Presenting...

Tonight we gathered at my parent's house for our annual Sunday before Halloween dinner &pumpkin carving.  Mom made a wonderful spread of food (as usual) and Kelsey brought home 9 kids from her BYU ward to join in the fun.  It was pure chaos but so worth it for the end result.  Awesome pumpkins and pictures of their kids in costume a day before the actual Halloween holiday.  Though Halloween is one of my least favorite holiday's, soup & bread bowls while carving pumpkins is certainly one of my most favorite Hill family traditions!  With that said, I present the Holland children - Halloween 2011! 

 Austin - the football player.  He was all about the black lines under his eyes.

 Kylee - the pig & Summer - the cupcake

Nick - the Zombie.  Thanks to Uncle Ryan for tackling the face painting!

 The pumpkin carving kids - they were supposed to be making scary faces.  

Grandpa

I am pretty sure these are the cutest pictures ever.  They were taken as my dad joined us at the pumpkin patch earlier this week.  The boys were so excited to see Grandpa that they took of running to greet him.  Priceless.

Nick's Big Day...

On Saturday, October 8th, Nicholas was baptized!  He has been counting down the days for weeks now or maybe more like months.  He has been so diligent in asking questions and preparing himself.  It was incredibly fun and rewarding to watch as a parent.  No, he is not perfect, but he certainly has a big heart and makes great choices most of the time! We are lucky to have such supportive friends and family and many came share that special day with us.  It was especially neat for me to see both Grandpa's participate.  There is something special about seeing two men that I love (and Nick admires) stand as witnesses of the sacred ordinance of Baptism and then participate in the Confirmation.  It always makes me extremely emotional.  In just a few short years we will be helping Nick prepare to enter the temple and serve a mission.  Sometimes being a parent is hard and I worry that maybe I am not doing enough.  I hope that Nick feels our love for him.  We came back to the house for gourmet pizza (Costco) and Rootbeer floats...Nick's request of course and I was not about ready to argue with such a simple meal!  It was a cold and blustery day but warm and perfect in all the right ways!  Congrats Nick!

x

NYC...

I just spent 4 days in New York City with some of my most favorite people on the planet.  I am too lazy to post my own pictures (maybe later in the week) so for now you can enjoy a re-cap through my mom's blog HERE.  It was an amazing trip.  We laughed, we cried, and we made wonderful memories!  Thanks mom and dad for a great trip!