8 years

 

Today  marks eight years!! i have been officially blissfully wedded to my best friend. 

We met a few weeks before my 17th birthday at mulligans golf and game. That first summer working with Rob was a summer i could feel my life being marked. I remember those days with unusual clarity as somehow i knew, even as they happened, they would have long term significance.

We got married december 27th (and almost killed our mothers) because it was between  semesters and i  transferred schools to marry the man of my dreams.

He asked me this morning if it felt like eight years. 

i said "no". 

In some ways the time has flown by and in other ways it feels like it's always been this way...me and him takin' on the world. 

Now we have kids we take on our ride with us and we are 'grown-ups'. Complete with a mortgage, an SUV and a dog.

I had a hard time finding a recent picture of just the two of us.

Now we are a father and a mother, husband and wife.

But we will always be us--Rob and Jill.

I love him so much more than i ever thought i could. Love has come to have many more definitions than when it was flirting, holding hands & kissing. Having the chance to learn these definitions with and for him-Rob-is the greatest privileged of my life.

My dear superman, you make my dreams come true. 

~Jill

Ahh thanksgiving weekend

waiting for rob to get off early on wednesday. what did we do??? Cabellas of course. animals and fish galore = heaven for little boys. oh, and trying on the merchandise.

Yes, that is a wolf chasing a caribou. Ever since i went to yellowstone national park with Utah State College of Natural Resources looking for wolves i am sorta in love with the fearsome creatures. Truly, they are majestic. I am sure farmers would disagree with me but since i am a city girl, i enjoy the beauty they possess.

My mother is a master chef and created a wonderful thanksgiving for us all!!

The food was as amazing as everything looked. We missed my brother jake and his wife katie but we are looking forward to Jared and Maddie's wedding coming up in a week and a half!!

As i do every year, the day after thanksgiving we put up christmas. Caleb is getting into the magic of christmas and it is so fun to help create that magic here at home. 

This is my latest foray into creativity. My fireplace is not usable as a fireplace. It just fills our house up with smoke and does little in the way of warming. So i cleaned it out, nicely wadded up the extra Christmas lights we have, bought the cinnamon smelling pine cones, dug wood out of our fire pit in the backyard and whala my newest Christmas masterpiece. It is homey and festive looking. i might even keep the white ones year-round.

Wannabees

Rob's flag football team name is the wannabees. I suggested it because i thought the irony was hilarious. A bunch of guys wanting to play football. The team is made up of nine or ten guys i think. Five of those are family members. I can say for them, they just want to play football. They had nothing to prove. The season went OK. Mid-season they were losing a lot but as soon as the weather turned bad they started killing their opponents. This past Saturday was the semi-finals. They were so excited they made it and of all things, they won so they went to the final game. They played a team that killed them during the regular season. It was  fun to watch them play their hearts out. The last play, my newest brother in law (red hat) saved the game by jumping up in a pack of three opponents to bat the ball away and preserve the one point lead.

The wannabees won the championship for their division.

My sister in law (wife to the game-saving bat down player) was so proud and said it was like a movie or something.
Especially with the name: Wannabees.

Good job guys

Good Times

I feel like i spend a lot of time on this blog whining. Sure my sons are a challenge but i am positive everyone's kids give them a run for their money. Mischief is our middle name here so that is why it gets included so much. Besides, it makes it funnier if i try to blog about it. Sometimes it takes too much energy to be mad.

The month of november tends to get overlooked so last year i started a new tradition.
I do a thanks box.
I text everyone who we are doing thanksgiving dinner with every day of the month and ask what they are thankful for--no explanations needed. Then i write all the individual answers on paper, put in a book and bring it to thanksgiving dinner. I love it last year and looked forward to it all year.

I think it is so helpful to work on being thankful. I find at the beginning of the month sometimes it is hard to come up with things i am grateful for but at this point in the month i have so many things-specific things i am thankful for that it makes me smile and leads into celebrating the gift and birth of the Lord Jesus Christ perfectly.

I love thanksgiving.

What is that???!!

We went to gygi's to get some stuff (love that store by the way) and caleb had been chewing gum. Caleb is a great gum chewer so it has never been an issue what to do with it.  Early in our shopping trip he told me "get the gum" i had no idea what he was talking about and was distracted by shopping so i ignored him. Apparently to colton's peril.As I was loading colton when i saw gum in his hair. Of course i don't carry scissors so i went inside and asked some nice guy if i could borrow some scissors. He gave me some dull kids safety scissors. I proceeded to try to hold my little mover still while i took scissors to his head. The guy graciously held coltons head (while i could feel the eyes of multiple customers and workers wondering what was going on.) And out came this blob. Ironically, i didn't get that mad at Caleb. I wanted to be mad but their was no anger in me. I told him i was dissappointed in this and as i was forumilating a brilliant punishment I realized then i am being worn down. And it probably was an accident.

This mess happened during a peaceful dinner. And i didn't freak out like i thought i would have. I just moved a few things around and sighed. Rob cleaned it up-thankfully it was washable.

Yes, i am being worn down.

Family Gathering

Sunday was my cousins farewell. He will be serving an lds mission in Hondouras. We are all so excited for him. We drove up to pocatello to listen to him speak and have fabulous food. I was terrified how my boys would do but they did great! It helped we could go 80 mph most of the way.

 Grandma Loland, Aunt Tanna, Aunt Toni

 Grandma Roma, Shane, Brooke, Brittannia

doesn't brooke look so feminine and graceful?! Brittania is 5 months pregnant. i swear. talk about unfair!

i have always envied and compared myself to these to women.i had no sisters-they were the next closest thing i had growing up.  I love them and think they are beautiful!

 My man and Braxton, the future missionary

 Uncle Mark has his hand in front of his face.

 Me, sleeping colton, and my mom who looks fabulously skinny!

Braxton and I

crud, i remember when this kid was a baby! 

time flies people. we better cherish what we have.

Weekend in Pictures

Another busy weekend. I will be having these until after christmas--i don't love being busy but i love being with family so it is worth it.

HALLOWEEN PARTY
Rob was in charge and he did a great job pulling our wards halloween party together. Our ward goes all out. nearly everybody dresses up and it is so much fun!!

 Colton the cow. I realized as i put on the 'hoofs' that they were tights. I don't know how mothers of girls put their daughters in tights faithfully every sunday. It sucked putting them on. I had one mother assure me it wasn't very bad at all. Maybe her daughter didn't move for the process.
Aren't his eyes to die for?!

 This man is taken! He looks like Tim McGraw (so someone told him)...he was shooting for indiana jones but then we just went for cowboy but no beltbuckle or overly tight jeans or cowboy boots so just a hot guy with a cowboy hat and a fabulous t-bar mustach. This man rocks my world and treats me like a queen. I am beyond lucky to be his.

Me and my little cow. I tried to be a 50's housewife. The hair took forever and it didnt' even seem that big. I ratted (backcombed?) it forever, tons of hairspray (both of which i never do/use on my hair). My arms got tired and i renewed my gratitude that i have low maintenence hair. I found these totally cute shoes too but no pic. I will likely wear them with other outfits--once i fix the heels.

like the fabulous mother i am, i didn't snap pictures of caleb. He is a monkey and i figured i coudl get awesome pictures at the trunk or treat instead. He had a blast at the party!








A BIG SURPRISE

 ever had dogfood in your syrup? 

well now we have. 

we found this while cleaning on saturday. good thing we weren't having pancakes.

 

Phone Dilema

i am having a dilema.
I am eligable for a new phone with verizon and all the phones i want (namely iphone) cost too much and i refuse to pay for data. I already feel like i am getting ripped off.  i can't decide what to do.
It seems as time goes on their are less and less basic phone options for those of us who aren't interested in spending our hard earned cash on phones & data.
what phone do you have? Do you like it?

Conversation with Caleb

K: "mom, does jesus live in the mountains? "
me: "no, he lives in heaven (pointing upwards)"
K: "In the sky?"
me: "no heaven is above the sky"
--silence--
K: "jesus hears me mom."
Me: "yes he does caleb. do you hear jesus"
K: "no"
me: "who do you hear?"
K: "not uncle jared. not uncle spen."
me: laughing..."ok K"

The Brothers

Jam-Packed weekend

 Loading up to go to the Maybe Farm pumpkin patch

 My Men searching for appropriate pumpkins

 These are my old stomping grounds. My running route took me by the Jordan River Temple every time i ran. Sunset was perfect; fields all over that i watched slowly disappear to development as i grew up. I love my home town. Maybe farms have always been around and i hope they will always be around. The geese come in the fall and eat up the leftover corn and the sound of their wings flapping and their honking forever hold magic over my heart. That and the sounds my brothers make mimicking guns and Grandpa Jack and Uncle Mark as they prepare for slaughter.

 The Loot

 BYU Football runs in the blood of every Hakes family member (except Kirk-he bleeds red). We were brave and took our beloved boys to their first foodball game. BYU vs Idaho State (my parents alma mater). ISU got killed and caleb learned the fight song. (ra ra rarara ra ra rarara gooooooo cougars!!). Colton was a champ and it was totally worth it! K didnt like it when i (and everyone else) cheered--apparently i was too loud.

 Family Home evening was carving pumpkins, roasting seeds and eating fresh raspberries with dark chocolate. It rocked!

 If you don't know this already, rob is a bit of a perfectionist with projects (he claims he "just wants this to be nice"). he carefully drew the face after he and i drew a few faces on paper and let caleb choose which one he wanted. K didnt like the feel of pumpkin innards at first but quickly acclimated (with encouragement from dad). We roasted the seeds and the boys ate them all. Rob even managed to convince K to eat raw pumpkin with him. i wanted to gag.

 

Finished product

(praise heaven for an awesome camera)

Conversation with Caleb

Caleb had poured bacon bits in the fridge and some had spilled onto the recently-cleaned- floor.

As i am cleaning up his mess from the fridge...
me: "Caleb, can you please clean up these bacon bits?"
caleb: "ok mom"

i looked down to see him sweeping away the bacon bits with his hands under the cabinets

me: "Caleb, are you sweeping the bacon bits away?"
Caleb: "yes, i am sweeping them away so they can hide from you"

I didn't reply. 

Not something you see every day

 

I took this picture driving down the freeway. I know, not my safest or most exemplary moment. You have to admit though, this is funny, at least I thought it was funny. Not something you see every day. 

Not So Silly Things

Do you ever have silly things that make you think?? 

 I do... All the time

Bless my everastling husband's heart. He is so patient with all my thinking and intense feeling. I watched Revenge last night (if you watched it you will know perhaps where some of these thoughts stemmed from). After i turned off the tv i looked and saw this picture (look at my adorable son's cheesball grin):

I couldn't help but think how grateful i am to be an honest person. Also a member of a happy family. 

Sometimes i look at myself in the mirror and think "holy cow, this is my life"?!! 

i still feel like the 17 year old naive girl who just met this impossibly cute, cool mysterious guy who mowed the grass while i planted flowers, picked weeds, did rain dances and spied on him. 

 

 It boggles my mind i am a mother of two children and a wife--to that guy 

That hot and completely unattainable guy and all that he represented -- happiness, romance, kissing, holding hands, butterflies in my stomach and a life full of summer sunrises (only if you have experienced these repeatedly can you understand the magic of those moments)

I get funny looks when i express this sentiment but it is true it is my life; it just seems like i am living a life too good to be true. How could i be so...fortunate...lucky...blessed...loved.... 

It just makes my heart want to explode with gratitude and joy. 

I used to think i had to have everything figured out and myself completely figured out, set up and perfected before i got married. Instead i got married at 20 years old with almost nothing figured out but a testimony of Jesus Christ and love for the man i married

That is all i ever needed. 

A not so good day

Are you ever embarassed by how you handle hard moments?

today i was.

lets just say i barely held on to sanity. I hate those moments--i always feel so ashamed.

Thank God Himself they are few and far between but my poor children...I am so glad they are so loving and forgiving. I will work to be more like them.

This song brought peace to a troubled soul today.
love to all

Bear Lake

 

Rob and I had a vacation weekend. We went up to bear lake and hung out. It was beautiful. weather was perfect, the canyon was full of colors and the moon was full and glinting off the water. We ate, ran, watched modern family and listened to cougar football. The boys stayed with my parents and supposedly they were good.

Yesterday was a vacation hangover day. I am still super tired--i am getting far less sleep than i did on vacation and i am resisting cleaning my house. The boys are tired too. 

It was soooooo completely worth it! 

I was giddy with happiness the whole trip. Being relieved from the responsibilities of motherhood for a couple of days was exactly what i needed!

For my dad

When i was in college i took a nutrition class. I aced it and loved it! It was too late to change my major and i was afraid i would fail miserably at the chemistry classes it required. I now regret that descision. Because of that class and learning i was good at understanding nutrition i took other classes. My dad and i are famous for our fast-paced-discussions and nutrition chats naturally fell into our repertoire. One question we have always had is all sugar created equal?
i am beginning to research more about food, chemicals and man-made alterations to our food and i received a perfectly timed email from Dr. Mercola this morning. I will only include the following tidbits. If you want to read the whole article go here

A Calorie is Not a Calorie...

Dr. Lustig, a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at UC San Francisco, has been on the forefront of the movement to educate people about the health hazards of sugar, and I highly recommend viewing his presentation, The Trouble with Fructose, above. He's a compelling speaker and does an excellent job of laying down the facts in an easy to understand manner.
One of the primary problems with fructose is that it is isocaloric but not isometabolic, meaning that while you can have the same amount of calories from fructose or any other nutrient, including glucose, the metabolic effect will be entirely different despite the identical calorie count. This explains why calorie counting doesn't work. You simply have to take the quality or source of the calories into account in order to successfully lose weight.
Fructose metabolism is quite different from glucose (dextrose) metabolism in that it places the entire burden on your liver, and this accounts for many of its devastating health effects. Furthermore, people consume fructose in enormous quantities these days, which has made the negative effects that much more profound. Without getting into the very complex biochemistry of carbohydrate metabolism, it is important to have a general understanding of how your body handles these sugars.
Below is a summary of the main differences between glucose and fructose metabolism, which explains why I keep repeating that fructose is by far the worst type of sugar there is:

• After eating fructose, 100 percent of the metabolic burden rests on your liver. But with glucose, your liver has to break down only 20 percent.
• Every cell in your body, including your brain, utilizes glucose. Therefore, much of it is "burned up" immediately after you consume it. By contrast, fructose is turned into free fatty acids (FFAs), VLDL (the damaging form of cholesterol), and triglycerides, which get stored as fat.
• The fatty acids created during fructose metabolism accumulate as fat droplets in your liver and skeletal muscle tissues, causing insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Insulin resistance progresses to metabolic syndrome and type II diabetes.
• Fructose is the most lipophilic carbohydrate. In other words, fructose converts to activated glycerol (g-3-p), which is directly used to turn FFAs into triglycerides. The more g-3-p you have, the more fat you store. Glucose does not do this.
• When you eat 120 calories of glucose, less than one calorie is stored as fat. 120 calories of fructose results in 40 calories being stored as fat. Consuming fructose is essentially consuming fat!
• The metabolism of fructose by your liver creates a long list of waste products and toxins, including a large amount of uric acid, which drives up blood pressure and causes gout.
• Glucose suppresses the hunger hormone ghrelin and stimulates leptin, which suppresses your appetite. Fructose has no effect on ghrelin and interferes with your brain's communication with leptin, resulting in overeating.

Interestingly enough, glucose has been found to further accelerate fructose absorption, so when you MIX glucose and fructose together, you absorb more fructose than if you consumed fructose alone! This is yet another important piece of information for those who want to make a better effort at controlling their weight.
Anyone who still tries to tell you that "sugar is sugar" in an effort to defend high fructose corn syrup is seriously unaware of the current research, which clearly demonstrates that there are major differences in how your body processes these sugars. The bottom line is: fructose leads to increased belly fat, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and diabetes, along with a long list of associated chronic diseases.

Welcome back to my world!

 

Hellooooo yogurt!

I have missed your creaminess desperately. Thankfully baby colt is just fine with me eating you and all your delicious dairy cousins. In fact, he is doing even better in the pooping department thanks to you (i think).

I have missed all things dairy desperately but  It was totally worth every bit of sacrifice and longing. And now i can appreciate it with a whole new perspective. To anyone who is going without dairy for whatever reason, if you need someone to empathize, i am here for you!! I also have extra soy milk i can't drink--it grosses me out now. Hopefully in time i will get over it. 

Sneek Peak

 I know these aren't the same fan however the plain white vs the color is exactly what is going on. I am painting calebs bed and the letters that spell his name. I was worried it would turn out clownish but then i realized "hey! this is a 3 yr olds room. It should be colorful and fun." here we go!

School Field Trip: Wheeler Farm

 Our neighborhood preschool consists of five boys. Today was a fieldtrip to wheeler farm. The boys were in heaven!! Thanks Shauna

Caleb actually fed this horse some hay. First time ever-usually he is too nervous. I was so proud. :)

 Caleb and Harvey takin' off. they didn't know where the group was going so off they went. so fun to see friendships form and how the boys behave in a group.

 This is stef aka. superwoman. She took on the ducks with her 6 month old baby on her chest. I was too chicken. The kids were enthralled for about ten minutes or so then they got nervous. Watch out for these ducks and geese--they are not afraid of humans, in fact they are likely to chase you down to get food.

 Clark has his hands on his ears. Colin, caleb and annilese got nervous. See the red speck near the pond...that is harvy. He herded the ducks and geese like a champ--no fear!

 Caleb and colin and annilese were quick to run from thing to thing and i ended up trying to keep up with them. Caleb  and Colin were trying to move this wagon. not sure what annilese is doing.... Ü

 Isaac. I meant to get him and his mom in this shot instead he is on the very left side. He didn't seem to be bothered by the geese either.

All the kids enthralled with turkeys. I wondered if these are thanksgiving turkeys. I decided right then that they look good but i don't want to have to be involved with butchering them. I probably would have made a horrible pioneer.

This was so much fun. After we went to the huge park on the south side of wheeler farm and let the kids play. All us moms chatted and took care of our babies. We all have babies. crazy but we live in an area where babies come in waves and we welcome them all in the neighborhood!!