Smoke, Rain and Snow

Snow at Shane and Sonia's
We used to say when sitting around the campfire and smoke would blow in our face--no matter where we moved around the circle--"well, smoke follows beauty". (This comment was usually followed by the remark --but Beauty is a horse".)

Well, bad weather seems to follow me like smoke follows beauty.

January 12th I flew to Irvine, California to spend time with Andrew and Melissa and watch their boys while Andrew and Melissa went on a one-week Mexican cruise. I was so excited about the lovely weather when I arrived, even though in reality American Fork did not really have that bad of weather when I left. Well, on Sunday evening when I dropped Andrew and Melissa off at the dock, it began to rain and it rained most of the week, sometimes dumping as much as 1/2 to 1-inch in an hour. Carter's school announced that there was a tornado warning, but fortunately it hit further north. I was fortunate that I only had to drive out a few times to take Parker to preschool and pick him up. It turned out to be an interesting but mostly enjoyable week with the boys. The weather was nice by the time Andrew and Melissa came home and they hardly knew what they missed--besides their cute boys that they were very glad to see!

Carter

Tristan

Parker

On Friday the 28th I drove to Logan to see my new granddaughter, Emma and of course Alex, Laura and Graham. I stayed Friday night with Shane, Sonia and Taylor. I brought my Sunday clothes just in case I decided to spend Saturday night with them also since their meetings are at 8:30 a.m. and mine aren't until 2:00 p.m. I kind of watched the weather Saturday so I could make a decision about traveling home that evening or if I could spend the night with Sonia and still make it back to American Fork safely in time for my meetings. The Saturday night 10:00 news said there would be a little snow, mostly in Northern Utah, probably about an inch. Well, we woke up to more like a foot of snow.

Do I really have to get up?!

TURN OFF THAT CAMERA NOW!!

It was a rough night for Taylor, too! We did wake her up a bit earlier than usual to get to their 8:30 meeting. I went ahead and went to church with Shane and Sonia and decided that I would just stay until Monday until the weather was better. I am grateful that I was able to visit some of my children and beautiful grandkids.

Emma

Graham

Taylor

Happy Day after New Year's 01-02-2010 (a palindrome)

I love the winter scenery and the majestic mountains around us, but these days I prefer viewing them from inside my warm home. We didn't really have a good day for playing on Evergreen hill this year with the grandkids but I think Anson's family went over one day for a little while. Those kids are crazy about the snow.

We did start the New Year right with weather that was good enough to allow me to drive to Richfield and attend Kasidy's baptism on Jan 2, 2010. Did you know your baptism fell on a rather unique day, Kasidy? 01-02-2010 (That is called a palindrome-the same forward or backward).



Alex and Laura braved a bit of a snowstorm to drive to American Fork from Logan on New Year's day, and then on Saturday, January 2nd, they rode with Ammon's family to Richfield and I drove my car. After the baptism we went to the Reid's new home and enjoyed a meal together and visited for a while until all the Reids took off to go sledding and we headed home. Before we went, Katrina gave the kids an opportunity to see a few of their new pets and the kids fed carrots to Pepper, one of their horses. In spite of being out in the cold snow, improperly dressed for such, I enjoyed the feeling of being on the farm once again. Thanks for allowing us to share this special day with you, Kasidy.









P.S. I celebrated New Year's Eve and New Year's Day working on another baby quilt. I was able to finish Alex and Laura's new baby quilt to give it to them before they returned to Logan. Their little girl is due in two weeks so I am glad I was able to get it finished.

December 2009

December was certainly a fun month that went way too fast for me! As I mentioned, the first ten days were spent in Maryland with Heidi's family so I had one week left to prepare for the Hatch Family Party on the 19th. I am fortunate that the kids are willing and very capable of taking assignments to ease my load, and you all did a great job this year. The talent show was fun and the Nativity story was well done, Abby. Thank you all. And thanks to everyone for making the effort to come from long distances to be together again. For me, it is a special reminder of our last best Christmas together with Dad/Grandpa here with us in 2006. I think it is your love and respect for him that draws everyone back not only in July but also at Christmas time when hearts turn to family and the eternal nature of the greatest gift we ever received whose birth we celebrate at Christmastime. How grateful I am for the resurrection and atonement that Christ gave us which enables us to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.

Here are some pictures from the two weeks that families were here for the holidays.
















Lora posted some wonderful group pictures from the evening that you can see on her Blog at: http://ansonandlorahatch.blogspot.com/2009/12/hatch-holiday-party-2009.html
I wish I had carried my camera around more when I went bowling with some of the kids and grandkids and visited with Andrew's family, Anson's family, Alex's family, Heidi's family, Sonia's family, Aaron's family and Teresa's family in the days following the party. Sorry that our fun was cut short by a bout of illness. (Glad that part is only a memory now!) What a great month!