Simply Hil

I made these mini cinnamon rolls yesterday for my young women's class in church. They turned to be just as tasty as they were cute! I found the recipe for these mini cinnamon rolls via Pinterest and knew they would be perfect to double as my object lesson and treat. I changed the recipe quite a bit, but kept the idea of using crescent rolls for the dough. The girls told me they were almost like little cinnamon roll cookies, which was a fun twist. My boys ate them right up, they ended up being the perfect little portion for them! I will definitely be making these little guys again soon, as they were so easy and delicious. Bite-size Cinnamon Rolls makes 32 mini rolls Ingredients: 2 (8oz) tubes crescent roll dough 1/2 c. brown sugar 2 tsp. cinnamon  For the cream cheese frosting:  4 oz. cream cheese (softened) 1/2 c. butter (softened) 1 c. powdered sugar 1/2 tsp. vanilla Directions:  Preheat oven according to crescent roll dough package directions. ...

I mentioned that we had an outing last week that deserved it's very own post. It was at that outing where I finally, at long last, met my dear friend Meg . The story that follows is one that I don't think I could ever do justice, but here is some background to how she and I came to know each other. A few years back my sister-in-law, Hannah , told me about her friend, Meg, who had lost her baby at 21 weeks and soon after was diagnosed with cancer. My heart ached for this girl I didn't even know. At the time, I couldn't imagine what it could possibly be like to lose a baby, not to mention find out I had cancer on top of it all. Her strength and faith through it all truly left me in awe. Fast forward to my pregnancy with Michael. When Hannah found out how dire my own situation was she sent me a link to Meg's blog (she must have truly been inspired!). I looked through the archives and read about her experience with her baby Clayton. I sobbed as I saw pictures of ...

I love this and just had to share. I think I'll put "clean windows" on our weekend's to do list. ;)

The other day was gorgeous here in Utah. To say we have had a mild winter would be an understatement. We have yet to have any "real" snow that actually sticks around longer than 12 hours. I, of course, am not complaining. Though I do love snow in limited quantities, it's not something that I long or wish for. Despite the mild winter I still find myself anxious for spring, and the other day we had a taste of it. "We're going to the park." I exclaimed. Tiny Man looked at me puzzled, he doesn't quite know the word "park" yet. Little Guy jumped up and down clapping his hands. I smiled and turned to Tiny, "Should we go?" Those three words he does know and he immediately took off towards his room. I followed him, watching his little body waddle from side to side while his short little legs led him along. He then found his shoes and nestled down into my lap for me to put them on for him. Tiny is very independent, but he knows his limi...

From the archives : Tiny Man enjoying some Saturday morning cartoons iPhone style in bed with daddy. This morning started early. Earlier than I normally like to be dragged out of bed at least. Tiny Man had gotten his legs stuck in the rungs of his crib and was not happy . When we got up to rescue him from the grasp of his crib we noticed Little Guy was already awake. Just standing there in the hallway. If only I could be a morning person like him. It made me think back to high school when I couldn't sleep past 8 o'clock if it killed me. 6:30 AM was my preferred wake up time. Then there was college. I worked a 6am to 4pm shift at a call center. This meant waking up as early as 4:30am most mornings. I believe it is safe to say that the day my first child was born was the day I no longer could call myself a morning person. My boys have fought sleep with all their might ever since they were born, which makes for a very tired mommy who despises mornings. After getting both o...

A double rainbow spotted somewhere between here and my parents house on our road trip a few years back. When I first started Hil's Blog it was meant to be a place where I could come and write about anything I wanted. It didn't really have much purpose behind it, except for providing a place for my recipes, thoughts and experiences to all mingle together. A year after starting this blog I discussed the topic of finding joy and four months after that I added it as my tagline . However, it wasn't until five short months after that when I would truly need to make a conscience effort to implement the task of finding joy on a daily basis.  Five months after adding that tagline to Hil's Blog, we lost our little Michael . When that happened, it felt as though all of the joy in my life had been sucked dry. Greif was thick and heavy and all consuming. There were days when it was a struggle to even breath through the heart ache. I turned to my blog as an outlet for my tho...

Sometimes it's the easy recipes that are the most amazing, am I right? A couple weeks ago I came across this super simple recipe. I decided to make it seeing how I already had most of the ingredients in my fridge. Once they were finished baking the instructions told me to wait until they were completely chilled before cutting into them. However, when they came out of the oven I couldn't resist the sweet, sugary aroma that consumed both nostrils and had to try just a taste. It was with that first taste that I knew I was a gonner. We have made these three times since and with each time we have had to find someone to share them with in order to save me from eating the entire pan. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars INGREDIENTS 2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese 2 cans Crescent rolls 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup butter, melted 1/2 cup sugar 1 tablespoon cinnamon DIRECTIONS Using a 9 x 13 baking pan, unroll one package of cresc...