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!!

Pituitary

Dear Natalie,

 You are a babe! It's true. Look how pretty! But that is really just the icing on top of the cake. After our nice long chat the other night in the I-center til all hours of the night, I was delightfully reminded of just how awesome you are.

Your confidence astounds me.  How do you do it? You know exactly who you are and more importantly, you love who you are. That is so impressive and I love that about you!

I've always envied your brilliance and I looove to tell people about your ACT score.  Hope that's ok. I'm just so proud that you're my sister!  I also always trust what you say 100% because I just always assume you know everything about everything.

Along those same lines... I always look to you for what movies, music, books etc to like. I just assume that if you like it, it must be good. You always have the best taste in things. It's a refined taste too. You don't like trash.

 I loved growing up with you by my side. Together, we made up "the big girls" in the family. That both united us together and pitted us against each other at times.

 But we always made it work, and we grew out of our insecurities and grew up to be friends.

We've even had our fair share of double dates together. I love it when that happens!

I am so happy that we are finally both up at school together again. It is such a blessing to have my sweet little sister so close to me. Our relationship is not your typical "sister-relationship" but I love it and I love that it gets stronger and stronger.

Thanks for everything love-button. I'm so glad that I get to be your sister. I love you!

"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

Dear Diary,

When I was 14, I had a little pink journal that I got from Young Women's with a jar full of strips of paper that had questions on it. Everyday, I would pick out a question, tape it to a page in my pink journal and answer the question. Here are a few of the entries I read today.

Keep in mind, this is 14-year-old Noelle.... Brace yourself

Friday, January 21, 2005

Question: Who am I closest to in my family? How did our relationship grow?

Answer: It changes from time to time. Right now I think it's, believe it or not, Daniel. Even though I hated his guts last year. It's not close, close, but we seem to get a long. I think it's because we're alike in some odd crazy ways. And Travis, I know you're reading this, so close it now. You too Natalie.

Thursday 8/4/05

Question: Who are some of my favorite people and why?

Not in any specific order-
1. Heather Humes - YW President and her kids
2. My Mom
3. Bolton Family
4. Taryn Leavitt and Chelsi McConnell and Grace Turner (My best buds)
5. Oprah Winfrey   **What the??

Friday February 3, 2005

Question: What are my goals and dreams?

 1. Be valedictorian                                                **Check
2. Recieve a full ride scholarship to BYU-I             **Check
3 Get a job and a licence at age 16                         **Check 
4. Get married and live in Utah                             **Half Check
5. Never go into debt                                                **Check
6. Have $1000 in the bank by the time I graduate     **Check
7. Get straight A's 'til college                                    ** Check
8. Marry in the temple            
9. Get a green bug                                              
10. Be laurels president                                         ** Check
11. Work with animals
12. Marry an animal accepter
13. Live until I'm 90+
14. Be on the tennis team for 4 years                       **Check
15. Be the best I can be!


There you have it. A glimpse into the life of 14-year-old Noelle. Oh my.... For the record, I'm totally ok with never owning a green bug and I'll live if my husband is not an "animal accepter".

Right now..

I love the color combination of coral and navy. I also like "Coral" and "Navy" as little girl names.

Photos courtesy of Pinterest

I randomly started reading Harry Potter 4 yesterday. I love the Weasely family.

After noticing that neither Kristee Bills, nor Tara Mendenhall (two stunningly gorgeous girls in my ward) wear mascara on their bottom lashes, I decided to try it. I'm on day two and it's kind of weird... but I like it!

I am the ward-prayer co-chair. Those of you who tried endlessly to get me to come to ward prayer when I graduated high school know how comical this is :)

My brother gets married this Saturday to a Saint. She is truly incredible and I could learn so much from this woman. I'm so excited for her to join the family.

Sorry it's so fuzzy, I stole it off of facebook

My summer has been packed with adventures and the outdoors. It's all coming to a close in a matter of days.

I love country music and Andy Grammar. 

LeeAnn Riggs owns an edited version of Hitch. I covet this.

I listened to this song, before watching this movie. I can't even imagine. What a woman. Such an elect lady. My heart breaks and rejoices for her. How much can one heart take?

I feel as though I am the only living being in the world who 1. Doesn't have Timeline AND 2. Doesn't have a smart phone. 

I'm ok with the above statement.

My eyes have recently been reopened to the greatness of Preach My Gospel. I absolutely love going to my Preach My Gospel Sunday school class. What an amazing resource that we have available to us.

My ward softball team made it to region! How cool is that?! We play this week for the championship!

I love these people!

I move back up to Rexburg for school in less than a month. Bittersweet. I'm ready for a new adventure, but kind of feel like going back to Rexburg is a step backwards. I've already conquered that one. Let's go to Ghana.

I turn 22 in 4 months. I'm going to start praying tonight for snow so that I can finally go birthday sledding this year. Last year was quite the disappointment. 

I miss playing tennis so much. I've only played twice this entire summer. Oh how I love that sport.

7 years later- Still using a pink Wilson, same outfit color combo, and same hairstyle. 

I can't bear to switch my FB profile picture to anything non-Peru related. (Abigail caught onto that ;) I think about that place and those kids every single day.  They have changed me for the better.

I am so excited to be a mom.

I have recently changed my minor.

I love having a paycheck.

I want pockets and pearls on my wedding gown.

Talking To Myself

I must send out a formal apology to anyone and everyone who has had  an informal conversation with me on the phone at any point in my life. Allow me to explain why.

Meet Beebs: 

Quite Possibly the Coolest Cat I know!

Beebs is the baby of the family. She’s 13 and not spoiled in anyother way besides love. We all just can’t get enough of this girl. Except however, when she answers the phone. 

Whenever I call home, or even my mom’s cell phone, I have an 85% chance of having Beebs answer the phone. Which is fine and what not, I love hearing whats going on in Beebs’ life… but… .here’s the thing. Beebs is the same kind of story teller as myself. It takes us F…O…..R….E…V…..E….R.. to try and recount a story over the phone.

“Oh wait I forgot..”, “Anyway,” “Wait, where was I going with this..” or “Hold on let me try and remember..”. We stink at story telling and it’s just amplified over the phone. 

I’ve known this fun little fact about myself for quite some. I tell stories all jumbled up in the wrong order and insert meaningless details, while forgetting important ones. However, i had never talked to myself on the phone before, so I had no idea how frustrating or annoying it could be to talk to me. Until one day… when I called Home and Beebs answered the phone. It had been an eventful day in the Rust home and I wasn’t able to be apart of it so I was dying to hear all about what happened in my absence. 

Beebs of course answers the phone. I urgently begged her to go through a play by play of the evening for me. After about 15 minutes of  “Oh wait I forgot..”, “Anyway,” “Wait, where was I going with this..” and “Hold on let me try and remember..”, I had to end the madness. i told her to have mom  call me back when she had a chance.

As soon as I answered the phone call from my mom, I blurted out, “Oh my goodness Mom, I am so sorry that you have to listen to me talk on the phone all the time. I now know exactly how it feels to talk to someone just like me. It's awful!”

So, again, I'd like to extend my deepest apology along with the promise that I shall try to improve!
Love, Noelle

Why Every Little Girl Needs A Big Brother

Me and My Big Brothers: How Cute Are We?

I was just sitting in the kitchen eating frosted animal crackers with my two baby sisters (Holly-16 and Beebs-13... where did the time go??) when Beebs (who missed the Stake Dance age cut off by just 23 days!) asked Holly to recount everyone that she had danced with at last night's stake New Years Eve dance.

Sidenote: Gosh I wish I had a picture to show you of how gorgeous Holly looked last night! Her make-up was classily done, her long, thick golden-blonde hair was down in perfect upside-down curl ringlets and she was rocking my teal zebra shirt. Ow Ow!! But I don't have a photo, so just picture a knock-out diva goddess.

As soon as she started talking about which boys asked her to dance, which ones she asked on girls-choice, and which ones she danced with multiple times... floods of memories from my own stake dances filled my mind. I adore the memory of my very first dance, and I had forgotten about it for a long time until now, and I want to remember it for my children, so it must go down in the blog.

Noelle's First Dance
It was a New Years Eve Dance (I only know this because I turned 14 midway through December, so it would make sense that my first dance would be the NYE.)

I can't remember how I wore my hair, probably curled... but maybe straight... but I do remember that I wore a black and white striped polo and that I looked preeeettty cute :) The dance was held in the Fine Arts Building at the Logandale Fair Grounds. I was the only one of my friends who was 14 and so I was pretty nervous about going and having no one to hang out with. Not to mention that  the idea of enjoying dancing with a boy was so foreign to me. I remember there were various stations set up around the room of activities to do. I was grateful for that and headed to one of those and began chatting with one of the leaders, hoping to avoid the dancing scene all together.

I forgot to mention that accompanying me to the dance were my two older brothers Daniel and Travis who at this point were Stake Dance Pros and were there with a slew of their friends (Many of which I had had crushes on for who knows how long...it's a little sister thing). Anyways, I don't remember at what point of the night it was, but I do remember that Daniel came and found me and brought me over to the middle of the dance floor where I found that he had gotten what seemed like every single boy in the valley to stand in circle. He then took me to the middle of the circle of men and told me  that I could choose any boy in the room to have my first dance with.

I was so embarrassed surprised terrified mortified. All of these older men standing in a circle, waiting for me to choose one of them! My mind was racing, "You can't choose one that you like, because then they'll know you like them and then it'd just be awkward... But you can't choose one that you don't like because then they'll think you like them and that could just be disastrous." Oh the woes of a 14-year-old.

Now, wouldn't it be cute if I could say that the boy I chose to have my first dance with ended up being my best friend all through high school, served a mission and came back and married me....yes it would. But that would be false.

I don't remember exactly how it went down, but I remember looking to my right and seeing Cory Diamond, one of my friend's big brothers who I had actually talked to before so I figured it wouldn't be too weird. And so we danced, my first dance.  I don't remember it at all to be honest.
The rest of the boys were all perfect gentleman and I believe that I danced every single dance from then til the end of the dance that night. And I loved it. It was so much fun!

Once I had built up my self-esteem and confidence a bit, I looked back and thought, "Hello-ooo Noelle, Daniel gave you perfect opportunity to dance with _______________(insert names of 3 or 4 older boys that I'd had crushes on since the beginning of forever)!" But I was much to shy and nervous and flustered. And besides, Cory was so nice and was a wonderful first dance.

Also something I've realized upon looking back in hindsight... what a cute, sweet thing for a big brother to do for his little sister! Yes, at the time I wanted to murder him, but seriously, how cute it is that he rounded up all the boys just for me!

Disneyland 1996: Noelle (5) and Daniel (8)

I know we don't have much control over it, but I think every girl should have a big brother, and I was lucky enough to get 4!

Crawdad hunting!

Love, Noelle

P.S. Do any of you remember this? I don't think I've told this story much and am curious to hear what other people who were at the dance remember. Where did the rest of the girls go when Daniel put together the circle of boys? The world may never know..

Not Your Average Family

These past few days at home with my family have caused me to reflect quite a bit on my unique family culture (I just took a family relations class and learned all about the different family cultures there are.. nothing in the book came even close to what I found in my house :)

Here's just a few things that I observed that may or may not be completely different from how things are done in your family. For better, or for worse.

1. We eat. We eat a lot. We eat together. We eat unique things.

Roast and Potatoes? Grilled Cheese? Only on a very rare occasion.
Usually our Sunday dinners consist of dishes that I wouldn't even know how to begin spelling and ones that many have probably never heard of. We go all out Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, etc. We eat well. We eat it together.

2. We cook together.

Whether it means having the whole family around the table making sushi rolls, or having us all in the kitchen working on separate dishes. I think its safe to say that we've all learned the basics as well as some unique cooking skills. We like to cook, and we're good at it. Check out our annual Rust Family Iron Chef Competition. It's legit.

2. Our scripture studies, family prayers and Family Home Evenings take about 10 times longer than they should... and it's not necessarily because we are being spiritually fed. We get off topic. We laugh. We do all sorts of things before we've finally accomplished what we set out to do.

3. Breakfast every morning.

My mom is amazing. Whether it's decadent french toast or plain ol' oatmeal, we always have breakfast. It's always there and we always eat it together. (P.S. When I say always... I mean almost always :)

4. We enjoy a good game of tennis.  We all know the sport. We all love the sport. We're all pretty good at the sport. Meaning that when we get together, tennis is almost always involved. It is so stinking fun to watch those boys go at it and play each other. They are so good! I also love that this is a sport in which I can take part of and hold my own.  We have way too much fun.

5. Our home is currently undergoing renovation... With our front room and entry completely un-usable, our house is a teensy, tiny little thing to try and cram the whole family+ visitors into beds, around the table or even in the living room for scripture study. But we ALWAYS make it work.

6. We have our own language, both audible and non-verbal. 
You'd have to experience us first hand to know what I'm talking about. It started with Daniel, but we've all picked it up in some form or another.

7. It is an unwritten rule that when dad is cooking alone in the kitchen, he is allowed to make as big of a mess as he'd like. 

As soon as dinner is complete, the boys leave to do.... You know, I have no idea what they do! While Mom (unless she's working on a talk ;) and the girls get right to work cleaning and singing until the kitchen is clean. As soon as the kitchen is clean and the dishwasher is running, we then all gather for scriptures and prayers. It's the same routine every night, and we love it.

8. Growing up, we made dozens upon dozens of visits to the elderly. 

Our ward has always had an abundance of elderly, and my parents were awesome about making sure that we visited those who we prayerfully chose to visit. This was a very, very common FHE activity. Coincidence that I feel at home and so happy while at Rest Homes in Rexburg...? I think not.

9. There are two very distinct subsets in our family. The boys and the girls. My parents first had four boys and then followed with four girls. Pretty original. I like it :)

10. We all love kids. 

These particular kids are some of our favorite :)

We're all great with kids. None of us are the type who instantly turn uncomfortable and awkward around little kids. We adore them. We love playing with them, babysitting them, teaching them etc.

11. We're a fairly musical family.

We all have at least one instrument that we excel in. We've got the guitar, piano,saxophone, bass, violin, percussion, clarinet, oboe and flute all covered...not to mention the 10 gazillion instruments that Daniel alone plays. On top of that, the boys are all fantastic on the piano and the girls can sing their hearts out. We pretty much could have a rock band if we wanted to.


12. We have a passion for the Beach.


 We gather all together at the beach at least once a year for our Jared Rust family Reunion. We camp out and spend all day everyday on the beach. Love it.

13. We are so easy-going.

None of us are high maintenance. We've lived our whole lives in such away that we know not to get too worked up if things don't go our way or if we can't see how something is going to work out. We know that it's going to work itself out and we'll get by just fine.

Those were just a few of the things about my family that make us a bit unique. The older I get, the more and more I adore these people!

And if you knew them, I'm sure you'd adore them as well :)

Love, Noelle