November Flew by

Even though my Blog posts don't show it, I have had some fun in the last two months. I went to Logan Halloween weekend and visited with Alex and Sonia's families. I was able to do a little trick-or-treating with Sonia, Shane, Kaden and Taylor before I had to go home.

I spent one weekend in November helping Katrina and Kyle's family move to their new home in Annabella. I was also able to spend some time with Alvin and Adriana's family. I watched Jacob and Shelem perform in the play "Pirates of Penzance". They both did a great job. Sweet little Cody was very hesitant to be with Grandma and didn't even like to look at me. Little by little he warmed up to me and was able to hang out with me for a morning while Alvin and Adriana were busy. I returned the following weekend so that I could attend Church with them when the Primary performed their program. Shelem sang a solo in their Sacrament Meeting program, "My Life Has a Plan", and did a beautiful job. By the end of that visit Cody was a little less shy but he gave a hearty wave when it was time to say goodbye.

It was fun to have some of the kids visit for Thanksgiving. Alvin's family, Katrina's family and Alex's family joined Ammon, Abby Hyrum, Audrey and I for dinner and games.





We sang happy birthday to Alvin, Kasidy and Audrey who had birthdays that week.



It is great to have reminders of the important things in our lives.


The week after Thanksgiving I flew to Maryland to spend some time with Heidi's family before she and Isaiah fly to Utah on Dec. 11th. That way I can be with her as we see how Isaiah handles the plane flight. If he doesn't do well, I guess he will just have to stay in Utah, because Heidi will have to deal with him by herself on the return flight.

I have enjoyed my visit. We haven't done any sightseeing this trip. We have been more into the unexpected celebrity sightings. Heidi, Pamela and I went to the movie one evening--"The Fantastic Mr. Fox".


I haven't actually read the book, but the stop-motion animation makes one feel like they are reading a picture book. Maybe it was just because George Clooney was the voice for Mr. Fox, but I saw amusing similarities between "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" and "Ocean's 11" which also starred George Clooney.

Upon leaving the movie theater, we sighted the stars of the upcoming holiday movie, "Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeaquel". We couldn't resist getting our picture with them.



Saturday we went to Savage Mill (historic cotton mill transformed into a shopping center similar to Trolley Square) and wandered around the various shops. We happened upon another celebrity and Isaiah posed for pictures with the famous dog, Marmaduke. This is a must have stuffed animal that we regretfully had to bypass in exchange for a picture since it had a $450.00 price tag.

Happy Birthday, Graham!

Saturday was Graham's first birthday. I rode with Ammon and Abby's family to Logan to help Alex and Laura celebrate their little guy's funnest birthday yet! Laura's parents and two brothers and Shane and Sonia and Taylor also joined in the festivities. Graham enjoyed opening his presents when he was finally allowed to get into the packages and really seemed to like the gifts. He was also very excited to see his cousins and seemed to enjoy their company, except for maybe Taylor's aggressive hugs and kisses which made him a little nervous!

The Fun Continues

As you can tell from my previous post, I love visiting my kids and grandkids!! I was favored with an unexpected surprise this week when Sherri called and said that she and Morgan and Marshall would like to drive down and visit us even though Aaron couldn't come because they extended his work shift another whole week. I am so glad that she was willing to make the trip to see us.

Sherri and boys arrived early afternoon of Tuesday, the 6th. They spent Tuesday night with us and then Abby spearheaded a fun outing for us at Gardner Village in West Jordan. If you haven't been there in the Autumn time of year, you really need to go! The day dawned very crisp (unlike the "crisp Fall" I experienced in Tracy--not!), but we loaded strollers and jackets in Ammon and Abby's suburban and headed out. Sherri drove her van as well so that she could leave from there to run a quick errand and head home after we were through.

The traffic was good and the stores weren't too crowded so we had a very enjoyable time looking at shops and especially the fun witches that were present at every turn. I took the time to buy some fun quilt material at the Pine Needles fabric store (wait until you see it, Alex and Laura!). We ended the day with lunch at the Archibald's Restaurant in the historic Gardner Mill. The wait was long, but the food was pretty good. It was mainly a pleasant experience interrupted by multiple trips to the restroom for one kid or another and concluded with Audrey dumping salad dressing down her front which explains the P.J.s costume during the pony ride. After lunch, we concluded our activities by taking the kids to the little farm area where they have a petting zoo, pony rides and at this time of year a "hay maze" made of bales of hay, a much friendlier place than a corn maze for young kids. We paid for Morgan, Audrey and Hyrum to ride the ponies and play in the maze. I think they had a good time.


Most of the day when we would position them in front of a store or witch to get a picture, we would just have to say their names and they would start saying "CHEESE! CHEESE!" whether they were looking at us or not--usually not! But when they were on the ponies, they had genuine smiles on their faces!! Thanks Abby for the wonderful suggestion that turned out to be a fun day together for the cousins and the adults. Thanks for your willingness to drive down and share your boys with us Sherri!! It was good to see you.

Which is your favorite witch? I think mine is the trio playing baseball.

The Long Awaited Road Trip

Here we are almost in the middle of October and I have been having so much fun that I haven't had a chance to post anything on my Blog. That is only half true. I have done and seen much; it's just that I forgot to take my camera to document them---again! I do have a few pictures taken with my cellphone that I was able to access once I got back home.

To start my travels following my summer in Richfield, at the end of August I took a short trip to celebrate with Shane and Sonia for Taylor's first birthday, our first visit there since they moved into a more comfortable house. I am so excited for them!

I think Taylor was only 10 1/2 months old in this picture but that's close enough. Isn't she a cutie?!

September 10th I began my long awaited road trip to see Anson, Andrew and Teresa's families. I planned my travel so that my visiting wouldn't interfere with my work so Saturday was chosen as my travel day. So that I never had a long, long drive, I broke up the trip into three segments. I would spend a week with each of the three kids, and then move on to the next house. The hardest part was not logistical, just emotional. It became very difficult to pack up and leave at the end of the week. I so wanted to spend more time at each house, but I was afraid that I would be caught in an early snow storm upon my return home so I stuck to my plan as closely as possible.

On September 10th, I packed my bags, and gathered up the things I would need for the next three weeks...my laptop of course, my trusty GPS, my violin and music, tennis racquet, tennis balls, my scriptures and temple bag, some books on tape and some munchies and headed to Vegas that afternoon. I stayed two nights with Teresa and Brian before heading to California. Thanks to the Hardy family for their hospitality while Brian and Teresa were in between houses and were just moving into their new home this weekend.

Saturday I headed for Irvine and arrived without incident--almost. I forgot to set my Garmin to avoid toll roads so at the end of the trip I ended up on two toll roads that delayed me a little bit as I tried to avoid them at first and Garmin would not let me so I finally gave in and followed directions. I thought once I got off the toll road it would "recalcuate" a different route, but it kept wanting me to get back on the toll road. Garmin must have some kind of arrangement with the California Dept. of Transportation.

I enjoyed the mild Irvine weather. I took my morning walks to the park that I discovered last fall when I was there and we went to the beach one afternoon






Parker and Carter showed me one of their favorite hangouts also--Yogurt Land (it probably takes second place to Disneyland). That was my first experience with a "build it yourself" yogurt parlor where you pay by the ounce. I quite enjoyed it.

Too soon my visit with Andrew and Melissa was over, but I was anxious to see Anson and Lora's family. The first couple hours the traffic was probably the worst I experienced the whole trip, but once I got passed L.A. it improved and I had a nice drive the rest of the way to Tracy. I received a warm welcome and Sydney and Camden seemed excited to see the other grandma that they don't get to see very often. Anson set me up with a route for my morning walks, and I soon learned my way around Tracy with a little help from the GPS. Anson and Lora are pretty busy parents but they included me in their activities and I was able to see where both Camden and Sydney go to school and helped pick up Camden from school a couple times. I also got to go see what Sydney did at her school and meet her teachers. They both enjoy school and are so happy to go every day. They both took time to read to me and we got to have a little one-on-one time during the week. I played tennis with Camden one morning so I spent some time taking Sydney to the store and helping her with a sewing project so we would have some together time also.



One evening we went out for frozen yogurt, also the build it yourself kind. Camden and Sydney were very creative. They kind of reminded me of the "suicide drinks" that my kids used to make at the soda fountain at Harts. Camden offered me a taste of his. Well, they looked like they enjoyed them and that's what counts.

They also treated me to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, in spite of Sydney's protests that La Villa Mexican Restaurant would be better because Texas Roadhouse is so noisy and so messy. She especially expressed her dislike that there were peanuts all over the floor. I am glad that Lora has offered their family such a neat and orderly home environment for her family to enjoy. They really are neat kids.

We went bowling my last night there. It has been four or five years since I bowled, and it showed.




Anson was a good coach, because Camden gave me a run for the money, and Sydney out bowled me. I think she had high game for the evening.

Saturday before I left I was able to watch Camden play soccer. He waited anxiously for it all week long and was so excited about his new soccer clothes.




It reminded me of Alex's early soccer games, all the kids following the ball around the field. At this point the coach didn't even try to explain about positions on the field.

Once again, the week ended too soon, and I packed my bags with mixed emotions so I could make the trip to Vegas before it got too late. Originally I had planned to drive back down to Irvine and spend another week with Andrew since the distance from Tracy to Irvine is a couple hours shorter than from Tracy to Vegas, but I chose not to spend another week in Irvine and opted instead to see Andrew and Melissa's family for a couple days when they drove to Utah for General Conference weekend.

The drive to Vegas was pleasant though the temperatures in Tracy and Vegas were quite a bit warmer than in Irvine. Thankfully I drive an air conditioned car now!

It was fun to see Teresa and Brian and Brigham and their new home. It is fun to see that my children have home decorating skills in spite of the fact that they grew up in an essentially bare-walled home.

I still managed to get in a morning walk most days in Vegas but didn't get to play tennis again. I was able to go to the Newport Temple when I was in Irvine, which I had attended about three years ago with Verlin, Andrew and Melissa and Brian and Teresa, but I didn't go to the temple while I was in Tracy because I didn't find a time for the hour drive to Oakland. I was excited that Brian and Teresa wanted to go to the Las Vegas Temple while I was there because I had not seen that temple before. After we started driving there I realized why. It is quite a ways from Metropolitan Las Vegas and was actually almost as long a drive as it would have been to go to Oakland, but it wasn't so much the miles but the traffic that made it so. Anyway, it is a beautiful temple and I am glad that I got to go.





I enjoyed the time spent with Brigham. He is getting big and learning so much. I sure do have a bunch of smart grandkids!!




I regretfully left Brian and Teresa's on Friday afternoon, October 2, so that I could get home in time to listen to General Conference on Saturday. I put 2215 miles on my car in this most wonderful journey. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it! This from someone who felt she had really overextended herself in driving the 220 miles from North Platte, Nebraska to Cheyenne, Wyoming during the trip when Verlin and I drove to Detroit, Michigan, down to Carthage and Nauvoo, Illinois and back to Utah by way of my great, great grandparents graves in Iowa.

I enjoyed having Andrew and Melissa stay with us for a few days Conference weekend. The time I spent with the kids that I don't get to see very often really made me think about how blessed I am to have such a wonderful family. Thank you all for your goodness and love! I wish we lived closer together, but now I know that I can make a long trip by myself and will hopefully be able to visit you more.

Swinging Into Fall

Well, the kids are back in school, we don't need the air conditioner all the time, and we are overrun by zucchini! Sure signs that fall is just around the corner.


Anyone care for a zucchini as big as your arm? (They kind of got out of hand while Ammon and Abby were at Disneyland!)

I haven't said much about what I have been doing the last couple months, but if you go to Katrina's Blog http://reidramblings.blogspot.com/ you can see because I was the fifth wheel on most of their summer activities with the exception of their trip to Lake Powell. It was great fun.

Just a few pictures to recap my summer.



First is the day trip that Katrina and the girls and I took to Cedar City. The girls and I took a short tour through an art exhibit on SUU campus. Of course I had to take a picture of the handcrafted saddle that was worth a fortune! There were quite a few good paintings and sculptures but I think our overall favorite was the soft sculpture exhibit.

Since it was during the Shakespearian Festival, we went to the nearby park and participated in a few activities. That is where the girls rode the camel. On our way home we stopped by Cove Fort because I hadn't been there before. It was quite a windy day, but we had a very pleasant tour guide who took us through the fort.



The girls took tennis lessons for two weeks in early July and I sat and observed during their lessons. I decided that maybe it isn't too late for me to learn tennis, so I went to Wal-Mart and bought a $20 racquet and some balls. I substituted my daily morning 2-mile walk with tennis practice one or two times a week. I know I won't advance very rapidly at that rate but I have enjoyed it. Hopefully I will soon be able to serve the ball over the net more than 50% of the time so that I can start playing against an opponent.



I knew from experience that the girls would be spending several hours a week with piano practice and weekly lessons. I would have to miss my violin lessons but took my violin with me so that I could practice and hopefully realize some improvement by summer's end. There is still a little time for that I hope.



I enjoyed helping the girls prepare for the 4-H Fair in conjunction with the Sevier County Fair. They did great with their projects in spite of my mistake that cost them their blue ribbons on their pajama pants. We went over to the fairgrounds a few times, once with Brian, Teresa and Brigham. Katrina has pictures of Kadance and Kasidy participating in the Little Cowboy Rodeo. She showed you a picture of the girls with the bear. I got the "real picture". I am glad there was a panel protecting them from the bear who loves sweet treats. Brigham was happy watching from a distance.



Many summer evenings were spent reading books together (I was always a bit disappointed when the girls had sleepovers because that meant we wouldn't read that night). We were able to get through four books together, and I read a couple others on my own. It was light reading but very enjoyable. I found a couple new favorite authors and ideas for some future reading. Thank you Kyle, Katrina and girls for a wonderful summer!

A New Key to Freedom

Does this look familiar to anyone? Many of you may know that I have been having a few car problems the last couple months. I have wondered how much life was left in my old white car, but I found that it took me a lot further than Verlin and I anticipated when we bought it. We thought we would try and make it go for a year so we would have time to buy a new car. Thanks to Ammon and Jiffy-Lube it lasted two years longer than I hoped. In the last month or two, Ammon had to change the key switch, the battery, and the water pump. Then the fuel pump failed so I was stranded for a time. Ammon and I started searching online to see if we could find a car but it is hard for me to shop long distance while I am in Richfield.

I had a chance to spend this week in American Fork with Ammon's kids while Abby is at Girl's Camp so Ammon came to Richfield and picked me up. When we pulled up to the house, this was sitting in the driveway with a big red bow on it. A brand new Subaru Impreza that Ammon and Andrew picked out for me.




Abby came out and presented me with the keys. I cannot describe the emotions that I felt in those first moments--shock, wonderment, disbelief but mostly gratitude!

Wow! I have never had a brand new car. I hope I don't get too mental worrying about keeping it in brand new condition. After all, everyone drives used cars don't they? I will never drive it without thinking about the unselfish act that made it possible for me to have a reliable car and peace of mind when I travel.

Fourth of July Get Together

I thoroughly enjoyed the family reunion this 4th of July. I didn't have to do a lot of planning and everyone pitched in to make it fun. I was having so much fun that I forgot to take pictures. I will have to rely on some other family members sharing some pictures of the Timp Cave hike, the dutch oven dinner, swimming, barbecue and annual "candy cannon" activities. I didn't make it to the parade this year but I did go with Sonia's family to watch the fireworks from the Marriott Center. Before we went to the fireworks we stopped by the cemetery to put flowers on Verlin's grave. As we received the last regular contact letter from the Intermountain Donor Services they sent a very lovely medallion honoring his gift of life.

It was designed to place on the cemetery marker. The inspiration and meaning for the design is described as follows:
"The Gift of Life Donor touches and gives new life to others. The donor touches the hand of the recipient, and passes on the precious gift of life (the heart) and love (the rose). This magnificent and honorable giving of oneself is illustrated in the rays extending from the heart."

I was so happy that Aaron and Sherri made such a great effort to come a long distance to be with us, although it was for a very short time. They added to the spirit of the week. I was happy to see new baby Marshall. Thanks to Sonia, Katrina and Alex who each drove 2 hours to come and Andrew who came from southern California and Teresa's family who drove from Vegas. And thanks to Ammon and Abby who prepared the facilities and made room for all of us in their home. We surely missed those family members who could not join us this summer but look forward to next year. We decided that we would like to have the 4th of July be an annual Verlin Hatch reunion. We hope you will all plan your vacations and days off around that timeframe and try to join us in 2010.


We tried to get a follow-up picture of the youngest grandchildren but could not find a time when all of them were up from naps, not eating or crying or doing something else so I just tried to take pictures of each of them.

Here are just a few pictures that I captured of the weekend.

Some of us were worn out by the rush of activities but it was a good tired.

A Bit of Nostalgia, a Lot of Fun

This past weekend I went with Kyle and Katrina and their girls on a boating excursion. We filled the boat and pickup bed with gear, food and clothes and headed for Piute Reservoir. It was a bit windy and sprinkled on us a little when we were setting up the tent. Piute is a smaller reservoir with camping sites around the shoreline. There is no potable water so we hauled our own water. We ate dinner and cooked S'mores and went to bed. Saturday morning was a fairly mild day, just a bit breezy at times. We didn't get on the water as early as the Hatch clan used to go out but the water was quite nice. Katrina and Kyle skied and then we towed the girls around on a Nautica three-man towable tube. We all took a ride on it and later Kyle and Katrina skied again.


After dinner, we cleaned up the best we could and drove about 30 minutes to Panguitch to their hot air balloon festival. Panguitch has a lot of old stores and buildings and there are several shops that sell great Americana antiques. We wandered around the shops and streets waiting for dark while the balloonists set up their balloons up and down Main Street and Center Street. It was fun to see all of the balloons glow when they fired their burners. They didn't launch, just glowed for a while and then took down their balloons. It was an interesting event.

Between the boating trip and the trip down Americana Main Street of Panguitch, there was a lot of nostalgia for me, some things taking me back to my youth (the antique shops made me feel like I was back in my parent's home with the old Frigidaire refrigerator, treadle sewing machine, the old tin bathtub, saddles and cowboy hats and chaps, etc.) and others reminded me of our Hatch outings, such as: tent camping, hauling water, campfires, S'mores, heat, sunburns, sand, "glass", being the "spotter", gasping cold water, wind and waves, The Beach Boys, sand castles, bugs and mosquitoes, treks to the John, neighbors playing their loud music and laughing late into the night. Even the ride was nostalgic as we passed many farms that reminded me of Montana as a child, old farm equipment, aging buildings etc. All in all it was a very enjoyable weekend. We ended with a birthday celebration for Katrina yesterday. Happy Birthday, Katrina!!

Hummingbirds and Moms (and Dads)

As I was looking for a document the other day, I found a story I had written about our summer of the hummingbird (the year Teresa left for college). It goes like this:

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One summer day, without announcement or invitation, our temporary guest moved in. Well, not in just a day, more like a few weeks. The porch light seemed like a good choice for a home. With its plastic panes long since gone, victims of time and use, the frame hung there gathering cobwebs and dirt. It seemed apparent that she would not be disturbed here. Only one light bulb worked now, and oddly enough, she chose the corner farthest away from the working light bulb. At first it just looked like bits of leaves caught in another cobweb, but after a few days, I could tell these fragments were carefully and intentionally placed. It seemed to take forever, but soon the nest resembled half a walnut shell, just the right size to hold a hummingbird, and she moved in.


She was very cautious at first, sitting tentatively in her nest ready to take flight whenever we walked in and out through the front door. It became a habit to look up at the nest whenever I went in or out to see if I could get a glimpse of her before the hum of wings and flash of color announced her retreat.
It wasn't long before she seemed accustomed to the clamor in our yard and remained in the nest in spite of the traffic and noise. I had only seen a few hummingbirds in my life, and never so close up, but I realized that since it is not common to be able to get such a close-up view of a hummingbird, her strong resolve to remain in the nest must have grown from the fact that there were eggs in the nest. I decided that the next time she took flight, I would look in the nest and see for myself. I got a mirror ready and when the opportunity presented itself, I chanced to peek. Sure enough, the mirror revealed two little pea-sized white eggs.


I went to the Internet and looked up information about the hummingbird to see what the incubation time would be. I wasn't sure exactly when the eggs were laid, but the incubation time is usually between 14-21 days, depending on the temperature. I calculated that by the time we returned from a weekend trip for a family reunion, the hatching should be complete. Upon arriving home, I took the first opportunity I could to check the nest. The mother was gone so I grabbed my mirror and looked in. At first all I could see was the broken egg shells, and I was saddened that they did not make it, but in an instant I could detect two little open mouths in the grayness of the nest. The hatchlings had both survived.


Now the mother hummingbird's courage was tenfold as she remained on the nest to keep her babies warm until their feathers grew sufficiently and yet taking frequent flights to forage for food for them. I watched her whenever I passed by the window and occasionally saw her feeding her young. It was a daunting task to think about, because hummingbirds use so much energy just in ordinary flight, that they require great amounts of food to maintain their own energy, let alone feeding two growing babies.


Over the next few weeks we watched as the baby hummingbirds grew larger. First we could see the tips of their beaks, then more and more until we could see their heads. It didn't take long for their bodies to completely fill the nest and it seemed that the nest would soon break apart with the load placed on it by two nearly full grown chicks.


During all this time, at intervals the mother would appear, perch on the edge of the nest and feed her babies, and then take off again. Finally the day came when the baby birds left the nest.



They did not immediately fly away, rather landed on the porch below, flitted from one spot to the next as they tried their wings, and after a period of "practice" they gained the strength to fly away.



As I watched this mother hummingbird caring for her babies and then stepping back and letting them try their wings, I thought of our own years of caring for our children that seems to be drawing to a close as our youngest child has recently gone away to college. Does that mother hummingbird feel the same emptiness inside that I feel when she looks at her empty nest? I hope she finds comfort in knowing that her children have learned how to fly. Hopefully they will know she misses them and come back to visit…

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Now I can stand back and watch all of you and cheer you on. I think your Dad is cheering too. You are who you are in large part because of his influence. Way to "fly"!!