Max's Birthday Parties

Party #1 Thursday

We had originally planned to have Logan and Korben over for a sleepover but when Erika had her baby Kate and I decided to head to Rexburg for a quick visit. Max was so disappointed that he wouldn't be having a sleepover or have his cousins over for a party.

I turned to the queen of spontaneity Kate, and with her help threw together a party. We met at Cold Stone for ice cream. Kate brought a small brownie cake and a number 8 candle. We sang Happy Birthday to him and he blew out his candle. Logan and Korben gave him the new Peanuts movie that came with a little stuffed Snoopy. Logan was very excited for him to open it and kept saying "you'll see that it is even better than getting a real puppy."

Max said, "Mom, this is my best birthday EVER!"

Party #2 Saturday

Saturday morning while they waited to pick me up, James took Max to pick out scriptures with his name on them. He picked out a triple combination, the color and the font for his name.

As soon as I arrived home from Rexburg I started decorating the cake. Max didn't want to wait for it to be a surprise and was so excited to decorate his cake to so he helped ice the cake, place the candles and trucks, crush the Oreos and pour them on. He was so proud of the finished cake.

He has wanted some way to take his puppies on rides on his bike and scooter.
The bike basket was perfect!

Party #3 Sunday

On Sunday, his actual birthday he opened the present that Zane picked out for him; a Paw Patrol Everest puppy.

Max said again and again that it was his best birthday ever!

That afternoon we headed out to explore Black Rock Beach....

Black Rock Beach

Just 15 miles from Tooele is Black Rock Beach in the Great Salt Lake State Park.
We decided to take a family outing to explore, climb and play on the beach.

We drove fifteen minutes to the Saltair exit and then took another fifteen minutes to carefully drive the mile and half, rutted, rocky gravel road leading to the big rock and beach.

We had a great time climbing Black Rock!
(Max and Zane asked many times why it is called Black Rock. I still have no good answer for them.)

Zane is an intense and confident climber and we really had to move to keep up with him.
He kept asking to climb just one bit higher and was very put out that we wouldn't let him climb all the way to the top.

On the beach the boys built sand castles, moats and rivers.

 The views were amazing!

 

March

Zane went to his first birthday party. It was a Star Wars party and the Padawan training was a blast for all the little boys. Zane picked out a Star Wars Lego set and wrapped and decorated it himself.

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Zane's Lets Play Music Class

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Kimber and her family came to Utah to go to the Provo Temple Open House. I stayed overnight at Kellie's house with them and enjoyed a nice visit with Kimber. The next morning as we were talking about the Temple Kimber mentioned I should just come with them. We scoured Kellie's and Mom's closets, found me something to wear and I joined them for the long wait and a second tour through the Temple.

February: Provo Temple, Rootstech, Discovery Museum and V-Day

The boys and I headed to Provo for the Temple Open House tour and Grandma and Grandpa Fullmer waited just a few minutes for us so we could all go through together. 

It is such a beautiful Temple and I was glad the boys got another chance to see inside. Zane has already forgotten being inside the Temple when we were sealed or being inside the Ogden Temple Open House. He may not remember this one either but hopefully both boys are gaining a feeling of the spirit and the importance of temples.

Max's favorite rooms in the Temple were the two endowment rooms with the walls and ceilings covered with nature and animals. He was also really excited to see the sealing rooms. He doesn't really remember being there but we have talked about it enough that I think he has a sense of the event that he was a part of that sealed our family for eternity.

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Mom invited me to go to family day at the Rootstech conference. 

We enjoyed speakers like Sheri Dew and Wendy Watson and entertainment from the musical group The Lower Lights. We spent some time looking at the World's Largest Genealogy Chart and then printing out family fans and photo charts for Dad and Mom's families.

It was a wonderful afternoon spent with my Mom!


Aunt Kathy bought The Game of Genealogy.
I borrowed it from her to play with the boys on Sunday.
 We all enjoyed playing this clue-like game,
involving the places and circumstances
that might happen in a search for ancestors.



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The boys and I went to the Discovery Museum home school day.

The noise and chaos usually wear us all out (me most of all) so we only stay for a few hours.
This time I decided not to rush them and instead watched them run from area to area and play.
They had such a great time!

The construction zone is always a favorite. And they got soaked playing in the water.


Pretending to fly the medical helicopter and rescue the patients.

And fixing the truck.

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We had Valentine's boxes that I would put a little treat in each day. On Friday (our psuedo-V-Day) they found their Minecraft shirts and were super excited over them. They kept showing each other all the characters that they could find on the shirts.

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Before we went shopping for Valentine's cards for the party Max disappeared and came back with a whole bunch of homemade cards. He said, "They are more special because they are homemade."

I took them to the store to pick out cards and Max decided he wanted to get cards to give away. Valentine's, Zane picked Superhero and Max picked puppies and Paw Patrol. (Zane was so sad and didn't want to give the Valentine's away; it took several days and slowly helping him select more and more to give away but he finally did it.)

One of the moms in the Tooele Homeschool group put together a Valentine's party and I was glad the boys would get the chance to have a V-day party.



At the party we passed out the cards, ate lots of treats and watched Charlie Brown movies.

There were several creative boxes that inspired the boys for next year.

Max has talked so many times about the stuffed puppy he got last year for Valentine's Day. He was excited each day to see some fun little thing in his Valentine's mailbox, but each day reminded me that he loved the puppy from last year. He and Zane were both so excited Sunday morning to see their new friends.

I love their sweet expressions of excitement and affection!

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Another fun Crafternoon

Creating with beads and making geckos out of leather and beads.

Aunts, Grandma, cousins and friends.

January: Snow, Science Fair, STEM and Swift

Max's Science Fair Project

Car Friction

First Max and I scoured the internet and found several projects that he was interested in and narrowed it down to this one. Next we set up four "race tracks" of concrete, sand, gravel and snow and timed the vehicle finishing each track. Then he typed (with a lot of instruction and spelling help from me) all of the sections for his Tri-Board. He wrote in all the times and the results and ended with his conclusion. I was thinking that I should teach him that his conclusion needed to be more scientific but it was so cute and he was so excited about it. His conclusion was the simple statement, "I had a correct hypothesis."

I wish I could say that we had a ton of fun doing this but the science projects have never been my favorite part of schooling and I always have to gear myself up just to get it done. At this age it is still so much on me to get it done. Hopefully what he remembers is the fun of doing it together!

We took his project to the Tooele Library to present it and as always Max had no fear.
As we waited to start we goofed off, taking pictures and playing Rock, Paper, Scissors.

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It is a regular occurrence for ever-present loyal friends in be placed in the window so they can "watch" the boys as they play outside and wait for their return.

Max has had his puppy "Sweetie" (originally named "Scruffy") since he was four months old.

Zane's has had his little blue elephant "Elly" since he was just a few months old.

Just last month Zane came across a puppy exactly like Max's (except not as well loved and worn) and was super excited to have a puppy just like his brothers. He named him "Stormtrooper."

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Max attended the STEM engineering event where he used different materials to build houses that would stand up to the "big bad wolf" (a hair-dryer  and leaf blower.)

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I heard a Taylor Swift song on the radio and liked it so much that I decided to check out more of her music. I have heard a few of  her songs over the years but for some reason this caught my attention. I admit to having a bit of an obsession, not just with her music but with her as a person. As I listen to her music and watch music videos I am so impressed with the story her songs and videos tell with such creativity, feeling and vulnerability. But as I watched interviews, award speeches, and news clips I was also impressed with how giving, articulate and graceful under pressure she is. Despite her superstar status she still seems sweet and genuine.

And I had such a strange thought the other night. I was listening to her 1989 album as I blogged so she was on my mind as I knelt to pray. And suddenly it hit me that she is a child of God. I have always known logically that everyone is a child of God, but it was so surreal to suddenly realize it about this person whose life is so different from mine. And applying that realization to every person out there in the world.

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These are some of the fun science activities we get to do for school.
Rock collecting and classifying; chocolate volcanoes,

and creating the layers of the earth.

Erika's Baby Shower

Kate, Mom and I drove to Rexburg for a much needed girl's weekend.

Max and Zane stayed home for a boy's weekend with their Dad so I was able to enjoy the time with just women.

After doing a bit of decorating for Erika Jo's baby shower we had a great time eating delicious food, playing baby bunko and baby jeopardy and watching Erika open gifts.

During the rest of the weekend I was able to spend time talking about oils with Kimber and also have a very honest and cleansing conversation and cry about our chatter brain bad habits.

I also enjoyed watching "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" with Mom, playing "Last Word" with Erika, Bret, Kate and Daymia and sleeping well without restless boys.

The Decorations...

 The food...

The guests...

Just a few of the gifts..

 Goofing around after the party...

 Hyrum is such a ham!

Funny things from the Hill Boys

(During nighttime personal prayers)

James: "Zane. I can't hear you."

Zane: "Dad, you don't need to hear my prayer. Only Heavenly Father does."

Zane to Max while playing...

"Let's put on a sign that says, No bad guys allowed until they repent."

Zane and Mom talk headaches...

Zane: Mom, when your headache is so bad that one kiss won't fix it
then I give you 10 more kisses...then 10 more...then 10 more."

Zane: "Where were we when I was born?"

Me: "We lived in our house in Sandy."

Zane: "What room was I born in?"

Me: "You were born in a hospital."

Zane: "Did the shot you got when I was born hurt?"

Me: "Yes it did hurt."

Zane: "Is that why you have headaches?"

A conversation between Max and Zane...

Max: "Zane, who does Iron Man believe in?"

Zane: "Iron Man believes in Captain America."

Max: "You mean he doesn't believe in the Almighty God, The Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father?"

Zane: "Um, well, Iron Man believes in the Holy Ghost, Jesus, Captain America and Heavenly Father."

After taking all of his clothes off to use the bathroom Zane stood naked washing his hands and playing in the water.
I said, "Zane, aren't you cold?"
His reply, "Mom, I'm not cold, I have my skin on."

While taking a bath Max sang this song...
"Rub a dub dub, one kid in a tub
And who do you think it be?
A 7-year old named Max Kian Hill
who was scrubbing himself clean."

Zane: "When I get to heaven I'm going to ask Heavenly Father if I can go higher than him."
Me: "What will he say?"
Zane: "No"
Max: "Why not?"
Zane: "Because that is where Satan lives."
Max: "Yea, he lives on another planet, probably Jupiter."
Zane: "He lives on the planet that the silver surfer came from."

Zane: "Dad, do you want to cut the cheese with me?"
I will cut the cheese with you anytime you want."