Other Miscellaneous Items

Kate was so excited to get her cast off the day after we returned from Spring Break.
Her fracture healed so well that the doctor had to consult earlier x-rays to remember where her arm had been broken.
She is thrilled to be back in action.

I thought this vocabulary sentence from a recent spelling test was very politically correct.

Sometimes I think that the girls don't notice when I throw their stuff away, but obviously they do.

Want to come to dinner?  Our dishes are specially sanitized.
Really, though, he's only interested in the dirty ones, and now I save time since I don't have to rinse.

Bruce and I recently undertook a few projects around the house.  One of them was to install a closet organizer.  Obviously, it was desperately needed.

We were up late finishing, and Kate and Boeuf had to put themselves to bed.

It was worth it though- this is the after.

Spring in Utah is full of trickery and deceit. 

I've recently (and happily) given up on growing out my hair. 
I'm meant to be a short haired person.
 

He tried to tell me he didn't eat the waffle but forensic evidence suggests otherwise.

John turned 33 on Sunday. 
This is my cute mom with her handsome boys.
I don't know why they have to be so serious looking when everyone knows they are big softies.

Dave brought his guitar and amp for some Sunday hymns.

I showed off my rusty skills with a rendition of "Ghostriders in the Sky."

Spring Break, California Leg.

After several fun days in Arizona, it was time to move our party westward.  Almost all of the Hatch family was able to make it- we rented two beach houses in Oceanside for conference weekend.  We did make a quick stop at the temple.  It was for preemptive repentance for what we were about to do: skip conference entirely so we could hang out at the beach. 

Speaking of legs, the calf on the left belongs to moi.  The calf on the right belongs to my sister-in-law.  I try not to get a complex around my petite friend and just remind myself I came by them honestly. 

The cousins bonded nicely.

Sunset our first night in Oceanside.

Thanks to a tip from my niece, Lauren, Kiki is the owner of the most perfect swimsuit ever made.

How can I possibly sum up all of the fun and sand and water and love that we fit into four short days?

It's impossible!

But we did have such an amazing time with our loved ones, and my family loves the beach, so it was quite possibly perfect in every way.

Cousins.

Hatch kids.
Cheryl, we missed you!

The ladies.

Look at the guy on the left's face.
You should have seen Bruce and James jockeying to be the captain of our rented boat.
It was getting ugly.

We celebrated Bruce's and Mark's birthdays our last night.

It was delightful.

Spring Break, Phoenix Leg.

Spring Break started real mellow...everyone relaxed and ready for fun.  We had plans to go to Phoenix for the first half of Spring Break and San Diego for the last half.  Then the girls started eating in Bruce's Lexus and the crap hit the fan and we weren't even out of town yet.  These two can't make it more than ten blocks without requiring a travel snack.

 

 

After all those "snacks," we were still hungry, so we hit our usual Mexican joint in Beaver.

I also had to endure the usual "eating in Beaver" jokes.



This was actually a DOUBLE rainbow just outside of Beaver, but the 2nd one didn't show up.
The girls were amazed- it was the first time they had ever seen a double.

This is Kiki's usual travel position.

Movie: check.

Headphones: check.

Snacks: check.

Blankie: check

Thumb: double check.

 

We took the scenic route (Highway 89A) to Flagstaff.

The travel went well and we were happy to find ourselves at Grandma and Grandpa Hatch's for Easter.  Somehow the Bunny found the girls...they had been a little worried. They always worry about whether or not these mythical creatures will find them when we travel on holidays, and as usual, I wish I had the guts just to spill the beans so a) they wouldn't stress me out with their "...but how will he find me..."s and b) so a gal could get a little credit around here.

No awesome Easter family pic for us.  Bruce wound up taking the picture and Kiki wound up frowning in all of them.  I wound up looking wound up.   

We had an egg hunt with the cousins.

This is my newest nephew, Preston.

He's pretty awesome.

We spent four solid days at Grandma and Grandpa's soaking up the sun and relaxing.

It was a great time.

My nephew and I have the same hair.

The highlight of Kiki's trip was the visit to Grandpa Jim's lizard pit.

Grandpa Jim is a reptile lover who has built two huge habitats for his lizards and turtles.

Anyone who knows anything about my Maggie knows that this was the highlight of her trip.  She had so much fun holding all of the reptiles.  Kate even picked up a few, so I think she had a good time too.

 

Then, it was off to Oceanside.