Tuesday, January 31, 2017

A welcome home

On Monday, January 30th, we welcomed our son home from his mission in Japan.
He is home earlier than expected due to some health problems.  He tried to stay as long as he could but it was decided that he needed to come home to receive better treatment than he could get as a missionary in a foreign country.
It was a hard decision for him but it was made with much prayer and we all feel that it was the right thing to do.
He served with honor and served his Savior and the people of Japan well.  
We are very proud of him!

One of our neighbors helped us make a sign that said "Welcome Home Carter Hill" in Japanese

I was so happy to give him a big hug after 7 months of being away!




Even though he came in in the middle of the day, several of my family members were able to come to the airport to welcome him home.  I was so glad they were there.






A couple of my friends in the neighborhood got together and made a wonderful banner that they came and hung in our house so it was here when we got home.  We love it! 
They also brought donuts.  Donuts are always welcome.


We had a nice day together and he told us all kinds of great stories from his time in Japan.  He told us about all the food he loves and some about the food he really didn't love as well.  (He's not crazy about fish with the head, eyes etc intact...and I think I have to agree on that one)

Welcome Home Elder Carter Hill
We love you!

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Slam!

When we reinstalled our bedroom door after I finished painting it and the new carpet was installed, it was a bit snug.  It still swung open and closed but it dragged against the carpet.  We knew we would have to remove the door and cut it down a bit but we just couldn't bring ourselves to do it right away.
When you have multiple projects going on at once, it can get overwhelming and sometimes all you want is to be able to have a door on your bedroom, even if it doesn't close quite right.

I had several times when I would attempt to swing it shut behind me as I walked into the room only to have it move an inch or so and get stuck on the carpet.

So today we finally took the door down and Frank cut a little bit off the bottom.
It fits great now and swings shut as it should.

After he was done installing the door I said, "Finally I can slam the door when I get mad at you!"
To which he responded, "I've missed that."


Thursday, January 19, 2017

Birthday Poem

My Dad has written poems for special occasions for as long as I can remember.
This year, for my 50th, he stopped by with a special, handwritten poem just for me.
I sure love my parents!


Wednesday, January 11, 2017

2016 in review

  1. What did you do in 2016 that you'd never done before? Went to Hawaii

  2. What would you like to have in 2017 that you lacked in 2016? willpower and a regular workout schedule (pretty sure I put willpower in last year's review! oops)

  3. What dates from 2015 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
    June 22-the date Carter went into the MTC to serve his mission to Fukuoka Japan.

  4. What was your biggest achievement this year? Getting Frank to agree to redo the bathroom and replace the baseboards :-)

  5. What was your biggest failure? Hiring someone to do the bathtub tile.  Not that big of a deal in the scheme of things...but a lesson learned.

  6. Did you suffer illness or injury?  Just the usual.  

  7. What was the best thing you bought?  A new bathtub.

  8. Where did most of your money go? Wish I knew! House fixing probably.

  9. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Hawaii I guess.  I'm not sure I get really really really excited that often.  I was happy to have Carter graduate high school.  I was very happy to have him serve a mission (but no one gets super excited to send their kid off for a long period of time). I was very happy to visit Alaska and Oregon this year.  Redoing the bathroom made me happy.

  10. What song will always remind you of 2016? I doubt any will.

  11. Compared to this time last year, are you:
    a) happier or sadder?
     sadder 
    b) thinner or fatter?
     slightly thinner and working on it...
    c) richer or poorer? about the same

  12. What do you wish you'd done more of? Being creative

  13. What do you wish you'd done less of? working ha!

  14. What was your favorite TV program? The Good Place, This is Us

  15. What was the best book you read? Gosh I read a lot of books I liked.  See my book list of 2016 for all of them.

  16. What was your family's favorite children's book this year? Doesn't really apply.

  17. What did you want and get? White trim in my house, though it still isn't finished and in order to "get" it I have to do a lot of work! A remodeled bathroom.

  18. What did you want and not get? Hard wood floors

  19. What was your favorite film of the year? No idea whatsoever. I can name a few I didn't love...

  20. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 49 last January.  I now blog about what I do on each birthday so go here to read that.

  21. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2016? Comfortable and too big.  Plaid usually and often flannel.

  22. What kept you sane? a few trips to Alaska and occasional video chats (need more of those this year)

  23. Which celebrity did you fancy the most? I don't have time for celebrities.

  24. What political issue stirred you the most? UGH! Don't remind me.

  25. Who is the best new person you met? First I would say, Katy!  Austin's girlfriend.  We met her this summer and we really like her.  Also, all the gals at Seagull.  Some of them specifically make going to work fun (though I don't work that often, I admit)...you know who you are!

  26. Who did you miss? All my kids.  The grandkids. Hang out friends.  I need some.  Massachusetts people.  Pennsylvania people. etc.

  27. Tell us a valuable lesson you learned in 2016. I am pretty good at painting. I need friends. I never get tired of See's chocolates no matter how many I eat.  But I think I already knew all of those things.  I need to think on this one.
Favorite pictures from 2016

Senior Pictures


Boating

Making my Dad laugh way hard

The burned Bern

Disneyland!

Service with the sis

Videos and pictures from Alaska

Seeing old friends!

Hawaii

Carter goes through the temple

typical Carter

Entering the MTC

Alaska fun



More from Hawaii

Amber being amazing

Kaylee cuteness

Family fun in Oregon

Hanging with the Petersons!


Working on the house

Canning

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

The Birthday Party

Frank threw me a 50th birthday party on Saturday.
I told him last year on my birthday that I wanted a party when I turned 50...so the man really had no choice.  I mean, I gave him notice after all.
A year is plenty of time to plan.

And hubby did good.

He went overboard with the balloons which was a fun surprise.

It's basically a miracle that we got the place cleaned up enough to have people over.
We had all the carpet ripped up and just messes everywhere...but we had the main part of the house presentable by Saturday night.  Sadly we couldn't get on the schedule to get the new carpet in before the party but it worked out ok anyway.

He had these huge "party" balloons.  The "Y" popped but he just taped it to the wall!  It was hilarious and actually not very noticeable unless you really looked.




A big "50" for the front window.
No hiding my age.


Sidenote: All the balloons are still up around the house and it's now several days after the party.  I mentioned that we should take them down but Frank says they are staying up until they collapse...we are getting our money's worth! haa!
It's quite festive.

Decorations:
My sister Diane couldn't come to the party but she came during the day and helped Frank decorate.







We got the cake from a neighbor of ours who is an amazing baker.
The cake was gorgeous and soo delicious.


He also bought a second bundt cake.
He had planned for a big turnout...


Sadly, the weather didn't cooperate and we had lots of snow then some freezing rain before the party.
I started getting cancellation texts in a steady stream.
I also found out that some of the emails didn't go through or he didn't send them accidentally... and, therefore, he invited way less than he thought.

We had a nice time, though, with the neighborhood folks that came
(no excuses when you can walk to my house, right?)
So, there was plenty of food for everyone!

My sister was there with her daughters as well as Rebekah, Amber's sister.

I was really thankful to have them there!



My friend Erin, from work, was such a fun guest and fit right in though she didn't really know anyone else.
She gave me the amazing toilet paper gift. haa!

(She also attached a movie gift card to the bottom so that was nice)



A couple of neighbor gals gave me a bin full of hilarious gag gifts:
a shower cap, grey covering hair spray, compression socks and a box of mustaches


I also got a cute valentine's book written by my next door neighbor.  It's fun to know famous published authors!





I was grateful for those who braved the weather to attend and help me celebrate turning 50.


I'm not too freaked out by the age, I still feel young so I will say that I am.
Frank did put together a slide show of pictures and it's kind of hard to see how much you change.
The 30's were my best years, by far. 
haha


My birthday also means an anniversary of sorts that I can't help but think of each year...
Frank was diagnosed with Leukemia on my birthday 5 years ago.
I am so grateful to have him around and happy that we have reached the 5 year milestone.
Big party over here on April 4! 
his new life day?
Second birthday?
I never know what to call that day, the day he got the life-saving bone marrow transplant.
but whatever we call it, it's good!

Here's to a good year.
I've entered the 50's and I'm going to make the best of them!