Blanket Thief

The Blanket Thief story started one night at dinner when Jessie was a baby.  I told the boys that Jessie woke up at night and walked into their room to remove their blankets.  That was why they often woke up with their blankets "kicked" off of them.  I told the story holding Jessie and demonstrating her walk. It became a story that the kids wanted me to retell many times.  I later told the story again when Noah was younger.

We recently purchased a camcorder and I thought I'd try it out.  Our computer came with Windows Live Movie Maker and I thought I'd give that a try too.  The program was very limited but it was fun to try.  This movie is the result of some fun times with the kids and hopefully will turn into some more adventures with the camcorder.  Hope you enjoy this experimentation.

Rajah! :)

This is our new Kitty Rajah (pronouced like the tiger off of Aladdin). :) He is a ton of fun and a real crack up. He gets really hyper at night so we can hear him scampering all over the house, and then in the morning he's totally calm. He purs SO loud! And I think he has something wrong with his meow cuz it's not very loud at all lol

Hope everyone is having a great summer! Can't wait to see everyone :)

Love You!

Here's sunset last weekend when Elizabeth and I took the big boat out for the first time. It was really nice to be able to get out there.

Larissa's Secret's to Happiness

I absolutely love this idea Talana :) I don't think my answers will be quite as good or as intelligent and thoughtful as yours but I'll do my best...

1. Having important conversations. Yeah it's fun to just chit chat but I love it when I can talk to a person and by the end I'm a little closer to that person and know a little more about them then when we first started talking.
2. Doing cliche activities. (Dancing in the rain, catching snowflakes on my tongue, singing in the shower, skipping down the road holding hands and singing "We're off to see the wizard!"ect...)
3. Hugs! :) nuff said....
4. Reading. As long as I'm being enlightened or my mind is being forced to think about it and keep up I love any book!
5. Seeing others smile because of something I did, whether it be because I was trying to be funny or just becasue I was being stupid and it made them laugh :) lol I don't really care
6. Making my mom laugh. She has the most gorgeous smile in my opinion and she has one of those laughs where when you hear it you can't help but laugh too!
7. Getting cute texts from my boyfriend...lol I know that sounds ridiculous and extremely "teenage girl" of me but I couldn't help it because it's the honest truth!
8. Listening to my siblings conversations when they don't know that I am....my favorites are between Taysa and Cade. But I also find it funny to be in the room next to the one where all the boys are playing Black Ops or whatever... When they are in a good mood they crack me up lol
9. Running. Ok...not the...."Get on the track and run a 63 second 400m for me Conger!" kind of running but when I just go out at sunset and I can run for 30 minutes with my iPod and just get that tightness in my legs that makes me feel like I'm actually doing work. Then the shower that comes right after that :)
10. Finally...not doing homework and reading and adding to the Hatch Family Blog instead!!!!

I just love you all that much <3

Springtime Fun

Jared was able to come home for a few days last week (FUN). The Easter Bunny left a note on our kitchen table explaining that he wanted to come when we could all be together as a family. (On a side note, we just had a little talk about honesty today and I couldn't help but feel like hypocrite, with the Easter Bunny thing and all. I hope they don't hate me someday).

Logan enjoying some jellybeans.
Our happy Noah!
Porter getting motion sick on the carousel. I guess we have Dad to thank for that.Isn't she cute.

Secrets to Happiness

Hey, fam. I've been thinking a lot about happiness lately. Isn't it funny how it's a little different for everybody? Really, I want to know what makes YOU happy, so I'll share my own list in random order to get the ball rolling.

1. Eating good food. Preferably lots of it and with people I really love. People I really like will do.

2. Knowing the difference between goals and dreams. Goals are dependent on me and only me. Write at least 50 words in my journal. Read the scriptures to the kids for 10 minutes every night. Go to bed by 10:30. Finish my book by Sunday.

3. Knowing the difference between getting things done and being busy. It's easy to be busy. Getting things done requires planning and diligence and sometimes patience.

4. Charles Dickens. Every word is butter. Sweet cream butter.

5. Oscar Wilde. Brilliant and absolutely hilarious.

6. Watching "Tangled" with my family. This movie has grown on me since the first time I watched it and I just love it. Makes me laugh and cry.

7. Playing "Just Dance 2" on the Wii. Before I know it we've all spent an hour or two laughing and sweating and dancing and oh-no-Porter's-going-to-be-late-for-school!!!!!

8. A nice walk in the sunshine.

9. Being grateful. It's just a baby step behind happiness. Baby steps. Ba-by steps... (If a certain movie doesn't immediately come to mind, it's okay. I love you anyway.)

10. ENJOY. "The Screwtape Letters" dedicates several pages to this subject. I can't compare with C.S. Lewis at his worst, so why try when he's at his best? Go look it up.

Now it's your turn!!!

We had a pretty big fund raiser this week down at the Truman Waterfront - the Taste of Key West. 60 or so restaurants bring dishes from their menu and donate it for tickets people buy and the money goes to the agency I work for. In 3 hours, they raised over $100,000. That's a lot of cheese.

Another sunset in Paradise. I'm not sorry I have this kind of sunset and that its been in the 80's for the last month.

The World Sailfish Championships are in Key West this weekend. It can have a pretty rich purse (some years, if you do everything right, I've heard you can win a million dollars). Big names like Johnny Bench and Norman Swartzkoff (?) are regulars. I had one of them in the taxi last night that has had a lot of success placing, and he was a nice guy. Fish on!

We just had Spring Break here and I took some vacation days and worked at the taxi jib. I was able o make enough to get ll the boat parts needed. My mechanic was out yesterday and it's running good. This is a legit boat, and will work out.

Pickin Daisies

I was looking through the pictures on Elizabeth's phone and come across this one. I guess when Owen roams around outside, he likes to go up on the hill and just sit there in the flowers and hang out all peaceful-like. What a funny little kid. It reminds me of the Incredible Hulk. Brandon will know what I'm talking about.

The Begining of Larissa's College Experience!

As I'm sure many of you already know...this past weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Buena Vista, VA with mom and visit Southern Virginia University, the campus that will become my home for next Fall! I just thought I would tell a little bit more from my perspective about this experience and such :)

I had talked to some of you about possibly attending BYU-Idaho and I thought that was what I was gonna do but SVU sent me a letter a few months ago and I found out about the scholarship opportunity I had because of my GPA and ACT score (not perfect but good). I started researching what other activities I could be a part of on campus and found that they had BASKETBALL! (a part of BYU-I that was a downfall is they only have intramurals....) and got together a package to send to Coach Harmon. It took awhile for us to finally talk but he showed interest in me and expressed he thought I would fit in well with the team. In the middle of all this, my admissions counselor Chelsea found out that I played volleyball and told me that as an assistant volleyball coach, she would love to see tapes of me playing volleyball! At this time I was planning on attending this past Open House and let her know that I would be willing to at least try out while I was out there.

I was slowly falling in love with this college the more and more I found out about it. They have a very small enrolment, less than 1,000 students, meaning small class sizes which is what I'm used to so that was comforting. I also talked with Abby Baxter, the Student Government VP and she told me how much she has loved her experience out there and it seemed that almost every person I visited with about this college has absolutely loved it there. The atmosphere out there and what the people I hung out with said, I believe my experience is going to be the same :)

In other news with Larissa, I got highlights!!! :D haha I have to say I've had mixed opinions about them in my house but I love them so it's whatever! You can kinda see them in the picture but yeah....also, Prom is this weekend! The theme is amazing! *drum roll* STAR WARS! Haha my date is awesome and he has a Chewbacca mask that he is gonna wear and I have a metallic bronze dress I'm gonna wear a C3PO mask with! Should be epic! I promise pictures next week! Also track is in full swing and I hope to make it to State :) Hope all is well with everyone!

Love You All! <3

Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum

This pic and video clip are classic. These kids are a kick.

Ace the Science Guy

Ace competed at the regional science fair last week and took 2nd in his category, and 6th overall - which means that he goes on to compete at the state science fair! (They take the top 12 overall. . .) :)

In case you can't read it - his project was to test the antibiotic properties of cockroach nerve tissue on bacteria. . . . sound like something Ace would do??? No, I didn't think so - but the kid will surprise you when he wants to. :)

Chillin' with the folks

Mom and Dad are here for Braden's baptism tomorrow. Talana's crew gets here later today. As you can see, things are getting out of control out here. More to come.

Sunset at Mallory Square. Nice.

Here's my boat and its the real deal. I'll try and add better pictures.

Well . . . . That's that I guess.

After being ranked number one in the state most of the season, and being touted as the best team in both 1A and 2A schools in Colorado, Rissy's team is out of the tournament. They were 20-0 going into last night's game against the #4 team in the state. They beat them by 20 points a couple of weeks ago. But, last night was not their night. Sad little girl . . . .

There are a lot of things that are so unfair and "politics" that have gone on . . . . but life just ain't always fair - and I guess basketball is just as good a place to learn that as anywhere else.

She's hoping to play ball for Southern Virginia University. I didn't know anything about it until a couple of months ago - but it sure sounds like a great place to be, and if the basketball thing works out, that would be icing on the cake as far as she's concerned. She really wants to go there. She goes out in March for an open house/basketball/volleyball tryout . . . . so we'll see. Abby Baxter is a Junior there this year . . .

Just a couple of pics . . . . .

Kix got a haircut shortly after this . . . :/

He had a good freshman year - he oughta be a shoe-in for "most improved player"

Fun stuff - goes by way too fast. . . .

Ace & Cade are both wrestling today - - Ace hates wrestling,

but it's what they do for P.E. class this time of year, so . . . .

You're All Invited!

Rissy's Graduation

May 15th

2:00 pm

You're all invited!

I know it's a long way for everyone . . .

so we won't hold our breath.

But, she would be thrilled if any of you can make it. You're welcome to stay at our house, or we'll put you up at the Best Western in Brush.

:)

About a 25 pound grouper Elizabeth caught. Its the biggest one we've landed.

Behind this lowly sand dune and sea oats, and beach patrol headquarters, is the center of the Chic universe, Ocean Drive.

Start things off

Well, I'm not really a blogger, but someone has to start things off. We went to Sea World about a month ago for Braden and Aliya's birthday. Once you buy tickets there, they are good for the rest of the year, so we went again today since the kids didn't have school. It was a pretty fun day, except for the part when Carson dislocated his elbow. That is the 3rd time he's done that. I know how to set it back in place, so if that ever happens to one of your kids, give me a call before heading to the doctor's office. Actually, since this is the 3rd time, maybe I don't know what I'm doing.

I already emailed out the video of the bat ray, so here are a couple more videos. Owen was pretty spooked by that walrus. He was right up against the glass watching it, but when it came right at us, he wanted to get the heck out of there.

It looks like it compresses the videos down quite a bit, so not sure how well the quality will turn out.

We'll see how this blog thing works out.... who's up next?