What a year! (our family Christmas letter...)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us!

 The Hills have had a terrific 2011. The biggest highlight by far was having two summers! We went to Brazil in February to visit Nate’s parents who were serving as Medical Advisors to the LDS missionaries there. It was incredible, to say the least. It’s all catalogued on our blog but some of our favorite things in Brazil were the majestic Iguassu falls, inspiring Corcovado, reconnecting with old mission buddies in Praia Grande, the beach at Rio, and the mountain retreat of Petropolis.

The rest of the year was packed with visits from & to family! In January Grandma Goldberg spent time with us for her follow-up surgery and Elijah’s blessing. February was Brazil. Grandpa Holloman surprised us with a visit in May and helped us get our garden going, and a few weeks later the Goldbergs came for their spring break and treated us to a ritzy girls’ weekend in Half Moon Bay. In July we headed to Idaho for a Shumway reunion, a Hill reunion and camping trip, and then Marcie and the kids spent some time in Utah with the Coopers and Hollomans – during which Great Grandpa Holloman unexpectedly passed away. It was a tender mercy that we were all able to attend the funeral in Georgia together while Grandpa & Grandma Hill watched Natalie and Lucas. In September we had visits from Uncle Joseph who was attending a wedding and then from Grandma Goldberg stopping through after her trip to Israel. In October we had a visit from Marcie’s dear friend Sarah.  On 11/11/11 Marcie was able to attend her Dad’s wedding to Sherri – a beautiful event. We are very grateful to have Sherri as part of our family. Then at Thanksgiving we had a surprise visit from High school friend Conni and Dianne Frehsee & kids from Germany. Then in December we headed back to Idaho and Utah for wonderful family holiday time!

 Other family highlights were a snowed-in camping trip to Big Trees State park with the gorgeous sequoias, visiting the USS Hornet museum, several nice beach trips, growing and harvesting our first vegetable garden followed by lots of canning, and most importantly, growing kids!

Elijah is 1 and has changed the most dramatically this year. It’s hard to believe that a year ago he was just learning to roll over! Now he is learning to walk and talk and hold his own with the big kids. He says a dozen or so words so far - his favorite is saying “uh oh” right before he drops something off his high chair tray. The one thing that hasn’t changed is he still gets at least a thousand kisses a day from his adoring fans. He’s a super happy kid and loves to throw balls, read stories, do puzzles, dance, and stand on top of the highest surface he can get to. Mom cannot turn her back without him discovering something new and exciting that she needs to babyproof. Dad’s latest genius is the yardstick used between desk handles. It worked for about half a day.

Lucas is 3 and loves learning about light and electricity. He can tell you exactly how a circuit works and even diagram it for you with +/- signs, battery, light bulbs and wires. He loves it when we say family prayers in “circuit style” (holding hands). He is very self-motivated with most things and has learned to ride a bike, use the potty, do chores, write his name and loves to do school with Natalie. He’s a little more cautious when it comes to adventures but is an eager partner in just about anything big sister wants to do. He’s constantly taking things apart and putting them back together and is quite the helper in the kitchen and with the vacuum and loves to give Elijah kisses. He loves participating in the preschool co-op and is very excited to start attending Primary with Natalie this year. Lucas is such a delight!

Natalie is 5 and is as free-spirited and active as ever. She proudly declared to her Uncle Joe that she is “on the climbing team”. This means that any chance she gets, she is climbing - whether it’s peeking up on the top shelf for some tasty treat or trying out a new tree in a park, she literally never stops climbing. When she’s not climbing she is learning about insects, famous historical figures (her favorites right now are George Washington and Nellie Bly), building forts with Lucas, playing dress-ups with her friends, writing messages, drawing pictures for Dad to take to work, reading, listening to audiobooks and doing crafts. She has a wonderful group of friends as part of our homsechool co-op. This year she also learned to swim and play soccer and has also tried her hand (and feet!) at ice skating, downhill skiing, and snorkeling.  She’s a very busy little lady!

Nate is taking on more and more responsibility at work and has felt good about the contributions he’s made there this year. He served as an acting manager for 3 different projects including one of Broadcom’s largest and hottest chips for data center routers (in non-techie speak that means “the arteries of the internet”). He has just been given the opportunity to manage a very large an exciting new project.  And he still managed to make it to all but one of Natalie’s soccer games and many practices, fix lots of broken things around the house, help grow a garden, take Lucas to see car races, play baseball and volleyball with the ward, and give Marcie lots of love, time and support. The highlight of each day is definitely when Daddy comes come.

Marcie entered the world of homeschooling this year and is constantly tweaking things for that ‘magic mix’ of structure and free-flowing fun. Teaching in the home is an exciting, though humbling, adventure - a journey I feel very blessed to be making. Each day with the kids is priceless. We organized a homeschooling co-op for Natalie and her peers, and enjoy planning our ward park days and field trips. I've re-joined the board of Silicon Valley Women (part of the BYU Management society) and have made some great connections there. It prompted me to start a new blog about a pet research topic on Influence (more coming soon!) I'm also really excited about helping with an exciting new non-profit called the Given Tree – more to come on that soon as well. I dream of getting back into running, guitar, learning spanish and doing some sewing projects this year. But sanity comes first, so we'll see what happens with all of that :)

All in all it’s been an action-packed year. So much family time! AND....we are most ecstatic to report that the many years of recruiting efforts have finally been successful - Marcie’s brother Charles has just moved his family to the Bay Area after gaduating from BYU-Idaho.  Hooray for uncles, aunts and cousins! We are very excited and blessed to have them so close by. And we're not done recruiting! We hope this is the start of a trend :)

Most importantly - with each passing day we feel more deeply indebted to our Heavenly Father and to his Son, Jesus Christ. We know they live and watch over us with great wisdom and tenderness. It is such a comfort to know that the help we need for any challenge at all is just a prayer away. And so often this past year, those prayers have been answered by loving, in-tune family members, friends and neighbors. We are so grateful for each of you!

Much love,

Nate, Marcie, Natalie, Lucas & Elijah