Aunt Tina

Tina came with us the day we took our family photos. She dotes on Mac and we dote on her. 

The Waiting Place…

… for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go

Or a bus to come, or a plane to go

Or the mail to come, or the rain to go

Or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow

Or waiting around for a Yes of No

Or waiting for their hair to grow.

Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite

Or waiting for wind to fly a kite

Or waiting around for Friday night

Or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake

Or a pot to boil, or a Better Break

Or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants

Or a wig with curl, or Another Chance.

Everyone is just waiting.

Oh, the Places You’ll Go! By Dr. Seuss

Waiting for a missionary to come home (their Uncle Jake), or a camera (Mail to come), or a job to arrive (Better Break), or to get pregnant (fish to bite), or a baby to come, or a house (a string of pearls)…

I often think of this book when I catch myself just waiting. It seems like I’ve been in the waiting place quite a lot this year but perhaps that has more to do with my out look on life and less to do with my situation. Thinking of the scriptures seems a lot more helpful that Dr. Seuss.

“In your patience, posses ye your souls.” Luke 21:19

"And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

and patience, experience, and experience hope." Romans 5:3-4

"For the Lord is a God of judgement: blessed are all they that wait for Him." Isaiah 30:18

I especially like the verses from Romans because patience worketh experience, not the other way around. Patience works the experience that is worthwhile and builds character and hope. The experience might be endured either way, but without patience there probably wasn't much accompanying growth. It's good to have to wait sometimes. Makes the reward that much sweeter. 

Double Book Review

I happened to finish these two books a day a part from one another. Here's my first review:

Katherine by Anya Seton is a time period novel that does a wonderful job taking you back into the centuries when the world, and England in particular, was so different. The language and descriptions of daily life are as enjoyable to read as the actual story. This historical fiction is based on real people from the royal family, primarily John of Gaunt and his life's love, Katherine Swynford.
          The same sweet lady that invited Zach and I to her house for a medieval feast gave me this book for Christmas to read. (She was one of Zach's older students a few semesters ago in a Shakespeare class) She said it had taken her through the deliveries of four of her six children. It's her favorite non-religious book of all time. I enjoyed it, but perhaps not that much. Overall I give it four out of five stars. Entertaining enough to satisfy but also enlightening enough to feel a little smarter when you are done.



The Book of Mormon of course belongs in a whole other category.  It was lovely to finish it Sunday morning sitting on the bed with the baby. Very calm and serene. As I sat and pondered for a few minutes after I had finished, I could feel the quiet power that comes from reading this book of scripture. I thought about the life and love of the prophets, about Christ's visit to the Americas, about the book being written for our day and our time. Over all I give it six out of five stars and say if you haven't read it lately, maybe its about time to start it again. I've already started over since this year's Sunday School lessons are based on the Book of Mormon this year. I have every confidence that I'll enjoy it just as much this time as I did last time, if not more.

Start your Engines

Ready, Set, GO! Today is the official start of the contest so everyone is at zero except for me. I hope you weighed yourselves today to get a "start weight". I'll post every week your totals so others know where they stand:


Amber- 0 lb
Cora- 0 lb
Jan- 0 lb
Janice- 0 lb
Jodie- 0 lb
Laurabeth- 0 lb
Pricilla- 0 lb
Sarah- 0 lb
Sonnet- 0 lb
Robbie- 0 lb

Anyone else who wants to join after the start date is welcome to, but you can't retroactively guess your weight. You have to weigh yourself that day and start from there; so if you want to join up join up soon. Good luck!

Note: I am officially withdrawing myself from the contest since so many of you have commented that you think I'm going to "smoke" you. I do have a decided advantage so I'll keep track for myself and post my weight loss at the end, but the contest winner will come from one of the other entries. 

The Biggest Loser

(Not a picture of me, just a random internet photo)

        Twenty pounds of baby weight says that its time for a Biggest Loser competition. I'm putting out a challenge to anyone who wants to participate to see who can lose the most weight in the next 8 weeks. (I'm well aware that weight is not the best indicator of fat loss but its the easiest way to keep track of multiple people, so sorry if you are losing fat and gaining muscle.) For the winner, if you are in Utah I'll take you out to lunch or shopping, whatever you prefer- on me. If you are outside of the immediate area, say east coast, then I'll send you a 25$ gift certificate to the place of your choosing- restaurant or store. If I win, I'm taking myself shopping. 25$ dollars is cheaper than buying a whole new wardrobe that fits. 


Since I'm the one making up the Rules here they are:


-All official start weights begin in two days, that will give people time to read this post and decide if they want to participate or not: Wednesday Jan 25th. That is your "zero" weight.  You do not have to tell me your current weight, unless you think that will add to the motivation. Just write it down or remember it. 
-Each Wednesday thereafter you will weigh yourself (preferably the same time of day) and post a comment to my blog, or email me if you would like to be more discrete, the amount of total weight you have lost since the first weigh in. (-1lb, -5lb etc.)
-I will personally be putting a handicap on myself of 5 pounds because I'm nursing and its a lot easier for me to lose weight than the average person. So I will start out at +5 and go down from there. 
-Everything is on the honor system

 Who's in? Come on, it will be fun.  If anyone wants some weight loss advice I'm happy to help. I've got lots of it.  The only thing you have to lose is your spare tire.  Good luck and Good-bye fat. 

Blast from the Past

Fancy Dinning on hand made tables from Grandpa Ogarek. The tables and chairs were great unless you closed them the wrong way and pinched yourself. 

Amber and I enjoying the snowman we "helped" make at Grandma's house in New Jersey

Alana about 4 years old sporting my alphabet pants and big bird shirt

Thanks for sharing these scanned-in photos Dad!

Missing a limb

      This week I decided to take the plunge and upgrade my camera. I ordered one on line and posted my camera on the web to sell so I could finance part of the upgrade. I thought it would take a few days to sell but within 20 minutes someone had called and come to pick it up. Perhaps I should have asked more for it but the guy that bought it seemed so happy I think it will get a lot of use. He blogs for a living so he's been looking to buy a camera for a while. In the mean time though I'm camera-less. I feel it missing like I'm sure some people would feel the loss of their smart phone. Here I am with a week old baby and NO Camera.- good one Sherlock. At least I'm going to have her pictures done by a friend at the beginning of next week, that is some consolation. I hope the new camera comes in the mail SOON. 

Happy Day!

Happy Day!

That's the message that greets me on my phone every time I open it up. I didn't put it there; I'm not smart enough to know how to do that, but it makes me smile none the less. Because you know what, gosh darn it, it is a happy day! Even on days that aren't so happy, because those definitely come. We've had one of those this week . There's always SOMETHING to be happy about. For example- I can bend in the middle now. I can see my feet. I can watch my children play and hold my new daughter. I can share it all with my husband and put my cares at the foot of the LORD. The clouds will part, the sun will come, and its a "Happy Day!"

Multiply and Replenish

The Family: A Proclamation to the World

"The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God's commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. "

Zach and I are two. If we replenish that's two more. If we multiply then that's four. I figure we've done our job now. Any children after this is just gravy. We're still shooting for 8 though. 


Psalm 127

 3" Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb and his reward

 4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

 5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them."

 If she's not doing this she's eating. If she is not doing activities 1 or 2 she  is probably
unhappy and wishing she were doing one of theses two things

Zach put together my extra set of hands last night. It will come in "handy"
when trying to make lunches etc. for the boys

Now if only we could train her to do this at night... 

New Arrival

She's here! We're excited to welcome the newest member of our family into the world. Little Ruthie started to come on her due date, the afternoon of Jan. 12th, but didn't really mean business till about 2:00am the next morning. She arrived 7 hours later at Utah Valley Hospital. All went fairly smoothly for mother and daughter and we are both recovering nicely. She was even in time for Dad to go teach 3 out of his 4 Friday classes, including one he had promised to substitute for someone else. (A thanks to Tina and Joy for watching the boys for us while we were gone.)

Dr. Savage and delivery nurse Shea

Ruth Anne Hutchins- you can call her Ruth Anne or just Ruthie. Lucky Friday the 13th

She's a keeper

 I can't really tell who she looks like yet except maybe her brothers when they were born. She does like to stick her tongue in and out a lot though. We think she's pretty cute. 

A visit from the boys. David and Gabe were very interested in holding her and helping get me baby items and still are. Mac was more interested in the hospital juice. Stay tuned. I'm sure there will be more pictures to come. 

Twiddling my thumbs

Ruth Anne is due TODAY, but she's not here yet.  I took a 3 mile walk this morning at 6 am but that didn't seem to do anything but make my back sore. I'll go see the doctor tomorrow afternoon to see if we can't speed this process up but for now I'm just twiddling my thumbs. It would be nice to have her today or tomorrow because of the long weekend but babies come when they come. For now I'm just putting off things I could or should be doing, reading to my two year old and wearing sweat pants. The end. 

Personal Creed

On Sunday we  had a lesson that seemed like a great way to apply the gospel in my life and not just talk about it. That's what I love about the lives of the prophets and  general authorities. It's the gospel in action. Sort of like life time resolutions instead of goals for just this year. I like it because it focuses on not just "doing" but also "being", or doing something that would lead to being something.  I started writing my personal creed this week but promptly lost the rough draft so I'll have to start again.  There will be at least one sentence that has to do with this concept:

Good mother are available, great mothers are engaged, happy mothers enjoy their children.

This is beautiful so I'm sharing it with you.

From the Life of George Albert Smith

When he was 34 years old, George Albert Smith made a list of resolutions that he called his “personal creed”—11 ideals that he committed to live by:

“I would be a friend to the friendless and find joy in ministering to the needs of the poor.

“I would visit the sick and afflicted and inspire in them a desire for faith to be healed.

“I would teach the truth to the understanding and blessing of all mankind.

“I would seek out the erring one and try to win him back to a righteous and a happy life.

“I would not seek to force people to live up to my ideals but rather love them into doing the thing that is right.

“I would live with the masses and help to solve their problems that their earth life may be happy.

“I would avoid the publicity of high positions and discourage the flattery of thoughtless friends.

“I would not knowingly wound the feelings of any, not even one who may have wronged me, but would seek to do him good and make him my friend.

“I would overcome the tendency to selfishness and jealousy and rejoice in the successes of all the children of my Heavenly Father.

“I would not be an enemy to any living soul.

“Knowing that the Redeemer of mankind has offered to the world the only plan that will fully develop us and make us really happy here and hereafter, I feel it not only a duty but also a blessed privilege to disseminate this truth.”

Those who knew President Smith declared that he truly did live by his creed.

For the full lesson click here.

Bodies and Babies

       Last night at Family Home Evening Zach gave a lesson on bodies and babies in preparation for the new addition to our family. He spoke about why it was important to come to earth to obtain a body and how we should treat the new baby when she comes. At one point during the lesson Zach asked the boys, "Who doesn't have a body?" to which Gabe replied enthusiastically, "Satan!" And then the follow up question, "And why not?" David's response made me giggle over on the couch.


 "Because it got sucked up by the machine in China!"


What!?! Where did that come from? Do you even know what China is? Perhaps we should be cutting TV time down from one show to zero. I don't even remember how Zach responded, but needless to say, our three year old needed a little course correction. I love being a mom, its so amusing sometimes. 


David also says to me last night, "Mom, you're my favorite person in the family. Do you know why?"  
"No sweetie, why?"
"Because you're having a baby"

Happy Birthday Mom

Zach's mom happened to be out here for her birthday this year so we got together as a family to celebrate. Joy made a lovely dinner (which she hardly ate any of) and we watched the CES fireside on the television. After that  it was cake and presents. Unfortunately it didn't turn out to be anyone else's birthday. 

Proudly displaying Haley's sticker gift

A garden stone to put in one of her 13 gardens. 

Home made cheesecake to celebrate

Happy Birthday Mom!

Miss Manners

I asked this little girl inside of me to be polite and wait till after my shower last night and Zach gets home late tonight to arrive. So far so good. What a considerate baby. I hope this is a sign of things to come. The shower was held by some good friends and family and was adorable. Zach has asked more than once- is there anything that isn't pink? And yes, there is. There is also a lot of the pink frilly stuff too though.

Yummm.... cake balls

The hostess with the mostess- My "other" Amber and Zach's sister Tina

Bibs and diapers- useful for any baby

She'll be one well dressed little girl. That is, until she grows out of all this shower stuff. 

Too cute

The adorable aftermath

Gone till Sunday

Remember this guy? Well he left yesterday to drive to Seattle Washington for job interviews at the national MLA (English) conference. Nothing like a 13 hour drive to warm you up for the firing squad. The drive was on the heels of teaching his first day of classes for the semester. He's arrived in one piece though and seems to be doing fine. From what he tells me, his students didn't seem all that broken up about Zach having to cancel the second day of classes either. Wish him luck!

Here's his stand in. Zach's mom flew in yesterday to be here just in case the baby decides to make an early entrance into the world. I'm happy for the company even if I don't go into labor and the boys are loving having Mimi around. I think Dad misses his other half though. My phone has been a lot busier with her here the past 24 hours than it is usually. Who can blame him? Everybody loves mom. 

WWF- Winter Wresting Fun

My four boys need SOME way to get their energy out when we are cramped indoors. This week has been fairly mild but a few weeks ago when I took these pictures it was cold. David is the craziest of the three, just throwing himself around when he wrestles with Zach. I just stand on the side lines, cheer, and take pictures. No trips to the ER- yet.