Soccer

Bronson's team the "Lizards"
He is 2ND from right

Madelyn and Bronson started soccer in late August. This was their first time playing any organized sports so it has been fun!! I usually laugh at (they don't hear me, lol) Bronson's team because they are hilarious to watch in practice and at games as the five and six year olds try to catch toads and kick the soccer ball into the wrong goal. Both Bronson and Madelyn made progress in the last couple months dribbling, controlling and shooting the ball. They both scored several goals (I bribed them with a dollar for each goal scored, lol) during the season. Bronson's last game was today and ended in a 0-7 record (can't go up from there! LoL), and Madelyn's team is at 5-2 with one more game next week.

Bronson in action (#4)

It is a little hot in September here!

Madelyn's team (the "bears")

Madelyn in action (also #4)

The 'Yahoos'

Time to MAN IT UP!

We've had more than a few requests on what is up with the blog so I, Jeff, will post.

Kaitlyn was drawn for the "youth any antlered deer" in the middle of October. I have a few spots that I can usually find deer so we went there opening day in the evening (we were not able to hunt opening morning had a endocrinologist appointment in Mesa and I met Monica in Globe to exchange kids and get back to hunt). So we sat on a ridge till it was too dark to see and headed home. Nothing. The next morning we were out the door at 5 and on the trail just after 530. I wanted to be looking into a draw before shooting light. She enough when we made it to that draw a doe and a buck spooked out of the top of the draw giving us no time to set up. We waited 10 minutes or so and continued up the trail. We hiked a few hundred yards along the trail and stopped in the shade for a rest. I turned around to look at the way we had just come and below the trail we had just walked on, in the shade of the steep hill stood a buck looking at us! I didn't pay attention to how big he was, I just knew Kaitlyn needed to get some cross hairs on him before he took off. Well this took about 10 minutes! LOL! The buck was standing, looking at us frozen, like coues deer do and knew he had given us the slip. The buck was only 174 yards but was at a steep angle below and across the draw from us. I had Kaitlyn aim on the top of his back and boom the shot went over him and he was gone!
We hunted several more days only to see does or not see anything at all. Kaitlyn was able to skip out on some days of school and we spent a lot of time together. She did an excellent job keeping up with me hiking in the steep mountains and being patient while I would glass for hours trying to pick out a buck. She is looking froward to her Javalina hunt in a few weeks!
Kaitlyn and her new rifle (custom built .250 Savage by Charles Gatlin). Oh, yeah, Kaitlyn has had upper braces for a month or so. The super trooper!

Madelyn's 7th Birthday!

Today is Madelyn's 7th birthday! I can't believe it. Last year she was sick on her birthday and we almost thought it would be the same again this year because of her asthma, but we have been managing it closely and she was able to go to school.I remembered about this shirt yesterday so I went looking for it for her to wear today. It was right on top of the spring/summer clothes I was planning to get out next week! Yay!

We had a little family party since Jeff had to work tonight. We had just enough time to open gifts and eat some dinner before he had to leave. I saw these little chihuahua toys at the Walmart and thought they were cute. Our kids love chihuahuas. Don't ask me why! She loved it. Plus there are three so she can share! But will she???New flip flops...one thing she had on her list! Jeff picked out the color. Not my first choice but whatever! She is happy!Jeff convinced her that she needed some new hunting socks. Last night when she was rattling off her list to me again, she said "hunting socks" and I thought this kid is truly brainwashed!We recently rented "Charlie & The Chocolate Factory" from Netflix and the kids loved it. I actually thought it was pretty good too! So when I saw it for $5 at Target I picked it right up and then I remembered that Feeney was having a birthday soon so I put it aside for that! Nice!New swimsuit! That she did NOT ask for but was very excited about!Littlest Pet Shop toy... I have no idea about the appeal of these things but she asked for it. I just hope she doesn't get a dozen more with her gift card and money from the grandmas! hahaShe asked for at least five or six necklaces... I looked at the little girls ones and they all looked crappy so this one is actually from the ladies section. She loves the pink! And yes! She only got one! Sheesh!Opening the cards from the grandmas while Daddy brought in her big gift... I caught her expression just in time!A new big bike for our little girl who is getting bigger! Kaitlyn said, "It's an 18 incher!" That was funny!She asked for a chocolate cake with cherry frosting. As I was making it, it smelled just like my mom's homemade chocolate covered cherries. I sprinkled some pink crystals in the shape of a flower on the top but it doesn't look all that great!

What is Madelyn up to now?

She is in first grade. Her teacher is Mrs. Mindy Wilson and if I might speculate just a smidgen... I think she might be the teacher's pet...just sayin'! She actually calls her "Maddie" which is a bit of a sore spot for Jeff and me but what're you gonna do?

She is leading her class in about everything they do! She totally exceeds all the benchmarks set forth for her age bracket! We are proud of her for that!

She is in the CTR 6 class at church now. They changed it this year so its the age you are on January 1st. She loves her teachers and she is a good girl in church!

She wears size 5 in most of her clothes. She wears a size 9 in shoes.

She loves Littlest Pet Shop (LPS) toys. She loves little animals. She loves doing things with Jeff. She is his little shadow. I think she will end up being the hunter more than the other two kids.

She is learning to deal with her asthma. We have figured out a good system for managing it; which is good. Hopefully, she will eventually grow out of it so she can function normally.

Well, we love you Madelyn! We are so glad you are a part of our family!

Valentine's Day!

Well, after not posting anything for a few weeks I now have a post a day for a few days! Since Bronson was born on Valentine's Day, we basically have to set aside V-day as secondary in our house. It is no problem since it probably wouldn't be all that much most of the time, but it is still a little hard to push to the back of my mind sometimes! Sadly, taking pictures was not a big part of either B's birthday or V-day this year!

For V-day I got each kid a little stuffed toy and a box of candy (actually the candy was from my mom). I don't do a whole lot b/c that wouldn't be fair for B's birthday. We all dressed in red, pink and such for church (including Jeff in the pink shirt~again).

Jeff got a card this year and some candy!

I was shocked, SHOCKED a few days before when he came to me and asked what I wanted for Valentine's day. I can't remember the last time he asked me this! Of course, I had nothing (being caught off guard like that). After a few minutes I came up with a few suggestions. I was also thinking Do I have to get him something? He said he didn't need or want anything. I took that seriously and left it at that. Everything I asked for was something that would have to wait until after V-day anyway so I wasn't counting on anything.

Sunday morning, we were sleeping in since church is at 1:00 for us. Jeff reaches into his side table and pulls out a paper and hands it to me. Its dark in our room, my eyes are still adjusting, the print is small (I notice right away it is not a card)! I saw some numbers and a symbol... After seriously five minutes of him suffering while I tried to adjust my eyes and piece together what this paper said (which was secretly fun for me as I could tell Jeff was anxious), I finally said I see 12 or 22 or 72 + inches and Veyo something... Jeff said 32 inches... I looked again and put some more together...Then I guessed the whole thing Is it 32 inch Vizio flat screen TV??? Yes it was! This will be perfect for our bedroom. I was surprised and amazed that he would do that. It was not something I asked for and it was not something we were planning on any time soon. Thanks Jeff I can't wait 'til it gets here. Oh yeah, he handed me the print off page from ordering it from Walmart.com the night before! Later I said to him that we could share this one since I got him basically nothing...he laughed and I added That also means you can share your candy!~wink~

Bronson Turns Five!

Today is Bronson's birthday. He is five. I can't believe it has been five years since I was pregnant and having our last baby! I am so glad we ended up having a boy! I was petrified to have one and it was no problem at all. I loved him instantly and he has grown on me every day since!
For the last few weeks Bronson has come into our room every morning and ask how many more days until his birthday. We have been counting down the days and this morning he came in and asked us again. We said it was today and he got so excited! He went to wake up the girls (GRRR) and tell them it was here!
He got breakfast burritos with sausage (a very important detail) for breakfast. And after church he got tuna sandwiches for dinner. This was his menu for the day. He is so funny, but I wasn't complaining. It was easy! We invited family over for a little party and had cake and ice cream. He wanted a kung fu cake which I thought was impossible but found the toys to put on top. He got some new "Land Before Time" dvds and a new dinosaur toy or two. Grandma got him some roller blades so now he can keep up with the girls!
He is so smart and really loves life. You can tell because he rarely settles down. He is always bounding into one room from another. He sings and dances and enjoys himself immensely! We are thrilled to have him. We can't wait for what's next!
Happy 5th Birthday Bronson! We love you!
I will take a pic of him soon to post with this post...unfortunately I didn't take any pics on his birthday!

What'd You Say???

When I was in high school, my dad bought a car for me to drive. At some point after that he put a really nice stereo in it; which was totally awesome! Both my sister and I loved that surprise. I don't remember before the stereo but I know after we got it I blasted my music when I was in that car. And I would look for excuses to go out and drive it so I could blast my music. I listened to mostly the rock and hard rock stations too so it was pretty head rattling!

Also in high school, I noticed that my hearing was a little off. Sometimes I couldn't hear what people were saying. Or it was muffled. Well, first off I was never going to admit that to anyone and second I was not going to stop playing my music so loudly either. So I ignored it.

When I was filling out my mission paperwork, I noted that I had some weak hearing in my left ear. This was the only time I had ever said anything about it and I never pointed it out to anyone who looked over my paperwork. I did get a mission call to go work with the Deaf which was just convenient. But I don't think my comment about my ear was the reason for the call.

Fast forward to now, I have the same problem. I wouldn't say it is worse than in high school, but I do find it very inconvenient and annoying always having to turn my head to hear or making people repeat what they said more than once (or twice or three times~seriously, just ask my family).

When I turned 35 I decided I should grow up and own up to this issue and I made an appointment with an audiologist. Last week I went to see him and be tested. I was finally coming to terms with the possibility of having to get a hearing aid. After he tested my hearing he asked me, "What makes you think you have a hearing loss?" I said, "I can't hear what people say and I have to turn my head or have people repeat themselves and is sounds muffled."

So he took my into another room and told me that my hearing was fine. I passed with both ears. But he did another test in this new room and discovered that I have a developmental something-or-other that makes processing language coming into my left ear difficult. Somewhere in the wiring of my brain where the nerves from the ear send messages to the language part of the brain I have some developmental issues! If I was five and was finding this out, I could have therapy which could help me correct the problem. But since I am 35, I get to deal with it the same way I have been for, oh about 20 years! Nice. I don't need to get fitted for a hearing aid though so it ain't all bad news!

A Redneck Love Poem

Susie Lee done fell in love,
She planned to marry Joe.
She was so happy 'bout it all,
She told her Pappy so.

Pappy told her, Susie gal,
You'll have to find another,
I'd just as soon yo' ma don't know
But Joe is yo' half brother.

So Susie put aside her Joe
And planned to marry Will.
But after telling Pappy this
He said, There's trouble still.

Yo' can't marry Will, my gal,
And please don't tell yo' mother.
But Will and Joe and several mo'
I know is yo' half brother.

But Mama knew and said, my child,
Just do what makes yo' happy.
Marry Will or marry Joe,
Yo' ain't no kin to Pappy.

HAPPY FEBRUARY!

~sigh~

Its been about 2 weeks since I last posted...I haven't much to say. Life seems to have come to a halt after the holidays. Hopefully something soon will be exciting enough to blog about! Here's hoping!~wink~

I Like Things To Match...

Well since we are on this whole home improvement kick, I thought I would post about what's new in my living room.

We have had these faux wood blinds in the kitchen and family room since shortly after we moved in. I like how they look and they require minimal care. (Yes, I do dust them about twice a year.)So I put Jeff to work this morning...after I tried on my own to get some of the screws to go in...I just don't have the strength behind the torque that he does!And now my living room window matches my kitchen and family room windows.

I think we have met our home improvement quota for the year already!

The Successful Saga Of The Water Heater!

Have you ever started something that was supposed to be simple and it turned out to be oh~so~much~more~complicated????
That would be how our life was this last week.
We were losing our hot water and fast. For two weeks we had been taking very short showers and doing our dishes in small loads. Everything else like washing hands and faces etc...was done with COLD water. I had continued doing laundry but had piled up the white load to very high and wasn't sure if we would need to use a laundry mat for it.
Monday we decided to attack the problem head on. We first had to take the water heater out of the house to drain it as we could not get the drain at the bottom to work using a hose. (Apparently sediment can build up down there and clog the drain; which is what happened.) And before we could take the water heater out of the house we had to remove a cabinet above the washer and dryer because it was hung too low to just be able to slide it under. If the water heater had been empty, we could have tilted it but we couldn't empty it with the hose because of the sediment build~up. After we got it out of the house, Jeff ended up pouring the water out from the element opening and tons of sediment came spilling out as well. This took at least an hour before we just decided to go and buy the new element. The guy told us that if one was bad the other one was probably the same or worse. We bought two elements and a big wrench thingy to screw and unscrew them!
When we got home, we checked the other element and it looked about the same as the first element, we replaced both and brought the water heater back inside and filled it up with water again. After some time, we tried the water and it was still cold. Jeff headed out to ACE again (it was almost closing time by now) to buy a new thermostat and hoped that would fix it.
Not so. Monday night I showered at my parents house because I had a chiropractic appointment on Tuesday morning.
Tuesday morning after my appointment we decided to buy a new water heater. We returned the elements and thermostat to ACE and picked up the exact same water heater (which only time will tell if that was a smart move or not) and headed home to start again.
In the mean time, I decided that since everything was already moved out of the laundry area and wouldn't be put back real soon, I should go ahead and repaint the space a new color since I was having difficulty accepting the red we had put up last year! Of course, Jeff thought I was crazy and wanted me to focus on the problem at hand, but I persisted and got to buy my paint at Home Depot.
I painted quickly and had the fans drying it while Jeff planned out the entire installation of the new water heater. When it came time to install the new one, we had some help and it went pretty well. Just one more trip to ACE to get a new tube that was long enough. We screwed everything in and hooked everything up and turned everything on and waited.
Nothing. We still had cold water coming out of the faucets.
Okay so now we were thinking it had to be an electrical problem which we know nothing about (although we also know nothing about plumbing and have managed thus far). We were getting concerned about the cost involving hiring an electrician.
I posted on Facebook about being discouraged and not knowing what the heck was going on etc...and we got some replies back from people who are knowledgeable in the area. I chatted with an old college friend who does home improvement stuff. While Jeff got on the phone with one of my old high school friends who now owns a Mr. Rooter business in Washington state. CRAZY! I still can't believe how inspired I must have been to post that complaint and receive the exact help we needed. And people say Facebook is a waste of time! Ha
Realize that this is going on a 10:00 at night and we are just hoping that any information will bring us closer to an answer tomorrow.
It was determined by Jeff and Shay on the phone that the breaker for the water heater must be busted.
Wednesday morning, Jeff woke up and went to Home Depot. He bought a voltage meter which told us that the breaker was not giving enough power to the water heater in the first place. This meant that we could have probably gotten away with replacing the breaker before anything else and that would have solved the whole problem. Jeff bought a new breaker, installed it and the water heater kicked on immediately. We decided to keep the new water heater (and not take everything out for the third time just to save a few hundred bucks that might buy us another year at best with the old one). You understand, right?
After a little while we had hot water again. Yay! For the first time in a few weeks, we could take a 10 minutes shower if we wanted.
In the mean time I learned that: its not the temperature of the water that gets things clean, its the friction; dishes can be washed in mildly warm water (I microwaved water in bowls to wash the dishes); and that kids get dirty much faster when there is less chance of a bath!
I am also THANKFUL to say the least for the help we received from Shaylin King over the phone and also from my Uncle Jon who has had a lot of experience in replacing water heaters. And from Dad who came over to help (and also Mom who let me use her shower several times). We lived in Colorado for many years without family real close by. Tuesday night as we sat eating our dinner with my parents and Uncle Jon (still not knowing what the problem might be with the new water heater not working) I kept thinking how happy I was to live near family and to be able to call on them when we need them for help. In fact, through this whole ordeal (since it started a few weeks ago) I never felt helpless; as I might have in Colorado if this had happened there.
As it turns out the Visiting Teaching Message for this month happens to be about being self reliant. I feel very good about what we were able to accomplish and that we were following a simple principle of the gospel to boot!

That Kid, He Cracks Me Up!!!!!

Okay, so in order to tell the funny part of this story, I have to give some detail on what leads up to the funny...you have been warned. I will try to be short. (stop laughing)

So Bronson and I were bored yesterday and decided to go visit Grandpa before picking up the girls from school. When we got there we knocked and waited for him to come to the door. After a few minutes we let ourselves in. I looked around and couldn't find Dad anywhere and thought we should just go home. Bronson wanted to look a little more thoroughly. So we looked in each bedroom, one bathroom (the one I was sure he wouldn't be using), in the garage, etc. Then I said we should go out and look in his office. I could see from the kitchen window to the office and didn't see any lights on. As we were heading out to the office, I noticed that the back door was locked (both the dead bolt and the door knob) I figured Dad wasn't out in the office if the door was locked as such...

I said, "Grandpa isn't out in the office. Lets go home."
Bronson said, "What? How do you know? Do you have X-rated vision?"
ba dum bum ching

Thats why we keep him around folks!

2010 Resolutions...

Previously, I have not posted my resolutions on here to keep them private, but I think this year I am going to post them in an attempt to be more accountable to them. We'll see how it goes. I am not perfect, people. But I do want to try to be better.

Everyone always starts with the PHYSICAL:
lose 13 pounds
develop better sleeping habits
continue to see the Chiropractor
no soda
find a good ENT Dr.
my brother-in-law, Chris, told me to resolve NOT to get a black eye this year! see below
And of course the SPIRITUAL:
work on a more consistent scripture study routine
be better prepared for my Sunday school lesson each week
attend the temple often
make sure I get to interpret at the temple dedication in May!
listen to church music on Sundays

On to SOCIAL:
go on some dates with Jeff!
blog!

Something in the INTELLECTUAL category:
possibly take a class at EAC after Bronson starts kindergarten
continue to participate in my book clubs

The almost always impossible FINANCIAL:
save money for a down payment on a quilting machine!!!
cancel my cel phone and put that money aside
save money for a new big screen (pay cash)

And last but not least FAMILY:
have Family Home Evening more regularly
continue more faithfully with our family scripture study
take more pictures ~ Kaitlyn's
go swimming in the summer ~ Madelyn's
go hunting ~ Bronson's

Well that's it folks! We'll see how it goes!

My New Kitchen!

A few weeks ago our kitchen faucet started leaking pretty badly. (It has actually leaked a little ever since we moved in but we were just living with it.) We decided that it was time to go ahead and get a new faucet. It took some convincing for Jeff to agree that it was smarter to replace the sink (which I also hated) and the counter tops (which I double hated!) at the same time rather than to replace the faucet now and later have to replace the sink and again later to replace the counter tops.

Our plan was to get some black Formica counter tops at the Home Depot and just basically switch them out. Well, HD doesn't cut the counter tops for us here and we couldn't freehand that large cut which had to be perfect, so we took them back and ended up with granite tile counter tops that cost less than the Formica. Nice! Well, that simple switching out of the counter tops turned into something much bigger, but the result is so much more worth it than it would have been with the Formica. I feel guilty that I arrange these projects for my husband (and brother-in-law and brothers) to do without knowing the real labor behind it. They were all very cooperative and helpful without complaints (at least to my face)!

Thank you so much (again) to Justin and Jeff who slaved away until this was perfect. Also thank you to Kenny, Danny, Dad and Jon who helped out a ton too! Our kitchen is YOUR kitchen. You are welcome any time and we hope you come over often.

One Year Later!

One year ago today Kaitlyn took her first growth hormone shot. We took her picture next to the kitchen and measured her on the wall. I think this is the best way to show the difference in her height.

You can see the results here and they are fantastic. She has grown so much and continues to grow. We hope this will continue for as long as is needed for her. We are so grateful for the opportunity we have to be able to offer this to her.

Christmas Letter 2009!

We have decided to post our Christmas letter again on the blog to reach more friends. We have sent out a few hard copies to mostly family members. We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!Dear Family and Friends, December 13, 2009

I am so happy that it is once again that time of year to sit down and reflect on our year. We have truly been blessed this year and hope that you have too!

Our year started out rocky with us not knowing if Jeff’s employment with Freeport McMoRan Inc. would continue. Due to the economy, they were reportedly laying off 50% of the workforce at the mine where he works. His longevity with them put him in a possible range to be laid off. Fortunately though, for him (and for us) they looked at employee performance and determined that Jeff was valuable enough to keep! We are definitely grateful for that acknowledgement whether it was implied or otherwise! We are grateful for the hard work he puts in for us to be able to enjoy our life. Jeff was also put in as a counselor in our Elders Quorum at church recently. And hunting was a bust for all involved this year despite the amount of scouting and effort put into it. Shucks!
Monica is still a part time teacher at EAC. She is also still a full time mom and homemaker! One thing that did change for her this year was that she was released from her Primary calling at church. She has/had worked with the Primary kids for more than eight years of the ten we have been married. It was strange at first but she is used to it now. Her new calling has her teaching the 13 & 14 year olds in Sunday school. What a change that is…she might actually miss the calm, mellow, non-hormonal Primary age!
Kaitlyn is in fourth grade now. She turned nine in April and is definitely growing up. There is just something a little older about her. She is a little sassy but not in a bad way. And she carries herself differently. I don’t know. She has been taking her growth hormone shots for almost one year now and has reportedly grown more than four inches. We are thrilled they have taken so well with her body and she is catching up on some needed growth.
Madelyn is in first grade now. She turned six in March and has enjoyed learning how to read. She does very well at it too; like her older sister. We are grateful for her enthusiasm for learning and hope it continues. At her parent/teacher conference her teacher just went on and on about how she is leading her class. Madelyn informed me this fall that she thinks she is too old for the Disney princesses now and just likes Barbie! Good to know, right?!
Bronson is still home with Monica and will go to kindergarten next fall. He turned four in February and has transitioned from a baby stage to a little boy stage. We are enjoying it a lot. His best attribute right now is one of humor and entertainment. The things he says have all of us rolling on the floor! I don’t know where he gets it, but we hope it sticks!

Well, that’s our year in a nutshell. Of course, at this time of year we are most grateful for the divine life and love of our Elder Brother and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is because of Him that we have true happiness in this life. May all of you be blessed with true happiness too!

With love,
The Hatches!

Christmastime At School!

The girls have been having some fun this past week at school. I remember when I was little I used to love the week before Christmas break because we would basically party the whole time! Well, it has been no different for our girls.

Madelyn had a musical performance on Wednesday and Thursday in which she had to dress "country." The first grade sang four songs including "If I Had A Pony For Christmas" and "Feliz Navidad." It was very cute. We had some pink boots and Jeff bought her a red cowgirl hat. I thought for sure she would have to go to school looking so mismatched until I found the perfect pink & red plaid shirt; perfect for the country theme. Yay! She looked adorable, of course! And I discovered during her performance that the girl has rhythm! Who knew?!

At the end of the performance everybody signed and sang the songs "Silent Night" and "Stars of Night" both of which were religiously themed. It was nice to be able to have that in the program as well as the Santa Claus/Rudolph stuff.

Kaitlyn was invited to a "Polar Express Night" at her classroom. This took place Thursday night from 6:00-8:00. The kids wore their pajamas and had a blast playing games after hours at the school. Her teacher said it was to reward the kids for working so hard and doing so well. And to give them incentive to continue! I love her! She is wonderful! They played basketball in the gym, then had a snowball fight (with paper snowballs), drank hot chocolate, played some card games and sang Karaoke! Fun! I am sure she will remember this for a long time!

Thanks to all the teachers who put in so much effort for our kids! We are also thankful that we are still able to celebrate Christmas Break and have Christmas activities.

So Cute!

Several week ago my kids started asking us if they could write letters to Santa. Half~hearted, I finally let them and didn't really supervise anything. Not too long after, the kids came to me with a sealed envelope. They said that they had each written their letter to Santa and had put it inside and it was ready to send. Kaitlyn had even addressed it and somehow convinced Jeff to give her a stamp. It truly was ready to go! I made them put it on the piano to wait until I could somehow figure out what they had written down etc... A couple days later they had written all new letters and sealed them up in a new envelope and Kaitlyn had put a rubber stamp in the corner this time. So I was looking it over and went to the piano to get the other one and it was nowhere to be seen.
hmmmm
I asked the kids and none of them knew where it was. At the time we were heading out to school so we went outside and Kaitlyn made a bee line for the mail box and put the other letter inside. I thought Great! Now we have one without a a real stamp in the mail and another one with a real stamp MIA! Jeff and I have no idea what was written on either of these sets of letters.

Today Kaitlyn go a letter in the mail. The return address simply stated "Santa." No way! When we picked her up from school she opened it up to find a letter from Santa addressing her letters to him! (When Kaitlyn had addressed the envelopes she only put her name in the return address area even though they all had individual letters inside.) I just have to say that that is seriously one of the cutest things that has ever happened here! I am just thrilled. Me! Not to mention the kids!

Here is what the letter said:

North Pole

Dear Kaitlyn,

Thank you for your letter. Mrs. Claus and I love to get letters from all good boys and girls.

Things are very busy here at the North Pole. My elves are working night and day to get ready for Christmas. They are taking lots of hot chocolate and cookie breaks to keep them going. Rudolph is helping the other reindeer to shine their antlers and get ready for the big night. I hope it snows...

My goodness! What are you going to do with 3 pair of ice skates? You can only wear 1 pair at a time you know. We'll see what Santa can find in his bag for you.

Remember to be good and be nice to your family and be sure and help Bronson. I mustn't forget about Maddie either.

Love,

Santa

I Seriously Need To Post!

We have been pretty busy around here doing different things. I noticed I never posted about Thanksgiving, so I should probably start there.
Thanksgiving was great! We went to Mom and Dad's, of course. They had all the other Crockett's over: my Uncle Jon and Aunt Leslie and their kids Kendra and Monty (and their kids)and Kensey and Kade. Plus Grandma Crockett and Aunt Virginia and Aunt Kim were there too. None of my brothers or sister came with their families because they are all coming for Christmas, but we live locally so we got to see all the cousins. It was great. The food rocked!Jeff said it was okay for me to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving in Mesa with my sister, Megan. This is HUGE since I actually had a deer tag that started that day. But luckily, so did my dad and Jeff was able to live vicariously through Dad the first day of the hunt! Jeff did not have a deer tag this year. Megan and I did not brave the crowds early in the morning. We waited to leave until all the sales were actually going on and still had to weave in and out of traffic on the roads and in the stores. We had fun and were very tired at the end of the day. No pictures of this though (I can't ruin any surprises we might have!)
The week after Thanksgiving Jeff took off work so he could help Dad and me with our hunts. truth be told, if it were not for Jeff both of us might have thrown in the towel on day one! Sadly though, neither of us filled our tag. We didn't even see anything. Not a thing! I won't be putting in for the hunt next year! I bet Dad won't either. Sorry Jeff! December 1st someone called and came over to look at our piano; which we have been trying to sell. It was too big for our house and we didn't use it as much as we should have. This guy was sold at first sight. He wanted to get it for his wife for their anniversary (I totally know, right). Tuesday they brought a crew of about five guys and loaded it up and hauled it away. We no longer have the piano; which is sad, but it went to a nice family (who turned out to be cousins of ours) and who will use it and I have more space in my front room again. We saved the money and will use it in the future for an upright piano; which takes up less space.Also the week after Thanksgiving was my 35th birthday! Yay! I know. Well, aside from going hunting in the morning and getting tired and sore from that, it was a great day. We went out to lunch. Jeff took me to a movie and Mom and Dad watched the kids. Then we had red velvet birthday cake after and Jeff gave me my gift: Bones season 4 on BLU-RAY! I guess that means we are getting a blu-ray player for Christmas! I can't wait for all the extra special features etc. Thanks Jeffie! Mom, also got me a new temple dress since our new temple here will not have clothing rental as an option. I am excited to use it soon. My Grandma Crockett also crocheted me a "Grand-daughter Doily" which is beautiful! I love it! Thanks Grandma!

The day after my birthday (Friday), we decided not to send the girls to school and went down to Mesa for another weekend of shopping and fun with the kids. We actually had a surprise for the girls. We took them ice skating at a place in Gilbert. They had no idea and were adorable when we told them. We stopped by Megan's house first to pick her and her daughter up to join us. It was a great girly activity. They all actually did a great job picking it up. I thought we would come home with more bruises than we did! There was an ulterior motive for this activity...the girls have been obsessing about ice skating for a couple months now. They have asked for nothing but ice skates and the movie Ice Princess for Christmas and have not stopped talking about it in the longest time since Adam. So I thought that if they experienced how hard it was and got a taste of it they would pipe down and think of something else to ask for. Total backfire!They loved it and did very well. They did agree that since our backyard is mostly concrete it might be better to get some roller blades and occasionally go to the place in Gilbert for some ice skating, but that thought was also fleeting. We will see what happens on Christmas morning!While we were in town, Megan's ward was having their Christmas party so we crashed it with them and had some good breakfast. Not too many wards have their Christmas party at 8:00am. I thought it was great! The entertainment was also awesome!We also did a little more Christmas shopping while we were there and I got to go to Toby Keith's new restaurant for my birthday! Woohoo! It was exactly what you would expect for a bar and grill and I was not disappointed. The food was good and now I can check that off of my to-do list! This week has been busy. I am trying to finish up my Christmas crafts and quilts. Plus trying to get the last of the shopping done. I am excited for Christmas coming up and look forward to some relaxation as well. Sorry about the long post but now you know where I have been! Pictures coming soon!