Wow, it's been awhile. It has been so long that I realized as I went to look for the bookmark button to bring me to our blog, I noticed that Emily had taken it off of our bookmark bar. Then I realized that I couldn't remember the name of it. That's when panic set in. I mean where else is everyone going to see pictures of our family and learn what has been happening to the Hutchings since June? I couldn't stand the thought of not being able to share our lives with everyone on the web. But don't worry, my panic attack soon left me because I realized that we have instagram and facebook, and could breathe easy because 99% of the pictures I will post here today have been seen already. Wait...now I'm confused as to why we even keep going back to this blog when it's been seen already. Oh well, I will try and figure that out, but in the meantime, please enjoy the Hutchings' Happenings over the last 4-5 months.
Kirksville Sunsets (you think you have cool sunsets, check these out and yes they are all different days):
Random-ness:
How would you like to have this ugly face looking at you while having your teeth checked?
Making sure Taya didn't have a seizure
The eldest Hutchings cousin Anna, with the pretty-much-youngest cousin Anderson
You learn to appreciate the good things in life when you live in Kirksville
I ran my first (and probably last) race ever
This is what happens to trees in Kirksville when the wind blows
Cooper and Ethan in Georgia
This is a buff dad!
Cooper
This picture reminds me of this one, I don't know why:
Have you seen this child?
Luke
Doing his impression of the king of pop:
Toothless
Maybe you've seen this kid?
Ethan
We are bad parents, this is all of Ethan, maybe you'll see this one on a milk carton sooner than the other ones
Anderson
Just getting a snack by himself
Practicing his bite and growl
Cute Kid!
Bennett
Gettin' at it!
The "Sweet Spirit"
Taya
Peek-A-Boo
She licked that plate clean
Workin' the runway
Baby Girl
More Random photos:
The last picture we got on our trampoline before it was blown into the side of our house and broke, good-bye tramp, you will be missed like crazy!
Trying to get some last minute studying in before my national boards
Front yard camping
Emily's new favorite toy
BABY SHENANIGANS!
No diapers, no clothes, BIG PROBLEM!
Taya's first out of crib experience, and she happened to get on the dresser. Go figure!
Lovin' the merry-go-round
Taya is not diggin' the Home Depot
Breakfast at the new table
Snack at the outside table
They love pumpkins, they say "pumpy"
We have moved everything out of this room since this picture, except the kids
Bennett trying the whole lipstick thing
Bennett telling Anderson "NO! You can't have my snack!"
This is a little look into our lives, at least our lives as it pertains to the trampoline!
Since it has been a while since this blog has been updated, it will be mostly pictures. That said, there have been a few things that I need to write in addition to the pictures. Though it will be less visually stimulating, I hope that your imaginations are stimulated and you can create mental images of my words. First and foremost I need to write that last week on Thursday, my Grandma Hutchings suffered a pretty massive stroke and was pretty much comatose, she was breathing on her own, but was not at all coherent. She was taken to a hospital where she passed into the next life on Friday, June 20, where she was met by a grand reunion of her family members on the other side of the veil. The world truly lost one of the most loving, kind-hearted people that has graced its presence. Grandma will be missed. One of my most recent and memorable memories of Grandma was as follows...I need you now to get those imaginations working to picture this. Grandma loved people, she loved to hug, and she was a kisser. She kissed everybody that walked through her door, that is just who she is, you lean down to give her a hug as she sat in her blue chair in her front room, and she would somehow finagle her way into giving you a smoocheroo on the lips. Now, I had grown up knowing this, and knew no different. Then one day I brought my girlfriend at the time (now my wife) who had never grown up with a grandma that would lay a big one on ya, where she learned first hand just how loving Grandma Hutchings was. Yup, she got the kiss too! Oh, I love Grandma. That's when I knew that Emily was a keeper! Emily now claims that she learned over the years and was able to avoid the kiss on the lips but let Grandma kiss her cheek.
Together Again!
I have been thinking a lot lately about our lives these days and the role that social media plays in our lives. Granted it can be used as a good thing, but I'm not going to lie, for me it has gotten to a point that I know way too much about other people's lives, and I would get so distracted from studying that I had to call it quits on Facebook for a while. Does anybody remember the times where the only thing we knew about our friends was what was put in the annual Christmas card? And sometimes all the Christmas card was was a picture, no updates, just one picture. How crazy would we all go if that is all we got now? We are so used to getting at least one, if not several pictures a day of all of our friends. Now instead of thinking, "wow, look how big Jimmy grew this year!" it is, "wow, Jimmy forgot to shave, but it's okay because he had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch." Sometimes I just wish we could go back to a simpler life, a life where our phones were attached to a wall, and we had to get our pictures developed, and people actually looked forward to Christmas cards. But, for now I will continue to type on my computer and upload my digital pictures to my online journal so that everyone can see what has happened to us over the last couple of months (I am such a hypocrite!). I may not check Facebook very often, but I am guilty when it comes to looking at Instagram every night. Ok, I guess I am fine with living in these fast times. I do still like to get Christmas cards though!
Enough of that. The reason that I picked today to write again is that it is that I took my very last test of my first year of dental school!!! I can't believe that it is done! What a ride it has been, one of the scariest roller coaster rides I have ever been on. As scary as it is, I have loved every minute of it, and I can't wait to keep going. Now, the only thing standing in front of me and a doctoral degree is 3 years, and a couple of national board exams, the first of which is in 22 days! So, I am giving myself a night off of studying only to start studying for 10-12 hours a day for the next 22 days (minus a couple of days for Grandma's funeral). So, wish me luck!
Me and Buster getting crazy in the Sim Clinic!
Ok, on to the pictures. Enjoy!
The babies got hand, foot and mouth (it looks worse than it was)
More HFM
A not so happy camper
Happy Tay-Tay
Anderson looks cute and innocent!
Bennett
50 cent garage sale items go a long way in our home!
Garage sale tiger for the babies
Last day of 1st grade for Cooper, and Kindergarten for Luke
Anderson wanted to get in, Bennett didn't want Anderson to get in
Love these little monkies!
Fishing with the oldest boys
Luke got mad at us one day and put the bed in front of the door so we couldn't get in. Luckily the closet is actually a secret passage between our room and this one so I could get a picture of it!
Ethan getting some serious air into the new family pool (it now has a leak in it)
Happy baby boys
Cooper the T-Baller
That's Luke in the yellow
That's Luke looking bored waiting for a ball to come to him
That's Ethan, looking even more bored waiting for a ball (hands in the pockets bored even)
Happy Birthday Emily!
I swore I would never buy another Chrysler/Dodge product again...does Jeep count?
Some of our Pets: Snake, Frog, and most recently a crawdad!
