Christmas With Kayden

Here are some pictures for everyone of our Christmas morning.

Kayden and Steve both got golf clubs. Steve only had one golf club left for Santa to deliver because Santa brought his other ones early so he could use them last week. Kayden also got a little remote control car that we had to help him play with ALL DAY.

Kayden couldn't wait to get out his golf clubs and play with them.

Kayden getting ready for his left-handed swing.

On some presents, Kayden would rip off a little piece of paper, and then he would run to the garbage and throw it away instead of on the floor with the other large pieces of paper. This is a picture of him at the garbage can throwing away his paper.

Kayden got a Sesame Street Garage, which he also loves to play with.

Steve got lots of golf and sport gifts from his co-workers.

Kayden opening gifts.

The aftermath of Christmas. It was a good one!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!!

Reno Adventures

Saturday night while we were at the UCLA football bowl game, my dad got a voicemail that Grandpa Dixon had a stroke and was in the hospital in Reno. We spent a couple hours on the phone tracking everyone down and finally learned that he had a bleed behind his right eye and that surgery would be required. At about 11pm Saturday night Andrew, my dad, and I booked our flight for 8 am the next morning to go to Reno. Luckily, Christina has family in Reno and we were able to borrow a car from them for the day. We were very grateful to Christina's sister, Brittany and her brother-in-law, Kevin.

For the three of us, needless to say, this was a very eventful day. Here is a summary of the events:

8 am: Boarding the plane to Reno. I decided that it would be too cramped to sit in between my dad and Andrew on the 1 hour flight to Reno so I took a window seat directly behind them. Unfortunately for my dad, this guy sits down in between him and Andrew. Andrew was smart and pretended to sleep while this man (who looks just like Nick Nolte below) talked to my dad non-stop for over an hour about politics, his trip to Vegas, and gambling. He even cheered at the top of his lungs, (think Tiggers laugh from Disney) at seriously the top of his lungs, when we took off......"Wait, ok we are in the air....YESSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He also cheered when we landed....YEAHHHHHHH!!!! WOO HOOOOOO!!!!!!!!


Next stop was being picked up from the airport by Kevin. When he pulled up in his 1982 Mercedes, we all thought that an Iranian in a turban would get out and grab our luggage. Nope, just Kevin got out and proceeded to show us how to start the car. The car is so old that glow plugs heat the diesel fuel before you can turn it on. Once the glow plugs heat the diesel, you can flip the switch located under the red plastic shield to start the car (think of a switch to light a bomb). Honestly, the first time we started the car we all said, "are we going to blow up?"

As we proceeded to drive around Reno, we got a lot of looks and I assume people thought we would jump out of the car with some of these on us:

I also thought people expected, because I did, this flag to be attached to the back of the car and some terrorist to be driving around Reno in it:

By the end of the day, Andrew and my dad were making me drive them around like I was their chouffer. They both sat in back while I drove alone in the front. When we arrived at the airport, I hid the keys under the rear bumper for Kevin to pick up that night. If i had been someone watching me place something under the bumper of that car, I would have immediately notified the authorities. luckily, nobody did. Our flight back to vegas was delayed over an hour and a half. we got home around 11:30.

We saw grandpa dixon a couple times. His surgeries went well and the doctor said he is going to be just fine. The staff at Renown hospital was amazing. Grandpa recognized us when he got out of surgery and was grateful we were there. So was Grandma Dixon. I feel bad because they will spend Christmas in Reno. I was glad we went to see him. He is the partriarch of our family, and eventually he will pass on (let's hope it isn't before Great Grandma Stapley does) but we are glad he will be around for a while still. I wish I could have written more about our experience that day, but the most important thing is that Grandpa is safe.

Last Week's Happenings

So here is a picture of our sad tree. Last week Kayden was chasing the cat around the house, and I don't know if it was the cat, or Kayden, but the tree came crashing down. Both them were running at the tree, and the next time I looked up the tree was falling down and Kayden was running out from under it. It was like in the movies, where the people are running away from some disaster and manage to barely stay ahead of the destruction. One of Steve's presents got soaked with water so I had to unwrap it. I am ready to put the tree out on the curb. We don't have any ornaments on the bottom half, no angel, or a tree skirt, and Kayden won't leave the presents alone when I try to cover up the bottom with them. Only one more week, then our poor tree is gone. Lately, Kayden has gotten into the "helping" stage. I was folding towels the other night and Kayden was taking the dishrags and putting them away in the kitchen. He must have also gotten a few other towels and when I went in the kitchen this is what I found. He tried to put some of the big towels away in the little drawer too. :)

So I was practicing the piano every chance I had last week for our choir program on Sunday. This gave Kayden lots of time to get in trouble. One night Steve and I found Kayden with his hair all wet. Yep, he was styling it with toilet water! He does a pretty good job though, right?

Live Nativity or Ice Cream?

So last Thursday night we tried to go see the Live Nativity. We got there early, but not early enough. There wasn't anywhere to even stand where we would be able to see anything but the lights shining in our eyes. We couldn't stay for the second one because Steve was playing basketball that night. We decided to leave and go get ice cream at Danielle's instead.

It was an excellent decision!! I, of course, got a hot fudge sunday. Steve's little sister Helen was with us, and when I told her that Danielle's has the best hot fudge in the world she said, "yeah right, how do you know?" I had her try some on her ice cream and then she said, "You're right, this is the best hot fudge in the world." She then proceeded to take half of my hot fudge. It was funny.

Kayden also loved the ice cream and sampled everyone's. He also decided to help himself to a sample of jellie bellies. He pulled open a drawer of pink jellie bellies, took one and ate it, and closed the drawer before Steve and I had even realized what he was doing. Then we were laughing too hard to get mad at him. We decided it was time to go before Kayden did anymore stealing.

Grinch Names

My mom sent me this website where you can type in your name and then it will give you a Grinch name. I looked up some of the names of mine and Steve's family members. See if you can figure out which person goes with which grinch name.

People
1. Steve Dixon
2. Christina Dixon
3. Kayden Dixon
4. Beverly Gordon
5. Brittany Brazell
6. Paul Judd
7. Weston Judd
8. Stan Judd
9. Mark Dixon
10. Robin Dixon
11. Sarah Dixon
12. Helen Dixon
13. Andrew Dixon

Grinch Names
a. crabbytroll crankybottom
b. nastygrinch crankybottom
c. bittergrinch wickedhead
d. meanbeast jerkyhead
e. peevishgrinch crankybottom
f. woefulbeast crankybottom
g. moodybeast crustyshorts
h. crabbygrinch crankybottom
i. miserlyfrown crankybottom
j. wretchedgloom crankybottom
k. crabbyurchin jerkyhead
l. miserlygrouch crankybottom
m. moodytroll jerkyhead

I especially like crabbygrinch, crabbyurchin, and moodybeast!! Let me know who you think goes with what grinch name and why (nothing too mean, please), and I will post the answers later. I'll give you a hint. All the Dixon's are Crankybottoms!! Have fun!!

20 comments

I need 20 comments to win a bet with Christina. So if Christina has ever done anything to wrong you and you feel like you want to get her back a little, this is your chance. Even if you don't like me, post anyway. In fact, you can just post about how you don't like me. I don't care, I just need 20 comments. Or you can comment about how much you like this picture.

Thanks, Management.

Critisizm

Christina in "non-critisizm" mode. Even though she put my son

in a pink life jacket. Check out Steve on the wakeboard!

So last night, Christina is riding me about putting trash away, cleaning up after myself, blah, blah, blah...

I somewhat jokingly told her to stop with the critisizm and then told her I was going to build a man cave where no critisizm was allowed; therefore no women would be allowed.

She said she wasn't a critical person and we left it at that.

NOT 10 MINUTES LATER as she is watching "Beauty and the Geek" they showed a Geek's new girlfriend and Christina immediately said, "Ewww, look at her, she ISN'T CUTE, and it looks like she is pregnant. He could have gotten her before he changed!" I started laughing and she told me to shutup.

NOT 2 MINUTES LATER she came into the bedroom gave me a hug and said she was just frustrated because the house is always a mess. I agreed and then she said, "I know, cause you don't pick up your mess."

We just both started laughing. Funnier if you were there, but I made fun of her all night for the critisizm and told her I was posting this today. Thanks for the Christmas present baby. Best Christmas ever!

Finished Yard

We finally got our yard finished the end of last week, but I kept forgetting to take pictures while it was still light outside. So here is the progress made to the end.

Kayden running around the dirt path between the piles of stone

Kayden running around the path after the stone was laid

These piles of sand were in our backyard for a few days and Dash thought is was a huge litter box. He also helped cover up Anni's stuff as well. Sorry to the landscapers if they found surprises in their piles of sand.

The finished front yard. Now we are like everyone else with rock. :( But we shouldn't get any more letters for violations from the HOA. :)

The finished backyard with green grass!

Another view of the backyard.

It has been too cold for Kayden to really play outside yet, but he stands at the window and stares out. He doesn't have a runny nose today and it is a little warmer, so maybe we will try to play outside this afternoon.

I'm Always Cold

I am always cold at work, and today I found out why.
Do you see that big gap in the window? It is the big clear line between the two black lines. It is like a quarter of an inch wide!! I sit right next to this window all morning at work and get a nice cold breeze. I have to put on layers and layers of clothing when I get home and finally start warming up by about 4 o'clock. Today they came and measured the window, so hopefully I will be warmer soon.

Don't I have a great view?!

Is this any way for an attorney to dress?

So Steve got dressed to leave for work the other morning and he had this hole in his sleeve. He refused to change shirts because he "likes this one" even though he had other clean ones. Somebody help me convince him this is not OK. If anyone wants his measurements for a Christmas gift, just let me know. :)

Another funny story... Kayden headbutted Steve in the mouth the other night. (This hurts really bad. I know because he did it to me a few days before.) Steve was holding the remote for the TV in our bedroom and got so mad that he threw it against the wall. Of course it broke. Steve got mad at me for laughing at him. I told him it was either laugh, or get angry at him, so he better let me laugh about it. The good thing is that the remote for the family room TV will also work in the bedroom. So now we don't fight over the remote if we are watching TV together, we fight over who gets the remote when we are watching TV in separate rooms. I bet you can guess who loses that fight most of the time. So now we (by we, I mean me) are running back and forth between rooms to get the remote from each other until we get a new one.

New Yard

Yesterday we finally started redoing our yard!! Here are some pictures of the progress. Above is the front yard at the end of yesterday. There is no more grass and the riverbed is dug.

Backyard before any work

Backyard at the end of Monday, all dirt. Dash loved running around in it. Anni did not like not having any grass to go to the bathroom on.

Thanksgiving

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving day at the Dixon's house. We had lots of good food and it was fun to be able to just relax and hang out and see the family.

The Camps eating watermelon outside

Kayden getting some watermelon

Abi and Kayden pushing the stroller

Kayden, Matthew, and Abi swinging

Nursery

Yesterday was Kayden's first day of nursery!! He is definitely not a baby anymore. I took him in to nursery, set him down, and off he went. Just like that! Steve and I peeked in on him once and he was sitting at the table eating treats with all of the other kids. Steve picked him up at the end of church and they said he did really well. Yeah for us, we can be active again! Here is Kayden with his picture from his first day of nursery. Yes, it is already on the fridge.

it is NOT time to take a bath

Kayden is always climbing in the bathtub lately. And we all know how many showers Steve takes everyday so the tub is never dry. Monday I think I changed Kayden's clothes 2 or 3 times because he kept getting in the tub and getting wet. Usually he only gets in there when I am in my bathroom or bedroom and plays with all the bottles, but I walked in there Monday and found him "taking a bath." The next morning I turned on the shower to let it warm up, and when I went to get in he was already sitting in there. So I took his pajamas off and ended up giving him a shower since he was already all wet. He tried to sneak in again this morning. I don't want to get mad at him for liking the tub so much, but it is getting a little crazy! Maybe he thinks he needs to take a bath as much as his Dad does.

Playtime Stuff

Lately, Kayden has been a pack rat. We cannot leave the house in the morning without him grabbing at least 2 blankets, 2 balls, a golf club, and whatever else he thinks he can carry. He also has to have everything (from Steve's basketball, to his play drill and juice) on the couch with him when he drinks his bottle. It really takes a long time to get anything done while I wait for him to get all of this stuff.

So yesterday, this was his new place to collect everything. This is his slide outside. He doesn't climb through the door. He slides through the hole on the side. I think he learned this from his cousins climbing through the windows of their playhouse. His slide has lots of rocks and dirt in the bottome part, and Kayden added all of this stuff to the dirt. I think he had 2 blankets, 2 balls, a balloon, his juice, a toy, and even my cell phone at one point, all under his slide. Then the next time I went out he was working on moving everything up to the top. At least it kept him busy for a while.

Happy Birthday To Our Dads!!!

Today, Nov. 13th, is my Dad's Birthday (I won't tell you how old he is, but last year we had a 50th Birthday Party for him), and tomorrow, Nov. 14th, is Steve's Dad's Birthday (I think he has stopped counting his birthdays). Steve and I are both blessed with wonderful Dads.

I think of my Dad as someone who can do anything, and I call him all the time to ask him how to do things, or to just do it for me, which he always does. I think that he has taken Kayden and I to the the airport more often than Steve, and I don't think he really works because he is always working on his house or helping someone else.

One of the reasons I married Steve was because of his wonderful family. They are very spiritual and always supportive. They have also let us live with them twice!! Steve's Dad may seem big and mean, but we all know that he is really a teddy bear who will do anything for his children, and I thank him for being such a great example of a father for Steve to look up to.

So Happy Birthday to 2 of the greatest Dads, and Grandpas, in the world! We love you!!

A Visitor On Stage

So I had a visitor on stage yesterday. It was the primary program so the stage was full of kids. While the sacrament was being passed one of the primary leaders tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned around and there was Kayden coming up the stairs! I looked down at Steve and he just held up his hands like, "I don't even know how he got up there." So Kayden sat on the organ bench with me and tried to play the organ (luckily I had turned it off). Then, he got mad when it didn't make any noise and started pounding on it. Of course, he wanted to walk around and play with all of the kids and he wouldn't hold still. Finally, I had to take him off the stage and we eventually ended up out in the hall, of course.

I can always hear when Steve comes into the chapel before sacrament because Kayden starts crying when he sees me. And when I have to go up to play the closing song, Kayden always cries and Steve has to take him out. The poor kid just wants his mom, and I always have to leave him. I guess yesterday he just figured he would come find me.

Fishing

Andrew, his son Zack, and I went fishing at Eagle Valley, just outside of Pioche, last Saturday. Together we caught 20 fish. Zack beat us both by catching 9! Couldn't believe I got beat by a 7 year old. Here is a pic of Andrew and Zack. Make sure and click on the link on our blog page to see Zack actually catch a fish. It is under the heading of "Kayden Video." It is pretty cool, especially when the fish jumps out of the water before we get it in the boat....And O, yeah, I almost forgot, for those of you that don't know, Zack is a funny kid. Naturally funny. So his quote of the day on the boat was (even though he didn't get it obviously) when a fish was taking his line out he said, "Dad, my rope is getting hard!" Me and Andrew tried not to laugh but couldn't help it...

BOW WOW! Halloween.....

Christina dressed Kayden up as a dog because everytime he sees one he says,

"bow wow." This is little bow wow with Mary Poppins and Dick Van Dyke.

Kayden actually carried around his pumpkin all night long. When people put candy in

there he would look at them like, "what the heck are you doing to my pumpkin!?!"

Mom, little bow wow, and Dick Van Dyke.

Grandpa Dixon and Kayden

Top 10 Songs of All Time

Ok, still haven't had time to download pictures from Halloween or last weekends fishing trip so, here is my top 10 songs of all time (in no particular order). You should look them up and listen to them. Most of them come from when I was single and dating in college. Good times.

1. Window by Guster - learned to play this one on the guitar on my mission. Amazing song.
2. With or Without You by U2 - straight high school music (and church dances too)
3. Canon In D by Pachelbel - just always loved the feeling of peace this song brings
4. Fix You by Cold Play - the 5 part harmony's are amazing
5. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses by U2 - disneyland when i was 16
6. Closer by Better Than Ezra - this one makes me think about having children
7. Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional - ah the single life and dating in college
8. Soaked in Cinnamon by Ultimate Fakebook - same thing, single and dating and having fun in college
9. It's Christmas Time by The Carpenters - can't go without Christmas music on this list....
10.

Ok so I don't have a number 10 yet, but every now and again another song jumps in there. Everybody else that reads this is tagged. Late.....

First CD I Ever Bought

That's right. The first CD I ever bought was Wilson Phillips. I bought it at a Target in Del Mar, California while on vacation. "Hold on for one more day.....I know that there is pain, but ya hold on for one more day...." I know you all have the lyrics in your head. YOU KNOW YOU DO!!!! Anyway, since everyone is complaining about posts, I figured I would put something up until I get Kayden's Halloween pics up. What was everyone elses first CD purchase?

cool places we have been

When Matthew came to Omaha, we went to Kansas City and caught a Royals vs. White Sox game. It was chilly, but the ball park was gorgeous.

Mom, Helen, Christina, and Sarah (with Matthew peeking in on the left) at Carthage jail. Where they are standing is where Joseph Smith fell from the second story window when he was murdered.

Christina and I outside of Carthage. The statue is of Joseph and his brother Hyrum.

Christina and I went to Nauvoo twice while in Omaha. This is outside of Joseph Smith's residence in Nauvoo. After spending time in Nauvoo, there is no way to deny that Joseph was and is the prophet of God who restored the only true church on the face of the earth. You simply feel it in your soul in his city on the banks of the Mississippi. Through this church is the only way to find real peaceful happiness, because it is the only way you can return to live with God, through the Savior, Jesus Christ.

Truth restored. The Nauvoo temple was awesome!!!! Christina, my mom and dad, and myself caught a session Friday morning. Amazing.

Christina and I went to Lawrence, Kansas to Allen Fieldhouse and watched Idaho State play at Kansas University. Some of the greatest basketball names of all time played or coached here including Wilt Chamberlain, and the inventor of basketball, Dr. James Naismith was their first coach.

Matthew and I looking out over the valley of Adam Ondi Ahman. Adam and his seed will meet here again during the millenium. Just a few weeks before Matthew left for Armenia. He will be home in May of 2008.

Christina and Matthew at the temple site Far West. This is simply a tribute to the pioneers. However, in the background under the glass you can see one of the original corner stones for the temple. All four still exist. This is literally in the middle of nowhere. About 20 miles from Adam Ondi Ahman. It started raining pretty hard right after we left Adam Ondi Ahman and lasted until we made it to Kansas City.

Matthew and I at Liberty Jail near Kansas City. This is a replica of the original jail. However, it is built on the same spot and site as the original. Joseph Smith received a ton of revelation here. D&C 121 is one of my favorites, and occurred in this spot. Hyrum Smith couldn't stand straight up in the jail below. These guys were in there for more than 4 months I think. Amazing what the pioneers went through for us.

This is a picture of me and Matthew on the temple site of the reorganized church. We are standing on the location of our respective missions. The temple site for the Independence temple is across the street.

Christina and I have also traveled to Houston, Austin, Idaho, Sacramento, and visited some of the unfortunate who live in Utah. Looking forward to more trips together. Maybe a visit to Philadelphia next summer to visit Carrie...