Vacation Pictures

I hope you've enjoyed the pictures! There will be more tomorrow of our adventure to donut falls...yipee! Love you guys!

Here are my pictures from the zoo and the DIA.

Kurt!

You said you would log on every day and post that you looked! Where are all your entries for this week? Just kidding.

The house we now live in.

Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what the house looks like that we now live in. As you can see, there are many improvements that are needed. We won't be able to do them all, but when we are finished it will look totally different!

This is the front. This is the side you see from our old house. This is the living room.

This is the entryway coming down the stairs. You can see the front door. This is the bathroom. This is the kitchen.

This is the girls' room. This is the boys' room. This is mine and Charlie's room.

(Don't mind the laundry)

This is the pantry/toy room. This is the dining room. Sorry it's so dark.

Merrit's baptism

Here are the pictures from Merrit's baptism. We were sorry that you guys in Utah couldn't be there. It was a blast (at least for the kids).

To the right, was a string maze we set up for the kids.

One of the activities was for the kids to draw on Merrit's face. This is how he looked afterwards.

Picture from the Zoo

I finally found a way to download my pictures without the download cable. Now I can show you the pictures I have. I'll try to put them in slowly over the next couple of days so I don't overwhelm everyone. I'll start with the zoo pictures.

I couldn't figure out how to rotate the long pictures, so I'm sorry if you get a kink in your neck from trying to look at them. I thought I had some pictures from the polar bear exhibit, but they weren't on the camera so I guess I didn't have them.

Harvenshtein

Here are some pictures from the most recent ultrasound. They did some really cool 3D ones where he looks like he's sucking his thumb. Say hi to Harvenshtein David Hutchinson! (Harvey for short.)

Birds and the Bees

So, for your information, we had a nice surprise Tuesday morning when we found out that.....I AM PREGNANT!!!! WAHOO!!! If our calculations are right I'm about a month along and would give birth February or March. I know, I know they say you should wait to tell people until after the first trimester...but if something happens, I figured that my family would be my best support. So, ummm...that's all. OH and we're moving into our apartment this Saturday--YIPEE!!!!!!!!! We are soooo excited. I really love my job and Eric is soo excited to start his in a week from this Monday. So things are going great for us. We love you and please still pray for Eric that he will do well on the MCAT (on June 15). Thanks guys!

It'a a BOY!

We had our ultrasound today and found out that we'll be expecting a little Harvey David Hutchinson in October. They moved my due date back to October 30th so I'm actually a week less pregnant than I thought. Oh well, I feel great and am enjoying my good health through the pregnancy. We'll post pictures when we go visit for dinner this weekend since we don't have a scanner. We have a couple really cool 3-D pictures.

Summer is almost here!

Charlie's last day is June 8th. We've only been counting down now since the beginning of May, maybe even the end of April. It has become harder and harder for Charlie to stay motivated to work, especially since he gave his letter of resignation. But he's trying to hand in there and do the best job he can, because that's the type of person he is. His brother, Les, has his first interview on Wed. this week. They turned him down. He has several other schools he has applied for so we aren't worried for him yet. Ironically enough, Flat Rock is looking for a social studies/Spanish combo for the middle school. Charlie told Les to apply. We think it will be funny if he gets the job there. Charlie thinks Les has a better temperment for middle school aged kids then he does. I've been slowly working on the house we are living in. I have one bedroom almost totally painted. I only have the door, ceiling and closet to paint. It's hard since I can only paint when the kids are sleeping. I have washed the walls in the living room and hope to start painting it this weekend. I'm looking forward to having the living room painted so I can bring real furniture into it. So far, we've been sitting on camping chairs because they are easier to move around to paint.

For those of you who might not know, Jocelyn and her husband, Les, moved out at the beginning of April. They moved in with Charlie's parents. That is why we don't have real furniture in the living room. It's been nice to have a house to myself again. So, we are fixing the house up to sell it for Les and Jocelyn. They plan on staying with Charlie's parents or in their house for several years so they won't need this house any more. We just happen to have the skills and time to be able to fix it up. It worked out pretty good. I'm sorry if I've already told you about this, I can't remember who I tell and who I don't.

So even though the summer will be full of hard work on this house, I'm still excited for it to come because Charlie will be home. I'm feeling like my patience is running short. I'm definatly not cut out to be a single mom, and I'm sure my poor kids could support me in that. I'm afraid I'm not the nicest person too much of the time lately and I think it's just because I'm tired. I just hope it gets better when Charlie is here to help. I hate to think that this is who I am now.

Well, I should probably get to bed and get some sleep before my kids wake up in the morning. Take care everyone.

WE DID IT!

Eric and I both have jobs!!! Well, I know that Eric already has a job, but he has a new job. I got a job on the University of Utah campus. My official title is the Grades Clerk. I am part of the distance education department-they do independent study. I do things with grades and exams and putting together student's material for their course. I started on Wednesday. It's just a part-time job, but I workd from 9-1 so it will be perfect for going to school. And today we just found out that Eric got the orderly job at St. Mark's hospital. YEAH!! He will be in the operating room. We are super excited. We also move into our new apartment next Friday-YAY! So thanks for all your prayers and I would ask now that you pray for Eric that he does well on the MCAT (he takes it June 15 in the morning). We love you all.

Kurt and Heather--

I've been wondering how it has been in your new house. I haven't heard anything about it! Do you have any new pictures? How has the adjustment been? I'd really like to get the scoop.

What lovely people! This is from a picnic we had back in April or so.

The happy Utah Valley State College graduate.

Makayla, Jana, Mom and Dad at the zoo under the seal and polar bear tank. I thought I took a whole bunch more pictures on our trip to Michigan, but I guess not! Bummer.

New Direction

So I quit my job...I know, I know, I just started on Monday, but it was a bit too much on my back and I came home sooo sore both nights and we found out that the summer math class that I needed to take was at the same time. So, today was my last day and I start my math class tomorrow. But, do not worry, I have already put out 6 or 7 applications and are planning on doing more when I find good jobs. And since we will be living with Eric's parents for the next 3 weeks, that's how long I have to find a job. But, we're not worried about it-just please pray that I will find a great part-time job so that I can still go to school. Just thought that I'd let you know what's going on. OH, and we still don't know about the orderly job for Eric, but he's pretty certain that he will get the job (pray for that too, please :)

Muffin Mini Meatloaves

This recipe is delicious and SOOO easy! Thanks to the Kraft Recipe Magazines, we've had it several times and lovelovelove it. We've also passed it out to several friends and each has given us great reviews.

Muffin Mini Meatloaves
1 lb. ground beef
1 box Stove Top (6 oz)
1 cup water
1 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 cup BBQ sauce
3/4 cup shredded cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Mix meat, stuffing mix, water and the garlic powder until well blended. 2. Press evenly into 12 medium muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray; make an indentation in center of each with back of spoon.
3. Spoon BBQ sauce evenly into center of each with back of spoon.
4. Bake 30 min. or until meatloaves are cooked through. Top evenly with cheese; continue baking 5 min. or until cheese is melted. Let stand 10 min. before serving.

**OPTIONAL** Jazz it up: For a little kick, add 2 Tbsp A.1. Original Steak Sauce to meat mixture before shaping into meatloaves.

Spring

It's been so pretty here the last week. The lilacs are out and smell so good. The tulips and daffodils that Merrit sold me last year bloomed and are so colorful. The grass just keeps growing and growing. If we could find a good deal on a tractor, both Dad and I are ready to buy one. We're getting to old and feeble to walk behind the old one anymore. Dad even borrowed Molly's tractor last week and mowed our backyard. He says that it isn't as easy as you might think, since it doesn't turn on a dime and takes some maneuvering. We'll see how long it will take to talk ourselves into it. Of course, if we get a tractor then we have to build a shed to put it in. One thing leads to another in the way of home ownership. The play is over. The second weekend was totally sold out all 3 performances! Everyone who saw it really liked it. On Saturday night there were a number of people from the ward who went, so we meet at Riffles before hand and had dinner together, then went to the play. The week before, Castros had gone to Northville High's production of The Sound of Music. Susie said it was really bad. She was glad to go to a good high school play. Anyway, on with life! Dad still hasn't heard about the new job, so we still don't know what we're going to do about a summer vacation. We've thought of several options, and we'll just have to wait and see which one it will be. Enjoy the spring while it lasts, summer will be here soon enough.

Finally!

So, we have FINALLY moved completely out of our apartment. WOHOO!!! No more stink! :) Today was our last day and now we are at Eric's parent's house for the next 2 weeks. Because....we found another apartment! YAY! It's in a duplex almost in downtown Salt Lake. The tenant in front is a single man who runs a salon out of his apartment. The manager says that it's quite and we even have a little back yard all to ourselves and the parking in the back is ours too. We even get to paint! YIPEE! Also, I took the custodian job working for the Church as a custodian, I start on Monday. It will be a great job to have during the school year because it only goes from 5-8:30pm. And, yesterday Eric interviewed for an orderly job at a different hospital and he said that he feels good about the interveiw and he's really optomistic about getting the job. It doesn't pay as well as the job he has now, but it is full-time, with benefits and the chance for a pay increase. He would be an operating room orderly and the lady that interviewed him said that there would be chances for him to help out in some surgeries-something that he was super stoked about. So, we are both pretty excited and we should hear about the job (hopefully) next week sometime. That's all our news on this home front. It's all pretty exciting! We really do miss all of you back in Michigan, and like Heather hope that it was easier to get there, but hopefully by next summer we will be a lot closer and can see you all more frequently. But we had fun playing Boggle and cards and going to the zoo. But now it's time to get back to life and get on with being an adult. We love you!

Everyone home safe?

Hope all your travels went well. Did everyone arrive home safe and in a timely manner? It was great to see everyone. I wish we all lived a lot closer or that airline ticket prices would plummet. Such is life.

it's Jason's birthday, shout hurray

we want to sing to him today

one year older and wiser, too (ahem, ahem...)

happy birthday

TO YOU!

Finally Draft

Just wanted to share the good news that I sent in a full draft of my thesis today to my committee. I'll probably get some edits back before the presentation but I don't know for sure. Now I just have to get my presentation together and try to think up what sort of questions they'll be asking so I can have some thought out replies. Kurt and I think we'll be driving straight through on the way back so we should be around for most of Saturday. Yay!

happy birthday KURT!!

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY, ANOTHER YEAR
LET'S ALL GIVE KURT A GREAT BIG CHEER!

HURRAH!

Quiche recipe

Here is an easy recipe I found in the Parade magazine.

Ham and Cheese Quiche

1 9" deep dish pie shell (thawed)
2 cups shredded sharp cheese
1 cup chopped ham
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped green pepper (optional)
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup evaporated milk


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Toss together cheese, ham, onion and green pepper. Spoon in pie shell. Whisk together remaining ingredients until well blended. Pour over ham and cheese mixture. Bake 45 minutes, or until golden and knife inserted in center comes out clean. Recipe is easily double and extra can be frozen.

We tried it with green peppers yesterday and it was great. Preparations go a lot faster if you buy the ham already cubed.

SOMEONE IS ONE YEAR OLDER!

Just wanted to wish you heck of a birthday tomorrow, Heather!!! Hope that it's fantastic!

Another Update

I am happy to report that things are going well. For a while there I thought I was going to lose my mind with all the things that we were trying to decide. But, yesterday we went and put money down to hold an apartment. The apartments we are going to move into are brand new and they aren't yet done building them, so we put the money down to secure an apartment. To view the apartments, click here. All you can really look at are the floorplans, we are moving into a 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment. They are not sure when we can move in because it is still being built, but Eric's parents have graciously let us live with them until then. It will either be the middle or end of May. And, I told some of you that I was quitting my job, but today that planned changed and I will be keeping my courier job-it was just easier that way. Eric is still looking for a different full-time job, but until he can get one, he will keep his job at LDS and just move from part-time to full-time. I will be staying at part-time so that I can take some summer classes. I also told some of you that we were thinking of me not going to school in the Fall, but I will be. So, I am taking this summer class so that I fulfill the pre-requisite for the math class I need and not have to spend 8 semesters in math classes. Eric is re-taking the MCAT in June and start applying to medical schools again shortly thereafter. They have changed the format so that you get your results in a month instead of three like before. He has decided to apply to osteopathic schools as well as medical schools. He graduates in 3 weeks and we are soooo excited! Also, for those who are popping out babies - and those of you who aren't or can't - we have decided to try for babies next March. This is when my birth control perscription runs out and we are just not going to renew it and see what happens :)! Ummm...primary is going great. On Sunday I'm going to start teaching the kids how to sing "I Know That My Redeemer Lives!" in sign language. The church's website has a link to learn the hymns in sign language and I watched it like one hundred times before I got it down. I am just going to teach them the first verse, but I have the fourth verse written down in case they are really good at the first. We will see how it goes, I'm kind of nervous. We are having Easter by ourselves and are glad it will be a quiet day. We miss you all, and Hillary good luck with moving...should be pretty awesome! BUT don't worry we will be there in 19 days from tomorrow! WOHOO!!! It should be pretty awesome. We couldn't be more excited. We hope you are all well and that you do all have an awesome Easter. John 20 (the Easter story). WE LOVE YOU!!!

Happy Easter!!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy Easter! I hope you all will be spending your Easter in a nice relaxing atmosphere.

I get to move Les and Jocelyn into Charlie's parents' house. It's been pretty stressful so far and tomorrow is the big move with all their furniture going. I will be so glad when this weekend is over. I'm trying to keep a Christ-like attitude, especially with it being Easter and all :).

Love you all.

Why did the girl fall off the swing?

Because she didn't have any arms.

Ha ha!

Baby pictures!

We had our first pregnancy exam last Tuesday. Heather has been doing great so far, and the doctors say that there's no reason that won't continue. The obstetrician we met with specializes in high-risk pregnancies (due to Heather's heart condition), and he said he's assisted several women with the same condition whose pregnancies went smoothly. He was very nice and professional. Due to the high-riskiness, they did an ultrasound even though it was just the first exam. It was very exciting to see the bean shaped person, especially the heart beating. Last night at Mom and Dad's, we scanned the ultrasound pictures they gave us. Here they are, for your viewing pleasure.

update time

Hello everyone. I just thought I'd update you all. Charlie and I have decided to put off looking for a house for a while. We think Charlie will probably have a different job this fall, but we don't know where yet, so we felt like we should wait to find out where before we buy a house. So I'm going to stay in Jocelyn's house with the kids so they can finish up the school year at their school. Charlie will continue to live in his brother, Les's, basement and come home on the weekends. It sucks, but we only have a couple more months.

Les and Jocelyn are going to move in with Charlie's parents next weekend. That will leave me and the kids here on our own. I'm actually looking forward to it. I can't believe how hard it is to live with a different family, even when you get along pretty well. After they move out, Charlie and I will start to fix up their house and then try to sell it. We hope to have it sold by the end of the summer (we know it is a pretty high hope, but I don't want to be discouraged). That way we won't have to leave it vacant in order to move into our own home before the beginning of the next school year. We really hope to be able to live together as a family for the whole year next school year.

I have a new calling at church. I'm the 2nd councelor in the Relief Society presidency and am over the Enrichment meetings. I'm excited to serve with the women again. I really love them, especially in Flint. Charlie doesn't have a calling still, but the bishop assures us that he is working on it now that we know we will be around for at least the next couple of months.

Charlie still doesn't like his job too much. He really struggles with the middle school aged kids. He knows for sure he doesn't ever want to teach that age group again. I'm glad we have other opportunities so that he won't have to. He is going to a job fair at Eastern Michigan in April. There are several schools that will be there looking for math teachers. He will talk to as many as he can.

The kids are doing well in school. This week was their school spirit week. Every day they have had a different way to dress. Today they got to wear their pj's to school. Makayla, in particular, was so excited for today. The kids have enjoyed getting to wear something other than their uniforms everyday.

The weather here is finally starting to be nice more than not. We've been able to go outside more, which I am so happy about. I heard that Utah had a blizzard this past couple of days. Must have sucked to be you guys out there! I've felt really couped up in this house all winter. We played at someone's house on Monday and went on a walk on Tuesday. It's really nice again today, but I don't know if we'll be able to do anything special. So I should probably stop babbling.

We're Moving

So, we've finally had it with this place. Everybody smokes around us and it has started pouring in at all hours. I can't sleep and there is no place to hide from the smell. Plus the people down stairs and next door party. ALSO the people next door got a dog that they do not take care of and leave on their balcony in the snow and the dog lives in its own urine and feaces. We called the office and let them know, but so far, nothing has changed. So, we have decided to break our lease and move early. We will be moving out the 2nd week of May and moving in with Eric's parents until we find another apartment-hopefully it is soon. To say the least, we are very excited and should have done this sooner. But we thought you all should know and would you please pray for us that we will find another place and that we won't be duped again. Thanks for all you guys do, we love you! And we cannot wait to see you all in 28 DAYS!!!

High School Festivals

I had a weekend of high school music festivals. On Friday I chaperoned 3 of the high school choirs at the regional choir festival. Lyon Singers got straight I s as did one of the 2 girl groups. On Saturday I played for 2 band students at the state solo and ensemble festival, one of them got a I and the other one didn't do as well. Now the choirs will go on to the state competition, which one of the parents said is the same week as the play. It should be fun!

a big KICK

I had a neat experience this morning. I jumped out of bed rather quickly and must have startled our baby because...WHAM...what a kick! I've been feeling her move quite a bit lately, but her movements are usually small and easy to overlook, so it was cool feeling her so strongly--hopefully she doesn't have an attitude in the making!

Li'l Grape

According to this description, our baby is about the size of a grape. That's right folks, Heather is pregnant!

As you can see from that article, she's about 9 weeks. We've been waiting to tell everyone, and it's been tough keeping the secret. We told Heather's parents and family at her mom's birthday party on Saturday. She thought it was a great birthday present. We told Mom and Dad last night as we were coming home. They are very excited, too. And now that the secret is out, we can spread the news!

The due date is October 23 for now, although one of the ladies at the birthday party said her due date changed twice after she starting getting the ultrasounds.

Yay for babies!

Jimmy's Almost a Legal Adult!!!

I know the event was yesterday, but it still calls for some serious celebration. Our little brother, James William, is now, officially, SEVENTEEN!!!! I have a few pictures for all you that do not remember what he looks like-I wish I had baby pictures because then we could do a progression, but this will have to do.
Here are the two boys on Mom and Dad's new porch and don't they look happy.

This is Jimmy doing what he does best -wink ;)

And here is Jimmy just being plain scary...but we still love him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LITTLE BROTHER!!!

We all can't wait to see you rock the house as the world's coolest Beast. LOVE YOU!!!

My friend Wendy visited me this last weekend. She was here for about 3 days and I thought you might like to see some pictures from our adventures.

Wendy in Salt Lake City. We took a tour of the Conference Center (which was cool) and tried to find her family in the Family History Center (but didn't have much luck).

This is me on top of a cliff up Rock Canyon. You can see Provo and Utah Lake in the background. I like this picture because you can see how pregnant I am! It was quite a hike for me, and I was VERY sore the next day.

We ate at the No Name Saloon in Park City, UT. I had to get a membership in order for us to eat there (it was free) and I'm holding the membership card in the picture. We thought it was funny because I am the most unlikely candidate to join a bar (not only do I not drink, I'm pregnant!).

Wendy and Jason with a beautiful, dolled-up moose in Park City. All Park City souveniers have moose on them, which was funny, because this was the only moose we saw!

Wendy and I at the Great Salt Lake. She wanted to stick her foot in, just to say she had done it, but when she saw how icky the lake was she quickly changed her mind! I got my foot stuck in the mud, though, and sort-of lived her dream. Overall, it was a great weekend with lots of laughs and new memories.

Break in

Somebody broke into our apartment Thursday while I was out to lunch with Kurt, however we didn't notice anything was missing until around noon on Friday. Well, break-in isn't exactly the right terms since they appear to have had a key to our door. The apartment complex has had some trouble keeping track of all of its sets of master keys. Anyway, they broke in and took our Wii, Game Cube, all of their accessories, and our digital camera. The cops have told us we won't be getting any of the stuff back even if they recover it. We are very bummed. I also think I got one of the worst nights of sleep ever last night. Our locks were re-keyed last night but they had also been re-keyed on Tuesday so it doesn't make us feel all that secure. There is an alarm system on the door and we are supposed to be getting that activated today. In the end it was all just material stuff that we can replace eventually but it is unnerving.

We Got a House!

We put an offer in on this house Monday morning and, after some negotiations, our offer was accepted last night! We'll go out with the inspector in the next couple of days and then things will be official. We originally had proposed April 6th for closing but they couldn't make that so we pushed it back to May 4th so it would be after my thesis was over. I would have liked to have gotten into the home sooner but at least this way I don't have to pack and move while writing my thesis. It will be nice to deal with that after I'm done with my school responsibilities.

easy recipe

I found this recipe in the magazine that comes with the Herald newspaper and it got rave reviews from Dad and Jim and the people at the storehouse. It's called Beef Taco Skillet and here it is;
1 lb. ground beef 1/2 cup water
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Campbell's Tomato Soup 6 flour tortillas (6"), cut into 1" pieces
(Regular or 25% Less Sodium) 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup salsa

1. Cook beef in 10" skillet until well browned, stirring to break up meat. Pour off fat.
2. Stir in soup, salsa, water, tortillas. Heat to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 min. Stir. Top with cheese. Makes 4 servings.

Creamy Mexican Fiesta: Stir in 1/2 cup sour cream with soup.

Ranchero Style: Use corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas and shredded Mexican cheese blend instead of Cheddar.

Thesis Date Set

I've set up my thesis defense date for April 25th. It will be the culmination of three years of work on this project and I'm already nervous. Thought you guys would like to know. I think it will go OK. Kurt and I are going to be in Greenville for the beginning of the week. After the defense I'm hoping to go to the beach for a day or two and then head home. We will definitely be back in time for the big Gala event.