Full of Life

It has definitely been a while since we've had a chance to update this blog of ours. In our defense, we shall make a pathetic excuse, like, ummm...uh, it was a busy month...

Anyhow, where did we leave off? Ah, yes! End of April. Ammon had a birthday. The head of this household is now 23 years old - yes, plenty of good years left. Still, it was necessary to celebrate. Especially since his birthday was on a Thursday - his day off of work and a day when I just happened to have only ONE early class.

So he started the day off with presents. All on paper too.
He got his card in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Hatch. No better way to start off a birthday than with the love of some stupendous grandparents! (The number says 23, in case you were wondering) His wife got him a couple of tickets to a baseball game later this summer.
His in-laws got him a gift certificate to an awesome Laramie restaurant called "Altitude Chophouse & Brewery." They make their own root beer and cream soda - oh yes, that is good stuff. And their food is DELICIOUS also.
Thank you Mom and Dad for that wonderful meal. Mmmm. Still tastes good.

The rest of the day involved a job interview (successful, even though we ended up going with a different job), movies Redbox style, and breaking into our own linen closet - because the Easter Bunny locked us out of it.

What did Ammon's family do for his birthday you ask? Well, that's what Ammon asked too. And we all made him wait. And we shall make you wait as well. Hahaha.

A few days later I presented my Senior Honor's Project. Finally. SOOOOO glad that is over and complete.
Over the course of the next week I took finals. Worked on final projects. Picked up the cap and gown...

...finished my projects as the family rolled into town. And then ladies and gentlemen -

I graduated.

B.A. in communication. Minor in marketing. Emphasis in public relations. All done in conjunction with the honors program.

Boy oh boy THAT was an exciting thing for me. I LOVED college. And I was very lucky to have several of my favorite people at my graduation - husband, parents, Grandma and Grandpa Lords, and Aunt Tammy and Uncle Patrick. They were kind enough to sit through THREE hours of commencement. Ick. So thankful they were all there though.

And now I'm entering the scary grown-up world. Yikes.

And I'm answering the big question - What are you going to do next?

--Hopefully I can land a job doing PR and marketing for some great organization. However, as soon as I figure out officially what I'm doing next in life, I'll let you all know. :)

Next up -we moved. Officially. And likely forever. Bye-bye Wyoming and Colorado, Hello Arizona. I think we would have been a lot more sentimental and sad about the whole moving thing if Wyoming hadn't SNOWED on us as we were packing and leaving. So we left without looking back. Or taking pictures.

Needless to say, Ammon was more than a little excited to return to his native desert land.

There are many reasons for his enthusiasm. One might be that this piano was waiting for him...

This was yet another generous gift from some wonderful people in the ward.

Still another reason for his enthusiasm was probably the anticipation over his mystery birthday present.

After almost a month of waiting to see what we all had up our sleeves, Ammon was thrilled to open up a....dust buster. MWAHAHAHAHA. Good one Belle. That'll teach him to snoop around and pry information out of others.

Fortunately, the dust buster could be exchanged for nothing less than a Wii! Belle and Kent found an awesome deal on a great Wii - and with the contribution and love of several family members, yet another one of Ammon's big-ticket items is his to keep. Thank you to EVERYONE who made that moment possible. Spoiled boy this year (mind you he got the guitar and the piano too). "Wii" are very happy now. We're having adventures all over the place - spending time with family and friends, dreaming about our future, plotting out our place in this world.

Bubble Up and Dye

Mom came up to spend the Easter weekend with us. We love it when family is around and this was certainly no exception. Saturday night we colored eggs - an activitiy which Ammon has no recollection of ever doing before. So we explained the miracles of wax and dye and got started.

He picked it up fast and made an awesome first egg...


After some coaxing we got Mom to join in. She decided to be festive and make a chicken/duck/thing. :)



It didn't turn out too bad. I think it could walk if it wanted to.

This picture is here just as proof that it was AMMON who made the UW egg. He likes it here more than any of us will ever admit.

We also discovered that maybe Ammon and I have spent too much time together...when the camera turns on us, we seem to do the same things...

This is another one of Ammon's great creations! Why not bring another holiday in, right?

And here they are...all of them. We've got pretty decorative ones, an eye ball, the world, a missionary egg, a duck/chicken, the Russian flag, a UW egg, a jack-0-lantern and a spiffy "s" egg (Ammon's first egg).

Then the next morning the Easter Bunny came to visit us. We got LOADS of goodies and fun toys.


Favorite Easter Bunny gift? The bubble sticks. We felt like we three years old again. And acted like it too. Things started out innocently. Blowing bubbles. Watching them in awe. Discovering the feel of them. Just being overall goofy.





Then things turned ugly. Attacking eachother. Attacking the mother. It was war.



What better way to celebrate Easter than with war?? Hmmm. You're right, maybe there are better ways. Like jello!

This picture is largely here as proof to certain friends that this jello normally comes out well, unlike the explosive clumpy disaster of last week.

Friends are blessings.

We had dinner with some of our friends yesterday evening (Leah & Brandon, and Jana). They made some WONDERFUL sundried tomato alfredo pasta, caesar salad...and BROWNIES. Yes, we too thought it could get no better than brownies. But just as we were about to leave, they gave Ammon a GUITAR. He's been feeling music deprived since we moved away from all of his instrument access and this made his night. Made his month. Made his whole Laramie duration. So thank you Leah and Brandon! (He'll just have to earn his calluses again, haha).

He fixed it!

Ammon is my hero (along with my papa). My car was giving me fits this semester. It would sometimes take one, two, three, ten times of turning the key for the car to actually start. So we had some discussion with my father who determined that my starter contacts were likely the issue. Kindly, he bought us the pieces we would need to replace. Then one sad day my car would not start. At all. With any number of key-turns. And so Ammon went to work.

With some help from Dad he disabled my vehicle and did some open heart surgery.

The starter contacts were definitely the problem, as you can see. It was a wee bit worn down.

But he fixed it!

And now I drive around burning all the gas my little heart desires (or that our little budget allows, hehe).

Once There Was a Snowman...

The week of Spring Break we were supposed to be blessed with gorgeous weather - the 40's and 50's. However, prior to this beautiful sunshine, mother nature thought to give us one last blanket of snow. (And by "last" I mean "last time for probably a week or two"). This snow was a little different than the rest of the snow this season. It was heavy. It came at night. It was viewed on a beautiful sunshiny morning. It was just so pretty that we were late to church just so we could go back inside, get the camera, and snap a few pictures.

Then, after church, Ammon decided to have a little fun with the snow on the hood of the car - he built a miniature snowman.

In fact, he built a miniature snowman family! - Mama, Papa, and Baby.

And then...well, I'll let you see for yourself...

Arizona, be warned. We are coming.

In anticipation of the big move, we have purchased a trailer. Two and a half months, Arizona, two and a half months.

Gone Fishin'

This past weekend Ammon managed to get a weekend off of work so we headed off to go fishing with Brelynn's parents. We went up to a place called the Miracle Mile on the North Platte in Wyoming. Brelynn's family has been fishing there since...well, forever...the 60s maybe. Anyhow, this is what it looked like that first night we got there. Beautiful. - The same way it looked 50 years ago. When you're in the middle of nowhere, not a lot changes.

That first night we just enjoyed the scenery and got settled in for the weekend.

The next morning we got up and Dad gave Ammon a brief fishing pole tutuorial - then the boys were off! (Brelynn's parents have a little trailer up there, which is where we all stayed. This is MUCH better than a tent. Especially if you've ever experienced a Wyoming winter. Or Wyoming wind. Or a combination of the two. Brrrrr.)

That first morning went pretty well, although the weather was less than amiable. Ammon caught his first two fish! Eventually, the guys decided to bring the fish back. Ammon then realized that he would be responsible for taking the fish from this state (happy, alive, etc)...

...to this state (not-so-happy, dead, food, etc). This was not as easy as expected.

So for a little while we all chilled outside (literally) and then Ammon finally got up the nerve to turn the fish to food.

Over the next few days Ammon really caught on to the whole experience (pun intended). He experienced a few usual set-backs...

...had some success...

...and had some MORE succes.

Brelynn enjoyed the whole experience from a distance. And in Ammon's Russian apparel (although she was apparently wearing it incorrectly - someone should have told her...).

Mostly we just enjoyed...

However, there were a few other traditions aside from fishing. For instance, it's tradition to scratch your name and the date into "the pole." There are hundreds of names from at least half a century back. Brelynn's name has been on there multiple times since 1997 (though she was certainly there before 1997).

Overall, the weekend was great. It was wonderful to get away from the rest of the world for a few days, enjoy the beautiful creations of the world, have some fun with family, eat some good fresh fish and relax. Even the view on the way home was lovely...