Pictures from the Hatch Family Party!

Kjerstin , Erika, Ryle and Sophie in the hammocks. 

Daren helping them swing.

Rylee helping the twins swing.

The crew playing 9 square.  It was a lot of fun!

Grandma MaryAnn, Hannah and Savanna

FaceTime with Taleena, Aspen and Bruce.  We missed them at the reunion.  

It has been over a year since my last post!  A lot has happened.  We went and picked up Erika from her mission in Cincinnati Ohio last August.  It was a great experence.  We were able to meet many of the people she served and served with.  She had an amazing mission and many lives were changed because of the spirit that she had with her and her desire to help those she taught.  

The week after we returned she met the awesome guy she married in May after a semester at BYU- Idaho and a long distance/facetime relationship.  It worked out great for them!  They now live in Oak City and are very happy!  (Pictures to come.). 

In the meantime Daniel graduated from Success Academy, Canyon View and SUU with an associates  degree!  Busy guy!  And her received his mission call to the Naga Philippines Mission where he is serving as we speak!  He has been in the mission field for 2 whole weeks now and is doing very well.  We will hear more today.  His p-days are on Mondays but with the time difference we get his email on Sundays!  From the pictures we got last week he is learning a lot about a beautiful country and people, poverty and true happiness.  (Pray for him please!). 

Adelyn and Kenyon finally closed on their house in Alamo Nevada and are settling in!  I was able to help them with some painting along with a lot of Kenyon's family.  Their next project is to lay tile in the majority of the house keeping carpet in the bedrooms.  

Kjerstin and Kurtis survived the twins first year of life and were able to take a little vacation to New York in July!  We, Daren, Kaity and I, were able to watch all 4 girls for the week as Kjerstin and Kurtis were enjoying the sights, plays and good food of New York.  It was a great week for all of us!  

Kaitlyn Nellie is now entering a new life adventure.... High School.  She is a freshman this year and she is very nervous.  But this little smarty will do great!  She will be attending CVHS and Success Academy like all of her siblings.  I think she is the most excited out of all her siblings for the science classes at Success.  

Taleena and Bruce are still in Logan attending USU.  They are expecting the end of August and we are all very excited for them and about having a new little girl in the family.  Aspen will be a wonderful big sister!  

Fun at the pool before the big birthday party!

Happy Birthday Aspen!!

The BIG day  

Baby burrito A and Baby burrito B

Sophie and one of the cute burritos.

I got to go with Kaitlyn and the school music groups to a competition in California and then to Disneyland!

Sophie, Hannah, Savanna & Rylee

My Mom stopped by on her way home from spending a few days helping Kjerstin . 

Edited version of last post.

I don't think many people really read my blog but for those that do sorry it has taken me so long to post.  Writing is a good way to journal our "family happenings" as well as a way for me to remember loved ones and work through tough experiences... to sum it up it's good therapy.  My Dad went golfing for his therapy,  I talk or write to work things out in my mind.  I spare you all the crazy and deep thoughts, those go in my personal journal... you get some of my conclusions.  Any of you wanting more details can always call or email me. 

Here is the latest...

First of all I better catch up a little.  Taleena remarried in December.  We wish Taleena and Bruce the best as they start their life together.  We were able to attend the wedding in the St. George Temple and reception in Pioche to show our love and that we are moving forward in a positive direction. We now have additional adopted members in our family.  The journey has been extremely difficult getting to this point but we have faith that everything will work out for each of us, for those here on earth as well for Cole who passed from this life worthy and faithful.  Sometimes it is hard to have faith with our limited understanding but I do know  Heavenly Father is in charge and loves us. This quote by Jeffrey R. Holland helps me to know we will all receive the blessings promised from covenants we have made in this life and remain worthy of, even when those blessings come in a different way and time frame then expected.  The quote is, "some blessing come soon, some come late, and some don't come until heaven: but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. 
Taleena, Bruce and Aspen moved to Logan to finish school at Utah State University,  great school by the way.  They are doing well there and are getting back into college life.  We were able to go to Logan and celebrate Aspen's 3rd birthday with them in February.  (I'll post pictures sometime, I have to get on the other computer for those pictures.)

Erika is loving her mission still.  She is serving just south of Cincinnati right now.  She got a chance to go to Kentucky for a day and loved it and really hopes she gets a chance to serve there.  She will be coming home in July.  We are going to go out and pick her up, see some sights and then come home!  I will post her arrival date when we find out her exact date.  I know she would love to see a lot of friends and family at the airport on her arrival. 

Daniel and Kaitlyn and I are still enjoying school.  Maybe I should say I am enjoying school and all of us are looking forward to summer!!  I can not believe we only have 3 months left.  There is so much more to teach and to experience. 

Kaitlyn is our little scientist.  She is always studying diseases  and she even has a "scientific mind" blog.  After she studies a disease she posts what she has learned.  One of her teachers got to the point where she felt she couldn't answer her questions so she, Ms. Dibbs, set up an appointment with an oncologist at the hospital so Kaitlyn could "pick his brain".  The visit went well as Kaitlyn and Ms. Dibbs met with this doctor and discussed Kaitlyn's many questions.  What a wonderfully dedicated teacher to help a student progress in her learning.  And what a thoughtful doctor to take time out of his busy schedule to help. 

Kjerstin is almost ready to have her twins!  Today we called and she is taking it easy because her contractions are starting.  We thought she would make it another week but this might be the day!  At her appointment on Thursday the babies weighed 4.8 and 4.10.  Another week would be great for growth but we shall see.  This will make 4 cute little girls!  Please keep Kjerstin in your prayers as well as Kurtis... he is going to be out numbered!

Looking through some pictures and found these treasures!

I love this picture of Cole and I finally found it!  It was taken at Adelyn's Success Academy Graduation.  Kjerstin asked him to hold her purse and he was joking around and looking dang handsome!

We miss you too Dad.  We miss your laugh and compliments and crazy songs. 

Finally.... here are some wedding pictures of Adelyn and Kenyon!

They have been married now for 2 years.  They are doing well and living in Panaca Nevada .

Hello family and friends,

I have decided it is about time I post and share some thoughts, feelings and of course "family happenings".

Erika is LOVING her mission.  It has blessed her and our family as she has served.  We are going to Ohio to pick her up in July.  We will see the sights and head back home!  So many people have blessed her life... She admires her mission president and his wife and loves them.  They have inspired her and helped her grow more then she thought she could.  The people she has served she has grown to love and I know it will be hard for her to leave and come back to Utah.

Adelyn and Kenyon now live in Panaca Nevada.  It is nice to have them a lot closer.  Addy is doing an internship with USU extention here in Cedar so she comes over once a week!  She only has 2 semesters left then she will graduate from USU.   She has been taking online classes so availability of the classes she has needed have not always been offered when she has needed them.  Oh well, she is just about finished and she is VERY happy about that.

Daniel and Kaitlyn are doing well.   Today is an especially great day since it is an official SNOW day,  school was canceled and we are all having a party!!!!

Now for some big news, no pun intented Kjerstin.  Ha Ha.  Kjerstin and Kurtis are having twins!  In March we will welcome two more granddaughters to the family!  We are all so excited.  Kjerstin has even stopped crying and is trying to prepare for these two new little ones.  When she called and told me, Kjerstin and her family were all in the car coming from the Dr.'s. Office.   Kjerstin told me the news and I was so excited!  And Kjerstin said, "If this is so exciting then why can't I stop crying!"  She also said she didn't know if she could handle twins.  In the background I could hear Sophie exclaiming, "I can handle it Mom!"   Sophie and Rylee will be great, big sisters.  I am trying to get them to move back to Cedar...... But I don't know if it will happen.

Well I am missing the party but there is a lot more that has been happening and I am finally ready to talk about it.  I will try to get back on a little later today.

Take care ya'all!

A few weeks ago I was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting reporting on Erika and how she is doing on her mission.  So last week I gave this talk... 

I am pretty excited to talk about Erika and her mission.  She is serving in the Ohio Cincinnati Mission and loving it.

Erika is an awesome letter writer and email writer, which I am grateful for.  Her letters are fun to read.  She has alway been a very happy girl and that happy spirit is touching a lot of people.  She is learning a lot and growing in the gospel.  Some things you don't realize you will gain from a mission until you are serving and one of those things we can see is that her mission is helping to heal her heart  and many gospel principles she is learning at a whole new level.  I think most of you know, but for those that don't, her hero and older brother Cole passes away from cancer just over a year ago.  In one of her letters from the MTC she explained how she gained a better understanding of prayer... 

(from her letter) "I am so grateful for the gospel and I na so excited to her it with others.  In class the other day I came across something that I had to tell you about.  We looked up prayer in the bible dictionary and a certain sentence stood out to me, it says, "The object of prayer in's to change the will of God".  As I was thinking about it I think that when I was praying for Cole at the end that's exactly what I was doing.  I was trying to change Gods will even though I knew he wanted it a different way.  I had been thinking a lot about Cole that day and realized that I might have been a little upset at God for not answering my prayers.  So I really needed that that day."

She has been able to relate to a lot of people because of this experience with Cole and even though it is hard for her to talk about she shares it often and people open up to her.  In one of Cole's blessings it said his experience would help a lot of people, we are seeing the realization of that blessing.

Another thing she learned and shred with us... she said, "On Wednesday we had a new missionary training meeting in the mission home so I got to see most of the missionaries from the MTC which was pretty awesome.  I learned a lot and it was really awesome.  The first thing that came out of the presidents mouth was what I had been praying about for the last 2 weeks.  It was an amazing experience.  He also said something else that I thought would be really awesome to share with your all.  He said, " The miracle is always at the other side of the trial.  If you give up half way through you won't see the miracles."  I have never thought about it like that.  We get blessings all the time but we don't see miracles without a trial.  We have a lot of people that that we are working with right now that want to see their life change and they want to become closer to God by they aren't willing to change anything.  They ant to see the miracles because they are going through some trials but they are giving up half way through so they can't see them yet.  "  I really needed to hear that the week I got that email.  It is wonderful how the Lord is aware of each of us and our needs.  

She also has told us of her love of the Book of Mormon and how much she is learning.  In a letter she wrote, "I have learned a lot about the Book of Mormon.  The only advice I have is 1. When you read a chapter think how that applies to you and how does that chapter bring you closer to God. 2.  Just like when you go to general conference with a question in your heart and you get more out of it, go to church with a question as well. 3.  It's kind of like the first one but, ask your self, what are you doing each day to bring yourself closer to God?"   I have loved how what she is learning and applying in her life is helping our family become stronger also!  She is a great example to sand we love and miss her.

Serving a state side mission she has not had to eat any super crazy stuff....yet, but one experience she told us about was somewhat of a challenge.  She told us,  "A bad memory I had this week was I ate a brownie from a less active and there were spiders all over my plate but I ate it anyway because she is the sweetest old lady and I couldn't tell her or it would break her heart.  It was nasty!  I never want to eat another brownie!!!  Then she goes on to say... "Also we went to visit an investigator after dark and she got so mad at us.  She told us that we shouldn't be in the neighborhood after dark because it is really scary.  She told us never to come at night because a few weeks ago she was out at night and got beat up.  Mom don't worry about me by the way.  But there have been a few people tell us not to go to certain neighborhoods after dark.  Oh and the other day, I have to tell you, It was snowing so we went out shoveling the widows in our wards driveways.  We parked at this beer market and when I was getting the shovel out of the car this dude in the car beside me rolled his window down and said, "Hey Girl!"  I was ignoring him because I felt so awkward.  He said it about 5 times before I looked at him and then he said, "Waz your name girl?"  I said SISTER LOVELL.  Then he got quiet and said,  "Oh sister?"  Then he drove off and yelled, "God Bless."  It was super funny and super awkward."

"We found a new investigator this week named Stanley and he is hopefully getting baptized this next month.  He is super awesome and has a great spirit.  He just got rid of his cancer and he is so excited to become closer to the Lord because that is what has helped him through.  I am excited to teach him more because I can tell he is going to be an amazing member.  When I first taught him I could see him working in the the,pale and being there as people first walk in because he has the greatest smile.  I am excited for him."

I want to close with part of her testimony and then  quote from Pres. Uchtdorf...  "The mission has really changed me.  I have already learned so much.  I have grown and I am so glad I made the choice to come.  I was questioning my decision at first but I wouldn't trade the experiences I have had already for the world."

She is such a great missionary and so eager to teach the gospel!!  You probably can't tell how proud I am of her.   The scripture she chose to put on her missionary plaque is Alma 29: 9-10... ( I read it in the talk but I'll let you look it up  :)  It is also part of her testimony.  

Pres. Uchtdorf said, " As you lose yourself in there service of others, you discover your own life and your own happiness."  I can see this happening in Erika's life and in turn it is strengthening our family as well.  I feel so blessed to have the gospel in my life and for Erika's willingness to share the gospel with those people she has the privilege of teaching in Ohio. 

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

Rylee's 1st Birthday! (Kjerstin and Kurtis's daughter)