Jordan and Jana

six

2011-11-20T19:27:00.003-07:00

Our sweet little Sophie is six months old. This is incredibly hard to believe! She is truly an awesome baby. I tell people all the time that I'm afraid once I'm done with school she will decide I've had my time and become a super demanding baby. Either that or we are really in for it with the next baby that comes along, because we have have been so spoiled! Really, I just consider it a tender mercy. Heavenly Father decided to take compassion on us since our lives are pure madness currently.

I feel like she has changed a ton the past month or so. She sits up great by herself, has cut her bottom two teeth, and is trying pretty hard to push herself up onto all fours. And she has finally mastered eating baby food and rice cereal. This took some time. We definitely didn't use her binky to make her swallow nearly every bite...

So here are the girl's stats from the doc:

Height: 26 1/3" - 71%
Weight: 16 lbs 4 oz - 56%
Head: 17" - 71%

So she is getting a bit chubbier, which we love. Who can resist those cheeks???

Vent

2011-10-31T00:50:00.002-06:00

Just going to vent for one minute about why I am awake at 1 AM. Have to register for my FINAL semester of college. Registration opened at midnight. I am just paranoid enough that I won't get the classes I need, so I stayed up this late to ensure I would get all of them. Jord called me a worry-wart. And here I am, still registering. Thank you UVU and the slowest running website of all time.

four

2011-09-19T21:44:00.005-06:00

My girl is four months old. As any mom says, the time has flown. I think she is totally delightful, with the exception of eating...the girl does not like to eat! The circumstances must be perfect in order for her to eat well. As in not too hot or cold (her or the food), not to happy or sad, not too hungry, but also hungry enough. Half the time I feed her I have to bounce on a big stability ball...no it does not work my muscles, it hurts my back instead! I have almost thrown in the towel on nursing a number of times, but well, I happen to believe it is a great thing so in the morning I always try again for one more day. And then of course once she's fed she gives me a great big grin which causes me to feel like even though it was a fight, she is happy.

We went to her four month appointment today and here are the results:

Height: 25 inches - 76%
Weight: 13 lb 2 oz - 37%
Head: 16.5 inches - 75%

We got the go ahead to start cereal, so we gave that a whirl tonight and it went pretty well! I think she'll get the hang of it before too long, and hopefully she will eat solids better than she nurses!

On another note, I have returned to school. While this has been great for giving me a sense of productivity (instead of the many hours a day I was spending on Netflix over the summer...), it has definitely been tough. I hate leaving her, it brings me a lot more guilt than I anticipated. That being said, I have two semesters left and feel it's important to just get er done. To all of you who were smart enough to finish your degree before you had kids, well done! If I could go back, I sure would have done the same!

Jordan's job is as great as ever, and still a complete rollercoaster most of the time. He is starting to work as an independent contractor more, he definitely prefers working that way better. Happy Jord=happy family!

I realize this is a pretty long and boring post but I thought it would be good to catch up! The posting may be scarce in the future, due to our busy lives, but we are alive and well, which is really all I could hope for.

Plus, it is fall now, which is my absolute favorite time of year! Everything seems better in the fall.

And here is Sophie's latest trick.
Sorry, kinda long, but she's cute so it's worth it!

Happy 4th!

2011-07-14T23:02:00.004-06:00

We enjoyed a pretty relaxed holiday with my family up in Kaysville. We got to see my nieces (Drew and Paige) play, The Wizard of Oz, they were both munchkins. They had some great costumes that Kelly made, but I didn't get pictures unfortunately. They were awesome little actresses though and we enjoyed watching them.

After the play we had a nice BBQ and just hung out. Part of the family went to watch fireworks, Jordan and my bro-in-law Scott went to a movie (shock), while Kelly, Ruby, Sophie and I watched the fireworks from Kelly's sidewalk. We actually had a decent view and it was nice not to have to fight the crowds. Overall it was a great day and we loved spending it with those we love! Enjoy the pics we snagged below. Yes there were a million of Sophie, I picked just a few :)

Mom, Zoe, and Sophie

Grandma and Grandpa Bodily with Sophie

Four generations

Sophie and Lilah. Let's just say Lilah loves Sophie at a safe distance...

Sophie's Blessing

2011-07-14T22:51:00.005-06:00

Our sweet girl was blessed on Sunday, June 26. We had lots of family and friends share the experience with us, and it was perfect. She was didn't cry and Jordan did a beautiful job. I selfishly held her through the rest of the sacrament meeting and didn't let anyone have a turn until we got home. I have been looking forward to this day for a long time, and I loved that everything went so well. I had several nightmares leading up to the day, including Jordan mysteriously disappearing and not caring that he was supposed to be doing the blessing. Of course, none of my bad dreams came true, he was awesome. We love this little girl to pieces and we're so glad she got her special day.

Family Time

2011-07-05T17:14:00.004-06:00

June was such a crazy month for us! Family and friends in-and-out all month, which made it really fun. We got to go to Jordan's family reunion which was great, we loved that everyone got to meet Sophie, it was a great afternoon.

Girl cousins

Grammie and Sophie, she got Sophie to smile faster than anyone!

Me and Chels

Ciara and Sophie, she surprised everyone by flying out from Boston, we loved having her here!

Jord, Ian and Sophie

Ian and Sophie

All the Hill cousins!

2011-06-29T13:17:00.002-06:00

Baby Sophie is 6 weeks old today and gave me a great grin to celebrate!

So, since she is 6 weeks old I had my Dr. appt yesterday, everything looks great so I was cleared to exercise again, yay! SO I was eager to start this morning and decided to start small with some floor exercises, legs, abs, pushups, etc. Everyone said doing crunches for the first time might be a little depressing, it actually wasn't too bad. However, what was depressing was deciding since I felt so good I should go for a run around the neighborhood, just a quick 1 mile lap. Ha. THAT was where the reality check set in. I would like to blame my pathetic excuse of a 13:00 mile on the fact that it was much hotter outside than the last time I went running, and I was pushing a stroller. We'll chalk it up to that for now...in the meantime I've got some work to do!

Good thing I have such an adorable baby to distract me :)

Sophie's Newborn Pictures

2011-06-12T23:23:00.017-06:00

Here are Sophie's two week old pictures. We are so pleased with how they turned out, they were taken courtesy of Brooklynn Photography, Brooke did a fabulous job and we absolutely love them!

2 Weeks Old

2011-06-07T10:33:00.003-06:00

Just a little update! We went to Sophie's first Dr appointment (almost a week ago) and here were the results:

Height: 21 1/4" - 83%
Weight: 8 lbs 4 oz - 48%
Head: 14 1/2" - 71%

So she's definitely growing! We are getting more comfortable with this whole parenting thing every day and it gets easier every day too. We've enjoyed lots of visitors and we love it!

This is often how I find her sleeping, Jord hates it!

Claire and Sophie

With cousins Jane (6 mos) and Jackson (2 mos)
Not the greatest pic but we did our best!

With Nana's quilt

Getting bigger!

Sophie Michelle Hill

2011-05-26T22:57:00.005-06:00

She is finally here! It's hard to believe for the most part.
Here I am just waiting...and waiting...and waiting...

My water started breaking at about 9:45 am on Tuesday the 17th. I didn't really think that's what was happening, since I imagined a huge gush of water, this was more like a slow leak every 10-15 minutes. I was at work and I just kept working thinking I was being paranoid. When it kept happening I got suspicious and called my mom, who told me to leave work and get to the hospital. So off I went. Jord met me at home and we were on our way. I was just praying that they wouldn't send us home!

Once at the hospital they confirmed that my water did break and hooked me up to everything. I was only dilated to a 2 so I figured I had a way's to go. By 6:00 pm when my doctor came to check on me, I was still only dilated to a 3, leaving me a little discouraged! So they hooked me up to some pitocin to get things moving. I started really feeling the contractions within about a half an hour, and ended up getting an epidural at about 8:00 pm, then I felt great!

They checked me again at 10:30 pm and I was still only dilated to a 5. I thought we were going to be there forever! They told me to try to get some sleep so I'd have energy when we had to deliver....easier said than done! Kinda hard to relax when you know you're about to have a baby.

The nurse checked me again at 11:30 pm and I had jumped to a 9 and by midnight I was a 10. Then I really started getting nervous! The doctor had me rest and descend for an hour so things would be a little easier. I had to push for about 25 minutes, and finally she arrived at 1:34 am on Wednesday the 18th. She weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and was 19.5 inches long. Bigger than everyone expected but we were happy she was nice and healthy.

I was SO relieved to have her here and to not have to worry about pushing anymore, it completely wore me out. I was so exhausted by this time that I just wanted to go to bed, which didn't happen until about 4 am so I was completely fried.

Our first family photo, yes, we are tired!

The doctor and nurse said we really had the perfect delivery. Things went very smoothly and we were all so pleased. The hospital was honestly kind of a blur, and when we prepared to leave I couldn't believe it was all really happening. Jordan was half convinced they wouldn't really let us leave! They assured us we'd be fine and of course we have been. We are definitely still adjusting but we love her so much and feel extremely blessed to have her in our lives. She is beautiful and we can't believe she's really ours!

Little feet

Ready to go home!

Forgive the long post and boring details, I just wanted to record it all while it was fresh. She is one week and one day old and I have yet to really go anywhere, we are complete hermits! I am just soaking up as much of her as possible.

Baby Shower!

2011-04-23T08:03:00.006-06:00

A couple of weeks ago my mom and sisters gave me a baby shower, it was so fun! It was so fun to visit with everyone and just enjoy the afternoon. Jordan's mom and sisters were even in town so it was a lot of fun to have them there as well. Everyone was so generous with gifts and we feel so lucky to have such sweet family and friends, so thank you everyone! Unfortunately my sister's camera was having some issues at first so some of these pics are kinda blurry, but we did our best, and I'm so glad she took what she could because I spaced bringing my camera altogether!

Start of the shower, this is the best pic I got of my belly, sorry!

Mani and Kelly, they'll probably get mad at me for posting this but I thought it was cute. Mani was kind enough to write down all my gifts, even if she did need some gentle reminding once in a while...:)

Opening the gift from Ambre and her mom and sisters, her mom made me that cute quilt and a car seat cover, so nice!

Mom and Kristen gave me the Very Hungry Caterpillar, love it! And after I showed Jordan I found out he has never even heard of the book! This will be changing...

Jord's sister Ciara made me a curtain for the nursery, she just graduated from the interior design program at BYU Idaho, she did an awesome job, I love it!

Jord's sis Chelsea, his mom, Michelle, and sis Ciara

And below, Abby wasn't able to make it to the shower but she made me this cute little snuggie for the baby, she did a great job!

Michelle made me this amazing quilt, she spent hours on it and did a lot of embroidery, it turned out so cute and we love it! She is so excited to finally be a Nana.

A quilt Mom made just for fun, I had no idea she was even making it!

The quilt for the nursery, Mom pretty much made the whole thing, but I did do the applique birds on the bottom so I can take just a little credit. I love the way it turned out!

And just a couple of pictures of the almost finished nursery.

All of this is becoming incredibly real now, which is so exciting, but so weird at the same time. I am just over 36 weeks and getting kind of nervous, but ultimately we are just so excited that I can't get too nervous. I told my doctor he just needs to let me get through finals next week and then I'll be good to go whenever! It's been really fun preparing for this little girl to arrive and we can't wait! Thanks again to everyone who has helped us out through this process, you are the best!

Time well spent

2011-03-29T07:47:00.002-06:00

If you have about 30 minutes, this video is excellent. It is from a BYU devotional a couple of weeks ago that Jordan attended. The speaker is Micheal Flaherty, the president and co-founder of Walden Media. He brings up some very good points that both Jordan and I can relate to, and for those of you wondering if Jord really is crazy for going into the film industry, maybe you won't think he's quite so crazy after watching. I realize 30 mintues is a lot of time to take out of the day sometimes, but if you have the chance, it will be worth your while. We thought it was inspiring. Enjoy :)

whelmed

2011-01-31T07:47:00.003-07:00

(Doesn't this pic just make you miss him??)

"I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be, whelmed?"

That is how I currently feel. In case you don't know what line that is from, it's 10 Things I Hate About You and now I just wish I could watch it instead of quoting it.

Rather than give you the 10 Things I Hate About Life currently...I've decided just to leave it at that. I am whelmed. Maybe on the brink of overwhelmed but I'm just trying to take it all one day at a time.

So forgive the lack of blogging anything interesting or important in my life. Basically I am working full time, schooling full time, and trying to relax sometime in between those things. What I really want to be doing is preparing my baby's nursery, actually reading a book about pregnancy or babies, exercising, watching a movie, and sleeping. Is that so much to ask???

Apparently.

I hope you are all having the January/February lull as I am. Let's blame it on that, ok?

AND...

2011-01-03T08:51:00.002-07:00

...it's a GIRL!

I still can't believe it. Some of you know that I have been long-convinced I would never be getting a girl in this lifetime. I am glad to be proven wrong by not one, but two ultrasounds. On that note, I loved the ultrasounds. I have not yet felt this little baby move (to my knowledge), so when I saw everything that was going on inside me I was amazed. I couldn't believe how much you could see and I was way impressed. I'm glad I finally feel a connection with this little one. Only bummer was after the ultrasound I just wanted her here to hold and cuddle already! I'm officially halfway, but it seems like I won't get that baby here for a long time yet. The nice thing was going up to my parents house after the ultrasound and cuddling my cute new niece, Jane. I was lame enough to not get one single picture of her or any Christmas festivities for that matter. Just know we had a great holiday and loved seeing all of (both) our familes and some friends. Happy New Year!

It's about that time...

2010-11-07T15:56:00.002-07:00

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!

2010-10-04T15:26:00.003-06:00

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!

2010-08-19T20:58:00.004-06:00

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

2010-08-19T20:24:00.004-06:00

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

2010-06-30T08:49:00.004-06:00

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!

2010-06-04T15:53:00.016-06:00

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!

2010-05-08T23:28:00.003-06:00

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!

2010-03-25T17:47:00.001-06:00

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!

2010-03-18T07:52:00.003-06:00

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...

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

2010-02-11T16:37:00.002-07:00

Some of you may know that I am a fairly impatient person, ok that might be an understatement. I don't remember ever having patience for anything. So needless to say this is something I've been working on for most of my life. However, right now I am wearing thin; I feel like all I do is wait! I'm waiting for Jordan to graduate, waiting to see if he gets into grad school, waiting to see if he gets a job, waiting to finish my associates degree, waiting to leave our tiny apartment, waiting to see where we will live next, and on and on! The worst part for me is that there is not one thing I can do to hurry anything along, I am just at a stand-still. I realize most people have had periods of life like this, but my gosh I feel like I am the only one right now! So any tricks any of you have would be fabulous, since obviously none of this is in my control! Right now my current technique is watching mindless television like the Bachelor...always better to watch someone else's petty drama than to focus on your own, right?

What Have I Done For Someone Today?

2010-01-04T19:31:00.004-07:00

I have never been one for new year's resolutions, or goals in general. But, last week my amazing mother-in-law gave a great lesson on this talk from President Monson. He talks about a man whose father asked their family every day at dinner what they did for someone else that day, and how excited he would get to report to his family whatever act he had performed. I re-read the talk yesterday and decided this would be a great goal for the year. It is not as easy as you think, to really go out of your way for someone else and do a kind deed. But I am always in need of something to remind me not to think so much about myself. So if you haven't thought up a new year's resolution for yourself this year, I'd give this one a try, I can already tell it will be making a big difference in my life. And I just loved this picture of the First Presidency, what better examples of this principle? :)

Just Can't Get Enough...

2009-12-13T19:32:00.002-07:00

...of these CDs. Pretty sure they haven't left my CD player for about a month.

Family Pics

2009-11-14T09:17:00.012-07:00

We decided to get some more recent pics taken since it's been a few years. My brother-in-law's little sister took these and I really liked how they turned out. She picked the perfect park for the fall colors and I loved it.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T16:18:00.004-07:00

Our festivities this year consisted of a couple of parties and hanging out with the fam! I love little kids in their costumes, so I always end up with my family and their kids. We took them around trick-or-treating and ate way too much junk, but it was fun! Hope you all had a fun holiday as well!

Dwight Schrute
Witch

Lilah

Isaac and Ruby

Jonah and Ruby

Zoe

Caleb, Isaac, Me

The Trick-or-Treaters

Anniversary Activities

2009-10-18T17:30:00.004-06:00

Since our anniversary fell on a Tuesday, we didn't get to do anything too exciting that day. But this weekend we made up for it! I scored a $50 room at the Hilton in downtown Salt Lake (Priceline negotiator), so we headed there for something slightly out of the ordinary for us.

Anyone that knows me knows I love plays, and I seek them out pretty much anywhere that I am. I blame my family. So my sister Erin and her husband Troy, joined us on Friday night at the West Valley Hale Theater for a play called Curtains. I am usually pretty impressed with Orem's Hale Theater so I figured I'd be safe with this, plus the play just won 9 Tony awards on Broadway, pretty hard to be disappointing with that track record.

Us in front of the theater.

It was so pretty inside and out, we loved it. If I knew we'd be staying in Utah after next spring I'd probably want season tickets here because they have an awesome line up for the upcoming season...
So the play was a murder-mystery/comedy/musical. It was so cute and funny and the cast was really good. I highly recommend it, we all really enjoyed it.

After being pampered at the hotel we headed to the Gateway to hang out. Jord has really wanted to see Where the Wild Things Are (even though he's never read the book, really?) So I consented.
While the special effects were quite amazing, the story itself was kind of lacking. It was pretty slow and definitely a one time show for me, but I guess I'm glad I saw it.

We finished our day off with shopping around and lunch at Z'Tejas. Jord absolutely loves this place, I think it's the closest thing he's found to real Tex-Mex in Utah. He really misses the great state of Arizona sometimes, especially in that regard.

It was so nice to have a couple of days to just relax and do whatever without worrying about everything else. I'm so glad we got a nice little break from our typical day-to-day!

Happy Anniversary!

2009-10-06T22:39:00.003-06:00

Today marks 3 years for us! Every year just keeps getting better, we've definitely learned a lot and come a long way since the day we were married. We look forward to many happy and memorable years to come!

Bright Star

2009-10-03T11:06:00.002-06:00

My sister, Erin, and I got to go see this last night. It is only at one theater in Salt Lake and one in Park City (at least here in Utah), so it was hard to find! This film was so beautifully done and the acting was incredible. It is about the poet John Keats, who I didn't know really anything about, so it was fun to learn a little bit about his life. I love period pieces so I was excited, especially for something new. It is more on the serious side, and kind of slow moving, so make sure you aren't tired to be able to fully appreciate it. And if you're anything like me, it will make you feel like couples and love are so lame nowadays compared to people like this...too bad we can't all have poetic relationships...

Congratulations...

2009-09-14T11:38:00.003-06:00

...to my wonderfully talented sister, Erin, and my equally talented niece Abby! They have both landed roles in South Jordan's production of Annie! Erin got the role of Grace, and Abby is the understudy for Annie, which we are all hoping involves some potential matinee performances, or that the other girl gets mysteriously ill...he he. But Abby will also be one of the orphans so she will have a lot to learn! They are both so great at singing and acting and we are so excited for them to get to do this together. The play will be this November so anyone in the area, watch out for dates so you can see these rising stars!

Back to School...

2009-09-02T12:24:00.002-06:00

During this past week Jordan and I both started school again. Jordan was completely excited to get back into it, he missed having classes this summer. I'm starting to worry that he wants to be a lifelong student....let's hope not. But lucky for us, this is our last year of undergrad and living in Provo! Jordan graduates in April, and I, being the ultra-slacker that I am, will have my Associates finished by April. I've got a much better class line-up than my summer semester, so I can't complain. We are excited to be moving on to new and different opportunities once we're done here, and we're doing our best to enjoy all we can about Provo while we're here. This semester will be extremely busy for both of us, we won't see much of each other but at least we have a Sunday once a week to keep us sane. Good luck to all you other students starting up yet another semester, let the fun begin!

Church History and Coming Home

2009-08-24T21:34:00.005-06:00

Before Jordan and I left Michigan we were able to drive out to Kirtland, Ohio and visit the main church attractions. It was about a 3 hour drive there and while I was less than thrilled to spend our last Saturday driving and being tourists instead of relaxing, I was really glad we went. We took lots of picutres there, too many to post. I really learned a lot about the early Saints in Kirtland and the LDS church's tours were amazing. It was a little strange to go to the Kirtland temple and have a tour from a different church, but they still did a good job and it was neat to see the first temple ever built in Joseph Smith's time.

Us in front of the temple.

It decided to rain pretty hard that day, luckily most of our touring was over when it started.

On our drive home to Utah we had the privilege to spend a day in Nauvoo. I had been there when I was 16, but Jord had never been so it was exciting for us to go. We woke up as early as possible and made the first temple session that morning, which was amazing. The interior of the temple is incredible, patterned after the original Nauvoo Temple. We didn't have near enough time to see everything, but we got to see a lot of the Joseph Smith sites, Carthage Jail, and did the wagon ride to see the highlights. We'd love to go back there someday and spend more time on everything.

We really loved this experience and were so glad we took the time to stop. The Pioneers made such huge sacrifices and it was neat to see a lot of their history. It took us another 18 hours driving in a car to get to Utah, and I was so tired of the trip by the time we got home. But just thinking of how long it took the Pioneers to make the trek made it a little easier! It's good to be home and back in the grind, but it is always sad when fun summers come to an end...

Cedar Point

2009-08-03T18:06:00.009-06:00

This past weekend our friends Bryce and Camille came up to our neck of the woods and we headed to Sandusky Ohio to Cedar Point! In case you don't know (like I didn't) Cedar Point is the #1 Roller Coaster Park in the World. It was about a two hour drive for us, and unfortunately we had stayed up way too late the night before we went so we were all a little tired throughout the day, but it was a lot of fun.

Bryce, Camille and baby Graham all ready to go. Poor Graham was sick, but he was so good throughout the day.

Me and Jord

This is what you see when you walk in. We were so good and got there before they had even opened the rides, so we had to chill for a bit before we got going. How's that for ambititous?

Meet Ride #1. This is the Millenium Force. We decided to do one of the biggest ones first to get a good thrill and hopefully not wait in a really long line. We definitely got our thrill with this one! The first drop is 300 ft high, you go about 92 mph and my legs were like jello after we got off. We decided this was our favorite.

Does that make your hair curl just looking at it? Try going up that sucker, while looking over at the water right next to you, all the while knowing there is not one thing you can do to turn back! Super intense.

The next ride was Thunder Canyon, but only the boys participated in this one, Camille and I didn't want to get wet (mostly me). The boys were sure they wouldn't even get wet...

...they were sorely mistaken.

Our next stop was this big wooden rollercoaster, Mean Streak. The boys went first and told us it was super jerky and killed their backs. So we opted for the very front when we got up there and it was really fun! We didn't get jerked around at all, just enjoyed the ride.

Here we come to the highlight of the day, the Top Thrill Dragster. The entire ride lasts only 17 seconds, you go from 0-120 mph in about 4 seconds. You also climb 420 feet to the top. The anticipation on this one was killer, but the ride was over so fast that you really couldn't even register how high you just were. Looking at it was much scarier.

A closer view of the top, the track twisted right near the top on the way up and on the way down, very fun.

Bryce and Camille waiting to take off

Me and Jord waiting to take off, I was so nervous it was going to take off while I was smiling at the camera, so I couldn't quite relax, if you can't tell.

This one was really fun, but made us a little dizzy. It's called the Raptor, and you are dangling the whole time so it's really fun. It had lots of loops and corkscrews throughout the entire ride, but since the track is above you, you never know what's coming.

Our last stop was The Mantis. On this one you are actually standing the whole time and we got seats near the front to have a better view. It was a lot of fun too, but you had to be careful with your head so it didn't get knocked around too much.

Me and Camille waiting to go.

Bryce snapped this pic of us while we were on it, but you can't really see us.

This right here was Graham's entertainment for the day. He loved the maps, he went through a couple of them during the day.

The day was definitely a success. There were quite a few rides we had to miss out on just because it was so crowded and the lines were so long. We for sure could have spent another day there, but time did not permit. We tried to shove as many rides in as possible, but by about 8:00 we were totally wiped and ready to head home. It was a lot of fun and if you ever have the chance to go, do it! Thanks again Bryce and Camille for heading out to do this, wouldn't have been the same without you!

The Henry Ford

2009-07-28T11:49:00.004-06:00

Jordan and I spent Saturday at the Henry Ford Museum. It was very different from what I expected. I'm usually pretty interested in museums in general, but I wasn't sure if I would care much about this one, but I was wrong! It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed it. Along with the museum we went to the Rouge Factory where all of the cars are assembled, it was pretty cool too.

In front of one of the older Ford models at the Rouge.

If I remember right this was actually used by farmers, they had some intense equipment back then!

These cars were part of the "Rock n Roll Cars and Guitars" exhibit

This is a Buick Skylark, but I don't remember the year or who owned it, I just thought it was fun. And it was huge!

This was once owned by Elvis Presley, it is a Cadillac Eldorado

Rocky Nelson's car

These are some old dollhouses..I would have loved these when I was little

This is the chair that Abraham Lincoln was assasinated in.

The Wright Brothers first plane!

There was lots more to see, but as is standard with museums, we were moving faster the longer we were there so there weren't as many pictures getting taken toward the end. I really enjoyed it because it was very American and so I felt pretty proud to have lived in such an amazing place that has overcome so much. If you're ever in Michigan, this museum would for sure be worth your time.

Six Flags, the 4th, and friends...Chicago Style

2009-07-18T07:57:00.006-06:00

Our good friends, Bryce and Camille, moved to Chicago earlier this year. We were sad to have them leave, but knowing we'd be in Michigan this summer we made sure to plan a visit! It was a lot of fun to spend time with them and our weekend was jam-packed with fun activities, we wore ourselves out and had a great time.

We started out with Six Flags, where I've actually never been. We kinda cheated the system using the baby card and sneaking to the front of the line, but it only worked about half of the time. When it did work it was awesome and some of us got to ride those rides twice. I hadn't been on a rollercoaster in forever so the initial ride was a little rough for me but after that I was good to go for the rest of the day!

I had to capture Jord's hair after the rides...the picture doesn't truly do it justice.

We sat with Graham for one of the rides and we were trying to make him smile, this was the result. Ha ha we had so much fun with him, and despite what this picture suggests, he did like us!

Jord and Bryce on the Superman ride.

Pumped and ready to go!

The next day we headed to downtown Chicago, the weather was not as nice and we got rained on quite a bit but it was still a lot of fun.

Us in front of Portillo's for Chicago hot dogs, they were an adventure. Really good, but I didn't exactly include all the ingredients I was supposed to...oops. Sorry guys, onions and peppers will just never be my style.

It's hard to see but Camille and I are in front of the bean with an umbrella.

Me and Jord with our reflection in the bean, the weather was working against us on this one, but we did our best.

Us with the "Batman" building in the background.

Since it was rainig we drove to see some of the other sites, we hurried and jumped out of the car for this one, but sadly we still look like we'd spent the day in the rain!

After the sites we headed to the Science and Industry Museum. We didn't get to spend very much time in the museum itself, but we really enjoyed what we saw.

Jord with and old Ford car, he loves Ford...

The reason we went to the museum is because they had the Harry Potter exhibit there. I really wanted to go and everyone else was kind enough to come along. They did all enjoy it in the end. You couldn't take any pics inside so this is the only one we got. They had a lot of really neat stuff from the movies inside and it made me really excited to see the upcoming movie. Thanks again for letting me do this guys!

Sadly I missed pictures from a few things. A lot of our time in downtown Chicago was spent at the Taste of Chicago, which was a lot of fun and we got to try some fun, interesting foods. We also got some amazing Chicago pizza that night, while the pizza was good, the experience was unforgettable. The waitress was a treat, and wore her emotions right on her sleeve. I'm glad we made a new friend in Chicago that night. Come to think of it, we had a lot of interesting service on the trip, including the girl who misinformed us on just about everything at the museum and the guy who took our order at Baskin Robbins. Why do accents always make everything better? Anyway, we went to an excellent fireworks show in little Sleepy Hollow, but I neglected to take any pics there either, I think I was too busy pointing out lightning bugs to people who didn't believe me, and getting eaten alive by mosquitos.

The trip was wonderful and we were sad to leave and return to our responsibilites in Michigan. Thanks again for being such great friends and hosts, Warnings. Until next time!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

2009-07-18T07:43:00.002-06:00

While we were in Utah we got to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house, it was so incredible. We actually had to miss the Draper open house so the last one I'd been to was the Bountiful temple about 15 years ago. This temple is right down the street from my sister's house, so we were already really familiar with the area and knew right where to go. We really loved it and hope to do a session when we get home.

Jonny and Marissa--June 26, 2009

2009-07-13T22:15:00.000-06:00

Congratulations!!

Here they are! They were married in the Salt Lake Temple and the sealing was beautiful. Given by our Great-Uncle Paul, he did everyone in my family's sealings.

Me and Jord and baby Crew, we soaked up every minute of him we could since they will already have moved by the time we move back to Utah.

Me and my little bro Jared

All the brothers, aren't they a cute bunch.

The day went really well, weather was a little touchy but it all turned out fine and we really enjoyed ourselves, we are so happy to add Marissa to our ever-growing Vellinga fam.

The reception...

2009-07-13T22:10:00.005-06:00

The Cake

All of my nieces and nephews, a little hard to get thme all looking and smiling with so many of them!

We enjoyed lots of good food...

...and lots of good dancing.

1234

2009-06-18T15:33:00.003-06:00

This video made my day...very cute if you have a minute to watch! Thanks for the tip Kel.

A true favorite

2009-06-17T07:47:00.004-06:00

Has anyone else ever had a moment where you remember how much you really love someone/something? I can't remember when my love for Les Miserables began, but I have loved it forever. I even remember getting tickets for Christmas one year when I was 15 to see it in Salt Lake; all my friends couldn't believe I was that excited for a play. Anyway, it's been a long time since I've seen the play or listened to the music and Jordan and I watched the movie the other day. Suddenly I just remembered how much I really love the story, the music, the book, everything! It really is amazing. So now that I've had the reminder, I have been listening to the soundtrack for days and loving every minute of it. I even thought about starting up the book again, but I have too many other books on my list at the moment so that will have to wait for another day. If you don't know the story or anything about it, it would be well-worth your time to learn. I think everyone could stand to be just a bit more like our hero Jean Valjean...

MICHIGAN

2009-06-11T11:47:00.002-06:00

Well we're here! I have been here for just over a week and it's been great. My sister, Erin, came out the same day that I did and spent a few days so that was a lot of fun, and felt a little more like a vacation at that point. We got to spend a lot of time getting to know our soon to be sis-in-law, Marissa and it was a lot of fun. We even got to address and mail all of the wedding invitations with her! Lucky Jonny was working all the time so he didn't "get" to help. That was fine for the most part, but we did have a few addressing mishaps. I got the worst of it though; one of the addresses Jonny had was for a friend of his who lived in California, the city said Gay City. I hesitated thinking there was no way that could be right but Jonny had been very specific about just copying the names and addresses exactly how they were written so I just did it. Come to find out, his friend actually lives in San Francisco and was just being funny, Jonny didn't quite connect the joke; therefore I addressed it that way and out it went. Jonny got a text a few days later wondering if we knew he actually lived in San Fran, and that he'll probably be getting lots of hate mail now. Oh well, what can ya do? We got a pretty good laugh out of it at least.

Before Erin left we walked around Ann Arbor, it was a lot of fun. It's fun to be in another college town that is totally different from Provo, in just about every way. I guess Ann Arbor is a major hippie town, pretty interesting. We stopped at a used bookstore on the way to lunch and got sidetracked for quite awhile. There were so many books, some of them original texts and really neat copies of classics, etc. We spent way too much time/money there!

We ate lunch at Potbelly, good thing Kathleen introduced me to this in Texas!

This is outside one of the buildings across from the main campus.

These two buildings are part of the law school, the architecture is incredible. It has a nice quiet courtyard in the middle of it all and it was beautiful. Lots of wedding pictures were being taken while we were there.

So begins our summer! I really like being out here, it reminds me of my days in Virginia that I miss a lot sometimes. I love the green trees everywhere and all of the old buildings and houses, so different from Utah. I'm still working on knowing my way around, but I've been able to go running a few times and that's helped me quite a bit, not to mention the great scenery. There have also been a lot of restaurants that I've missed from the East. We have already been to Maggiano's (Erin's one request) and Panera Bread. There are many more to try and we are really excited. We're also planning on going to Kirtland Ohio at some point and hopefully hit Mt. Rushmore and Nauvoo on our trip home. Lots of memories in the making, just the way we like it.

It's the little things

2009-05-24T23:51:00.003-06:00

This post is a little late, but it's ok. Jordan got me these flowers a few days before Mother's Day and had them sent to my work. I love roses, I'm pretty traditional. Some of you may think it's a little weird that he went out of his way to get me something since I'm not a mother yet, and no I'm not pregnant either! He just wanted to be sweet and I appreciated it so much. You always hear the phrase, "absence makes the heart grow fonder." That is definitely true for me. Jordan only left for Michigan about a week and a half ago but I feel like it's been forever! I can't wait to get out there and feel like I have a husband again. :)

Deep in the Heart of TEXAS!

2009-05-24T23:04:00.005-06:00

So everyone loves a good girls night right? Well, when you've got friends as good as the ones I have, one night just won't do, we make it a week! So we have decided to make an annual girls trip, starting with visiting Ambre in NY last year. This year we were off to Texas! Sadly, Ambre is off in Italy serving her mission so she didn't join us on this trip but she will catch us next year! It was just me and Kathryn, and her new little Ellery, off to visit Kathleen and Avree in Texas! Neither Kathryn nor I had ever been to Texas so we were pretty excited to see it, but more excited to just hang out and do whatever we please. This plan worked out perfect for me since Jordan left for Michigan, it was a good way for me to spend less time all alone. I'm so glad I have these girls!

Meet Avree! She was so fun to play with, and she's got a smile that melts your heart. Don't let her tease you though, getting her to laugh with that smile was next to impossible for me!
And cute Ellery. This is my fav pic of her because it sums her up perfectly. She will just chill in her seat and stare at whatever. And I couldn't get enough of those cheeks!

Avree and Ellery are only two months apart in age, but they seemed a lot different! I had so much fun gettting to know a little bit about both of them and helping out where I could-you don't have to twist my arm to hold and play with babies.

Ellery got to try out Avree's bumbo, Kathryn really loved it, so much so that she tried to put her in it to help her wake up and this is how it went...poor girl couldn't keep her eyes open and head up to save her life.

This was my favorite Avree trick, she just sucks on her toes! I know all babies are flexible but this is a whole new level, she sucks on them just like she does her binky!

The weather was really nice for most of the time we were there so we decided to hit up the pool one day, the weather that day was totally perfect. Except that, Kathryn and Kathleen kept getting up to take care of babies and such while I just laid in the sun forever...resulting in a horrible sunburn! I haven't seen the sun in quite awhile, bad idea for me. But at least I got some color! We went that night to get pedicures and I didn't quite think that through with the sunburn...

All of us.

Yeah, not only was I burnt, but it was really splotchy and ugly. This leg was actually not too bad, but it was burned and so was the top of my foot. Let's just say the hot towel treatment and salt scrub were pretty much the most painful thing ever! But Kathryn's girl was making her toes bleed right next to me so I didn't feel too bad. And one of the little asian ladies totally whacked Avree's head on a pole in the middle of all of this so then I really couldn't pity myself too much. Nonetheless, don't ever get a pedi if you have a sunburn!

Eric and Kathleen took us to their favorite restaurant, Uncle Julio's. It was so good! I'm sure it was even better because we were starving by the time we got there. These guys definitely have some good taste in food.

The trip overall was a lot of fun. I didn't get near as many pics as everyone else, but I did my best to remember to take a few. We really just enjoyed ourselves staying up late chatting and sleeping in and napping when the babies did. Eric was such a good sport babysitting too when we wanted to play. While we didn't get to see the tourist-y side of Texas, I loved it! We got to do some great shopping too, which I can never pass up when I have Kathleen by my side. My only regret is that I didn't get to stay longer. The time of course flew by and before I knew it I was back to real life. Vacations always go too quick! It also doesn't help that I don't know when I'll get to see these girls again, good thing we all have cell phones and understanding husbands!
For a while I almost felt like we were still living together in our Raintree apt, except with babies and such...

Love you girls!

Ford Motor Company

2009-05-05T16:46:00.004-06:00

So, the Ford Motor Company will be my employer for the summer! I feel pretty lucky that I was able to get an internship given the current economic circumstances. I will be working in the General Auditor’s Office, which is the office that prepares and publishes the financial statements of the company. Publicly traded companies are required by law to present financial information in a standardized way and I will be helping prepare that information.

We will be staying with Jana’s brother; he is doing his medical school residency in Ann Arbor, which is about 30 minutes from where I’ll be working (Dearborn, Michigan). I drive out there next week because my first day is May 18. They will provide me with a computer and a mentor to show me around and help me get acquainted with the system. I don’t know too much about what is going to happen once I get out there, but they do neat things with the interns, like taking them to sporting events and to their test track! It will be nice that we’ll get out of Provo for a bit and get some outside exposure.

We’ll be coming back mid-August, which will leave us about two weeks until the fall semester starts. Jana will be taking some online classes while we’re out there and I will be taking one too (my last GE!).

Oops!

2009-04-22T08:42:00.004-06:00

In typing in our blog address this morning, I missed the word "blogspot." I was redirected to google, suggesting websites for my typing error. I assumed our blog address would pop up as the first link, but I was wrong! The whole first page of links is about some big porn star named Jana Jordan. Who knew?!? Good thing nothing popped up and surprised me, thanks to my work and their consistent firewall. Apparently the names Jana and Jordan complement each other better than I thought...

Britain's Got Talent

2009-04-13T20:37:00.013-06:00

You've got to watch this video. You may have already seen it, but it's well-worth watching!

Confused?

2009-04-08T07:16:00.002-06:00

Ok, American Idol has me mixed up! My favorite has been Kris for most of the season, and he's been doing great...until last night. I didn't think he did as bad as the judges said, but I've definitely liked his other songs better. Then, my two LEAST favorite people so far, Adam and Matt, were my favorite performances of the night. I think I may have judged them a little too quickly. Matt has not been so wonderful all the way along, but I really enjoyed his last night. Adam has been pretty good all along, with the exception of his "self-indulgent" psycho week. I hate to admit it, but he's growing on me a bit. The only thing that didn't off-set me was Allison's performance, I think she rocked and is doing great. The results tonight will tell! I'm just hoping Kris will get lots of votes because of his bad comments and worried fans. Even though everyone says Adam is going to win, I'd like him to have some good competition!

Oh Samoa

2009-03-26T11:03:00.003-06:00

This little cookie has been my joy as of late. I only bought two boxes, and I'm trying to make them last as long as possible. Let's just say the Girl Scouts knew I'd be needing these right now, thank you!

At Long Last...

2009-03-21T09:38:00.004-06:00

This cute brother of mine has finally decided to get married! Jonny and Marissa got engaged last night. Sadly enough I had to find out about this over a facebook status update! What a lame-o brother. But we are so extremely excited for them and can't wait to see this blessed occasion occur! Love you both!

03.03.09

2009-03-04T21:53:00.000-07:00

My oldest friend, McKenzie, got hitched yesterday! She married Deven Garner in the Logan, Utah temple and it was beautiful! The weather was gorgeous, just a little windy. The sealing was sweet and done in plenty of time! They specifically picked this date because Kenzie loves math and it was a "square root day." (3x3=9) It was pretty funny because the sealer actually mentioned how smart it was for them to pick that date. I'm sure that made them even more sure they picked the perfect day!

Logan Temple

We had a lot of time to kill before pics so Jordan got creative and we took a picture of a shadow kiss.

The new Mr. and Mrs. coming out of the temple

Deven and McKenzie

The luncheon following the temple was at the Copper Mill restaurant. The last time Jordan and I were in Logan we ran into the photographer from our own wedding and he told us that he had some pictures displayed in this restaurant and that our wedding was one of them. So we had to check that out and when we found our picture on the wall by the little barber shop, we also saw our photographer! It was pretty crazy but fun. So here we are with our wedding pic in the background. Hard to believe that was over two years ago.

The reception took place at a church in Clinton and we got to see so many friends there. I don't get to see these people very often anymore so it was really fun for me.

Me and Kenz

The bride and groom sharing their first dance Eating the cake, they were way too nice to each other!

Everything went really smoothly and the night was perfect. I am so extremely happy for my dear friend and am excited for her to start this new adventure. I have never seen her so happy in all of my life so Congrats you two and best wishes!

Decorations

2009-03-04T21:38:00.001-07:00

McKenzie's insanely talented sister-in-law did all of the decorations for the reception. It looked amazing. The neat thing is, Kenzie and Deven get to keep quite a bit of it to decorate their new home. I am jealous, to say the least. We made sure to capture some of the cute displays.

These were just a few, but you really had to be there to appreciate all of the hard work that she put into making it look perfect.

Another getaway...

2009-03-04T20:55:00.000-07:00

Jordan, Ryan, Lauren and I headed down for some warmth this past weekend! It actually didn't end up as warm as I'd hoped but it was sure warmer than Provo! We planned to meet up with Jordan's parents and Uncle Mike in Las Vegas, the boys were all headed to the Nascar Race. While that sounded VERY intriguing to us girls, we decided to pass...

On the way down to Vegas we stayed a night with Grandma-ma in sunny St. George. She was at their house alone that week while Grandpa was taking care of some things up North. She was kind enough to put us up and show us a few things around town.

All of us checkin out the view

We were supposed to go do a session at the St. George temple, unfortunately Grandma realized her temple recommend had expired last month. We decided to still stop by and see the temple, Jordan had never seen it up close before, it was beautiful!

Jordan, me, Ryan and Lauren

St. George Temple

Me and Lauren

Lauren, Ryan, Grandma, Jordan and Me

After the temple, we headed to Cafe Rio and then headed to Vegas. Once we met up with the rest of the fam we grabbed some necessary In-n-Out burgers and hung out on the strip. I don't know what was up this weekend, but that place seemed even crazier than usual! So we stuck to the more "clean" fun around town, including M&M World where we saw this car, in honor of the big race!

On Saturday the boys headed here to the track:

They did a lot of this. The race took a lot longer than we anticipated because there were a lot of yellow flags, but they boys really enjoyed themselves. They actually went to the Saturday race, not the big Sunday one. They definitely got some sun, which we sadly don't have pictures of.

While the boys were gone, Lauren, Michelle and I just shopped around and proudly spent hardly any money! I was quite proud of myself. I usually use vacations as an excuse to buy whatever I feel like. But my big treat this time was a little bit of this:

Now, for some background, I was first introduced to this restaurant when I lived in Virginia. A lady in our ward once referred to it as "a celestial experience." Now, we first thought that might be a little over the top, but that was before we had experienced the divinity that is this food. Utah, being the lame state that it is sometimes, does NOT have a Maggiano's. So whenever we are in Vegas I make Jordan take me. It was a huge success this trip, as always!

Us girls also decided to treat ourselves to a show of our own. We tried to get some good discount tickets from one of the kiosks out on the strip but we weren't having much luck. We ended up just heading over to the Ventian where the concierge helped us get some awesome seats to see Phantom of the Opera that night. I have seen Phantom once in NY, but it was a standing ticket and not quite the same. So I was really excited to really experience it the way it should be. The theater was beautiful and the cast was excellent. We were very pleased. I've been singing the songs in my head for days now.

We grundgingly headed back home on Sunday. It was a pretty quick getaway but we all throughly enjoyed ourselves. It's been a little rough getting back into the daily grind, but I guess that's just the way vacations go.

My idea of a perfect date...

2009-02-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day

I've noticed a lot of people posting about their Valentine's dates, so I thought I'd go along with the trend. We decided (I guess it was more I decided) that we'd do a daytime date instead of the traditional evening date. I hate waiting around at restaurants forever and having to go to movies that are sold out. I have been wanting to see "He's Just Not That Into You" forever! It opened the day before my birthday and I thought that would be the perfect opportunity to go see it, but alas, we were doing wedding festivities for my birthday instead. So I made Jordan promise me we could see it for Valentine's. He held true to his word and we made it to the first matinee showing on Saturday morning. How's that for ambitious? It was nice to have a small crowd in the theater and get the early-bird special. So I had really high expectations for this film and I was so pleased! It wasn't exactly what I expected, but I loved it! So did Jordan, which is pretty impressive. The cast was perfect and there is a lot of truth to be held with what they show about relationships, I even learned a few things. Make sure you make time to see this one, and coerce your hubby to watch too.

After the movie we headed over to Magleby's Fresh for lunch. Jordan actually used to work there, so we don't end up choosing it for our dates too often. There weren't many people there either, so it was a nice, quiet lunch. Their food is always divine, but they've also remodeled since we were last there and it looks really good! I wish we could've made it to breakfast for their awesome french toast, but we'll have to save that for another day.

We finished up the day at home in pj's watching movies, staying out of the cold and snow. It was such a perfect day and I'm glad we switched it up from previous years. At the end of the day, I was so happy that I was with Jordan and that I was not one of the girls in the movie waiting to see if he'd call me after our date. I'm just so lucky he's still into me!

Arizona Love

2009-02-11T18:05:00.000-07:00

Jordan and I got to go down to Arizona last week for his sister Ciara's wedding. We were so excited to take some time off from the day-to-day norm. And needless to say, we were stoked for the sunshine! I got to fly down a few days early to help out with some of the wedding stuff and Jordan drove down later. The first couple of days were just finishing up last minute things and getting everything all set to go. I loved soaking up the sun even though I only got to do it in between the running of tons of errands. The day before the wedding me, Ciara and Chelsea all got pedicures, which is turning into a bit of a tradition with weddings for us. I don't remember the last time I got this done but it was fabulous!

At the nail salon

All our toes after we were done!

Later that day, we got to go pick up Jordan's brother Jamison from the airport. He was returning from his mission to Japan, just in time for the wedding. We made some signs for him on the way to the airport and while we had some time to kill. It felt like we waited forever for him!

Chelsea with her sign

Me and Jord waiting

Elder Hill! Finally here! They lost his luggage in between L.A. and Phoenix, go figure. So we were at the airport for quite awhile getting that all figured out, they ended up sending it to the house the next morning.

At long last, the day of the wedding came! We were praying really hard all week for the weather to hold up. It was sunny all week, but all day Saturday was really cloudy and threatened rain. The reception was outdoor so we were really counting on good weather, there was no backup plan! Our prayers were answered, the rain held out until right after the reception ended, then it was a complete downpour! We had to clean everything up in the rain and it was so cold and miserable. But they had lots of friends who helped us out till the bitter end. The pictures all turned out great because of the cloud coverage.

The newlyweds! Mr. and Mrs. Kent Darracq

Me and Chels killing time at the temple

Ciara with a couple of people from her mission. The one on the left was a senior missionary and the one on the right was one of her converts, he flew all the way from Boston just for her!

Ciara and all of the bridesmaids at the reception center

I was doing a full on squat in this picture, my legs were completely shaking by the time it was acutally taken. I hope my face wasn't revealing the truth!

One of our last pics, we were a little tired of smiling

All in all, it went pretty well! There were a few hiccups though. The temple took a little longer than it was supposed to which made everyone late to the luncheon, reception, and pictures. One bad thing was Jordan's grandma fell on some cement steps right when we lit sparklers to give them a fun farewell to their honeymoon. She eneded up having to go to the hospital that night but all is well now. I ended up involved in a little prank with Jordan, his uncles and some cousins. I was asked to take Ciara's luggage up to their room for her and I got accompanied by everyone and they "short sheeted" the bed. I had no idea what that was but it was pretty funny. I made sure they didn't do any major pranks though, I didn't want their wedding night totally ruined and those uncles can get pretty crazy! :) Everything else was great though! It was fun to meet some more people that Jord knew growing up and really fun visiting with family that we don't get to see much. We had to drive home Sunday morning, that drive is definitely not my favorite but we survived! This work week has already felt excruciatingly long because of my break, but it was well-worth it! Congrats Ciara and Kent and we love you all Hill family!

Baby, Bride and Boston's

2009-01-25T10:50:00.001-07:00

I got to go up to Clinton this weekend for some girly fun, which I thoroughly enjoyed! I started off stopping in Kaysville on my way to Clinton. My sister Kelly had her 5th little girl on Tuesday and I was dying to finally see her. So below is Lilah Ryan Hadley and she's adorable. Her hair is a little red, and she looks like her sister Ruby, to me anyway. She weighed 6 lbs 12 oz (I think) and she has been their best and healthiest baby so far.

Baby Lilah

Me and Lilah

Next stop was Boston's in Layton. I have never even heard of this place but I loved it! I met up with my old roommate Stacey for lunch here and it was so good to catch up. She's so sweet and bought my lunch for my upcoming birthday. They have some really creative pizzas, I got a tropical chicken one, which I highly recommend. I wish I got to see Stace more, but whenever I can I take advantage of it! It sure makes me miss all my other roommates too!

My final stop was for one of my best friends, Mckenzie's, bridal shower. She's getting married in March and I'm so excited for her! I've known her for as long as I can remember, we've got some of the best memories ever. I got to see a lot of old friends there so it was a lot of fun. She got lots of cute things and I'm sure will enjoy them to their fullest!

So that wraps it up! I had a lot of fun spending time with these girls, I'm really fortunate to have had such wonderful people in my life that still make time for me. Love you girls!

A Must See

2009-01-03T16:17:00.000-07:00

We saw this movie yesterday with my Mom, we've been meaning to see it since it first opened but we never got around to it till now. I heard really good things about it, but there wasn't a lot about it in the media so I didn't know much. We loved it! Very motivational, and while Jordan (of course) says he would have done a few things differently, I thought they did a pretty good job. We were really impressed overall. Make sure you put this on your list to see, it's in the dollar theater now but should be out to rent soon!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

2008-12-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

We just found out that Jordan has been accepted into the BYU Film Minor. Now aside from this being really neat for Jord, it has given him and exact graduation date! He will be done in April 2010. While that still seems like kind of a long time I'm sure it will fly by. We're really happy about this and Jordan is extremely excited to finally be able to take some classes in the field he wants to pursue so Congrats Jordan, love you!

Christmas Candy Displays

2008-12-21T14:29:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went with some of our friends down to Center Street in Provo where they had these window displays. They are all made entirely out of candy and go along with The Night Before Christmas story. I can't believe how detailed they all are, there are some incredibly talented people out there! It was a lot of fun, but really cold so we didn't linger too long at each one! If you have a chance I think they have them up through Christmas, enjoy!

"Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"

Our new car! ... almost ...

2008-12-08T18:54:00.000-07:00

Well, we actually have a picture of what our new car is going to look like. We don't have it yet, but it should be here by Thursday!

The Coolest Wife Ever!

2008-12-01T20:36:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to make a public shout-out and let everyone know that my lovely lady, Jana Lynn, is the COOLEST WIFE EVER!!! :)

Date night with the Fam

2008-11-22T16:06:00.000-07:00

This past week I got to go with some of my family to see "Aida" at the Hale Theater in Orem. I LOVE going to plays there because of how small it is and how fun it is to actually see the faces of the actors. I never have enough money to get those kinds of seats at the big Broadway shows so it's nice to know what it's like! We go to shows there every once in a while and I think they always do such a great job, and for the price it's really good. So I didn't really know what Aida was about and it was a little different at first but they did realy good. Some of the costuming wasn't my favorite but I got over it. The girl who played Aida was incredible and she actually was in my brother Ryan's ward last year and she sang at Ryan and Lauren's wedding so it was fun to see her in an actual role, her voice is amazing! Before the play we got to go out with everyone to Goodwood which we love, most of them had never been so it was a good chance to introduce everyone to the goodness. I love these fun family nights!

Mom, Erin and Me--Erin was my date since Jordan couldn't go.

Kristen and Dad

Ryan, Lauren and cute baby Levi

Bryce and Amy

Marissa and Jonny

Celine Dion

2008-11-19T16:04:00.001-07:00

As some of you may know, Celine Dion is my all time favorite singer. I have many of her CDs both in English and French and I just love them all. Jordan took me to her concert in Las Vegas and it was incredible. If it was still there I would go see it again! So I was really excited at the beginning of the year when she announced her world tour for her new CD and was going to come to Salt Lake. I convinced my two sisters to come with me for a girls night out and we have been looking forward to it all year. Then this past week we got a call saying the concert has been postponed from this Friday to Feb. 22nd, which is a Sunday. I was still willing to go but those sisters of mine decided it wasn't worth breaking the Sabbath, I guess they have to set a good example for their kids. ;) So we now have to send our tickets back for a refund and who knows if she'll ever do a concert here again, doubtful since I'm pretty sure she's winding down to try to have more babies after this tour. Looks like our fun-filled girls night is falling apart, but at least we have Twilight to look forward to. If that isn't perfect for a girls night out I don't know what is!

Glenn Beck

2008-10-30T11:55:00.001-06:00

So this post is mainly for Jordan. Over the summer in his free time, he started watching a lot of Glenn Beck's show in the evening. It started with his recent obsession with CNN, the economy, the election, everything! I had no idea this side of Jordan even existed! It has been good for me too though, he educates me. :) So we found out Glenn was coming to UVU for a program because BYU was awarding him the first Pioneer in Leadership award. (Why the program wasn't actually held at BYU I don't know). Jordan really wanted to go but I was kind of dragging my feet...I can only handle so much political talk and I'm getting maxed out! Jordan's wonderful cousin Shandi called us the week of the program and said she got extra tickets and wanted us to come.

Now I have seen Glenn's show quite a bit but never really paid close attention. I have to say that I was very impressed. The speech was on "The Power of Choice." He is really entertaining and quite a crowd pleaser, the audience was just laughing through most of it. But what really impressed me was the 2nd half of his talk. He spoke about his concern for our country and for the citizens with such genuine concern. He got pretty choked up while he spoke about 9/11, John Huntsman Sr. and about the old America and it's unity. I was really moved by how sincere and heartfelt he was, it was really good. I came away really agreeing with Jordan, Glenn is a good guy. If you every have the chance to catch his show or go to one of his programs, it would be worth your time. He is actually going to be coming to SLC touring "The Christmas Sweater" and here is the link for more info http://www.glennbeck.com/content/events/. We are going to try to go, so if anyone wants to join us, let me know! So thanks to Jord and Shandi for the fun night and the experience! Love you both!

HUBBY TAG

2008-10-23T22:41:00.000-06:00

THE HUBBY TAG
*What is your husbands name: Jordan Michael Hill
*How long have you been married? 2 years...and some!
*How long did you date? Dated 5 months, engaged 3 1/2
*How old is he? 24
*Who eats sweets? Definitely me
*Who said I love you first? Jord
*Who is taller? Jordan
*Who can sing best? Not sure, I think we're about the same
*Who is smarter? Is there really a fair way to answer that? We are both brilliant!
*Who does laundry? Me always
*Who pays bills? Both of us, depends on which bill
*Who sleeps on the right side? Jordan, he's slightly OCD about it
*Who mows the lawn? Neither of us now, but it will be him when we have a lawn, I've never even done it before!
*Who cooks dinner? Well on the rare occasion that is happens, it's me
*Who drives? I drive my car, he drives his truck. Depends on what we take.
*Who is first to admit they are wrong? Jordan...although I am getting better :)
*Who kissed who first? Jordan, I didn't ever make the first move!
*Who asked who out first? Jord, again I'm very traditional this way.
*Who wears the pants? Depends on who you ask I guess, most people would say me, but little do they know, Jord can put his foot down!

And I couldn't resist the cuteness of this pic...

Now I tag Mani, Lauren, Ashley and Camille

Happy Anniversary!!

2008-10-12T01:02:00.000-06:00

Jordan and I have officially been married for two years! Monday, the 6th, was the official date and I can't believe it's already been that long. At the same time it seems like we've always been us. So Jordan sent me these beautiful red roses to my work, which are my favorite. I got to leave them there on my desk all week since I am there more than I am home, and I received many wonderful compliments from our many patients. Now they all know what an awesome husband I have!

To celebrate our anniversary, I had booked a room at a resort in Park City for us to just spend a night away from the norm. We didn't get to stay long, but it was nice to get away and spend some real quality time, which is hard to come by these days for us. Friday night we went out to this pizza place in downtown Park City. We were very impressed, and highly recommend it. It was however starting to get very cold and I was not completely prepared so we didn't walk around much!

Saturday morning we look out the window...and here we are! We knew there was a good chance of this happening, so we weren't totally shocked but I still couldn't believe how much was sticking to the ground! I'm just grateful this didn't happen the year we were married, I would have been so upset. But we actually kind of enjoyed it since that's the tone in Park City, we felt like it was appropriate.

After we checked out we got to spend some time shopping in the outlet mall, where neither of us have been. It was a little chilly walking between stores, but not too bad. We found some pretty good deals, but a lot that we had to pass up! I think that's how it goes for me with every shopping trip though...Jordan was really good about letting me still get some things I wanted, such a good guy. But he knew what he was marrying so I guess it's his own fault! So it was a very succesful trip for us, a way to escape and really enjoy ourselves! Happy Anniversary to us, I hope this year is just as good as the last two, and hopefully even better!

i love fall

2008-10-06T22:18:00.000-06:00

So I don't know about anyone else but fall is my absolute FAV time of year. I love the crisp air, wearing sweaters, football games, leaves, pumpkins, Halloween, peaches, pies, and many other things. This fall has started off great and I loved spending this last conference weekend with some of our family. We got to have Ciara and Kent stay with us and we met up with Shandi, Elizabeth and Kenny for dinner after the boys went to the priesthood session. Us girls got to share some quality shopping time at the Gateway while waiting for the boys. Afterward we introduced Kent, Kenny and Elizabeth to the amazingness of Cafe Rio, I'm sure their lives have been changed forever! I am extremely fortunate to have such a wonderful family on both sides and I love them all so much! Thanks for the fun weekend everyone and Happy Fall!

Timpanogos Cave

2008-09-22T20:57:00.000-06:00

This past weekend we got to go hike Timpanogos Cave. I've been wanting to take Jordan to do this for awhile so I was excited. I remember doing this with my family probably about 12 years ago so I barely remember it but it was fun. It was pouring rain when we got there and I was not very excited about that but luckily it stopped raining right when we started hiking. The boys were such troopers taking turns carrying the girls on their shoulders or backs, and although they are teeny girls it catches up with you on the steep hills! The cave was really neat, despite the somewhat cheesy guided tour but I guess it's their job. I'm not sure how much longer they are doing hikes but I would recommend it if you get the chance! Just prepare yourself for some soreness! I thought I'd been doing pretty good at working out but man, my muscles were not in shape, especially the buns! So make sure you get a nice warm up, and enjoy the beautiful fall colors!

Dad, Lauren, Ryan and Jana

Jordan and Drew

Lauren and Jana

Scott and Zoe

Ryan and Paige

The heart of Timpanogos Cave

Just some of the beautiful scenery

The gang!

Goodbye Ambre!

2008-09-01T17:46:00.000-06:00

My best friend Ambre is leaving this week for the Italy Milan Mission. I will miss her so so much but she is going to be such an awesome missionary! It would be wrong for me to keep her here all to myself. We got together with our old roomies, excluding Kathleen and Kathryn (dang you out-of-staters) and it was so fun catching up! Emily is also leaving this week for her mission to Denmark so our timing was perfect. I am truly privileged to have had the opportunity to have such wonderful friends and I love them!

Ambre gave a farewell talk on Sunday and it was so so good. She really showed off her missionary speaking skills! Her mom and my mom also sang a duet that was beautiful. Her parents both gave really excellent talks as well. Her sweet Mom invited everyone over for some delicious food, she's an amazing woman!

We love you Ambre and we will miss you! Good luck!!!

BYU Education Week

2008-08-25T07:21:00.000-06:00

This past Friday we got the opportunity to go to an all day session of classes for education week at BYU. I went early with my sister Erin and Jordan joined us later on. Erin had been talking me in to going with her for several months and I was somewhat hedging because my Fridays are precious! But I consented in the end, and it was very much worth it. I did feel a bit of an EFY flashback effect, but those were good memories too so I guess it's ok. Anyway, I really enjoyed it! The speakers were excellent and the subjects were great. I think my favorite class was by Dennis Deaton. He gave a class about the temple being a Liahona and Urim and Thummim and it was amazing. Another really good one was by Douglas Brinley about marriage and some things to make sure you are doing in your marriage to avoid future conflict. And he was so funny. If you ever run across a book by either person it would be well-worth your time. So it was a very successful day and if you ever get the chance to go, take it!

Here we go...

2008-08-16T15:11:00.000-06:00

Well we are new to the blogging world. We debated doing one because we honestly don't feel like our lives are all that interesting! But I guess we've caved and decided to follow the crowd. Our lives are pretty mundane, but we love it. The most recent event going on for us is Jordan's acceptance into BYU's Marriott Business program. He has worked SO hard to get in and we are super excited that he's been accepted. His plan is to do a business major with an emphasis in finance, and minor in Spanish and Film. So he will be graduating in April 2010 if everything goes according to plan. He's very excited to have a graduation date and start taking his classes that he knows he'll enjoy. Jordan has also just recently started an internship with Novell working in their financial department and he really likes it so it's been great. I'm still just working for the dental office and that is going well, always an adventure! We've loved our summer so far and we're sad for it to end becuase that means we won't see a whole lot of each other once school starts. Thank heaven for weekends!