Merry Christmas

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Christmas was so fun with my nephew Judah being so excited about his gifts. He is so cool when he dances while playing his new guitar for us. Baby Annie is just the sweetest to hold and she looked so pretty in her Christmas dress. We had so much fun together as a family and we have so much to be thankful for.

Judah looked under the tree today and said "where's all the presents"? I asked him where they went and he said, "they're all gone". I love his wonderment!

I have a new baby Niece!!!

The Hill family has a new addition:

Annaleigh Marie Hill

Arrived- December 11, 2008

9 pds 2 oz

Absolutely adorable and so beautiful

She has the best big brother, he loves her sooo muchGigi and baby Annie (I love her lips, she gets them from her mama)
Papa and baby Annie (she will be loved)
He's no longer the baby
I am absolutely in HEAVEN when I am with her

She sleeps so well!

Annie with her Mom

One happy family

She has the same middle name (Marie) as my Grandma, my Mom and me. Love it!

May the Lord bless you and keep you Annaleigh Marie- May His face shine upon you. We love you so much!

It's craft time

I made this candle holder for my mom for Christmas, inspired by kirra who shows you how to make one on her blog which you can find here-http://kirrasue.blogspot.com/2008/11/presents-on-budget.html
I bought the plate at an antique store (great price)

I bought the glass candlestick at the goodwill (2 for 99 cents). You can also find the plates their for super cheap but you may have to search. You can pick out a less vintage style plate and make it match your decor of even use a colered candlestick.

These started out as wooden letters (from Micheal's, also affordable) and I mod podged them first with paper (you can pick out any pattern you want) then I sanded them on the sides to get the paper off. My wooden letters came already white so I didn't have to paint the sides at all. These are great you can make them with the first letter of your children's name and hang them in their room or display them on a shelf.

This one is so my favorite!!! I made this frame too with my friend Erin. It has a few steps to it but it's so easy. It's the same process as the wooden letters (all wood from Michael's, ribbon and embellishments from wal-mart, that's right folks, they have some sweet stuff for suuuuper cheap!)

it's fun to hang it from a cool hook or doorknob or your Grandmas vintage knobs, (you can be creative) got this idea from Erin!

This is a project on my "to do list". I am going to paint the wooden wall plaque (wal-mart) brown and glue the small 'H' to it. You can also mod podge paper to the plaque. I bought the small 'H' at Michael's and just mod podged it with paper. You could also paint it.

More from my "to do list". I bought these frames for a great price at a vintage boutique and I am probably going to mat and frame the big one and the teal blue one I am wanting to turn into a chalkboard for my kitchen.

I am going to invite my friends over on Thursday to make crafts together. It's so much fun to make things with your girlfriends. I certainly make many mistakes so it's nice to be able to help each other. I would encourage you to do something creative with your friends, you will feel better after.

Are you ready to CRAFT now!!! Let me know if you make anything, I would love some ideas.

the reason i celebrate

With Christmas on it's way, I wanted to decorate the house for the Season. It's been good to reflect on the meaning of this season- the birth of Jesus, his coming here to die for us, so that we may live!!!

I have been reminded of the reason for which He came- to set us free through His blood. It is because He gave the ultimate Sacrifice, His life, that we too can give. Ultimately our lives away to others. I have been encouraged through my church, Christan radio stations and the stories of others to give this year.

I pray that each of my family members, my friends and others whom I love and even those I do not know to be reminded of the true reason we celebrate this time of year. May it be celebrated all throughout the rest of our lives.

I am Thankful for

my family

my friends

my salvation

my niece Annaleigh, who will be here any day

of course my nephew Judah

my health

Thank you Lord for rescuing the souls of men

my grandpa hill on thanksgiving day representing 4 generations of handsome hill men

(i wish my brother jason was in this picture)

this johnny cash song is dedicated to ju ju (judah), he calls it the "froggy" song and he loves to request it and dance to it with his whole family.

It's about time/a sneak peek

Judah dressed as an old time golfer

My Mom and Joey brought Judah by my work to see me

London and Jenn came by to see me at work too!

Erin, Kim and I in Westfield, Indiana (i love it there)

Outside of Erin and Joey's home (you can see the pretty fall colors)

Drew, Drew (Erin's little guy) This one is especially for Kirra and other fans of Drew

busy, busy, busy!!! That's how it's been lately but it's been the good kind of busy. I made myself sit down and update this thing even though all I want to do is relax. I thought I would post some cute pictures of my nephew on his first night of trick or treating. I also have a sneak peek of my time in Indiana visiting my best friend (from college) Erin in Indiana with our other best friend (from college too) Kim. I am going to put up a lot more pictures later because I have so many to post.....but that will have to wait until I get all of the pictures together from my girlfriends. More about my time in Indiana to come!

Ode to Anthropologie

ode to anthropologie by jamgodsgirl

I found this new website that let's you create your own collage! It's so cool! I created this one and all the clothes and accessories are from my favorite store Anthropologie. Oh if only I could afford all the pretty things there.

Cinderella Pumpkins from Avila Valley Barn are my Favorite!!

Fall is here and I am so excited!! We don't quite get all the pretty fall colors here on the central coast but we do have one of the BEST pumpkin patches ever. The Avila Valley barn is so fun to visit in the Fall. They have tons of pumpkins and it is full of eager children waiting to pick out their favorite pumpkins.
I love white pumpkins!

My brothers friend Ken is a professional photographer and he took these sweet pictures of my brother and nephew Judah on the Avila Pier.


This one is my favorite!

Happy Fall!!

Girls Night

What girls night would be complete without Baja Fresh, nail polish and lots of laughing?! A few a my close girlfriends came over this weekend to hang out and it was just what I needed! For all of my close girlfriends who are reading this but live far away, I wish I could have girls night with you too, whenever we wanted!

On a different note: I have no idea why....BUT I have been feeling kinda lonely lately. I have no idea why I am writing this for everyone to see but if it means you will pray for me then I would love it and this is probably going to be worth it. It's not the kind of loneliness I have felt before like the kind you have after you break up with your first love and you just wish or hope you could be married and fall in love with the person of your dreams. I have been through that and it helped me to be able to face those feelings of loneliness and it even helps me in times like now because I know that this will pass and it's really not that bad. BUT it still doesn't take away completely what I am feeling lately. I have so many (amazing) close girlfriends and my family (also amazing) is close to me and I have a million other things I am thankful for and yet I still have been battling these feelings of loneliness. It's the kind where you know you have lots of good relationships but yet somehow I still have been wondering where do I fit into life right now and what is my purpose and where is my place? I will stop rambling now and just ask you to pray for me if you think about it and if you have any advice or thoughts I would love your input.

repainting the guesthouse

I woke up yesterday not loving the "new" color


my dad and i decided to repaint it


It took lots of work


but i am really happy with the results


i slept much better last night with the new color

What do you think of the new color? I think it looks even better in real life than on my computer screen.

for my friend sara and everyone else who is wondering why I haven't been blogging lately

So here are the before and during pictures-I will post more after I finish

I really, really have been wanting to post something fun and new but I have been busy with two things lately. First I had a garage sale last weekend and this weekend I painted my guesthouse. I am so excited because I have been wanting to do both of these things for so many months now.........but where do you find the time? Finally I found it and not only time but help. My Dad has completely helped me with everything from the garage sale work to prep work, to painting. Wow, it has been very tiring but so worth it! We finished most of the painting today but we will finish all of it tomorrow. I picked out the paint color but it looks a bit different than I imagined. I still really like it and plus it's hard to tell how it will really look until you get all of your furniture and stuff back in the room.

Also I made 400$ at my garage sale, can you believe it? I saved up money to buy the paint and I wanted the really good paint so it would look good and clean up well and when you buy good paint you only have to do one coat verses cheap paint where you usually end up doing 2 coats. All that to say my dad and I went to the paint store and we used his friends (who happens to be a professional painter) discount at Sherwin-Williams ( it was all legit the store employees gave it the OK) and he ended up paying for the whole cost of all the paint and some supplies. We couldn't believe it.

God always provides more than I could imagine! Thanks Beau for letting me use your discount, it made my day! Thanks Dad for all of your help. I could not have done it all without you. Also a special thanks to my Mom for all of her help with the garage sale and to Katie for helping us paint today.