The Next Step

Today is officially my first day of Summer Vacation! I'm realizing a whole lot #1 My family is the best! I know all of you would probably say your family is the best, but that can be easily settled with an arm-wrestling competition (hehehe). I've made a decision, see, to miss out on....well, let me backup a little.

Many of you know, I teach Children's Musical Theater to 6-9 year olds, well, this last year has been AWFUL, down right awful for CMT and my family. CMT, actually went quite well. Christmas was a hard performance, but they pulled through. And this spring (because Christmas was so hard and EXASERBATING) I had a team teacher; I taught Monday, she taught Wednesday, but it was still hard because I'm a working Mom. I would pick Robert up after work and then have to go to CMT for class. I just wanted to be with my little guy--hence me not teaching next year!

(Robert loves his bathtime and rubber ducky!)

So their Spring performance is coming up. ALL the CMT classes have combined for one BIG show, "Seussical" It's really going to be great. Here's the hitch, we planned a camping trip the week of the performance. At first I was going to stay home for the performance and let Andy go with his family camping. He and I would go camping the next weekend with my brother and his family--well that fell through--they're going on some fantastic bike ride in Washington. So, (here's where my decision is) DANG-IT-ALL, I'm going camping with my family because they are #1 and the best family I could ask for and CMT will just have to do without me!

(This is a picture of where we're going camping)

This is a big step for me. It's seems kind of silly though....I'm mean really CMT or family, CMT or family? Hmmmm, of course I pick my family! I wouldn't be who I am without them. Andy makes me such a better person--I love you, Luv! I seriously would be a racing lunatic, basket-case, incredibly busy, unfulfilled person without him. And our little guy, Robert is the icing on the cake. To think that he was just with God and now is with us......I'll tell ya what, it makes me want to read the scriptures and pray a whole lot more so I'm ready to teach him what he already knows and he can teach us what we've forgotten!

Summer Time

I'm so glad summer is here. I'm really looking forward to camping with the fam and exploring with Robert. He's turning over a new leaf. Everything is a wrestling match--he cannot hold still, and he's sooooo cute! Andy and I are working on year #4 as of yesterday! We celebrated our 3rd anniversary. I must say I'm happy where I am and where I'm going. I love God and the blessings he's given me--what more can I ask for? Our garden this year is totally awesome! We planted pumpkin, cucumber, beans, corn, peas, tomatoes, banana peppers (I can't remember the technical name) and onions. I hope it all grows well!

Robert Meets the Outdoors

Robert LOVES being outside. Memorial Day we spent all morning working outside in the yard and planting our garden. He sat and played without a fuss the whole time! I slathered him with sunblock and put his "safari" hat on him and he was good to go.


Until he got on his tummy--He hates the grass in his face! He'll sit and eat the grass till the cows come home. Up close and personal is not his cup of tea.

A New Lawn!

From this. . .

To this

Last year our two major projects were to build a deck and put in new grass in the back yard. Well, building the deck turned into a much bigger project than we (or more accurately I) anticipated, and by the time we were ready to plant some grass it was getting late in the summer. So we just decided to put it on hold until 2009. Now, one year and a lot of money saved up and spent later, we finally have a back yard. It was actually pretty simple, once the sprinkler guys finished their thing we had a "sod party" and laid the whole back yard in not much over an hour.

Now instead of sitting in our own private dustbowl we have some beautiful green grass to play on. The only downside to the whole thing is going to be the water bill; not real excited to see that in the mail.

New Duds for Easter

New Easter clothes! And a smile to match!!



Our sweet angel boy.



Always blowing bubbles and making noises. He's so cute!

Dying Easter Eggs

We had tons of fun with Robert dying Easter eggs. Of course he didn't really get into it, but loved to throw the eggs in the dye and watch them splash. AND of course suck on them



Must have Easter eggs!!!




Robert loves his jumperoo. So when we put him on the trampoline for a small bounce, he went wild! He couldn't stop laughing. Meanwhile all the other kids were looking for eggs.



He put a couple in front of him to pick up. He thought they were pretty darn cool.




Andy and Robert in their ballcaps! Stylin' for the Easter Egg Hunt!

Happy Resurection Weekend! (aka Easter)

Easter was great! Saturday morning we went up to my Dad's house for an Easter Egg hunt. It was a good time--a little wierd. It was the first big Spring event at my Dad's since my parents got divorced. All my brothers and sisters in town were there, and that made it really fun. Robert picked up a couple eggs and tried to eat the shell, throw it on the ground, ya know the usual 8 month old Easter activities. We gave him some awesome Playschool cars and Melissa&Doug stacking rings which he probably won't use for another couple months, but I just couldn't help myself in the store. While we were going through baskets and munching on fruit, my sister Dari and I got into a conversation about Easter and why we celebrate. She was going on about how Easter means Ishtar--the Greek goddess of fertility and her Earthly form was a rabbit....then tied that in with Las Vegas and the Playboy Bunny and most people don't know the true meaning of why we celebrate this weekend. So she calls it "Reserection Weekend" instead of Easter because Easter has such awful historical ties. Interesting connection, yes, yes, very interesting. I personally don't go quite that far; however, I do like the sound of Resurection Weekend. So, yeah, religious holidays are exploited by business to get us to buy things and Easter is truly about Jesus Christ's Resurection. In fact today in Primary we had a discussion about why we get candy on Easter because the resurectioin has nothing to do with sugar--EXCEPT that resurection will be SO SWEET! (bad joke). We love Easter, for HE IS RISEN!

Mark 16: 6

6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is arisen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

Those Dixon Genes!

How can you NOT have sympathy for that sicky face? He was miserable! Definately NOT his usual jovial, smiley, easy to care for self. The week of March 23 (I was in Colorado) Robert caught the croup. Thanks to Dad and Grandma's holding and rocking him through the nights and taking him outside for some cold fresh air, he eventurally started acting like he felt a little better. Tuesday evening I arrived home from my trip. He only woke up twice that night. Wednesday was pretty good and that night was even better. We were going on walkd outside, all bundled up, propping him up to sleep. Thursday was an improvement from Wednesday and by Friday he was feeling pretty good. AND THEN.......

Saturday he woke up with goopy, goopy eyes! I thought, okay he's just still getting over the croup. All the congestion is coming out wherever it can. BUT, Sunday was no better, Monday was worse! He had started pulling at his left ear--AHA! ear infection! I took him to the doctor on Tuesday--sure enough, Uncle Chris said, "His Dixon genes are starting to show up in the doctor's office!" He's getting 4 teeth right now, which is associated with the ear infection. The ear infection is causing the goopy eyes--it's all connected! He's been on Amoxicillin for 5 days today and finally back to his normal self. Our boy is back!

The Roots of that Tree

I went to visit Anna while I was in Colorado. She and the kids took me to Target (we got bean bags for the kids), ToysR'us (just to play and kill some time before we drove to the ariport), Garden of the Gods, and The Will Roger's Shrine. He's not buried there, but he was a friend of the Penrose family who settled Colorado Springs. The Penroses built a shrine for them to be burried in and named it the Will Roger's Shrine--a little wierd if you ask me. It was really pretty though. All the rock they used in building it came from the same 6,000 cubic yards of boulder! There are no nails or screws in its construction. Very cool.

Johnny stood and held on to the chapel gate while the older kids played out on the terrace.

It was a little bit cold the day we went to Garden of the Gods, but we still managed to get out and climb around. Lizi and Tyler climbed to the top of this rock that, on a nice day, is perfect for a picnic.

The Rocks are huge! The drive through was beautiful.

Molly, Lizi, and Tyler found a little nook to block the wind for a bit.

I love the roots of this tree. Some of the roots are along the surface some go down a little further. It symbolizes the roots of our lives. When our roots our deep in Jesus Christ, family, love, understanding, and forgiveness we grow tall and strong. When we let those roots die or falter, we loose our strength and life starts to fall apart.

My Trip to Colorado

This is Horsetooth Mountain in Fort Collins, CO. I woke up Saturday morning at 4:00 a.m. and got ready to catch the shuttle to SLC by 5:00 a.m. We actually left 20 minutes late because some kid was late coming up from Marsh Valley or somewhere--I was nervous I'd miss my flight. BUT I didn't, Phew! We got to the airport at 8:00 and I flew out at 9:00. Jill picked me up in Denver--boy what a mess. That airport is confusing! I had no idea where I was supposed to go to get picked up! I didn't have Jill's cell phone number with me so I had to call around to get that, but eventually tracked her down in the parking lot. I felt like I was in the mall with no exits, not an airport. Anyway, we got to Fort Collins by noonish. Jill's family was ready for a hike. I thought to myself, "can I take a nap first? I'm eshausted" We rested for a little bit, but then it was off for a "little" hike. We started hiking at about 2:30. There was a nice trail blazed, we took turns carrying the bag of snacks and water. We got to the top by about 4:00. It was a beautiful view.

At the top, Andrew (my nephew) started eating an apple. I told him how Grandma (my Mom) eats the apple straight through, seeds and all, instead of eating around the core and throwing it away. He was bound and determined to eat that whole apple. It took him about 10 minutes and a few grimaces, but he did it!

I always take pictures of trees--dead trees. Althoug this tree isn't dead, I thought it was cool how it was growing in the side of the rock.