It's about that time...

I love this time of year, it is my absolute favorite! I love the smells, the sights, the treats and the crunch of leaves, just to name a few. I love the anticipation of the holidays and visiting with our families. (Yes, I am already listening to Christmas music, and I am not ashamed)! This year is particularly happy for us though. We are anticipating much more than just the holidays...we are finally having us a Baby Hill! I can think of nothing else that would make this time of year better and happier for us. I am just out of my first trimester (hallelujah) and we are so completely excited. I am due May 19th; hard to believe that in just six months we will have a little one in our lives, but we can't wait! Happy Holidays!

Fun for Us!

Jordan and I just got two pieces of good news over the last couple of weeks:

First off, we are going to be moving! No we are not moving to some exciting, far-off place, that would be too good! We are moving about 5 minutes down the street into my Aunt and Uncle's house while they serve their mission! I never would have imagined we would be in Provo at this point still, but we are. And since we are staying for the next 2 years until Jord goes to grad school, we may as well live somewhere new! So we get to live in their house, which will give us so much room I don't know what we'll do. We are mostly looking forward to our own washer and dryer (2 sets actually) and a dishwasher! We also think it will be a good experience to give us an idea of what having a house will be like, even though that day is certainly distant. So we are pretty excited about that and we are moving in at the end of the month.

Secondly, since we have decided to stick around Provo for a couple of years, Jord has been looking for a more permanent job. He had some pretty good connections at BYU so he applied to BYU Broadcasting and was just hired last week. He will be working in their production department as a Unit Production Manager (UPM for those who know the slang). He is pretty excited to be able to do some hands on production; even though it may not be at his dream production company, gotta start somewhere!

Last little tidbit, we will celebrate our 4th anniversary this week! We have no amazing plans at all, but I'm sure we'll make it out for a date at some point. Can't believe it's been 4 years already, keep 'em comin!

Washington!

Jordan and I got to go to Washington at the end of July. Ryan and Lauren were up there for a couple of weeks and we stayed with Lauren's parents and had a blast. We stayed pretty busy the whole time and drove a lot! Sure made us realize how much we miss living by these two, especially since they added Crew to the mix! We are so glad we got the chance to do this while we can. Thanks you guys!

Downtown Seattle:

Pike Place Market...

Ryan, Lauren and Crew
Jord, Me and Crew

The gum wall!

I was in heaven! These were the first of 3 separate raspberry purchases. SO GOOD!

We had a great time seeing everything. Lauren was a great tour guide.

The night before we left we got a surprise visitor:

Elder Hill! So we may have bent the rules with this one, but how could we pass up an opportunity to see this stud? We loved visiting for a bit, and of course, he is an awesome missionary!


Some other things we missed pictures on was a day at Lauren's brother's lake, a day boating with our good friends Bryce and Camille, lots of good food, games (where me and Jord totally dominated), and a visit to my Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Mike's house. The trip was wonderful and so fun to take Jord to see Washington. Also made him appreciate Utah's weather which is always a good thing for him!

Deception Pass

We got to go to Deception Pass with Adam and Katie one day. The weather was pretty good and the views were amazing! It was a lot of fun.

Love this one!

The bridge was kinda freaky, so high!

A Great Find

I am by no means a health expert. Period. However, the more time goes on the more I find I'm interested in learning how to be healthier. So much so, that I think I have finally decided on what to do for a major! I'm thinking Community Health Education for the moment, but it still remains to be seen. Anyway, I happened across the website MyPyramid.gov. It is excellent! You can personalize your pyramid based on your activity level, age, weight, and height. It tells you exactly what servings you should have for which foods for your whole week. And when I investigated further, I even found a lot of information for each of the food groups about what exactly a serving size is, tips for incorporating them into your diet, etc.

The reason I really like this is because it's a guidline for anyone. I've thought for a long time that the basic food pyramid is really the best you can get when it comes to a diet. I'm no fan of all these extreme diets you hear about (Atkins, HCG, etc). It's all about balance and moderation people! So if you have a chance, check the website out here. Please forgive the soapbox moment, I don't do this kind of thing often because I don't like to be preachy. I just thought I'd throw it out there for whoever might be interested!

Las Vegas!

We got to go to Las Vegas with some of our very best friends last month and it was so fun! We don't get to see Kathryn and Austin or Kathleen and Eric very often so it was really nice of them to trek out for some fun. I love these girls the most, I definitely wish I was able to see them more often but I'll take what I can get. And Ambre and Stacey were kind enough to come along even though we brought our husbands...that's a true friend!

Ambre, Me, Kathryn, Kathleen
Jordan and Me

Some of the displays at the Bellagio, I love to stop and see whatever incredibly creative idea they come up with. You could smell the flowers everywhere and it was so yummy, I didn't want to leave!

We made sure to go to Serendipity, some of us had never been. The food was divine and we of course loved the frozen hot chocolates!

The Bellagio fountains! We spent a good amount of time here, it was awesome as always.

Eric, Kathleen, Jord, Me, Kathryn, Austin, Ambre and Stace

My one and only requirement for the trip was Maggiano's. It was delicious as always!

At the Venetian.

I did my best with pictures but still missed a lot! We spent some time at the pool, which was so awesome. Lots of yummy food, including the very best cheesecake I've ever had at Cheesecake Factory (Coconut Cream, I think), some shopping, more steps than we could count (good thing Aust had his pedometer), games, late nights, talk, talk, talk! It was a great time to finally get away after school and such and we loved it. Here's to good friends and warm weather! Love you all!

He did it!

After many years of hard hard work, Jordan is finally a graduate! Trust me, we weren't sure this day would actually arrive. He put a lot of time and effort into the last couple of years especially and I am so proud of him.

Jord graduated with a Business Managment degree, emphasis in Finance with a minor in Film. He ultimately wants to do media production...but it will be awhile before he is there. He also plans to do his MBA in a couple of years. As for what he is doing now...that is a loaded question! We will be sticking around Provo for the summer, and hopefully by Fall we will have a more definite plan. We aren't entirely sure what the future will bring, but we are excited to see what happens. Congrats Jord!

The Fam, at least parts of it.

Jord with his Dad, Grammie, and Aunt Heidi

Bryson, Jord, Caleb, and Abby

Jord and Heidi

Thanks to all of the family and friends who have supported Jordan in his career decsions, it makes all the difference and we appreciate it so much!

This is what Jordan gets to do tonight:

This is what I get to do tonight:

Unfair? I thought so too.

Things I am Loving!

I feel a little guilty for being such a whiner in my last post. So, this post is all about things I am currently obsessed with and are making my life joyful! I like to do a bit of research on products and such before I make a purchase, particularly when the products are expensive. I have to convince Jordan each time one of these purchases is made that it is really an investment, especially when you average the price over how long it lasts! We're talking pennies per day sometimes! So here are the things I am loving lately!

This is a heat protectant for your hair. My cousin Merinda does hair and told me how awesome it was, she was so right! It has little sparkly beads in it that burst on your hair to protect it. Smells awesome and not too heavy for fine hair like mine.

Another great hair find. I think I have gone through about 3-4 hair dryers in the last year, I blame crappy hair dryers + crappy old apartment outlets. But mine was about to die when my hair stylist told me she could get this on sale, so I went for it. I love it already and wish I would have gotten it a long time ago, definitely worth the cash. Thanks Crystal!

This is not a recent item I've discovered. I usually switch mascaras often. But I have stuck to this one for over a year now. It makes even my stubby excuses for eyelashes look more luscious!

This is another product I've used for probably 2 years or more. For some reason even though I have really dry skin, my eyelids are oily. This helps keep my eye shadow in place practically all day--works much better than any other primer I've used. I'm glad it lasts a long time because I've only ever found it at Sephora, and there are no locations close to me. This is probably a good thing.

I discovered this song at Zumba (something I'm still debating whether I love or hate. It's a pretty good workout, but let's just say I am the definition of a white girl when it comes to dancing, not to mention latin dancing for an hour-my hips just cannot do what others can!) This song is just so catchy! It does get stuck in my head, but I love it, it's so fun to workout to.

This has literally taken up all of my and Jordan's free time. We started watching the first season around Thanksgiving and we do nothing else. Thank you Netflix for having every episode for us to watch. Jordan's goal is to get caught up in time for the series finale. It just might kill us to get there, but we are really enjoying watching it.


And some things to look forward to:

This girl gets home in one week! I cannot wait! She's been gone for a year and a half and I have missed her so much. Email has been great, but seeing her and talking to her on a regular basis again will make my life pure bliss .

This concert with my mom and sisters. Coming up in just a couple of weeks and we are so excited!

And finally a trip here with some of my very favorite people. I am particularly stoked to do this after finals, graduation, and whatever other stresses, are totally done. The weather will be nice and we will be relaxing all weekend. What could be better? Only a month away and counting...