Oh Christmas Bee....I mean Tree

Don't let these cute little smiles fool you. Choosing a Christmas tree can be dangerous. 

So this year we went to Lowes to pick us up this years Christmas tree.  I know, how festive to go to a home improvement center to pick up a Christmas tree, but we didn't really have any other real options and I'm cheap like that so Lowes is where we ended up.  OK on with my story...  So we were outside the garden center where they had a VERY small selection of trees to choose from.  Spencer and I started looking through what they had while trying to keep a handle on the kids.  While I was handling the crew Spencer came across our perfect tree (pictured above).  How excited we were to find something we liked with out major drama, or so we thought.  After taking this lovely picture of the kids in front of our chosen tree we proceeded to take it inside to have the bottom trimmed and tied up to get ready for transport.  As we came around the corner we were immediately swarmed by bees!!!  Now my kids don't do bugs in general, and when there is a large amount of bugs... oh holy chaos.  Some froze in the middle of the swarm, and others ran for cover.  Needless to say none of us got stung, but trauma was definitely experienced.

 We made it inside and got our prized tree packaged up and ready for transport.

The kids wanted to have a hand in all things tree so they helped Spencer get it from the top of the car and bring it into the house.   The decorating process began and Tyson was WAY excited to "help".  His technique of "hanging" the balls on the tree consisted of a wind up pitch with a line drive arrival straight into the tree.  There was some "adjusting" needed after all was said and done.

As we approach the end of this year we are thankful for all the many blessings in our lives.  We are thankful for our children and the happiness they bring to our lives.  We are blessed to have the gospel to guide and direct us.  We are also grateful for our many friends and great family that supports and helps us daily.  We would like to wish everyone a Merry CHRISTmas and a safe and Happy New Year.

Love, The Hatch's

Just a few changes

BEFORE

                       

DURING                                                                                        AFTER

Emily's change was on her birthday.  Not only did she turn 9 but she asked if she could get her ears pierced.  She promised that she would take good care of them so Spencer and I decided that she could.  She LOVES being able to wear earrings.  Now to just keep her from wanting the really big dangle ones.

WHY????

LOOK I"M A LITTLE BOY NOT A BABY!

ALL SHOWERED AND HAIR DONE

Tyson's recent change was him finally getting a hair cut.  I kept putting off because he had the cutest curls of any of my kids, but it was time to cut it because I was getting tired of people calling him a girl.  He could be wearing a shirt and tie and he still got the girl comments.  So now we no longer have a baby.  It seems the hair cut has cut away all the baby, and a toddler has emerged.  Oh they grow up way to fast. 

Just some more cakes

 Star Wars Party.  This was a fun one to do.  It took me out of my comfort zone, but I like how it turned out.

 This was for Brandon's end of the season football party.  The Be Tough was on the t-shirts all the parents wore.

This was for Emily's end of the season soccer party.  I wanted to try something I had never done before so this is what I came up with.  Emily helped me design it.   I know what I would do different the next time, but all in all this was a fun one. 

When we play.... we play hard

This Fall we were busy, busy, busy with sports.  And when I say busy I mean busy.   We were either at a game or a practice 5 days a week.  This was the first year we had three of the kids in sports.  Did I mention we were busy??

GO BLUE COLTS!



This year was Brandon's second year playing flag football.  Brandon LOVES playing football and I think he would play it year round if he could.  This year he played on both offence and defensive lines.  There were even a couple of games where he was able to try his hand at quarterback.  Brandon had a hand full of sacks and some defence saving flag pulls.  Spencer was also able to help out as the offensive coach.  This was Spencer's first time ever doing this, and he did a great job. 

In this picture Brandon is #45.

GO LONGHORNS!

This year was Emily's  4th year playing soccer.  She played in the U10 league and it was her first year where they actually have refs and keep score.  I would have to say this was the best year of soccer so far.  It was an exciting season and they just had a great team.  Emily had a hand full of goals and a good number of assists as well.  He team made it to the semi-finals only to unfortunately loose in over time.  Maybe next year.

GO WILDCATS!

This was Aubrey's 1st year playing soccer.  It's been a little while since we were back in the "swarm of bee's phase" with soccer.  I call it this because everyone swarms around the ball trying to kick it like a bunch of bees.  The team had a tough season as everyone was a first time player but one, and we weren't the most aggressive of groups.  It's a learning process though.  By the end of the season I think they we starting to get they hang of it.  Maybe next year it will be even better, although Aubrey keeps saying she wants to be a cheerleader so we shall see.  Aubrey was able to score 2 or 3 goals and made a lot of good kicks. 

Like I said it was a fun Fall season of sports.  Yes we were busy, but it wouldn't have been as fun if I couldn't watch all my kids in their games.  What's next?  BASKETBALL starting at the end of next month.  Here we go again!

Where the Ghouls go to party

Take a look at this ghoulish group.  This year we decided to go with the classic monster movie theme.  Emily was our resident vampire. Brandon and awesome werewolf, Aubrey a sweet witch and Tyson a mumbling mummy.  This Halloween was a busy time for us this year.  We had one activity after another.  Friday night consisted of a fall festival at the elementary school.  The kids got to do a couple of activities and some trick or treating.  After that we were off to the Halloween party at Aubrey's preschool.  They were able to eat awesome snacks and play some pretty fun games and win some great prizes.  While all this was happening I had a soccer game going on in the women's league that I am in, so it was nice to have Spencer's parents in for the weekend to help out with all the running around.  So on to Saturday we had the combined ward Trunk or Treat and our adult Halloween party that Spencer and I hosted after the trunk or treat for all our great friends.  We had lots of good food and company.   This year with Halloween being on Sunday we THOUGHT that Halloween might be a little less crowed at the house but you wouldn't have known any different.  We still decked out our house as usual and handed out candy to all the kids that came.   We had fun being together as a family and I think that my kids would all agree that Halloween is one of the best celebrations of the year.  The Hatch's definitely know how to do Halloween.  I think it's just in the blood.   

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

My most favorite time of the year

Don't forget to pause the music at the bottom of the screen!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

We Rocked We Rocked On!

Well Spencer and I scored some MAJOR cool points a couple of weeks ago when we took the kids to their first concert.  Now this wasn't just any concert this was the concert that the kids have been asking to see for at least a year now.  The best part though was that they didn't even know that they were going to a concert until we were standing in line and handed them their tickets.  We had a count down in the house for the "secret surprise".  The had to keep there rooms clean and be good to get the secret surprise. 

We saw the Jonas Brother, Demi Lovato, and the cast of Camp Rock all in one night.  It was AWESOME!!  This is Spencer and the kids before the concert and no the little lighted stand in the back was NOT the stage. :)

The kids danced and sang during the whole concert.  They loved the laser lights a pyrotechnics too. 

Even Tyson enjoyed himself.  He loved the music and the little snacks.

This is the kids during the intermission.  We went and took pictures with the Jonas cut outs.  They didn't turn out very good because of the misters that were on, but it was fun anyway. 

Even though we didn't have the best seats in the house we rocked out all night and had a lot of fun.  The kids are still talking about it and are still thanking us for it.  Another awesome memory logged in the Hatch memory book.

There's always cake at our house

Well here are some more cakes that I have done lately.

Hope you enjoy.

                   This was done for a little girl that turned six recently,  She had a Hawaiian themed party.

This cute cake was for an 8 year old.  I was given a picture to copy and I think that it turned pretty good.

This was for our friend Karter.  She was just baptised this last Saturday and wanted a white cake for her special day.

This was for an American/ Army themed birthday.  You can never go wrong with red, white and blue.

I love how this one turned out.  12 never looked so good.

This was for a 5 year old party.  I was given a napkin to get ideas form and this is what I came up with.  I think the end result was awesome. 

Ravioli YUM!

Diary of a Triathlete.....Yes we're talking about ME!

Dear Diary,

       What to say about the awaited day otherwise know as "THE TRIATHLON".  Well for starters I could have done without the anxiety build that occurred the  previous days before, but I'm sure that had to do with the unknown.  Now that I'm a seasoned triathlete : ) I'm sure that won't occur the next time. (RIGHT)  : )  OK enough of this lets get down to the detail of the story.  Our day started at 4am by getting out of bed and getting ready for the unknowns of the day.  This also included getting the kids out of bed and ready so they could go over to a friends house while we were racing.  We had to be at the race start at 5 am to check in and set up our transition stations.  There were 105 entries including teams so it was a bit crowded but from what Spencer says that's a small race.  Whatever, is was big enough for my first time.  So after consuming some mighty gross "energy producing" items Spencer and I were ready for our swim.  We were in the 1st heat lane 7 A & B.  We were lucky enough to be placed in the same lane.  This was a little bit of a relief because I didn't want to have to seek someone out in the end to apologize for kicking them.  Instead I got to kick Spencer and it was all good, after all we will be kicking each other for eternity.  The swim went well.  It was a little weird know people were sitting there watching you.  All the training I've done there has only been one watching, the lone lifeguard.  It was fun having friends around to cheer you on, and I may or may not have stopped in the middle of my swim slightly to give a thumbs up. Hey someones got to keep it entertaining. : )  That was the last time Spencer and I were together throughout the race. I knew there wasn't anyway I was going to be able to keep up with him.  He finished a full lap of the 800 M swim before me.  I took my time during my transition due to the fact I wasn't sure how my body would react, and I was determined to finish the race, so taking my time was what happened.  Now, I may or may not have gotten some weird looks when I put on my knee high crazy socks but hey someones got to keep it entertaining. The 13 mile bike was what I had expected, easy on the way down up hill the whole way back.  I would have to admit that it has been the only time I felt relief seeing the cemetery because that meant that I was getting close to the end.  I did see Spencer for the last time during the race as we were going in opposite directions.   We gave each other a woot woot and we would meet up when I was done with my race.  What a feeling having pulled into my spot to park my bike and get ready to run, jog, walk, OK well a combination of all of the above.  So I was off on the 5 K run and I guess I went on the wrong side of the cones because I was corrected immediately. Soooo to correct myself I may or may not have weaved in between the cones like a slalom course to make sure I ended up on the right side.  Like I said someones got to keep it entertaining.  I made sure to take full advantage of the water stations on the walk.  I must have looked really tired because I sure got a lot of comments that I could do it and to keep it up.  In all honesty I was totally fine and having a lot of fun but if it made them feel better to say that more power to um.  I finally finished 2 hours 31 minutes and 22 seconds later.  Does that really matter?  No, all that matters is I FINISHED!  Now I may or may not have gave a little running pose on the finish line for the photographer at the end, but someone had to keep it entertaining (OK I promise that was the last one).  I thought I was in last place the whole day, but when the newspaper came the next morning SOMEONE TOOK LONGER THEN ME!  I DIDN'T COME IN LAST!  That just makes my achievements that much sweeter.  All in all I had a blast and would definitely do another one.  I completed my goals of finishing the race and in under 3 hours.  With more training I'm sure I could have done better (I really only swam about 8-10 times before the race biked about 7-8 times and ran 3) but that will just have to happen for the next one.  I'm sure there were some out there that thought I couldn't do it, but that only makes me want to prove them wrong.  I'm very proud of myself and I'm excited to try my next.  Watch out Tri World Lisa and her crazy socks have arrived!

Above from left to right: Allison, Holly, Alisha, Sarah, Jill, Lisa, Brittany (down front) not pictured Kayla

All these awesome women are from my ward and all participated in the triathlon.

Above from left to right: Spencer, Dave, Brian, Brian's Brother in law(I don't know his name)

 not pictured Landon

All of these awesome men are from our ward and all participated in the triathlon too.

The rainy days of summer

Every summer here in Arizona we get  monsoons. These aren't your everyday kind of storm. These storms have massive thunder and lightening, and flooding of the streets within minutes. These storms are even know to take down power polls and trees. On occasion when the storm isn't to bad I'll let the kids go outside and run around in the rain. It is a blast had by all. Tyson especially LOVES to get rained on. It makes him the happiest kid on earth. He wants to play out there so long her starts to shiver, so he'll come back into the house and get rapped up in a towel to get warm and only a minute later he wants down to go back out in the water. It's a vicious cycle.

We have GOT to move

(CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO RECEIVE AN EVEN GROSSER LOOK)

This is enough of a reason for us to get out of here.  What kind of place do we live in that has beetles like this flying around!  I'm SURE these thing show of on the FAA radar.  DISGUSTING!

WE HAVE GOT TO MOVE!

School's back in Session

Now that we've been back in school for about a week things are just starting to get back to normal.  It's hard to believe that Emily is in 4th grade and Brandon is in 1st. They are getting big sooo fast.  So say they don't want their kids to grow up.  I like that my kids are getting older.  It means they are more independent and more adventurous.  They are willing to try new and fun things.  Sports become more exciting and I'm able to more involved in their lives on  a different level.  Bring on getting older!  Although that means I'm getting older too.  That is NOT the cool part out the whole my kids are getting older thing.  Oh well what will be will be.

The answer you've all been waiting for...

Brandon

PLUS

(popper)

THESE

 

EQUALS

THIS

The answer is D

Yes my friends those are hickeys!  You never know what is going to happen when you send a child to bed.  Brandon went to bed a normal looking kid Saturday night and woke up looking not so normal.  He sucked one of those poppers to his face and must have left it on for a while, and he obviously did it more then once.  I'm just glad that it didn't make it down to his neck. 

Brandon gives me the best things to blog about.  : )

Survey Says...

This is Brandon as of today.

The survey of today is....

Who can tell me what they think happened to Brandon's face?

A:  Brandon lost ANOTHER fight with his older sister.

B:  Football season has DEFINITELY started.

C:  That wall jumped out of no where!

D:  We thought we wouldn't have to worry about hickeys until he was 16!

E:  The attack bird came right out of the sky attempting a dive bomb mission on my face.

F:  Frost bite sets in fast here in Arizona.

G:  All of the above.  (We ARE talking about Brandon)

Sooooo Leave a comment as to what you think the answer is.  Answer and full story will be posted at the end of the week. 

You can never have too much cake

Well I've been up to my old tricks again. Here are a few pictures of some of my latest cakes Hope you enjoy!

This cake was done for a bridal shower.  She was really into purses and make up so this is what I came up with.  Hat box lower tier with purse, pearl necklace and earrings with some lipstick.

This cake was done for a first birthday party.  I thought this was so sassy and cute.  The mom even had her little girl dressed in an outfit that went right along with the cake. 

These little beauties were done for a baby shower we just had for a couple of girls in the ward who are both having girls.  We had it at a restaurant so it was nice to just have a little something at each place setting to make it a little extra cute. 

This was a fun one to do.  This cake was for some twins in the ward (boy and girl).  They are really into Toy Story right now, and how fitting it was that they were turning 3!.  It all couldn't have been more perfect. 

This is one of my favorites to date.  This cake was for a little boy who just love Mario Brothers.  He had his party at the city pool so it was fun walking in with the cake and hearing all the oohs and awes.

Like I said you can never have too much cake!