Finally Forward Facing

Trevor is turning two soon and we finally decided to turn his car seat forward facing.  We didn't turn him at one because he was still under 20 lbs and shortly after his first birthday I read that a child under one is 5 times more likely to be injured in a car crash if they are facing forward, so rear facing he stayed and happily I might add.

Sunday night before bed we got in the truck, put Trevor in his "new big boy car seat" (which is the same car seat he has had for a year now, it just faces the other way now) and went to look at Christmas lights.  The first thing Trevor noticed was the stop lights.  He kept hollering out "green" and "red".  He thought they were so cool.

Driving around this week has been an exciting experience for Trevor.  He loves it when we go through a puddle and make a splash on the sidewalk and loves to tell me that the light has turned green and I should "GO!"  Trips in the car are much more fun when you can see where you are going.

2009 Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas from Darren,
Mindy, Trevor, and baby Austin

In one word, 2009 was turbulent, but we had a lot of fun amidst the chaos and change.  We made a trip to Utah in May for a baby blessing, Mother’s Day and the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championships at BYU.  We spent Memorial Day weekend on a bike trip on Orcas Island.  We enjoyed biking into camp with Dawna’s family and took Trevor hiking and canoeing.

Throughout the summer, and even once in the winter, Darren and Mindy spent several weekends out on the river enjoying the scenery and the rapids.  In August we traveled to Spokane so that Darren could compete in the annual Spike and Dig volleyball tournament.

In October we purchased a F150 truck that Darren and Trevor are in love with.  For Halloween we went with a garden theme where Darren was a fern, Mindy a toadstool, and Trevor was a garden gnome.

Darren

Darren has a new calling in church and he is back in the Young Men’s program, this time working with the 14-15 year old scouts.  This year Darren was able to go on enough river rafting trips, including the White Salmon River which has a 10ft waterfall, to earn his status as a guide.  In August, Darren was reassigned to work on the 787 program in Everett and has been working a lot to prepare for the first flight by the end of the year.  In December, he finished his first class in the Engineering Technology Master’s Program through Central Washington University.

Mindy

Mindy has spent the majority of this last year nurturing and teaching Trevor and growing a new baby.  She joined Darren on several river rafting trips earlier in the year on rivers like the Skagit, the Wenatchee, and the White Salmon.  Mindy was excited to have a yard with a dedicated garden space and after lots of hard work this spring and summer our family had a bountiful harvest.  In July, she marched with her former drill team, the Ballard Eagles, in the Torchlight parade.  Mindy has also had lots of practice this year making cakes for family and friends including a cake based on the game Operation for her father-in-law and a rafting cake for Darren’s surprise 30^th birthday party.

Trevor

Trevor will turn two in the next couple weeks and he is learning new things every day.  He is talking a whole lot more now and cracks us up all the time with his quick wit.  He loves to play with cars and trucks and has names for many of them, dada-truck (the one that looks like our truck), papa-truck (the one he got from Darren’s dad), green-truck (the green one, duh), etc.  He also loves to push a chair up to the sink, put on his apron, and help with the dishes.  His list of words continues to grow and we are consistently amazed at how quickly he absorbs new things.

Austin

We are so excited to announce that our son, due in mid-April 2010, will be named Austin John.  When we were trying to pick out a name we finally decided on either Derek or Austin.  Having no idea how we were going to decide between the two, Mindy asked Trevor if he could say Derek, to which he replied an emphatic, “no”.  Then she asked if he could say Austin and he broke out in a big smile before saying, “Aww-ss-teen” and that settled it.  Already Austin has been such a delight to our family.  Trevor will frequently address Mindy’s belly as Austin and give him a quick hug or kiss.

 

**Family Picture Blooper Reel**

Catching Up

There is lots to catch up on, so let's get started...

• Mom of the Year

We all have those moments when we think to ourselves, if CPS (Child Protective Services) could only see me now... That moment happened to me last Wednesday when Trevor burnt his hand on the stove top. I literally took a pan off the stove, looked Trevor in the eye and said, "Trevor, that's hot, don't touch it", I turned around and then heard him scream. I'm not gonna lie folks, I swore and then proceeded to the sink to hold his hand under cold water for the next 30 mins. It was awful. Here is what it looked like before the blisters broke open...
Needless to say, Trevor takes the phrases "HOT!" and "Don't touch!" a lot more seriously now. That's a painful lesson to learn and one that I wish he would have just taken my word for.

• Santa Pictures

For weeks Trevor has been talking about seeing Santa. He loves that guy. He gets excited when he sees him on TV or hears his name in a song on the radio. Santa is the man...until you have to sit on his lap, then he is not so cool.
(See those blue jean knees in the picture,,,,they're mine. Trevor was sitting on my lap and I was laid back into the tree in an effort to stay out of the picture while Santa leaned in close.)

• 20 Weeks Preggo

I am officially half way through my pregnancy and feeling great. Remember my smart-alec comment about being able to still wear my pre-pregnancy jeans...that is no longer the case.We haven't figured out what to name this baby yet, but so far we like Travis, Derek, and Jeremy.

• Cakes for the Relief Society Christmas Dinner

Here are the cakes I made for the Christmas dinner earlier this week. They were a lot of work and super stressful because I had to make them with Trevor underfoot saying, "some, please" every 5 seconds. Do you think that from now on I could factor in the cost of a babysitter into the total price of the cake?? Maybe not...Enjoy the pictures!

Diva Soccer Cake

Today I made a drama queen diva/soccer theme cake for a 13th birthday party. My idea was soccer star meets Mardi Gras and I think I pulled it off.

Instead of buying a special pan to make the soccer ball I just baked the cake in one of my Pyrex bowls and to help it cook evenly I put my flower nail upside down in the bottom of the bowl to help conduct heat to the center of the cake. It worked perfectly!!


For the mask, I bought a cheap plastic mask and then pressed gum paste into it to make a sugar replica. After it dried I painted it with icing color watered down with clear vanilla. Over the top of the turquoise part I painted some silver luster dust to make it look shiny. The feathers and the wire holding the stars are the only non-edible parts of this cake.

Happy 13th Birthday Kailiegh and thanks Kelly for letting me be a part of her special day!

Gushing With Pride

This is a post all about the amazing things Trevor is learning and doing. I am literally gushing with pride over his accomplishments!As I mentioned before he is learning new words at an astonishing rate. He can now recognize and say colors like, green, blue, black, pink, red, and sometimes yellow. Lately, his new favorite word is Santa!

The other day he was downstairs eating a banana and I ran upstairs to check my email. After a few minutes I heard him coming up the stairs and it sounded like he was bringing me something. He ran into the office with the can of hot cocoa mix and said, "cocoa, please!" I was astonished. Neither Darren or I have ever given him cocoa, or taught him the word for it. He just got it out of the pantry, carried it upstairs and asked for it. As a reward I made him some and now he asks for "hot cocoa" all the time.

The following day I was in the kitchen making dinner when I heard Trevor say something, so I turned around to see what he wanted and he had the rice cooker out and he said to me, "rice, please!" Again, I had no idea he could say rice or that he knew where the rice cooker was and what it was for. Again, I was astonished!

In the tub later that night he spilled water on the floor and I told him, "Uh-oh, you need to say, sorry momma". So he did, he said, "sorry momma" and I had to leave the room to hide my laugh because he has never said the word sorry before, he has always just signed it.

Everyday I am amazed at the words Trevor is learning and how much he is able to communicate with us. He is such a delight and a joy to have in our family!!

We Love Boys!

We are so excited to announce that we are adding another boy to our family!! I really thought this baby was a girl, but I was delighted to be wrong!!

So here is our little boy. He is so cute (especially his little nose) and I love him so much already.

Just for fun, here are some of the reasons we thought this baby was a girl:

• With Trevor I wanted red meat every day, with this baby meat is yucky. I even hate the meat aisle at the grocery store. All I want to eat is fruit and veggies.
• Darren thought this baby was a girl because he felt like I had an increase in estrogren and that the baby and I were on the same page... Personally, I think I have done way better controlling my emotions with this baby than I did with Trevor. I am almost 19 weeks and I have yet to throw anything at Darren. That's amazing!
• This baby seems to be higher than Trevor was. Don't hate, but I am still able to button my pre-pregnancy jeans....although I won't be able to for much longer!
  

Reasons I am so glad we are having a boy:

• I do not have to paint over the blue nursery, with a more girlie color.
• No need to purchase new bedding, accessories, or clothes.
• Trevor will love having a brother to play with, however right now when you ask him if he is having a baby brother he says, "no, no, no".
  
• I think having daughter-in-law's will be WAY easier than raising a daughter.
  
• Boys mean more full-time missionaries to love and support.
• Growing up there was no priesthood authority in my home, and eventually I will have 3 priesthood holders!!!

So as you can see adding another boy is a huge blessing to our family and we can't wait for Spring!!

What's New with the Hales

• New Truck

Almost a month ago now we purchased a truck! Darren has been thinking about getting a truck for 2 years, researching what kind of truck for a year, and looking at trucks to purchase for about 6 months. We finally found THE ONE. Darren and Trevor are both in love with it!

• New Experiences

Yesterday I took Trevor to the movie theater for the first time ever. We went to a theatre in Bellevue that has Mother's day Thursday movies at 10am. They turn down the sound and leave some lights on, which makes it perfect to bring your kiddos to. We saw A Christmas Carol in 3D (well, I did. Trevor refused to wear the 3D glasses). We ate popcorn and apple slices and for the first half he sat next to me watching the movie. Toward the end he started to get restless and wanted to walk around or climb on the seats and that worked out just fine because all the other kids were doing it too!

• New Words

Everyday this last week Trevor has started saying a new word. Here are my favorites:
Cheyo: translation, Cheerios
cho: pronounced like an Asian last name, it means, chair. Trevor loves to pull a chair up to the sink, put on his apron and help me wash dishes.
tao: translation, towel
buk-ho: translation, backhoe, as in a specific type of truck (Darren taught him that one)
da-da-uck: this one is actually a full sentence that means, "Oh man, Daddy took the truck to work!"
*uck or more commonly suck: means, "I'm Stuck!" At the movie theater the seats would fold up on him unless he had all his weight on it, so during the movie I kept hearing "*uck, *uck" and I would move over and help him get unSTuck.

That's all folks. Stay tuned on Monday to find out whether Baby Hales is a boy baby or a girl baby. Any guesses?? (In case you are wondering, we think it's a girl)