It's My Birthday.....YAY!

Happy Birthday to me!

 It was your typical Sunday morning.  I awake to make breakfast for the family, write a primary talk, get showered and everybody dressed for church by 9:00am.  Oh ya, and it's my birthday. 

I'm treated like a gem every day but I always hope that on 2 days of the year (birthday and Mother's Day), the people in my home will just spoil me rotten.  Nope!  They love me but that's where it ends.  Luckily, I have great friends and extended family who comes through!  We celebrated with yummy cake (thanks Meres for the yummy Steve Johnston lemon cake) and to everybody for the sweet gifts!

 Our awesome friends, the DuJardins!

 Jaxson, showing off his cupcake face!

 Cousin Doug kept me in stitches most of the night.  Thanks for bringing the family!

 I loved my new shirt.  Fun times!

 The beautiful Facer girls!

 And here is the little guy who shared the night with me:  Lukey!
Happy 3rd Birthday cutie pie!

 I'm so grateful to bring in another year with my family and friends.  I am certainly surrounded by incredible people who inspire me to live my best life.  Thanks to all!

PS- the end of Spring Break was awesome!

 There were so many fun times we had after we returned home from Las Vegas.  The kids and spent a very productive day in the yard working.  I was so proud of what they learned and how hard they worked.  The weather went cold:  so we went inside and created fun memories:

 Dave and I went out to Olive Garden for a delicious dinner.  Here is the cake we ate at the end.  Incredible!











We went to Aunt Cheri and Uncle Steve's house for some yummy pulled pork sandwiches and play-do (not to eat, of course!)  The kids love their family and we enjoyed a lovely evening there.

 I bought the kids another play-do toy and MAN- they LOVED it!  They played and played for hours, making me all sorts of ice cream treats and pizza out of play-do. 

STICKERS ON DADDY!
Alyssa loves her daddy!  And she loves stickers.  A very fun combination!

SWIMMING AT THE DuJARDINS

It was 70 degrees outside.  It was 78 degrees in the pool.  And yet, my children felt it was warm enough to swim.  YIKES!  It was freezing.  After I got out with Alyssa, she wanted back in.  Thank goodness for my Taylor!  She stuck with Alyssa like glue and I was able to monitor from the sides....something I've wanted to do for years when it has been cold and the children have insisted on swimming.  :)  Thanks Yo and Landon for having us over.  We can't wait to swim when it is in the 80s and the pool too!

Great times for our family.  I really enjoyed the children and the memories we made together with the ones we love. 

Hope of America!

 

HOPE OF AMERICA

We enjoyed a grand evening at the Marriott Center listening to a few dozen schools' 5th graders celebrate the freedoms we enjoy in America.  We were so proud of Taylor.  She LOVES to sing! 

(Just last night, her 5th grade teacher sent an E-mail home to tell us how the students in her class were asked to write compliments to each other and Ms. Ferrin reported that tons of boys and girls had written about how beautifully she sings because she sang a solo recently in music time and really impressed everybody.)

The lights were amazing and the t-shirts with red, white, blue and yellow were amazing.

Taylor sang next to her best buddy, Ashley, as well as Brianna.  The girls are so darling.  We love them!

As always, Taylor was very-well supported by her family!  Aunt Cheri, Poppie and Grandma Barbie fought the traffic and spent the evening with our family.  Thanks and we love you so much!

All in all, we are grateful for the brilliant minds behind the music from the program.  Taylor has been singing these songs in our home and taught them to our children since last fall.  They are so beautifully written with incredible messages that have deeply impacted Taylor and our family.  We are so grateful to have participated in such an uplifting event!

Spring Break 2010: Las Vegas, baby!

The morning after Jaxson's birthday party, the kids and I were off to Las Vegas! Brandon and Charlotte's new baby son was going to be blessed on Sunday so we wanted to be part of the action and soak up some Spring Break sun....

The drive down was awesome. For the first time since I've had children, I didn't have a baby or toddler scream and bawl the entire drive. Think about that for a second: for almost 11 years, anytime I have driven anywhere (even to the grocery store), I have dealt with screaming, bawling children. I could actually almost hear the voices in my head again! HAH!
We went straight to our hotel. A former student of mine, Amber, hooked us up with some awesome Marriott rooms near the strip. We were about 25 minutes from Brandon's house but with cheap rooms and a continental breakfast, we couldn't beat staying there!

SWIMMING

If you ask my children what they loved the most about Vegas, they would respond with "swimming and playing with cousins." All of the nieces and nephews were very excited to stay in a hotel. I guess with 7 kids and cousins galore, we stay with family and friends when we travel.

Uncle Jeff with Madison and Jax

Jana and Alyssa

Connected at the hip: cousins Taylor and Jessica

Sadie with her daddy, Brandon!

Grandma Rae Rae with beautiful little Brinlee

And here is our lovely Aunt Nicole, enjoying a great read poolside. Jealous!

Uncle Dan was so much fun to play with in the pool!

Aunt Jenny!

Cutie Pie ZOE!

Dad and Jeff enjoyed a good visit while we swam

EASTER EGG HUNT

After our swim, we drove to a huge park and had a quick Easter Egg Hunt with the kiddos. Although it was fast, the kids had a great time.

Our beautiful new baby nephew!

Easter Sunday

After a fabulous breakfast at the Marriott, we zoomed across town for Brevan's baby blessing. The kids and I arrived at the church at 8:56. I knew my siblings were 10-15 minutes later than me so I was certain they would miss the blessing. But when I arrived, there were only a few people in the chapel. No organ music, no bishopric. The Hatch clan just might make it!

And they did. They last family walked in at 9:15, just in time for the beginning of church. The blessing was beautiful and the Easter Sunday talks were perfect.

Cousins!

Jenny's little sons. Adorable!

Ginger, Josh, Dan and Jenny

Justin, recuperating after almost missing the entire meeting....

After a yummy lunch in a park near Brandon and Charlotte's home, we all went back to the hotel and slept a little and then went back to their home for games and fun. The kids were restless so we went to a favorite park about a mile from the house. Here are some pictures of the kiddos:

Jenny's precious little Preston!

Austin LOVED his little cousins. They played together so cute.

We love our Sadie girl! She always wants Aunt Jody to take her pictures so I do!

Baby Doll Alyssa!

Dan, Jenny and Brandon played their favorite dice game

This is a favorite picture! Love these little kids!

Monday Morning

After a fabulous sleep, scrumptious breakfast and a 2 hour swim in the pool, we packed up and left our Marriott suite. Here are some pictures of Dan bringing the luggage AND the "kitchen sink" down the hall.

We said our good-byes to Jenny and Dan's beautiful young family.....

BRANDON AND CHARLOTTE'S HOUSE

The kids and I drove over the Brandon and Charlotte's house to spend another day with them. We ended up hitting 2 more parks, ate great enchiladas and caramel Sundays and I held and held little Brevan before we had to go.

It was a whirlwind, fun weekend, topped off with yet another drive home without any bawling or fighting from the kids. What a gift! Having a great family is a gift. We are so blessed.