Simply Hil

Little Guy loves making sugar cookies. I'm pretty sure it's on the list of his top 5 favorite things to do along with go to Disneyland and open presents on Christmas morning. Seriously, that's how much he loves it. I wish I could make the sugar cookie thing happen more often but I have developed a strong aversion to the activity. Mostly due to the fact that it is so tedious and takes FOREVER and makes a gargantuan mess in my kitchen. Think about it. First you have to make the dough, then roll the dough, then cut the dough, then cook the dough, then let the cookie cool, then make the frosting, then spread the frosting, then decorate on top of the frosting and the only part I really enjoy is eating the cookie . The biggest problem is when we are left with dozens of cookies on the countertop and I have zero self control to avoid popping them in my mouth one giant bite at a time. The other day Little Guy really wanted to make Halloween sugar cookies. It was cold and rainy ...

Photo credit: Alyce Clegg Photography This morning I received a message from a dear friend of mine, Sarah. Sarah and I used to be neighbors when I was little and living in Farmington. She comes from a family with five girls and my sister and I spent a lot of time with them. I always thought of them as the real life "Little Women" and they have always had a special place in my heart! This was her message to me on Facebook: Hi Hilary,  This is a little random but I came across this song and thought I would pass it along to you. I've enjoyed following your public blog and thought of your sweet Michael when I heard this song. I hope maybe it'll bring a little joy into your day. Have a wonderful day! Sarah Attached was a link to the song below. I listened to it and it immediately brought me to tears. It is such a beautiful song about a mother who misses her child and asks for just one more minute. This song touched me in such a deep way. It's funny how ...

Here is our cute little garden. It isn't anything miraculous or noteworthy, but we have fallen in love with it this summer. Each evening we walk out to take a look and see what it has to offer us that day. We have jalapeños and cherry tomatoes coming out of our ears! I think it's time for some salsa. I am super anxious to see what our artichoke plant ends up doing. For now, it's just being ginormous with no promise of anything but hugeness in site. I love knowing that we planted this garden from itty bitty seeds and after some water and sunshine those seeds have sprouted roots and completely taken to the soil we prepared for them. I feel much like those little seeds. We have lived here in our home for 9 months now and it feels like home . We love our neighbors, our friends, and our church callings. I just returned from girls camp (yes I was gone another 4 days from my boys! They loved being with daddy again though and even got to go visit grandma and grandpa while I w...

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to youth conference with our stake* at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. I had heard plenty about the college, but had never actually been there, and now I know why. It is out in the middle of no where! It did have a beautiful campus with some really neat buildings and a cool bell tower though. I had an absolute blast with the youth from our stake and the other leaders that were there. Those three days were jam packed with lots of fun, activities, workshops, devotionals and even a dance at the end where we pulled off our own flash mob (check that one off the bucket list!). In order to go, I had to leave the boys home alone with Jer for the weekend. I couldn't sleep the whole night before and I had tears in my eyes as I pulled out of the driveway that next morning, waving goodbye to my boys. It was so hard to leave because I knew I would miss them like crazy. Once we were at Snow College, however, we were so busy with everything that I was sh...

I told you this coop deserves a post of it's own. The boys love going to my parents house for three reasons: 1. Grandma and Grandpa (and aunt Lindsey!) 2. The pool. 3. The chickens. My parents chicken coop and garden area is one of the cutest little places on earth. They keep the place pristine which means their chickens and eggs are also clean. Their chickens are sweet and completely mellow so much so that they let my boys pick them up and hold them. The thing I love most about my parents chickens is the unique types that create diversity amongst the "flock" (is that the right term there mom??). They have four silkies, one bantam white crested polish, one bantam cochin, and one ameraucana. They all lay different colored and sized eggs which makes it super fun for the boys to go collect them each day. It's always a surprise to see what kind of egg we are going to get and Little Guy almost always eats them that very day. Doesn't get any fresher than that fol...

For the past few weeks I have been working hard on a new redesign for Simply Yours Designs (my blog design shop). After many failed attempts, I finally ironed out all the details and came up with something I love. I went live with the new logo and layout on Saturday and am so excited about it! I am doing things a little different in the shop and using Etsy to help sell the templates. We'll see how it goes. Does anyone have any experience with Etsy? Did you like it? What are the disadvantages to using it rather than just selling it on my own via paypal? Is there another shop host you'd recommend? It's an experiment and we'll give it a shot these next couple of months. I will also be adding more products to the shop in the coming weeks. I can't wait to share those projects with you as they become available! How about some before and afters? BEFORE: AFTER: I love the simple/sleek new design and hope that it will be much easier for customers to navigate. I...

Saturday morning started early. It was the day of the 5k and I had major jitters that hit about 5:30 am. I eventually gave up trying to fall back to sleep and just got out of bed. I stretched and ate breakfast as the rest of my family slept. I started worrying about what the day would bring. Would I be able to climb the hills that I hadn't been training for? What if I got a side ache and couldn't run? Would I even be able to finish? Running a 5k hadn't ever been something on my bucket list, but I had a strong desire to finish this one. This one was for Michael. I wanted him to look down on me that day and be proud of his mom. I wanted him to know that I was running for him, proving once again that I would do anything for my children.  Jer and I put on our matching blue shirts and waited for my brother and his wife to arrive. They were going to drop their two little ones off for my mom to watch. She had driven all the way from St. George to be here to help. We may have bee...