Getting Away and Getting Together

It was an incredible stroke of good luck that the West/Barratt cabin was free the same weekend WE were free, which was the same weekend the SHELTON's were free. It almost seemed too good to be true, but instead of marveling about how it was too good to be true, we just packed up our crap and left.

First order of business:

CATCH A LIZARD. Immediately.

Bruce snagged the first lizard, which garnered him the admiration of his children, nephew, and niece.

The lizard, however, holds Bruce personally responsible for a near-deadly mauling. Perhaps "completely deadly" is a more apt description since the lizard seemed to be moving in slo-mo when the kids finally let it go.

But, worrying about that will get you nowhere, so we relaxed on the porch.

My kids are wimps and far too pampered in every day life. They complained about the bugs, the heat, the cold, the dirt, the water, the food, the sleeping arrangements, the toilet...and on...and on...

Kiki refused to use the toilet at the cabin. "I'll just hold it until we get home," she said when we had been at the cabin for only a few hours. Long story short: She peed only four times in 3 days, each time under duress or the influence of extreme bribery.

(And yes, Kiki, I hope you come across this post in 25 years when you are searching for photos for your wedding video. And I hope the nice young man you've betrothed yourself to just peed his pants laughing about your mother's description of your bowels. You deserve it for the amount of stress I experienced worrying about your potential kidney stones this weekend.)

Charlie had a pretty good time, except for he felt a little outnumbered by all of the girls. His dad designated a "Boy Area" where no girls were allowed.

I was scolded for taking this picture while he was trying to whittle in Boytown.

Yesterday brought warm weather and blue skies.

Bruce and Dave set out for a long bike ride, and Liza and I met up with them later at the Capitol

Reef Visitor's Center.

Kiki begged and begged to ride Bruce's bike so he let her give it a try.

We went on a little hike up Sulphur Creek to a waterfall.

When the kids saw the waterfall, their reaction made the whole trip worthwhile.

They were completely and absolutely thrilled.

We played and played.

Bruce and Dave generally don't hike in bike shorts, but it didn't seem worth it to them to change out of their dirty biking clothes just to get clean hiking clothes all wet. Ignore, then, their fancy outfits.

Nature's Hot Tub

Nature's Slippery Slide

The cutest baby in all of nature.

Nope, not having any fun at all.

"This is TOTALLY AWESOME!" Kiki shouted.

About this time, Shelton thought maybe wearing his pricey bike shorts to slide down the sandstone was NOT such a good idea.

Whitney digs the dirt.

We picnicked in the Park and then headed back to Torrey for shakes and the playground.

The best part of the picnic lunch was Liza saying to Dave, "You make a plate for the rude one, and I'll make a plate for the mean one."

Here's the rude one with her cousin Kate.

It's a tradition at the cabin to take at least one picture on the front steps before you go.

Our kids were somewhat cooperative, but getting 5 kids to look at a camera and smile all at the same time is a little tricky.

Oh well.

One more try at the little cabin.

After an awesome breakfast at Country Cafe in Loa, we were bound for home.

We had an incredible time.

Pocatello

After a few days apart, Kiki was missing Kate enough that it was time to go get her. We rode to Pocatello with Grandpa Jack who had a little project to work on at Dave and Liza's.

The children play, heartlessly oblivious to the elderly man slaving away behind them.

Kiki has the cutest bum I have ever seen.

While Jack and Dave worked, Liza and I took the kids to a gymnastics place that has open play on the weekends. They loved the foam pit- they could run and jump in it to their heart's content.

Whitney

There was a high platform the kids could jump from. Kate really wanted to try it but she was scared. I went up there with her, gave her some therapy, told her Jesus loved her, reassured her it was safe...

...and she took the leap.

I was really proud of her because she was very afraid but she screwed up her courage and she jumped anyway.


Then the grown-ups gave it a try.

I imagine that Liza will be posting a similar picture of me only I'm screaming more.

The Shelton's have a million dollar view from their back deck.

It's beautiful.

We came home Saturday night so we would be home to celebrate Father's Day with Bruce.

I think he had a good day- a few presents, a nice dinner, and time with his friend Jim and Jim's daughter Azlyn.

Azlyn had a ball with our magnifying glass.

The summer feels busy all of a sudden. We have started swim lessons, gymnastics, and are heading to the cabin this weekend, so we are definitely feeling like summer is flying by!

Kiki

Kate's in Pocatello with Liza and Grandma Ellie, so Kiki and I are bonding. If you'd been hanging with us the last few days you could have heard the following from her:

"Dad, I need to see your butt."

"This car smells like a burp."

"I need a cookie or I am going to freak out."

"I know what little monsters eat. Little monsters eat kittens. And garbage."

Raising Kate has been a lot like raising a bunny rabbit or Laura Ingalls. Raising Kiki is kind of like raising Lewis Black.

A Very Busy Saturday

Bruce and I signed up for a 10 mile race weeks ago. Nevertheless, after days and DAYS of rain, I told him, "I run 10 miles almost every Saturday. If I wake up to rain, there's no way I'm doing this race because I don't have anything to prove." Of course we woke up to a downpour on Saturday, but Bruce persuaded me to go, and besides, we'd already arranged for Grandpa Jack to be at the house at the crack of dawn to babysit. At the bib pick-up it was still raining, it continued to rain on the bus ride up to the drop off, and then miraculously the rain stopped when the race started. Long story short: I ran my fastest 10 miles ever. Bruce ran even faster.

I ran this race at a 1:42 last year, roughly 10 minute miles. This year- 1:27:57 with a mile pace of 8:42. It's a pace that will get me below a 2 hour half-marathon if I keep training right. I'm super happy. Bruce clocked a 1:20. We are both SORE.

Most people would just spend the day in bed after a morning like that, but not us. I cleaned the house and made 4 loaves of bread, then Bruce and I took the girls to lunch (Mi Ranchito of course) and to see Karate Kid (which was good!) with our friend Clay and his little boy Miles.

And still, we didn't quit.

Our friends had front row tickets to the Blaze game, so off we went to West Valley for some arena football.

(Greg, Jo, and Bruce)
Arena football is fun! We were close to all of the action.

The only bad part was all of the STAIRS. It hurt to go up them, it hurt worse to go down them. Greg and Jo thought it was hilarious that Bruce and I walked like old people. Even more humiliating was the amount of ibuprofen it took to even get us walking "old people" style. I run a lot, but I really had pushed myself.

Then FINALLY we went to bed.

Aaaaaaaah.

Why The Hatch Boys Marry Late In Life

My dear Kate, bless her heart, is the most indecisive child alive. When faced with a choice of any kind, large or small, she debates and debates and debates until finally I just snap and choose for her. Clothes shopping is a nightmare, and much of the time the new clothes go unworn for months before she warms up to them. Bruce and I make her exactly what she wants for breakfast and later she laments that maybe she should have had the scrambled eggs instead, and I think to myself, "Does it not occur to you that you eat breakfast 365 days a year and you can have eggs tomorrow? This is not something to be shedding tears over!" If I offer a treat at the supermarket checkout, Kiki is all over it like white on rice. She'll have something on the belt in a half-second and will happily eat whatever it was she chose so haphazardly- sometimes she enjoys a Slim Jim, sometimes she equally enjoys Reese's Pieces. Her elder sister, however, will carefully mentally itemize the various qualities of Skittles and M&M's, attempt to guage her mood in order to select the better fit, and then, in a last ditch effort, will beg for both since she just can't make up her mind.

This is a Hatch trait. We Barratt's will decide anything at the drop of a hat. Not always for the best, mind you, as my romantic history will attest. But, a decision is made and then it is done. No internal wars need to be waged around here, and things usually turn out okay even if it is a little convoluted getting there. It goes without saying then, that poor little Kate's struggles have met a generally unsympathetic audience where her mother is concerned.

It all came to a head yesterday at Chuck E. Cheese. Kate has been begging to go, and I told her that she would have to earn the trip. She cleaned her playroom, and then she wiped down and cleaned the outside of all the kitchen cabinets. They were not small jobs, and she did a good job (seriously, I was quite surprised). I was happy to take her, Kiki, and her friend Whitney to Chuck E. Cheese. Did those girls ever have a good time! They loved the games, they loved the pizza, they loved the stupid robotic band, they loved it all. We should have gone home right then with everyone so happy, but NOOOOOOOOOO...I had to spill the beans about how all the tickets they had been collecting could be used to buy a trinket. You know darn well how that goes down at Chuck E. Cheese: You need about 700 tickets to buy anything better than a jelly bracelet, and Kiki had 20 tickets, Kate had 40, and Whitney had 60. Kiki immediately chose a sucker and a plastic ladybug. Done. Kate chose Pop Rocks. Kate chose a different flavor of Pop Rocks. An exchange was made. Whitney chose a plastic lizard. Kate exchanges the Pop Rocks for a plastic lizard. Whitney chose sticker earrings. Kate exchanges the lizard for a different color lizard. Kate wants the lizard AND earrings also and my mathematical explanation is not accepted. Emotions rise. I attempt to leave. Kate begins to cry. She wants to go back to the Pop Rocks. At this point, we had been standing at that counter trying to spend a MINISCULE number of tickets for close to 15 minutes and I was done. So we left. She had a tantrum in the car about these stupid Pop Rocks that was so unbelievable that I had to record it.



This is totally what you Hatch Boys do when you are dating! You see Pop Rocks and you really want them, but then you notice a plastic lizard under the glass and it sure looks really nice, but once you have it in your hand you think to yourself, "Man, this lizard is not as good looking when I see it close up..." and then you start to second guess yourself about the Pop Rocks again, or maybe should you try something different, and before you know it you've been standing at the counter WAY TOO LONG.

That is all.

(And I love you tons, Burke and Mark, and you deserve a girl who is worth a millionzillion tickets. Just FIND HER already so I don't need Botox for your wedding pictures.)

A Mini-Reunion

I went to Logan on Friday, and the stars aligned for me to reunite with my college roommates from my senior year. My sophomore and junior year of college will go down in history as two of the worst years of my life, and I'm not overstating it when I tell you that Brooke, Jenni, and Rose were an absolute Godsend. I knew Rose before (obviously, since we are cousins), and she introduced me to Brooke and Jenni.

Except for all of the kids running around, it was just like the olden days. Brooke seemed peaceful and at one with the universe (despite the new baby sleep deprivation), Rose tutored us on how to be urban farmers and then in the next breath told us where to go for the best nails, and Jenni was still laid back and accepting and also still the pickiest eater ever. Rose and I both have two children, Jenni has 3, and Brooke wins the prize with 5.

Here is her newest: Harper K.

Brooke, Me, Rose, Jenni

Brooke's second to youngest, Finn.

I told him to smile and this stink-eye is what he gave me.

Brooke and Harper.

Aren't they beautiful?
I've been telling myself that Kiki is my little baby, but photographic evidence makes it clear that I am totally delusional.

Kate LOVED holding the baby. Sorry to everyone else that you didn't get a very long turn.

Lola found the sequins.

All in all, what an incredible afternoon. There is something so wonderful about friends who have known you since you wore skinny leg jeans the FIRST time around. We knew each other when we were just starting to figure things out and make adult decisions and decide how our "grown-up" lives were going to be, and now we get to know each other while we are living those lives. Although, I still sometimes think I'm just still only starting to figure things out.