Thatcher turned 4 this month!! I can't believe he is that old. We had a fun party for him in Gramme's backyard and had a spongebob theme. Mat is a genius, he made a spongebob cake and decorated it himself! He is a great cook and seriously so creative. He wanted to go to culinary school at one time... I think he would have been an amazing chef!


Here is the cake along with some Patrick cupcakes

Thanks to everyone for making his birthday so fun!

So I have a really good friend who just happens to be the most amazing photographer! She has been doing our family pictures for a few years, and just took some of Luke for his birthday. She always does such a great job, we are so lucky to benefit from her talent!!

Here is her website if you want to check out some of her other marvelous work:

http://www.picsbysteph.com/

Thanks Steph!

Thatcher James

I wanted to blog a little about Thatcher because he is turning 4 next week! This kid is one of a kind. He is hilarious, so cute, so smart... I was looking at the videos Mat took of him on his last day of preschool and realized how glad I was that he actually made it to the last day. If I was a good blogger, I would have already written about some of his preschool shenanigans, but alas I am not.

Basically for the last two or three months of school, every time I would pick him up his teacher would have that look on her face and start the conversation with... Thatcher made some not so good choices today. I would of course look shocked, because Thatcher is perfect every minute of every day at home... I had to give the obligatory, Oh no, what happened today? And then she would proceed to rattle off a list a mile long of things like.... well, he hit someone, he stepped on someones toes, he pulled a chair out from someone, he said he didn't like one of the girls, he smashed another kids fingers in the door, he bit someone ... and on and on. What?? Who's child is this??

His teacher is actually really cute and for some reason really loved Thatcher and kept saying how he had a special place in her heart, and it just made her so sad when he does stuff like this. She even welled up with tears a couple of times, and if this had to do with her thinking we beat him at home or that he was a lost cause I have no idea. We talked to Thatcher until we were blue in the face about what kinds of things are allowed at school but nothing seemed to get through to him. We told him that they were not going to let him come back to school if it kept happening, and eventually I think it sunk in because one day his teacher threatened to call me and have me come and pick him up. He said that he was sorry for whatever he was doing at the moment, and was good from then on.

I don't know what got into him at school those last few months, but truly this is not the cute child we have raised to be so loving and kind. All I have to say is that maybe boys will be boys and they just go through phases, not that he didn't get in trouble for these things, but he seems to have grown out of this phase and is once again fun and cute and nice.

One night after my surgery a couple weeks ago, Mat was gone and I was laying on my bed in pain and Thatcher came up and gave me a kiss on my forhead and said, "don't worry mom, I'll take care of you while Daddy's gone". Wow, I love this kid! He has such a big heart and is a great big brother and takes care of everyone. He is too smart for his own good sometimes, but he makes us laugh constantly. We are so happy that he is a part of our family!

Wow, it's been almost a month since our last post, we are just bad bloggers! I do have an excuse though, I had a minor surgery that turned out to be a major pain in the butt and I had to lay in bed for about two weeks! It's funny you think the world stops when you stop being a part of it. I am glad to be a part of society once again. It felt so weird actually going outside yesterday... I forgot how amazing the sun feels!

Anyway, here are some updates

Thatcher had his last day of preschool and had a little sing a long with his class that I wasn't able to go to, but I hear was just amazing... as far as preschool programs go! I was sad that I couldn't make it, but Mat video taped it so I didn't have to miss a thing.

Here is Thatcher with his cute teacher Miss Michelle.

Luke turned the big number one last week! I can't believe he has gotten so big, it really feels like yesterday that he was a brand new baby.

He has such an awesome personality, he is so smiley and cuddley and fun.

He was a little sick during his party, so he wasn't too interested in eating his yummy cake, but he was able to get in a few mouthfuls. He got some really cute toys that he absolutely loves and Thatch loved being the one to help him open them all.

May is the month for Birthdays!!

May 25

Today is my Grandpa Hutchings birthday and I wanted to give him a little birthday tribute. He would be 77 today! He died almost 4 years ago in a car accident driving from St. George to Salt Lake to visit the family and we all miss him so much.


He was such an amazing person. He was completely selfless and his family always came first. He lived to make his family happy and he was such a huge part of all of our lives.



I think this is my favorite picture of me and my grandpa. I remember him always taking us for rides in the car and buying us ice cream. He was always singing and a couple of the songs I remember him singing were 'Who is That Doggy in the Window' and 'Take Me Out to The Ballgame'.

He was there for graduations, weddings, sporting events, good times, bad times, almost every memory I have growing up involves my grandpa.

I love you Grandpa and miss your cute smile and warm hugs.





MAY 24
Happy Birthday to my big sister Jen! I found this just today while looking through some other pictures and thought it was so funny! I have no idea when it was taken, but I remember making those scary faces... actually, don't you still make those all the time?

Ten things I love about Jen:

She is the most generous person I know
She is very selfless

She knows how to make me laugh until I cry

She knows everything anyone could possibly want to know about Jewelry
She is an expert with make up as well
She is always there when you need her
She makes the best chocolate chip cookies
She tries to make everyone happy
She loves my kids and is a great aunt

She is an amazing big sister

MAY 31

Happy Birthday to my step-dad Pat. He doesn't get a lot of recognition, and doesn't like to be in pictures, so I had a hard time finding one of him. He is also very generous and would do anything for anyone. He has done so much for us and is so cute with the grandkids. He always wants the whole family to be together and is so great at making that happen. We love you and appreciate you very much!

And finally I want to give a big happy birthday to four of my best buddies, all of whom I have known since Jr. High... going on 17 years!! These girls all have birthdays in May, within 9 nine days of each other, so it makes them easy to remember :)






This fun picture was taken in 9th grade at Lagoon.

May 23

Katie who could forget those awesome prom dresses! We always had so much fun together and no matter how much time has gone by we can pick up right where we left off! We will accomplish our goal of running a marathon together, if it takes us until we are 50!

May 31

Kris we have had some awesome times! We could always be silly together and I'm so glad we live so close and can still hang out all the time.

May 28

Rachel has always been the crazy one! She is hilarious and now lives in Colorado so far away! But don't forget we are planning to celebrate the big 3-0 with everyone when you come to visit in June!

May 22
Sadie I love that we still see each other often and can reminisce about the good old days. You are still as spunky as ever!

This last one is from my wedding shower with the girls

I love you guys and hope you all have a great 30th Birthday! We are now officially old but still have the best years ahead!

Luke is sick today and threw up all over me and the bench at church and has thrown up numerous times since... poor little guy! It's funny though, that when kids are sick they are extra cuddley... I guess that is the reward you get for having to clean up vomit all day, at least you get some cuddle time!



I was just thinking how crazy it is to be a mom and the hard times you have to go through with sickness and tantrums and countless other things, but how I wouldn't trade those things for anything! I love being a mom and am so happy I have two cute boys.



I was looking through some pictures today and found a funny video of Thatcher. This was taken in April of 2006, about two months before he turned two. This kid was always a riot and had so many amazing little quirks. This is also for my mom... we had to teach him to hold up his hands and say "no cookies and no candy" because she loved to give him sugar when she babysat, so we were trying to teach him to decline her offers of sweets... I forgot about that, so funny! Mom, I think this still pertains!!


















Mat gave me one of these for Mother's Day and I totally love it!!

I'm excited to finally have an ipod of my own to load up with my favorite songs... which are vastly different from those of my husband, so sharing one was just not working out!

I wanted to add a picture of Luke just because he is so cute!

We are back from our vacation to Mexico... and am happy to say that all the worrying and nightmares were for nothing, it was paradise! And we returned to find the kids alive and well nourished... I think we will just have to do this more often!

Before we left I had had countless nightmares about getting to the hotel and it being a roach infested shack, or it not existing at all or having bed bugs and being totally disgusting. But lucky for us it was beautiful AND clean!

We went diving in Cozumel one day and saw amazing things.... huge nurse sharks, sea turtles, two lobsters the size of me, parrot fish, barracudas, a sting ray... It was so AWESOME!

We went horse back riding another day and got to ride the horses into the ocean bare back.That was a really cool experience. Other than that we just laid on the beach or by the pool and relaxed.

We went with our good friends Kristina and Jaron and had a blast with them. Jaron and Mat seem to have the same sense of humor and were amused at how funny they could be. I was thoroughly entertained by them both and had stomach aches from laughing so hard.

I would definitely do an all-inclusive hotel again. It was nice to be in a little tropical city of its own and feel like I never had to leave if I didn't want to. They had food, entertainment, relaxation, and fun all at our fingertips. What more could we possibly want in a vacation?

Most of all it was fun to have Mat all to myself for an entire week!!