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."

November: Field Trips and Thanksgiving

A basket of headache helps for Kimber for her birthday.

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Thanks to UTVA we enjoyed a visit to the Clark Planetarium.

Max and Zane on the moon and Mars.

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Another great ALPS field trip, this time to "This is the Place."

They of course loved riding the little train from place to place.

A wonderful park for little boys to play on.

For his homework the next week Max wanted to write a Thank You card to his teacher Mrs. Davies.

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We were able to gather most of the Fullmer family together for Thanksgiving at Kellie's house. (Unfortunately Kellie and family wouldn't be home until Christmas.)


Kimber brought fun activity pages to keep the kids occupied and the huge bin of legos that stays at Kellie's house is always a favorite.

James found a spot on the stairs where he could handle the chaos and noise of the huge family crowd.
So many boy cousins!

Playing games. watching football games, oodles of food and pie, and lots and lots of laughing.

The crowd included Mom and Dad, Joe and family, Josh and kids, Cami and family, Kimber and kids (including Levi, Daymia, Bret and Erike), Jake and family, Kate and family and Jim and Landon.

October

The Annual Tooele Fire Department Fire Prevention Week Open House

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During conference I was able to finish up a few projects that I have been itching to get to. I painted the boys' bathroom shelf, my magazine rack and finished two collages. The boys wanted to have projects of their own so we got out boxes and paints and they enjoyed crafting during conference.

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Visiting our new Dentist in Tooele

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The boys made Grandma and Grandpa Fullmer Welcome Home Cards.

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We enjoyed S'mores at Kate's house with Mom and Dad.

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Kimber, Kate, Kathy and I spent an enormously fun night at Witchapalooza dressed up as witches; eating a delicious dinner and laughing through a hilarious musical production.

(Mike had fun editing the picture to give us all witch noses.)

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Zane dressed up as the Black Spiderman for Preschool.

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After trying on many costumes the boys ended up with their favorites (and the same as last year) to wear trick-r-treating. They enjoyed walking the neighborhood and after being here for a year we ran into many friends that we stopped to visit with. Zane wore out sooner than Max so he and Dad headed home while Max and I stayed out collecting more candy.

September

Max's Piano Teacher decided to go on sabbatical and I had the struggle of finding a new teacher for him. I made many calls and after narrowing it down by price and availability chose one. After only two lessons I knew she wasn't the right fit for Max and started the process over. We were so lucky to find sweet Elaine Lunt. She is in Grantsville so it is about a 20 minutes drive but well worth it. She is so loving and sweet with Max and he is enjoying lessons so much.

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We took the boys bowling for their first time. They had a blast!

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The whole family attended the ALPS Field Trip to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. After a guided tour through the museum they participated in the fun craft activity and Max presented his city project. He has such a creative imagination and used all kinds of materials and spent weeks building his city.



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We drive past the Tooele Train Museum several times a week and all summer long Max asks to go. We have been several times but this time we made it for the last day of exploring the exhibits inside the old train cars.

They have been fixing the small train cars so we haven't been able to ride them yet.

Inside the train cars are extensive miniature railway layouts and exhibits from when the trains were used in the military.

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One Saturday we decided to walk across the Tooele Dam.
It is just a short walk and there is fishing on the other side.

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Max planned Family Home Evening and taught us about Noah building the ark.
He gathered all the materials for us so we could build and sail our own boats.

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Riding bikes, playing at the park, video games and ice cream were a few of our summer activities.