FEBRUARY 2023

 HEIDI'S HOUSE
Sadie and I finally made it over to Heidi's to play with Alyssa and Porter- this was a fun visit!  It's fun to see our kids playing together and having fun.  Sadie and Porter have come a long way :).  2-2-23

ERIKA'S KJH SEASON
Her season is winding down.  Kind of sad, but also good.  She was getting pretty worn out with all the practices, early mornings, and stress of the new thing.  She did SO WELL!!  I was so proud of her all season!!  We loved the home game when Mrs. Burns came to show support to Erika and Kate and Grandma and Grandpa Hatch made it to a few as well.  She has had a lot of fun, a lot of growth.  It's really exciting to think about the future when she will be able to play longer and even more exciting games!  Fun stuff!!  2-2-23

BRAD AND LUKE'S TEAM
Thursday nights have been Brad and Luke's games.  They have had a rough season, losing most of the games.  They are both playing great, just not a lot of reliable players on their team.  Kind of a bummer.  But it's fun to watch them play together one last year and fun to sit and visit with my friend Krista :).  2-2-23

LUKE'S 17th BIRTHDAY!
I had fun making Luke's sign the morning of :).  We had crepes for breakfast.  He had to go to school which is always a bummer.  Then we spent the evening getting ready for his super short party.  Grandpa Hatch and Heidi and her kids came.  We hurried through cake and ice cream, presents, and singing to Luke.  Then raced off to the Olympic Oval to watch Brad do his triple jump!  Kind of a crazy evening!  It was fun to have Charity and Kelly meet up with us there and since they were WAY behind, we were able to sit and visit for a couple hours!!  So fun!!  I actually really loved that part of the day.  I felt bad Luke had to share his birthday, but I also knew that we were going to be throwing him a surprise party the next week, so I knew he would be happy about that when it came.  He was so sweet about all of his gifts- drone, squishmallow hamburger, comfy... lots of fun stuff- and so grateful.  It's crazy that he's 17, but it looks good on him!!  So proud of him!!  2-3-23

LEATHERBY'S FOR GRANDPA RUSS
We all went down to Leatherby's to celebrate Grandpa Russ.  This was nice!  I got to sit and visit with Liz the whole time.  And watch my boys be adorable.  Fun times.  Happy Birthday, Russ!!  We miss you!!  2-4-23

BRAD PATRIARCHAL BLESSING
I know I've said this before, but this is definitely one of the coolest thing I've been able to be part of as a mom so far.  It strengthens my testimony so much!  Especially of the Priesthood!!  Brad was a little nervous I could tell, and he'd been fasting so his tummy was grumbling the whole time, but he seemed like such a grown up there.  And it didn't help that Patriarch Huls was calling him a man the whole time :).  He really is!!  And what a cool blessing he received!!  I was in awe at this kid after that.  I really don't think I can treat my kids the same after hearing their blessings.  They are just so special!!  So neat!!!  I hope he wrote about it in his journal :).  I loved it!  (that morning I realized that I had received my blessing just one day later, 29 years ago on 2-6-1994- pretty cool!) 2-5-23

JACK'S DATE
We finally got to take Jack out for his dinner with Mom and Dad!  This was a great time and he was so awesome to talk to.  He is such a cool kid!  I'm so proud of him and all that he is learning and thinking about.  Such a good boy!!  2-6-23

BRAD'S FUN GAME AGAINST TONGA
Brad's team was totally nervous to play this team because they had a giant kid and had won all the games up til then (just like us, but Brad's team was still pretty nervous).  They had spent a lot of time hyping themselves up!  It ended up being one of the most fun games I have ever seen!!!  SO MUCH FUN!!  I mean, Brad made like 13 points within the first few minutes of the game!  We were ahead by at least that much the entire game!  The only time they really gained on us was when they took Tyler and Brad out at the same time, but they fixed that pretty quickly.  65-32 was the final score!  HA!!  Brad scored almost 30 of those!!  He made 12 out of 13 shots, four three point shots, had SO MANY assists!!  It was INSANE!!!  SO FUN!!  I seriously loved it!  I would have paid money to see that game :).  So fun.  2-6-23

NOAH'S PERMIT
We were able to get Noah over to the DLD and he passed his first test and earned his driving permit!!  Wahoo!  We stopped at the church to practice for his first time, in the van, and then we've gone several other times in the week in the Prius.  He's loving it!!  Such a crazy thing to have him driving already, but I think he's ready!!  He's even tall enough now!  So cool!  2-7-23

MOLLY ACTIVITY DAYS
Molly had such a fun activity.  They did the cool icing for the sugar cookies.  I was excited for her to do the activity cuz I knew she would love it and then when she brought her cookies home I was shocked!!  Her cookies looked AMAZING!!!  Even Lindsey texted me after to tell me that Molly's were the most amazing by far!!  Kinda cute!!  And I was happy to hear she's not too shy there :).  Fun stuff.  2-8-23

YW BASKETBALL
Our YW season has been really fun as well.  And is also winding down.  Unless we make it to regions.  Which would be pretty funny considering how young and small our team is.  Nobody in the stake showed up all season so we played ourselves mostly.  We only lost by one point though when we finally played a big team, so that says a lot.  It's been so much fun!!  Erika and Kate are basically our stars :).  They've been helping the younger girls so much, which has been so fun.  Good times!!  2-9-23

TEETH CLEANING
Unfortunately, I found out I need some cavities refilled.  Such a bummer.  I've been doing so good!  2-10-23

DATE NIGHT
We went to Texas Roadhouse and then came home to watch a movie with the kids :).  Such a nice time walking through the mall and talking while we waited.  I just love this man I married.  2-10-23

REC BASKETBALL ERIKA
Erika had some rough back to back games this week.  She wasn't too happy after and learned some hard lessons, but I was so proud of her and how hard she pushed herself!  Even with a VERY jammed finger!!  The other coach had even purposely expoited her injury.  2-11-23

LUKE'S SURPRISE PARTY!
We had so much fun planning this party and getting things all ready for it.  Brad helped so much!  We decided to go to Uncle Mark's breakroom!  It was so nice of Mark and Nancy to sacrifice their Saturday night to let us use the breakroom.  They have everything there and Luke has been talking about it since the last time we went there, so we were sure he would love it :).  Brad took him to the store and then his friends all came and waited and waited while Brad took a minute to bring Luke back- haha!  But they came, everyone jumped out to surprise Luke, he was SHOCKED!!  Even went a little white- it was so cute!!  We drove everyone out to Sandy and had pulled pork sandwiches and waffle bar for dessert with lots of yummy treats and snacks in between.  It was so much fun!!  He has some fun friends.  He looked happy and that made me happy :).  Happy birthday Luke!!  2-11-23

STEVE'S 35th BIRTHDAY
We went up to Grandpa's for Steve's birthday on Superbowl Sunday this year.  I forgot it was the superbowl.  It was a very chaotic night, with the kids screaming and the echo and such, but I was glad I got to talk with Steve quite a bit and spoiled him with a really yummy, Reese's cake.  He loved it :).  I was happy about that.  I have the best little brother on the planet.  I hope he knows how much I love him.  2-12-23

LUNCH DATE WITH BRAD
My mom came to watch Sadie, so Brad and I were able to go on a date!  We went to Chick-fil-a and Pretzel bites after.  It was such a great time talking with him.  It's been a while since we were able to do something like that.  I love my Brad.  He's such a good kid!!  I can't even imagine my life without him right now.  Such a good kid.  2-13-23

VALENTINE BOXES
Molly's box was a fun idea I had, a hot air balloon.  She and I pulled this off quite nicely!  She really loved it and her eyes grew so big when we got the balloon filled with helium :).  It was so cute!  She worked really hard tying all the ribbons on the basket and then I got the thought that maybe she couldn't take that with the latex balloon.  Luckily Ms. Smith didn't mind.  When she got out of the car on Tuesday someone goes, "WHOA!!" and I think she suddenly became embarrassed about how big it was and kind of tried to hold it down and close to her after that.  I hope it was okay.  She seemed happy with it at school when we stopped to say hi, and then again at home when she was showing off the goods.  Such a cute girl.  Jack's box was an idea he came up with after browsing Pinterest a little.  He didn't want to buy anything for it and didn't seem to want any help.  But he pulled off a very cool little basketball court!  So fun!!  He is such a good boy, so good at creating things too!  2-13-23

VALENTINE'S DAY
We had an awesome Valentine's day this year!!  I made pink waffles for breakfast and threw in lots of pink and red in their lunches.  We got the kids off with their boxes and cards (actually Fun Dip :) ), then Sadie and I went and did some last minute shopping of our own.  Then we created a game for Jack's class party and enjoyed a visit from Richelle Pearce- we played Jumanji and Richelle (or Michelle as Sadie calls her) gave us her leftover eggs before she leaves for Hawaii.  That was so fun of her.  Then we headed out for Jack's party!  We did Fish Bowl, which ended up being a bit of a struggle for his class.  Not sure why.  They weren't listening to the instructions.  But anyway.  We came home, Dad gave everyone their chocolate caramel hearts and then Nate and I headed out for our date!  Friday I will be at Simplot so we moved our date to Heart day!  We decided to risk going out to eat- went to Blue Fin.  They told us the wait would be an hour and a half and we only waited for about 15 minutes!  Kinda nice!!  The food was amazing as always!  Good conversation- I am so thankful for Nate.  So glad that he's mine!  I just love having him in my life.  We are my favorite team.  We came home, gave each other our gifts- I gave him a Jazz shirt, hat, almonds, werthers, and a basketball standard for the door.  He gave me a cute penguin warmie, heart stuffed animals that magnet together- SO CUTE! and a really sweet Willow Tree figure of a wife and husband with the wife standing behind the husband arm around him.  I love it!!  We said goodbye to Nate- he was working the mid, watched the rest of the kids' movie and then went to bed!  Good times!  2-14-23

FAMILY FUN
Charity wanted us to meet her new boyfriend Josh, so we quickly planned a very special family dinner/basketball game :).  We were so excited, cleaned up the house, waited :), Kelly, Charity, her friend Kora and Josh all came and we ate chicken tacos/salad.  It was a really nice dinner!  I loved it!  Josh was really nice, really polite!  It was fun to see them both so happy and flirting.  We got all ready to leave and then realized the van key was in the Prius that Brad and Luke took to their game, early.  We frantically looked for the other key, couldn't find it, thought about asking Krista for a ride, and then realized we still have the kids' car, so we searched for that key :).  Luckily, Brad answered his phone and told me where it was.  This was chaotic, but then Nate (in Charity's car with all the friends) and I all went to the wrong place!  Their games were usually at Farmington Gym, but this one was at centennial.  Kinda lame!  So we missed the first half of the game.  Kind of a bummer!!  BUT the last half of the game was so much fun!  Almost made up for it!  We loved having Charity there to help cheere for their last game.  We even had Sierra and Matt there as well along with a lot of Brad's friends!  So much fun!!!  After the game, Brad, Luke and their friends took SADIE and some girls to McD's :).  Charity, Kelly and their friends went to visit Lindee home from her mission.  The rest of us came home to get NOah and Erika from Youth Activities.  It was a very full evening for sure!!  Everyone ended up back here and we all got to stay up and talk, asking questions and having so much fun till midnight!!  So crazy.  I'm really feeling it this next day!  not my favorite.  But lots of fun!!  I love my family!!  2-15-23

TRAIN RIDE 
Sadie and I got to go to Owen's birthday party on Thursday.  It was a train party so we rode the train up to Ogden and had some treats, games and train whistles on the way there, then got back on and rode home.  It was a lot of fun.  I could tell that Sadie got a little over-stimulated by the end.  She was such an angel to begin with.  We had picked up Lacy to bring her along and she and Lacy were having so much fun together on the elevator and on the train in the beginning, but slowly lost it's thrill.  Sadie has a shorter attention span.  But we had a lot of fun playing BINGO and talking about the train.  She did really well.  2-16-23

SIMPLOT
Brad decided to try Simplot this year!  Erika and I were thrilled to go and be his cheering section!  Thursday, we all rode up together, just after lunch.  We got to the Arena in time for Brad to warm up and get ready for his hurdles.  This is the biggest indoor track meet in the nation!  Pretty amazing!  He did so great on his hurdles!  He had the 4X200 on Friday and did really well on that one too!  I was very impressed when he passed the other team after being pretty far behind from the first two runners.  His ankle was hurting quite a bit after the 200 so he opted out of the other relay he was supposed to be in and chose to save his ankle for his Triple Jump.  Unfortunately, the Triple Jump did not go as well as he had hoped.  The track there was quite the challenge and made it really difficult.  But we were so proud of him!! Thursday night we all had dinner at Costa Vida, watched some movies, did some shopping and had some fun navigating Pocatello.  Friday night we let Brad go hang out with his teammates at the pool and rooms while Erika and I went to Red Robin for dinner and then to see the new Antman Quantumania movie.  We had a lot of fun, loved the movie.  Then headed back to our room for another movie and our delicious dessert.  On Saturday, we had fun getting lunch at Jimmy Johns in between events.  Then my Aunt Bambi showed up for Brad's Triple Jump on Friday afternoon so I got to visit with her and meet her new husband, Kell.  That was pretty cool of her to come up for that.  On Saturday we got up and out of our hotel pretty quick, didn't bother going to the Arena for the Finals and just headed home.  First we stopped at my Great Grandparents' house, Grandma and Grandpa Mottishaw's grave, and to stop and visit Bambi for a few more minutes.  It was nice.  I loved this trip- it was long enough to relax and short enough to not feel like a burden.  Fun times.  I was really proud of Brad for competing and putting himself out there and for doing so well in so many events.  Cool kid.  Thanks goes to Nate for being the single parent for the few days.  He's a rockstar and way better at my job than I am.  2-16-23--2-18-23

PRESIDENT'S DAY
This was kind of a lazy day for us.  Didn't do much.  But we did get to go to Brad's basketball game in the evening.  Kinda nice.  2-20-23

NOAH CHERRY HILL
Noah applied for Cherry Hill, went to his interview and got another job there, all by himself.  So proud of this kid!  He is headed to great things with his ability to take initiative.  Good job Noah!  2-21-23

PIPE AND DRAPE ASSEMBLY
This annoyed me more than it should have probably, but I went to put up the pipes and drapes again as usual and they had recruited a bunch of other people to help, so there were too many cooks in the kitchen and I had way more on my mind that I needed to focus on than this dumb little assignment, so I was irritated.  We got done way before the job was supposed to be over, but I just left anyway.  Kind of annoyed.  I should have been happy I was done early, but I was left feeling like I didn't do enough for some reason.  Whatever.  It's done.  2-21-23

CHOIR CONCERT- NOAH
We got to go watch Noah perform in his choir concert!  That was awesome.  I really love that Mr. Simon is the choir director.  He does a great job!  I loved all the technical songs and that they sang them so well.  Took me back to 7th grade choir with Mr. Farley- he was awesome.  Noah did great!  I loved hearing him sing!  2-21-23

ERIKA BASKETBALL TEAM BANQUET
We got to go enjoy Nate's pulled pork in the presence of Erika's team and parents on Wednesday!  This was a really cool banquet that felt like the coach had put on.  She did a great job.  I loved hearing her passion for basketball, photography and making photo videos :).  I could totally relate.  She made the cutest video of all the girls.  I loved seeing Erika in her element and loved that she's had that team this year!  I think it was so great for her.  She got to bring home a picture of her and some fun treats and a sweet note from one of the captains.  She's really going to miss the varsity girls next year, but I think she's pretty excited for next year overall.  2-22-23

MOLLY ACTIVITY DAYS
Molly is loving her activity days so far.  They did a getting to know you thing and now a writing thing.  She has some great leaders and all the girls are so fun.  2-22-23

DATE NIGHT THURSDAY
With YM/YW basketball over with, we were able to move our date night to Thursday this week so that we could do Jack's play on Friday.  We went out for sushi- it was delicious. 2-23-23

FAMILY HISTORY CENTER
I am working on Brad's graduation book and needed to scan a whole bunch of pictures, so I went to the Family History Center.  I had a little trouble getting started, but this cute service missionary was very helpful and stood and talked my ear off for a good half hour after ;).  He has some version of Autism and was explaining his life and that he was an only child and that he wishes he had siblings so that he could have a support system.  I loved the thought that my kids have such a large support system, having so many siblings.  He was telling me he is going to write a book.  I was going to look for it when it comes out but now I can't remember his name.  I think it was James Tanner.  I might be wrong.  But anyway.  I got all of my pictures scanned and work on the book continues ;).  Thanks to Nate, Sadie was well entertained while we were there.  2-24-23

ORCHESTRA CONCERT- NOAH AND ERIKA
We heard about this concert at the last minute, but we were able to squeeze it in before the play and LOVED it!  I just love hearing the bass cleft and knowing that's my kids!!  It's a fun part to play if you ask me.  They all did great!  We were happy to have the grandmas and Jen with us.  It was kind of a chaotic evening, but we made it work!  2-24-23

SHREK JR- JACK
We finally got to go see the fruits of all of Jack's labor!!  He's worked so hard on this play, it was fun to finally see it.  Friday night was our family night to see it, we had Nate, me, Charity, Kelly, Brad, Luke, Erika, Molly, Sadie, Grandma Hatch, Grandma Ruthie, Aunt Jen, and Charity's friend Josh also to cheer him on Friday night.  He did awesome!  I love seeing him on stage- he just shines!  It's been a fun outlet for him and I think he really enjoys it.  He was Young Shrek, got to be in the very first scene! and did awesome at it!  Then he was also Jack and the Beanstalk.  He was cute to yell out his "name" during the one song.  He really wanted a speaking part this year, maybe next year though!  Then Saturday night, we had Grandpa Hatch and Jo, Steve, Noah and I.  He did great both nights.  I think he loved the candy bouquet I made him :).  Can't wait til next year!  2-24-23--2-25-23

DEEP CLEANING
We've started our spring cleaning while it's still really cold outside :).  We did the living room first.  It went pretty well.  I'm hoping to get a room a week done.  We'll see how it goes.  Everyone was really helpful for the most part.  2-25-23

KELLY
I got a phone call from Kelly, Monday morning, telling me she had been let go from her 911 Dispatching job.  This was so sad.  I felt so bad for her.  She has worked SO HARD for this and was mostly loving it so much.  It was so hard to imagine that CRPS could be getting in the way of yet another thing she loved and wanted to do so badly.  She has since decided that it may have been for the best and realizing that she would have let the stress of that job eat her up, she realizes she might be better off.  It's been hard to watch, but I'm so proud of her and the way that she is enduring life.  She really has been through so much, it's painful to watch, but she bounces back and is able to look on the bright side so well.  I just really couldn't be more proud of her.  I hope she is getting the emotional exercise she needs for this life.  (she of course got turned down by the guy she was liking, kneed in the ribs, possibly breaking one or two, and then got tonsilitis all in the same week!  This girl is a brick wall!)  BRICK WALL!!!  2-27-23

ERIKA DR. WOODS
We were able to get Erika in to see Dr. Woods this week.  This appointment ended up being more than we'd planned.  She got to have a mini pelvic exam- ugh- and found out she has an imperforate hymen.  So she will most likely be needing a procedure done in a few months to take care of that.  I'm really hopeful that it will help with her pain.  Not sure if it will, but at least we know that's the cause of her monthly pain she's been dealing with the past few months.  We'll see how this goes.  2-27-23

SADIE
Sadie was playing with something she was calling a map and said, "Let's see what the map has to say about that." HA!  Funny girl.  2-27-23

HEAVY
Life got really heavy this week with all the different challenges our kids have been facing.  It was really hard not to feel the weight of it all as parents.  So Nate decided we needed to go out.  We went out on Tuesday night this week :).  We went to Sushi Monster and were able to talk through a lot of the things ahead and make some plans and kind of team up.  It was nice.  It's crazy to think that things are only going to get more and more challenging as time goes by.  Hopefully we can also get better at it.  We'll see.  2-28-23