Finally Finished

So as usual it has been way too long since I last posted. Hopefully one day I will get better with this... Maybe when I have cute kids to write about. But today, this is all about my cute husband. I couldn't let this week pass by without recognizing all of his hard work. After 4 and a half long years, many hours of studying, and tons of stress, Justin is now a COLLEGE GRADUATE! And while I'm bragging about my wonderful husband, I must add that although he was taking 18 credits this semester, and was extremely stressed many times, he got really great grades as well! We are so excited for him to be done with school. Now we are doing lots of interviews and trying to get a job. We feel so blessed to even have interview opportunities in this economy and pray that one will lead to a job. Justin works so hard for us and is on the computer every spare minute he has to try to find one more job to apply for. He is amazing and is a great example to me. It is exciting to know we are now both done with college...until we do our Masters degrees...

Murder Mystery

A few weekends ago, our friends Dallin and Sam threw a murder mystery party. The theme was a new nightclub opening in the 20's. It was so fun to dress up as flapper girls and mobsters! The night was full of good food, good friends, and many murders. Dallin and Sam worked so hard to put it all together and it turned out perfect!

Fads are not always fabulous...

Two words...SILLY BANDS...What a funny fad! Don't get me wrong, I had my fair share of crazy fads when I was young...doodle bears, blow up backpacks, blow up furniture...but fads just get better and better. I can see why parents love silly bands since they are so cheap and kids get a kick out of them.

I went to school on Wednesday to find our cute little Madilyn with a backpack full of silly bands. "I want to give one to each of my friends," she informed me. She is so cute and so sweet. We told her she could take them out to the playground and hand them out during recess, as long as she had enough for every friend. Madilyn went from one friend to the next giving each a silly band. And don't worry, she didn't forget about her teachers. I now own my very first silly band. Lucky me! It was so fun to see how happy she was to share with all of her friends. One of her friends came up to me with five of Madilyn's silly bands on her arm and said, "Madilyn is wasting all of her bracelets!" She was so concerned that Madilyn was giving too many away, but Madilyn could not have been happier.

Silly bands...what will they think of next?

Much needed update...

As I promised my wonderful sister-in-law, I am FINALLY updating my blog! It is much needed... I have had a draft of San Diego sitting in my post list for two months now! I am terrible!

Here is a quick run down of what has been going on in the last two months at the Hill household...

We had our annual Hill family vacation to San Diego in July. We love this vacation and look forward to it the minute we get back from it the prior year. Justin cannot wait to get back in the ocean and surf all his worries away. It wasn't only Justin surfing his worries away this year though... Everyone got out and surfed a wave or two. It was so fun to have the whole family out in the water together!

After we got back from vacation, we had to get back to real life. Justin finished up school for the summer and I went back to work. This summer I was working at a speech clinic as well as working in the office at my school. I absolutely loved working with the clients at the speech clinic and now cannot wait to get to grad school and be able to do what I love all the time!

Now it is turning to fall in Utah and all the leaves are changing. With the changing leaves comes Justin's last semester of school (yay!) and me going back to work at the school. I am in the office this year since we are hopefully leaving in December when Justin graduates. My boss didn't want the kids to get used to me if I am just leaving in a little while. I really like working in the office, but I must say I really miss my kids. I have a monitor by my desk that shows all the classrooms with sound, so I turn it on for a lot of the day to help me not miss my kids so much.

That is about everything that is happening in our little family. We are looking for jobs everyday and trying to make big decisions as we embark on this big journey together. Luckily we have each other and wonderful, supportive families to help us along the way.

This is what summer is all about...

I can't believe summer has come and practically gone already. I love everything about summer, even if I am a real adult now with a job that isn't on break during the summer like school. To Justin and me, this is what summer is all about...

Golfing with my parents

Swimming with Dallin and Sam

Carwashes

Rodeo with our cousins

Bowling with the Van Blerkoms and Shirleys

Hot springs with friends

Two Saturdays ago, our niece Samantha got baptized! It was such an exciting day and lots of our family came from Arizona to join in the great occasion. It was so fun to have everyone here, Mom and Dad, Jen and Ben, and Ryan and Aimee! We got to go stay in Park City for the weekend with everyone and went to visit a lot the whole week they were here. We have a wonderful family and we love having them around!

Bittersweet

So Friday was my last day of the school year with my wonderful kids. It was definitely a bittersweet moment. Although there were plenty of times I thought I wanted to strangle some of my cute kids, they are so precious and were such a blessing to me. They bring lots of laughs everyday with the funny things they say. I kept thinking I should have written down all the cute things they said throughout the year. I'm sure they'll bring plenty more next year. I will miss them all over the summer and can't wait to see the ones who are coming back next year. Although I am ready for a break from them, I will really miss them.

All the kids hugging cute little Ben on his last day of school! It's such a small school so they all know and love each other.