Jewkes in da House!

We had such a great Jewkes family reunion this year.  It is not an easy feat getting 50+ busy, independent Jewkes together but Grandma and Poppy never fail to make it happen!  It was so crowded that our family was relegated to the trailer outside of the house--I'm telling you, Hutchings are bound to end up in trailers wherever we go!

Our first "official" reunion was at Banning Mills, GA.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

 Luke with cousins Jonah and Oliver.

 Beautiful scenery and even some rock sliding by brave Lucy.

 Hiking with Poppy.

 Cooper with cousins Oliver and Lincoln.

 A 6 hour tree canopy adventure.  So fun!

 The 1st Annual Talent Show.  Definitely a night to remember!

THEN...if having a fabulous reunion wasn't enough...we also had THE FIRST ANNUAL JEWKES COUSINS CAMP.  Oh my gosh!  You had to be there to see how incredible it was.  Many, many, many thanks go out to the Sedgwick family that organized (and did most of the work) for it.  It was so fun to have the cousins focus on getting to know each other.

 All of the original siblings made a banner representing their family.

 Cooper's "cousin buddy" London.

 We were in charge of the Treasure Hunt of Pirate Poppy Redbeard and his lovely wife Mistress Becky.

 What "booty" they all got!

 Planted our first cousins camp tree.

 Making treasure/memory boxes.

 Coolest massive family tree ever.

 The relay race ended with a surprise water balloon bashing.

 So many cute little ones at one table!

 The cousin participants (everyone over 5).

 Jim teaching some skills.

 Best friends.  Makes me happy!

And it all ended with a BANG.  Best memories!  Thank you so much!

Back Again

Now that we are living all by our lonesome over in ABQ (besides Tasker's nearby) we are going to try really, really hard to blog more.

A quick update: we live in ABQ, we LOVE it!, Jake is still trying to get into dental school and will be taking the DAT this next semester, Cooper just turned 5 so now we have a 5, 3, and 2 year old for 2 more months...instead of a 4, 3, and 2 yr old), and I can't think of anything else.

I am going to start back from where we left off according to our camera.

I was in charge of planning our anniversary this year (#8 woot, woot!).  I love surprises and I knew if I didn't keep it under wraps then no way, no how was Jake going to participate!

Yes, ladies and gents, I took Jake to get a pedicure!  Am I the best wife ever or what?  He was a good sport but I knew with every swipe of the cheese grater thing on his foot he felt like a little bit of his manhood was being stripped away.  Dead cell by dead cell.  The cherry on top: the lady who did Jake's feet asked him if he wanted his toenails painted of which Jake loudly rejected.  Well, she got bored because I wasn't done and proceeded to paint them anyways.  I thought I saw smoke coming out of Jake's head!  Then....the other cherry on top...she started buffing his fingernails!  Jake came out of that place shiny from toenail to fingernail!  He informed me that he would prefer not to ever do that again.  I had to try, right?  Oh, it was fun!

Our Destiny

Why is procrastinating so easy for me to do?  I dunno but here is my first official post from Albuquerque--it won't be great, but it's something!

For those who know my darling hottie of a husband, Jacob Dean,  you just might know that his family's heritage is very closely associated with trailer parks.  Thus...we truly believe that it is Our Destiny to now be working in a trailer.  Yes, you heard it right, Jake is helping to manage a mobile dentist trailer.  Awesome, huh?  Those Hutchings just can't avoid trailers-it is too deeply engrained in the blood!  I wish I had a sweet picture of it, but I don't.  Just believe me-it is AWESOME!  He loves it and has been learning A LOT about managing, about the dental industry, and about bachelorhood (for 3 months at least while we closed on our home here).  I'd like to say he's happy we're finally here with him-but I'm guessing most nights he's wondering why he didn't enjoy the peace and quiet more while we were away!

On the other hand, I am finally learning what it's like to actually have 3 small kids and have to take them everywhere with me. I had it way easier than I realized.  Somehow getting a grocery cart to contain 3 bodies plus tons of groceries is no easy feat!  And let me tell you-my grocery carts contain all 3 bodies because this momma doesn't do crazy kids monkeying around the store.  Call me anal-I call myself anal.  It's okay.

Thus--because all of my analness and Jake's figuring out work and school and such-our family has officially adopted a new mission statement-CHILAX!  It's a cross between chill and relax.  I have issues.  Control issues.  They are bad.  I often find myself chanting "chilax, chilax, chilax" just let them get dirty.  It's actually been a huge success (at least for this week).

Anyhow-we are happy here and think we will really, really love it.  Our last few weeks have been filled with this kind of stuff:

I don't know why I don't have any pics of Jake.  Note to self-hold the camera sometimes.  Anyhow, I will try and update more but no promises since I have a string of breaking those kind of promises.  Thank you for all of your updates (I do check those) and we love you guys!

Wedgies Are Booty-ful

 Don't you agree that wedgies are booty-ful?  Lukey has had a hard time figuring out how to put his underwear on.

Crazy thing!  I decided that I way too tired of changing a 3 year old's stinky bums.  After Lukey pooped in his diaper last Tuesday I threw the diaper in the bucket and said I'm done and so are you.  Undies from now on! 

I didn't really think it would work, but it actually did.  He has never had a night-time accident, he only pooped twice in his underwear (sorry Claire and Mom who were watching him and had to clean him up), and had only a handful of accidents.  Potty training should not have been that easy. 

However, "easy" is not a word I typically associate with our Lukey-more like fiery-so this feels nice.  Real nice.  And what a luscious booty, right?

I Miss My Family

Let me just say that it SUCKS not being with your family.  I have been in Albuquerque now for about a month, and besides the wonderful surprise visit from Emily last weekend, I have not seen (not counting Skype) my family in that time period.  Not only that, but I will not see them until March probably!  We are purchasing a home that we got at a great price, so we are waiting for that to close before I get my family back.  I am currently living at my realtor's house...how many of you can say that?  I live on one side of the house and they live on the other. It has been a good situation though.  Anyway, I just wanted everyone to know that I miss my beautiful wife, and my 3 rambunxious kiddos.  I love you Emily!  I am so looking forward to getting you back to me!

our house