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!
She looked adorable, of course! And I discovered during her performance that the girl has rhythm! Who knew?!
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 (
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 35
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! 
I decided the pink was no longer right for the room and it needed a makeover. Since everything else in the room was matching pink or green I went with just plain white. This will also make it easier to move around if we ever get new dressers for the girls. 
I love how the paint bubbles up with the thinner doing its work!
All scraped off. Well, mostly! I even filled in the holes from the hardware so I could get rid of the drawer pulls that we had. They were annoying to me. I can't explain it!
A coat of Primer to make sure the underneath madness doesn't start seeping through. 
I even decided to paint the back white just for more finished look. All the white splotches you see on the sides are where I had accidentally gotten pink paint from the last time. So I covered it up as to destroy all evidence of the previous dresser!
I also made this yummy dessert for the club. I always try something new when people are coming over. It turned out really good. It is basically a giant snowball: chocolate cake with a cream cheese filling with pudding frosting and coconut topping. I am excited to make it again for another occasion. It was a big hit.
I think this will be great for him. He has been saying that he doesn't really know many people in the ward. This will be the perfect opportunity for him to meet and get to know as many as possible. He will be away from home more often when they have visits to make but I think we will be blessed for it as well. "Yay Jeff" for being worthy and willing to serve! We love you and know you will be awesome!
17 years ago
