The Way To Go

My first born has a couple of scrapbooks, my second born has only a few pages. So for Christmas I decided to recap the year and publish a book for each of them using blurb. I'm such a fan. It's easy to add pictures, no tedious upload and waiting time. Once you've got your books the way you'd like, you upload it to get it printed. (One small word of caution: check out the contents when your book arrives to proof it. You don't want the recipient to get any surprises. And Blurb can be pretty stingy with the coupons unlike many of the other sites.)

The results- a book that tops the most read list at your house and preserved memories without the gluestick.

Callings

For the past 10 months, I've served as our ward Gospel Doctrine teacher. Before getting the calling I thought, "that's the one calling I could never do." It's been an epic journey for me, one where feelings of inadequacy and incompetency prevailed. And such feelings have been a great motivation for me. I have dedicated more time for personal scripture study and gospel pondering. And as a result, my testimony of the Book of Mormon has increased immensely.

So it is with a bit of sadness that I accept my release, new challenges await. Never before have I personally benefited so much from a calling. Now I just hope to be a better, more prepared student in future Gospel Doctrine classes.

**I am the new Cub Master and Humanitarian Specialist. I will be learning a lot more, as I know very little about the scouting program.

Christmas Dress Up

Rethinking a once good idea. Brother absolutely loves his chaps. Mom doesn't share the same affection. With 4 buckles and a constant need to take them off and put them on again, she's getting a little tired.

But then the cowboy tea party won her heart and she'll continue putting them on and taking them off because they are too darn cute.
Tea set compliments of Sissy. It doesn't seem to matter how girly of gifts she gets, Brother takes complete entitlement. We settled on a rocking chair, tea set, pink Bilibo, and play purse for Sissy. Brother enjoys them all.

He Found Us

After watching the weather, we decided we'd better make our break and beat the storm to my parent's home. This meant speeding up our last minute preparations and forgoing our scheduled activities. In our hasty exit, Hudson made sure we left a note so Santa would find us.

We traveled safely and arrived at our snowed on, cozy Christmas cabin, greeted by my parents and sisters. It was an enjoyable Christmas Eve with the traditional pork loin dinner. After a rather restless night, we were wakened by a very excited boy. Santa had put new pj's on him and he was very confident that a firetruck and dinosaur awaited him upstairs. True to tradition, we had a wonderful Christmas. I loved watching the kids with their joy and excitement. We braved the roads and joined the Wilkins crew for Christmas dinner. It's always fun to see family. We were all able to share our experiences from the $1 challenge that my aunt gave us. Every person in the family (59) received a dollar with the instructions to remember the "Power of One" and make a difference. It was fun to reflect on good deeds done and remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Caught Red Handed

I know I've said Sissy is off her pacifier. Well she's cutting more teeth and has become quite dependent.

Since I'm pretty sneaky, I wrapped the bow back around a box of truffles so I would quit eating them and placed it under our tree. I was able to fool myself, but Sissy didn't buy it. Not even for one minute. How she ever knew to open the box. . .

During our reenactment (for picture purposes only) she was happily sharing with everyone.

Home For the Holidays

We headed out of town last weekend for a little get away in lieu of our 6th wedding anniversary. We stopped in Logan for our BIL's graduation and then headed down to the Lodges at Stillwater between Park City and Heber. Some days we just watched the snow fall and sipped hot chocolate, other days we ventured out and took in some sights.
Some of the highlights included a stop at the Tree House Museum in Ogden,the lights at Temple Square, the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point, snowshoeing, playing in the snow, and eating.




We enjoyed ourselves, but were ready to get home. There truly is no place like home for the holidays.

Santa SOS

So there is a little Sissy that lives at our house who is almost 18months. She is incredibly determined and busy. She's played with her brother's tractors most of her life and other boy toys. Now it's getting close to Christmas and I am drawing a huge blank about what to get her. Mostly because everything I think of, I can imagine Brother's excitement to add it to his toy collection. Have you seen any great farm animal sets? What about a bilibo? Are there any dolls out there worth the money? Please help.

Meet Frosty

We woke up to snow. I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to have winter. Brother could not wait to make a snowman. . .or knock it down, I should say. Now we're all dreaming of a white Christmas.

In the Valley-O

One of our nephews got baptized this past Saturday. We headed out bright and early and made it just in time.

While we were down in Cache Valley, we were able to meet up with my sisters that also live there. We divided and conquered. Men Vs. Women & Children.

The men went rock climbing for their Christmas "experience." In years past, the brother-in-laws have done a gift exchange which has resulted in frustration for the wives who always ended up buying the gifts. So this year we decided the guys could go and spend money doing something fun, (even if the wives were still the ones that set it all up.)

The participating sisters took the chillin's to Frontier Christmas where we rode on a horse drawn wagon, saw Santa, made crafts, and enjoyed tasty treats from yesteryear. It got me wishing I were a pioneer, truly. Things like that always do.The kids were able to spend time with their cousins that we don't see nearly enough.

Back to Basics

My blog title is my life's mantra: Plain and Simple. You've probably noticed that I haven't "refreshed" my blog look in awhile. . . okay for years now. Sometimes I think I will, but never do because I like it, plain and simple.

Here at the Hillman household we've been going back to the basics and enjoying our journey. Recently we acquired 12 leghorn chickens. I've wanted some for awhile, so it's a dream come true. The kids and I are able to spend time getting fresh air, learning about responsibility, and having fun. The associated chores don't take long, but we find ourselves bundling up and making an activity out of it. It's a great way to teach kids because they see immediate rewards every time the chickens give us eggs.
Since living in a house with a dishwasher, my kids haven't had to opportunity to stand at the sink and play in the water like we used to. So, Sunday night after Brother's request, I ran some dish water and let them wash the remaining pots and pans. They both enjoyed it so much, it's become the highlight of meal time.

It's amazing how such little things have brought our family so much joy.