Eric, Hillary, Q & A

I almost feel bad about not posting. But then I think, does anyone really care about whats going on? For those that do, her is whats going on in Madison.

After my trip home to Seattle, I left like a week later for another mini vacation to Salt Lake. Eric had a trip planned to Portland, and since I was just in Seattle, and a flight there would be expensive, I found a super cheap flight to Salt Lake. It was FABULOUS! I went and actually worked at my work! Instead of on my couch in my pajamas. I got dressed, went into work, and when I needed someone, i just walked to their office instead of picking up my phone and calling them! It was WONDERFUL! It did make me realize how much I missed my coworkers. Especially Bryndi. She is such and inspiration to me and she definitely helped fill my bucket while I was there.

Also while I was in Utah, I got to see my best friend Brittany! I have a handful of friends that no matter how long it has been since we have seen each other, when we do finally get together, its like no time has passed at all. She is one of those friends. We went to lunch and dinner, and talked about everything under the sun. I miss having her just down the street from me.

I also was able to visit Donald (my brother) and Chelsea (my sister in law). Chelsea was gracious enough to let me crash at her house. I enjoyed every minute of it. I did however severly burn my thumb, it blistered, bled, and is still on my thumb. It may be a scar, or battle wound however you want to think of it.

After our trips, Eric and I drove down on Sunday to visit our friends the Cluffs in Nauvoo. I love going to Nauvoo, it has so many stories, and I have new insights every time I go. The Cluffs are also amazing and you can really feel the spirit in their home. Love them to death :)

After that, was THANKSGIVING!! Both families were in Saint George, Utah. It was too short of a weekend. We flew into Vegas and drove to Saint George. Not before we stopped at a McDonalds, and watched the guy behind the counter eat fries from a customers order. Yes we were all in shock! Thanksgiving was exactly what I needed. I loved the vacation from Madison - I know i have had lots of Vacations away from Madison. There is a reason for that. It was great spending time with both families, and cousins.

Now I am just counting down the minutes until we can go home to Seattle. We will get in Friday night, and I cant wait!

Toria (Andrews Girlfriend), Andrew (My little brother), Alex (Andrew's best friend)

So last Saturday I went home to Seattle. The reason... I wanted to. My parents were supposed to come visit me in Madison, but that trip was postponed due to Grandma moving in with my parents. (Fingers crossed her house sells soon). My flight was a direct flight from Milwaukee to Seattle. Which I am super excited about, cause layovers suck. I have also decided that people with children and old slow people need to sit in the BACK of the plane. They take F-O-R-E-V-E-R to get on and off! And then once finally off the plane, they take the entire hallway! So i couldnt pass them. So after shoving some old people out of my way :) I made it out of the airport, and on my way home. My little brother Andrew had just turned 16, so we went out to celebrate at Maggianos.

Me and My Dad

Sunday was church, and it was super odd not to see all my friends there. I'm used to going home around a holiday, so all the kids that are in college or have graduated college are home visiting. So it was wierd not to see them. It was the primary program, which was absolutly ADORABLE! It was fun to see how big the kids I used to nanny have gotten!

Monday and Tuesday I spent with one of my best friends MICHELLE! I dont have a picture of me and her, but i do have a great picture with me and her two cute kids! I miss them all already :(

Thursday me and my mom went shopping. Didn't really think I would go home and not go shopping did you? We made a small dent in the checkbook at Nordstroms. I must say that one of my favorite purchases were these shoes.

How beautiful are they?! Sadly I had to have them shipped to me, but they will be here Thursday. Just in time for me to show them off at church!
Friday was more shopping and then we went to be best Pizza place in Bellevue... Pagliachis. yumm. Its my favorite :) Saturday my flight out was early. and as i have mentioned in another post, we had to have an emergency landing in Billings, Montana for 8 hours. Upside... I got a free round trip ticket! So i will be able to go back to Washington again soon!

Trips that are coming up:
UTAH November 9-14th!!
Saint George- Thanksgiving!
Seattle- CHRISTMAS!!
Then Cross your fingers that i go on a Cruise with my work in January!!

I clean. OBSESSIVELY. I get super excited about it too, I get excited about how I will spend hours deep cleaning the entire place.

Is that a sickness?

So- I left Seattle on Saturday, I was super sad to leave but i was missing Eric. So my flight left at 11:40 AM and was supposed to get in to Milwaukee at 5:30 PM, perfect to still get date night in! Sadly the flight had to make an emergency landing because the cockpit window cracked. So we landed in Billings, Montana... the only state where i dont have ANY phone service! It was awful. So i borrowed the phone of the lady sitting in front of me, so i could tell eric i was delayed. Then the news got worse. The pilot said another plane would come pick us up at 1030 that night. Yes that meant i had to sit in Billings with no phone for 8 hours! Ahhhhhh kill me now! It was awful. so finally broke down and paid 10 bucks for Wifi. So i spent the next 8 hours getting to know everyone on my flight. We watched football and football and more football. So its a good thing i like football.

The other flight came at 1030 and i got home at 230 Milwaukee. Eric was super excited :) Especially since we then had a 2 hour drive home! Yay!! Finally went to bed at 430. It was a long long day. But i was super excited to be home! In good news, i got a free round trip flight!

I dont know how to say this without sounding dumb, but driving home tonight was amazing. I had forgotten how much i LOVE driving. Blasting the music, singing on the top of my lungs, dancing in my seat. O and driving this!

Oh the Porsche. I am sure it had a lot to do with why i fell in love with driving again, because its just so much fun! It was so much fun, i didn't want to go home. I wanted to keep driving all the way to North Bend. I know I sound weird, but I'm telling you, driving could be my new crack. (It will never replace my Diet Coke, so it would be more like my 2nd drug of choice.) Tonight was a good night.

So moving to Madison has been quite an adjustment for me. It is really beautiful here but I no longer have a job to occupy my time. Sure I still work about 15 hours a week for Heritage Makers, still doing what I used to do just at a scaled down version. I love that I am still able to work for them. I love love LOVE everyone there! They have had such a huge impact on me. Especially Bryndi and Patti, so I was super grateful that Patti allowed me to stay on.

Ok, so back to time. Once I put in my hours at work, I get ready for the day... if I get ready for the day. I usually watch shows and movies. I know what you're thinking, what a tough life, and I'm not complaining, but once you run out of shows and movies, it gets SUPER boring. I mean, I even resorted to broaden my show list to include Teen Mom, The Real Housewives of Orange County, and many many more shows that I am not proud of. *sigh*

In order to occupy my time, my friend Katie and I have decided to craft. We found all the 40% off coupons we could to Hobby Lobby and Michael's and went shopping. So far the craft number is up to 2. The BYU wreath, and a Paper Book Flower Wreath (pictures to come.) Well I have really really really wanted a sewing machine for a long time. It just never made any sense to get one since I had school or a job. Well now that i dont have that, I got out my puppy dog eyes and approached the husband :)

HE GOT ME A SEWING MACHINE!!!

Isn't it beautiful? It is the Brother CP 7500 and it will be here Wednesday. I have started making a list of all the projects that will now occupy my time. The List includes:

Finishing Baby Quilt (not an announcment)

Pillows

Table Runner

Placemats

and then I ran out of ideas. So- if you have some ideas on what I could do with my new sewing machine i would LOVE to hear from you.

OK, so awhile ago I mentioned that i was staining my coffee table. It took me FOREVER. Not because it was hard, but i had no motivation to sit out in the summer humidity and work on the table. So it stayed in out Laundry Room on the floor for over 2 months. During a week in August when it would be cooler, i took the table out to my balcony and finished it! So here are the before, during, and after pictures! I really love the table now, and we got a super cute knob from Anthropology!

Before the Stain, i just put on the Chemical Remover. DONT get this on your skin, it BURNS

Close up of the Color before


After staining. Its called American Chestnut

The knob

The table looks really nice, the only thing I need to do now is make some table coasters. I wont allow drinks on the coffee table, cause i dont want water rings. So all drinks are put on the floor.

Its getting cold here... last night the low was 31. Yep. Apparently there is no fall? It went from HOT to super cold. I went for a walk yesterday and the wind was super crisp and cold. I better start collecting winter clothes. Anyone have anything they suggest?

Last week was BYU's first game of the season. How did we watch it you may ask? Well we were in Nauvoo, so we had to get creative. BYU TV has an app for the iphone and ipad, and at 10:30 PM last saturday they reshowed the football game! So Eric, Bri and I sat on the couch in Nauvoo crowded around his ipad as we watched the game. None of us knew how the game would end, so it was an intense game, we were all screaming when Kyle Van Noy made the other side fumble, and then when he scooped up the ball for a touchdown!

This Saturday has been devoted to football. We went to the Wisconsin vs Oregon State Game. It was a Sea of RED. We sat on the 27th row! Eric had purchased a Wisconsin Shirt the week before, while I was wearing my Enjoy Receyceling shirt... it looks like it is supposed to say Enjoy Coca Cola :) Anywho, we TOTALLY creamed Oregon State. 35 to 0.

It was different being at a different stadium, especially since i didn't know the fight song, and no one around us sang the fight song, so i couldn't learn it. It seems that only the student section sang. I actually wanted to sit in the student section, that is until they started chanting "Eat Poo*"( *Word was changed to a more appropriate word) "F U" anytime the other team was near their endzone. Having said that, I have never seen a SLOW wave like i didn't there. It was SO cool to watch. I wish i could have recorded it.

After the game, we went to Costco and picked up some P.F. Changs, cause it was 20% off! However, it didn't taste very good. We were both a little disappointed. We have been watching football ever since. and now we are just counting down until BYU plays! We even changed our clothes to support. (Cant wear Red when watching BYU)

So last night I made that BYU wreath! again, while watching football games. It has a Y in the middle of the wreath, if you look close you can see it. I made it out of 6 different ribbons, it was super easy and fun! Ok, well the game is starting! GO BYU!

So Erics family flew out to visit this last weekend and we had a BLAST! I will post the pictures later. Sue, Chels and Bri got in Wednesday night. So Thursday we slept in, met Eric for Lunch at his work, toured a little, went to the FREE zoo in downtown Madison, and of course hit the mall. We all left the mall with some SUPER cute things!

On Friday, Eric had to work, so I took the girls to The Dells where we spent the day at a waterpark. It was a great day! Our favorite "ride" by far was the wave pool. Not just any wave pool Poseidon's Rage. It is a 9 foot wave!

Mike finally arrived on Saturday morning. He took a red eye. Poor guy. As soon as he got here, we all piled into the car and drove to Nauvoo. Again i will post pictures later. We went on a Carriage Ride, had dinner and then went to a show. We also met up with the Cluffs! They had just moved out there about 3 weeks before. For those of you that dont know the Cluffs, they are from my home ward in Seattle. He works for the Church and now in charge of all of Nauvoo's historic sites. I am super excited that they live close to me now, but will miss them when i go visit Seattle. Hopefully there will be no more lonely weekends, cause next time Eric leaves, I will just go spend time with them!

We spent Saturday and Sunday in Nauvoo and Carthage and then drove home. I love being in Nauvoo, and thinking that I am walking where the pioneers walked. Its a crazy feeling. Especially when you are on the Trail of Hope. To walk up to the Mississippi River, and see how large this river is, and that it was frozen, and they had to cross it, and leave their homes and to turn around and see the Temple. It is an amazing experience.

Monday, was a holiday so Eric didn't have to work. So we went to his work and toured the campus. Eric works for a company called Epic. Each building has a different theme. Erics building is Dungeons and Dragons. Again, pictures to come. They have a treehouse building... that is built in a tree. An Indiana Jones hallway that makes jungle noises. So that tour took about 2 hours. We then drove out to Cave on the Mounds, and walked through a huge cave.

Tuesday, Eric played hooky and went with us to the Cheese Store, where we sampled a TON of different cheeses, then we drove out to the Sausage Factor. After that we headed home, and Chels, Bri and I went shopping some more.

They had to leave on Wednesday morning super early so we had to say our goodbyes that night. Eric and I were sad to see them leave, it was so much fun showing family around our new town of Madison!

Eric left for Dayton, Ohio today. I dropped him off at the airport at 3, and I have been bored and lonely ever since. I dont know if this happens to any of you, but when he is gone I cant sleep. Partly cause I'm a little afraid someone is going to break into my house (yes I have an over active imagination). But also, cause I miss laying in bed with him. :(

I think its funny that I went my entire life with a queen size bed, never shared it with anyone else, with the exception of nights I had bad dreams, (thanks to The Ring I had many sleepless nights where i had to beg my little sister to come sleep with me) I then went to College and with the exception of my freshman year, also had my own room. There were also many times in college when I was the only roomate home. Heck there was a whole summer where i lived in a 6 bedroom apartment with my roommate Ashely where we were the only ones there. And most of the time, she wasn't even there. So back to what I think is funny about this whole thing, having lived with a queen bed, my own apartment etc, after only 2 years of marriage i can't stand being alone. 22 years of being on my own and it only took 2 years to totally break me.

This isnt the first time Eric has had to leave on a trip, and it wont be the last. But I may need a better action plan next time he leaves. I have already: watched a couple movies, cleaned, shopped online, read some books, made new art pieces for the house, and made Carmel Corn. Its only 11:26 PM and he wont be back until Thursday night. Seriously, I dont know what I am going to do with myself. If Dayton sounded like a fun city to visit I would go, but lets face it... who wants to go to Dayton?!

So only a few more days of being sad, lonely, and worried that someone is going to break in. Hope your night is going better!

This last week we went to Maui for the Corbetts Family Vacation. We took the Road to Hana, some of us climbed a Volcano, went Parasailing and Snorkeling. We also spent most days laying on the Cabana reading books, getting a tan and playing in the Ocean! Now i could go into detail about all of this, but i dont want to make you too jealous, so i will just show you our great pictures!

Hana the Black Beach

Andrew finishing up everyone elses plate at Lunch in Hana

Andrew, Haylie and Mom Parasailing

Haylie, Andrew, and Mom Parasailing. They said it is a MUST DO

Little White LDS Church. Place where the first baptism in Hawaii took place.

Eric is preaching from the pulpit

On top of the Volcano

Eric on top of the Mountain

Donald

Enjoying the Beach

Kissing my Frog

He turned into my Prince Charming!

Haylie (She's not the youngest)

My Parents

Andrew

Shopping

Me and Haylie

The Kids

I love him!

It was a great vacation! Cant wait till go back in 2013!

Many of you out there reading this blog are moms, so I would love your answer to this question:
(mom i already know your answer)

When a new sister moves into your ward, who doesn't have kids and isn't pregnant, is your first thought... "oh look a new babysitter"?

I ask, because I have now been asked to babysit 3 times now. The last conversation went as followed:
Me: Hello
Sister Black: Is this Hillary?
Me: Yes...
Sister Black: Hi Hillary this is Sister Black from your ward. Do you have any kids?
Me: Nope.
Sister Black: I am having lunch with a few ladies from the ward and was wondering if you could watch my kids for a few hours next Thursday.

Like i have said, i have been asked this a few times now, I have been asked to watch their kids while they go to the Relief Society Meeting, having a lunch date with other moms in the ward, meet their husbands for lunch, and the list goes on. Some of these activities are things I should be going to, like the Relief Society Meetings! I think the other thing that urks me, is when they are going to hang out with other ladies in the ward. Heaven forbid that the new girl would like to make new friends with the women in the ward. Nope instead of getting asked to lunch, she gets asked to babysit. Yeppee!

Now I know many of you will say that I need to make an effort. Well I have and continue to try and make new friends, go to the RS Book Club, invite people over for lunch, or shopping, really anything i can think. Somehow nothing has changed. My Visiting Teaching Companion said that for her it didn't change until she had her first child thats when she was invited into what she called "The Mommy Group".

Now again, I would also like to point out, that our Bishop has said we are one of the ONLY couples in the ward that does not have kids and is not pregnant. We also, this last Sunday started a FOURTH nursery!

Anywho, I could go on and keep venting but I think I will end there. I really am trying to fit into my new ward, and I understand it doesn't happen over night and that every ward will have clicks or weird quirks. But that still doesn't mean it doesn't suck in the meantime.

We have now been in Wisconsin for 2 months now, which means I have a lot to catch up on.
ERIC UPDATE:
Eric has enjoyed working for Epic. The campus is AMAZING. Each building has a different theme. There is a hallways to Heaven. They even have an elevator to Hell. Eric's building is Dungeon and Dragons. The doors into the building are large castle doors. There are other exciting aspects to Epic, I just havent explored them yet. I grabbed a picture cause I had to share how cool this building is!

FUN IN THE SUN:
If you remember, Eric bought me Golf Clubs for my birthday a couple of years ago. Well we went golfing to a 3 par course. I did pretty good. I pretty much double bogeyed every whole. Not bad for someone that doesn't play!

We also went to Noah's Ark Waterpark, which is the largest waterpark in the World, at least thats what they advertise. It was SO much fun! The Picture above is the longest water ride. It is like a roller coaster. Its awesome! They had a TON of rides and 2 large wave pools.

This blue ride is CRAZY. I wouldn't stand in line with Eric, because I was worried that after Eric went, they wouldnt let me walk back down, cause there was no way i was going on that ride. Just in case you cant see it, at the top you step into the tub, then they drop the bottom, and you go down the blue ride and LOOP then come out. Yes, I said you do a loop. So sadly Eric will just have to wait until either our friends are able to come or family, cause i will NOT go on that ride.

NEW CLOTHES:
Our wonderful friends Neal and Michelle picked out a FABULOUS suit for Eric! Since Eric was graduating and had a birthday in April, I wanted to get him something nice so I asked them to pick out a suit for me and send it over. Eric LOVED it. He couldn't wait for it to come back from the tailors so he could wear it. We also had to get him new shoes. So Sunday Eric looked like a stud.

I kept complimenting him at church :) I'm sure at some point he got annoyed but i didn't care.

LET'S GET CRAFTY

I have also tried to become more crafty. I have wanted to change the stain of this table FOREVER, but never found the time or the place, but now that we live in an apartment that has a balcony I can stain it! I'm not done yet, so i will have the after pictures when I am done.

Hillary Update:
I lost 10 pounds... hopefully more to come! I will post pictures later... just not yet :)

Hope you are having a great summer too!

Last night Eric and I were at our first Cub Scout event (we are now Den leaders in cub scouts) we made Playdough and played pictionary with the play dough. The boys LOVED it!

Well while we were playing, the cub master came by and told us there was a tornado warning for the city and we had to go to the gym. So thats what we did. We stayed in the church for another 30 minutes. Good thing the gym has balls for the boys to play with.

Eventually they said the worst had past, but it was still super windy and raining really hard. (Some areas had Golf ball sized hail) On the ride home we noticed that the power was out, and trees were every where!

It was super exciting until i realized that my emergency kit was always set up to get my to grandmas house. ya... i dont think that will work anymore. So we will be working on becoming more prepared. yeppee for growing up.

Yesterday was mine and Eric's 2 Year Anniversary! It feels like a lot longer... in a good way! The good news is we still love each other, and we still have a ton of fun! He is still my best friend and the person I want to spend eternity with.

Now would be a good time to give an update, since a lot has happened in the last couple months! In April we both turned 24! One more year until we can rent a car without paying an additional fee!

Eric Graduated from BYU! And then we moved to Wisconsin! We had our apartment packed and moved in 3 days. Eric drove, and I read all three Hunger Games... in 3 days. I have an addiction to reading. After 22 hours in the car, we made it to our new home. Which we LOVE! We went to our new ward, which does indeed have a HUGE primary, there are 3 nurseries, and 2 of every age group. The ward seems Super nice. I was even invited to go to a Water Theme Park with my new friend Carolyn and her 3 kids. It was SO fun! But i am jumping ahead.

Eric started his new job on Monday at Epic. They are a healthcare software company. Because of this we have AMAZING healthcare! No deductible or copays! How amazing?! If we ever have a baby it will be FREE. Love it.

While Eric has been hard at work, i have been working for my company via internet, unpacking our apartment, going to water parks, and going to the gym. You know my life is super hard these days :)

Many of you know that Eric and I have been without TV for the last 2 years. So I have been out of the loop on fashion, politics and TV shows. Our first week here Eric and I bought a TV with Direct TV. While Eric has been at work, i have been soaking in the television. Most recent addictions include:

The Real Housewives of New York and Orange County. I really only watch this one because the drama is hilarious!

Pregnant in Heels- also humorous because some of these women are CLUELESS, i love it!

The Royal Wedding and EVERYTHING Kate Middleton. Yes, i have watched the recaps of the wedding, and googled all of the outfits she has worn that i have missed out on. I have come to this conclusion: I want to look like her. She always looks AMAZING!

Love it.

I just got the call today that we were approved for our apartment!! As promised here are the pictures of our new place. These are the pictures of the model we looked at. This is a 2 bedroom 2 bath condo. Enjoy!