The Big Elf

This past weekend Josh's grandpa finally got his basketball jersey retired! The whole Hutchins family came into town and we had a huge week long party. Here's a little bit about Grandpa Hutch from some BYU articles.

"Hutchins, known for his defensive and rebounding prowess, is one of the greatest post players to suit up for BYU. In three years playing on the varsity squad, Hutchins led the Cougars to three Skyline Conference titles (1948, 1950, 1951) and the 1951 NIT National Championship. Hutchins was a two-time first-team All-Skyline Conference honoree and was named a first-team All-American in 1951 by Look Magazine, Converse, Helms and Sporting News.

As a senior Hutchins averaged 15.4 points and set a BYU single-season record for rebounds with 471 (12.7 per game), a record that still stands today. Known as ‘The Big Elf’ (1950-51 BYU basketball media guide), Hutchins earned a spot in the East-West game following his senior season and was named the game’s MVP.

Hutchins’ amassed 900 rebounds his junior and senior seasons to rank fourth all-time in career rebounding at BYU (rebounding records for his sophomore season are not available). Despite just two seasons of rebound totals on record, Hutchins is just 22 behind the all-time leader Michael Smith who played four seasons for the Cougars.
After graduating from BYU in 1952, Hutchins was drafted second overall in the 1951 NBA Draft. When No. 1 pick Gene Melchiore was given a lifetime ban from playing in the NBA, Hutchins was recognized as being the No. 1 overall pick and was given the $7,000 bonus that was awarded to the top pick in the NBA Draft.
Hutchins went on to win the 1952 NBA Rookie of the Year award and lead the league in rebounding (880) and rebounding average (13.3) that same season. A five-time NBA All-Star selection (1953, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958), Hutchins led three NBA teams to Western Division titles. He concluded his NBA career with 4,851 points, 4,186 rebounds and 1,298 assists."


Basically he's really great. But the thing is, he's not just a great basketball player. He's one of the kindest people in the world. Since the first day I met him, he's always given me a huge hug and always asks "How's my babe?" Maybe he calls me babe because it took him a long time to learn how to say "karee" haha Grandma LoRene wrote him a sticky note with my name on it and he carried it with him everywhere until he remembered how to say it. It was the cutest thing! Anyway, this weekend was all about Grandpa Hutchins and spending time with family and it was really fun.

We started the weekend off with some bowling at the Heber Holiday Bowl and a CSO (cousin sleep over)

Things got a little crazy.. 

The next morning these two crazies did the Polar Bear Plunge at Deer Creek. Where people were ice fishing that morning... it was freezing. They're crazy! 

Later that day we went down to Provo to celebrate these two getting their jerseys retired. Roland Minson and Mel Hutchins

There was a little tire trouble on the way down the canyon... but we made it on time!

At the dinner before the game we got to hear from all the 1951 National championship team. It was fun to hear their stories and how much they all loved being teammates and have remained friends over the years. 

Grandpa Hutchins jersey

and his golden basketball with his stats on it

our seats were pretty close... there's grandpa a few rows from the court

They showed a couple pictures on the big screen of grandpa's team

There's the two newest retired jerseys! 

 
Grandpa talking to everyone at halftime in the Marriot Center
                

Notice Cosmo's shirt.... its true! 

All the grandkids with Grandpa. See the jersey Lucy is wearing in the front left? Each grandkid got one! 

The cutest thing was after the game all these little kids wanted Grandpa's autograph. 

Jen made these sweet shirts for all the grandkids to wear. We wore them all weekend. Aren't they so cool!?

Josh and I with Grandpa Hutchins. 

And we were so sad to not have the youngest Hutchins fans there with us. 

It was a fun weekend and we loved spending time with the family and seeing Grandpa be recognized for his great basketball skills.

Whirlwind

2013 has been pretty crazy for us. I feel like we've been to the doctor at least once a week and lots of events and birthdays have been keeping us on our toes. Since Josh just turned 26 a few days ago, that meant that being on his parents insurance was coming to an end. So, the first week of January he had surgery on his nose and sinuses. He had a deviated septum and tons of inflammation and sinus problems. He's recovering slower than the doctor thought but hopefully once he's completely healed his sinus problems will be gone forever! The original surgery, the follow ups, seeing the dentist, and other doctor appointments have kept us busy.

I have also visited the doctor but definitely not as much as Josh... it started out with a minor sore throat which turned into a terrible sore throat which turned into major conjestion which I guess took me back to my baby years and I got an EAR INFECTION? I totally thought babies, maybe toddlers, were the only ones to get ear infections, but its not true. Almost 23 year olds can get them too... Its seriously the worst pain in the world! I got dizzy, nauseous, couldn't lay down because of the pounding in my ear, and every swallow, cough, or attempting to blow my nose all killllled. Luckily Josh wasn't cranky when I woke him up at 3 in the morning crying and he calmed me down and helped me get back to sleep. Lets just say that I will have plenty of sympathy for our kids when they get ear infections. I just barely got the hearing back in my ear yesterday. Its been the weirdest 2 weeks. Now I'm starting to feel back to my old self and I'm crossing my fingers that any sickness will steer clear of our house for a long time!

Since we've been sick and recovering from surgery, our birthdays were pretty low key. I actually spent my birthday in bed trying to get completely better before Josh's entire family came in to town the next day for Grandpa Hutchin's jersey retirement at BYU. It was fun to get a million texts and phone calls and cards and presents all day. All the love made me realize that the Blink 182 song, "What's my age again", that was stuck in my head all day was wrong. Everybody loves you when you're 23 not the other way around :) Josh got me all my favorite candies and beautiful flowers and I ended the night blowing out a candle on tres leches cake. yum.  

For Josh's birthday, we drove two car loads of people to the airport and then came home and relaxed. We kinda cleaned up our house but mostly we just watched this and ate treats. 

I may be the best wife ever for getting him this for his birthday. Josh is really hard to buy presents for, but this one I knew was a win. He absolutely loved it. (and I did too)