evaluating what we should do. I guess it's not time for us to move yet, I will keep praying for it like I do every single night. I am just glad Lucas has a great job with great benefits. We are blessed that he makes enough that I can stay at home and even have a house. I have to remember that and keep myself in check. Lucas has traveled quiet a bit lately for his job. He is in charge of the "Mormon Messages for Youth" on lds.org. He loves his job and works really hard! He just returned from Prague this last Thursday. He brought home yummy chocolate that tastes way better the U.S chocolate. I gained 2 lbs from eating it and now I am mad at myself for it ha ha. I will start out stronger tomorrow Monday is a new day and I can have a better attitude! The Fourth Of July is this weekend yay! My favorite holiday! I love it so much, can't wait for the Kaysville parade. I love that parade it's pretty much the best parade ever! Well, here is an update Lucas will be proud of me. He is asleep still recovering from Jet lag, hope that ends soon because I want my fun husband back!

Dawson's First Day

This is a Little Highlight video we made for Dawson,
Enjoy

Dawson's First Day from Lucas James McGraw on Vimeo.