Hobbies

Here's what I've been doing in my spare time....

Thanks

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!!! It was a fabulous day! Pictures to come.

P.S. I think I am destined to meet all of the Mike Hatch's in this world...I've already known 3 in this short little life of mine!!!

So You Think You Can Dance!!

Last night some friends and I got to see SYTYCD in action and we decided to do it in style. Thank you Walmart for providing such entertaining shirts and Michaels for the lettering on the back.

We had to alter the shirts a little to make them fit (Walmart only had few larges and extra larges), but thanks to my roommate's sewing machine and some awesome iron on letters, we were able to come up with this. Each of us took a word from the title of the show...I was "can" (just in case you didn't recognize me from the back)!

I snapped a shot of the stage before it all got started...I was hoping it would look a little cooler.

And although you can tell from our faces in this picture...we were had a great time. Stay posted for my favorite dance of the night!!

Kid Art

My friend can turn children's art into a masterpiece!! I love it. Check it out. Click on the link below and head to the gallery....
http://www.finedoodles.com/

Wedding Bliss

My roommate Allyson got married October 22. I took the day off work so that I could enjoy the festivities. Here are a few pictures from the event!

Carrie, Kaylin, Melissa, and I snuck out at half-time to go get a little snack. There is an excellent waffle place downtown that I would HIGHLY recommend, except that I can't remember the name of it right now.

I was hoping for more of a cake-smear, but they were too nice.

Congrats you guys!!! (p.s. what is up with my pupils in this picture?).

Can't get enough...

of this cute little guy!!! My sister Kristy had her first child on October 15, 2009. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 6 oz and I think he was 20 inches long (is that bad that I don't remember anymore? HA!).
He is a pretty content baby. Mommy and baby are doing well! Introducing Tanner!

A bridal shower of a different kind!

My roommates love to party and do a pretty good job of it too! My roommate Allyson got married a week ago, but before she did we had to send her out in style.

This seems like a strange idea for a bridal shower, I know, but Allyson was given a few options and this was the one she liked best. I think it turned out pretty good.

Here is the gang!

There were even fake teeth at each place setting on the table. Melissa and I decided to glame it up with our teeth!!

These eyeballs might have been my favorite part...thank you Martha Stewart!!!

The bread sticks were tasty too...notice the fake teeth in the cup.

Some creepy decor.

and the guest of honor! Way to go Allyson!

Denver Baby!!!

I just got back from a fun weekend in Denver and thought I would share some of the pictures and memories. My friend Paul moved out there a while back and recently became a homeowner. In an effort to show off his homemaking skills, he invited some friends and me out to visit. Orignially there were 6 of us who bought plane tickets, but in the end only 3 made it on the plane. (I know you are dying to hear what happened to the others, so here goes...2 of them were dating, but broke up a couple weeks ago and didn't want to suffer in front of us and 1 of them couldn't risk failing an upcoming test for his MBA program). I was a little sad when I found out they weren't coming, but turns out we had the time of our lives.

Nate and I flew in together and Claire joined us a hour later from New Mexico. We drove around Denver and then stopped at a fun little Italian joint called Pasquini's for dinner. The food was delicious and the company was hilarious.

Nate was a little sleepy after waking up at 5am that morning and staying so up late (this picture was taken probably close to 1am). The girls had the upper wing of the house and the boys were down in the basement, so Paul had to carry Nate downstairs! Okay, not really, but he was very hard to wake up.

Here is the crew!!

I was able to add another temple to "The List of Temple's I've Attended." Denver was a great one.

It had snowed the night before and was bitter cold that day.

After the temple, my friend Nate talked us into trying to find his grandparents' grave (I know this is really sounding like weird activities to do on a vacation, but I think I laughed non-stop this weekend- except in the temple, of course...or maybe just a couple laughs)! When we were leaving the cemetery we saw this headstone and had to take a picture in honor "Uncle Chuck Norris." (I hope it isn't bad to jokingly take a picture of a stranger's headstone).

Paul's roommate used to be a little bit wild and has a few marks left behind to prove it. Paul had tried to explain this tatoo to me over the phone, but I could not picture it. I had to take a picture, so that when I told people about it I could just show them (even though I am not such a fan of tatoos).

Here was are striking a few poses right before we headed off to the airport.

Turns out we ran into an old friend from the ward we were all once in. Love Denver!!!

Can't wait to go back!!!

Willie Nelson's Twin

Today I saw the cowboy of all cowboys...tight wranglers, hefty pointed steel-toed boots, a wide-brimmed hat with a long skinny little wirey gray braid hanging down his back, and a shirt that said....

"Vegetarian is just another word for a hunter that is too bad to catch anything!"

The Secret Sauce

A conversation I overheard between two friends in the locker room at the gym:
*the names have been changed to protect the innocent (actually, truth be told...I don't even know them).

Heba: Oh no!! I forgot my plastic wrap!!

Linda: Your plastic wrap...what is that?

Heba: The thing I wear around my stomach to help me get flatter abs. If I wear it while I workout, I sweat off the fat around my mid-section.

Linda: You know that doesn't work right?

Heba: But I think it has been working.

Linda: hmmm...well if it makes you feel better.

...overhearing this made me smile on the inside...and on the outside too!

Rico Suave

Sometimes I feel like I tell too many stories of days gone by ... you know, kind of like Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite, obsessing about the past...like the glory days have already come and gone. But, once again, I was reminded of a funny story the other day, so i figured why not tell it.

It is a well known fact that I spend way to much time on the road commuting to and from work everyday. Well, several months ago I had an unusual shift at work, so instead of driving back home at the crack of dawn and then turning around the next morning to drive back, I just decided to stay at my brother's house for the night. The next morning as I was quietly getting ready in their bathroom (which is tucked back from their kitchen table), I overheard my nephew (who was probably 5 at the time) talking. His conversation was directed to his mother, although he was the only one downstairs at the time (besides me of course, but I'm pretty sure he didn't know I was there), so his words of wisdom were mostly just for himself, but

he humbly said, "Hey Mom, when the people see my shirt (followed by a long pause), they're gonna love it."

Who are these people he speaks of and what in the world is this shirt he is wearing?

I couldn't see him from where I was standing, so of course I was intriqued and had to get a glimpse of this amazing shirt. I peeked out from behind the bathroom door to see him crunching on his Marshmallow Mateys wearing the most ordinary green shirt of all time (it might have had a picture of the hulk on it or something, but it looked like one he'd worn a million times). I had to laugh!!! Who knew that one simple shirt could have such magic powers?... all I did know is that he looked stinking cute in his shirt and with confidence like that I'm sure he had all "the people" staring.

...I wonder if Uncle Rico needs to borrow his shirt?

What's been happening?

Last week I had the chance to catch up with these ladies.....love them!!

and to buy one of these babies!....Love it!!!

Picture Explosion!!!!

Sorry for the posting delay... I was gone on a wild adventure to England!! My four roommate and I decided to go on a two week tour all over England and to parts of Scotland too! We had a great time and I thought I would share some of the memories. This a long post, so get ready....

This is my roommate Allyson and me waiting to board the plane to England. It wasn't a direct flight, so I'm not sure if this is us in our airport at home or us waiting in Texas...either way we were waiting.


Here we are again... my fifth roommate had to catch a different flight to Texas, so these pictures must have been taken in SLC.

Now we jump ahead about 14 hours. We landed in London about 7am England time..about midnight SLC time. I have the unfortunate gift of not being able sleep on planes, so I just sat there like an insomniac watching my roommates get their beauty rest (actually, I don't think they slept that well either). At any rate, we landed, made it to our hostel and then set right off on our first adventure. The streets in London are not set up as conveniently as SLC, so this is a picture of us feeling totally lost, SUPER tired, but excited to naviagate our way through the city.

These pictures are a little out of order, but we went to a few tourist attractions and then we met up with some of my roommate's friends from Denmark (she served her mission with the one at the front of the picture). They showed us around more of London and joined us on a fun ride of the London Eye. (Pay no attention to the fact that I look like a creepy stranger trying to slyly lean into someone else's picture...at this point I was going on about 30 hours of no sleep)!!!

This was the ride back to our hostel after a long day....I think I literally feel asleep the second after this picture was taken. My roommate has proof of it on her camera, but I didn't post it...you'll just have to take my word for it.

More of London!!! You might recognize this as Buckingham Palace. We spent 2 1/2 days in London, so these pictures start a new day. We took a boat ride down the Thames river and got too see all kinds of great sites, and hear some great accents too! The guide on the river tour had one of my favorite accents of all the people we encountered in England.

This picture says it all for how we feel about England!!!!! Like I said, the pictures are a litte out of order, but here is more from the first day...Big Ben! A trip to London would not be complete without entering one of the most expensive stores EVER! It didn't help that with the conversion rate, everything was almost double the price in American dollars.After a great tour of London, a ride on a double-decker bus, and several rides on the "Tube" or the underground subway system, we were ready to try our hand at driving on the wrong side of the road. (The English claim that we drive on the right side of the road and that they drive on the "correct" side of the road)!!!! We rented a Black Passat wagon and headed off to Stonehenge. While still in America, I had fooled myself into thinking that driving on the opposite side of the road would be no big deal, but once we got to London and I couldn't even cross the street without almost getting hit (I literally stepped in front of an oncoming bus because I had looked the wrong direction and thought I was safe to cross...AHHHH), I realized I was WRONG! Luckily my roommate had a driven a car for several months on her mission in England, so she was able to safely navigate us through the country.

Here is Stonehenge...I was FREEZING!!

Everyone says it is just a pile of rocks...which is true, but when we drove in and I caught my first glimpse of it, I was totally AMAZED. It almost took my breath away...and then once I caught my breath it just became a pile of rocks (apparently I go through my emotions quickly).

We had a few near misses on this trip and the city of Bath was one of these. We got stuck in a little bit of traffic on our way to Bath (dang roundabouts...I think there is a misconception that roundabouts speed things up, but I would have to disagree) and showed up in the city right at 5pm. The place had pretty much shut down and I was SAD because this place is BEAUTIFUL. I think I could have spent a whole week here. Anyway, we did get to eat at Sally Lunn's restaurant, the oldest house in bath. The food was ok...slightly flavorless, but I guess that is how the English like it (is that too much of a generalization).

We were able to see several different castles throughout the country. Some still had structural integrity and others were just crumbled remains, but it nice to see them all. This is Warrick Castle.

I got to try shooting an arrow...I am proud to report that my arrow made it on the white part of the target. So what if my roommate's arrows actually reached the target, people cheered louder for me (oh wait, does that mean they felt sorry for me?).

They had a live catapult demonstration. Back in the day, when the catapult was actually in use, they had blind men run in the bottom wheels of the machine. Apparently people with vision get too dizzy if they run for extended periods of time because of the intermittent light that comes through the slats of the wheels. This next picture is also just slightly out of order, but my roommate was having trouble getting our car into the stall on the ferry ride over to the Isle of Mann. After a few tries the worker finally just let her park as is. She is standing where our car should have been.

We departed on the ferry from Liverpool...home of the Beatles. It was fun to roam Liverpool.

We tried out a pub in Liverpool. My roommates got fish and chips there, but I was too scared... and when it was all said and done I was grateful I didn't get any. At this particular pub, they left the skin on the fish and just battered and deep fried it that way. YUCK!!! My roommate Kaylin, in the picture below, was not bothered by the skin...Melissa on the other hand could barely get it down (what kind of weak-sauce American's are we?). (oops i just deleted the picture for this caption and I can't get it back...picture my roommate holding up a deep fried fish with skin on it)!!

After a two hour ferry ride on the Mannanan (a very spiffy ferry I might add) we landed on the Isle of Mann. We stayed with some people that Carrie knew from her mission and they were so so so good to us. They showed us around town and fed us exciting food like fried Mars candy bars.

View from the car window.

There is a very famous motorcycle race that happens every year on the Isle of Mann called the TT or Tourist Trophy race. The motorcyclists race around the entire Island (about 38 miles) in approximately 11 minutes. They are easily going speeds of 200 miles per hour (so I'm told) and every year (without fail) at least one person dies in the race. This year one person died and another was critically injured...and sadly we missed it all by just one week (makes it sound like I wanted to see someone die...I'm glad I missed that, but it would have been fun to see the motorcycles cruising at top speed)!

The bought us Kippers! I was not adventurous enough to try them either since they smelled so NASTY (anyone noticing that fish isn't my thing). I think my roommate's faces say it all.

After we left the Isle of Mann, we headed to the Lake District and a cute little family was kind enough to let crash on their floor. We had planned on sleeping on the floor that night (no biggie), but we had no no no idea what we had signed up for. When we got to the house the carpeted floors were slightly damp (ok, we thought, we can just put blankets down and again no big deal). Unfortunately, we didn't bring any blankets with us (I did have one blanket..my EuroCozy, but it was packed away deep our car. We had consolidated our belongings into one bag for the night because we didn't want to over-take their small home with all our stuff). They offerred us all that they had, which was one child-sized blanket and two love seat covers (Yikes, this was getting worse by the minute, but still managable). The husband wished us goodnight (his family was already sleeping) and headed off to bed. He returned a moment later because he had forgotten to tell us about the slugs they sometimes get in their house (he was so casual about the whole thing that I really thought that by "sometimes" he meant like five years ago it happened once. NO, he accidentally said "sometimes" when what he meant to say was ALWAYS!!!!!

Here is a picture of me using my clothing as a blanket.. it was a LONG, cold night!!!!

....because these NASTY things were creeping all around me!!!!!

This pictures shows some of the emotion we felt when we discovered the slugs! I still cringe just looking at that picture.

They creeped around all night long and when we woke up in the morning there were slug tracks EVERYWHERE!!! (I forgot to mention that my roommates moved their "blanket" into the other room under the kitchen table and I decided to try my luck in the slug room on the loveseat ).

Very sleepily we headed North the next morning to the top of England, Carlise to be exact. This is us eating dinner on the grocery store lawn. We decided it would be cheaper to keep food in a cooler and eat it rather than eating out at a restaurant every meal. I'll have to post our "Hot Mustard Challenge" video soon (just picture me with fire coming out of my mouth... and nose, and that's almost as good as the video)!!

These are some beautiful gardens at Castle Howard in York (I think). We headed here after attending church in Leeds.

Recognize this bridge....it is in the first Harry Potter movie (at least that is what my roommates claim. I went to see the first Harry movie on opening night at midnight, slept through the whole thing and have never seen another one since....I liked the books though).

My face does not let on to just how STINKY this phone booth is... (I know it resembles a port-a-potty, so I can see how it would be a bit confusing, but I would think the telephone and windows sould be a dead giveaway...it is not a bathroom people)!!!! (Edinburgh Scotland)

More at the gardens of Castle Howard. Aren't those flowers so beautiful? I was loving this place!!!

We even got to catch a little game of polo while we were at the gardens.

We decided to book our housing before we got to England just to make life a bit easier. We thought that it would be fun to stay in Nottingham...you know, and catch the whole Robinhood vibe and stuff. Well, I was one in charge of booking our hostel that night and so I did my best to find a good one. I believe the hostel I booked had 4 stars and was praised for it's friendly staff and clean rooms. Little did I know that Nottingham (at least the parts I saw) is the GHETTO! We pulled into town to find barbed-wire on all the fences, bars on all the windows, and freaks loitering everywhere!!!! YES, the hostel we stayed at did have a very friendly staff and rooms appeared clean, but it was anything from a 4 star location. HA!!!

Turns out that if one want to fall in love with Robinhood, Sherwood forest is the place to be!! This is a picture of me hiding in one of the many cool trees in Sherwood forest (we drove right by a totally nice and clean hostel as we entered Sherwood forest the next morning...if only we had known)!!

Cambridge University!!!

Streets of Cambridge! (these captions are getting short because I need to finish this post and I keep running out of time).

We finished the trip off at the London temple and what a perfect way to end an awesome trip!

Goodbye England! I hope to see you again soon...after I go visit a few other places!!! (P.S. try out the London temple accommodations next time you take a trip there...it was cheaper than any of the hostels we stayed in).

(note to self: avoid neon pink undershirt when flash photography will be used...or you will become a flasher) :)