Family Pictures 2011

I had to start off with the above picture because this pretty much sums up how pleasant taking family pictures is with little kids. Parker is smiling though, as always. He is such a happy kid. :)
We decided last minute to get some family pictures. People have been asking for updated pictures and we haven't had any family pictures taken in three years, and of course that was before we had Asher, so we thought it was time. We were rushing around the house on Saturday trying to scrounge up some outfits that we thought might work and get the boys dressed and ready before the sun went down. Of course, if I was prepared I would have bought new outfits for the everybody, given all the boys much needed haircuts and had them dressed and ready in plenty of time. But that is not how things worked out. All things considered though, I think we got some decent shots.

Glen Canyon

Andrew and I have lived in three different places outside of Utah since we were married, and have driven to Utah from all of them. On our drive home to Arizona after Thanksgiving last week we decided this drive is by far the prettiest. What was the ugliest you ask? The drive from Northern California to Utah. Hands down. For those of you who have driven that route, you know what I mean. Okay, Okay, I must admit there are a few pretty parts once you get into California, but the whole drive before that is harsh.

Graham Cracker Houses

After making these, Parker said to me, "Will you please take a picture of our houses and put them on the computer so our Grandma's can see?"
So, by request, here are their beautiful creations.
The above house is Carter's.

Parker's

Tristan's

And Asher's (he had a little help with his).

Since I didn't get a picture of Asher with his house I thought I would throw one in of him by himself. He is a cutie. Love that boy!

FHE at the Mesa Temple

Last week we took the kids to see the lights at the Mesa temple. I must say I was pleasantly surprised at what a good job they do. I mean it's no temple square, but they have a decent sized visitors center and they have a ton of lights and displays to look at. And the best part is you don't freeze like you do in Salt Lake! We were in light jackets and we were perfectly warm.

I can never get Tristan to look at the camera. It drives me crazy. This was the closest I got.

Our House

I had originally titled this blog post "Adventures in Arizona" but the whole time I was uploading the pictures I was singing the song "Our house, in the middle of our street..." So I decided to go with that. ;) As you might have guessed the above picture is a picture of.........our house.
Below are a few pictures of the inside. My favorite part of the house is the master bathroom complete with walk in closet, which means our closet isn't so full that we can't shut the door anymore. Yay! Also, after doing laundry at a community laundry room for almost our entire married lives it probably comes as no surprise that the laundry room is another favorite.

What amazed me was that we went from a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment to a 4 bedroom 3 bathroom house with a garage and the house was still relatively full. How in the world did we fit it all into that small apartment?! All I have to say is that there was no space unused. Every corner, under every bed was as full as it could be. It is so nice being in a place where we can fit all of our stuff without tripping over each other.

One small little blessing, our check engine light kept coming on in our van and we could not figure out what the problem was. To make matters worse the registration was expired, so we were basically driving it around illegally. After a ton of stress it miraculously turned off and I took it straight away to get the emissions done, and somehow it passed! Funny enough on the way home, not even two minutes after I left the emissions place, it turned back on again. So we still have to fix it, but at least we can drive our car around legally now!

About two days after we moved here Asher learned to crawl. As you can see he has wasted no time and is now into everything, the little cutie.

What great little window washers we have.

Don't get me wrong, life isn't all rainbows and sunshine now that we are in a house. It has been a bit a of an adjustment for all of us. Andrew went to work on his first day sick as a dog with some flu thing we all got just days after moving here. We still only have one car that Andrew takes to work all day, and while he is gone the boys and I are trying to get to know people and make new friends, which is hard sometimes. We are also short one bed and a dresser for Tristan (who is sleeping with Carter for the time being), a dresser for Asher and a couch for our living room. Those things will come eventually and we are learning to be grateful for what we have been given. We truly are very richly blessed!

Done!

After all of Andrew's hard work he is now officially finished with school! I really can't believe it. Finishing his PhD was something that always seemed so far away, but looking back now it seems like the last five years have zoomed by. I am so proud of him, he has worked so hard for this and although at times I know he wanted to quit, he kept at it until the end. Good job Dr. Andrew Hatch, we love you so much!!

So what now? Well, Andrew has accepted a job at ASU in Tempe, AZ and we are moving at the end of the month!!! We are so excited for this new chapter in our lives!

Tristan Turns 3!

We celebrated Tristan's 3rd birthday last month. We did a combined party with the Romney's along with a lot of our friends and neighbors. It was a fun BBQ and water balloon fight, I really think Tristan had a good time. Thanks Romney family!
I tried to upload the video of us singing happy birthday to him but I couldn't get it to work, so you will just have to settle with a picture of his Captain America cake.

Goodbye to Good Friends

Being in student housing it is kind of inevitable that you will make great friends only to have to part ways in a few years time. We have already had to say goodbye to some great families and this summer was no exception. Most of the people we have come to know really well have moved away over the last few months. I really wish I had taken the time to get pictures with them but this is really the only picture I got. I worked with two of these lovely ladies and we became really close over the years. Both of these girls, plus the six or seven other families that moved away this summer will be missed!

Do you ever feel like this sometimes? I know I do.

6 months!