This Is Just To Say

What should we name our baby BOY?

2011-09-19T23:00:00.001-04:00

(A profile picture of the little guy. Looks like maybe he is growing a goatee.)

We finally (now that I am 29 weeks along) had our ultrasound recently and found out we are expecting another BOY! We are really super excited. Graham kept telling us all along that it was a boy, and we agreed with him. He is quite an intuitive child. We have yet to agree with him on names for this new little boy, however. From the beginning, Graham has said that he wants to name the baby Pirate. Now Pirate Hatch does have a nice ring to it, but would a child really forgive us for doing that to him?

Here are Graham's other name suggestions:

-Michael Jordan (his current favorite)

-John Stockton (probably Alex's favorite)

-Buckeyes (which he thought was really hilarious)

-Pig (which was Emma's favorite. Lately she says we should name him Hatch.)

At least Graham has been contributing his share of suggestions.

Autumn

2011-09-18T22:41:00.010-04:00

We are really enjoying the onset of fall in Columbus. Here are a few pictures/videos to give a taste.

These pictures were taken at a little park close to the Scioto river, about 10 minutes from home. We live between two fairly decent sized rivers. The Scioto is larger and more scenic. If you look closely in the first, we caught a little friend (only in the camera, none of us were really in the mood to catch the slimy guy with our hands).

We've been having a lot of fun going to the "softball game," aka, the park next to the library which also has softball fields.

There are a few farms in the area that allow the public to come in late summer and early fall to pick fruit from their orchards. We went this weekend and picked a lot of apples and picked up some other produce at the same time. The best part was they encourage taste testing while you pick.

We also tried to grow some tomatoes and peppers in the little patio behind our townhome. Graham and Emma love to play out there, and we love that they can't open the back gate.

And of course, you can't talk about Columbus in the fall without also addressing football at OSU. I won free tickets to a game so Graham and I went to get a firsthand experience. Here are 105,000 people converging upon the OSU house of worship. The football was okay, but we went mostly to watch the marching band. Just kidding, but really they were pretty impressive (the band, not the football, they deserved to lose but won anyway; I might get expelled or tarred and feathered for saying that). Graham's favorite part was the stadium hot dogs (he had two).

Welcome to the Buckeye State

2011-08-21T22:21:00.011-04:00

We're moving to Ohio?

We woke our kids early in the morning and began our four day trip to our new home. The first day of our drive took us through Wyoming and into Nebraska. We had a minor car scare in The Absolute Middle of Nowhere, Wyoming (not kidding, the next town/city was at least 30 miles away). For a minute, we thought we weren't going to make it. As we pulled off the freeway to inspect our stalling, over-packed car, Alex and I immediately thought of this talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. After a little prayer, a phone call to Alex's brother, and a lot of faith, we set on the road again. We felt confident that we would make it okay, and that we would not have any more car trouble.

We spent our first night in North Platte, Nebraska. It was exciting to be able to see other parts of the country. It seemed that each state had its own unique feel and look. You just know when you cross into Wyoming. It just looks different-- drier, dustier. And when you leave it, Nebraska rolls out its soft, pale grass in front of you. Most of the view was cornfields. And soybeans. But mostly corn, a lot of it. Sometimes for as far as you could see. I loved seeing those crops. There is something inspiring to me to think of someone working on that land. To see that there are people who take a plot of dirt and, through hard work and diligence and attention, turn it into something else. The rows seem perfect and straight and the stalks are the same height and the fields are so green and full, I want to run my fingers through them. I don't know if I'll ever love any landscape as much as I love the mountains, but we drove through some really pretty country. (I feel really Midwestern saying that..."some real purdy country.")

(Emma entertaining herself in the car.)

On our second day, we stopped in Winter Quarters, Nebraska at the temple site and the Mormon Trail Center at Historic Winter Quarters. We ate lunch in a picnic area there and I can see how so many of the pioneers got sick. There were so many bugs! We were driving through a record heat wave, I guess, so everywhere we stopped was at least 100 degrees. It was really hot. And sweaty. That night we stayed with some wonderful friends in Iowa City (thank you Jess and Joe!). Our kids had a great time being able to run around and jump and throw pillows and eat a real meal. It was awesome.

Our kids did remarkably well on the drive. Graham did watch Tangled about eight times, which was indeed helpful. We were able to stop in Nauvoo for an evening. It was beautiful. I didn't realize how close to the Mississippi River it was. We attended the Nauvoo pageant, which was a really great experience. Even though it was about 10 PM when we finished, our kids loved it! They were really intent. Emma was even dancing and singing along. This little girl loves to dance.

(Graham blowing dandelion seeds in Nauvoo.)

We were pleasantly surprised to find that Ohio was the prettiest part of the drive. There are so many trees here! It is very green. Also much more humid than out West. Our first couple weeks here were so hot. The heat is different here. You don't feel your skin frying when you walk outside, like it can in Utah heat, but the humidity can sometimes suck the life out of you. Fall is approaching and we are told that it is beautiful here, which must be true because of all the trees.

So far, we are really enjoying Ohio. We have great neighbors and ward members. We've made some good friends already and are really grateful for the support of the Church. It's nice to know that wherever we go, the gospel and the organization of the Church will be there. Our kids seem to be adjusting well. The first couple weeks were a little tough. There were certainly more tantrums and outbursts than usual, but I think they feel pretty comfortable here. They love that we have a basement and a back patio. We get to water our plants out there everyday, which they find very exciting. We live between two rivers, just a couple minutes from each, so we get to drive over bridges. Graham loves that. Our church shares a parking lot with the Columbus, Ohio temple, so we even get to see the temple once a week. Our kids love seeing the temple. Whenever we say that we are going to church Emma yells, "Temple!" and claps her hands. We lived so close to the Logan temple (our most frequent walk destination), I knew that would be one thing I would really miss. So I am grateful to have a temple close here too. A twenty minute drive is certainly manageable.

(Our first dinner at our new home. The makeshift tables didn't last too long.)

We have been in Ohio now for a month. It's kind of hard to believe that it has been that long, but it is starting to feel like home. Though I think I will always have part of my heart in Cache Valley, I really enjoy it here. We are really excited for these next few years of our life.

Well, there is certainly much more to say, but now you all know that we are at least alive and well.

Some Pictures

2011-06-05T17:24:00.020-04:00

Graham's birthday cake, from October:

Emma's from January (Graham got to it before anyone else):

Alex and I had a lot of fun making these cakes, our first fancy cake making adventures (though they're not that fancy).

Halloween:

Graham was a dinosaur (I made his costume), and Emma was a ladybug ( I did not make her costume, but she still looks pretty cute).

Graham and Ryder (my nephew) both love football!

And Nick (my brother), here they are tackling him:

Aren't they sweet?

Emma wakes up with some pretty wild hair some days. Maybe she dreams about hair bands. This is not the wildest it's been, but you get the idea:

These are Graham's favorite faces to make. His "cheese" face:

And his "scary" face:

Handsome grad:

Graduation support from some of the Hatch family. This is one of the last pictures we took right before Graham fell on the stairs and cracked his chin open. We spent the next little while in the ER getting some stitches:

Graham loves these sunglasses. I can rarely get him to leave the house without them. And yes, Graham likes to put his shoes on the wrong feet:

On a recent visit to my parents' house, we forgot the kids' bag. For pajamas they wore these t-shirt. They looked so cute, I wondered why we'd never dressed them that way before. Graham found an old calculator and spent the rest of the night "calculating."

Emma on her birthday with a new toy:

I love this smile:

Emma has a bit of a sweet tooth:

Yum, ice cream!

Well, I suppose this has become a long enough post. Until next time, here's to looking out the window in pajamas that make your legs look super short and cute:

Things We Could Have Been Posting About in the Last Six Months . . .

2011-05-27T16:30:00.003-04:00

(in no particular order)

-Alex graduated from Utah State University in Biological Engineering earlier this month. Thank you to our family who came to celebrate with us.

-We are moving to Columbus, Ohio in July for Alex to attend medical school at The Ohio State University. We are really excited for this new stage of our lives.

-Alex received a Health Professions Scholarship through the Air Force, which will pay for all medical school expenses and will even provide us a monthly stipend. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in January and will soon attend a five week Commissioned Officer Training in Alabama.

-Emma has been walking for six months or so. She is also the cutest little dancer there ever was. Her hair is getting quite long, and if I could get her to hold still long enough we could probably do something besides pigtails. But those little pigtails sure are adorable.

-Graham has been sleeping in a toddler bed for a few months, and he almost (sometimes) stays in his bed and goes to sleep right away. Though I can hear him in there laughing with Emma right now-- they are supposed to be taking a nap.

-Graham got his first concussion and his first stitches a few weeks ago (same week, different accidents). He was such a brave boy and handled them really well. He likes to talk about when "I went to the doctor and got my chin fixed."

-A couple weeks ago I made a list of all the words that Emma can say. There were 60 plus words! And since then I have heard at least ten more. This girl amazes me.

-Graham loves to read and I often see him sit down with a book and rehearse it aloud. He has such cute inflection and he is so animated. (And now I can hear him reading to Emma and she is squealing. I should probably get him back in his bed.)

-I recently stopped working as a Breastfeeding Counselor for our local WIC office. I really enjoyed working there, but I am glad to be done.

-Graham is just over two and a half and Emma is about sixteen months. They are such sweet little friends. I love to hear them talk to each other and see them play together.

-Emma loves to ask, "What's that?" Sometimes "that" kind of sounds like "Dad." Often when we are driving in the car, Emma will point out the window and say, "What's that?" and Graham will say, "No, I'm not Daddy, I'm Graham Hatch." They crack me up.

-We are expecting our third baby. We are so thrilled! I am just about 13 weeks along and our due date is the first week of December. Graham and I think it's a boy, Alex hasn't decided, and Emma has yet to tell us what she thinks. She just says, "Baby," and runs to find her own little baby doll. I can't wait for the craziness this one will add. There is nothing better than having a family.

Well, I am sure that there has been more than that going on, but there's a quick update on us. It really wasn't that hard, maybe I'll do it again soon. And since a post isn't really a post without some pictures, I'll get on that too. Hopefully sometime within the next six months.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T17:55:00.006-05:00

Love, Our Family

Family Hair-loom

2010-04-20T16:08:00.008-04:00

For the last eight or nine months, I've been trying to grow out my hair (since I have been compulsively cutting it since high school). Alex said to me the other day, "I think this is the longest your hair has been since we've met."

"Yeah, probably," I said. "Well, except for my tail . . ." When I first met Alex, I had this:

Not the best photo quality ever, but I think you get the idea. This little beauty swept down past my shoulders. I cut it off a few weeks before we were married and never looked back, and being the wonderful man that he is, Alex never said a thing about it until we'd been married well over a year: "I'm glad you decided to cut it."

I was (and occasionally still am), of course, ruthlessly teased about it by my brother-in-law, Mike. The first thing he said when Graham was born was, "Does he have a rat tail?"

No Mike, Graham has never sported the tail. The bald ring, the fuzz ball, but never the tail. But Emma on the other hand, was born with this:

Though hers is probably cuter than mine ever was. Or my dad's. Yeah, my dad had the true rat tail in the 80s. (Don't tell him I told.) The little braid and everything! (Sorry no picture of that one, but trust me, it was pretty sweet.) I guess it just runs in the family. Emma should feel proud.

Now I am a mom and my hair spends most of its time in a ponytail. And after many years and dozens of hairstyles, I've finally figured out that you don't have to look like you stand out to really stand out. Hopefully it won't take Emma that long to figure that one out.

P.S. My dad now has very respectable hair.

Emma Girl and Graham the Man

2010-04-07T01:32:00.007-04:00

We love having Emma in our family. She is so sweet and pleasant. Her sweet (and frequent) smile lights up her whole face. Though we've yet to really catch it on camera.
Graham loves sports. Everytime he sees a ball, a hoop, a field, or even someone just in uniform, he excitedly yells out, "Ball!" We got him this little football from D.I. and he loves it. He's never really been attached to anything, but when we first got this ball, he carried it everywhere. He wanted to eat dinner with it and had a hard time putting it down for bed. He's got his game face on: We are excited for Spring so we can play outside. We recently got dumped with snow: but did spend some time outside when it was warm for a little while. We made Graham wear this backpack because it looked so cute:

Graham Keepin' It Real

2010-03-02T11:40:00.004-05:00

Last night at dinner Graham ate a boatload of peaches and then refused to eat anything else. So Alex and I tried to hold a serious, somewhat stern conversation with him about why you can't eat only peaches, Alex incorporating a mini biochemistry lesson. In the middle of this very serious conversation, Graham looks back and forth at both of us, notices both of us unknowingly folding our arms, and then folds his own as if he is ready for prayer. His face was so sweet and so sincere we both started laughing. Alex said, "Okay Graham, should we say a prayer?" I couldn't help it, I laughed through the whole prayer.

The days are just packed . . .

2010-02-26T14:50:00.013-05:00

. . . with stories,

snacks,
play,

naps,

laundry,

hugs,

diapers,

tickles,

pouts,

little messes,

and little miracles.

I love being a mom.

In other news, my diploma finally came so I am now an official college graduate.

Laura Hatch
Bachelor of Science
Major in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing
Minor in American Studies with emphases in Literature and History

Hooray!

Hi Baby!

2010-02-06T23:25:00.006-05:00

Graham said his first sentence today. He was in the room with Emma and unprompted he said, Hi Baby. He said it once more when we asked him to say it again. Graham seems to like having a younger sister, most of the time. He usually just goes about doing his own thing, but now and then he'll run and pat her on the head, or touch her face, or poke her eye and say eyes. There have been a few times that he tries to pick up Emma out of her bouncer. We're not sure if he wants to pick her up, or if he wants to climb in and she's in the way. He likes to give her a kiss before he goes to bed. He's starting to learn that he doesn't have to kiss on the lips. Maybe someday he'll learn that he doesn't have to kiss with his mouth gaping open.

Thanks to Isaac Stephens who took these pictures. Isaac and Emily and Eli have been in our ward since we've moved in and they've been good friends. We'll miss them as they are moving to Mississippi this week.

Our Baby Girl

2010-01-20T00:31:00.001-05:00

Laura gave birth to a healthy baby girl at 2:00 am January 18, 2010. She weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces and is 19.5 inches long. Her name is Emma Rose Hatch. We'll give you a more detailed account of her birth, which is quite the story if you haven't heard it yet, but it will explain why Dad here is wearing the scrubs.

One Reason I Love My Wife

2010-01-19T23:28:00.005-05:00

This post is a little bit long, but when you have a few minutes, it's a pretty good story.
5:40 pm Sunday night-Laura has her first contraction. Contractions continue somewhat sporadically between 20 and 30 minutes apart. Laura is handling her contractions very well.
8:30 pm-Laura's contractions go between 10 and 15 minutes apart. The intensity of contractions picks up some.
9:14 pm-We call Laura's parents to see if they can come and watch Graham so we can go to the hospital.
9:44 pm-After a couple of contractions that seemed relatively weak, and remembering that we had three nights of contractions like this before Graham was born, we call Laura's parents again to let them know that it would probably be okay if they came the next morning.
11:59 pm- Laura's contractions continue between 10 and 15 minutes apart. Laura lays down to try and relax.
12:34 am-Laura's contractions get to about 10 minutes apart. We call Laura's parents to see if they can come now.
1:20 am-Laura's contractions drop down to about 5 minutes apart. We get ready to call Laura's parents to see how close they are.
1:40 am-Laura's "water breaks." We try and clean her up between contractions.
1:45 am-Call Laura's parents. They are far away still.
1:48 am-I knock on our neighbors door, Tyson and Jenny, to hang out in our apartment with Graham--he was asleep--until Laura's parents get there.
1:54 am-We get in the car to drive to the hospital.
1:55 am-About two blocks from home Laura has a contraction and says, 'Alex, I am feeling the urge to push. I think she's coming.'
1:56 am-A few blocks later, another contraction, a scream 'Alex, I don't think I can hold her in.'
1:57 am-Pulling into the hospital, another contraction, 'Alex, this really hurts, I don't think I can wait any longer.'
1:57 am-Still pulling into the hospital. Alex 'Let's say a prayer.'
1:57 am-Still pulling into the hospital. Laura 'Heavenly Father, please help her stay in five more minutes, please help her stay, ohhhh.'
1:58 am-Park the car in front of the door. Alex runs to the door to grab a wheelchair and comes back.
1:58 am-Alex opens Laura's car door. 'Alex, can you see her coming?'
1:58 am-Alex sees her head crowning. He tries to decide how he can get Laura into the wheelchair without squeezing Emma out.
1:59 am-Alex watches as her head comes out. With no one else around, Alex decides to finish the delivery. With a twist of her head and a small tug, she comes out and is caught safely. She starts crying and she is given to Laura. She wraps her in her coat.
2:00 am-Alex calls 911, tells 911 that we were in the parking lot in front of the birthing center and had just had a baby. She asks if we have anything to clamp off the umbilical cord. Alex starts to take off his shoelaces as hospital staff comes through the door.
2:05 am-Laura was placed in a wheelchair with baby still attached and brought up to a room. After a few somewhat tense minutes the umbilical cord was cut and Emma placed under a warmer. Laura delivers the placenta at some point and Mom and baby are determined to be healthy and okay.

Laura made labor look so easy, and it progressed so quickly at the very end, that it contributed somewhat to our less than ideal delivery. As she was born she stayed remarkably calm. The staff was very impressed that she was so relaxed. She had prepared a lot to have a baby without an epidural and she handled the situation so well. I was so glad that she was healthy and that Emma was in a good position for delivery. As we prayed in the months and weeks prior to her birth, I feel that, although the situation was different than anyone would really hope for, God blessed us tremendously to be able to act reasonably under pressure, and for Laura's body to respond so well to delivery, and that Emma breathed well and her umbilical cord was okay. I feel that we were watched overy by God and angels.

My wonderful wife.

Dr. Hatch-My clothes got some womb juice on them. After putting on scrubs a nurse said, well done Dr. Hatch. I said that I was pre-med and a little later a nurse said, I am so impressed that the two of you are so put together right now. You have a promising future ahead of you.

6:00 pm Tuesday-Alex starts cleaning off the birth chair in the car.
7:30 pm-After a lot of Oxi-Clean, Shout, Laundry Detergent and scrubbing and vacuuming, the car looks okay.

Yarr!

2009-11-09T18:30:00.002-05:00

Graham Beard

Happy Halloween!

Graham's New Sibling Is...

2009-09-22T21:09:00.002-04:00

Watch this short video and Graham will help you to know whether he'll have a brother or a sister. Sorry for those of you that have had to wait for our update to find out.

Grungy Pot Lids, Baby Kisses, and Graduation Belly

2009-08-20T18:21:00.016-04:00

Well, I think by this point we have established ourselves as lame bloggers. Nevertheless, here we are with another exciting update for the Hatch family.

It's been a mellow summer. Alex did well in his classes this summer and has been working hard away at the water lab. Last week he started job shadowing an Orthopaedic Surgeon in the valley. Graham and I have been able to spend a lot of time together this summer. He is developing into quite an independent little guy. He walks everywhere now, crawling is so two months ago, and he doesn't want to be held much anymore. He'll hardly let me feed him anymore; he wants to hold the spoon and consequently, much of it doesn't make it to his mouth. Here is a picture of his first taste of black beans. Yum.

It's been fun to watch him learn and grow. I feel like he has changed more in the last couple weeks than he has his whole life. His favorite toys lately have been the lids to our pots. He tries to fit them on top of everything, and he'll carry one around for an hour or so.

One of my favorite skills that Graham has acquired in the last couple months is his ability to give kisses.

He's such a sweet boy. This next picture is mostly for my sister Sarah; I seem to remember similar pictures from our childhood (though we were much older than Graham is now).

In other news, we start school again tomorrow. Alex and I will both be taking fifteen credits, so it will be a busy enough semester. But it will be worth the work. I will be able to graduate this semester and I can hardly believe that my college career will be ending in just a few short months. But it is just in time. My only qualm about graduating in December is that I will be eight months pregnant at the ceremony. That's right, baby number two is on the way, coming January 2010. We have our five months ultrasound tomorrow, so if it goes as planned we'll find out if we're going to have two rambunctious little boys, or if we need to stock up on the pink. We are quite excited either way.

Summertime and the living's easy . . .

2009-05-15T16:58:00.003-04:00

Today is my last day of class until August. I have been taking classes not stop since I met Alex. And now, I get a little bit of a break. Yay. I took a couple of writing classes the last two weeks that were just wonderful, really helped me to expand my writing. On the down side, they were all day, every day. I feel like I've hardly been able to see my family. Thanks to Colleen for taking such good care of us these last two weeks, though.
Graham is getting so big. He is crawling and standing, and he thinks that he can walk too. He'll get up to the couch or the chair, stand there, then turn to make a run for it. Sometimes he falls; sometimes he catches onto one of us. That boy is active. We can hardly keep him still long enough to change his diaper.
Alex is working at the Water Lab again this summer, doing some research. He will also be taking class starting in June. He's done a great job taking care of our garden, which looks fab.
So, just a quick update to let you know we're still kickin'. I've included a picture of the dude. Look at that face!

April Fools'

2009-04-01T13:47:00.004-04:00

This is how Alex woke me up this morning,

Alex (incredibly serious face): "Laura, a car just slid down the hill and hit into our car."

Laura (nearly jumping out of bed): "Are you serious?"

Alex (jovially): "April Fools'!"

Needless to say, April Fools' is less than my favorite day of the year. I unknowingly played an April Fool's joke on Graham, though. This is what he wore to bed last night (plus some more pictures; it's for fun); he's grown out of nearly everything else. Merry Christmas!

Also, I thought I'd share a recipe. We had this for dinner last night. It was an experiment that turned out to be delicious. Enjoy.

Green Chile Soup

Rice (3/4 c dry rice + 1 1/2 c water)
1 large chicken breast, shredded
1 can chicken broth
1 can green enchilada sauce
1 can diced green chiles (3-4 oz.)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 clove garlic, minced
garlic salt
crushed red pepper flakes

Cook rice.
Cook chicken in microwave, shred.
Mix everything else in big pot. Cook.
Add shredded chicken. Simmer.
Add rice. Stir.
When it starts to smell yummy, it's probably ready.
Good with cornbread, tortillas, or plain.

Spring Break

2009-03-12T16:00:00.010-04:00

We're on a much anticipated Spring Break this week. Since we have internet access, we decided to update our blog. The semester is about half way over and things are going well for us. Graham turned five months old this week, and we celebrated by giving him rice cereal for the first time. He did great! I think he really likes it. Although, we were probably more excited about it than he. Graham is rolling over, front to back and back to front, and he can sit up on his own for a little bit. He's getting quite mobile and I can tell our little man is maturing by the second. This morning we found a third tooth coming in. We love our Graham. Here are some pictures of the babe and also our first day of Spring Break in Logan (yes, that is snow. As it turns out, there was nearly two feet of snow in the valley by the end of the night. We love Logan!) You can see the teeth in this one. Here's a video of Graham and his first taste of cereal. There is no sound and the video quality isn't the best, but it's fun.

Teeth!

2009-02-10T16:49:00.002-05:00

Well, my little boy sure is growing up fast. Saturday we discovered two teeth, bottom front and center. We'll try and get some toothy grin pictures posted soon. We took him to his four month check up today and the doctor said he sees a few more coming in too. My goodness! He's been rolling over for a few weeks now too. Before I know it, he's going to be chasing me around the house.

Catching

2009-01-19T13:45:00.005-05:00

To begin with, let us justify our poor blogging performance. We don't have the internet; we've been "working on getting the internet" for the last six months or so. We'll try to catch you up to speed.

Graham is now three months old and getting cuter by the minute. He's really strong and seems to be a very bright child. In our doctor's words it was: "He seems to be highly intelligent." He loves to play and smile, stand up, drool, and look around at everything. I think he's on the verge of laughing. We blessed him the first Sunday this month and he did great. Just stared up at Alex the whole time. He's a pretty mellow kid. We love having him in our home.

We just started another semester and it's going pretty well so far. Alex is taking Thermodynamics, Statistics, Electrical Engineering, Dynamics, and Numerical Methods. Yee-ha! This semester I have American Literary History (Civil War to the present), Shakespeare, Poetry Writing, and a class on the Civil Rights Movement, pretty interesting stuff. We are currently playing ward basketball and doing a lot of baking. "It's for fun."

Last month was a pretty exciting one. Alex and I both turned 23, we had our one year wedding anniversary, and we both got all A's (one A- for me). We had a great Christmas; it was nice to be able to see all of our family (even Sarah and Mike on the webcam). And this New Year's Eve we were actually able to celebrate the change to the New Year, whereas last year was spent with a bout of food poisoning for Alex.

Not much else going for us, most of our time is spent doing homework, dishes, wiping up drool. But we're happy and having fun. We've included some pictures of our babe. Isn't he sweet?

Six and a half weeks

2008-11-27T02:09:00.005-05:00

Graham is six and a half weeks, 7 weeks on Friday. It's so fun to see him growing, his personality developing, and him staying healthy. We haven't been so good at keeping everyone updated on our blog, so we have a slideshow of some of the pictures that we have from the hospital to yesterday. They are chronological, or should be anyway. He's starting to get some cheeks and leg chub. We also included the first smile that we caught on camera, which is fantastic.

We're making it through the semester. We have one more week of class and then finals, and we've been fortunate to stay healthy and do well in our classes up to this point. Hopefully we're able to finish our final projects and do well on our tests.

Anyway, enjoy the slideshow. Also, we really appreciate the support that we've received from our parents, siblings, and extended family. The gifts that we received and some help baby sitting really helped.

Baby-Graham!

2008-10-11T19:05:00.003-04:00

Graham Verlin Hatch was born on October 10, 2008 at 9:35 am. He weighed 7 pounds 4.8 ounces. We have a picture of him on the scale to prove it. He was 20 inches long, and as you can see in the pictures, has lots of dark hair. He's doing really well. He's been really sleepy as have the parents. He has this wonderful ability to fall asleep anytime anywhere, especially while he's eating. His head is back to its normal size and shape now and he is so handsome. Maybe this happens to everyone when they have kids, but all of the nurses have given him compliments and have told other nurses to come have a look at him because he's so cute.

Laura is doing really well. Labor in the hospital was relatively short and the epidural helped a lot. She is very tired, after a few days of contractions through the night before birth, and a couple of nights of interrupted sleep here in the hospital. She's learning how to nurse well, and recovering very nicely. I am very impressed with her. She's been very strong and patient and selfless. I think giving birth is the most Christlike thing anyone could ever do.

We are all very happy, a little bit tired, and excited to come home from the hospital this morning. We appreciate the congratulations and support that we have received. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

P.S. Graham also brought snow with him. Since he was born it has snowed each morning, and we are fortunate enough to have a nice view of the mountains, that have remained mostly covered by clouds, but then peak out every now and then and show their new white attire.

Who's the Rocket Scientist Now...

2008-09-26T00:17:00.004-04:00

I just figured out that if you click on the picture it will take you to a larger version of it. So, everyone should be able to see his handsome face now. (Reference the previous post if you have no idea what I am talking about.)

Homework Break

2008-09-26T00:03:00.005-04:00

Alex and I are at the USU library doing some homework, whoopee. Well, we just wanted to let everyone know that our brother-in-law, Mike, is famous. USU Homepage baby! Way to go Mike. (If you can't find him, just look for the only guy who forgot to wear his blue shirt that day.) We love you!

P.S. Sorry this picture is incredibly small; I couldn't figure out how to make it bigger. Mike could probably figure it out; he's a rocket scientist.
P.P.S. Nine days until we are supposed to have our baby!

Sweet Sixteen

2008-08-28T16:28:00.005-04:00

A shout out to my brother Stew on his 16th birthday! This picture is a couple of years old but I carry it around in my wallet because it makes me laugh. Here's to you Stew-Pac.

Stew, Laura

A Few Weeks Gone By

2008-08-19T00:18:00.013-04:00

For anyone that checks our blog fairly regularly we apologize that for the last few weeks you've had the opportunity of seeing our lovely pictures of our dental woes. With a little nudge from a comment from Jess we've decided to update the old blog.

Last Saturday, my brother Ammon and I hiked to the top of Mount Timpanogos. It was a pretty good little adventure to say the least.

We had to park quite a ways away from the beginning of the trail because of the number of vehicles that were there. So after some creative parking we began our hike. Things went smoothly until we got to the upper meadow. It was then that we decided to follow some directions that we found online to find a B 25 Bomber that wrecked on the top of Timp in the fifties. Our suggestion to anyone else that may choose to try and find this airplane in the future is not to follow the directions that we received which included following the trail past a toilet in a northwest direction where the trail fades and 1/2 of a mile after some ponds you're there at the airplane. That was the basic idea. We didn't make it to the airplane. We saw it off in the distance after wandering through some intense vegetation for an hour or so. It's just above the vegetation in this picture, kind of a twinkle in the picture.

After making it to the top we decided to slide down the snowfield close to the peek. While walking across the top of the mountain toward the snowfield we heard an interesting noise, which ended up being a life flight helicopter. Someone else that went down the snowfield broke their leg somehow and was stuck there in the middle of the snow with his bone sticking through the skin. We didn't get really close to the person, but we were able to see the whole life flight operation which was pretty remarkable. It wouldn't have been so enjoyable if the person were more seriously injured or if I was paying for the lift.

After carefully going down the field we decided to take a dip in the glacial Emerald Lake, which is appropriately named. It has a really interesting color, for how clear the water is. It was a cold swim, but nice and refreshing. The rest of the hike down was uneventful, but neither Ammon or I were pleased with the way our bodies responded to a day of hiking. We were glad to see our car still creatively parked where we left it and free of parking tickets.

Beside that, Laura and I have just been getting ready for the most interesting semester of school of our lives. Laura finished a full time summer semester with a 4.0, which is very impressive. She worked really hard in her classes and her professors were constantly complimenting her work. Seven more weeks until Graham's due date. We're grateful to all of those that have been willing to pass on some of their baby goods to us. Also we're very appreciative to those that gave us so much at the baby shower. We love our family and friends and think of you often.

"Health insurance is like a punch in the mouth." -Alex

2008-07-25T18:26:00.005-04:00

We've been meaning to make it to the dentist for a while now (we've even been saving our change in a tea pot on our stove) but it's just so expensive. Hopefully it's not too late for us.

Can you tell we don't have any children to keep us busy?

"Bears . . . Beets . . . Battlestar Galactica"

2008-07-22T16:50:00.002-04:00

So I am sitting in the computer lab, in the middle of a hot July afternoon, wondering how long this week's reading will take . . . when I look across the aisle and there he is. Big goofy glasses- check. Balding, greasy hair- check. Smirking- check. Yep, it's him. The only thing missing is the tie, too bad. Gotta love Dwight.

Oh, memories . . .

2008-07-18T11:11:00.003-04:00

It's been fun thinking of funny old things that have happened. In case anyone else wants to add here, feel free. (This will serve as our memory tag post. I'm just going to go ahead and assume most people have seen this already.)

Random Samplings

2008-07-16T17:25:00.012-04:00

Well, here are a few things that we have been meaning to share for a while. I suppose none of them are incredibly significant, just kind of fun. Enjoy.

Though my sister had a baby already I wanted to share this picture. She liked for our babies to be able to converse belly to belly each time we saw each other. She is nine months pregnant and I am about six months pregnant in this picture. We call this one "Nice Talk."

Our fish died this week. When we came back on Sunday, they were gone. We got them the day that we met, coincidentally. We were hoping they would make it to a year, but they were just a month short. They were wonderful fish and we will miss them. So long Lois and Penny. (Don't worry, they are alive in the picture.)

We baked our first loaf of regular bread together (you know, not banana or zucchini). Yum.

These are some babies shoes we bought a little while ago. They are so cute; the blue ones are called "Squeakers" and I think that is awesome. The other ones look sort of like snow boots I think, but I love them. We can't wait till our baby is here. Alex keeps having dreams that he is already born or that he can come out and play for a little while. We are getting very excited!

Baby

2008-07-11T13:23:00.005-04:00

My sister Megan had her baby nearly two weeks ago. I've been kind of slow in updating lately but I thought I'd share a few pictures because he is really adorable. He was born June 30 at 9:44 PM. 8 pounds 4 ounces and 21 inches long. His name is Jamison Hughes (Henderson) Parker. He is my first nephew from my immediate family, so this was pretty exciting. Megan was really inspiring for all of us throughout the whole thing and I am grateful that she wanted me to be a part of her experience. I love you Megs!

The White 'Fro

2008-06-25T16:55:00.003-04:00

This is me exactly one year ago. I thought I'd take a trip back to the 80s and perm my hair for the summer. Man, it was exciting. Just thought it would be funny to share. I really liked the perm, but I got sick of it after a while so it only lasted just over a month. I still have the rollers, maybe I'll do it again someday. I just don't know if I'm feeling quite as frizzy at the moment.

Warding Off Baby-Head

2008-06-03T16:19:00.005-04:00

Earlier this summer I decided to try memorizing one poem a week. So far I have not been very disciplined in sticking with it; I have only gotten through two poems. So today I sat my self down and got to it. I figured I would share because poetry makes me happy and maybe it will make someone else so. And it will help me to remember them better. The poem I chose for this week is by Amy Lowell, an American poet from the early 20th century. Hopefully someone else will enjoy it as much as I do:

September, 1918

This afternoon was the colour of water falling through sunlight;
The trees glittered with the tumbling of leaves;
The sidewalks shone like alleys of dropped maple leaves;
And the houses ran along them laughing out of square, open windows.
Under a tree in the park,
Two little boys, lying flat on their faces,
Were carefully gathering red berries
To put in a pasteboard box.

Some day there will be no war.
Then I shall take out this afternoon
And turn it in my fingers,
And remark the sweet taste of it upon my palate,
And note the crisp variety of its flights of leaves.
To-day I can only gather it
And put it into my lunch-box,
For I have time for nothing
But the endeavour to balance myself
Upon a broken world.

Amy Lowell
1919

In case you are wondering, the other two poems are "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden and "This Is Just To Say" by William Carlos Williams (which can be found on the right of this page).

Family Bonding

2008-05-23T11:07:00.004-04:00

I've been able to feel our baby move for a few weeks now, but this week Alex was able to feel him for the first time. It was really exciting. We had our first family bonding moment between the three of us. Below are some pictures of our first baby purchase. It's a little silly but we thought it was kind of funny. And also very cute.

May Already!

2008-05-15T18:43:00.003-04:00

A lot has happened in the last month. We finished out the semester and we did pretty well too. Alex got another 4.0, that's two semesters in a row! And I placed third in the school's creative writing contest. Alex got a job doing research at a water lab here on campus and I am starting the summer semester with a few classes. We're keeping busy and especially enjoying the change of weather. Logan sure is beautiful in the summer. We're slow at the blog business, but here are some updates.

Baby . . .

2008-05-15T18:34:00.004-04:00

BOY! We went to the doctor's office on Monday for an ultrasound. They did a complete exam of the baby, including the most anticipated is it a boy or girl?. Our baby boy is perfectly healthy and in fabulous shape. He weighs about 9 ounces now and is right on track. We are so thrilled to be having a boy. We're trying to work on some names but are having a hard time coming up with ones we like. So far we think we like Graham. But we'll see where we go with it. We also made our first baby purchase, a little onsie. Baby shopping is so fun. Anything that small is automatically adorable. Hopefully these pictures show up, sorry they're a little blurry.

Arches

2008-05-15T18:14:00.003-04:00

We spent part of last week in Moab with my family. I've been to Arches several times but everytime I go it seems even more spectacular. The hikes were beautiful, the weather wonderful, and we had a blast camping by the river. Alex fit right in with my dad and my brothers, climbing all over nearly every rock in the park. The first day we were there it was so windy that I got pretty nervous to see Alex climbing really high on a cliff face. So, it wasn't exactly a cliff but there was possibility for some danger. I think my maternal instincts are starting to bloom. The best day by far was probably the Fiery Furnace day. The Fiery Furnace is one of the most amazing places on earth. There are narrow finger canyons and washes, towers of red rock, and the coolest crack climbing and bouldering of almost anywhere. It's pretty intense hiking and climbing, but so beautiful. I've been before so I decided I'd better sit this one out with my sister who is also pregnant. She, being eight months pregnant and for obvious reasons, stayed behind with me and my mom. So the two pregnant ladies and my mama spent the day doing all the easy hikes while the rest spent four or five hours exploring one of God's coolest creations. The trip was fun and it was great to spend time with all of my family.

Alex being a monkey boy.

A testament to the wind.

Double Arch, my favorite arch. Also in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Alex, my dad, and one of my brothers defying death.

And the famous, Delicate Arch. The two tiny guys underneath the arch are Alex and my brother-in-law Mike.

We've moved!

2008-05-15T17:49:00.005-04:00

We got a new apartment just a couple of blocks away from our old one. This new place has two bedrooms, a dishwasher, and even washer and dryer hookups. A total score for us and the area. We really like it. We're still trying to get organized and unpacked so we'll be sure to post some pictures when we do. The only down side to our new home is that we no longer live across the street from the temple. I really miss seeing it everyday when we walk outside. But we are still close and the wonderful spring season seems to present moments of beauty all around. In the meantime, here are some pictures of our old place.

Living Room, the red window is the front door.

Looking in from the front door.

Kitchen Table

This is the view from the street. We were in the basement on the side of the house.

This was our first day in our apartment. How exciting!

Seasons

2008-04-13T22:09:00.002-04:00

Living in Logan has helped us look at a few things a little differently. We live in a pretty old house, which includes old windows. It seemed like our heater never turned off in the winter, and it was still too cold for Laura. Anyway, Laura said to me recently, you might think this is kind of weird, but whenever I look at houses now, I check to see if they have new windows. I guess that's what happens when it's the second week of April and you wake up to fresh fallen snow and frosted car windows.

Well, today was a nice day. The sun came out and it was warm enough to go for a walk outside without even a coat (we still woke up to frosted car windows this morning, which is strange.) So we walked across the street and around the temple and a strange thing was happening. There were other people that were also on walks, several as a matter of fact. We walked down to a park close by and there were families out there, and people playing soccer. I thought this was interesting for a couple of reasons. It doesn't seem very normal for people to walk anywhere in Utah. A lot of people drive their car to church around the corner, my Dad was a prime example. But there were people outside. Also, it was snowing earlier this week. How can weather change so fast?

I guess what I'm getting at here is it's nice to have seasons. I don't think I would enjoy the warm weather as much if my nose hairs didn't freeze walking to class in the winter. It's nice to experience change. I should do a better job of appreciating what I have when I have it, just like all these people in Logan who decided to go for a walk. Even then, I'll probably wish for freezing nose hairs when it's 100 degrees in the summer.

Baby Stats

2008-04-09T12:00:00.002-04:00

We went to our second doctor's appointment on Monday. This time we were able to hear our baby's heartbeat. It was so amazing to hear this tiny, little whoomph coming from inside me. The doctor said that the heartbeat was about 150 beats per minute, which was perfectly normal. But she said it was a little on the slow side, which, according to old wive's tales, means that it's probably a boy. A boy! Up to this point I have been prone to thinking it's a girl. Alex tends to think it's a boy. So, yesterday we went over the grandkid stats for our families. My side, first child per sibling: 100% boy. Alex's side, 67% boy. We'll find out for sure in about a month, so until then . . . your guess is as good as ours.

Vanity Just Gets You In Trouble, Doesn't It

2008-03-26T19:36:00.005-04:00

I have been debating lately on whether or not to cut my hair. I have been patiently growing it out--not one of my strongest points, by the way. For some reason, the second I feel hair dangling at the back of my neck, I have this compulsion to chop it off! So, this time I made it four months, quite a feat. I decided Monday that I would do it, I would get a hair cut. Another strange hair compulsion: I rarely pay to get my hair cut. A) I am cheap. B) I'm perennially afraid that it won't turn out how I want. Anyway, I called around Logan until I found a place that seemed reasonably priced, satisfying qualm A and just tried to swallow B in a lump. When I got there, I knew it was a mistake. My stylist had a picture of a girl on her station who looked like she was straight out of an 80's glamour shot. I know I shouldn't be so snobby, but . . . my fears came true. I went home thoroughly disappointed with my new 'do. I then had a seemingly brilliant idea: "I'll just fix it myself!" For some reason, I figured that cutting my hair through most of my angsty high school experience qualified me to try it now. I did okay, for the most part, there were a few rough spots, but I have zero skill when it comes to bangs. I already knew this; I just wish someone would have been there to remind me: "Laura, you don't know how to cut bangs and you always, always mess them up. Please don't do it!" Alas, what's done is done. At least hair is not that big of a deal, it just grows back, right.

The Appearance of A New Cyber Face

2008-03-21T13:38:00.003-04:00

Well, we did it; we got sick of being the cyber losers and decided to give in to peer pressure (mostly a first for us). We love looking at other family blogs and realized that we could do a little better at sharing what's going on in our lives. Hopefully we can keep up with it!