Valentines Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  I have the most amazing family and I'm so lucky to have them in my life.  This Valentine's Day was the Monster Jam and we gave Derek tickets for his birthday.  So we didn't celebrate on the normal day but we still had fun.  Corey took the boys for a Valentine's Day ride. 

These were the cute Valentines that we made for Derek to take to school that day.  He thought it was so cool to have glow sticks instead of candy. 

This was the boys Valentine's Day present.  It was originally going to be for Easter but well this winter has been so warm.  So many days with highs in the 60's that we couldn't put it off anymore.  I needed more things for the boys (aka Jake) to do.  Jake is so busy and crazy that if I don't have things for him to do my world begins to look more whirlwind.

Even though we weren't able to go out on Valentine's Day, my sweet husband still brought me these cute flowers. 

Corey asked me what I wanted for Valentine's Day and I jokingly said flowers and a ring. I knew the ring was completely a joke but believe it or not he came through.  Unfortunately since I was pregnant with Derek I haven't been able to wear my wedding ring, it was just to small.  Now I know that I don't have the biggest ring in the world, but it has never mattered to me, it was mine and my cute husband picked it out all by himself.  So this Valentine's Day he was a sneaky sneakerton he snuck around and did a side job where he earned enough money to take my ring into the jeweler and have it sized and the setting fixed (one of my prongs was bent).  On the Tuesday after Valentine's Day my cute husband took me to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and had the waitress bring a cute ring box with our meal.  I opened it up wondering what he had done, to find my gorgeous ring all shined up and ready for me to wear.  I was so excited and had tears in my eyes (shocker I know).  Doesn't it look so pretty.  I was so excited and so proud of him being so sneaky.  He did great!  Thank you Corey for this and knowing exactly what I wanted and needed this Valentine's Day.  I am really lucky to have this wonderful man in my life and I love him so much.

Our Latest Family Pics

I have an amazingly talented sister-in-law who took our last family pictures.  These were taken last October but oh they turned out so great.  If you ever need a photographer contact Jenn. I promise you won't regret it. 

http://www.themintedcompany.com/

 

Derek's 7th Birthday!

Derek is 7 years old this year, and this year his birthday seems so weird to me.  He is so big, and he is so close to being baptized and cub scouts etc.  It makes me feel really old.  Derek's new passion has been Lego's and he loves to make new things. 

 

The day before his birthday we did his Birthday Adventure this year we took cousin Annistyn with us as always and went to the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point.  They had so much fun going to everything with no little kids to hold them back.  They were so much fun to watch.  I love this museum because it is such a hands on place for them to play and learn. 

Little Monkeys!

We let them do the photo booth and they pretty much thought that this was so cool.  They are such funny cute friends. 

After the museum they both decided that they wanted to go to Chuck-a-Rama for dinner because they wanted to get the Sticky Buns.  Commercials really do have such an influence on our kids.  Corey and I really had so much fun with these kids and it was nice to have a date with them and no little kids around.  We really talked them and learned a lot about them.  Thanks to Grandma Cindy for babysitting Jake and making this possible. 

 

The next day was Birthday day for him.  He was so excited, I had to go to school and tell about him and he got to share his favorite store bought treat with his class Oreos!  Yes, you are no longer allowed to take any homemade treats to school for fear of food poisoning.  What happened to the good old days.  Derek received lots of fun presents including a big color book from Disney's Plane's Fire and Rescue, a new Olaf Snowman stuffed animal, tickets to the Monster Jam, big bucket of Daddy's old "little legos" and a new bike and helmet.  He made out like a bandit again and has amazing cousins and grandparents who contributed to his stash. 

This years birthday cake was fun to make and something that I had never done before, plus isn't it great when you can raid your kids toy box and find the props that you need. :)

Jake really liked the cake too. 

Daily life with Jake!

Daily life with Jake is always entertaining and he has such a crazy personality.  He is always getting in trouble and lucky for him he is so cute that you can't get to mad at him.  He is always making me laugh and well I just can't get enough of him. 

One of his new favorite things to do is lick his plate clean and then throw his plate on the floor.

He found brother's hat!

One morning he found an old binky in the toy box and then he chewed on it all day long.   

Daddy's hat!

 

Unloading all the clothes, and then trying to drag his toys up the stairs. 

Climbing everywhere and then getting stuck!

Ice castles

There is a place up in Heber, Utah that every winter they create these ice castles that you can go and walk through.  It was really pretty cool, we were lucky to get to go and see them, especially since because this winter has been so warm, they were only open for 3 days instead of a couple of weeks.  In this picture you can see another beautiful sunset behind.  This country to so beautiful.

A family photo minus the Hardings :(

The kids thought it was so awesome that there was an Olaf snowman from Frozen there too!

Hatch Family Christmas

This year was Christmas with the Hatch Family which always equals lots of chaos and fun!  It always starts with a FrontRunner Train ride up to Salt Lake for dinner at Crown Burger (this has been my Mom's favorite burger place for as long as I can remember) and going to see the lights at Temple Square.  This has been Hatch Family tradition since I was a little kid and I love doing this every year.  It's important to me and I miss it on the off years when we don't do it.  I love that my kids and hubby love it too, it really doesn't feel like a Hatch Family Christmas without it. 

Pictures at the Conference Center getting all the grandkids to look is always a miracle. 

Another part of the tradition is going to see the Candy Windows at Macy's which used to be ZCMI, they are always amazing and Derek couldn't get over all the details, he is really starting catch the Christmas Spirit. 

Another tradition that we have even tried to get my dad to stop because our family is getting so big, is that is Christmas Jammies.  We all have matching jammies and it is always a big task that my Dad takes on to find matching jammies for all of us in our variety of sizes. 

Aren't they all so cute in their matching jammies, and they are all sitting (that's a miracle).

Papa Hatch always has to go for a cool kid gift, and this year was no exception.  This gift is always kept at his house and we bring it out quite often.  This year was a talking Mickey Mouse and Goofy, similar to the one that my sister Cedar had as a kid.  It comes with books and cassette tapes, yes I said cassette tapes and they read the story to you and you can follow along.  The kids love it and us parents now reminisce of our childhood. 

Then there comes the Live Nativity.  This year we waited to do it on Christmas Day so that Great Grandma Ann could be there to see it.  Derek is always Joseph because he's the only boy old enough for it.  This year the kids were pretty rambunctious but I hope and pray that they at least felt the spirit of Christmas just a little it. 

Jake was a pretty cute Sheep again!

Aren't they just the cutest?

Grady was suppose to be a shepherd but we decided that he wanted to be the Naked Shepherd since he couldn't quite keep his costume on.  We were laughing the whole time. 

The day after Christmas included some shopping for the moms and the Dads stayed home and did sledding with the kids, there was so much snow at my parents house.  Unfortunately it was pretty cold so it didn't last too long.  My guess is that it took much longer for them to get dressed than it did for them to actually play in the snow. 

 

 

Don't worry the boys got their outing as well, they all went shotgun shooting and I love that Derek is old enough to go now.  He is so proud to be one of the boys. 

Jake and Grady both got these ride along toys and they love them!