Baby Karis

So these pictures were taken when Karis was only 10 days old and she has filled out a lot since then. I need to take more pictures of this little sweetie, but these will have to do for now for everyone that hasn't seen her. Karis Nicole Hatch
8/4/09
7lbs. 120z.

She is loved and adored by her big sisters. Alex and I are totally enamored with her too. She is a sweetie and is already amazing us on a daily basis. I will try soon to catch a shot of her smiling which she has started in the past few days. She brings such a sweet spirit to our home and family.

I know, I know

So everyone has been asking for pics of little Karis and I know I am late getting some posted. When I am not crazy busy, I feel crazy exhausted. My house is a constant disaster area. Jolie is starting to show her frustration of me not having as much attention for her. Ella is a HUGE help with Jolie when she is here, but she started school yesterday and I miss having her home so much. Marin and Jolie don't get along that well so most of the day they are butting heads. Alex is working 12-13 hour days right now. Waa, waa, I know. I really didn't get on here to post a sob story, this is just a fraction of what my days are like right now. We are loving having a little baby to adore. She is so sweet and her big sisters love her so much. I promise to get it together enough to post pictures soon. Love you all and thanks for all your well wishes!

Fireworks Galore

We had a great Fourth of July. We spent the day in Mesa swimming (hence the red cheeks) and then went to a friends parents' house to watch the fireworks show. It was amazing. The fireworks were so close and so loud. I thought Jolie might be scared, but they all just watched in awe.

Here they are waiting for the show to start.

Jolie Alexis = Mini Alex.

I love Ella plugging her ears. We were so close that they were seriously so loud.

Me and my big girl sweethearts.

It was a great day together to celebrate the birth of our nation. I am so grateful for the freedoms we enjoy that I often take for granted.
**USA**

Swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's House

The girls FAVORITE thing to do in the summer is going swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's house. They pretty much beg me to go out there every day and never get tired of splashing around. This particular day, they were out in the pool for 7 hours only taking a break to eat lunch and not going in the house once (even for a potty break). Ella is a pretty good swimmer and Marin is making huge strides with swimming this summer.

Sunburned cheeks and a sweet smile.

Squinting and smiling all day.

Here's me with my little Oreo eater. She loves to open them and lick the frosting. Who doesn't, I guess.

All 3: Daddy's girls.

CHEEEEESE!

Winding down for the day with red eyes and pink cheeks.

Already silly for the camera.

Even Jolie is more brave in the water than I am comfortable with. She isn't content to just play on the steps anymore, she like to jump right off into the water to try to keep up with her sisters. She has learned to hold her breath under water and is learning to kick her feet to move around.

Kino Bay

Kino Bay was another long-awaited vacation for the girls this year and we had so much fun with the Hatch Family again. It was so relaxing and enjoyable to hang out on the beach and play in the pool and eat great food for a week.

Jolie loved scooping the sand into buckets. It was very serious work!

Taking a juice box break.

There was a circus in town when we happened to be there this year. A highlight of the trip for the girls.
Santana, Ella, Diego, Cruz, Arden and Marin

So excited for the circus to start!

Jolie's favorite spot to sit on the beach.

Hangin' out, tubin' in the ocean.

After mornings at the beach it is up to the pool for afternoon fun.

Teaching Marin and Ella how to dive.

Love that Mexican bottled Coke.

Evening walks on the beach.

The boys had a football throwing, catching, diving contest one day. It was pretty funny.

I love this effort from Graham to catch the ball in a funny pose as it slips through his hands.

Sweet redemption.

Bring on the sun and sand!

School Grad

So I know I have been kind of neglectful to this poor blog and I have so much to catch up on now.
I am just going to start posts where I left of and plug away at this over the next few weeks.

The first pics in my camera where I left of were of end of year school activities for the girls.
Ella finished her first year of kindergarten and loved every minute of it. I hated her being gone all day every day, but she couldn't get enough of learning and being with her friends. She is such a little smarty pants and is reading words regularly and is always asking me what something means or how to pronounce a word she can't sound out yet.
This is her with her wonderful teacher, Mrs. Mullins.

Her class had a breakfast graduation party and the class sang songs and they got a graduation certificate. It was really cute.

Marin also had a wonderful first year of preschool. She loved learning all the letters and numbers and they went on a lot of field trips this year too. Her graduation party was a luau and they did a talent show. It was so fitting that she wanted to hula dance for her talent. She was so brave, she got up in front of everyone and said, "Hi. My name is Marin Hatch. I'm 4 years old. My birthday is January 25th. For my talent I am going to hula dance." It was so cute. And she can really shake those hips! If I knew how to upload video, I would put a clip on here.

She also got a cute diploma. It was such a fun party. I'm glad she still has another year of preschool before she is gone all day from me too in Kindergarten.

It doesn't seem like that long ago that they got out of school, but we have been keeping so busy so far this summer. The girls are in a cooking class and a dance class and we try to go swimming or to the splash park a few times a week too. We also had a great trip with the Hatch's to Kino Bay and I will work on catching up with posting pics of everything!

HAWAII

Hawaii was the most beautiful place I have ever been. We were on the island of Oahu the whole week, but there was so much to do and we took some time to relax, I was glad we didn't waste time island hopping. Maybe next time we can check out the other islands. And there WILL be a next time!The first night we were there, we went to the Polonesian Cultural Center for the dinner and the show. A guy in one of the shops there took time to serenade me with a ukelele.

This is the Turtle Bay Resort we stayed at the first two nights up in the North Shore. It was beautiful.

Sunrise from our hotel window.

Chillaxin' in the hot tub.

Day two we went to swim at Waiamea Bay. The waves were HUGE and it was windy and overcast. Alex thought it was great. I got in for a bit, but mostly enjoyed the view from the beach.

Alex jumping off the rock at Waiamea Bay. I was going to jump off the 50 ft rock into the crashing waves 5 months pregnant with him, but who would have taken the picture?

Alex says, "you barely even look pregnant in that picture." Is that supposed to be a compliment? What's wrong with looking pregnant? Is it proof that I'm pregnant that I read more into that statement than he meant?

Day 3 we spent driving down the east coast of the island. We went to Lanikai Beach and it was like island paradise. It was a deserted, soft sand, clear water beach. I would go back there and live the rest of my life.

Day 4 we went snorkeling at Hanuma Bay. I got a kick out of the chickens walking around on the beach there. Alex thought I was a weird-o.

Haunama Bay reef. We saw amazing fish and even a few sea turtles.

Our view of Waikiki Beach from our hotel balcony. Not to shabby.

Day 5 we did a boating excursion cruise. They took us out on the boat into deep waters and we saw whales. Then on the way back to shore we saw a school of about 8 dolphins swimming and playing. When we got back near the marina we went snorkeling again and saw some more cool fish and a TON of sea turtles. I still need to get our underwater camera pictures developed.

Day 6 we spent laying out on the beach and met up with our good friends from dental school, the Allens. We just happened to plan our trips to Hawaii around the same time and we were lucky that our trips overlaped 1 day.
Here we are at lunch at Duke's. It was a great restaurant right on the beach. Alex and I ate there 3 times.

Fitting final picture of the view of the sunset out our hotel balcony.

It was a long trip and I was so ready to come home by the end and see my girls, but it was an amazing experience and I can't wait to go back. Half the time we were there I was thinking how nice it was to be on vacation without any kids and the other half of the time I was thinking about how fun it would be if the kids were there to see all the cool things. Hopefully we can take them there someday.

Bakerella

So I saw these cute cupcake truffles on the Bakerella website and Pioneer Woman Cooks also did an entry with how to make them, so I thought we'd give it a try. They were so easy and so delicious. But they took a lot longer than I really wanted to spend. Maybe next time I'll just do half a cake.

Luckily I had some great helpers who helped me roll the balls, dip them and decorate them. It was a great project for my sweeties.

The ones we just dipped in the chocolate and didn't make into cupcakes took a lot less time (and they tasted just the same!)

Jolie wanted to get in on the action too.

So proud of their decorating skills.

Here's the final product. This is less than half of what the whole cake made. It was a fun project and next time I'll know how to make the process a little quicker.

Field Trip

Marin's class had another field trip last week. This one was to the White Tank Mountains a couple miles from where we live for a hike.

They made cute binoculars in class so we could see all the birds, flowers and find other things that live in the mountains.

Here is her class checking out a cool bug. Everything looks better through binoculars!

My sweetie with the wildflowers.

I love these field trips her teacher plans to involve the parents and incorporate the world in their learning process. Next month we are going to the zoo!