Merry Christmas from the Hilton Family!

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).