JUNE PHOTOS

 

MAY 2022

 STAKE CONFERENCE

First and foremost- our kids did SO AMAZING at this meeting!!  Two hours of just sitting there and nobody hardly complained!  Sadie did a little and Nate kindly took her on a walk through the halls, but overall, and everyone else, did SO WELL!!!  We were in the very very back, on the stage!  The kids loved that they could see a lot of their friends from school all over the room.  Maybe that helped, not sure, but I was pretty impressed with them all.  It was a nice meeting.  A lot of talk about following the Prophet.  I hope I am doing that right.  5-1-22

POOR KELLY
Kinda felt like Kelly couldn't catch a break this weekend.  Monday morning when she was supposed to be driving here for her allergist appointment, she was walking around looking for her car, realizing she left it at the church the night before, and then calling and crying about two (not just one but two) boots on her car!!!  How crazy is that!  Needless to say, she didn't make it to the allergist.  The poor girl!  She had had a fun night the night before, and I think she will never accidentally leave her car in a church parking lot (or any parking lot for that matter) again, but ugh.  Poor girl!  And to top it off her pain was through the roof.  5-2-22

KELLY'S IMAGES
Well, I dropped off all the images I had gathered for the functional neurologist.  That was a feat :).  Well, getting them was, and then I just felt so accomplished when I handed them over (minus that the receptionist made me aware of the fact that nobody was even going to be doing anything with them before Kelly's appointment the next day, but whatever).  Hopefully this helps!  5-2-22

LAST CHANCE TRACK MEET
Luke and Brad did so great in this "last" track meet!  I was so proud of them!  It was so much fun to watch them and we had most of the kids with us.  So that was fun.  They both did the 110 hurdles.  Luke did the 300 and then Brad did a relay.  He's been doing so well at the 400!  So fun!  They both did great!  Although, they won't admit it.  But good times.  5-3-22

FHE
Erika had no idea she was the lesson until we started- HA!  Kinda funny.  So she quickly threw things together.  She had us all pick an action and we were supposed to do our action when we heard the words, "as the Lord commanded" as she read Exodus 40.  It was cool that it ended up being a really great lesson!  She did a nice job improvising.  We played telephone for Jack's activity and had drumsticks for the treat :).  The planets were aligned that night, and we were blessed for having FHE. Kinda crazy that it is so hard these days.  5-2-22

FUNCTIONAL NEUROLOGIST TAKE TWO
This was a lame appointment.  I'm trying not to let it scew all the good feelings from the last one, but it was lame.  I remembered at the last possible minute that it started at 8:45 and not 9:00.  So Kelly had to take off without me, while I finished getting kids out the door, which Jack wasn't feeling right so he ended up staying home.  Then we got to the place earlier than I had told Nate, so I sat in the van with the girls just waiting for him while Kelly was in the appointment by herself.  I caught the last like ten minutes of her getting x-rayed, thinking we were going to do some adjusting, and ended up just paying and leaving.  Didn't even see Dr. Smith.  Kind of a bummer.  And then an even bigger bummer that I had to be the weirdo demanding that they not charge me for the x-ray of her spine (since I just brought one in) and adjusting her, which he didn't do!  So strange.  But whatever.  I'm trying not to lose hope on this one.  She has an appointment on Thursday next week.  I'll hang on til then.  5-3-22

MONSTER ORCHESTRA CONCERT
We got to go watch Erika perform in the big monster concert they put on at Shoreline Junior High.  It was kind of hard to see Erika through the sea of instruments and kids, but right next to the conductors right elbo, just below the piano, you can see her cute little forehead under her bun!  So fun!  We were sitting up high on the bleachers which ended up being kind of perfect.  Such a fun time for her to show off her new skills.  They sounded great!  I was pleasantly suprrpised!  Lots of fun songs too.  And Sadie managed to fall asleep in Nate's arms, so it was much enjoyed little 40 minutes!  5-3-22

MOLLY AND JACK TO THE DENTIST
This was a rough appointment.  They both did so great though!  I was really proud of them.  Molly had one cavity and Jack had a few they were working on (not his only appointment unfortunately).  This was Molly's first time with the gas and she was hilarious.  Kinda funny to watch her squirm around in the chair uninhibited.  She really didn't like the shot, but was so tough through it all.  She thought the numbness was fun :).  Dr. Chris found a ring in her mouth!  Jack must not have gotten all the way numb because by the end he was just sobbing and in tears.  The poor little guy!  I was so sad for him.  He toughed it out and even went back to school!  I was so surprised!  I had offered to let him stay home.  He was a tough kid that day!  They both earned those fiiz and handels ice cream cards!  5-4-22

NICHOLS PARK WITH LYSSA AND PORTER
We met up with Heidi and the kids again, while Nate and the big kids were at youth activities.  Up at castle park.  It was pretty fun.  Too cold, but we had a good time.  It was nice to talk with Heidi.  She has had some new developments with the divorce.  5-4-22

MANGO STICKY RICE WITH CHRISTIE
This was a much needed hangout/recharge!  Christie was so nice to ask about how things are going with Kelly and she sat and listened to it ALL!  There was a lot to catch her up on.  It was nice to talk about all that with someone who understands.  She was so nice to introduce me to the mango sticky rice too!  That stuff is amazing!  I need to take Kelly there!  I needed to pee so we came back for a second and then walked up to her house and sat in her backyard.  So nice.  She is such a great friend/minister.  I hope she can get things figured out with her back soon too.  5-5-22

FINALS WEEK AND EVERYTHING ELSE FOR CHARITY
Poor Charity has been going through a lot the past few weeks with her relationship.  She has been so mature about it all, but it has been painful and dragging out.  She did all of this during her finals which had to be difficult.  It was nice to be able to talk with her a few times on the phone and that she was talking to me about it all.  My heart hurts for her.  Life can be so sad at times.  5-6-22

TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK
The kids were so nice and thoughtful with their gifts and school supplies and notes to their teachers.  It was a fun week.  We were supposed to do things to pamper them, the theme was spa.  I just had to document how adorable Molly was about Mrs. Piper's gift.  After hearing my explanation about what pamper means and giving it some thought, she decided the perfect gift for Mrs. Piper was a bird feeder and some flower seeds.  I thought this was very outside of the box, but so cute, so I went along with it :).  We got her a bird feeder.  Molly obsessed over every little detail and wanted it to be perfect.  It was really cute!  I couldn't resist sending Mrs. Piper a little email to tell her how much thought and love Molly had put into her gift and she was glad I told her.  It was cute to hear her reply.  She loves Molly so much and has loved teaching her this year.  She's grown and improved so much!  And that's been fun for Mrs. Piper.  It made me happy to hear that Mrs. Piper had "been wanting a bird feeder" and that she told Molly that and asked for a hug :).  So cute!!  Molly has been so shy, I wanted Mrs. Piper to know how much she loves her!  5-6-22

DATE NIGHT
Nate and I finished up on our few orders of meatballs and then headed out for our date.  This was a much needed, much looked forward to date, for me.  This was the longest week in history!!  It ended up being a great night.  We got Sushi for dinner and then went to see the new Dr. Strange movie.  The movie was totally weird and full of weird things.  Pretty gruesome and really out there.  It wasn't my favorite.  But I enjoyed the time with Nate.  We came home to Charity sitting on the porch and then Kelly showed up as we were dozing off.  It's going to be a fun week (ish) with them home in between apartments.  5-6-22

ISAAC PHOTO SHOOT
The Idaho Mayneses are so nice to think of me and let me take their kids' pictures once in a while.  They were down Saturday, so it worked out perfectly to do Isaac's Senior pics.  I felt very privileged.  And I had a great time with Heather and Isaac.  We found a few really cool spots, just around the theater and the brick wall in Kaysville and then did a few in the backyard after he had changed into his suit.  It was really fun for me.  We got to see Rob and Hannah as well.  Good times!  I think they turned out pretty good too!  5-7-22

MOTHER'S DAY!!
I LOVED Mother's Day!  I love Mother's Day every year, of course, but I especially loved it this year :).  We did our usual breakfast in bed with everyone saying nice things about me and then giving me gifts, I loved it!  Nate made eggs, bacon, sausage, the works!  It was so delicious!  The kids all spoiled me rotten with gifts that they thoughtfully picked out on their own!  It means so much to see what they thought of because they are all so thoughtful with gifts.  I loved it!  Sadie gave me a giant Pass the Pigs game.  Molly gave me a stuffed penguin, she knows I love penguins.  Jack gave me a 1000 piece puzzle with some cool wolves on it!  He knows I love puzzles :).  Erika gave me the game Password.  She knows how much I love board games.  It's a fun one too, we played it that night.  I loved that one on the Game Show channel :).  Noah gave me some flowers.  He seemed bummed that he hadn't been able to pick out something himself, and Nate had picked them out because Noah was at his rehearsal, but he handed the flowers to me and gave me a really sweet hug.  It was so nice.  He's a sweetie.  Luke gave me a puzzle also.  This one had more of a rainbow look to it.  It's actually really cool, looks really hard :), but I'm excited to do it.  Bradley didn't give me a gift right then, he said he was still working on it, so I got that later on in the day, but it was so much fun!  He had taken video of each of the kids answering questions about me :).  He put them together in a slideshow which had to have been a lot of work.  I loved it!  So much fun!!  Very thoughtful.  Kelly gave me her gift a little later too, she gave me a card with the sweetest letter written on it.  I just love letters from Kelly.  She is so thoughtful.  We've been through a lot together this year and we've had that connection so it was nice to hear how she feels about us and feel that love.  Charity gave me tickets to go see a play at Centerpointe theater!  I'm really excited about that!  I love going to plays!  It's been a long time since I went to a professional one.  But awesome.  We paused on the spoiling mom to get ready for church and tape the quotes I had typed up onto the Utah Truffles we bought for all the moms in the ward.  Then headed to church.  I think it's a little lame that talking about motherhood is so taboo on Mother's Day.  You'd think that we could focus on it at Church at least.  But whatever.  I enjoyed being there and sitting with my big girls in Relief Society!  That was a fun part.  We came home and everyone proceeded to treat me like royalty all day.  I love that!  We played games, started my puzzle, it was great!  And Nate surprised me with the fact that he was taking the day off!  I loved that!!  He even made ribs for dinner for me too!  Such a sweetie!  It was a really great day.  I know I'm not the best mom on the planet, but I'm okay having a day to celebrate this awesome job I have.  It's really sweet to think about all the influence you have as a mother.  I hope I am able to teach my kids what they need to know and that they will grow up to be self-sufficient, amazing people (as they seem to be doing already).  I am so blessed to have such awesome kids and such an amazing husband to go on this crazy ride with.  I love it!!  5-8-22

GRANDPA HATCH'S BIRTHDAY
I spent a lot of the day fretting over and making my dad's cake.  Sadie and Molly helped me with the first attempt.  I don't know why I always try to make a homemade cake for him.  It never works out.  So we did that again and it tasted great just wasn't able to hold up out of the pans.  But it was okay because I had some carrot cake mixes in case it didn't work.  It ended up turning out just great!  I actually really like how it looked when we got done.  And I finished it just in time for his party.  We went up to his house for a bbq.  That was nice.  I only wish we had done some gifts.  We had to leave unusually early to make it to Noah's play.  5-9-22

FUN STUFF- ERIKA AND JACK
Erika got to have a pizza party with the student council and Jack got to go look through Bro. Pierce's telescope for adventure days this week.  Lots of fun for them :).  5-10-22

JACK'S FOURTH GRADE PROGRAM
Charity was still here in the morning, so she, Molly, Sadie, Noah and I all loaded up to go watch the program put on for the rest of the school.  I kind of love seeing it at the assembly because you can see it so well.  We were sitting in the very back which is a bummer, but we could see it perfectly.  Charity loved singing along with most of the songs :).  Jack did a great job!!  I loved his big smile and how hard he worked to know all the songs and did such a great job on the train engine holding :).  He was so cute up there!!  This is the frist time we've seen him in jeans in a couple years too, so that was fun :).  Grandpa Hatch, Grandma Ruthie, Aunt Jen and Grandma Hatch all came to see the performance later in the day.  That was a fun time because I had gone early enough to get front row seats and got to sit right there in front of Jack!  That made for some great photos!  We loved it and I think Jack was pretty happy about the whole thing too!  5-11-22

BRAD AT REGION
We watched the clock to make sure we made it in time for Brad's hurdles.  We got there just in time, had fun cheering him on.  He did such a great job!  It was fun to have Grandma Ruthie and Aunt Jen there to witness that with us, Grandpa showed up right after he raced.  Kind of a bummer.  5-11-22

ERIKA'S DARE GRADUATION
Erika completed the DARE program and graduated this Thursday!  We are so proud of her.  We got to hear from Heather Anderson Miss Utah about saying no to drugs and then heard all the names read.  Erika did a great job on this and was really diligent about talking about all of it with us.  I love this program, kinda bummed that Officer Stanford is done, but hopefully they keep it up.  Congrats Erika!  Grandpa Hatch was there to support as well!  5-12-22

BRAD'S RELAY AT REGION
Bradley also competed in the relay for region and totally made it to state!!  We're so happy for him!  He did such a great job!  Grandpa Hatch was there to see him run this time!  5-12-22

DARE LAGOON DAY
Erika got to go to DARE Lagoon day Friday!  This was huge!  She had a great time!  I was so proud of how responsible she was the entire time, being the only one without a phone, she was still the most responsible and took care of everyone as usual.  I'm glad she got to do this and had so much fun!  5-13-22

SOPHOMORE REGION
Luke ran the 110 and 300 hurdles in the Sophomore region meet.  He did awesome on his 110!  We were all there, waiting for a lot of time to watch him :).  It was great!  We left to come back for his 300 and of course, I showed up like minutes after he raced.  Such a bummer.  I hate missing my kids' stuff.  It sounded like he did great though!  So proud of him.  5-13-22

BRAD 200 M
Bradley got to run the 200 M at the sophomore meet and did really REALLY well!  It was fun to watch him.  He says he was in the slowest heat, so he doesn't know how well he did, but I keep thinking, maybe he's doing the wrong race :).  He did great!  5-13-22

NOAH CHERRYHILL TRAINING
Noah got to go to his first training meeting for Cherry Hill.  I'm really just so proud of him for getting a job and doing it all on his own and being so responsible!  Such a cool kid.  I hope he ends up liking it!  5-13-22

NEWSIES
Noah had three performances this week for his Newsies production.  This was really exciting!  We've all been very anxious for this one to come out.  It worked out perfectly for the whole family to go see it Monday since Charity and Kelly were still down from changing apartments.  Grandma Hatch came Monday as well.  We loved seeing Noah as Les.  He did such a great job.  He had all the funny lines and that was cute to hear everyone laughing after everything he did.  He was definitely one of the top actors out there.  He did a great job.  We went to Dylan's to celebrate after on Monday.  That was fun.  I got to meet Brandon and Zack's mom!  Finally.  Grandma Ruthie and Jen came up Wednesday to see it.  Nate got to go with them.  Then Grandpa Hatch, Heidi and Porter, and the Clemenses (Julie and Kregg with Ayla and Mary) came to see it with Nate and I on Friday!  It did get better each time!  I loved seeing it again.  They did such a great job.  I loved that he had so much support all week as well.  5-9-22--5-13-22

FRIDAY
Friday was kind of a rough day for Nate and I.  Not together, but individually.  Kinda of full and not just with activities.  Just a lot of emotions and overwhelmingness.  It was cool that we didn't let it cause any problems between the two of us, and for the most part we kept our cool, but it was rough!  So rough.  5-13-22

HAPPY 21st ANNIVERSARY
Nate took work off on Saturday for my "big" anniversary plans :).  I was so glad we were going to still get our date this week afterall.  We ended up going to Tepanyaki for dinner and then went out to the Shoreline Preserve to walk the boardwalk and talk.  It was perfect!  I loved it!!  We got a surprise call from Kelly while we were up on top of the little structure, so we got to facetime her for a minute and see her new apartment.  Pretty fun that she keeps us in the loop.  It was great!  Came home and watched Moon Fall!  Happy 21 to us!!  Here's to 21 more!!  5-14-22

SUNDAY NIGHT
We had the coolest visit from Charity and Kelly and all their friends coming back from the YA fireside down in Salt Lake.  It was so fun that they thought to stop by for food.  We loved meeting all of them and getting to know some of them and feeding them waffles :).  Sadie loved playing with Playdoh with Justin.  It was a really fun way to end our Sunday.  5-15-22

FUNCTIONAL NEUROLOGIST- KELLY
We went for Kelly's second adjustment appointment and things went really well.  We're going to start on twice a week appointments here and get really going on things.  I'm happy about that.  It will be nice to see some results.  5-16-22

FHE
Family night felt very normal this week.  Kinda nice.  We are back in a routine with it and that is a very good thing.  Noah taught our lesson using the Fish bowl game with words we all wrote down from what we have been learning about lately.  Lots of fun!  10 commandments, Moses, Manna from Heaven, Brass Serpent... then we played kickball for Erika's game and then went out for Blizzards for Jack's treat.  5-16-22

LUNCH WITH MOM (AND STEVE)
I took my mom out for lunch for Mother's day.  We weren't able to get our schedules to cooperate until Tuesday.  She chose Chuck-A-Rama so Sadie and Molly got to experience that for the first time.  Kinda fun for them :).  It was a nice time.  Steve showed up near the end to talk and then show us his new car!  After we all piled in his car and checked it out- pretty nice!  Then we went over to my mom's car to look at it, so after hers we decided we needed to all hop into our van too :).  It was nice talking to them.  Had a good time minus that the girls left my popping toy in the restaurant.  Sad face.  5-17-22

MOUNTAIN MAN RENDEZVOUS
Since I know Jack will probably NEVER read this, I can say how I really felt about MMR this year.  The only word to describe it is PATHETIC!!  Like REALLY pathetic!!  I couldn't believe how lame it was.  I mean, I realize that coming from Holbrook where they would have several teepees, a giant coral full of trout to catch with your hand, a candy canon, rifle shooting demonstration, archery with a real mountain man, cool stories while you sit in the teepee, making your own yarn from wool, candle-dipping, an amazing dutch oven lunch with the buttery-est rolls you've ever tasted.  I know that my expectations have always been too high and that was demonstrated when we brought the trout catching thing to Columbia.  I really wanted it to be cool like Holbrook's, but it never really has even come close.  But it has never been as pathetic as it was this year!  For starters it was only an hour and a half as opposed to ALL DAY!  The parents had no say in what we were doing, everything was set up when we got out to the field.  You couldn't even tell there was anything out there really.  It was this small circle with all the events too close together.  They did THE LAMEST GAMES EVER!!  Let them rotate through all of them and then it was over.  Well, they did get to go do the dumb barter-system- store with everyone's crap that was donated- huge eye roll!  But it was just so weak!!  I was SO DISAPPOINTED!!  I ended up helping with Brooke Desmond and Noah was there for the first little while, on the Stick Pull.  Which we ended up having some fun, but it was just so lame.  Bums me out that my last 7 kids didn't get to experience a real Mountain Man Rendezvous.  Now this is not to say that Jack didn't love it!  He is much easier to please than me!  He had a blast!  He loved having his family there, loved all the activities- he said the Stick Pull was his favorite!  And especially loved the store thing later in the day- he bought a bunch of stuff for his siblings :).  So I'm glad it met his expectations.  It was a memorable, fun day for him.  If only I could erase my expectations! HA!  There was this funny few moments when I was having the "champion" of the group go up against Noah because he was the big 8th grader there and the first few groups kept having girl champions which I thought was interesting.  But Noah came over to face off a fourth grade girl and his face was just hilarious.  Like, "K, I hope I don't lose!"  HA!  I was laughing and said, "Don't lost to a 4th grade girl, Noah! That would be embarrassing!"  And then on another round, there was a big kid that won and when Noah came over to face off with him, he looked at me even funnier, like, "Don't be embarrassed, mom!" and so I laughed and said, "It's totally okay if you lose to Caleb, he's like way bigger than you!" HA!!!  We got a good chuckle!  5-17-22

MOLLY TESTING
Molly did great at her end of year testing!  Mrs. Piper is so proud of her!!  And we are too of course!  It's just really cute just how proud of her Mrs. Piper is!  She makes a big deal out of all that Molly has learned :).  It's super cute.  She has really loved having Molly this year and we're pretty sure Molly loves Mrs. Piper too :).  She's been ultra shy with her all year, so it's not completely obvious.  But anyway.  She did great!  She gets to move up to First Grade!  5-17-22

CAKE DECORATING CLASS- ERIKA
I spent most of the morning Tuesday making cakes for Erika's Young Woman group to come Wednesday night for their activity.  Then all afternoon I was fretting over the whole thing before finally getting going on making the frosting and getting things ready for them.  It was a big job!  I loved it!  The girls were so attentive, they were great at it, we had so much fun and all their cakes turned out perfect!  I was so happy with it all!  I think the only thing I would do differently is have the cakes all ready to go with the filling and frosted, that ate up a lot of our time because we only had one level and a couple spreaders.  But it was fun!  Erika loved it and hers was so cute!  I was really proud of how hers turned out!  We want to do some more cakes this summer with Erika and Kate and get really good at it :).  5-18-22

DECATHLONG- ERIKA
The big day finally came!!  I am so glad it did!  Erika has been planning and practicing and looking forward to this day for at least four years... maybe more.  Ever since she made it in 4th grade but didn't get to do it because of COVID, she has just longed for the day when they would have it again!!  We were so relieved that they decided to do it this year and that Erika made it!  We never doubted whether she would or not, of course, but very excited that she did.  The only downside was that Kate didn't make it with her.  But we all agreed that Myra would make a great teammate and pushed forward through the pain :).  She would have LOVED to have Kate there and said that a few times while she was there.  Cute girl.  So I checked her out (took them 10 minutes to get her) and we drove over to the Legacy Events Center.  This is the first year it hasn't been at a High School, so that was strange and new, but cool!  She ran in and got started practicing on everything.  She looked like such a star down there and seemed to walk around with so much confidence- as she should- with each event, it looked like she was feeling really good about everything as she practiced and she even mentioned to me that she wasn't as nervous as she thought she would be!  HOORAY!  She had an awesome 4 second cup-stacking during practicing which was awesome and gave her some more confidence for that!  I was glad.  They finally got started, with the same balding man that has always run it :), and they were off!!  We were able to watch her during most of her events, went outside for the 200 which she did really awesome on!  Even beat Devin (I think that's his name, one of the boys) on her team!  It wasn't a race between her team, but she did come in second!  So cool!  She did so well on everything!  It was fun to have the scoring rubric on my phone and look up her points from each event.  She always got at least 20 and sometimes more.  She did so good on the cup-stacking, getting a 5.1!!  So cool!  And her jumproping was 87!  She just really knocked it out of the park.  According to my calculations she probably got the most points out of her whole team.  They won 3rd place with 792 points so divide that by 4 and Erika had way more than that.  We were really proud of her!!  Such a cool girl to put so much into this and do so well.  Very cool.  I just love her competitive spirit!  5-19-22

NOAH'S ORCHESTRA CONCERT
Noah sounded amazing!  They did Les Miserable and Pirates of the Caribbean which was so much fun for us!  They added some percussion to it which was really thrilling!  I loved the swell from the cymbals!  Very cool!  And I really only listened to the bass line if I'm being honest, it just stands out to me more now :).  Noah looked great up there and played with confidence!  I was so proud of him!  He's made a lot of progress!  I'm so glad he found something he enjoys in the music category :).  5-19-22

CATERING
Nate has not learned how to say no.  He had a job for Jen's work today at lunch time and still accepted the strangest order he's ever received for Macaroni and Cheese and Coleslaw for 125 people!  Mac and Cheese is not even on his menu.  But he's always up for a challenge and of course blew it out of the park!!  I tried his practice round with the Mac and couldn't stop eating it!  And I don't even like Mac and Cheese!!  He is so good at what he does.  They will love it.  I just wish he could have his day off, off.  5-20-22

FATHER'S AND SONS
This year's father's and sons campout came with a lot of whining and complaining from a lot of the regulars.  Nate had delegated the planning of it to someone else and they obviously didn't know about the obsession with the tradition of WHERE they went and planned it somewhere new.  Nobody was happy about that.  And then even the day of, Nate was getting texts from guys worried about the weather and the temps they were going to be enduring.  Nate is very patient with everyone.  I would lose it on them all probably.  Then here at home we had our own dilemma.  Brad was supposed to run in the State Championship the next day and new that if he went he wouldn't get good sleep.  He was really concerned about it all week and then almost chose to go.  He was so torn.  I had to talk him into staying.  I didn't want him to have himself to blame if things didn't go well in his relay.  It was a really tough decision for him, but he did end up staying home.  Which was great because the girls and I had never had a fun big brother for our GNO!  Brad was so fun to have here.  The boys ended up sleeping in the van and loved the marshmallow war the next morning.  I hope Brad wasn't too filled with jealousy.

GNO= GIRLS NIGHT OUT!  AND BRAD- HERITAGE FESTIVAL
Friday night was our girls night.  We weren't able to talk Charity and Kelly into making the trek which was a bummer, but we still wanted to do something fun.  We were loving the idea of going to the Heritage Festival and riding the horses.  They had a few other things to do there as well, but that was the main selling point.  The weather put our plans off a little, we thought we weren't going to be able to go for a little bit there, but then cleared up to perfectly blue skies just as the boys were leaving!  It was incredible!  We decided our plans were back on and walked up to the gardens!  It was such a nice time with Erika, Molly, Sadie and Brad :).  I loved it!  We got there and got in line for the horses and oddly enough, in rolled these very threatening rain clouds and some crazy wind!  It was so strange!  Came out of nowhere.  The horses weren't too happy with the wind so they moved them up a little.  Thankfully, the wind stayed calm enough for Erika and Molly to ride for a couple seconds.  They loved it!  These girls love horses so this was pretty big stuff.  Poor Sadie didn't want to brave the bike helmet, so she missed out on riding the horses.  That was a bummer, but she seemed to enjoy watching her sisters just as much.  We were lucky we rode the horses when we did because they ended up having to take them home shortly after that.  We did get to ride on the little "train", pet the bunnies see the chicks, and pet all of the other farm animals.  This was a fun part when Erika got on all fours and the baby goat climbed up on her back and tried to eat her hair!  HA!  We had so much fun!  I really loved that night.  We had a really good time.  The weather really wasn't cooperating and we hadn't planned for it at all, so we did end up cutting it a little short.  We were pretty cold.  I asked Bradley to run home to get the Prius.  We grabbed some kettle corn and a few corn dogs for dinner and blasted the heater the whole 3/4 mile to our house :).  Brad ate some of the food Nate had made.  We watched Italian Job for our movie night.  I think Brad liked it but he did fall asleep a few times.  He's not really a movie watcher.  He was VERY distracted thinking about his race also.  But such a fun time with my girls and Brad!  I loved it!  We let Bradley sleep in until almost noon, but made our way to soccer games first thing in the morning.  These were our last games of the season.  Everyone played so well this season!  So much fun! 5-20-22--5-21-22

STATE CHAMPIONSHIP TRACK MEET AT BYU- BRADLEY
Brad's big moment finally came!  We hurried down to BYU after Noah's game as fast as we could.  Found the track immediately, dropped off Brad and then parked.  Then we noticed that Sadie didn't have any shoes (just one croc was all we had) so we rushed off to Walmart and got her some new shoes which have become somewhat of an obsession for her.  They are jelly shoes.  She calls them her princess shoes.  Super cute.  But anyway.  We raced back to BYU to park again and walk a little ways to the track.  We were pretty early, so not worried about time, found a good spot to sit and then waited!  I was super impressed with how well the kids did during the waiting.  Erika, Jack, Molly, Sadie and I were the ones participating.  Luke and Noah had plans with friends that night.  We were joined by Kelly and her friend Clayton.  Then Grandpa Hatch a little later.  Then Nate suprised us all with a quick little visit!  I couldn't believe he made it there when he did.  Unfortunately, they were not even close to Brad's race yet.  We waited about an hour and 10 minutes past the time that he was supposed to run.  He was running in the 4x400 relay.  We all got so excited when they paraded his group out there.  We screamed for his team.  He was in the fastest heat and as it was starting the announcer mentioned this was it!  This was the big moment for the 4x400!  No pressure!!!  Bradley was first.  He did AMAZING!  I was so proud of his running!!  He had said he was going to just push it, not babying his ankle anymore since this is the last run of the season.  Well, he definitely did that!  He FLEW around that track!  Ran his heart out.  He got to Anderson Perry in about third place, but by the time they handed off the baton Anderson didn't get out until about fifth place.  Brad had done AWESOME!!  Unfortunately, and as we have watched on the videos of his run, he rolled his ankle right at the finish line.  He said it had been hurting earlier on in the race as well, but he pushed through.  Crazy kid.  Unfortunately, this wasn't anyone's best run.  They got slower and slower with each runner.  Davis came in last.  It was so sad, and really disappointing considering how much Brad had wanted it and pushed himself.  And now he was in a considerable amount of pain.  His ankle was so swollen.  He was sure it was broken.  I was sure it was broken.  We hurried and took some pictures.  Then we had Grandpa Hatch help us get him to the van from the backway.  Poor Brad!!  He was not feeling great!  He talked himself into going to Brick Oven with the team, then came in with us when it was such a long wait.  We all (everyone except grandpa and Nate) enjoyed Brick Oven together.  That was nice.  I love that place.  Brought back a few memories :).  The time when I was on the blind date with Alicia's boyfriend's friend and someone in their ward covered our bill.  Then the time Heidi and I tried to get down to eat there after my last final, but the car totally broke down at the point of the mountain.  That adventure sure went differently.  I think we ended up at Olive Garden instead.  It was closer.  Funny that we still made time to go eat out while my Dad's BMW sat on the side of the freeway.  Anyway.  Gave us a little time to relax and be together.  Brad seemed very relieved to have his race over, minus that he was in a lot of pain.  The ibuprofen helped a little I think though because he was having a lot of fun with Sadie while we ate.  Jack, Kelly and Clayton were having fun drawing on the backs of their menus.  Good times, good memories.  Can't wait to see what Brad does with his track season next year!  5-21-22

CUTE KIDS
Brad and Luke came surprised me and came home for lunch on Monday.  I wasn't expecting them at all- such a fun surprise.  They talked with me while they ate and I did my puzzle and then they helped me out by taking Molly to school!  She loved it :).  5-23-22

CANDY LEIS
I offered to help with the 6th grade graduation candy leis.  Let's just say I probably won't ever sign up to help with those again.  They were not as easy as they look and very time consuming the way the moms decided to make them.  It took me an hour and a half to make five of them and at that point I was really doing the math with how long it was going to take to do 19.  Not super thrilled.  I don't like to let people down though, so I kept at it.  Thankfully, my sweet husband who also came home with a bouquet of flowers for me, sat down and helped me finish them up when he got home.  That was pretty sweet!  It went much faster with his company and his help!  5-23-22

NOAH'S EMPLOYED!
Noah started his first week of working at Cherry Hill this week!  I am so beyond proud of this kid!  He went and got himself a job and is doing really good at being responsible and carrying it out.  He's been doing the grounds at Cherry Hill.  Lots of blowing!  He has already calculated that during the summer he will be making around $100 a week!  Which is more than he's used to making in a whole year (birthdays and holidays :) ).  So that's been really cool to witness his initiative and drive and be able to push himself in that grown up direction.  I'm really happy for him.  I think he's going to really love having the job and most importantly the money.  It's fun that a lot of his friends are working there as well.  5-23-22

CROSS COUNTRY
The boys had their cross country meeting Monday.  I can't believe that starts up already!  Brad will have to hold off a little now that he is in a boot for a few weeks, but here we go!  I do love that this gets them up in the summer and gives them something really good to do.  Bradley, Luke and Noah are all going to do it together.  5-23-22

FHE
Luke gave our lesson about Joshua 15:24 and we talked about times we had followed promptings.  Very cool.  We didn't get to play a game because Noah was our activity and he was not here, he went to the school choir concert.  But we did go get donuts for the treat.  Unfortunately, there wasn't much of a selection.  5-23-22

ERIKA LIP SYNC- GETCHA HEAD IN THE GAME
Bradley, Molly, Sadie and I got to go watch Erika in her and Kate's lip sync contest performance.  They did such a good job!  Their ability to dribble, mouth words to a song, and keep it together on stage were impressive!!  It was SO CUTE!!  I was so proud of Erika!  I think they should use this routine when they try out for the Jr. High Basketball team :).  Impeccable ball handling skills!  5-24-22

ROCKET PARK WITH GRANDPA
We had some time to kill between the lip sync and Brad's doctor appointment for his ankle, so we went to Rocket Park and invited Grandpa to join us.  This was a fun little visit.  I miss hanging out with my dad more.  I wish we were getting more time in with him.  We were there the same time as a field trip from Holbrook (we decided), so it was pretty crowded and we got free popsicles.  But it was fun.  Sadie is still wearing her princess dress everywhere.  5-24-22

BRADLEY'S ANKLE
We got a little reprimanded at the doctor this time.  With Brad admitting he's been running on a hurt ankle all season.  But Dr. Tew was pretty patient with us.  He gave us a boot with the instructions that no matter what is wrong with it, he needs to be in a boot for a few weeks at least.  If it's broken probably more.  But he was willing to not even x-ray it and say just wear the boot for four weeks.  We chose to get the x-ray.  Stopped at the IHC place on the way back home and got the x-ray.  Found out that night that it was just sprained which is good.  Still gotta wear the boot though.  Brad was happy Dr. Tew said he would be able to swim with it on his plan is to, "take the children to cross country every morning, drop them off and go swim at the gym, then go back up and pick them up," He's so funny.  "children".  I like that he's a planner.  And I'm glad it wasn't broken.  5-24-22

NATE AT KELLY'S APPOINTMENT
Nate came to both of Kelly's appointments this week, which was kind of nice.  It's been nice for him to see what they do.  And to have his company.  We're getting into the six-week treatment, a lot of things seem to help even in the moment, so hopefully Kelly will do all of her stuff every night and a all day.  This really could help I think!  It's really up to her though.  5-24-22

HOPE SQUAD- NOAH
Noah was nominated by his peers to be on Hope Squad next year!  Pretty cool!  I got to go to a meeting and find out what it's all about.  I think he's really going to love it and I'm so proud of him for agreeing to.  5-24-22

JACK ADVENTURE DAYS
Jack's group did some fun games to get all excited about summer and he informed me that he won all of the races :).  I got to watch him doing one when I picked him up and he was really giving it his all, which was super cute!  He's not usually mister competitive.  He is loving having Janice Johnson as his leader.  5-24-22

FIELD DAY!
We had a great field day this year!  I started sneezing first thing in the morning, before I even stepped outside which is hilarious.  I can't help but think my body was just getting a head start.  I had signed up for the inflatable during Jack's group.  That was fun.  I like doing the inflatable.  Then during the last group of the day (Erika and Molly's group) I was the class chaperone for Molly's class.  That was pretty fun too.  They were a funny group of kids.  They did really well too for it being their first time.  I was proud of them.  Molly loved having her baby sister there once Nate and Sadie showed up :).  It was a nice day.  And I really didn't do too bad with my allergies, lots of sniffing and sneezing, but overall not too bad.  I stayed to help clean up at the end and then took everyone home from school.  I wasn't near as tired as I have been in past years... not sure why, but very nice!  5-25-22

DATE NIGHT
After hearing how much Kelly liked Top Gun 2 the night before, I couldn't resist buying tickets for Nate and I to go see it Thursday.  And it got me through the day :).  We knew we weren't going to be able to go out Friday night, last day of school and all, so we moved it to Thursday- thankfully that worked :).  Our date nights are keeping us alive these days :).  So we went to dinner at SlapFish and then went to Top Gun 2!!  This is my new favorite movie!!  I seriously loved it!  Everything about it was so well done!  I loved the story, the mood, the action, all the videography of the fighter jets... it was amazing!!!  I highly recommend it!!  We want to go see it again in the theater.  5-26-22

SIXTH GRADE GRADUATION- ERIKA
This was the last day of school and Erika's big day!!  It was fun to see her get the Principal's award.  This is for students who are all around good at being safe, kind, and reliable.  No surprise that Mrs. Burns gave that to her!  She is very good at those things.  I was so proud of her and all that she has done this year when I heard about the awards assembly the day before too, where she got the Presidential award and the Decathlon certificate.  Good stuff!!  It was so sad to see Mrs. Burns struggle to read off some of those kids' names- they were all of her little first graders!  And she got a big hug from Erika when Erika went up to get her certificate.  We have really loved Erika's second time around with Mrs. Burns.  It's been a great year, lots of great preparation for 7th grade, all the fun snack days, talking about Frank and him bringing them ice cream this week, knowing exactly how Mrs. Burns feels about all the controversial school things- HA!  She has been so comfortable and things have gone so well for her.  We feel very blessed to have had her twice.  It's crazy that Erika is halfway through school!  She's made us so proud!  We can't wait to see what she does with her life and all the things she's learned.  We're so proud of the way she treats her friends and how she looks out for others around her.  Such a cool girl!  She had and amazing cheering section made up of Nate, Sadie, Molly, Luke, Bradley and I!  Pretty awesome to have big, tired brothers at your graduation!  They really showed up for her!  5-27-22

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!
The last day of school for Brad and Luke was Wednesday.  They got their yearbooks and never went back :).  They barely went Monday and Tuesday even.  So kind of anticlimactic, but totally fine with them. 

We had a great last day of school!  Just checked out Erika after her graduation and then she went off to the park with all of her friends to play kickball.  The other kids and I ran around and got pictures!  Then came home and enjoyed the satisfaction of a year well done.  I didn't see or hear from Noah all day, but he had bounced around from friend house to friend house to Taco Time, etc.  It was a full afternoon for him after getting yearbooks.  He had gone strong all week minus being checked out early on Thursday.  Kinda funny, but he wanted to see his friends!  It's been a fun year with him making so many new friends and having so many to hang out with.  I think he feels a little bad that he's not doing things with Jacob anymore, but we're all a little relieved.  He needed to branch out a little.  We all did do some cleaning up and Nate was out working in the yard all day smoking up some dinner and to get things ready for the Projector Movie Night!  This has become a tradition and was a lot of fun again.  Noah showed up in time for it along with three of his friends.  They played basketball and then spike ball most of the evening before actually sitting down and watching the movie!  We watched Onward, that ended up being a lot of fun since we haven't overwatched it lately.  Erika invited Kate.  Jack had three friends there as well and they all had a blast running around playing together down in the creek and downstairs with the pool table before climbing up onto the playset for the movie.  I'm glad nobody fell.  Molly invited Bea and Jonah.  And Sadie ran around enjoying herself and all her sibs all evening before the movie. I was proud of myself for remembering the glow sticks I had and getting those out for the kids.  We had TONS of treats and snacks for everyone, LOTS of popcorn.  It was a great night!  Brad had gone to play pickleball and even though Luke said he was going to go watch "Shark Hurricane" with friends, he ended up being with us all evening and watching some of our movie with us instead.  It was a late night, but we all got to bed and were ready to get up bright and early for flags in the morning.  5-27-22

FLAGS WITH AUNT JEN
We finally made it to flags with Jen!  We met up at the cemetery bright and early after staying up so late the night before.  We walked around looking for people who had served in the armed forces.  This is cool!  I love the armed forces.  I loved being part of that for them.  And I loved having my kids (Luke, Noah, Erika and Molly- Jack and Sadie sat in the car) participating in it as well.  Molly loved it!  She got way into it.  But I think it gave us all a little more appreciation for their service.  Kinda cool.  Afterwards, Jen treated us all to breakfast at IHOP.  Lots of fun there!  I sat with Luke and Jack by Meg, Chris and Enoch.  Fun way to start off the summer!  Then we came home and napped for what felt like forever!  I seriously slept so good on the couch for like two hours!!  Then two more in my bed!  Kinda nice.  5-28-22

MEMORIAL DAY
We had a very interesting Memorial Day this year.  We started out at the ward breakfast.  This is always fun, but kind of lame because Nate can't be there.  We did pretty good this time though.  Although, I thought it was really funny that the biggest conversation I had was with Bro. Tenney.  He stopped me as I was going up to get food to tell me how good I look and how amazed he is by my weight loss.  Even asked me how much I weigh (HAHAHA!).  He was really complimentary which was nice, but also a little awkward ;).  He wanted to hear about what I was doing and then told me what he has been doing as well :).  He has been "subscribing to the ideals of Professor Ben Bikman".  Sounded like he was doing really well also!  We talked a LOT about insulin and maltodextrin and fat.  All of his food sensitivities and all of the other great things that come up when you talk about weight loss... cold showers, diarrhea, gut cleansing... kinda funny.  He is really nice.  He thought I weighed 115 :).  Anyway.  It was funny.  Then I went and sat with Emily to chat for a minute.  The kids were totally grossed out by the gray eggs and didn't eat much of anything, but it was fun to be with friends.  Bradley was a huge help with Sadie.  I was very grateful for that.  
After the breakfast, we went straight to the store for M&Ms and then on to Nana's grave!  I love this tradition.  I just wish my dad or Steve had been there.  We did good though.  Talked a little about Nana and ate some M&Ms.  After the grave we stopped at the dollar store for Sadie's potty prize.  She has gone pee in the potty a couple times, but I don't think she even knows when she's doing it.  I am not convinced that she's ready.  She hates it anyway, so doesn't matter.  
After that we came home to get some housework done, and to get ready for our freshly planned family activity that night.  We planned to have the girls come down for roasting hot dogs and playing kickball :). 
In the early afternoon Sadie informed me that she was not feeling well and that she was going to throw up.  I wasn't too worried but got her a bowl and sat her down on the couch.  I was so shocked a half hour or so later that she was right!  She actually did throw up!  A TON!  She kept going all afternoon, and into the evening.  I'm not sure why she does that.  Her throw up gets so foamy by the end.  We had concluded that it was the gross eggs from the breakfast that made her sick, so we weren't too worried about anyone else getting sick. 
It was really nice to have them down.  Kelly brought her new "friend" Clayton.  It was fun!  We roasted hot dogs on the back patio and then went over to the field for some kickball.  This was a fun game.  Funny how competitive Clayton was and the teasing he did with Brad.  Brad was a good sport.  Kelly said goodbye to Clayton and we watched a movie that night so it was a great ending to an interesting day.  5-30-22

FIRST REAL DAY OF SUMMER
I was the worst mom ever and scheduled dentist appointments for Brad and Jack on the first day of summer.  So not cool.  They did good and didn't hate me too much.  5-31-22

FUNCTIONAL NEUROLOGIST- PICTURES
This was a really cool visit with Dr. Smith.  We did all the usual things, the tongue shocking, lasers on her cerebellum and wrist, the balance test (Kelly clapping and tapping on the beat), and then when he was doing her adjustments he asked her where she was hurting.  She told him her hand hurt and felt swollen.  He asked her what pain level, she said 7 or 8 and then he asked for her phone.  I gave it to him, he opened it up, told her to lay her hurt hand on her black shirt (she was laying down on the table).  He proceeded to take a picture of her hurt hand with her phone!  So weird.  We both weren't sure where he was going with this, but then he pulls the picture up, turns the phone around and holds it in front of Kelly to look at.  Then has her do a few weird little things touching fingers to her thumb and then asks her to look at the picture and move from finger tips to wrist over and over again.  Then asked her what her pain level was!  I was shocked, and so was Kelly when she said, "4!?"  He was so happy with that, but wanted to keep going, so he moved the picture around to different quadrants in her field of vision, looking for the best spot, asking her if it felt better "here or here".  She worked her way down to a 0 with just looking at a picture of her hand!!  Even the swelling had gone down!  It was so cool!!  We were so excited.  He told her she can't just pull out that same picture any time it's hurting, she needs to take a new picture, but she has tried it a few times since then and it actually works!!  So cool!  5-31-22