Hill Family Reunion in MV

It is the end of April and the beginning of May and we are squeezing in a Family Reunion. There was a small window of opportunity for all of us to get together before Berkeley and Cody have baby #2, and Cody starts his next semester at BYU. Before Nick starts his new job, and before Jessica starts her next course with University of Phoenix, but right after Jess and Nick move to Kentucky.

We had a Jam packed schedule for everyone. A couple of those days included the San Diego Zoo, Beach BBQ, swimming at my parents heated pool, family photo shoot, BBQ in Brea at my house, Weekend get away to Big Bear, Disneyland, Zoomars petting zoo, and lots and lots of BANG. Okay we had a BANG Tournament that kept us awake till 4am at times.

These pics are from the Brea BBQ

Love the kid table

Here we are eating while it is still light out

Ben on the grill- the corn was amazing

Cousins Playing in MV

Obstacle course designed and built by my dad and Nick

The Kids had a blast

that medal thing sprays out water

Taylor taking the course very seriously, did not cut corners, unlike Alison who seemed to Lap him.

The Kids were pooped, and so was Princess Papa

We love to tease while his defenses are down.

*More Pictures from our reunion in the next post.

Easter Time

We spent Easter morning at my parents house in MV and it was so awesome to have Berkeley and Cody here with their little Claudius. We did an Easter egg hunt which was a huge success for Ruby considering her contenders. Then we went to our ward and celebrated Easter at Church if you get a chance check out this little talk by Jefferey R Holland. It is so AWESOME.

This is going to be a fun next couple of weeks. Jessica and Nick just got into town today. It has been one and a half years since we have all been together. And Nick's first family reunion. Hope we don't scare him off!

Joy School Week 2

I am doing Joy School in place of preschool and I am pretty excited about it. There is a whole curriculum that maps out what games to play and songs to sing and when snack time is and rest time. It is my first week teaching and it went super well. The concepts taught this week were rules and decisions and how the decisions we make are connected to the way we feel. Just basic stuff that oddly enough have never thought to teach Ruby on my own. We have 7 kids in joy school and Lulu got to join in with us and another mom (Elizabeth) helped me out, thankfully. Eight little kids on your own can be overwhelming.

Snack time after we did an obedience test (Follow the leader)

Puppet show (The favorite)

Rest time. They lay down quietly and listen to a song about how "feelings are connected to the choices we make"

They we get the sillies out and dance... check out my sweet teacher vest.

Ruby, Addison, Clara, Franco, Clyde, Joshua, Aubrey, and Lulu's Back

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter Egg Hunt

Garden 2011

Yeah for my fourth annual Garden. This year I changed the set up a bit to include all the veggies I want and a row of corn by the tan fence. I am also babysitting some Plumeria trees that are lining the brown fence.

Same layout with the hose that drips water.
And I am going to try herbs again. I dont seem to have much luck with pots, but we'll see. (Spearmint, Rosemary, Basil)
Excited for the corn.
I also planted, Roma Tomatoes, red onions, snap peas, bell peppers, carrots, cucumbers, butternut squash, zucchini, cilantro, & spinach.My pathetic Avocado tree. I bought at Costco six months ago, that Ben and I can not decide where we want it.
I can not help running back to the garden to see if there is any new growth, but after 3 days it looks the same. My goal is to see this one through to the end. Usually I loose interest after all the cucumbers are gone and let it get over grown with weeds. I still have my grumpy boy (thats what Ruby named the aloe vera plant) from my first year doing the garden. He is so strong and healthy and IS in a pot, so he is my success story. Go GRUMPY BOY!

Video of Lulu

Family Pics

The Holidays were crazy, But waiting to get our pictures was worth the wait.

1. Ruth had time to do it (she is super talented check this out http://ruthylou.blogspot.com/)

2. This over grown vacant lot by our house was no longer gated off. We got these pics just in time because a few days later a construction crew moved in and leveled it out.

3. Miraculously we were all healthy.

4. We all looked awesome even after 3 hours of church.

Lulu (2)

Ruby (4)

Family

All the Pretty little Flowers

My mom found this article in the newspaper about the tulip man of Fullerton. She drove up to Brea and we all piled in my car and headed over to the "Tulip Mans" house a few Sundays ago. The article talked about this 73-year-old retired schoolteacher from Fullerton, who for the last 30 years has been delighting neighbors with a colorful spring display of tulips in his frontyard. This year, for example, he planted 3200 bulbs. This is a picture of the wonderful Wayne Daniels. He was so sweet to let my girls walk on his grass pathways between the flowers, and he even moved some pots around so I could have a good photo for Easter. It was such a fun thing to do. Thanks Gail for still being the adventurous mom to your grandkids that you were for us kids!

There were a lot of people that came to see his beautiful garden.

This Tulip is called the Queen of Night and is supposed to be a Black Tulip.