Hee Haw Farms

Last year was the first time I had heard about Hee Haw Farms, and we had such a great time then, so I've really been looking forward to going again this year. It's a family-run farm with really fun activities for the kids to do, and it's not too crowded. Some of our favorite things:

The corn pit:The tire-horse swings:
The pony rides, which Emilie actually loved! She's been pretty freaked out when I've tried to let her ride ponies before. The corn maze. They had so much fun running ahead of a very slow, waddling mommy and deciding which directions to take. Amazingly, we didn't get too lost! And my favorite part was Emilie calling the corn stalks "corn trees."And last but not least, our attempt at a group shot on the trick-or-treat hayride. This was Isaac's favorite part. Every so often along the ride, there would be people dressed up in costumes throwing candy into the wagon for the kids to get. What could be better than that?

Piano Recital

For the last year or so I've been teaching piano lessons and it has been such an amazing experience for me to share my love of music with some of the children in my neighborhood. Last weekend I held my first piano recital with my students and they did so well! Most of them had never taken any formal music class before, so to see them start with very little and be able to perform a couple pieces, most of them from memory, was very gratifying! Granted, some of them made a mistake or two, but I still make mistakes all the time and it's part of being a musician and performing to be able to make mistakes and learn to just keep going.Here I am with my adorable group of students. I held the recital at the Piano Gallery in Orem and they have a beautiful, full-sized Yamaha grand that they were able to play on. I think the kids really enjoyed playing on a nice stage with an amazing instrument like that!

Starting in November I'm going to take my maternity leave from teaching and will start back up again in January. I think we will all enjoy a little break from the rigors of piano lessons and enjoy the holiday season.

California Dreaming

The California trip that we were initially going to try to take in the spring that was postponed thanks to morning sickness was finally realized a few weeks ago! My darling friend Chelsea let us stay with her at her parents' amazing home, and we had a great balance of fun stuff, visiting family, and relaxing! Here are some of the highlights:

Disneyland:
Waiting in line at the Nemo sub ride. This was our longest wait time, maybe 15-20 minutes. We went on a good day, the lines moved quickly and we were able to go on most of the rides we wanted.Isaac loved watching Captain E-O and kept trying to grab the 3D images. At the end, he was standing in front of his seat dancing around like MJ, it was pretty darn cute! Emilie on Small World. She was a bit hesitant at first, as is her nature, but it ended up being one of her favorite rides! We even went on it twice!Meeting Minnie Mouse. Isaac was so excited to see her, he gave her a kiss. On the lips. Yeah. And of course, the big guy. I think he kind of scared Emilie a little bit, but Isaac thought it was pretty cool.Then of course, we had fun on other days too, like swimming in the jacuzzi:
Getting chased by the waves:
Dining on the pier at Ruby's:
Very yummy burgers and shakes!
Overlooking the ocean. Some people said they saw dolphins, but I couldn't see any. Lots of surfers and sailboats though! Atlantis Park in Garden Grove, what a darling park! Isaac on the giant sea dragon slide:
Emilie rocking on a sea horse:
Giant sea star:
And this last one is probably my favorite picture from the trip. I had set the timer on my camera so we could get a picture of all of us together. We tried a few times to get everyone looking forward at the same time but with humorous results. Then I viewed this image and thought it looked pretty good, so we left that little play pod and went on to play elsewhere. Later that day, I looked at the picture more closely and realized that what I thought was a great family picture is really just funny!Isaac has scary arms - I guess he kept trying to put his hands up and Jarom kept pushing them back down, so of course Jarom looks frustrated Emilie is covering her mouth. I'm smiling though! So even though it's not the perfect picture I thought I took, I still love it.

I'm kicking myself for not taking pictures of the kids with Grandma and the other family members we visited, especially Brett who just returned from his mission to South Africa! Oh well, just more reason to go down again for another visit. Just not when I'm 29 weeks pregnant next time.

Halloween Decor

I love fall, it has to be my favorite season of the year! I have so many fun things to look forward to - my birthday, our wedding anniversary, Halloween and Thanksgiving, the beautiful colors of fall, and this year especially, the birth of our little girl! I've been really looking forward to cooler temperatures, it's been so unseasonably warm, but hopefully it will start to cool down in the next few days. All that being said, I've started pulling out a few fall decorations and have quickly realized that I have a lot to learn about decorating for the holidays! So I am making a conscious effort to change that and make my home more reflective of the seasons.

My first goal is to redo the wall that's on the right side as you enter my house. It's a pretty big wall with nothing going on, so I started out my little wall make-over with a big shelf. After I put that up, I realized I didn't have much to put up on it, but after a little digging and a really fun craft night on Thursday, here is what I have come up with: I have one more darling little picture that will be going up in the middle of the shelf hopefully next weekend. Here's a close-up of the little count-down calendar I made:I found the little pumpkins and the garland at Walmart. I'm quite pleased with how it's coming together and am already thinking ahead to Christmas!

Now I just need to figure out what to do with the rest of the wall....

Baby denim skirt

With it being Labor Day, I didn't have to work (yipee!) which meant I actually had shred of free time! I saw this adorable tutorial by Homemade by Jill and knew that I just had to make one for the baby. I had a pair of Jarom's old jeans that I've been holding on to with the idea in mind to some day make a denim quilt, but I think this was a much more worthy cause.
The whole project took about an hour and it turned out so cute, I just can't wait for this little girl to get here so she can start wearing it! I've made some preliminary measurements to make one for Emilie too, since she's all about wearing skirts and dressing up. I'm going to have me an adorable pair of girls!

The other big sewing project I have on my to-do list for Baby is this car seat canopy. I made a trial one for my friend Sara's little boy and it turned out so cute! I am now on the hunt for some fabric to make one for me. I saw some to-die-for fabric at a quilt shop on Friday, but couldn't bring myself to pay $10 a yard, especially when I need two yards. I'm just too cheap these days, so the hunt goes on. I know I can find something just as cute for much less, I just need to be on the look-out.

Pregnancy Update

My sweet SIL Katie asked for a pregnancy update, and I suppose it has been a little while since devoting a blog post to the little sweetheart that likes to practice kick-boxing with my organs. I guess I get so busy worrying about the little ones that are outside my womb that demand all my attention that I don't think quite as much about the precious little one growing in my belly.

I believe the above picture is a 26 week picture, although it might be 25 weeks, I can't remember. I'm 28 weeks now, the same gestation I was when Isaac was born. Passing that milestone is always relieving, especially when coupled with the assurance that I am not approaching pre-term labor with the same vigor. On the contrary, things are progressing pretty uneventfully. I had an appointment last week and things are still looking good. The week before was a bit stressful and brought along with it a few days of rather bothersome and hard to control contractions, but things have eased up this week, thank goodness.

As my due date gets closer, I'm realizing how little time I have left to get ready for this little one. Some of the things I still need/want to do before she is born:

• Decide on her NAME! I have a little post-it note by my computer that I add names to all the time, but Jarom isn't horribly crazy about any of them. I'm glad we still have a little bit more time before having to make a decision, although I would like to have it at least narrowed down to maybe 2 or 3 before she is born.
• Get out Emilie's baby clothes and see what gaps need to be filled in. Since Emilie was born in May and this will be a fall/winter baby, I'm hoping that I have enough warm clothes to get her through the winter. I got a few bags full of hand-me-downs so I shouldn't have to supplement her wardrobe too much. I do need to find her an adorable bring-me-home outfit though!
• Now that Emilie and Isaac are sharing a room, I'd really like to paint their room and find some kind of theme to decorate it a little bit that will be fun for both of them.
  
• Since Baby will be born right in the midst of the winter holiday season, I want to try to get Christmas as planned out and prepared before she is born as possible. Job #1 is making new Christmas stockings! I found some adorable fabric this weekend, so hopefully I can find some time to get sewing. I have a vision in my head of how I would like it to turn out, we'll see if I can make it work.

Besides a few big bullet items, I also try my hardest to keep up on the daily rigors of being a housewife. I hate seeing messes all over the house and not having the energy and time to keep on top of things like I need. The kids seem especially adept at creating whirlwinds of chaos in their wake, and don't seem to understand how hard it is for mommy to be bending over picking up toys all the time. I think between cleaning and laundry, and working part-time, and everything else demanding my time, I'm just happy to make it to bed at the end of the day. There will be time eventually to have a beautifully kept and organized house, but as long as everyone is healthy and clothed and fed, then hopefully it will be enough for now.

First day of school

I suppose I've always known that Isaac would grow up, and the daily reminders should have clued me in, but it didn't make it any easier for me to see a handsome little big boy this morning with excitement brimming in his big blue eyes at the thought of going off to elementary school. I had doctor's appointment this morning and wasn't around to actually see him off to school, but luckily Daddy was around to follow my list of instructions and took the required pictures so that he could start his school career according to Mommy's desires.
Most of the pictures involved some sort of funny face, it must be a Hatch trait. Posing in front of the school house. I remember when we first considered moving to Harvest Hills and passing this school and thinking, someday that could be Isaac's school! Here we are two years later, backpack loaded, and ready to start learning.The kindergartners have their own entrance, I guess so they don't get plowed over by the big kids!Posing with Miss Broadhead. He already loves her and is so excited to be in her class! When I got home and Jarom showed me the pictures, the tears started coming. I'm just so proud of my big boy! I leave in about 10 minutes to pick him up and I can't wait to hear all about his first day of school and give him a super big hug.