Friday, July 31, 2009

Dirt, Sweat & Tears

Wanna know why I haven't been doing much blogging lately? Well, besides the usual lack of free time and work and kids and all. We've been spending every last ounce of spare time (especially Jarom!) getting our front yard done!

Last weekend was all about dirt! A big semi truck came Friday morning and delivered a mountain of top soil. Yes, Isaac thought it was the coolest thing ever and waited on the porch for a good half hour waiting for it to come.

The driver was super nice and let Isaac sit in the driver seat when he was done and even let him honk the horn!Then on Saturday, my dad, Chris, Jarom's dad, Matthew, and Nathan came out and helped us spread the top soil and get everything smoothed out and ready for grass. We moved a lot of rocks and did lots of raking and shoveling.

Here are some glory shots and highlights from Saturday. First and foremost, my wonderful, hard-working Jarom.
Matthew, king of the shovel.Nathan, looking a bit hot and tired (probably because he was hot and tired!). Our neighbor moved around a lot of the dirt with his bobcat into nice piles around the yard, but we still had to move what was left of the big pile in the front. Dad was master of the wheelbarrow.
After he dropped off a load, he let Emilie and Isaac take turns getting a wheelbarrow ride back to the dirt pile. They loved it, and it brough back some sweet memories of him doing the same thing to me when I was a little girl!Selby designed this contraption that Jarom whipped up in the garage. It was weighted down with a rock then pulled across the ground and did a great job at getting everything nice and smooth. Here's how beautiful and flat the yard looked at the end of the day!Then on Wednesday, Isaac was again delighted to see another semi truck come over, this time to deliver sod. We (and by that I mean Jarom and his GPS) underestimated how much sod we would need, so we weren't able to go back as far down the side yard as we had planned, but that's ok. We got all the front yard done and that is what was required from our HOA. And soon enough the kids can start playing on the beautiful new grass! We owe a HUGE thanks to Gevan who helped us so much getting the grass down! Couldn't have done it without you!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Family Reunion

We drove up to Idaho yesterday for the Hatch family reunion. It's been a while since the whole family has been together so it was fun to see everyone, especially to see how much the grand kids have grown!

Since I wasn't feeling the best, Jarom was great at helping take care of Emmie. She sure loves her daddy!
Matthew & Michaela and Jarom & Emilie
Grandpa's neighbor has this fun little tractor train and he took the kids on rides around the farm. Isaac thought it was the funnest thing and Emilie had a great time too! I was worried she wouldn't sit through it, but she was great!Emilie and Michaela sitting in the train (but no one to pull the tractor, so that's as far as they went).
E & M playing in the little splash pool. And funny enough, their swimming suits are made out of the same fabric! Jenny and I must have very good taste!
Standing at the edge of the barley fields.
Emilie and her cousin Noah, they were born about a week apart. Look at those Hatch genes! Cute babies.
Grandma and Grandpa Hatch.

Happy Independence Day!

I just love Summer and doing fun things with my little family! Here are some pics from our 4th of July celebrations!

Jarom used his Ham radio skillz to work at the Provo parade on the morning of the 4th. He had a block of the parade he patrolled, making sure kids stayed behind the line and didn't throw poppers at the horses. Isaac got so excited each time he say Jarom walk by, he stood up and clapped and cheered!Here we are watching the parade!Les, Mindi, Kaleb, and Kate watching the parade too!That evening we went to my sister's house for a BBQ. Aren't we adorable in our matching shirts?Emmie with Grandma and Grandpa Sugden.Isaac playing with Gemille. He had so much fun running around with so many cousins!I just loved this pic of the kids playing on the bean bag!Hope your holiday celebrations were filled with as much fun as we had! I love my country and am so grateful to be American!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Temple Open-House

Last Thursday we took the kids to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house in West Jordan. We had a wonderful time seeing the inside of the beautiful building and the kids seemed to have a nice time too! Here are some picture highlights!

One of the really cool things they did at this open house was have volunteers standing around in the front of the building to take pictures of groups. Brilliant!We took turns carrying Emilie while we were inside (I didn't want to worry about stroller and the elevators) so I think that by the time we got outside, she was thrilled to be able to walk around! I think this is one of my new favorite pictures of Emmie!Isaac loves to pull the silliest faces when the camera comes out, and this night was no exception. Sure am crazy about that silly boy! Jarom worked pretty hard on this shot, and I really like how it turned out!Did you know that Angel Moroni was hit by lightening during on of those crazy storms that came through Utah in June? I guess he's getting a little touch-up before the temple is dedicated!We thought that going to the temple open-house as a family on Thursday would be a great way for our family to celebrate our little angel baby's birthday. It was her 5th birthday and we love her and miss her so very much.

What does $128.83 of groceries look like?

(plus 3 gallons of milk, a dozen eggs, and two more boxes of cereal)

And how much did it cost me today?

$46.53!!!
I've started using the Savvy Shopper these last few weeks and I'm accumulating quite a few coupons. I'm still not very good at using the system, but it's getting better. I think I did ok today. I'm eventually going to be utterly fabulous at getting things for super cheap.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

End of season

Isaac had his last soccer game on Saturday, and now that it's over, I think he finally started to enjoy it! The two kids who usually carry the game were gone, and there was only one kid to sub, so Isaac ended up playing for most of the game. He even kicked the ball a few times and did a few throw-ins. At the end of the game, he got a medal for participating and he is very proud of it! After the game we went to our niece Michaela's birthday party and he had to wear his little medal to show it off to everyone there!

Here's a pic of the adorable little birthday girl! She was supposed to have a swim party, but the pesky rain prevented that so the kids just tore up the house instead!Emilie's been pretty busy lately too. Besides getting a nice little bump on her forehead from crashing into the couch, she also got 3 teeth in 4 days! One incisor and two molars. No WONDER she's been so cranky lately!

Friday, June 12, 2009

In case you haven't heard...

We have a walker!


And a jabber box!


Emilie's vocabulary now includes:

Sit Down (dee dow)
Thank you (day doo)
Mama
Dada
Isaac (Ah-da)
Meow (Ow) (used for Gabby too)
Bye-Bye
Grandpa (pa pa)
Hello (ee-ya) (she uses everything to talk on the phone - keys, remotes, shoes, etc.)
Plus lots of other cute little sounds that I can't quite understand yet, but I'm sure are brilliant.

She can also sign more, milk, and all done!