"all aboard"

friday was the last day of school before our break began, I was fortunate enough to get to sluff most my classes and join the kindergartners i intern for with laying on their classroom floor with our pillow's and blanket's, to watch the polar express in our jammies. i brought them christmas cookies and their teacher had hot coacoa. lucky kids.. lucky me! perfect way to end school for the year, right? those kids make me so dang happy!

baking&celebrating

this year i got the title "party planner" for my officer position in dance company. 

in the past years no one has quite sure what the job of 'party planner' is, so not much is done. but because i love baking treats for people, and i can only drop off cookies and cupcakes at the friends and neighbors house so often without it getting questionable and old, i decided once a month i'd bring treats for the dance company in honor of all the birthdays. The more festive i get with these treats, the funner they are to bake and bring (thanks pinterest) so for the December treat i made peanut butter Rudolph cookies. adorable right? hopefully they were as yummy as they were cute. 

one of the reasons i want to be a mom so badly is for the seasonal/holiday baking and crafting, because kids love stuff like this! but until then, i'm glad my 17 year old friends still get excited over little things like this. 

also, on saturday my oldest sister turned 26, she's such a peacemaker, and sometimes i really question if she's actually human or angel. 

on Sunday night we had the family over for her birthday dinner and gifts, while my mom made pasta, i got the honor of baking the cake, and topping it with the funnest cutest sprinkles you ever did see. being a girl is fun. happy birthday sweet nicole!

*lets all take deep breaths while I continue to use my iPhone 4 camera photos. one day that'll change friends. one day!* 

the kingdom is yours.

back in the summer before my sweet (and artisitically talented) sister left for her mission, she'd spend everyday painting, when I got lucky, she'd gift me with one of her paintings, every time I recieved one my day instantly got 10x better. 

the other day I walked into my room and found this pretty little watercolor painting with a note written on the back - sent all the way (with love) from mississippi - for me. 

she told me she started the painting a really long time ago, and the only reason it took so long is because she rarely has free time. it touched my heart that she took the little bit of spare time she could find to continue to serve. I'm grateful for her and the fact that she never lets me going feeling unnoticed or unloved. 

p.s. isn't that the loveliest and prettiest quote? little gifts like this from her make missing her easier! 

preference 2014

 

 

 

 

yesterday was my first and last preference, i usually always have a drill competition this weekend, which means i have to miss out. but i was thrilled that my senior year i could finally have a chance to go to preference! we started off the day with a friendly ginger bread house building competition and ended the day with dinner at riverwoods and then dancing our booties off.

 

 

my date was so handsome and such a gentleman. despite not having tights to keep my legs warm in the bitter cold weather, it was such a perfect night and made for a great weekend.

 

now let's hope we can all stay sane these next 5 days of long dance practices and school, christmas break is calling my name.

 

 

happy birthday mama

on tuesday, my sweet mother turned 50. she is pretty, stylish, and wants to be known as the 'cookie grandma' (so far i think it's working)

we celebrated by having family over for cake and presents, we ordered her cake from schmidt's bakery, where she worked during high school. we plan to finish celebrating with a trip up to temple square this sunday after church.

i wish i could try to explain just how christlike this woman is, but it's indescribably. she never stops serving others, and she never expects any sort of recognition for it. she is more patient then most people will probably ever be.

she is hands down the sweetest woman i know, and she has such a tender, caring heart. to say i feel blessed every single day that she is MY mother would be understatement. not only am i so grateful to be raised by such an amazing woman, i'm grateful for everything she's taught me so far about raising a family and being the best mom and wife possible. i hope to follow in her footsteps and live up to the high standard she's set for us hill woman. 

i love you suzie Q.

a christmas tree for sister hill

this will be lexi's (the missionary sister) first christmas away from home. we decided we wanted to make her  holiday just like they are here back home as much as we could.

so we got a little paper tree for her to hang on her wall.

but what's a christmas tree without ornaments?

 for family home evening we gathered around the table, tied mini sparkly bows, cut out ornaments from scrapbook paper, and covered everything we could in glitter, then sent it with love to her little missionary apartment in skarsville mississippi, so her and her companion could have fun decorating their own christmas tree. 

(high quality photo props goes to the iphone 4s... haha yeah i'm ready for a new phone)

tis the season

every year the day after thanksgiving the hill family heads out to find ourselves a Christmas tree.

 this is something my family has done since before I was born, and I'm so very thankful for this tradition, because nothing makes Christmas time more complete then walking in the door after playing in the snow and smelling fresh pine (and because nothing shouts selfie opportunity like being in a Christmas tree lot - clearly) 

my Friday night was spent with my mama listening to Michael bubles dreamy voice singing Christmas tunes, hanging ornaments on the tree, setting up nativities and putting out other red glittery decorations around the house.

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but before we get ahead of ourselves, in honor of thanksgiving this past week I'd like to express my gratitude for my savior and being raised in this amazing gospel, a loving and supportive family who serve me everyday and genuinely care about my health and happiness, and missionaries.

 I also find myself quite thankful for lipstick, tights, cuddling my kitty mable, the harry potter series, lush bath bombs, the turkey left overs in my fridge, mixing patterns, a heater in my car, babies, laughter, $10 footie pajamas from target, skipping first period to make my sister breakfast & much more. 

I hope there's Christmas lights on your homes and I hope December 1st treated you well. here's to the rest of a joyful holiday season and skyping sister hill in just a short 23 days.