Kelly time with Noah

I am always grateful for the moments when my kids get along.  Notice I say "moments".  They don't happen as often as I would like, or for as long, but when they do..... it's really just priceless. 
I think it's safe to say that Kelly is one of the many Moms we have at our house.  She is really good at taking kids under her wing, she loves babies, knows how to hold them, she is sweet with her littlest sibs, and really just knows how to take care of people.  She is the one I ask when I need someone to distract Noah or Erika, or if they need something to do, and generally she will comply.  It's very nice.  Something I don't think I would be able to do without.... very easiliy... I hope she never feels like she doesn't want to do it, though if she did, I would want her to be herself.  She is a sweetie, and I am glad I can trust her to help out with them :)  That being said, the other day, she took Noah under her wing and helped to entertain him while I was getting somethings done.  I had no idea what they were doing, but after a while they came in and wanted me to come see what they had been doing.  The reason I took the picture and am making such a big deal about it, is because I almost said, "not right now".  I almost told them I was too busy.  I almost missed out!!  Thankfully I felt prompted to just stop what I was doing and enjoy their little fun for a second.  As we walked over toward the swingset, for some reason I htought they were going to show me a trick on the bars or something Kelly had taught Noah there, which would just be a miracle!  But no, they stopped just before the swingset and there it was Kelly and Noah heaven :)  It made me smile to see that Kelly had chosen an activity that was right down Noah's alley.  Something that Noah has never really done though, so it's something new that I'm sure he will continue.  They had made a little home for his plastic lizard.  Everything had a name or a function, and they both knew them all.  You could see from his wet hands that Noah had been using it and enjoying it to it's fullest, and therefore his lizard too.  It was just such a sweet little moment.  I felt like I was in Noah and Kelly's world for a second.  So creative, so fun, so pretend.  I loved it.  I wish I'd gotten a picture of Kelly and Noah using it, or Noah's lizard enjoying it, but anyway- here it is.  I love my family.  I love these moments. 

Mormon Miracle Pageant

Thursday night we realized that this weekend was the last one for the Manti Pageant.  We had talked a lot about going, but never actually planned it.  So we put off planning it until Friday morning when Nate and I decided "what the heck, why not".  We have been a few times with our family over the years, and I went quite a bit when I was younger, so it's a little bit of a tradition and that alone makes it worth seeing :).  I'll admit it's not my favorite production, but the whole road trip feel of it, going a distance, staying up late, driving till your eyes droop, just makes it a fun thing to do!  We had a lot of fun driving there, which I must say is quite the feat considering the lack of radio/dvd player, and air conditioning.  I am really proud of our kids for putting up with all of that over the last couple of years and really making very little complaints.  Sometimes I feel bad about not getting it fixed sooner for their sakes, but at the same time, we're teaching them to be tolerant I think :).  They know how to do without, that is for sure!  We didn't have to do without treats though :)  A road trip is not a road trip until you have beef jerky and snacks!  And that we did.  Charity insisted that we call it the "Mormon Miracle Pageant" when she learned it wasn't really called the Manti Pageant.  Kelly blushed and sighed everytime we mentioned the Angel Moroni.  Yes, she is still in love with him.  She says, "at least he was a prophet!"  True.  Brad kept track of how long it was going to take to get there.  Luke was bummed that we were not sitting in the blanket section, but we learned that that isn't the best of ideas last time, when we had to watch the pageant from the side.  Not as cool.  But he warmed up to the idea quickly.  Noah LOVED the fire part!  All the boys did actually.  Who knew it could be so cool!  Erika was such a good girl on the drive down.  Slept a lot.  She wasn't however, a fan of the show.  That may be an understatement.  She drove me crazy through the first 3/4 of it and then Nate took her out for a walk and drink til the end.  I enjoyed the last quarter of the show the most.  No offense to Erika.  Actually, I noticed a few changes this year.  They got rid of the eerie music during the part when Robert (I think that's his name) dies and his wife's spirit comes back to get him.  And what a great change that was!!!  Made a world of difference!  I think I even cried!  It was much happier music, and a much lighter feel.  That's how I picture it.  Not eerie and spooky like it was before.  They ended it differently as well.  It seemed like it ended early.  But it was a beautiful ending as always, with the angels and they point up to the angel moroni standing up on the top of the temple with his robe blowing in the wind.... I do love that part!  It was nice.  I loved that the kids did so well through the whole thing.  It wasn't til the very end that there were some spats about who knows what, and that was irritating, but I had to remind myself how well they had done with the whole trip and not get too mad.  We had met up with Nate's boss from Equity there, his family was out of town and he was down visiting a ward member in the gunnison jail, so he sat with us.  That was fun to see him again.  I think he was my favorite boss of Nate's.  I still think our idea to take the Manwaring's big duffle bag (that they wouldn't let me give back to them) with all the blankets and such is our best idea for the Manti Pageant.  This was the second time, and it just works so well.  We didn't lose any shoes.  Unlike 8 years ago when we took our two little girls.  I love traditions.  Hopefully they don't ever quit doing it and we can keep it up!











I miss the old days when it was mostly blankets.





Nate took the girls to go get some ice cream.... Kelly had been drooling over the Mango ice cream of the people's in front of us the entire time Nate was off taking pictures of the sunset/temple, so as soon as he got back, they were gone!  While they were gone, Noah let me take lots of pictures of him.  We tried doing all different facial expressions.... they're kinda the same, blurry, and include bloody nose crusties.... but cute anyway :)









Brad and Luke paused their game long enough to smile :)

















probably should have wiped his face or something huh.....










"I think we went to the wrong ice cream stand because they didn't have any Mango!"

Kelly's First Dance Recital!

Kelly kept calling this her "first dance recital" so I assume she likes dance and wants to keep going with it :).  Well, I don't really need to assume that, she's made it very clear.  Monday night was her recital.  There was a lot of anticipation building up to that day!  She was very anxious for it!  She loved that people had it on their calendars and were looking forward to it as well.  It was really cute to see her get so anxious to wear her costume as well.  We did her hair in little ringlets, pulled up the top half into a pony tail and tied her little leopard print hair thing around the ponytail.  Just as her teacher said :).  She looked adorable.  She had been a little bummed about the costume and felt really uncomfortable in it because it was immodest.  I told her she could wear her leotard underneath, and her teacher agreed that that was okay, but that it was just a costume and would probably be okay to wear for a one time thing.  I personally don't really know if it's okay to justify those things, but I'm okay with it, so I do.  I think modesty is important and my girls do too, so I feel like they understand the concept.  Ultimately Kelly decided that she didn't want to make the group look ununiform so she chose to wear it without the leotard.  I'm glad she made her own choice.  And I'm glad that she was happy with her choice.  She looked adorable!  Her song was number 6.  She came out with a great big smile on her face, so big that I got distracted and didn't get my video camera up in time for the first bar of the song, but anyway..... She was SOOOOOO not scared at all!!  She showed absolutely NO sign of fear or stage fright.  The girl was made for performing!!  I don't know why we didn't get her in dance sooner!  I LOVED watching her dance!  She did SUCH an amazing job!  There were two other girls in her class and they totally didn't know it as well as she did!  She just stole the show!!  I loved her facial expressions!  She really got into it and did everything full out!  It was just so much fun to watch her.  They had to sit out the rest of the recital, and it was a long recital! But then they had a little finale number, a few bars of a song at the end of the recital with all the big girls that danced, and Kelly had some pretty cute little moves in that too!  I LOOOOOOOVED her ending on it!!  Next time you see Kelly, tell her to do her finale, you will not be disappointed!  She's a star.  I really loved that she got her moment to shine!  She got flowers from Mom and Dad and a trophy as well- who knew girls got trophies at Dance recitals!!  We were grateful that Grandpa Hatch came, he was the only one of many who Kelly had been expecting, much to her dismay, things had come up, but it was fun to have someone else there besides her boring ol' family.  We all went out to Basket Robbins afterward to celebrate.  Way to go Kelly!!!  Can't wait for the next recital!


I had to put all of these pictures because Kelly had picked all of these poses herself!  She's so creative, so cute and loves to be in the spotlight SO MUCH!!  She stood there and posed for at least 3 minutes (sounds short, but it's really not!) and look how cute she is!!!  I'm pretty sure she was the cutest, prettiest, BEST dancer there!!!  No doubt about it actually :).  She was definitely my favorite!

Happy Father's Day!

I thought we had a really nice Father's day this year.  It felt a little rushed in the morning, but it usually does when we have 9:00 church.  Our little tradition just doesn't do well with early church.  So we started out, just as usual, with breakfast in bed for Daddy (I feel bad about how weak this breakfast was.  I'm not sure what I would have done with it, but I was cramming to get things ready for my Primary class at the same time, so it wasn't my best cooking.  The sausage was a little overcooked, and the bacon was wimpy.... I couldn't find the nice thick kind at Dick's :(.... but Nate was really nice about it, of course), the kids were so excited to give him their presents, and we were in such a hurry that we made him open presents while he ate :).  Every year I let the kids pick out their own present for Nate.  Sometimes it's hard to not want to talk them out of some of the ideas, and sometimes I have to based on how much something is, but I try to let them really pick it out.  We started with Erika.  She put on the shirt she "picked out" for Daddy (Nate's really been needing some new clothes, so I let the kids all pick out a shirt for him and instead of wrapping it, we had them put them on, and model them as they brought him his present), it was gray and said, "Train Hard, Win Easy", then she gave him a bunch of pants and shorts and a white shirt for church.  Noah picked out the shirt with the superman logo on it :).  When I saw it I just knew Noah would be all for it :), he loved it.  Noah gave Nate a bat!  A bat that is just Noah's size :).  It was so funny when he picked it out, he said, "I wanna get this for Dad!!"  And I said, "Would that bat be for Daddy or for you?"  And he quickly answered, "For mmDad!  For Dad AND me!"  Made me laugh.  Wouldn't be the first time one of them bought a present for themselves Dad and them.  A certain Thomas train set comes to mind ;).... And that brings me to Luke.  Luke was very precise while picking out a shirt for Nate.  He wanted nothing to do with the clearance or sale racks, and he was set on one certain shirt, probably the most expensive one there, and wouldn't budge.  It was a nice shirt though, so I let him talk me into it.  It was perfect for Nate, he knows his Dad.  He didn't want to wear it to show it to him though.  Luke has a present idea that has worked for several years now whether it was for Christmas, Nate's birthday, he just knows it's a winner and that is what he wanted to get this year.  It just happened to be the same thing I was going to pick out to be from Erika (since I get to pick out her present :)), so I let him go all out and get him a REALLY NICE watch.  Usually he just picked one from the little $12 ones, and Nate has always worn them with pride.  But not this year, we just had to spoil him.  Luke picked out a really nice watch, the one I would have picked out in fact, and Nate loved it.  Just need to resize it a little.  Brad picked out a green shirt with white stripes.  He was very set on finding a green one.  It looked good on Brad and really good on Nate too :).  Brad's present was probably the funniest this year.  As we were walking through Costco, I had to keep turning down Brad's ideas.  They were just too much.  So when he came up with the idea to get the 53" stuffed bear that was only $30, I just couldn't say no.  So that's what he gave him :).  A giant stuffed bear.  We justified it later by saying that it would be the perfect thing for Daddy to lay on after church on sunday when we all crash in the family room.  It is pretty cozy to sleep on.... everyone's enjoyed it :).  Kelly picked out a very nice redish shirt.  And made him a duct tape wallet. She picked out some very attractive, neon green duct tape and worked SO hard on his wallet.  Making sure it had all the right pockets.  She loves to make her gifts.  It's kind of her trademark.  Charity picked out a blue striped shirt (blue being her favorite color of course, since green- Nate's favorite color- had already been done), it looks really good on him too.  Charity went all out and wrote Nate a song.  She sang it to the tune of Lullaby, Lullaby.... she also typed up one of her favorite stories from the Friend and red that to him as she gave him her present.  It was really thoughtful, and I had NO idea she had done it!  She searched EVERYWHERE for a book for Nate.  It was really hard to find one she liked!  She finally picked out a book called, "Daddy's Little Girl" Very sweet and thoughtful.  While we were shopping I had noticed that nobody got Nate anything fishing related!!  And normally we get him a fishing license, but I decided we needed something else.  So we got him a Gift Card to Dick's Sporting Goods too.  Hopefully he will spend it on himself.  That was our morning.  We made the maddest dash to get ready, and took stinky unbathed kids to church.  I did my cookies in Brad's class, turned out to be a really bad idea, frosting cookies for their Dad's.  The frosting was just too runny!  So Hayden had frosting all over himself.  That was a bummer.  Nobody else got any that I could tell, but I felt really bad about Hayden, and well, just wished I'd realized what a crappy idea it was before I went to all the trouble.  I wish I'd just done the Pop Rocks thing.  Anyway, the kids all sang to Nate in Sacrament meeting.  Luke kind of moped and dragged his feet, but once he got up there, he sang his cute little heart out, with his big smile, right out on the front row :)  Love that!  All of our kids are getting so big!!!  It's so crazy to me!  When they stand up there in front of everyone, with all the primary kids, I realize that they are not my little babies anymore!!!  So sweet though.  I don't know if Nate feels the same way I do, but that's one of my most favorite things about mother's day and Father's day.  That and the treat from the ward!!  HA! Just kidding.  Nate got a muffin this year!  When we got home, we hurried and had some lunch, and then we all crashed.  As usual, to one of our church movies.  Course the kids don't sleep as long as Nate and I.  It was nice though.  I made dinner, my Mom and Simon came and spoiled Nate with a gift, and then we ate and went up to Grandpa Hatch's house to wish him a Happy Father's Day.  We didn't go to Nate's Dad's this year because we were told they were going to be in Colorado, we were bummed to find out (too late) that He actually was home!  But Nate called and they had a nice conversation.  We had a lot of fun at my Dad's.  Gave him his cashews :) that's another tradition.  I always get my Dad nuts.  He had gone all out, spoiling us when we were supposed to be spoiling him and there was a smorgasbord of treats and food.  It was a very good time.  Minus the dumb movie my kids picked out on my Dad's Instant Netflix.  One hour and forty one minutes of pure torture.  Well, I shouldn't say that, it was only 24 minutes that I was sitting there "watching" it.  But that was long enough.  We did our little hershey's kiss song!  I was so happy that I remembered the kisses the night before.  We've actually been able to keep this tradition up for the last couple of years without me screwing it up and forgetting!  That makes me happy :).  Brent and Sarah were there too, so all three Dads sat there and got slammed with kisses.  They all carried it a little farther than I would have liked, Dad and Steve were having a fight with them, and seriously if a kid had accidentally walked through the line of fire, and been the recipient of one of THOSE kisses.... we could have had a serious injury on our hands.  They were having fun though.  That's always good right?  Kelly was funny, trying to clean up the kisses for the longest time, and getting really frustrated when anyone would take kisses out of her bowl to throw, and then as it continued, she was the one throwing bowlfuls of them around like she was in a parade or something.  I'm glad she changed her attitude, but I was also ready for them to be done throwing them.  I spent the rest of the evening trying to come up with a good, funny replacement for the kisses next year.  Something that we can throw, but still take a break from all of the madness.... just for one year :).  I thought it was a nice day.  I hope Nate felt spoiled and had a good one too.  Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there!!

Random Pictures

I think this was the day Nate let me take a nap and he and the kids went on a walk.  I like that Nate will take pictures when I'm not there.... they were really cute.






These were the day my Dad came over for dinner (I had totally forgotten that I had invited him for dinner and the dinner we were having was not a real dinner so we hurried and ordered some pizzas :) ), so we had a pizza picnic in the backyard, Erika ran around with Nate's hat (she steals it on a regular basis) and we all laughed at her :).... fun stuff.  This one is of Erika's "cheesey ball smile" (that smile is genetic, and earned it's name when Kelly was a baby...)










This was the day after a HORRIBLE night with Erika not sleeping, and I totally needed a nap (notice how I'm playing that up to excuse my nap :).... not sure why I feel like I need an excuse to take a nap, but I guess I am a Mom, so guilt is a must! HA! just kidding), so Nate took the kids on yet another walk, and they had walked so far in such heat that they came home and turned on the sprinklers and had some water fun.  He really is the funnest (on my blog, that's a word :) ) Dad ever.  I'm pretty sure that if he were the stay-at-home parent, there would be a lot more fun going on.  Just how it is :)














He finally got wet :).  And I LOVE how he holds his arms when he runs :) it's SO CUTE!

Leap frog in the sprinklers!  Sounds fun.  I totally missed out!