Happy Birthday to Kelsey!

She turns the big 18 today. It is a big day she can now vote and by dry ice, so lucky. Kelsey is one of the sweetest, kindest, loveliest ladies that I know. She is so easy to talk to and so much fun to have around. My kids ADORE her...I ADORE her!

If you were turning 18 today what would you do differently...or the same? What advice would you give Kelsey? She is the youngest of 7, has 7 months left of high school, Varsity cheerleader and on Student Council.

What are some of your best memories of being 18? I know that she would love to know!

I love you Kels. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Happy Halloween!

This year the girls were hand-me-downs for Halloween. Aria was a fairy and Laila a ladybug. I took them to to get their pictures done by Sarah Goodsell. She is FABULOUS, check her out.
I love how they turned out.

like, totally!

So, do I like, totally use the words, like and totally, like totally all the time?

Aria says to me the other day, "mom, I like, totally totally, drew a letter u, like totally."

I am the only one that is with her 24/7, do I seriously talk like that?

I don't think I use those words that much but could I be like, totally in denial?

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3!

Confession:

I am a 26 year old mother of 2 and I am so glad that they are girls, only because I have the excuse to take them to High School Musical 3. I seriously LOVE all the HSM movies. I have since the first time I saw Troy and Gabriella sing and they didn't even know each other. A few years later and they are graduating and moving on with their lives. Can I do the same?

This is definitely my favorite of the 3. It didn't hurt that Troy was smokin' HOT, and has some wicked dance moves. I love it all.

If you want to see a cheesy movie, let me know I will probably love it!

DTR?

2003...
I will never forget the day that Geoff asked me to be his girlfriend. I didn't think that I should assume that he wanted to date only me so I waited for the "DTR" (define the relationship). We were sitting on the couch and he asked me how I was doing, then proceeded to say how much he liked me and only wanted to date me. I was so excited and I couldn't wait to tell my mom and sisters.

5 years later... (names have been changed to protect the innocent)
I was talking to my friend "May" and she was telling me about the guy she is dating. I asked if she had "DTR"ed and they hadn't but she wasn't concerned. A few days later I was checking her facebook and noticed that in the relationship part it said "Tyler's" name. I got really excited and called her to find out that there was no DTR. "How can that be", you ask? Well one day "May" checked her facebook and the system told her that "Tyler" was requesting her to be in a relationship. So she said yes.

That my friends is how you DTR, 2008 style.

Digital Scrapbooking

Do any of you digital Scrapbook?

I HATE to scrapbook, I think it is a huge mess. But I think I could get into digital scrapbooking it seems easy and fun. Is this true?

Now I need some recommendations. What is the best software? Can you get free paper downloads? Does it manage your pictures? Is there anything else that I need to know? I have no idea what I am doing!

Please help me know what direction I should proceed. THANKS!!

I'm Behind

I have to apologize, I have recently realized that I am NOT a multi-tasker. When I am focused on something I have no room for thinking or doing other things. Hence when I am out of town doing lots of things I don't ever look at the computer, so when I get home I feel overwhelmed at all the things I want to remember and post. So in an effort not to get behind and not to feel overwhelmed here is our last few weeks in a recap.

The whole reason we were in Utah was because Geoff's Grandma Evelyn passed away. She is the most wonderful woman. I feel so lucky to have known her and we feel her with us all the time.

If you want to read the sweetest post on how Grandma Evie passed away read

We love you!

Family Photo

Thanks to the funeral the entire Hill family was together. It has been about 3 years since we have had a group picture. This family is getting large fast so it was IMPOSSIBLE that everyone was looking and smiling at the same time.

I love this picture of Tracy, Joeen and their kids
Our attempt at a family picture, thanks Laila.
Geoff and I haven't had a picture together in a long time. It felt like we were having our engagement pictures all over again.

Pumpkin Patch

There is the cutest pumpkin patch right up the street from our store, when I saw it I couldn't resist. What says fall better then a pumpkin patch?

The girls
Laila boo
Ari jo
Grandma Ruthie and the girls

Birthday Parties

Aria is so lucky that she happened to be by all her Grandparents and Aunties and Uncles on her birthday, that means lots of parties. She is also so lucky because she shares her birthday with her cousins Brady and Easton.

Aria was able to celebrate with her dad the day before her birthday because he had to leave the next day.


On Aria's birthday we were with Grandma and Papa Steed to have ANOTHER party!
We celebrated with a fresh peach cobbler, delicious!

Happy Birthday to ARIA!

Today my sweetheart is 3 years-old. It seems like only yesterday she was born. I remember it so well and it was definitely one of the BEST days of my life. This little lady is one of the funniest, cutest, most frustrating, sweetest, smartest kids in the world. I am so happy that she is mine. I love you Aria.
I will post all about her birth later because that is something I want to remember.

Laila is walking...in a circle

Laila started walking almost a month ago and I forgot about it because it is still not her primary mode of transportation.

For the first few weeks she was very wobbly and I started to notice that she would only take steps with her right foot. One day I watched in amazement as she walked in a complete circle only walking with her right foot. She is doing better now, but she is still very unsure of her new talent.

On the subject, I have a question...

I am confused as to when it is appropriate to recognize the milestones in our children's lives.

I remember when Aria was a baby she rolled over at 4 months so I promptly wrote in her baby book what an advanced child I have. Problem is she didn't roll over again for 6 weeks. In her baby book should I write the first time, or when the behavior was more consistent?

Back to Laila. She walks, but not really. Should I write that in her baby book?

Off the subject.
I lost my camera, thus the lack of pictures of Laila. SAD!

PICTURES!!

These beautiful little ladies are so lucky. They have never had to go to the mall and sit and pose for someone they don't know. They get to go play in Grandma's backyard and, VIOLA! Amazing pictures.

Seriously, have you seen cuter kids?!

I feel so lucky that Joeen is super talented, thank you for the photo session!

We're so glad when daddy comes home!

Geoff is coming home, HOORAY!

This is how Geoff spends his weekends.

Baby Showers and moving

My sister Sarah had a baby shower in California before she moved to Colorado. It was the most wonderful baby shower I have ever attended. Beautiful food, beautiful home, beautiful presents and beautiful company. Sarah is one lucky lady to call these women friends. Everyone was extremely generous and I felt lucky getting to know some of them.

That same weekend Sarah and Bryce were loading up their van to head off to Colorado. We were able to be there to help them load the truck. Did you know that 1 man, 1 pregnant women, and 3 ladies could load a two bedroom apartment into a truck?

Even though Sarah lives further from me now, I think it was a good move. I would have hated her to have a brand new baby in an apartment that left your bare skin black, YUCK!

Laila's 1st Brithday!

My computer is fixed, I have unpacked all the boxes from the move, look out I am ready to blog!
I have so much to blog about I am a little overwhelmed and I don't quite know where to begin.

The most important event that has happened was Laila's first birthday. She was the luckiest lady and got to celebrate for a few days (mostly because her dad was going to be out of town for her birthday). The first celebration was a party at the pool.

all of Laila's friends that came to celebrate with her.

Laila's first cupcake was thoroughly enjoyed!

She wants more cupcake.

Laila's only birthday picture with her dad in it.

On Sunday we had a birthday dinner for Laila so she could open presents and do the customary "eating of the cake"

After dinner Laila was ready for her cake.

Could it get any better then diving into her very own chocolate cake?!?!

PRESENTS!!

It was so fun to see Laila finally old enough to open and get excited for presents. It was a rude awakening for Aria that she was no longer able to open and play with Laila's gifts. The present that was cause of a lot of sibling contention was a baby doll from Grandma Ruthie. As soon as the doll was released from her box all HECK broke loose. You can see the look of pure TERROR in Laila's face.
After quite a spectacle from my children, Laila cuddled, kissed and fed her baby.
My baby is getting so big!

lack of posts

Hello! My name is Aleena and I am addicted to blogs. 

My computer has been broken for over a week now and feel like I have no idea what is going on in the world.   I have no idea what anyone is doing, everyone is growing up without me.  I got my hands on a computer this morning and got my fix by visiting everyones blogs as fast as I could.  

One the flip side, this last week has been a shocking revelation to how much time I spend on the computer I am stymied by how much more I am accomplishing in the day.  

My name is Aleena and I am a recovering blog addict.  See you when I get my computer. 

ADIOS!

Today is a very happy and a very sad day. My little brother Douglas left for the MTC. I have had such mixed emotions about him leaving because I am so proud of his decision to spread the happy news of the gospel but it will be a full 4 years until our family is together again (I have another little brother that will overlap with Doug).

Doug will never read this but I want the world to know how awesome my little brother is. He has always been such a wonderful example to me in his words and actions, he has ALWAYS wanted to do what is right. I often feel so blessed that he is my little brother I have really enjoyed watching him and Russell grow up into really good men. I am so excited for this chapter of his life, I know that he will be an exceptional missionary!


This is the waterfall that my dad and brothers built in the backyard. This waterfall has been a work in progress for 10 years. After Doug received his mission call he said that all he wanted before he left on his mission was to complete the waterfall. The goal was set for the day he gave his farewell talk in church. When I arrived at my parents house on Thursday, 3 days before the goal, the waterfall was still not very close to being completed.


We like to call this story the miracle of the waterfall, because the whole family got involved in making sure that the waterfall was completed by the farewell. The boys worked on it from 7:00am to midnight on Saturday. Sunday morning an hour before church started we turned it on for the first time. It was interesting how emotional it was. It must have been the fact that my dad and Doug have been working on it for 10 years and it was finally done.

Last family picture for a while.