The Family

German (pronounced Herr Man. Hudson never got it, he always thought we
were saying "Her Mom."), Javiera, Karisa, Dalanie, Hudson, Veronica, Paula

Ten years ago, Brent served his mission in Chile and made some wonderful friends. A specific family has adopted us in and treated us like their own. They are the Malebran Family (or MollieBrown family as Hudson affectionately calls them.) In large part, they are the reason we go to Chile.

One day they got a phone call from Brent. "We're going to come and visit. . . tomorrow." Even with such little notice, they were wonderful hosts and very accomodating. They picked us up from the airport (where they had been waiting for several hours due to our delayed flight out of Dallas.) An upstairs addition to their house became our little suite. We were welcomed with gifts and a special dinner. We went to church with them, ate with them, borrowed their vehicle for a trip down South, and vacationed at the beach with them. Malebran's are a beautiful family and hold a special place in all of our hearts.

Our welcome cake. It was to die for with adorable fondant figurines,
pineapple, strawberries, whipped topping, ice cream, and meringue

The interior was tiled, with beautiful wooden benches, and 12 ceiling fans.
It was wonderful to attend and feel so welcomed. A sister missionary we
met was from Boise.

Swimming in their back yard. It is very small an intimate. It really
is an outdoor living space. Grapes were growing as a shade for their swing,
their tree had lemons ripening, and the apricot tree housed their birdcage,
and provided shade for their cocker spaniel.

Hudson playing at the park with the girls, his amigas. They are
so cute and sweet. Javiera is 16 and Paula is 15.

Dropping the girls off for their English lessons.
They treated us to a Chileno feast at their favorite restaurant.
Perfectly grilled steak, pan y salsa, fresh juice, ensalada, and flan.

We're Home

I know, news to most of you that didn't even know we left. Brent and I have been thinking about going somewhere for a while. When we finally made our decision, we left the next day. We enjoyed two awesome weeks in Chile experiencing culture, nature, each other, and summer. It was truly a trip of a lifetime.

More on that later, but for now just let me say, "Oh my aching bottom!" We knew the trip back home was going to be testing but it became more so. We boarded our flight scheduled to leave at 11:50 pm. The captain came on and said there was a minor mechanical problem and we'd soon be on our way. Forty minutes later he came back and said it had turned major. So we spent the next four hour in lines waiting to be shuttled to a hotel where we would wait out the day and catch the next flight out. We just count our blessings that they found the huge hydraulic leak on the landing gear before we left.

It was kind of a bonus day as we splashed in the pool and took in a little more sun at a nice hotel where someone else was picking up the tab. That night we boarded a plane to Miami, then to Chicago, on to SLC, to our car for the 3 hour drive home. In total it was over 30 hours in transit, 10 poopy diapers, grouchy flight attendants, ornery security guards, and an exhausted family- but we made it!!

My Fancy Nancy and Her Fancy Brother

Sissy's #1 fashion rule: accessorize, accessorize, accessorize! Whether it's the addition of "edible" makeup, one of her dollies, a cellphone, her purse, or pacifier she's always paying attention to the little details. After all, it's the little things that make the difference.

And the other night I made the mistake of telling Brother he needed to change clothes and put on something "fancy" to go out to eat. Minutes later, he's hauled his suit, white shirt, and tie upstairs. After a long diplomatic session, we comprised with a blue button up shirt, tie, sweater, khakis, and church shoes (things that weren't dry clean only.) I'll know better than to explain non-play clothes as "fancy" in the future.

Since it's National Popcorn Day, I decided to share one of my favorite popcorn recipes.

Peanut Butter Crunch Popcorn
2/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. honey
1/2 c. corn syrup
bring to a boil and cook/stir for 2 minutes
take off heat and add:
2/3 c. creamy peanut butter
1 t. vanilla
pour over
12 c. popped popcorn
3 c. miniature pretzels
stir well and pour onto 2 greased cookie sheets
bake 1 hour @250- stirring every 15 minutes

once cool add 2 c. chocolate covered peanuts (or make your own chocolate popcorn as a substitution by stirring melted chocolate into plain popcorn)

Snowshoeing Fun

Some friends invited us to go snowshoeing with them and some of their family. We went to Fall Creek up towards Swan Valley. There ended up being about 20 of us and quite a few little kids. It was sunny, bright, and a beautiful day to be out getting a little exercise and enjoying the scenery. Hudson was an absolute trooper and never quit. He kept up with the adults and outlasted a few of the bigger kids.We've found a walking stick to be a good help for Hudson.
On the way back to the car, the kids got to ride in the sled and Sissy especially enjoyed it.
The kids and me in front of the falls on Fall Creek.
Even if she's giving the camera her famous "dirty look," I'd still like to smooch those rosy red cheeks.

Modeling

Last night at an early literacy workshop we were talking about the importance of parents reading and how effective modeling is in encouraging your children to read. And this morning in my Love and Logic class [insert: watching L&L movie while on my treadmill] they emphasized how much kids attitudes are shaped by observing their parents.

Light bulb goes off inside my head.

Now I feel like I'm living in a laboratory and my every move is under scrutiny by my two lab rats. Deep breath. (I don't really think of my kids as rats.) But I am beginning to realize that my outlook on life are the lenses through which my kids view life. My kids will treat others like I do, they will accept problems and deal with them like I do, and they will eat dessert first like me.

It would be so much easier if the song only meant to clap their hands or stomp their feet when we did. Because to "Do As I'm Doing" means that we have to be the kind of people we want our children to be. I'm grateful for the challenge to continually improve.

Camp Out

This Idaho weather has got us all going cabin crazy at our house. So to save my sanity, the kids and I hosted a camp out for some of Brother's friends. Even though the actual event was only a few hours long, we spent a few days preparing for it.

First we set up our little two person tent. Talk about an instant fort that is pretty durable. Not like the blanket hideouts where the kids can hardly play because you're too busy refereeing the slouching blankets. They're a great investment. I picked mine up at a garage sale for a dollar or two.

Next I converted two inexpensive polar fleece blankets into sleeping bags. I folded them in half, pinned some elastic in place, and started sewing 4 inches down the side and across the bottom. The elastic allows you to keep them rolled up like real sleeping bags. They were simple and the kids love them. Put them in your tent and you've got enough static electricity to start your own fire or create a hilarious Sissy porcupine. We spent one afternoon inside the tent reading books.What camp out is complete without a campfire? We cut up some wrapping paper tubes for the logs. I hot glued 3 together to make a tee pee. A simple orange flame "crown" with red tissue paper stuck inside rounded out the effect. And since we finished off a lot of wrapping paper over the holidays, we cut up some more to fashion some rudimentary binoculars. We printed up some camping bingo cards here.

Our camp out was a huge hit. The kids loved "rock climbing" on the furniture and roasting marshmallows, singing and listening to stories around the camp fire. We had a little "kiddie pool" lake set up for them to go magnetic fishing. They ate popcorn and trail mix for a snack while we played bingo.Talk about some happy campers!

Suckers

I most definitely grew up as a child of the 80's. In addition to the perfectly pegged pant legs, side ponies, and LA gears, one of the crowning icons had to be sucker peddlers on the school bus. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you might want to go talk to Deb about Boondoggles.
Yesterday my husband decided it was high time that our children learn the intricacies of sucker making. With hand-me-down molds and enough nostalgia to fill the room, we created more than just blue coconut suckers.

A Sun-BEAM!

After weeks of anticipation and excitement, the day finally arrived for Hudson to become a Sunbeam. You would have thought it was Christmas all over again. His excitement was visible.

He did great. I have even overheard him singing the Sunbeam song. Music to a mother's ear.Now it's only a matter of a month (and Sissy's cooperation) before she goes to nursery.

Welcome 2009

From our family to yours, Happy New Year.

May 2009 bring greater peace and happiness into your lives.

I always face each new year with a bit of trepidation. What challenges will I be faced with in the coming year? Am I ready for what lies ahead and how will I handle it? And yet, I enjoy the prospects of another year living my dream as wife and mother. For all of the learning and growth that await.

Here's to a more simple and focused 2009.

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.