2013 has been a busy year for us! We have had a lot of big changes occur in our life in the past year, but we have enjoyed each experience, and the changes that have come with them. The year started off with Thayne finishing up work in the oil fields in North Dakota and Wyoming, which we were only too grateful to leave behind. A week after Thayne came home from North Dakota we were driving a loaded U-Haul nearly 3,600 miles, and moving our family from Rexburg, Idaho to Charleston, South Carolina. The move itself was a huge adventure, but we were very blessed and had wonderful family and friends who made it fun for every member of our family, even the drivers. When we finally got moved in to our house in Charleston, things didn’t slow down for us.

Thayne started dental school at MUSC June 3^rd, and our baby Jett joined our family on July 4^th. The rest of the year has literally flown by, filled with exams, birthday parties, tooth extractions, family members visiting, long days at the beach, surviving Anatomy and Histology classes, sightseeing, laughing with friends, watching tropical sunsets, killing bugs, feeding seagulls… then running for our lives from the seagulls, jumping in the leaves, struggling through countless sleepless nights, laughing some more, enjoying southern food, and getting to know the amazing people around us.  

Thayne has started off the 4 year dental school adventure with a bang. It hasn’t been easy for him going into it with a family depending on him, but he has given it his all and done very well. In spite of how difficult it has been, he is enjoying school, and is confident that dentistry will be an exciting career for him. However he does admit that it will take some time before he is used to having the title, “Doctor Dawson”. Being in the south brings new excitement when it comes to hunting and saltwater fishing, and Thayne is excited to try his hand at both (in his nonexistent free time).

Kiama has kept busy adjusting to all the changes that have happened in our family, the biggest of which has been having a new baby, and keeping things running smoothly at home while Thayne is in school. She has found time to take the kids to some exciting places around Charleston and experienced a taste of the fun that this area holds. After taking a short break from sewing and keeping up with her online Etsy shop, she is getting back into it and has some fun new items that she is excited about.

Jarom turned 6 and started first grade this year. He is enjoying school, and making some new friends at school and in the ward. Jarom is an excellent reader, an incredible artist, and is learning how to swim. He loves body boarding in the ocean and going on long bike rides with Dad on the Ashley Greenway by our house. He recently lost his fourth tooth and is hoping that by the time it grows in he will be able to whistle.

Taysia just turned 5 in December. She is such an incredible help to Kiama and is always willing to help out with anything that needs done, especially when it comes to helping Jett. Taysia loves playing at the beach, riding bikes, and baking just about anything. She just learned how to make macaroni and cheese by herself and would make it every day for lunch if it was allowed. She is also learning to read and is very excited to be starting Kindergarten in the coming year.

Phoenix is turning three in January. She keeps everyone laughing with her funny personality and silly things she says. She loves dressing up like a princess every day, as well as singing, dancing and performing for anyone who will be her audience. Phoenix has a very carefree and fun-loving personality and is happy pretty much all the time. She has a talent for saying please and thank you, as well as telling her family that she loves them. She also loves going to the beach, but mostly so that she can lay in the waves and pretend she is a fish or mermaid.

Jett is five months old, and already weighs 21 lbs. He is by far our biggest baby and is happiest when he is eating or … eating. But even when he is not being fed, Jett is very good natured and happy. He loves the constant attention he gets from his brother and sisters, and has found that all he needs to do is whimper or cry to have his every need met; whether he needs rolled over, a new toy, or just attention, he knows that everyone comes running when he calls.

We have been very blessed this year and are so grateful for everyone who has believed in us, helped us in so many different ways, and encouraged us along the way. It definitely hasn’t been an easy year, and we know there will still be hard times ahead, but we didn’t come this hard to fail, and we know that with all the wonderful family and friends who are cheering us on we will finish dental school and enjoy every minute of it. We feel blessed to be surrounded by the wonderful people here in Charleston who have, in so many ways, become our family while we are so far away from loved ones; they have made Charleston home to us.

We hope that all is well, and that the coming New Year will be wonderful for you and your family. We pray that this Christmas your home will be filled with the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ as we celebrate his birth and his life.

We love you!

Love the Dawsons

Happy 30th Birthday Thayne!

 First off, I have to say, I can't believe he is already 30! I don't feel old enough to be married to a man that old! But I guess time has a way of getting away from you when you are having fun. 

The kids couldn't figure out how to hold up enough fingers to show how old daddy is now, so I told them to hold up 3 fingers on one hand and make an "O" with the other hand. Phoenix had no clue what I was talking about. 

Secondly, I have to thank EVERYONE who helped make this party happen. I could have never done it without you! From all the wonderful family members who took the time to write notes of love, support and encouragement to Thayne, to Kaitlyn and Jordan who helped out with last minute preparation stuff and keeping Thayne "busy" until we were ready for him to come home (and for being so convincing about it too), and even to my kids; I will never know how three kids ages 6 and under managed to keep this party a secret for weeks, but they did awesome! And finally, thank you to everyone who came to the party and made it an actual party! Being in good company for an entire evening is a party in itself!

These are all the cards, notes and letters that people sent! That's a LOT of love! Thank you for sending them. I think reading through everyone's notes and cards was Thayne's favorite part. 

Because we are so far away from family this year, I wanted to give Thayne some love from home, so I emailed family members and asked them to take a moment to write him a note or card that I would save and give him on his birthday. Altogether there were more than 30 cards, notes and letters that family sent. I think it was my best idea out of everything just because it meant so much to him to hear from so many people and feel of their love.

 Thayne's other gift was a hunting/fishing license. Out of everything, that's what he wanted for his birthday, so the kids and I had fun putting together a hunting/fishing survival kit, and the money he needed to go get his licenses. Thayne is pretty excited to try his hand at saltwater fishing this year.

The other gift Thayne received for his birthday was this nightstand that I refinished for him. (he needed something for all his books and stuff)

before.....

After.

These are my amazing party helpers. The day of the party we were incredibly busy making a cake, cooking chili, cutting vegetables, putting up decorations, doing last minute cleaning... and these three were awesome through it all. I couldn't have done it without my Taysia girl. She made it fun!

Now, on to the decorations...

The theme of the party was "DIRTY THIRTY/OLDER THAN DIRT"!

I had fun putting together some ideas I've had for decorations (mostly off pinterest). One was this "30 Wall". I put together 30 of my favorite pictures of Thayne and displayed them in a big three-o. It added a fun display not only to look at, but for Thayne to remember some of the fun times we've had together. 

For most of the decorations I just stuck with a simple craft paper (dollar store) and twine (home depot) theme. Taysia helped me do almost all of it and had so much fun. She loved tying the napkins and making the banner. 

For my cupcake stand I just wrapped up a bunch of different size boxes with craft paper, tied a few ribbons around them and piled on the goodies. (I forgot to take a picture up close when it was full of cupcakes, but it held 24 and looked super cute.)

The cupcakes were AMAZING! Dirt cupcakes with worms! Recipe from www.yourcupofcake.com!

I have yet to try a cupcake recipe that she has posted and not be totally impressed!

(the jar of rocks started out as a jar with a few rocks in the bottom, and most of them scattered around the table, but after Phoenix put them all back in the jar 3 times I gave up and let it stay simply a jar of rocks. It wasn't quite what I had in mind, but I was okay with it.)

The cake was an idea that I got off Pinterest, however there was no link, just a picture, so I just took the idea and inserted my own recipe of choice which was a weight watchers chocolate cake recipe that I got from Amy years ago, and still love! (thanks Amy) 

It turned out perfect. I thought the Kit Kat bucket was a fun touch too.

The birthday boy with a giant paper airplane that Jarom made as a gift for him. :)

I forgot to mention, the cupcakes were delicious! (or did I already mention that?)

Just a few of our party crew. I wanted to take a picture with everyone that came, but unfortunately it slipped my mind until late that night after almost everyone had left. 

Thank you to everyone who came. It wouldn't have been a party without you guys!

It was such a fun party. I had a lot of fun putting it together, and the best part it, Thayne had NO clue. He was incredibly surprised and loved it! It was actually the first birthday party he's ever had, so I'm glad I took the time to make it kind of special. 

You know you are old when the candles on your cake are bright enough to make it look like the kitchen is on fire. hehe!

Overall the only thing that really cost me anything was the food, but even that wasn't too bad. We had Navajo tacos and Chili Dogs, fruit kabobs and a couple side salads that friends brought. 

It was a fun birthday!

And even though I'll probably never stop giving him a hard time about his age anytime soon, I have to admit, 30 never looked so good! So keep it up Thayne. I love you! and Happy Birthday!

My Beautiful Girls

Jarom's first day of school!

I have been so wary about the schools here in Charleston, and with good reason considering their statistics and reviews from parents. But since I have been unsuccessful to this point at getting him into another school we decided to go ahead with Oakland (the school we are zoned for). To my relief Jarom's teacher is amazing. We are still playing this thing out day by day, but so far besides him reporting multiple movies they watched in a day, and the excessive down time that they have occasionally had (I'm hoping it is just from it being the first week) it seems to be going well.  

I can't believe I have a first grader!!! He has grown up so fast! I would say I feel old, but I really don't... so I'm not going to say it. 

Jett JoRay Dawson

Even though it took me forever, I wanted to introduce our handsome little man Jett. 

He was born July 4th 2013 at 9:24 am. 

Weight: 7lbs, 11oz

Length: 21 inches

The delivery was long and difficult, but the reward was worth it. 

I started having contractions around 6:00 p.m. on July 3rd, so to keep them going I took the kids on a short walk to feed the geese in a nearby pond. We hardly finished feeding the ducks and it started pouring rain... so we ran all the way home but still ended up getting drenched. 

The contractions were still going strong at 8:00 so I told Thayne and we slowly started getting everything in order just in case we had to go in to the hospital that night. 

at 9:00 I called David and Shalysse to see if they would be willing to watch our kids that night because even though I wasn't progressing very fast I was pretty sure we would be going in. 

They came over at 11:00 and we left for the hospital at midnight. At the hospital I found out I was dilated to 4 cm, so they admitted me to the hospital, told me it was probably going to be a long night and gave me an epidural. 

Sadly, the epidural didn't work right so my left side was completely dead to me, and I could feel everything on my right. It wasn't pleasant but it was bearable.

 The Epidural also made my blood pressure drop drastically, which in turn made me pass out... which caused the medical team to come rushing into my room and give me essentially an eppi in my IV to bring my blood pressure back up fast. 

My blood pressure plummeted enough times that I was told I had to stay on my left side the whole night and not move, but that didn't totally solve the problem. 

It was a lousy night of no sleep.

Around 7:00a.m. I was dilated to 6cm!!! It was taking forever and I was getting the feeling that I would never get there, not to mention, it felt like my epidural was slowly wearing off to where I was feeling more and more pain. 

Shortly after they checked me Thayne decided since I wasn't progressing very fast and he hadn't had much sleep through the night he would go get some breakfast. I assured him I would be fine, but then my epidural stopped working all together. I was told that the anesthesiologist could come check it as soon as he finished up with another patient that he just started working on (20 minutes).

The contractions were awful! Not only did they hit me at full force all at once, but for some reason with every contraction I would get a shooting pain from the epidural sight all the way to my head, and then down into my legs. It was insane. 

By the time thayne came back from breakfast I was totally focused. He felt terrible for leaving. 

The nurse was awesome, but due to me dropping my head to my chest and focusing on completly relaxing through each contraction she would frequently grab my arm, or tap me or ask me if I was still with her over and over again until I answered (totally unnerving and distracting when you are putting every ounce of fucus into surviving one contraction.). But I can understand her concern, considering I did pass out a couple times through the night.

I was finally able to push at 9:00 or somewhere around there, and could not have been more grateful when Jett made his appearance. 

I definitely think labor was a lot easier when I was younger.  

   

 Jett's first time to the beach at 3 weeks. He got sunburn on his face pretty bad. I felt AWFUL!

Jett is such a sweet boy. I'm crazy about him, as is the rest of his family. except for needing fed CONSTANTLY he is a pretty care-free kid.  

He is growing so fast, it is hard to believe how much he has changed and grown since he was born. 

Taysia ADORES her little brother. She is my biggest helper; willing to do ANYTHING I need her to do, even burp him, which can be quite the challenge if you are as small as she is. But where there is a will, there is a way and she will find a way. 

Jett's blessing day was last Sunday, August 25th. He looked so handsome in his little tuxedo. It was the same tuxedo that Jarom wore, with a new shirt/vest combo that I made for him.  

He couldn't have been better for his special day. He didn't even spit up (which is saying something). and throughout the entire blessing he just stared up at his daddy, so attentive and sweet.

Grandma Dawson was even able to come visit us and be here for his blessing thanks to all the family members who chipped in and bought her a plane ticket to South Carolina for her birthday. It was so fun to see family again.  

I'm pretty proud of my three boys. They are just about as handsome as they come. 

It has been difficult adjusting to 4 kids, but I count my blessings every day (all 4 of them) and feel grateful that I have so much to be thankful for. 

It is amazing to me how fast a family grows. I never would have dreamed I would be right here 8 years ago when I married Thayne. And even though some days are crazy, and life is anything but predictable I wouldn't have it any other way. I wouldn't trade all the sleepless nights I've had for even one perfect night's rest without my little Jett, or a full week of chaos for one calm and predictable day; I would be losing far too much. 

I'll admit it, I haven't fully adjusted to the 4 kids thing, but I'm getting there. And I know it won't be long before I feel like it is all second nature and routine.

Seriously, how could I NOT be crazy about this adorable face? :)

We love him to death! Thanks for joining our family Jett!

Lately Phoenix has been telling me that every day is her birthday. Her excitement is adorable, and I think she really believes it, so I haven't had the heart to tell her that birthdays only come once every year. And since she hasn't asked for presents I figure it could be worse. 

 Yesterday I made a strawberry shortcake. When she saw I had made a cake she started squealing and running around the kitchen yelling "It's my BIRTHDAY! It's my BIRTHDAY!"

When I served the cake she began singing the happy birthday song, so I gave in and brought out the candles.

 We sang to her 12 times. 

And every time we finished she would blow out the candles and squeal, "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!! EEEEEEEE!!!!! Sing it AGAIN!"

Funny girl!

Saturday we spent the day at Sullivan's beach. It was beautiful, and a perfect day for the beach. In spite of the fact that I was feeling pretty miserable, I actually enjoyed myself and it felt good to relax and have some adult conversation with the other moms there. Something about the beach is so relaxing and wonderful. It might be my favorite part about living here.  

 Wednesday we went to the Children's Museum again. The kids love it there. They spent a lot of time creating this lego house out of the giant blocks they have there. The only down side was that there were so many kids there that day that the second Jarom and Taysia had finished the house there were 10 kids trying to play in it and tear it down. 

 They did a pretty awesome job on it though. And thank you Shalysse for coming with us. It was so much more fun having you there. :)

 Friday we were invited to a birthday party at the Columbia Zoo. It was actually a pretty cool zoo, and the kids ABSOLUTELY LOVED it! The aquarium part of the zoo was their favorite, so it made me start thinking about Sea World and how much they would love going... we will have to see if that is a possibility for us while we live here. 

 The animals were beautiful, and the kids really enjoyed seeing them up close. 

 Silly kids, they had to pose for a picture on every statue. lol

 The penguins were some of our favorites. We even got to see them building nests out of pebbles. Pretty cool.

 The kids saw their first alligator and thought he was DISGUSTING!

 Feeding the giraffes.

 The elephants were Phoenix's favorite. She couldn't get enough of them, even though they weren't really doing anything. She loved how big they were, and how they could "pick up wood."

I wish I had brought the camera instead of just my phone, but at least I was able to get a few pictures to remember the fun day. The kids keep asking when we are going back. I definitely think this is something we will have to plan on doing at least once every year.