Happy Fourth of July

Provo has got to be the place to be on the 4th! We had such an amazing time at the hot air ballooon lift off breakfast, parade, fireworks and an excellent dinner at the Mapleton Hills. We even saw Glenn Beck at the parade and a personal hero of mine Imaculle IIibagiza! Not much else you I can say except we had TONS of fun!

Fourth of July Photos Part II

Sweet Friends

This sweet couple are from our hometown of Clinton, MO. Justin and I have known Troy most all of our lives. We have such happy memories of growing up with Troy and smile that he met his sweetheart Mandy a few years ago. They have been visiting us this past week from Missouri. It has been such an exciting time for them and for us. This is their first trip or vacation ever. This is their first time flying. I will be posting pictures over the next couple of days of some of the fun Utah adventures we have endeavored!

Great Laughter

Did you know the name Isaac means literally "great laughter"? There are many times that Justin and I feel that we received divine information while naming our offspring. For those of you who know this guy, would you say he is living up to his name's meaning tenfold? We are eternally thankful that this spirited child was sent to us!

Little Pirate Girl

Things for Abby are going so great. She loves her glasess and never leaves home without them. Patching is getting easier and her surgeon has said her eye is looking so much better. She came out of her room the other day looking like this all on her own. I think we need to trade that Transformers Apron for something a little more "girlie" however.

Clinton Reunion in Brigham City

We had a great time reuniting this weekend with the Despain and Griner families formerly from our hometown of Clinton. It was fun to see pictures of the old Clinton Ward. Sister Griner even had a photograph of Justin in the room of the Clinton Ward where I first laid eyes upon my future husband! That was fun to see. We missed the Hunts and Sam Leipard this year but can't wait to catch up with them!

Abby Swimming!

Here are a few more of Abby having a blast at the Clinton Reunion!

Tweeter's Ouchie!

Well, it's been nearly 4 months since Abby fell and paid a little visit to the plastic surgeon. And now that she's healed so well and doing great, I thought I wouls post a few pictures of the dramatic event. I was unhappy with Justin at the time for being so eager to snap photos, but now am glad we will have proof to the story we will one day tell her. We are grateful that se is doing so well and has made a full recovery!

Just saying Hello!

Looking at the blog, I have realized it's been awhile since I have just written something. The truth is, I need to learn to do a few more things in the blogging world. I am sure it probably gets boring to see all of our photos. I need to get Justin to show me how to upload videos (we have some good ones). Many of you have asked me to share some of my favorite recipes and so that is another "coming soon" to the blog. The truth is, that since I returned from my business trip in Florida, things have been non-stop! We had two of Derrin and Nicole's boys for a week, Dad Hill is with us this week (We love having him come stay), and next week we have a high school friend Troy Mosley and his wife flying in from Missouri for the 4th of July holiday! Whew! Add t-ball, play dates and summer activities to all that plus lots of work at the community, a church calling, tending our garden....I AM BUSY! Another thing to mention is that Justin has been begging for 2 years for me to watch 'LOST' with him. I hesitated for so long to get into a TV series because I just don't have time and I get sucked in. It takes my focus away from the kid's night time routine and reading which is important to me. Well, I finally agreed and have spent the past 3 weeks staying up to the wee hours of the morning watching episode after exciting episode. We are half way through Season 2. Last night, I said let's just watch one and then go to bed....4 episodes later we called it a night! In other news, our garden is doing so well. We will have tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, carrots and peaches in no time. We lost our cucumbers because of cold weather. I can't wait...I feel such a sense of accomplishment having tackled our first garden. We have a fun weekend planned! Grandma and Grandpa Hill are taking the kiddos Friday evening so that my sweetie and I can go to the Art Festival. We are staying the night at their house in Layton and then going to the Clinton Reunion in Brigham City. We get together once a year with all the church members that lived in our hometown in MO. and now live in Utah. it is fun to see some of our old friends from those days. Hope all is well and I will get some recipes and videos up in days to come.

Cute Kids in the Summer

Sometimes Justin and I look at these sweet kids and can't believe they are all ours! We love them so much! They are having such a great summer so far!

GOATS!

Ben & April's family were down from Idaho this past weekend and we all had such a fun time at Derrin and Nicole's. They just got a family of goats and it was so much fun watching the kids chase and try to catch the babies. Aren't they cute? Derrin and Nicole live in beautiful Mapleton. They live on so much land that Jus and I are trying to convince them to put a pool in!

Graduation!

These photos are a couple of weeks old, but I thought I would share with all of you our boy's special day. This means that we are officially the parents of a Kindergartner! Isaac has mixed feelings about going to "big boy" school next year but Jus and I know it will be great for him! Isaac is starting to read and can now write his name perfectly! Ethan will be moving up to the four year old class and looks forward to another year with Mrs. Gina and his favorite friends. It was a fun and special day!

NEWS FLASH

Rebecca Walters is an INSPIRATION to me.....I love you and am eternally grateful to be blessed by your friendship and uncountable talents! Can't wait to see you in August!

Watermelon, Watermelon

This is why you should NEVER leave a slice of watermelon unattended in the Hill home! All of our kids are CRAZY for this stuff this time of year!

Chini Sitters

Here are a couple of the best Chini sitters I know. We were lucky enought to have Miss Merwin as a house guest for a week while our friend Bekky went on vacation. It was a blast having her! She has such a fun and spunky personality. Justin was sceptical about having another animal in the house (we do have 2 crabs and a dog and a cat already!). But guess who was tending her and giving her loving care by the end of the week? We were all sad to see her go but it was a fun week!

Happy 4th Birthday Mr. Ethan

This is such a special child. He is a child that does things HIS WAY. He loves Super Mario Brothers above all else. He makes us laugh non-stop. He is the child that 4 years ago, I went to Labor and Delivery and said, "I think I might be in labor." I was dilated to a 10! He's missing his front tooth from a little escapade with his brother. He rations kisses...only 1 per month for mom and dad may have one whenever he would like. He pretends to be a 40 pound infant every Sunday at Church. He loves Abby's purses and will fight her on occasion to get his hands on one. He likes Chocolate as much as I do. Dad is his hero....after Mario. I am eternally grateful to have this "difficult" child in my life for he teaches me about the mom I need to be. A mom that doesn't yell or loose her patience, a mom that waits for that one day a month when I am his chosen friend. I love him and all the memories, laughter and nail biting he brings to our family.

Finished Product Of Our Breakfast Nook And A Story

Here is our masterpiece, but Justin would agree it is mostly MY masterpiece. He was kind enough to put the muscle behind tearing down the beloved MAP. I chose the colors, did the painting and even taught myself how to re-texture the wall. I got tired of waiting on the guy to come do it, so I learned to do it myself. I have to brag that when he finally did come to look at the wall, he couldn't believe that I hadn't paid someone professionally to do this! The true blessing in this story is as follows:

In January I was called to be a Sunday School teacher to the three year olds. I had very mixed feelings about both my ability to teach others about Christ as well as the ability to add yet another thing to and overflowing plate. Then I was asked and had the opportunity to head up a 60th Birthday Party for Weldon and Gean. This was the same weekend I had hoped to finish the kitchen....Justin and I managed to somehow go to Layton on Friday night, prepare the food, throw a wonderful party (with the help of Der & Nickki) and come home Saturday afternoon. I was able to get my grocery shopping done, church clothes ironed, my lesson prepared and get the kitchen re-textured and painted. How did I do all that???? The awnser lies in the opportunity to give service. I feel there have been more blessings of time in my life since I received this calling. It's as if the Lord has given me 36 hours to the 24 hours others get in a day. I am grateful for the chance to serve others, especially those 12 wonderful Sunbeams that light up my life every Sunday!

Sad News

I came home from lunch today to find sweet Isaac sitting in the corner crying. It seems that crab #3 AKA as Nemo has passed away. Nemo was a special crab that the boys had in Pre-school this entire past year. Isaac has been working on his own "consiracy theory" as to how this has happend. Nemo has always been a sweet little guy, unlike that of his roomies Spiderman and Superman. Spiderman happend to take the skin off of the top of one of Abby's fingers yesterday. So, we had a crab funeral right there in our own garden today. We sang songs and said a prayer and everyone got to share a little something about this crab of ours. We even called the Pre-school teacher so she could share in our tears. I love the tenderness of these little children of ours and the appreciated the reminder today to be compassionate of all of the Lord's creatures. RIP Nemo........