What's New with Jared?

He loves ketchup and uses French fries as a carrier to get the ketchup from the plate to his mouth. When the fries are gone, he just uses his fingers.

He does stairs like a pro and he is so cute I want to eat him up!

Sister Wives Christmas Gift

Each year my little group of friends gets together to open Christmas gifts that we have made for one another.  Last year, Quinae made each of us an apron with our initials embroidered on the pocket to remind us that even when we are busy doing the normal day-to-day things that we are united in our desire to be wonderful wives and mothers.

This year, Kristi wrote a letter to all of her Sister-Wives.

Kristi hit the nail right on the head with all of us.  We are exactly what she said we are and more.  We are best friends and we each have talents and strengths that make us unique and valuable.  I should also add that among us, Kristi is "The Therapist".  When you have a problem, Kristi is the one to go to.  She will help you determine the "why" behind how you are feeling or someone else is acting.  She puts things back into perspective.

I really have the most amazing group of friends imaginable.

From left to right: The Do-it-Yourselfer, The Therapist, The Doer, The Fixer, The Planner,
The Photographer, The Crafter, The Human Thesaurus, and not pictured, The Chef.

For my "fixer" gift I got a set of screwdrivers.  And I am a fixer.  In fact, earlier today I fixed our pre-lit Christmas tree by replacing the main electrical cord and troubleshooting two strands of unlit lights and two weeks ago I was working hard to fix our oven that had suddenly stopped baking.  As a second gift, I also got a bar of soap because out of all the Sister Wives, I've got the biggest potty mouth.

Delivering Christmas Cheer

Today after church today I made 8 dozen cookies to package up and deliver to our neighbors.  The boys wanted to help me make the cookies, but by the time we got to adding the 4 1/2 cups of flour I was so tired of them fighting over who got to add what and whether or not life was fair that I kicked them out of the kitchen.  So far we were off to a great start...bah humbug.

When Darren got home from his meetings (and after I had addressed and written a Christmas message for 12 neighbors) we set off to deliver some Christmas cheer.  We gathered up 4 plates of cookies and cards and headed out.  The first 3 deliveries went well.  The boys were a model of family perfection and I was feeling like such a wonderful mother.

By the time Darren and I made it back inside the house to get another set of cookies and cards to deliver the boys were back outside ready for round two.  When we made it back outside the boys were no where to be found and in my frustration I started hollering for them.  They were half way down the block standing on the door step of a neighbor that we hadn't planned to give cookies to!

I wish I had a video of the tantrum I was having as I tried to quietly yell to Trevor to come back.  (My tantrum was tempered by the fact that Baby J was asleep in the Ergo on my chest and I didn't think I could handle a crying baby on top of everything else, so I HAD to keep him asleep.)  Well, instead of coming back Trevor yelled back, "Don't worry, I'll ring the doorbell!"  My tantrum escalated and Darren took off jogging down the street to retrieve our disobedient children.  When they finally came back, and after lecturing them about paying attention, the Christmas spirit was gone.

Each house was the same.  The boys fought over whose turn it was to ring the doorbell, to hand over the cookies, and to hand over the card.  And while Darren and I chatted with our neighbors and wished them a Merry Christmas our boys took off running to another house only to fight with each other while waiting for Darren and I to catch up.  With each house I felt more and more like a failure as a mother.

And then I thought, "no!"  This is just life.  This is my crazy, imperfect, maddening, and wonderful life.  I am so blessed to have healthy and handsome children and a hard working husband.  We are blessed with the means to provide for ourselves and help out those around us.  I am a force for good in my home, my neighborhood, and my community.  I am a good mother and even though it was frustrating, we made memories tonight.

3 Little Pigs

Based on the title you might think this is going to be a rant about how much work I do everyday to keep my home looking nice, but it's not.

As part of his science curriculum, Trevor is learning all about different types of houses and they are reading several different versions of The Three Little Pigs.  Over the last few weeks they have made houses out of different materials.

Notice what his teacher did there?  A house of straw(s), a house of sticks (or picks) and a house of bricks (of sugar).  Kindergarten is so much fun!

Making General Conference More Meaningful

This morning I was so sad that conference weekend was over. For the first time since I had kids it was a weekend that I enjoyed and thanks to some last-minute planning, my kids enjoyed it as well.

On Tuesday night at our monthly Relief Society Meeting we were talking about ways to make conference more meaningful my instituting traditions and helping kids be involved and active listeners.  

Here is the conference board that I, along with several others friends, made to help our children be more involved in the talks. 

It was a slam-dunk success.  The boys had so much fun finding the speakers, putting them up to the pulpit and listening for the topics to add to the word bubble.  At the end of two days, both boys could recognize several members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the 12.  (Austin's personal favorite was "Uchie-dorf")  We had a wonderful weekend full of family fun, wonderful talks, and yummy food.  I can't wait to do it again in April and neither can the boys.

Austin Starts Preschool

One week ago, I got a phone call telling me that a space for Austin opened up at Little Chargers Preschool and just 4 days later I sent him off to his first day of school.

As I was taking this picture of him standing on our front porch before his first day of preschool, I thought, "He's too little to be going to preschool."  But looking back on pictures from two years ago, Trevor looked just as little.

On the second day of class they read the book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and made these adorable letter tree hats.

There is another "Austin" in his class, so they call him "Austin H."  He likes to tell people that he got a new name at preschool.  (I'm pretty sure he doesn't understand yet that the "H" stands for Hales.)

What he does know is that "A" is for Austin, so therefore, anything that has the letter A on it must belong to him.  Because he has a natural inclination to hoard things, learning that A is for Austin has meant that the things he chooses to hoard now include random (and sometimes important) papers, bottles of lotion, and anything else with an A on it.

It's a good thing he's cute!

**Update**
I wanted to remember some of the projects Austin has done in preschool thus far.  The teacher has a sample of what the project is supposed to look like and the kids are given freedom to make it look like hers, or not.  Austin usually chooses "not".  He is learning to use scissors and he cut out that frog mouth all by himself.

This "D" was also cut out by him.  Notice the placement of the dogs ear.  Love it.

By far, this pig is my favorite project he has brought home so far.  Look at the creativity!  A nose on your forehead.  Genius!

Jared's Birth Story: Part Four, Post-partum

Right after he was born Melissa placed sweet Jared into my arms. I was exhausted and in pain, but he was so cute and so perfect, nothing else seemed to matter. I remember thinking that he looked just like Trevor. Unfortunately, delivering the baby does not put an end to the pain, but holding a sweet baby sure does make it easier to endure. While Melissa was stitching me up, I remember telling Darren and everyone else in the room that I was NEVER going to do that again. At the time, and even now, I can not imagine willingly choosing to endure the pain of child birth again.

After a rough night of sleep, I called my friend Kristi Thulin in the morning to let her know that Jared was born and I had a sweet conversation with Trevor. I told him that last night while he was sleeping, Baby Jared was born. He said, "Aww, is he so cute?" It brought tears to my eyes to hear my first baby ask in such a mature and sincere voice about his new baby brother. I replied through my tears that "yes, he is so cute!"

After school was out, family came to visit and they brought Trevor and Austin with them to meet Jared. It is always so amazing to me after the I have a baby and my bigger "babies" come to visit that my heart grows, somewhat like the Grinch, and suddenly there is enough love for everyone.

Austin was really so excited to see me. He came right up onto my bed to give me a hug and I couldn't believe how grown-up he was. Unlike Trevor, who could be persuaded Austin wanting nothing to do with holding Jared. He was content to just stare and smile at him without touching him.

As a special gift the the boys, from Jared, they got a new movie that they can watch over and over again while I take naps on a couch.









Later that night my friends Kacey and Kristy came to visit bringing along with them Jared's friends from the pre-existence Lauren and Wesley. They also brought chocolate, which was awesome.