March 2020

NATE’S NEW CALLING
Nate and I were invited to visit with the stake president on Tuesday. We did our usual speculation, trying to guess which one of us was getting a calling and what it could be. I was leaning towards Elders Quorum for Nate. He had his three guesses ツ. When we got there they had Nate go back so then I knew it was him and could kind of relax. While I was sitting in the foyer with Pres. Faced and Pres. Mulstein, I learned that Pres. Mulstein went to Germany on his mission. Just a could years before my dad, possibly overlapping, and Pres. Faced went to the same mission that Nates dad went. Pretty crazy little coincidence! But anyway. Pres. Taylor called me back in and then issued the call to Nate to be the 2nd counselor in the Bishopric. Which was quite the surprise since the whole bishopric wasn’t changing, just Bro. Thaxton was getting released. He accepted it willingly and then they asked me if I could support him in that calling. I said absolutely. It was a pretty special moment. I’m so proud of Nate and so glad that he will get to have this opportunity.
So today he was announced, sustained, went to sit up on the stand next to the bishop, and then after church he was ordained a High Priest and then was set apart to be the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric of the Ponds Park ward in the Kaysville South Stake in the Church of Jesus heist of Latter-day Saints! I really am looking forward to the blessings that must come with this calling and for what Nate will get to experience and the growth and Spirit he will get to be part of. He’s so amazing. It’s no surprise that the Lord would want him in this calling. It’s a good thing Heavenly Father didn’t let me or our big/busy/young/everything family get in the way. It’s nice to know this was inspired too. Very cool. So here we go! 3-1-20

BRADLEY’S FIRST STAKE CALLING
After all the ordaining and setting apart, Bradley was finally set apart for his calling as the Stake youth representative for Regional dances. They extended the calling a couple weeks ago, so he’s been anxious to get started. It’ll be fun to see what he does with this calling! I’m excited for him. 3-1-20

FHE
We talked a lot about baptism and had ice cream sandwiches for the treat.  3-2-20

ORTHODONTIST CONSULT FOR ERIKA
Nate took Erika to the orthodontist and she had her appliance installed!  This is a new one for us- we'll see how it goes!  Hopefully it doesn't hurt too much while we're in Vegas.  3-4-20

BEST OF THE WEST- LACROSSE TOURNAMENT
Kelly, Erika, Sadie and I all embarked on the fun adventure we call Kelly's Tournament!  It was a lot of fun this year!   A little more work than last year, but still lots of fun!  Let's see if I can remember some of the highlights:
1. road tripping with my favorite girls!  We had fun doing Phineas and Ferb trivia questions, Erika read a lot, Kelly and I skipped through her playlist a lot.  They all slept a little, Sadie ate a few times.  The drive was actually kind of hard and felt REALLY long, but we made it!  We left at about 3:00 and got there around 11:00 Nevada time.
2. SHOPPING!  We hit some outlet stores and had a lot of fun there.  Found a store where everything was $10 or less!  Like stuff that shouldn't be that cheap!  It was awesome.  Course we didn't even buy anything there.  Kinda funny.  We liked a lot of it.  Kelly tried on shoes :).  This was where we got our Las Vegas souvenirs instead of stopping in actual Vegas this year.  We all got some shirts.  It was a fun little shopping trip.  We won't forget the peeler guy, the Menchies that didn't have an employee or a card reader, and the non-alcoholic, spicy, slushies!  Funny stuff.  The Wetzels Pretzels were good though!  I'd go there again.  I might have liked them a little better than Pretzelmaker, is that crazy or what!  I ate WAY more than I said I would.
3. Door Dash Dinner from Red Robin! YUM!  Kelly of course had pizza with her team and the Farmington High boys team.
4. Kelly's games!  Of course, the whole reason we were there.  Kelly played AWESOME-ly!!  She scored the first goal in the first game and several more.  They were ahead the whole game and then let the other team get a few points to tie the game!  Such a bummer.  But better than last year!  The next two games we don't talk about.  Well, Kelly doesn't, but I do, just to say that that one team, from Canada was dirty!  They were dirty dirty players!  Really physical.  And let's don't mention the crappy refs!  That goes without saying.  The third game was with a REALLY GOOD TEAM!  They were really good and we still scored a few points.  So that is the positive spin :).  They did try!  The last game was super super annoying, but really awesome because we creamed them!  We totally beat them!  They were horrible, but we beat them!  The goalie was the worst player on the team.  Wouldn't stay in the goal and was basically all over the place with the ball!  She drove us all nuts!  So many bad calls in that game as well.  But we won.
5. Jentry's mom's umbrella to keep Sadie out of the sun.
6. Meeting Micah's mom.
7. The drive home was pretty good.  We didn't hit a deer so that was good!  We really had to push ourselves those last few hours though.  It was rough driving late after the long day in the heat- we had 75-80 temps the whole time!  HEAVEN!  I had a funny experience when we were coming up on Provo, the conversation I had had earlier that day with Jentry's mom, Nicki, popped in my head.  She had been talking about her drive down and said, "When I got tired, I just pulled over, slept for 15 minutes and then I was good to go!"  And then right then, my head nodded off!  Only for a split second, but it was too much for me to ignore it and think I should keep driving.  I realized the Spirit was trying to tell me something.  So I took the next exit (it was painful to think we were that close and I was stopping, but it was totally necessary), pulled into the gas station parking lot and took a little power nap!  Luckily everyone slept through it so it wasn't too big a deal, and then we trudged on!  Those drives were rough for me this time, not sure why.  But we had such a good time!  3-5-20--3-7-20

FIRST SUNDAY WITHOUT NATE
We survived our first Sunday without Nate here to help in the morning.  He has his meetings from 7:30-10:30!  We did pretty good if I do say so myself!  And everyone did really well during Sacrament meeting!  I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to stay in there with Sadie even.  That's two weeks in a row for her.  I think we got this!  3-8-20

CHARITY'S 18TH BIRTHDAY!
This is a big pill to swallow!  I think bigger than turning 40 myself!  I think I've been mostly in denial about Charity growing up.  It's fine to talk about college and stuff, but seeing that big 1-8 on her sign that Kelly made her, really made it real!  She's actually here!  And really, I couldn't be more proud of her.  She is such an amazing girl!  I love her determination, her strength, her love for others.  Her spunky personality and non-judgement that everyone loves to be around.  Her laugh, her smile, her beautiful voice!  I'm just so proud of her!!  She seemed to enjoy her day.  I wish I'd been able to make her favorite breakfast, but I did bring her a few pizzas for lunch and we had a fun dinner out to Osaka as a family for some sushi!  Loved that!  And then grandpa Hatch, Dawn, Grandma Hatch and Steve (he made a quick appearance, so nice of him to come when he was so tired) came over and had some cheesecake and ice cream with us.  She seemed to enjoy it, but also seemed a little disappointed.  I hope she wasn't and that she was really just tired from Daylight Savings time change the day before.  That is a killer for sure!  We gave her some Escape Room passes and told her we were covering the rest of the money for her trip.  That was exciting :).  She's such a good girl, I just hope she knows how much we love her and want her to be happy.  Here's to a good run!  I hope our little adult is ready for life!  She's still ours for a little while longer, but pretty soon!  So crazy!  3-9-20

ARIA JOY HATCH
We got a new niece today!!  She looks so cute in her picture!  Can't wait to meet her this summer!  Congratulations to Brent and Sarah!  3-11-20

KELLY'S KNEE
We finally took Kelly in for her crazy knee.  She hyper-extended it a week ago and it's been bugging her ever since.  Well, we didn't hear much about it at the tournament last weekend, but NOW it is bugging her.  Imagine that.  Dr. Burnett didn't seem too worried about it but in true Dr. Burnett form sent us to a specialist.  We'll see how it goes next Monday when we take her in!  I hope it's okay, I would hate for her to not play!  3-11-20

TRACK STARTED!
We all have been SO EXCITED that Luke decided to join Brad on the Track team this year!  We of course love that Brad is doing it again as well.  They started conditioning this week and since Brad has ringworm and can't wrestle, he went to Track conditioning instead :).  Poor guy.  I'm really excited that Luke is going to try it out!  I can't wait to see how he does!  3-11-20

THIS IS WHEN IT ALL WENT DOWN
Thursday night when everyone was watching the Jazz game, there was a bunch of commotion and then all of a sudden, they just canceled the game.  We found out later that it was because Rudy Gobert's Coronavirus test had come back positive!  They panicked and just canceled the game.  Immediately following, the entire NBA suspended all games indefinitely!  How crazy is that!  That never happens!  Sports ALWAYS go on!!  So this was the first weird thing.  Then the next day President Nelson announced that all church meetings would be canceled and done in our homes for the next month.  That was crazy too!  And actually, this is when it got really big- when The Lord cancels church, you know it's important!  The school district decided to cancel school for the next two weeks.  This is when Charity died.  She hasn't been herself since.  They canceled all of her choir concerts and sadly her Madrigals Choir Tour.  This is a really sad one.  Eventually they canceled PROM as well.  Brad's wrestling tournaments were all canceled, the last basketball games, future soccer games  for Jack, Noah and Erika (she was SO SAD!), Kelly's lacrosse games and practices were canceled and any kind of meeting or activity involving people were canceled.  So crazy.  People began hoarding things at the store like toilet paper and water... it was INSANE at the stores.  Not that I saw it first hand, I refused to set foot in a store!  I kept ordering things online, having them out of stock and reordering them until they came :).  Then there was a rapid firing of closures for the next couple days.  Slowly everything started being closed or shorter hours... etc.  It is really nuts!  Even TEMPLES!!  So we're trying our best to stay away from people other than us.  We'll see how this goes. 3-12-20

CHARITY'S FRIEND PARTY EVEN THOUGH IT'S NOT A FRIEND PARTY YEAR
We didn't have a friend party for Charity last year, and she did turn 18.  So we approved a friend party on a non- friend party year.  This is the second time we've done this for Charity.  It was a little risky since the government had just announced that we needed to social distance and not be with groups over 100 if you are healthy, 20 if you are at risk.  I have decided that Nate is at risk, so I would have liked to follow this rule, but I had already told Charity she could.  So Charity invited all of her friends over- I mean ALL of them- plus some of Kelly's- for a little party.  I mean, she didn't get any cupcakes at the store, so it was hardly a birthday party, but it seemed like everyone had fun.  They were all over the house and yard and very loud until the very end :).  But it was fun to hear Charity having fun.  Can't believe our baby girl is 18!!!  Too unreal.  3-13-20

CORONAVIRUS
They're really starting to crack down on the social distancing.  I kind of drew a line today.  After having all of Charity's friends over last night, it felt like our whole house was contaminated.  Not to mention Molly's cough!  I was panicking just a smidge inside.  I think I made everyone crazy with my worrying and I definitely made Charity mad with my rules.  If only everyone could be rule followers like us.  And really, we were probably stricter than we needed to be, but I am concerned about some of us and Nate's lungs!  I just want to be careful.  Time to hunker down. All the stores have been ransacked.  I am glad I have the free delivery thing with Walmart and I am glad we have SOME kind of food storage.  I am wishing we had better organization though, so I developed a new plan for us for the future.  Since that's what this is for- preparing us for worse things.  We are going to start planning and purchasing food for an entire day of meals plus a snack and treat, and boxing them up all together to make it really simple to grab a day's worth of food and go.  We are going to try to get one day a week and have 52 by the time a year is up.  Then we will cycle through those the following year, using one a week and buying one a week still, to rotate it all.  I hope this idea works.  It works in my head, so we'll see.  It will make me feel better about our storage.  3-14-20

OUR FIRST SACRAMENT MEETING AT HOME
Let me just start off by saying that this was BY FAR my most favorite Sunday of all time!  It was SO INCREDIBLE!!  So full of the Spirit!  So cool!  Before we started, Luke, being the teacher, got everything all ready for the sacrament, with the bread and water cups.  So cute!  He even cleaned up the family room for us beforehand.  This was special!  We planned a little program: I was conducting, Nate was presiding, Jack chose the opening song, "The Spirit of God" and led it with all his heart!  I couldn't believe he was taking this seriously, did such a good job the whole time!  Then someone gave the opening prayer, I wish I could remember who, maybe it will come to me.  We had the Sacrament song by Noah.  Then my favorite part of this whole meeting was the Sacrament.  It was SO INCREDIBLE!!  Bradley had been sitting over by the table that we had designated as the sacrament table (our folding table with our nice table cloth), got on his knees with his phone set to the sacrament prayer, and blessed the sacrament.  This just brought me to tears!  Nate too!  It was so neat!  The Spirit was incredible!  Then Noah passed the bread and we did it all again with the water.  I don't know if I've ever felt so much power in the room during the sacrament.  I felt like I was able to really focus on it too.  Thankfully, Molly and Sadie were being good little girlies!  After the Sacrament, Bradley gave a talk about how the Savior heals our wounds and then Charity gave one on how we are to feel about material things.  It was really perfect!  They both did a really great job!  I was so glad they took it seriously.  Then we had the closing song by Luke "Nearer My God to Thee" and Molly gave the closing prayer.  We took a few minute break and then had Kelly teach our Primary lesson and then Nate taught a quick Sunday school lesson.  It was perfect!  I seriously can't say enough good things about it.  I'm sort of dreading when we have to go back to regular church!  I mean minus the friends.  This was too precious.  And you could feel it in that room all day.  The kids did way better at keeping the Sabbath day holy!  I loved it!  3-15-20

THE CLEMENSES
We got to see the Clemenses on Monday!  They met up with us at Murray Park.  So much fun to see Julie!  I just love her! We broke all the rules and hugged!  We were all trying to maintain our distances but still able to hang out together.  I figure we were okay because we were outside.  I hope it was an okay risk.  It was so good to see her!  I just love that family.  Our kids all got along pretty well, not quite as good as last time, but things are weird right now, so we'll cut them some slack, I guess. Our favorite part was when Julie yelled at her phone, "I'M ON VACATION!!!" because all the restaurants were being closed.  She's hilarious.  Such a bummer of a time to be here for sure.  But I"m so glad we got to see them.  Probably the last time we can realistically expect to have all of our kids together at once. And good news- our toilet paper came today!  Phew!!  3-16-20

ORTHOPEDIC SPECIALIST
Despite the social distancing rules, we took Kelly to the Orthopedic specialist today.  They did an x-ray and poked and prodded.  The PA who was working for us was very nice, didn't seem too concerned, and told her that it was probably going to heal in the next two weeks (the two weeks it is canceled for now) and that she should be fine to use it as long as it didn't hurt.  Seems like  no-brainer but we needed a doctor to tell us that.  Hopefully this really is a good time for her knee to heal.  I'm glad she's not having to miss out on games that are happening.  3-16-20

ST. PATRICK'S DAY!
This was a different St. Patrick's Day.  No Lucky Charms for one thing.  We did have green pancakes though.  We were confined to our home basically.  Except to go to the school and get laptops for the boys.  Everyone wore green... except Molly who never did change out of her clothes from yesterday... I mean why bother.  The day was pretty uneventful.  The Leprechauns did bring us a little treasure hunt with a big pot of gold! That was exciting!  Would have been better if Molly had not cried at every single clue because she didn't get to be the one to find it or read it or whatever it was she didn't get to do that she wanted.  Drove most of us nuts.  We did however end up having a fun game of kickball at the park- gotta remember to start sooner, it got dark so fast! after dinner, and that ended up being a LOT of fun!  Even cute Sadie just sat there in her stroller and watched because everyone was having so much fun.  The teams were totally uneven :).  But SO MUCH FUN.  We came home and played a little Monopoly on the Switch with most of us, and then watched Space Jam.  It was a good last day before school work starts!  Can't wait for that.  3-17-20

CORONAVIRUS SOCIAL DISTANCING
They lowered the amount of people you are able to be around to 10.  We are going to have to decide who is voted off the island!  We have 11.
We've been following the rules pretty strictly.  Maybe even more strictly than we need to.  I feel it is important considering Nate's lungs.  I guess it kind of defeats the purpose though, when he's out and about and working all the time.  My hope is that it reduces our chances though.  It's been kind of hard on the kids!  Mostly Charity, but I can tell Kelly and Bradley are struggling as well without seeing friends.  This would be really hard as a teenager.  I hope I can come up with some fun things to do that they will also enjoy.  The rest of the kids have moments of frustration because they can't play with friends.  Well, Erika has.  Luke and Noah have really made the most of this, coding games, wrestling, playing the switch, it's been fun to watch them.  Jack is in heaven not having to leave the house except to ride his bike, the occasional walk or kickball game at the park.  He's actually seemed to really open up during this time.  If I didn't know better, I would think this was a good thing for him.  He's had fun wrestling with his brothers as well.  Molly is her usual self, but with more slaves to boss around.  She struggles with not being in the driver's seat though.  It's been a bit of a challenge.  Sadie is LOVING the company of her siblings.  She's another one that I feel is benefiting directly from the situation. I feel like we're doing pretty well though.  I wish we could get past the doom and gloom of the quarantine and get on with the family time!  I hate to lose precious time while it's here! I know it will be gone before I know it.  And not soon enough for some of the kids.  I feel like this is a great time for us to get closer and stronger.  I have prayed for some good quality family time.  So we'll see how it goes.  I can hope.  3-17-20

WEEK ONE OF QUARANTINE
Well, I thought that after getting all caught up last week, that I'd be really good with updating this week, but it I wasn't!  It was quite the whirlwind this week!  Lots of emotions, lots of worry, new things but also lots of love, free time, and fun memories.  I hope I never forget this time in our lives- it certainly has been something new I've never experienced before.  We are living prophecy right now!  It's so cool!  I mean, we're always living prophecy, but it's just so cool to see things unfolding that we have been warned of and prepared for.  I kind of love it.  And I LOVE all the family time I'm getting with my kiddos!  I couldn't be happier about that part.  SO anyway- I thought I might just make a quick list of the things we did this week.  In no particular order (and that's why I'm not numbering them, I hate when I forget something and have to go back and renumber everything... this isn't Word people :))
- Hanging out with the Clemenses at Murray Park!  I was super nervous about this because I'd been lecturing the kids all weekend about hanging out with friends, but they were on board and let us go down and meet up with them.  We had fun talking and walking and playing with them.  It was good to see Julie.  She's so awesome.  I loved her reaction to the restaurants closing for dining in.  She's hilarious.  But so sad she wasn't able to see her grandma before she left back to Oklahoma.  We figured this is probably the last time we will be able to hand out with ALL of our kids together.  Crazy that life is headed that way!  It went way too fast.  3-16-20
- Hearing about the first cases in Utah.  Being told to stay in groups smaller than 20.
- Our 5.7 earthquake on Monday!  This was HUGE!!  And SO oddly timed!  I mean who thinks they're going to get an earthquake during a world wide pandemic!!!  It was actually really cool after the fact.  So, I had gotten up early to feed Sadie and was lounging in the recliner in her room when it started.  I kind of felt like I was going to tip over or something and my first thought was, "an earthquake? really? right now?", but it sure was!!  After a second or two, I could hear Jack crying and coming down from my room (he had been sleeping with me because he was having diarrhea in the night, and Nate was working the mid), so I got up and thought standing in the doorway might be a good idea?  Then I could hear Erika's bed creaking and Erika started crying.  I needed to reassure them that everything was okay, so as calmly as I could I said, "This is an earthquake.  We're going to be okay!  Come by me, it will stop in a little bit."  I couldn't believe how long it felt.  I have no idea how long it actually was, but it felt like a few minutes at least.  I don't think it was actually that long though.  As we were standing there, Erika, Jack, Sadie and I, Kelly came flying out of her room, exclaiming, "Okay! That was the coolest thing ever!" then went back to bed.  Kinda reminded me of myself :).  I love those things.  It's a little different with kids, but still pretty cool looking back.  I was happy she did that, because it really calmed Jack and Erika.  I think they try to play it tough when they see their siblings playing it tough.  And they were able to see the coolness of it pretty quickly.  Not as many tears as there might have been.  The rest of the day we were all kind of on the edge of our seats, waiting for the next after shock.  And all week really, there were several.  I think I only felt two of the aftershocks.  Right after it stopped we decided we needed to go cuddle on the couch in the living room and a few minutes into it, Nate walked in from work.  He had been driving when it happened and didn't get to feel it!  That was a bummer.  But we were so relieved that he was there!  Jack had been longing for his dad.  It was pretty crazy!  3-18-20
- Walking over to the ponds as a family (mostly- Kelly and Charity were home visiting with friends on the front lawn) and fishing!  I loved watching Bradley hand his pole over just as he felt a bite and letting someone else reel it in and feel awesome!  He's such a good big brother!  Molly caught four fish because she is four.  3-18-20
- Seeing lots of friends and neighbors out on walks when we go out.
- All the fun in the backyard.  Playing Four Square on the honor system- you are only out if you say you are... kinda cool that it actually worked to dispell some of the yucky feelings.  Not everyone is completely honest though! HA!
- Lots of Marco Polos to my friends.  This next week I would like to include the kids and let them make a video for family- could be a fun way to let them know we love them.  I'm thinking Grandpa Hatch and Steve mostly.
- The Chalk art!  Kelly did some chalk art out on our driveway and it sparked a whole neighborhood thing where everyone was writing notes on each other's driveways and making fun uplifting pictures- pretty cool!  Lots of fun.  We did make a round Saturday night, with some chalk, it wasn't my favorite walk though.  Felt like an eternity :).  But it was fun leaving little notes on people's driveways.  I hope that meant something to everyone else.
- The remote learning!  We did the first three days of online school this week!  (Charity and I can't agree on what to call it, so I'm calling it both)  I feel like it went pretty well.  We spend a lot of time getting signed in.  That's the hard part.  And keeping the internet going.  But overall, I feel like the experience has been somewhat painless.  The older kids basically govern themselves.  I hope they are getting it all done like they need to.  I have been printing off every email I get and then filing them in folders for each kid.  Seems to be working okay.  I hope we can keep this up. So far we have started our school at 11:00 and then stop at noon for lunch and then finish up.  Charity's is longest so she gets started a little sooner and finishes later, but for the most part this has worked.  The younger kids obviously need a little more help.  Mrs. Downs has had a LOT for Noah to do and different things he has to turn in and stuff- that has been tricky for both of us.  We will get the hang of it soon I hope.  Mrs. Hewett has been AMAZING!!  Her cute little pages of things to do are so fun and colorful- I LOVE how she teaches!  She has even made this pretty fun for the kids!  I don't know how she does it.  Erika has had a good time with a lot of her activities.  I'm so glad she has her for a teacher this year.  Jack's teacher, Mrs. Lindsey has made it pretty simple so far, I am nervous for what she's working up to :).  But Jack has loved it and it's gone pretty smoothly!  I've enjoyed our reading sessions!  He actually reads to me!  So that's been a fun change.  I'm not sure how home-schoolers do it!  I could not plan work for seven kids myself.  So I'm very grateful for our teachers!
- Grocery delivery- I'm pretty glad I was prompted to get the Walmart Grocery delivery started just before this all happened.  That has been a blessing.  I did have a few orders this week since the stores have been out of stock on a LOT of things.  I've had to get kind of creative, which is probably just a good thing- with our shopping, so that we can have food!  But it has been great to not have to go to the store and expose us to more germs.  It's bad enough having Nate go to work everyday.  It'll be nice when people stop panic buying and things can return to normal.  We'll see how long it takes for that to happen :).
- Facebook.  I had an experience this week during my studying that made me feel like I should get on facebook and start posting positive, uplifting, spiritual things on there.  I have been very adamant about commenting on other's posts and about spending too much time on there, but a sentence I read in a talk this week, "talk to as many people as you can" stood out to me and I can't think of any other way to do that than through social media right now, so for now, I'm back on facebook.  I felt inpsired to share a quote from Pres. Nelson, a picture of some physicians asking people to stay at home, and most recently, a post asking to hear all the good that has come of this situation- this one has been a lot of fun for me to look at!  I'm happy there are good things happening.  It's been mostly negative everywhere.
- Fun crafts- Erika started on her bead animals- that's been a lot of fun.  Kelly figured out my Silouette machine yesterday so we need to get going with that :).  Our first project was copying Annie's "Get Naked" on our bathtub :).  I love it!  It will be fun to make stickers and vinyl lettering- maybe some fun iron on shirts!  We are very excited for this!  I need to go order some vinyl.  Erika and I made her bunk bed caddy finally!  Turned out super cute!
- Onward- Disney put all their new movies online for streaming!  We couldn't resist the urge to buy it on Amazon Prime and watch it all together.  Cute CUTE movie!  I love the brother love story.  There were a few things I didn't love about this movie, but they were pretty subtle.  I think this will be a favorite from here on out. 3-20-20
- Sadie has been loving all the attention from her big brothers and sisters!  It's been cute to see her face light up when someone new walks in the room.  She's gotten a little more needy though- that's the down side :).  They are trying to teach her to crawl and she is getting very close!  It's super cute to watch and the kids are loving it!  She also tried out the trampoline the other day and loved that!  She loves bouncing and standing and feeling independent :).  She doesn't love the last leg of our walks.  She is usually crying when we are almost home.
- Nate's work has been less busy.  They've cancelled all flights out of the country.
- Kelly has been a rock through this whole thing!  She has kept her spirit up and helped to pass that along.  It's been a huge blessing!  She has moments that I can tell she's struggling, but she's pushing through it so well!  She's so tough!  It's cool to watch.  She's been fun with her sibs, making rice krispie treats, playing Psych, making pretend soup with Molly, and just being extra helpful to me. She gave a great talk this Sunday, put a lot of thought and work into it!
- Bradley has been much like Kelly, pushing through it!  A rock!  He's been so much fun with his siblings and kept so active!  I've been so proud of his activity level.  I'm sure that's helping him to stay positive.  He learned how to do a back hand spring and then a back flip as well on the trampoline.  One of his goals!  Very cool!  Now he's teaching everyone else how to do it as well.  He's been a lot of fun to laugh with and tease.  He learned how to flip pizzas, might drop out of school to pursue that!  Jk.  He carved the smoked chickens Nate left for us too- that was new.  He's been a lot of fun.  I love watching him stay busy.  I've appreciated his help with everything too.  I've loved how respectfully he's handled the sacrament and blessing it for us.  I love the care he's put into it.
- Molly has been herself :).  She's loving having everyone around I think, but at the same time missing her routine a little.  But she's definitely been handling things better than I would have thought.  She is starting to feel the cabin fever though- she asked me today when we are going to go to Disneyland.  She keeps asking to go to the zoo.  It's been kind of cute and sad at the same time.  Hopefully she can last this whole thing out.
- Noah has learned how to do a back hand spring, he does a few every time we go outside.  It's super cool.  He's been pretty tough this week as well.  He has a group marco polo with his classmates, he has friends wanting to do a lego challenge, and he's been able to keep in touch with a lot of his friends.  He's been busy with Luke and Erika outside.  Minus their little spats, I feel like everyone has gotten along pretty well.  He's shown some signs that he's getting worn out, but I think he's got a little more time left in him.  I'm pretty proud of how he's passed the sacrament and taken that so seriously.  I've loved that.
- Erika has kept very busy as well.  I feel like she has this lingering ache to play with Kate and that's been a challenge for sure.  But I feel like she has definitely made the most of things.  She has been buddies with Kelly and Luke and Noah.  She's had fun playing with Molly (in small doses, they have a lot of fun together).  Done lots of new crafts and fun projects.  She's been able to keep up on her schoolwork and had fun with that.  Cuddling with Sadie- I love when she asks if she can hold Sadie still :).  That's usually something I have to ask of the kids at this point.  She's so wiggly and needy that it's not as fun as when she was a helpless little newborn :).  But Erika still gets a few snuggles in once in a while.  Speaking of this makes me think I need to cuddle with Erika a little more- maybe tomorrow.  She seems like she could use a good hug as well.
- Luke has been a rockstar as well.  I can tell he misses his friends and it was so hard to tell him no when friends were inviting him over at the beginning of the week, but he's pushed through as well.  He's maintained a pretty even keel.  I'm really proud of him!  I love his ability to jump all in and do what needs to be done.  He does this with the preparation of the Sacrament.  Makes me so happy to see him skipping around cleaning things up and getting things ready and then afterwards, cleaning it all up!  What a trooper!  It's kind of the grunt work position I'm feeling, but he doesn't act like that at all.  He feels very important and makes what he's doing special and sacred.  He's loved playing the new Monopoly game on the Switch and was so happy it was only $10!  Me too :).
- Charity has had a challenging time.  This has been really hard.  She had so many things canceled right up front it just threw her into this depression right away.  As can be expected.  No choir tour, no choir concerts or festivals, no PROM, worrying about whether there will be a graduation or not!  no hanging out with friends!!!  That's been the worst part.  I feel awful about not letting her do things with friends, but I just can't shake the feeling that it's necessary.  I hope we don't have it and that's why I've felt so strongly the need to be so strict, but either way, I'd rather be safe than sorry.  I just hate that it's hurting her so much.  She has had a lot of late night talks on the front lawn with Carter and other friends.  I'm glad she's had that.  I hope she will be able to come around though and cling to the tender mercies we've been given.  I have really loved being able to spend more time with her and have her around more.  It's a sweet little blessing before she moves out in the fall!
- Jack has been a completely different kid, in a very good way!  This whole thing has been such a good thing for him!  I'm not sure why, but I am loving all the chattiness that has suddenly emerged from him!  He's SO TALKATIVE!!  And so fun to talk to!  He's been so imaginative and had so much fun doing new things and having all this free time has given him new life!  I love it!  I mean it helps that he's kind of a hermit at heart.  He doesn't love going places, never has, so the staying home thing is right up his alley- kinda like me- so that's been great until I force everyone to come on a walk with me ;).  He's really had a lot of fun and seems to have new life in him.  So I couldn't be happier with that.  He has been very concerned with more earthquakes, keeps telling me that he keeps thinking about the earthquake and questioning if it was real, he talks about it a lot.  It really effected him!  But I love that he's kind of embraced it as well.  I wonder how long this all will last with him, he did ask me yesterday why he can't play with friends, so we will see how long he lasts and if this desire to play with friends gets to be too much for him.
- My new favorite line (that I made up :) ) is: This is an introverted hermit's dream come true :).  I am loving the break from life.  It is a much needed one.  I think this whole thing is just an answer to my prayers.  Sorry world.  Heavenly Father loves me that much.  I am loving the time with my kids.  I am loving that thought that our Prophet is RIGHT!  And he's been preparing us for actual things!  That all this work we're putting in and all the things we've been working toward are for a reason!  I love living these prophecies!  I love that we have been doing our come follow me so well- switching over to doing home church has been a breeze and a welcome change!  I'm glad that we love each other so being together 24/7 isn't killing us.  I love that we've had so many tender mercies through this all.  Kelly's knee needed time to heal- she would have had to sit on the sidelines at a bunch of games to do that and we all know that she wouldn't have been able to resist the urge to play so she probably would have damaged it more!  This way, she can heal and not miss anything that's happening!  It is a bummer that the beginning of the season was cancelled.  I can't argue with that.  I'm sad about it too.  We get to have Charity home more :).  We all love that.  Well, I don't know if she does.  I don't think she does yet, we'll say that :).  We've had so much time to sit and talk and spend together.  I sure hope everyone recovers from missing out on certain sports, our track season had JUST started... that was a huge bummer to miss out on that, especially since Luke had finally consented :).  And Erika's soccer!  Noah and Jack's too, but I haven't heard them say much about it.  I will be glad when the temples are reopened.  It's just so many mixed feelings.  But overall.  I am loving having my family close and being able to be with them so much!  It's a huge blessing.

SO that was week one!  We'll see what the next week brings!

CHURCH AT HOME
This week we had a little harder time  getting started on our church meeting, Nate took longer with the Bishopric meeting. And I had slept in unfortunately. But we just started a little late, everything was great again! I REALLY love having church at home as a family. We had Luke and Kelly give talks this week. Then Charity taught singing time and then we split into priesthood, primary, and Relief Society/yw and Nate taught and I taught. It worked out pretty well! I absolutely love taking the sacrament together. So neat!! Next week we’re adding a musical number! 3-22-20

FHE
Kelly taught our lesson. She handed us each a piece of paper with our name at the top. Then she had us write something we’ve done to make ourself happy. After that we passed them around and wrote down what each other has done to make us happy. Worked out really well! Really cool idea. Especially right now. We played signs for brad’s game and ate Hello Dolly bars for Luke’s treat. Lots of fun!  3-23-20

CUPCAKE WARS
Today we wanted something fun to do so we played a round of cupcake wars!  This ended up being a lot of fun!! I found a no flavor cupcake batter and frosting. We divided up into three teams: Nate, Brad, Erika. Me, Charity, Luke. And Kelly, Noah, Jack. Molly was asleep. Didn’t take too long but we were a little rushed at the end with Nate needing to leave for work. Our theme was “Last Week”. Erika’s team made the Earthquake Surprise. The had cute geodes in their chocolate cupcakes with green frosting and sticks on top. Kelly’s team did the Backyard Campfire ones- Jack’s idea to do the s’mores night. They had graham cracker crust, chocolate chip cake, then marshmallow frosting, graham crumbs, a roasted mini marshmallow and chocolate chips on top. They won! We had the Sidewalk Chalk Cupcake. We did a Nutella marble cake with coconut frosting. Then we used sprinkles and fondant chalk on top. It was actually very delicious! I loved it!! This was a lot of fun!! I hope we do it again soon ツ. 3-24-20

REMOTE LEARNING
We’re getting better at the online schooling. Feels more smooth every day. I think we might survive this. I have yet to feel like this is really going do any good, but I’m willing to try with the hope that it does. We will get through this!! 3-25-20

REMOTE YOUTH ACTIVITIES
The older kids all had their remote activities last night. Noah’s class did charades, Luke and Brad did Psych with the Priests, Kelly and Charity did Psych as well. It sounded like everyone was mostly having fun ツ. Different times call for different measures. 3-25-20

POLYMER CLAY
Yes, we are getting a little desperate at this point, for things to do.  I mean, polymer clay is very cool and you don't have to be desperate, I just think it's been a long time since I documented something like this :).  I bought some clay on Amazon because Kelly had used it in her jewelry class and I thought it would be something different to do.  I don't think I had any idea just how fun this would be for the kids!  For all of them, almost!  I think Charity spent all of 45 seconds trying to make a heart before giving up in frustration. HAHAHAHA!  Sadie would just put it in her mouth.  But everyone else spent quite  bit of time making cute little miniatures out of it!  I was so happy that it occupied so much time!  Even more since then, Jack of all people has LOVED it!  He gets it out whenever he's bored!  I've been so impressed with his ability too!  Brad wasn't all that into it and Molly really only watched everyone, but we had a great time making foods and animals.  Lots of fun!  I was really happy we decided to get that and think that's what this quarantine is all about for me- doing things we wouldn't have had time to do before.  3-26-20

NATE'S NEW SCHEDULE
Nate found out Friday they were making plans to rearrange everyone's schedules to cut down on the number of people in the building in an effort to avoid COVID-19.  We waited un-patiently to get the news on how it was going to effect Nate.  Saturday he found out they will be switching to a five days on, 10 days off schedule.  Which to me just sounded kind of nice, but for Nate, this was a change.  He hasn't had to change much with the quarantine, so this was new.  He did get put on the 2:30-10:30 shift for his five days on, and that's not our favorite, but right now while the kids are not in school, early day or evening wouldn't have made much of a difference.  Although, everyone is happier the first part of the day.  So anyway.  I think Nate's fine with it except that his friend Alan is on the mid shift for his five days on.  Which would really stink.  He's not loving that for now.  Hopefully that doesn't last forever.  We'll see how it goes.  I am looking forward to the 10 days off though :).  3-28-20

CHURCH AT HOME ROUND 3
I am still loving having our sacrament meeting at home!  It's been such a cool little blessing!  I love it!  This week we added a musical number and had Charity and Luke sing Peace in Christ.  Also, I gave a talk!  That was cool.  We had Noah give the other talk.  He did amazing.  I am constantly impressed with these kids and what they are capable of.  Molly taught our primary lesson and Luke taught Sunday School.  It's been really neat to have the boys do the sacrament.  Really makes me think about the sacredness of the ordinance more and less-distracted.  I hope we get to do it more.  3-29-20

FHE
We decided to have Family Night at 10:00 this morning because Nate had to go to work at 2:30.  It seemed a little redundant since we had just finished study time, but oh well, it's coronacation- anything goes!  Charity taught the lesson about preparing for conference and told us to study a talk from last conference this week.  I found the one President Nelson gave at the women's broadcast and found a whole bunch of new stuff I want to study!  So that made my day.  Then we went over to the park and played with our new volleyball (Walmart was "out of stock" of playground balls, so we went with a volleyball :)).  That was a lot of fun!  I only wish Sadie would have been more patient like she was the last time we went over there.  She is getting to the point where I think she just wants to join in.  Poor girl has to be stuck in this helpless little body.  She sure wants to try walking.  She does not spend much time sitting down if she can stand.  She hasn't quite gotten the courage to pull herself up to other things, but if you're holding her, she will hold your hands and pull herself up.  It's cute.  But anyway.  After lunch we realized the cinnamon rolls had been sitting on the counter thawing since they had been delivered, so I decided that would be Brad's treat :).  He is such a good go along guy.  They were yummy, I snatched a piece of one.  We never did finish the rest of our Family Night.  Oh well, coronacation!  3-30-20

STILL LOVING IT
I've chatted with a few other friends on Marco Polo and stuff and everyone seems to really hate this quarantine.  I feel kind of bad that I don't!  But not really cuz I'm just loving it!  It's kind of my dream come true still.  I don't feel all that bad about not being able to go places, I am loving having my kids home and I really couldn't care less about much else.  The hard part is that the kids don't get to do all their things and I do feel bad about that, but other than that... I can't complain!  I have really enjoyed it so far!  I don't really want it to end.  3-30-20

VINYL IRON-ON
I finally did some vinyl iron-on shirts!  This was the thing I was looking forward to doing most with my Silhouette and ever since Kelly taught me, I've been really anxious to try it.  Today was the day!  We did it!  Kelly helped me!  Took us a good three hours for the whole process, thanks to my dumb laptop and the internet, but we did it!  I don't know why it's been so hard for me!  I have this dumb mental block!  But we made a heart shaped soccer ball one for Erika's shirt- took three tries.  Then a Coronacation 2020 one for Brad, only took two tries.  And then we made a Big Sister one for Molly!  First try!  So we did improve.  I'm excited to do more with it!  We will definitely have to do some for our M&M camp :).  Next stop: digitizing Kelly's artwork so we can cut it out :).  3-30-20

February

HEAVENLY FATHER KNOWS ME
I had to take Sadie into the mother’s lounge today and while I was in there I had a little chat with Heavenly Father. More like me crying and begging Him to tell me what to do. Wishing I could be a good mom. Wishing I could be a better teacher, wishing I had some more control over my home and my family and a few minutes later, Kara Larsen got up and bore her testimony and in her testimony she said, “Heavenly Father knows you” and I just burst into tears. It felt so good to think about that. Kind of exactly what I needed to hear. Then the awesomest think happened and Brad got up and bore his testimony talking about something that happened the other day. He was looking for his basketball shoes, and I’d asked him to put something away for me, and he had almost put that off and not listened, but instead chose to do it and it just so happened that his shoes were right where whatever it was I asked him to do, was! Pretty cool. So he bore his testimony of obeying parents. Every parent’s dream!! I loved it! Brought me to tears also. My life is good. Everything is going to be okay.  2-2-20

THE WALK OF SHAME
I left my coat on the floor under the pew in front of us in sacrament meeting when I left to the mothers lounge, nobody grabbed it after sacrament meeting, so when we were headed out to the car at the end of church and I was reaching for my keys in the bag, I remembered that I’d left them in my coat pocket!!! Ugh I was so dreading this!! I was totally going to go out to the car (after checking to make sure it wasn’t hanging up in the hallway or lost and found or something) and make one of my kids do it 😬. But something inside me convinced me that I should do it myself. So I did. It was super embarrassing, but I walked up the aisle and bent down, grabbed it, turned and went out the door!! Super crazy!! Fast and testimony meeting and everything!! 2-2-20

REGIONAL YOUTH DANCE REPRESENTATIVE
Brad just got his first stake calling! He’s going to be our stake’s boy representative!! I’m super excited for him and he’ll be so good at that! Can’t wait to see what he does! 2-2-20

LUKE IS 14!!! 
Luke had a great day!!  Favorite breakfast, crepes!  Kelly made his sign!  I took him pizza for lunch even though the annoying kids were going to ask for some.  Then we all went Axe throwing for his party that night!  That was a lot of fun!  I was so glad we did it!  Even Jack and Molly had a blast!  Throwing the little suction cup ones of course.  Grandpa Hatch, Dawn, Steve, Grandma and Simon were all there.  Good stuff!  I made him a stump cake that was going to have an axe in it but I completely ran out of time.  I hope he knows I love him and am so grateful for what he does in our family.  He is a great kid.  Great friend.  Good sense of humor!  I just love the little guy!  2-3-20

PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES
This was another great conference session this year!  Our kids are awesome!  Unfortunately they didn't have the book fair so we had to get Frosty's instead :).  Good job kids!!  You're so amazing!  2-5-20

PTC DINNERS
I got the teachers Chick-fil-a recommended by the PTA and they loved it!  Who woulda thought!  Busy night, but I had Nate's help and it went really well!  So glad.  2-6-20

SWEETHEARTS DANCE
I was so happy to hear that the girls' dance went well!  Better than the last one for Kelly, and Charity took Carter so... well, you know :).  She had a blast!  I was bummed i didn't get to take pictures!  But it was fun to hear about it all.  2-8-20

FAMILY MEETING
Nate took work off and came to the family meeting with us!  It was so great!  I love it when he can come!  2-9-20

STEVE'S BIRTHDAY
I made Steve a stump cake and everyone cake over here to celebrate him!  It was a lot of fun.  I enjoy spoiling Steve.  I just wish I did it more often.  2-10-20

HOUSE OF ORDER
A couple weeks ago I was asked to speak on organizing and cooking and what works in my home.  It kind of took over my thoughts for those two weeks.  I ended up making a few changes to how I run things as well as realizing that I do have some good things that I do around here to keep things in order.  I sometimes don't give myself enough credit.  I was happy to do it, but not happy at the same time.  Simply because I know there are way more organized people out there and it felt like I was an imposter.  2-11-20

VALENTINES DAY
This Valentines felt a little different than previous years. We went to the school for Jack’s star student thing, but no parties which is totally new for us. Nate got me roses which is not really new but I sure love it! We had a few errands to run, got the chocolates and caramel apples for the kids and then in true last minute Christa form, we ran to Joann to get some fabric so that I could make pillow cases for everyone ツ. So I spent most of the day making those.  That was actually a lot of fun until my mom came and asked me if I wanted her size 3 X dress again.  I already felt fat.  Now I feel like I look 3X.  Kind of a bummer.  Nate and I went out and had a great night.  I'm so lucky to have Nate for my Valentine! 2-14-20

JACK STAR STUDENT
We got to go watch Jack present his cute little Star Student packer and show and tell to his class on Friday. He did so good! Nate and I couldn’t get over how perfectly he’d drawn the family. He drew stick people but their heights were shockingly accurate! It was first noticeable when you could see that Noah was just a hair shorter than Erika. Oh and he drew them going youngest to oldest. Starting with his “baby sister Sadie”. Which also surprised me a little ツ. But of course Brad was taller than everyone except Nate. It was super cool! I am going to have to take a picture of it. He’s very detail oriented on the things that matter to him. When he got to school he’d gone up to Mrs. Lindsey and told her he’d forgotten his show and tell and when she asked if he wanted to call his mom to bring them he said, “nah”. Hahahaha!! Crazy kid. But we noticed he didn’t take his stuff and brought some of the stuffed animals he had planned on ツ. One point for us! I loved watching him answer the questions and being all cool. He’s such a good kid. 2-14-20

KELLY’S TALK
Kelly worked so hard on her talk! Put so much thought and effort into it! It totally paid off too! She did such a good job!!  She talked about Christ’s power to love- especially showing kindness when provoked. She had some great examples from her life and a lot of great examples from the Savior’s life. She just did a really good job! Made her mama proud! 2-16-20

PRESIDENTS DAY
We needed an outing and I wanted it to be free, so we went to theClark Planetarium! Luke brought Jaxx along and Charity had to work, but we all went together which was a lot of fun. I put Sadie in the little papoose and she was AMAZING the entire time! Only fussed for a second, put Molly to shame. Molly was a pill. She had a little fun with Kelly and Brad in the beginning, but the rest of the time she whined at me. Not my favorite. I don’t think my buddy Jack loved it too much either. I was glad everyone else was off having fun though.  Noah and Erika had buddies up- they seemed like they had fun. Luke and his friend made their way around as well, slightly turned off by the crowd. It was a little busy. But we had fun. When we got home we all veged.  Some kids played with friends. It was a nice end to the day off. 2-17-20

CHEERING ME UP
It was a pretty long night last night, with Sadie needing me about every hour. I hadn’t wanted to disturb Nate as he had plans to take the kids to the temple at 4:00 😳. So it was all on me and was pretty draining. Around about 5:00 I was rocking Sadie, had just fed her and she was asleep, just not letting me lay her down. I was saying a prayer almost out loud but pretty quiet and it turned into crying. I had my eyes closed with my head tipped back. Suddenly Sadie jerked pretty wildly so I looked down at her and much to my surprise she had THE BIGGEST smile on her face and was kind of staring me down with it as she launched into her head nodding thing ツ. It was so cute I had to smile. Then it occurred to me that this sweet little 7 month old had just cheered me up! She brought a really tender peace to my heart!! So cool!! I hope I never forget that sweet look on her face! She totally made my day! 2-18-20

BRAD WRESTLING MATCH 2
Brad did so good today at his match!! Didn’t take him long and he totally pinned the guy!! 2-18-20

NOAH 7TH GRADE ORIENTATION
Fifth time's the charm! HA!  Just kidding!  This was a lot of fun to attend with Noah.  He seems pretty anxious for Jr. High.  He fought with Jacob the entire time about sitting by each other- they are both so stubborn, they didn't, and we got to watch Brad and his A Cappella choir sing, "I Want it That Way" from the Backstreet Boys.  It was fun!  They did great!  It was interesting to look at things through Noah's eyes this time and wonder what he thought of it all.  He loved seeing his orchestra teacher and got excited about that.  He had wanted to wander the halls a little and ask some questions, but there weren't any to ask.  I'm sure we'll think of some as time goes on.  Getting excited for Jr. High though!  Should be fun.  2-19-20

BRAD WRESTLING @CENTERVILLE
We all piled into the van after we got Brad's text saying he was in five people.  It's been fun to have some of the kids there this year to help cheer him on and see how fun it is.  He did really good at this match, but Centerville has really involved coaches and they kinda handed our bums to us at this match, so not many of his team won.  Kind of a bummer.  But as we were leaving Jack goes, "I want to wrestle!  Not Brad, but somebody else!"  I told him he could this summer if he wants!!  So that will be cool if he actually does it!  2-20-20

KJH AND DAVIS MADRIGALS TOGETHER
I got to go watch Brad and Charity perform in their concert together!  This was a cool experience!  Erika and Sadie were with me and we loved the concert!  Some of the songs were so pretty!  I loved finding out how to pronounce the Si Si De Moja song :).  Such a great night!  They did awesome!  2-20-20

BRAD AND KELLY REC CENTER EMPLOYEES
I don't think I've mentioned that Brad and Kelly are working for the rec center on Saturdays.  They run the score table or ref the Jr. Jazz basketball games!  It's been fun to hear about.  They've made some good money too!  Good stuff.  2-22-20

FACE TO FACE WITH THE OAKSES
This was a really great face to face- answered a lot of my questions and gave me more motivation to keep on with the goal setting and making it a bigger deal.  I only wish they'd told us it was on TV at home!  They made it sound like we had to come to the church for it and that it was just for the over 12 crowd.  So I made this big deal out of it, got my mom to watch Erika and Jack and Molly, drove them ALL THE WAY DOWN THERE and back and wrestled Sadie through the whole thing, all because I thought we had to.  If only we could have watched it at home!!  Oh well.  Good stuff.  Noah did need to bring his cookies.  Cooper had dropped the ball and forgotten to get the refreshments in time, so he asked everyone to bring something.  Noah stepped up and made cookies all by himself!  Cool kid!  He really is a good go to guy.  Helps out whenever it's needed in his quorum.  2-23-20

UNCLE DREWS LAST GAME
This game was annoying.  Nate and I had shown up late after talking with the Stake President and when we got there, the whole crowd was ticked off about a discrepancy in the points.  The refs were horrible, the kids at the table stunk, and the other team was playing dirty!  Brad did a great job and as always basically carried the team, but it was painful to watch.  Kind of a bummer to end the season on.  2-25-20

MEET WITH THE STAKE PRESIDENT
This didn't seem like it was going to be a big deal calling for some reason.  I was totally calm going into it, picturing sports or something for either of us (since we'd been complaining about sports for a while).  Maybe like trek ma and pa or something... we just didn't feel too worried, which is weird.  So we got to the church, shook hands with Pres. Taylor and Pres. Muelstein and sat and talked for a minute.  Then President Taylor came out and took Nate back with him.  This is when I started to wonder what it was going to be.  They LOVED having him in Young Mens, so I was hoping it wasn't that.  He loved it too.  But my mind was wandering.  We had joked about Bishop, but we all knew that Bishop Larson has at least another year.  So that was tricky.  I had fun talking to Pres. Facer and Pres. Muelstein.  Found out that Pres. Muelstein served his mission in Germany and Pres. Facer in the New England states!  Mine and Nate's dad's missions!!!  What are the odds?  So bizarre!  So that was cool.  Then it was time!  Pres. Taylor invited me back to his office with Nate.  I tried to get it out of Nate what he'd been called to, but he didn't know!  He had just been chatting all that time.  So then President Taylor offered him a calling as 2nd counselor in the Bishopric!  Told him that Bishop Larson had wanted him to be his 2nd counselor since Bro. Thaxton was being released and put in as Elder's quorum.  We had NEVER imagined this one!  Nate was quick to accept and they asked me if I would sustain and support him and I said, absolutely.  I really feel like Nate is perfect for this calling.  The only hard part is going back to Deacons when he just moved up to Teachers.  He loves both, he was just getting settled in.  It was pretty crazy, and they kept telling me they were sorry to do that to me, but it was a calling from the Lord.  I am glad that the Lord didn't let them let me hold him back.  He is perfect for the job.  I can't wait to see what he does in this position and the blessings that I am sure will flow.  2-25-20

BRAD WRESTLING @ MILCREEK
Brad had told us he was near the end, so we were waiting for an update 20 or so minutes before he was up, but it turned out they bumped him up!  We got a last minute, I'm up next text from him and he was 15 minutes away!  I couldn't help it, I had to jump in the car and just see if I could make it there.  I got down to Milcreek in record time, luckily I didn't drive to Mueller Park like I'd been thinking in my head- good ol' gps.  I parked really fast, ran in and scrambled to find the gym which was on the opposite end of the school, and right as I walked in I looked over and sure enough, Brad was wrestling!  I was so happy I was going to get to watch him.  I whipped out my phone and caught just 17 seconds before he pinned the guy :).  Kinda funny, but also cool.  I only wish I'd been able to see the whole thing.  All I remember was him saying to a friend, "Did you see his face? He was turning purple!"  Crazy stuff.  He's getting really good!  2-27-20

Week of 1-26-20

SLUFFERS
Erika, Molly, Sadie, and I all stayed home from church this week. This flu bug has been winning. I was glad I kept Sadie home because she screamed for the first half hour after everyone left. She was not happy. Wouldn’t nurse. It was not good. But thankfully she eventually fell asleep. So I sat on the couch almost the entire two hours that everyone was at church!

BUDDY'S BIRTHDAY
It was pretty cute that everyone was so sweet to Buddy on his birthday.  I think he actually felt kinda special :).  He got his floor pillow a few days later as a gift from Nate.  1-27-20

15 DAY CHALLENGE
So I'm doing it!  I've been planning and anticipating doing this challenge again ever since I stopped doing Keto during Sadie's pregnancy.  I knew I was going to need it to jump start my weight loss again. I initially planned on waiting until I was done nursing, but I just couldn't take it anymore.  I NEED to lose some of this weight!  It's just really getting to me.  So I started this Tuesday!  I was shocked at my Day 1 weigh in = motivation.  My mom just offered me one of her old dresses that she not longer fits in (she's losing weight since her bariatric surgery) = motivation.  That Day 1 workout nearly killed me and when I think about how easy it was 3 years ago when I did this = motivation.  So.  I'm doing it!  I've been doing really good (it's been 5 days) no slip ups yet!  I don't know why I said yet.  But anyway.  I hope this helps!!  1-28-20

SHOPPING WITH DAD
I got to go birthday shopping with my Dad on Tuesday!  This is always a lot of fun.  I get to ride in a Tesla, hanging out with my dad, and pick out the perfect gift :).  I picked a Joann gift card again-- that was such a great gift a few years ago.  Then we drove down to Salt Lake to the Cheesecake Factory (that's our place!) for some food.  I had to get something different this time because I am doing the challenge (if I'd thought about it I would have waited one more day), but it was actually really good!  I might have to switch to a new usual :).  We hurried back to Centennial Junior High for Brad's Uncle Drews team game.  Got there at half time and it wasn't my favorite game.  Kind of uneventful.  But we had fun.  I'm so grateful for my dad!  He is so good to me.  It was nice to talk and have his support on a few things that have been bothering me.  I basically talked his ear off :).  I was super grateful for Nate watching Sadie so I could go- that was huge!  Especially when I found out he'd been cleaning up Molly's throw up while I was gone!  And had to miss Brad's game.  He sacrificed a lot for me that night- I really appreciated it!!  He left shortly after to work the mid.  1-28-20

MINISTERING INTERVIEW
Shelley said some really cool things at our interview this time.  I loved how he related our small efforts to the loaves and fishes and how Heavenly Father can magnify our efforts.  Made me think I could actually do this!  She also made it clear that we need to do more for Mary Jo.  I've got to think of something.  I liked praying for them with Charity and Kelly afterwards.  1-28-20

FHE
We had a condensed FHE on Tuesday night (our Mondays are swallowed up in Basketball right now... frowny face), since we got home so late.  But it was nice to talk and get some feelings out there.  We will do better next week.  1-28-20

TUESDAY NIGHT
So Tuesday was pretty full and ended with some pretty chaotic-ness, so I wasn't too surprised that I was up all night dealing with it all some more.  Nate was gone so I let Molly sleep in our bed with a bowl.  She woke me up about every half hour to do something- throw up, tell me she's hungry or thirsty, or just crying/whining.  That was rough.  Then Sadie tag teamed with her, waking me up right when I would doze off.  It was tricky to be sitting in Sadie's room, feeding her, and then hear Molly up in my room coughing and stuff-- worrying that she was throwing up or something!  So stressful!  I had completely talked myself out of doing my workout and my eating challenge, etc. by about 3:30.  I did manage to squeeze in an hour or so of sleep.  I snoozed a little, putting off my shower and combining up some of my morning stuff.  Anyway.  The shock of all shockers- I actually did my studying, drinking my protein, then I. the tired mom. did. my. workout!  I did it!!!  The whole thing!  It about killed me too!  Burpees are NOT my friend right now.  How did I get used to them before.  I was pretty proud of myself though!!  I was able to kind of take it easy Wednesday.  Slept a little on the couch.  I was SO SORE from my workout the day before I could hardly move.  Molly was still a little off too.  Although, thankfully, she did not throw up again that day.  She got some "water pops" (that's how she says Otter Pops) and toast and then finally, her drink of water!  It's so hard to not let them drink when they're sick!!  1-28-20

MAKE A CAKE
Charity and her two friends, Carter and Denver, were our entertainment Friday night- they were making a cake in our kitchen.  We all sat around watching them :).  It was pretty funny!  1-29-20

LUKE AT THE DRIVING RANGE
Luke got to go to Top Golf today for Jaxx's birthday party and apparently he was pretty awesome at it!  Pretty cool!  Now he has a pass for life to go there :).  We'll have to try it out sometime.  2-1-20

BASKETBALL
Today's games were awesome!  It was just Brad and his and Luke's, Luke went to Jaxx's birthday party, and we missed Luke a ton!  Brad played awesome though!  And was so good at passing to his teammates and letting them be awesome too :).  They won by a ton!  Then after the game one of the moms came over and told me how grateful she was that Brad, even though he is clearly the "star of the team", still passes and gives his teammates a chance.  She went on and on about how good Nate has been and how good Bradley has been for her son and that he's been able to build so much confidence this year and that he's been able to improve a ton!  I was so happy!  So proud of my boys!  It was a fun compliment to receive for them!  Mom paycheck!  2-1-20

Week of 1-19-20

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR DAY
We had a really fun day off with Becky and Grandma Ruthie!  We had a few errands to run and stopped for some lunch at Carls Jr. (which ended up being like a half hour wait in the drive thru!) on the way down there, but we got up to Grandma's around 2:00.  We played a bunch of games!  Nate came up when he got off work at 3:30.  We watched a movie, made homemade pizzas for dinner, and played some more games!  It was a nice relaxing, but fun way to spend our day off.  It was nice to finally hang out with Becky!  1-20-20

SICK LITTLE SADIE
Poor Sadie has been so sick!  She's had the goopy eyes, the runny nose, cough, fever, what seems like body aches, wheezing... you name it!  The poor little thing!  I kept waiting for it all to effect her eating and sleeping, but she actually was eating just fine... not sleeping as good, but good enough really.  So anyway.  We missed out on a few things... namely playgroup.  But she did finally get better.  1-21-20

SICK ME
I hit rock bottom on Tuesday.  I had been missing out on so much sleep that I just couldn't even hardly carry on!  I was taking care of sick Sadie and trying to keep myself up and alive, and I was really running on empty.  Thankfully, Nate was willing to come home early and do the big dentist trip I had been dreading all day.  He took Noah, Erika, Jack and Molly to the dentist.  Meant a lot to me that he would do that for me.  My mom had heard that I was sick too, and brought me some melaleuca that I was needing and a cool new Brad Wilcox book.  Hopefully this is the bottom and we can just go up from here.  1-21-20

UNCLE DREWS
Brad's basketball games are so much fun to watch!  He's been playing SO GOOD lately!  Especially in these games.  He just really seems so in control now days.  He's a great star, but is so good at being a team player.  His defense has been INCREDIBLE!  It's been so fun to watch!  They won by a lot this week.  Made us all happy :).  1-21-20

ORGANIZATION
On the way home from Brad's game, I got a text from Michelle Johnston asking me if I would be willing to share 10-15 minutes of organization with cleaning and cooking that has worked for me.  I had to laugh.  She has obviously never seen my house!  Even the outside of it gives away our lack of organization... so anyway.  I told her that while I am not one to say no to these kinds of things, I was definitely not qualified and I could give her some ideas of other people who would be better.  She said, I didn't have to if I didn't want to, but I couldn't get myself to say no.  I really need blessings these days, so I am hoping it will result in some.  So I agreed.  Turned out that I started getting blessings almost immediately!  That night was a REALLY rough night as far as Sadie's sleeping goes, and because I had been thinking about what I would say about organization, and because I was in the right mind set- and let's face it, because miracles still happen- I was in a really good mood all night long!!  Sadie woke up almost every hour and then took a half hour to feed and get back to sleep every time!  It was rough, but I was not feeling it.  I was feeling okay.  Nate was working the mid, so there was no let up.  But it worked out!  And actually I had the coolest experience- I had a dream that I was hugging my Grandma Mottishaw and got to tell her that I "think about her EVERY day."  It was so vivid, so real, it was really cool.  I just love my Grandma.  So that was pretty sweet.  We survived.  1-21-20

LUNCH WITH EMILY
We finally got to go to lunch!  This was nothing short of a miracle.  Even with Jonah, Molly and Sadie, it still ends up being such a nice little break when I get to go hang out with Emily.  I am so grateful for this friendship.  Cafe Rio was yummy.  I could have done without the dumb debit card fumble.  My dumb card wouldn't swipe!  This is the second time my card has not worked when I went to lunch with Emily.  Last time, at Chik-fil-a- they gave me my food for free.  Weird.  But Emily covered it and I paid her back.  So embarrassing.  We had an awesome time talking.  It was just what my week needed!  1-23-20

COOL!
Also, when Molly and Sadie and I first got there there was a lady in a wheel chair sitting at a table and as we walked past, Molly was kind of staring at her and she sweeetly looked over and threw out a fun compliment on Molly's haircut!  Totally distracting her from the wheelchair!  Pretty cool!  That's how I would want to be if I were in a wheelchair.  1-23-20

STARZ GAME- NOAH AND ERIKA
Friday night was Noah and Erika's big National Anthem performance with their school choir at the Starz game.  This was a fun night!  It would have been super cool to get a refund on our tickets since it was the Junior Jazz free game night, but maybe we'll enjoy watching the Starz another time.  The reason we were there was to see Erika and Noah though, and they did SO GOOD!!  They stayed on pitch so well!  I loved watching them and felt so proud of them!  They work so hard!  There was some fun stuff there, balloon pets, bouncy houses, Steve/knife drama, Grandma and Simon were with us!  And the game was really awesome!  Went into overtime and we won!!  Good stuff. 1-24-20

HONOR CHOIR
Charity participated in the State Honor Choir again!  She got to spend the day at Murray High school Friday rehearsing with the whole group.  Then on Saturday she left bright and early to practice some more in Salt Lake!  They performed that afternoon as well.  This was a cool experience for me!  Abravanel Hall for one thing, but the acoustics in that building just did their singing such justice!!  It was AMAZING!!  SO BEAUTIFUL!!  Erika, Sadie and I were the only ones able to go, with people being sick, basketball games and working, etc.  So we were bummed nobody else got to experience it, but SO enjoyed it!!  I'm so proud of Charity!  She does so many cool things that take so much effort and work, but she does them with such grace and commitment!  I love it!  She's living her senior year to its fullest!  We were so proud of our parking spot too :).  I hope some of my other kids get the chance to experience this!!  It was so neat!  1-24-20--1-25-20

Week of 1-12-20

FIRST TIMES!
So today was Noah's first time passing the sacrament!  He did great!  I had to take Sadie out in the middle of it and got to have him bring me the water in the foyer.  So that was cool.  I think he enjoyed it and is looking forward to getting more comfortable with it all.  So cool!!  Also, Bradley got to bless the sacrament for the first time!  I loved this as well!!  Again, I was in the foyer for it, but I think it was really fun to hear my little boy's voice saying those words and performing such a special ordinance.  Made the Sacrament that much more meaningful to me this week!  So cool that they get to participate in that.  Luke will get to prepare the Sacrament for the first time next week probably.  We'll see.  1-12-20

WRESTLING- BRAD
Wrestling conditioning started back up on Monday!  Brad's been looking forward to this!  He was awesome, getting up at 5:20 to get there by 6:00!  And now he's talked several other boys in the ward to join.  Pretty fun stuff!  I'm so impressed!  1-13-20

COOL SADIE CRYING IN THE CAR ANALOGY
I was having an especially spiritual morning on Monday- these are my best mornings for some reason- and had a lot of time to think in the morning as well as on my three trips to the schools.  On the way home from one of them, it was just Sadie and I in the car and she started crying.  I was quick to try to calm her by talking to her and telling her she was going to be okay, but nothing I was saying was even phasing her.  Which was to be expected- she isn't usually very easy to calm down this way.  She was in her carseat, all buckled in, safe, but wishing she was somewhere else.  And then it hit me this is a lot like us in life.  We are riding in this car called life.  Heavenly Father is the driver.  He's put us securely in our car seat, and knows where he wants us to go, knows how to get there, knows everything about the journey "home" and is anxious for us to return with him.  But sometimes we are just so impatient!  We could just sit there and enjoy the ride.  Making good choices of course, but enjoying the scenery, feeling safe and secure, knowing that He is there, watching out for us, doing all in His power to get us home safely.  We could sit back and relax for the most part.  But instead we cry.  We worry about little bumps in the road and wish we could stop and get out of the carseat.  Even just for a minute.  Which is sad because if we would just sit there, we would get home and be comfortable and happy!  But we get so impatient.  Crying out for who knows what and not even noticing that Heavenly Father is there, trying to comfort us, trying to reassure us of our position in this life.  Just hit me and gave me reason to think about how I am doing right now.  I was definitely needing to take inventory.  Monday was a great day!  I had so many awesome little miracles that day.  1-13-20

SADIE 6 MONTH WELL CHECK
Took Sadie to the doctor on Monday.  She looks great!  She showed off her skills and wowed the doc with her cool moves :).  He was laughing about how "busy" she is.  She REALLY demonstrated that well :).  She needs to work on sitting up on her own a little more and laying on her tummy, but overall- doing great!  Growing on schedule even!  She hated her shots.  And again, she is the most sensitive baby I have ever had with shots.  She doesn't let you touch her legs for days!  And the Tylenol is necessary for days as well.  Poor little Princess!!  Makes me so sad!  She has a definite sad cry and even whimpers a little.  Pretty hard for the rest of us.  She's such a sweet little thing!  She is loving trying out crackers and the few finger foods we've let her have.  She HAS to be held.  She does not like to be set down.  Anywhere.  Which isn't too bad with so many helpers around.  She likes to smile and is easy to get to laugh.  She is VERY busy.  Wiggles and kicks her legs NONSTOP!  Just like in my tummy!  Kinda funny to watch.  She still loves her baths and kicks and splashes a ton in there too.  She loves her sibs.  She could watch them all day and does sometimes.  In fact, she's probably our best baby for basketball games!  She just sits and watches the game for the most part!  Kinda funny really.  She gets a little bored towards the end, but for the most part does pretty good!  She will never tire of Molly and her "Don't Be Sad" song.  We all can't get enough of their relationship.  It's miraculous what she will allow Molly to do with her and how much she just watches her.  Molly is too!  Molly never gets tired of Sadie and makes room for her in her life better than any of the other kids did with younger siblings.  It's really cute!  I think the only thing Molly won't do for her is throw away her diapers :).  1-13-20

BRADLEY SOPHOMORE ORIENTATION
This was anticlimactic!  We filled out his schedule for next year, brought it with us.  Tried to cram into the auditorium for the dumb little meeting, but didn't really hear anything.  Then went into the school to maybe talk to someone and there was just no motivation from Bradley.  So we turned around, turned in his schedule and walked out the door!  I think he was only a few minutes late to basketball practice :).  Funny stuff.  I think he's anxious and nervous for High School.  But I'm sure he will do great!  I can see him just thriving there.  Can't believe he will be going to High School though!!!  1-13-20

NOAH ORCHESTRA
Noah got his new Orchestra teacher this week!  His other one got fired just before Christmas break so we were anxious to find out who the new one would be and so far he just loves him!!  Mr. K? I think.  I have no idea what his name is- he's never made any attempt to communicate with the parents which is really okay with me, but Noah LOVES him!  So this should be fun.  I'm glad he's getting a little more/better instruction.  1-14-20

ERIKA'S BACK
We've been really stumped on Erika's back pain lately.  She woke up on Tuesday with unbearable pain.  I let her stay home and we just couldn't shake this pain!  It was awful.  She did finally make it back to school, but not sure what we should do about this back pain.  So far, it's been heping her to try to stay active- we will see if that can keep working.  1-14-20

UNCLE DREWS- GAME 2
Bradley did SO AWESOME in his game this week!!!  He was definitely the team MVP!!  Made tons of points, plenty of  assists, and some really incredible blocks!!!  It was so much fun to watch him play!!  Made the other team's annoying crowd more bearable!!  We lost, but only by a point at the VERY END!!  So crazy!  This will be a fun season though, if he can keep playing like that!  1-14-20

CHARITY HONOR CHOIR
Charity made it into Honor choir!  She had pass offs this week.  I'm so proud of her and that she does these things!  She's such a cool girl!  Glad she keeps using her beautiful voice.  1-15-20

FHE
We had to have FHE on Wednesday this week.  There were no youth activities because they're doing the rec center thing on Friday, so it worked out with everyone for the most part.  Erika was the lesson- she did a matching game for the tree of life, and we all got to talk about that some more.  We've had a lot of study times on it, so we've really done a lot to get this into our heads.  She did good.  We had Jack's game- button button, and then Molly's treat- POPCORN!  1-15-20

NOAH TEMPLE
Noah went on that Thursday with Nate and I, then the next day with friends, and then Tuesday morning with the girls and then again this Thursday with friends!!  He has really been rockin it with the temple attendance.  And loving it!  I'm so proud of him!  I love that he wants to be there and that he chooses friends who want to be there!  Very cool!  He's going to be a pro in no time!  1-16-20

JACK ACTIVITY DAYS
Jack went to his first activity days activity on Thursday!  This was a cool thing for him!  They played in the snow and talked about their goals.  I think he liked it!  1-16-20

NO SCHOOL/ SLEDDING!!!
Nate and I were racking our brains for something fun to do with the kids this break because we weren't able to go anywhere with the youth rec center activity, but we finally settled on SLEDDING!  It was rough getting out the door with all the snow gear and grumpy-ish kids, but we did it!  Everyone cheered up on the way to the old Bountiful church, and we all had a really great time!  It was 32 degrees outside, so not too ideal, but it had just snowed a ton too!  Nate and I juggled Sadie and I did spend a lot of time in the car, but she did surprisingly well especially for not feeling too hot.  Molly was fun to watch sledding- this is fairly new to her- and she LOVES snow!  Like, to eat it!  She would snack on her glove snow all the way back up the hill.  As well as smoothing out the cracks in the snow.  She loved going down with everyone!  She's so brave!  We even got her to go down a few times by herself!  That was cool.  Jack spent a lot of time going down on his own.  He is usually off in his own world, but Nate made him go down with Molly and him and Jack LOVED that.  He ended up really joining the group and having fun with everyone.  Went down with me a few times too!  Cute boy.  He was pretty happy about the bags on his feet, keeping them warm :).  Erika had a blast!  She was a tough little girl, doing a belly flop onto the ground, totally hurt her chest, but still got back into things.  She had a lot of fun.  She's fun to watch- just so brave!  Noah was fun too- he liked scaring people as they came down, pretending to almost get hit.  He did a flip to get out of the way of Nate, Kelly and Molly when they almost took him out.  And I love the story of him jumping over Brad as he laid in front of the ramp.  Luke kept pretty busy, first trying to build a ramp and then going down it.  He had a lot of fun!  I loved seeing him active and havin ga good time.  Brad ran around pushing everyone down the hill.  Going halfway down each time as he did it.  He really enjoys being a facilitator.  I think that's cool.  He did get to go down a few times on the tubes too- he loved that.  Racing Kelly.  He was pretty fun the whole time.  Kelly acted like she wasn't going to do anything the whole time because she doesn't like cold, but I think she warmed up and was able to really get into it!  She had fun going down with Nate and Molly.  It was fun to watch her gt into it.  Charity was out with friends, so we missed her, but everybody was wishing she could come.  Nate was a blast!  He did all the hard stuff, pumping up the tubes, pushing everyone down, spinning legs :).  And he was lots of fun for everyone!  I loved watching him enjoying it all!  Lots of fun!  It's been a while since we did something like this!  I was glad we made time for it and thought of it!  Hot chocolate afterwards, a must!  1-17-20

REC CENTER NIGHT/PROJECTOR MOVIE FOR THE LITTLES
The big kids went to the Rec Center night- the little kids and I stayed home for a fun projector movie in mom's bed!  We watched Mighty Joe Young!  This was a fun evening for us!  The big kids had fun too.  Sounded like lots of basketball, swimming, handball, six-square, and working out!  Don't know how they keep going that late at night!  1-17-20