Teton Dam Half Marathon

Tammy, Jordan, Seth, Maddy, Cam and I journeyed to Rexburg, ID for a mini-Hill reunion and to run the Teton Dam Half Marathon. My brothers Scott and Ted along with their wives and a few kids were there. We all stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Hill who made us feel like kings and queens. It was so fun!!!!

In the race Jordan was the fastest at 1:41. I took 2nd in my age group in a time of 1:52. Ted took third in his age group at 2:04. Scott ran it in 2:28. Tammy ran a 10k and took third in her age group. Seth, Cam, and Maddy ran the one mile fun-run.

Merry Christmas !

A Season of Growth

December 12, 2009

Dearest Friends,

Hi! It’s me, Jeff and it’s looking like Christmas. As I peer out my kitchen window in Orem, Utah there are light snow flurries. Everything is white! The Christmas tree is up in the living room and Tammy has filled our home with Christmas decorations. I especially enjoy the mistletoe and try to catch Tammy there! The mailbox fills up daily with Christmas cards and messages from friends and loved ones. We appreciate these. This year it is my turn to share our message with you about this year—a season of growth!

This is our fourth Christmas as a blended family, and has been the best ever. Right now we have five children living at home, five married children, one on a mission, and one at BYU. I must tell you that it hasn’t been all smooth sailing. In fact, it has been very difficult to blend two families with so many children and grandchildren with different backgrounds, different temperaments, and different ways of seeing things. When we get frustrated we remember T.T.T. (Things Take Time). That said, as we have trusted in the Lord and pled for His help, He has blessed us with much growth and much joy. We are grateful to Him.

Speaking of growth and joy, our Emily married her Mr. Right (Benjamin Wright) in the Mt. Timpanogos temple in April. We love him and we love his family. He is very good for Emily. The wedding was amazing! Tammy worked with Emily and had every detail taken care of ahead of time, so we could relax and enjoy. Wow! We also welcomed two new grandchildren into the family. Jeff and Jenny had their fourth boy, Isaac. And Abby and James had their second boy, Peter. We now have ten grandchildren and nine of them are boys! We are so grateful that our children are choosing to have children. Maddy turned eight this year as was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by her brother, Ryan, and confirmed a member of the Church by Jordan. She was gorgeous in her white dress. In all of these experiences we felt the ministering of angels, and at times felt the veil parted and that Juanita and Mark were there with our children. Tammy and I were blessed to travel to the Netherlands where we rented a tandem and rode through countless fields of tulips. We also treasured an Alaskan cruise with the extended Ray Family, a West Coast cruise with the extended Hill Family, a family reunion with the extended Mulford family, and Aspen Grove and Thanksgiving with the extended Snell family. We are blessed to have four major families who all love and support us. That has helped us so much!

May the true Spirit of Christmas fill you lives with joy! We love you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! THE HILL-MULFORD FAMILY
Jeff & Tammy, Juanita (in heaven), Mark (in heaven); Sarah (31) Eva (6), Nathan (4); Jeffrey (30) & Jenny, Jeffrey Jr (6), Jonny (5), Benjamin (3), Isaac (0) Aaron (27) & Jenny, Spencer (2), Joshua (1), Abby (25) & James, Andrew (2), Peter (0), Jordan (23), Hannah (22), Heidi (in heaven), Emily (20) & Ben, Amanda (17), Ryan (16), Seth (12), Cam (10), and Maddy (8).
YEARLY UPDATE:

The Jeff and Tammy Hill/Mulford family now numbers 29 mortal souls including: 2 parents, 12 children, 5 sons/daughters in-law, and 10 grandchildren. We are blessed!

Sarah (31), Eva (6), & Nathan (4) Sarah’s highlight is that she got a real job! She is a tenure-track assistant professor in neuroscience at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Sarah has gotten in very good shape, and has run a sub 22 minute 5k. Eva is in First Grade and she and Nathan are incredibly curious about everything. http//plainsenseofthings.blogspot.com srallred@gmail.com

Jeffrey (30), Jenny, Jeffrey Jr. (6), Jonathan (5), Benjamin (3), & Isaac (0). Jeff and Jenny welcomed their fourth boy, Isaac, into their family. Jeff is completing his PhD in mechanical engineering from Penn State, but they are living in Ann Arbor, MI and working at the University of Michigan. Their blog is: http://thehappyhillfamily.blogspot.com/ jeffrayhill@gmail.com

Aaron (27) Jenny, Spencer (2), & Joshua (1) Aaron continues his Ph.D. program at the University of Illinois in Mathematics and has decided to become a high school math teacher. Jenny does an incredible job at home with the kids and as primary president. You should take a peek at their blog. http://hillography.blogspot.com/ aaronthill@gmail.com

Abby (25) James, Andrew (2), & Peter (0) welcomed an adorable boy into their Omaha home in February. James is finishing a doctorate in physical therapy at Creighton University and is on the job market. They spent the Fall in Grangeville, ID for their rotation where they participated in a bear hunt and were warned to keep an eye on their boys because of cougars on their property. Their blog: www.thebooners.blogspot.com abbyh@gmail.com

Jordan (23) is a sophomore at Brigham Young University majoring in athletic training. He has been exercising a LOT and is majorly buff. He is very fun to be around and serves as the activities chairman in his ward. Jordan and his Mom flew to Green Bay this Fall and toured his mission areas in Wisconsin. Many still remember him with fondness there. Big news: he is doing semester abroad at the BYU Jerusalem Center from January through April, 2010. http://www.mulford12.blogspot.com/ / mulford12@gmail.com

Sestra Hannah Hill (22) is serving the Lord in the LDS Czech mission headquartered in Prague. We delight reading her e-mails each week as she shares with us the influence of the Spirit in her life and the excitement of missionary life.Though learning the language was challenging at first, she is much more comfortable with it now. http://www.czechcougar.blogspot.com/ sestrahill@gmail.com

Emily (20) and Ben were married for time and all eternity in the Mt. Timpanogos temple in April. Ben is the perfect mate for Emily and her complement in many ways. Emily will graduate in neuroscience from BYU next year. She is one of the leading scorers on the BYU Lacrosse team. Ben graduated last year and is teaching mathematics at a charter school while he applies to law schools. Check out their blog: bloggingthewrightway.blogspot.com lacrossechic@comcast.net

Amanda (17) started working at Kneaders, a local bakery, and learned to make a sandwich in 20 seconds. Already she has saved more than $3000 for college and perhaps a mission. Last year she played on the girls basketball team, but her real interest is in lacrosse where she started as a freshman. She loves learning and likes school. She is also dating. manarayhill@gmail.com.

Ryan (16) has his drivers’ license, and just went on his first date. Amidst intense competition he made the Timpanogos High School sophomore basketball team and has been a starter for them. Finally, he spearheaded an impressive Eagle service project at Cascade Elementary with more than 100 service hours. He is receiving his Eagle scouting award in Jan. Mulfy800@hotmail.com.

Seth (12) made the switch from football to soccer this year and enjoyed it greatly. He is a true blue Cougar football fan and went to all the BYU home games this year. He often cheered himself hoarse. Seth continues to progress in the piano and recently said he really likes it. He can play several hymns now. He is in Spanish Immersion in 6th grade. sethjoshuahill@yahoo.com.

Cam (10) is a star athlete. He played running back and linebacker on his tackle football team that scratched its way to second place in the league tournament. Though only in 4th grade, he starts on the Timberwolves 5th grade basketball team. Cam has been serving as Dad’s personal trainer and has motivated him to get into really good shape. Finally, Cam has learned that if he is reading the Book of Mormon, Dad doesn’t ask him to go to bed. He has been reading a lot!

Maddy (8) is also reading up a storm. It is not unusual for her to read two, three, even four hours a day. She also loves playing the piano and playing on her soccer team. Her dream is to become a school teacher and so sets up her classroom downstairs and teaches rows of stuffed animals how to read. She is a sweet angel in our home.

Jeff (56) and Tammy. Jeff continues at the BYU School of Family Life and Tammy continues to be a world-class homemaker. But what we love best is being together, especially when we can be alone. We like to ride our tandem up Provo Canyon, go out for a movie, go for walks, work out at the gym, and go to the temple. In 2009 we visited five new temples (The Hague, Draper, Oakland, Seattle, & Las Vegas), now our total is 24. We are in love! hill-mulford.blogspot.com/ jeff_hill@byu.edu tummarooni@gmail.com

Happy Thanksgiving

We've had a great week. It was our best Hill-Mulford Thanksgiving ever. We had Tammy's family here and she had everything planned perfectly (of course). It was fun for everyone! Those who came include Grandma and Grandpa Snell, Grandma and Grandpa Hill, Deb and Blair and family, Matt and Camille and family, Bev and her family (Ryan stayed home with Davis), Chris and Shauna and family, Steph and Reed and family. Altogether we had about 45 people. The menu included turkey, stuffing, potatoes, yams, green bean casarole, Dixie salad, and Kneaders rolls. Amanda worked on Thanksgiving Eve at Kneaders and about 50 people didn't show up to pick up their pre-paid pies. The management gave them out to the employees so we ended up with 3 Kneaders pies to go with the 5 or 6 others. We had our Church reserved from 11 to 2 and played BB, fat Albert, prison, and flag football. Before eating we sang Thanksgiving hymns and Grandpa Snell read from the scriptures.

We sang enthusiastically while Chris played the piano.

Everyone had name plates made with cookie dough, that was fun. We had five tables set up on the main room, and we even ate in the dining room. Each table went one-by-one for food without a lot of chaos. The meal was the delicious. I sat by Mom and my parents. What joy! The couples played the newlywed game and the single teenagers were the judges. We laughed a lot. Then we ate the pies.

Even Maddy and Jacque ate their fill. A day always to remember.

Happy Birthday, Jeffrey, Ben, Hannah, Heidi

This has been a big few days for birthdays. Ben and Jeff's birthdays are on November 20 and Hannah and Heidi's birthdays are on November 21. The only one we got to see in person was Ben. He and Emily came over for his birthday dinner of chicken alfredo, spinach artichoke dip on baguettes, salad, squash, and peanut butter brownies with Reese's Pieces ice cream for dessert. We are so blessed Tammy is such a great cook. We are grateful that so many wonderful people were born this week. Jeff celebrated by going to Maryland for Thanksgiving. Hannah has patiently waited to open her birthday package for several weeks in the Czech Republic. And I am sure that Heidi is celebrating with Juanita and Mark and Grandpa Ray in the Spirit world.



Here Ben is struggling to blow out the three candles representing 3 to the 3rd power years of life. He eventually, with Emily's help, got them all out!

Seth has been practicing the Spanish immersion dance and singing program for the past several weeks. Here he is with his partner. He is grateful that the program is over.

Here is Seth's class singing Vive Espana!

Life is wonderful,

Dad

California Dreamin

Tammy and I had a "dreamy" weekend getaway at the Dream Inn in Santa Cruz, California. I had to go to NCFR and so afterwards we headed down to Monterey Bay and my old home town.

The day was absolutely beautiful, 65 degrees and sunny. We walked the whole length of the beach and had lots of good talks and pure joy!

After seeing this memorial bench we decided not to take surfing lessons!

We even got to attend Church at the old Santa Cruz ward where I went as a boy.

We really enjoyed doing a session in the Oakland, California temple. It is our fifth new temple of the year and our 24 temple since we got married.

Fall Break

For Fall Break (aka UEA) we decided to get out of the house and do something. We piled in the mini-van and drove to Salt Lake where Seth did baptisms for the dead for the first time. Amanda, Ryan, and Mom went with him. Dad had to stay with Cam and Maddy because he lost his temple recommend. After the baptisms we all went to a Tabernacle organ concert and then to the Gateway to do mostly window shopping. We finished out the day watching the Joseph Smith movie and then went to dinner at the Olde Spaghetti Factory. Delicious!

The colors were beautiful so we went for a good Fall hike on the Bonneville Shoreline trail. Everyone enjoyed themselves, especially Cam!

Here is handsome Dad with the family!

October 2009

The Hill-Mulford family is back! We took a little moratorium on blogging for a few months because we believed that we had lost our camera. However, the camera was preserved and we began taking pictures again. We'll bring you up to date ever so gently ...

Amanda went on her first big dance at Timpanogos High School with Sean.

Ryan completed his Eagle Scout project. He master-minded a brilliant community service endeavor where in 181 volunteer hours contributed by more than 40 people spruced up Cascade Elementary school. The parking lot was re-striped, the lines were re-painted on the basketball hoops, the curbs were re-painted, and the basketball standards got a fresh coat.

Cam was the star artist at the project. He single-handedly repainted the handicap parking stalls. Amazing!