More Phone Pics

I'm trying to be better at posting my phone pictures since that's always my excuse when I don't want to carry my big camera around.  I do get some fun ones and I don't want to not have those to look back on just because they're crappy quality :),

This cute little craft is one Erika made for Luke!  These two are both some of the mysteries in our family as far as what other people know and think of them.  They both keep to themselves most of the time.  They have always had a lot in common and because of that, I have always thought they would end up being close.  I don't know if they are there yet, but they have usually gotten along.  Very few conflicts between the two of them.  I found this note while I was cleaning up one day, couldn't resist the urge to share it.  I hope that's okay with them :)  

In case you can't read it, it says:

your the best

You are nis (nice)

I Love you

Best bruthr

you are osom (awesome)

you are grat (great)

To Luke From

Erika

On this day, Jack had rekindled his relationship with his Christmas present from Grandpa Hatch.  He played with this thing for about 3 hours straight!  And the batteries were dead!  It was another hour or two once we put new batteries in it!  So cute.  He really does love his little dinosaur :)

Another newspaper article about Luke's class and TTM

This is Luke's paper he wrote about March :).  I love that Mr. Flynn had them journal all this :).  

Charity doing the thing Andrea used to do with ALL of her fingers.  So funny.

Trying out the new swing at Gailey Park

Bradley and Luke and their sensitive sides

This is Luke playing with Molly- I just love how much he loves her.  It is proof to me that family is important and that we were sent to families to feel and learn love.

I know the quality stinks, but these are some of my most favorite pictures now :).  This is when Bradley and Luke were trying to teach Molly how to crawl :).  I'm still cringing about the fish crackers on the floor/dog hair, and actually Molly being on the floor/dog hair as well, but I didn't have it in me to put an end to this!  They were doing this with her for a good half hour.

fortunately, not a lot of success and probably because, in Bradley's words, "I can't watch her struggle!"

Things to Remember Week of 5-1-16

WINDY
So we had some pretty crazy wind Saturday night!  We were warned that it might be like the wind storm of 2011, and while it wasn't quite that bad (in my opinion) it was still pretty crazy!  I couldn't sleep at all because every noise outside had me worried.  The wind sounds like it's going to blow the windows in.  Kind of exciting in the morning though, the kids couldn't believe the basketball hoop was on the front lawn and the trampoline was tipped over!!  (then they found out it was Nate nad I that did that, not the wind, but still very cool :) )  They love that stuff.  Thankfully we came out with no real damage.  Just tree branches everywhere.  5-1-16

TESTIMONY
I know I've said this before, and I will probably say it again, but I love that  my kids love to share their testimonies.  I am so proud of them.  They are so brave.  I always tell them that's why I don't bear my testimony more, I'm just not as brave as them!  But it's so cool that they are able to do it so often.  This week was a big one because Luke got up and bore his testimony as well as the reg'lers :). Erika too, not for the first time, but pretty awesome!  5-1-16

NEW PRIMARY PRESIDENCY
Since the Wall's are moving they released our whole Primary Presidency and called a new one this Sunday.  Kind of crazy!  I was sad mostly, but the new group will be great too.  Amy Nielson is one of my favorite people, I think she will do great.  But we were sad to lose the old one.  The kids and I wanted to do something for them and we started making brownies, but of course, no eggs!!!  So we stole some candy bars out of the prize box and made some thank you cards instead.  The kids were so cute talking about all the stories Martha told them about Naughty Dave and how much they will miss that.  It's cool that one person could have made such an impact on so many kids.  It was fun to take them around Sunday night and thank them all.  It was a much needed walk as well. It's always refreshing to get out of the house on Sunday night.  5-1-16

IMMUNE TO GRAVITY
So this was cool:  as we were walking around the neighborhood delivering our treats to the Primary Presidency, Kelly all of sudden says, "Whoa, Brad!  It's like you're immune to gravity or something!  That was so cool!"  Then she talked about how easily he was able to step up on tall things like the electric boxes and rocks and such, like there was nothing pulling him down.  He was so flattered :).  It was so adorable to see him then trying to recreate whatever it was she was talking about :).  I LOVED IT!!!  It was mom heaven for a few minutes.  She was totally building him up and he was totally loving it.  Nothing beats that.  It was pretty hilarious a few minutes later when he flew up to the top of the fire hydrant and then slipped, fell, barely missed the top of the thing and then landed on the ground.  Hilarious because we were all chuckling a little, even Bradley believe it or not, because he had dodged such a bullet as landing head on (or should I say...) to the knob at the top of the hydrant.  It was pretty funny.  Fun little moment.  5-1-16

MILE RUN
Bradley's been so anxious for his mile run!  He has been gearing up for it all week.  I guess all the training paid off because he chopped a whole minute off his time from last fall!  6 min 40 sec is his new personal best.  It's cute to hear about his sore legs.  We got some pointers from Jami and he's going to really train hard this summer so that he can do even better next year.  I love that he loves to run.  So cool.   5-1-16

CALLBACKS
Kelly and Nate had to skip out of the horse party for Kelly's callback audition.  She and Charity tried out for Kaysville Idol and Kelly was chosen to come back for callbacks.  Pretty exciting!  She worked so hard on her Count on Me song and sounded great!  She felt so good about the audition and came back feeling really confident!  I was so proud of her!  She's so brave!  So talented!  I hope she had fun with it.  Unfortunately she did not make it to the final show.  BIG bummer, we all felt it, but better luck next year!  5-2-16

CHOIR CONCERT
Charity and Kelly both did great in their choir concert on Tuesday night!  They made me so proud with their solos!  Well, Charity had a real solo, but Kelly got stuck with a lame speaking part.  Although, I will say, she sure shined and made the most of her speaking part!  She really is a brilliant actress! The choir concert itself left MUCH to be desired!!  I can't believe how horribly it was carried out!!  I'm a little relieved the girls are not going to take choir next year.  I can't believe i just said that.  I LOVED choir!!  5-3-16

SPEED FRIENDING
We did a speed dating activity this week for YW.  It ended up being a LOT of fun!  I loved learning a few new things about each of the young women.  Even Molly enjoyed it.  5-4-16

GO PIRATES
Have to make note of Noah's AWESOME catch in left field this Thursday at his game!  It was awesome!  Coach said it was the play of the game!  Fun stuff :).  5-5-16

TIE DYE CAKE
I made a tie dye cake for Becky, for Kirstin's birthday.  Turned out so cute!  I'm so proud of myself :).  I had stressed and worried so much about this cake before making it that I was surprised how much I was enjoying it near the end.  Since it's tie dye, it didn't have to be perfect so that was a nice feature too.  I hope I can do this one again now that I know I need to chill the fondant before painting on the colors.  There was a lot of bubbling and stretching that occurred.  Hopefully they all liked it on their fun girls trip to St. George!  5-6-16

FRIDAY WAS CRAPPY
Yep.  Not much went right and then Nate had to work an overtime shift.  The kids and I never know what to do with ourselves when Nate works extra shifts.  Trying to take my mind off things, I was able to work on my Personal Progress covers for the new Beehives.  I ironed on Kelly's name and number on her team shirt.  I made pureed cauliflower alfredo sauce which was NOT a big hit- go figure. Hopefully tomorrow will be a new day.  5-6-16

A DAY OFF
We were so happy when Nate took Saturday off!  He's been called in for some overtime recently and so it was time to use some personal leave.  We had a lot of fun at Kelly's game that morning, Nate's parents showed up as well.  We came home and got some work done around the house and then everyone except Noah and Molly left for some shopping.  I was really grateful to have had Nate home that day.  It's been an interesting week and hopefully we can just start out fresh next week.  5-7-16

A tooth, some cavities, and Kaysville Kids Finalists

Look at that cute little toothy, just popping up!

This is when Kevin brought Bradley like 5 boxes of donuts!

The article with Luke's and Bradley's pictures.

Things to Remember Week of 4-24-16

BOOK OF MORMON
I assigned out parts of the lesson to the Beehives and had them teach (since none of them want to teach the whole lesson themselves) :).  They did a great job!  Made my job a little easier.  Hopefully they all learned something.  4-24-16

FRIENDS
When Jack woke up really late this morning, after all the kids had left for school, he was in a bit of a funk.  I had been down rocking Molly in total silence, so he couldn't find me right away and worried about that and then once he did find me he was confused about where everyone was.  It was so cute how he asked about each one, "Where Brad?"  "He's at school."  "Where Erika?"  "She's at school."  "Luke???"  "Yep, school too." .... and he seriously went through all the kids before coming to grips with the reality that they were gone.  It was pretty sad (and really cute).  He told me that they are his "friends"!  And he doesn't like it when his friends are gone.  So sweet.  I love watching these sibs.  4-25-16

CAFE RIO TO MCD'S
Went to lunch with my mom.  We had a nice time.  Felt good to get out.  Jack loved playing basketball with her and Erika talked about her kindergarten program.  4-25-16

FHE
I let Bradley and Noah teach Molly's lesson this week since they are both trying to earn their Faith in God awards.  It's cute how motivated Noah is by all of it :).  Bradley is getting there. He's only got six more months, so hopefully Noah can help me help him :).  They did a great job talking about the sacrament and how we renew our baptismal covenants.  I especially loved their testimonies at the end.  We all made lists of what we can do to maintain our faith.  I loved seeing that Luke wrote "work on faith in God" on his list.  Good boys.  We played dad's cup game with the dots inside the cups and we passed them "To the right, to the right, to the right".  It was funny that Nate got out first both times and Bradley was second both times!  I think the best part of the night was letting Jack be the caller and how proud he was of himself (as he should be, he did so good!  The kid can keep a beat!), "I good at that game!"  I loved his enthusiasm and boost of self esteem!  He had fun even!  So then we went to Taco Time for churros for the treat :).  My idea of course :).  4-25-16

STEVIE-POO
I got to go to lunch with my cute little brother on Tuesday!  *yep, out to lunch two days in a row!  Anything for Steve :) )  I was so happy we got to get together today!!  Steve is one of the few people I feel completely myself with and like he actually likes me for who I am and not just bears with me in spite of who I am.  He's just a really good friend!  We sat and talked while the kids played at CJ's for a good hour!!!  Just like the good ol' days.  I'm happy for him to feel so good right now, I hope things keep looking up for him.  4-26-16

GO PIRATES!
Noah's first baseball game today!  He did great!  Got an out on 2nd base, just like a pro!  We were so proud of his hits and all his hard work!  This really looks like his sport.  I hope he's enjoying it as much as we enjoy watching him.  I'm really excited for this season!  4-26-16

FAMILY PICTURE
Everyone came, stood on our front porch for a picture in the rain and then left :).  It was fun to see Brent and Sarah and their kids.  It was fun that Luke, Noah and Erika wanted to go to Heidi's with them for dinner and hang out some more.  I'm glad they got to do that.  Kelly had Lacrosse and the rest of us had our ward ice cream social, so we had to opt out of Heidi's dinner.  When they all left, it felt so empty, I thought- with so few people, we gotta go to dinner :).  So off to Zupas we went :).  It's fun to do things when there's only a few of us.  We had a lot of fun at the ice cream social as well.  I'm glad I indexed, made the ice cream taste better :).  hahaha!  Just kidding.  I actually didn't even get any ice cream.... weird... 4-27-16

MOVIE NIGHT
Since the Hatches cancelled on us to go hang out with Heidi and Grandma again, we carried out our plan B for the evening.  For the past six or so months, the kids have had to earn their movie nights by keeping the house clean.  They were only 6 points away this Friday so they worked real hard to get their six points and then after seeing a trailer for it, consented to watch Little Rascals!  One of my favorite movies as a kid.  I was so happy to hear their little chuckles during and then all the quoting that's gone on since... they liked it :).  It's fun to share those things with them.  Although, I must say I'm slightly disappointed in the movie- there are some things in there that are not really appropriate!  How can they do that in a kid movie for kids, with kids!!!?  4-29-16

PARK CITY
Kelly's Lacrosse game was in Park City this week.  We had our home teachers come at 9:00 am and then we bolted it out the door to be up there by 10:30!  Amazing really.  Unfortunately, right as we got there, these crazy gray clouds came closing in.  It was FREEZING COLD the whole game!!  I was so mad because I had failed to look at the weather thinking I could go off of Kaysville weather!  Duh.  So everyone was frozen again.  Lame.  We had blankets in the car still from last week, and we managed to stay alive, but it was slightly less enjoyable.  It was fun to have Nate's parents show up during half time and such a fun intense game!  Unfortunately we lost by two points.  Kelly played Middie this time for the first time.  She liked it.  She's still not really sure what to do on Attack I think, so we'll have to work on that.  He played her on Attack again too.  So anyway.  Good times.  We got home and crashed probably wore ourselves out shivering.  4-30-16