Playing ketchup...I mean Catch Up.

Alright I'll admit it. I have been completely avoiding this blog because I am so behind. Sorry to all of you faithful readers (if there are any) but I just haven't been very motivated to update it lately. No excuses. Just a pure lack of motivation.

But I'm over it. So here we go.

My semester at BYU-I ended about a month ago. Thank goodness. Don't get me wrong. I loved it. I loved living in Tuscany and I loved the friends that I made, but I am so happy to have the summer ahead of me. I started working at Apple Tree Learning Center full time about three weeks ago. I work with 4 year olds in the mornings and 1 year olds in the afternoons. It is a lot of fun-- and usually pretty crazy. I can't complain though because it's good practice for when I have two sets of sextuplets in the future :)

This job is great for a lot of reasons. Besides being fun because it allows me to drink chocolate milk, take naps, and watch movies on a daily basis, it has also taught me how to sing Chim Chiminey in an incredibly high voice (actions and all.) It's helped me develop efficiency, patience, and self-defense skills. It's taught me to see right through the goody goodies, and how to see the good in the biggest trouble makers. It's taught me how to put 26 four year olds to sleep, and how to take eight one year olds on lengthy walks. But most of all, it's taught me how to tolerate (with room for improvement) the smells of dirty diapers, throw up, and ketchup.

In my short three weeks of working this job I have had to handle each one of these smells multiple times. It's obvious that when you work with one year olds things aren't always going to smell super fresh and flowery. But I never guessed things would get so out of hand when I put a single bottle of ketchup on the table. Much to my surprise, this simple thing caused instant chaos. It was immediately snatched up and passed (or violently taken) around from kid to kid, each one of them quickly squeezing the life out of the bottle and creating mounds of ketchup on whatever food happened to be on their plates (quiche, macaroni, fish sticks, toast.) Who cares if ketchup is actually necessary... just slap some on there!

I watched in shock for a while. I never knew a ketchup bottle could be such a hot commodity.

Well I was wrong. And I was disgusted.

Immediate new rule: "If you are below the age of 10 you are not allowed to touch the ketchup bottle." Lucky for me, this new system has been working out very nicely. We'll see how long it lasts :) I love my job.

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Other than work I have just been hanging out and enjoying sweet freedom. Last weekend I had the privilege of going to Utah with my parents and Sierra. While we were there we got to go to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Pointe. This is something that I have always heard about, but I was never really sure what it was. Well, it turns out that it is nothing more than a gigantic garden full of over 70 different kinds of tulips and daffodils. And it is beautiful! They set it up so you can walk through it on a winding path. On this particular day it was a little chilly, so my thought process when we stepped out of the car was, "Alright lets get this show on the road! MOVE IT!" Well, That's not how it ended up going. You see, Grandma Hazard was there. And any activity that involves walking goes quite slowly when Grandma is there. Especially when she has just had a hip replacement. In my opinion, we walked at a snails pace, but it was good to see grandma walking so well and with such determination. She refused to pay for a golf cart to ride around in. Go Grandma! 

Looking back, I can honestly say that I am so glad we went a little slow. It was so good to spend time with my parents and grandparents. They are really fun to be around, and it was a great day that I will probably always remember. 

Another reason why it was such a great day was because it was my mom's birthday! And birthdays are especially happy right after a medical scare. She told me that this year she wasn't sad to be getting older at all. She realizes that she is blessed (as we all are) to have lived another year, and excited to live many more. Life is a gift!  I'm so glad that I have my mom and I am looking forward to celebrating several more birthdays with her! 

(For anyone wondering, my mom is completely recovered! She has been back at work for a full month now and is as strong as ever. We see this as a miracle and know that we have been so blessed!)

Now for some pictures. Lots

Here we are at the entrance

 Mom (and Haley)

 Group Picture

You know on the movie "The Best Two Years" when Elder Rogers gets that really yummy looking waffle thing? Well I have always wanted to taste one. And at the Tulip Festival I got to! It was very satisfying!

Mom and I enjoying the stroll

Isn't it pretty?

Other than the Tulip Festival, the weekend was spent hanging out with friends and cousins. It doesn't get better than that. And this...

Until next time,
So long