RUTH'S BLESSING

Ruth is the newest grandchild on the Hutchins' (my) side and Zach and Alana's fourth child but first daughter.  Zach was kind enough to wait until the majority of family was present so that he could have us there for the blessing of their child.

It was a sweet occasion, watching Zach bless his beautiful baby girl.  Hard to believe that it wasn't too long ago when I was taking care of HIM.

When the Hutchins' men get together, things can get a little bit irreverent, especially when Drunkle Aaron is present.

At least they held it together for the blessing...

and for the family picture.

(I love how Brady is eating Uncle Zach's shoulder)

We did a couple more pictures,

said thank you to the bishopric member that let us in the church on a week night...

rounded up the kiddos and headed back to Zach and Alana's for some dessert.

 I laugh because Ben (and a lot of other siblings in my family) is SUCH a baby lover.  Both times I have brought Brady out, he tries to convince Joy that they need another baby.

 It so happened that my last minute trip coincided with Aaron's trip out with his daughter Emma.  It was fun seeing Meg and Emma hang out.  (they are Stevie's age)

 I can picture the dialog here..."Joy, PLEASE can we have another baby?"  "Ben, we are DONE!"  :)

 One last picture with the boys...of course Aaron has to be naughty and pull Zach's pants down for the picture.
Oh BROTHER(s)!!!

Family...how I love them!

WE INTERRUPT OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED BLOGGING...

For some REALLY cute/funny pictures taken today.  (I'll continue my Utah trip saga tomorrow)  Brady is on the verge of crawling...he hasn't quite figured it out, but before his 5 months is over I'm betting he will.  This is him escaping the 'hard to escape' Bumbo chair.  Look at his cheeky grin.

 And guess what arrived in the mail today?  Kaleb's size 15 basketball shoes.  These things are GINORMOUS!  Brady even comfortably fits inside the shoe box that they came in.  I wouldn't be surprised if someday HE wore a size 15...he's already busting out of 12 month clothing and he's not even 6 months yet.  

Then the wearer of the size 15 shoe arrived home, giving Brady the signature zerbert on his belly.

You'd think these two were related or something. :)

Now back to the Utah trip...

TINA

One of my favorite people to see in Utah is my sister Tina.  She and I have a lot of fun together.  She's also been there during hard times as well.  A few years ago when I brought Ben to Utah, he got really sick and ended up at Primary Children's hospital for a few weeks before being airlifted back to NH.  Tina came to visit me almost daily.  It was such a comfort to me to have her by my side.  One of my favorite qualities about Tina is her love for children.  She LOVES them.  When she's around family, she's always the one holding the babies or playing with the kids.  I love that about her.

And as you can see...the children LOVE her right back.

 I'm grateful for the way that she quietly serves others...especially her brothers that live in Utah.

 I'm grateful for her reliability...I can always count on her.

 I'm grateful for her contagious smile and laughter...

and I'm grateful for her beautiful self, both inside AND out.

Thanks again for a GREAT time Tina!!! 

xoxo

SPENDING TIME WITH EMILY

I love this lady.  We met through our special boys, but I know if we had met any other way we'd still be best of friends.  We took advantage of me being in Utah and spent some time together.  I love going out to eat with Emily because she always knows the best places.  We had lunch in this little sandwich shop, it didn't look like much, but the food was SO GOOD!  

 After lunch we drove around visiting in the car while Brady slept...

...and she made a quick stop HERE and picked up some dessert.

 When Brady was done sleeping, we headed back to her house and enjoyed these most delicious treats.  We had some of each and they were (again) SO GOOD!

Thank you Emily, for spending some quality time with me.  Next time I'm out, I'm hitting the basketball courts with you! :)

ZACH'S HOUSE

Okay, so I'm not quite back to NH yet, but when you have a baby that is still getting up on east coast time, there's not much else to do in the dark besides catch up on some blogging.  One of the days I was able to spend with Zach and his family.  I called him ahead of time (before I got out here), to let him know I was coming and asked if there was a chance he could take some time off while I was there.  "Of COURSE!" he said.  I stopped by one of the mornings and the first thing I did (besides hug everyone) is wash my hands and pick up Ruth!  This is the first time I've met her, she's a month old and SO CUTE!  She's got the signature cheeks, like her brother Mac.

  We hung out while the children played...

(two of his kids were in school)

 and played...

 and played some more.

 And then Zach asked me if I wanted to play some scrabble. "Of COURSE!" I said.

 So with babies in hand (and on table) we played a most competitive game.

 Zach had the only 'bingo' of the game...

 The lead switched hands quite a few times between he and I...

But he ended up winning at the end by 3 points because he went out first and I had a 3 point letter which gave him 3 and subtracted 3 from my score.  I was happy to have given the professor a run for his money!

During the game Brady was so busy that we had to keep switching him from my lap, to floor to high chair.  He was pretty tired of the high chair when I took this picture - makes me laugh looking at the 'eye' he's giving me. :)

 I stayed until Brady fell asleep for the night (after dinner) and then packed him up and headed back to Ben's house.  

But not before giving this TALL drink of water one more squeeze.  Thanks for taking time for me Zach.  We speak the same love language. 

xoxo

MY TRIP TO UTAH

Most people know that I made a quick trip to Utah this week to attend the funeral of my sweet friend April's son, Caleb Moody.  I flew in on Valentine's Day and will be leaving tomorrow.  It's always fun to be with family and friends, but nothing beats hanging out with my twin.  

 I'm so grateful for Joy and for the wonderful woman that she is.  Today she gave me a whole day to be with April at the funeral while she took care of Brady.  I knew that he was in good hands and I feel so blessed to have her in my life!

 Of course it's always dangerous to have a baby in Ben's home...because he's JUST like me.  He LOVES babies and always tries to convince Joy that they need another.

Aside from the funeral, it's been a mostly relaxing visit.  I've really enjoyed just hanging at different people's houses and visiting.

But as much as I enjoy being here and seeing people that I LOVE, it's time for me to head back.  Tomorrow I make the long flight home.  And then I'll catch you up on the rest of my trip.  

ANOTHER GOODBYE...

 My heart is just so heavy.  To know the pain of another is hard.  I remember when April and Emily came out for Ben's funeral...I drove to the airport to meet them.  Oh how I needed them.  I remember as we were driving home, saying to them, "I KNOW you will feel this pain someday and I wish somehow I could take that from you."  But I knew I couldn't...

 Yesterday April had to say goodbye to her 7 year old SWEET Caleb.  And now she's feeling that pain.  And it's so hard.

How I love her.  We met almost 3 years ago for the first time in person, even though we met online 6 months previous to that.  Our boys brought us together and for that I will always be grateful.  

Thank you April, for being my sister and friend.  Thank you for loving Ben as much as your own children.  Thank you for sharing Caleb with me, especially when Ben was no longer here.  I found great comfort in holding Caleb, and feeling his celestial spirit radiate through my body.

And thank you Caleb, for being true to your mission here on earth.  I love you!!!

ISN'T IT ABOUT "TIME"?

That's all our kids want from us, right?  Well, maybe not ALL they want, but they certainly do enjoy the time that we give them.  Especially when it's one on one.

 Steve spent some time teaching Kaleb how to change the oil in our vehicles.  He loves spending time with his dad and I love that he's learning a life skill he'll use for the rest of his life.

 I picked Kayla up last night from her basketball practice and surprised her with an impromptu dinner out.  We went to our favorite restaurant and requested the table in the 'vault'.  It was nice and private which allowed us to talk about life.

 I only have 2 and a half more years with this daughter of mine before she's off on her own so I'm soaking up as much time as I can with her.

 Because we are of the same gene pool, dinner would NOT be complete without dessert.  Anything chocolate, we didn't care.

It was so much fun, just the two of us. 

Time...go spend some today.

I REMEMBER WHEN...

my mom used to say, "All I wish for is happy children." 

Now that I'm a mother, I completely understand those feelings.