Kenneth MacLeod Hutchins

Please welcome into the world Kenneth MacLeod Hutchins, the newest member of our family! Alana's water broke at 1:30 AM this morning, and Mac was born 10 hours later at 11:31 AM. He took a while coming, but Alana only needed 3 pushes to get him out, something we are all grateful for. He weighed in at 7 lbs even, and stretched to 20.5 inches long. We love him!

38 Week Old Pumpkin

This is my costume. It took all of 5 minutes to cut out of construction paper and tape onto my orange maternity shirt. If you will notice, the shirt does have short sleeves. In case you are not from around here, it was 75 degrees outside when we went! Yuck. Also take note of the stylish green "stem" on top. As the title implies, I'm just 2 weeks away from my due date so this pumpkin and my mid section will hopefully soon be parting ways.


If you cannot recognized the two cuties in costumes, it is Buzz Light Year and Woody from Toy Story. A movie neither one of them have actually ever seen. They've gotten some pretty good mileage out of the costumes though, wearing them at every opportunity over the past month.
Overall a good Halloween. Gabe had to be the mouth piece at the door but David was able to say thank you for his treats. Zach actually did more work to earn the candy reward than either one of our young trick or treaters. He pushed them up and down many a hilly drive way until Gabe decided to call it quits. I guess riding shotgun in the double stroller was just too much for him. Perhaps he'll have more stamina next year.

A Love Story

Want to hear all about how Zach and I met and fell in love? Listen in this Thursday at 1:40 PM EST on NPR. (I'll post a link to the podcast for those of you who can't listen live.)

Two Kids

Whats the difference between the two "kids"? One loves to eat vegetables and one loves to eat candy.




Yesterday we went to the North Carolina State Fair. Thousands of people drive from all over NC to participate in this annual event with its over sized pumpkins, barn yard animals, arts and crafts contests, and fried EVERYTHING! Not just fried dough or potatoes. You name it, we can fry it in the south: coke, bacon, Twinkies, candy bars, oreos, all manner of meats and vegetables, corn bread etc.



High lights of our venture included a dirt bike stunt show, giant turkey legs and watching David Hyrum ride his first roller coaster unassisted by an adult. Every time the little dragon came around the corner both boys were thrown forward.As a mother on the side lines I'm having second thoughts about putting my one year old on this semi-safe contraption.



David Hyrum still LOVES anything motor. He is thrilled to find tractors to sit on, school buses on the road, and all things construction. I'm guessing its a little boy phase but its lasted a good 10 months now. Gabe went through something similar and isn't completely out of it yet.

Sgar and Spice

So we fed the missionaries tonight and I made them some pretty standard fare- spaghetti with home made meat balls, salad, and a cake with chocolate frosting. Nothing fancy, but it fills the stomach. But apparently mine is not the first or even second house they have sampled my deserts however. We gave a pie to the bishop's family a few months ago and then a pie to another family last week and where did these pies end up? Being served to these same elders. Does that say something about my deserts that people just want to give them away? Hummm.... I'll just have to come up with something really scrumptious that people can't bare to part with, any suggestions?

Snips and Snails and puppy dog tails

A package arrived in the mail the other day from Mom H.- Thanks Mom! Ain't it cute.



(The baby sweater is on top of one of Zach's sweaters. Our babies always look tiny when he holds them too.)

A Shepherd in Israel

This month in the October Ensign there was an article by Elder Daniel L. Johnson entitled "Me? A shepherd in Israel." In Luke 15 Christ tells the parable of the lost sheep saying, "What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing." I immediately thought of Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 saying, "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;"
I love thinking of Christ as a shepherd figure watching over us and leading us in the right direction. He is not the only shepherd however. In Ezekiel 34 God is chastising His under shepherds for not doing a good job feeding His flock. Well, who are my sheep that I've been assigned? Those I visit teach, the girls in activity days, my family... Are there any that are lost? In our stake we have been specifically counseled to go seek after those that are less active this year and try to help them find their way back to church. A number of people came to mind and more have come across my path since.
"We are shepherds watching over Israel. The hungry sheep look up, ready to be fed the bread of life... Our task is to reach out to those who, for whatever reason, are in need of our help."
President Thomas S. Monson, Nov. 2006 Ensign
We invited a couple over for dinner a while ago where the husband is only partially enjoying the blessings of the gospel. He was at church this past Sunday with his wife and stayed for two hours, I'm not sure if that was in any way due to us but hopefully it helped. I've exchanged some emails with friends that have fallen away. Have they come back yet- no, but should I give up- no. I even found out that my OBGYN was baptized a member of the church but now no longer attends. What can I do for her? I think the key phrase is, "until he find it." It can't be a one time effort and must involve real love.
"May we remember our responsibilities as shepherds so that we can give a good accounting to the Lord regarding our stewardship over the sheep He has assigned to each of us." (Elder Daniel L. Johnson, same article)