WE HAD TWINS!

I arrived home in a major hurry last Thursday - wonding how I would ever get everything done I needed to get done.  Work is just sucking the life out of my life - but never the less - grateful to have a job.  I ran downstairs to grab something and slid across the wet floor.  Now there's something wrong with that sentence, no - it's not the running downstairs part.  I stepped into water and nearly died.  I called Del and said - "Remember those water heaters that you were going to replace?"  (Only in a shrill high angry voice) Well - he came home in a hurry with 2 new water heaters in the back of his truck - and I went to the temple because I knew that the Lord would never forgive me for killing him.  When I returned home he wanted me to see something - (I love it when he shows me stuff) - and he told me to stand in a certain spot of the basement and that he would be right back.  Right before me was a wall of gushing water - from the faucet - from out side.  A tsunami rushed across the floor and over everything in it's path.  Small whales washed past me, a cruise ship went by with a couple on the front with their arms stretched out wide as Celine Deon sang in the background.... we now have a sand bar.  Del had washed his truck previously in the week and had (as usual) left the hose undrained.  (......last count, over 26 years in Utah....) dur dur dur, needless to say it had been filling up our basement for 45 minutes while he washed, and washed and washed his truck.  I was livid, I used my angry voice out loud, very loud, I did not swear (because I had just come from the temple remember), I was pointing fingers, 2 main fingers, and I was putting on my hip boots, I was not a nice person.  Needless to say - for the next 72 hours we have moved, dried, replaced, dries, reboxed, bit our lips, and gathered all the strength we could to put our lives back into shallower waters.  Del had never put water heaters in before - I asked him how he was going to do it.  This is a guy that designs Rockets ok - but hey - water heaters might pose a challenge. Not for this guy.  He was amazing.  Interestingly enough - a month ago - I felt a strong impression to put a few important things in plastic totes because of a great sale on them at the time.  Items that would have been totally destroyed, floated happily by me dry as a bone, and asking me if I had any sunscreen.  My friend suggested that we freeze it over and have  an ice skating rink - might have to charge for that one - but I did find my ice skates!  (The box they were in is currently destroyed though).  Fun new additions to the family include 2 new water heaters - heaven only knows how long he could have milked those for!  Here are our new babies - and incidentally all of the Christmas gifts, and food, and most of our bills are now tied up in these kids sorry!  So come on over for some sandwiches on Christmas day and we'll just play in the boxes they came in! (:

and here is the decorations around the tree.... and the kitchen,

and the front room, and the washroom and the bathrooms and the garage.....

I told Del how much I appreciated his hard work.

I really did.  He knew I was ticked off.

I also said that this particular 'dur dur dur' award

should take away at least 2 of the vehicles I've wrecked.

Ok, so much for that suggestion....

I will end on a positive note:

THINGS I FOUND

The bra that my brother sewed 2 stockings on the front for my 30th birthday, I in return gave him a nail studded jock strap for his 40th birthday.  A punchbowl - complete with 6 dead bugs.  Several toxic poisonously hugeness spiders, that are now deceased (note to self:  find offspring).   A warm place for little mice to live - and die.  (again, find offspring)  Applesauce from 1984, 1985, 1987 and 1989 - all years when my children were born - scrapbook material no doubt.  Unfinished crafts dating back to caveman years from Homemaking Nights (I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in this one), and my costumes from my years of dancing with Moveta Carden from Logan.  Fortunately for me - the only pictures that were destroyed were of my mother in law - (can you feel the love) Rock on - everyone should have a good flood - right Noah?

And to all a good night....you hosers

Eat your hearts out, she's ours!

In a moment of very smart choices - my son Matt married his high school sweetheart - bringing huge smiles and sighs of relief - because I have ALWAYS loved this girl.  It was wonderful watching them fall in love - and see Matt's life come together so beautifully.  She brings class and comments to our family - Ryan M is really glad for that - because I'm not sure he can follow the conversations of Mandy and Ashley.... Bethany brings to our family noteworthy items - I thought of of few of my favorites....

She married a hottie, almost as hot as her!

She gave me my first grandchild - and I loved that one so much - she's giving me another one!

She lives what she believes, and you know it's good.

She is always looking for something to do for someone else.

She is a riot in a line at Disneyland - 'I'm thinking of an object....'

She gave us another set of parents, 2 more sisters, Mory, and an awesome Grandma that we love.

She calls me mom - and it melts my heart.

She's brilliant AND cute - she beats me on both of those.

She's a great mom and wife and Speech Pathologist, yep - she would need a Masters to put up with both of those boys some days!

She's a true Blue BYU with a Masters in Communication Disorders - the latter being how our family teases her on 'name that lisp'.

She's creative - she headed up a committee to find 49 things about me last year for my birthday - on

the fridge still. We still need to come up with one more....

She has my total respect - I don't give that one easily!

She loves the Lord and she is making sure that their home is

always a place he can dwell.

She teaches Andy about Nanna, and a-one, prayers,

and sorry - important things.

She is multitalented - music, school, sewing, entertaining, singing,

amazing job, and doing it all while being a mom.

She is my friend, AND my daughter in law.

She puts up with Matt, and a motorcycle - a full time job.

She is a great example to me.

She represents the terrific threes - my 3 in a week birthday celebrations!

She's coming to town and bringing my son and grandson, and 1/2 baby to

PLAY WITH NANNA!

Happy Birthday Bethany - we are SO lucky to have you,

and I'm lucky to share "Mrs. Hillary" with you!

WE LOVE YOU!

My Natural Born Child...

Freaky but true - this is my only natural born child.  The others required many wonderful drugs.  But Mandy entered the world with an agenda.  Her birth certificate almost said - Elevator, between floors 3 and 4.  She came screaming out and has never stopped.  When God said good bye to her - he said, "My child, Heaven will be darker, quieter, and less crazy... darn we'll miss you" and then he tossed her down to me, and commented on how he didn't know if the world was ready for this kid yet....  It was fun to have Mandy because I already had a boy and girl, so I was excited to see what was in store next.  I was not then, nor ever have been disappointed- except her Senior year.... there's always one year you know... (:  In a world of overachieving siblings, she created her own nitch.  She creates music - and performs it so that every single time she plays - Heavenly Father does look down and see who is playing more beautiful than his angels can sing.  I wanted to start out with the nice stuff.  It kinda changes gears from here on out..... hold on.  Well I'm thinkin' that I'll just show you Mandy - from pictures stolen from her facebook page - just in case you think I'm making all of this up!

Just in case you might be thinking that we don't love and adore her - think again.  Mandy can walk into a room and light it up with her smile and her laugh.  She usually enters bearing gifts of an amazingly decorated cake or some piece of music you just need to hear.  She loves to bring joy into the day - even on her worst day, she makes everyone around her feel like the sun is shining on them.  When she's not doing homework (Senior at BYU), or working (at work), or Playing music (Wind Symphony), or even serving others (Primary secretary), she's still laughing, or making the world a better place - one crazy thing at a time.  You can't drive in a car with Mandy in the passengers seat without locking the windows.  She'll yell at cars, call out "Look there's Jaffar!", or hang something from the car out the window.  Sometimes she'll yell out something and then duck and you are sitting there while people look over at you like - what?  She's brutal about people walking slow in front of her - BYU girls that are tramps and dress like tramps, and people that sing off key.  She's totally in love with her hubby Ryan, and she drives him crazy every single day - the poor guy.  She's scared of spiders, thunderstorms, darkness, and testing days.  She can cook up a storm and feed an army on 72 cents, seriously folks.  She made us proud when she was the Main Soloist for The Utah Symphony, held the first chair and/or lead in the All State Jazz Band, Wind Symphony, and Super Band (Jazz).  She's an amazing performer - so why not get a Degree in Music Performance eh?  Mostly she loves her family.  She was born closest to Ryan her little brother in the calendar year - always sharing birthdays, cakes and attention.  She can call at just the right time - right when you think you can't go on another minute - and she assures you that you can.  We all love her so much - and we are amazed as we sit around and remember some of the crazy things she's pulled off and actually was not arrested.... So - Happy Birthday Beep - you make the sun in the morning look pale.  Thanks for touching all of our lives with your laughter.  22 is my favorite number - make it a great year!

Elder Hillary - Happy Birthday!

December 13

The day you were born - my world became complete.

You were the most valiant to wait the longest to come

to earth.  It must have been difficult waiting so long,

watching everyone leave one at a time.  But you came to earth

with a great purpose - and great challenges

You came well equipped  to fulfill both...

(Darn - I wanted to post the picture of him laying

on a dentist chair they found on the side of the road,

but it's no where to be found - I'll find it - it's worth posting)

So... it's time to throw those teenage years to the wind.

This will be the first birthday away from the Hillary Family.

We all miss this punker - he's the quiet member of the family,

anyone that knows our family would agree he's quiet, timid,

and thoughtful. So on his 347th day on his mission - he turns 20.

I wish I could have the pirate birthday party, or the cowboy one,

or some circus theme like years gone by - those days are

just found in the scrapbooks of time.  The party I celebrate with him

this year is that of service, and devotion, and true to the heart

testimony of Christ.  I think of the many gifts he's be given throughout

this past year - I'll share a few with you on HIS day.

Gifts of family and friends supporting him, teaching

him and encouraging him to go out into the world

and teach the gospel.

Gifts of courage, faith and endurance in the MTC.

The gift of gifted doctors that pieced him together,

and although not of our faith - gave him faith

that he was unique and special and that they felt

something amazing when they were around him.

Gifts of a Bishop and Stake President, and an

MTC Branch President that never let him give up hope.

Companions that endured the tough times with him.

The opportunity to actually serve his mission,

with part of his lung missing - the gift of being

able to become the missionary he'd dreamed of.

The gifts of new adventures, in a new mission,

with companions that stood by him.  The ability

to stand by companions when they made

life difficult... and endured with the hand of'

the Lord.  The gift of believing in those that

gave him a chance to share the message of the church.

The gifts of investigators, becoming members, becoming

lifelong memories.  The gifts of finding amazing human

beings that cared for him and took him into their

lives and loved him as their own.  (Loved you guys!)

The gift of Elizabeth, and Jessica and Lucy. and Mr. Brooks.

The gift of comfort on lonely, uncertain nights

when the dawn was very far away.

The gift of debit cards - that leave traces

of where he's been transferred for his mom.

The ability to read IM but not touch the keys... (:

The gift of knowing that he has a family here

that loves him and prays for him daily.

The gift of a future free from anyone that would

hold him back from his dreams.  What the?

The promise that comes from a new

companion, in a new place, with new challenges.

The gift of accepting the Lord's will in all things

The gift of being a Warrior - the world needs

more Warriors.  In return for all of these gifts?

He gives it all back every single day.

Happy 20th birthday son!

We all love you SO much!

Dream Big!!  Eat Cake!!

Add Ice Cream!

CELEBRATE!

Partae...

e-mail your mom...

Partae

 The story goes kinda like this..... Del planned a party for me and had the girls & hubbies and the baby pistachio (Mike and Ashley's inner preggie child) over.  Matt, Bethany and Andy are in Washington, and Elder Hillary is kinda busy elsewhere.  So the girls are stuck with me - and their respective spouses.  Here they all all cute and lovely.  I love them....Lee Lee, Pistachio, Mikhole, Beep and Ryan mmmmm.... not to be confused with Ryan hhhhhhhh.

 

Mandy made one of her amazing creations - it was seriously this cute and hard to make - and much appreciated.  I'm not kidding folks - you need to hire her - she's a freak of nature when it comes to decorating cakes!  Later on, we learned that fondant can be burned in the candles located on the table - which we cannot have anymore on the table because my children are pyros.....

 

We set the table up all nicety nice and civilized and then we played with fire some more.

 There are a lot of candles to deal with at a 50th Birthday Party eh?!

 
Del is a seriously serious Steak griller, like he's on grilling crack I swear.  (I'm lovin' the hair baby...) He's an excellent Harley man, Rocket Scientist, and Grillin' Freak - a perfect combination....  He was out in the snowstorm grilling just for me - I'm feelin' the love baby.  Now this next picture might scare you - but we don't have any steak knives - somehow they get broken or thrown away - so we just pulled out all of my butcher knives, and bread cutting knives and meat cleavers - all with 12 inch blades - I put them out just for fun and then I looked over and my sweet son in law Ryan is hacking up his steak with the bread loaf knife and not complaining or saying anything - I know we scare him so he probably wouldn't have said anything - we are a strange family, indeed.
 
Ashley and Mike brought flowers and balloons and yummy salads and rolls and then we pulled out the matches again and burn baby burned those candles.  I received a great CD from Mandy and Ryan that makes me cry, and 4 extra special messages on my phone where she sings Happy Birthday to me in Spanish, Korean, Jumbalia, and British, all complete with bleeps where she has to swear on a couple.  This is unique because Mandy doesn't speak any of those languages, even British!  Those are treasures, seriously folks, you might pee if your heard them...she took up 4 slots on the message machine.... Ashley and Mike gave me a book called "My Grandma Drives a Harley" that they picked up in Vegas on their last trip there - it's SO funny and I can't wait to read it to not only Andrew, but his little sister and his cousin Tommy Hawker Pistachio Doxstader!  Del was a total sweetheart and planned the party and pulled it off complete with doing the dishes afterward.  Later on I received a call from Washington with the funniest attempt to get Andy to say Happy Birthday Nanna - but he kept inserting the word "Cars" then NANNA really loud - I laughed and cried!  It was followed by a wonderful card from My Missionary Man - something about actually listening to my nagging - that kid better count his blessings that he's far away  on my birthday or I'd put him on dish patrol or wipe-o for a month - right Matt? (:  Thanks for all of the wonderful face book well wishes!  My favorite was:  "Can you hear the death march yet?"  Obviously from an 'older' friend of mine.....  I noticed that I didn't get one from
Mikenzie Reeder Wade - WHF?

Happy day - we had a blast - and I am totally blessed with amazing family and fun friends.
Thanks for making it special!

Here's yer sign...

...and there you go...
comments to come...later

Hillary Family - Put it on the Calendar!

Shocking but true - Your dad helped trim the tree.  Yep - I know - 26 years of marriage = 26 trees.  He put them up one by one.  I believe this event occured due to a melt down after my 300 hour graveyard shift last week.... oh, and also due to the fact that I commented on how I didn't even want to put up the 'Holly Jolly' this year and suggested a place he 'put the ornaments'.  He chose option #2 - actually putting the ornaments on the tree instead.  He chose wisely.  I didn't even mind that he had several Mechanical Engineering Structural Analysis comments on the simple ornament hook and suggested that we do a power point presentation on geographically placing the ornaments on the tree.  I love yer dad... there might not be anything under our tree this year but by darn - there's a lot of love around it.... ew.... naughty....