AUGUST

 ZIPLINE

Nate put up the zipline Noah got for his birthday (not a moment too soon :) ) today!  The kids have been having a blast on it!!  Hopefully nobody gets injured too bad.  8-1-20

JAXSON AND BAILEY RECEPTION

Saturday night, we all piled in the car and headed up to Riverton for the reception.  This was a lot of fun.  We had planned on only being there for a half hour but of course didn't leave for about an hour and a half.  We brought Porter with us.  There was a drink bar where the kids got to make all kinds of flavors of drinks.  Nancy had talked that up pretty good and it was a lot of fun.  Popcorn and brownies too.  It was fun to visit with everyone.  Felt like the pre-corona days when we all sit around and visit.  Seems like it's been a while.  8-1-20

SADIE'S WALKING!!  

Luke's hard work has finally paid off!  She has finally started walking.  She's taken steps before, but this was the beginning of walking for her.  It's been a lot of fun to watch her get around.  She's definitely way more into things than she used to be.  A busy little bee.  We'll see how she likes camping!  8-11-20

CAMPING WITH THE MAUGHANS

This year we got a group site and both families went up on Wednesday.  Different from past years and a welcomed change!  Charity opted out of camping this year as well.  Which was a huge bummer.  Something we were not prepared for.  We got up to Smith and Morehouse campground shortly after the Maughans (not sure why it takes us four hours to get there, but it did this time).  It's always a little hectic getting unpacked and setting up camp, but it went pretty smoothly this year.  Kelly was happy to find a grove of trees close to our tent for the hammocks!  They ended up being a highlight this year.  Kelly, Bradley, Luke, Noah, and Erika all took turns sleeping in them each night.  That was fun!  and new.  Our tent was pretty empty and cold most nights!  Wish just Jack, Molly, Sadie, Nate and I!  But it was fun for the kids to use the hammocks.  We spent two days at the lake this year.  One on a muddy spot just off the tip of the lake.  That spot was not our favorite, although we did get a kick out of the wind blowing all the water toys everywhere and everyone chasing them down.  Kinda fun.  Memorable for sure!  Poor Molly's sliver!  That thing was massive.  Pretty cool that I had my tweezers in my makeup bag, right there in the car!  Lucky.  We spent the other day on the opposite side of the lake from the road where we've been in years past.  This was a sandy beachy spot.  We liked this one a lot better and spent more time there.  Everyone played in the little river that was right up next to us and a lot of the kids spent the majority of the time making these cool water falls down the side of the beach.  Transporting the water in the giant blue bucket back and forth from the river to the top of the hill.  Kinda fun to watch them and see their creativity.  

Sadie LOVED this part of the trip.  She was like one of the big kids playing in the sand and water.  Sort of.  She also spent a lot of time in my arms and steering me around.  Funny girl.  She got pretty sunburnt too, which was crazy.  Since she had learned to walk two days before, I insisted that we stop and get her some shoes on our way up to camping.  She looked so grown up in her big girl shoes all week.  She got pretty comfortable with all the different terrains she was exposed to.  Lots of good practice!  She wandered around the campsite pretty well.  She chased the squirrels, ate the rocks and dirt, and even played in the puddle from the water cooler.  It was crazy how fast she got dirty and how much she didn't care :).  She had stuff all over her face the ENTIRE trip.  She is not a big fan of sleeping in the tent we decided.  She cried for at least a half hour the first night since she woke up after being asleep in my arms for a good hour.  That was unfortunate.  Then woke up many many times in the night to cry as well.  I kept trying to nurse her, but since we are in the process of weaning her also, it wasn't really productive.  She was not happy that first night, at all.  The other two nights she got progressively better.  Less crying to fall asleep and then less waking up in the night.  Still, though, not really her thing we decided.  She didn't love the marshmallow war either.  I ended up putting her in the car and driving around to get her to sleep so I could play.  She loved the chipmunks, loved walks with Daddy, loved playing in the hammocks with her brothers and sisters, and couldn't get enough of the fruit snacks!

Molly had a great time this year.  She was able to do more with the big kids.  She was less naggy than she is at home, which was nice.  She slept in the tent just fine, in fact, she looked like she hadn't moved a muscle the entire night on those last two.  She LOVED the beach.  She loved playing in the water.  She was a lot of fun there.  Didn't get sunburnt!  She enjoyed all the snacks and treats and didn't hardly eat any of the real food.  As usual.  She did love roasting things when it came time to do that.  She had fun exploring with Jonah and Weave in Wave out with the kids, and getting out the toys she brought along.  She was also extremely dirty!! She enjoyed doing the Tie Dye shirts and wanted hers to be rainbow! She didn't love the marshmallows war, her gun wasn't working great, but once she started just throwing the marshmallows at people- she got into it.  I loved when Travis came down all disappointed and when asked if he got out he said, "Yeah, I didn't realize Molly was playing." HA!  That just cracked me up.  She was a force out there.  It was nice that she was comfortable and loved camping so much.  She sure looked forward to this campout and I think we delivered!  She kept very close track of what day it was, how many more we had, how many we had been there, and kept correcting me on things she thought I'd said about how long we would be there... kinda cracked me up.  She loved the shirt Erika drew for her too! 

Jack was another one who just kept himself very well entertained the entire time.  In fact, I feel like I hardly saw him!  He and Will were off exploring most of the time!  They had a lot of fun at the lake together as well, just keeping busy!  They looked busy anyway :).  I love that he is so inventive and has so much fun in nature.  He slept soundly as well, hardly moved at all.  I LOVED that in the night- one night- he heard Sadie crying and called out to her, "Sadie, come here!"  SO SWEET!!  Jack loved playing games with the big kids too, and got really good at it!  It was fun to hear Brad praising him and telling him how good he was doing.  

The kids all had so much fun playing with the chipmunks, running around in the woods playing their Weave In Wave Out (or whatever it's called) every night.  Watching the stars.  Roasting everything including chip bags.  They have so much fun with the Maughans too, that's always nice.  

Erika was a busy bee this year.  She had a lot of fun with the chipmunks, the hammocks, the games, the lake!  She and Kate were nowhere to be seen when we were at the lake- they loved the paddle board that first day and then spent some more time in there just swimming around the second day.  She is a fun girl, gets out there and makes fun!  I love that.  She got way into the tie dying this year and hers ended up being one of the coolest ones this year!  She also drew a shirt for Molly with the fabric markers- turned out really cute!  And she ended up making Charity's shirt for her.  She slept in the tent the first night and then the hammocks the other two.  I was proud of her for being able to do it!  It was pretty cold so it helped that Kelly showed her how to bundle herself up.  That was a fun opportunity for them.  

Noah was also pretty busy.  He was very enthralled with the chipmunks.  Made several traps and things to get their attention and get them to come really close.  He spent quite a while just sitting in his chair watching for them.  That was fun.  He loved playing with everyone as well and really was a big kid this year.  Kinda crazy!  He and Josh rekindled their friendship a little, that was fun.  And it was fun to watch him roasting things. He was one of our Kayak-ers bring the kayaks from the dock to the beach, kayaking clear across the length of the lake!  I was so impressed!  He made really good time.   He's a cute kid. He very thoughtfully drew a shirt for Porter!  I thought that was really sweet of him.  During the tie dying, as well as tie dying him one too. I was happy he was having so much fun.  He slept in the hammock all three nights.  He went fishing with Nate and Brad on one of the trips.

Luke seemed to have a lot of fun this year.  He isn't our biggest outdoorsman, but he manages to have a good time.  He loved the lake, loved the treats, the chipmunks- he built them a little alter with nuts and such for them to go snack on.  Had a lot of fun with the games and tie dye as usual.  I just love having Luke around.  He's so much fun.  He slept in the hammocks every night.  Didn't hear him complain about the sleep, but he did nap a few times too.  He liked the tie dying on Friday, even did the onesie for Sadie.  He loved the marshmallow wars and was a really good sport!  That was cool.  I loved hearing him sing the I'm So Humble song with Kelly.  

Bradley spent a TON of time fishing this year.  Off on his own and with Nate.  Took full advantage of the time.  I was glad.  It's good when he gets to be busy doing his thing.  He spent a lot of time with Sadie and the hammock :).  He was fun with the chipmunks as well.  And all the fun games.  He's such a good kid and fun to have around.  Such a big help too!!  We rely heavily on a lot of our kids during these kinds of trips.  They make it so we can do them more often.  He slept on the hammocks the first two nights, I think he opted for the tent that last night.  

Kelly had a blast this year!  She was a lot of fun as well.  She was kind of everywhere, with everyone all the time :).  That was fun.  She was our main source of entertainment around the campfire and kept things alive.  She was fun to talk to and fun to be with.  She was one of the kayak-ers as well.  I am still so impressed with how fast they did that!  She had a lot of fun with Rachel everywhere.  She was a lot of fun with Sadie and Molly as well.  And so cool to involve everyone in her fun with the hammocks and laying on the ground watching the stars!  Lots of fun!  She spent every night in the hammocks.  I loved watching her.  She loved the marshmallow wars and has many fun stories about her and Rachel and their alliances?  She won a couple rounds... she just really whooped up on everyone.  When we did the tie dye, she decided to conserve dye and  chose to DRAW on her shirt with the fabric markers we brought.  Her shirt ended up so cute!  I wish I'd gotten a picture!  That was pretty fun.  

I think this year was a success!  I was happy to get plenty of time to talk with Emily, plenty of time to rest and relax!  Much needed relaxing!  And lots of fresh air and time with the family!  I was glad Nate was able to go fishing so much and enjoy his time there as well.  He was so thoughtful to go to all the trouble to bring up the kayaks and make the lake more fun.  He was so good to let us do all this right before working the mid on Saturday night!  Kinda crazy!  He and I had a blast being the last men standing in the parents vs. the kids round of Marshmallow wars.  Pretty cool of us :).  And we were troopers with our crazy, non-camper baby keeping us up all night!  I was pretty proud of us and that we both kept our cool!  I do think it was funny that that first night, the thing that got her to sleep was Nate's snoring :).  Kinda funny.  We had a nice peaceful ride home, stopped at Costa Vida for some lunch/dinner.  Nate scrambled and unloaded most of the car/trailer before an interrupted nap and then working the mid!!  The Maughans came over for a tie dye reveal that evening, pretty fun although slightly anti-climactic with how some of the shirts turned out.  I'm still not sure what happened!  The spray dye was interesting.  Not sure we'll use it again.  Grandpa Hatch came over that evening as well, to spoil us with some couch boxes :).  The kids played in those for at least a day, making furniture and decorating them.  It was good to be home, but we had such a good time camping!!  Here's to next year!  8-12-20--8-15-20

SNOW CONES

Monday night, for FHE treat (after mine and Molly's Baptism Jeopardy lesson) we went and got snow cones with Grandpa Hatch!  Felt like the good ol' days!  Sadie forgot her shoes but still wanted to wander around on the concrete- she was BLACK when we got home.  I loved watching the kids share their snow cones.  8-17-20

SCHOOL

All of the schedules and teacher emails came rolling in this past week. Starting to get real.  Not sure I like it :).  They've decided to have it so that the first half of the alphabet goes on Monday and Wednesday and the last half (this includes us) goes Tuesdays and Thursdays.  With the other days/Friday being online.  We're not exactly sure how this will look, but we're hopeful that it will be better than the spring. The kids are beyond excited to go back to school!  So that's good.  I hope it's as fun as they remember it.  I don't know what Molly, Sadie and I will do without them.  Music Makers will be starting back up, so that will be good.  I think I'm going to try to get Molly into some kind of swim lessons somewhere.  Maybe.  Should be interesting.  8-17-20

BACK TO SCHOOL ICE CREAM TRUCK

The cute Primary ran a little ice cream truck where they had Nate drive Thaxton's truck around the neighborhood with a giant sign that Kelly had made and passed out ice cream treats to the kids around the ward.  It was a lot of fun!  The kids loved it!  Even Porter got into it and had some fun just sitting outside with everyone.  Good stuff.  8-29-20

JETSKIING

Last minute idea with Grandpa Hatch, we all went up to Pineview for some jet skiing!!!  It was a lot of fun!  Felt like the ol' days.  Nate had to go up and help my dad get the jet skis out of his backyard, that was apparently quite the feat, but we all got up there in pretty good time, found the perfect spot on the rocky beach-- it wasn't actually perfect.  I kinda wish we'd found a different spot.  Especially after all the nagging we got from Pinky and the Tattooed Skeleton.  I didn't know someone could use the F word in so many ways, so many times, in front of so many children!  Jerk.  I wish I hadn't said anything back to him about how "friendly people are around here", but he was very rude.  It was annoying that the buoys were SO FAR OUT in the lake.  We probably won't go there again for jet skiing.  It's been our spot for just playing and paddle boarding, so it was a bummer it didn't work as well with the jet skis.  But we still managed to have a good time!  Charity came!  We were so happy to have her with us.  Even though she wasn't feeling real great, she was a lot of fun.  Took a few naps :).  Kelly had fun driving the jet skis for the first time, taking Brad and Luke and Clint out on them.  Bradley spent some time fishing with the kayaks, then out on "the island" with the little people, and out on the jet skis.  Luke brought Clint with us and had a lot of fun with him on the paddle board and out on the jet skis.  Luke also made good use of the rocks!  I think his record for skipping was 13!  Pretty awesome.  I hunted for skipping rocks for him while I was sitting with Sadie and Porter at the shore.  Noah spent a lot of time out on the island, out on the kayaks, paddle board, and jet skied once which is more than he ever had before!  He was so sweet to take Porter in the kayak and paddle around a little.  He's such a fun big cousin.  He was the lucky one to go with Nate to take them back to the trailer.  He kept really busy!  Erika showed Nate what an adrenaline junky she is while they were out on the jet ski.  She loved the big waves and catching air!  She looked so cool paddling Jack and Molly over to "the island" on the paddle board.  She was made for the outdoors.  Jack had a lot of fun playing on the paddle board, "the island", the rocks, and water toys.  He didn't brave the jet skis- we'll have to get him out there another time I guess.  But he had fun.  Molly was in the water almost the entire time we were there.  She didn't take off her life jacket the whole time.  I was happy that she was willing to try the jet ski with me!  She may not have thought it through though because she was less than thrilled with it when we got past the buoys.  I loved her, "I can't even touch out here!" as she looked down into the water. Then "What about sharks?!" And "You don't know that!" when I told her there were no sharks in this lake.  She didn't let me drive faster than 12 mph.  But we found a cool place that we named, "Mom and Molly's spot".  Maybe we'll go back there next time.  Sadie was in heaven most of the time.  She loved throwing the rocks into the water.  She seemed pretty content with just hanging around eating treats for most of the time, but we did make our way down to the water.  I was glad she was happy.  Nate enjoyed the jet skis like the ol' days.  It was nice of him to let us go that day since he had just gotten home from his five days of night shifts.  I was wishing I was feeling better too, but we had a great time!  It was fun to hang out with Grandpa again!  Heidi too!  We grabbed some Panda Express on our way home.  8-20-20

MASKS

So since the school district is mandating masks, I decided to let the kids pick out their own fabric and I made them some masks.  I got a few of them done on Friday.  I think they will be pretty comfy.  I'm hoping to try a different pattern as well as the pleated one... then they have some options.  8-20-20

JULIE CLEMENS

I was on call on Friday, waiting for Julie to be able to visit.  I was glad she let me crash the after party at Heritage Park to go and chat for a bit!  She has a fun family.  I got to see Tony and Lacie too!  I'm so glad I have Julie in my life.  She is such a great friend!  8-20-20

DATE WITH KELLY

Kelly and I went on a short little date to Fiiz and drove around a little talking.  Kinda nice :).  8-22-20

JACK'S BAPTISM PHOTO SHOOT

We FINALLY got to take Jack out to do his baptism photos.  He and Nate had picked out his awesome suit a week before.  We struggled with where to do his pictures with all the temples closed right now we needed one that had some nice landscaping that we could enjoy outside of the gates.  This was a challenge with Salt Lake and Bountiful under construction and Ogden wasn't really a great option, so we made the trek up to Brigham City to get pictures there.  This was a stretch, but I was reminded of the fact that this was the first temple Jack ever went in!  He's been in quite a few with all the open houses we've attended, but this was the first, when he was less than a month old!  He thought that was pretty cool.  It ended up being the perfect place for pictures!  I loved it!  The landscaping out side the gate was beautiful!  They also have the tabernacle across the street so we got some cool pictures over there too.  Jack looked so cute!  I think my favorite part was the fact that he had on one white sock and one black! HA!  Cute kid!  We stopped at Sonic on the way home so Jack could get his 3 corn dogs!  8-22-20

CHARITY'S CRAZY DRIVE HOME FROM PARK CITY

At about 11:30 I had the thought that I hoped Charity would get home safely and that she wouldn't get in an accident or anything.  I even said a little prayer for her that she would make it home safely.  Then minutes later I got a call from her that began with, "I'm okay, everybody's okay, but..." They had been in a little battle with some guy on the freeway and the guy had pulled up next to them and just turned his car right into them, on the passenger side where Charity had been sitting!  Pretty crazy!  I am so glad she is safe!!!  That could have ended really ugly.  She was very traumatized and even peed her pants-- but she has a new story to tell I guess :).  I decided to wait up for her to come home to make sure she made it safely!  She couldn't open the door when they got home.  Kinda nuts.  8-22-20

LAST MINUTE SHOPPING

We did our last minute back to school shopping for a few of the kids.  It was very productive and somewhat painless.  Could have done without Sadie's grumpiness, but it was good.  And I got to see Alana Smith in the parking lot of Walmart.  So that was fun.  I feel bad she had a miscarriage.  Life can be so unpredictable!  Since we didn't have Jack with us we were able to pick out some of his presents too!  8-24-20

FATHER'S BLESSINGS FHE

We had our traditional Father's blessings before school on Monday.  This is always such a neat experience.  I love it!  It is always so cool to hear what Heavenly Father has to say to these awesome kids.  They are all so brave to go back to school and be excited about it when the world is in such upheaval!  I am really proud of all of them!  Charity- getting ready to move out and go off to college!  That is going to be so fun but it's also so scary.  I just can't help but feel like she was made for that life.  I think she'll have a good time.  I'm really proud of all that she's done to get herself here.  Kelly is a Senior!  She's been so excited to have Brad in her school we haven't even been able to talk about her concerns.  She wasn't looking forward to the masks.  It's nice that she mostly knows what's going on in High School and can focus on other things besides that.  Bradley is making the big leap into High school!  I can't believe he's a sophomore already.  He's been really cool to watch him brave this new adventure.  He really is tough, but I'm so glad he has his sensitive side too.  I hope he is comforted and strengthened to withstand the temptations of the devil.  I don't worry about the girls liking him :).  Luke is anxious for school and happy to be going back, but he also had his concerns.  I'm so amazed at the motivation these kids show after the crazy spring we had and drawn out summer.  He's anxious to get back in the classroom.  Noah is moving up to the big Junior High!  I am so glad he has his big brother to show him the ropes.  He has been really excited about Junior High and so nervous at the same time.  It's such a big change!  I know he will do awesome!  I'm excited for him to make new friends.  Erika found out a few weeks ago that all of her friends got the teacher she wanted and she didn't, so this has been a challenge for her mentally.  But I've been so impressed with her willingness to tough it out!  She has such a positive attitude about making new friends and making this situation work out for her.  I'm so glad she is thinking like that.  So much more to be gained from a growing situation.  Jack is a big 3rd grader this year.  He seemed more concerned with his baptism than anything though :).  I'm really excited for him to make the big step to becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I think he's going to love it.  And I think he will really love 3rd grade this year.  Molly got her blessing too and felt pretty cool about it.  I think she will have a good last year of being a pre-school-er.  She's always so helpful, I am going to have to savor this year and make the most of this time we have together.  Nate gave Sadie a very short little blessing because she wasn't a huge fan of having his hands on her head.  She looked so tiny sitting in the big chair.  I got a blessing as well.  I wish I could have written everything down.  And even though I suggested to the kids that they write things down right away, I didn't do that myself.  But I loved how it felt.  I feel like Heavenly Father loves me so much and that he knows I can do a little more.  I am hoping to do just that.  Here's to a new school year.  8-24-20

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

It came!  The first day actually came!  We really weren't sure how this was going to go.  It's been a little up in the air since it ended last March.  But it came!  We had a very crazy, but awesome first day of school!  Things went really well in the morning with getting up early and doing our study time!  I think all of the kids were there.  We did a cool little thing talking about what Heavenly Father loves about each one of us.  I was hoping it would be a good way to go into your first day of school.  Kelly and Brad were first!  Kelly had slept in for some crazy reason. She had stayed up all night writing letters to her sibs like the cool big sister she is.  She forgot to set an alarm and I had no idea what time to wake her up.  So she was a little frustrated, but she managed to look more beautiful than ever and like she could take on the world.  She and Brad were so cute together when I was taking their pictures.  I think I almost cried when I looked at the one with the two of them.  They are one of my favorite pairs.  It's going to be fun to see them together with all the High School stuff.  I am glad Brad has Kelly to show him the ropes!  They wer eout the door before I could give them my letters so I made them come back.  Luke and Noah were next!  We headed out with a few minutes to spare and on the way there Noah confessed that up til now he had been really excited about Junior high but was suddenly feeling a lot of anxiety and nervousness.  I was glad he had Luke to walk in with.  And I was glad he still did our little handshake before getting out of the car. Between that and Luke's hugs, I probably won't ever make them walk to school.  Then it was Erika and Jack!  They were VERY anxious to get out the door!  I was trying to help Jack with a few things his teacher had wanted and the time just really got away from me somehow and we found ourselves pulling into the school at 7:46!  Kinda nuts!  But there was a perfect parking spot right up front and we were able to run to the back of the school just as Jack's class was walking to class and then caught Mrs. Moncur as well.  Kinda crazy!  I wish we hadn't been late, but it was okay.  I loved the big hugs I got from them before they waved goodbye!  I called out a quick little, "Happy Birthday, bud!" as Jack turned around.  So weird to start school on your birthday!  I drove home, got a text from Kelly that she forgot her device, so Charity and I took that and then it was back home for us!  We had plenty to do that day, so that was good.  I didn't even have time to notice the usual funk.  Charity, Molly, Sadie, Porter and I all went to the park with Emily and Jonah.  That was fun.  We had a good time there laughing about all of Charity's funny stuff.  The melted candy on her flip flop with a giant blob of woodchips stuck to it.  The attempt to run up the slide and almost tipping over in her camp chair.  Made me think about all the things I am really going to miss about her.  She was a lot of fun that day- felt like she was at peace as well.  I think she might be looking forward to college even just the tiniest bit.  But I hope I never forget my cute little Charity and all the joy she has brought to my life.  This is going to rip my heart out to say goodbye Saturday.  It was early out so Erika and Jack came home first!  They had so much to say about school and their teachers and the fun they had.  Erika announced that she didn't have one friend in her class.  Even the kids that she had wanted to get to know were not in there.  So that was a little disappointing, but as always, she is going to make the most of it.  She seemed to like Mrs. Moncur and some of the cool systems she has in her classroom.  Jack had very little to say, but was very happy!  I was glad about that.  Afterall it was his birthday.  He loved that Mrs. Johnson let him be captain and he made all three shots with the paper in the basketball hoop!  So cool!  He is so glad to have Kason in his class!  I think this will be a good year for Jack.  Kelly and Bradley were home next.  Not much to hear about from them, they were both pretty tired.  But it did sound like they survived the masks!  In fact all of the kids mentioned that it wasn't as bad as they thought it would be.  Kelly didn't love her culinary arts class.  And a few of the teachers seemed lame, but overall, I think she was happy.  She did get Bro. Preston for seminary which was a very pleasant surprise for her!  Bradley seemed to like his day as well.  Seemed a little overwhelmed, but then headed off to cross country to run five miles in 95 degrees!  Sheesh!  Then Luke and Noah came home.  They slipped into Emily's car so I didn't get to drive them home, but they had a great day as well.  I was so pleased with all that Noah had experienced.  Sounded totally bearable :).  And Luke too!  He felt weird being one of the older ones and not having last year's kids there.  I think he might start to like that.  We had a nice afternoon relaxing for the most part. Minus the thermostat stopping and Nate running around frantically trying to figure out what was wrong.  First day of school- CHECK!  8-25-20

JACK'S 8th BIRTHDAY

Jack woke up bright and early on his birthday- it was also the first day of school!  He was so anxious to go to school I think he almost forgot about his birthday.  He didn't even ask if he could open presents before :).  He seemed to like the sign I made him!  I am pretty proud of this sign- complete with Ninja font!  I was glad Kelly let me take that off her plate, it was fun to make.  He got to show off his birthday poster at school.  It was pretty cool of Mrs. Johnson to notice that it was his birthday and bring us that ahead of time.  He was pretty proud of it even though Porter had scribbled on it a little.  He didn't want me fixing it.  He got to be captain and had some extra luck in basketball.  Then when he came home we made his dinosaur/volcano cake and had his family party!  We noticed earlier in the day that the thermostat wasn't working so we planned to have his party at Gailey park thinking at least we wouldn't have to head up the house even more with more people.  He was having so much fun with Will before that we decided to invite Will to come with us :).  He was so fun to have at Jack's party.  They played a bunch while we waited for everyone to arrive.  Grandma Ruthie and Aunt Jen surprised us with their appearance and Grandma Hatch and Grandpa Hatch were there.  Things were going really well.  We blew out the candles, served up the root beer floats and then all of a sudden, almost out of nowhere this crazy wind came through!  Totally wiped out our whole camp!  Then the rain started and it was so cloudy that we could barely see in the pavilion!  It was so annoying!  We made an executive decision and brought everything back to our messy/hot house.  It was chaotic and crazy, but Jack was too enthralled in his gifts and opening them to realize.  He had a blast!  I loved how Will reacted to each gift and really made things exciting for Jack :).  It was a lot of fun!  I was happy to spoil Jack and watch him enjoy his day.  We didn't get to bed even CLOSE to the time I would have wanted, but that's one of the nice things about school this year, we don't have to get up as early on the off days.  We should, but we don't have to.  So we survived.  I hope Jack had a special day.  8-25-20

HEAT

It's been a long week with no a/c.  I've been trying to remain positive and not let it get me down, but head just has a way of doing that!  It's been hard.  We've had so much help from everyone on the phones and Alan's brother Eric coming over.  He is the one that figured out it was the furnace blower and fixed that.  Unfortunately, there is now something wrong with the actual air conditioner, so we are on day four of no heat.  Our house is up to 80 degrees and it's only 1:30.  I am not sure what will happen next.  We've all been praying so hard that things will work soon.  It's nice to know that Monday our temps are supposed to be down in the 70's so if we make it that far without one, at least we have that to look forward to.  I'm really proud of Nate and his level of patience!  I think we'll get through this! 8-27-20

A/C

What a blessing!  They figured it out Friday and our a/c is up and running!  That was rough but we survived!  I was really happy with my attitude through the whole thing!  And now we have cool air :).  Thank you Alan's brother!  He fixed it just as we were starting Charity's going away party!  Luckily it wasn't too hot outside for the ice cream party. 8-28-20

CHARITY'S GOODBYE PARTY

We had to do a little something for everyone to come and wish Charity well.  She had a really good turnout too!  I was glad there was a good mix of family and friends.  We had an ice cream bar.  I had stressed over how everything would be but slowly stopped caring as I was melting away that day with no a/c.  I hope it was okay.  Grandma Hatch, Grandma Ruthie, Aunt Jen, Aunt Meg and Sierra, Marshall, and lots of friends!  We ambushed Charity with whipped cream at the end of the night.  She was such a good sport!  I will never forget the feeling when I saw her smile continue through the torture.  She really is such an awesome girl.  She made that night the perfect last night with our little girl being our little girl.  I know she will always be my little girl, but not really at the same time.  8-28-20

CHARITY'S MOVE IN DAY! (AKA moving out, but we don't want to call it that)

We realized the night before that with Nate's schedule, the soccer games and Charity's scheduled move in time we were going to need to leave right away first thing in the morning.  It was kind of short notice to everyone else and we had to do some finagling with the cars and planning it out, but we made it work!  Before we left we had everyone present Charity with their gifts.  I asked everyone to give her something that would remind her of them, in an effort to help her remember our love and not get too homesick.  This was fun.  Everyone was so creative.  Noah made a plush heart keychain.  Nate gave her one of his shirts.  I gave her my red CTR ring that I had when I went to college.  Kelly gave her her "laughing pillow".  Erika gave her her puppy piggy bank she painted a while ago.  Luke had made one of his clay creations into a necklace, it happened to be a carrot cake which was awesome.  Bradley gave her some of his polished rocks in the form of a necklace also. Molly had written her a nice note.  It was fun.  I was glad we did that.  Maybe it was more for me.  Then we hugged Kelly, Noah, Molly, Erika and Bradley goodbye and headed off to Logan!  We had a nice drive, talking and getting more and more nervous for this new adventure :).  Then since we got there earlier than planned, we stopped at Walmart first (I skipped the part about how everyone got sick of me deliberating over and over again and changing my mind again and again about what order we should do everything- they were all so patient!).  She needed a few things so we ran in and grabbed those along with a few others.  It was a nice quick trip but made me feel better about a lot of things.  Then we found Mountain View Tower and Rylee, took them to the student center to get their IDs, then back to the dorm.  We loaded up the shopping cart piled it high and then made our way up to her new place!  I was pleasantly surprised with the place.  It felt bigger than I had imagined.  We unloaded the shopping cart and then actually really quickly said goodbye!  It was so hard! I did cry.  Even though I tried not to.  It was so weird how fast it all went.  But she was in good spirits, she had Rylee, she was anxious to unpack, and it seemed like she was ready!  It was a pretty quiet drive home.  I can't believe she's there!  I can't believe we are to this stage already.  That went by SO FAST!!  I had no idea time could fly so fast!  I am so proud of Charity.  She has done this her way and on her own!  With only a ton of nagging from me and Nate :).  She really has done amazing and hopefully we've prepared her enough for this crazy world which is getting increasingly crazy as an unprecedented rate!!  We love this girl!  Can't wait to see what she accomplishes!  8-29-20

DINNER AT MOM'S

Steve stood us up, but this was a good evening.  I was glad I didn't have to bring all the food.  8-30-20

BRAD'S FIRST XC RACE

Nate and I got to go watch Brad's race up at Layton park on Monday.  This was really cool!  It was so much fun to watch him warm up with everyone and realize how old he really is!  I mean, I know he's one of the younger ones, but when you put him with all the Juniors and Seniors like that- seems old!  He looked so cute in his tiny shorts :).  He did such a great job! This was a 2 miler.  He came in at 23:38.  Nice work Brad!  8-31-20

FHE

Erika gave us a lesson on being baptized and Jackie got to practice again with Nate.  This was fun.  We had fun playing four square in the back yard.  8-31-20