The Hilton Family

Merry Christmas from the Hilton Family!

2011-12-22T17:19:00.000-08:00

The Latest Updates…

Katrina (2) is speaking in full sentences and brings smiles and love to all who see her. She loves little dolls, receipts and writing utensils. Joseph (5) loves Joy School and is starting to read. He also loves dirt piles and bugs galore. He made his first jump off the diving board and can swim the length of the pool. Maria (7) continues to do well in her Chinese immersion program. She loves homework (seriously) and writing stories and also loves taking piano lessons from her aunt. Annemarie (9) is at the top of her 3rd grade class (also Chinese immersion), and was happy to start wearing glasses and loves helping around the house, cooking food, and mothering Katrina. She is amazing. Levi (10) is a genius who can correctly identify every country in the world on a map (not counting small islands). He has been very interested in football and loves to play it whenever he can. He can finally run faster than his mom in a sprint and is a sensitive and wonderful son. Lani published her first book - What guys need to know about girls/What girls need to know about guys. She ran her first half marathon, had great experiences at EFY, Education Week, and speaking at firesides, but the most fun was satisfying motherhood moments of joy and gratitude, children serving each other, smiles and kindnesses shown and feeling so content. (These moments help her get past the many other not-so-perfect times). John did some very fulfilling work with Seminaries and Institutes at the beginning of the year, and also helped with the LDS youth videos and website. In the summer he was hired as an Assistant Professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU and has been loving it there. Firsts for 2011: Yellowstone and feeding bears at Bear World--wow! A week at Aspen Grove’s Family Camp, a trip to Seattle for John's sister Janet's marriage, floating the Provo river, hiking Mt. Timpanogas (this was a first for John), and John and Lani traveled to China with John’s brother Cameron (a first for Lani). The highlight of the year: the Hilton Family had an incredible service opportunity where we lived in a Hogan for 5 days and helped a Native American family construct a bathroom for their house (previously they had used an outhouse). We feel heavens blessings permeate our lives and find joy in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Love, John and Lani Hilton family.

A prettier version of this card, with additional pictures, is available below...(Update: sorry for the low-res picture. My bad).

Amazing Experiences in the Anasazi Valley

2011-12-22T09:39:00.000-08:00

When I heard the talk "Opportunities to do Good" by President Henry B. Eyring in the April 2011 General Conference I excited about the blessings he promised, particuarly to families who served together. Following the example of a great family in the ward we (as a family) have been doing regular service with the Provo Food and Care Coaltion, but I wondered if there was more we could do. Another family in the ward had had a great experience serving in Mexico with Charity Anywhere, and we arranged to go to Tijuana for Christmas (that's why we were making blocks). But as the time drew closer, we were nervous about being in Tijuana. Many of our friends who lived in the LA area warned us of kidnapping, drugs, danger, etc. We had already paid money to Charity Anywhere toward the trip to Mexico, but I called the leader (Gordon Carter) to see if he was anywhere of any state-side service project we could do. I set a tentative deadline of Wednesday meaning that if another door to serve opened up by Wednesday great, and if not we would go to Tijuana. On Wednesday night we got a call from Gordon Carter asking if we wanted to be an answer to somebody’s prayer.

There is a family that for 20 years has no bathroom. They just recently got electricity installed and Home Depot had committed to donate materials for the bathroom but that day (Wednesday) they had backed out. The leader of the program was so bummed and could scarcely bear to call the family and say that no indoor plumbing would be made available.

Then within one hour he got a call from Gordon Carter explaining of our interest in serving. For him it was an answer to prayer. Everything worked out quickly from that point.

So on December 15 we drove to St. George and got things ready to go. We were actually serving in a place 15 minutes outside of St. George, a place called the Anasazi Valley. It is a place sacred to some Native Americans. A couple named Jake and Betty live on 80 acres there and serve as caretakers of the property. Jake is in a wheelchair; both are in their 60s or older. Their home is probably 600 square feet, no electricity, no indoor bathroom (there is a sink). It is heated by a wood stove.

Some generous members of the Native American Branch had framed an indoor bathroom and gotten several things ready – we came down and did the insulation and dry wall. We also did several other projects for Jake and Betty like feeding their animals (that was a hit with the kids), unloading and chopping wood (Levi loved chopping wood), and picking up trash around the property.

We stayed in a Hogan that was a stone’s throw away from Jake and Betty’s house. It is a real Hogan. Some people are hoping to turn the Anasazi Valley into a historical area where people can learn of the Native American ways and brought the Hogan there is a relic of sorts. But for us it was home for 4 nights. It had a wood stove that kept it warm…the only problem was you had wake up every hour to add wood. The first night we all fell asleep and woke up cold at 1 AM. But my fire skills were so weak the fire never got restarted. The next day we got lighter fluid, and the next night we did a little better. By the fourth night we were warm all night (but mostly because Lani got up 5 times to add wood to the fire). It was much easier to keep the fire going than to let it die out and try to start it again.

The kids loved hearing Jake, and another Native American named Anna tell stories. Jake did a lot of Indian drumming. We got to work closely with some great people from the Native American branch, including President Saling, Nephi and Reuben. We had two nice dinners with their family (President Saling made amazing food). The service was great and brought us closer together. We also had some fun times – we went to the Snow Canyon and played in the sand dunes. We also went on several hikes and saw petroglyphs. We went to the Native American branch Sunday services as well as their Christmas party and enjoyed both. We felt loved, and able to give love.

You know it’s a rough environment when the state park bathroom looks like a paradise, and sleeping on somebody’s apartment floor seems like an upgrade from the Hogan, but the memories and experience were priceless. Jake and Betty were so grateful for the service we provided them, and we were grateful to them.

Raking Leaves

2011-11-13T16:18:00.000-08:00

We had a great time this last week raking leaves with Grams. Levi mowed up a ton of leaves!

Everyone participated ... with so many people working we were done super fast.

Even Katrina helped!

Afterward we went to Rancho Markets and had a sweet Mexican dinner.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-06T09:11:00.000-08:00

We had a great Halloween. Everyone had been very excited. Our friend Okyhun Son came and joined the festivities. Above is a picture of her, Lani and all the kids!

Katrina in particular was very excited about getting candy, even if she got tired later on and had to be carried.

After we got home from trick or treating we (the kids) ate tons of candy and then we went and visited Grams and trick or treated there. It was fun! That led to us going back over to her house on Friday and watching the movie The Great Race. It was a great memory.

Making Blocks

2011-11-06T08:57:00.001-08:00

For my Eagle Project many years ago I made toy blocks for children at a homeless shelter. As our family prepares to go to Mexico this Christmas we have been trying to figure out some projects we could do now that we could perhaps give to those we serve this Christmas. Sister Stokes, an awesome lady in our ward, suggested making toy blocks, and since I have some experience with it, we decided to give it a go. Making T-Shirt dresses, and doing a cookie sale at Target to raise money are also on the list.

Yesterday we went to Lowes to buy the wood for the blocks (for my Eagle Project I worked hard to get donated lumber, but figured that would be too much hassle this time around). We selected some pieces of wood, and everyone was excited!

Mom and dad we really excited because Bryson (the employee who helped us find the wood) gave us the ultimate hookup when he volunteer to do all the cutting for us for free (normal charge = 25 cents a cut which would have been about $50.00 in our case). He said that because the blocks were for orphans he would do it no charge.

We marked the blocks right then and there to get the right lengths on all the different lengths of blocks.

Then we watched Bryson in action!

Levi counted up all of our blocks and we have about 200. We'll be sanding and oiling them in the next week or two and the kids plan to sew bags for them. We're excited!

A Weekend At Hobble

2011-10-09T09:47:00.000-07:00

We had a great time this past weekend staying at Lynne and Dow's Hobble Creek house. We had a great time hiking up Mt. Wilson behind their house, and as you can see we were almost in the clouds!

On a different hike Levi found lots of wild turkeys and we (unsuccessfully) chased them. He also found several fat fix and tried (again unsuccessfully) to catch them with his hands.

Every time we drive up Hobble Creek canyon I feel so relaxed. It was beautiful up there and the air was so refreshing.

We ordered a big delicious pizza and also had fun playing Pit and Apples to Apples. The kids loved playing with each other and just having a great time. We all slept in the loft and had a wonderful trip.

October Update

2011-10-08T19:07:00.000-07:00

September has been a great month! Everybody who is in school (whether as a teacher or student) is loving it. The coolest family activity we did this month really only involved part of the family - Lani, Levi and I. We hiked Timp for the first time! (Well, they had both hiked it before, but it was the first time for me.)

We went with several extended family members and friends and it was a great time.

Sadly, though many people took pictures and promised to email them/put them on Facebook, I have yet to see any yet. Hence this pictureless post.

September Update

2011-08-28T13:23:00.000-07:00

August has been a great month. Rather than recount everything, I will just share one adventure we had. We had a plan to go float the Provo River as a reward for the kids at doing so well with the home-school in the Summer time. We got there and the man was in doubt as to whether the kids could do it, but I said they were all good swimmers and signed them up. I had never floated the Provo River, but how hard could it be?

Well we started to float down the river and it didn’t take long before I realized I was in trouble. First of all, I helped Maria get into her tube, Levi and Annemarie were getting into their tubes. I started to get into my tube, but couldn’t quite get it right and fell into the water. My flip flops (I had been told they would suffice, water shoes not needed) fell off, so then I was standing on the rocks and they really hurt. So I slipped and tripped multiple times scraping myself on the rocks. Meanwhile Maria is screaming because she is scared (we were supposed to get a double tube but they were out). So we had a rope to tie between our tubes but she was now quite a bit ahead of me. Both my flip flops were floating in the water. Levi grabbed one (later lost it), but the other one was gone. My hat was also gone.

So after a few minutes I overtook Maria, and passed her (not on purpose). Finally I was able to grab onto a branch and hold on until she got closer so that we could tie ourselves up together. Levi was behind us and Annemarie so far behind that I was getting nervous. The river wasn’t that fast, but it was somewhat quick in parts and I was nervous about where Annemarie was. So we stopped again and fortunately Annemarie came floating by with some strangers that we had just met that day. So now we were all together.

We continued floating happily for a little while until we got to a bridge. We had been warned in Sacrament Meeting actually about this bridge. We had planned to get out and walk around, but unfortunately we weren’t able to get over to the side. Probably if I had water shoes I could have pulled us over, but the rocks were killing my feet. So Maria is screaming and we’re all concerned as we come to this bridge that has four little holes. The rapids are going a bit in this area and it’s not looking good.

The Lord blessed us though and went through the fourth hole which was the least crazy and we went through just fine. So floated without incident for an hour and it was really fun. The smell of the forest was delicious and the scenery beautiful, although the water was very cold.
We passed Vivian Park, and knew that our stop to get out was coming right up. We were trying to float toward the right, but went towards the left. We rammed into a bush. I hit it first and was trying to dislodge us but the current was forcing the other 3 kids into me and it was tough. Maria was screaming and I was holding onto her tube to make sure we didn’t get separated. Then my tube flipped up and I was in the water again. Levi jumped onto my tube but that left his vacant. We were all dislodged and floating down the river now, but we had left one tube behind (that would cost $50 to replace since we had rented tubes)….but at this point I was just glad that we were alive. I was hanging onto Maria’s tube and finally hoisted myself up.

We all made it out of the stop and then drove to Vivian Park to run down by where we lost the tube. We were 1 minute too late. Just as we got there, it was dislodged (not sure how) and we saw it floating by. We called out to some people to try to grab it for us, but ran back to the car and drove back to where we had rented the tubes.

The people that we had asked to grab the tube floated by without our tube and then we saw our empty tube going by. It was on the other side of the river, but I was not about to pay $50 for it, so I jumped in the river to it. It was a lot harder than I thought to swim against the current, and SO COLD, but we prevailed and got the tube.

We were alive, and have the picture to prove it!

August Update

2011-07-31T19:16:00.000-07:00

It has been a great (but really busy) Summer. It seems like we have traveled so much that we have spent more nights out of the house than in the house this Summer.

I spoke at a session of EFY, then Lani did, then we worked together to direct a session in Sandy. After that we were off to Seattle for my sister Janet's wedding!

We are so excited for Janet. Her husband Jeffrey is awesome and they will be an incredible family. We were happy to be there.

After a great week there, we were home for just a couple of days until Lani and the kids went to the Bear Lake Reunion and I went on a campout with the Priest Quorum. Everyone had a great time!

In the day between these two I was blessed to start my new job at BYU!

I absolutely LOVE what I'm doing (teaching religion classes - primarily the Book of Mormon). Getting hired at BYU is the answer to many, many prayers.

After a couple of weeks we were back on the road -- we spent some time as a family at Aspen Grove! Here's a shot of a game we did:

After a (very) short stay at home we went to Rexburg for BYU-Idaho Education Week. We also went to Bear World and Yellowstone on that trip - it was great! The kids loved seeing the wildlife and it was fun to be together as a family.

From Bear World:

This one is in the wild. We were too close!

I also got to participate in a couple of sessions of Retreat for Girls and Be the Best You. It was awesome to be with so many righteous young women and learn from them.

Coming up in August I'm looking forward to a church history trip with other new religion professors, and then Education Week. We are also hoping to hike Timp!

This blogpost hasn't quite captured the great feelings that we have had this Summer. We have had a lot of wonderful bonding time together. The Hilton Family has A LOT to be grateful for. We are grateful for our extended family and for our temporal comforts. I am grateful for the many great years I got to experience with the Seminary and Institute program. I'm very thankful to be hired at BYU and look forward to many wonderful experiences there.

Our Trip to China!

2011-05-29T18:46:00.000-07:00

On May 11 Lani and I embarked on a great adventure! We traveled from Salt Lake City to Beijing, where we had planned an 8 day trip with my brother Cameron. In this post, I'll tell a little bit about our trip and include a few pictures. But the best pictures were taken by Cameron here. Seriously -- go check them out.

When we arrived in China we met up with Cameron easily, and got our luggage. we did have a snag when trying to get a taxi. even though taxis were plentiful, nobody had heard of our hotel or the address, and all refused to take us. Finally one guy said yes, but he then he didn't want to take us because of all of our luggage. But Cameron had met a girl earlier at the airport and she came out and chewed out the driver, so we got in the taxi. The driver had to call the hotel to figure out the address, and threatened to just drop us off in the middle of the street, because it had been such a hassle for him but Cam held firm and it all worked out.

On our first day we went to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen sqaure and the park where David O. McKay dedicated China for the preaching of the gospel. For lunch we found the perfect hole-in-the-wall place that served amazing dumplings. (We didn't spill all the stuff on the ground, that's just how they roll in this restaurant.

We ate pigs feet for dinner. (Well, that was one of many things served, and in truth I only had a very small bite). Okay, so really it briefly touched my lips for a photo-op and then I set it down.

One experience we had worked hard to set up was the chance to serve at an orphanage. That was a great experience. There were lots of Chinese volunteers there and it was really cool to see them serving. They were the happiest people we have seen, and you could tell that they were very special. All of the children at the orphanage had a serious birth defect and are under 2-3 years of age. They try to place them in foster care and adoption at the orphanage. I sang to some of the kids, and wished that my kids were there, because they would have done a great job serving there. Here is one of the cute kids we served, and then us with a group of volunteers.

We had a lot of fun exploring the area around the orphanage. It was a really poor area and kind of felt like Tijuana. People were selling rabbits and turtles on the street, as well as lots of other things. However, Beijing as a whole is nothing like Tijuana. It is an incredibly modern city and we felt safer there than in any big city in the U.S.

We went out to eat with Shari and had Peking Duck - which is a very delicious and famous Beijing dish. We had way more food than we could eat and it was very, very delicious! And so much food!!

Shari was the most gracious host of all time! She took us to where the Olympics were held and we had a great experience. We were so grateful to Shari ... she helped us have an experience that we had really hoped to have. She is amazing!

We went to Prince Gong's mansion and Cameron and his friend Samily (Samily is awesome, she helped us a lot on this trip). They went one way, while Lani and I went the other. I was really hungry and tried to buy lunch on my own. I was successful ... sort of. We got something like tacos, but I was disturbed when i bit into it that the meat was not hot. It was room temperature, or maybe slightly chilled. It made me nervous and i started inquiring about what it was. I clearly understood from them that it wasn't pork or cow, but i didn't understand the word they were saying. So i didn't eat it, and later found out it was donkey meat. Yikes! we also saw a menu with frog and turtle, but didn't eat those things.

Church was great. The branch is really strong. There were 225 people there today, about 75 were visitors. We met two guys that are traveling Asia and they gave us some tips for traveling the Great Wall.

We had originally planned to hire a private taxi driver to take us to a broken down part of the great wall...it was going to be expensive, but instead we did their plan and it worked perfectly!

We were out of the hotel by 5:55 and took the subway to the Dongzhimen station where we got a bus to Huairo. I sat next to a young lady who was going there to work. we had a great conversation (in Chinese) for about an hour and it was really fun. I showed her videos of Annemarie and Maria speaking in Chinese and she loved it.

When we got to Hauiro, we bought some food for the trip (we had bought a ton of water the night before), and found our driver. It was a 50 minute drive and it was beautiful. within 10 minutes we were in a rural setting of mountains, hills and we could see the great wall. We each paid a 20 RMB "admission" (more like the villagers had created a little gate to keep people from just coming in and were charging you for it), and the driver pointed out the trail to us.

It was BEAUTIFUL. We passed a farmer (and an old man who was demanding that the driver give him some money for dropping us off in his "parking lot" (dirt field), but after that we didn't see anyone for 3 hours. We hiked up about 30 minutes and got to the wall. It was broken down a little in some places, but still very, very majestic. Here are some views:

We hiked on the great wall for a few hours, stopping to take pictures and enjoy the views. There were little gecko lizards that Levi would have loved. You could hike on the wall for the most part, in a couple of areas it was so steep and broken down that went on a side trail. we had lunch in one of the fortresses, and it was very nice. Starting around noon we saw a couple of other people (about 10 in total over the next few hours).

About 1:00 PM we got to a point where we could head to a village or continue on the wall. There were two high towers ahead of us that looked really inviting. so we went up the first and it was pretty tricky. in some parts almost like those rock climbing walls, where you have to grab on with your hands and scale up.

Well we got to the top of the first one and it was great. then we noticed that it was a long ways down, and then a longer ways back up to get to the next tower, so we said, well, let's just call it good. i was kind of nervous though about going back down the steep wall that we had just come up, and we had found what appeared to be a little trail off the the side, that we thought would connect with the main trail. Lani did not want to take the trail, but i thought it would it would be better. (When I read that last sentence to her, she said, "don't call it a trail, call it a rock slide"!!) Here she is, in action:

So we started down the "trail" and at first, it seemed okay. there was some trash there, so we knew others had gone that route, and occasional yellow flags that were tied around trees. After 20 minutes, it was getting pretty intense, and Lani wanted to turn back. but we thought, "We've already come this far, it will be a waste to go back." This was now, a harder hike then the great wall. We were grabbing onto trees to keep us from sliding down the mountain. After 50 minutes, it appeared that we were no closer to our goal. We prayed and Cameron and Lani both felt we should go back, although we were sad that it would be such a waste of time. I thought we should press forward, so we agreed to go forward for 10 more minutes.

After two minutes, it appeared to me that we were on a fool's errand. the mountain side was VERY steep, and there was no sign of a trail now. we tried to walk through trees and bushes for 5 minutes in the direction of the trail, but only earned scratches in our arms. So we humbly went back up the trail. Well, i was humbly ashamed, and lani was happy to be heading back. cameron, was just making it step by step. he had been the strongest on the wall, but was now starting to feel it.

Here's a picture of what we had been hiking down (and then hiked back up).

So going back up was possibly the toughest part. I don't think i want to do any more rock climbing walls, because I've done it for real, and without the harness. it didn't take as long as we thought though, and after 30 minutes we were to the top. Once we had gotten back to the place I didn't want to hike down, we could see that there was no way that the what i thought was a trail would have ever merged. in fact we could see that the whole thing had been a folly. we had literally been hiking down a very steep mountain side with lots of cliffs and drop offs. we are very lucky to be alive.

By this time though we knew we would miss the bus that left the little village. We carefully made our way down the steep wall, and got on the trail that led to the village. When we arrived some farmers were cultivating their fields and we asked about water and taxi driver home. One of them had a friend who was a taxi driver and gave him a call.

He charged us 150 RMB to go back (it was 100 RMB to get there) but Cameron felt very weak and didn't even care to negotiate. We bused back to Bejing took the subway and made it safely home. By the way, we took the subway and lot and it was crazy crowded!!!

It was a great adventure, there were a few moments along the way where I thought we might be in very serious trouble. Happily we made it. Cam wanted to shower right away and Lani and I wanted to eat, so we parted ways. Lani and I went to a small restaurant where we were the center of attention. We had rice, some tortilla like things, and some delicious "man tou" super yummy. The owner and cook kept hanging out with us so we showed them pictures and videos of our kids and they loved it.

The next day, after our exciting adventure on the Great Wall we decided it was a day of relaxation. We slept in a little, and got rolling about 9 AM. We decided it was time to do some shopping!

We went to a place called Panjiyuan, which is kind of like a flea market. They have a bunch of "authentic" Chinese treasures you can buy. We bought some fun things, and enjoyed negotiating prices. One lady started at 360 RMB (a ridiculous price) and eventually came down to 80 (we bought the item from someone else for 50). Lots of great practice speaking in Chinese, and people enjoyed seeing pictures of our family and watching videos of the girls speak Chinese.

We had lots of good food to eat, including baozi. On the way we saw this awesome street magician. He did some cool card tricks and my favorite was when he would flick a card in the air out about 6 feet (up and out from him) and it would return like a boomerang and he would catch it. Super cool!

We met up with Samily to continue to day of relaxation at a spa. Lani absolutely loved the 60 minute massage. My masseusse started talking to me, and at first I didn't like it, but then realized, I had a great opportunity to practice Chinese...we had a great conversation, and that was one of the best parts. She spoke no English, so it was all Chinese.

Then we were off to the Temple of Heaven. It was just as advertised. An amazing oasis of green, right in the city. we had a wonderful time just breathing the fresh air and watching a couple of performers.

Next, was an adventure!

We were supposed to go to a Chinese acrobat show at Tianqao theater. Tickets are expensive, but Cameron found a "contact" who could get them for cheap. We arrived to find a woman holding a sign with Cameron's name, but she had bad news. There was no show that night ... BUT she could get us VIP tickets to another show for the same price. it definitely sounded fishy, but we did want to go to a show.

So we took a 5 minute taxi ride to a place that looked legit, got our "VIP" tickets for a great price, and watched an awesome show. Several of the acts I had seen (jumping through rings, juggling, contoritionists, etc.) but i never get tired of those. one act i had never seen was this crazy motorcylce thing. There was a ball (think Liahona shaped) about 15 feet wide and maybe 25 feet tall (perhaps a little bigger). A guy came in and started riding a motorcycle around it and doing loop de loops. and you thought that was amazing. till a second guy came in and they were criss crossing each other. And that was indrecible...then a 3rd, 4th and 5th person all were driving int he ball at the same time. this is a very small space for those motorcycles. It was amazing. See it here.

We grabbed a taxi and headed home. Along the way, Cameron dropped the bomb that he didn't want to go to the countryside...so Lani and I would be on our own for this trip. Here's what happened.

We got up about 5:45 and got ready to go. Took the subway/bus to Huairo like we did before. Bought some supplies in Huairo and went around looking for bikes we could rent. it was a lot of fun explaining what we were doing to people, and I felt good I was able to make myself clear, even with a kind of complicated situation. Along the way, we found some men playing xianqi (Chinese Chess). They got chairs for us, and after the game was finished they invited me to play. I of course got beaten soundly, but it was a lot of fun. Here's an action photo:

Our backup plan if the bikes didn't work was to grab a breadbox taxi halfway to the resorts by the Great Wall where there were some resorts. The idea was to rent bikes there and travel around the countryside. We negotiated a good price for the taxi and Lani slept in the back seat while I had a nice conversation for the 30 minute drive with the driver. She was the 3rd or 4th woman we have talked with here that expressed regret that she could not have more than 1 child. We got dropped off at the resort and immediately were accosted by people wanting to rent us 4 wheelers, motor bikes, and most intriguingly, a 1 hour horseback ride to the Great Wall (50 RMB).

I've learned from Cameron though, not to do business with the people who accost you. So we walked around the resort and enjoyed the scenes. A family came by and I talked with them and took their picture. A group of ladies (they said they were dancers) came and I took their picture, and also they wanted a picture with Lani and me. We were heading out of the resort trying to decide what to do when the family I had taken a picture of earlier invited us to join them for lunch. We refused, saying we had already eaten. They then suggested we could have a beer with them (this was all in Chinese). We again refused. They then asked again if we would join them for lunch and then go for a drive to a place in the countryside. This was in fact exactly what we wanted to do, so we thought, "Why not give it a try?"

Lunch was amazing. They ordered lots of delicious dishes. My favorite was the fish and meat stick. We then drove with them to Shen Tang Yu, which was a really beautiful place. We could see a little bit of the wall, but it was mostly a hike in the mountains. The weather was perfect, there were lots of trees, very, very beautiful. We spent several hours with them altogether, both lunch, hiking, and then they offered us a ride back to Beijing.

It was really fun practicing Chinese with them. We talked about the US debt, Hillary Clinton, Libya, marriage, etc. Of course, I still have a lot of Chinese to learn. Early on, I asked the husband/wife, "So who fell in love with who first?" They started laughing and explained that they had worked together and been friends.

Well several hours later I asked the woman how long she had been married, and she explained that in fact they were currently just friends. I had misunderstood earlier, which explained why they had laughed about it. It didn't fully explain who they were (and the girl who could have been/was their daughter was) but that mystery will have to wait until my Chinese improves. We just had a great time with them. They were wonderful people. they said their hobby was singing, and while we were hiking I sang a couple Chinese songs i know. they then sang a couple of English songs they knew (both from the sound of music). it was great. We were in a very beautiful place.

We got dropped off by a Subway station and were hungry, so we hit up KFC. Normally it is against my policy to go to American restaurants while abroad, but KFC is such the rage here, that we wanted to see what it was all about. Basically it was a slightly overpriced Wendys, but still cool. A girl behind me in line tried to help me, when I asked how to say "Ketchup" in Chinese. I was holding the ketchup packet and she said, "That is tomato juice." She then told me she was studying English and I realized that she might have a ways to go, but of course I encouraged her in her language acquisition skills.

On the way home we got another delicious dish of man tou and met up with Cameron to plan another great day.

The next day we started out by going to the park that is right by our house. It was so cool! It has pagodas, a giant lake, wide open space, and best of all tons of old people doing awesome stuff. one guy was writing Chinese characters, tons of people were doing a hackeysack with a giant birdie (like in Badminton) ... and these people were good! We're talking 70 year old ladies bouncing it off their knees and doing back kicks, etc.

There were also dancers there, tai chi, and people doing that crazy thing where you bounce a stick between two sticks. When we watched that guy, he invited me to join him. He taught me a little and I could make it work for about 5 seconds is all, but it was still fun.

Next we were off to the Summer Palace. It was very nice, although honestly, compared to the park we were just at, it felt a little touristy. I am still very glad that we went though.

Next up was the Chinese National Museum of Film, which covers 100 years of Chinese movies. Before we found the musuem we hunted down lunch in a hutong. It was an interesting street, where some of the lowest income dwellers live.

Anyways the film museum was cool. It was really interesting to see the propaganda and how the certain events were framed (and what events/movies were missing from the list).

We headed off to Wanfujing which is a very touristy, upscale place. The reason we went is they have a "xiao chir" (little eat) street where you can buy crazy delicacies...like snake meat, spiders, etc. One of the wierdest ones was they had live scorpions skewered on a stick, and if you bought one, they would fry them and you would eat them. i offered to pay for scorpions if Lani or Cameron would eat them, but both refused my generous offer. there were lots of other wierd things you could buy to eat, like turtles, squid and even stomach (that looked gross).

We wound up not buying any of those things, but it was fun. we started to head back to the subway and were going to part ways, Cameron had some evening plans. We came across a movie theater and i was tempted to see Thor 3D (in Chinese). I succumbed to the temptation and Lani suffered through it with me. I don't really recommend the movie, but I really, really enjoyed it, mostly because I felt so good that I could understand Chinese well enough that I got the whole movie, and even laughed at appropriate times. So that was good.

We got some roasted veggies on our way home, and realized that the next day would be our last day in China!

Our last day in China was good. We went back to the park. It was so windy that they wouldn’t let us rent a boat, but that was okay. We had a lot of fun just walking around seeing the beautiful pagodas and watching people do fun stuff. Then we went and got a foot massage. It was Lani’s idea because she had enjoyed our other massage so much. We went to downtown Beijing and rented bikes and biked around. It was really fun. My favorite part was biking around the Back Lakes.

The flight back was fine, and it was super, super fun to see the kids again.

We loved our trip to China and hope to return again some day.

April Update

2011-05-08T16:44:00.000-07:00

It's been a great month! One of the highlights was General Conference. Annemarie and Levi got to go to the Conference Center with Lani and had a great experience. I was in the JSMB with the three younger kids. That was an adventure. Here's a picture of us afterward!

We got an apple tree and started to plant our garden. The garden has been pretty unsuccessful so we might replant in a couple of weeks.

It has been a super busy travel month. Lani and I went to SLC for EFY Session Director Training, Maria and I went to Seattle for a special trip to see Grandma and Grandpa (and also go to a Best of EFY), and then the past couple weekends I have been at Timeout for Women (in San Antonio and Calgary).

The best thing that we did this month was get a month long pass to the Orem Rec Center. We've gone at least once a week and sometimes more often! Everyone has really improved in their swimming skills. It's a pretty cool place.

We are looking forward to some exciting things in the coming month. Stay tuned!

Building a Cabin

2011-04-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

One of my goals is to spend a few minutes of individual time with each child each day. With the older children it's easy to find 1 on 1 time, because they demand it (and need help with their homework!) The younger children however aren't as demanding, but they are still super fun to play with!

This past week Joseph and I had an awesome idea of something we could do together. We build a Lincoln Log cabin!

It was so fun to just spend time talking with Joseph and building with him.

Another recent highlight was Levi's Knowledge Bowl competition. His team DOMINATED the competition. In one game out of 20 questions, the other team never even answered one, Levi's team was so fast. In the parents VS kids round, the parents got smoked!

One of the best things we are doing is that dad takes one child out on a special date each week. We love that time together!

Random Notes and a Cool Video

2011-01-27T19:44:00.000-08:00

So some fun stuff happened this month. Two stories come to mind. First, -- going sledding in Midway ... while there, Katrina was left unattended in the parked car (keys not in the ignition) for 20 seconds. During that time she locked all the doors. Both sets of keys and phones were in the car. Yikes! Katrina has learned how to lock the door, but not unlock it. So we had to borrow a phone and call the police. Upon arriving home, I taught Katrina how to unlock doors.

Second, Lani found Joseph coloring on his shirt. "Oh no," she told him. "We don't write on shirts." "But mom," Joseph said. "I'm trying to be like Captain Moroni, making the title of liberty!" It was a great teaching moment for both Joseph and Lani, and Lani, Joseph, and Maria later "rent" some cloth and made titles of liberty.

Last, but not least, a fun video of Levi playing the piano with his eyes closed:

2010 Round Up

2010-12-31T15:01:00.000-08:00

Well it's time to wrap up 2010. What a great year it's been! Here's the card ... the text is a little hard to read, so I'll include below. You'll also find the highlight video of our year!
Sweet highlight video

Katrina should be a baby model. She is SO CUTE! She learned to walk and is starting to talk. Joseph started Joy School and really is a joyous little boy. He loves to learn and is a king peacemaker. Maria started first grade and is in a Chinese immersion program. She skipped Kindergarten but is still doing great. Annemarie is in 2^nd grade (also Chinese immersion) and is excelling in so many ways. She is excited to be baptized on 1/1/11. Maria and Annemarie sang at UVU’s Chinese Autumn Festival and did great in their stage debut. Levi loves science and participates in an after-school Knowledge Bowl program. His main dream is to move out to a mountain and live off the land (we’re hoping he waits a few more years). Lani loves creating a home. She has 6 sisters, 2 parents, all living grandparents, and 11 nieces and nephews within 3 blocks of her house! She spoke at Education Week and EFY, and loved swimming with the dolphins in Hawaii. John graduated from BYU with his Ph.D., wrote a book, and was hired as the manager of public websites and social media for the Seminary and Institute program. He had a great time on a cruise with his parents, siblings and Lani. We are all grateful for the many blessings we have and hope that you have a marvelous 2011!
Our Christmas card appears below. And you can also watch the highlight video below as well. We love you. Happy New Year!

The Road Less Traveled

2010-09-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

Special kudos to Levi for memorizing a pretty long poem! A good message for all of us to consider:

Mid-Autum Festival Fun

2010-09-25T08:10:00.000-07:00

We had a great time last night at UVU's Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. There were great people there and we loved the Chinese food ... it was all you can eat fortune cookies for the kids ... and they loved it. It was quite interesting how we got invited to come. A woman named Heidi, who has taught our kids some Chinese came over one day last Spring and brought a friend. Her friend took a 30 second video clip of Annemarie speaking in Chinese and put it on Facebook. Months later we get a call from Heidi wondering if her friend's friend (who had seen the video on Facebook) could contact us about having Annemarie sing at the UVU festival. The power of Facebook is amazing. So within a week it was all arranged. Annemarie wanted a buddy to sing with, and so Maria joined in. Both Maria and Annemarie are in Chinese immersion programs, but Annemarie is a year ahead.

Jasmine (the organizer of the festival) wanted Annemarie to sing a traditional Chinese song called Mo Li Hua. I said, "No way" thinking that it would be too complicated. But Annemarie started singing the song ... to my surprise she learned it at school last year. So she had a solo piece in front of a couple of hundred people.

Amazing!

The two videos are below, first of Annemarie and Maria singing together (along with their cousin Heidi, who is also a first-year Chinese student) and the second clip is just of Annemarie.

July Update

2010-08-03T06:16:00.001-07:00

Lots of fun things happened this month. We had a Hilton Family Reunion and it was great to see many relatives that we hadn't seen for a long time.

We also went on a long trip that included stops in Boise, Meridian, Nyssa, Seattle (Redmond) and finally back home.

One random thing that happened was while eating in a park we saw a guy with a cool bird. He let all of our kids hold it.

We had a great time in Seattle going to "the beach" (really a lake) and taking several hikes. We also went to the dentist and got cool prizes.

(I know this looks like a grimace, but really Maria is smiling).

Mostly it was fun just to be with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. We also got to participate in Reed Powell's baptism, which was wonderful. Overall, we were out of our house for about 20/30 days in July and are looking forward to spending more time at home in August.

June Update

2010-07-05T16:20:00.001-07:00

What a sweet month it was!

Here's some pictures to prove it:

We went with Uncle Bryson and Aunt Janet to Timp Caves. More of a hike than Dad was counting on, but still fun!

On the way back from the hike, Levi found a snake.

Levi with "Birdy" who sadly died from wounds (not caused by Levi).

Kids with the butterflies Levi got for his birthday (are you sensing a pattern with Levi and animals? If not try:)

Levi with fish caught at Bear Lake (he also caught a bunny that picture not included).

Katrina loving her birthday cupcakes!

Later a special cake made by Aunt Mindy. Katrina kept saying "Oooh" when she looked at it.

Annemarie and Joseph having fun at the zoo!

The Bear Lake reunion was an adventure! Camping, fishing, 4 wheeling and horseback riding. Thanks to all the family members who made it possible. Cousin Adam here leads Annemarie and Maria around on horses!

A great highlight for us was a private trip to Hawaii for John and Lani. Thanks to Grandma and Aunt Lise for watching the kids!!

Lani sneaking a kiss with a dolphin!

Lani loved seeing her name all over the place in Hawaii. We have a half a dozen pictures like the one above!

Truth be told, these things actually happened in May and June, so this wasn't just all from one month. Already in July we've had a great Hilton Family Reunion, more excitement to be reported in a future blog post!

May Update

2010-06-03T06:42:00.000-07:00

So much to say, but not enough time! Quick highlights:

--Had an awesome weekend at Aspen Grove as a family.

--Loved hiking Timpanogas (sp?) caves as a family and with Bryson and Janet.

Hopefully these pictures will flesh out more detail...actually i'm only posting 2 due to the fact that we had a little "incident" that involved taking Joseph to get stitches...don't worry, everyone is fine.

More pics in a future post.

March Update

2010-04-02T14:13:00.000-07:00

I think all of our children would agree that a big highlight for our family this month was the return of Aunt Sheree from her mission. She has brought a lot of joy and happiness to our family.

Another highlight is that we put up our trampoline. It has proven to be a source of hours of fun. We have enjoyed working out in the yard as a family to prepare the way, and are hoping to put up a swing set next!

In addition, our kids have been doing some crazy stuff, here are the pictures to prove it!

February Update

2010-03-02T16:22:00.000-08:00

February was a great month for the Hilton family.

Katrina learned to crawl faster.
Joseph learned (the hard way) that you shouldn't shave until you have whiskers (ouch!)
Maria graduated from preschool.
Annemarie made crepes (more than once!)
Levi started a website (http://levihilton.com)
Lani spoke on motherhood at the stake Relief Society meeting.
John passed his Oral Dissertation Defense!

(Picture of John and the committee).

For more stuff John is working on you might want to check out John's academic blog or his iTunes feed.

January Update

2010-02-04T14:02:00.000-08:00

January was a wonderful month for the Hilton Family! We so much enjoy living next door to Lani's parents and the constant interactions with her family. We were also blessed this month to have Cameron live with us for a couple of weeks and to have some visits from Janet!

Katrina started crawling, Joseph made progress on potty training, Maria is reading, Annemarie got to visit her grandparents, Levi made Pokemon cards, Lani was invited to speak at a Stake Relief Society meeting and I finished writing my dissertation (I defend it this month).

While reading Elder Russell M. Nelson's biography I learned that he would sometimes take his children on business trips with him. I don't go on many business trips, but I do go speak at youth conferences from time to time and so I've tried a couple of times to take individual children with me.

This past month Annemarie and I went to Seattle. We both had a wonderful time being with my parents, and Annemarie made her own doll (with a little help from Grandma!)

Happy New Year!

2010-01-09T12:13:00.001-08:00

2009 was a great year for the Hilton Family.

December was one of the best months yet! :)

Among many great things (including a Christmas scavenger hunt), John and Lani celebrated the 11th anniversary of their first date -- by doing the same thing they did on their first date (watch a Christmas Carol and make cookies). John has saved the sweater he wore on their first date and dusted it off to celebrate the occasion!

Wishing you a happy new year!

November Update

2009-12-07T19:03:00.000-08:00

I've been waiting until I uploaded pictures to the computer to make this entry; however, I still haven't gotten around to that so I thought a picture-less entry was better than none at all. Sorry, I will do better.

One highlight in November was a family trip to Vernal, UT home of a great dinosaur museum. I spoke at a Best of EFY while Lani and the kids toured the museum. Then we all went to Dinosaur National Park and had a great time exploring the terrain. We also visited the home of Lani's mother.

Thanksgiving was a great event. About 45 people gathered together at Lani's parents house. Our kids were surprised to find out that somebody surprised us with a new giant blow up Santa that is right by our front door. Actually it was the same Santa we had last yaer, but they thought it broke; Lani fixed it and everyone was happy!

Lani is doing an amazing job keeping the house moving along. It's strange to say, because it seems so long ago, but we also moved into our new house this month. Many family members and friends helped and we are SO grateful. We enjoy our new home very much.

October Update

2009-11-01T14:51:00.000-08:00

It has been a great month!

One of the most exciting things is that we bought a house. We haven't moved in yet, but hope to soon. Some remodeling has been done and we are very happy with it. We celebrated the day that we bought the house by having french toast with our new neighbors -- Lani's parents! The first remodeling that was done was a gate between our houses! :)

The kids had a great month. Levi spent most of his time at the new house working on a fort in the backyard. It is awesome! He also helped with a lot of the remodeling work.

Annemarie stayed home from school one day and had a lot of fun helping her mom pack.

Maria turned 5 this month. She is a great young lady!

Joseph and Katrina have been having lots of fun at home with mom.

Lani and John gave a speech on motherhood that was taped for broadcast by BYU TV as part of the Sperry Symposium. That was exciting. More details on that to come.

Everyone loved trick-or-treating...especially at Grams' house. Pictures to follow.

September update

2009-10-04T11:30:00.001-07:00

September has been a good month. One of the exciting things that has happened is that we made an offer on a house right behind Lani's parents. With any luck we'll be moved into it in about 5 weeks.

Annemarie is doing great with Chinese. Levi is really improving in his piano. Maria is enjoying her speech classes.

Levi and John got to go to the Conference Center to watch General Conference. That was fun and spiritual.

Sorry this is a shorter and lamer entry. We'll try to upload some pictures soon.

Conference Cake Recipe

2009-09-29T16:38:00.001-07:00

In case you want to try "Conference Cake" this General Conference, here is the recipe...

I'll be baking a couple batches! :)

Conference Cake

For 1 9x13 pan

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 pan. Mix together:

1 egg
1 cup milk
¼ cup oil
2 cups flour
¼ cup sugar
1 TBS Baking Powder
1 TSP salt

Beat eggs, stir in milk and oil. Mix in remaining ingredients just until flour is moistened. Batter should be lumpy.

Put flour on your hands and smush down the batter as you put it in the pan.

Put onto pan and then put on the topping. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until the topping is crisp.

Topping

1.5 cups brown sugar (packed)
1 cup flour
1 cup oats
1.5 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup butter or margine, soften.

Mix first four ingredients, then cut in butter until well mixed.

August update

2009-09-03T15:19:00.000-07:00

August was great! Busy, but great. Annemarie participated in a "Chinese camp." School has started and she is in a Chinese immersion program where she spends half her day in regular English instruction and the other half learning Chinese.

Levi is also in a special school program, an "advanced learner" program and so far that is going well.

We wanted also to post a picture of Lani at the Bear Lake reunion...

In August John and Lani traveled together to Nauvoo, and John went to Canada and Denver. While in Denver he got to spend time with Laura Mitchell, a young lady he baptized 12 years ago (she was 9 then).

Education Week was great. The highlight of the month was the Nauvoo EFY. We both feel a lot more strongly now about Nauvoo. The "Walk down Parley Street" and the temple were strong highlights. Below are some notes from John on that EFY:

I was able to spend 8 hours in the Nauvoo temple on both Wednesday and Thursday and felt such an overwhelming feeling. It’s hard to describe all of what I felt. Some of it was just being in the temple in the general and some probably just being there for so long. Something else that made a huge difference was the talks from the temple presidency. In total we had 8 sessions and a member of the temple presidency spoke before each session. I heard all the talks. Each talk I heard was different, some dramatically so, and I could tell that the members of the temple presidency were teaching by the Spirit.

Several of insights I was able to share with youth. Like that President Hinckley had picked out every picture and its location in the temple – that actually turned out to be powerful for Kayla. I got to ponder on why the picture of Christ ordaining the 12 Apostles was the picture in the confirmation. In fact, there are two confirmation rooms in that temple. Do you think the second room has a different picture? It does not. It’s the same. It makes me think that it was really intentional that that picture be in the confirmation room. Why? Something cool to think about.

In the first welcoming session, which was by the second counselor in the temple presidency he had us imagine that we had shared the gospel with our best friend and they were going to be baptized. He said to those who officiate, imagine how you would say the words and how carefully you would hold the person. Then he said to imagine that your friend died before the baptism but that you were going to get to be baptized on their behalf. How would you act? Would you be robot or be thinking of them and praying for them as you performed the ordinance?

I have always been frustrated with temple workers who rushed through ordinances but this really took things to a new level. As I got to confirm people I imagined that I was confirming them as individuals. It was a very special experience. We organized things so that as the youth came in to the confirmation we gave them the names of those who they would officiate for so that they could ponder on them. I think this became really powerful for them.

Another interesting experience from the temple I wanted to record was that one of the presidency members (the one who talked about the “best friend”) told me how he came to feel so strongly about that. He said that he was an assistant shift supervisor in the Chicago temple, feeling like his responsibilities were very important. He had prepared a temple card for his Aunt Helen, but felt that he was too busy to attend to the ordinance and send it to the baptistery. While he was doing his work he felt in his mind, as though his Aunt Helen were speaking to him: “If I had been baptized while on earth, and invited you to come perform the ordinance, would you have done it?” He thought, “Of course, I would have traveled anywhere to come baptized you.” And he felt her say, “Then why don’t you come perform the ordinance for me now?”

He raced down to the baptisry and said, “Where’s my Aunt Helen’s card?” And they said, “We just baptized her.” He was able to do the confirmation, but he said that he still wishes he had done the baptism. That experience helped in realize that each person is an individual that really is living in the Spirit world. In some ways, they are more alive than we are.

The temple added to my understanding of the Savior caring for us one-by-one.

Quick Update -- More to Come

2009-08-09T18:00:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry that I have fallen down on the job of posting every month -- I'm going to get back in the saddle soon. Some quick highlights with promises of more to come:

In June we were fairly relaxed as we had planned to not do a lot during Katrina's first month. The kids spent a lot of time at Nanny's pool, and John went to Olathe, KS for a great youth conference.

In July we had a great McEntire Reunion and a great Olsen reunion at Bear Lake.

Also in July we found out that the people we rent our house from want to sell it and we need to move. We have gone from casual house hunters to serious house hunters.

Also in July a "WHY?" DVD was filmed.

Last week Grandma watched the four oldest kids while Katrina, Lani and I went to Nauvoo for an amazing week of EFY. It was awesome! Among other great things, we found the house of Hezekiah Hatch, an ancestor.

May Update

2009-05-31T17:31:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-02T14:39:00.000-07:00

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!

March Update

2009-03-31T20:00:00.000-07:00

The neatest thing that happened to our family this month was the opportunity to meet Elder Richard G. Scott. One of my students, Marcel Souza, was in charge of a Portuguese fireside at which Elder Scott was speaking. He invited my family to attend and to meet briefly with Elder Scott beforehand. Elder Scott had given Levi and "Fisherman's handshake" in Miami and this time he gave one to Levi, Annemarie and Maria. They all enjoyed it.

Two other exciting highlights were a "Nyssa Party" and a "Miami Party." At each even we had students from the two respective cities come to our home for a gathering. Both were really fun gatherings where old friendships were renewed. We feel so blessed to have lived in those cities.

February Update

2009-02-27T13:22:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a great month. There is so much to record that I should be updating weekly...but I know you don't want that much info on the Hilton family... :) But this report will focus heavily on the last week.

On Wednesday we had a special dinner in Salt Lake for those who had published with Deseret Book. All of the DB folks (including Sheri Dew) were very excited about the new WHY book and there was all kinds of buzz about it. So that was nice. Best of all, I got to visit very briefly with Elder Bednar, who was the keynote speaker.

His talk was very powerful--focusing on questions he is asked in the conferences he attends, and focused on the importance of personal ministry. There was a great spirit there.

As we were driving home my car (which has been making funny noises for a few weeks) began to act funnier...the lights grew dimmer, and dimmer...about Pleasant Grove the car died...were were going 60 on the freeway and I pulled over. It wouldn't restart, and there was a burning smell coming from the car...not good. Lani's parents were the heros, picking her up--and Rebecca Eaton, daughter of my friend Rob Eaton who had traveled with us.

I went home with the tow truck man...glad we have AAA!

Here is a picture of Lani and Rebecca and our poor car, probably on its last leg.

I had a good experience talking with the tow truck man and inviting him to church.

We have been humbled in the car department because we have lost not one, but both of the keys to the van. It is parked in our garage and going nowhere. Yikes! Fortunately, Lani's sister Sarah is kindly letting us borrow her car for awhile. We have offered bounties of up to $30 and had 10+ people searching, but to no avail. Monday it will be towed (hooray for AAA) to the dealership and for the low price of $120 we will have two new keys made.

Friday we went with some friends to SLC for a CES fireside. Elder Quentin L. Cook was the speaker. It was a great talk. What I will remember most though is how afterwards there was a dinner. Lani and I went late because we took some time to visit with an old institute student, Gina Perdomo who is serving in Temple Square. When we arrived and got our food we saw two spaces ... at Elder Cook's table. I thought it was wiser not to sit there though, and we sat close by.

I got up to visit with folks and I noticed that Elder Cook did likewise. In fact he went from table to table greeting everyone and thanking them for coming. It was such a gracious act of caring for the individual that it really touched me. I got to shake his hand and look into his eyes as well and I appreciated that opportunity.

There were other great events this month such as a great Valentines dinner put on by Jaylene and Nicole for Angela and Jayson, Rob and Lacy, Nanny and Papa and Lani and me. It was fabulous!

Also, a great pizza party with Tim.

Life is great and we feel so blessed. Our children are all doing well and we are happy and blessed.

January Update

2009-01-31T19:06:00.000-08:00

My goal was to post family updates at least monthly--and here it is January 31, 8:07 PM (that's close to bedtime for me).

This has been a great month. It has been extremely busy for the family--perhaps the busiest month we've had in recent memory. But we did find time on two occasions to take breaks. First on "Human Rights day" (as MLK day is called in UT), we went up to Midway and had a wonderful day being with family and sledding. It was great.

Then this past weekend we traveled down to St. George to participate in a Best of EFY. The whole family came -- it was just as glorious as a family vacation should be. We had almost no fighting the whole trip (thanks to "The Magic Treehouse" on CD. We stopped in Virgin, UT to visit the ancestral homes of Hugh and Isabella Hilton and John and Maria Parker. Each of them had children (John Hugh Hilton and Maria Parker (2), respectively) who married each other, and were the parents of Eugene Hilton, my great-grandfather. Maria's house still stands, and the Hilton land is for sale (13 acres for just 879,000).

(this is the actual hut Maria and John Parker lived in).

We also stopped along the way to tour Zion's National Park. We hiked the trail of the weeping rock (a nice Chinese family took our picture).

When we arrived in St. George we saw palm trees and felt at home. We spent some glorious time in the pool, and while I spoke at the EFYs, Lani took the kids to the Tabernacle and other great St. George site. We went to Cove Fort on the way back and the kids were excited about the pioneer toy that they received.

One other funny story from this month is worth mentioning. We invited some Chinese friends to come spend the Chinese New Year with us. Cameron, by Chinese-speaking brother also came. The Chinese visitors typically bring gifts; once they brought a gift for the kids this time they brought a gift for Lani. As they were leaving Maria asked, "Did you bring a gift for me?" Fortunately, Maria is sometimes hard to understand and so I was able to revise what she said in the translation and none were the wiser.

Picture of the night, and recipes below. The Spring Rolls we didn't make (but we wished we had--we tried a lesser recipe, we used a steam bun mix from Chao's, and the coconut rice balls are partly my invention).

Sticky Rice Balls in Coconut Milk - Boa Loy

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3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup sticky rice flour
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup hot water
1/3 cup coconut milk

Pour 1/2 cup of hot water into sticky rice flour and knead until a dough is formed. The dough shouldn't stick to you hand. Add more flour or hot water as needed. Bring a pot of water to boil. Use plenty of water. It is similar to cooking pasta. Pinch off the dough and roll it into a small ball in your palms. Drop the ball into the boiling water. The dough will start rising to the top when it is cooked. Remove the floating balls

{this part is my invention}

Dip the balls in dulce de leche (mixed in with coconut extract) and sprinkling w/ coconut

BAKED PORK SPRING ROLLS
1/2 pound ground pork
1 cup finely shredded cabbage
1/4 cup finely shredded carrot
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger root
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon chile sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
1 (16 ounce) package spring roll wrappers
4 teaspoons vegetable oil
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Place pork in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Remove from heat and drain.
In a medium bowl, mix together pork, cabbage, carrot, green onions, cilantro, sesame oil, oyster sauce, ginger, garlic and chile sauce.
Mix cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Place approximately 1 tablespoon of the pork mixture in the center of spring roll wrappers. Roll wrappers around the mixture, folding edges inward to close.
Moisten fingers in the cornstarch and water mixture, and brush wrapper seams to seal.
Arrange spring rolls in a single layer on a medium baking sheet. Brush with vegetable oil.
Bake in the preheated oven 20 minutes, until hot and lightly browned. For crispier spring rolls, turn after 10 minutes.
Makes 12 spring rolls.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T16:19:00.000-08:00

We are sorry we (once again) missed the opportunity to send you a Christmas card, but we are grateful we are getting this out now instead of sending you a St. Patrick's Day card (no disrespect intended towards our Irish relatives). One of our goals for 2009 is to blog at least monthly so feel free to add us to your your lists of blogs that you check...our Christmas ecard is below as a .jpg file...we hope you can see it! If not, the text is below the image file.

2008 was an amazing year for the Hilton family. In January Lani and John went on a cruise and deeply enjoyed their private getaway. In February we went to Universal Studios one last time before our passes expired. In March and April we cleaned and showed our home time after time but with no results. May brought trips to Key Largo and Key West where we snorkeled with sharks. We wanted to get as much beach time in as possible before June, which was the month of the move. Miraculously we sold our home at the last moment, kind friends helped us load our stuff, and Lani drove our four children across the country with the help of her brother Tim. John followed a month a later and July and August were spent being with family members in Utah and Washington, as well as trips for EFY. In September Joseph was as busy as ever, Maria enjoyed music class with mom, Annemarie started kindergarten, Levi started 2nd grade, Lani took a Family History class and John started a Ph.D program in Instructional Psychology at BYU, and teaching Religion there as well. The last three months have been a blur as we’ve tried our best to balance the many demands of life, enjoyed being so much closer to family, and discovered Lani is expecting a new baby. Though we miss Miami and think of it often, we are grateful to be in Utah. We had one of our best Christmases ever and enjoyed many new traditions that brought us closer to the Savior. We pray that the year 2009 will be a wonderful year for you and your loved ones.

Sailing away...

2008-09-16T11:48:00.000-07:00

Well...this website is sadly outdated. I received an email of rebuke from a friend that has prompted a quick update on our lives and happenings.

After four beautiful years in Miami, we felt it was time for us to move on...so we have relocated to Orem, UT. John is in a doctoral program at BYU studying Instructional Psychology. He also teaches some religion classes for BYU. He also writes and travels, speaking with Best of EFY and Deseret Book's Timeout.

Lani is busy with four great children, and really enjoying living closer to family. (We now live within blocks of her parents, grandpa, 3 sisters, and several nieces and nephews. Everyone has enjoyed being closer to family. We will now likely get more visits from John's family and have enjoyed being closer to John's siblings in Utah. Lani also is taking a family history class at BYU!

Our Christmas Letter

2007-12-20T09:21:00.000-08:00

2007 has been a great year for the Hilton Family. Joseph made his debut in the world on December 28th, 2006. He has been a huge joy to our family. In addition to eating and sleeping, he loves to walk while shaking his hands, laughing and smiling the whole time. Maria is one of the cutest kids we have ever seen! (No bias). She has the sweetest expressions and loves to give hugs and kisses. She enjoys playing quietly with her dolls. Annemarie is growing up fast. She just turned five and is learning how to read. She is developing a kind nature in which she will share things she wants when a sibling wants them more. She also taught herself how to play chess! Levi is doing excellent in first grade. He recently took apart a computer, salvaging pieces that his dad could not. One of his favorite hobbies is capturing animals such as lizards, turtles, toads, bees and even ducks! Lani continues to be an amazing wife, mother and home CEO. Her family is the center of her life. She also teaches the Old Testament at 6:00 AM every morning to fourteen high school students. She spoke at sessions of Especially For Youth in Mississippi and Utah. As part of her training she got to meet Susan W. Tanner, which was a highlight. John continues to enjoy working with the Church Educational System. His hobbies include speaking to LDS youth and writing. He also went to China with his two brothers. He loved being with the Chinese people. The Hilton Family loves being together. We had our first family campout which thrilled the kids. Going to the beach, zoo, park, and playing together are other family favorites. Jesus Christ and His church are central to our lives and we are grateful for the many blessings we have received...not the least of which is knowing you! Our love and best wishes to you this next year.

Trip to Universal

2007-12-17T17:48:00.000-08:00

We got back recently from a great trip to Universal Orlando.
The highlights were watching our kids have so much fun, meeting the Grinch, talking with Donkey (from Shrek), and especially Lani and John participating in FEAR FACTOR. Our stunts included grabbing bean bags from a tank filled with eels, catching octupi, and hanging from a bar 7 stories in the air, with fans blowing. It was a blast.
Here are some pictures, maybe if I get a little cooler I'll be able to upload the video. It's intense :)