May Update

May has been a great month! Levi turned 8 and will be baptized this Saturday. He said he is excited and nervous and happy and scared. He had a great interview with the bishop today.

Another interesting thing that happened was that I was rehired by CES. So this next year I'll be going to school part-time (working on my dissertation) and working full time teaching seminary at Hillcrest. We are very excited for this development.

As already posted, our biggest news of the month was the birth of baby Katrina. She gave us a bit of a scare at first as her lungs weren't fully developed but after a while on oxygen and after receiving some medicine she did better and we were on our way. Lani and Katrina are now both doing very well, 2 weeks after her birth.

Enough talking, here are some pictures:

New Baby Hilton

Just a quick note to announce new baby Katrina Hilton. She came into the world differently than our other kids -- Lani's water broke in the middle of the night; we went to the hospital expecting a baby in 2 hours...we were at the hospital for 12 hours with no contractions. Lani got a little something to start the contractions and then labor began. Katrina came out with just one push and she came all the way out (not just the head) surprised everybody.

She's small (about 5.5 pounds) and a little premature. There a few medical wrinkles, but they will work out quickly and fine.

The name does _not_ come from the hurricane but from several ancestors, including Catherina Berger and Katharina Aeberhard (great-grandmothers of Lacy Burgi), and Catherine Karren (grandmother of Omi).

More to come...and better pics too -- Katrina is way cuter than this picture makes her look.

April Update

I just finished playing a game of chess with each of the kids and Annemarie is playing Levi -- so I have a short window of time before the game ends / a fight breaks out.

April was a great month. Levi was accepted in to the ALL (advanced learner) program. He has mixed feelings about going, but he probably will; it will mean going to a different elementary school from his cousins which will be hard. Annemarie has applied to a Chinese immersion program in Provo which will have its own challenges, but likely many positives as well. Speaking of school, I finished my coursework this semester which was exceedingly relieving.

The kids all agree that our best family activity in April was hiking to "Lani Valley." So named because I took Lani there on some dates and went there frequently when we were dating to ponder our relationship. It really is a beautiful secluded place up Provo Canyon. Levi, Annemarie, Maria and I climbed the mile journey into the valley and we named the 3 hills around us after the kids -- they were happy about that.


Another great highlight was a visit from my parents who came for Cameron's graduation --- but we got to spend some quality time with them as well.

We are expecting a new baby some time this month (though Lani is due June 6th every baby thus far has come 2 weeks early, and indications are that this baby will be no different). We shall see!