Simply Hil

Jer with Little Guy on the Mark Twain boat at Disneyland. Truth be told I could have told you this news in the last post but I thought it would be fun to save it for my 500th post. You know, since reporting about my latest cookie dough binge isn't as exciting. Here's the big news. On our way down to southern California Jer stopped in Utah for a job interview. Things looked pretty promising and they told us we would know if he got the job by the end of the next week. This meant we were basically sitting on pins and needles for the first half of our vacation. It was pretty much the only thing Jer thought about for those first few days. He received a few calls from the company's HR department asking him some questions about relocation (which was a huge hint that he got the job) and finally on Thursday he was presented with an offer. He accepted and now we are getting ready to move to Utah in less than 10 days! I am heartbroken and excited all at the same time. I have liv...

A few weeks ago I was having "one of those days". I was going crazy and needed to get out of the house so I drove up to the cemetery where Michael is buried with my two boys buckled in the car. I went with the hope that I would find his marker in the ground, knowing it was around the time the monument place said it would be installed. I had been a couple times before only to find the same plot of grass that had been there when we buried him. However, that day as I pulled up to his little spot in the world this is what I saw: I was flooded with every emotion imaginable. Tears came to my eyes and I couldn't speak. Little Guy asked me what was wrong and all I could do was point at the picture on the headstone. He said, "Aww, is that baby Michael with Jesus?" I replied with a nod of my head. To which he said, "Ohh, that's so sweet." Whether my tears were tears of joy or tears of sadness is still in question because at that moment I felt both emotio...

I was a sophomore getting ready for school when I heard something on the radio that caused me to turn on the news. My brother and I watched replays of the first airplane that hit and saw the horror stricken people fleeing the scene. At that point we just thought it was an accident. We went to school where we found out about the other planes. Our teachers had the news on and all scheduled lessons were postponed as we watched our country being attacked. I will never forget the feeling of sorrow and fear that my classmates and I shared that day and the days to follow. On this, the 10th anniversary, my thoughts and prayers still go out to all those who had to live through this terrible nightmare and are living with the after effects. The thing I remember more than the fear is the realization that life is precious and it is so important to cherish and make the best out of every moment we have with the people we love. I am so grateful and proud to live in this great nation! p.s. if you...

... you need that sugar cookie with your shake. We are sleep training Tiny Man and Little Guy is sick. 'Nuff said.

Goat Island in Hawaii I learned a lesson yesterday. It was one of those lessons that you would like to learn from someone else's experience rather than first hand. To begin the story there are a few things that I need to say to set the situation up. Little Guy is in his second session of swim classes for the summer and has been for about a week. When he started out, he was loving it and completely looking forward to going each day. His class was calm and obedient and he was learning a lot. Three days into it a boy needed to switch classes so that he could be with his sister in the other class. In order to keep the classes even, one person from Little Guy's class had to be moved to the other class. Needless to say, Little Guy was moved. His new class was anything but calm and obedient and it was pure chaos each time we went. One day the lifeguard came and got mad at his class. He started to sob, thinking he was in trouble and had to get out of the pool to come sit ...

One reason I love where we live is that this scene takes place right out our front window. Little Guy was fascinated with the combine (harvester? what's the difference?) and asked if he could ride his bike to the front sidewalk and watch it closer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it is every little boy's dream to be able to see huge trucks and tractors hard at work in real life.  Awesome . What wasn't awesome, of course, were the allergies we all got that resulted in an ear infection for Little Guy.  Bummer . As for the treat, allow me to share a snippet of conversation Little Guy and I had today. We were on our way to the eye doctor when we saw a man walking on the side of the road without a shirt on and Little Guy piped up: LG: Hey, did you see that guy walking on the side of the road? Me: Yes, I did, that's kind of crazy isn't it? LG: What was he doing? Me: I'm not sure. LG: Oh. Well, he was probably looking for his shirt because ...

Jer and I on the night he proposed to me, six years and three months ago. Look at that picture. Babies. We were just babies when we got engaged and were married.  I look back at old pictures such as the one above and can't believe how young we both were.  I was one week shy of turning 19 when Jer proposed to me and he was 24 years old.  We were young and in love back then and now six years later we are a little bit older but still every bit as in love as we were back then, except now even more so. Thank you Jer, for the best 6 years of my life.   And I mean that.   Oh, and for two adorable little boys who were both blessed with your blue, blue eyes.  I love you.  Happy anniversary! p.s. last night we were both laughing at my hair in this picture.  it looks like I had really short, fro hair.  instead it was really long, fro hair pulled up into a bun.  awesome.