Abdicating the Throne

Now don't get me wrong, I'm very excited to have a baby girl! BUT..... I've been the "princess" my whole life. I'm the youngest of four girls, and my parents were very nice to me (my other siblings will tell you that I was completely spoiled and allowed to do everything!) - so I'm not sure if I'm ready to give up my title! Is that bad?? Yes it is, I know it, but with handsome princes like these around, would you want to be moved up to the queen? Moving - Take 2: Round two of our moving is commencing. We move back to Idaho on Saturday and our little apartment has been quickly filling up with storage containers, boxes, and I think I might invent a packing tool belt that holds magic markers, packing tape with dispenser, packing paper folded neatly, and a little computer that tells you what to put in where when you get down to a few random items and end up creating the hideous MISC. box!

The boys haven't seemed to mind the moving process again - they always find it to be a lot more fun than I do. Here's the newest wolf den. These Bolt ears/Bunny ears have become a favorite dress up item and in any day Sam can be Bolt, a snow fox, a wolf, a white lab, etc.

Oh - One last thing: Are there any "GIRL" accessories, clothes, etc. that are MUST Haves that I might not be aware of? If so let me know! I'm on the look out for things I need to get. Thanks.

Dancing on the Ceiling

IS this Spiderman??

It feels like forever since I updated the blog, so here goes: We have a couple of really good reasons to be dancing on the ceiling. Shawn finished his residency interviews in Texas. He was gone for eight days - and did great. But we have to wait to find out where we've matched until March, but this hurdle is over. This also means that Shawn's core is nearly over and we only have 2 more weeks in Utah. Good and Bad - we've loved living here and having a place of our own, but we'll love to have a break (Shawn gets February off) and living in Idaho until May.

Sam has become a master swimmer and skier! He is quite the stud and we are so proud of him. There is nothing better to see him learn something new and he is a lot more daring than I thought he would be. He rode his first chair lift and skiied down the mountain without falling down:) Better than what I can do!

While Shawn was in Texas, the boys and I headed to Idaho. It was a great, relaxing trip and thanks to the fam the boys had a wonderful time. We went swimming at Green Canyon (a natural hot springs), went on a date to Alvin and the Chipmunks, and visited CAL Ranch - thanks Grandma Julie-dog and saw the Blind Side with my dad. The boys also got to make bread with Grandma Julianne, which is always a favorite activity. This time they enjoyed eating the dough as much as making the bread.

I had my usual doctor's appointments while we were home and found out that YAY - I get my braces off in one month!! Hurray! and BOOO - that my blood type is now considered A-, which means that I have to get the shot for the Rh factor. I haven't had this with my other two, but I'll be getting it for this one, which is fine but I HATE needles.

I finally made it to the fabric store and finally made up my mind about what to do a girl's room in! This really has been a nightmare for me, I can't quite adjust to "thinking pink" and I still gravitate to the boy colors, clothes, and toys. Help! After an hour of going around and around the bolts of fabric I went with a blue floral pattern as my base. I'm pretty excited about it, and hopefully it will turn out as good in real life as it is in my mind.

Ode to "The John"

I have to post this, so Jack will always have a documented history of his LOVE, OBSESSION, and CURIOSITY for the TOILET! Yuck! He for some reason loves it, anywhere he goes he manages to find the toilet and manages to find a way inside. You can imagine my horror at finding his little hands playing in toilets at the local store or library, not to mention a run in with the urinal at church (it wasn't flushed either!) I almost lost it on that encounter. What do you do? Clorox his hands? Cut them off? I'm not sure, but no matter how many times he is told "NO" and whisked away, he'll always return. It's like he can sense if someone has left the door open. In Idaho I found him fishing out Skittles candies he had dropped in the toilet and eating them. We also found him with his toothbrush and a plastic spoon doing a similiar trick.

Germs, bacteria, feces, and the like have surely passed through Jack's system and will probably continue too as he finds a sick pleasure in getting caught in the act and then washing his hands. He now is so good that as soon as we come in and stop him, he rushes to the sink hands up ready for a scrub down (Maybe that's what he wants after all?) So for my sweet, precious Jack, a warning goes out to everyone, leave the toilet seat down, and a dead bolt on the bathroom door!

TidBit Tuesday

Three Things for this TidBit:

#1: BYU Candy Dish. This is per-request from my sister Stephanie. My sweet, talented neighbor in Iowa (Cindi) made us this cute candy dish because we are such BIG BYU fans. She filled it with the mini-Snickers candies that are gold and blue, and it is adorable. You can make it for any sports team local, college, or professional. You need these items:

Ceramic Flower Pot

Ceramic Flower Pot Dish

Fish Bowl

Wooden Sphere (for the handle)

Team stickers - logo

Ribbon

Modge Podge

Paint the pot, handle, and lid the team colors, adorning it with stickers, and covering the both entirely with modge podge, allow to dry. Find cute ribbon to match (this one had BYU ribbon) - tie the ribbon on a string that you glue down underneath the fishbowl. Glue the fish bowl on the upside down ceramic flower pot, and fill with your favorite candy! It is such a cute dish and we love it. I've been thinking about making some South Fremont Cougar ones for my family at home, we'll see how they turn out.

#2: Boots - I LOVE these boots. They are Ariat Fat Babies and are COWBOY boots. Apparently they are great for riding horses in, but I wouldn't know, I just like to wear mine around everywhere. They are a great boot because they have a nice heel to give you some height, they are COMFORTABLE, easy to slip on and off, and they are super cute. They come in a variety of colors, designs, etc. They can be a little pricey, but if you looking for something comfortable - look no further, and they are super cute with jeans. I found mine at CAL Ranch, but you can find them at any western supplier, or online.

#3: The Game of Things! The Ashton's introduced this fun game to us over Christmas break, and it was a hit. If you are looking for a super entertaining party game, this is a must have.
The Game: You're given a category like "Things you wouldn't like to find on your sandwich" or "Things you shouldn't say to your Spouse on Valentine's Day" and you each answer it. Then you have to guess WHO wrote WHAT! It is so funny to see how weird, random, and sometime sick people are! We had a great time with the game, and you will too.

Christmas 2009

Finally I figured the camera out! Hurray! So here's a little photage of our Christmas adventures. The Summers' grandkids put on the Nativity Christmas Eve, Sam served as both Joseph and a Shepherd and we had a wise woman in place of a wiseman, (which I think makes more sense anyways!)

Sam sporting his Doctor's Scrubs (Thanks Carter!)

He now wants a white jacket to go with them for his birthday!
Christmas Morning... Santa was very good to the boys, and I know the suspense has been killing you, but Sam DID get his white tiger! Christmas Day we were with the Hill Fam. Uncle J.D. proves to be the coolest, giving Sam a ride on his dog sled (He used to race dogs when he was younger) And.... he successfully put Jack to sleep after he'd eaten about 15 candy canes, no joke! Jack pretty much ate his way through the holidays. Everytime he walked by a table with food, he'd snatch a handful of anything edible.

Jack got a rocking horse that makes noises and sings, which he LOVES!

This was my favorite gift! Shawn surprised me by getting a ring I was given from his Grandma Hanks, reset in this white gold setting. It is so beautiful, and really a great surprise. He had Sam give it to me on our anniversary. Sam through on a Santa Claus hat just for the effect.

We then spent most of our time in Island Park at the cabin. The kids played in the snow for hours, and then would soak in the hot tub afterword. They had a great time! Sam had a couple of firsts this trip: First drink of Hot Chocolate! Yes, wierd I know, but he had refused to try it for years, and now loves it!! He also hit the slopes with Shawn on New Year's Day and did AWESOME. He wants to go skiing everyday, and I'm super excited he enjoyed it.

Shawn pulling the kids on the sled
The Boys (Kelly, Jake, Shawn, Joel) heading out for a snowmobile ride

Jack and Keaton loved watching all the action outside (it was just too cold for them this year). They were so adorable together and kept giving each other loves.

Needless to say we had a great Christmas and New Year. We were able to see my niece Tyleigh get baptized, and celebrated the New Year with the annual Hill Family Rockin' Party! 2010 looks to be filled with fun and adventure.

Picture A Christmas.....

We bought a new camera (which I LOVE by the way) but I cannot get the memory card to show up on the computer, so this post is without pictures, but they will hopefully be coming - so go right on ahead and picture a Christmas like this.... Christmas was wonderful this year. We headed up to Idaho spent the entire break with our families enjoying sledding, snow, skiing, snowmobiling, good food, a lot of laughs and yes of course presents. The boys were so fun to watch this year, especially Sam. I just loved watching his face light up as he opened his gifts.

We also got another ultrasound done on New Years Eve Day and this time the little lady was fully cooperative and strutting her stuff! Again another confirmation that she is indeed a girl, difficult, does her own thing, oh dear.... We are so excited and I can't wait to get out there and explore the unknown world of girl clothes, hair things, tights, etc.

Finally Shawn has his residency interviews at the end of the week. He'll be flying to Frisco, TX and we'll be heading back up to Idaho to stay with family while he's gone. He is soooo ready for this to part to be here and gone! He'll do great, and I'm confident that we'll end up wherever we are supposed to. We are also making preparations to move AGAIN! We'll be packing up all of our stuff here in Utah and trekking back to Idaho at the end of the month. I'm really, really, really sick of moving, but it has been super fun to be here in Utah these past four months, and worth to have our "own" place. We'll be back with pictures hopefully tomorrow.