Deck The Halls

Here's a little showcase of how we decked the halls for Christmas this year. We gave a little Christmas sparkle to everyday items or home decor we already had by adding some inexpensive gold snowflakes (I think they were about a dollar or two for a pack at Target) and leftover bulbs from the tree. In past years I've bought a garland from Costco but to save a little cash I stopped by a tree lot and they gave me some free branches. After about an hour and $3 worth of wire I had a garland that was ready for some embellishment with ribbon and shiny ornaments. For me, it just wouldn't be Christmas without a Snow Village. Or a Nativity.

Saying Goodbye

Kellen's Great Uncle John passed away. John was such a great person and made me feel part of the Hilton family from day one. He had a way of making you feel loved and at ease whenever he was around. He would always greet me with a hug and a sincere "How are you?". He was such a great person and he makes me want to be a better person, especially a better friend. I think if everyone were like John, no one would ever be lonely. I will miss him but am so happy that he is with his Josephine again. I'm grateful to know that death is not the end and that we will see him again and get one of his big hugs.

Spontaneity

Kellen had fall break so I decided to take Friday off so we could spend some quality time together. We started driving South and I was pretty sure he was heading toward the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry but I didn't want to spoil the surprise. I always beg to stop at the Quarry when we are on our way home from Powell or camping but without fail it's always closed by the time we get there. Sure enough, we were headed for the Quarry. Well, it wouldn't be a trip if we didn't pop a tire. We got it changed and were on our way.

We pulled up to the Quarry and I was really excited. We went inside and bought our tickets. I asked the guy where I could see the most bones (I had it in my mind that we were going to a quarry, you know, a big pit with lots of bones being uncovered). He looked at me really weird and said all the bones were in the building in the back. The building in the back was one of those temporary buildings made out of metal. It did have bones but it wasn't much to see. We decided to walk on one of their trails hoping to see something cool. They had random markers at different sights in the desert which pretty much just marked clumps of dirt. It was pretty sad. We laughed about how bad it was.

So when we had changed the tire it didn't seem to go on quite right. Kellen was pretty worried about it so we headed back to Big O in Price. The people there were really nice, figured out the problem and sent us on our way, free of charge.

With half of Friday gone we were trying to decide what to do next. We could go right and head back home or we could turn left and head south. We decided to head South and ended up in Moab. I didn't know we wouldn't be going home so I didn't pack anything. Kellen on the other hand had packed some camping gear, and a change of clothes, just in case.

We got there pretty late and started looking for a campsite. Moab was packed. There wasn't an open campsite to be found and most of the inexpensive hotels were booked. Of course we decide to be spontaneous on the busiest weekend of the year. One cool thing that came out of our search for a campsite in the dark is we got to see Milk Jug arch with a star filled sky behind it. Pretty romantic.

Lucky for us, Kellen's cousin lives in Moab and was nice enough to let us crash with him. We had dinner at a really good Italian restaurant on Main Street and fell asleep watching a movie.

On Saturday morning we walked up and down Main Street. We window shopped and went in a cool little art gallery and a book store. Since Arches was so packed, Kellen's cousin suggested some less traveled attractions for us to check out. They turned out to be perfect. First, we went to Cable arch. There was only one other couple there. It is a little bit of a walk but not bad at all.

Then we went to Birthing Rock.

This one was Kellen's favorite because the guy looks like he has a backpack on and a walking stick.

We went back to Moab and had lunch at the cutest cafe ever. I loved it and loved being there with him. After lunch we headed back toward home. On the way we stopped at Dead Horse Point. The view was pretty cool.

Talk about a whirl wind trip. We finally did something spontaneous. What crazy spontaneous trip have you been on lately? I'd love to hear about it.

Yard Sale!

We had our first yard sale. We go to yard sales every so often and at the last one we said to each other that we should be having a yard sale, not going to them. Over the years we had collected some extra stuff that needed to go. There is probably still some stuff that needs to go. I went through the house and tried to be ruthless. If we don't use it, don't like it or don't need it, it needed to go. It felt good to get rid of stuff, especially when I could see it would make someone else happy again.

Overall it turned out to be a success even though Kellen was ready to be done after about a 1/2 hour. I really didn't think it was that bad. Most of the work was rounding everything up and pricing it. I recommend pricing everything. That way you don't have people asking you how much something is every ten seconds. I just bought those cheap dot price stickers from Target. The other handy dandy thing I came up with is using old political signs, the ones that have a stand that stick in the grass, to attach your yard sale sign to. They worked great. The signs didn't fall over because they had the support from the political sign and they were ready to stick in the grass. I also used neon poster board (I felt like my eyes were burning because they were so bright while I was painting the signs) and I used black paint to make really bold type that would grab people's attention. I also made arrows pointing in the direction of our house.

The most ironic thing of the day was when we were taking some tables back to my parents house that we had borrowed to put stuff on, we saw signs for an estate sale. Well, estate sales are usually pretty good. I couldn't resist taking a peek. I laughed because some of the people that came to our sale were at the estate sale and said hey, weren't you just having a garage sale? I walked away with a really cool gold frame for $3. I ended up blowing up a picture of my Grandma Mary to put in it. It looks really fabulous. Now if I can just figure out where to hang it.

Powell

August rolled around and we headed to Powell. We drove down with Zane and Marina. We were packed so tight in our little car, I don't think we could have fit one more thing. It took some effort to get the trunk closed. I think Kellen might secretly be a magician because I don't know how he ever fit our stuff, Zane and Marina's stuff plus some food we were supposed to bring. When we were unpacking I felt like we were the clowns getting out of the tiny car. I still laugh when I think about it. Anyway, while we were there we did a little hiking. . . A little fishing. . . (okay, Kellen fished a lot, I did a little fishing)

Saw some ruins which were really cool. . .

And it rained a lot! Which was really awesome because waterfalls were starting everywhere. But it wasn't so fun for sleeping.

It was still nice to get away. I read a book. Got to spend time with Kellen and the fam. Got to see some old friends of Kellen's parents we hadn't seen in a long time. And just plain chill out from the madness happening at work.

5th Anniversary

I love you more now than ever. I am a lucky, lucky girl. Us, On Our Honeymoon

Guatemalan Birthday

Kellen spent his birthday in Guatemala this year. He traveled there with the pre-med club from UVU. He stayed with a surgeon and his family, Dr. Gabriel Xitumul, who we had the privilege of meeting while he was in the States with some medical students from Guatemala. We so appreciate the hospitality he and his family showed Kellen while he was there. They even lit fire crackers and made Kellen put his face into his birthday cake (hey, its tradition!)

Kellen had so many opportunities while he was there. You'll have to ask him about all of them. A couple of the highlights are that he got to scrub in and watch (and occasionally help) in surgery. He loved it! He got to do some service while he was there. And he got his butt kicked in soccer. He came back just in time to watch the 4th of July fireworks with me. Can you tell how elated I am that he is home? Every e-mail and phone call were like Christmas morning. When you see Kellen, be sure to ask him about Guatemala, he will fill you in on all the details. Maybe if we are lucky, he'll write a guest post on how it was.

My First 5k

I ran my first 5k this summer. I chose the Strawberry Days 5k. My brother, Joe, decided a week before to run it with me. It was fun to have someone to train with for the last week. I am by no means a fast runner. In fact, even though I outran Joe the week before the race, he beat me! I insist it is because there were so many cute girls to run after. He couldn't help but win. Although I wanted to beat Joe really bad, my main goal was just to finish. So I'm pretty proud of myself. Maybe next year I'll try a 10k and a half marathon.

Me and Joe before the race

Joe racing to the finish with blazing speed. See the cutie ahead of him? :)Me and Kellen at the finish line.

Me and Joe after the race

Swell

We went to the San Rafael Swell this spring with our friends Mike and Katrina. We had a great time. I even got to check something off my bucket list. We saw wild horses, twice!!! They were beautiful. I thought I would never get to see them but they were hanging out right outside our camp. I wanted to leave a trail of carrots for them but Kellen said that would be a bad idea.

As usual we had all sorts of crazy experiences. I tried to learn how to ride a motorcycle. It didn't go very well. I shot forward, almost ran into our tent and then was too scared to get back on. Mike and Trina popped a tire, but right before that, me and Trina were really baja-ing through the desert. :) We also went on a hike down the Muddy River. It was beautiful. Walking though the river was so refreshing and the scenery was spectacular. Here we are stopping for a snack. . .
Kellen and I hiked down quite a ways. It was beautiful and I felt lucky to be there with him. Mike and Trina had to leave early so Kellen and I were on our own for a day or so. We have one of those National Geographic maps (which I highly recommend) and it has a list of hikes and sights to see so we picked one and went for it. We decided to hike Bell Canyon and Little Wild Horse Canyon. They link together into one hike. We were there on a holiday so everyone had headed home by then so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Except for this little lady. . . (Well, I think it was a girl)

The canyon was really spectacular. I highly recommend checking it out. We took a motorcycle and the truck so we could leave the motorcycle at one end of the hike and the truck at the other, it cut way down on walking time. I recommend doing that if you can. So we had been on some pretty bumpy roads earlier in the day and Kellen promised me he would only take smooth roads back to the camp. Well, the road we took was definitely not smooth. Its called behind the reef. I'm not sure exactly how to describe it. We turned the corner to descend down into the valley and there were boulders covering the road. Just to have an added bonus, to the right of the road was a pretty steep drop off. I seriously did not want to drive down that road. I could see the perfectly smooth road down in the valley, we just needed to get there, alive. So to make things even better, Kellen decided I was going to drive and he was going to direct me where to go. I swear I was about to drive right off the cliff half the time and was ready to cry the entire time. The extended bed was scraping over the rocks as we went down. My body was shaking. But, Kellen guided us safely down the road. Right as we were almost to the bottom a guy came up on his four wheeler to ask if we were okay. Kellen said yes. I said we better be at the bottom. Thank goodness the worst part was over. The guy was really nice, he looked up at the road and said "holy cow, my wife would never drive that." And neither will I, ever again. We must have guardian angels.

We got to the bottom of the road and sure enough. The sign clearly states that the road is only for four wheelers and altered Jeeps. There was a list of vehicles that had made it down the road. I should have added our names and put that we drove a stock 1994 Toyota pickup with an extended bed with the tailgate down (because we had the motorcycle in the back) down the road and lived to tell the tale. Maybe if I'm ever in the area (driving on the smooth road) I'll add us to the list.

Ruined Going Big

Kellen encouraged me, If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. And I will. Only 1/3 of Going Big got ruined by my vision gone wrong. So I'll wait for the disaster to dry and then paint over it. I'm sure the greats like Michelangelo painted over their mistakes, right? I also had a linseed oil disaster while working on Big. Do you ever see something that is about to happen but can't react quickly enough to stop it? I could see the paintbrush covered in a deep delicious cobalt blue slipping from its place only to have me try to catch it while holding an entire bottle of oil (this all took place in the kitchen by the way). The paintbrush still ended up on the floor and so did half the bottle of oil. While cleaning up the slippery mess I managed to find more vanilla that had escaped our efforts to clean up after the Vanilla spill of 2010.

On a side note, I've decided to run a 5k in June.

The Wall

I ran 3 miles yesterday. I didn't think I could do it. I had told myself, you can only run a half mile at a time. I had told Kellen that earlier in the week but with his help we did a mile and half that day. I still didn't think I could do the 3 miles, but I was going to try. After the first third of my run when I was on a gradual incline, I wanted to slow down. I was hitting the wall. It was then I realized, no one is telling me I can't do this but me (and maybe my thighs that were screaming at me at that point). I am the only one holding me back from doing what I want to do. Then I started thinking, you can do this and you're going to be able to say that you did it. And I did do it. I'm pretty proud of myself.

The principle applies in other areas of life. Sometimes we just get in our own way. We put our blinders on and say this is what I am/or am not. Or this is what I am capable of and no more. Who says you can't wear that color or put yourself out there to make new friends, talk to someone new, try something new, eat a crazy food, get on the right track, etc? Satan tries to instill fear in us. Telling us we can't when the Lord is the parent at the end of the finish line, cheering us on, telling us with Him, nothing is impossible. We just have to be like the Engine that Could and say "I think I can, I think I can". What mental block are you going to tear down this week?

Hairy Question

I've had my bangs for a few years now and I feel change in the air. But what should I change to? I like the pixie cut and have always wanted to get one. I tried a little longer short style before and I hated it. I didn't know what to do with that length of hair. But with a pixie, I wouldn't need to do much with it. Would I look like a boy? I thought this was cute and do-able with my hair. I probably wouldn't dye my hair so we're just looking at the cut here.

This is really cute. Although, if I'm being honest, it would be in pony or a bun a lot. This style would be Kellen's vote.

Or, I could keep my bangs. They are great for hiding zits on my face. And my hair behaves.

Big Brother Birthdays

Both of my big brothers had their birthdays this week. I can't tell you how awesome these two guys are. David single handedly developed my love for hard rock by blaring it in his room while we were growing up, he'll shop till you drop, and could sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman in a white suit.

Joe was my playmate growing up. We did lots of things together from throwing snowballs to playing Lego's and riding bikes. Joe is hilarious and can find the humor in every situation. He is always teasing and making jokes. Both of these boys have the biggest hearts you can imagine and I couldn't ask for better big brothers. Happy Birthday!

Puss In Boots

This is hilarious! I love Shrek movies and Puss is my favorite!

Welcome Distraction

My plans for the evening were interrupted by unexpected thunderstorms. By unexpected I mean I haven't been paying attention to the weather. I love how life brings happy distractions that are probably better than the plan I had. First of all, I got to spend some time with Kellen and I must say he looked as hot as ever when he walked in the door wearing a blue button down and jeans. Anyway, I got to spend some time with him and then a friend and Kellen's brother stopped by and chatted with us for awhile. That made me happy. The evening was topped off with dinner which included freshly picked asparagus from the orchard. And on a side note, my peas are finally coming up! I was starting to think I had buried them too deep or didn't water them enough but they are sprouting. :) Maybe that is a good sign for the growing year and I'll be able to get carrots to grow.

Green Stained Toes

I got off work an hour early today and painted some of my old pots and two pots my mother-in-law gave me. I have loved the cobalt blue planters I've seen in nurseries and home improvement stores so I decided to take a can or two of spray paint to my old, beat up pots. Although, I don't know I would classify them as cobalt blue but I like them anyway and I think they'll look good with the color of my house.

I've been admiring everyone's yards. (Checking out all the fabulous things people do to their homes and yards is my favorite thing to do while running/walking) I have to commend everyone on the creative, and beautiful things you are doing to improve your homes. You inspire me to do better on my own yard. I'm sure during our first few years of home ownership our neighbors were ready to take a bottle of roundup to our yard and have probably drudged through our jungle of a yard to tap on the window to see if anyone was still alive in there who's going to mow the lawn in the next decade. We've improved slightly since then. ; )

Anyway, to make my yard look a little more like yours, I mowed the lawn in flip flops today. I learned how to mix the fuel and oil for the weed eater. It is a little embarrassing that I've never done that before, especially since I've been mowing lawns and weed eating for 12+ years, but Kellen or my Dad have always had some mixed fuel hanging around in the shed so I've never had to do it before. I think they both thought it was funny when I called to ask for advice in an attempt to prevent burning up the weed eater. But, I'm happy to report that the weed eater engine has not seized up and the spark plugs seem to be in working order so I guess I didn't screw it up that bad. As for not screwing up everything else today, I don't think I was quite so lucky. Sorry about that.

P.S. I really like the show, Glee and I sat like a lump watching TV after my manual labor stint because my body had forgotten it had the muscles you use for yard work so they hurt.

Blooms & Snowcones

The snow was so slushy, you could make a snow cone out of it. It was warm enough that going fast helped cool me down. Lost my ski a few times, got snow in my shirt. One of the best skiing days all year. It was really bright. Can you tell? I'm glad we wore sunscreen. I saw a girl with coon eyes.
Then I get to come home to these beauties opening (thanks Dad!) and 75 degree weather.

I love spring. P.S. Enjoy the Sunday Tunes longer this week. I need the calming influence.

Bianca

Check out Bianca! Her music is fabulous. . . www.biancamerkley.com

P.S. I'm in Love

Amie had this sweet little guy last week. And she took a this fabulous photo of him. : )

Hint Hint

Here is a tiny sneak peek of Going Big. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to finish it this last weekend. The weekend was full of Easter parties, general conference, baking, not feeling very good, and spending time with family.

I made my first batch of strawberry jam yesterday and I must say it turned out fabulous. I am pretty proud of myself.

The weather has been stormy here lately and it reminds me of our time in California last year. It also made me think of the challenges we were facing at the time and how those challenges have only made me stronger. My heart has been softened in a lot of ways over the last year. About this time last year we discovered a lump that caused concern. Kellen had noticed it before but I brushed it off, not really wanting to deal with it. I had had some other issues earlier in the year that made the lump seem more alarming. We were in California when I realized it was not normal. Most of our trip was laced with worry but the ocean, the cozy cold weather, and the majestic redwoods were healing for the soul. I thought seriously about my life. I thought about what was important and what I couldn't stand losing. I had a lot of fear of the unknown. It made me more nervous that even Kellen felt an urgency to get me checked out. I also felt a tremendous amount of faith from him during the whole ordeal, faith that I needed. As soon as we got home I went to the Dr. to get checked out. Sure enough they felt what I felt with the addition of a few more lumps. She ordered an ultrasound. I became more and more concerned as I went from having one technician to two to having both technicians and the radiologist checking me out. With Kellen by my side we were all looking at the screen at a what looked like (to me) a huge mass. Tears started to well up thinking about how this could alter my life and my body. The radiologist assured me that he thought what I was seeing/feeling was within the normal range and that I should just keep an eye on it but that he would send the results back to my doctor to confirm his feeling. My blood work came back clear and my Dr. agreed with the radiologist. I know many people who have come away from appointments just like that not so lucky and I realize this event in my life is very silly compared to what other people go through. But for me, it was the lessons that I learned that spring. I learned that the Lord is very aware of us and that he has a plan for me. All of this and a few other things that are too personal to mention here happened during and in the wake of my makeover last year. That is why I say it was a revolution for my soul. Those experiences helped me gain perspective of what I want in life and for eternity.

So back to the present. . . I love the mix of warm and snowy weather. I got my peas planted and am eagerly watching for them to poke their heads up out of the soil. My bulbs are getting ready to burst and show us their colorful petals. My sweet Dad came down and pruned my trees even though he is hurting from a recent fall. Thanks Dad! I feel like a lucky girl.

Be part of my next art project

Believe it or not I have been working on Going Big lately. I am really excited about the direction it is going in and I might be able to finish it this weekend. I will post some pictures when I get a chance to upload them. Since Going Big is wrapping up soon I wanted to get your help on one of my next pieces. Please post whatever words have made up your life. The first word I am proposing is love. Love is what creates life, love is what gets us through life, and sometimes love is what challenges us. When we leave this life, love is what we take with us.

I am going to need thousands of words so don't be shy. Nothing is stupid or silly. Feel free to ask your friends. Do not post profane or vulgar things. Let's keep this clean but realistic. Not everything has to be a positive since life isn't always a pleasant experience. Feel free to e-mail me your words if you feel more comfortable doing that. Thanks!

Awesome Quote

"Write injuries in sand, kindnesses in marble." - French Proverb

5 Years Ago

Today feels the same as the spring Kellen asked me to be his wife. It brought back good memories. If he asked me again today I would say yes with more conviction than ever. Our road together hasn't always been easy but I would do it all again in a second. Love you babe!

Sweet

My fabulous neighbor made these rice krispies dipped in chocolate. So I bet you can guess how my night is going : ). She is fabulous! I hope each of you know that you inspire me in different ways. Thank you for that.

Get Your Goofy On

I am finally back to the land of the living after sinus infection number two. The weather has been nice lately and I have been hankering to get outside. Today seemed like the perfect day to get out and about and get some exercise. I looked really goofy in my outfit but I was warm so who cares. As you can see I sported the visible socks with leggings, always a hot combination. Hopefully I can finish kicking this thing, keep any more illnesses at bay and get back into a healthy routine. After all, there are things to do and a life to be lived. Although I haven't worked on Going Big for a couple weeks I have been re-evaluating my original plan and I've come up with something to make it even better so stay tuned.

Not a whole lot has been going on lately. Last Saturday I scrubbed all the floors and some of the baseboards then on Monday while making cookies I knocked the Costco size bottle of vanilla off the counter. There was vanilla everywhere! It was up the walls, on the window, on the cabinets, all over the floor, and even went into the dining room. Kellen could hear me squawking that there was vanilla everywhere and came to the rescue. He cleaned the floor while I scrubbed vanilla off the walls, baseboards and cabinets. Thank goodness he was there. I think I would have had a mental breakdown. My kitchen did smell really good for awhile.

So Lucky

I love that no matter what the day brings, I get to come home to a hug from him.

Dear Sinuses,

Please stop hurting me. I don't appreciate it and neither do my teeth. I thought we were done with this.
Love,
Lisa

p.s. Leave Kellen alone too.

Dreaming

It feels like spring today even though when I look out my window I see a winter wonderland. I'm not sure what it means but I like it. I dreamt about riding horses again last night. I learned to ride when I was little and instantly fell in love with it. Some people find their freedom in running or driving fast cars but I feel completely free on the back of a horse. No batteries, no fuel, no electricity. Just me, a saddle, a horse, galloping. Despite my love for it, I don't get to go very often. In fact, I haven't been on a horse in years. I do stop to feed and pet the local horses which satisfies my hunger for a little while. Somehow, I've got to find a way to start riding again.
On another note, Going Big is almost dry and ready for the next step.

Came home to this. . .

I was expecting to come home to a heap of laundry to fold. To my delight I came home to nicely stacked piles. He even knows not to fold my shirts. : ) He is my hero. What little thing has someone done for you today that made you happy?

Update on Going Big

I have been working on my Go Big or Go Home project. The gesso layer is on and dry and I painted the background on Sunday. Now we wait for it to dry. Yes, oils take awhile to dry but they behave so nicely. I am looking forward to the next step of the project. It is going to be a blast! Let's just hope my kitchen survives it.

Christmas

I can't believe Christmas is already over. We started out the month with watching Christmas movies, putting up the decorations ,watching the LDS First Presidency Christmas devotional , and reading Christmas stories almost every night. The ladies at work all went out to lunch together and we had a fun time getting to know each other better.

We went to the Bezzant family Christmas party. All the kids acted out the Christmas Story while Grandpa read it from the book of Luke. It's moments like those that make me really miss my Grandma. I think about her every time I plug in my Snow Village house. Growing up, she was Christmas and I especially missed her this year. Kellen and I have a tradition of driving around looking at Christmas lights together. We have a good time looking at the houses and seeing people's creative light jobs. It has come to be one of my favorite traditions(other than the car sickness). We tried something new this year by hauling all of my family up to Temple Square for a night of freezing fun. I couldn't believe we got just about everyone to show up. Although most of us couldn't feel our toes by the time we were done, we had a good time. It isn't serious until you can't feel your eye balls, right? We ended the night with treats and warm drinks. I think at that point the consensus was that we should have started with warm drinks. Oh well, there is always next year! Christmas Day was busy as usual. We listened to a rebroadcast of the Christmas Devotional as we got ready. It was a really nice start to the day. We visited both of our families and Grandpa Joe. Everyone was so generous. It was fun watching everyone open their gifts and feeling the excitement when they really liked what they got.

I thought a lot about the gift of our Savior, Jesus Christ. December is a hard time for a lot of people. There is a lot of pressure and most people are missing someone they lost. But the hope that Jesus Christ has brought to the world with his atonement swallows up all that sorrow. I add my testimony to the testimony of others. He did come. He lives. His atonement was the greatest act of love and sacrifice. He knows me. He loves me. Joy to the world, the Lord has come!