Everyone has told me. I have known to expect it yet I still sit here wondering how we are already here. Hunter is eight, he is baptized. He had a stake baptism with nine other children, it was the largest I have ever been to. The members of the stake primary did a great job with the talks. A member from the Stake Presidency talked as well and started off by telling all the kids that were getting baptized to "just this once" please turn around and stand up on the church bench. It was cute to watch their surprised, cautious faces as they stood up on the bench to face all their family and friends. He told them to look around at the faces of all the people that loved and cared about them, that came to see them be baptized. Then he told all of us to look at them, all in white and asked, "Don't they look like angels?" Since there were ten of them standing up above us all in white that is exactly what they looked like. Their smiley faces beaming with anticipation.
Hunter was the only one from our ward and was baptized second to last. As we all filled into the baptismal room it was neat to look around at all the people that had come to support Hunter. Ave was so excited to watch. Looking at him and Deke in the water it hit me how grateful I was that Deke was able to perform this ordinance for him.
Grateful for the way he uses and upholds his priesthood. It was a special moment. We headed back to the chapel and while the guys got changed I played piano. We brought 5X7 notecards and asked everyone to write something about Hunter. Either a special memory with him or something that they loved about him, so that we could put it in a book for him to have. Then Deke with the support of many wonderful friends and family confirmed him. Deke did such a wonderful job, of course always tender but was able to keep his emotions under control enough to speak clearly for Hunter. Seeing my sweet son sitting under the hands of all those men, laying their hands on his head and blessing him was so touching to me. All day I kept looking over at him his freckles all over, a big grin at me every now and again. I love him so much. The whole thing was really wonderful other than a few minor glitches ex.(neither of us grabbing the bag with the towels and change of under garments...oooooops!!) *Don't worry Ave you'll benefit from what we learned the first time around, *Emma we may have it close to correct by the time we get to you :) We took a few pics before we headed over for the brunch at the house.
As we were driving home as a family we had a very special moment together. It will be the moment that I think of when I think back on this day. "So Hunter what to do you think of all of this?" I asked him as we pulled away from the church. Silence. I turned around and looked. Tears slowly coming down his face he gave a little smile. Deke pulled to the side of the road. "All my sins were washed away, and now I'm perfect" he said. I think my heart may have stopped completely at this point. "And how did it feel?" I asked. "It felt really good" he simply added, wiping away remaining tears. The car was completely silent as Deke and I cried, the spirit so strong in the car. All I could think was Hunter you have always been perfect, perfect for this family.
Always bringing joy and vibrance wherever you are. Always bringing humor and happiness. Love watching the impact you have on others in your life. Since the baptism was early we decided to do breakfast foods instead of a luncheon. We made some breakfast casseroles, muffins, bagels, fruit etc. etc. and enjoyed visiting. Hunter with Aunt Kimbre.
Hunter and Grandma.
First it was waiting and waiting at our house for a first missing tooth from Hunter, all it took was losing one and now open the flood gates. All of a sudden there are loose teeth everywhere in this household. Avery's front, bottom, middle, left tooth had been loose for quite awhile. 
As soon as Hunter lost his and had an encounter with the tooth fairy, Avery was wiggling hers daily.
I have to admit with her little personality I figured she would probably pull it out somewhere on her own and calmly come in and bring it to me one day. That is what I was expecting. Hunter wouldn't let either of us near his tooth and ended up pulling it on his own. I knew Ave would want to do it on her own. On Sunday after church she was trying to eat lunch and was complaining about how her tooth was really bothering her. "Dad, I want you to pull it out" she told him. At first she was all smiles, not seeming worried at all. "This is going to be a breeze for her" I thought to myself. So they began the process of getting that tiny tooth out of there. Deke was having a hard time getting ahold of it since it was so small. Avery was actually pretty nervous and not quite sure about this whole process, hence her expression...
Deke tried using a tissue to help him get a better grip, he tried using a little bit of floss but it was hard to keep a hold of it because it was just so small. Here they are still wiggling and working on it. 
Still working on it.
After tugging on it for quite awhile, Deke started pulling a little harder, then the tears came. She was not a fan of this experience and did not want to do it anymore, even though the tooth was hanging on by a thread. Deke gave her a hug, told her to be brave and then pulled. 
Okay seriously these pictures make it look so sad. She was actually pretty scared about the whole thing. Then a second later...it was out!! She still was not thrilled until she had cried it out for another minute and let Deke comfort her. 
Within a minute or two she was fine and happily discussing the details of a "tooth fairy visit" and ready to call her Grandma's and aunties and tell them all about it. She looks so cute with it missing. Deke did such a good job, keeping her calm yet making sure to get the thing out. The tooth fairy brought her five dollars and a teeny, tiny rolled up note, just like he brought Hunter. Except when she showed him the note Hunter excitedly said, "Mom! Avery is so lucky, she got the tooth fairies autograph. Wow, Avery that is lucky, she didn't sign mine." Avery grinned ear to ear. "Look Mom she wrote her name on it!!!" she told me. Ah yes good ole' tooth fairy. I think it is safe to say we are going to be in this business for quite awhile now. 
Our friend Kyle from back in our Prescott days... he is such a great guy.
Then it was time to open presents. He was elated to see that the Hatch's gave him a personal radio with ear buds. He has LOVED that thing. He put them on and listened to them all day. He was flipping through the channels finding all different kinds of interesting music. We all started cracking up when he announced "Hey guys Domino's Pizza $5.99 right now!" Great, give him a day and he will know more about world events than either of us. 
Giving him his scriptures from Deke and I was pretty cool. It is amazing how special it feels when you see his name on them.
Later that night we read through the cards that everyone had written to him which was emotional. We were so touched to read the memories and things that people shared about him. It really touched my heart that almost everyone referred to him with his nickname of Bug or Hunterbug which has always been our affectionate term for him. Some of the moments that people wrote about I hade never even known about but were so personal and special. To get to read the feelings that people have about him was very special for Deke and I. He is such a neat, neat kid. Love you, Bug. Proud of you.
Went and took a few pictures of Hunter for his baptism announcements. Love those freckles. Love this kid. 
As I was snapping away I couldn't help but see a little mini missionary in him as he posed with his scriptures. It will come all too fast. Eight years already have. (An idea of what the announcements looked like-except these are minus personal info :) 
They love daddy to sit on the loveseat so they can crawl up on his lap. So they can hurry over and hoard as many books as they can for him to read to them. Then they can sit by/on him and listen to a story.
The other day after church I saw him reading to them and realized that it is one of those little things he does with them that I want to make sure to capture. Him reading stories to his daughters, listening to them giggle when he changes voices for different characters. 
Emma putting a head down on his shoulder or Avery saying, "one more time dad, please!" What is it about a guy holding sweet little girls that is so tender?
Since our sorry excuse for a backyard has not a blade of grass in it we headed over to Grandpa and Grandma Burch's to play in the sprinklers.
Avery got a new princess water hopscotch game that we set up on the grass.
It had just the right amount of water so that even miss E wanted to play in it.
I'll give you one guess as to who was the hopscotching queen at this little shindig. F-U-N.
