Sweet Baby Gracie

Grace Hill West Point, Utah Our sweet Gracie returned to her Heavenly Father on November 7, 2009 after 15 too-short months with our family. She passed away with her mother and father by her side at home. Grace was born on July 9, 2008 in Davis County to the great joy of her parents and four (yes, four) sisters. Gracie is the 20th grandchild of Mark and Darline Elggren of Kaysville and the 15th grandchild of Stick and Melba Hill of Bountiful. Few children have been blessed to be loved by more caring sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, or grandparents. Gracie loved animals, picture books of all types including "Goodnight Moon", all kinds of music, pictures of the Savior, and especially her sisters and mom and dad. We in turn have treasured her hugs, giggles, "moos," "meows," kisses, and snuggles. Our hearts are full but broken. Gracie is survived by her parents Gary and Amber Hill, her four sisters, Anne, Livia, Lucy, and Eliza, 35 cousins, 22 aunts and uncles, four grandparents and three great-grandparents. She was preceded in death by her Great-Grandma and Grandpa Hill, Great-Grandpa Jensen, Great-Grandma Rigby, and Great-Grandma and Grandpa (Pop) Elggren, all of whom we are sure greeted her with joy when she passed through the veil. Funeral services will be held Friday, November 13, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. at the West Point 10th Ward chapel, 2850 West 300 North, in West Point, Utah. A viewing will be held Thursday, November 12, 2009 from 6-8 p.m. at the same chapel in West Point. A short viewing will be held the morning of the funeral at 9:30 a.m. Online guestbook and condolences at http://www.russonmortuary.com/

I am so grateful for the comfort of the Spirit at this time. What a blessing it is to feel of our Savior's love and we truly know that Gracie is a special Daughter of our Heavenly Father who had served her time on this earth. My testimony has grown as I have felt and watched the arms of our Savior encircle my sister Amber, her family and all of us. I can't believe the outpouring of love and service that has come my families way. So many people have reached out and kindly done amazing acts of service. The sweet husband and wife who donated a hand made casket. The Family who called for the 4 sister's sizes and then showed up with four beautiful dresses, tights, shoes, hair bows, bracelets and lockets for the girls. The steady flow of visitors from every ward they have ever been in. Tom, please keep him in your prayers, who brought soil, bulbs and flowers to make a garden for Gracie. There are so many to name. We love you all and we are grateful that Amber and Gary have such wonderful people as friends. We are seeing the hands of our Heavenly Father used through so many amazing people. I know that families are eternal and that I will see my sweet sister hold Gracie in her arms again. What a comfort it is to know that nothing can take our loved ones away. We will all hope and try to live worthy to be together forever. Hold your little ones tight and never let the really important things come last. My sister is a wonderful example of this. Her girls know that they come before the house is clean, and before Amber takes a shower. They know that they are loved and there has been no regret about the time spent with Gracie. We miss you Gracie, but I know we will see you again. I am so grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ. For it is because of his wonderful sacrifice that we will all be together again.

Elggren Halloween Party

The whole gang (at least the ones dressed up) My favorite was Amber and Gary who dressed as Mrs. McFeeLee and Ed McMann who just won the Publisher's Clearing house. It was great!
Ben, my cute little Stinker! I'm so glad I got to use this costume again!
Jack as bumblebee, the transformer. For all of you out there worried that I was allowing my 5 year old son to be a bumblebee. It is a Transformer! We had so much fun jumping in the enormous pile of leaves that grandpa made for us and just playing with the cousins.

Serious Rib Thingy!

Jack losing his first real tooth a few months ago. One other has fallen out since. He is so cute with a big hole in his smile.
The other day we were at Walmart looking for some t-shirts for YW when we found ourselves in the bra section. Jack turned around and saw a white bra and said, "What's that...Oh.... that's a rib thingy." As I was trying quickly to get us out of there we went around the corner and right in Jack's face, right at his level was a huge black lace bra. It kind of took him by surprise and he had to step back a little, then he said, "OHHHH that's a SERIOUS RIB THINGY!"

Birthdays!

We took the boys to Kangaroo Zoo for their birthday. Jack had such a blast.
Ben had a lot of fun too. He loved to go down the slides until he flipped over. We took Jack to a place like this last year and I wasn't able to play at all. I was having Ben the next day. We all had fun, and it wore the boys right out.
Jack opening his presents from us. I love Ben's morning face in this one!
Ben with his new toy table that he loves. It plays the cutest music and he always bounces and dances to it. (I love those jammies!)
Ben was super cute with his cake. He tore into it. He was throwing it and stuffing tons into his mouth at one time. It was really fun to watch. Too bad that when we did it with the whole family he would barely even touch it. We had a great birthday week!

Cake, I did it!

When Jack turned 2 I thought, "Well sure, I can make a Lightening McQueen cake. How hard can it really be?" I was sooooooooooooooooooooo wrong. This was the result and I cried and laughed really hard that day. Kirsten helped me. (Don't think I'm not going to give you some credit for the above picture) I had no idea what I was doing and the only thing that let you know it was a car were the tires on the side. We just kept dumping more and more of that awful red frosting on there to hopefully cover it up. I will never forget Jack's face when he saw it. It was kind of a "What the Heck is that" look! He finally figured out it was a car, but lets just say that nobody was very thrilled with it.
This year I did my homework! (Homework: watching Ace of Cakes, or Amazing Wedding Cakes.) I can't believe that I even tried again after the 2 year fiasco, but I did and I am so proud of the result. If you can't tell it looks identical to Jack's Optimus Prime toy. He knew exactly what it was and so did everyone else! He was so proud of it, and of his mom. Yes, Kirsten did help me again! Thanks Kirst! I was a little bit worried because Jack had watched some of the cake shows with me and he knew what he wanted. The most amazing thing was the Marshmallow fondant that I researched myself and it turned out amazing.
It really looked cool. I don't think the pictures do it justice. I had to make it twice, once for his friend party and once for the family party. When my nephew saw it he asked where I ordered the cake from. When I told him I made it he just stared at me with his mouth open. As you can tell I'm pretty proud of it (even though I know it's not as great as I think it is), but let me just be proud for a minute. I think I have made an amazing improvement!

Jack's Birthday Party

Jack had a fantastic 5 year birthday party. Sorry if your little one wasn't invited. With our street alone there was like a million! Seriously, there were about 26 kids invited, but I had the perfect activity!
This is Paul Brewer and he is the most amazing magician I have ever seen for kids and families! Luckily he is married to my cousin so I knew where to find him. He has a live rabbit and a bird. And all his tricks were amazing. The kids were completely entertained the whole time.
Ben didn't budge for most of it. This is him watching the show.
He did such a wonderful job making Jack feel special and also making sure all the kids enjoyed it. If you are looking for someone to do a party for any size or age He is the one to call. We had a great time and I think it was a party that Jack will not soon forget.

Ben is 1!

My baby is 1! Time if flying by. Don't ya just melt when he smiles. Ben was born by a planned c-section after an attempt at a VBAC. I have to admit it was so nice to just go in at 6:30 a.m. and he was born by 8:30 a.m.. I wasn't prepared for the first time that I would hear him cry. It was beautiful. We waited so long for this little angel and I guess I didn't realize how relieved I was to hear him. He was 6 pounds 12 ounces (two pounds less than jack, that is why a VBAC wouldn't work). I couldn't believe how small he was. He had some breathing issues so I wasn't able to have him until around 4:30 p.m.. It killed me. Every time I heard a cart being wheeled down the hallway I would get so excited that it might be my Ben. The nursery nurse was so nice and broke the rules. She brought him into me for just a split second at noon just so I could take a peak. She said, "I'm a mother too, and I thought you might want to hold him." I was so grateful to her. I love my hospital stays, but my favorite is the middle of the night when they bring your baby in. It is so quiet and peaceful and I get a chance to just stare and sing to my boys.
This is Ben at 5 months when he finally started gaining weight. I love his lips in this picture.
I love my beautiful little angel boy!
At 3 months Ben got RSV and I bought this hat for him to wear home from the hospital. At three months he only weighed 8 something pounds. So Tiny!
My newborn Benner. It took four years to get this little boy into our family and I just can't believe how blessed I feel to have him. From the moment I found out I was pregnant (actually, before I found out) I felt such a sweet, calming, happy spirit about him. He is that exact boy. He is usually so happy, and it doesn't take much to make him smile. He has almost 10 teeth, which he has earned all of them. He crawls everywhere and over everything. He loves music, books, balls, cars and Jack. I love that when you give him something that he really likes he has a little party in his head by tilting his head back, closing his eyes and bouncing his whole body. I am so grateful for this boy. I can't wait to watch him grow up, but I am so grateful that he is staying a baby a little bit longer than his brother did. He can say a few words, Mama, dada, duck and Jesus. What a little angle he is. He adds so much to our family. What a wonderful year it has been. Now, if I could only get him to sleep through the night!