Number 5: A two for one!

This one I wrote because I am feeling grateful, not because I'm crabby and want an attitude adjustment. They might be more fun this way. :)

My number 5 favorite things about... post is actually about two different wonderful ladies.
So I suppose its 5 and 6, but whatever. We'll see if I care next time whether I label it 6 or 7.
Kindra!
1. I can call her when I need help. This past week she helped me out a few times- first when Adam broke a glow stick and thought it was a good idea to dump the liquid in his eyes. I called her and she was busy but she had her husband come and help me hold him down so I could look at his eye. (Jake was at work) I like that I feel like I can call her when I need her. It's nice. Plus, I like that she doesn't judge me for potentially freaking out more than necessary (but in this case, I was actually calm. There wasn't any blood so I was good. Turns out, I am not good with blood)
The second time she helped me out was my kids had a dance recital and I found out last Saturday that I had to do their makeup. I don't do makeup. I wore it on my wedding day and now I mostly just wear mascara and eyeliner if I happen to have time on Sunday morning. I like to put it on but I hate washing it off, and I don't feel like it makes me look any different so what's the point? Anyways, I sent Kindra a text asking if she could help with the makeup and she had me bring them over the morning of the recital and did it for me! And she was so good with them. I would've yelled 17 million times probably but Kindra was so patient. I appreciate it. Lots. Thank you.
2. She says hi to me all the time. Kindra is one of the most genuinely kind people I know. She says hi to everyone. I think that she can't help it. I like people but I am not good at saying hi just to say hi. I wish I was. It makes people feel good. So way to go Kindra. It's nice that you are nice. And she talks to me a lot. For a long time. Randomly. Even when we don't really have anything to say. I like that.
3. I don't think she has ever cancelled on me. Jake and I invite people over all the time. We like it. It's fun to spend time with people. And while I truly don't mind if people can't come or if I get cancelled on once in a while, I sure like when I don't get cancelled on. And Kindra comes over probably every time we have invited her (and her family. We never invite just part of a family. The more the merrier we say, except we don't actually say that, we just kinda live it)
4. She constantly compliments people.  This one really doesn't need any explanation. She just compliments people.
So she's great. If you don't know her, you probably should try to. It'll be worth the effort.

My next person is Tina!
1. I just love her. Is that a weird thing to say: one of my favorite things I like about you is that I like you? Haha, but it's true.
2. She was one of the best sunbeam teachers Mikey could've ever asked for. We have wonderful primary teachers in our ward and I am confident that no matter who Mikey's teacher was, it would've been great but I am so glad that Tina and Joe were his teachers. They have the wonderful ability of making all of those kids feel like the most special one in the room. Mikey can be quiet and can kind of fall to the back but they didn't let him. (and then he got comfortable and they probably wished he would be quieter haha, it's a vicious circle)
3. She offers to help me constantly and I truly believe she means it. Tina is busy. But she offers to help all the time and I truly believe that I could ask her anytime I need to. This past week she watched Haylee for us so we could go to a birthday dinner for a friend. It freaked me out. I hadn't left her yet and Tina was nice enough to watch her for us and take pictures to send me randomly throughout the night. It was so nice of her.
4. She takes Haylee every Sunday.  I am the primary pianist and Jake is in the Young Men's presidency so it's tough to juggle our kids with our callings. Every Sunday, Tina takes Haylee for the last two hours and it is so nice! She's feeds her, changes her, puts her to sleep, everything we need. It's truly a weight off our minds knowing that Tina will have Haylee during church. So thank you. A lot.

I really love our ward and our neighbors. I am so grateful that we moved into this ward and had the opportunity to meet all these wonderful people. I can only hope that we are blessings to people as often as they are to us.

Thanks for reading.

number 4: my ward leaders

My number 4 favorite things about someone blog is about someones instead. I'd say it still counts though.

I live in a truly wonderful ward. We have met so many lovely people in the past 2 years.
Today I just want to say thank you to all of our current ward leaders.

Bishop Carling
Brother Stuart
Brother Luke
Brother deRobles
Brother Bingham
Brother Franklin
David
Ian
Loni
Serena
Lesa
Tiffany
Mac
Jake
Paul
Cameron
Katie
Aubree
Crystal
Lorrie
Ross
Corey
Shelly
Candy
Amanda
Kindra

I don't know all of the leadership and I apologize if I forgot anyone (although realistically, if I forgot you, chances are seriously slim that you'd read this anyways)
Jake and I often talk about how great the ward is and it's because of all the work you great people do. Thank you.
 (I also feel the need to acknowledge Brett. Even though he technically isn't our ward leadership anymore, he's done a lot for us and I think he's definitely worth mentioning. 😊 Also worth mentioning, Erin. Mikey misses you in primary.)

There are a lot of people that deserve recognition for what they've done in our ward and if I didn't mention you, just know you are still appreciated.

So that's all. Thanks. :) We love you and appreciate you and I imagine at least one of you could use the reminder. ;)

Thanks for reading.

My Little Haylee Bug

Uhm, I have four kids. Crazy. The other day Jake's sister was at our house and goes "I still can't believe you have four kids. I can vividly remember when you got married." Yeah, well it was only 5 years ago so that makes sense. Just a few days after Haylee was born was 6 years to the day that Jake and I met. Crazy.

Introducing Haylee Jill Kaleimana`o`i`o Logan
August 31 2015, 4:06pm
7lbs 4 oz, 19 inches long

So here is the story of Haylee's day! I'm going to start a few days before she was born. On Saturday August 29, I thought my water broke. When my water broke with Mikey it was very obvious but I've heard sometimes it's not as clear. So we called Jake's sister and went into the hospital and it was a false alarm. On our way to the hospital Jake's mom called and asked what we were doing and Jake was like uh errands. Haha. I'm such a freak about not telling people what's going on with my pregnancies. Ever since Adam didn't come when planned, I hate the idea of telling people I'm in labor until the baby is born. It was such a tough experience with Adam that I just keep it a secret. So we went back to our house, baby less. (ish, cause I mean I still had three at home) I was upset because I desperately wanted the baby born before September 1 but I convinced myself it wasn't a big deal. On Sunday night, Jake and I were laying in bed and I told him that we would probably go until the scheduled induction. That was tough for me because the entire pregnancy I was absolutely convinced that Haylee would come on her own and would come early. So it was upsetting to be so convinced that it was no longer going to happen that way. But I really was okay with it. I had gotten myself to that point.
The next morning, Jake got up and went to work and I sat at the table and made a list of things I wanted to do that day, I was scheduled to be induced on that following Thursday so I wanted to be on top of things around the house before that. The first thing I planned to do was scrub the kids bathtub. I was leaning over the tub and I thought I wet my pants. And I was so ticked. That hadn't happened with any of my previous pregnancies but I know that it's not uncommon for some. And then it kept coming. This was at 9:30a. They say to wait an hour before coming into the hospital if you think your water has broken to see if you are still leaking (a little at home test if you will) So, I waited. And I didn't call Jake because I didn't want to call him, have him come home, and then have him have to go back to work because sike! false alarm again. I finished the tub, did a few dished, laid on the couch and watched TV and then around 10:45a I started to have contractions. And they were terrible. I had been checked at the hospital on Saturday and I was at a 3, almost 4 and so I started to get worried because I go pretty fast once I get started. So I called Jake. Who works 45 minutes from our house. He answers his phone and I'm like uhm, my water broke. You need to call your sister and come get me. He was massively confused (which is funny because when my water broke with Mikey he couldn't really comprehend it either. I thought it was because it was the middle of the night but nope, it's just his natural reaction) About a half hour later, I called Jake back and was like dude, serious contractions. Drive fast. And he told me that he hadn't been able to get a hold of either of his sisters. So I started calling neighbors and no one was answering, well one did but she wasn't home. And I was so stressed out. What was I going to do with my kids! Jake got home and was trying to feed the kids as fast as he could (it was 11:30 now) and I was sweating so bad because my contractions were killing me. (I'm really not so tough. At all.) And I was almost in tears because I was so worried about everything. And then, Kindra called back. And it was lovely. I felt so much calmer knowing that we could drop the kids off and be on our way to the hospital. While we dropping the kids off with the Buras' I was trying to not show how much it hurt but I'm pretty sure she could tell haha. We finally got a hold of Jake's sister who agreed to pick the kids up from Kindra and everything was good. Except I was still in labor and it hurt. (again, such a baby guys.)
We got to the hospital a little before 1 and they put me in the little triage room to make sure that my water had actually broken and the whole time I was thinking, this is unnecessary. I know it broke and on the off chance it hadn't, these contractions are for real. But I didn't say that. I was just all polite and calm on the outside but on the inside, not so much. They checked me in and checked my cervix again and they were like okay you're so posterior we can't find it. And I was ticked. No, wait, what is like 4 steps past ticked? Because seriously, so painful and I hadn't even progressed enough for them to be able to find my stupid cervix! And I had decided I wanted to try it naturally (for financial reasons- Adam's finger is seriously expensive. Otherwise, I would've been all about the drugs. Huge proponent of epidurals. For reals. Just do it. You ain't got nothing to prove.) So I spent the next 2 hours in the most pain I have ever experienced. It was awful. The nurse taught Jake some pressure points to help with the pain but I think that's really just for the placebo effect, it didn't do anything for me. Finally, at 3:15, I told Jake I wanted an epidural. I was frustrated that I was giving up and it hadn't even been very long but you know what doesn't matter when you are in that much pain? Money. Medical bills. Previous plans and goals. All of those things meant nothing to me. So I told Jake to call the nurse and then I completely shut down. I sat in the bed and stared. At the wall. The ceiling. The floor. Wherever. And I didn't talk. At all. I couldn't. Jake tried to talk to me. Didn't matter. I could not come up with a response. I heard him talk to me. I comprehended it. But that was as far as I got.Then at 3:40 the nurse came in and asked if I wanted to be checked before I got the epidural. I just kept staring at the floor. Jake was like uh, we should probably just get the epidural. (I think he was actually pretty worried about me. In retrospect, I wish I would've been checked) So then, 20 minutes later the anesthesiologist got to my room. He started to talk to me and ask questions and I didn't care. And then him and the nurse were shooting the breeze, discussing the weather and kids and inside I was like "Seriously, shut up. Why are you talking. Just put in my epidural and leave. I don't care that you love September. I don't care that your wife had a baby a few months ago. I don't care." Which is a big deal because I am a nice person. I am actually typically interested in the random things people feel the need to share. I like talking to people and hearing about their lives. Random people. The people behind me at the grocery store check out line. Apparently, pain brings out a wonderful side in me.
So after 5 minutes of them talking and such, he tells me that he is just about to put in the initial shot of medicine and that I will feel relief in about 3 minutes. And I start screaming. For reals, I could not, could NOT contain this scream. I was in so much pain. My nurse helps put me back on the bed and checked me and was like oh man, she's ready. Call the doctor. Tell him to run. Then I screamed again. I hear the nurse say "This baby is coming now. Meredith if you need to push, then push." And  I was like I can't. I can't do it. The doctor isn't here, I can't push. Who is going to catch Haylee! (I only said the I can't do it out loud, the rest was inside) She was so calm and said, "Meredith you can do this. The medicine won't have time to start working. You can do this." And I was terrified. Jake was holding my hand and being so sweet, repeating over and over again that I could do this and I was doing great. The door opens, the doctor comes in, the nurse puts his gown on and his gloves are half on and Haylee was born! I pushed once. He barely had time to catch her. She was born at 4:06p. Two minutes before the epidural was supposed to start working. And it was awful. For real. What I learned from this experience -- it is not worth it to do it natural. Other women do it natural and are all like, Oh it's not that bad. I can do this. And then they have them all natural. Not me. Nope. Never again. I'm getting the epidural as soon as possible from here on out. Kudos to those women who say it's not that bad. They should get medals, awards, national holidays. I have unlimited respect for them. Because, in my humble opinion, it is THAT bad. Probably even worse.
Right after she was born, Jake ran out to the car to get the camera because I needed my picture of her on the scale and the doctor looked around and then says to me "Where's dad? Does he want to cut the cord?" I laughed a bit and said "Uh, he doesn't want to do that at all. Go for it." And the doctor was like "Oh cool. I get to do it. I never get to do this!" (Jake really does not want to do that at all. He has a very strict above the waist rule during labor. Looks either at my face or the ceiling.) Jake got back, my booster shot of the pain medicine started working (so yeah, I had to do it natural and we get to pay for an epidural. Awesome.) he took the picture of Haylee and then we waited for like 3 hours before the could move me to mother and baby because 1. my epidural was too strong for me to move, and 2. I had moderate bleeding so I had to hang out. So there you have it.

A few other random funny happenings.
1. Apparently, after I screamed the anesthesiologist ran from the room. Literally. According to the nurse, he really doesn't like labor.
2. There was a paramedic in training and a nursing student in the room to observe and I guess it really freaked them out. I heard the nurse say "Don't worry. We call this spontaneous labor. It's not normally like this."
3. Later the doctor came back to check on me and my bleeding and told me that he really did run from his office. Seriously, so glad he made it on time.
4. When I screamed. Jake grabbed my hand really tight. I think I really scared him. He does not like the whole labor experience and really does not like the medicine free experience.
5. I was texting my friend Tiffany because I had called her about watching the kids but I found someone else first and she was like "So I'm not sure how to ask this question but your water broke. Does anything at your house need to be cleaned up?" She's basically the best. For reals. I wrote a whole post about it. Read it if you haven't yet.
6.Also, here's a funny story. Like 4 days before Haylee was born Mikey comes up to me and says Mama, is Haylee going to hurt her bum? And I was like what are you talking about? And he goes, when she is born. Will it hurt her? Is she going to just fall onto the floor and hurt her bum? And he was so concerned about this. And so I explained that a doctor would be there to catch her and she would be okay. So this is extra funny. Now. Then it was not so funny.


So there you go. How Haylee got here. It was scary and stressful and felt much longer than it really was but it all worked out and eventually, one day, I'll probably have convinced myself it was wonderful. I am so grateful that she is here and healthy. I am grateful that I really am tougher than I thought. And I'm grateful for the hospital and all the staff that helped out. And most of all, I am SO grateful for Jake. He was such a big help and I just love him.

And now for some more pictures!

Thanks for reading!

Number 3 -- Aubree

I'm not going to lie, I am struggling these days. I truly have never been so tired and I just cry all the time because I am too tired to fight it. So, in the hopes of helping me be more positive and happy I am going to blog about my friend, Aubree.
She is pretty great. (obviously, that's why I am blogging about her!)

I have three main reasons for being a fan of her.
#1. Basically since I've known her she has been sick. She had migraines with no relief for months (I can't remember how long but seriously, months team.) and she was still so happy. (it's possible she still has them and I just don't know because she is that good at hiding it.) I'm not good at that. I am not a fake it til I make it kind of person and I have no desire or drive to be openly happy when I am in fact, not happy. It's not my most charming characteristic but it's how it is. Now, when I have a headache, I can barely function and I have had a migraine once. It lasted for 3 days and I'm pretty sure that I made Jake stay home from work. So, serious props to Aubree. I think that's truly amazing how she was able to stay happy and function. Way to go, lots of respect over here.

#2. She is generous. For example, she brought a gift for Haylee (which is so cute, I love the clothes) and because she is so nice, she brought little gifts for my other three kids. Isn't that so nice? Natalie loves her little necklaces and the boys are constantly having monster truck battles. She definitely didn't have to bring anything and she brought lots. It was great. Plus, she stayed and chatted for a while which is nice. I like when people want to talk to me. (this is just one of many examples I have of her generosity. For reals, she's amazing like that.)

#3. Okay, this is probably my favorite thing about her. I can go for a good period of time without talking to her and then when we do talk, it feels like no time has passed. I think that being able to treat people like that is a gift and a sign of a true friend. It sounds kind of weird but I like it. I like that she can talk to me for however long and we have no awkward pauses or anything. It's really nice.

So those are my main three reasons for liking Aubree. I have more but sometimes short and sweet is better. Jake and I constantly talk about how much we like the Hibbert's and how glad we are that we met them. One more great reason to live in EM, or five rather because that's how many Hibbert's there are!

Thanks for reading!

Tiffany

My second favorite things post, this time featuring my friend Tiffany Miller.
I love Tiffany and here are some of the reasons why:

1. She is so kind. She was the first person I met when we moved to Eagle Mountain. She was in the mother's lounge and we chatted for a few minutes before she went back in to sacrament meeting. Every week since then, which had been almost 2 years, she has said hello to me. When you are new to any situation, having someone be consistently kind to you is so wonderful. I told Jake probably 2 or 3 weeks after I met her that I wanted to be friends with her. Glad it has worked out. :D
2. I can call on her when I need help. I'm not so much of an ask for help person. I especially don't like to feel like I'm putting people out. So the fact that I feel like I can call Tiffany is a huge deal.  When Natalie was about  5 months old, she crawled into a chair and cut her forehead. Tiffany was the first person I thought of to call to watch my boys while we went to get her taken care of. Then a month ago, when Adam cut his finger (on a chair again... maybe we should just get rid of all our chairs. I like to sit on the floor anyways.) she walked over to our house to pick up Mikey and Natalie even though she was like 35 or so weeks pregnant. Seriously, how great is she?
3. We did preschool together. I liked doing preschool, most of the time. Some days it was just too much for me and Tiffany was a wonderful friend to let me complain. Plus, it was great to do preschool because it really strengthened friendships.
4. She thinks I'm funny. It's just the best to be around people who like you and think you are funny. And she lets people know when she likes them. It's nice.
5. She notices and cares. This pregnancy has been hard. And I'm not great at hiding my feelings but I also don't wear them on my sleeves. But somehow, Tiffany caught on to the fact that I was struggling and she was amazing. Honestly, I'm not 100% sure how she realized it but when she asked me about it I could tell she cared and it made it so easy to talk to her about it. I didn't feel judged or condemned for struggling and it was refreshing. Sometimes, you feel judged, whether you really are being or not and she didn't make me feel that way. She sent me Facebook messages every day, brought us dinner, watched Mikey for a few hours one day so I could sleep. (keep in mind, she was in the home stretch of her pregnancy at this point. Amazing.) It was wonderful that she just took charge and helped me because, as I mentioned before, I'm not so good at asking for help. It really helped that she cared enough to take time out of her busy life to check in on me. It meant a lot.
6. She doesn't complain. Tiffany truly is someone that I look up to for so many reasons. I tell Jake constantly how I just think the world of her. And one of those reasons is that she just about never complains. That's pretty amazing to me. She has four small kids (yay for your cute new little girl!) and her husband was in the bishopric and is now in the high council and she is a champ. She stays positive and happy, maybe not always bubbly but still happy. (actually, I like that she isn't super bubbly. Makes me feel better about my lack of bubbles haha)  I am not always happy or even have the facade of happiness. So way to go Tiff. I can barely handle Jake being in YM's so imagine how much I must respect Tiffany for handling her husband's calling.

I really just like her a lot. Any of you that know her, know just how amazing she is and I hope you all realize how lucky you are to have her in your life, which I am sure you do. Because, in case I haven't made this clear, she is great. :D

Thanks for being great Tiffany. You are one of the main reasons I am so glad that we moved here. Thanks for being my friend. :)

Thanks for reading.

I'm Going to Tell my Daughters they are Beautiful Every Single Day.

I've been thinking about this for a while now.
I've read a few articles that are titled things like "What you should say to your daughter instead of you're beautiful" or "Why I don't tell my daughters they are beautiful." And I think it's so sad.
Once upon a time (this means that I can't remember exactly where and who this story is about) I was with a group of people and they started talking about how they were shopping and found a shirt that said Beautiful Like Mommy. (take note, they also found a shirt that said Handsome like Daddy but they didn't care about that one.) They were appalled. They asked to speak to a manager so they could complain and eventually organized a petition that they sent to this store's headquarters and had all the Beautiful like Mommy shirt taken off the shelves, (once again, keep in mind the handsome like dad ones were still proudly displayed) The woman kept talking about how proud she was that she fought this injustice for her girls because she didn't want them to think that they were beautiful like mommy. Her daughters were smart and funny and confident, not beautiful. Now, I know what she meant. And kudos for her for fighting for what she believes in. I commend that. I typically don't. If the shirt bugged me, I wouldn't have bought it but that's the extent of my activism.
But here is what gets me. Why is beautiful suddenly the antithesis of intelligence? If someone is beautiful, does that mean that there is no way they can have anything else going for them? There was a kid in high school and me and my friend used to say that it wasn't fair that God gave with both hands. She was attractive. And smart. And funny. And athletic. I feel like that flies right in the face of this idea. There were lots of people like that. Girls and guys.
Sometimes when I'm out with Natalie, I'll tell her she is beautiful and other moms will glare at me. Uhm, hi, excuse me but my daughter can be told she is beautiful. That really isn't your business. Me telling her she is beautiful doesn't mean she is a dunce. I tell her she is smart and funny just as often as cute. I think it's nice when people tell me how cute she is. She is cute. Natalie is 17 different kinds of attractive. Why can't I compliment that? If I tell her she is smart, that's great. But you know what, if Sue Grocery tells Natalie how smart she is at the store,what does that mean? Uhm nothing. She doesn't know Natalie, she is entirely unaware of how smart she is. That is a completely empty compliment. Thanks for trying, I appreciate the thought but how is an empty compliment better than telling her she is beautiful? Telling her she is beautiful will help her to grow in confidence in that area of her life. Just like if I tell her she is funny, she will be funny because she thinks she is funny. Same goes for beautiful. I just don't understand at all why suddenly it contradicts each other.
When I was growing up, I was constantly complimented on how funny and smart I am. Thanks world, that's great. But you know what, I've never thought I was beautiful. Why you ask? Because people didn't tell me. Once in a while I would get oh you look just like your mom. Or you look just like Shelly and I have spent my entire life hearing how beautiful they are. I would also get you are a beautiful daughter of God. Which, maybe this is wrong, but I always took that to mean the same sort of thing as "sweet spirit."
I am so glad that I don't doubt my intelligence or my humor. I think I am dang funny. I make people laugh all the time. Honestly, it's probably my favorite thing about myself. And I am beyond proud that my kids have inherited a wonderful combination of mine and Jake's sense of humor. I am glad that I am smart. I know it. I am proud of it. I might not be Mensa material but I am able to teach my kids things and I can understand and comprehend things. I can keep up in conversations. I am going to teach these things about themselves as well. But you better  believe that every single day of their lives, they are going to hear how beautiful/handsome they are. It matters too. It's not the most important thing but it matters. And every time they hear it, they are just going to take it at face value. It's not going to mean they are stupid. It is in no way going to negate their intelligence. If the world wants to fight a battle, that in my opinion is asinine, do it, just keep me and my kids out of it. It's just going to mean that in addition to all the other wonderful characteristics they have, they are nice to look at too.

Thanks for reading.

They are saying Batman. Hence the open mouths haha

My First Favorite things about (insert person here) Blog

I'm going to start a little blog series. As often as I think about it/have the time, I am going to do a blog tribute to someone. Anyone. Jake, my dad, my brothers, my sister,  my neighbors, my in laws, my grandmas. Whoever. Some will be short. Some will be long.

I worry about how mean the world is getting. It devastates me to think that my kids are going to grow up in a time where people can say and do whatever they want under the guise of Anonymous782 on forums or even publicly on facebook but think it's okay because it's behind a computer screen. It's not okay. I am going to teach my kids to be nice. If it is the last thing I do, my kids will be known as nice people. And I am going to start by setting an example. I hope you enjoy these. :D

Jake. 

I like Jake.
He is a really good guy. For reals. So good.
I like to talk about him. I like to share nice things about him.
It's possible that there is nothing sadder to me than a woman/man that says mean or even slightly off putting things about their spouses.
I get it. Marriage is tough. Spending so much time with any one person is rough, man. But, wouldn't you be so sad if you heard your spouse saying some of the mean things you say about them about you? I would be. And truthfully, I rarely, if ever say anything bad about Jake.
Not because I'm so evolved that I don't gossip (because I do, I complain a lot too. I'm working on it. Growth is tough), but because in my opinion, there really isn't anything bad to say about him. There are probably, off the top of my head, only two things that he does that really bug me (and one of them is unbearably stupid haha). I'd say that's pretty awesome.
I have a friend who tells me often that she loves how I always say such nice things about Jake. I like it. But honestly, I don't even really notice that I do it. Sometimes I worry that people might think I'm bragging and maybe technically I am but I don't mean it that way at all. I just think it's nice to be nice.
You know that saying "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"?
I like the flip of that, "if you have something nice to say, say it all."
So! here is my favorite things about Jake blog. (in no particular order because it changes from day to day.

1. He has a beard. Just for me. Truthfully, he doesn't like it that much. He likes not having to shave but that's it. I, however, love it! And he keeps it just for me. Isn't that nice?

2. He is kind. To everyone. Always. Jake is probably the most genuinely nice person I know. He's reserved but he treats people with respect. Always. (props to his parents for teaching him treat people well)  He never gets irritated with other drivers, kids, people, anyone. I asked him once if there was ever anyone in his life that he didn't like. He thought about it for a while and answered with "There was a kid on my wrestling team in high school that ran really funny. That kind of bugged me." Yeah guys, that's it. And even if that's not really it, he doesn't remember anyone bugging him! I think that's pretty amazing.

3. You can wake him up anytime and he doesn't mind. At all. For real. This is actually my very favorite thing about Jake. I know that sounds silly but it means so much to me. I can wake him up about anything. Anytime. He could literally have just fallen asleep 3 minutes ago and I can wake him up and he's fine with it. He doesn't get annoyed. In the five years, we've been married I have never known him to be annoyed when he woke up. Never. Read it again folks- never. In the five years we've been married, I'm pretty sure I've been annoyed every time I get woken up. (again, working on it. Growth is tough.) I can wake him up to change the sheets on Mikey's bed. Change a diaper. Make a bottle. Get out of bed and bring me the baby so I can nurse without having to get up because I'm a wimp about the cold. Just because I want to talk. It's a pretty great situation, team.

4. He laughs at jokes. All jokes. Even if they aren't funny or has heard them before. It's nice. It makes people feel good.

5. He wears BYU clothes on all football and basketball game days.  Jake doesn't care about doing that. I do. I like it. No, correction: I LOVE it! I bleed blue and white in a big way. And Jake plays along. (this is just one example of the many things he does just because he loves me, or his kids, or his parents, or anyone)

6. He is probably my number 1 biggest fan. (well maybe not more than my grandmas. They are pretty supportive too. <3) Jake is that guy that is always telling me how good dinner is, how good the most recent thing I made looks (even when it really doesn't.) and what is even better, he means it. He really thinks that I am amazing. That's a pretty good situation to be in too.

7. He has a terrible memory for people. Okay, I know this one sounds strange but it's pretty amazing to watch Jake interact with people when I know he doesn't remember who they are. People can't really tell that he doesn't remember them. And I think it's because he is kind. Regardless of who they are, he treats them well and as if they were best friends when they were 7 and haven't seen each other in 20 some years. I like it.

8. He is dedicated. Jake doesn't do things half way. He might do it slowly but he doesn't stop til it's done. I'm jealous- I'm a quitter.

9. He is his kids favorite person on the planet. Enough said.

10. He has 4 sisters and doesn't bully them. I have four brothers. And they are great. But there have been times in my life where I've wondered what it would be like to have four really kind brothers. (no offense)  I can't imagine that Jake's sisters have ever thought that about Jake.

There really is so much more that I love about this guy. But this is enough. I know some of these seem insignificant (like #5) but I think it's the little things that make life magical.

Thanks for reading!

Summer Goals

Well this summer I decided to set summer goals so I didn't just waste it away.
Goal #1: potty train Adam. Yeah, I've pretty much given up on this. He hates it. Actually hates it. He screams, kicks, yells no over and over every time I try to our him on the toilet. You know what's nut so cool? A thirty five plus pound baby kicking a pregnant belly. Yeah, not so good. Also he won't tell us when he has to pee. He tells us after but not in tube to sit on the toilet. Uncool.  I'm debating on trying to train Natalie so I can have only two kids in diapers come September but who knows.

Goal#2: mop my kitchen. Okay don't judge but I suck at mopping. I spot mop but that's it. By the time the kitchen is clean enough to mop, I can't do it.  Literally can not. I'm too tired. But! Today I mopped. My friend Heather mentioned to me that she uses a steam mop so I bought one and it's great! Clean kitchen floor, check.

Goal #3: teach Adam his letters. So far it's going okay. He can sing the alphabet song but he is actually the most stubborn person I've ever met in my entire life. You cannot convince this kid to do something he doesn't want to do. Like practice his letters. Or sing the song. He does know A, B, C, D, I, L, M, X, and Z. Not bad I think.

Goal #4: teach Mikey the first four articles of faith. In preschool he learned the pledge of allegiance and I was listening to him recite it and I thought about how I was working with my then primary class to learn the articles of faith and I realized there is no reason Mikey couldn't learn those too. So we started a month ago and he knows 1, 2, part of 3, and part of 7. Adam also knows the first one. :) I'm very proud.

Those are my goals. And now here are some pictures, not related to my goals at all. Just because I like my kids and pictures.

Adam's ER Adventure

Yesterday I was sitting on the couch, enjoying a break before I started the evening grind and I heard a terrible scream. It's amazing how fast that mom adrenaline kicks in man. I ran up the stairs and saw Adam sitting on the floor next to a chair with his back to me. When I first heard the scream I thought he had got his hand stuck in Jake's desk because there is a tiny gap just the perfect size for a little toddler hand to barely fit in and I'm pretty constantly worried about that but when I saw him on the floor, I calmed down for a second. Until I saw how badly it was stuck in the chair. I pulled it out of the chair and the tip of his finger (maybe a little more than half way to his first knuckle) flopped over and the blood started gushing. Gushing guys. For reals. I grabbed the tip, straightened it out and just held it while I started to freak out. Some people can stay calm in this kind of situation, ie Jake, but not this girl. I was looking around trying to find something to cover his hand with but since I was washing our bedding there wasn't even a blanket in our room. I went through a series of thoughts/plans on how we could get Jake home fast to help me deal with this and then I realized that *I* needed to do this. (Seriously not a calm person guys. Plus Adam was crying and we were both covered in blood. Not so good.) I grabbed Adam, ran downstairs, grabbed a bunch of napkins and called my neighbor. (Thank you so much to the Miller's for helping out, I don't think I could've done the ER with all the littles) Because she is awesome, Tiffany walked over and took Natalie and Mikey back to her house and then called Jake for me (because I'm not so good with the talking on the phone and driving) As I was driving I thought to myself, do I go to the ER or can I use the instacare clinic? We don't really take our kids to the doctor more often than for immunizations so I wasn't sure what the instacare could do. So what's a girl to do? I called my dad. I knew Jake would tell me to just go to the clinic because I knew that there was no way he would believe how bad the cut was. My dad told me to go to the clinic and if it was too much for them, go to the ER. Uhm, duh Meredith. I could've figured that out if I could've just calmed down. Because at this point I was crying and shaking. Shaking for two reasons- one the adrenaline and two, all I had eaten by this point in the day was my morning cereal and a Graham cracker Natalie shoved in my mouth. Adam was still freaking out in the back saying over and over again between cries "Mama, I hurt my finger. It's hurts." I realized my freaking out was only adding to his so I took a few deep breaths and started singing him his favorite songs. No joke, once I calmed down he stopped crying. Like within seconds. We got to the clinic, still all covered in blood, Adam holding a red soaked napkin on his finger, both with tear streaked faces and I'm sure it looked so dramatic. The receptionists all jumped up, got wet ones to clean us up, stickers for Adam and called a nurse out front to look at it and tell us if we needed to go to the ER. This is when I really realized that Jake not believing how bad it was was in fact the rule, not the exception. Including me. The nurse took off the napkin and all the receptionists and the two nurses were all like oh wow it *really is* bad. And I looked at it again and saw how gross it was and that the finger was being held on by a skin flap. I was suddenly so amazed by Adam. He was sitting there, not even really crying, just watching the nurses. They all commented on how tough he was. Jake and I have always thought our kids were pretty tough, especially Adam but I always assumed it was just that irrational parental pride you know. "I made you and love you so you're the best/cutest/smartest/toughest/etc. ever" but after yesterday, my belief that Adam is tougher than average has been validated.
Anyways, we met up with Jake, who is perfectly calm and I can just tell that he thinks I'm overreacting because I do that. I'm seriously such a spaz about the kids in pain because I have the pain tolerance of... something that has a very low tolerance. I cry when Natalie steps on my toe haha. It shouldn't even be called a tolerance, it's an insult to the word really. But luckily, the kids seem to have Jake's tolerance not mine. We got to the ER, they check us in, all the while telling us how amazing it is that Adam isn't crying. Really Adam thought the quick bandaging the nurse at the clinic put on was so cool and wanted to show everyone. Everyone kept being like oh no, did you hurt your finger and Adam just gave them a blank stare because obviously he cared more about the red tape and gauze then the gushing wound. The nurse opened the bandage and was like oh wow, that's bad and Jake was shocked. He looked at me and was like "baby I totally thought you were exaggerating. That's really bad." Yeah I know. It was terrifying. They started calling it a near amputation which I didn't love and were talking about tendon damage, broken bones, and stitches. I was so devastated for my little guy. And because I hadn't eaten and am pregnant, it made me a little faint so I couldn't even hold him while they worked. (The nurse wouldn't let me. She was like we don't want anything happening to you so just sit over here, we'll take good care of him) Jake did it which was great but I wish I could've been there, cuddling my boy. I realize that's more about me than Adam though so it's okay. He knew I was there which counts I think. The doctor came in and looked at it and told us they were going to freeze it, xray it and then stitch it up. He was going to lose his fingernail but that would grow back in a few months. So it started. Adam hated the shot to freeze his finger but after it took he was back to his energetic, happy self. He wanted to get up, run around, play with his finger, you know, be a two year old boy. The xray showed a tuft fracture which is apparently pretty insignificant. It was just the tip of his bone broke off and there is nothing to be done about it, it just corrects itself once they stitch the finger back on. So they soaked it for like 10 minutes, put a little turniquet (how do you down that word!?) on it, took his fingernail off, and stitched it up. And Adam *watched*. The entire time. I think he actually liked to watch it. I didn't watch but Jake said it was making him a little nauseous, apparently it was really nasty. The doctor told us about how they normally need someone to hold the kid, sometimes even sedate them so it was amazing that Adam just chilled there. He didn't pull away once. Someone even said he was best pediatric patient he'd ever seen. We're very proud haha. So the tech bandaged it up for us and we left. We went back to the clinic to pick up Jake's car and I noticed that Adam had pulled the dressing off his finger. So we went into the clinic and they redressed it for us because they put a special kind of dressing on first, zeroform or something like that and I wasn't sure if it'd be okay to not have that. The nurse was awesome and covered his finger and wrist with coban and then put another bandage on top of that so if he does try to take it off again, or rather when he tries to take it off again, I'll have a better chance of catching him time.
We have to leave the bandage on for 5 days and in 10 days we go get the stitches out. As for now, we just give him Tylenol and ibuprofen as often as we can to try and fight the pain, which so far is a losing battle (note, I'm writing this at 6 in the morning, we normally sleep till at least 8 but Adam woke up needing medicine)
Once again,  thank you so much to Tiffany and Ty for taking our kids, it was so great to not worry about them in the ER with us for those couple of hours. Adam is a trooper and honestly, probably handled the whole thing better than his mom. :)

Thanks for reading!

An update and announcement.

Well for some reason, I can't get pictures to upload but that's okay. I'll just talk... or type I suppose.
Just a quick update!
Let's see, we went to Disneyland which was amazing. Honestly, it was so much better than I thought it was going to be. The kids loved it. Well Mikey and Natalie loved it. Adam mostly just liked it. But he got to ride a train and so I think it made his life. Plus he met Mickey Mouse and Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates so that was cool. When I can get the pictures to work, I'll post a bunch of them.
Jake is still working in Alpine and really enjoys it. He is also in the Young Men's presidency (an organization in our church for the boys age 12-18) and he loves it. I struggle with it because I'm just about the neediest wife ever and it's time consuming but I'm so glad that he gets to do something he loves. This week he is at scout camp and so between the two nights he'll spend up there and work, I won't get to see him much but he loves camping- although honestly I'm not sure he knows what camping on the mainland is really like but after this week he will.
I'm in my third trimester and getting more and more nervous every day. Four kids- sounds scary to me. But I'm excited still. There isn't a whole lot more to say about me. I'm not super sick like with previous pregnancies but still a little sick. Plus I'm exhausted. Without a doubt the most tired I've ever been. It's uncool because I love sleep and I am a terrible tired person.
Mikey is starting preschool in August and he's pretty excited. He is also going to start speech therapy so hopefully he'll enjoy those things. He is obsessed with Power Rangers, dinosaurs, and Octonauts. Every time I call him, he comes up to me and says Reporting for duty, Captain and salutes me. It's cute. He is turning 4 in a few months and wants a dinosaur birthday party. So I'm slowly working on that because I'll be 36 weeks pregnant in his birthday so I need to get on that. But my absolute favorite thing he does is whenever he gets hurt he tells me he's okay because Jesus made his body so it can heal. It makes me so happy. I just love the gospel and am so grateful that his love is starting young.
Adam is just a handful. He talks so much now and it's so crazy. Every day when Jake gets home from work, Adam says Dada what are you doing here? But my favorite word he says is color. It might be cutest thing I've ever heard. Literally. Adam is also in the process of being potty trained or as my dad says "parent trained." He won't tell me when he needs to go but he'll pee in the toilet and we've have 2 whole days without any accidents. So it's progress. I just need to not have three littles in diapers. After Natalie was born, I'm pretty sure all I did was nurse and change diapers. It killed me and I'm not doing that again. (Hopefully)
Natalie is just a doll. She is turning into quite the little diva though. She is such a girlie girl and Jake and I are constantly amazed by it. I'll get her dressed and then she'll go and find a dress to wear. She also will bring me headbands and hair elastics so I can do her hair but it doesn't stay in very well. She's a little crazy. But really exciting is that we just enrolled her in dance class! I didn't know they did class so young but I found a woman who has a studio in her house about 10 blocks from me. We are going to try it for the summer and if she likes it we'll keep her in until May. :) I'm so excited for it and Jake is being a good sport.
Now for our growing addition. Our baby is a girl! We are planning on naming her Haylee Jill Kaleimana'o'i'o. I'm having a hard time mastering the middle name but I have time to work on it. I can say it right most of the time but I don't always spell it correctly. So I hope I got it right. We really love the name Haylee and almost used it with Natalie but it didn't feel right. I wanted to name a baby after my mom hence her middle name of Jill and her Hawaiian name is after Jake's sister Hannah. We couldn't come up with any ideas for her middle name and I was texting with Shelly and she asked what Hannah's middle name meant. I texted Hannah and she told us it meant precious child of God and that it is a great name for a little girl. I looked at Jake and we were both like it's perfect. And so there is how we picked her name. So thank you to Shelly and Hannah for helping out with that.
I think that's all for now. :) next time I'll post some pictures so everyone can see how cute out little family is. :)
Thanks for reading!

Busy Birthdays

(okay this post is like almost three months late because my internet sucks and everytime I tried to upload pictures it crapped out. my bad. Enjoy anyways!)
Oh have these last few months been busy or what! Canadian Thanksgiving, then my birthday, then Halloween, American Thanksgiving, Christmas, Adam's Birthday, New Years, Natalie's Birthday. Whew. I am so glad that I don't have another birthday celebration to plan until June. (Yay for Jake)

So! I am finally going to share Adam and Natalie's birthday festivities with the world! World, are you excited? You should be because they were awesome! (next time maybe I'll blog about Christmas. Stay tuned. But at the same time, I wouldn't hold my breath.)

Adam turned 2! I can't believe it. And yet, I can't believe that that chunky little dude is only 2. It's conflicting. On Adam's actual birthday we had some cake and presents and we ate hot dogs because I don't think he loves anything as much as hot dogs. For real. It's no wonder he's the size of a small truck haha. I also made him a football cake and while it was delicious, I am not sure that the frosting was worth it.

Adam loves football. Seriously. L-O-V-E-S loves it. So naturally, we did a football birthday party for him! I was basically working on the decorations from December 26 until his party, which was on the 3rd of January. It doesn't look like a ton of decorations but it took forever. It would that the season wore me out and it took everything I had to do the party, even as slowly as I did it.

We gave each of the kids monopoly money and they had to "buy" their food. Well some of it. The popcorn, fruit cups, nachos, drinks and cupcakes were for sale. The other food you just got to eat.

I love these cupcakes so much. That are pretty much adorable.

We also had hot dogs, jello cups, french fries and sliders. Jake put the concession sign up for me and I made a comment about how I would've done it differently but it was still good and Jake was like Oh you just don't have my artistic vision. Haha

The Happy Birthday banner and some of his presents! (The banner is still up because I am too lazy to bring a chair into the living room to take it down. It's okay though, I think Adam loves it)

Jake told me that I should just do it all BYU football themed but I couldn't. I wanted to but I  decided that it might be nice to do a generic party. Plus, green, brown, and white looks nice. And it's way cheaper. But notice the wall color and the BYU picture on the wall. We love BYU over here. Adam and Mikey have started to say Go Cougars with out any prompting. So proud.

I made a few little games but mostly the kids just ate and climbed on the elliptical. It worked out.

We had a great turn out but I didn't get pictures of the littles because, well, I wanted to eat and visit. But I think everyone had a great time and I know that Adam loved it!

Now, on to Natalie's party. Although what is a word for an event that party just doesn't do justice to. I know that it wasn't massive as Logan standards go but it was big for here. We had about 100 people come and it was lovely. Jake's dad flew in from Hawaii and cooked for everyone and Hannah, Eliza and Tiere (is that how you spell her name?) performed at the party and we had decorations and music and it was great. Natalie definitely didn't make a full round and a lot of people mentioned to me that they didn't get to see her at the party and can you believe this!? I was so busy that I didn't even get a picture of her at the party. It was a completely nuts day and as much as I liked it, I am so glad it's over. The party was supposed to start at 5 and we went to start setting up at 1. I had all the decorations planned out to use long tables and what do you know, all there were were rounds. So my lovely sister in law ran to the store for us (which takes a long time because we live a good amount of time from it) to get round table cloths and then we didn't have the correct cords for the music and yeah, it was stressful. I also ran out of time decorating the cupcakes and I ran home to change at about 5:10. Yeah, you read it right. The party started at 5 and I didn't even get dressed for it until 5:10. I was stressed out man.

Another sad note, I finally had calmed down enough to remember to take pictures and everyone started cleaning up already! So the pictures leave something to be desired but here they are none the less.

We had a fondant flower making party. I wish I would've got a better picture of the cupcakes but they turned out really cute

Hauoli la hanau (happy Birthday in Hawaiian) We also had a Who does she look the most like with pictures of Jake, Mikey, Adam and me at one year old and  Natalie through the year with pictures from each month of her life.

I know I did these so it sounds kind of vain but I am truly obsessed with the decorations I made. It took forever but it looked so cute that it was worth it

These are the centerpieces after they got moved from the center of the tables haha

Thanks for reading!