Bridal Shower and More (March 15, 2009)

Emily had her bridal shower on Saturday. Tammy did a great job putting it all together, and there were at least 50 in attendance. Tammy's Mom did a quilt that everyone joined in to tie during the shower. It was beautiful! Holding this prize possession are Bev Smith (Tammy's Sister), Tammy, Emily, Deb Arnell (Tammy's Sister), and Clara Snell (Tammy's Mom)

Emily was so animated, vivacious, and excited to greet all of her friends at the shower.

Cam finished his basketball season by scoring 21 points in each of his last two games. He is an amazing basketball player.

This is a typical dinnertime scene in the Hill-Mulford connection.

Jordan has been such a great brother. Here he is relaxing on Sunday afternoon with Maddy.

The Hill-Mulford connection visited the Draper Temple Open House and enjoyed the great Spirit there.

Seth did very well at the piano festival. Here is an excerpt.

Peter Jeffrey Boone (DOB 2/25/09)

Peter Jeffrey Boone was born at 6:59 a.m., on February 25, 2009, to Abby and James Boone. He is a rock and weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces, was 21 inches long, had an APGAR score of 9/9. Peter is our ninth grandchild, and their second child (both boys). Abby and James went to the hospital about 2:30 a.m., and left Andrew sleeping with Grandpa Hill.

Father James Boone telepathically communicates with his new son and asks him to open his mouth. Peter has peach fuzz brown head hair and no teeth nor chest hairs.

This is the first official family portrait of the newly expanded James Boone family. From left to right Peter, James, Abby, and Andrew.

Grandpa Hill holds Peter for the first time. He is very happy because Peter's middle name is "Jeffrey". Peter is the 27th living member of the Jeff and Tammy Hill and Mulford family.

Andrew is being instructed on how to touch the new baby VERY softly. He is exhuberant!

Abby spends some one-on-one quality time with Andrew in the hospital to ease the effects of his recent "dethronement".

This picture was taken just 12 hours before Peter was born. Abby was washing the dishes with Andrew.

Grandpa Hill took Andrew to the Henry Doorley Zoo the day that Peter was born. We had a blast. I got 22,000 steps that day.

February Joy(e)s

Madelyne Joye Mulford created a festive spirit for Valentines Day. She created more Valentines, by far, than anyone else in the family. We enjoyed a Family Home Evening where we used our artistic talents (Mulfords certainly excel in this area) to make creative valentines for all of the grandparents, married children, college kids, and in home family members.\

Tammy celebrated Valentines Day by making us a delicious heart-shaped meatloaf. Ymmmm! We enjoyed exchanging gifts on the day. She gave me wonderful sweater and shirt (red of course) and I have her the eight seasons of the Cosby show. We have been enjoying watching an episode each night before bed. And we seem to be sleeping much better!

Amanda's basketball season wound up with a thrilling Timpanogos 46-45 win over Lone Peak. It was a miracle. Amanda played sophomore, JV, and varsity this year. She is amazing ... but we are glad to get a little break in game-going until lacrosse starts.

I coached Cam's rec league team this year, in my spare time. He is definitely years ahead in his basketball skills. He has discovered a "lucky penny" that he kisses before the game. It has worked! In the last two games he has scored 42 points (21 points each game). He could score a lot more but he isn't a ball hog. He passes a lot and encourages the rest of the team enthusiastically.

Ryan's team also wrapped up their season. He improved every game, and ended up playing almost all the time. This is an action shot right before he stole the ball. The coach said that if everyone on the team hustled and had Mulford's attitude, they would have won more games.

Here is Ryan walking to the locker room for the last time this season. I think he's found his sport that he wants to focus on. He has lots of talent and determination. He'll go far!

Seth and his friend did a great science fair project this week. They got three different kinds of soda and then determined which had the greatest chemical reaction with Mentos and why. It was an exciting experiment!

Diet Coke was the winner!

Emily and Ben are still in love and still engaged. Tammy has been organizing the wedding and has most of the details already done! We are so blessed to have her in our family!

Emily and Ben are still happy!

Tammy and I had a great Valentines Day. I took her on a "get lost road" but we ended up at the Gateway where I got her a new diamond ring to replace the one that was lost 18 months ago. Then we went scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef (via 3-d Imax) and had dinner at the Thaiphoon Restaurant. We are sooooo happy! The weather has warmed up and we are riding our tandem again up the canyon.

Here is Tammy's new ring! The picture doesn't do it justice. It is beautiful, especially on her finger!

Emily is Engaged ! !

It is official. Benjamin Wright proposed to Emily Ray Hill on Friday evening, January 30, 2009. Ben surprised Emily. He arranged with Tammy to get everyone out of the house at 10:00 pm so he could watch a movie with Emily. Tammy made a bowl of popcorn and hid the ring box at the bottom. And now they are engaged. They will be married on April 23, 2009 in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple at 11:00 am. The reception will be the night before, on April 22, 2009 at the Provo Library. We are all very happy. Ben is very popular with all of us.

This the VERY beautiful ring that Ben gave Emily. This photograph does not do justice to how much the ring sparkles.

The day before the engagement Ben took me out to lunch to ask for her hand. In keeping with tradition we played golf. We went to the driving range and had a contest. Ben won on the last drive, by only about ten yards.

Ben is beaming after having won the hand of Emily in marriage.

Still Winter

Emily and her "good friend" Ben are enjoying each other, and us, frequently. Ben has been teaching Math at Walden school after graduating from BYU in August. Emily is starting conditioning in Lacrosse. We love BOTH of them.

Too cold to play outside, so Cam, Seth, and Maddy have built an incredible fort!

Cam spent this morning being nice to Maddy, making her a creative wallet out of paper and tap. It contained original illustrations.

Seth has gone organic and is busily putting together Dad's weekly anti-oxidant supplements.

Amanda is playing lots of basketball. Next week I'll get a better picture of her and of Ryan.

Snow Galore

Snow blanketed our home in depths of up to 24 inches. It meant lots of shoveling (bonding time with the boys) and lots of fun (sledding down Skyline Drive)

Our drifts by the driveway rose to about six feet in its highest point, much taller than Cam.

Our big van was almost covered completely by the white stuff.

Cam played his first ballgame for the Junior Jazz. He, Seth, and Ryan have been working with Jordan and really improving their skills. I am coaching Cam's team. Cam has been a real team player, passing the ball frequently. Even with that he made 7 of 10 shots and scored 14 points in our last game.

Ryan and Amanda have also been playing many games but I have forgotten to bring the camera. Maybe next week.

Seth had a game scheduled, but the other team was disbanded. They played a scrimmage and he had six points and five rebounds.

Weddings Galore

We have enjoyed a houseful of family during the Christmas holidays. Last Sunday we took advantage of us being in our Sunday clothes to take a picture. Sarah, Joel, Eva, Nathan, Abby, James, Andrew, Emily, and Ben are all welcomed visitors.

Tammy and I went to Jason Zundel's wedding and we were joined by Abby and James for the breakfast, and then were represented by the whole family at the reception.

Tammy and I snuck off after the Zundel wedding breakfast to the Providence Inn Bed and Breakfast. It was the best! We then went to the Logan temple for the Shawn Curtis wedding.

Shawn Curtis and his new bride seemed very happy. In fact, I have never seen Shawn so handsome before in my life!

Here is a picture of Thom and Susan along with Shawn and the MacDonald family.