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!

March Update

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

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

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

_______________________________________

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!

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.