The Jared and Candice Sing-A-Long

Moving!

2011-05-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

We got a new home not too far from here and are in the process of fixing it up. We have been putting our heart, soul and time into our new home for the past month and still feel like there is a lot left to do. We are needing to be in there by the end of this month. Can we do it? I don't know, right now it seems almost impossible. Jaxon is also turning 2 this week. Amongst all the craziness with this new home, having a new born, and packing I will find the time to have a little birthday party for my handsome young man.

Two Precious Boys!

2011-04-09T14:18:00.001-07:00

Jared took these pictures today of my handsome boys. I just love them so much!

Connor Graham Halbert!

2011-03-31T11:52:00.001-07:00

Connor Graham Halbert arrived on Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011 at 4:09am. He weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces and was 20 inches long. He happened to be 16 days early so it was a little unexpected, but hey I won't complain. It was around 11:30 pm Monday night when I started to have contractions. They were only 7 minutes apart and not unbearable, so I just tried to ignore them. By the time 12:30 hit they were 2 minutes apart and very unbearable. So I got Jared up and we arrived to the hospital around 1 am. Everything happened pretty quick, except for the last 30 minutes felt like forever. My nurse decided to call the doctor when I was dilated to a 10 and Connor's head was almost out. Did I mention she had to call him at home. He lived 15 minutes away! Oh and did I also mention that he showed up about 25 minutes later because he couldn't find his car keys. I had to lay there for that long squeezing my legs together to try to keep Connor from coming out. As soon as the doctor got there everything went well though. It was 4 pushes and he was out. Over all everything went really good and smooth for me, I feel pretty lucky. We are extremely happy to have Connor in our lives. We now have two precious boys and feel very lucky and blessed. Pictures are to come.

Belly Picture at 37 weeks

2011-03-31T11:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry I am a little late on posting this, but here is my silly prego picture. I never like taking these pictures they are awkward to me.

Transportation Day!

2011-03-31T11:27:00.000-07:00

I get this thing through email called the Active Mom Magazine. If you haven't heard of it, it is a magazine that shows a bunch of free or cheap events going on around the valley for a whole month. One of the events that was listed was this Transportation Day. It was this big parking lot full of different vehicles and activities. It was a lot of fun! Jared I think enjoyed it more than Jaxon.

Jaxon in the Swat car

This was a giant monster truck that had party lights and fog going.

Wild life Zoo/ Aquarium trip!

2011-03-31T11:16:00.001-07:00

Jared's mom teaches Preschool and they took a field trip a month ago to the Wild Life Zoo/ Aquarium place. She was very kind to invite me and Jaxon along.

Just like daddy!

2011-03-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

Jaxon loves to do anything Jared is doing. Whenever he see's Jared on his phone, Jaxon always grabs the I-Pod and plays on it. Yes, it is true Jaxon knows how to work the I-Pod. He unlocks it and goes to the game he wants and plays it. Should I be proud or embarrassed, I am not sure. It is dang cute though.

Utah Trip!

2011-03-31T10:06:00.001-07:00

We went to visit Jared's brother and sister in law in Utah back in January. It was a really nice, relaxing vacation.

Jaxon's first plane ride. He LOVED it!

We went and walked around temple square. That place is beautiful!

Jaxon decided to lock him and his cousin Hudson up in the dog kennel.

2011-02-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

Jaxon was having a good time helping us put up Christmas lights this past Christmas. He thought it was fun wrapping himself up in them.

2011-02-10T07:53:00.000-08:00

I love when Jared plays around with his camera. He captures the cutest pictures of my precious baby boy.

2011-01-26T08:51:00.000-08:00

I found these pictures just now and thought they are too cute not to post. This was a few months ago, Jared was just playing around with his camera.

Baking!

2011-01-07T08:56:00.000-08:00

Since I have been a stay at home mom I discovered I love to bake! I am not that great, but it is fun and it is relaxing to me. I like to put my own little twist on recipes just to spruce them up a bit. Also, it is all easy stuff to do. I wanted to share two of my recent foods I have made that turned out super yummy. A couple days ago I was craving muffins, so I pulled out a strawberry muffin mix out of pantry. I thought it would be fun to add some white chocolate chips in the mix to add some more flavor. Then I thought, hey why not melt some white chocolate chips and drizzle that on top of the muffins when they are finished baking. These muffins turned out delicious! I know they aren't the most healthy, but its ok to splurge every once in a while, right? The other twist I did was to pancakes. I tried two different things on these. I used just a regular mix and then added shredded apple and chopped almond. The second time I made them I added mushed bananas instead of the apple. There are supper delicious and actually pretty healthy. If you want them even more healthy, use a whole wheat pancake mix. Anyways, I thought I would share some of my silly little twist in baking.

2010-12-28T17:32:00.000-08:00

Oh darn it! I still have a ton of pictures to download from my camera from a couple months ago. Looks like I will be back tomorrow to do some more updating.

Halbert Family Reunion!

2010-12-28T16:51:00.000-08:00

I am extremely late on updating! This reunion was back in August. We went to a place near Young, Arizona and stayed for a week. It was a lot of fun and total relaxing.

This is what I almost stepped on coming out of our cabin. Did I mention I almost stepped on it several times. This thing kept coming back and hanging out right by our cabin door.

Jared spotted a deer running through our camp. How awesome is this shot!

We are such dork!

Jaxon eating dirt, what a boy!

Jaxon trying to eat a big black beetle. Dad thought it was funny so instead of taking it from him he took a picture first. Gross!

2010-12-14T20:37:00.000-08:00

Sorry everyone! Updates will be coming soon!

IT'S A BOY!!!

2010-10-22T10:08:00.000-07:00

I just looked at Marissa's blog and figured I needed to let people know as well what I am having. Also, I have a new due date and Marissa, I am excited to say that we are due on the same day! April 1st is a good day! I hope if we have our babies both on that day that people will actually believe us, considering it is April Fools Day. We are super excited to have another boy, besides we expected it anyways.

I AM PREGNANT!

2010-09-01T17:57:00.000-07:00

I am due April 6th! This pregnancy sure has taken me for a ride. I haven't been feeling too great, so I can't wait to get over the first trimester. Just a question for you mom's who have more than one kid. Is it normal to feel guilty and sad for your first born? I have been feeling really bad bringing a second child into the picture because I am afraid I wont pay attention to Jaxon anymore when the baby comes. All day everyday my attention is on Jaxon and I have such an amazing bond with him. Please, I need some reassurance that it wont really be like that when this baby comes. Will this bond me and Jaxon have still remain the same? Will I still pay as much attention to him then as I do now?

Summer Cali Trip 2010

2010-06-22T18:16:00.000-07:00

My mom and dad decided it was time for a vacation. I guess because of dad's busy work schedule and mom's busy taking care of me schedule, they figured it was time to get away. I didn't mind. 18 hours in a car seat sounded like a blast. Looking for balloons, cars, and anything else that ran across the windshield. I knew my other friends would be jealous, so I signed up. We stayed in Garden Grove, CA at some fancy hotel dad got off of hotwire.com. Not that I own stock in hotwire, but I figured I'd throw out a name. Right when those big glass doors opened up, I saw a ball in Mickey Mouse's hand and knew I could make this place work.

We cruised PCH. From Long Beach to Newport Beach...nothing but fly honnies. The first day we chilled at Newport and I tried get the feel of the sand between my toes down. That was weird. I kept trying to escape the salty dirty feel, but my parent persisted I play in it. The next day we went out to the Aquarium of the Pacific for a few hours. I never seen a fish bigger than me until that day. It was nice riding in the stroller with the top pulled down looking at all the colored fish. I eventually went out back and saw sharks and stingrays. These things were slimy.

The water was a bit trippy, but I got use to it after a while.

Got a nice little tan in Huntington B, then headed home.

Bye Bye Mark May 19th

2010-06-22T18:11:00.000-07:00

Jared's brother Mark left to serve a church mission for two years in Riverside, CA. He is going to be speaking(sort of) sign language. We are proud of him and the example he has shown each one of us.

Jaxon's Birthday

2010-06-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

We are such nice parents throwing a party for our one year old. In may Jaxon hit the big ONE. Now as parents we begin to rip our hair out. If you're a friend and beginning to think to yourself that you may not want to talk to us again because you weren't invited...then good, we don't want to talk to you either with an attitude like that. But on a more serious note, we decided to make it a family birthday. Now if you are a family member and didn't get an invite, then our bad.

Jaxon wearing the cap that aunt Chelsea made for him.

Me and Jared decided to make Jaxon a cake for his jungle theme birthday. I think we did a pretty dang good job.

Jaxon eating eggs for the first time on his birthday.

Most of May 2010

2010-06-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

My muddy socks the next morning...that's some good starch.

I went on a 3 day backpacking trip with Kevin Jones and his family. We went up into Paria Canyon, which is located near the Utah/Arizona border. We had a ton of fun pooping in poop bags and hiking and picture taking and sweating and what not. Here are just a couple pictures from the adventure.

My wonderful friend Tori Houston received her mission call to Cleveland, Ohio and left on May 10th. I will miss her dearly, but she is serving the Lord full time for a year and a half and I am so proud of her.
Candice's Chelsea and Greg Lake along with their young blooded children were sealed in the Mesa Arizona Temple.

My brother, Justin, who flew all the way down here from BYU Idaho. I didn't ask him, but I bet his arms were pretty tired.

When we pulled up to Tia Rosa's my G pa was modeling this mini van. I don't think he understood that that wasn't his van.

My brother Shaun and his soon to be wife had a wedding dinner, thrown by my parents at Tia Rosa's. As you all know, one of the better restaurants in the Mesa area. When we showed up the dude was saying how we only get on pitcher of lemonade per table....that was nonsense....it was coming all night as the Mormon's did their drinking.

My brother, Shaun, finally tied the knot in being sealed to a babe. This day is to go down in History books. I'm talking about the history books that your children's children are going to be reading and studying in their long boring history classes in Jr. High. I had the opportunity to take their pictures a few days before the wedding. Here is my camera's offspring.

2010-06-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

So sorry everyone, May and June updates coming soon I promise! I have Scout Camp today then we are going down to Tuscon tomorrow for Jared's brother's wedding reception. We will return home on Saturday so updates will happen then.

April 2010 update!

2010-06-04T11:23:00.001-07:00

I was on a softball team and had a bit of an accident. I was playing second base and a ball was thrown to me. For some reason I decided to catch it with my leg instead of my hand. I can be a bit of an airhead sometimes. Long story short, I ended up in the emergency room because they had thought that from the severe bruise I had developed it was causing blood clots to travel to my lungs. After chest x-rays, cat scans, ultra sounds, I-V's, and hours in the ER I ended up being fine!

Jaxon developed a new hobby. CLIMBING!!!

Jaxon got pink eye, poor guy.

For Preschool we took a field trip to the zoo. Those kids are so sweet! I really am going to miss them now that Preschool is over.

Jared took pictures of his new nephew. Isn't he such a doll?
Jaxon is growing up so fast! He has become quite the terror.

2010-06-04T09:30:00.001-07:00

Sorry everyone blog update coming soon!

RSV!

2010-03-19T09:18:00.001-07:00

Jaxon got sick about a month ago. He wasn't getting any better so we took him to the doctor. The doctor took a sample of Jaxon's snot and sent it into the lab. Test results came back and he had RSV. RSV is a virus that goes around at a certain time of year that affects the baby's lungs, so they have a hard time breathing and stuff. Well for about a week and a half we had to give him treatments about 4 times a day. Now I am excited to say he has fully recovered and is healthy again!

Cameron's New Room!

2010-03-16T16:47:00.001-07:00

My brother was chosen at the hospital to get a room make over from Room For Joy. They sent him and my mom away for the weekend so they could get to work. The people gave Cameron and my mom a place to stay and tons of gift card to keep themselves busy. I don't have before pictures which I wish I did. The transformations these people did on his room are amazing! Here are just a few pictures of the new room. Oh, my camera died so I didn't even get the picture of his closet, that they completely changed to look like an elevator! CRAZY!

The buildings were made out of carpet!

This is one whole wall! Someone hand painted this entire thing!

Pinewood Derby!

2010-03-04T10:12:00.001-08:00

So I kind of failed to mention that I was called to be a Scouts leader for my church. I have been in it for about a month and I love it! Here are some pictures from the Pinewood Derby last week.

Jaxon loved when the cars went down the track.

Valentines Day!

2010-02-16T09:58:00.000-08:00

So Jared decided to celebrate Valentines this year. I wasn't expecting anything big or romantic, but boy was I wrong. We had gone to this swap meet two weekends ago and when we were there I had found the most dreamy purse ever! He remembered that so this pass weekend he took me back there and let me get the purse! We also went to our ward Valentines party which couldn't be more cheesey. There was candle light dinner with Italian music playing and a really nice dinner served of spaghetti. We then were chosen to play a newly wed game with a few other couples. Yes, we did get last place, but hey it doesn't mean we aren't meant for each other. It just means we need to communicate more :). So anyways then there was slow dancing after wards which Jared doesn't do, so we just kind of goofed around on the dance floor. Then on Monday he took me to see the Valentines movie, I loved it! Thanks to my wonderful, sweet husband this Valentines weekend was amazing!

2010-02-12T16:05:00.001-08:00

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IMPLANT!!!

2010-02-09T12:14:00.000-08:00

So I got such great advice from people about ways I can keep myself busy being a stay at home mom, that I just need to ask for more advice. When I was about 7 years old I ended up cracking one of my back teeth. The tooth ended up with a cavity on it and as time went on got worse. When I got old enough to take care of my own needs I had a really good job with great benefits, so I decided to take care of that roughen tooth. The dentist gave me two options, one he can do a root canal on it but a few years down the road it will just get bad again OR he could just remove it and I can get an implant later. He did informed me that option two would be costly, but I went for it anyways. I got the tooth removed and then time past and I got married and then a precious baby boy came along. I chose to quit my job that I was at for 3 years and become a full time mommy. With quitting the job that meant no more insurance for me, but I was ok with that. Until I realized I really needed that implant. With insurance the implant would have been about 1,000 dollars. I called today to get the price on implants without insurance and guess what it was 4,180 dollars!!! So my advice I would like to get from all of you is what are ways that I could earn that much money in a year without getting a full time job? I already do preschool but that only gets me $200 a month. So please, please anyone with advice please hit me up. Thanks! And if any of you are wondering why in the world I am going to get the implant here is why. My teeth will eventually start to shift to close in the hole and my teeth that were once in the back will be in the front. That would not be a pretty site.

Stay at home mom's! I need Advice!

2010-01-19T10:39:00.000-08:00

Please tell me what in the world you do at home. I feel like there are days where I have nothing to do I am so bored, I want to go crazy! I just always like to have something to do, I am out of ideas. So if you can please tell me what a few things are that you do being a stay at home mom I would deeply appreciate it. Thank you!

Jaxon's First Christmas!

2010-01-04T09:02:00.000-08:00

My handsome man!

2010-01-04T09:00:00.001-08:00

Crawling!!!

2009-12-15T11:36:00.000-08:00

Yes it is true, my little man is crawling! He is 7 months today and has been crawling for about 2 weeks. It has been a real adventure with him. People are not kidding when they say mom's need eyes in the back of there heads. I turn around for a few seconds and I hear BANG and then a cry, or CRASH and another cry. This kid gets into everything and somehow always finds a way to hurt himself. Jaxon loves to follow me into whatever room I go to. Even the bathroom when I am on the toilet, he crawls right in there and sits right by my feet and stares at me while I go. Seriously no respect or privacy. Forget him going in the kitchen or the bathrooms anymore, he always slips and bangs his head right on the tile. MY GOODNESS! His favorite thing is to pull all the cd's out of the stand and spread them all over the floor. When everyone said I need to baby proof my house I didn't know that meant you have to hang everything from the celling to keep them from getting into it. All in all though I am glad Jaxon is crawling, he seems to be happier and having a lot more fun. I love him so much and I wouldn't trade him for anything.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

2009-12-13T12:06:00.000-08:00

Today is mine and Jared's 2nd anniversary. Unfortunately he is sick in bed. The past two years of my life have been the best two years ever! I meant a wonderful guy that is kind, sweet, loving, caring, hard working, family man, amazing father and husband and who is a worthy priesthood holder. That guy is my husband, how did I get so lucky. I wanted to express my love and appreciation to Jared and say, happy anniversary babe! I LOVE YOU! Still in love after all this...

Dating

Engagement

Marriage

Honeymoon

Family

Hide and Seek!

2009-11-10T15:53:00.000-08:00

DARN!!! You found me!

New sleep position!

2009-11-10T15:46:00.000-08:00

I guess I can start shortening my prayers. That way I wont fall asleep during them.

Daddy's hair taste so yummy!

2009-11-10T15:37:00.000-08:00

Look how cute and innocent!
Or is he....

Jaxon's First Halloween!

2009-11-03T09:48:00.000-08:00

Who do you want to call? Ghost Busters!!! Look how creative Jared is. He throw our costumes together in 20 mins. Jaxon was our little ghost.

Grandpa Halbert bought Jaxon this pumpkin costume when he found out I was pregnant. We had him wear this for Jared's parents ward Halloween party. He looked so cute in it!

Rice Cereal!

2009-10-05T20:25:00.000-07:00

Jaxon has been on rice cereal for a few weeks now. I did not realize how messy it can be. My little boy is growing up so fast!

Prescott!

2009-09-17T20:21:00.000-07:00

For Labor Day Jared and I decided to take a day trip to Prescott with some awesome friends of ours, the Greenhalgh's and the Turley's. Eric Greenhalgh is a great photographer so we asked him to take some family photos for us while we were up there. It was a lot of fun hanging out with them. Prescott is a really nice place to go to get out of the heat and it is only an hour and a half away! Thanks Eric for these wonderful photos they turned out great!

I took this one.

Jared took this one.

Jared Passion!

2009-09-14T10:33:00.000-07:00

Jared decided to set up a little studio type thing in our living/dinning room the other day just for kicks. Considering how small our house is I was not to thrilled about it. I am glad I let him give it a try before I made him take it down though, because this is what we got out of it...

Jax to the Max

2009-09-08T19:24:00.000-07:00

I can't count the number of times I hear, "your baby is so cute". This post goes out to Jaxon. We have been blessed with not only a cute son, but a good son as well. He can go days without a bath (like his daddy) and still not complain. He can have spit up all over his body and still be smiling. What a great baby. As we are in the most random places, cities, stores people stop and look at the little dude. We are proud parents. Needless to say, all parents probably say the same thing about their own children. Even if he was ugly, he would be cute in our eyes and of course in Gods eyes.

Beating the Heat!

2009-09-03T10:36:00.001-07:00

Following in Daddy's footsteps!

2009-08-31T16:32:00.000-07:00

Daddy shows Jaxon the rockstar life!

Turning 21!

2009-07-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I turned the big 21! I have thought a lot about my life lately and what I have accomplished in it. Some things I am not so proud of and several things I am proud of. Here is a list of some things I have accomplished in my 21 years of life:

1. I have traveled to many different places.
*Me and Tori Houston and my cousin Rae Lynn once drove all the way to Main. We stopped in several states on the way. A few that I remember were: New Mexico, Texas (were we got into a huge tornado warning), Oklahoma, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Main. I know there was more I just can't remember, I was 11. I have been to Branson, Missouri, Nauvoo, Illinois, California, Florida(Disney World), Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Mexico, and more.
2. I have been on a cruise to the Bahama's
3. I graduated High School
4. I danced all through Jr. High and High School and now.
5. I bought my very first car all on my own when I was 18 yrs old. (Honda Accord)
6. I have owned over 100 pairs of shoes (not sure if that is something to be proud of though).
7. I have broken my left wrist once, my right elbow twice, sprained my ankle who knows how many times, and have been in 3 car accidents.
8. I have meant and befriended many outstanding people all throughout my life time!
9. I meant a wonderful, amazing, smoking hot guy and married him in the temple!
10. I now have the most precious little baby boy, who has truely changed my life!

Jared's update

2009-07-10T00:23:00.000-07:00

July 9th 2009

Well, I woke up this morning feeling way different than I had been the last four days. Lying in bed for 11 hours, my body was kind enough to allow me five hours of restless sleep. Throughout the night I would find that my arms would move in autopilot. They would stretch into the dark room out above my head, scratching without permission. This would cause microscopic dead skin cells to fall onto my crusty face. Or for some reason my right foot will begin to move and scratch the other leg as if I was a dog enjoying a good scratch behind the ear. But no complaints since I feel much better this morning. Yesterday (Wednesday) morning was the one of the worst yet.

Since Sunday night I had been on high off Benadryl. Everyone was telling me to take it. Even the doctors office when I called on Monday explaining to them that I looked like Hitch said, “Take Benadryl and call us in a couple days if things get worse.”

From Monday to Wednesday I was all doped up on Benadryl. My life was sit on the couch, lie in bed, lie on the couch, lie in bed, sit on the couch. Talking was a burden. Holding my precious son was a burden. Cuddling with my hot wife wasn’t appealing. I couldn’t even kiss her goodnight without feeling pain in my lips like a million needles poking in to them. So I just sat in the house half the week avoiding sunlight as it made the pain even worse. I felt bad every time I would ask Candice to go get something for me. Like I was a burden that she didn’t have to have. I am an adult and can take care of myself. But I was not in any mood to do anything. Even making phone calls took strength.

Wednesday morning, my mother (bless her heart) came by with some stuff she had picked up from the health food store. They had given her ideas and things to try from body soap, to restoring my body’s Flora level. I called the doctors office again that morning, for I had not seen progression, but digression. I wasn’t quite as itchy, but my arms had begun to swell and it looked as if I had some sort of muscle on them. Swelling had also begun in my chest area. The nurse I talked to this time said to come in immediately. Once again embarrassed by my condition and not in any mood to drive (nor was I in the legal position, probably get a DUI) I asked Candice to take me. I took Jaxon out to the car and as soon as I broke a sweat, it felt as if some one was poking needles into each pore that sweat protruded form. In pain and embarrassed by my looks. I made it to the doctor’s office. I made it a point to avoid eye contact with the receptionist as much as possible. They made me feel better, but it was still awkward to have them look at me with those creepy nurse eyes like, ”why didn’t you come in sooner.” And my mind responded, “As I recall it was your company that told me to wait a couple days.” I sat down on the chair hoping no one will come walking in the door to the office. Soon the nurse called us back. I’m glad Candice came as she was able to answer a lot of the questions asked by the nurse and doctor. The last few days had been a blur and Benadryl was kicking my butt. I was then prescribed some pack of pills, which are like a Cortisone shot for those with less money. The doctor put it a nicer way. I was to take 5 pills the first day, then 4 the next, 3, and on until gone.

As we were leaving, we had to walk through the front office, this time I could hear people in there and embarrassment sunk in again. I tried to hide my face from their view. Looking only where I had to. This was difficult for me, as I usually try to be an observant person, wanting to know who’s in the room with me, and even say “hi” if I had the chance. The door was in a positioned to open the wrong way and the glass window was on the wrong side of the door. As I tried to sneak out I opened the door for Candice, but had to turn my head towards those sitting, waiting, wishing it was there turn next. I still avoided eye contact. Shutting the door, now on the outside, I could feel their eyes burn into my skin through the glass window. Again, in humility, I asked if Candice would be willing to go and fulfill the prescription. I was in no mood to be anywhere but home. She pulled up and I went straight into the garage, again fighting the urge to look down the street at noise I heard, for fear someone would see me.

An hour later Candice got home with drugs, which I opened quickly and an ipod touch as a gift. She was so thoughtful and sweet. I’ll probably be making payments on that thing for the next five years, but the thought of her doing such a nice thing makes it all worth it. I am definitely blessed to be married to such a sweet girl.

Last night I was much more observant to what was going on around me and was able to help put Jaxon to sleep. This was the first time I had done this in a few days, but it felt like a few weeks. He is one of the best gifts God has given our family. He makes the home a much happier place to be and has helped our family learn and grow.

If you have read this far, I want to thank the visitors who have stopped by the home and been willing and trying to help my stubborn self.

Another note I want to make is that it may seem like I am throwing a pity party. But as I have thought about the last few days, my eyes have been opened even more to those with chronic or lifelong illnesses or diseases. I now will look at them in a whole different way. I haven’t even got a taste of what they go through in a day-to-day routine. Even something as simple as going to the grocery store takes courage. I now look at those handicapped as a great blessing to the world. We should look up to them and support them for they are the ones with true courage. They are special to God and he loves them just as much as any of his other children.

I also wanted to point out that this incident is so small compared to others who had or are having illnesses in their lives. From cancer, to chronic sickness, to autoimmune. This incident really has made me think even more of my friends who are in these circumstances. My heart goes out to them. They are the true heroes.

Boot Camp!

2009-07-08T17:57:00.000-07:00

Ok, so today I decided to try on all my jeans to see which ones fit me and which ones don't. Well turns out about 16 pairs do fit me now, but 12 still don't. So the majority of my jeans fit now, but a few of those pairs that don't are some of my most favorite jeans. It is really hard to look at them and not be able to wear them. Here is the great thing though; I found a solution to my problem. My brother-in-law Greg Lake is a personal trainer. A few months ago he decided to expand his workload and started a boot camp. I have been so anxious to start it after I had Jaxon, but of course I had to wait 6 weeks till I could work out. I finally got to start his book camp last week! Man, is it hard! I sweat like crazy, I can't hardly breath by the time I am done with it, and by the end I am sure I have said a few not so good words in my head. But you know what, I love it!!! It is so motivating to have people right next to you doing the same thing. I only have done it three times now, but I can't even begin telling you how great I already feel about myself. It might be a challenging work out, but Greg is a great trainer! He is very understanding if you can't do everything perfectly and if you need to stop and rest for a second he wont yell at you either. Just when you think you can’t go anymore, he is there to cheer you on to keep going. So ladies or gentleman, if you are looking to loose some weigh, get in shape, or just love to work out and like a challenge seriously you should come to Greg's boot camp. It is $100 for 4 weeks, twice a week. It is at Gilbert Jr. High School at 6:30 p.m. Trust me I am not a big fan of working out, so if I didn't think it was worth it, I wouldn't be talking about it.

Jaxon's First Road Trip!

2009-07-06T19:00:00.001-07:00

We drove up to Utah for Jared's family reunion. It was a blast! Even though it was in the middle of nowhere, we still found a lot of things to do. We went hiking, quading, and played flash light tag in Goblin Valley (you have got to check this place out it is awesome). Jaxon was a great sport the whole time. I am so proud of him!

2009-07-06T16:08:00.000-07:00

Jaxon and Mommy and Goblin Valley!

Jaxon and Daddy hiking!

Don’t' believe it do you? Well believe it! This deer came and hung out with us every morning while we were

having breakfast. He let us pet him and he would even put his head on your shoulder. Not your typical deer. He was so cute!

Jared and I on the Quads

The Lesson Learned!

2009-07-05T13:42:00.001-07:00

Jared was on a softball league on Wednesday nights with Greg, my brother-in-law. He was making his way to third base and realized he wasn't going to make it unless he slid. Sure enough he slid into third and was safe, I was so proud! Well after wards when the inning was over he came to me and showed me that he had a scrape on his ankle from sliding. Well, instead of cleaning it out right away he kept playing the rest of the game, collecting dirt, and all kinds of other bacteria in it. We got home he cleaned it out somewhat and went to bed. The next day he went to work and sweated all day, didn't clean his scrape out when he got home, typical guy. This went on for a few days until one night Jared's mom and I noticed that his ankle was red. He took his shoe off to check out the scenes and to his surprise he was looking at a swollen, bright red, infected foot. We stop by my cousin Rae Lynn's house, which is a Per emetic, and she checked it out. She was very concerned and called my other cousin Brian, who is a foot doctor, for some advice. Brian ended up calling in a prescription for Jared and we picked it up that night. After a week of taking the antibiotics, progress has been made. Jared's foot was actually looking normal again. But then something strange happened. Jared was getting into the shower one night and came out of the bathroom saying, "now Candice if I show you this please don't tell me I have to go to the ER." Well I was worried. He stood in front of me and this is what I saw....

We called my cousin as soon as I saw it. She suggested that he should take Benadryl for the hives to go away. He ended up taking two doses that night. He woke up the next morning only to see that it was worse. Finally making a decision, he decided to go to the ER. It took a trip to the ER and $100 later only to find out that it was an allergic reaction to the medicine he had been taking. A few days past and the hives started to clear up. I actually didn't have a poke-a-dot man for a husband anymore! I guess because he thought it wasn't the biggest cut that it didn't need attention. So just for a heads up, even with the slightest, smallest cuts you never know what could end up happening. Take care of it right away!

Pictures with the Cousins!

2009-07-03T09:39:00.000-07:00

Things that change when you have a baby!

2009-06-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

1. Our body! For nine months I looked like a huge elephant, I could not wait to get Jaxon out of my stomach so I could have my body back. Little did I know that it does not get much better. Sure I was small again, but now I have this flabby skin hanging and tons of stretch marks. Not a pretty sight.
2. My cute little purses I use to carry around have now become a big bag full of diapers, wipes, burp rags, binkies, ect.
3. The extra room we had to store stuff and put all our extra junk in, is now a nursery.
4. My night stand did have the twilight books on it, now it consists of baby books, like Baby Wise and This breast feeding book.
4. I was one of those people that was always on time or early to things. Well that does not happen anymore. We are almost always late to everything now. Even when I try to plan out the time and try to leave a few minutes earlier, we still seem to be late.
5. This one is most important. The time you spend with your spouse in now cut in half. Most of my attention is on the little one now. But, the moments I do spend with Jared I try to make sure they are worth it. I have try to spend less time arguing and more time cuddling and focusing on the positives.

I know I will experience a lot more change as time goes on, but all these changes are good ones and like I always say, their worth it!

Mommy and Me!

2009-06-07T11:11:00.001-07:00

Look at that precious smile!

Hum... I wonder who Jaxon is going to take after?

2009-06-07T09:04:00.000-07:00

OH WAIT, I KNOW WHO...

Looks like I have two wackos on my hands, but boy do I love them!

"Mom, I can't figure this darn thing out!"

2009-05-28T17:20:00.000-07:00

This is Jaxon trying to figure out how to suck his thumb. Only problem is, he can't figure out which finger it is.

What do you know he actually figured out how to get his thumb in his mouth, but this time he can't figure out how to curl his figures so he just leaves them on his face.

BATH TIME!

2009-05-28T16:57:00.000-07:00

Jaxon loves his bath time. It's the cutest thing when we take the wash cloth and squeeze water on his head. He makes this face as if he was floating on a cloud.

Sleepy Mommy and Daddy!

2009-05-28T15:32:00.000-07:00

Who would of thought that parenting could be so tiring? Jaxon is actually a pretty good baby. He only wakes up once throughout the night, usually around 4 or 4:30 am. The thing that is so tiring though is when he does wake up; he is a wake for like an hour and a half. After I feed him I change his diaper before I lay him down again. His favorite thing he likes to do is pee all over the place, I think just so he can get an extra 20 minutes alone time with mommy before he goes back to sleep. He is so thoughtful! During the rest of the night, he believes it is very important to keep his voice box strong even when sleeping. Here and there he will do a few puppy dog barks or baby goat sounds. Also, he likes to throw up and try to swallow it, which leads to choking noises. That just gives me a heart attack every time. So you can see that with a baby there doesn't come much sleep. This leads to black circles, wait no that is not right, I'll say black, giant, bags under my eyes and exhaustion during the day time. Like I have said before though, it is all worth it! Plus, I love to see the little moments like this...

Delivery!

2009-05-26T15:40:00.000-07:00

What a happy family!

Don't mind me, I look like crap! Oh I think part of the reason could be that I just pushed a 7 pounds 7 ounces human out of me! That was a lot of work.

Poor guy! He was so beat up!

Was I Really Ready?

2009-05-26T10:17:00.000-07:00

Here I was about 36 weeks along with the pregnancy just dying to not be pregnant anymore. Everyday i would wake up hoping that day would be the day Jaxon would come. Well about 4:30 in the morning on May 15th, 2009 I had been woken up by horrific pains. These contractions were nothing i have ever experience before during the pregnancy, they were more painful than i could even begin to explain. I knew it was time. I told Jared it was time to go only to here the response of, "Really, but I am sleepy". Not exactly what I was wanting to here at that moment. Realizing how not very happy I was, Jared was out of that bed in a flash. Weeks ago this was what I was looking forward to, but at that time the thoughts that were going through my head were different. On the way to the hospital all I could think about was how much pain I was in, was I really ready for this, how can I be a mom, I wasn't meant for this. By the time we got to the hospital I was already dilated to a 7. Within an hour and a half of being at the hospital my water broke, everything went pretty quick from there. Then, 8:26 a.m. rolls around and there he was! The most precious thing in the world was handed to me and placed on my stomach. At that moment all those negative thoughts were gone. Everything that I thought was so horrible the past 9 months, the tiredness, the feeling sick to my stomach, the weird cravings, looking in the mirror feeling like an oversize elephant, the pain, everything was all gone. That baby was a miracle to me and that is when I knew I was, really ready.

Welcoming The New Member To Our Family!!!

2009-05-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

Jaxon Lee Halbert born on May 15th, 2009 at 8:26 a.m.
Weight- 7 pounds 7 ounces
Height- 20 inches long
Hair Color- dirty blonde
Eye Color: blue

Lake Tahoe, California / Reno, Navada Trip!

2009-03-22T20:23:00.000-07:00

Jared's parents took us on a adventurous trip for a week to Lake Tahoe. I have never been and didn't know what to expect. Man was it gorgeous!!! We drove up Sunday night and stayed at a hotel in Las Vegas. We then finished the rest of the drive to Lake Tahoe Monday morning. Like I had mentioned before Jared's parents are very good at finding great deals on Condos, so we ended up staying in this really nice Condo in Lake Tahoe for the week. On Tuesday we drove up to Reno to visit Khyl and Danielle, Jared's brother and his wife. Tuesday was the day that they throw me the surprise shower. Wednesday we took an awesome Snowmobile tour in the mountains at Lake Tahoe. I was a little hesetent at first to go because of how far a long I am, but it turned out to be a lot of fun! Those pictures will be posted later, we haven't received them yet. Thursday we spent half the day in Lake Tahoe walking around the shops and stuff. Then we ended up in Reno for the second half of the day hanging out at Khyl and Danielle's house. Friday we packed up our stuff at the Condo and headed down to Reno to stay with Khyl and Danielle for the night. On our way there we stop off at some shops. Jared brought some really nice cowboy boots that took him over an hour to decide on buying. That night we went to the beautiful Reno Temple. We headed on our journy home early Saturday morning. The trip ended up being a lot of fun! Thank you so much to Mom and Dad Halbert for making all this possible. They are such sweethearts.

2009-03-22T19:46:00.000-07:00

Reno Temple

Lake Tahoe

Surprise!!!

2009-03-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

My wonderful Mother in Law and Jared's Sister in Law decided to throw me a surprise baby shower while we were in Reno. I was not expecting this at all! Jared's grandma and his two aunts and cousin came all the way from Utah to Reno just for my baby shower. They are such sweethearts. The baby shower was a blast! They put so much hard work into this and I felt so special. And can you believe this awesome cake that Jared's sister in law (Danielle) had made. Jared's side of the family are very talented, they made me some wonderful things for Jaxon.

Sedona!

2009-03-22T16:16:00.000-07:00

My wonderful family and I had the opportunity to go to Sedona for the weekend about a month ago. Jared's parents are great at finding really good deals on Condo and things all around the U.S. They found a good deal in Sedona and allowed me and my family to go and stay there. It was so nice to get away for the weekend. The weather was perfect! And who new that Sedona could be so beautiful? My mom of course loved it, she is such a nature freak! We were able to go on a really nice hike to veiw the gorgeous mountains. Also, we went on a little tour of the Indian Ruins, that was neat!

2009-03-22T15:44:00.000-07:00

My pregnant belly!

2009-01-25T15:31:00.000-08:00

I would have to admit, my belly is a little bigger than I hoped for being 6 months a long. That's ok though, I have been having a wonderful pregnancy and I can't complain.

Jaxon is on his way!

2009-01-25T15:27:00.000-08:00

New Mexico!

2009-01-25T15:14:00.000-08:00

Jared and I went on a little weekend vacation to New Mexico. Jared's friend, Phillip Killian, lives on a Ranch up there that his family owns. They own about 74,ooo acres of land! We had a blast learning how to live like a cowboy for a weekend. Hanging out with the cows, bulls and horses was great, but the best part was hanging out with Phil and his sweet wife. Thanks so much you guys for letting us come over on such short notice and showing us a wonderful time.

2009-01-25T13:30:00.000-08:00

Jared learning how to ride, cowboy style.

Me and Joey (Phillip's baby horse)

Jared and Phil

Looking good!

Jared learning how to rope.

Me and Poncho Villa (Phillip's dog)

2008-10-14T21:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, Ok! Once again we have failed to update our blog. It has been a while since our last post and we have been chewed out a few times now for not updating. We have came to the conclusion that we better update or we won't be able to show you all how exciting our lives are. So here's whats been going on behind the scene of the Halbert household.

THE BIG NEWS!!!

2008-10-14T21:05:00.000-07:00

Just recently Jared and I found out some exciting news. Once we were married we decided to take the next step in our lives, maybe a little earlier than we expected. A few weeks ago I decided to pee on a stick. Well that stick happened to be a pregnancy test. To my surprise it showed up positive! I decided I wanted to surprise Jared that morning when he got back from feeding our neighbors dog. I created this scavenger hunt for him. When he walked in the door there was a paper that said, "Solve the clues that will lead you to your surprise." In each room there was a clue telling where the next one would be. Finally it lead to our bedroom where I had laid a paper saying, "Congrats you are going to be a father," with the positive pregnancy on top of it. He was shocked! We both can't be any more excited and we are looking forward to being parents. Wow, that sounds so weird!

Yep, this is the actual stick I peed on!

Weddings!

2008-10-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

One thing Jared and I have been really busy with is weddings. I can't believe how many people have got married in the past few months. It has been a crazy few months. We even have a few more coming up in the next few weeks. Jared has been shooting a few weddings lately. His pictures look amazing! If anyone needs pictures done give Jared a call. He can do anything from family photos to weddings, you name it. One wedding I particularly enjoyed was one of my very best friends Caitlin Owens, who is actually Caitlin Beach now. I am glad to see my friends settling down and starting a life with their soul mate. On Caitlin's bridle shower invitation there was this saying that I love. It read, "You don't marry someone you can live with, you marry someone you can't live without." At least I think that is how it went, somewhere within those lines. This I agree with 100%.

2008-10-14T20:48:00.000-07:00

Just a few out of hundreds of amazing pictures Jared has taken!

Congrats to Derek and Kaela on October 11th!

2008-10-14T20:05:00.000-07:00

Sunbeams!

2008-10-14T19:32:00.000-07:00

Me and Jared were called to be Sunday School Teachers for the precious Sunbeams. We absolutely adore them. There are only four of them in this picture, but we actually have six all together. The two that are missing are Jenna and Birkley, cute kids also. These kids have been such a blessing to our lives. They are smart little buggers too!

Phoenix Mercury Game!

2008-10-14T19:31:00.000-07:00

Those of you who do not know who the Mercury team is, let me tell you. Pretty much they are the girls Sun's basketball team. These girls are hard core and believe me when I say you would not want to fight them. Their muscles are HUGE!!! Besides us, the rest of the stands were filled with dikes.

2008-10-14T19:27:00.000-07:00

Outside the Mercury Game

Chillin with Amare Stoudemire

2008-10-14T19:13:00.000-07:00

4th of July

2008-07-06T16:57:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the wonderful Independence Day, the Allen clan took a journey to Tumble Weed Park. There they had the blow up bouncy for kids and a giant blow up water slide. The weather was blazing hot, until the monsoon winds came rushing through. It ended up cooling the temperature down by quite a few degrees. It ended up being a fun family adventure with Karri, Greg, Chelsea, Abby Dabby Doo, and some of Greg's family.

Apologetic Note

2008-06-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

We apologize for misbehaving and not updating our blog. We take full responsibility for our actions. Therefore, this time we are making our update extra special and exciting. There have been quite a few events that have occurred in our lives in the past few months. Here are just a few:

D.Backs

2008-06-24T20:45:00.001-07:00

We went to the Diamondback game back in May.

Police Concert

2008-06-24T20:28:00.000-07:00

Sting put on an alright show. The drummer, Stewart Copeland, put on the best show.

Camping

2008-06-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

We went camping with our father and his fiances family up in Woods Canyon Lake for a few days. It was very fun and we got to get to know each other better. It happens. Besides riding around on quads, sitting around the campfire, eating, and playing camping games, we fished. This is obviously what Woods Canyon Lake is all about. After fishing for hours morning and night, we came home with zero fish and zero bites. Next time we'll be sure to use different colored poles and glow in the dark fishing line.

2008-06-24T17:57:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to attend a Halbert Family Vaca this past week and a half. The Vaca took place in Nauvoo, IL and Branson, MO. This was a good opportunity to get to know our family members better and enjoy each others company. We had peeps from Reno, NV and even Tucson, AZ. Here are some events that occurred:

Toured Carthage Jail. The place where Joseph Smith was martyred.

The Beautiful Nauvoo Temple.

As you all now the pioneers back in the day had to make everything by hand. This is a picture of me and Jared struggling as we try to make our own rope. I don't think we would have done too well as pioneers.

Shaun, Jared, Brandon, and Erin, Brandon's girlfriend, playing like the pioneers.

Yep, he actually ended up falling in love with me.

Well what do you know, we even look cute dressed as pioneers.

Taking a tour through the Caverns.

Trail walking through the pretty woods.

We took a duck ride on this odd looking vehicle. The reason why they call it the duck ride is because one second you are driving on land, then the next you are driving through the water in the middle of a lake.

We also went to a billion amusement parks. One was a water park.....bangin. There was entertainment every night, so we went to three different shows. Singing, dancing, music, and what not. We call it a Las Vegas for AARP subscribers. One of the many restaurants we ate at was called Lamberts. In this restaurant they served hot yummy rolls. When a roll was wanted, all you had to do was yell, "Roll" and a roll came flying through the air. Another restaurant we ate at was one where the waiters and waitresses would sing to you while you ate. Every few minutes a waiter or waitress would grab the mic and bust a jam. One of the fellas was on American Idol this last season.

More pics are to come.

2008-06-24T17:23:00.000-07:00

Most of you know my precious niece Abby. She had her very first dance concert this past weekend, that Jared and I attended to. We went straight home from the airport on Saturday evening from our very long family vacation to drop off our stuff, then headed right over to the dance concert. She was dress in a cute little mouse outfit, with her hair all curly. She was such an angel. It was totally worth going to see.

Wisdom Teeth

2008-04-07T21:51:00.000-07:00

Ice, Ice, Baby

This was after Jared fed Candice pudding like a baby. Her mouth was numb and she couldn't feel the mess she was making.

And wasted

This weekend Candice got her wisdom teeth pulled. Now she is no longer full of wisdom. This becomes more especially clear when she's on the pain killers. After the operation she was being wheeled out to the truck and decided to throw up the peace sign. She recovered like a champ. No swelling, no pain.

The boring stuff.....WORK

2008-04-07T21:30:00.000-07:00

We both have new jobs...in a way. Candice has been promoted at AST Capital Trust to work in the operations department, which deals with updating broker and third party administrative info. Also making sure fund companies are up to date on important life or death information. Jared's new/old hobby is photography. Although doing it since high school, he has more recently tried to make a penny or two doing it. He's shot two weddings in the last month. With a few more events scheduled this year. We are both very excited as we learn and grow in our new fields.

The Claw

2008-04-07T21:10:00.000-07:00

let us catch you up on our lives. Our hobby is the claw machines (you know, the stuffed animal machine like the one on Toy Story). We started doing this on our honeymoon and soon were caught in its addicting snare. Every time we see a machine, we have to play it. We now have eleven of those fur balls. Probably spent a total of $30. Some of you may laugh, but hey, it's better than those of you who spend this money on fast food, or the latest dvd, or a new hair doo, or a run down victory lane at Speedway, oh wait, that would have been funner. Candice's favorite is the little purple dinosaur on the left side of the picture. Making sure Jared had it when we were at Dave and Busters this last week. His hands were full of stuffed toys and she kept checking to make sure the little purple dinosaur was still there. Jared's favorite is the Simpson mom. One of our goals is to get the whole Simpson family. So keep your eyes open and if you see a character from the simpsons in a glass cage with a claw above it, then please contact us via text message with the address and location.

Honeymoon Pictures

2008-02-17T17:48:00.001-08:00

Orlando area

Nassau, Bahamas

Coco Cay, Bahamas

Safety First

No flash photography please

Kicking Jeff Gordon's tail

Honeymooners

2008-02-17T17:22:00.001-08:00

After being married for a month, Candice got pissed at Jared and said that the first honeymoon wasn't good enough. So here we are in Orlando, Fl. hanging out by the castle. We came to the conclusion that there are about 6 different Mickey Mouses. They were everywhere. It's bad enough to have our government lie to us, now we have Disney lying to children and adults from all over the world. We started the trip off with an airplane flight. Driving to Florida was just to much, and we sure as heck weren't going to walk. We left on a Sunday and by Monday we were on a cruise to the Bahamas. The first stop was Coco Cay, Bahamas. It was a little cay owned by Royal Carribean Cruise Line. While we were taking a walk through the ocean we came across a few sharks. It was neat to be so close and watch them swim by our skinny legs. The next island/city we went to was Nassau, Bahamas. We spent the day in the streets shopping and spending money we didn't have. It was a lot of fun though. Once we got back to Florida, we hit up MGM Studios for the day. The shows were entertaining and the rides were pretty deace. After spending all day there we decided to use the next day to find Mickey and Minnie. Saturday morning we woke up and headed to Disney World. It was a great honeymoon.

Introduction

2008-02-17T16:30:00.001-08:00

After three arguments and two fist fights, we decided that we were going to make a blog. This is our first time exploring so deep into the internet world. We are rookies so excuse us if at times it seems boring. For all we know, we may get tired of keeping it up to date and never write another thing. We hope to keep this consistent so that those of our family who don't answer the cell phones when we call can still be kept up to date on the Halbert's life. We are now living in Southcentral Mesa in new condos built by DR Horton. Although we are very blessed with such a nice home, we have been unsatisfied with the quality of workmanship that has gone into it. The neighbors that we do know are great. The problem is getting to know them. Most of the people in here will pull into their garage and shut the door behind them, without a hint of "was up." We went to a BBQ yesterday with Shawn and Tamara in the condos. The host was a friend of T's and he works at the credit union. Very nice people who are freshly married of 10 months. One thing that we have here in the Tesoro (community in which we live) is a billion and a half dogs. I think everyone that moved here came from a place in which animals were not allowed. Everyone, but us, has a dog. You pull in and see a couple people checking their mail, each with a leash in hand and a dog at the other end of it. They are all puppies, as of now, and will only get bigger and louder as time goes on. This also will mean that their poops in the greenbelt will get bigger and smellier. Anyhow, I'm going to sign off for now and see how this will turn out on the blog.