I did it!

At least that's what my husband and the Bennett's tell me..

I have tried several times, very unsuccessfully to make yummy cinnamon rolls. I even went to an enrichment night to learn how to make them, came home all jazzed up to make them, made them and they looked and tasted what a brick might look and taste like. The cinnamon rolls from the class were fabulous, I watched her make them and even took notes and asked lots of questions. I wouldn't eat the one's I made, neither would Landon. Dave choked them down claiming they were good. (he would never tell me otherwise)

So today with the cold yucky weather, I got the itch to make them again. I really want to master the perfect cinnamon roll so I went online and googled "Worlds Best Cinnamon Roll Recipe" and I stumbled across one that looked intriguing. It has vanilla pudding in the mix. I thought this looked yummy and interesting so I thought I would try them. The verdict? YUMMY!!!!! I am a little proud of myself and here's to the saying "Never give up"

My perfect baking buddy. I know you're all jealous of my stylin hair and awesome outfit.

Here's the recipe for anyone out there that might want it:

Vanilla Pudding Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

Rolls:
½ cup warm water
2 tablespoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
3 ½ ounce package instant vanilla pudding
½ cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
6+ cups flour

Filling:
1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
2 cups brown sugar
4 teaspoons cinnamon

Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese
½ cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk

In a small bowl combine water, yeast and sugar. Stir until dissolved. Set aside. In large bowl, take pudding mix and prepare according to package directions. Add butter, eggs and salt. Mix well. Then add yeast mixture. Blend. Gradually add flour; knead until smooth. Do not overflour the dough! It should be very soft but not sticky. Place in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled. Then roll out on floured board to 34 X 21 inches in size. Take 1 cup soft butter and spread over surface. In bowl, mix 2 cups brown sugar and 4 teaspoons cinnamon. Sprinkle over the top. Roll up very tightly. With knife put a notch every 1 1/2 inches. Cut with thread or serrated knife. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet 1 inch apart. Cover and let rise until double again. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Remove when they start to turn golden (don’t overbake). Frost warm rolls with cream cheese frosting (combine butter and cream cheese and mix well, then add vanilla and sugar and mix again, then add milk for desired consistency). Makes about 24 very large rolls.

Unfair Time-Out

The other night I went shopping with a friend. When I got home Dave and Landon were both kind of irritated. I asked what went wrong while I was gone and this was Dave's reply.

"I am not happy that kids are teaching our kids inappropriate words."
I asked what he meant. He told me Landon kept saying the phrase "Chubby Jesus" Dave asked Landon where he heard this he said "Gage, Taryn and Joelie told me." (my sister's nieces and nephew) Instead of asking Landon to expound on what he meant by that, he sent him straight to time out. I guess Landon said it a couple more times and got sent to time out a couple more times. Why do you ask if this is unfair?
Immediately I told Dave that Landon was saying "Chuck E Cheese's!! " I only knew this because Landon saw a commercial on TV for it earlier in the day. (Gage, Taryn, and Joelie had recently went and I guess were telling Landon how fun it was and Landon misunderstood the name...)
The poor kid was just trying to express his desire to go to chuck e cheeses and got sent to time out, not once but three times.

Needless to say Dave felt TERRIBLE and immediately apologized to Landon (who burst into tears...) Now we laugh about it (even Landon)

Dave felt so bad that he promised to take Landon to chuck e cheese's tonight. :) Lucky boy.

Free Handbag Contest

Thought I would give this a try. Thanks Amber! Enter to win a free handbag! They are giving one away every hour! They are super cute too. I entered to win the green one.

http://www.handbagplanet.com/

Sleep? Dawson doesn't need it..

I don't get how one baby can go for so long on such little sleep. I am a little frustrated with his napping lately and would like some advice.

Here is his daily sleep schedule:

7:20- awake. No matter what time he went to bed. (after waking up at least once and coming in to bed to snuggle with mom and dad. I've decided as long as he goes to sleep by himself in his crib what's the harm in letting him in with us at 3am? I love to snuggle him and it's the only time he will let me.. )

9:30- morning nap. Lucky to get 25 minutes.

12:30- Nap again.. here is where it gets tricky. He sleeps for about 25-30 minutes and then is AWAKE. I cant get him back to sleep either.. So, we get him out of his crib and he is happy for about an hour. After that hour he is soooooo grouchy!! I know it's because he is super tired and didn't sleep long enough.. Do I make him cry it out and put himself back to sleep? I don't want to do this. I've tried and he cries forever because he has had enough of a nap that he doesn't want to fall back asleep. Rocking him is out of the question, he will not have it. :(

Tips and advice much appreciated. Thanks!

Dawson is 8 Months!

WOW! I can't believe how time flies, here's what the little squirt is up to lately:

He loves, loves, loves, Landon. He cannot get enough of him, if he sees Landon entering a room, he immediately starts to squeal and tries to hide. Landon eats this up and comes to "get him" they can play this game FOREVER! It usually ends with Dawson getting over excited and bumping his head. Which happens quite frequently now.
He can crawl, but instead likes to roll.. which is fine with me, he doesn't get as far :)


He really likes to feed himself now too. If he's ever over fussy, we just put him in his high chair, throw some Puffs on his chair and he's good to go. Also, I don't know if anyone ever bought those Wagon Wheel crackers that Gerber makes, but he LOVES those too. Landon hated them.
He also loves those biter biscuits Gerber makes. (but boy are they messy..) Dave thought they said Bitter Biscuits and wanted to know why I would want to give those to him...

Dawson is a very happy baby as long as someone has their attention on him. He loves to smile at people and is very social. He is also starting to get embarrassed when people he doesn't know or hasn't seen for a while give him lots of attention. He burrows his little face into me. It's too cute.

He has turned into a complete crib baby. He will only sleep in his crib (and the occasional car ride) It's kind of nice in a way, just being able to put him awake in his crib and he can put himself to sleep (something Landon could never do) But it's frustrating at church when we would like to sit through all of Sacrament and cant.

He weighs 22 lbs and in the 95 percentile for his height. What a chunky monkey.

We love you Dawson!

My Thoughts on Hunting.

The following list is taken from my journal. I'm sure most LDS girls have a similar lists. Thanks to my Young Woman leaders growing up I made my own list of "characteristics of a guy I wanted to date/marry" I would always refer to this list as I was dating. It was rare for a guy to meet all of them.

1) Doesn't swear. EVER. (I hate swearing, I think it is horribly rude and ugly. If I hear swearing, I automatically want to cringe. No hubby of mine would swear.
2) Taller than me.)
3) Returned missionary. (while I was dating I realized this wasnt a huge deal... being that I dated a lot of "winner" returned missionaries. )
4) Treats his mother with respect.
5) Doesn't talk bad about ex girlfriends
6) Sense of Humor
7) Wants to have at least 4 kids. (ha... I don't think I even fit my list anymore..)
8) Doesn't watch rated R movies or read inappropriate material.
9) Gets along with my family
10) Treats me like a queen (I know.. I know, I almost didn't put that one on here)
11) Honors his priesthood
12)Attends church regularly, never trying to find excuses not to go
13) Desires to go on a mission with me when we are older
14) Must have a love for animals *** REFER TO THIS ONE LATER IN THIS POST****
15) Loves living in Utah
16) Has a positive attitude.
17) Doesn't have a temper.

This is my original list, as I started dating I would put check marks on it and add stuff, but anyway.. what I'm trying to get at here is Dave met every single one of those requirements but ONE and that would be the love of animals. (To this day, I have never heard Dave swear)
Dave made it clear that if we were to marry, we would never have any pets. Landon is lucky to have his beta fish, Gilbert.

Also, as Dave and I got a little more serious in our relationship so did my realization that he really likes to hunt... Growing up in my house I was almost taught that people who hunted were bad. I know my mom didn't come out and say it that way, it's just the way I perceived things. In our house, if a spider was found, the rule of thumb was to capture it, and release it outside. (yes, my mom STILL does this) So I kind of had a problem with the fact that this guy who I had fallen head over heals in love with hunted. I couldn't see how someone as kindhearted and gentle as Dave could go out and massacre one of our Heavenly Father's beautiful creations.

(Dave's first dear)

After Dave went hunting the first time after we'd begun dating I realized just how exciting this "sport" was to him, and how it was more of a bonding time for him and his brothers. Also, that this was just the way Dave was raised and he didn't see any harm in it. So, we came to an agreement. Here were the conditions of him hunting if were were to marry.
1) If he ever "got" something, he would NEVER under any circumstances ask me to cook it up for him.
2) He would also NEVER bring the dead rotten thing to our house. NEVER (that's what his dad's house is for)
3) If he were to ever mount one of his "trophies" in our house, he would agree to let me have a little pet dog. (YEAH!!!!)
4) He would always call me the second he can once he is down from the mountain and has cell coverage, so I could be sure he was safe.

So anyway, there you have it. I married a hunter. I still HATE IT!!!!! I always tell Dave there is nothing I would want to change about him. I have changed my mind. I wish he hated hunting as much as I do, and that he could find a better bonding activity to do with his family.

So Dave has a hunting trip he is trying to plan. He wants to be gone for 4 days. I am DREADING it. I know a lot of people have their hubby's gone for longer than this, but they don't have their husbands up in the mountains with no cell phone coverage and no way to talk to them for those 4 days. I get so anxious worrying something bad has happened and no one would even know it. I asked Dave to please let me purchase him some bear spray and he laughed at me. (Don't you think bear spray is a good idea?) Anyway.... I told Dave that he shouldn't be surprised when he gets home and this has found a new home in the garage. We don't see any little pet dogs running around do we? I hate this ugly dear head and it is embarrassing to have on my wall. ICK. I've put up with it for 6 years now and I am done.

Tubes Accomplished!

It went great!! Dawson was such a trooper and such a sweet little guy! We had to wake up at 4:30 am to get Landon to my moms (who was nice enough to get up so early to watch him) and headed to Primary's.

Dawson fell asleep in the car on the way there. When Dave got him out he had a funky hairdo.. had to get a pic of that!

In the waiting room. We were shocked at how happy he was being so early and no bottle since 11:30 pm!

Still waiting.. what a cute little guy! How can you not love this face?

Either he hated the girly gown they made him wear, or he is definitely getting hungry now..

All ready for surgery! This is the anesthesiologist , I thought it was a little weird that he carried him back to surgery. For a minute I thought about the possibility of him posing as a doctor, when really he was some psycho who wanted to kidnap my baby.. Good thing he was the real deal. This was hard watching them walk away with MY baby. They brought him back at 7:28 am . At 7:42 the Dr. came to tell us everything went well! Here Dawson is right after waking up. This was sad. He was disoriented and was arching his back and couldn't be calmed. About 30 minutes later he was happy again and enjoying his sugar water. Here is the cute little stinker again, all ready for home! You can tell he's had a rough morning! He's been doing well today and I can't believe how well he did! Let's hope the ear infections are far and in between now!

A New Favorite Game

Emotions

One of Landon's favorite things to do is stare different faces and admire himself in the mirror doing them. Or, if he isn't near a mirror he'll ask me to hurry and take a picture so he can see himself. Here are some of his funny faces. He'll tell you which face he is going to do before he does it. He has my tummy hurting I'm laughing so hard. This is the "I'm bored out of my mind" face

The "scary" face.

The "cute" face

"surprised"

"sad"

"Happy"

"angry"

The "thinking about stuff" face

Preschool

Any of you who know Dave and me well know that preschool has been a sore topic in our house for a while now. Dave's argument was "preschool is a gimmick, a way to weezle people out of their money!" or this "I never went to preschool, and I did just fine in school!" I tried explaining to Dave that Landon didn't need it for the learning aspect, but for reasons such as: Gaining better social skills, learning to obey someone other than mom and dad, getting out of the house, and most important.. giving me a break!! Landon is not like most kids. He will not watch TV or movies, he NEVER plays with his toys,(unless he is within 1 foot of me and I am playing with him) never just goes to his room to play.. He is constantly needing ME to entertain him. I don't mind it tons, but lately.. it's gotten out of hand. He always needs something to do or he is constantly saying "mom.. I am bored out of my mind"

So anyway, Dave was left with both kids for a lengthy amount of time and soon realized why Landon needed preschool. He told me to sign him up. So I did right away, before Dave could change his mind. That was 2 months ago, Landon has been anticipating pre-school since that day! He has been sooo excited. Dave and I got a little nervous because a few weeks ago Landon decided that he would no longer stay in nursery with out Dave or myself right there with him. I was hoping signing him up for school wasn't a mistake.


Landon woke up this morning and declared that he was NOT going to preschool. I told him he didn't need to and I would call Miss Monique and inform her of his decision. I went to get the phone and he quickly changed his mind. He wanted to go.. ALL morning he was asking when we could go. So here he is finally ready to go. Can you tell he's just little excited?

He was a little nervous when we got there, until he saw his friend, Adam. He kinda stuck by Adam's side for a while.
Then Miss Monique came out to bring the kids to class. Landon walked right up to her and gave her a high 5 (can I just say.. I have never seen someone SO good with kids!! She is amazing!) He is already talking about her tons!
Then, Miss Monique said "Ok kids, wave goodbye to your mom's! They need to go get some chores done, they will be right back to pick you up!" Landon waved goodbye to me, turned and walked away. No tears, no nervousness... NOTHING. I was shocked. especially with our nursery experience the past while. I was proud of him. What a big boy! I got a little teary eyed driving away...

When I went to pick him up the kids were out front with Miss Monique and she was rinsing off carrots they got to pick from her garden. I thought Landon would be excited to see me, but instead he said "MOM! not yet! I need to get my carrot! " I asked him if he had fun, and he said yes. I tried to get more out of him, but he's a man of few words. He did ask if he could come back tomorrow. So that's GREAT! Yeah for preschool! I got all my bathrooms cleaned while he was away and Dawson slept the whole time. I could get used to this.