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

"Oh Be Wise, What Can I Say More"

The day has come, my wisdom teeth are no longer apart of me... and you know what? It's been a blast!

November 1st at 10:00am, I went in for surgery and came out feeling like a million bucks!

Right after surgery

They put me under and my doctor told me that as soon as I started coming to, I broke into a medley of "There is Sunshine in my Soul Today", "More Holiness Give Me", "Lead Kindly Light" and "Have I Done Any Good in the World Today".  I was then taken into a room where my dear roommate Kati was waiting for me. She got all sorts of good stuff videotaped in that waiting room. They're pretty funny, not going to lie.

Over all, I was well-tempered, happy, pretty gosh darn loopy, but feeling good! I also desperately wanted to go to work and have apartment prayer..?

I went home and went straight to bed where I took a nice two hour nap and woke up to Hannah and Claire by my bedside, with applesauce, pudding, creamies, cottage cheese and more. Right after that nap was the worst because I hadn't taken my meds beforehand and I was in pain! I was also still really groggy and starving. However, Hannah and Claire were seriously angels and got some food in my stomach, ice on my face, and medicine in my system. I seriously would have just laid in bed for the rest of the had had they not come.

Next came more visitors! My awesome neighbors from 214 and Eric came over to wish me well and bring me a delicious Jamba Juice!

Nap time... again. (P.S. I have awesome dreams when I'm on drugs)

I woke up again to Claire who had made me green mac and cheese (sentimental :) and then more visitors (Kylie, Kelsey, Eric, Dallin, Sierra).

So great! By then I was up and feeling good and wanted nothing more than to go to my brother's softball game in the freezing cold. So I did! I went, cheered my guts out, froze my tush off and had a good time! Mind you, this was literally just hours after surgery, but I had so much energy and was feeling so good.


I did bow-out of the after party at Clark, but that was only because I had a lot of homework to do. So I came home and was greeted to more visitors and stayed up til about 2 doing homework and eating the most fabulous butternut squash soup that Kim had made for me.

Not bad for day one of surgery huh?!

Day 2
I woke up the next day, got ready and headed on campus where I spent 6 hours in the library and in classes. I got so, so much done, but it was not my smartest idea. I didn't eat anything all day and didn't take any breaks. I came home so stinking tired, hungry, in pain and close to tears. I'll admit that there were a few times I almost lost it and just wanted my mom to come take care of me. But I've held myself together pretty ok :)

Lucky for me, my friends know that visitors and social interaction are the most effective medicine for me. I just want to know I'm loved! So I had some surprise visits from Danielle and Angel from work, all three of my siblings and more, all bringing gifts of soup, hummus, pudding, applesauce and other edibles  that I was in dire need of!


And now I'm sitting here thinking, holy cow, getting my teeth out was no big deal and kind of fun! Minus the pain, emotional breakdown and loopiness.

Oh, I almost forgot about the swelling! Day one wasn't bad at all, but those cheeks sure blew up on day two!

Love, Noelle

Run, Run, Run as Fast as you can!

Year two of the Temple to Temple Relay:

Check!

This great tradition was started when our fearless team captain (Shae Hildreth) put together a stellar team of women who just so happen to be some of my best friends! We had SO much fun and although we hadn't trained, nor were conditioned, we took second place in the women's division! Not bad for not even trying :)

Team Be Somebody: Taylor, Claire, LeeAnn, Shae, Noelle, Brittany, Marquee, Kim

This year, we had to switch things up a bit as half our team got married (not that that makes a difference:) but they were MIA.

So I took up the title of team captain and recruited a few newcomers.

Before: Rexburg Temple

Again, it was SUCH a blast. We had so much fun rocking out to tunes, cheering on the sidelines, pigging out on trail mix and granola bars and running our little hearts out.

 I was so impressed with our team who ran the entire 37+ miles in under 5 hours!

That's an average of a 7:45 minute mile.

CRAZY FAST!

Still looking good in IF

Out of 91 teams, we came in 5th in our division. Not bad!

Team Be Somebody: Greg, Kimithy, Ric, Me, Dallin, Jordan, Abigail and April

It was seriously, SO fun and it felt good to be out there running again. If you ever get a chance to do the Temple-to-Temple. You simply must! You won't regret it :)

Love, Noelle

Plate-Licker

You guys, I am the most unclassy person I know! Oh my goodness this is so bad....

So I'm at the most adorable wedding reception. It looked like it came straight out of Pinterest. Seriously so cute.  I was also reunited with Claire Ruth Salmons during this classy reception so it was a double bonus!!

So anyways, I'm sitting there eating the most delicious peach cobbler when a dapper young man of oh... 15 years or so, tells me that he's scouted out all the single groomsmen for me and that he'd be more than happy to put in a good word for me! So he points them out to me and tells me that he's going to make it happen.

Not thinking too much of it, I laugh, he leaves and I continue eating this truly delightful cobbler.

Ten minutes or so later, I'm sitting down with Abigail just having a nice chat. It was almost as if I had completely forgotten that I was at a classy wedding and I felt as if I was chillin' in Peru with Abigail again. I was also wishing so badly that I had more cobbler left on my plate, but trying to be strong and not go get another helping of it. So I had made sure that I had eaten every single crum and without even thinking about it, I brought my plate up to my face and gave it one good lick!

Oh my gosh Noelle. Are we back in preschool?!!?!

The next few seconds happened so fast.

All of a sudden I became extremely aware that I had just subconsciously licked my plate and I hurried to set it down, but not before looking up and seeing that right infront of me was standing every single eligible bachelor present at that wedding. That 15-year-old, true to his word, had convinced them to come talk to me... and this is how they found me...

Needless to say the made a quick left turn right out of there without so much as a hello to the clearly uncontrollable, single, starving student in the blue.

And they were never heard from again.

Oh boy, anyone willing to give me a few lessons in etiquette? Or maybe just, How Not to Repulse Boys 101?

Love, Noelle

A Girl and Her MuMu

My Name is Noelle and I  shamelessly collect MuMu's.

Holly and I sporting my first two MuMu's on Christmas Eve 2011, all we had to do was unbelt them and then we were ready for bed ;)

**Disclaimer: MuMu is actually spelled muumuu... but I'm going to stick with my MuMu.

I've never really collected anything before. Not seashells or sand, not mugs or spoons, not  puppies or ponies. Nothing.

But I've always wanted to!

Now, my mumu collection is nowhere near legit status … yet. I only have 3 for goodness sakes. But  you've got to start somewhere right? Right.

So here's a little background behind my little  collection.

One day, my roommate Claire (she's so lovely!) and I rode our bikes down to Deseret Industries. I'm not sure if we needed anything in particular…. most likely we were just craving shopping and were too broke to go anywhere but DI.

In the D.I. Dressing Room

Anyways, we were looking through the clothing racks and cracking up at the oddities that we were finding. Where do people get this stuff??

Claire was  perusing the pajama section and pulled  out an extra large, silky blue MuMu. Laughing, she calls to me, "Bahaha try this one on Noelle!"

I turned from the rack of corduroy, maroon vests  to see what hideous creature Claire had crept upon this time. To my surprise, I was captivated by her capture!

"I love it!"

I think Claire thought I was kidding, but I indeed was not! I took it from her and sprinted off to the dressing rooms.

I'm so glad I captured my first MuMu moment !

Now, I had never tried on a MuMu before, but I was  not expecting to enjoy it so much! It was long, flowy and oh so comfortable. The moment I found out it had pockets, I was sold! I purchased a cheap little belt to wear around it and walked out of that store $3.00 poorer and feeling "FULFILLED" (10 points to whoever can name that CES fireside speaker).

I remember coming home and showing my roommates my cool new find. Some  ooo'd, some ahhh'd (out  of pity I'm sure) and most just laughed and said I'd never wear it. I think that Keri Rich was the only supportive one  :)

I wore it to church the first Sunday after I bought it!

I wore that MuMu at least a dozen times that beautiful spring semester. I wore it to church, to the temple, to devotionals and much more! I got comments galore on it too!  It was my first MuMu love, and it was a good one!

It came in super handy for my grandma halloween costume!

I'm hoping this isn't a projection of what me and my husband will look like on the dance floor in 50 years...

MuMu numba  two came into my life the next Spring semester I believe. I was with some dear friends (namely: Keri Rich, Abby Poston and Diane Polinkowski) doing our usual end of the semester DI pile rummaging. I think we were in the Mountain Pines lounge when this little beauty crossed Keri's path. She pulled it out of the rubble and said something along the lines of, "This has Noelle written all over it" and she was right! I didn't think I could ever love a MuMu as much as I loved my first one…Oh dear, I'm starting to sound like a MuMu mommy. Either way, I fell for this MuMu and it is currently my favorite!

This is Keri Rich, the founder of MuMu2

MuMu 2 Gets worn on only the specialist of occasions.. such as our first roommate dinner!

MuMu two happens to be my good luck charm when playing cards. I win everytime!

MuMu 2 on my first Sunday in Peru!

The mumu was perfect for the hot humid Lima/Chiclayo days.

MuMu number three came in South America. While in Peru (on my first grand travel adventure) I decided that I needed to start a collection of some sort so that when I'm old and grey, my grandkids can have a gay old time looking at Grandma's awesome collection of _____________ from all over the world.

And that's when it hit me. I need a Peruvian MuMu!! Long story short, we met the most amazing grandma in the world, we called her Mamita and seriously, she is so sweet, charitable and gosh darn adorable. She made all three of us gringas dresses out of yarn! We chose the color and the style and she made them for us. While contemplating what style of yarn dress I wanted... I realized that this was the perfect opportunity to get my Peruvian MuMu. So I explained to her what a mumu was (a little MuMu fashion show was called for at this time) and she agreed to make me a MuMu! (Unfortunately, due to my own fault **cough cough this is for you Abigail cough cough**, I don't have a picture of my Peruvian MuMu. It will come shortly!)

         

***Side Note: Some of you know that I like to visit resthomes on a regular basis... well I've actually found myself coveting certain resident's pajama clothing! Marge(see above left picture) has a rockin' teal and purple mumu that I'd give my eye teeth for... maybe I can convince her to write me into the will ;)

***Also, how cool of a grandma will I be? MuMu's and rollerblades? Ohhh yeah.
I know, I know... it's super weird that I'm a connoisseur of old lady pajamas, but we can't all collect mugs and magnets can we??


Love, Noelle

50 First Dates

I have a first date shirt, a shirt that I have worn on just about every first date this year. It all started when Claire and I were both asked on the same group date. We were rushing to get ready and decided that we had absolutely nothing to wear. So we decided to swap closets and go through each other's clothes. She wore my zebra shirt and black cardigan, and I wore a black shirt of hers. A black shirt that has since been dubbed the first-date-shirt. (Wow, we definitely need to come up with a classier title)

The following picture displays the varying undershirt colors worn on three different first date occasions:

January 2011                                      September 2011                              October 2011

Why is it a good first date shirt?
-It's simple, nothing too jazzed up, but it still looks nice
-It's black, so if I spill, no biggie.
-It's very comfortable

Rules of the First Date Shirt:
-It can only be worn on first dates. not second, not thirds etc. So if I start dating someone, the shirt goes to the back of the closet.
-You can't wear the same colored undershirt twice in a row. Gotta mix it up a bit.
-Always ask Claire's permission to wear it, it is her shirt afterall!


One shirt. Three Rules. Tons of memories.

Love, Noelle
-

Come in With the Rain

This has never happened to me, but today...

I am craving the rain. 

I just want it to rain. and rain. and rain. all day long. 

I want to take a long walk in it, all by myself.

I want to twirl and skip and dance in it with everyone I love.

I want to drive all around town in it, going nowhere and everywhere.

And then, best of all, I want to fall asleep to the sound of it, pounding on my window and on the rooftop.

And then when I wake up.

It will all be gone.

Leaving nothing but it's scent and the rejuvenation of everything it touched.

I've never loved the rain before. 

And now, I crave it.
Maybe that's what I get for living with Seattle girls for too long :)

Are these pictures not delightful?
Bring on the rain.
Love, Noelle

Hellooo Mr. Groban

You know that song by Josh Groban, You Are Loved? Yeah, well he sang it to me at work today!
Well... kinda.... ok not really... but listen to at least one verse and one chorus before you continue reading.


This morning I woke up way too late for class, rushed to get ready and left without breakfast (p.s. I love my breakfasts, and missing them makes me... hungry) Then I had two classes in a row and I go straight to work from there where I work from 11:15am- 6:30pm. No lunch break in there anywhere! In my rush to get out the door this morning I did however fill up a small ziplock bag with edamame, hoping that that would hold me over while I was at work all day (who was I kidding!?)


So after my aerobics class, where we worked out like nobody's business, I went straight to work, starving and thinking about how I wouldn't get a chance to eat until 7 that night. Well here's where my Josh Groban moment comes in. Listen carefully.


Claire, my dear, dear roommate, stopped by my work to pick up her water bottle that she had lost. I went to the back to retrieve it and returned only to find a brown paper sack lunch WITH MY NAME written on it sitting on the counter. That's when everything froze and Josh Groban stepped out of the dark right beside me and started in with a gorgeous ballad of "YOU ARE LOOOOVEEEED".

"Hope I got the measurements down for the oatmeal to applesauce. I didn't even know where to start with the cottage cheese" Oh my gosh, this cracked me up!

P.S. I haven't had a PB and J in quite sometime, but I LOVED this one!

Ok, so maybe I just squealed and ran and gave her a hug, but seriously, I felt so loved that Mr. Groban might as well have been there proclaiming it for all of the Manwaring Center to hear! How lucky am I huh? She was soo thoughtful and couldn't have possibly known how hungry I was. She even left me a note on the napkin (which clearly is the best part of the whole thing)!

Thanks CLAIRE, you made my day, and made it 100 times easier to enjoy work today.  Ahh, what a gem!
Love,
Noelle

Quote-a

There are tons of great, cutsied up quotes on Pinterest that I adore looking at. It makes me really want to have cute, inspiring quotes hanging up in our new apartment in the Fall. A nice home-y touch is just what we need to go along with Claire's fantastic, hanging, wall clock that sings to us every 15 minutes.

So with that idea in mind I created the following. These are some I threw together real quick to get a feel for the different fonts and what not. Hopefully they'll improve in time.

I simply adore these quotes.

What are some of your favorite quotes? I'm always on the look out for some keepers!
I'll post more here and there as I make them. Feel free to take and use them however you please.
No Copyright Nazi here :)

Love, Noelle

Snow Patrol

Ok so I know this is a little premature, but I must express my love for snow real quick.

Ahhh I love it soo much. 

At school, when I introduce myself to someone and tell them I'm from Vegas, 4 out of 5 times they sarcastically say, "Oh I bet you're loving Rexburg's weather", because Rexburg is notorious for how freezing cold it gets. But I do love it, I do! I know that's easy to say when I'm sitting in Overton where is was 107 degrees today and anything different from this heat would be nice, but I seriously love playing in the snow.

I could probably count the number of times I played in the snow before college on one hand. But being out there in it with my friends, brothers, roommates, whoever, I just can't get enough of it. I especially love to go sledding with the aforementioned people, love, love, love it!

Sledding and snowball fights and skiing, ahhhhh I'm in love.
Boots and scarves and mittens, yes yes yes!
Hot chocolate and blankets and fireplaces, does it get any better than that?

I'm off-track in the Winter, so I'm counting on some serious-sledding-snow hitting Rexburg this Fall. Can't wait :)

Love, Noelle

P.S. Ok, in all reality, in a couple months when it's -20 in Rexburg and I haven't seen the sun in 3 weeks and I can't feel my toes anymore, I'm sure I'll have a blog post to completely contradict this one... but until then... YAY SNOW!

"I Can Tell That We Are Gonna Be Friends"

About a year ago, when I found out my new roommate was going to be some girl named Claire Ruth Salmon.We became facebook friends and that day I wrote the following on her wall:

So it looks like you'll be living with me...

Uhhh, we're going to have to go over some ground rules so that no toes are stepped on and no lines are crossed.

No music will be aloud in my apartment.
...No talk of marriage or small children.
No laughing too loud, and no chick flicks.
NO baking any thing that contains more than 45 calories per serving.

Message me if you have any questions.

OH MY GOSH Claire, I am SO Just kidding! Hahaha I hope I didn't scare you too bad, but I'm totally curious as to what your reaction to that was :) I promise I'm not an evil, grumpy psycho! I'm so excited to live with ya, I absolutely love the name Claire and have planned on naming my first daughter that for as long as I can remember, but we can say I named her after you :) And I adore Salmon! And Hannah Salmon! I have a feeling we'll get along beautifully!

I seriously knew that we were going to be great friends even before I had even met this girl. Lo and behold: We are the greatest of friends!!

So when I first started this blog, I told Claire that my number one goal for this blog is to mention Claire in every single post. I did pretty good with this for the first couple posts, but as the posts kept coming I kept forgetting and Claire would nonchalantly remind me that I was FAILING at my goal. And indeed, I have ultimately failed at that goal. So to make up for it, here is an entire post dedicated to mine and Claire's relationship. We haven't even known each other a whole year, but I swear we've been best friends for life. Take a gander at the following pictures and judge for yourself :)

Night on the Town for Shae's Bachelorette Party

Craigo's in December

Noelle turns 20

Any phrase that starts "I'll race you to..." Always Turns into a hallway disaster

Cross Country Skiing at 7 am on a Saturday. Crazy fun.

Harry Potter 7 Part one Midnight Premier

D.I Dress Shopping

"Hovering" at tennis

Home made Pie Shakes and Homemade Pie-staches

Reading and Journal writing outside before Devo

Homemade Lasagna

Rollerblading

Walking to Church

HALLOWEEN and caramel apples!

Banana Muffins and Sunday afternoons at Southgate

Crashing on Couches

Sledding. All day Every day.

Being harassed by the boys

Having a blast with these boys

Rocking out with Ila and our other Homestead-ers

Attending Culture Night

Water Fights!

Cooking Up Sunday Dinners

Watching Baseball Games

Dancing in the streets on a volunteer basis

Eating Ahmish Bread with Cheese

Going out to Woo the Fine Gentleman of Rexburg

Whipping up scrumptious desserts the likes of which you've only glimpsed here

Roasting Chili Peppers

Looking lovely after work outs

Eating European Chocolate

Considering the Important things in Life

TENNIS AND ROLLERBLADING!

Red Robbining

Being on  a sugar-free diet together and hating it

Cheering at games

Attending FHE at the Herberts