So Long, Farewell . . .

Ashleigh, Natalie and Heather

You know the friends that you have and even though you don't see them forever, you can pick right up like no time has passed? My friends from my home ward that I grew up with are some of those friends. Natalie, Heather, I and got together right before Christmas! Natalie is moving to Australia and we will miss her (until March when she's back for her sister's wedding). I have so many funny memories with both Heather and Natalie. Some from the Jr. High era and the hours we spent at Heather's house, some from USU when Natalie and I worked at the Quick Stop together, and now some new ones from this summer. I'm really grateful for the good friends I've had in my life so far. Good Luck Natalie and see you in March! We have our blogs until then . . .

Here's another picture from our last "ward reunion" when Michelle was still here. Yes, I am very pregnant in this picture or at least I look very pregnant in this picture.

Chrissy, Ashleigh, Michelle, Heather

How Do You Keep 3 Poloks Busy?

Lisa came up with this "game" that we really had a hoot with. Polok #1 (Lisa) would hold the camera and then she and the other 2 Poloks (myself and Jeff) would keep moving our faces in weird and random ways until she would randomly snap a picture. This is the fun we had on Christmas Eve for a good 15 minutes. If you ever do this, you'll want to consider the possibilities with your teeth. We didn't think about that until the end.

Santa Comes a Little Early!

We were at my mom's all afternoon and evening and got home at 8:30. Right as we were getting out of the car Santa Claus pulls up and asks if the girls are asleep yet. He'd already dropped by once and we weren't home so he was making the rounds back around hoping we'd be home by now. He brought the girls teddy bears and candy canes and told them he'd be back in a few days. When Ansen was putting Addison to bed she asked him if he'd seen Santa's sleigh because she would have really liked to the see the reindeer. Oh and by the way, apparently you can tell when it's the REAL Santa Claus because he'll be wearing gloves (per Addison anyway).

Seriously, how cool is that! Addison was star struck which reduced her to very little words (very, very unusual for Addison). These kind of things restore my hope in humanity. I love when you find someone still willing to go out of their way and put effort into other people! The 7 long months of searching for a good neighborhood has paid off.

Our New Tradition!

We decided to start a new tradition this year. Every year we drive around looking at our favorite lights and we keep noticing there are fewer and fewer people putting forth the Christmas effort. So, we decided every year we're going to find our 3 favorite houses and send them a Thank You for sharing their Christmas Spirit. We're hoping it will be one of those traditions where our kids grow up doing it every year so it seems normal and then 20 years later they realize it's actually really weird. (Ansen and I will still be laughing.) Anyway, we found our 3 favorite and the cards go out tomorrow.

One of our winners . . . our neighbors! They have set up a light display or "show" more appropriately. You tune to a certain radio station and the lights go with the music. They honestly spent 4 Saturdays putting it up and my other neighbor said they were out measuring things for the production clear back in August. My parents spend a good 10 minutes out there every time they come over. At any given moment between 6 and 10 p.m., there are 8-10 cars outside their house running with their lights off just watching. It's great! This is just further proof to Ansen that we bought the right house.

Oh and in case you're wondering . . . I've been to the gym 4 times (it was already closed twice, but I'm still counting it due to effort and I now clearly know the hours of operation).

Christmas Fun!

I finished all my shopping by Nov. 30 so that I could have Christmas fun, but we haven't done as much as I anticipated and some of it has really been a flop. . .

1- (fun) We went to Ansen's work party. For Christmas, it's always adults only and an over nighter. We went to the Canyons Resort this year. It was dinner, games and white elephant gift. Then the next morning we had breakfast and you could go skiing or get a massage. We ended up with the massage since Ansen hurt his foot on Thanksgiving. We were way bummed about that, but the massage was awesome and then we went shopping. A whole 24 hours with no kids and adult conversation. It was awesome!

2- (bad, really bad) We went to Temple Square the night it was pouring rain. We met my cousin there and it so happened that there was first, an accident and then, events at the Tabernacle, Conference Center and the Assembly Hall. The traffic was horrible and it took us 2 hours to get there and get parked. My cousin had already been there for an hour and was freezing so we had cookies and hot chocolate and then they left. We walked around for about 25 minutes and then were too cold to hack any more so we headed for the car. By then it was snowing pretty bad so it took us forever to get home. It was also called to my attention that in our haste to get out the door we completely forgot dinner, so Wendy's drive through was it. It was definitely memorable . . .

3-(never happened) We had plans to go to the Festival of Trees, but I got the horrible flu for 3 days and that was the end of that idea.

It's Official!

So, it's official, I have re-started my gym pass I've had on hold since I got pregnant with Olivia and was put on a modified bed rest. Yeah, it's been awhile and it's pathetic. I'm only doing this post in hopes that someone will ask me how it's going at the gym in a month and then I'll have some drive to get back in the habit. I'm hoping to be back in the habit in the next month before Ansen's busy season starts and I'm a single mom again with no babysitter. Then hopefully I'll have the drive to go at 5:00 a.m. or something while Ansen's home. Right now the thought of that just makes me laugh . . . out loud.

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas

My sweet husband loves Christmas! We have a couple of must-have traditions from Ansen here at the Hatch house starting with a REAL Christmas tree. Since Ansen grew up in Maine, they would walk around the backyard (acres and acres of woods) and find a good tree, chop it down and bring it in. Many, many trees lost their lives since sometimes they'd chop down a 30 foot tree to get the top 10 feet and realize it wasn't that good after all. (Side note: The big tree they used to put up between the World Trade Center Towers in New York came out of Ansen's backyard 2 years in a row.) We will always have the fresh smell of a real Christmas tree. If you're reading this and you're a real tree family too, you have to get the Cadillac of all Christmas tree stands. Ansen's dad sent it to us 2 years ago and it is truly a piece or art, worth every penny. L.L. Bean has done it again.

http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=1&catalogId=1&langId=-1&categoryId=15103&sc1=Search&feat=sr

We also get a genuine Maine (hand-made) wreath from Ansen's family every year!

2. Christmas Vacation. Have you seen Christmas Vacation? It's one of mine and Ansen's (and the whole Hatch family) favorite movies and we regularly quote from it. I'm thinking of Cousin Eddie in a black dickey with a white V-neck sweater drinking eggnog and laughing to myself . . . "I'd like my boss Frank Shirley right here with a big, red ribbon on his head . . . . hallelujah, holy sh*t, where's the Tylenol."

3. House lights . . . we are striving for the Christmas Vacation house (25,000 twinkle lights). We are far from it, but slowly working on it. Last year we added Big Frosty and Little Santa. My brother Jeff told my grandparents that he wanted an inflatable something to put in the yard for Christmas, so they sent him some money for his b-day (Dec. 16). This lit a fire under Ansen and he eventually found some deal at Smith's and we ended up with 2 Big Frosties and a Little Santa. Unfortunately, the Santa Snow Globe was sold out (Dang . . . we won't be the crazies with 10 blow up toys after all). Every evening Addison, Olivia and I go out and plug them in and then ceremoniously watch them inflate, which takes a lot longer than you would expect.

Okay so Frosty doesn't look so big in the picture and you can't see Santa, but try to imagine I guess.

These are the 3 main traditions we will abide by as long as Ansen lives. The one we haven't caught onto is the 3 a.m. Christmas awaking. Ansen's dad would wake everyone up at 3 a.m. to start the festivities. This actually started with Willard's dad. Willie-Baby is thoroughly disappointed that we can sleep until 8:00 a.m. on Christmas morning. Hey, we let Addison wake us up and she's a sleeper. Maybe he has some hope with Olivia.

What are the must-have traditions at your house?

Destroyer Strikes Again!

Here's the recent attack. I was making dinner and she must have intercepted the fridge door shutting. I had left the kitchen for maybe 30 seconds and found this. Ansen got home shortly after and took the picture (and yes-I'm in sweats!). Also, today I spent 20 minutes re-wrapping the Christmas presents Olivia had unwrapped. At least we know she'll "get it" on Christmas morning.

We got Elved!

Okay, so I usually don't spend the time to do stuff like this, but I thought it was pretty funny plus I showed Addison how to re-start it and my girls have been watching it over and over for the last 30 minutes!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9635284012

What Addison learned in Church

Last week Addison's primary lesson was about the 4 books we have: The Book of Mormon, The Bible, The Great Price and The Black Pearl.

Thanksgiving 2007

This year we had Thanksgiving at my Aunt Shannon and Uncle Charlie's in Bountiful. Then we headed over to Flips Gym where my cousins Lyndsey and Becca had taught gymnastics for years. We did an obstacle course and played games. The best game with Blind Tag. Which I'm going to explain how to play because it was hilarious! I didn't do very well at taking pictures this year . . . oh, well.




Blind Tag: There are 2 people working together and one is blind folded. The unblindfolded person cannot touch their partner, but directs them where to go so that they don't get tagged. I haven't laughed so hard in so long. The best part is watching the blind folded people "run." As the blind folded person you feel like you're full-out running, but in actuality you're barely prancing around. Left and right seem to be easily confused. Add a few younger kids who are just randomly playing or laying on the floor and it's a real treat.



Anyway, then we headed to the church for Karaoke. For the past 8 years we've done lip syncs, but this year we traded to karaoke. Ansen has refused to participate in lip syncs for the last 2 years since he feels the year we did Spice Girls-If you want to be my lover, was his chance to "go out with a bang," but loves karaoke. We had a great time and even Addison did a little Hannah Montana performance for everyone. My mom loves preforming so she was really at home in her natural environment on stage with a microphone.

Here's a good one of Addison in mid-Hannah Montana move.

Black Friday Conversion!

I want to proclaim to the world that I am now a converted Black Friday Shopper! Ansen is usually the one that goes out and I stay home with the kids and sleep. This year Ansen tore the tendons in his foot pretty bad on Thanksgiving night. (This, plus the fact that he threw my pumpkin cheesecake on the ground during the fall was a tragedy, but he's going to pull through and so did the cheesecake. ) So, since he was crippled, I set my alarm clock in case when it went off at 4 a.m. I felt like going. Obviously, I wasn't going to "feel" like going when my alarm clock went off, but as it was Addison actually woke up and needed to go potty, then Olivia woke up crying for a couple of minutes and then Ansen was snoring. So I decided I'm wide awake, I'm going shopping. I can't claim to have gotten all these huge, killer deals, but I had so much fun! Everyone is so happy to be out shopping and everyone is expecting the crowds. I left at 4:30 and didn't come home until after noon. I was even itching to go out on Saturday. I had a great time and I have to say my most impressive shopping experience was at Cabela's. There were a million employees everywhere to ask for help and the lines were only 5-10 minutes long even though it was the busiest store I went to. I've decided that my new tradition will be Black Friday shopping with my sister (who needs no convincing to go shopping) and my mom for the social/family event. If you're interested let me know. I also learned that team shopping is an important element of Black Friday.

Destroyer of all that is Good!

I love my sweet baby number 2, but we have nick-named her "Destroyer of all that is Good." I often hear Addison saying "Ohhhh, no little destroyer." Anyone that knows Addison can testify that she was and is a very mild child. I never baby proofed my house, I trust her with almost anything fragile, she's thoughtful, she sleeps a lot and sleeps anywhere, I never missed one minute of church. She fit into our hectic lives and we didn't miss a beat. Our little Olivia is completely opposite of Addison. Olivia destroys things. I have decided that rather than getting mad every time I walk into the hurricane (which used to be my good make-up, our family home evening lesson, etc.) , I'll take a picture for my blog. So, I present Exhibit A.



Olivia had some quality time in her crib. She was suppose to be putting herself to sleep, and this is what we found in the morning. Sweet little thing . . .

Thanksgiving Memories . . .

I decided to post some pictures of last year's Thanksgiving fun. Last year we decided that everyone could pick an activity and we'd all participate. This proved to be a random weekend, but very entertaining. Lisa and I picked roller skating at Classic Skating. Here's the picture sequences of one of our races. It was a really intense race (obviously). Somehow Ryan can kick our butts every time.





Towards the end I got going really fast (you can't even image how fast I'm sure) and couldn't stop so I thought I could step up onto the carpeted area to slow myself down. I definitely slowed down when I fell on my face and dislocated my shoulder. It was one of those times that you try to stand up and laugh it off and then later realize how much pain you're really in. Kendall sadly fell within the first few minutes with the same laugh it off experience and was out for the rest of the fun. We even had to stop and get her a doughnut on the way home to sit on.

We only lasted about 1 1/2 hours and despite the injures, it was still the best $20 I've spent in a long time.

**Side note for future: You can click on these picture collages to enlarge them. ***

And I know we look like complete red necks, but we're really not. This was Ansen and Ryan's pick- gun shooting. My mom actually used one of these for our Christmas cards!

Girls Only Road Trip

As I mentioned in my last blog, my mom, Addison, Olivia and I went to Oregon last week for my cousin, Parker's wedding to Debra and we got to see my cousin, Brandon, who just got back from his mission in England. It's a 12-14 hour drive, which we prefer to do at night with or without kids. I know most people can't hack the nighttime driving, but we love it. Addison and Olivia were honestly only awake for about 2 hours and no one is on the roads. When I started my driving shift at 1 a.m. I was having a hard time, but then I started planning my whole Christmas (kids gifts, family gifts, neighborhood gifts, boss gifts, etc.) which kept me going wide awake until 5:30. I even planned the details of what the gift cards I am going to make will look like for Ansen's partners at work. The only problem was that I forgot a lot of my great ideas by the next day (which turned out okay because I had something to think about for the way home).

We had a lot of fun with my Sharp side of the family. The best part for me was the dancing at the wedding. At first I was feeling bad because my dance partner (Ansen) wasn't going to be there, but when it really came down it I think he would have held me back. Addison and Lilly started dancing at 7:30 and stopped for nothing until 10:30. Olivia and I got into it a little later. Olivia even bobbed around the whole dance floor dancing and weaving between people. We practice at home, but have never tested our duration abilities. I have dreams of working out, but am lacking motivation right now. If there was a gym that offered nothing but a dance floor, good music and my family I'm confident I would be a size 0. Anyway, I was proud of both of my maniac dancing girls!


We stayed at my Uncle Brett and Aunt Barb's house with Bracken, Brendan, Abby, and Burton (the latter two being dogs and our constant entertainment). We plan on eventually getting a dog, but I'm feeling more motivated since a dog would be my babysitter. Both my girls spent every waking minute with Abby and Burton. I'm actually thinking two dogs, but that would probably be the death of Ansen or at least our marriage.



The girls and Grandma Sharp

Happy Halloween . . . late!

We left to Oregon with my mom Halloween night right after Trick or Treat, so I'm just barely getting to the blog post of Halloween. For a follow-up on the costume project . . . so my mom did help me. Addison had a Halloween party at pre-school and when she got there she told them that she was Mulan and that "my grandma made it-not my mom." I don't get even an ounce of credit for the 50% (or more) of the costume I made.

We did Trunk or Treat with the ward this year and I'm a big fan. All the candy in 20 minutes and then home for a family party. We loved it.

Pumpkin carving . . . Ansen with his annual Yankees pumpkin.

Mulan and little poodle skirt Olivia.

Okay, so I ran out of black eye make-up and my hair had been up for 5 hours before this picture was taken. I tried, but this year's costume didn't go as planned. Oh, well. Better luck next year. Oh, I was the Bride of Frankenstein if you needed help with this one.

Tagged

I was tagged. Here's 6 facts (random of course) about me you may not know. Lisa and I actually keep a list of things about ourselves that make us, us- so I actually did 10.

1) I love to look at People magazine while I wait in line at the grocery store, sometimes I’ll even pick the little bit longer line so I can look at it for longer. I say look at it because I rarely read it, I just like to look at all the pictures. I read every magazine (People, Ensign, Reader's Digest) from the back to the front. I'll also wait in line longer at the Post Office for "fun" stamps.

2) I love chewy, hard food like bagels and hard licorice.

3) I have never gone to bed without brushing my teeth and I have only gone to bed once without washing my face. And I always have my toenails painted, always.

4) I still sleep with my baby blanket . . . everynight.

5) Being a good, courteous parker is important to me.

6) Yes, I’m one of those people that make up words to songs if I don’t know them. This drives Ansen crazy because he only sings when he knows the words and he ALWAYS knows ALL the words. But he says it’s one of the reasons he fell in love with me.

7) Cheesecake is my favorite, but there is cheesecake that is worth it and cheesecake that is definitely not worth it. You have to be selective.

8) My favorite color is purple, but I love hot pink too. Color is big for me. It may be a toilet brush, but if it’s pink then I’m thrilled to be using it.

9) I have what my family calls a “half laugh.” It’s a little laugh I do periodically while I’m talking. The guy I work for says it is character and I should never change because without character we’d all be the same. I don’t know if I really have a chance to change it anyway.

10) I love the smell of Johnson & Johnson pink baby lotion . . . especially on my babies.

Okay, one more . . .

I don’t chew gum very often, but when I do I can’t stop myself from constantly blowing bubbles (and popping them).

If you're reading this, you're tagged! This was a fun one. If no one does it, then I'll have to specifically "tag" people!

This is your WARNING

Hello! I originally started my blog so that, 1) our family in Maine, Ohio and Connecticut could keep up with us, and 2) since I have a hard time keeping up on my journal and scrapbooking I thought blogging could replace or at least supplement those. Since I have now verified (thanks, Marianne) that I can publish a book of my blog I will be including more memory lane posts, family history, methodical thinking, etc. So this is your warning . . . enjoy what you can!

We were almost late for church . . .

So, we were almost late for church (2:30 p.m. church I might add) since we took a getting ready detour to enjoy the sticky, perfect snow. I am not really a snow/winter person, so I'm glad I married Ansen who loves the snow to balance out our family and play with the kids. When we got home from church, our snowman was starting to deteriorate due to the sun and Addison had a little meltdown herself. It turned out she was only worried about her scarf, but it took a few minutes to translate between heart wrenching sobs.

Let the festivities begin . . . Carmel Apples!

Lisa came home for the weekend so we decided to dive into the Halloween festivities early and do carmel apples Saturday night! My dad decided that carmel apples really are worth the hour of work it takes to make them. We had no popsicle sticks so we used plastic knifes, which I think was probably better because you have a larger handle to really hold onto.

My family developed a joke several years ago about sacrifice. Here's an example of what a true "sacrifice" would be. Last year Ryan and Ansen graciously volunteered to go last or to sacrifice for the rest of us. It worked out that they could then use ALL the rest of the carmel, chocolate and toppings that the rest of us had used sparingly in some cases so that there would be enough for all. This year Dad sacrificed and went last. His apple ended up with about 3 inches (around and high) of carmel and chocolate at the base of his apple.







The half eaten pieces of art, which to be honest, none of us are going for an aesthetically pleasing apple, just a loaded apple. (Jeff opted for the St. Patrick's day sprinkles this year.)

Happy Haunting!

Halloween is my favorite holiday and I hope I'm never too old to love it! I was looking through the pictures of last year and I just love it! Addison has decided to be Mulan (Disney)-dressed up as when she meets the match maker -and I'm having Olivia be a 50's girl with a HOT pink skirt. Addison is doubtful that I'll actually be able to sew her costume this year. She has been literally praying that I'll be able to do it and keeps telling me that Banna (Grandma) can do it for me. Have a little faith sweetie! I've also learned that you can only pick your kids' costumes for about 3 years so I've got to make the best of it from now on with each child. I'm thinking this year I'll be Frankenstein's wife since I have the long hair for it. As much as I love the dressing up, I love the loads of pumpkin sugar cookies, carmel apples, carving pumpkins, taking the kids to Ansen's work all dressed up, a spider pretzel and bloody fingers for dinner, the ward party (most of the time) and trick or treating in the freezing cold. What do you do for Halloween?