Austin and Dallin's Eagle Court of Honor

Well this past weekend we went down to Brigham to have Austins Court of Honor with his cousin Dallin who also earned his Eagle.. It was really cool to be able to go down and share them together and be able to have our family's there to see it.. It was sad in the fact that we couldn't have it back in MI where he had earned it and where all of Austin's leaders and fellow scouts who had helped him earn it were, but we wee happy that we could be here with family..

 What was really cool about this ceremony was that we had vetrans of foreign wars there to present the boys with a flag that had been flown from the capital and flown in honor and in behalf of a soldier who had fallen during battle. They gave Austin the name of Zeke Worthington and he faught in many battles and was quite a hero..

They showed and explained what all the folds in the flag represented and then presented the flag to the grandparents to present to the boys.. It was way cool and what was even cooler was that my step dad who had faught in the Viet Nam War was one of the Military Guards there to present the flag to him and participate in the program.. So Awesome!! I hope it will be something Austin will never forget.. He was also so lucky to have his uncle Matt who is also a member of the Air Force present at the court of honor and explain what the qualities of an Eagle scout means and represents and how it also correlates and ties in to being in the military.. It was so cool... One of the best court of honors I have ever been too..

Uncle Matt

He chose me to be the one to pin on his Eagle pin.

Austin was talking on his mentor pin and that his mentor was not able to attend due to him being in MI so he would be sending the pin to him..

 Uncle Mike doing the Eagle Charge.

The Vetrans.. My Step Dad is on the end.. Isn't he handsome in his uniform..

The Eagle's Nest.

Showing the boys and explaining what each of the folds in the flag represent.. So cool!!

Grandpa presenting Austin with his flag.. I tear up when I look at this picture.. What an honor it was..

I wish we could have got the Guard saluting the boy's it was really cool..

The Eagle's nest.

Escorting the boy's to the Eagles Nest..

Welcoming the boy's into the Eagle's Nest.

Dallin and his Mom and Dad.  This is Steve's brother. As if you couldnt tell..

The mother's with their sons!

The Grandparents

Austin and Uncle Shane..

Great Grandma and the boy's.. So glad she could be there for this.. It would have been really cool to have had grandpa there too. He was a veteran as well.

Cutting their cake..

Allie, Shane, and Jessie.. Jessie adores my brother.. Always has since she was little.. He would always growl at them to be funny when they were babies and most of them would cry and look away, but not Jessie she just smiled at him and thought he was ok.. Knowing her and her attitude she probably would just growl right back at him..

My mom and Shane..

Me and my brother Shane...

It was a wonderful court of honor and I am so thankful to all that attended.. We even had our good friends from Santaquin, UT show up as a surprise even though they had to leave early to be at their son's (our adopted son we call him) Fiance's endowments session.  It was so cool they could at least be there for part of it..   We have such awesome friends and family!!



 

 

Jessica's 11th birthday!!

So Jessica had her 11th birthday recently.. she is pretty special because she shares a birthday with her Great Grandpa Hill plus it is also Groundhogs Day, and because she has the coolest birth date 2/2/02. How cool is that.. Well for her birthday she wanted me to make her some cake pops... I have never made cake pops before but I have a really cute recipe book filled with fun and decorative ideas for cake pops.. so I decided to give it a try and this was how they turned out.. I thought they turned out pretty good... The cake may have had a little to much frosting because instead of it being more cakey it was more like cookie dough consistency but none the less they turned out good and tasted good..

Of course we had to have a chocolate cake with the horses on top as well..  she was hoping that we could have put the ice cream cone cake pops in and surrounding the cakes but it wasnt possible due to the size and weight of them.

She wanted to have a little party with a few friends she has made here in Idaho.. So we had a few girls over and they watched a movie in our theater and played and had lots of fun..

we had my parents come up for Jessies birthday and Allie, Jessie and I were all sitting on the couch and my dad was sitting down from us and couldn't believe the resemblance between us so we had to get a picture..  I guess you can tell they are my girls.

Then you look at Logan and wonder where she came from??  Nah not really she looks just like my side of the family the Hill Side.. All blonde hair and blue eyes..  I actually was blonde when I was little and growing up but as the years went on I got darker so I decided to go all dark and have been dark ever since..  Logan is the only child who got my blonde hair and blue eyes. However she is starting to turn darker just like the other kids did.. Jessie was the only one who was born with darker hair..

Austin was a spitting image of my dad when he was born but now everyone says he is a spitting image of Steve.. Some still say he looks alot like the Hill side.. I guess he is a good mix..   Love my kids....

Just before we moved to Idaho for the final time Austin was able to finish up his Eagle Project and get his board of review in like 2 days before we were to fly out.. Talk about Luck.. They knew we were leaving so they really tried to expedite the process for us so we were so greatful to have it done before we moved..  Now he just has to have his Court Of Honor to present his Eagle award to him.. Since we are new to the ward here in Idaho and dont really know anyone out here nor does anyone know him we decided it would be cool to go to Utah and have his court of honor with his cousin Dallen who is also receiving his Eagle. This way all our family's can come and share the day with them. 
We are sad that we could not have his court of honor in MI with the ward that helped out with his project and with his leaders who has helped him through his scouting years and we will miss them not being there, But it will be great to be here with all our family's able to attend..  we are so proud of him for getting his eagle done so quickly.. He finished and had his board of review just 1 day before his 14th birthday.. It was a nice achievement and birthday gift..

My boys got to go on a over night camp out for the teachers quorum in our ward this last weekend.. they went up to a cabin about an hour or two north of where we live and they got to hike in to where the cabin sits in the forrest. They also got to sit in some natural Hot Springs that was near.  This was how they returned home.. I told them they looked very redneck.. See what Idaho has done to us... Hiking boots, swimsuits and jackets... Yeehaw!!

Steve has been traveling alot lately and will continue for a while so I was really greatful that he could spend some time with Austin having some good ol father and son bonding time even though he is not a part of the YM's group they needed another adult to go so he volunteered like he always does..  I have such a great hubby!!   There just isnt enough of him to go around..  When they came home we had made plans to go out with some friends for dinner.. It had been quite some time since Steve and I have been able to go out on a date so I was very excited.. But poor Logan was like great first Austin Steals him away and now you steal him away..  Poor kid.. We will have to make sure she gets some one on one with daddy...

Well we have alot going on this week.. Thursday is Valentines day and Jessie is having a ski trip with her school class up to Bogus Basin and Steve volunteered to be a chaperone so he could go with her.. So that is what they will be doing for valentines day and then Fri we will all head to Brigham to have Austin's court of honor and visit with family and then Steve will head off again on a trip..

Allie's 16th birthday is coming up the following week so I need to get busy and start figuring out what to do for that...  Busy Busy!!