Simply Hil

{what my shopping cart looked like last night. bbq supplies and happy yellow mums for my baby boy . I sure love memorial day weekend!}

I hate goodbyes *.  It's true.  I have to keep telling myself to "be... strong".  Today was a sad day for Idaho but a completely awesome day for Utah .  Our dear friends Marta , Dan and little Benji are off on a new adventure starting today.  Dan just had to go and get a new job and be successful and take his family along with him.  Thanks a lot Dan. :) We had Benji over this morning for one last play date.  We tried to make it the best play date yet by pulling out all the stops. Trains, cars, Mega Bloks, and fruit snacks were brought out to the living room.  Then play time moved into the garage where they both rode bikes around and around until they got dizzy and came in for lunch.  Little Guy is going to miss his little shadow buddy.  He is already planning on visiting Benj at his new house in Utah. One of my first memories of Dan, Marta and brand new baby Benji was of them sitting behind me during the adult session of stake confe...

{what? you can't tell?} I like gaining weight.   I definitely like it a lot more than losing weight.  It's way more fun.  I don't, however, like how I feel after I've gained the weight.  I am still working on a few measly pounds that are hanging on for dear life after having Tiny Man.  Things just keep coming up preventing me from really getting serious about losing the weight.  Things like cupcakes, cookies, chocolate and ice cream.   I tried doing the whole "no-sugar" thing last week.  I started on Monday morning and made it all the way to Tuesday afternoon.  I had to have sugar on Tuesday though, it was my birthday!  So I stuffed my face with a cupcake and then had some ice cream with the hubs later that night.  Since then I have found every good excuse to have sugar.  Excuses like "I was up all night long with the baby, I can't function" or "One of my best friends is moving away forever and I'm depressed" or "I have ...

I learned a very valuable lesson this weekend and that is I cannot be a pet owner .  Here's the story: A cat decided to have her kittens under my neighbor's lawn mower (I kept saying a cat had laid her kittens there... this should tell you how much I know about cats).  I am not a cat person.  I really have never liked them, but always thought their kittens were adorable.  This cat having her kittens under the lawn mower was probably the most random thing that has happened since we moved in (well that and the drunk lady that drove her car into our other neighbor's garage.. but that's another story for another day...).  For all we could tell the cat only had two kittens, an orange one and a cute little black and white one. The mom would leave during the day for several hours at a time but would eventually come back to the kittens.  On Sunday we noticed that the mamma cat was gone again, but this time so was the orange kitten.  We assumed she was ...

When I was younger we had a dear family friend who we pretty much adopted as a third grandmother.  Jane was a sweetheart and an artist.  She painted beautifully, but she also baked.  She loved it when we came to visit her. She remembered our birthdays and would bring us a batch of these cookies to keep in our freezer. I love that whenever I eat or make these cookies, I think of Jane. Chocolate Chip Orange Drop Cookies Ingredients: 2 1/4 c. flour 1/2 tsp. salt 1 c. shortening 1 c. sugar 3 oz. cream cheese {softened} 2 eggs 4 tsp. orange juice 3 tsp. grated orange rind 6 oz. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips Directions: Preheat oven to 350*F. Cream together shortening, sugar and softened cream cheese.  Add eggs and orange juice.  Mix well.  Next add flour and salt and mix until a creamy dough is formed.  Then add orange rind and chocolate chips and stir until incorporated. Drop dough by tablespoons on greased cookie sheet and bake...

Today I... ...am loving this quote. ...am fighting off the urge to be depressed . ...am blessed and happy with the stage of life I'm in. ...am looking past the rain clouds and finding the sunshine. ...am re-evaluating the things in my life that bring me joy and the things that bring me down. ...am grateful it's Friday and looking forward to the weekend. ...am making plans to plant my very first flower pots! ...am dancing with my Little Guy and Tiny Man. ...am making pizza dough. What are you doing today? Happy Friday!

{me at one year old} Well, two things are for certain.  Cake still makes me just as happy after all these years and I am still waiting to grow into my forehead. Twenty five.   I am twenty five .  That means I have been alive for one quarter of a century.  But I don't like saying it that way because it makes me sound way too old and to be honest I'm not ready to grow up just yet.   I love that my Little Guy went shopping with Jer yesterday to pick out my gift.  He came through the door holding a Toy Story gift bag with a huge smile on his face.  Inside the bag I found a toy story card that plays "You've Got a Friend in Me", a YoYo, a package of punch balls and some giant bubbles.  It was the sweetest gift because I know he picked out every single item all on his own.   The funny thing is, I was honestly excited about the Duncan YoYo .  I remember in 4th grade when we had a traveling yo-yo group come and perform for us.  I dec...

rock. p.s. don't you just despise feet pictures? especially pictures of feet that have hunch-back-of-Notre-Dame pinky toes?  me too.  I'll try not to post any more... but I had to share my glitter toes with you because they make me happy.  thanks Stef!  

Saturday night I got to see Mindy Gledhill in concert with the girls.  It was so much fun and Mindy is incredibly talented and cute and fun and wonderful.  I loved every song she sang.  There is so much meaning and emotion behind her lyrics.  I loved the fact that she was 6 1/2 months pregnant and still able to perform so gracefully on stage.  At 6 1/2 months pregnant the most I can do is crawl out of bed, walk down the hall into the living room, and climb onto the couch.  She was adorable in every way and it made for a perfect girl's night out. Julie, Marta and I hit up Orange Leaf for some frozen yogurt afterwards.  A huge thanks goes out to our husbands for watching the kiddos! Go here and here for my two favorite music videos. Go here for one of my favorite songs.  Made be sob the first time I listened to it, thinking of my boys of course. I also love this song .

My weekend began on Thursday evening.  The plan was for me to leave for Provo that evening, seeing how we were meeting with Justin Hackworth for the final showing of our pictures Friday morning at 11:00am.  When Jer got home I was having major second thoughts and going through withdrawals already.  This would be the first time I had ever left Tiny Man and the first time I have ever been without at least one of my boys.  Jer basically shoved me out the door telling me to have fun and that things would be just fine.  I knew they would be, but I also knew I would miss my boys like crazy. The four hour drive was actually heaven sent.  I was alone.  In the car.  By myself.  I was actually able to listen to the radio for the first time in about three years.  I even just sat in silence for a while and let my mind wander.  It felt very weird.  I kept feeling like something was missing... and there was!  It was my boys. When ...

{Thanks goes to Justin Hackworth for capturing the "real" us} Happy Mother's Day mom.   You know how much I love you.  You know I think the world of you.  You know I look up to you and want to be just like you when I grow up.  You know I think you are the most beautiful woman ever, period.  You know you are my best friend (next to Jer of course (; ).  You know this because we are one in the same.  We have what some people call being on the same wavelength.  We are tele communicators if you will.   Thank you for being the most wonderful mother any girl could ever ask for. Thank you for being someone I can always admire, count on, talk to, laugh or cry with and love no matter what.  Oh, and for being someone who will always kick my trash at Words with Friends.   I hope you have the best mother's day ever.   I love you! I should also give a huge shout out to my mother-in-law who birthed and raised the most wond...

My 1 1/2 year old niece is officially more stylish than me (which, if we are being honest, isn't that hard to do.  BUT STILL).  Aren't those skinny jeans just the cutest?! p.s. I will be back to blogging one of these days.  I'm working hard on keeping up with my boys and my house.  We have had a few nice days weather wise and we are trying to soak it all up while they last.  I've also been working on updating the family blog, seeing how it is our family journal and I've been slacking lately.  Should be back to posting soon!