Its been a while

So much has happened...I am completely overwhelmed and unless there is going to be 28 hours in a day ...this blog is just never going to get caught up.  So I will start with what has happened today and move one! 

    Today I had the great pleasure of drinking 2 quarts of water and then told not to pee for 4 hours.  Those of you that have experienced this know what a joy it is.  So clearly I was not doing this for fun.  About 16 weeks ago, I found out I was pregnant and today was my 20 week apt. to check out our newest addition.  I clearly should have blogged sooner but again with the lack of time..just didn't happen so...I AM PREGNANT AND ITS A BOY!!!!  I feel incredibly outnumbered.

Noah's snake

Noah has gotten to the wonderful habit of using just one word to where most of us would use an entire sentence.  Like "Pete" and "Repeat," Jared and I copy his one word and translate it into the appropriate sentence.  Its a gift really...others look at us and wonder how we are so adept at this highly skilled translation process but I digress, there is a story with this.....

About a month ago my mom visited us and when the kids wrestled through her suitcase, they were delighted that she had come baring gifts.  10 frogs for Noah and 10 snakes for Preston.  So for the last 4 weeks I have been stepping on them, finding them in the toilet, in their beds, in MY bed and so on.  

Well, about a week ago Noah was toting around one of Preston's snakes.  We'd just gotten out of the car, when Noah calmly said "Snake."  This is where my highly trained skills in translation plummeted.  I thought he meant he had dropped his snake, so like any good mother I bent down to pick it up.  To say I was surprised, would be lying,  I full-on screamed like a third grader when it struck out and tried to bite me.   In case you are confused, Noah was still holding his little rubber snake and I was trying to hold the real one.  So here is our newest addition of wildlife we find in our yard.  Mountian lions, wolves, foxes, deer, raccoons, and now snakes.  Welcome to Sun Valley

If you're worried that I'm a tad too close, our camera zoomed to 12x for this baby.
Isn't he cute as he tries to climb up our garage?

I Love to See the Temple

  Last saturday and sunday Jared and I had the honor of participating the Twin Falls ID temple dedication.  Jared spent about 4 months teaching our young men and young women how to perform in a dance program made for 4,000 youth.  (That's right, I said four thousand!!!)  They've practiced every Wednesday night since May and finally performed with the 13 other stakes. They danced friday night and twice on Saturday and it was fantastic.   

Then on Sunday it was my turn.  They had 4 dedications of the temple and for the last session, I got to sing in the choir.  We've been practicing since May as well.  It seemed a little tedious practicing that far in advance but once we got in the celestial room and were able to be just a few feet from the Prophet, it was all worth it.  What a great experience that we'll both never forget.  Me, because I got a thumbs up from the Prophet and Jared, because I don't think anyone ever forgets when they work with 4000 kids in 95 degree weather.  

My sweet Preston

Preston is my oldest. Things that naturally come along with that: he mimics all my phrases (even the ones I wish he wouldn't), he thinks he is really 8 or maybe 12, he is very proud that he dominates his younger sibling in all areas (except maybe in the screaming department), and he wishes that Noah and him were the same age so they could play better together:) I kind of wish that too.

So when Preston was born, I only noticed his unusually large feet and hands, but about 2 days later I also noticed that his belly button poked out abit, especially when he cried. And then it really started to poke out, enough for Jared to say that we might have to keep a t-shirt on our perfect little child for say..oh the rest of his life. The doctor told us it was just an umbilical hernia and in fact, it was starting to close already. Well, it got smaller and smaller, but then one day it just stopped and he's had this adorable little outie since then. He's actually quite attached to it. But alas, every once in while it would hurt and the doctor said it was time to get it fixed. So yesterday we went in and he had his very first surgery (hopefully his last).

Preston has the best poker face ever, his first rollercoaster ride, his first seadoo ride, boat ride, new people, new situation of any kind and his face doesn't even flinch. Dead pan..is the phrase that comes to mind. And for 2 hours yesterday while they prepped him, that was his face. No one got him to crack a smile, he barely knowledged their existance. I love Preston:)

Anywho, he did great. His was only under for 45 minutes and today he has already started playing. Not like "jumping on Grammy's bed" playing (which I'm sure he never does) but none the less he was still moving around and I'm glad to see him already getting better. We'll see his new belly button tomorrow and he starts kindergarten on Monday. Way to go Preston!!

6 New Posts

Today was the day.  After 2 months of going AWOL, I have returned and be forewarned: there are 6 new posts that I have completed.  This is not for the faint of heart and I won't be offended if you only look at the pictures:)

Triathalon #2

Jared is amazing.  A 1 1/2 weeks ago he did an Olympic triathalon.  That means he swam a mile, biked 24 miles and ran 6.2 miles.  Quite a few too many miles if you ask me.  I am so proud him and am quite certain that if I had been in his shoes I would have drowned in the lake.  

To my discouragement I cannot get this first picture in the right order.  This is not the beginning of the race, or I wouldn't have let him even start (he looks a tad tired).  This is the finish line but the rest are in order:)




Jared has now asked me to call him an Olympian:)  Great job, Jared!  I love you!

I got air

I'm not exceedingly proud of how terrified I look in this picture but it is proof that I got air and I actually landed it and have subsequent others.  Something I haven't done in like 8 years.  Jared on the other hand, only started wakeboarding this summer and he might have just an inch or two on my jump.  maybe

Wold family reunion

The Wold Family Reunion:) WOW...pretty much sums up how that went.  I'll let the pictures describe but we went up American Fork canyon and went four wheeling and dirt biking.  It was a great day and Preston would really like Grammy to buy him a four wheeler for him.  How 'bout it Grammy:)  ??

We also went to 7 Peaks in Provo.  I only wish I'd had my camera out more.  I have never laughed so hard as I did when I convinced my sweet older sister to go down a death drop (and she didn't know, since she's legally blind without her glasses).  I am so mean.  And these are my nephews who are under the impression that they are the coolest people walking the planet.  

So in defense of my two overly confident nephews...I was impressed that they could breathe while going down this slide, let alone be cool for the camera.

Hill Family Reuion

What would a Hill family reunion be without a boat, warm weather, and lots of water toys.  Actually we did do other activities, but the camera only made it to the water events.  We did a humanitarian project, made Harry potter wands that were so real looking- they could have been used in the movie, we played games, went fishing and had way too much food.  It was AWESOME.  Definitely a do-over and over and over...you get the idea, we had a lot of fun:)

I love my son but he's about as photogenic as I am:)  By the way see that belly button.  Well, as of this thursday he will no longer have it.  Preston is getting surgery to remove the umbilical hernia that causes it to bulge out like that.  He's a little nervous but after I promised a day full of XBOX, he said he's be fine getting it done.

Craters of the Moon

So while my family was here...we had every intention of going waterskiing, but then we remembered that to get that boat up here from Boise, we'd have to tow it behind the Passat.  And while I was all for trying, Jared didn't think it was a great idea.  Plan B:  My brother, Eric, said he remembered going to Craters of the Moon when he was 8 and having a blast and its only an hour from us.  He went on and on about how cool it was and how all of us would love it.  But over the next couple of days, logic started setting in.  How cool could walking on a bunch of rocks be..and how cool would they be in 95 degree weather?  But we were determined and so we set out!

This one might need some explaining.  This was the only red colored rock in a 10 mile radius and Boyd saw the inspiration it created immediately.  He's still 12 years old.



So to sum up.  Craters of the Moon is still awesome.  We all had a blast and will definitely be going back.

Wold family fun

So I did this post about a month ago and never posted it.  I'm a slacker:)  But here they are... the beginning of the summer pics..more to follow soon.   

I'm a little late posting this but we had so much fun. Big thanks to my brother, Boyd and his wife, Natalie with their 2 kids and my brother, Eric, from California for making the trek out here to the middle of no where.  Jared and I decided to cover all the small town venues including the rodeo, a BBQ/western musical producion, and of course, fireworks.  I love my family, we had so much fun.

We made the Wold family waffles.  Clearly one can see that the bacon is the flag pole and then there is obviously the flag.  My sweet niece, Maddi, made this particular work of art.

Next we made it to the parade.  This was not Preston's idea of fun until the candy started being thrown.   My brother, Eric, picked out the spot of sidewalk that was sure to have shade by the time the parade started but that never happened:)  But what's a parade without blistering heat?

Can you imagine walking the whole parade on stilts?  Newfound respect for these girls.

Next we made it over to the Rodeo.  Preston quickly found his little buddy, Brady.  He told us a month before that he would do the mutton busting but when actually came down to touching one...not gonna happen.  I especially like the lady up front eating her icecream:)
This was the highlight of the whole rodeo.  

Wow more pics to come but that will have to be another post:)  

THE water ski video

So the video says it all so I won't even try to explain.  Check out Jared's latest movie on youtube:)

Link is on the right column.  Make sure to watch it in HD

Summer has officially begun...it may be still 60 degrees but we are most defiantly calling it summer.  We are loving the lake and have had so much going out.  So this is before I got up on the wakeboard:)

This is after I got up and thought I was really cool, and then obviously fell.  Zoom in and you can try and guess what naughty word I'm saying:) 
This is just nothing but cuteness.  It only took his cousin Hannah 45 minutes to convince him to get in there and go out on the lake.  He's our little risk taker:)
Kevin in the back, then Jared, and Cash up front.  Maybe one of the funniest things I've yet to watch in this life time.  Nothing like seeing grown men flying around on the water and then all getting flung out into the air to crash land with style.

Our little graduate

Preston graduated preschool!!!  I may be slightly biased but he was so handsome and looked so adorable giving his flowers to his teachers.  He really wanted to hide them and say "surprise," (I think we have a romantic man in the making:) They marched in the room to the graduation theme song, sang some songs themselves and then the school provided the scariest clowns ever for entertainment for the kids.  Noah was a little taken back when she came at him with a squirrel but I don't blame him, I was too.  We didn't know whether to laugh or hide but either way, scary nightmares that night were inevitable.  Anyway, we are so proud of Preston and loving seeing him so pleased with his accomplishments.

So much to do, so little time

What a fantastic week we just had.  Jared and I both have siblings that have for some unknown reason chosen to live back east where people can rarely visit.  This happened to be one of those rare times, as we decided to take our oldest (Preston) and fly back there.  We left poor Noah home to harass Jared's mom and my sister, Jayne's family (we owe them for life).  We left on Saturday which happened to be my birthday.  I tried to think positively that this was really the best birthday present I'd ever gotten, but after 9 hours of sitting on an airplane with a four year old, I began to question that.  We eventually got to New Hampshire where Jared's brother Jay and family live.  As we were about to land, Preston leaned over and asked me why they planted so many trees.  I agree, why did they?  We landed in a deciduous jungle.  Very beautiful and we didn't get one picture of it....I guess we'll just have to go back.  

So here we begin with the ever so muscular, Ronan.  He ran around with Preston on his shoulders for at least 2 laps of the house before the inevitable happened.  Seriously, never seen a buffer kid:)  The kids treated Preston to games of Bottom-ho (Jumping off the top bunk into love-sacs), finding salamanders in the woods, and probably too many hours of Preston's favorite game of Lego Star Wars (its hard to say no when they all look like they're having so much fun).  

They took us to a pottery store where Preston picked out his cereal bowl of choice and painted it green, blue and pink.  He's so talented and doesn't he look so artsy in his cover-up shirt he chose all by himself.  Talented and stylish.

WICKED!!! Need I say more?  We'll probably get sued for this picture but we were so excited to be there and it was the BEST experience.  A must if anyone has a chance to see it.

After we spent time with Jared's brother and family, we drove four hours to my sister, Liz's house.  They live in West Point, again another beautiful area that I have no pictures of.  The place is either like living 200 years ago or else living at Hogwarts from Harry Potter.  Massive grey stone buildings and halls that look like they came right out of JK Rawling's mind.  We also decided to hit an outlet mall there.  We had limited time and lots to see and honestly came away seeing about 1/50th of the place.  It was gigantic.  

We had so much fun their family and started missing Noah enormously, since they also have a 2 year old who was cut from the same mold as Noah: Sassy, bossy, and way too cute.  

Which then brings us to the above picture.  So I look like I have a really bad boys hair cut in this but here we are: two small town hicks dropped in the middle of Times Square.  You'd think that since we'd lived in San Francisco, we'd be used to this but wow, how do people actually live there.  Visit?  Yes.  Live?  NO.
My sister and her husband, Chip's adorable kids with Preston on Chip's bullet bike:)
  Oh how we love the beach.  

We had such a great time and want to thank our siblings for housing us.  We wish we could be out there and see them every month.  You guys are great and we love you.