And in this corner...Jack "the Brute" Hafen

After we had Jack, everyone asked us how Kimball was with the new baby. Did she poke him? Hit him? Did she try to hurt him? And generally the answer is no. She didn't really mess with him at all. However, now that Jack is mobile, he seems to have found a new toy to wrestle with. In true "boy" style, he has a very hard time staying away from Kimball when she's in the same room. I'll be changing her diaper, and he'll come and climb on top of her or grab her hair.

He has even managed to tackle her to the ground. I don't have any little brothers, but I can imagine that Jack is going to be the epitome of what little brothers are to big sisters.

I think she should've beat on him more when he was younger, while she had the chance. I wish her luck in the future, and will try to keep Jacks fingernails short to not give him any advantages.





Even when she hides, she's still got a target on her. Well, maybe because she stole his plug in this picture, and he wasn't going to let a little tunnel stop him from attacking her.

Kimball found a way to be protected and mobile at the same time.

Never to late to celebrate DADS!!!... and a quick recap

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!! First to my husband who makes being a mom so much easier than it could be. He truly is the best dad ever to Jack and Kimball, by taking care of them and keeping them happy. And, for loving me as much as you do. You make my life worth every second. And always exceed my already high expectations. I love you J!!




Next, to my own dad, who taught his most intense/serious daughter how to have fun and be happy, especially when I don't think it was possible. Nothing makes me smile more than hearing my dad say "Well you know what Big Bird says..." when I'm sick. He really taught me how to learn to laugh at myself, and to keep things in perspective a.k.a. "we could all be dead by then." Thanks Dad!! I love you.


And to Jason's dad, Lowell, you are the best father-in-law I could ever wish for. Thanks for letting me tease and harass you like I'm one of your own children. You sure put up with me fantastically. Thanks, and I love you.

If you can't tell, I am a very blessed person to have these 3 men as fathers in my life. I have never questioned their love for me, my kids, or the gospel.


Now, because it's been so long, let me sum up what's been going on in our crazy house! Cally and Nate came to visit with Owen and Eli. It was a fantastic time of eating healthy (or trying to) chatting, swimming and watching our kids watch one another. These 3 had a great time in the tub. Well, I think Kimball was a little nervous to share her space, but she soon got over it. And, Kimball helped show Owen how to walk, and Owen showed Jack how to crawl. And, we got the rare opportunity to see Owen in a very silly mood. Owen is not normally very expressive... at all, so we took advantage of him being a little punch drunk and up too late.

And so, I present with great amusement... Mr. Personality!!!

And, here's Jack, getting serious about crawling for reals!

Since then we've just been playing around the house. Now that Jack is crawling pretty well (his arms are keeping up with his legs, and he's getting his belly off the ground) he seems to get himself stuck in weird places. Even though he's mobile, he still will stop when he sees me and will start crying for me to come get him. If I take too long (which is most of the time) he'll stop crying and start crawling again like nothing ever happened.



And, Kimball still continues to be the cheeseball that she is. Really, this is what I got when I said "say Cheese" to take her picture. Oh, to spend a happy day in her head. Life is just too fun for her, at least until she wants her "plug" and I won't let her have it because she's only allowed to have it in her crib. She's been practicing her scream in preparation for the "terrible two's" which I'm afraid are starting to set in.

And, we could post without a video of Kimball making her own fun.
This is her impression of one of her favorite movies "Sleeping Beauty"

Aside from all of us being sick last week, we're having fun and trying to keep eachother entertained. Oh, a few lessons I learned while we were sick. Don't try to feed a baby food when they are sneezing a lot, unless you want a sprayed look to your clothes. There's no such thing as too many naps. And, don't expect good conversations with your spouse when you're both dealing with a crabby sick kid. Jason and I were home all weekend with eachother, but still had to catch up with eachother on Sunday night.

Move Over Martha and Rollercoasters

That's right Martha Stewart, I'm going to give you the boot as the queen crafter. Okay not really, but I am feeling all sorts of crafty since Jason got me my first sewing machine for our anniversary and am proud to say that it has been out of it's box and I've finished 2 projects. Yes, it's a miracle. I'm sure Jason thought it was going to sit in the box in a closet for a year until I found it and decided to sell it on craigslist. So here they are. A dust ruffle for Jacks crib and a bandanna skirt for Kimball. Nice easy projects. If anyone knows of any easy patterns let me know.

Other than working on my new sewing skills Jason and I went to Disneyland last week (I know, big shocker). It was a well needed trip. Jason and I had just hit a little bit of a low in our rollercoaster of life, and thought we might as well go to one of the highs in our rollercoaster of life. It was a fun trip, with an exception of a bad chimichanga, and forgetting the camera. People always ask us what we do there with 2 little kids. I've decided to create a little bit of a list of all the things to do with kids that aren't big enough to go on the "fun" rides. Here's a random sampling of what fills our time (besides churros).

In Disneyland, we go on Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Train, Small World, anything in Storybook land, the Carousel, the Tiki Room, the Jungle Cruise, the petting zoo, and Roger Rabbit just to name a few. AND, in California Adventure there is the Animation room where we do Turtle Talk and watch cartoons, Monsters Inc., all the rides in Bugland, Midway Mania, the playground by the Orange, and Brother Bear adventure playground.. etc.... this list doesn't count all the shows and food that can be enjoyed with little kids. Needless to say we have a blast every time, and find new tricks with every trip.

Okay, so here's some random pictures of what the kids have been up here at home.

I know when things get too quiet I need to go find Kimball, and this is where I happened to find her today. Yes, I told her "no" and did my serious face, only after I got a picture. I guess it's time to start potty training?

What? What are you looking at?

Jack is really wanting to crawl, but this is all he can manage for now.

Kimball loves to hide, and sit in baskets.

Procrastinating the day of my....

Sacrament talk. Yes, I should be preparing the talk that I'm supposed to be giving tomorrow, but I figured blogging might help me "mentally" prepare. I promise I'll get started on it as soon as I'm done with this... maybe.

On Saturday(last week), Jason and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Time flies when you're having fun (I think I said that last year). We actually hired a babysitter (it pays to be in the Young Women, to scope out responsible girls to watch our kids) and went out to dinner and went and watch the Bellagio fountains. The music brought back memories of our first date. Jason had a cd with the music of the fountains and he had planned a drive around the lake while we listened to the Bellagio Fountian music and enjoyed the beautiful view. Well, unfortunately it was dark when we got the lake, so we enjoyed the music while starring into the darkness of the lake at night. Really it was a good time chatting, I got to know Jason's story that night as I interrogated him about his previous relationship (hey, inquiring minds needed to know). And he made me laugh... a lot. It was good it ended like that because the first part of the date had been the most intimidating experience of my life. Jason took me ice-skating with his singles ward, and I have never heard so many girls say "hi" to one guy in my entire life. "Hi Jason," "Hey Jason," "What's up Jason?"... I kept thinking, did he bring me here to let me know how cool he is and how lucky I was to be with him? I asked him later on, and he just said he was terrible at planning dates, and didn't know what else we could do. Either way, it worked, we were married 3 months later. I get all sentimental when I think of my husband... I always thank him for asking me to marry him. Who'd have thought I (me, the biggest skeptic of all) could have found my best friend and truest love in 3 months. Okay... I'll stop.

So the rest of this week has been fun. We tried to wait until the pools were open to go swimming, but decided we couldn't so we did the next best thing and went to the part with all the fountains and water features. Jack got a first taste of what summer is going to be like here in Las Vegas...hot and windy. And trying to get a cute picture of everyone is more difficult when it's windy and they're wet.




Then finally, the pools opened today! WOO HOO... we couldn't take the indoor pools any longer. So we took Kimball and Jack to BMAC and let them enjoy a little fun in the sun (don't worry we doused them in sunblock). We are the original pool rats!! By the time we were done... they looked like this...

Kimball just wanted to squish her lips on Jason's shoulder, and Jack was content to just lay in the towel on the soft grass trying to get warm. I've never seen him so mellow.

Now time for the fun videos of the week:

Jack just chilling on the couch, notice the puddle of drool when I back up a little.

Kimball has found a new way to demonstrate her musical tallent... now presenting Kimball and the Bathroom Sink:

Mom's Day and other activities

Happy Mother's Day!!! I love being a mom. Even on all of the other days of the year, when I'm not being celebrated. I'm so grateful for my kids (the ones here and the kids to come)! They are one of the biggest blessing of my life, and make me learn so much.

Now that I am a mom, I really appreciate my own mom. She is amazing. Really, I don't know who else could put up with 8 kids all born within 12 years, and who have given her a more than a few moments of trauma and frustration. I'm also grateful for Jason's mom and how she raised him (and the rest of her 9 kids) to be the people that they are! I'm grateful to be apart of their family. Here's a picture of them both when Jack was born. Happy Mothers Day to you both!

Last week we took Jack swimming for the first time. He loved it! Well, after the initial splashing by some pool rats. But after getting over that shock, he just giggled and kick as much as he could. Kimball also picked up right where she left off from last summer. She is such a fish. She started to turn purple because she got so cold. I was worried about Jack, but he has more "insulation" than Kimball so he stayed a little more comfortable than her.



Other than that, it was a mellow week, with Kimball and Jack learning to play together on the floor. Mostly it's Jack rolling and around and trying to get Kimball if she's with in grabbing distance.







Or Jack trying to do a sneak attack while Kimball is resting.

Here's some video of the pool:

And another of Kimball asleep after all of the Mother's Day activities:

New Skills and Happy Kids

Just random stuff in my attempt to blog almost every week. We'll see how long this can last...

Yes, Jack is finally figuring out how to sit up. He does it as long as he can, then just falls over. He has a great base to balance on (I'm afraid he's inherited his mom's butt and thighs) so he can stay upright very well now. It's fun to see this guy progress. We always tell everyone we can't believe how much he weighs (19lbs at his last check up)... but the poor kid was born after Kimball who only weighed 19 lbs at her 1 year old check up.










He has also become very fond of his play saucer, he will sit in there for a good 20 mins before he looks up to see where everyone is.





Kimball, on the other hand, has become obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Of course, her parents may have helped a little with this obsession. I made the mistake of downloading a few episodes on my ipod, and now she knows that she can watch Mickey almost anywhere... but her favorite spot is her red chair.




And for journaling purposes, I just had to get a picture of her with her "baby." She received this doll for her first birthday, and will randomly dig it out of the toy basket and carry it around with her for hours. She hugs it and pats and gives it kisses. It's really one of the cutest things I've ever seen. She loves babies... and just discovered real babies (no, not with her brother Jack) but with her twin cousins. At dinner yesterday, she went running up to the twins and started saying "BABIES, BABIES!!" and clapping her hands. Crazy girl!

And now... for a new video... featuring the very focused... JACK! Nevermind, it wouldn't upload...I'll try again on the next post.

Temporary Leave of Absence

Yes, I was on a blog hiatus for a little while. I just lost whatever motivation I had to update the blog. But, it isn't from a lack of activity. If anything, it was because I had a lot of stuff happening. Here's a quick sum up for my "family journal" (that's really what this blog is for me).

The week we got home from Dallas, Jason and I (with the wonderful help of his brothers, and one of my brother) packed up and moved. We're still in Henderson, just closer to all of my favorite restaurants. I may never cook again.

Then, Jason was kind enough to give me up for a week (really only 4 nights) so that I could go up to my parents house and hang out with my sister Cally who was on bed rest. We also got to spend Easter up in Midway. We also had the luck of going to a sacrament meeting where Elder Holland just happened to be visiting (he has a home up in Midway). It really was an "Easter Miracle" to get to hear him speak that day. And, for anyone that is wondering... his testimony is just as powerful and passionate while speaking in a ward, as when sharing it during General Conference. What an amazing man! His understanding of the atonement, and his ability to talk about it, always makes me feel the spirit so strong!

*By the way, Cally just had her baby boy last night (6 lbs. 14 oz.). He was born at 11:45pm. He is a pretty big boy considering he was born 4 weeks early. She and Elijah (Eli) are doing great. CONGRATS Cally!!!*

Then 3 days after coming home from Easter, Jason's brother Brandon and his wife Cara, decided to take up the offer of a free birthday in Disneyland. So they drove down, and us being the Disneyland addicts that we are, invited ourselves to go along. We had a great time! It was one of the first times I haven't been pregnant there so we took advantage and made Cara and Brandon watch our kids so we could go on rides. I LOVE Space Mountain, but only once a day. I giggle and scream like a little girl.

Phew... now we're getting back to a more mellow pace, and actually spending more than 7 consecutive days at home. But I'm sure it won't be long until we're dragging our kids out for another road trip.

Here's some pictures to recap:

Kimball and her cousin, Kate, finding new hiding spots while we were moving.

Jack enjoying his carrots.

Kimball matching her Easter egg to her dress.

Did you know that Disneyland has a petting zoo?
Well, it does and it was almost as good as seeing Mickey.

This sheep was HUGE, but Kimball our fearless girl didn't even think to be afraid.

Kimball was too excited to look at the camera.
She's a little infatuated with Mickey, and probably peed her pants when she saw him
(good thing she's still in diapers).

Jack was practicing his carpet flying, and working on soaking the rug with all of drool.
I am relieved to say that he's finally getting his 2 bottom teeth, so maybe that's why he was drooling as much as he was (how do I explain the last 5 months of drool though?)

Kimball found this little recorder and my parents, and figured out how to blow into it after about 15 mins.
She was ecstatic about it. We're just proud that she expanding her musical skills.