Leslie's New Home

As most of you know, we just had a great new event occur in our family. Leslie moved into a group home in Mesquite. We feel so blessed to have this opportunity open up for her. The group home she is living in is very clean and nice. She has her own room and there are only two other guys who live there. There is staff there for 24 hours per day to assist her with her needs. They drive her to places she needs to go to. They do volunteer work around town and go to the movies and other activities. She lives with Glen who is in a wheel chair because he was hit by a car at age 3 by a drunk driver. She also lives with Daniel who is autistic and a little lower functioning but very nice. They are both LDS. One of the neatest parts of this home is that it is in Mesquite where Jay's business is and we are close to her.

This is Leslie in her new bedroom. She is very happy because she has cable TV and her own TV in her room. Spoiled!

So far she wants to come home a lot. I believe it is just normal homesickness. I guess whe really does love us. I think she even is appreciating us more. That's a good think.

Leslie

Erin at Prom! OOOOh! So much Fun!

Erin's growing up. She blossomed into a beautiful princess last night. We had so much fun. For the last two weeks we have been so busy getting ready for her big date. She told me she was going to prom with John. John is Victoria's little brother. Victoria is Erin's viola teacher and great mentor. We love Victoria so we felt quite sure that John must be okay too. And besides that, he is cute and plays the Cello. Sounded like a good date to me. We dug in with only two weeks to prepare. She started out by telling me she wanted to keep things simple. No prom dress, makeup, pictures, anything. Does that sound like our simple Erin. She had it all planned out. She was going to wear her orchestra dress. Then she went shopping with Suzy and Shelby and decided maybe a prom dress would be ok. Of we headed to Walmart to find some bargain fabric. We were in luck. We found just the right piece at a great price. Only $6. Can't beat that. Now I just had to try to figure out how to build this dress with only a drawing and a small cell phone picture. Scary! We did it though and she was thrilled and looked like a princess. She even let Victoria put some make up on her. And of course Cami came and worked like a pro on her hair. Such talent. She even let me put some jewlery on her. She refused get her ears pierced though. I guess that is ok. I didn't get mine done until I was 30. I had so much fun sewing and sewing. I love to sew. It brought back lots of great memories for me. I made all but one of my High School dance and prom dresses. It was fun to pull out all the old pictures and look at them with the girls. Erin was surprised to see how much she looks like her Dad. Well, yesterday started of with a hot four wheeler ride around the resevoir. It was fun. Then we had a picnic lunch. That was followed by a little lounging around by all but Cami the hair dresser, Mom the cook, and Victoria the makeup pro. I was hustling in the kitchen preparing their evening feast. It turned out delicious. We served them Salad, Ham, Yummy Potatoes, garden corn, homemade wheat rolls and Strawberry cheesecake all on Grandma's fine china. Dad was their waiter and taught them all about how to use proper manners and etiquite thoughout the meal. He even sprayed their mouths out at the end of the meal with breath freshner and gave John some gum to slip in his pocket in case they needed it later. It was quite funny I thought. They didn't know that isn't really what it is all like in the real world. Who knows, we may have started a new tradition for formal dinners. We drove them to the dance in our fancy truck. We stopped for pictures by a pretty waterfall but we couldnt get the Stop sign out of the picture and the beautiful full moon just looked like a photographer error or poor quality camera. At least they will forever remember it's beauty in their hearts. It was a great event for us all. Our baby is getting all grown up.

Babies

It was definitely baby week for the Hills Family. On Wednesday, April 16, Lucy finally decided to give birth to 5 cute little puppies. She had 3 girls and 2 boys. She was a little past her expected date of delivery and I was getting nervous because Dallas' due date was coming up fast. I wanted to be at both births. When Lucy finally started having her puppies it was the middle of the day. While I was sitting with her I called Dallas and she told me she was having contractions but didn't know if it was the real thing yet. Later that evening, she called and told me she was still having contractions but was going to wait until Survivor was over before calling Tim's Mom. I decided to go to bed and try to get some rest. It was really hard to fall asleep because I was so excited. I finally fell asleep and about 15 minutes later Tim called me a said they were at the hospital and Dallas was at 3 cm and her water broke. I hurried right up there and made it just in time for Kaven's birth at 3:00 am April 17, 2009. It was great. Way to go Tim and Dallas. I was lucky to get to stay with them for a few days also. It was so neet to get to know our new little Kaven better. He is such a little sweetie. Life is Good!

Fair come and Gone

We had a very busy and fun week. It is always that way when the fair comes to town. It was especially fun this year to have most of the kids and grandkids come share in the fun. Erin did a great job with her 4-H goat project this year. Lucky, the goat won a Blue ribbon for market and Erin placed 4th in showmanship. Our 4-H club won first place for overall best club at the show. We won 1st place on our educational display on Chickens. Thanks Dallas and Tim for your help with the display. We also won the Herdsman award for having the cleanest and most orderly animal stalls. What a great learning experience.

Leslie entered her 2 goats, Black Lamb and Alvin the Chinchilla in the Small animal exibit. She won best of show with Buddy, the black lamb. Alvin was stressed out with all the people and had to go home.

Erin won a Blue ribbon on her drawing of a ladybug on a leaf. I won a Blue ribbon on Leslies denim quilt.

Now it is much quieter at our house. I miss our animals. King also left to go back home for the summer with Jodi and Chris. He is such a sweet horse. Hopefully he will come back next winter to stay with us again. I don't know if Chris and Jodi will trust me with their pets though in the future. Leslie will miss her rides on King but maybe all her battle wounds will heal. Jay is almost through with the Chicken Hotel. It is fun to watch the chicks grow.

Spring Project

We had a great week. Jay has been working hard at our chicken coop. I think it looks more like a chicken hotel resort. The chickens are going to love it and I am too. Our first batch of hatched chickies are anxious and ready to move in. As they move out of the garden chicken warmer, the 30 something other littler chickies will move to their old spot. They are so cute.