Christmas Time is Here!

I love Christmas. I love the decorations, the smell of Christmas candles, the snow, the music. I love it all. It's been fun decorating my new house this year. I have a vision of what it will look like one day, if I ever have the funds. But I'm pretty happy with what I've got so far. Here's my new tree. I wanted to put it in front of the windows but it's too fat. So we put it in the corner next to the fire place. Decorating the mantel is my favorite and as you can see, I love red. And here's the little tree that the kids decorated. They did a great job. I just put the garland on and few ornaments at the top. Taylor had his Christmas Concert at Barnes & Noble last week. It was so awesome. That little band is so adorable. Taylor plays the electric guitar. It's been interesting though, because his teacher knows nothing about the guitar and expects the kids to learn 100% from a book, which is extremely difficult. So most of the guitar players have dropped out or have moved on to banging sticks and tamborines. Pretty laim, I think. So anyway, Taylor is pretty much the only kid who plays at all. So he had a solo and he rocked Good King Wenceslas!

Is he stinkin' adorable or what?

James took the day off last Friday and went Christmas shopping with me. We got almost all of it done. Just a few more things to buy and lots of baking to do and I'll be ready. Enjoying every minute of it. Hope you are too.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas.....

It's been over a month since I updated. A lot has happened but I'll keep the text to a minimum and let the pictures speak for themselves.

Halloween Time (I loaded them in order but they shuffled themselves! Why??!!!)











Chase literally passed out after trick or treating


Taylor had his first concert. They played at Barnes & Noble during the Book Fair. Is that fun and cute or what? I thought it was an awesome idea. I, however was unable to attend and was completely bummed.



I auditioned for a musical with South Jordan Community Theatre and got cast! It's something I've wanted to do for a long time but never had the guts. I was so excited when I made it. And wow, what an experience. I met a ton of awesome and amazingly talented people and had so much fun. It was an enourmous comittment. Much more than I imagined. I really missed being home with the family at night and was ready to be done when closing night came around. We rehearsed every Sat. from 8 to 5 for 3 months plus I was gone 3 to 4 nights a week rehearsing as well. Craziness. I'd like to do another one sometime. But not for a good long while.

Costume sewing party at my house. We worked from 6 to 11pm!! Thanks girls. I learned a lot about sewing:)





Building sets



Michelle, Dawn and Me.."The Lovely Boylan Sisters". John played Bert Healy. Everyone in this scene was hilarious. Oh how I miss them.




One of the servant scenes


And here we are and it's Christmas again! So you may have noticed I posted our annual Santa photo! Turned out cute as heck as usual.

So that about sums it up for now. Things are good. Life is amazingly great:)

Happy Birthday Taylor

Taylor turned 10 on October 15th. Wow... I really can't believe that he is that grown up. I really do remember everything about the day he was born. It was so exciting because he was the first grand child on the Hilton side. So EVERYONE was at the hospital waiting for him to be born. It wasn't a hard labor or delivery, even though it was my first. I'd been waiting so long to see his face. And when I finally got to hold him, it really was so amazing to think he was mine and I was a mom.

He was big. 9 pounds 11 ounces. The nurses had to stretch the little hospital t-shirt to get it on him. I started calling him "Poop Scoop" and it stuck, much to his dismay. He still answers to this name and probably always will.

Taylor is such a great kid. We are so blessed to have him in our family. I can always count on Taylor to be honest and to do what I ask him to do. He is an excellent student and a good friend. His teachers love him. His friend's parents tell me they adore him. His scout leaders rave about him. He really makes me look good. I'm so proud of him and I can't wait to see how his life turns out. Love you Tay!!!!!!!

The idea came to me that Taylor should be initiated into the double digits. I thought smashing a pie in his face might be fun. You just don't see enough pie in the face these days.


Family Party..

Friend Party at Boondocks...



Chase always gets to invite a friend to hang out with too. He invited a friend from his new school and an old buddy, Parker, from the old 'hood. So glad Parker could make it.

Give a little boy a gun and what do you get? A HUGE smile!!


The time has gone by so fast. I hope the next 10 years go a little more slowly.

Welcome Fall!!!

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love to watch the leaves change color and fall off the trees. I love the color of the mountains. I love the cool weather and the fast approaching holiday season:) Halloween is one of my favorites and we start celebrating ASAP. On October 1st, I took the boys to Gardner Village. There was a serious party going on. We had a ton of fun. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and had to use my crappy phone.



We ate a lot...


Got lost in the hay maze & took a tractor ride...




Visted the Witch's house...





Fun, Fun, Fun!!

The next day, we had my friend Louri and her kids over to decorate trick or treat buckets and cupcakes. I got the idea for these buckets in a magazine. They were easy to make and the kids absolutely LOVED making them. Even my boys! Taylor and Gabbi spent 2 hours on theirs. I got some paint buckets at Wal-Mart. Bought a bunch of different colored felt, some googly eyes, pipe cleaners and foamy stickers. We used hot glue to make it all stick.

Getting things ready...



Hot chocolate and googly eyes...


Creating our masterpieces...

Taylor's and Gabbi's were two faced...Very Creative!



Onto Cupcakes...

Taylor's...

Gabbi's...

Chase's...

And Kate ate hers before I could get a picture.

Happy Fall Ya'll!!!!