Jeremy and Samantha Hill Family

New Year, New Post

2012-01-07T17:01:00.002-07:00

So I figure if I post now then I won't need to post again until my birthday and still be up with my regular flow of posts :)

Well, things have changed since my last post. I am still in Rawlins at the nursing home and I am not leaving this month. I have extended my contract so I will be there for a while longer. Its a good facility and I like being close enough to home that I can see Jeremy once a week.

Jeremy is still doing Kenpo and we have recently learned that our beagle is not really all that keen on being used as a practice dummy.

I am letting my inner interior designer out and we are going to redo our living room. I am using one of my favorite views as my inspiration so hopefully our living room will be as breath taking as the real scenery. It is probably going to be a process so there may not be a finished product for a few months.

Last month for Jeremy's birthday we went to Denver for a vacation and saw a Broncos game. Sadly the Broncos weren't able to beat the Patriots but it was still a really fun day and it was great to have 5 whole days together where neither of us had to go to work. We also went to Wings Over the Rockies while we were in Denver which is a really cool air and space museum. We spent a whole morning there admiring all the different planes and other neat things that they have. We had a really good time just hanging out and not having a lot of things that we HAD to do.

Overall we have had a good few months and are looking forward to a wonderful new year.

October/November

2011-11-19T14:34:00.002-07:00

The past few months have been crazy for us. I have been working in Rawlins as a travel therapist at the nursing home. So I am only home on weekends and only when the weather cooperates. Jeremy has been enjoying his new promation at work and keeping busy with all the new assignments he has been given. He is still going to Kenpo two nights a week and is currently working toward his purple belt which he hopes to get by camp next spring. I will be moving on to a new assignment in January but as of now I don't know where that will be.

Before I left for Rawlins we were able to remodel our master bathroom and I think it looks great. We totally redid the floor, the sink, the paint, pretty much everything. Our next project is our living room but it may be a few months before that is done.

During the end of october Jeremy's uncle became very ill and passed away. It was a hard time for Jeremy's family but through everything Jeremy was able to reunite with his aunts and cousins whom he hadn't seen in years and he was also able to say good bye to his uncle before he passed.

Ok, well, I think that is everything. Hopefully within the next month I will know where I am headed for work next and I will be able to update every one!

Great News from the Hills

2011-07-16T20:37:00.002-06:00

It has been a wonderful week at the Hill house. Jeremy had a job interview this week for a promotion to manager in the security department. This happened on Thursday. Friday just before lunch he signed his official offer letter. As of this morning he began his duties as a manager. He stays on the day shift but sadly he doesn't get to change his days off to the weekend because that is the point of this position...having a manager present on the weekend. So that's kind of a bummer but we are very excited for him to be moving up and growing in his career.
I also will be growing in my career. I have been working with a recruiter from a travel therapy agency and will be taking travel positions for my future employment. This will mean that I am out of town all week long but I am aiming at taking jobs that are close enough that I can come home every weekend and see Jeremy. This is going to be a big step in our lives and its going to mean a lot of changes for us. As far as details about the job though I really don't have any yet so stay tuned to find out if I will be working at a nursing home near you!

2011-06-22T17:53:00.002-06:00

Well, I said I would try to blog more so here's my first attempt. As I said before we are now working out by running three days a week. Its been going pretty good and we have improved our time each run. We are doing the couch to 5 k program and right now we are just moving to the second step where you run more then you walk but you still alternate frequently. I have to say I still get pretty worn out and by the end Jeremy is leaving me in his dust but we are doing pretty well with the whole thing. We recently visited my parents and did a run in Idaho which was fun but more hilly then our current route here at home. If anyone is interested you can see our routes on Trimble Outdoors, we're the only people in Evanston that use Trimble.

I don't think there is any other news from the Hill house. Hopefully my next post will be more eventful!

Finally Posting

2011-06-02T19:16:00.002-06:00

I don't really know if there is any news from the Hill house to report on but I feel as though I should post something because I never remember to post and my good friend Sara once told me that blogs are no fun if you don't put new stuff into them frequently. So now that we have established that this blog is no fun because frequent doesn't describe my blogging habbits I will try to do a quick update.
We are still working at the hospital and living in Evanston. I am hoping to do some home improvement here soon so hopefully I will be posting pictures of what we have done to the house.
Some of you may know this but I recently did a 5 mile race with my best friend Melanie. I was unable to run the whole thing but I alternated running with speed walking. Now I'm not a runner and I got ready for the race just so I could do it with Melanie. But something weird happened. I sort of enjoyed it. So now Jeremy is joining me and we will be trying to prepare for a 5k toward the end of this summer. We just went and got some new running shoes because I ran with Melanie in walmart tennis shoes and they did not do what I needed. So now I have real shoes and we have a work out plan and I am excited.
That is pretty much all there is for news from us. And I hate to ramble so hopefully I will blog again, sooner then I have recently.

Jamaica...very late but still getting posted

2010-12-18T14:55:00.003-07:00

OK, so since September I have been meaning to post some pics from Jamaica but I have not gotten around to it till just now. So for those that aren't aware we went to Jamaica and stayed at a Sandals for 7 days for our anniversary this year. We had an awesome time and it was hard to come back home.

The first picture is from a guided horse back ride that we went on. My horse was named Thunder and Jeremy's horse was named Monday. We rode through the jungle/forest and then down to the beach. Once we got to the beach then we rode in the ocean a bit and then rode back to the corals. It was pretty awesome. But as a side note if you ever ride on an English saddle in the water your going to want to wear long pants afterword or cover the saddle with something. The wet nylon that holds the stirups on will give you a nasty rash thing.

Horse back riding

2010-07-21T21:17:00.003-06:00

So today we did something we've been wanting to do for quite a while. We went horse back riding at my friend Deb's house. She runs a therapeutic riding program and so she has super great horses. We needed some great horses to ride because it has been 20 plus years since Jeremy has ridden and 3 years since I have ridden. It was sad for me because I used to help with the riding program and all but one of the of the horses she had when I was helping have been put down. So we got to know some knew horses Socks and Buddy.

Jeremy rode Socks, a nice appaloosa mare who doesn't go real fast because of arthritis but she was a perfect beginner horse for him. I rode Buddy, who's breed I don't know but he is a gaited horse which is just weird to ride but fun. Jeremy was a pro, he got back into riding fast and after a little instruction from Deb he was doing great. I on the other hand had issues with Buddy. He did not want to go anywhere no matter how hard I tried. Then I got really frustrated and he could sense that so he locked up even more. Deb came to the rescue and got him moving and then I took some time to calm down and bond with Buddy. When I got back on I manned up and showed him who was boss. After that our ride went much better. Jeremy had issues with Socks not wanting to move past the gate and being a little lazy but he got her moving pretty good. Once I got Buddy moving we found out that he is a total clutz. He stumbled several times but near the end of our ride he fell to his front knees and I wasn't using the stirrups so I was a little rattled but rode it out. Overall we had a really fun time and are going out again next week.

Next week Jeremy graduates to Buddy and I move on to Lucky. Pictures to come later.

Catching up

2010-07-12T19:23:00.006-06:00

OK so to echo my last post I don't post often enough. The problem this time is that I have had a ton to post about and I just have never gotten around to it. I think my procrastination is a disability.

At the end of May I competed in the Mrs. Wyoming Pageant. This is the photo that I used for my program picture. Jeremy took it for me and I have to say he has a pretty good eye for photography.

The pageant was awesome. I didn't make the top 10 but one of the girls that I became friends with did make it. I was really excited for her. I had a great time doing the pageant. I met a lot of great girls there and had so much fun. We got to do some "dancing" and learning the walking and the "snaking" and the waving and the posing was awesome. The other photos are me in my interview suit and a bunch of us with the reigning Queen Joanna.

On our way home from Cheyenne we went the long way through Casper intending to see Jeremy's sister Michelle. But after we got to Casper we found out that she was out of town. So we walked around the mall for a while, bought some new curtains, got a hotel room and did some swimming in the pool. Then the next day we went to Independence Rock and Martins Cove. I was a wimp and didn't climb to the top of Independence Rock but we got part way up before I chickened out. I just didn't think I could make it. At Martins Cove we walked up to the Cove and neither of us are sure where they camped 500 people. But it was kind of a cool experience even if we did get sunburned.

So after that we had a pretty quiet month of June. Jeremy went camping with Brian on what was supposed to be a 3 day trip but they got rained out on the second day. Jeremy is proud of himself though, and he should be, because he boiled some water Les Stroud style. For anyone who doesn't know Les Stroud is a survival expert that has a TV show, I think its called Survivor Man. Anyway regardless of what the show is called Les showed his viewers on one episode how to boil water in a plastic water bottle like you by from the store. So Jeremy rigged up his water bottle over the fire and within just a little while he had water hot enough to make coffee.

Over the July 4th weekend my parents and brother and sister came to Evanston to help us put up a fence. The bad news here is that we didn't get the whole fence put up that weekend. We are still working on it but we are pretty close to being done. The front yard has a chain link fence and the back is a wood privacy fence. We are looking forward to having our whole yard fenced and then we can start working on making it a yard and not a weeks patch.

And finally we are going to Jamaica in September for our anniversary. We are very excited. We have less then 8 weeks left. We can't wait to sit on the beach and just do nothing for a few days.

Ok, I think I have caught up, and I will try to keep caught up but no promises.

Wow I should post more often

2010-03-18T19:24:00.002-06:00

I should really post more often. I am sure Sara Kay is annoyed with my erratic posting habits and I promise I don't do it on purpose Sara. Not a whole lot has happened but enough that I should have been posting.

I have been selected as Mrs. Evanston and in May I will be competing in the Mrs. Wyoming pageant. I am very excited about this. If any one wants to come see me it will be in Cheyenne. Let me know if you want tickets and I can get them cheaper in advance.

I just finished my first semester of my doctorate program and am moving on to semester two. Which speaking of that is what I should be doing right now, homework. But instead I am procrastinating and blogging. I will be done with school in September hopefully and I am very much looking forward to it.

Jeremy and I have both been working hard as usual. There have been changes in the security department and now Jeremy works as a CNA a few times a week and as security a few times a week. He's not totally impressed with it but he is toughing it out and making the best of it. I am still just plugging along at my job, no big changes.

Well I really need to do my homework and I can't think of anything else to write so hopefully I will be able to log on and write soon, I will try not to forget.

January

2010-01-23T15:44:00.002-07:00

It has been forever since I have posted and I appologize. Not much has changed around here. We are both still working at the state hospital. We had a really great Christmas. Jeremy got a GPS which he has had lots of fun with. He got me an electorinc piano which is absolutely wonderful because I have always wanted to learn to play the piano and I am now teaching myself. We also got lots of nice presents from my parents and a wonderful framed picture from Jeremy's parents.
Other then Christmas not much has heppened here. We are doing well and hope all our friends and family are doing good as well.

August

2009-09-03T18:09:00.003-06:00

I really need to post more often. However, I feel like we don't have anything fun and interesting to post. We have not gotten anymore work done on the house although I am hoping to get the kitchen finished by the end of this month.
Our yard has fallen victim to the hot summer days and doesn't look real great any more. I am hoping next year is the year for our yard.
I am going to make this post short and sweet so that SaraKay can't say that I don't post but so that I don't bore anyone with the mundane details of our lives.

Good news from the Hill house

2009-07-16T23:09:00.002-06:00

July ended up being a really good month for us. We got the cement gutter removed from the middle of our yard. I just have to brag about my husband on this one because he was a trooper. He and Justin took sledge hammers and crow bars and removed that whole gutter that way. I just helped load it and I was tired. Jeremy is an amazingly strong and dedicated hard worker. I love him so much.

In other July news Jeremy finally got a shift change. He still has Tuesday and Wednesday off but he now works the 7-1530 shift which is great because we can be home together at night. So far we have taken advantage of the situation by cooking several suppers together, going to the rec center for workouts and just spending time together. It has been great. Jeremy is still a security officer but he is also now a trainer at work and is currently doing training classess on seclution and restraint. He has really taken this seriously and has been doing lots of research and learning on the topic. I am so proud of his dedication.

Well that is pretty much the best update I have. We are still working on the kitchen although it is almost done. Our yard has really gotten put on the back burner this summer but I'm hoping as fall comes we can get that looking better and get some new grass growing where the gutter used to be.

Big Hole!

2009-06-22T20:38:00.002-06:00

So yesterday I was home alone after Jeremy headed of to work. I heard this noise that sounded kind of like something falling off of a shelf. Knowing how naughty my beagle can be and knowing that he had recently been in the bedroom I figured that he had dislodged something and it had picked this moment to come crashing down. So I went in the bedroom but found nothing out of place. Then there came the big crash and honestly I was a little on the freaking out side. Because now that I was back in the back of the house I could tell it was coming from the spare bedroom and I had no idea why there would be anything crashing in there. As I'm sure my friends can imagine the worst was going through my head. I was thinking of this scary theif coming in the window and being ready to hurt me. So I opened the door and found not a scary man but a hole in our ceiling. Which was almost as bad. So apparently we had a leak in our roof which made our sheet rock and insulation wet and it caved in. Were it not for the tar paper under our shingles we could see day light because the roof boards are seperating. In the next few days the insurance adjuster will come and then deside what needs to be done. For now I'm keeping the door shut and trying not to stress out about it. Jeremy came home from work when I found the hole and helped me to make sure it wasn't likely to spread any farther. Hopefully no more rain for a while so that we can keep our insulation dry and our hole the same size.

There really isn't anything else major going on in our lives right now. I went to my sisters open house on Saturday and it was nice. Her husbands immediate family all came and my family was all there. My mom did a really nice job on getting every thing pulled together! It was beautiful. I also picked up the beef we bought from Dev and Becky and we are so happy to have it. We are going to have rib eye steaks for supper tomorrow night. I can't wait.

Ok, now that I have bored everyone with the mundane details I'm going to bed because I'm an old lady and I get tired early and I had a long day at work.

Happy Summer Solstice Everyone!!!!

May....what a month!

2009-06-01T19:59:00.001-06:00

So I have totally slacked off over this month, at least on blogging. First of all we painted the second half of our kitchen and will be putting up all the trim hopefully this week some time. For those of you who I haven't bombarded with information about my kitchen that I am so excited about we painted the dining room half blue. Now a few weeks ago we painted the kitchen side a nice buttercup yellow. All the trim is white and it looks so good. I can't wait for it all to be done. I am hoping to sand and paint the cupboards within the next few weeks and then everything will be done in that room and I can move on to the next room.

We have also been working hard in our yard. The road ran through the yard at one time so we have been pampering some grass seed so that we can have more then weeds in our front yard. We have little tufts of grass coming up now and we are very hopeful that they will grow up to be a strong healthy yard of grass. Because of the road issue we also have a gutter running through our yard. Jeremy did lots of hard work on removing it on Saturday but we still have so much to do. But it wasn't just Jeremy, I was also weilding the sledge hammer and busting up my fair share of concrete.

And more concrete removal has been taking place in our front yard. Our sidewalk is really busted up so I have decided to remove it and replace it with stepping stones and stepables. I have a plan in my mind as to what its all going to look like and its going to be great. Besides that it gives me a project to work on that motivates me and keeps me outside. Which is a good thing because most recently the doctor told me it would be good for me to get lots of sun as long as I wear sun screen. And it feels good to have a project that I am excited about. I also have the garden started. I will be planting the corn on Wednesday and then everything will be in and hopefully headed toward a very plentiful harvest.

OK, so I'm sure I have missed lots of information but I just can't think of anything else that is worth your reading. And hopefully this month I will remember to write more then once at the end of the month.

Trip to Zion

2009-05-03T20:43:00.005-06:00

Well, for once something is actually going on here. Jeremy and I just got back from vacation this past week. We went camping down at Zion national Park. It was amazing down there. It is absolutely beautiful, the weather was all warm and sunny, and the hiking and camping were completely awsome! We started out the trip by riding up the canyon on the shuttle bus and seeing the basic sights. On our first full day there we hiked up to a ridge called Angels Landing. It was absolutely beautiful. Part of the hike includes 22 switchbacks called Walters Wiggles. Its not the best picture but each of those brick walls is the base of one of the switchbacks. Once you get up toward the top you are on a fairly narrow ridge holding on to a safety chain. You can pretty much see the whole park and it is absolutely beautiful. That was the only hike we did that day as it took a long time and was awfully hot coming back down the mountain. The next day we were able to hike to the mouth of the narrows and then we hiked to the weeping rock. There are also the emerald pools which is a three loop hike. We only hiked to the first pool because it was getting late but it was absolutely beautiful. I don't know why but all the pictures I put up decided to go to the top of the blog. I was going to add more pictures but I don't want them all bunching up up there so I will try to figure out how to add them in another post.

Other then vacation not much has changed here. Jeremy and I are both still working hard. I am getting ready to go on a trip to drop a client off at a new placement. It should be a good time as I get to go with my friend Marie. Then we will do some PR at nursing homes along the way. Jeremy will be here holding the fort down with the dogs. I'm sure they will take good care of him.

Well, now that I've shared all the excitement in our lives I guess I will go pack for my trip!

Crazy Month

2009-04-05T16:18:00.003-06:00

I have been slacking on my posts because it has been a wild and crazy month. A few weeks ago I made a trip to Idaho to see my friend Melanie while she and her family were on spring break. While I was there my sister Mollie and I decided to go for lunch and hair cuts. I decided that it was time for a change so I chopped most of my hair off. I love my new hair cut and I love having low maintenance short hair. I am going to get it trimmed up though because I want the back to be a little shorter. I had a good time with friends and family on the trip and even managed to be on good roads for the trip.

Last month my sister Shanon decided to get married. So Jeremy and I attended that at the courthouse.

In the last week my Grandpa Wilmot passed away and we had to go to Idaho for the funeral. We also lost one of our clients that Jeremy and I were both close to so it has been a difficult week for us. The funeral was nice, and it was great to see family that I don't get to see very often. Aunt Debbie and Uncle LaVar came from Washington which was nice because I haven't seen them in about 10 years. I also got to see some cousins that live quite a ways a way. And it was nice to take a trip even though it was really rushed and obviously not under the best cercumstances.

So overall we have had a real long tough month but I am hoping for April to be nice and boring.

Working on making a beautiful kitchen

2009-02-22T14:18:00.005-07:00

For anyone who has not been to our house I will quickly explain our kitchen. Jeremy built a wall between the kitchen and the living room before I ever met him. The living room side looks really nice. Up until a week ago though the kitchen side of the wall was still drywall, mud and tape. vvvv( this was from the assistance of our beagle Copper) Anyway back to the kitchen I did not love the drywall. So the other day, needing to work out some frustration, I sanded and primed the wall. I am quite proud of myself because I have never done anything like that before and it looked pretty darn good. So the next step was texture which I also did with the assistance of Jeremy to hold up plastic to protect the living room. I used texture from a can which I very much recommend, it was easy and it looks soooo good. Anyway now that I had initiated the finishing of the kitchen I got Jeremy to join in with me. We went to the hardware store, picked out paint, looked at new baseboard (because half the kitchen doesn't have any) and talked about re staining the cupboards. So on Tuesday when Jeremy had the night off we tackled half of our kitchen. And I think it looks beautiful. We will be tackling the next half this coming Tuesday. When that is accomplished then all we will have left to do is the trim and someday in the future re staining/painting the cupboards.

In other news on Wednesday we bowl on a league. I'm not a great bowler by any means but we have a good time and I am improving. The last game of the week this week I managed to just be on fire and I bowled a 154 which is 64 points over average for me. I was pretty darn proud of myself. Well, I think that is about all the excitement we had this past week.

Just another week

2009-01-31T19:01:00.002-07:00

Well, this week was nothing huge but still more exciting then a normal week at our house. On wednesday I went on a trip for work. We (my friend/coworker Jennifer and I) were going to Laramie but when we got to Rawlins the roads were closed and we ended up turing around and coming back. So then on Friday we tried again and this time we were successful at making it all the way. So after we did what we needed to for work we went to Chili's which I absolutely love and had an awsome lunch. The down side of all of this fun was not being able to see Jeremy. And then next week I am headed on a 3 day trip and will miss 1 of Jeremy's days off so that will be no fun. But next weeks trip is to Sheridan and that will be cool cuz I have never been there. As far as Jeremy I'm pretty sure he has had a fairly regular week but like I said we haven't seen much of each other. He has been working a lot of overtime lately so putting that and my out of town trips together it is more like I have a roommate then a husband. But as everyone keeps telling me this too shall pass.
Well now that I have chronicaled our totally boring lives I will be done. And maybe someday soon we can have something exciting to say.

Random

2009-01-15T22:02:00.003-07:00

Copy and paste the quiz to your blog and then fill in your own answers!It's fun!

Five names you go by:1) Samantha
2) Sam
3) Babe
4)Amanda (remember I work at a State Hospital)
5)Sabrina (see above ;)

Three things you are wearing right now:1) pants
2) shirt
3) wedding ring
Two things you want very badly at the moment: 1) to know what to do!
2) a different work schedule for my husband!
Three people who may fill this out: (I'm hoping everyone will)1) Kurt and Julie
2) Liza
3) ?
Two things you did last night:1) Went bowling
2) taught violin lessons
Two things you ate today:1) blueberry muffin
2) grilled chicken salad
People you last talked to on the phone:1) Jeremy
2) Pat or whoever the switch board opperator was...pretty sure it was him
Two things you are going to do (or already did) today:1) Work on progress notes
2) make chili
Two of the longest road trips:1) The pay it forward tour north dakota to DC
2) shelley to Grand forks North Dakota in one day
Three of your favorite beverages:1) Water
2) Jamba or any type of smoothie
3) Dr. Pepper

2009-01-11T16:23:00.003-07:00

I have come to realize that nothing ever really changes here. So I have no idea what I will post about but Sara Kay told me that blogs are only fun to read if they are regularly up dated so I am updating. My sister recently moved in with us...about two weeks ago. A word of advice to anybody wondering....newly wed's should NOT take on a roommate. It is awkward to say the least. But it has been nice to see her every now and then although she is never home so the seeing is few and far between.
Well, since I have nothing interesting to say I should probably quit boring you and go make some supper.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T21:33:00.002-07:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Ok, so I'm a little late on the new years wish but 4 days isn't bad for a life time procrastinator. As the new year begins things are pretty much staying the course here at the Hill house. Jeremy is taking on some new responsibilities at work but more or less nothing is really changing. My job is just same old same old. Still working hard with people who don't even know they are getting therapy....ah what a rewarding job. LOL
We were able to go see my family in Idaho for New Years Eve. Thankfully the roads were clear and dry and we had a really good trip. We were spoiled by "Santa" and came home with quite a few fun things including some new Wii games and a deep fryer. We made it back to Evanston in time to celebrate "Times Square at Depot Square". Its a fun little town tradition where we have our own ball and fireworks show down in the center of town. We went last year and it was one of our first romantic dates so we now want to make a tradition of going as long as we live here in town. It was freezing outside, but totally worth it for the New Year mid night kiss.

Yay the first post in our new blog

2008-12-27T16:13:00.005-07:00

After reading all my friends blogs and seeing the updates about their families I decided that it would be fun for Jeremy and I to have a blog. There really isn't much for me to say right now. We just finished having a great Christmas together. Even though we didn't make it to see family because of the snow we had a lot of fun just haning out together.

We went and got our own Christmas tree this year and so we were able to just sit here on Christmas Eve and admire our wonderful tree. I realize this is a bit on the rambly side but I promise no all the posts will be this way.