Merry Christmas from the Hills!

We just wanted to share some more holiday cheer with this year's Christmas card. Why are we holding an alligator? The photo is from our September trip to Florida, where we spent a day riding on air boats and watching crazy people wrestle alligators. And of course, Luke INSISTED that we hold one. Little did I know, the cute little guy would make it into our Christmas card.

So, Merry Christmas from the Hills and their alligator friend!

Still Writing About Space...

Yes, that's right. I'm still writing about space ships and launching people into orbit. I never thought this would become my speciality (who knows, maybe my true calling is to work for NASA).

I've started doing some freelancing for Seattle Business Magazine, which is owned by the same parent company that I work for in Minneapolis. I had sent the editor there my resume and it had some info about how I wrote articles on NASA and space travel. So, when Paul Allen announced Tuesday that he was investing $200 million in a new space travel vehicle, the editor called me up and asked me to crank out a blog article in an hour and half. I knew my Master's degree would be good for something! So here's the result:

Read the full article here!

Out of This World Sugar Cookies

I'm going to share this FABULOUS sugar cookie recipe with you. I've already made it twice in the past week and it's simply the best. It's so easy and quick - you will love it. I got it courtesy of my mom, so you can thank her when you become addicted to these little treats!

Makes about 2 dozen

1 cup sugar, divided

1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine or butter

1 egg

1/4 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To make cookies: Cream 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup margarine together. Beat egg, 1/4 tsp vanilla and margarine mixture together. Combine flour, baking soda and salt thoroughly and add to margarine mixture. Form round balls using about 1 Tablespoon dough. Roll in remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Press with glass dipped in sugar. Bake 7 to 9 minutes, until light brown at the edges. Cool on wire rack.

Happy Baking!

Super-Happy-Holiday-Fun-Day!

Yesterday was our second annual super-happy-holiday-fun-day! We spent the day doing all things holiday and were definitely wiped out by the end of the day. Here are some pictures from our adventures!

We commenced the day with cookie baking. Well, let's be honest- I commenced the day with cookie baking and Luke unwrapped the Hershey kisses :)

We went downtown for a little Christmas shopping and had lunch at Macy's Walnut Room next to the GIGANTIC tree.

Then we made it to the Millennium Park skating rink. It was raining a bit, but we endured and enjoyed some time on the ice.

And then we delivered more cookies to Luke's friends at work. Here are a couple pictures of our walk downtown on the State Street bridge. Gotta love those city lights!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Even though we are only going to be in Chicago for a couple more weeks, we didn't want to skimp on the holiday decorating. So, we dug out our mini "boot" tree and stockings, and Luke hung lights around the apartment. It's quite cozy and festive now! Here's a little Christmas joy from our family to yours. Merry Christmas!!

Unlike most people's trees, ours resides on the desk.

Stockings! I can hardly believe this is our FOURTH Christmas being married. The ornament hanging on the right is from our first Christmas together.

Almost done!

So, my grad school experience is nearing an end. It's sad and exciting all at the same time. I have spent the last 10 weeks working as the editor-in-chief of the Medill Magazine Innovation Project. We created a brand new tablet magazine and it was crazy. We had a big presentation yesterday and you can watch it online if you're really that interested :) Just click the link below to find out everything you wanted to know about the world of tablet magazine innovation.

HINGE Magazine presentation

We've Got News...

After a little over a year in Chicago, Luke and I have decided to say goodbye to the Windy City and embrace the Pacific Northwestern-ness in us once again. And that means we are moving back to Seattle! We are sad to leave the deep dish pizza and midwest city lights, but we are really excited to get back to those mountains! We are excited for our new adventure and what this new chapter of life will bring.

We are planning to move in early January. Luke will continue to work for Nordstrom and finish up his criminal justice classes at a school out there. And I'm on the job hunt, hoping to find some super fantastic pro-journalist job of my dreams :)

We are so thankful for all the love and support of our family and friends as we continue to move across the country and back. We love you all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you all had a fantastic turkey day this year! We are so thankful -- God has blessed us with so much this year! Luke's parents were able to come and spend the holiday with us. We kicked off the holiday season with the tree lighting ceremony in downtown Chicago and spent most of the holiday break eating leftovers, leftovers, and more leftovers. It's been a great time of relaxation and rest for my last two weeks of graduate school! Here are some photos from this weekend...

Mr. Luke. He is very excited.

We even ran into Mayor Emanuel, and got to shake his hand!

Waiting for the festivities to begin...

Steve & Lisa at the tree lighting ceremony

The lights are on! Merry Christmas!

Cooking Thanksgiving dinner in our itsy bitsy kitchen. Luke was in charge of the mashed potatoes... and I was in charge of everything else.

Thanksgiving dinner, coffee table style. We have a pretty tiny apartment, so we had to do some rearranging for dinner. We put the Thanksgiving spread out on the coffee table to dish up and moved the dining room table to the middle of the room so we could all fit around it. It was delicious and I couldn't have done it without my mother-in-law, Lisa. Thanks so much!! I now have TWO Thanksgiving meals under my belt.

Door County (again!)

At breakfast last Saturday, Luke proposed the idea of a spontaneous trip to Door County, Wisconsin. He had both Saturday and Sunday off (which I don't think has ever happened without planning throughout the last three years), so we knew we needed to take advantage of it. So, we packed the Jeep up and headed north for two nights!

We brought our bikes and spent most of Sunday riding on the country roads between the small towns while enjoying the (coolish!) fall weather. We had a great time and it was a much needed break from school and work. We didn't take a lot of photos, but here are some!

Luke using his new birthday thermos for the first time.

It kept the coffee hot for 24 hours--seriously!

Enjoying some warm coffee on the pier in Egg Harbor.

Egg Harbor pier: We watched some giant salmon swimming around in the water.

This is what most of our bike ride looked like. And yes, that is me in the corner, walking my bike up that giant hill. But I promise, that was the only hill I had to walk!

The WINDY City

We've had some crazy weather lately -- mainly in the wind department. Luke went out one morning and snapped these photos of the lake crashing against the walkway that follows the lake and lines the Park. You can see just how windy it was! Thankfully, we did not blow away :)

We're still here!

Hello! I haven't gotten around to blogging lately because school has been keeping me VERY busy. I'm in my last quarter of grad school (wow!) and am busy working on a new tablet magazine innovation project.

A few weeks ago, we spent the weekend in Minnesota to celebrate the wedding of our dear friends Matt and Betty. We met Matt and Betty in our small group from church in Minnesota. We had so much fun celebrating with them and wish them lots of happiness and adventures! Here are a couple pictures from our trip.

The happy couple -- congrats Matt and Betty!

A snapshot from the wedding

Florida: Land of the gators

Oh, summer... it seems you have quickly turned to fall overnight. Which is why Luke and I took our last chance to feel the sun on our backs before winter rears its snowy, freezing head.

Luke and I hopped a plane to Florida last weekend for a quick "last hurah!" of summer. We headed to Palm Beach to enjoy the sun, sand and seafood. We stayed in a great resort right on the ocean, in which Luke spent most of his time jumping waves, while I watched to make sure he didn't get pulled under or stung by a passing jellyfish (he had some close encounters). And if you know us, you know we LOVE seafood. We made sure to get our fix of mussels, oysters, fish, you name it, each night -- well, except for one, which we caved for a Japanese steakhouse that was sounding very delicious at the time.

But, we had a great time and I am so thankful for the time to make memories together (and thankful to my parents for letting us use their timeshare)! Here are some photos from our trip.

Luke ordered a "whole snapper." Little did he know, that's exactly what he was going to get. To eat it, he had to pull the meat off the fish while steering clear of the tail and eyes.

This is the "after" shot.

The one thing Luke wanted to do on our trip was see alligators. Well, more specifically, wrestle alligators -- so we got as close to that as we could. We drove down to Fort Lauderdale and went on an airboat tour of the Everglades and saw some alligators swimming. It was so cool!

Can you see it there in the water?

Waiting for the boat ride...

Wahoo!!

Then we got to watch someone ELSE wrestle alligators. This guy got his thumb bit off by an alligator about six years ago. They reattached it, but he doesn't have any feeling in it anymore. Apparently, they get their alligators from trappers who collect "public nuisance" gators that make their way into the city. This group buys the gators so they aren't killed for their skins.

I don't know if you can see this guy - but he's barefoot. No big deal, right?

And then he took our camera into the cage with this big guy -- 12 feet to be exact -- and snapped a photo for us. I'm glad he didn't make us go in there...

We also spent lots of time on the beach. Here's Luke checking out the waves.

We couldn't have asked for a better trip!

Happy Anniversary!

It's hard to believe that three years ago I married my best friend. And I have loved every second of it.

One night more than five years ago now, we sat and drank countless cups of black coffee at the Hurricane Cafe off of Denny in Seattle. It's still as vivid as ever in my memory. Luke, I knew then that you were someone I couldn't live without--and I am even more sure of that today. It's been been en eventful three years as Mrs. Hill, to say the least. I have learned a lot about myself, what it takes to love someone else in both their best and worst moments, and how blessed I am to have someone who chooses to do the same for me.

In honor of three years of wedded bliss, we celebrated at one of our new favorite Chicago restaurants -- Sapori Trattoria. It's a quaint little Italian restaurant with small tables lining the sidewalk and white lights draping overhead, while the sounds of Italian music play in the background.

The restaurant surprised us with personalized menus -- happy anniversary to us!

I don't think we have ever been as full in our life as we were after this meal. Mussels, sea bass, pumpkin ravioli, tiramisu... so delicious. Needless to say, we had a hard time walking home afterwards.

Enjoying dinner and our city!

I married one of the most fun, young at heart, energetic, up-for-anything people in the world. Some of my favorite memories of the past three years are the adventures we've shared--driving across the country (24 hours straight) to Seattle in the middle of a snowstorm to surprise all of our friends, and moving to a brand new city. Some are just those quiet moments at home, telling each other about our days, or when you show up at the door with bouquet of flowers just because.

So cheers to three years of fun and a lifetime more, Luke. I love you!

A Minnesota (end of) summer

After a hard summer of classes and working for both Luke and me, we were able to take much-needed trip to visit friends and family in the beloved homeland -- Minnesota. We had a great time visiting with all of our loved ones, catching a Twins game, fishing and playing with our baby niece, Claire. It was simply, the best.

We were VERY excited to see a Twins game in-person with our friends Amanda and Travis, since we have been watching every game on TV this summer from Chicago. Even though the Twins didn't pull through with a win, we still had a great time!

My dear friend Betty (middle) is getting married in October, so my friend Jenn and I threw her a bridal shower. Lots of good food was eaten and good times were had by everyone :)

And while I was at the shower, Luke spent the day fishing with his friends Travis and John.

After a couple of days in the cities, we made it down to Wells. Luke's sister, Sarah, her husband, Nick, and 9-month-old baby, Claire, were in town for a visit. We had a great time hanging out and enjoying being together!

Luke sitting by the fire in the backyard.

It took Claire a little while to warm up to Luke, but once he started giving her treats, she was his new best friend :)

Look at this little bundle of love! She is one smart, spunky little lady.