Nate survived his five mids in a row. Barely. That was one of the roughest times we've had during this quarantine. Everyone felt it. Nate was so tough though and we're so lucky to have someone so driven and responsible to be providing for our family. He was pretty tired and worn out most of the time and still managed to make fun for everyone when he was here and awake. The kids took full advantage of him not being in my bed with me at night and I got to watch a few movies with some of them. Kelly teases me about eating my Pear Jelly Bellies while we were laying there watching Geek Charming. 5-2-20
THE SACRAMENT
We got to take the Sacrament again! That was such a relief! Such a huge blessing. It's been a long time since I was able to feel that kind of gratitude for the Sacrament. I need to make sure I let this feeling stay and that I am always grateful for that blessing. It was an interesting two weeks without it. I felt it the entire time. I hope that not having it served its purpose. 5-3-20
CHARITY'S CAP, GOWN, DIPLOMA COVER AND WALK OF FAME
The school has tried really hard to make this graduation special. They brought around the signs a *!couple weeks ago and they have been trying to come up with ways to have a graduation. Tuesday was a big day to focus on Charity and her graduation. We went to the school, they had people lined up along the drop off zone handing out caps and gowns. They had mirrors set out to put your cap and gown on. Then we walked, diploma cover in hand, into the school to get her picture taken then out to the back of the school where they had the football tunnel set up. She ran into a few friends and made her way to the tunnel. At the mouth of it she told someone her name and then over the loud speaker, they announced her name and she came walking through the tunnel. All with Pomp and Circumstance playing. Gave me chills! I think I even teared up a little. Pretty neat feeling for what it was. It's hard to believe this 18 year old woman is my baby Charity. And that I have to now stand back and just watch. Although, I do believe it is going to be a pretty great show! I know she will do big things. I am grateful for all that is being done for the Class of 2020. I hope Charity feels special and that she feels like her hard work has paid off. She did work so hard! But I also hope that she understands the value of success just within herself and feels good about her achievements regardless of the attention. That is how it will be most of her life from here on out. This was a neat opportunity. We went and took some pictures around the school and with a few of her friends and then over at the brick wall, Kelly and Erika helped. Lots of fun. Time to get those announcements made and sent out. 5-5-20
INDEXING
Indexing is making a comeback. The youth are focusing on that again and they're starting some competitions and stuff. In this effort, Nate asked me to teach the Deacons (Noah!) how to index over Zoom. It was a last minute thing and I actually didn't know I was doing it until a couple seconds before (well, I was actually late) so that was crazy, but it felt like Heavenly Father was helping me to pull it off. It's been so long since I was way into it that I stumbled a little here and there. I felt pretty awesome about it until the next Wednesday when they had Erica Ashby teaching them again- HA!!! 5-6-20
ULTIMATE FRISBEE
We've spent a few evenings at the field playing ultimate lately. That's been a lot of fun for everyone. It's tricky with Sadie- Nate ends up carrying her and playing with a handicap :). And Molly.... she's still learning and learning not to pout. Although, it does work EVERY TIME. And I'm not sure what's up with Jack. He turns into an 80 year old man every time we go over to the field now. Whether it's twisted ankles, re-injured scrapes, thirst! you name it. He seems miserable. I'm not sure what to do with that. But we're trying and it's been a fun way to get out. 5-7-20
NATE IN THE YARD
Nate has busted his butt during his ten days, working in the yard! He completely weeded the entire front yard and then planted a bunch of cute flowers. It looks so nice! I'm so happy with all that he's done! Our house finally looks like a home! He's involved the kids a lot too which is awesome. They've planted the garden and a bunch of cute pots as well. Looks so nice! 5-8-20
MOTHER'S DAY
My Mother's Day was amazing- as usual! There was nothing usual about not having to go to church though and that was both awesome and kind of a bummer :). I missed seeing everyone and showing off my latest necklace :). I woke up and showered and then got back in bed :). The kids woke me up with breakfast and everyone showered me with gifts and CARDS!! I was shocked they all wrote cards! I was anticipating not getting any of the school-made gifts so I didn't know how much of that I would get- so that was a pleasant surprise! Charity went first this year. I think Nate figured this could be her last year. I sure hope not! Although, it really could be- if she goes on a mission or gets married she'll possibly be gone this time next year. I kinda hope she's just at college and comes home for the weekend ;). We'll see. I got beef jerky, a necklace, some mint truffles, toffee truffles, the game suspicion, the game Pickles to Penguins, another cute necklace that goes with Erika's, some scentsy smells and a really sweet speaker! I love the thoughtfulness that came in their cards! I just love my kids, they're seriously the best kids on the planet.
After breakfast and presents we had the Sacrament as a family. So cool! Then the rest of the day was full of kids making me feel special, everyone playing games with me :). Nate did this awesome little video questionnaire with each kid answering questions about me and I got to watch that while trying to guess some of their answers. It was so fun! It was interesting to hear what some of the kids said. Made us laugh a lot too :). I hope that I can be the mom that these kids need. They deserve so much. I'm so grateful I get them. 5-10-20
SHE'S 10 MONTHS!
It blows my mind when I think about how old Sadie is! She is growing up so fast! I am not sure how to take it- I try to just think about the blessing she is in our lives and how much fun she is with all the new things she's doing all the time, but I'm also just a little sad to see her babyhood slowly slipping away! I do SO love the milestones and her reaching them. It's just hard at the same time! She's doing so much these days, getting around so well. She crawls really well now and can get around like a pro even when she bear crawls to avoid certain terrain. She started crawling up the stairs as well. She loves to go all the way up to our room, go in and shut the door then play with her reflection in the mirror :). She doesn't love the grass. She avoids it as much as she can. Flamingo legs when she has to :). Although, she didn't mind the grass when she was in her jammies with legs covered. She's got such a fun personality. Laughs at things with her little humoring chuckle. She LOVES being swung around by Brad (or anyone, but he's the one who does it the most). She loves to touch EVERYTHING, put EVERYTHING in her mouth, and when she's sitting in her little seat on the table or counter, she loves to swing her arms around the tray, sending all the food on it flying. She enjoys the occasional ride in the car, loves being outside, loves having everyone's attention so she will continue doing something if it's getting a laugh, but only until one of us get our phone out to take a pic or video :). She loves going on walks with her Daddy! She loves to snuggle with mom and did the other night while we were rocking, just laid on my chest... so sweet! She's starting to get sick of the baby treats and eats (or tries at least) almost everything we eat. She gets sick of things quickly though. Her favorite thing to eat is Chobani vanilla yogurt. Favorite song is "Okay" by the Piano Guys. And of course, bouncing on my lap to Prince Ali :). She bobs to music and she also bobs when there's not music. Feels like she just has a song in her heart most of the time. She's still sleeping pretty good. She has days where she doesn't, but we're grateful for the other ones. She doesn't like her baby toys anymore. She is very easily entertained by a big box of markers though. She enjoys digging her little fingers through cracks or corners and tasting what she pulls out- it's pretty gross. Small beads, legos, rubber bands, she's lucky to be alive still. We sure love this little girl! 5-11-20
KICKBALL WITH THE MAUGHANS
We went over to the field to throw the frisbee and it turned into an exciting game of kickball with the Maughans. I loved this!! It was so much fun! Thanks to Kelly watching Sadie and helping Molly I was able to play. We had pretty unmatched teams, which was hilarious, and made Brad feel like he needed to help us out and go easy. Which was of course adorable. But it was just so much fun! I loved watching everyone have fun together. A funny part was when I went to high five Will after a good play (actually a really awesome play where I threw him the ball and he caught it and tagged the base without any hangups :) This might represent more clearly how horrible I am at this game right now, HA!) and he got nervous and wouldn't because of social distancing I think. So I quickly stuck my elbow out to him and he responded with the correct elbow out and we did an elbow high five :). Super cute. I love Will. Good times! 5-13-20
PANDA EXPRESS X 2
I just have to document that Panda Express was having a deal on the family feast (which surprisingly feeds our family when Nate's not there) HALF OFF! So it was only $20- that's cheaper than Little Caesar's!!! Needless today we had it two nights in a row. Nate's working the 2:30-10:30 shift right now. mmmmmmmm 5-14-20
HAPPY 19th ANNIVERSARY TO US!
We celebrated 19 years on Wednesday!! It's so crazy that it's been that long. Doesn't feel that long in a lot of ways. Although, it feels longer in some. Either way, it's been a fun ride! I'm shocked Nate's still hanging in there :). Just kidding. He does put up with a lot though. I'm so grateful that he puts up with my a lot. I love him so much. I'm hoping one day I will deserve all the love that he gives me and that I will be able to return it properly. Nate took me outside to see my gift (awesome wood planters with beautiful flowers in them) first thing in the morning. They look so nice! I gave Nate a clean closet :). Spent a lot of the evening cleaning it out and organizing it- looks so good!! The kids helped me a little and so I rewarded them with Nielsen's Frozen Custard-this was also our family celebration of our Anniversary we decided :). Without Nate of course :(. To celebrate (it was my year to plan) we went down to Bountiful, got some Mo' Bettahs and took it up to North Canyon Park for a picnic and walk around the little pathways up there. We're in the middle of a quarantine so nothing is open and then our small little window for a date just kept getting smaller and smaller with Nate's work (even though we had scheduled it off for a fun overnighter way back in December :( and then with dumb school stuff-- the Zoom meetings! UGH!), so we really only had about two hours total. So this was the least we could do :). But it ended up being really relaxing and peaceful. A good time with my sweetie. Thanks for putting up with me babe!! Here's to at least 19 more :)!
5-15-20
MAYNES OLYMPICS
I don't know if I've mentioned the fun little "Maynes Olympics" the Maughans have been putting on for us this month! They've gone all out and made it really fun/funny! Complete with Google Spreadsheet scoring card and daily YouTube videos! So far my favorite event was the "Gymnastics" which was the Bag Game. Laughed harder than I've laughed in a long time. I'm anxious to see who gets the gold in the end. 5-16-20
AWARDS CEREMONY
Monday the Maughans invited us over for our Awards Ceremony!! It was so fun to see all the chairs set up and balloons, with tables full of cute little trophies and medals when we walked to their backyard. They went all out! It was so cute! I loved it! Emily announced who did what and we all got to clap and cheer for them, and then they turned it around and awarded each of us with our mini trophy and what we won gold in. It was so cute!! I seriously loved it! I loved clapping and cheering for each other and sharing that with the Maughans... so fun! Sadie got the gold for Diving and Balance Beam (both family scoring ones... seemed rigged... ha!). Since Molly didn't get the gold in anything, she got "The Cuteness Award" which she of course loved :). Jack got "The Awesomest" award and again, he felt that was perfect. Erika got the gold in The Torch Relay. Noah got gold in Speed Walking. Luke got the gold in Gymnastics and the Discus. Bradley got gold in 50 Meter, Basketball and Javelin. Kelly got the gold in Archery. Charity got the "Best Graduating Senior" award. I got the "Best Mom" award. And Nate got the gold in Ping Pong and Wrestling. Then overall Nate got Bronze, Luke got Silver and Brad got Gold! How fun is that!! I think this was a major highlight of the quarantine for all of us! The Maughans were so sweet to put that on.
5-18-20
DEVICE RETURN COLUMBIA ELEMENTARY
Tuesday was device return and yearbook day- basically the official last day of school! We were so happy to pile the three littles into the car laptops in hand and drive to the school for the first time in a while. We pulled up and it looked like they were having a party there, balloons, tables, all the teachers were out there donning masks. It was so cool. Kinda jerked on my heartstrings a little though. All of our grades (2nd,4th, 6th) were all on the right, so we just stopped right there for Mrs. Downs. She brought Noah's things (they emptied out their desks into bags to turn in to them) over to the car, handed them to him, got his device, then Officer Stanford was sitting there as well, he got up and gave Noah his Lion that he won with his essay. Then we talked about how crazy this year was and how great the teachers have been. It's been a crazy year for sure! Then we scooted up a little to Erika's teacher, she gave her a cute pixie stick gift, took her device and talked about how much she loved Erika. It was so sweet. I so wish she could have a redo with Mrs. Hewett. She was an amazing teacher! She had set Erika's bag on top of the car so as we were driving off to go up to Mrs. Lindsey, she stopped us, grabbed the bag and handed it through the window- that was kind of funny. Mrs. Hunt also was there and expressed how bummed she was that Erika and Noah didn't get to go to Decathlon. That confirmed that Erika would have gone! WAHOO! But bummer for sure that they didn't get to go together and compete. We drove up to Mrs. Lindsey's station and she did the same, gave Jack his treat and bag and told us how sad she was that she didn't get to have Jack the whole year because he was so sweet and thoughtful. That was nice :). It sure is sad to end the year like this, but I am sure glad the year is over! That online learning business was a joke. I hope we can go back to normal school in the fall... we shall see. I made sure to get a picture of them on the "last day of school" with their bags of stuff. No teacher pictures this year :(. 5-19-20
DEVICE RETURN DAVIS HIGH
I drove Charity up to Davis on Wednesday, in the rain, so she could turn in her books, laptop and get her yearbook. That was pretty thrilling :). Very well organized and lots of awesome teachers helping out. What a weird way to end your school life. She was pretty happy with her yearbook though and had some friends over to sign it. Crazy stuff! 5-20-20
COURTNEY'S BIRTHDAY
I texted Courtney Happy Birthday and it evolved into a conversation about how hard her birthday has been without her mom here anymore. It was so hard to think about her going through that. But I really wanted to do something for her, so we headed down to Bountiful, stopped at Smith's and enjoyed the Social Experiment of not wearing a mask as we bought her a beautiful orchid and then found where she lived to pop-in and tell her happy birthday. It was so fun to see her! She looks exactly the same. I think it's been about 5 years since I last saw her. But we stood there and talked for a good hour (poor, patient Nate in the car with screaming Sadie). It was a good thing. She was glad I stopped by. I hope she felt loved. 5-20-20
SENIOR/MISSIONARY PARADE
Our Young Women put on a parade for the graduating seniors and newly called missionaries so that they could be recognized by the ward. Kelly was in charge of making the posters for it. They had a truck/trailer for each kid and their sign was draped across the back. They met up at the Burton chapel with all the cars lined up and posters taped on... balloons, the kids were all in graduation attire, it was actually really cool looking! I was really happy they had gone to such great lengths! The RS made candy leis, the Young Women leaders made candy leis, everyone has been spoiling these seniors rotten :). It was so cool though! I went up and took some pictures then hurried home to watch the parade. They even had a police escort which is just too cool. I blasted Pomp and Circumstance on my awesome speaker just before, then the siren was heard, so we got all ready to get video and pictures. They made their way down the street, really fast, we all cheered and threw candy back :). Charity was on the first truck and had allowed Molly to sit in the truck with her and throw candy. It was so cute! She had a rubber glove on her hand as she dropped candy off the back... HA! I love that Charity shared the moment with her little sister. Molly was in heaven. They came and went quickly, but it was so much fun to watch! I'm glad they did that for them. I hope they make it a tradition and do it again for the seniors next year! 5-20-20
SEMINARY GRADUATION
I absolutely loved Charity's Seminary Graduation! It was so neat! I loved Erica's talk about how Heavenly Father is aware of each one of us. What a cool experience to have witnessed Him ensuring that everyone received their invite. I also really loved President Taylor's talk. He always says the perfect things. It was nice to think about how these challenges these graduates are facing are for their good and will benefit them later in life. It's not for nothing. I loved the video and even though I got kind of nervous about which picture I chose to send, I was happy when I saw hers that I did the one I did. She was such a cute baby! Her now picture was perfect too! I'm so proud of her for sticking with school and seminary through all of this, that she was able to graduate. I love seeing what she's become and how far we've all come. She's such a blessing in my life. Such a beautiful blessing. I'm so happy I've had the privilege to raise her. I hope she's ready to get out in the world and do things! She will do awesome things. 5-21-20
MINI SEASON LACROSSE
We're so happy that Paul, Kelly's coach, is creating a mini season for the team! It wasn't the Parent Board's idea and they almost shut it down, but luckily I'm on the board :). Practices start on the 25th! Can't wait! 5-23-20
MEMORIAL DAY
We had a nice Memorial Day. We headed down to Daybreak to catch the picnic at the end of the bike ride (we weren't in the mood to haul all the bikes up there this time). The park we were at was a little strange, just two smallish tables, gravel, a little grass, and zero shade. But we managed to still have some fun I think. Some of the kids had their rip sticks or roller blades. Nate brought his rollerblades. Chris let all the men try his One Wheel (I think that's what they were calling it). Looked fun. Sadie was a little bit of a handful. There wasn't really somewhere to set her down and let her roam. So that was annoying. We did walk over to some tunnels and hills that she tried out. That was cute to watch. On the way home we stopped at Russ's grave and then headed over to Nana's. Nate went all out and bought three bags of M&Ms so we sat there and ate those for a few minutes. I love thinking about Nana. Remembering all of our times together. All the many Memorial Days together. I sure hope she is able to see me making the effort to visit her grave. I decided I want my kids to have a BBQ around my grave after I die. With matching shirts of my picture :). Throwing frisbees and playing loud music and such. A real party! Every Memorial Day. I hope they can pull that off. We came home and watched a bunch of movies. Everyone was pretty wiped out and it was pretty hot outside. 5-25-20
CHOPPING DOWN THE TREE
Nate got the bid from that tree guy, he wanted $650!!! Jaw drop! So we decided to just go ahead and take care of the tree ourselves. It seemed simple enough. We had lots of helpers, a chain saw, and I had watched my friend's video of her cutting down a tree, so I knew it was possible :). And actually, it went really well. Nate helped Noah climb up the tree and tie two ropes to the tree. Bradley on one and Luke and Noah on the other were our rope guys. They spread themselves out in a triangle from the tree and each other as Nate began cutting a wedge on the front of the tree. He then began cutting from the back of the tree. The boys were poised to run when the tree started to fall and that's just what they did! We were pretty surprised though, when the tree got to almost a 45 degree angle and then stopped falling! Kind of anti-climactic, but Nate gave it a little more saw and it made the final drop. That was SO LOUD and so fascinating! I could seriously go into the tree chopping business. The way the branches were thrust into the ground! So deep and so lodged in there that we couldn't get some of them out! Pretty awesome. Then everyone worked together so well and we all moved the branches and trunk to the trailer. This all happened within a short little hour! Pretty cool! And we saved ourselves a lot of money. I'm happy to not have the giant dead eye sore in our front yard anymore. 5-26-20
VIRTUAL GRADUATION
At the last minute Charity was inviting her friends to come watch the graduation at our house, so we were attempting to put the projector out in the yard and make it dark enough that we would be able to see it all, but then we realized that wasn't really going to work with the amount of sunlight that was still out there. We consented to letting Charity have her friend Makayla and her mom in our house. Then it ended up just being Makayla. We hurried and put YouTube on and got to the link. Kind of a mad dash and oddly enough I was having a major sneezing attack at the moment, so that was weird. But we all got situated (Nate, Me, Charity, Kelly, Bradley, Luke, Erika and Makayla) on the couches and were ready to be amazed. I had forgotten about Charity recording the song so they could have the Madrigals perform in this, so it was a pleasant surprise to see that pop up! Makayla was chosen for the solo! Pretty awesome for her! We clapped. I loved watching Charity sing on that video! I think I may have liked that better for the fact that I could actually see her! It was a beautiful song and gave me chills the entire time. These kids did such an amazing job this year and grew so much musically. It was neat to be able to hear them one more time. This was my favorite part. The rest of the graduation was pretty much what a graduation would have been. Talks from a couple of the Student body leadership and then a district lady and then the Principal. Pretty normal. That's how I remember mine. It was actually very bearable. Charity and Makayla talked through the whole thing. Then they started the slide show. Each kid with a list of their academic achievements and extra curricular things along with a quote. They did not leave it on each person long enough to read everything. That was my only complaint. But we were able to stop it on a few and read them. That was pretty fun too. Not exactly the same as a normal comensement, but close! Very close! I loved celebrating Charity and her accomplishments. She's done such a good job through all of school and actually loved it in the process. I am so proud of her! Here's to the future! 5-26-20
DIPLOMA WALK
She did it! She decided to do the diploma walk afterall! Charity got dressed up in her cap and gown for the last time. Nate and I went with her. We drove to the High school, got in line for the escort and then waited our turn to go into the auditorium. She had the chance to walk up the steps to the stage she spent her Junior High and High School career performing on, and received her "diploma". She got to walk across the stage and we got to cheer and take her picture. They had Pomp and Circumstance playing which just always jerks on my heart. It was not a real graduation still, but I think it was a good try. I don't think it filled the void Charity has in her mind for her graduation, but I do think it was some closure on this chapter of her life. I think everything was so drawn out and overdone, it made it hard for her to feel the closure. But giving back the cap and gown and getting her actual diploma (I joked that I don't even remember getting mine, but I don't!) made things a little more real. When we got home I was wanting more so I insisted that we give her one of her gifts from us. It was the book of course. I worked so hard on that book! I had really wanted her to have time to sit and look at it and that she did! I think we sat there for a good hour and a half going through each page! It was rough seeing all my mistakes and typos, but like grandpa said the next day, "It gives it character". That's my quote by the way. I am the one who says that, not him. He was quoting me. But anyway. I think she liked the book. That made me happy. Here's to the next 18 years of me trying to cram in time to make these books at the end of the school year for each of my cute kiddos... lets see if I can do it. I think Charity got a taste of real life with this whole experience and has been able to experience that "is this it?" feeling at an early point in her life. I'm sad she didn't get the end of her senior year. I'm sad that she had to miss out on so many things there at the end. I don't think she will ever get those back. It's hard to think about. I do know that this experience will be pivotal though. And like President Taylor said in the Seminary Graduation, it will benefit her later in life to have gone through this challenge. I'm interested to see how. If anyone can do this, it's Charity. 5-27-20
CHARITY'S GRADUATION DINNER
Charity chose to have it out on the front lawn so that we could properly social distance. We invited all the family to come in an open house format so that we didn't have too many people here and expected that they not go in our house, but they did the opposite. And it was okay. We had so many people here! Grandma Ruthie, Becky, Jen, Lynn and his two boys, Dan, Adele and their kids, The Taylors, Nancy sent a cute money lei. Grandpa Hatch and Dawn, Grandma Hatch, The Kirschbaums. It was pretty well attended! We were happy to have everyone there. We had Nate's amazing hamburgers. I made lemon bars as per Charity's request, along with some cute cap cupcakes. It was a little too hot to be out in the sun, but we made do with the canopy shade. It was a really nice evening! I loved celebrating Charity and making it feel a little more official. Her fun friends showed up around 7:00 and lit up :). I was so glad we decided to do that for her. Fun time. 5-27-20
KELLY'S FIRST GAME
We had a blast at the first game of our mini season! Kelly was amazing of course! She assisted the first point and then scored the second one! Pretty fun to watch! I only wish she could have had more playing time :). But I get it! We killed the Roy Royals. We're just happy to be playing. 5-28-20
CHOPPING DOWN THE TREE
Nate got the bid from that tree guy, he wanted $650!!! Jaw drop! So we decided to just go ahead and take care of the tree ourselves. It seemed simple enough. We had lots of helpers, a chain saw, and I had watched my friend's video of her cutting down a tree, so I knew it was possible :). And actually, it went really well. Nate helped Noah climb up the tree and tie two ropes to the tree. Bradley on one and Luke and Noah on the other were our rope guys. They spread themselves out in a triangle from the tree and each other as Nate began cutting a wedge on the front of the tree. He then began cutting from the back of the tree. The boys were poised to run when the tree started to fall and that's just what they did! We were pretty surprised though, when the tree got to almost a 45 degree angle and then stopped falling! Kind of anti-climactic, but Nate gave it a little more saw and it made the final drop. That was SO LOUD and so fascinating! I could seriously go into the tree chopping business. The way the branches were thrust into the ground! So deep and so lodged in there that we couldn't get some of them out! Pretty awesome. Then everyone worked together so well and we all moved the branches and trunk to the trailer. This all happened within a short little hour! Pretty cool! And we saved ourselves a lot of money. I'm happy to not have the giant dead eye sore in our front yard anymore. 5-26-20
VIRTUAL GRADUATION
At the last minute Charity was inviting her friends to come watch the graduation at our house, so we were attempting to put the projector out in the yard and make it dark enough that we would be able to see it all, but then we realized that wasn't really going to work with the amount of sunlight that was still out there. We consented to letting Charity have her friend Makayla and her mom in our house. Then it ended up just being Makayla. We hurried and put YouTube on and got to the link. Kind of a mad dash and oddly enough I was having a major sneezing attack at the moment, so that was weird. But we all got situated (Nate, Me, Charity, Kelly, Bradley, Luke, Erika and Makayla) on the couches and were ready to be amazed. I had forgotten about Charity recording the song so they could have the Madrigals perform in this, so it was a pleasant surprise to see that pop up! Makayla was chosen for the solo! Pretty awesome for her! We clapped. I loved watching Charity sing on that video! I think I may have liked that better for the fact that I could actually see her! It was a beautiful song and gave me chills the entire time. These kids did such an amazing job this year and grew so much musically. It was neat to be able to hear them one more time. This was my favorite part. The rest of the graduation was pretty much what a graduation would have been. Talks from a couple of the Student body leadership and then a district lady and then the Principal. Pretty normal. That's how I remember mine. It was actually very bearable. Charity and Makayla talked through the whole thing. Then they started the slide show. Each kid with a list of their academic achievements and extra curricular things along with a quote. They did not leave it on each person long enough to read everything. That was my only complaint. But we were able to stop it on a few and read them. That was pretty fun too. Not exactly the same as a normal comensement, but close! Very close! I loved celebrating Charity and her accomplishments. She's done such a good job through all of school and actually loved it in the process. I am so proud of her! Here's to the future! 5-26-20
DIPLOMA WALK
She did it! She decided to do the diploma walk afterall! Charity got dressed up in her cap and gown for the last time. Nate and I went with her. We drove to the High school, got in line for the escort and then waited our turn to go into the auditorium. She had the chance to walk up the steps to the stage she spent her Junior High and High School career performing on, and received her "diploma". She got to walk across the stage and we got to cheer and take her picture. They had Pomp and Circumstance playing which just always jerks on my heart. It was not a real graduation still, but I think it was a good try. I don't think it filled the void Charity has in her mind for her graduation, but I do think it was some closure on this chapter of her life. I think everything was so drawn out and overdone, it made it hard for her to feel the closure. But giving back the cap and gown and getting her actual diploma (I joked that I don't even remember getting mine, but I don't!) made things a little more real. When we got home I was wanting more so I insisted that we give her one of her gifts from us. It was the book of course. I worked so hard on that book! I had really wanted her to have time to sit and look at it and that she did! I think we sat there for a good hour and a half going through each page! It was rough seeing all my mistakes and typos, but like grandpa said the next day, "It gives it character". That's my quote by the way. I am the one who says that, not him. He was quoting me. But anyway. I think she liked the book. That made me happy. Here's to the next 18 years of me trying to cram in time to make these books at the end of the school year for each of my cute kiddos... lets see if I can do it. I think Charity got a taste of real life with this whole experience and has been able to experience that "is this it?" feeling at an early point in her life. I'm sad she didn't get the end of her senior year. I'm sad that she had to miss out on so many things there at the end. I don't think she will ever get those back. It's hard to think about. I do know that this experience will be pivotal though. And like President Taylor said in the Seminary Graduation, it will benefit her later in life to have gone through this challenge. I'm interested to see how. If anyone can do this, it's Charity. 5-27-20
CHARITY'S GRADUATION DINNER
Charity chose to have it out on the front lawn so that we could properly social distance. We invited all the family to come in an open house format so that we didn't have too many people here and expected that they not go in our house, but they did the opposite. And it was okay. We had so many people here! Grandma Ruthie, Becky, Jen, Lynn and his two boys, Dan, Adele and their kids, The Taylors, Nancy sent a cute money lei. Grandpa Hatch and Dawn, Grandma Hatch, The Kirschbaums. It was pretty well attended! We were happy to have everyone there. We had Nate's amazing hamburgers. I made lemon bars as per Charity's request, along with some cute cap cupcakes. It was a little too hot to be out in the sun, but we made do with the canopy shade. It was a really nice evening! I loved celebrating Charity and making it feel a little more official. Her fun friends showed up around 7:00 and lit up :). I was so glad we decided to do that for her. Fun time. 5-27-20
KELLY'S FIRST GAME
We had a blast at the first game of our mini season! Kelly was amazing of course! She assisted the first point and then scored the second one! Pretty fun to watch! I only wish she could have had more playing time :). But I get it! We killed the Roy Royals. We're just happy to be playing. 5-28-20
ALLREDS CORONAVIRUS
We found out this week that not only does Bro. Allred have Coronavirus, but Krista tested positive as well. So they are self quarantined right now, with Addison. We wanted to do something nice for them, so we made a little care package for Addison with a cute stuffed elephant and some other crafts. She seemed to like it all on the marco polo she sent. I hope they are doing okay. It's so weird to feel so distanced and not want to go around them because we're afraid to get it. 5-29-20
TRUTH HURTS
Yesterday, when Liz asked, "What are you guys up to?" I said, "You're looking at it :)" and then made the joke, "We're just sitting around waiting for Nate to go to work so the party can start!" And boy do I regret making that joke! Brad, Kelly and Charity all chimed in with various versions of "Party? Whatever! It's not a party!" "We sit around and do nothing when Dad leaves!" "It's pure chaos when Dad's gone, all heck breaks loose." Kinda broke my heart a little. I know that nobody means anything hurtful by it, but it was a touchy subject in that moment. I started thinking about why I am not fun. It's frustrating because I have always been almost overly focused on fun. What is going to be fun, who is having fun, how I can make something more fun. Always wanting to provide my kids with fun, our family with fun opportunities, helping myself have fun even though there are challenges. It never would have occurred to me that I am not a fun person. Nate has always been the fun parent, kind of a given with Dads I feel like. And I've mostly been okay with that. But maybe it's because it was never put to me in this way. I started getting a little resentful. I'm the one who has to do all the dumb stuff when it comes to fun. Planning, organizing, getting things ready. No matter what it is, there is some dumb stuff for everything that is fun. If I even get to participate. Half the time I've been the one to sit back with a baby or toddler. And by choice! I am quick to choose to hang back. I realize now that sometimes that was because I didn't want the pressure of having to be the fun one. Or my laziness of course... always plays a small role in every decision. Then I started to blame my kids. It's not my job to entertain them. I didn't sign up for that. They NEVER have ideas! They never know what they want to do. They just want to "do something fun"! Never any help coming up with things. It's frustrating really. I got to thinking and I think my biggest hang up is having ideas, time and the means. If these things were not limited, I would be really fun! I have this dumb thing in me that wants everyone here when we do something fun, so if Nate isn't there, I'd rather wait til he is to enjoy something. The ideas do not flow like they used to either, for sure! Granted, in the old days, my fun ideas were much smaller and insignificant and much easier to pull off. Less important for Nate to not miss out. Picnics, crafts, different art projects, small outings to little places, sometimes outings to nowhere. Those were the fun things. Now days we have to do bigger things. Things that take more effort, time, energy, people, MONEY, time. It's not as easy to come up with and not as easy to pull off. Do you hear my excuses? Do you hear how I am trying to excuse myself from these comments? Well, that's what I did that evening as well. It was a battle inside of me. Trying to feel like I'm good enough, but also wanting to do better. It got to the point where I couldn't hold back the tears and even locked myself in my closet to cry, think and pray. I finally concluded that I was bugged that Heavenly Father didn't make me more fun. Why did he make me this way? This lazy, un-creative, so not fun way? I really was bummed. It felt like I wasn't given the qualities I needed for these kids and this family. I was totally bummed. The thought that came to me when I asked this was, "I will make weak things become strong..." I was able to get up and try. We finally decided on going over to the park to play kick ball which ended up being really awesome. It wasn't exactly my idea, but I'm going to take credit for the funness and I am also going to take credit for the idea to go get frozen yogurt from the new place in West Kaysville. Unfortunately that idea failed because the place isn't even open yet. Lame. So we got ice cream and Root Beer for Root Beer floats instead. It was a nice evening and I'm happy I didn't continue to wallow in my closet for too much longer. I keep revisiting this event and wondering what I am supposed to do. I will have to keep praying and see what Heavenly Father wants. Hopefully I can just work this weakness into a strength with some perseverance and dedication. Sad that it is going to take so much effort for me to become fun. So embarrassing. 5-30-20
TRUTH HURTS
Yesterday, when Liz asked, "What are you guys up to?" I said, "You're looking at it :)" and then made the joke, "We're just sitting around waiting for Nate to go to work so the party can start!" And boy do I regret making that joke! Brad, Kelly and Charity all chimed in with various versions of "Party? Whatever! It's not a party!" "We sit around and do nothing when Dad leaves!" "It's pure chaos when Dad's gone, all heck breaks loose." Kinda broke my heart a little. I know that nobody means anything hurtful by it, but it was a touchy subject in that moment. I started thinking about why I am not fun. It's frustrating because I have always been almost overly focused on fun. What is going to be fun, who is having fun, how I can make something more fun. Always wanting to provide my kids with fun, our family with fun opportunities, helping myself have fun even though there are challenges. It never would have occurred to me that I am not a fun person. Nate has always been the fun parent, kind of a given with Dads I feel like. And I've mostly been okay with that. But maybe it's because it was never put to me in this way. I started getting a little resentful. I'm the one who has to do all the dumb stuff when it comes to fun. Planning, organizing, getting things ready. No matter what it is, there is some dumb stuff for everything that is fun. If I even get to participate. Half the time I've been the one to sit back with a baby or toddler. And by choice! I am quick to choose to hang back. I realize now that sometimes that was because I didn't want the pressure of having to be the fun one. Or my laziness of course... always plays a small role in every decision. Then I started to blame my kids. It's not my job to entertain them. I didn't sign up for that. They NEVER have ideas! They never know what they want to do. They just want to "do something fun"! Never any help coming up with things. It's frustrating really. I got to thinking and I think my biggest hang up is having ideas, time and the means. If these things were not limited, I would be really fun! I have this dumb thing in me that wants everyone here when we do something fun, so if Nate isn't there, I'd rather wait til he is to enjoy something. The ideas do not flow like they used to either, for sure! Granted, in the old days, my fun ideas were much smaller and insignificant and much easier to pull off. Less important for Nate to not miss out. Picnics, crafts, different art projects, small outings to little places, sometimes outings to nowhere. Those were the fun things. Now days we have to do bigger things. Things that take more effort, time, energy, people, MONEY, time. It's not as easy to come up with and not as easy to pull off. Do you hear my excuses? Do you hear how I am trying to excuse myself from these comments? Well, that's what I did that evening as well. It was a battle inside of me. Trying to feel like I'm good enough, but also wanting to do better. It got to the point where I couldn't hold back the tears and even locked myself in my closet to cry, think and pray. I finally concluded that I was bugged that Heavenly Father didn't make me more fun. Why did he make me this way? This lazy, un-creative, so not fun way? I really was bummed. It felt like I wasn't given the qualities I needed for these kids and this family. I was totally bummed. The thought that came to me when I asked this was, "I will make weak things become strong..." I was able to get up and try. We finally decided on going over to the park to play kick ball which ended up being really awesome. It wasn't exactly my idea, but I'm going to take credit for the funness and I am also going to take credit for the idea to go get frozen yogurt from the new place in West Kaysville. Unfortunately that idea failed because the place isn't even open yet. Lame. So we got ice cream and Root Beer for Root Beer floats instead. It was a nice evening and I'm happy I didn't continue to wallow in my closet for too much longer. I keep revisiting this event and wondering what I am supposed to do. I will have to keep praying and see what Heavenly Father wants. Hopefully I can just work this weakness into a strength with some perseverance and dedication. Sad that it is going to take so much effort for me to become fun. So embarrassing. 5-30-20
KICKBALL
We've been having a lot of fun at the park playing kickball lately. It's been extra fun to have the Maughans a few times. I'm not sure how to evenly separate into teams. Whichever team Brad is on is usually at an advantage. Maybe if he and I were on the same team.... We'll have to try that sometime. 5-30-20
CHARITY
Charity has been through several emotions over the past little while thinking about and looking forward to the future. She wasn't sure if USU was going to open in the fall, then she wasn't sure she wanted to go up there to live if it wasn't... then she did... just lots of different things to think about and get ready for. She's also really not motivated to get a job at the moment. So we're all sitting back hoping she has money to do what it is she wants when school does start. We shall see. She's finally graduated though! It's nice to finally have some closure on that. There were so many ways to celebrate that. Glad that she got the attention she did, wish she could have had it with all her friends, but also glad it's finally done. She just finished learning the song The Miracle on the piano- that was her big Quarantine project so we were all really proud of her. She learned it from a YouTube video! Pretty impressive. She also did a cool ketchup experiment with her friends Carter and Marshall out on the street in front of our house. They put some baking soda in a ketchup bottle, shook it up and shot it across the road. Pretty thrilling really :). They did the Mentos in the soda bottle too. Fun stuff. She has been spending a lot of time with her friends, it's been nice for her. She's getting ready for her Madrigals Overnighter coming up here this week. That will be fun I think. 5-31-20
KELLY
Kelly has been slaving over her banners that she's been making and selling to people all month. It's been a LOT of work! I really think she's undercharging, but she says she just likes doing it, so that's good. I'm not sure how many she's made but well over $100 worth. Pretty cool. She's spent a lot of time bonding with her siblings too. I am amazed at how often I see her just trying to spend some good quality time with them. She has had the same cashier every time she goes to Bennion Craft for more paint or supplies. I'm pretty sure he's cute, but she doesn't know. She is really happy to be able to get a little season of Lacrosse. Doesn't love the heat of summer to play in though and came home with quite the sunburn after her second or third practice. She had won the votes for captain just before the break, so we're calling her captain. I don't know why Paul hasn't made a bigger deal about it yet, but whatever. She's been enjoying hammocking with her friends in the evenings at Barnes Park. That's been a new thing. Kelly is a big help and a fun person to have around. 5-31-20
BRADLEY
Brad has maintained his cheerful attitude all month. He's been a lot of fun to have around. He's super helpful with Sadie- she just LOVES her bubba- and has a fun sense of humor that lightens the mood. I've been really grateful for his fun personality and ideas. He's still working out quite a bit. Keeps telling me that this week is nine pull ups in a row, so whatever that means :). Sounds hard. Less running and walking than he was doing before, but more basketball, more yard work, and more sitting around watching movies. He also seems hungrier. He's getting all geared up for Cross Country to start. That will be fun for him. And tiring. I'm happy he likes to do those things though. He's been a big help in the ward. Mowing lawns for people, taking the sacrament, helping to deliver things. He has spent most of his free time fishing. He even went on a little excursion up to a lake in Layton with a guy that he was able to get out in a canoe and fish the other day. That was fun. He and Nate have picked up mountain biking also. So he's stayed pretty busy this month. 5-31-20
LUKE
Luke has stayed pretty busy hanging out with his friends ever since the social distancing was lightened. He's been at Jaxx's house almost constantly. They've been long boarding a lot, playing board games, or throwing games around his house, bike rides, and just keeping busy. I'm glad he has a good friend to hang out with. He's seen Clint a little bit too. We do love having him around when he's here though. He enjoys bike rides with everyone and playing outside with the water balloons. Most of the time he keeps to himself though. I'm hoping he's doing okay like he says. He's been way into his Rubik's cubes this month, figuring out the 2x2 and 4x4. He hasn't gotten as much into the quicker methods, but he's enjoying the figuring it out. He has a loose tooth that he's trying to pull and had a balloon ribbon tied to it all night. We'll see how that goes. 5-31-20
NOAH
Noah stays very busy as well. All over the place! In the creek, the yard with water balloons, in his room keeping it nice and clean, writing stories, composing family newsletters, making movies, inventing things, planning challenges for everyone, planning a family science fair, bike rides, roller blading, you name it! He keeps really busy. He's been hanging out with Josh a little more lately, as well as Erika. Jack too. It's been fun to see all that he is involved in. He's been a fun kid to have around and a good help. We never could have cut down that tree without his bravery in tying the ropes to the tree. Good kid! 5-31-20
ERIKA
Erika has spent a good portion of her time with Kate, but with the Maughans going up to their cabin so often, it hasn't been as much as she would like. She and Kate are still using their porch mail boxes for notes and keep each other updated on things like their new trampoline :). She loves the letters. She seems to be a little more bored this month. Not as easily entertained. Although she did get into the Perler Bead crafting with everyone else. She's done a lot of that. Mostly she is out on her rollerblades, bike or water balloons after monitoring the temps pretty closely. It's been pretty hot lately. She keeps busy enough. I've loved watching her make little treasure hunts for Molly. Such a good big sister. She seems to really enjoy a good snuggle from Sadie as well. Cute to watch her carry her around and play with her when she's not busy. Sadie seems to love her attention. 5-31-20
JACK
Jack is a busy little guy as well. Mostly on the iPad and watching TV, but thankfully he spends a lot of time on his roller blades this month! SO MUCH TIME ROLLER BLADING!! It's been fun to watch him teach himself how to do it. His huge scrape on the inside of his knee is FINALLY healed. I think that was a month long process. We really had to baby that thing to keep it from being infected and causing so much pain that Jack could hardly get around. He's had fun playing kickball at the park. He's been beyond happy that the social distancing has been lifted and he can play with his friends. Will and Liam have been a lot of fun to have back in his life. He's also loved the Perler Bead crafting. He's really good at it and has a lot of fun creating new things. He's been a positive influence in our home and we're all glad to have him around. 5-31-20
MOLLY
Molly has been doing better at not vegging in front of screens this month. She's gotten out more. She loves the water balloons and playing with Bea. She's been fishing with Brad a few times and caught way more fish than him. She loves planning surprises for people and helping Kelly make signs. She always reminds me that we haven't worked out! We have missed a LOT of days. Time to get back into that I think. She has had a tough time controlling her temper. We're all constantly reminding her not to whine. She'll get there I think. I'm proud of her for all that she is doing on her own lately. She even wiped her own bumb the other day while Nate and I were out. She loves sleepovers, movie nights, projector movies, and jumping on the trampoline. She's a sweet heart and lets me cuddle with her regularly. I'm grateful for her help with Sadie as well. She's a fun big sister too. 5-31-20
SADIE
Sadie has been keeping busy also! She wanders the house to her heart's content until we realize she's gone and fish her out of my bedroom. She is always behind the door looking in the mirror at herself. It's pretty cute. She still puts everything in her mouth. She is really good at crawling now. She'll pull herself up to furniture and walk around like that too. She likes her little push toys, but only for a little while and all the other baby toys in the house are just obstacles for her to get around so she can get to the good stuff like crumbs and legos. She doesn't seem to really enjoy much food right now. She loves the protein bars that Nate and I share with her. She still loves her Chobani Vanilla Yogurt, but not like she did. I think she's getting some new teeth. Her fangs actually. HA! I can't remember who else got those first- they end up looking a little funny without the two middle ones. We'll see how it goes. She's such a sweetheart. She is still napping pretty well as long as there isn't too much noise. She doesn't nurse unless it's really quiet though. Funny girl gets distracted real easily. She sleeps really good at night still too. Good little baby. 5-31-20
ME
I'm adjusting to not having all my prisoners captive here, 24//7. It's definitely not my favorite. I am also going to learn how to be more fun here. That is my goal. I've been working on my 2018 book like crazy. Getting really close to having it done. I am anticipating a lot of work to get 2019, 2020 and then Kelly's graduation book within the next year! So it's been nice to have time to work on it all. Most of my time is spent feeding and changing Sadie, cooking and cleaning, and laundry and dishes. Sounds pretty thrilling, I know. I've been happy with how well we've kept up with our family study time- haven't missed a day this year yet! I am looking forward to some of the fun things we have planned this summer though. 5-31-20
NATE
Nate has been a busy little bee as well. Mountain biking and archery with Travis and Allen, yard work like crazy, learning to bass fish in the mornings with Brad, staying sane, working out, smoking meat again! and all kids of Bishopric to dos. He stays very busy. It's been nice to have him home so much lately even if he doesn't love the lack of routine.
