Happily Treking Along

Carson just returned from what ended up being a 27.57 mile trek - with a 3500 foot change in elevation.

Here's the trail - it's outside of Evanston.

And a before photo and then a during. I was so excited to see my boy that I forgot to take an after. He looked pretty similar - still smiling, but he didn't smell very good, and he had a little bit of a sunburned chest from where he forgot to put on sun screen on the last day. Some of my friends were ma's on this trip, and they all commented about how good Carson was about putting on the sunscreen. Such a good boy!

His friend, Shandon - the one with him in this photo - has an awesome mom. Trinh made two shirts for Carson in pioneer style. (although in that camo you sure can't see any style right?).

This is him playing games with my friend, Corinna's, family. Look at that sky!
They said there was ONE cloud the entire 4 days.
I think I'm getting sunburned just looking at it...

I know I'm a little prejudiced, but I think that when it's my turn to be a ma I'm praying for boys like Carson.

My friend, Shannon, spoke in sacrament meeting on Sunday. Here's a link to their talks.

Ananas comosus

I don't know what it is about Griff, but he's fixated... This is a post from 2 1/2 years ago. See the spiky apple bit?

Top of the tree

Bottom of the tree -
can't see the peony from this view

Yesterday morning he was staring out the front window at our pine tree. He doesn't sit still like that very often, so I stopped to see what he was looking at. He finally asked...

Mom, will that tree grow pinecones or pineapples?

Can you imagine the poor boy's disappointment?!

Source

Jon sat down with him and described a pineapple plant and how pineapples are harvested - by 14 year old boys who are apparently kidnapped and sold into slavery. I've never said that Jon's completely accurate in his teaching, but who am I to argue his point? Maybe it happens. Sure makes it sound like blood diamonds or something though doesn't it?

Anyway. I've been tasked with getting Griff a pineapple at the store today. I'm happily obliged.

Whatever Evan....

Jon brought home a weight bench a while ago. It's too wide to fit through any of our doors, so it's set up outside. The boys have been enjoying the thing. Personally, I can't imagine being out there lifting with neighbors watching through their windows (OK there's only 3 that could see, and only one with a single window that overlooks that side of our yard). I mean - it's hot; the bench is black; the bar gets hotter than tar in July; I'm sure the bugs love the sweat juice that gets left there - because I'm fairly certain that the boys aren't wiping the thing down...

Anyway - Evan is the one that uses the bench the most frequently. This morning Evan asked...

Mom? You know how I lift 20 twice? Well, I'm gonna call these my ... (wait for it) ...

Twenty Twos

Just for the record - he lifts more than 20, and he does it more than twice. Jon's concerned we're going to have a very vain body builder on our hands - Evan's got plans to increase the weight, start calling his biceps "12 gauges" and his 6 pack his "reload clip".

See where I said it up on top?  WHATEVER EVAN!!!

Daughters-in-Law by Joanna Trollope


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I don't think I'd have given the book 3 stars if I had quit when I wanted to. The first 3/4 of the book were difficult for me to enjoy. I read for escape, and this one just felt too realistic. Too much like I was spying on a friend's family. But I kept reading.

The author said that she chose the topic because most women are daughters-in-law. Of course this is the case for me, and this book made me think about my relationship with my inlaws.

I know it was uncomfortable for Anthony and Rachel, but the author did a great job of growing all of her characters - not just the children. Not so much a "life must go on" as "life does go on". It has to, and families have to change with it.

I'd love to give another star because this book really did make me look at my own family relationships - those with my inlaws, my sister-in-law conspiracy (there are 5 of us!), my mom (made me think about what it would be like to have my mother as a mother-in-law), and my future mother-in-law-ness. Food for much thought! However, that first 3/4 of the book prevented me from giving it that one more star...

View all my reviews

Eighteen!!!

Eighteen years ago today Jon was panicking when I walked through the doors at the Jordan River Temple. We had our scheduled time for our sealing, and I was told to be there about 45 min - 1 hour before. I hadn't worried about when Jon would be there. I figured we'd meet up before we went into the sealing room. He couldn't get a hold of me the day before the wedding (he was in Sandy, and I was in Provo) so he called the temple to find out what time the bride was supposed to be there (even though he only needed to be there about 30 minutes before show time), and they told him most brides were there about 2 1/2 hours early. So by the time my mom and I came strolling through the doors he had decided that I wasn't going to show. Silly man.

Some of the other funny things I remember about that day:

• I stepped on my train while we were outside taking photos at the temple. My heel had sunk into the damp grass right on top of the train, and there was a big ole grass stain. After our lunch my mom took my dress with her back to Provo to get the grass stain out. BUT I didn't hear her tell me she was going to take it. So when the time came for Jon and I to get in our car and head south I panicked because my dress was gone. This was before everyone had cell phones, so I was in near hysteria while I kept calling my mom's next door neighbor to have her run over and see if my mom did in fact have my dress.

See that little boy? He just
got his mission call yesterday.
He's going to Tokyo, Japan
in November!
See the little girl? She's going
to Montreal Canada in August.
Nat's about 3 months
pregnant in this photo...

• We had our wedding lunch on the patio of Jon's best friend's parent's house. They live across the street from my in-laws, and their daughter is married to Jon's oldest brother. While I was trying to get in touch with my mom about the dress, Jon was sitting in his parent's living room. I don't remember who he was talking to. I was a little tense just sitting there so I went back across the street to help clean up. I hadn't spent much time with my SIL, Natalie, and she surprised me by taking the plates and utensils out of my hands and telling me that the bride SHOULD NOT be cleaning up on her wedding day. So I went back to my in-laws house and sat in a lawn chair outside the front door.
• I ended up doing my own hair and didn't really like it. I don't know what I would have done differently because it was so short, and I was adamant about wearing a veil. My friend Christian's fiance, Kacy, came through our line, and she said she was happy to see me in a veil because she also had short hair and wasn't sure she could wear one.
• We were supposed to do our family photos at the church before the reception. Couple of problems with that... 1) My mom, Jon, me, and our photographer got over to the church, and the door was locked. Took up precious time finding the key. 2) My MIL took the Orem Geneva Road exit instead of the Provo one so she was awfully lost. She didn't make it to the reception until it was almost half over.
• My MIL had all of our flowers (which I'd never seen but they ended up being BEAUTIFUL) AND my FIL's tux. Our receiving line was supposed to be us and our parents, but for a good chunk of the evening it was us, my mom, and Jon's dad in casual clothing.
• We had Jon's good friend, Jared, take our pictures. We had set Jared up with my good friend, Dixie, a few weeks before we got married. So the night of our reception, our photog was mysteriously preoccupied. Most of the snap shots at our reception were taken by Jon's brother, Aaron. Jared and Dixie got married that November, and they will also be celebrating their 18th anniversary this year.

I'm making myself sick with all of the chaos! Good thing that day is long behind us!

Do you know what that day taught me? That there's never a dull moment in the Hill family.

I love you Jon, and I'm grateful that you chose me to be part of the circus.