I've been able to spend the past month at home getting  ready for Peru/Internship. I learned something that I've always known, but it was just manifested over and over again each and every day that I was there. My mother is amazing. What a woman.

She has taught me the following:

A person, no matter who it is, is a billion times more important than any object.

Their feelings and well-being outweigh any price tag or valuable item.

Things are just things.

If the car gets wrecked, no big deal. It's just a car.

If someone is feeling lonely or upset, big deal. 

Here's one that was hard for me to learn, but I think I'm just now starting to get the hang of it.

I'm sorry that your shirt/jacket/pants/ skirt/ dress (fill in blank with article of clothing) got lost/ripped/stained/ (Fill in blank with a TRAGEDY) but I'm so glad that you gave your sister the chance to wear it today and feel beautiful in it. Because your sister and your relationship with her is so much more important than any piece of clothing.

With eight kids in the house, valuable things were bound to get lost, crashed, broke, spilled on, ran over, eaten, used as bases, colored on... you name it. You know what I'm talking about.

As I've looked back on the instances that I can remember, Mom has never freaked out about any of it. She may have cringed a bit when Holly chopped off all of Hannah's lush curls, but she knew that it was just hair and that it would grow back. When the BOYS (the girls of the family have a clean record :) got in car accidents, they weren't yelled at, ridiculed or belittled. They were so much more important to my parents than the car or the money that would be spent trying to fix them. When we borrow mom's jewelry and only return one earring (if we return anything at all), it's no big deal, mom was glad that we were able to wear it. I'm pretty sure I could go on and on, but you get the point.

Things are just things. It's usually never something to get worked up over and it's absolutely never something that takes precedence over  an individual.

A Little Bit of Life Lately

Today marks our 1 month of being married. I... being the "big into celebrating everything" person that I am, decided that I should post some pictures of what we've been up to. 

First of all. We need to learn to take more pictures. Seriously, we've done so much fun stuff this past month, and haven't documented any of it! We'll do better. Maybe.

Throwing ourselves a house-warming party and celebrating our first day in our first apartment!

We love our gift cards! 

But it kind of makes me sad when we have to turn them in to buy stuff, becuase they are so pretty! I just want to keep them!

We accidentally through away our moldy bread... so Eric lovingly dumpster dived for it...

So that we could feed the ducks!!!

These are not your average ducks. They are super aggressive and will come at you if they see you have food!

These two got way too close for comfort, Eric was terrified that they'd get his toes!

We named these ones Aflac and Benji

Thanks to Dan and Emily for letting us borrow their bikes for our adventure!

On Saturday night, Eric's mom and I made Sushi! It was so great and she let Eric and I take home all the extra ingredients for our Sunday dinner. Daniel and Emily happened to stop by and visit and the prime time and helped us make and eat super good sushi. 

Our newest favorite discovery... BACON Sushi. Bacon, avacado, cream cheese and raw salmon...Bliss.

We seriously have had so much fun this month and are loving our summer off! We both work every morning for a few hours, but find plenty of time to play and have fun! Next week, we're off to the beach for a family reunion and we can't wait!

Love, Noelle

A Week in the Caribbean? Don't Mind if I Do.

For our honeymoon, we had the amazing opportunity to go on a seven-day Caribbean cruise. The ports we stopped in were Jamaica, The Grand Cayman and Cozumel. It was my first time in the Caribbean and I couldn't believe how beautiful and different the beaches and ocean were from my beloved California beaches. 

Unfortunately, 2/3 of the pictures we took were on my phone (My phone died completely the day we got back, so the pictures are lost forever!) but we did remember to snap a few on Eric's camera, enjoy!

The food was incredible! We each ordered at least 6-7 courses for each meal! I think this was our escargo. We also enjoyed sushi, frog legs, alligator, shark and much more!

The Pool and Poolside theatre

Rockin' out in Jamaica!

Man on Stilts. But he wasn't much taller than Eric, so I wasn't too impressed.

Cozumel!

We went parasailing in Cozumel! 

I thought that it'd be scary, but we loved it. It was so much fun!

We were so high up! And I couldn't believe how crystal blue the water was. Gorgeous!

We also went jet skiing on the ocean in Cozumel after parasailing. I'll admit it wasn't my favorite. Mainly because there was a $5000+ fine if you damaged the jet ski and Eric was a very crazy fun driver. We flipped over twice....nobody else out there was driving even close to how we were driving, so I was scared to death that we were going to break something.

Also not pictured... The grand cayman! We had so much fun swimming with stingrays (yes, a little scary at first, but pretty cool once you finally believed that they really weren't going to hurt you) We even go to hold them and let them swim up on our backs and feed them! We went snorkeling after that and saw some cool reef and pretty fishies!

Pretty much our honeymoon was the bomb. We loved it and had so much fun! We ate way more food than I ever thought possible, but that was our reward for doing the Insanity workout for the entire semester before!

We've been back for 3 weeks, and I'm thinking I'm ready to go back :)

Love, Noelle

Our Day

Well, hello everyone!
The newest Mrs. Hillam here.
We've been married for 3 weeks and 3 days. I can't believe it's already been almost a month!

The wedding day was absolutely perfect. Everything went amazingly well and I've never been happier!

I married this handsome devil on Saturday July 27, in the St. George, UT temple. 

We spent the evening before setting up a cultural hall for our luncheon. I was tired and said goodnight at around 11 pm. I'm pretty sure that's a record time to be in bed the night before a wedding. Our sealing wasn't scheduled until 12:40 pm the next day, so we had all the time in the world! However, we decided to schedule pictures at 9:00am to try and beat the heat. So after about 7 hours of peaceful sleeping I woke up and got ready to seal the deal. My two amazing friends Claire and Keri came over at 7 am to get me started on my hair (Also unheard of, I've heard of too many 4 am hair appointment horror stories). We took our time getting ready and spent about an hour and a half at the temple taking pictures.

My wonderful grandparents! My grandpa had the opportunity to seal us!

By the time pictures were done, it was about 11:00 and Eric and I were at the temple with no vehicle, no where to go and about an hour to kill before we were needed at the temple. So, we did what anybody stranded at the temple would do. We explored the visitors center! Keep in mind that we are fully dressed in our tux and gown, hair and make up, bouquet and everything... the whole nine yards.... Taking a tour of the St.George visitor's center. It was soooo wonderful! We knew that in a matter of minutes we'd be participating in one of the most sacred, special events of our entire lives, but we were calm. cool and collected! It was so nice not to be rushed, stressed or worried about anything! We learned about the history of the St.George temple and sat through a display about eternal families. It was so wonderful to slow down, forget all the hussle and bussle that comes with weddings and remember the important, eternal things with my sweetheart.
Best thing ever.

Then the time came for us to report for our sealing. Well, we didn't have our recommends with us so had to watch as many of our family members entered the temple without us while we waited for Eric's dad to come with our recommends.

And then we were sealed! It was the most wonderful, beautiful, perfect thing that I have ever experienced. It was so special to have my grandpa be our sealer and to be surrounded by so many loved ones. I just couldn't stop smiling! 

Our first picture as "Man and Wife!"

It really was a perfect day! We have such wonderful, loving, supportive and downright hardworking friends and family and we are so grateful for their help and support!

Love, Noelle

"Ms." to "Mrs."

Only one day, 14 hours and 34 minutes until I can finally introduce myself as Mrs. Noelle Hillam, WIFE of Eric Hillam. Wife!!! That still blows my mind.

But things are starting to feel like real life, just a little bit.

We took our bridals yesterday afternoon. The lovely Anna of Anna Christine Photography was SO kind and patient and absolutely wonderful with us! We couldn't have asked for a better photographer. Shortly after that, (and after a trip to Walmart, Deseret Book, Idaho Bank of Commerce and Subway) we attended our Idaho Falls open house. It was awesome! I've always dreaded the hoopla that comes with weddings, but it was beautiful and wonderful!

Here's a few of the photo's we've gotten back. We're in love! (With the pictures...and with each other :)

Saturday can't come soon enough!!

Sneak Peek

My awesome friend/coworker, Kristin Smith, took our engagement pictures for us. She had found the most perfect little spot to take them and got some really cute shots. I'm just relieved that they're taken care of and we can move on toooo... sending out announcements!

 

Random side note, he's 6'5 and I'm 5'6. We're a palindrome. Baha. I know right?

Love, Noelle

My Turn!

Here's the thing. After four years of living and loving the college/single life, I'm an engaged woman! As in... I'm tying the knot, settling down (whatever that means) and gettin' hitched!

Eric and I the night we got engaged. (May 13th, 2013)

Bachelorette Party for Shae!

I know right? Believe me, it's harder for me to believe than it is for any of you I'm sure. I've had at least over 80% of my roommates get married on me. I've been to countless bridal showers and receptions. I've stayed up to all hours of the night on dozens of occasions listening to my roommates fawn (or complain) over their fiances/in-laws/colors/drama etc.

I've had more engaged roommates than not! Because of that, I've seen the good the bad and the ugly. With each of these experiences, I've promised myself over and over again that I would not be the typical "engaged roommate". The one who is stressed, tired, grumpy, snappy and just a time bomb waiting to go off on the closest breathing thing.

Shae and I on date night!

I remember one roommate in particular, Ms. Shae Cox (Hildreth). She was my room roommate when she was engaged and let me tell you, she was a saint. Times were hard for her and there was a ton going on in her life, but she never took it home with her or let it affect her relationship with her roommates. She was never short with us or rude in the slightest. In fact it was  quite the contrary, she was so kind and generous! I'd never seen anything like it and I'm so grateful for the example she set for me.



So folks, I've got a month and a half left of this engaged thing and you know what? So far I am LOVING it. It's so fun, so exciting and I am SO in love. More on the man in my life later. Until then...

Keep your eyes peeled for an announcement from us!


Love, Noelle