Last night the zoo had a stay after hours night for members. We decided to try it out because Saturday's are busy and hot. It turned out to be a perfect night with not many people. Evelyn met us up there and we had a picnic dinner and headed to see the animals. 

 Climbing like monkeys to see the monkeys

 I had problems with taking clear pictures I guess

 Cheese

 Blurry but cute

 Avri and Daddy

 Avri insisted on walking

 Macall and Evelyn

 The boys took over the stroller

 And of course we had to play in the water

Thanks for meeting us Evelyn. We had fun!

Taylor's Bump

Over the last few months we have been watching Taylor's "bump". He had a small bump on his left arm and when we saw the Dr a few months ago he said to just keep watching it and if it got bigger to go see a dermatologist. It kept getting bigger so today we went to have it checked out.  The Dr called it poly some thing and said it would probably just go away after a while. He said it was not a real concern but we could biopsy it just to feel better. I was for that because I didn't want something sitting in his arm and not knowing what is was. He numbed Taylor's arm and as he was getting ready to get some of the poly whatever out, he grabbed this nasty looking clump and said he was glad we decided to go for the biopsy because he could get it all cleaned out and better. Taylor kept looking at it and asking "What is that!" 3 stitches (he is the first of the kids to have stitches) and no bump later we headed to In and Out for a yummie hamburger and fries.  

He loved that he was the only one with me at lunch! I need to do this more often with all of the kids. I enjoyed it too! Love ya Taylor Bug!

Yesterday was one of those "let's skip the gym and go play" kind of days. My kids get dragged around doing all sorts of things they don't want to do or are ingnored at home while I am trying to get the house clean or laundry done or cook dinner. Yesterday we needed a change of pace so we skipped the gym and house work and went to the pool. We usually don't last very long but they always enjoy those few hours that we are there.

They make me smile. Maybe I should skip out on work more often.

Island Park Continued

more from Island Park...

 Grandpa brought his bean flippers and marbles so we went out to shoot cans

 Clark helping Taylor

 Justin helping Brax

 Macall (eating?) playing in the weeds

 Avri

 Grandpa, Justin, and Clark giving it a try

 swinging together. They hated that

 Last year

 Avri loved the swing

 Taylor man

 Braxto Boy

 Macall only liked the swing when I was with her

Aves having a graet time, Macall, not so much!

Island Park

We always love to go to Island Park. Instead of writing about it here are the pictures...

There is a frog in the shadows, some where.

 Brax with the frog

Justin saving the frog

Playing hoops with Uncle Clark

Brax, Clark, Taylor

Macall

Brax

Tay

Justin

The Hatch clan

Julie and the boys planning how to scare the seaguls away

Just plain cute

8 years

Amazing that it is has been 8 years!

We have done so much together.

Let's see if I can list a few things that have happened in these great 8 years...

...had 4 beautiful kids ...bought a house... moved from Utah to Washington and back to Utah...graduated USU and Gonzaga Law School...worked about 8 different jobs between the two of us...gone on many fabulous vacations with family...moved 6 times...owned 4 cars (one of them twice)...8 football and basketball seasons and I have survived them all! I know we have done a lot more in our 8 years and I have loved sharing them with Justin. Thanks for a great life!

Happy Anniversary!

Needle in a haystack

Or Diamond earring in the long grass.

Last night while we were outside playing Taylor jumped on me and hit my head. A couple minutes later I felt my earring was gone. Not just a cheap, no big deal earring. My diamond earring that my parents gave me the day I got married. I instantly freaked out. We started searching and searching. We didn't know where it could be so we started looking where I was on the ground when Taylor hit me. We all were praying that we could find it. I sat down near the area for a little break and decided to just keep looking right where I was. About 5 minutes later I found the earring!!! Amazing! Our prayers were answered and I was feeling a lot less sick! I stood up and Justin came over to hug me because we were both so relieved. Our hands hit and the earring was gone for the second time! My head started spinning and just made me so sick that this would happen a second time. We looked again but it had started getting dark and the kids were ready for bed. We set up sticks where we thought we were standing and would pick up our search after church. This morning I had the thought that this was going to be a great teaching/learning opportunity for the boys. After we got the girls in bed and played a little Star Wars Wii, we got the boys together and started explaining to them that our Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers and when we need something  we should pray about it. The boys thought it was a good idea and Braxton prayed that we could find mom's earring. We set out and started searching the grass. 30 minutes into it I figured we were going to have to get a metal detector tomorrow and hope the earring had enough metal on it to find it in the long grass. Justin started looking outside the perimeter we had set up and with in 5 minutes found my earring for the second time. He gripped it in his hand and ran inside to put it safely on the counter. We brought the boys back inside and explained to them that we knew Heavenly Father had helped us and answered out prayers. We prayed together again to give thanks for the lost earring. Not my favorite way to have a teaching experience for the boys, and us, but I am grateful that they were so receptive in praying to Heavenly Father in a time of need. I am so grateful for the safe return of something precious to me.

RAIN

As we were eating dessert it started pouring! The boys and I decided it would be fun to go out and play in the rain. The girls thought it sounded fun too! Justin opted out and took pictures instead. The rain was coming down so hard that we were soaked in seconds! Crazy!! We had a great time splashing and running in the rain!

"That was awesome! I am freaking wet!!!"

(Taylor)