New Years

The Hills rented a cabin up at Timber Lakes for New Years. It was a huge cabin with enough room for everyone to enjoy.

Ryan with his siblings.

Mckensie, Trevor, Jackson, and Ryan.

Happy New Year 2008!

The night was spent playing guitar hero, eatting, and chatting. We all had a great time.

The next day everyone bundled up and headed out with snowmobiles and sleds. Ellie was a great sport and enjoyed in all the activities. McKay was more hesitant but once we got him outside he really enjoyed himself.

Christmas Day

Better late than never, right?

McKay checking out his stocking.

Clara observing the commotion of Christmas morning.

McKay with his new V.smile Art Studio.

What good is a Barbie without a pink convertible?

This is all Ellie wanted for Christmas, a tiger, panther, and two bats.

She was so happy to open it I think she would have been fine if that was all she got. Lucky for her Santa spent a little more than $5.

Lincoln Logs, classic.

Jasmine and Aladdin.
I bought a set with a boy on purpose so McKay wouldn't be stuck playing with a girl doll.

Ellie showing her sister how a xylophone is to be used.

The most dreaded part of Christmas morning . . .

the assembling of the toys.

The finished product.

Keeping Clara away from all the small pieces.

For Christmas Ryan and I didn't get each other anything, instead we purchased this new office furniture.

After we had opened everything on Christmas morning my family came over to say Merry Christmas and see all the loot.

Ellie showing Grandma Judy her new dollhouse.

Clara with Grandma Judy.

In the evening on Christmas day Ryan's family came over. We didn't have our camera charged though so the only picture we got was Sherrie and I challenging each other to a round on Ryan's new Guitar Hero. The kids did get some wonderful gift though, thank you. McKay's was his favorite from all of Christmas, an Imaginext castle with knights.

Christmas Eve

Christmas was a different experience this year being back by family and trying to balance our time. Christmas Eve we started by going to a live nativity call "Night in Bethlehem". It was very impressive. We started in a nearby chapel and then were shuffled by the Roman guards into "Bethlehem". The neighboring house had the whole yard tented and a bustling market set up inside.

Kimberly and Ellie braving the snow together.

I think Clara was on sensory overload.

The metal worker and potter set up in the Bethlehem market.

We stayed in the tent until Joseph and Mary, on a real donkey, entered and asked for a room in the inn. There was no room but the innkeeper showed them to his stable and the crowd followed. We were led outside where an angel appeared in the sky and pointed the shepherds towards the stable. When the shepherds arrived there was Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. The whole crowd of over 200 people were led it song. It was very powerful and a great reminder of the meaning of Christmas.

We made a quick stop by the Grow house to open some presents.

McKay and Ellie showing off their finger puppets and theater.

We then went to the Hill house for fondue and more presents.


The kids got to open their presents from their Great Grandparents.


Back at home in their Christmas pajamas.

Right before bed leaving out oats for Santa's reindeer.

Little America

Every year my family has a tradition of going up to Salt Lake and staying at Little America. Everyone gets pedicures, we go out to dinner, and exchange gifts. We always go on a Saturday so we can stay over and go to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the morning and then enjoy the famous Little America Sunday brunch.

Alex and Ryan at P.F. Changs.

The matriarch and patriarch of the family, Judy and Dave.

Ellie and Lindsay having an ugly face contest. Lindsay won!!

Ellie showing off her new tiger from Aunt Angie that roars.

Poor McKay felt sick on and off the whole time. He was a good sport.

Goodbye Reno

We have been gone for over a month now but I still had to give a shout out to Reno.

When we were first given the opportunity to move I wasn't so sure about it. We were living in Vegas at the time, I was pregnant with Ellie, and our house was weeks away from completion. Well, we made the move and I'm so glad we did. Reno was such a wonderful home to us. The city is great, it's big enough but small enough at the same time. The best part about Reno though, and the part that we will miss the most, was the people. It would not have been home without the friends that we made. Our friends were our family.

Reno, thanks for the good run. It was good while it lasted and you will be missed.

Me and Ellie on the last night that we slept in our house.

This picture was taken at the top of our stairs. It's so great because when I first told the kids that we were going to move Ellie was very concerned about our stairs. She said "But mom what about our stairs? Are we going to have stairs? And the carpet. Are we going to have the same carpet?"

The stairs weren't her only concern. She also said she would miss our dishwasher, and her pink walls in her room. She still misses her pink walls. She was talking about them yesterday. Poor girl, she is stuck with tan.

Me and Ryan standing in our empty family room after a long days work.

We had picked up the truck that morning and worked all day long packing up. By this point the house was empty and we were heading to a hotel for a good nights sleep before the all day drive the next day.

The crew.

Thanks to both of our moms that came out and worked so hard to help us.

Sherrie working away.

I didn't realize that this was going to be the part of the house that I would miss the most. Our fabulous bathroom and closet. Two separate sinks, separate vanity, garden tub, huge shower with double shower heads, and spacious walk in closet. Oh, I miss you!

The drive the next day with the moving truck and two trailers went well, long but good. We made it to our new home and are feeling settled and sometimes a little homesick for Reno.

Smartypants Preschool

This was Ellie's preschool class in Reno. She really loved school and her teacher, Mrs. Turner. Her teacher was so nice that on Ellie's last day of school the class presented Ellie with a book of letters from her classmates and pictures from the year. Her teacher even went the extra mile and gave Ellie a stuffed animal Jaguar. Ellie was so excited. She still sleeps with it at night. Notice she is holding it in the picture.

Side note: The cute boy in the blue coat with brown hair reminds me of the little kid from Kindergarten Cop. You know the one " Boys have a *#$@, girls have a &^%#."

What made Bajio, Bajio . . .

THE AMIGOS!!

Wow! What can I say about these two hard working women. Carmen is the one to my right in the black hat, and Gudelia her sister is the one to my left. You know how every business has that one employee that you would give anything to have! Well Carmen was that employee.

She was with me from the very start. She was very quite at first, and I really never paid that much attention to what she was doing for Bajio, but she was creating customers for life. She has great customer service skills, very friendly and outspoken. There is no way I could have done what I did at Bajio if it wasn't for Carmen. I know that we learned a lot from one another, and I think that I learned more from her than she ever learned from me. She had great experience and helped me with scheduling, translating (ya those 4 years in High School taking Spanish from Senior Thomas didn't do much for me). I wish I would have really focused on that. Well the past is in the past. Carmen is amazing. She along with my wife Mandy kept me very patient, and believe me I needed it. It seemed that I didn't realize that I was so high strung there, that when ever anything happened I would always get upset very easily, and Carmen was always there to help me understand the situation better and calm me down, which helped me run a smoother store where everyone was happy. I hope that she learned from me the power of leadership. I don't say that to pat my self on the back, but we would play off of each others strengths and weaknesses. I know that is why our store in Reno succeeded the way that it did.

Carmen is there running the Bajio all buy her self. Why? Because she can. And she is doing a damn good job at it to. I'm very grateful that I found Carmen when I did. If you are passing through Reno, please stop buy and say hi to Carmen and the amigos that work there. Tell them that Ryan sent you, and maybe you can get a discount:). Thanks again for all your hard work and effort Carmen, Gudelia, Anita, Araceli, Olivia and Laura. Yes, almost my whole staff was women. They are amazing guys, take care of them. I will deeply miss all of and will always have the highest respect for each and everyone of you.

Anita! Anita! Anita!

She was like the energizer bunny. She would keep going and going. She was my morning Hot Prep. I think she could read me the most of of anyone. She was very scared of me at first. I wonder why? She would tell Carmen every day that just by looking at my eyes, she could tell if I was mad, happy, sad, frustrated you name it. And 99% of the time she was right. It seemed that she would always find a way to avoid me while still getting her food prepared on time. A special thank you goes out to this wonderful women. Lunch time was always busy and she kept that Hot table always full. Thank you Anita for all you did for Bajio I will miss you.

Carmen again doing everyones job without being asked. She is pealing the Tomatillos, which will become the Verde Enchilada sauce and Salad dressing.

Victor. We shared many stories, and had lots of laughs. Victor was a very hard worker and also made it possible for Bajio to run the way it did. Thank you Victor.

Araceli! She was my Cold Prep at night. She was so much fun to tease. I would always scare her when her back was to me as she was preparing food. She hated it, but it was fun. She was like a second mom to me. We could talk about anything. She cleaned houses in the morning and then would come and work most of the night preparing food for the next day.

At night, many of my employees would tell you that I was much nicer and funner to be around. I guess I could relax at night, because we didn't have the push like we did at lunch. I really enjoyed my night crew and they worked very hard as well. Anita worked nights sometimes and she would actually smile at me, because she could see that my eyes where happy.

Thank you all for your dedication to Bajio and helping me run the restaurant the way that I intended it to run. All of you where always willing to help, and go beyond what you where asked to do. I will miss the 12 to 14 hour days spending time with all of you, and I will NEVER forget the memories all of you and what you all mean to me. Now it's time for me to spend time with my family. I can't wait to do that. I love you all and hope that you have great success in the restaurant business.