Mud & fish, but not muddy fish!

On June 9, 2012 Brandon and I competed in our first Camp Pendleton mud run. I have been excited for this since February and it was worth all the excitement! Brandon's family showed up on Friday night because we had to be to the marine base at 6am. At 5:45am all I hear is Cory going crazy (literally, I have never seen him so excited before) "Lets go, lets go, LETS GOOO!!!"

Finally on base and got his number!

We get to the base and meet with our teams. Brandon and I ran with his company and Cory and Rick ran individuals. They had lots of booths set up with fun activities and food. They also brought out all their big marine vehicles and let you climb up and take pictures.

During the race they had marines set around to yell at you. I had one decide to be my personal drill sergeant! He kept yelling "Run, ma'am, run! You better not stop running until you get to the top of this hill, ma'am!" Ma'am? Really? I didn't know you could yell at someone and be polite at the same time... those marines are really talented!

Here is a marine yelling at rick, he probably wasn't as polite as my drill sergeant!

Lets take a minute to be vain, look at those legs!!!! (Its not real, I have no muscle... but I'm not complaining!!)

We get stopped ALL the time and asked if Brandon is a marine, I'm starting to see why!

We ran up hills, climbed wood walls, swam through mud, and got sprayed by fire hoses all while running 10k... and we loved every minute of it!

See the guy peeking over the wall... He's just checking out his handy work after "helping" me over!

Brandon brought a water proof camera so he could take pictures while we ran.

At the end of the morning, Brandon and I had finished our first mud run, Rick had taken 7th place in his age group (out of 100), and Cory had taken 1st place in his age group and 13th overall (out of about 2,000 I think). All in all it was a great morning! We then went to in-and-out where I ate an entire cheeseburger and more than half my animal style fries!!!

On the 21st Brandon's office had a team building day where they went fishing out of Dana Point. The pelicans got pretty vicious and were attacking everything they caught! They also attacked the boat. Brandon was able to catch one fish big enough to take home.

A seal decided he wanted to be in the picture also!

Momma and baby dolphin swimming by the boat. Two of many dolphins which swam beside their boat, actually!

Pelicans following the fishing boat

And fighting over a fish head...

And eating their bait... hook included!

And being rescued!

Brandon and his fish!

The next day, we made lemon pepper bass and ate his catch. It brought back lots of memories from Alaska summers for me. I have to admit though, after living off of Alaskan salmon and halibut... the sea bass seemed a bit scrawny!

So a side story to go along with Brandon's fishing trip. The night we ate the fish I had a dream about the pelicans! Somehow they got inside the house. They were going CRAZY because they had fish hooks in their mouths (there were 2 of them)! I was so scared and I was laying on the couch covered in blankets terrified! I wanted Brandon to get them OUTSIDE and then get the hooks out! Apparently I woke Brandon up crying and telling him to get rid of the pelicans! 

Poor guy, I don't know how he puts up with me... this is not the first, second, or ever third time my crazy dreams have woken him up!

Let's Celebrate!!

The festivities began on April 29th with Brandon's 25th birthday! His family came to San Clemente and we spent the day together then had a nice birthday dinner. Brandon and I were babysitting my friend's kids. The 3 year old had a fever all weekend and woke up several times each night crying. Brandon was a champ and since I sleep like a rock he made sure I woke up and went to her each time she cried! HAHA just kidding, he really was willing to do his share, but she knows me better and would have cried harder if he had gone to her! the boys played some basketball and walked along the beach and we ended the evening with a dirt bike cake!

View from my friend's balcony. It was really nice to wake up to the sound of the waves and a sea breeze blowing in through the window! Christine was there also, but she is always the one taking the pictures!

Oh the things you can do with an 8 year old's basketball hoop!!

Brandon's new birthday present! He also got some bike accessories and, of course, no birthday would be complete without a knife... or two!

You know your husband is HOT when he even looks good blowing out candles!!

Brandon's dirt bike cake! Does it look muddy enough?

Next came Mother's day! We drove up Friday night and spent the whole weekend. Brandon's brother Michael got home from his mission the previous Wednesday so it was an extra special mother's day for Christine!! Saturday we had a BBQ/pool party to welcome Michael home then on Sunday we drove to Bellflower to spend the day with Grandma hatch and Aunt Diane! Traci, Rex, and Rebecca surprised us by coming all the way from Utah! (At least it was a surprise for Brandon and I, I'm sure everyone else knew)

My first complete family picture with the Hatchs! (Michael left for an LDS mission to NYC a few months before our wedding).

Can you tell how happy she was to have all her boys together again?

I finally got my "Bodyguard" picture!!  Why marry a tall guy with tall brothers if you can't get some protection out of it?

Cousins came to visit!

Brandon's wife and girlfriend! our flower girl just loves her cousin Brandon!

We celebrated my birthday along with mothers day which is something I have gotten used to over the years! 23 years ago I was born on Mother's day and I can't believe its been that long! My family and Muriel chipped in to buy me cutco knives! Diane gave me mangoes, which I LOVE!! Here is me through the years! (Which is more for myself than anyone who reads this, but I hope you enjoy!)

I have a really hard time believing that's me, anyone else think my parents forgot to take a picture of me at birth so they stole one and just pretended it was me?

You know how everyone has those awkward years? Well mine started in 3rd grade.....

The braces are OFF!!

and I didn't outgrow it until my junior year of high school!!

23 years and lots of memories!

Spring!!!

It's been pretty busy around here lately! Time goes by so quickly yet somehow I never seem to get anything done... I have been wanting to do some spring cleaning but I think its going to have to wait another week!

My mom came to visit a few weeks ago! I loved having her come and see where we live! We got to take her around San Clemente, I took her to work, and I endangered her life with my lack of kayak skills! All in all, it was an eventful weekend!

Notice the purse! 1: It is rare to see me with one. 2: My DAD gave me that purse... I should send him to do my shopping more often!

I was SO excited to hang out with my friends Sally and Farah last weekend, we ended up having a wonderful lunch together and although it was only a short time, It was so nice to see them. I am SO mad that none of us remembered to take a picture but here we are at different reunions since high school!

Me and Farah in NYC

Me and Sally in Chicago

This week is Easter, my FAVORITE holiday! Brandon and I had Banana chocolate-chip pancakes for breakfast but that's all we did special to celebrate. We will go to our friends house for Easter dinner tonight! Then we went to church which was wonderful, the true reason for Easter is all about Jesus Christ and his resurrection!

Brandon and I spent the day at the beach yesterday which was soo nice! It was sunny, warm, and NOT windy!! (I hate wind)

Yea, this is an old one... but we forgot the camera!

Here's to a BIG week!

This week has been CRAZY, but also very rewarding!

I was told by the parents I nanny for that I should read up on potty-taining because they think their daughter is ready for it. I took that to heart and started attempting research! I read a book listing 11 pointers for potty training but honestly, I was disappointed... It all seemed really logical to me! Things I would naturally do! I figured I would ask some experienced potty-trainers and find a more helpful book but THEN I show up to work on Wednesday and R was wearing underwear! Apparently she woke up and refused to let her mom put a new diaper on her, she wanted to wear underwear! As with most things, I confidently got in WAAAYY over my head and agreed that I would start the training, how hard could it be, right?

After about half an hour I called my parents! and later that day when I heard the neighbor (who is a good friend of mine and mother of 4) outside, I rushed out with lots of questions!

Apparently I was doing everything right and was re-assured that I should just keep doing what I'm doing but I could NOT understand why she kept having accidents! In my mind, once she learned what to do, and felt how gross it is to go in her pants, she would catch on... that's wishing, not reality!

The second day started out better but by 10:30 she was DONE and wanted her diaper back! I am very stubborn and was NOT about to be defeated by potty-training so right before she woke up from her nap I filled up 3 sippy cups, two types of juice and one with water, I also lined all her favorite snacks up on the counted, and displayed the new coloring kit she could get by going #2 in the potty! I went in to her room with a great big smile, enthusiasm, and lots of potty talk! We had a GREAT afternoon! We taught her curious George doll how to use the potty and then gave him m&m's for a job well done! This worked really well. I also skimmed the potty training in less than a day book and got some great pointers!

The third day was SO rewarding! she only had ONE accident (#2 only) and had totally caught on! The only problem is, I think I made her too reliant on me because although she had no accidents, she never went to the potty by herself. She would tell me she had to go and then just stand there until I came over and walked her to the potty...

All this was accomplished JUST in time for her 2nd birthday which is today, Saturday! I am excited to see how she progresses this weekend and if she is more independent on Monday when I go back to work. I will, however, be devastated if I show up and she is wearing a diaper!

The plus from this experience far out ways the difficulty, I now have my own fine tuned potty training method and wished I had read that less than a day book before beginning! I would of course change some things to suite my own personality (and my future children's) but I now feel A LOT more confidant about going through it as a parent!


Potty training took its toll, 3 BEAUTIFUL days and no park are hard on a two year old! Also, S was neglected socially! She got all her meals, naps and diaper changes but when she was awake she mostly had to amuse herself! (P.S. R's only accident on the 3rd day was when S was being fussy and getting all the attention!)

Favorite quotes from R this week:
     -"Ok emmy, you have two choices! We can go to the park or go on a walk"
     -"emmy, we can go to the park or you can sit on time out!"
     - after her first poop and lesson on wiping she sang this repeated for a few minutes "No poop in the vagina"
     - "Monkey George went poop, monkey George needs markers! I will give them to him" smart kid, but I'm smarter!
     - Q: R, what does mommy wear?
        A: Underwear!!
       Q: What does emmy wear?
       A: underwear!
       Q: what does daddy wear?
       A: Shirts!! (haha, obviously!!)


On another note, Brandon and I had a BEAUTIFUL weekend filled with excitement (and no potty-training)! Friday night the elders quorum threw a fiesta for the ward! Decoration included streamers thrown over the basketball hoop in the cultural hall. (yea that's it! Sometimes I wish I were a boy, i am SO not cute enough to be in relief society) . It was a really fun evening with a Mexican themed pot luck, a pinata for the kids, and a tortilla throwing competition in which Brandon tied for second place! Brandon went on a long ride this morning while I went on a run and cleaned the house a bit! Then we headed down to the beach where we met up with quite a few families from our ward! later we went to my friend/coworker at BYU's wedding reception which was catered by in and out burger! Tomorrow we plan to go on a nice long walk along the beach after church and feed the missionaries!

Sorry for the long post with no pictures! I'm pretty sure R's parents would not be too happy about me putting a picture of their naked child online and we didn't have our camera with us this weekend! But rest assured we both have smiles on our faces, I have some extra freckles, and Brandon is a shade darker!