September

Wow!  What a busy month.  So with me working full time and going to school part time, I thought it prudent to cut back on my blogging...well, at least manage it a bit so it was not something I felt guilty about not getting to..you see, I can't just stop it completely.  I love the end result too much.  Here's my balance...one post for each month.  Some will be longer (like this one), but I'm sure others will be shorter. So, let's begin!

Labor Day Weekend: On the Sunday night of  Labor Day weekend we took a break and went camping.  We stayed close by and went to Albion Basin Campground up Little Cottonwood Canyon.  Matt's brother Greg and his family joined in on the fun.  It was nice that it was so close..especially when we realized Matt forgot to pack our tent poles--yes, it was the first time we had used the tent in two years.  Of course, there was plenty of food and yummy s'mores

On Monday we got up and hiked to Cecret Lake, one of our favorite family hikes.  Having our campsite at the trail head was pretty handy.  The boys loved spending time a the lake--eating and throwing rocks.

Mt Timpanogos: The next Saturday brought Miranda taking the ACT for her fourth time and Matt, Tyler, friend James, Grandpa Hatch, and the Rupper girls hiking to the top of Mt. Timpanogos.  The preferred trail head was closed so the hike took a bit longer--11 hours, but everyone still made it and loved it.

Laura and Grandpa at the top

Tyler and his silly faces.....

Stevie's Farewell--saying goodbye to one more son:  Jacob's last friend reported to the MTC this month.  It was a bittersweet day. His farewell talk was one of the best yet, and he is the last to wear the paisley purple tie that all of them have worn at their mission farewells.  Now it goes to Bill, the red head (who is not LDS but just as amazing).  He will wear it at his the dress rehearsal for his wedding this next spring and hold onto it until his friends return, better than before, from their missions.

Hiking to Red Pine Lake: Yes, another Saturday hike.  This time to the amazing Red Pine Lake.  This time grandpa, James and Kyle Chilton, Mike and his kids, and the Ruppers all joined us.  This hike was harder than Cecret Lake, but easier than Timp. It took our group about 4-5 hours.  

Cousins!!!!

The lake was great...perfect for throwing rocks into.  The kids had so much fun we ended up hanging out at the lake for about an hour...just throwing rocks and eating.

The trail was steep going up and coming down.  I think just about everyone ended up on their bum at one point on the way down.

However, the fun lake and the amazing fall colors made it all worth it...oh and the perfect weather!

S'mores with the Ashurst McGee's: You know, it's kind of funny, despite the years of get-together's we have had with the Ashurst-McGee's, we have very little photographic proof of it.  We have followed each other from Albuquerque to Provo to Arizona and then back to Salt Lake County.  In fact, the only years that we haven't lived by each other is when they were in Logan and we were in Houston...even then we managed to see each other when we were visiting Utah--even if it was completely random (Is that Mark in the car next to us?!)  So it seems to me that we are bound to this family..I guess it's good I love them so much:)  But, back to the pictures...of which we hardly take.  I guess we are always having way too much fun.  This time I tried to conquer this problem by bringing my camera..it didn't cooperate..most of the pictures from our fun picnic and s'mores adventure in the canyon came back blurry.  Oh well..I think it will be awhile before I forget Angela's amazing s'mores creation---roasted marshmallow, a Recess Peanut Butter cup, some bananas, and chocolate graham crackers..ya..it was all you would expect it to be...worth every calorie:)  

Roscoe thinks it's amazing too

Nathan and Hailey crossing the creek

And now we get to the Grand Finale: Alice and Ben's Wedding:

The Hatch family minus Tauna and Phil
(Tauna wasn't able to leave the farm to come out to Utah:( but Phil joined in on the fun later in the day) 

Last Thursday Matt's youngest sister, Alice, got married in the Mt Timponogos Temple.  It was such a great day, filled with plenty of cousin time and some great food.  The kids thought it was so much better than going to school.  Matt's sister Paula flew in from London with her youngest son Levi and Matt's brother Rich flew in with his wife and kids.  We were all so excited to finally get to meet his new daughter Adella. The wedding made me feel a bit old though..Alice was 3 years old when Matt and I started dating.  She was 4 when we got married and 5 when Jacob was born....eeek that means Jacob might be the next wedding.. .EEEEEKKKKK!



Some of the cutest kids around!!!! and they LOVE-worship their Aunt Alice

Wait, shouldn't the brothers be holding Alice?

The beautiful sisters-Josie, Laura, Alice, Paula, and Audrey--and yes, we are expecting another niece to join the family within a few weeks

The amazingly beautiful Adella--SO SWEET!



getting ready for the bouquet toss--all those nieces are ready!

There it goes......

and the winner is....CARA!

So with the wedding Thursday and the out-of-towners all leaving Monday, we have spent the rest of the weekend partying too.  Friday night most of the family went to the BYU /Hawaii game, last night we had a great girl's night, and then another big family dinner tonight.  Oh, I am so lucky to have married into such an amazing family.  We sure missed the rest of Paula's family (tickets from London, as it turns out, are not too cheep), Tauna and her family (Alice should have known not to plan a wedding during harvest time when she has family members that own a farm!), and, of course, the one one I missed the most was Jacob, but I guess serving a mission is pretty important too:)

So, that's our September in a nut shell.  The rest of it has been filled up with me working full time--which is going along splendidly--I happen to have THE BEST second grade class EVER! They are AMAZING!!! It's filled with kids school work and Matt working like crazy too, Miranda so busy she's spinning, and very little house work....oh well, the dust will wait....