MAYLIN2007

After several years of begging, I finally gave into Alex and am letting him play tackle football. So far so good. He loves it and I love the fact that he hasn't gotten hurt. :) Today was his first unofficial game. I had to crack up when I got to the game and saw Alex's game helmet with the gigantic X on it. That means he is an X-man or over the weight for his age group. Well, duh. But do you have to mark him with an X. I would hate having an X on my head just because I am bigger than the people my age. Obviously, this is done for safety reasons. He isn't allowed to run the ball either. He can only be on the line. For example, Alex weighs 107. The age limit for his age groups is 90 pounds. Imagine if in ran it and a kid 20 pounds under him tried to stop him. They figure he is okay against the big kids they put on the line. **To find him in the pictures he is number 59 or the one with the X on his head. He did great today. He recovered two fumbles and had some great tackles....

Over a week ago, we planned a day at the zoo with our very good friends Em and Nate. Maylin and I have been SO excited. Everyday, Maylin would say, "I am going to see Em." Today, was exactly what she had hoped for! Pure fun! The girls had a great time. They are so cute together. My favorite moment was when Em and Maylin were asking each other what their favorite colors were. Em said pink (actually she pointed to her pink shirt) and Maylin said blue. Funny thing, Em's mom said Em's favorite color was green and Maylin has always said Pink was hers. Not sure what was going on today. I can't believe how much taller Maylin is to Em....but then it is the same height difference with the moms. Thanks for going with us Em and Nate! We loved it.        

Sweet or dill? I chose to can dill. They are my fav. Yep, it is the beginning of canning season here at the Hill house. Today I did peaches and pickles. It was the first time I have ever tried cucumbers to pickles...and it wasn't bad at all. Don't they look pretty?   Tomorrow I will try spaghetti sauce. Never done that before either. I have so many tomatoes and my food storage is already filled with diced and stewed, thus the attempt at spaghetti sauce.

For my youth activity tonight, we went to the city cemetery to see President Hinckley's grave. We talked about what we remembered most about him and some of our favorite things about him. We also had a lesson on virtue and we made a virtue flag in which all the girls put their hand print and a promise of what they will do to be virtuous. It was so awesome!!!The night included gourmet mini cupcakes. They were delicious....even their names are delicious. Examples....the Doris Day cupcake, the breakfast at Tiffany's, the diva cupcake....I could go on. And I did. I ate 3!!!        

My last few posts have been quite serious, so here is a taste of the lighter side that happens so frequently at our house. Maylin to Kenzie: "Watch" She proceeds to fall to the ground with her eyes closed and tongue hanging out of the side of her mouth. She then sits up and says, "I was dead." Then she says, "Watch this." She stands up, puts her hands on Kenzie's head and says, "Now I am Jesus."

First, thanks to all the many who prayed for my little great nephew. Sheldon has truly been a miracle. We went up to the hospital last night. Sheldon had been awake for about 3 hours. I couldn't believe it. I was expecting to still see an unconscious little boy, but instead he was awake. He was quiet, but awake. A miracle has taken place. They still happen. The doctors can't find any sort of brain damage. Now all that is left is to observe and see if his behavior returns to normal. The doctors say if it returns within 48 hours, he should be fine. He recognizes everyone and answers and asks questions. He is not back to normal, but we feel he will be within that 48 hours. Miracle!!! He has pneumonia, but that is expected. What a blessing. Today, I was reading Gracie's blog (a blog about the baby who died after a heart transplant). There is a wonderful video with a song written by Paul Cardall for Gracie. This led me to the new post on Paul Cardall's blog. The link to his...

My little great nephew, Sheldon, age 3, drowned today. They were able to revive him and he was life-flighted from the state they live in to the children's hospital here in our area. It is a wait and see game on lung and brain damage. Please add him and his family to your prayers.

I can't believe it is the close of summer and that school will be starting on Monday. Today was our "meet the teacher" at the kids' school. It was exciting, yet as a mother a bit sad as I realized my kids have grown up right before my very eyes. This year Austin will be in 11th, Kenzie in 8th, and Alex in 5th. Maylin keeps asking when she gets to go to school. I told her soon. But not too soon I hope. I need a little one still. Oh, what happened to my babies? Our summer was great. We loved being together. It was our first summer in 2 years that was surgery free. What a happy summer. Here are some more pictures of our summer.        

I have lost my voice. So not much to say...hee hee. But, really, have you seen anything better than this?    

I have been gone since the 10th to girls camp for our church. It is for girls between 12 and 18. I obviously went as a leader. It was a great time. One of the things we asked the girls to do was to "happy prank" several other girls in the camp. That way everyone would get "pranked". So many wonderful things were done! Here are a few pictures: A silent doorbell ditch, egging (which included plastic eggs filled with candy), mooned (which included paper moons and a pillow case from moon fabric.) This idea was a huge hit. The plunger pictures below was made by yours truly. I called it the Golden Plunger and each night it, along with a bag of treats, was given to the girls with the cleanest cabin. It became quite the competition. The first winners, built this "shrine" to the plunger. The best part of camp was having McKenzie there with me!! .     .   I also took the opportunity to have camp be another step in overcoming my fears. Anyone in my family will know t...

I have never really been a boater or enjoyed the water. For some reason, I was raised to be a bit nervous of the whole water activity thing. However, this summer I decided to bite the bullet and join my family in having some fun in the lake. You know what? It wasn't that bad. I had fun on the tube except for when it got bumpy. That is scary. And It wasn't my favorite moments when Jay flew off, leaving me hanging on for dear life. I only let go because my body was dragging in the water and my bottom half of my swim suit ended up around my knees! The kids had a blast, of course. Maylin took to the water like a minnow. The boys enjoyed jumping from a bridge....Austin took some serious time, bribery, begging, offers of money and finally some help from a kind stranger, to get him off and then he was hooked! Very good times       !!!   Of course, Maylin was so cute...I think we all said that over and over, "Isn't she cute" that I had to do this fun photo shoot. What do ...

The other day while driving in the car Maylin said to me, "Hey! Feel my pit, man" She had her arm raised and her other hand was rubbing her underarm. I didn't know what to think, but followed the command. I felt her arm pit and she said, "Feels like Austin, huh?." What? No clue, but humorous on many levels. One, she called me man, two, what a weird request and 3, her armpit feels like Austin?