Hutchings Home

I have a daughter

2010-10-25T13:07:00.008-07:00

A much needed post for a much neglected blog.

Jayna is finally laying down for a nap in her "big girl bed". I can still hear her sick little coughs over the monitor, but can tell by the lack of activity that sleep for her is near. It feels like an unusual day since Jayna is sick and we had our first snow fall of the season. So I have been letting her watch movie after movie and have treat after treat. Hopefully she doesn't think this is going to be our new winter lifestyle. In between movies and crackers and cheese Jayna decided she wanted to be pushed down the slide in the living-room (which is really a storage box lid positioned down two steps) in a newly emptied Pampers box. I told her I would be there in a minute and from in the box positioned at the top of the slide she said "Mom what are you doing?" I told her I was trying to get the coriander seeds off my dried cilantro plant to put in the jar, to which her reply was "Mom that is too hard have Dad do it." She is so funny and clever and I could not help but laugh at her suggestion. She loves her daddy and I am pretty sure she thinks he lets the sun out just for her in the morning and and puts it away at night just so she can see the stars.

Last night as I sat braiding Jayna's blonde feathery hair for the first time, it hit me again that I have a daughter. I was actually sitting on my couch braiding my daughters hair in my house. Not a dolls hair, not the neighbor girls hair, not my friends hair, but my daughters hair. I have been thinking a lot recently about what kind of Mom I really want to be. I hope I can be the kind of Mom that is more sad than angry, and is more concerned than critical. I hope I can focus on more of the big things than the little things, and put more focus on the relationship than the rightness. In that moment on the couch I was just happy to have a daughter. I think no matter what kind of Mom you are you can have perfect kids and hard kids, and that is why I want to keep my happiness focused on just having them, that way at the end of the day perfect or not I still have love and a relationship with them.

Here are some catch-up pictures of Jayna:

playing at the pumpkin patch

bubble bath time

Heber valley railroad train ride

picking flowers with Mom

The New Addition

2010-03-24T08:35:00.001-07:00

This is the new addition to our family that we got yesterday. I am still having mixed feelings about it, because to me it is in-between cute old truck and white trash truck. I am glad it will solve all of our "how do we get this?" and "how do we get rid of this" problems though.

This getting a truck thing started last week when we realized we have no way to get rid of a ton of sand in a huge ghetto sandbox in the backyard to make way for our landscaping projects we want to do this year. So naturally this week we bought a truck. Ridiculous! It was only $1000 and we bought it from a kid who got it from his grandpa and had been fixing it up forever. It is embarrassingly loud with duel exhausts (just like a 20 year old boy would like). I have to admit it is fun to drive and ride in though, and will for-sure add a sense of adventure to all our future Ikea and Home Depot runs.

Don't laugh, but I had to call the fire-department to see if it was even legal to put Jayna in her car-seat in this truck. It was, in-fact they said the older trucks are safer because they have no airbags, although I do not think we will be driving on the free-way with her in this truck anytime soon. So last night we drove to In and Out Burger for dinner no license plates and all and then went to Lowes to look at some things. There is something about driving an old truck to get burgers that is so right and 100% American. It was a blast!

I told Ryan that it was my the Bird and the Berry truck and he got really disgusted and told me "We are not Bird and the Berrying this thing up". I am guessing that means I can not put my blog logo on it or reupholster the bench seat in a print or tweed. But we will see about that.

Valentines & Anniversary Weekend

2010-02-16T10:37:00.005-07:00

There could not possibly be a worst day to have your Wedding Anniversary than the day after Valentines.

Now there is a long story about why we picked that day to get married on in the first place, and non of it has to do with us loving the color red or the holiday. Although it was exactly 4 years to the weekend that we first meet, but even that was not the reason.

Over the years we have come to really dislike the timing of our Anniversary since everyone is trying to go out to dinner at the same time as us, hotels are more expensive, and the celebration of both Valentines and our Anniversary always get mushed together. This year was different though, I felt so special and like we were the only ones celebrating this weekend. It was perfect!

We decided to celebrate on Friday night since Valentines was on Sunday and we knew everyone in Utah would be going out on Saturday Night. So we forever in advanced asked Devin (Ryan's brother that is at BYU for college) if he would come up and babysit for us, and he thankfully said yes. We have little to no babysitting options. Devin had it pretty easy since Jayna goes to bed between 7:00 and 7:30 and we left at 6:30. So he just had to play with her a little and then put her down to bed.

We headed off to dinner at a Utah classic the Roof which we had never been to before. It is located at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial building and is a buffet style restaurant. We were seated at just about the best table in the whole restaurant. It was away from everyone and was a window table that overlooked the southeast corner of the temple and temple square. The table had a single rose at it for me and a card on a little stand that read happy Anniversary. I was so impressed and I hadn't even sat down yet. After we went and got our salads a hostess came up and started apologizing about the rose that was on the table and explained that my husband had really ordered me a big bouquet which she then placed on the table. I was smiling so big I think my checks could have burst. The hostess made such a big spectacle of it that I told Ryan he probably got all the other men around us in trouble.

All the food was so good. We paced ourselves so we could have a little taste of everything, and I think we about did. The dessert bar was to die for though. They had everything you could want. I tried this pastry with a flaky crust filled with whip cream and topped with fresh berries and had to have another before we left. It was one of those things that I knew I would regret having two, and regret not having three all at the same time. It was the best thing I have ever had. I could not have imagined a more perfect dinner to have with my husband of now 7 years. It almost brought tears to my eyes to be sitting with him across from me and the temple glowing to our side on our anniversary.

I gave him his present at dinner which was a Craftsman 6 in 1 tool he has been wishing for. We have slight disagreements in our house about which power-tools we need to buy and in what order. He truly deserved this tool though, he works so hard for our family and always, puts me and Jayna first. He gave me my present after dinner which was that he is going to buy me flowers once a month for a year. Not one of those online programs, but that he is going to go buy them for me and give them to me each month. I thought it was so thoughtful, because he knows how much I would enjoy fresh flowers in the house. I am most looking forward to a bouquet of flowers from the farmers market this spring, they are so pretty.

So from our more than nice and fancy dinner we went to.... Nicklemania ... yes you heard right we went to the nickel arcade. It was a blast! We spent a million nickels and won tons of tickets of which we got a shocking pen, rabbits foot, and parachute man to pay our babysitter with.

After we were done playing games we headed back home. Ryan and I finished the night off with sparkling cider next to a warm fire in our bedrooms fireplace. It doesn't get used very often, but it is so fun and romantic to have a fireplace in our bedroom.

It was the perfect date with the perfect person. I cannot wait to see what the next year has in-store for us. I told Ryan that in 10 years I will have been with him longer than I haven't, since I started dating him when I was 16. Crazy to think about where we have come, where we are, and where we may be going.

Hidden Valley Mess

2010-02-09T09:21:00.005-07:00

The other night Ryan and Jayna were making ranch dressing for dinner. Ryan filled the container with all the ingredients and put the little cap on the lid and started to demonstrate to Jayna how to shake the dressing bottle. Problem was he didn't put in fingers on the cap to hold it onto the lid. A few hard shakes and this is what we ended up with.

A big glop of ranch dressing shot Jayna in the face. She was petrified and very upset about the mess. Jayna hardly ever bawls about anything, but she hates big messes. It took us awhile to console her and show her that it could all be fixed and cleaned up. She is so funny.

Red came running out of the laundry-room during all the commotion too, and slipped and fell in the ranch pool on the floor. It was a pretty funny scene with both of them covered in ranch.

We managed to clean everyone up before our food was cold and still had enough ranch for dinner.

The Big Bubble in the Sky

2010-01-25T13:30:00.004-07:00

Most of us look at this photo and see the moon, but if you are a little toddler you may see a glorified bubble.

We laughed so hard when we took Jayna out of the car last night and she pointed to the sky and kept saying bubble. At first we did not know what she was looking at and then we realized she meant the moon. Jayna loves bubbles and I am sure this looked like the most amazing bubble she had ever seen. She kept trying to touch it and we had to explain that it was too high in the sky to touch. So fun to think about how little ones see the world.

Move Over Madonna

2010-01-20T10:28:00.002-07:00

Move over Madonna there is a new chick in town that likes to wear bras over her clothes and sparkly skirts.

I call Jayna the one boot wonder. She loves her pink suede boots and will walk around the house for hours and days with only one on. It's kinda like Michael Jackson's whole one glove thing except it's a shoe. It's her signature look. The rest of the outfit....well that's just Jayna.

Dear Mrs. Rizley / Support Warriors Wives

2010-01-18T09:25:00.006-07:00

Dear Mrs. Rizley

You left this comment ( Jill, you are amazing. You are the Winco hero.) on my blog the other day in response to my story about giving some money to some people in need. And I just need to tell you how utterly silly your comment is.

It takes a certain breed of man to be able to serve and protect his country and country men. The kind of man who is a warrior inside above all else. It takes an even more special breed of women to support that warrior though. I could never be as amazing as you have to be to be able to support a warrior husband. The sacrifice it takes on the home-front is unimaginable to me. I am so grateful that for centuries and centuries there have been women like you willing to hold the front-lines at home so that your men can go hold the front-lines of freedom and liberty for us all. You women are overlooked, under appreciated, and much neglected by your country for the true service you give us all.

The fact that you think I am amazing for helping someone at the grocery store that I only have the freedom of visiting because of women like you, and the american spirit of generosity because of women like you is just utterly silly.

I never want to hear you say that another women is amazing or great unless they are doing what you are doing. That goes for you too Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Harkin!

So thank you Mrs. Rizley for all your sacrifices on our behalf. Your AMAZING!

Sincerely,

Jill

Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.....

Side Note: Don't be afraid to leave comments on my blog I promise I will not write a post about you if you do, but this was just silly and needed to be addressed.

Beauty Day

2010-01-16T21:22:00.009-07:00

There is one thing that is very apparent about Jayna. She is a GIRL! Everything she does is very very girly. She can practically walk better in my high heels than I can. She has even (scarily enough) made it down the stairs in them before. She has a sparkly purse she takes every where with her, and she loves to put make-up on and brush her hair. So I just knew she would love love love getting her hair cut.

It has been looking shaggy lately along with mine so I made a hair appointment for both of us with my hairdresser Cody at Blush Salon. When we got to the salon we started telling her that she was going to be doing pretties and she got really excited. She thought she was going to get it on her lips and face though so we had to tell her it was going to be pretties on her hair. Then when we went back she sat on the little booster seat all by herself and got very serious about the whole thing. Cody found a purple cape for her and she sat still and silent until he was done.

She even put her head down when he told her too. This little girl knows what's up. She knows pretty hair is nothing to laugh about or take lightly.

It was hysterical and she did great. Her hair looks all cute and trimmed up now, and I was grateful to Cody for sneaking her in. It is not exactly the kind of salon that does children's hair let alone lets them in the salon, and Cody is not exactly the super cuts guy either. We all got a good laugh out of it. She is just too cute!

One Heck of A Grocery Shopping Trip

2010-01-10T15:36:00.005-07:00

Who knew you could experience and learn so much on a grocery shopping trip...

This last Wednesday night after I had the activity day girls over I headed off to Winco Foods for a late grocery shopping trip. I had my perfected grocery list in hand and had even spent the time to categorize my needed items, by where they were located in the store. I was actually looking forward to the solo grocery store trip. I had a lot of things to get since I had not been for awhile, and I was looking at it as a nice calm escape from the house.

Once there I gathered my items with no sense of urgency whatsoever, which was nice. I considered myself lucky when the deli man told me I was his last customer before closing up, and went on my marry way still shopping. I had probably been there for a good hour and half when I wrapped up getting everything I needed on my list. I made my way to the check-out stand with a full cart and reached into my purse to get my wallet. Problem was there was no wallet. I then grabbed my phone to call Ryan and let him know about my dilemma. With him on the phone I waited for the person in-front of me to finish checking out and then asked the checker lady if she could enter my card number by hand since I had forgotten my wallet. She was nice enough to try it, but it didn't work. Her manager then came and told us that their system does not let them do that, but that they could suspend my transaction and I could run home get my wallet and come back to pay for my groceries. So I bagged my groceries and they placed my cart over by customer service and I headed home.

It was a huge bummer, but I was determined to not let it push me over the edge. I was just going to put my big girl panties on, suck it up and handle the situation. At least it was not during the middle of the day when I would have had Jayna or something. Ryan was waiting in the drive way for me when I reached the house. He handed me my wallet with out even saying anything. I think he was worried he would laugh and I would melt down. I drove back to the store which isn't exactly around the corner, parked and went back in. I got back in line at the same check out stand with the same checker, behind a young couple. Right away I could tell something was holding them up. They had tons of baby food jars and had made several different separated sections on the conveyer belt with their groceries. She looked about my age, although I can never tell anymore. She was wearing an old sweatshirt with what looked like an even older tee-shirt underneath it. Her hair looked like it was probably cut cute, but I couldn't tell because it was under a worn out handmade knitted hat. She had a cute black handbag that looked new as if she had gotten it for Christmas. He was clean cut with blonde hair and older worn clothes as-well. They looked like any Utah couple I would have seen or meet at BYU back in the day. She turned around and said she was sorry for taking so long, and I told her it was okay. The two of them kept going back and forth about dollar amounts and he even said to her once to get the calculator out. It took me a couple minutes but then I realized what was going on. It looked like they had just signed up for WIC and or food stamps. They had a program brochure with them and vouchers to buy certain foods. Each voucher was only worth so much money so they had best they could calculated and separated their groceries into piles so that each voucher would cover them. They had mostly baby-food jars and then lactose free milk, a loaf of bread, lettuce, and maybe one or two other necessities. If there is one thing I cannot handle in life it is seemingly decent people with children struggling.

As I observed some-more I saw that the girl had a fairly nice wedding ring on and I rightly or wrongly started to paint a picture of their lives in my head. To me it looked like a nice young couple that probably had fallen upon hard times and obviously had young kids. At that point my heart started to race and I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. I opened up my wallet to see how much cash I had and made the decision that I was going to pay for anything that the vouchers did not cover. I also grabbed one of the restaurant gift cards we had been given from family for Christmas and had that ready to give them as-well. I was disappointed when the vouchers zeroed everything out, but a container of blackberries. She then told the checker to go ahead and let me go and then she would just buy the berries with cash when I was done. While they were bagging their groceries I went ahead and told the checker lady that I would buy the berries for her and then gave her the gift card to give to them too. She looked at me surprised, although she probably looked at me like that because I was also the weirdo that forgot my wallet. Then not exactly according to my plan she gave the gift-card and the berries to the couple right in-front of me. I was so embarrassed! I get way to nervous about offending or embarrassing other people. The girl looked at me shocked and said "Are you sure, Thank you" I think I reacted kinda weird since I was so caught off guard. I just said your welcome and didn't even really look at her. I am so stupid! Then I was so flustered that I could not even remember my pin number. It took me two tries to get it right.

Even though I was the nights weirdo at Winco I know I did the right thing. In-fact I wish I would have done more. After telling Ryan what I did he kept making me feel bad by saying how come you didn't pay for all of their groceries or take them around the store. I just kept telling him It just happened fast and I wasn't thinking. I do though, I wish I would have told her something like meet me here next Wednesday and I will buy you more groceries. It is just a lot more intimidating to do when you are in the moment. I cried the whole time we unloaded groceries. I was so upset at myself. Upset that having to drive back home in my nice car to get my nice wallet to go back and buy my hundred dollars worth of groceries and then try to fit them all into my (what I think is) too small of pantry in my nice house is my biggest dilemma of my day. When reality is we are all a few events in life away from possibly being that couple. I am a true believer that there are moments in this life when we are asked to show are appreciation and worthiness for what we have. I just cross my fingers that I am aware enough to recognize those moments and compassionate enough to act as I should.

Warning: This Post Contains Fecal Matter

2010-01-05T16:23:00.008-07:00

Yesterday I put Jayna down for her nap after we made muffins. At first she kinda whined about it, but after a couple minutes she just laid in her crib making noises and talking to herself. She was doing fine and I could hear her through the monitor so I just decided to leave her up in her room even though she was not sleeping. I blogged about the muffins we made on my the Bird and the Berry blog and when I was finished with my post I could still hear her making noises so I decided to go see if she needed her binki. As I walked up the stairs the strong smell of poo hit me and when I opened up the door to her room this is what I found.

Now I know many of you moms if not all have encountered this same scene in your child's room. It is just one of those things that is bound to happen. Jayna has been showing interest in dressing and undressing herself, and is very interested in potty training. Or at least the potty part, not so much the training part. We have recently bought her a little pink potty, so there is lots of talk about pee pee and poo poo at our house.

The poo was everywhere in her crib, but how could you get mad. Grossed out maybe, but mad no. I mean I even took the time to go get the camera and capture the moment forever. I try really hard to not fill my days so that I can have the patience and good temper to deal with just these sort of events. I suppose I would have been really upset if I was on a tight schedule or need to rush out the door, so that is why I try not to have a life style like that. I am in no way perfect and for-sure have my break downs as a mom. I am just proud that this was not one of them.

Look how cute! She even tried to wrap the diaper up like we do when we change her. Poor bunny. Now it is little bunny poo poo.

When I first had Jayna just having her did not make me feel like a real Mom. I do however remember the exact moment I felt like a real Mom. It was when I stepped on a little piece of poop in Jayna's nursery, picked it off the bottom of my foot with my bare hands and inspected it. At that very second I knew I was a real Mom because I was more concerned about where and who the poop came from than I was about the fact that it was in my bare hand.

Christmas with the Hutchings

2009-12-29T09:50:00.006-07:00

Christmas Eve was great. This is actually the first Christmas I have spent with my parents since I have been married. Most Utahans gasp at the thought, but my families big holiday is New Years. So we could care less if we saw each other on Christmas as long as we are together on New Years, which we have been for years and years. I consider Christmas Eve and Christmas morning a time to start and have traditions with my own little family, which right now consists of Ryan, little Jayna, and myself. So even though my parents were in-town we did the usual Hutchings family traditions. They are nothing special just a nice prime-rib dinner on Christmas Eve and a Christmas brunch. With two extra adults this year it kinda grossed me out how much food I make every Christmas just for the three of us. In years past we have always managed to find someone to join us for at least Christmas brunch though.

Dinner was wonderful. Ryan cooked the prime-rib perfect as usual. We made chipotle smashed potatoes, green beans, and a double batch of our favorite salad ( Salad De Maison ). After dinner everyone opened their Christmas Pajamas. That is everyone, but me. After I bought mine I had the shopping bag hanging on a door knob with the Pajamas in it, and a little certain someone with a cold blew her nose on my new pajamas. So mine were sadly already washed and put in my dresser.

Then we sang some Christmas songs with Jayna while she sat by the tree and jingled a chain of bells. It was fun to put her to bed knowing she had no clue about all the excitement that would take place when she would wake up.

Us adults played games the rest of the night and had homemade apple pie.

Christmas morning Ryan and I got a fire going down stairs, turned on the tree, got music playing and the video camera all setup and then woke everyone up to come open presents. Jayna actually slept in on Christmas morning, so we had to go wake her up too. Red on the other hand was already to go. Every year she somehow knows when it is Christmas morning. The presents can sit under the tree for weeks untouched by her, but when it is Christmas morning she hunts under the tree for her presents drags them out and goes to town opening them. She gets the present opening concept better than Jayna does. Jayna loved seeing the new toys and games she got, but didn't really get to into ripping the paper off to find them.

Ryan got me a much needed upgraded paper trimmer. So now if you receive an invitation to one of my parties you can admire the sharper crisper paper edges. I really am excited to use it. Heck, I cried a couple Christmases ago when I got a labeler. He also got me this super cute knit headband. I love it and can't wait to see how it looks after I get a haircut, since it even looks cute with my scraggly hair right now. I really need to pick up crocheting and knitting so I can make these for myself in every color.

I got Ryan two new tools for the kitchen. A mandolin and a chopper. So now he is looking for any excuse to slice and dice things. He also got a terabyte external hard-drive for the computer for christmas so we can store more movies with out taking up all the memory on our computer. So what does that mean for all of us? Movie nights!!!

We all got such wonderful fun gifts from family and friends too. So thank you everyone.

Our Christmas brunch was wonderful as always. We had a new addition of freshly juiced orange juice to the spread thanks to the millions oranges we received as a gift from our neighbor, and the kitchen aid juicer attachment I just had to run out and buy.

Jayna loved her playroom! We took video of her seeing it for the first time so I will try to post some of it if I can. She was so excited to see everything in it and even did a little dance. She was so excited to play with all the toys even though they were ones she has always had and played with. The new room made them all new to her again. She loves the playhouse, it was the hit of the room. She loves running in and out of it and saying hello to us through the windows. Ryan said she is just like me, because one of the first things she did while in her new playroom was pick up the little stools around the table in the middle of the room and take them into her playhouse and arrange them. He said we just can't have a house with out furniture, or go into a room and not rearrange it. It was really funny.

So Christmas was great. A fun lazy day just hanging out with family. Now I can stop cooking and baking until Thursday that is. Then it will all start up again with New Years and the great Lund fondue tradition.

Christmas Grocery Shopping Challenge

2009-12-28T15:45:00.003-07:00

Christmas grocery shopping should be an olympic event. It takes just about as much preparation and physical exertion, I swear. Thank goodness I was kind to myself and had made and saved a master Christmas Eve and Christmas morning shopping list from last year. So all I had to do was make a few minor additions and hit print.

My mom and Jayna and I braved our way to the grocery store the day before Christmas Eve to get everything. It was crowded like I had expected, but was not too crazy, thanks to the fact that we did not go to Walmart. Jayna did really good considering how long it took us to find and get everything. We first went to the produce section and let Jayna help pick the produce and put the fruits and vegetables in bags for us. Tricks like that only entertained her so long though. So by the end of the trip we were just letting her do whatever made her happy. She ended up dragging one of the wet floor caution cones around with her all through the store. Then she started trying to crawl in it like it was a tent. By that point I could care less and just stood and took pictures of her. I mean really! The grocery trip was long for me so how could I expect her to just sit there in a cart contently that long. So I may have the kid dragging the cones around the store and getting dirty on the floor, but I for-sure do not have the kid screaming in the cart. Happy baby, Happy mom.

-4 Degree Overnighter

2009-12-13T23:07:00.010-07:00

Ryan's company had their Christmas party this last week up in Park City (well actually Midway) at the Zermatt resort. It is a beautiful swiss style resort that is tucked back in a cute little neighborhood were the houses have a similar exterior style. We got a room and spent the night at the resort which was fun.

The room also had signature swiss style paintings and art. Most of my ancestors are from Sweden in-fact my maiden name of Lund is swedish and there is a town by that name in sweden, but it is pronounced differently there then we pronounce it here. I have often joked about how strong my swedish and dutch roots and heritage must be for me so many generations removed to be so addicted and attracted to things like Ikea. So my attraction to the look and feel of the resort was no surprise to Ryan or I.

Outside they had these cool ice sculptures which I guess they are making and creating for an ice castle they are going to have there. It looks like it will be really cool when they are finished.

Before the party we got to take Jayna on a horse drawn sleigh ride in the snow. We bundled her all up in her new snow suit and prepared to freeze. It was about 4 below when we went out for the ride. You could hardly even see her because we had her scarf over her nose and her coat hood pulled down. She loved it though and for the first half yelled "Weeeeee" and raised her arms up in the air over her head as if on a roller-coaster. She was pretty awestruck by the big white horses pulling us and she didn't seem to mind the cold like the rest of us. It was about a 30 minute ride around an open field and trail. It was picture perfect and had an old-fashion christmas feel to it.

The Christmas party was a very typical company party. It was very nice though and had great food catered by the resort. They had gifts they gave away with a drawing and lucky me Ryan won a message at a Park City Spa. So I will be headed back up in the near future. Jayna was well behaved at the dinner, at least as well behaved as a little girl that age could be. When she would get too many wiggles towards the end of the night we would get her a piece of cheesecake or chocolate cake, and that would keep her quiet for awhile. I think she ate about two whole slices all by herself. Heck it was a party, so we let her go wild with the sweets. Then before we left for the night we let her dance to the live music which she was very interested in. I am sure the party went on for hours after we left, but it had been a party enough for this little family.

The next morning we packed up the car in the 11 below weather and headed back down the canyon. We stopped for breakfast and did some additional Christmas shopping and called it a great time had by all.

It's Never too Late to Be Thankful

2009-12-13T22:52:00.007-07:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving vacation to California. We had not been out to California for 3 or 4 years so it was fun and exciting to see what had changed and what had stayed the same. We did a night drive out in hopes that Jayna would sleep through the long drive. She did fairly well despite the fact that she would wake up in random casinos and gas stations along the way. She probably thought she was having some crazy dreams or something. We pulled into Ryan's parents house early in the morning and the fun began. That is after we took a long nap.

Jayna loved playing with her Grandma Hutchings, playing on the stairs, washing dishes, and playing the piano. Grandma and Grandpa were kind enough to babysit a couple of nights and one afternoon so that Ryan and I could relive our courtship days back in our old stomping grounds, go to the temple, do some Christmas shopping, and go to a movie. I think it was the most we had ever left Jayna in a single week. Before this trip we have only had maybe two date nights in the last 2 years. She does great though and never minds one or both of us being gone. She did start to catch on a little and was always asking where we were by the end of the week.

My favorite thing we did with Jayna on this trip was take her to Apple Hill. It was so fun to be able to take her someplace that I remember having such much fun at as a kid. It was one of those full circle moments in life. It was beautiful up in the hills and we bought our apples for our Thanksgiving apple pie there.

I had a list of places that we had to go to while on this trip. The most crucial being my two favorite sandwich shops. Beach House for the surf'n bird, yum yum, and La Bou for a turkey sandwich and dill dip with a sliced baguette. Huh, I can hardly type this without drooling. We also drove past all the houses I used to live in. The one in Granitebay and the one in Rosevile. Everything looked so different to me and it took me awhile to figure out what it was. It was the trees. They had grown so big and tall and shaded and lined all the streets so beautifully. When I lived in Granitebay it was a newer town with freshly built subdivisions with new landscaping and young seedlings supported by poles lining the streets. My Rosevile neighborhood looked the same as I remembered, in-fact I was surprised at just how well maintained all the yards and houses were. There were tons of kids playing in the court across from my old house. It was nice to think that the neighborhood had gone through a whole cycle and once again had young kids playing and running around. Our old house looked like it may have had no-one living in it or was a rental, because it actually was the least maintained out of all the house on the street.

I also had a blast shopping at the mall that I worked at for years. They had practically doubled the size of it and it had about ever brand name store imaginable in it. More than half the stores were ones we do not have and will probably never have in Utah. It is a good thing that mall was not that big when I worked there, I for-sure would have spent every penny I earned there. Even though I practically did anyway back in the day. Ryan asks me about once a year what happen to all the money I was making before we got married. I just ask him back if he thought I looked hot and dressed cute.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Ryan's aunt Gayla's house up in Pollock Pine. I have to say it was the best Thanksgiving dinner I have ever had. Everything was amazing! Her stuffing was the best, I will share the recipe on my other blog when I get it.

The other thing that I enjoyed about our vacation was getting a new perspective on snacks and meals watching Ryan's mom. Sometimes it is so easy to get stuck in a rut making the same old things that you always buy or are familiar with. Debbie had lots of nuts and raisins and fun little bowls of goodies she would put out during the day. We also made homemade sushi which turned out great and when we would have oatmeal she would have so many fun toppings out for us. So I made a little list of things I wanted to work into our food routine once I got back home. I am happy to say I have lots of new fun snacks in my pantry right now, and put more than brown sugar on my oatmeal in the mornings. Thanks Debbie!

Our time went by way to fast and before we knew it it was time to head back home. We will make it a point not to wait another 4 years before we head back out to California. We are thankful for such great family that is willing to have us come stay with them. Thanks again!

What We Have Been Up-To Lately...

2009-11-20T09:34:00.008-07:00

Here is just a summary of what the Hutchings have been up-to lately.

Our huge tree out front is dropping its leaves and it is amazing. Our whole yard is just covered in golden leaves, and the tree still has a ton more leaves to shed. Jayna loves playing in the leaves and using her rack.

I think Jayna had an adverse reaction to her last vaccination, because it turned her into a wild girl. She actually did great at her doctors visit, and did not even shed one tear when she got poked with the needle.

Ryan and I did some wonderful planning and ended up having the Activity Day girls over to our house at the same time as the Teachers and Priests. It was a crazy night, but it went well. It made me happy and anxious at the same time to have all those kids running around the house.

I Pronounce this House Clean...

2009-11-12T10:42:00.005-07:00

Ever since we moved into our new home the dishwasher has been my demise. The previous owners that foreclosed on the home took all the appliances and then some when they bitterly left the home. So the bank had just put in cheap appliances. We were okay with it knowing that the appliances were new and that we would slowly over the next couple of years upgrade them. The dishwasher however was anything, but a dish washer. It would leave food particles all over the dishes and everything had horrible caked on spots that I could hardly get off scrubbing it. My silverware was looking sad and dingy, and I just felt like the poor washings were taking there toll on all my kitchenware. I now finally lived in a house capable of entertaining lots of people and all my entertaining-ware looked like poo. Not except-able!

Ryan usually dose the dishes and I am very grateful to have a husband that does so, but he does do them his own special way. Mind you I clean dishes like I am hand washing them before I put them in the dishwasher, but Ryan thinks they just go straight in the dishwasher. So needless to say the dishwasher was causing a rift in our division of labor around the house. Ever time I would unload the dishwasher I would find myself stirring to angry at Ryan for not washing them good enough, and further despising the cheap white crank knob of a dishwasher we had. So finally I had had enough, and started my campaign for a new dishwasher. It took a couple lengthy discussions, but I finally convinced the Man that it would be better for everyone if we just solved this problem.

So I went back to my RC Willey man Lance Kingsford (he is the one that got us our refrigerator). If you have never heard our RC Willey story about our fridge you need to. Lets just say we are RC Willey fans for life, and I never thought I would ever say that. Lance found me a great Bosch Dishwasher in our price range and wrote me up a ticket because he was going out of town. We price compared at some other stores, and realized the Bosch one was our best deal. We went back to RC Willey to buy it, and they told us it was a floor model and that we would have to pick it up ourselves. I thought it was weird that Lance had never told me that it was a floor model, and it kinda threw a wrench into our thinking about buying it. We would no longer have the 14 day return or exchange and things like that. We eventually ended up buying it anyway, and later the next week Ryan picked it up and brought it home and installed it. The next day I got a call from Lance who had just go back into town. He said he did not know why they sold it to me like that, and gave me another $100's off my dishwasher. I had not even called or complained about it. I will find any excuse to buy something from Lance. He totally takes care of his customers.

I love my new dishwasher it is so cool, and does a great job at cleaning my dishes. The luster of my silverware is coming back and there are no-more feuds about dirty dishes.

Happy Birthday To You...

2009-11-09T07:00:00.001-07:00

Saturday was Ryan's 29th Birthday, so we did the annual boy's night out. We went to the good old nickel arcade where we blew through nickels like no tomorrow and racked up the tickets playing awesome little kid games.

This time Jayna was able to walk around and explore so it was all new to her again. She loved going in the little rides and liked watching all the lights on the machines. She was a good helper at getting the tickets out when we would win, and I think we successfully avoided catching the swine flu from any of the dirty games.

I made my yearly treat bags for the boys so that they could have snacks while playing their video games, which they appreciated. Then when are thumbs and fingers were to sore to push another button we headed over to the Wing Coop to pick up some hot wings. I myself hate wings, but the husband loves them. After waiting for an entire hour for the two yahoo girls behind the counter to finish our order, after they made the fryer explode and boil over I hated wings even more. The boys thought they were worth the wait though.

Back at the house they zoned out watching UFC, while gnawing on bones. Sick, double sick. They each tried one of the really really hot wings and all about died. That was my favorite part. Then they hung out and played ping pong until two in the morning when I finally gave Ryan "the look". It was really fun! Ryan is lucky to have such good and loyal friends. So see everyone again next year same time, same place.

The Worth of a Daughter? Part II

2009-11-05T09:30:00.017-07:00

Part I

My mom did a great job at the funeral. There was a viewing in the morning at a funeral home in Bountiful on main street and then a burial in Franklin Idaho. There was no service because my Mom and her Brother could not speak at it and no-one else would. So the night before my mom had me make up memory cards that people could write their memories of Shari on, and we also printed out life histories so people could take and read them at the viewing. I printed out and cut more than 50 of the memory cards, but only four people had memories to write down and they were really weird. Guess that is what happens when you are an mean old cuss.

My Mom has some of the most loyal supportive friends a girl could have. Karen Duke was one of the first people at the funeral, and she is the friend my Mom sent down to the funeral home Halloween night to check on her Mom for her. Cynthia Clegg and her Husband came up from American Fork to support her and let her have a shoulder to cry on. They are both just great and said the nicest things to me about my Mom.

I think my Mom cried at the viewing just because of the neighbors and church people that helped her so much as a youth. They were the people that lived in the houses thats doors she would run down the street pounding on when she was trying to get help to stop her parents knock out drag out fights. One neighbor didn't say much, but what she did say meant a lot to my Mom. The little white haired lady is blind now and got right up in my Mom's face holding it, and said "I know". It was just the acknowledgment that someone remembered how bad things were too, that touched my Mom. The other thing that really got the tears flowing even for me was when my Mom's mia-maide teacher showed up. She did not even know if my Mom was active and my Mom shared with me that she was a really big reason why she stayed so active during her child-hood. I just had to hug this little lady that made such a big impact for my Mom and our family. So next time you think your church calling is not important you can remember that it was a mia-maide teacher that made the difference in my Mom's life changing the course of her future.

Then in the middle of the viewing her brother that she has not seen since she was my age came. Now mind you we have been feed some crazy things about him from my Mom's mom over the years. She has told us he is in mental institutions, running from drug-lords in SLC, you name it.So when he showed up and was a cute little man in a nice suit we were pleasantly surprised. He shacked our hands and said hi, but I could tell he was standoffish and unsure of what to do. So I told him that I remembered him, and he got this shocked look on his face and said "you do?" I told him that as a little girl I remember saying goodbye to him at his dad's funeral. After I said that he just reached out and hugged me. You could tell it really touched him that somebody remembered him. It was sadly obvious too that their mom had successfully isolated them from one-another leaving them all alone to go their separate ways, with no chance of reconciling with each other. We learned that he has been out of a job for awhile and is having a hard time finding employment, that he is living with a couple over in the ward boundaries of our old ward over in Holladay were we lived within a minute from him for three years. Realizing his situation made us even more upset about their mom giving them nothing, because Kenidy could have used the house and the money to finally have a fair shot at life. He too seems like he has done better than where he came from, but possibly has typical problems from being a product of that kind of up-bringing.

My mom asked him why he thinks he was in trouble with their mom and he told the saddest story of why. He said that the only thing he can think of was this story that his mom has guilted and punished him for his whole life:

When he was two years old my Mom and him got the measles and at the same time their dad got sick. So the Mom took both of them up to their aunts house (the cousin who got every-things mom) to stay until they were better. A month or so later when she came to pick them up she called Kenidy to come to her and instead of running to his mom he ran to the aunt and grabbed her leg. His mom has never forgiven him for that and has used that story his whole life to tell him how selfish and ungrateful he is.

My mom herself can remember things she did when she was three that her mother never let her forget. If that is not the saddest story, I do not know what is. I just do not know what these poor kids could have done that was worth abandoning them their whole adult lives, or making them feel miserable about themselves. The fact that their mom too had one last jab to send their way and that someone is willing to carry it out is beyond my comprehension.

I hope that we can get to know Kenidy more and that he can know that he does have family that he can call in times of need. He needs to have a number in his back pocket and it needs to be his sisters. Kenidy left the viewing early. You can tell he is really lost and insecure. He also said that he did not know how to come to the funeral and represent his mother as her son if she never wanted him to be her son in the first place.

After the viewing we made the two hour drive to Franklin to the small old cemetery there. Just about everyone buried there is an ancestor of my Mom's in some way or another. It is a really picture perfect place. The whole town as you drive up on it is flat with farm land and gold colored fields and then to the left of town there is a small thick grove of trees that holds the cemetery in the middle of it. My dad dedicated the grave and a couple people shared odd memories of Shari and then we were done. My Mom mingled awhile and I took pictures of some of the old grave sights for her. We just let Jayna run around the cemetery, and there was another little girl there that she played with too.

Call me weird but since the day I started getting into photography back in high-school my favorite or ideal place I would like to take pictures would be a cemetery. I just think they hold such history and have the most interesting energy in them. I love it. Like I said though I am weird. Ryan hates anything about old people or death.

So everything is done with though, but I think my parents are going to look into contesting the will. In-fact they have not even seen a copy of it yet which is crazy. So If that cousin thinks she is withholding money from two adults that don't need or deserve it she is wrong.

She is withholding it from two poor kids.

One that was a survivor and ran down the street and sought out refuge in others, and one that was a victim and shut himself up in his room writing poems and listening to load music to drown it all out.

The Worth of a Daughter?

2009-11-02T18:41:00.004-07:00

I know this is long, but I think it will be worth reading...

What is the worth of a daughter? Does it change if you have disagreements? Does it change if you are not as close to them? Does it change if she lives a different life than you would want her to? As little sweet Jayna sits in my lap as I write this post I can not imagine her worth in my eyes changing over anything. She is my world, she is my gift from heaven, she is my little baby girl. I am sure we will have are moments, and I do not know what the future holds for her or us. I know she will have her agency to choose things for herself in life, but I have and work everyday to grow the kind of love with her that will withstand the trials of this life. Some of that love I feel is just instilled in me. It is just something I posses as a woman, I feel I have that love for my children before they even come here. That is why I do not understand the following.

Lots of you are familiar with the circumstances of my mothers up-bringing. She was a poor child most of her life with two alcoholic parents that divorced early on in her child-hood. She has stories to tell of wearing her aunts bath slippers to school, because they were the only shoes she could get. Stories of having to entertain her drunk father on the front lawn in fear that he would brake the house windows again leaving them cold during the winter. Stories of thinking her middle name growing up was s**t head because she heard the phrase so often. Stories of her mother calling my father during their engagement to tell him that she was a slut and that he didn't know who he was marrying. Stories of her mother disowning her over her choices as a youth to join the church and live a better life. Now my mother has always laughed these stories off, and has told them with great humor, but they are insights into the harsh reality that was her life no matter how they are told.

I myself have probably met my Mom's mom a dozen times or so that I can remember. My memories mostly consist of my brother Craig and I sitting on her living room floor playing with old cigaret lighters. That is until my dad would order us to the car snapping us out of our child-minded daze to realize that our Mom was in a heated argument with her mother, of which my Dad was going to have none of it. So needless to say growing up I always thought I only had one grandma which was my Dad's mother. My Mom would contact her mom every couple of years or so, or if there was a death in the family or big news to share. My mom faithfully would send christmas cards to her and pictures of us kids, but we never would receive anything in return. In-fact the only thing I have ever received from her was fifty dollars for my wedding, which was a shock and quit generous considering. My mother also has one sibling, her brother Kennedy whom she has not seen since she was my age at her fathers funeral. She has asked for his information over the years wither it be for weddings or christmas cards, but her mother would never give her the information she requested. So as years past I think my Mom gave up, got over it, and moved on. There are only so many things you can do or say to someone who wants to be as bitter, mean, and lonely as her mom wanted to be. It is sad to waste a life-time, and misery loves company, but my Mom wanted more than that.

Since my Mom has little contact with her mom I have always asked her about the inevitable. "How will you know if your mom dies?" her answer has always sadly been, "I don't know, I think her neighbor will probably call me." Well this last Friday we found out. Friday night before a Halloween party my Mom received a call from a child-hood girlfriends mother asking her where her mom was. My mom had no idea what she was talking about, and the friends mom had no idea of the history between my Mom and her mother. It was embarrassing for her to relay to she is not really in-contact with her mom, and would not know where she is. The friends mom explained that Shari (my moms mom) had been in the hospital for the last two weeks and had been moved, but that no-one knew to where. My mom called me and I called the hospital that she had been at, but they no longer had record of where they had sent her. A few phone calls later my Mom found out where she was and found out that everyone in the family had known of her failing health and was told by her mom not to call her or her brother. Knowing her mom it was a last guilt trip, to see just how long it would take her rotten kids to find out that she was in the hospital. My mom sent a family friend that lives near the rest home down to see her and give them her information since she is next-of-kin. Her friend reported that her mother was unconscious and that the doctors said she had taken a turn for the worse two days earlier. My Mom then decided that she was not going to hurry out to visit her mom since it had been her wishes not to see her. My mom explained to me that she was at peace with not going, because her last conversation with her mom was a decant one, and was when she called her to tell her that Jayna had been born and that she was a great-grandma. Then a few hours later her cousin Toni called her to let her know that her mom had past away. My mom was also told that her mom left everything to Toni and gave her and her brother each a $1. That's right a dollar.

Now my Mom by no means needs the money, but I do not care who you are or what your relationship is with your mother that is a slap in the face. It was just one last way her mom could tell her she was good for nothing. So as I type this my Mom is up at her childhood house that contains all her memories of life, with her cousin and her cousins lawyer going through pictures and things. Having to ask for permission to copy childhood photos, and being told she cannot even have a cast-iron cooking pan. Whether they are good memories or bad memories they are my mothers. They are the rooms that she hid in when her parents fought. They are pans she learned how to cook with as a little girl. They are the pictures she is in with her father and mother. They are the things that only her and her brother are owed or deserved after having to endure half a life-time of sad and less than perfect memories.

I personally think my Mom should just frame the dollar with a little quote underneath it that reads "I survived having Shari Logan as my mother and all I got was this lousy dollar". But my Mom is not handling it with anger like most of us would feel justified in doing. No, she is up there right now being as sweet as can be, helping as much as she can. Why? Because that is how my mother has learned how to survive all her life. She has survived by turing bad into good and negative into positive. She has survived all that has come her way, by showing charity and love to those around her the best she knows how. The other alternative would have been to live an ugly life of bitterness, hate, and loneliness like her mother did.

So Mom I thank you. I thank you for having the buck stop at you. For knowing and wanting a better life for you and your children. For sacrificing relationships with your family to make a happier life for me and my family.

Your mother may only think you are worth giving a dollar to, but your Heavenly Father thinks you are worth giving the world and eternity to. I love you.

So I ask you, what is the worth of a daughter?

And the Winner is...

2009-10-31T08:44:00.007-07:00

Ryan! Ryan won the ward chili cook-off. I was really excited for him, but jealous because I did not even place. What's up with that? So he got a bottle of sparkling cider and his name will go up on the plaque in the hall. He said that next year he will not enter so that I have a chance of winning. Thanks. My spider-web cupcakes turned out really good, way better than I expected. They were gone in two seconds, so I did not even get one. Oh, well.

Jayna dressed up in her little pretty witch costume and I did her make-up, but by the time we got there she had smeared it all over her face. Guess mascara and a 19 month old don't mix. What can I say I was a makeup artist for 7 years, you need mascara. She loved putting on the make-up though. I could not believe how well she sat there. She would even close her eyes for me while I put her eyeshadow on. I think I should do her make-up during church that way we would be able to sit the whole time.

Jayna loved running around with all the kids at the party. She thinks she is such a big girl when she is around all the older kids. It's cute.

Chili Wars

2009-10-29T22:57:00.005-07:00

The chili war has officially begun! I am laughing my head off right now, because it is 12:00 at night and we are having chili panic at our house.

When we went to our new ward we noticed a plaque in the hall next to the bishops office that was titled Cimarron Ward Chili Cook-off Winners. It has engraved plates with the winner of each year on it. We were excited that our ward was so into their chili cook-off, because Ryan and I both come from families that have ward award winning chili recipes. So when the sign up sheet went around in church to sign up to bring chili to the cook-off / halloween party I signed both of us up. So not only are we in competition with the ward, we are in competition with each other. I don't know what's worse.

Ryan started his chili tonight since the recipe calls for it to sit over night in the refrigerator which is what has triggered the chili panic. Earlier this week I told Ryan that we needed to get another big soup pot so that we could take both the chiles to the party. Then I decided that I wanted to get two cheap pots since ours are new and I have had whole crock-pots broken at church events. So when we went to Walmart the other night I saw some of those kettle looking pots (almost like the ones you do canning in) that are speckled, so I bought two. They are kind of tall and are 12 quarts, but I did not think anything of it.

Well, Ryan has made a single patch of his chili and has waited two hours for it to simmer and then transferred it into one of those pots and it only fills it about 3 inches. Now he is running to the store to buy more ingredients for his chili, because in his words "It looks so stupid". It really does look stupid though. It looks like he made enough chili for two people to eat it. I am having him get more of my ingredients too, so that I can double mine. A single batch of my recipe is a pretty good amount (way bigger than Ryan's single batch), the Lund's always make big serving of food for some reason.

I have a feeling it is going to be a very late night, since he is planning on making another batch and it has to simmer for two hours. Now I hope he wins so that my lack of sleep will have been for something. I already caught him trying to put my dried onion flakes into his chili, so I better keep at least one eye open tonight so that I do not get sabotaged.

Tomorrow I will be making my spider web cupcakes for the ward party too. So I will be posting about that on the Bird and the Berry. Cross your fingers that we make it through tonight and do well at the chili cook-off.

Double Trouble

2009-10-27T09:34:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure we are headed in the right direction here.

Weekend in Review: Walmart / Leaves

2009-10-25T19:51:00.005-07:00

Walmart Experience-

Walmart has to be one of the most frustrating places to shop especially when you have a kids. Saturday we all went to Walmart to pick up our groceries for the upcoming week. I knew it was going to be a great trip when I pulled into the parking-lot and saw a full grown women in a superman shirt and matching cape. We had a long list, but were confident we could bust it out before Jayna would get stir crazy. We cruised through all the isles and the produce department and had one last stop at the deli to pick up some lunch meats and pepperoni for homemade pizza. It took forever! We waited so long that we even had to resort to getting Jayna one of those little cartons of fishy crackers and let her open and eat them before we even bought them. There was only one person in front of me that ordered two things. The problem was that there was only one old lady working the whole deli and she was slow as molasses. I was frustrated, but at the same time felt bad for the poor grandma that she even had to be working at Walmart in the first place, and that they had left her there all alone. It seriously must have taken me at least 20 minutes to get the 3 things I needed from her, and that was after I had already waited 10 minutes for the person before me. I could have gotten through a cutting table line at Joanne Fabrics on a sale night faster. Half way through my deli experience I told Ryan to go get inline at one of the checkout stands, because we all know how fast those go. When I met up with him to my surprise he was close to the front of his line. We got all the stuff up on the belt, and then something strange began to occur. Something that has never ever happened to me at Walmart. The food started flying of the belt and into the little plastic bag carousel with record speed. Ryan and I both immediately noticed the strange phenomenon we were witnessing. Ryan hurried over to grab a bag and upon touching it the bagger said very seriously "I'm not done with that one". Ryan took a step back and was like okay okay I will leave you to your work. Then upon permission we loaded our bags into our cart. Ryan told the checker that he had never seen anyone at Walmart bag that fast, there was a big pause and we thought he didn't hear what Ryan had said, but then he replied "I'm only going half the speed I usually go." We were trying so hard not to just bust out laughing. It was so funny. After we left we thought that we should have given him a tip for doing such a great job. The other thing we noticed was that all our bags were evenly distributed, which again never happens at Walmart. Usually I find every can I bought in the same bag. So if you ever find yourself at the Walmart off Redwood Road I highly recommend getting in my man Kevin's line.

Playing in the Leaves-

Sunday afternoon we all went out front to play on the lawn since the sun was out and shinning. Ryan got Jayna her little rack and he grabbed one for himself and started showing her how to rack up the leaves. Jayna looked so cute all bundled up trying to rack the leaves. Ryan would fill his rack up like a shovel and toss the leaves up in the air so that they would rain down on her. She loved it! It was a real moment for me to see her experience the fall leaves for the first time. She play in them and was curious about how they felt and what she could do with them. She would crinkle them up in her fists, or throw them up in the air like she had seen Ryan do. She would jump in them or bloop herself in the middle of the big pile laughing. It was so cute and beautiful to have my whole family just outside playing with the leaves in the crisp autumn air. I realized that this was what it was all about. I brought Jayna here to this earth so that she could experience wonderful fun things like playing in the leaves that she just wouldn't be able to experience anywhere else. I hope I will remember my fall leaf moment when I get those nervous thoughts about what this world is going to be like for her and her family, because Heavenly Father has given us so many beautiful and wonderful things on this earth, and they are still here and still stand as reminders of his love for us.

Wouldn't We All

2009-10-23T10:54:00.002-07:00

I have a little cupcake making play kit that I have Jayna play with while I am making cupcakes in the kitchen. It is really cute. It has eggs, butter and the works, so she has everything mommy has to make cupcakes. This-morning we were doing our cupcake making routine and she was begging for batter while I was scooping it into the cupcake liners. So I poured some into her little cupcake pan and she began licking it out. Wouldn't we all like to fill up a cupcake pan and just like it out? I know sometimes I would like to. Lucky chick!

Does Anyone Think This is A Problem?

2009-10-23T10:51:00.003-07:00

My child likes to walk around the house every once in awhile with the ziplock bags I use to organize her toys over her head. So strange.

Will one make me taller and one make me smaller?

2009-10-21T08:09:00.004-07:00

So these are the pills that are suppose to change my life. They don't look like much but they must be made of gold because I payed over $100 for 30 days worth. This is a compound medication because like I had said before the "real thing" is on a world wide shortage. So maybe you could consider these pills to be fools gold. It is crazy to think that a man made pill could fix so many problems. I guess I should just be grateful that I live in the day in age I do. That way I do not have to be like the women on my mom's side of the family (that she has been finding out about while doing genealogy) who were bedridden most of their lives never knowing why.

Oh, I found a doctor who I think can help me better than the one I have, that is if you can call him a doctor. He does everything via email and phone and it is $100 an hour. I will have to be sure to cut out all my "chatterboxing". It is kinda weird, but I got a good referral to him. And if weird gets the job done than bring on the weird. So here goes nothing.

Sunday Happy Moments

2009-10-20T09:28:00.002-07:00

This last Sunday our ward had regional conference and it was not being broadcast at the stake building. So going to the conference center was the only way to attend it. Since we did not think the busy body 19 month old would sit nicely for two hours we sadly opted not to go this time. So we had a lazy dazy Sunday just enjoying each others company. I was trying to video Jayna pretending to talk on the phone, but as soon as she sees the camera she stops what she is doing and wants me to show her pictures. She got in a really funny mood after looking at pictures and started making really funny faces at the camera. I would take her picture and the flash would go off and she would laugh really hard. She did this for awhile and it was just one of those sweet more than perfect moments in life. I snapped off this cute picture off her leaning on my shoulder and one of her showing her teeth. She has way to much personality for the little girl she is. I love waiting to see what she will do next.

Pumpkin Fun

2009-10-18T21:17:00.009-07:00

For the past couple of weeks I have been looking forward to the Saturday that we would go to a pumpkin patch and pick out the perfect pumpkins for our front porch. I kept imagining Jayna in a cute little outfit trying to pick up pumpkins and me taking great pictures of her doing so. That is not quit how it turned out this Saturday though.

I decided that we should go to Thanksgiving Point to pick out our pumpkins because we had never been there before during Halloween. I thought it would be really farmy, but it really wasn't. It was more like a carnival or fair. They just had piles of pumpkins for you to choose from, which was far from the vine filled field I had been imagining. They did have white pumpkins though and I love those. So there I was the stupid mom with her kid all dressed up in leggings, a little plaid shirt, and shiny black boots that I made the whole family go out and get the night before. All the other kids where in play clothes which were appropriate since the whole place was filled with nothing but, slides, bouncers, and jumpy things. Oh well. At least I was not the mom that dressed their kid up and did not want them to get the outfit dirty.

Jayna had a blast on the slides. I still think she needs to have someone ride down the big slides with her, and my thoughts were confirmed as I saw mom after mom go down the big slides with their kids. I was out numbered though since Dad and Uncle Devin were there. So I had to watch my baby get laid down on the top of the slide and let go. She really does love it though. She only had a scared look on her face the first time and then she just wanted to run right back up to the top for more. Ryan even put her down the big tube slide by herself too. That is what dad's are for though, other wise moms would be going down the slides with there teenagers.

We went on the little train tractor ride that was being driven by a boy who was maybe 15 if that. Jayna loved it when we would go over the bumps and the little cart would wiggle back and forth. She just loves adventure. That is what I get for rafting down the Grand Canyon pregnant I guess. She is a thrill seeker. I am proud though. For having no siblings she is a pretty tough and brave little girl.

I did get these few pictures and I am pretty happy with them. And who cares if you do not get the pictures as long as you get the moments. We wore her out pretty good. She was pooped after we went and ate dinner and slept the rest of the way home. I just love her. She is the best.

Moxie: The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage.

2009-10-16T21:37:00.006-07:00

Last week my Grandma's dog Moxie got ran over by a car and passed away. It is always hard to deal with the death of a family pet. It is something I know I will have to face sometime in the future, and it is hard to even think about. I just feel so bad that my Grandma is having to go through this. She has had to deal with so much loss in her life. In-fact Moxie was a gift the family gave her after her second husband passed away. So this-morning when she called and I could tell she was not doing well I headed up to Bountiful with Jayna to get her out of the house and go to lunch. It is kinda neat that Jayna has a Great-grandmother that is still alive. My great-grandmother was alive when I was born, but I do not remember much about her and she passed away when I was just 3 or 4. So I thought it was cute when Grandma Goodfellow was worried about Jayna going outside without a sweater. Her solution to the problem was to wrap this large scarf around her neck. Jayna looked cute and I was surprised she left it on. It reminded me of that scene in the "Christmas Story" when the mom wraps the kid up like a mummy in winter clothes to walk to school. That movie probably depicts the same generation my grandmother is from too so it all makes sense. Grandma showed us where Moxie was buried in the backyard, which was sad. She seemed to handle it okay though. It is fun to see Jayna run around in the same places that I ran around as a little girl. My Grandma always tells me stories about how she would take me around the yard to look at all the fruit trees, and how it always amazed her how interested in them I was.

We had a good time at lunch and I was surprised how much Jayna loved interacting with Grandma Goodfellow. She played a cute little game with Jayna where she would walk her fingers across the table and tickle her. Jayna just ate it up, and giggled and giggled. I hope our visit made her feel a little better. I think grief is the hardest thing to give comfort to.

Announcement Everyone! (not what you think)

2009-10-12T08:13:00.009-07:00

Okay, I know this is just what everyone needs, another blog to check...

I have decided to create another blog just for my projects, parties, crafts, and food. That way I can market it better and hopefully get the ball rolling a little to pick up some gigs on the side doing parties, baking, and photo editing for people. A girl can only come up with so many excuses to make cupcakes and have parties at her own house, so I need to branch out to other peoples houses.

The blog is obviously in the beginning stages and will probably go through some changes here in the next little while, but if you find it worthy ... link to it .... attach it ... blog it .... email it .... post it .... or do whatever you do with things you like and want to share. I have an image on the blog that you can copy the code for and place on your blog if you would like.

So Hutchings Home will still be updated, but will probably just be more about the family etc. I am sure I will cross post some things about house projects and family parties, but for the really crafty stuff visit the new blog.

I named the new Blog... Drum Roll Please... the Bird and the Berry, after cute Jayna Berry. She loves birds, and I often feel like I am her mama bird, and well, she is a little berry after all.

So my hopes are that you enjoy the new blog, leave lots of comments and share it with others who you think will enjoy it too.

Thanks!

* Pictures of the Dr.Seuss Baby shower are already posted on the new blog.

There's a Little Chick in My House

2009-10-07T09:38:00.003-07:00

Jayna has been very moody lately to say the least. My hunch is that she is going through a temper-tantrum phase and is teething all at the same time. So I have been trying my best to enjoy the few moments a day that she is not upset or screaming. She was wearing her cute PJs, and then wanted to wear this hat. She looked so cute I just had to snap a few happy pictures of her. Now I can look at these pictures when she is being grumpy and be reminded that there just may be a happy moment coming soon.

All Tied Up This Weekend

2009-10-03T20:24:00.005-07:00

Ryan had a little mission reunion that some guys had planned for this weekend. Since "guys" had planned it I was worried no-one would bring any treats so I whipped up some cupcakes for the occasion. Thank goodness I still have some plastic cupcake containers I was able to beg off the bakery ladies at Walmart. Cupcakes are the worse things in the world to transport, and the containers I have found so far are either too deep or too shallow for my liking. I found some disposable cupcake boxes and inserts on-line that I still need to order and try out, but until then I will just keep begging Walmart I guess.

Jayna and I drove up to Jared's house before the reunion, but we got there a little early. Thank goodness Jared lives right next to a park so I could take Jayna there and let her get some of her wiggles out. She loves the swings and unfortunately has only been in one three times. I loved this picture though.

The reunion was fun, not many people came, but I was glad we were there to say hi to the Ryan's mission president and his wife, they are great people. We went out to dinner afterwords and the boys even managed to get in a game of pong back at Jared's. It was a really late night for Jayna of which we dealt with the consequences of that today, but it was a fun Friday night out.

A Little Elbow Grease

2009-09-25T09:32:00.006-07:00

We have 4 metal railing around our house that have seen better days. Who knows what they originally looked like because you can tell they have been painted several times over the years. They are white and rusty, and have paint chipping off all over them. I figured we would just end up replacing them with new wrought iron, but the other day I thought I would try and see how well I could revive them. I sanded the railings down and used a black rust reformer spray paint that chemical reacts with the rust in-order to turn it into a solid. A-lot of elbow grease and six spray paint cans later I had railing that looked as good as new. We will see how they hold up this winter, but if they do I will have saved myself a couple hundred dollars at least in new wrought iron. I have only done the railing out front and the one to the basement, and I think I will wait to do the balcony and garage railings next spring. I still have a couple spots to touch up, but over all I think it looks great. Now all I have to do is paint the shutters and repaint the front door and wood trim. I am counting the months down until we can rip out the" white trash" chain-link fence too. I can not stand the way it looks. We are either going to put up more black wrought iron with a little gate to the basement entrance or do a picket vinyl that will match the yard fence we are going to put in. Are outdoor projects are slowly coming along. Are biggest projects for out front will be replacing the driveway and fixing up the concrete porch. We are still looking into what we want to do, and have mostly been looking into and planning out what we want to do so we can start right away next spring. I am really looking forward to planting and landscaping next spring if all goes as planned. Here are some before and after pictures.

Mystery Diagnosis

2009-09-24T19:37:00.004-07:00

Huh... where do I even begin.

A couple of months ago I found myself at my wits-end with several things that I have been dealing with for the last 7 years. The main thing being the excessive weight gain I have had, and the other being the pain that I have had in my legs from the knee down that has become severely worse in the last year. I thought that my knees had been hurting from the extra weight, and I just couldn't take it any more. I kept thinking that if I didn't do something about it I would have a soon future of knee surgeries, that is how much pain I was in. I never complained or talked about it much because why would you if you thought it was due to you being a fatty. So I signed up for a fool proof solution to my problems, a six week military style boot-camp called Bootcamp with Jess.

This was it, I was going to loss this extra weight once and for all. I was going to do it so that I could hopefully get pregnant next summer, and have a better chance of not having a heart-attack or stroke which I came so close to having with Jayna due to the severe preeclampsia condition I get while pregnant. So needles to say I was very committed to doing the program since I was doing it for more reasons than just looking good in a bathing-suit. The bootcamp was no freakn' joke. I had to wear a 30 pound weight vest for the first week which was "hell week". If I wasn't running on the treadmill I was running to a station to do weights, or I was doing pushups. I had to sing songs about killing babies and crushing little birds heads while I ran my guts out around the parking lot. I think I cried 4 out of the 5 morning while I drove home that first week. I could not even lift my arms after the first three days and no amount of ibuprofen would ease the pain. Ryan even had to wash and blow-dry my hair one of the mornings, which I guess was common since one of the other girls told me her husband had to do her hair her first week of the program too. I stuck to it though. I cut out all dairy, carbs, sugars, sodas, you name it it was cut out. I was eating salads and salads. I probably took in no more than 800 calories a day. The last week of hell week all the different locations meet together at a high-school track to do bleachers for an hour. Weight vest and all I hurled myself up and down the bleachers doing the best I could. I could not have done worse unless I had quit. Glad that my first week was over and done with I went home to weigh myself and see exactly what that week of hard work had done for me. That is when my world kinda turned upside down. I had weighed my self on Sunday night the night before I had started hell week, and when I stepped on the scale only 5 days later I had gained an entire 10 pounds. Ryan was shocked, and lets say I was less than encouraged. Still I stuck with it, I continued with the diet, I went every morning at 6:00 to workout. By week 5 my instructor finally started to notice what I had figured out weeks before. I had not lost a single pound! Not only that, my legs hurt so bad I could no longer run on the treadmill and was having to modify more and more of the workouts due to the pain in my legs. By the end of the program all I had done was work off the 10 pounds I had gained in the first 5 days of working out, and now I was practically a cripple.

Through the whole thing Ryan and I kept talking about things and going over problems I have had in the past 7 years or so, and all the sudden the puzzle pieces started coming together. Something was wrong. What if all these problems I have been having are all connected and are not separate things happening in my body like doctors have been telling me, but are symptoms for something bigger. I have had Pharisees, my hair has been falling out, I have leg pains, weight gain, headaches, miscarriage, dry skin, depression, intolerance to heat, and lack of energy. I called my mom to tell her what had happened and the first thing she said was "you have a thyroid problem". Why had I never connected these dots before? The doctors always had some simple and quick answer for everything. You need to be more active, you just had a baby, you are just stressed, this is normal.

My mom has suffered with thyroid problems for years now, and was diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease some years back when I was a teenager. We looked up the symptoms for it and I had 10 out of 10 of the symptoms. It was overwhelming. it is the biggest double edged sword to know that you are not having these weight and pain problems because you are just a lazy pig (like I have thought for the past 7 years), but on the other had if it was just you, that is a lot more manageable and fixable then a disease. I made an appointment to see a doctor, Ryan and I sat down and wrote out my medical history and did some research on the disease and prepared our case to present to the doctor. I was no longer going to be satisfied with a quick simple solution to my problems.

We went to the doctors, we told him of the family history and all the symptoms I had been experiencing for years, and I basically cried and begged and told him I could no longer live this way, and that I was unwilling to live my 30's like I had lived my 20's. He sat there until Ryan and I had exhausted every point we had to make and then he told me that I should take more fish oil for my hair and more vitamin D for my depression, and that there could be several reasons why I gained 10 pounds in 5 days. My thoughts about what he said are... so you are telling me everyone who does not take fish oils hair fall out... you will fix my depression , but I just have to live with the severe pain in my legs... and I would sure like to talk to the 5 other people who have told you they went on an intense workout program and diet and gained weight. It was a joke, but I refused to leave until he gave me the prescriptions I wanted and agreed to test me for thyroid problems and Hashimoto's disease. Oh, and the weirdest thing about all of this was that the night before I went to the Dr.'s we were watching mystery diagnosis and it was like watching my life on t.v., and it ended up being Hashimoto's disease. I just sat there crying, and all Ryan could say was "that is you". It was just one more thing that confirmed what was happening to me was real I was not just making all these things up. The prescription I got did not do me much good though because the medicine I need is on a world wide shortage right now, so there are waiting lists at every pharmacy, my mom cannot even get hers. Lovely timing I know. So I started on an alternative medicine and waited for my blood tests to come back. Now I have had my blood tested many times before all of which have come back normal, so he said he would do a different test this time. After waiting forever and not hearing anything I finally called the doctors office and they said it had been in for awhile and they didn't know why I didn't get a call. It showed that I do have a bad Thyroid problem, but they said I did not have Hashimoto's. I forgot to ask what kind of test they did to determine I did not have the Hashimoto's. Knowing what test is important because after talking more to my mom and researching things online I found out that there are two different tests and sometimes you can show up on one and not the other.

Hashimoto's disease is basically your body producing antibodies to attack what is trying to get to your thyroid, so the hormones that fuel your thyroid are not making it there for your thyroid to use, and since your thyroid controls just about every function in your body that is why the symptoms are so weird and vast and continue to get worse and worse. My mom did not have her Hashimoto's show up until she was pretty much bedridden with symptoms. So I am not willing to wait until it gets to that point for me. I will just continue to go to different doctors until I find someone who is going to treat the problem and not just my symptoms. I have read tons of similar stories online just like mine, and all though it is very overwhelming to see your life's miseries mirrored in someone else's story it is just as excitingly overwhelming to hear of how they fought to be an advocate for their own health and got their lives back by not giving up and demanding a solution.

My first step is going to be to get a new doctor, and my second step is going to be to try and get this medicine that I desperately need, and my third step is to get my life back. It has taken my mom probably 15 years or more to straighten out her medical problem, so I am hoping with her having done some of the leg work I can be ahead in this game. As for our families future, I am not sure. I know with the extra weight it is just far to risky for me to get pregnant and I am just not willing to risk my life, Jayna's mom, and Ryan's wife for another baby as much as I would like to have one sooner rather than later. Even with the pregnancy risks aside I physically do not think I could care for two children the way I would want to with the low energy and pain I am constantly in. I have lots of hope though, so if my plans of the perfect family timeline have to be put on hold and it turns out different then I thought it would be, then so be it. I feel very grateful for what I have. It was no easy task getting Jayna to our family, and now after I have learned more about this disease it is even more amazing that she is here, and that we got to the wonderful and inspired Midwife that we did. Heavenly Father did not let these problems interfere with our desires to bring a child into our family, and I know that if I am smart about things and do everything I can he will not let it interfere with that in the future. I know that the hereafter is going to be an amazing experience, but I am convinced that nothing will compare to the experiences that we all have here on this earth with are physical bodies. There are things we can feel and experience in this life both painful and joyful that I think will just not be comparable to anything else.

If you want to read more about Hashimoto's and other thyroid problems this is a great website that was created by someone who has gone through basically what I am going through. It will just blow your mind that there are so many people out there suffering just like I am and cannot get proper care from their doctors. Stop the Thyroid Madness

Ammons Heroes - Buddy Walk 2009

2009-09-20T10:58:00.002-07:00

This weekend we went to our second annual buddy walk to support our little nephew Ammon who has down-syndrome. Ammon is the cutest thing ever. He has had a rough going this year with various health speed bumps, but he is doing well and coming around to his old self. This year Summer named his team Ammons Heroes, but we feel like Ammon is our little hero. If you have ever read Summer and Brians blog posts about Ammon you know you cannot read about him with out feeling touched or inspired. I think we all learn lessons from our own trials and struggles and from hearing about others trials and struggles and that is what is so neat about Ammon. He has touched and taught us so much and has done so without ever uttering a word. He just has to look at you and be in your presence to do so. So neat to realize that everyone has their own little path and journey in this life.

We had a blast playing carnival games with Jayna, participating in the raffle, and eating snow-cones and all sorts of sugary treats. We cannot wait until next year!

A Sunday Summer Party

2009-09-20T10:00:00.004-07:00

Ryan and I are so bad at remembering peoples birthdays. It has been something we have struggled with ever since we got married. We always mean well, we set alarms and write it on the calendar, but when it comes to the actual day we always forget. So when we realized that we had forgot Summers birthday we felt so bad. I even called her and cried about it, because Summer has been the best sister-in-law I could have ever asked for. She is one of the kindest, nicest people I have ever meet. So to try and make it up to her we invited the Cheneys and Devin to our house for a nice Sunday Dinner. I made black bean and corn chunky salsa and grilled chicken with citrus salsa on a bed of mixed greens. It was so yummy! Hopefully I can sneak this dinner in again before the weather gets too cold to grill. We also had Izze sparkling sodas to drink and S'mores for our dessert. The little kids loved just playing out side while we ate, and the boys loved climbing the big tree out front. It was a great Sunday with family and we will try harder to remember everyones birthdays this next year.

Honey Go Get the Punch Bowl...

2009-09-11T08:37:00.008-07:00

About a week ago I noticed a crack in our glass pitcher right at the base of the handle. The crack had not made its way all the way through the glass, but I knew it was only a matter of time before it did. So I tossed out the pitcher and made a mental note to pick one up next time I was out, but I forgot. So the other night when we were finishing up making dinner Ryan asked where the pitcher was and I told him I had thrown it out. He still wanted to make some punch so I tried to think of what we had that we could use and told him to go down to the basement kitchen and get the punch bowl. Busy getting the table set and Jayna in her high-chair I didn't pay much attention to what Ryan was doing with the punch, until I looked over and saw that he was making the punch in an old fish bowl of ours. I said "please tell me you at least washed that", of which his reply was "no it looked clean". I then told him that that was not the punch bowl, but a fish bowl of all things. Now I am sure I washed it after the fish were disposed of, but it for-sure had not been washed since the move. Needless to say I did not have punch with my dinner, all though others did of who I shall let remain nameless. To my surprise no one got sick.

Back to the Darkroom

2009-08-25T20:33:00.007-07:00

Back in the day I was really into photography and somewhere between being a makeup artist and honing in my designing skills that talent has sadly gone by the waste side. So now I find myself not up to date on photoshop with an outdated camera that actually takes this thing called film. So I am trying to get back into the swing of things and brush up on my old passion. The inspiration for all this being my beautiful daughter Jayna, how could I not want to take pictures of her. So here are some pictures I just took with my digital point and shoot actually. I am just experimenting with some different editing and having fun. Sadly my camera broke after taking these pictures, so I need to go pick up a new one, and then maybe Santa will bring me the one I really want this Christmas.

Sis...Boom...Bah!

2009-07-08T20:18:00.009-07:00

We had an early 4th of July celebration this year ( if that is possible ). We had the pleasure of having Julie, Cameron, and Olivia Brown over on the 2nd for dinner while they were in-town from Virginia. They are such good friends and we love their company, so we were really excited to have them over. I made homemade hamburger buns for the first time and they turned out pretty good. We had bacon cheese stuffed hamburgers, homemade salsa ( Julie's famous recipe ), grilled corn, fresh berries, thyme lemonade, and homemade vanilla ice-cream with raspberry sherbet and blueberries for dessert. It was soooo good! I made cute little place markers, paper cones for everyones chips, and 4th of July ribbon wands for the girls to play with. I was hoping we were going to eat outside, but the weather did not quite cooperate. Some how I forgot to take pictures of the food. Oh well. We all had fun talking and watching the girls play. We are always left wishing the Browns lived closer when they come to visit.

The next day we had Ryan's parents over while they were in-town. It was fun, we got to show them the new house and hang out all day. Ryan and his Dad and brother replaced and fixed all the main sprinkler valves, and I think it only took 3 trips to the hardware store. Jayna had fun playing in the yard with her "Maga", and she even got a big girl rack to play with, so she can help us in the yard. That night Summer and her family also came down and we had pizza and hung out. I only got this picture out of all of it though. I need to be better at remembering to take pictures.

Then on the 4th we woke up and went to the farmers market down-town. It is my favorite thing to do during the summer. I love seeing all the fresh produce and it is fun to have breakfast there as a family, except for the breakfast stands I always pick take forever to get you your food. We spent most the morning there and got green-beans for our dinner. Then we just took it easy for the afternoon. That night we had Marshall over and we had a great dinner. We had tri-tip, spinach and strawberry salad, garlic bacon green-beans, and pesto bow-tie pasta. It was the best dinner ever. We ate outside and the weather was perfect. It was a dream come true for me! Beautiful family, beautiful house, beautiful food, beautiful country. It was a full circle moment for me (not to be too dramatic or anything). So we enjoyed our dinner, played with sparklers, and waited for it to get dark. Marshall bless his soul, bought this huge box of fireworks. He originally wanted to buy a bunch of illegal fireworks and take them out to the salt flats, but since he does not have a wife I had to step in and be the voice of reason. So are compromise was that he could buy as many legal fireworks as he wanted and set them off in the court. The boys had fun burning their money and Jayna and I had fun watching them. We had leftover homemade ice-cream, and roasted marshmallows on the hot coals in the BBQ. It was a long three days of entertaining, but it was fun and what I live for.

Let Freedom Ring

2009-06-22T21:32:00.006-07:00

I have the perfect house for the Fourth of July! Even before we moved in I knew I was going to have to go buy some flag bunting for the windows. I got a really good deal on these three, and will probably buy more for the upper windows next year. I got some great red, white and blue lights from my grandmother too, so I put them on the gate and fence going down to the basement. I picture all sorts of fun Fourth of July BBQs in our future, especially when we get a fence up and the yard done. Now I just need a flag to put on the house.

Finally

2009-06-01T13:04:00.006-07:00

We are finally in our new house! I think about everything that could go wrong with a move did. Everything from our car getting stolen, to being homeless for two weeks, our truck reservations being lost twice, living at a dirty motel, a tractor being parked in front of our storage unit, and someone hitting our budget truck. You name it, it happened. I have to count my blessings though. As hard and frustrating as everything was and as much as I realized I would have made a crappy Job I am grateful that it was only a temporary trial. As Ryan and I sat in a motel room with Jayna asleep in her port-a-crib and the only things we had were what we could fit in our car, and the rest in storage, we could not help but get emotional thinking of all the people who have lost their jobs or their homes and have had to leave all their belongings to go take their families to motels or shelters wether self inflicted or not. It is a terrible feeling to have no where to live.

So our new house is slowly starting to feel like home. We have been in it less than a week and are still very much in the unpacking stages still. We are quit furniture challenged with all the room we have now, but I plan on working on that of course. I am excited to dive into another home renovation. I am hoping this will be my best work yet.

We have meet most of our neighbors in our little court and they all seem very nice and friendly. A couple of them saw us moving in at night and even came over to lend a hand which helped out a lot. The bishop was over at our house before we had even been their for 24 hours so we get the feeling this ward is on top of things. We went to church on Sunday and meet a few more people, the ward seems really great and has lots of children. I think there are at least two nurseries and three sunbeam classes.

I do not have many pictures of the house in fact the ones in this post are the ones the inspector took. So I will have to take more when I find the charger to the camera. The outside needs some cleaning and work especially the landscaping, hopefully we will get to some of it this summer, if not for-sure next summer.

MOVING!!!

2009-04-14T13:12:00.004-07:00

So Ryan and I a couple months ago decided we were going to try and sell our condo and get a house. There were many things that led us to make this decision, but it was kind of out of no where considering we do not really have to move. Many of you know we have been working on and renovating our condo since the day we moved in, and will be doing so it looks like until the day we move out. So do to all the improvements we have made we were confidant it would show well, but did not know how long it would take to sell giving the economic circumstances.

Well we did not even have a chance to get a for-sale sign up. We got two offers in 6 days and our now under contract. Now in this market it is not over until the fat lady sings, but so far everything looks good. We have also had an offer that we put in on a home accepted and pending inspection etc it looks like we will be in a new place by the end of next month. We are really excited! Everything has gone so smoothly and we just feel really lucky and blessed. The home we are currently under-contract to buy is in Taylorsville just directly west of where we live now. It will still be a short commute for Ryan, although he may need to wake up 15 min before he needs to be at work instead of 5 min. I will post more details about our new home as soon as things are a little more concrete. I wouldn't want to jinks anything.

We have started packing up some of our first boxes and it just does not seem real. I had no problem leaving our home in Provo, but this is a different story. This was our first home we purchased, and we have put a lot of blood sweat and tears into the place. It is also the place that I brought my first little baby home to. If I could take the whole nursery with me I would. In-fact I have decided that Jaynas room will be the first room I do in the new house. It makes me too sad to think she will never remember the nursery that I painted for her while 7 months pregnant. I am going to duplicated it as much as I can when we move. I have been warning Ryan that there is going to be a lot of crying when we move. He laughs, but I am really serious. I think the whole thing has been stressful, because we have just decided to do it. It is almost like if we had to do it, it would be easier because we would not second guess ourselves about the decision.

So I will try to keep updating my blog here and there through the craziness of all of this, but I am sure there will be a period of time when we do not have internet hooked up.

Oh, if you are curious about some of the things we did to our condo her are some pictures we put up on the internet of it.

Life after Turning One

2009-04-14T12:32:00.007-07:00

Life after the big B-day party has been crazy and great. Jaynas new hobby is climbing. She apparently has decided to skip Gymboree and go straight to free style climbing. We find her hanging off of everything and anything she can get her little toes on.

We also recently visited Wheeler Farm down the street where she got her first up-close look at all those animals that are in her bedtime stories. She was really amazed by the pigs. I always make the pig noises when their are pigs in her books and I think she was just really shocked that something other that me really did make that noise. She feed some sheep and horses and tried to mimic all the noises she heard around the farm. We have since been back with Dad twice and stop there any chance we can get.

Jayna has really enjoyed playing out on the balcony now that the weather is nice. Although we knew it was just a matter of time before she figure what items could fit threw the railings. So we have made numerous trips to our downstairs neighbor to retrieve DVDs.

Happy Birthday!!!

2009-03-19T20:25:00.020-07:00

This year has gone by so fast! We just can not believe are little baby is ONE now. Jayna has been such a joy in are lives and we can not imagine life without her. All the trails to get her here were very worth it. She has amazed us with how well she has progressed despite her early premature arrival. Jayna as small as she is has such a huge personality that makes us laugh and wonder in amazement everyday at the things she comes up with.

This being our first birthday together not drugged or in the hospital I wanted to do something fun and exciting to celebrate our special day. I figured since it was also my birthday that I could get away with doing something a little nonconventional for a first birthday party. So don't ask me how I came up with it, but we ended up having a "HIp Hop" party and it turned out really great.

Jayna was all decked out in her Puma jacket, glitter shoes (courtesy of my aunt), initialized hat, and of course her blinging gold necklace I made her.

Ryan and I were an security detail with badges and everything. We checked people in at the door and made sure they had on their hot pink wrist bands so that we knew they were part of Jaynas "crew".

I decorated her highchair all cute for her with stickers and garland I made. Then behind her highchair on the wall I put up pictures of her imposed with different celebrities. The pictures were hysterical, and were my neighbor Holly's idea. Thank Holly!

We had a fun little spread of berries with whip cream, pita chips with spinach parmesan artichoke dip, pretzels dipped in milk chocolate with pink chocolate drizzles and sprinkles, and cupcakes in gold wrappers with fondant ones on them. I also spray painted tapes and records gold and pink and had them scattered on the table and around the house as decoration. All in all I thought it turned out really cute.

I have to admit that I impressed myself with the cake I made for Jayna. I had bought this giant cupcake cake mold a while ago and had done several trial attempts at frosting and decorating it, but it never turned out how I wanted it. So I was pleasantly surprised when I pulled this off the night before the party. Not bad for my first time using fondant. The pain was hand painting the whole bottom part with an edible metallic paint and dusting it with edible glitter. Some how along the way of thinking up this cake I also had visions of it spinning on a record player in the middle of the table. So after calling everybody and every place imaginable to either rent, borrow, or buy a record player or turntable that would not cost me more than $50 dollars I found this one on craigslist in Arizona the night before my mom and Mark were coming out and had my brother hurry and go buy it. It was only $15 dollars and it cleaned up well. He had to go to the ghetto in Phoenix to get it though, and he was pretty sure he gave the girl money to buy drugs, so it was pretty authentic for the party to say the least.

We have been teaching Jayna how to blow out birthday candles for awhile in hopes that she would be able to do it come her birthday. She is really cute when she does it and pulls a funny face when she blows. The only problem is she can not differentiate between the candle and the cake, so long after we took the candle away from her giant cake she was still blowing on the cake instead of eating it. It was really funny and we all got a good laugh out of it. She was not too sure about everyone singing to her, but she didn't cry or anything. After the cake had been on her highchair for awhile she finally dug in.

We played some fun games at the party too. I drew a picture of a gangster and you had to "fix the grill on Lil' Will" so I had gold teeth that you had to try and place on him like pin the tail on the donkey. We also played a slang game where you had to fill out on a sheet of paper the real meaning of all the slang words listed and then I had a jar of multicolored twizzlers that you had to guess "how many twizzles are in the jarizzle?" They were fun and tongue 'n' cheek and who ever won a game got a Jayna Berry signature perfume called Berrylicious. It was just dollar store perfume that I had changed the labels on. Then everyone got to take home a CD titled Tunes From the Crib that had hip hop music on it.

We had fun putting on the party and hope all those who came to celebrate with us had fun too. It was fun having my Mom and Mark out. Thanks for all your help you two.

Jayna is such a good baby, but I thought for sure if she was going to have a melt down her Birthday would be the day. She didn't though, she just partied the whole time. In-fact we were worn out way before she was. It got Ryan and I talking about her little personality and how it must just be how she is. We thought back to a year ago that day and how stressful and overwhelming her situation in the womb must have been and how none of it affected her. She was just fine her heart beat never even fluctuated. Even the doctors where shocked at how well she was handling it. She had no amniotic fluid, the placenta was already mostly deteriorated, and she was breech, but none of it bothered her. We love her little personality and know it is what helped her get here.

Jayna was the best little birthday present I ever got. I am not sure any present could ever top getting her, so I just hope we will have this much fun together every year on our Birthday.

Our Big Weekend of Celebrating

2009-02-17T15:11:00.011-07:00

We started our weekend off by celebrating a family success on Friday by going out to eat at the Mayan. It is a fun theme restaurant that has a dive show, so we thought it would be fun to take Jayna there and see her reaction to the whole thing. She gave it mixed reviews however. She loved the waiting room because she could run around and there was lots to look at and touch and feel. The show however slightly worried her because there was lighting and thunder and people running all over. She was probably wondering why dinner is not as exciting as that every night.

Then Saturday was Valentines day so us girls woke-up to flowers. Ryan got me a real pretty arrangement of flowers and got Jayna a giant calalily. The flower was about as tall as she was. It was so cute to watch him give her the flower, and she loved walking around with it all morning. That night we went to Jasmines (a favorite chinese restaurant up the road) and got sushi and all sorts of wonderful food. It was a great day!

Sunday was also our 6 year anniversary so we had a special Sunday meal of Prime-rib, mashed potatoes, green beans, and salad. We cooked it perfectly as usual and Ryan made a really good homemade ague.

I cannot believe that we have been married for six years, but then at times it seems as though it has been much longer than that. All in all Ryan and I have been with each other for about 10 years. Our first date was even at a Valentines dance and we got married four years later to the weekend of our first date. It has been a wonderful life we have had together so far. I look back on everything that has happened both good and bad during the course of our marriage and relationship and am glade that he has been the one by my side through everything. There is no-one else I would rather share my greatest successes and worst moments with. He is the best father to Jayna that I could have ever dreamed of. Our life together just keeps getting better and better. I cannot wait for the next six years.

Walking Already!

2009-01-26T14:36:00.005-07:00

Jayna started crawling back at the end of October and has been a little mover ever since. At Thanksgiving time she started to pull herself up on all the furniture and move her way around the room that way. Jayna has never had a walker or play saucer as per our pediatricians request. He told us that it is better for them to learn how to move on their own and that the more time they have on the ground crawling the better for the development of their little brains and motor skills. Since Jayna and I have the same birthday I thought it would be so cool if we also walked on the same day. I walked on my 10 month birthday, January 14th. The closer the day got I started thinking it may actually be a possibility that she would walk on the same day I did. She was starting to use the furniture less, stand up on her own in the middle of the floor, and show other signs that she just may walk at any moment. Then the little stinker showed me up and started walking 2 days before her 10 month birthday. She has just amazed Ryan and I. I cannot believe that the little baby girl that was born almost a month early weighing 5 pounds when we brought her home is thriving so well. We always thought she would be a little behind do to all the circumstances of her birth, but we were wrong. She is still very petite weighing only 18 pounds, but she is a clever and fast one. We are so proud of her! Our pediatrician was shocked when he walked into the room to a little walking baby. She makes me believe that anything is possible. I believe she can do anything she puts her heart and mind to. She is always so determined and has so much personality in her little body. We love Jayna and cannot wait to see what she will surprise us with next.

Lions and Tigers and Bears OH MY!

2009-01-16T15:31:00.003-07:00

Jayna for whatever reason has taken up growling. It may be do to the influence of her only sibling Red. The funniest part about it is that it seems to look like she knows she is being scary. We find it amusing, and it is also about the only thing we can get her to do on Que.

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

2009-01-16T13:11:00.011-07:00

We had a great Christmas here at the Hutchings home. This year we made chocolate covered fortune cookies for all of our neighbors, family and friends. They turned out really great and Ryan even got in on the action and was the dipper. We had a great time going around town with Jayna delivering our homemade goodies to everyone.

We were lucky enough to catch Devin before he went back home to California for the Holidays. We had him and his girlfriend over to exchange gifts and have dinner. It was nice getting to meet her for the first time and was fun visiting with him. I made my chicken and dumpling soup and we had spice bunt cakes and hot cocoa for desert.

We loved having lots of snow at our house this winter. It always makes the Holidays seem that much more special and festive.

For Christmas Eve we stayed home and had a wonderful prime rib dinner, just the three of us. It was great and better than any restaurant we could have gone to.

The next morning we had to wake up Jayna for Christmas. I have a feeling this will be the last year we have to do that though. We had to get up and going because we were having friends over for Christmas morning breakfast. Jayna was not as into opening the presents as we thought she would be. In-fact Red was more excited then she was to rip into the wrapping paper. After presents we had a great breakfast with Wally and his kids who were in-town for the holidays. We had two quiches, banana bread, and ableskievers that I make from a recipe that has been passed down from my ancestors from Denmark. They are fun kids and made for good company on Christmas.

We wiped Jayna out with all the excitement of her first Christmas morning.

Christmas night we traveled down to Springville to Ryans grandparents house for dinner. Jayna had fun visiting with her cousins and opening more presents. We were back on the roads to go home right as a storm came in, so it made for an exciting ride home.

For New Years my parents came out and we did our famous Lund New Years tradition of Fondue. My family could care less if we see each other for Christmas because New Years is our families big Holiday. Jayna needless to say loved having grandma and grandpa stay at her house and loved all the attention from uncle Mark.

We had a great Holiday season as a family and feel really blessed to have each other and all that we have.

A Western White Elephant

2008-12-21T22:44:00.017-07:00

Ryans company decided to do something different this year for the company Christmas party. Usually we have a nice lunch at Market Street Grill in one of their private rooms and the guys play guitars and sing. This year they decided to have the party up at Bill George's Cabin up Parleys Canyon. It was a beautiful cabin way up on the mountain, infact you couldn't really get there unless you had four wheel drive, although there were a couple brave souls that did it with out. We have the Jeep so it was not a real problem for us. We had a great steak and chicken dinner and you could not ask for better company than this group of people. We are all like family it feels like, and everyone has a fun personality.

The big event for the night was the white elephant gift exchange. Ryan and I knew it would be fun with this group so we wanted to get something really good. We thought and looked everywhere for something with no luck, so the night before we headed out to DI as our last resort. DI did not disappoint. The first thing we found was this knit box that had knitted on it the words "MY STUFF" we thought it was a great one and put it in the cart. Then Ryan found this knit house and we thought that would go great with the knit box so we threw that in the cart as-well. As we kept looking up and down every aisle rummaging throw things we kept finding more and more of these knit houses and kept laughing more and more as we unearthed each one. They seemed to be everywhere in the store, a whole village just scattered about. At the end of our DI adventure we ended up with the knit box, 8 or so knit houses, a set of knit coasters, a big game bag (to hang a deer carcass in)complete with illustrated instructions, a 70's mini crumb vacuum, and a foam sandwich note pad. We knew we had done well when the cashier gave an, "ohhh" when looking at the items in our basket. The best though was when some of the houses did not have price tags on them so she had to call the manager to come price them. They debated on wether or not to charge us 50 cents or 75 cents and then the girl said, "how about 50 cents each?" and the manager replied "No, do two for a dollar." Our trip to DI could not have ended better we had so much fun. After that we went home to decide what to do with all that we had bought.

We decided to package all the none knit items together in one bag as a gift and then decided we would put one knit house in a bag and include a tag that said, "pick me you will not be disappointed, there is more to this gift". We then wrapped the rest of the village along with the box and coasters in a big box that we then wrapped and decided that this would be a mystery box that went along with the knit house in the bag. So whoever ended up with the knit house at the end of the game would also receive the mystery box. It was a hit at the party. Everyone was fighting over this stupid knit house due to the lure of the mystery box. It was hysterical. Brandon ended up winning it and we video taped him opening the mystery box. I was screaming laughing. This game lasted almost three hours and this was the perfect ending to the funniest white elephant gift exchange I have ever participated in. So thank you to the old lady who knitted all those houses and gave them to DI.

The rest of the night up at the cabin we stayed up late playing games and snacking on food and hanging out in our PJs. Jayna loved all the attention and enjoyed playing with Cash, Chips two year old little boy. The guys played music, and Jayna danced as she sat and listened. It was really fun.

The next morning we had a big but quick breakfast since there was a big storm coming in, and we all made it safely off the mountain and down the Canyon.

New Calling

2008-12-21T22:30:00.006-07:00

My New calling at church is the second counselor in the Relief Society Presidency. I have only been in for about a month, but I have already made 100 bell ornaments to take to the retirement inn residence, and close to 200 greeting cards to send out to the singles in our ward. I love the sisters I am serving with and am looking forward to serving the sisters in our ward in this capacity. Here are some pictures of the bells I put together.

Thankful Thanksgiving

2008-12-21T21:47:00.003-07:00

We had a wonderful thanksgiving in Arizona this year, and were so excited that we got to stay for two weeks. Ryan had a business trip the week after Thanksgiving so he just flew out of Arizona to go to that and then came back and we drove home. It was so nice that I got to stay at my parents while he was gone instead of just being at home alone with the baby. I have a wonderful husband that thinks of those things for me. Jayna did great driving to and from Arizona. We did the late night drive and she slept the whole time. Red did great as-well with a little help from the vet and some magic medicine.

While in Arizona my brother Craig and his wife had an open house that I helped with. It was lots of fun to do, and their house is gorgeous.

We also swam a lot and just plain hung out. Mom and I hit up lots of good sales and even went out on Thanksgiving night to get a screaming deal on a pink flocked Christmas tree and ornaments for Jaynas room.

I cooked the turkey for my third year in a row thanks to a little help from Martha.

Ryan and I also did a big chinese night were we made all of our good dishes. My fortune cookies turned out 100 times better too because my mom had those silicone baking mats that I did not use the first time I tried making them. My mom took us to this huge oriental grocery store to buy all of our ingredients too. This place was so awesome, and had everything a former Taiwan missionary could ask for. Or best find was all the ingredients to make Zhenzhu Drinks. So needless to say we stocked up on things to take home.

Another fun thing that we got to do was go to the Phoenix Zoo to see their Zoo Lights. Jayna liked seeing all the bright fun moving lights. I felt like an abusive parent though, we found the weather to be so warm and nice compared to Utah so I would put Jayna in little short sleeve onesies and light pants. So when I started looking around at Zoo Lights and realized all the other babies were in snow clothes with hats and gloves I was sure everyone was looking at me like, "what a terrible mom, her kid is not even wearing a jacket." It was pretty funny.

So buy the end of the trip we had purchased and gathered so many fun things and Christmas presents from Grandma and Grandpa that we had to borrow their car top carrier. My Dad was nothing but thrilled, he always hated that they would have to use one for trips. So he was delighted to be watching Ryan, put it on our car. I think it was a full circle life moment for him.

I will have to put pictures to this post later. We misplaced our camera for most of the trips so all the pictures I took were on my moms camera.

Puffs

2008-12-21T21:38:00.005-07:00

Back at the beginning of November we gave Jayna her first solid treat food in the form of Gerber sweet potato puffs. We video taped her reaction and thought it was pretty funny. It was such a new experience for her to have something like that in her mouth. She was not to sure about the whole thing so she started feeding them to Red instead of eating them. I think Red is more excited about Jayna eating treats then she is.

Birthday Boy!

2008-11-08T20:08:00.005-07:00

Ryan turned 28 on Friday, and we had lots of fun on his Birthday. I made him eggs benedict for breakfast and then we headed over to his work for lunch so that I could surprise him with his Birthday present. I had spent the night before secretly decorating his new office for him. It turned out pretty nice. I forgot to take pictures though, so I will have to post those latter. I was going to try and attempt to paint the office as-well, but last minute decided not to. It just would have been to much to deal with in the short time I had. Then latter that night we went to the nickel-cade with Jared and Marshall. It was my first time going and I was not super excited about it because I thought Jayna and I would be bored, but boy was I wrong. We blew through nickels like no tomorrow! Jayna loved all the sounds and lights on all the games, and loved watching the crazy kids running around. I loved playing the games with her strapped in the front pack squealing with delight. We played for about two hours while the boys played their gun games. We racked up so many tickets that we had enough to buy the sparkle baton we had our eyes on. Remember those as a kid? By the time we left she was about to pass-out. She was struggling to keep her eyes open, there was just way to much stimulation. Ryan and I decided that we will take her to the nickel-cade and wear her out for two hours before we go on our drive to Arizona. My favorite though was that there were all these kids at the nickel-cade having their birthdays and I was there with my 28 eight year old husband for his. After we ran out of nickels we went to the Wing Coop, an all wing restaurant. The boys eat about 50 wings there and then we went back to our place for an angel food pudding cake I made.

Ryan with his friends at the nickel-cade. I was laughing so hard when I saw him playing with this random kid.

Friends Marshall and Jared.

I Tried My Luck...

2008-11-08T19:51:00.006-07:00

I tried my LUCK at making homemade fortune cookies this week. They turned out pretty good, but I think the consistency of my batter may need some work so that it is not so caky in the center. I also think one of those silicone pads you put in the cookie sheets would help as-well. They were surprisingly easy to assemble, you just have to work fast before they cool. I think they would make a great favor at a wedding or party.

I also stole this cute Thanksgiving card idea from a local scrapbook store. I thought it was adorable so I made them for the sisters I visiting teach. I thought I would share the idea incase any of you need to make your own Thanksgiving cards.

Let It Snow...Let It Snow...Let It Snow

2008-11-05T18:18:00.004-07:00

It snowed pretty much all day today which was fun to watch from inside my cozy home. I really wanted Jayna to see the snow and experience it for herself so I brought some in for her. She had fun feeling it and grabbing handfuls of the cold white stuff. Her poor little hands were bright red by the time she was done with it. I am not positive that she is teething yet, but she sure has been grumpy this week. It got me thinking though that snow balls would make a great all natural soother for a teething baby. I wonder if that is what the "cave mommies" used?

Remember To Vote!

2008-11-03T18:50:00.007-07:00

Jayna was grumpy today so I needed to find something to keep us occupied until Dad came home from work. With the election on my mind and the desire to fine tune my baking skills this is what we ended up with. We made the cupcakes and frosting from scratch because I did not have any cake mix on hand. It was fun. Ryan got a kick out of them when he got home, and we took them to our neighbors as a little reminder to head out to the polls tomorrow.

So Happy Voting Everyone!

Witches Night Out

2008-11-01T08:45:00.017-07:00

Meet our daughter "Spooky Jayna". Every October we attend Witches Night Out at Gardner Village to see the fun costumes, festivities, and cute little shops. Since Grandma found Jayna a cute witch costume for Halloween we decided to dress her up when we went. It was kinda chilly outside and she was really busy looking at all the people walking by so she never gave a big smile. We thought it added to the spooky nature of the pictures though. Ryan thinks they look like those creepy 1800's pictures you see of children were they are all sad looking and serious. Everyone thought the wig was hysterical and she doesn't mind it, she just leaves it on. I was a witch for my first Halloween and since we have the same birthday my mom thought it appropriate that that is what Jayna would be. So here are some pictures of Witches Night Out, carving pumpkins, Ryan's work party, and other Halloween day pictures. Hope everyone had a "spooktacular" Halloween evening. (our internet has not been working great so I will have to post the rest of the pictures later)

7 Months Old and Growing So Fast!

2008-10-22T18:48:00.010-07:00

Jayna is 7 months old now and is still growing and changing everyday. She is doing so well. I cannot believe it was 7 months ago that we were worried she would not make it here safely. We feel so lucky and blessed that she has progressed with no growth or development set backs due to being born 3 weeks early. She is a sharp little cookie with tons of personality and we cannot imagine life without her. Friends keep asking us if they can babysit, but we are not sick of her yet. Ryan and I were married for 5 years before having her so we jokingly tell them we had her because we were tired of looking at each other. She is our little "Berry" and we love her. Here are some recent pictures of her.

Jayna is rolling and squirming everywhere! Sometimes she gets herself into some pretty tight corners like under the bed or under the couch.

She is a good little shopper, but sometimes she just can't keep up with the big girls.

After getting ready for church she plays in her highchair with her new little toy tiger Grandma sent her for Halloween.

I always make pumpkin cookies in October and November so we decided to let Jayna have a seasonal treat. I figured it was just like her baby food since it was pure pumpkin. She really liked it too.

Jayna got her first little cold a month ago so I thought I would play a baby einstein movie for her. She only made it through the intro.

Along with pina coladas and getting caught in the rain Jayna loves to play with her dog Red.

My Dad Has Been Leading A Double Life

2008-10-11T09:47:00.005-07:00

Apparently my Dad has been leading a double life come to find out. While he is not working as the General Manager of Freightliner Arizona or at home with my Mom and Brother he has been moonlighting as the head coach for the Green Bay Packers and has been keeping it a secret from all of us. While Ryan and I were out to dinner with our friend Jared he asked me if my Dad got mistaken for any one famous. I told him no and he said that he thought my Dad looked like the Green Bay Packers head coach. As he was pulling up a picture on his phone I was trying to think of what courteous response I would give when I looked at the picture and it looked nothing like my Dad. Jared has only seen him twice in somewhat brief circumstances. When he showed me the picture above I just about died and my only response was, "That's my Dad". The funniest thing about all this is that for years when we lived in Granite Bay and Craig played football at Granite Bay High-School my Dad wore the High-School hats and shirts all the time, which look just like the Green Bay logo. It bugged him all the time when he was out and about because people would always think he was a Green Bay fan and would want to talk to him about it, or they would shout out "Go Green Bay" when they would walk by.

I am going to try to find a better picture of my Dad because I know my Mom has to have one of him in his Granite Bay clothes at one of the boys games. So for now this badly photoshopped picture of my parents on vacation will have to do (sorry Mom).

That same night I called home and had Mark look up the same picture on line and he thought it was ridiculous. He told my Dad to come in and "meet himself" and my Dad thought for a quick second that it was himself at a Granite Bay game. So needless to say we have a Halloween costume idea for my Dad this year.

Where Were You?

2008-09-11T13:03:00.003-07:00

I had recently moved back home after living in Utah and attending BYU. I was asleep in my bed when my mom woke me up and told me I needed to come watch the news. I remember going into my parents bedroom and laying on their bed to watch the T.V. to see just what was going on. The first tower had already been hit of course and they were showing video of the burning tower. It was unclear to everyone just what had happened. No one both in our house or on the news could figure out if it was an accident or not. At this point no one even knew if it was a small private plane or a large commercial plane. Then it happened, as we were watching the live news on CNN a second plane crashed into the south tower. It was unbelievable. You knew right away that this was not an accident and that something terrible was unfolding right before your eyes. Then the news began reporting about possible other high-jacked planes that may be in the air. The Pentagon was then hit and a plane went down in Pennsylvania. The media seemed to be frantic as they tried to keep up on what was going on. I just remember having that terrible thought and feeling of what next. Then I remembered that Marshall was flying home from his mission. Would his flight be in the air right now? Would he of had a layover in New York if he was coming home from Taiwan? How many flights are in danger? It was not a day that you wanted to have anyone you knew or cared about in the air traveling. I remember calling my friend Kelli that morning. She answered the phone from her sleep and I asked her if she knew what was going on she said "no", and I remember telling her "well you better turn the news on then". I watched the towers collapse, and watched the aftermath for weeks like so many others. It was a scary time. It was my generations Pearl Harbor in a way. Something I will never forget, and was glad I watched not experienced. My heart still goes out to all those effected by that day.

Our Car-Seat Came With A Roller-Coaster

2008-09-02T16:06:00.011-07:00

Jayna has so many cute dresses she is starting to fit into, so when it was a little cooler on Sunday I was excited that I could put her in this cute little long sleeve dress. Of course right as I go to take a picture of her she spits up all over herself.

Last minute we switch her cute bow out for this cute as can be hat. Everyone at church loved her hat and she even kept it on for most of church.

After we got home Ryan did this roller-coaster game with her in her car-seat. Her reaction was so funny, almost like she was just going along with it, giving him pretend roller-coaster screams. We thought is was hilarious and had to get it on camera. So now we know that the straps in the car-seat really work, leave it to a Dad to test that one out. I couldn't get the video to post so a picture will have to do.

We did not realize how unhappy Jayna was that we do not subscribe to the Friend until she shredded the Ensign. She always wants to rip stuff apart and finally she did, just to bad it was the Ensign.

Hutchings vs Hurst

2008-08-30T21:48:00.003-07:00

No these are not pictures from the U.S. Open, sorry if you thought they were. Ryan and our good friend Jared like to play tennis every once in awhile at our complex so that is what we did on Friday night.

Jayna, Red and I watched them play from the dog park behind the courts. Jayna was not impressed with the boys and got quit board, but Red loved running around and watching them hit the ball. After tennis we all took a dip in the pool minus Red, and had burgers from a little hole in the wall bar Jared knew about (not that he frequents bars or anything). It was a good end to our Full Throttle Friday.

BYU or BUST!

2008-08-30T21:18:00.004-07:00

Ryan's brother Devin transfered to the Y this semester from BYU Idaho, so we went down to Provo this Friday to see him. We had fun buying Devin some groceries at our favorite little grocery store Macys that we used to shop at when we lived there.

Jayna was too cool for school cruising around campus with her shades and toys. She wanted all the Freshman at orientation to know she was hot stuff.

While we were in Provo we just had to stop at Jay-Dawgs and get a bite to eat. Sorry if this last sentence is causing anyone cravings. Jayna had fun playing on the blanket while we ate our "dawgs" and savored ever bite.

We also had to get a picture of Ryan next to his scooter sign, which we have been meaning to do forever, but forget every-time we go down there. It is a long story so to make it short I will just explain that this sign was not there until Ryan had a confrontation with the BYU police who pulled him over after chasing him on foot while he was riding his push scooter to school. He considers it his mark on the world and is quit proud of it.

We are excite to have Devin here in Utah with us and hope we get to see him often.

New Meals This Week

2008-08-30T21:00:00.002-07:00

I have been on a new recipe kick recently, which Ryan just loves. This week we tried ultimate tuna on a bagel sandwiches and homemade pot-stickers. Both turned out great and made the cut to stay in our rotation of meals. The best was that I was able to freeze a ton of pot-stickers for later.

Jayna Trading Stocks on E-Trade

2008-08-26T12:08:00.006-07:00

I know this picture is dark and blurry, but does it remind you of a certain E-Trade commercial? My mom wanted to see Jaynas new high chair over iChat so we set it up like this and she took the picture with her webcam. Jayna loves iChat and just like the E-Trade commercial she has even spit-up all over the keyboard before.

Dog Attacks Baby Or Maybe Baby Attacks Dog

2008-08-21T11:48:00.003-07:00

I try to stop these violent and dangerous games in my house, but it is hard to tell Ryan to stop flinging her around when she is reacting like this. She loves Red, and we wonder why Red does not feel the same.

First Time Eating Food

2008-08-21T11:28:00.002-07:00

The same night as the dinner fiasco we gave Jayna her first taste of rice cereal. The pictures say it all. It will be a slow process I am sure, but it is so fun to see her experience new things.

If You Can't Take The Heat Get Out Of The Kitchen!

2008-08-21T11:03:00.003-07:00

I was flipping through the channels the other day and came across a Rachel Ray 30 minute meal episode. She was making Fiery Texas T-Bones with Chipotle Smashed Potatoes and Sweet and Hot Pepper Saute. I knew it was a meal Ryan would love so I looked the recipe up online and bought all the things I would need to make the dish for the next night. I even sent Ryan to the State Liquor Store to pick up the Bourbon the recipe called for after looking online and finding out there is no substitute for Bourbon when it comes to cooking. I was really excited to make the meal and put on a good show while cooking it just like I had seen Rachel Ray do the previous day. Well I put on a show to say the least. When a recipe says to heat the pan until it is "screaming hot" that means on high to me. So basically I smoked everyone out of the house. The steaks had a chipotle rub on them so when they started to smoke really bad when I put them on the pan the chipotle went air born and it was like you where sniffing the ground chipotle out of the bottle. Ryan started couching and poor Jayna started coughing and her eyes began to water. They ended up having to sit out front while I finished making dinner and aired the house out. Not the show I was looking to put on. I was cursing Rachel Rays name the whole time. It was a fun recipe to make though because at the end you add the Bourbon and light it on fire. The meal was actually really good, but obviously I will make some adjustments to the recipe if I make it again in the future.

Grin & Bare It

2008-08-20T12:50:00.022-07:00

We had so much fun at Lake Powell! A big THANKS to my generous parents for all they do to make these fun trips to Lake Powell possible.

It was quite the car ride this year since we have a baby and decided to take Red. We were at least smart this car trip with Red and got her some drugs from the vet. In the past on car rides Red gets really nervous which makes her difficult to deal with and I knew I did not want to deal with that on top of a long car ride with a baby.

We made it there with only one blowout. Right after taking this picture Jayna peed all over Ryan. It was great! The other part you can't see in the picture is Red on a leash hooked to Ryan's arm and me trying to get Red not to step in the pee. We were laughing so hard. We can only imagine what we looked like to on going motorists.

The night we got there we slept on the boat at the marina and the next day we went grocery shopping and stocked the boat. Ice in Paige is a hot commodity and it takes a lot of it to stock the big coolers with drinks for a week. It is not the cheapest thing so when we saw this pile of ice on the dock we knew Dad was going to be disgusted, because it had to have been one of the boys ahead of us that broke one of our bags of ice while taking it to the boat.

On that same trip to the boat we saw all this commotion on the dock. People started running down one of the strips and other people started gathering to see what was going on. One of the boats had caught on fire and we later found out that our very own Captain Mike from Triple L Marina put the fire out with a hose from the dock because the fire and rescue boat could not get their water hoses to work.

We headed out the following day to find a spot up by Dangling Rope Marina and found a great one in Cathedral Canyon. Jayna loved the boat and driving it with Grandpa. Red freaked out when we first left the marina and was a little concerned that she was surrounded by water. She got use to it fast though and loved being up top with the wind blowing in her hair.

The boys did a great job at drilling and anchoring us in our spot. It is a tough job but someone has to do it.

It was a lot of fun to have Lindsey (Craig's wife) with us at Powell for the first time. On one of the nights they made an apple crisp. It looked like it was a chore to make, but it was sooooo good. I am craving it as we speak, I will have to call her and get her recipe.

Red claimed this chair first day. The funniest part was that she blended in with the living room furniture like she was wearing camouflage. We would be looking everywhere for her only to realize she was right in front of us on the couch or chair.

Jayna loved going on the ski boat and did not mind her huge lifejacket at all. In-fact she fell asleep most of the time and we would just carry her onto the house boat and lay her on the couch jacket and all.

Mark wore this stupid lifejacket the whole trip almost. He must have felt safe in the tube with my Mom because he doesn't even have it buckled up. He did switch jackets when Craig and him went tubbing, obviously he knew my Dad would not take it quit as cautious with them in the tube.

It was fun to watch all the guys wake board, they did great especially considering they only go once or twice a year. We would go out at dawn and dusk when the water was nice and everyone would take turns. I got some pretty good shots of them from the back of the boat and managed to get great video of Ryan's most successful run of the trip.

On one of the days we took a boat trip up to Rainbow bridge and had lunch in the boat and swam. It was a blast and the funniest part of the whole trip was when my Dad got disgusted with the music Craig and Mark where playing and started dancing and talking like a rapper on the back of the boat. I did get video footage of the whole scene, but do to the nature of the video I am too afraid to post it on the blog for fear of backlash.

For weeks before the trip I racked my brain to come up with a fun craft or activity we could do on the boat and finally I thought of one. It took me forever to find the things I needed for it, but after going to some unusual stores and places I finally was able to get everything I needed for it. We did Henna tattoos! It was a lot of fun and neat to learn and figure out how to do them. I did one on Ryan's back one on my hand and everyone else did their own thing.

We were sad to head back to land at the end of the week, but were glad we had such a wonderful and smooth trip. Jayna was excited to drive the boat with her Dad back to the marina though.

Once we got docked I packed the car up and Ryan helped load the wave runners onto the truck. In all of the hustle and bustle I forgot to get Ryan's change of clothes out of his bag and by the time we realized it the bag was at the bottom of the pile packed in the back of the car. We went to Jack in the Box with everyone right after that and Ryan had no shirt. We could not stop laughing at how white trash he looked. This guy with no shirt and his swim suite on, a tattoo on his back holding a baby, and on-top of all that his sandals had broken. It was to perfect. I could barely eat because I would just crack up every time I looked at him. The picture of him with Jayna looks like an Amber Alert. "If you see this man with this baby please call police." He was not to thrilled with the attention we were giving him. My mom gave him one of my Dads shirts she could easily get to so that he did not have to drive home topless.

Again, Thank you Mom and Dad for inviting us to the house boat and for all that you do. We love you!

Hard at Play

2008-08-06T12:59:00.004-07:00

Jayna loves playing with her toys. Sometimes she gets a little tangled with them as you can see. She thinks she is so funny, and she is.

Sink or Float?

2008-08-06T12:55:00.002-07:00

I hope we do not end up in a situation where we have to count on a lifejacket for Jayna. This is the smallest one we could find. She does not seem to mind having it on thank goodness.

Farmers Market

2008-07-31T10:52:00.002-07:00

Last Saturday we went to the farmers market downtown and had a blast. It was so fun to see all the art and visit all the fresh produce stands. Ryan was so excited to get some fresh mexican food and Jayna and I loved looking at all the plants and flowers. The prices were a little expensive, and we wished we could have supported the local farmers more. If I could I would buy all my food from the farmers market. We had so much fun that we are planning on going again this Saturday.

Getting Ready For Powell

2008-07-30T21:45:00.003-07:00

We are so excited to be going to Lake Powell next week with my family! So to get ready for our trip we went on a little family outing and all bought sunglasses. Jayna looks to cool for school in hers. We laughed so hard when we put them on her. I totally remember having a pair of red heart shaped glasses when I was a little girl so I just had to get her some. One of the other things we had to get for Jayna was a life jacket, which is impossible. They make life jackets to fit kids from 0-50 pounds. We went to a boat shop here in town and tried to put her in one and it was a joke. The sales guys were just laughing at us. We found this one life jacket on ebay that was sold out everywhere else and ordered it, it fits kids 0-30 pounds. I will have to post pictures of her in it when we get it. I am sure it will be ridicules.

Beauty and the Beast

2008-07-30T21:16:00.003-07:00

Jayna has been very interested in Red recently so we have been encouraging their interaction with each other. The other night Jayna thought Red was so funny and just kept laughing at everything Red did. I can only imagine what this funny little fur ball running around seems like from her perspective.

Jayna's 4 Month Check-Up

2008-07-16T19:47:00.002-07:00

Jayna went to the doctors yesterday for her 4 month check-up. The doctor says she is doing great. She now weighs 12 pounds 12 ounces and is 23 inches long. Her weight is in the 30%, length in the 12% , and head circumference is in the 23%. So we really mean it when we call her our "little" Jayna Berry. We just love her so much and can't get enough of her.

Raft For The Cure in Moab

2008-07-16T13:25:00.024-07:00

We just got back from our second annual Raft For The Cure event that Ryan and his company put on in Moab. Ryan started the event last year after meeting with a rafting company from back east that does a similar event. Everyone is affected by breast cancer in one way or another, it is rare to meet someone who is not. Ryan's mom is a 3 year survivor, my grandmother is a survivor, and the year we started the event our coworker and friend Betty was diagnosed with breast cancer and is now a 1 year survivor.

We plan all year for this event. Ryan has me do the decorating and organizing of our both that we have at Race For The Cure, and the signage that goes up at the actual event. I love getting involved and working with my husband, and was glad I could still help out this year despite having a baby and some health issues.

Raft For The Cure 2008 was a blast, and just as successful as last years. The day included an all day rafting trip down the Colorado, lunch on the river, BBQ and concert that night, prize giveaways, silent auction, and a T-shirt all for $100. With 50% of the proceeds going to Suzan G Komen.

We stayed at the Gonzo Inn, which is the cutest little boutique hotel right across from the Moab Adventure Center. It was really nice just to be able to walk back and forth with Jayna, and not have to pack her up in the car every-time we needed to go somewhere in town.

Friday we spent all day organizing what needed to get done and staging everything for Saturday. We went over to the warehouse and checked out the food situation for Saturday, and picked up the helium tank and things like that. That night we set out all the tables and tents in the parking lot. We also had a little birthday celebration for Dena who according to the cake is only 22.

Late Friday night Ryan's mom came down to Moab. She was in Utah helping Summer with the new baby and it worked out that she could come down to the event. The picture is of us in front of one of our sweet Hummers.

I had been debating for weeks if I should go rafting or not. I wanted to go, it was just a logistics thing with Jayna's feeding schedule. I have the best husband ever though that convinced me it would work. He took care of Jayna all day while I was on the river and they came up and met me at Red Cliffs for lunch. It worked out great and I am glad I went. Debbie and I took a ducky, because it is my favorite thing. You get way more bang for your buck down that stretch of river if you are in a ducky.

Later that night we had a great time at the BBQ. I think every employee and guide held Jayna that night. She was so good, she just hung out and enjoyed the music. Chip and Brian played and Peter Brienholt was nice enough to come down and play for us too. The food was awesome and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Jayna was so wiped out on Sunday from all the partying she did the night before. It made for a pretty easy trip back home to have her so tired. The picture above is of her being "gonzo" at the Gonzo Inn. Now that we are back and the event is over we are already stating to plan for next years Raft For The Cure. If you would like to join us in 2009 check out www.raftforthecure.com and we should have next years date up shortly.

Jayna on the Move

2008-07-07T13:34:00.005-07:00

Jayna is quit the little mover. We are probably going to be in big trouble when she really starts to crawl. She did this about five or six times before we video taped her doing it. Oh, and we normally do not have our child in clothes with holes in them. She had a blowout while we were out before this and that is the spare onesie I keep in my diaper bag.

Welcome Baby Brynn!

2008-07-07T13:18:00.005-07:00

Ryan's Sister Summer had her third baby and first little girl on Monday June 30th. They named her Brynn and we were so excited that we got to go visit her at home yesterday. Baby and mom looked great! Brynn is still on lights for Jaundice, but her levels are continuing to go down and she should be off of them soon.

I do not know what is more precious, the baby or the big brother taking pictures of the baby.

We had a great dinner with the Cheneys and were so glade they let us come up and spend the day with them.

4th of July

2008-07-07T12:47:00.005-07:00

We had a blast on the 4th of July! Jayna got all ready to go to the Murray Parade with her cousin Colison.

We got a great spot on the lawn and beat the crowds. Colison waved the entire parade, as you can see he even waved when nothing was there.

After the Parade we went back home and had a Barbecue lunch of hotdogs, chips, pasta salad, and corn with Debbie, Colison, Ammon, Seth, Amanda, and Kayla. The food was good and the company was even better.

Later that night Ryan, Jayna and I hung out with Jared Hurt and his family over at his sisters house in Salt Lake. They were so nice to have us over and we had fun playing back yard games and Barbecuing with them.

Jayna's Baby Blessing

2008-07-03T20:34:00.006-07:00

We had Jayna's baby blessing back on May 4th, and were so lucky that my family could make it out for the occasion. It was our first day back to church and it went very well. We had my dad Theril, my brother in-law Brian, Ryan's friends Jared and Cameron, and Bishop Haws participate in the blessing. It was a wonderful blessing given by Ryan, and we were fortunate enough to have a friend in the Ward Dawn Wessman write it down for us.

After church we had a little gathering at our house with family and friends. It was a good time had by all. We are so lucky to have such great friends and family to support us and to share special experiences with.

We Miss You!

2008-07-03T09:26:00.009-07:00

We miss our friends Cameron and Julie Brown so much already. We want them to know that we wish them luck on establishing their new home in Virginia. Ryan and Cameron have been friends since childhood and we are so lucky that we got to live by them as long as we did. It is pretty amazing if you think about it. Ryan and Cameron lived by each other in California growing up and then lived by one another in Provo while attending school. Although we did not follow them to China where they lived for a year, we did somehow both end up in the Salt Lake area for the past year. What made it even better was that we were both expecting our first babies and both were girls. It was so fun to have our little baby Jayna and then be able to see them have their little baby Olivia. We were able to attend each others baby blessings before they moved and have a couple of play dates. It is sad to think that Jayna's first little friend has already moved on, but we will for-sure be keeping in touch with the Browns.

Dirty Laundry

2008-07-02T10:05:00.004-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I was changing Jayna's diaper ontop of our bed on a changing mat when she had an explosion of poo and pee. I had to quickly gather up the changing mat around her to prevent it from leaking onto the bed, but then I was stuck. Ryan was at work so the only thing I could figure out to do was to throw her on a dirty towel in the dirty clothes pile in our bedroom. So that is what the pictures are of. I just had to throw her out with the dirty laundry that is how dirty she was. No, from there I gave her a bath and we got all washed up.

Fathers Day in Arizona

2008-07-01T12:51:00.010-07:00

We took a quick weekend trip out to Arizona for Ryan's first Fathers day and had a blast. We only wished we had planned to stay longer. Grandama Loni was out of control ready for the baby to stay at her house. She had a crib set up with a mobile and everything. Jayna did great on her first flight no crying at all, in-fact she fell into a super deep sleep with all the airplane engine noise. As soon as we got down to baggage pickup Grandma came running in to take the baby. It was really cute and funny. We hung out at the house for the most part. Jayna loved the pool even though she fell asleep in the water each time we took her swimming. The water is still really warm at night too, so we could take her swimming then and not have to worry about her getting sunburned.

We also got to go see Craig and Lindsay's house they are building and go through the model. It is going to be such a cute house, I cannot wait until we can come see it when it is done. It over looks a golf course and is in a really cool little neighbor hood. Lindsay was nice enough to do a mini photo shoot with Jayna, and we got some really good pictures. So thanks Lindsay! It was also the first time they had seen Jayna so that was special to see them with her.

We had a swim party and barbacue on Saturday and Sunday which is always fun to do at my parents. We had given my dad some of our homemade jared barbacue sauce for Fathers Day, and we were happy everyone enjoyed and liked it.

Jayna slept great every night we were there because Grandma wore her out with fun books and stimulation.

So thanks Mom and Dad for having us out!

June Moab Cataract Canyon Trip

2008-06-29T22:11:00.006-07:00

In June Ryan and his friend at work Chip strategically planned out a Cataract Express trip so that they would be on the river during high water. It was Jaynas first trip and she did great on the drive. Chip and his wife and kid stayed with us in a cabin at Red Cliffs Lodge, one of the nicest places in Moab. The picture was taken out on the back deck of the cabin where you can over look the Colorado and watch rafters go by all day long. It was so nice to go on a little weekend getaway after having Jayna and even better when you can call it "work".

The Husbands had a much wilder rafting trip than they even anticipated. We had two days of rain before they left and that on top of high water made the already intense stretch of Cataract Canyon even crazier. The Water levels were so high that Park Services had been camped out below the big drops for two weeks already for the soul purpose of rescue and recovery. Before the rain the river was already at 62,000 cfs (cubic feet per second), to give you an idea of how high and dangerous that is, Park services starts camping out at their support camp at 50,000 cfs. The day that they ended up at the big drops Park Services told them that the gages stopped working that morning at 69,000 cfs and that they thought the river was probably running at about 72,000 cfs. It was a record breaking. Ryan's company had already moved Grand Canyon guides over to Cataract because of how high the water was. So even with the most experienced guides in Moab and the best rafts in Moab they ended up flipping a boat, which Western River Expeditions has not done in 10 years. The boat had Chip and a whole family on it, the youngest being 13 years old. Park services rescued all of them and the boat was long gone on its way to Powell, upside down with all their gear and food on it. They ended up having to get the family out of the Canyon that night and fly them into Moab because they were to shaken up and in shock. Ryans boat then had to hook up with another company for food and gear and rough the rest of the trip out.

As soon as something like this happens on the river they use satellite phones to get information back to the center in Moab. So the whole company and town pretty much knew Western had flipped a boat, but no one said a word to us wives. We were in and out of the center all day and heard nothing. Strict word had been sent around not to tell us under any circumstance, because they did not want us to worry. They knew Chips wife was really paranoid about things like that because she lost her parents and grandparents in a plane accident when she was one, and they knew I had just had a baby. The men had lots to tell us when they got back and it sounded like they got just what they wanted a crazy trip during high water.

Someone from Park Services said they may have gotten the flip on camera so if we ever get that footage I will post it.

A Baby to Put Into the Nursery!

2008-04-11T11:18:00.004-07:00

The day finally came, (a little unexpected and early, but it happened nonetheless) and we now have beautiful Jayna Berry Hutchings in our lives.

She is just a little one, about 6 lbs now.

Here are some photos to tide everyone over till we get some more up. Enjoy!