Dogpile on DAD!

Everyone knows what a great dad Justin is, but here's MORE proof!

Gardener Villiage

After nearly 8 1/2 years of marriage we finally made it to a desired desination that has been on our list for sometime. Just outside of Salt Lake there is this little place called Gardner Villiage. It is filled with tons of quaint little shops and places to eat. During Christmas there are mischevious little elves scattered throughout the villiage so our little elves blended right in!

Christmas Cookies!

Our kiddos had a lot of fun making and decorating cookies for Santa!

Abby's Christmas Sucker

BUBBLE!

BIG HILL NEWS FLASH! Isaac finally (after years of practice) blew his first bubble!

Santa Fun!

Once again, we attended the annual Santa Helicopter Adventure where the big guy actually lands on the golf course via heli in front of the children. The kids had a blast with their friends!

Surgery Photos

Here are some photos of Tweeter and her surgery/post surgery days! We are so glad to put this behind us and that thing went well!

Surgery, what surgery?

This seems to be the idea of our amazing baby. She continues to improve as though nothing ever happend on Wednesday, or yeah...except for those annoying and painful drops every two hours! We visited once again with the surgeon Dr. Larsen yesterday at Primary Children's. He was "giddy" and excitable during our visit as he witnessed signs of restored vision (red eye) returning to her left eye already. Next visit with him will be on next Tuesday afternoon and then in 3 weeks for glasses. The lens they put in her eye has to be an adult capacity so she will have to grow into the lens and the glasses will compensate for now. We are so grateful for all of you. BTW~does anyone have any idea who is doing the 12 days of Christmas for us? It is driving us crazy to have these wonderful phantom gifts show up on our doorstep each evening!

Surgery was SUCCESSFUL!

Everything went so well yesterday, in fact, the surgeon said better than he had expected! Abby is now recovering at home and a little groggy but otherwise doing very well. We feel a dark cloud has been lifted from us. Dr. Larsen said it seemed that this is something that has happened spontaneous in the development of her eye and there were no evident signs of trauma. This is the best news because it means she has such a great chance to have her sight fully restored in that eye. We will be back at Primary Children's today for a follow up an then see Dr. Larsen next Tuesday. She will be fitted for glasses in about 4 weeks but should have some restored sight in as early as one week when the bandadges are removed. For now, we are driving her crazy with drops and creams in that eye every two hours. That is hard for us and especially for her right now but we know it is part of the healing process. We greatly appreciate all of the love, support and prayers everyone has sent our way as of late. I'll upload some photos soon!

Surgery Tomorrow

We just returned from a visit to the Pediatrician who gave us the "green light" for Abby's eye surgery tomorrow. We were a bit concerned because she has had a cold with a nasty cough. he did some tests and said her lungs, o2 saturation and everything else was great so we are going forward. Justin I will be much happier when it is over. I feel like a dark cloud has been following me around these past few weeks, not only because of the surgery, but just knowing she can't see right now kills us both. They will operate at the Moran Eye Center at Primary Children's Hospital. ironically, they are ranked as one of the top in the nation for this sort of thing. We feel so thankful to have such good medical care so close to home. She is scheduled to go into the OR around 8 a.m. tomorrow and will be in for about 4 hours. Please say a little or BIG prayer for our little Tweeter!

Something FUNNY!

I have had a series of unfortunate events as of late...One day this week my SUV slid down the drive way and into the middle of the street. Justin came home for lunch just a little after me and walked in the door confused as to why my car would be in the middle of the road...we had a good laugh about this and NOTE TO SELF: use the emergency brake! Thank goodness we now live in a cul de sac. Then, later that afternoon I got hit in the face with a flying hammer! The truth is I moved a ladder that had a hammer on top of it and it fell off and hit me! I am grateful there are no bruises to show my stupidity, but man what a headache! I decided that I had better stay home that evening. Then, Ethan decided to lock he and Abby in the downstairs bathroom. We were unable to get the door open for about 10 minutes. I could hear Abby playing in the toliet. After Justin had gone to get a screw driver to take the door off the hinges, Ethan finally figured out what to do~talk about a CRAZY day!

Granparents Are GRRREEEAAAATTTT!

We had the chance to see Grandma and Grandpa Hill and Great Grandma Hill this past weekend along with some YUMMY treats!

Winter Wonderland

We had some AWESOME snow this past weekend and the kiddos LOVED it!

With Thankful Hearts

We have had the chance to speak to so many of you recently and have recieved countless well wishes for Abby's impending surgery this next week. Justin and I are so grateful for the love and friendship of so many of you. Our lives would never be complete without it! Whether we have known you since childhood, or just met, we fell such a sense of support. We cherish your friendships! Abby is doing well, although I think she is somewhat aware that she suddenly can't see out of one eye. She has been our little shadow always needing to be where mom or he Miss Aubrey are. We have been keeping them home from school, church and other activites outside the home to protect her from any illness before the surgery. I know the boys are going a little stir crazy but Justin and I have appreciated the quite time at home with our family. We have enjoyed making homemade gifts for the grandparents this year. Our children love to create, a talent that I hope never leaves them. We are constantly reminded of our eternal blessings and the sacrafices that Christ has made in order for us to live on this earth in happiness. Thank you for showering us with your thoughts, love and prayers!