"Why are you giving this to me"

Yesterday while on my way to work I saw a little boy out on the side walk selling something. I rolled down my window and saw that it was candy, and asked how much it was and he said $1. I said ok I'll take two candy bars, then I asked him what he was selling this for, he then said to me "I'm just trying to buy presents for my brothers".

My heart just sank. I then gave him another $5, and went to work. When I went to lunch he was still out there, so knowing I had some gifts in my car for our kids I pulled over and pulled out the only "boy" item we had and I handed it to him, and he said "no its ok" but I insisted and then he asked "why are you giving this to me" I told him that everyone deserves Christmas.

I couldn't help but think about this the rest of my day and even after buying a gift card for that family I still feel like I didn't do enough.

I also thought about my Savior and how many times I make mistakes or fall short and I have even asked "why are you giving this to me", and I wonder if he would respond " because everyone deserves Salvation"

Merry Christmas

Tysen turns 2

I'll have to post pictures later but on Friday our little guy turned two! Although he embraced the role of terrible two months ago, he settled into the number quit nicely as we celebrated to a Toy Story theme party. He was thrilled to blow out the candles that it actually took us lighting them 3 separate times just to get a picture.

I love how sweet and fun he is. He is busy, talks all the time, sleeps in a big bed, loves to color, plays with cars, trains and planes. He is all boy!

We are so enriched every day to have this little boy in our lives.

I love you Tysen so much

Christmas List

I think there are 5 things a women should have on her Christmas list (no order, just as it came to mind)

1.a hot pair of jeans to make your assets look AMAZING
2.something that is a trend, I always go for jewelry only because it is a small investment for a trend.
3. new music/book
4.a new fragrance, my suggestion for this year would be D&G The One or Gucci Guilty, or wait Chanel Chance En Tendure (spelling is wrong on that last one but you get it)...luv!
5.Breakfast in bed

Halloween

The kids were both super heros for Halloween. I didn't get any good pictures of them so instead here they are making Halloween cookies. Tysen had a great time trick or treating. As they would put candy in his bucket he's put it in his mouth, wrapper and all!

WhAt Up

Ok, it's been a while. I haven't forgotten I've been busy but just so you know these are some of the titles that I've thought of blogging about but haven't yet

I ran in front of a bus
we're getting married again
Get your hand out of your butt (and other strange things I say during the day)
3

So below I will highlight each title
I ran in front of a bus: I really did, I was crossing the street as the bus was pulling away from its stop and it was funny to me that I actually did that then soon realized, who does that?
We're getting married again- this actually just happened yesterday and i will explain further but we were asked to be the Bride and Groom of a marketing video which will air on the travel Chanel
Get your hand out of your butt- need I say more. Some times I giggle to think of the things I have to say to the kids
3- I know have 3 jobs. My latest adventure is a wedding planner at Chapel of the Flowers, which is the company that asked us to make the video. I've really enjoyed it and sometimes it does make for some long days, as I am still working for Macy's and the Blind Center, I have really enjoyed what I've been doing and the people I work with.

Ok I guess that's most of it. Justin just moved positions in work. He now works as the outside salesman for the company and the kids are busy busy. Adlen has been loving preschool and Tysen is talking so much. They are doing better about sleeping in the same room which has helped mom and dad not be exhausted

First Week of Preschool

This past Tuesday was Adlens first day of Preschool, ever! She has been so excited to go to school and she has loved every moment of it! She tells me that they paint, sing songs and they haven't learned numbers or letters, hmmm. I will have to post a picture later, as I have not taken one yet! But we're so thrilled of the big changes

If I could turn back time (to be sung in Chers voice)

I recently started a job working at the men's fragrance counter at Macys and I giggle every time I'm there. Last time I was working in a department store it was six years ago but I can't help but think of all those memories. What I love is that most of the people i knew then I still know and know even better. We have friendships and instead of the gossip of what everyone is doing, we're talking about husbands and children and what we're going to be when we grow up.
But for fun I want to list some of the things I think about when I work
- the first time I closed a register Ashley in fragrance showed me how to do it
-Arloha keeping her lipstick in her bra (not a bad idea when you're single and want to draw attention, but kinda sick otherwise)
-the boys, between all the girls that were there, there was a stream of them, whether it was sweet little Garrett, someone to flirt with or dear Ryan in customer service. And does anyone know what is going on with the girl from clinique and the nice boy who got married?
-what my body used to be like all those years ago, I do miss my flat tummy
-Angies stories
-The time I thought Jane wasn't going to eat her cookie, so I did, I thought it was funny, she didn't...hehe
-living with Amanda, great times, especially the car stalling on the way to work, and we drove together that day, it was the last time as well

I can go on and on but what I love is we were friends, all in different places in our lives, and for me, having just walked away from a life, I was relieved to have found a new one waiting for me!

Alright, fine, I'll blog

Ok I feel like I don't have much to write and haven't taken pictures lately but hers whats happening.
First- I love our new car! We have so much room and i love being able to get in the car and go some where
Second- Adlen is really enjoying her ability to make choices and has been using this choice quite often, I feel like shes always saying no, or she doesn't want to, or something to that effect. its driving me crazy, she's not my kids
Third- I've picked up a job with Macys at night working at the mens fragrance counter. With the holidays coming I thought it would be a great time to earn a little cash for our fam
Fourth-Tysen is getting so big and is talking so much.

I guess thats it for now. I know, not that great huh?

WOW

I can't believe how blessed my life has been. Justin and I have had our fair share of struggles but as we celebrate our 5 year anniversary, I'm glad those trials haven't been within our family. We've stressed over school or finances, what we want to be when we grow up and so on but one thing has always been the same, our relationship.
When I think about our little time together I can't help but think back to our whirlwind romance and how right we are for each other. Most people who date for 3 months and get married on a 10 day notice to friends and family don't survive. I've never once thought "maybe we should have dated longer", I've only always thought "we should have done this sooner". Many people have asked why so fast and I don't have one answer for them but more of trying to describe a feeling...home. When Justin and I met I felt like he was already my family and we had known each other forever. Anything that had to do with him was safe, and good for me and fun and exciting. He felt like my home. He is spontaneous and funny, kind, loving, handsome, hardworking and generous. Every quality that I would choose to have in someone, he is. And how lucky am i that not only did he want me but we were able to have to beautiful children together.
I can't describe what an amazing dad he is. He plays with them, hugs them, teaches them and laughs with them. One thing these kids will always know is that their dad loves them.
I can't wait for our next 5 years and see what it brings.

I made a little list of how things have changed and what is the same from our 1st year and now
Same:
I still love how he smells
he kisses me good morning before work, every morning (we added it up at least 1300 kisses )
we like to go on road trips
we laugh together all the time
we're always looking for something new to try and do or see
Different:
2 kids
we don't stay up late to play games (we do other things)
we've moved 4 times in our 5 years
I've finished school
Justin and I both have had different jobs, but I mostly stay home
we seem to talk about the kids when we're alone
date night is now McDonalds and a redbox (after the kids go to bed), its too expensive to pay a babysitter!

whats new

Just a few updates

Today while Adlen and I made spaceships out of play-doh, I asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said she wanted to go to school and kindergarten. Then I clarified, when she was my age what did she want to be. I threw out ideas like, work with animals, a doctor, a fireman, a laywer, a mom, a police officer...and so on. She then said those things are for boys (I hope she means police and fireman, not so much the mom thing), then after throwing out a few more thing we settled on she wants to do hair and make-up.

The big news...drum roll please...
we
are
excited
to annouce
we......
BOUGHT A CAR
(you thought something else, didn't you...if you know me and had those thougths, I now know you secretly hate me)
After 2 years of sharing a car, asking nieghbors and friends for rides, waking kids up at 5 to get Justin to work so that I could go to a meeting or doctors appointment and months of research and testing driving a dozen cars, we are excited about our 2006 Chrysler Pacifica. I love it! It was a perfect fit for us, 6 seats, in our price range and pretty decent milage (55,000). Its not the car I thought we would buy. I always thought of a more sporty suv but when I ran across this car and researched it, read reviews, I fell in love, and there were only 9 in Las Vegas, but 4 with the third row (a must for me this time). Anyway, I've had fun driving it and at night when everyone is sleeping, I sneak into the garage and sit in it.

Our 5 year is this Saturday, which I'll write more about later but I'm so excited about this mile stone and can't wait to start planning our next 5 years

Tysen is doing so well, he's all boy and loves to destroy and climb, some things he says are:
"oh man"
"shoo bug"
"shoes"
"there it is"
"milk"
"Addie"
"puppy"
"mommy"
"daddy"
"please"
"thank you"

Adlen is getting so excited about starting preschool this fall and is becoming more and more outgoing and loves to dance.

Work is going well for the both of us and we still manage to have a little time to ourselves. We are loving this moment in our lives!

A snap shot

Today I was teaching Tysen how to give rocks and Adlen said thats what my daddy does and I said thats right, our daddy is so cool and this what Adlen says "and so silly and so handsome"

I couldn't agree more

Family Pictures

Over the 4th Justins cousin took some new pictures of us, she took some right after we had Tysen so I thought it would be nice to update them!

4th of July

We went to California for the 4th. We usually like to spend it with Justins family because it is also Julies birthday. It was an interesting weekend. We drove in Friday night and spent Saturday at Coronado. Sunday we watched the local parade, lost our dog (but then he was returned Monday to our Aunts house and finally returned to Vegas this last Saturday), and played with sparklers. We also had Justins cute cousin take pictures of our family which I will post later.

Family visit

We were lucky enough to have my brother and his wife and kids come stay for a few days. It nice to have the cousins play and other adults to talk to. We did lots of fun things, my favorite, renting a boat and hanging out on the lake, I think this is our new hobby. we also hiked up to a lake that is in one of our state parks and had a picnic. We have crazy long days with kids up as early as 5:30, but I know these are the times we'll talk about in years to come.

Camping II

Adventures in Camping

We love camping and look forward to it every summer. We'd wanted to go sooner than this last weekend but were too busy. So we finally had the chance and packed up our stuff and left Friday. Now, usually we sleep in a tent but we weren't sure how Tysen would do so we opted to get a hotel and have Addie and dad sleep in a tent Saturday night. Only because when I told Adlen we were camping Friday she said "in a tent"? and I told her no we would sleep in a hotel and she said "mom, that's not camping", so we thought we would compromise. Any way we got in Friday night to Big Pine Ca, which is just on the other side of death valley, about a 4 hour drive. Justin went there as a kid and we went there last summer and loved it. Adlen loves to go fishing and did plenty of that, we hiked around and ended our day making s'mores. Now after talking with other campers they told us that it had snowed a few days earlier during the night, so with that we packed up our tent and went back to our hotel room and enjoyed sleeping in a warm bed.

18 months and counting

Tysen hits the big 1-8 this month which means (drum roll please)...NURSERY! (Church might actually mean something). I can't believe how fast it is going. I think to celebrate I'll put him in a music class. This kid loves to dance so I thought a class in which there is music and dance I can't go wrong. He likes to say so many things:

mom, dad, puppy, Addie (my favorite), ball, drink, thank you (another fav), more, baby, binki, bottle, tree, and there could be more but those are everyday words. He is starting to climb, alot, and of course still loves to put anything in his mouth. I think the next little while we'll work on phasing out the bottle and binki...wish me luck

more pictures

Where to start...

We celebrated Adlens birthday, started her dance class, I finished up with the census, and loved it and hope they give me more work. Submitted about 5 grants for the Blind Center. Tysen goes into nursery this month (yipee) and Justin is enjoying work and the kids and I just got back from a trip to California with my family. Adlens crab also died sometime while we were gone but Adlen took it well and I finally got the ugly tank off my counter! Today we also rented a boat and spent some time out on Lake Mead. It was nice to do something new and have time together before the week starts. And Tysen found a new wat to vacuum!

I feel Sexy

Ok, so I feel sexy, whats the big deal? Lately I've been feeling more beautiful and feminine. I'm not sure what it is, if it is even one thing or a combination of things. But it seems anything I do I've done feeling more sure of myself, almost like I have a little secret that I can giggle over.

Whatever it is I'm going to enjoy it!

Adlen turns 4

4, yes I said 4. Which means we are one year away from school! I'm getting so excited about these new phases of life but can't help but feel sad for what we are leaving behind. We no longer shop in the toddlers section, we shop in the girls section, she wants to pick out her own clothes and want to play in her room by her self. She is now in a dance class, and got a leotard for her birthday. We are at the stages that when she was little I would dream about. I'm so proud to be her mom. She brings so much love to our family.
(pictures to follow, they still haven't been uploaded)

Disney on a Dime

OK-- we just had the best vacation to Disneyland, and although there is probably too much to write I do want to share a little secret. We got out tickets from diztix.com we got our park hopper pass for $55 each. It was a steal and the park was open from 8 to midnight and we were there all day. So Disneyland was about $5 an hour, not too shabby. And at the end of the night, Adlen made a heart with her hand and said "this makes my heart happy"! After that, everything was worth it!

My little Justin

I never write about Justin, poor little guy, so I thought I would.

Aside from being the sexiest man alive (did I mention I once entered him in a contest with people magazine and since he didn't win, I no longer buy their magazine), the guy makes me laugh. I don't know what it is but he has such a wit about him that it never fails to surprise me.

He is a hard worker, working long days, up at 4:45 and in bed at 10:30, working either at his job or being with the kids while I work, its got to be rough on him and exhausting.

He always tells me how much he loves me, how beautiful I am, or I have a great smile...blah blah blah, I get it you think I'm hot (but I love it)

He is so smart

And what I love the most is that he might actually be the first mind reader, I don't know how he does it but he has me figured out even before I do, what I'm thinking, feeling, mad about, happy about, frustrated with or planning.

Its scary

So much to blog, so little time

Just a recap
Adlen gave her first talk in Primary yesterday, she did great and I was so excited for her
I won't be working at Deseret Industries after this week, instead, at the end of the month I will be working for the census, and it pays better. I'm still working as a grant writer and love it. Once things in the economy turn around and I gain more experience I think this will be a good fit for the long run.
Justin is doing well at work. They had a few slow months in January and February, but they have seen improvements the last month or so
Tysen is getting so big that on occasion I find myself baby hungry, then I remember whats its like to go from pregnancy to this stage, no thanks.
We are starting feel like we are recovering from Justin loosing his job. He won't be able to recover the 7 weeks he wasn't paid for but he will get back unemployment, which will help a bit.
So if nothing else we are all doing well and are looking forward to the next few months with excitement!

"I love you and like you"

I'm not sure how it was started but the last month or so, every night Adlen will say, as I'm leaving her bedroom, "I love you and like you". It usually goes like this "Goodnight Adlen" "goodnight mom, I love you and like you". It is the most precious sentence that comes out of her mouth, and that she wants to say it, so I usually say it back and always think to myself, she is so sweet!

Easter Egg Hunt

Our play group had an Easter Egg Hunt this last week and since Tysen wasn't walking this time last year, it was a fun little adventure for him. He would pick one up but it would fall back on the ground, but he thought he was finding a new one, so he was really excited about all the ones he was finding even though they were the same 4. Addie cleaned up the place, after about a 2 minute gap in which I was taking pictures of Tysen she had already filled her little bag up...we later had to share with friends since there wasn't enough for them!

Some things I love about Tysen

I posted about some of the things that I loved about Adlen so I thought I'd write about Tysen.

I love how he's busy
He loves to investigate everything, with his mouth ("sorry little guy, you can't eat that rock")
He screams anytime he wants something and I appreciate his sense of urgency, very much like his mom, I want things done before I even ask ("what, you can't read my mind"?)
He tries to be soft, it usually turns into pulling the dogs ear or Adlens hair (I wonder if he thinks its another pet on her head). But he does make an effort, even for a split second.
He gives kisses
He will on occasion walk up to me and rest his head on my shoulder, I think this is how he hugs.
He has the cutest smile and the biggest eyes.
He is pretty easy going and likes to be involved.
He tries to copy Adlen on everything she does, which means he's now trying to wash his own hair and walk down the stairs, which sometimes doesn't always work out.
And with that being said I love how forgiving he is. It seems that no matter how busy I get or distracted and can't always be by his side, he still is happy, and lets me hug and kiss him, and play with him and he always greets me with excitement and a huge smile!

sick and tired

Ok, after a few months off and just dragging my feet I have renewed my enthusiasm for Mary Kay. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, so I'm back on the horse excited to earn a little extra money each month. I don't normally ask for things and some of you have helped in the past and I really appreciate that so don't feel obligated but anything would be great, even if you refer someone my way. Now, I know Mary Kay isn't every ones cup of tea but some products are really great that other company's don't offer. My website is up and running and anyone who wants to can do a online party. All it takes is for you and 6 other friends to get on line and order (and when you order $45.00, you get a free gift with purchase), so easy, just let me know that on X week you and you're friends will be getting online to ensure you get the hostess credit. Hostess credit works like this you get the total amount of sales in a % off your order, so you sell 100, you get 10% off, $200, 20%, and up, when you have bookings you get an additional 5% added ($100 in sales and 1 booking, 15% off, 100 in sales and 2 bookings 20% off). And bookings can be done online as well (meaning somone who orders during your party gets 6 more people to go online).
So there is my soap box. I will be continuing to work my other part time jobs so tell customers that when they order it may be a few days after I close before I submit the order. I also have product on hand and will strive to keep it updated.
Thank you so much
www.marykay.com/khill0212

2

This number seems to be ever present in my life. To give you a recap:
I have 2 children
I have 2 jobs
I have 2 callings
And now to add to the list I have 2 warrants out for my arrest. If you recall back in September our dog got out a few times and our animal right activist neighbor called animal control, which lead to 2 citations. To resolve animal control citations you have go to court to resolve it. Well one was for December 29th, which I knew I couldn't be at because we would be in Hawaii. So, on the 24th I went down town to change my date and the woman who was helping me looked for my citations and couldn't find them in the system, she looked by my name, citation number, and my social security number and found nothing. So she said they were probably thrown out and I went on with my life. Since then I decided to volunteer at the Boys and Girls club and part of being a volunteer you need to be finger printed. So last week at 8 am I marched in there to get my finger prints but was told they couldn't issue my finger prints because I have two warrants for my arrest. I was livid!
So my name is Katie and I'm a criminal
PS- I contacted my lawyer to have the warrants removed but I'm still waiting for my court date to explain that apparently I can't trust the clerks at the court house.

Drum roll please...

Before



After

After many months of Justin's hard work our kitchen is done. With a few more cupboards to hang it will be complete and it is beautiful! Thanks honey for not letting me have an ugly kitchen (even though you do most of the cooking)!

San Diego

The Crown room at Hotel Del (where my grandmother used to perform violin, also who Addie is named after, sorta)

The view from our hotel balcony

I love, love, love San Diego, it is my favorite downtown (well that I've visited so far) so for my birthday we thought we would do a little trip and celebrate birthday and Valentines day. We drove in Friday night and stayed at Justin's grandparents house, where his mom is also living. We played in the morning then around 10 left the kids to hang out down town and have a night alone. Last year we did this and we went to San Diego but didn't get to downtown until 5 and we thought we needed more time. So this time we went earlier and we took a pedicab to the ball park and then took a water taxi to Coronado Island, where Hotel Del Coronado is (where "Some like it Hot" was filmed). We strolled through the hotel and walked on the beach and walked through town to the other side of the Island and took the ferry back. We had a great time shopping in down town and having lunch and dinner. In the morning we had breakfast with his cousins and then headed back to his grandparents, then drove home. It was a great weekend and now as part of our 10 year plan we want to own a condo downtown San Diego, I looked on line and it wasn't so bad, especially in this economy, but in 10 years, who knows?