Newport Beach 2011: July 4th

July 4th: We did our jogging in the morning and then went to the donut shop. So yummy! We went out to the beach for part of the day and then headed up to LA to spend time with our best friends the Neilson’s and Davis’s. We played at a park and then had a bbq at the Neilson’s to celebrate Jared’s 30th birthday. We LOVE them! Couldn’t ask for better friends.

Just eatin some donuts!

No worries.. He still has his tennis ball!

Humm.. Hank's not so sure about this! :) Cute friends

Love Danny's face.

Hank's first swing experience.. and let's just say he absolutely loved it!

Oh, these two! Quite the pair.

Newport Beach 2011: July 1st- 3rd

This was our 17th year with 56 family members in 6 different condo’s. We had a great time! Seeing as my blog is my family journal, I decided I would divide up the days, with what we did, which is probably of no interest to anyone but us. But, that is alright. This blog is for my kids, so they will have these memories.

July 1st- 3rd: Danny was out of town the whole week before going down to California so he just met us there. So, the lucky Hilton’s got the wonderful privilege of driving with me and the 2 little ones.. and surprisingly.. they did GREAT!! Whitney had a few moments, which was to be expected and Hank was just a champ.. as always! We stayed a night in St. George and got to Newport Beach Friday afternoon. I wish I could explain the excitement on Whitney’s face. She is made for the beach. She was so funny.. every day she played great with the other cousins and made new friends with random little kids. She was definitely in her element. Hank also loved it. Loved the sand, loved the beach naps, loved sitting on the very edge of the water and letting it splash him. My kids love the beach!

The first few days, we jogged, the boys played some tennis, we played LOTS at the beach and soaked in the amazing weather. So fun so perfect! I could really become a beach bum.

On Sunday night we walked to a park and had a big baseball game with the other Harts. It was a lot of fun!

Hank doing "SO BIG" with great grandma Donna.

1st day on the beach!

1st nap on the beach..

The boys played tennis every morning and Hank's new favorite toy, a tennis ball. He was always holding one!

Gabi, Parker, Jessie, and Whit

Whit and Van.. They had a blast playing with each other.

Whit and Bridger.. Look at her cute beach bum!

Hank playing with the cousins.

Hank and Ryder watching the baseball game

My Love Affair

.. with Harry Potter.

It started when I was in high school. I remember during the summer months reading Harry Potter all. day. long. My friends would call to hang out, but I was busy. Busy falling in the love. :)

Fast forward a couple of years and I was married living in St. George with Danny and the 5th book came out. It was like a drug for me. I couldn't put it down. I had school work.. a huge midterm actually and every time I tried to study the book would just sit next to me.. begging for me to pick it up. And like any drug addict.. I did. I read and read and read until the wee hours of the morning and bombed my midterm. But it was ok, there was just too much going on. Harry Potter's anger issue's, the prophecy, Sirius Black (who I always thought was so cute in my head.) Obviously they were more important than my midterm.

When the 7th book came out, of course I picked it up at midnight. If I recall, it came out on a Friday. We had a family party that weekend and all us "cool" cousins sat in the anti- social area reading our books. I'm also pretty sure that I didn't make it to church that weekend. Harry Potter needed me.

Last summer, on our way to Newport Beach, Danny MADE -FORCED me (heavy sarcasm) to re- read him the 7th Harry Potter out loud. The whole way there, the whole way back. It was the best trip I ever had.

So last night, I saw the final saga to 10 years of my serious obsession. You can imagine my excitement. I had watched previews of this movie before seeing it and every time.. I got a tear in my eye and chills up and down my body. We went to the movie with our equally HP obsessed friends, the Davis's. Cute Jared wore the HP glasses and sported the lightning scar on his forehead.. He was looking good. ;) And I just absolutely LOVED every. second. of that movie! I cried, laughed, cheered, got sweaty during the "intense" parts.. I was all over the place. It was a perfect ending to a perfect love affair. And tomorrow my awesome work is doing a pretty intense "Very Potter Picnic" event.. ahh.. hello! Sign me up. Check out the hard core invitations they sent and Marauders map with all the different events. I mean so so cool, right?

Also, I started a little money jar. I NEED to get to that Harry Potter theme park in Orlando at Universal Studio's. It's one of my goals this year.. So i gotta start saving. If anybody pity's me, I will gladly take donations. :) What can I say, I'm a crazed fan.

Girls Camp 2011

Girls Camp 2011: Be More

We had stake girls camp this year and our theme was D&C 121:45. “..Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly…” I love it! Our stake decided to do a reality “Camp TV”. Each ward was assigned a different TV station. The priesthood was ESPN (Essential Service Priesthood Network). The stake young women leaders were CNN (Celestial News Network). Our ward was PBS: Be More. I loved our theme. There are so many area’s that we can Be More in. This year I was put in charge of the devotionals which was a welcome change! The last 2 year’s I have been in charge of crafts and they are A LOT of work! I had a fun time coming up with idea’s for the devotionals. We read a couple of children’s books (The Little Engine that Could and the Sneetches) and talked about ways that we can BE MORE Christlike and how we can BE MORE when we have the end in sight or in other words, how can having an eternal perspective can help us to BE MORE.

Highlights:
• Our 5 mile hike.. I am seriously out of shape!
• The flash mob dance to Selena Gomez, “Who Says” with the stake.
• Making adorable bracelets for victims of the tsunami in Japan.
• The awesome devotional from Laurel Christensen. I wish I would have taken notes, it was that good! The spirit was so strong and her message touched every person there!
• Funny moment: Being a mother of a 10 month old and still breast feeding.. you can imagine the girls response to seeing my gear. One of them asked it if my breast pump was a horn! It was pretty funny. (I guess you just had to be there. :))

As always, every year I am grateful to be surrounded by such strong young women and leaders. Their testimonies and steadfastness in the gospel, despite their hard circumstances and trials they go through, amazes me. I love and learn from them time and time again.

The 5 mile hikers

Canyon Rim girls and leaders

The cute girls

.. and leaders

Me getting my award from our youth leaders: Jamie, Cortney and Amy.

Father's Day 2011

Every day I count my blessings for the wonderful father's in my life.

Both our children are named after great men who helped raise us.

Whitney after my dad, Harold after Danny's step- dad.

SOO dad's are pretty important to us. :)

I couldn't be more happy with the awesome dad that Danny is.

He is pretty amazing.

I {heart} SUMMER!!

.. and swimming... and Murray pool. It's the perfect little afternoon activity.

Hank's got his grumpy face on.

Driggs, Whit and Camden.

Liberty Park

Liberty Park is so fun! We went last week and had a blast. There is so much to do. I will let the picture's do the telling: :)

Me and Whit went on the ferris wheel. She honestly couldn't stop laughing and kept saying: "this is so much fun!" I love her energy and zeal for life .

The crew

Driggs was so cute in the cars. He was a little nervous to do the "no hands."

The planes. I loved how old fashioned everything was.

Liberty park has the 7 rivers water fountains and the kids had such a blast playing in it. Whitney doesn't like me taking pictures and refuses to smile in about 75% of them.