Blog Challenged

Once again my kids are pressuring me to get caught up on the blog, and once again I'm intending to make a regular habit of posting.(I know what you're thinking..."Fat chance".  Trust me, I'm thinking the same thing.) 
Life if just too full and there are so many things I'd rather be doing than sit at the computer.  (Especially since every weekend for the last two months have been spent at wrestling tournaments.)  I've been doing a lot of scrapbooking, and loving every minute.  It's great on these icky cold days.  This also makes me a hermit.  I stay home as much as possible and screen my calls...sorry.

This is what things look like out in my backyard...and this is why I stay home! 


The pool...so sad...can't wait til summer.  We finished in October and managed to heat it until just after Thanksgiving.  Then, tired of giving ALL our cash to Questar, we shut it down.

The wind can blow like crazy here and the snow drifts get crazy too.  This day our little road was covered with 3 ft snow drifts, so I was stuck at home until Todd got home from work and could plow the road.  No beach here, but you can catch a "wave" of snow.

On the 15th, Max celebrated his 7th birthday.  It was a low key birthday this year.  He chose Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner...mostly because he knows Kiarra hates them.  Then he got to pick a movie for the family to watch.  The next day, Saturday, we had a small party after his basketball game.  My sister and parents came over for lunch and birthday cake.  Then he got to go bowling with his friend Matthew.  Easy, happy birthday.  So nice.

If I tried to back track all the way to October, it just wouldn't happen. So...lets just say the holidays were great, we're surviving winter and no big news, is good news.  Check back soon...I promise to post SOON!

EWWW!

 This is our 4th Fall living in Box Elder County and I have never seen a Box Elder bug infestation like we've had this year. Yuck, Yuck, Yuck!  It's been a constant battle to keep them out of the house.  Luckily the cooler temperatures are killing them.  Just looking at these photos gives me the heebie jeebies!

September 2012

Like I said, September was a big month for our family.  Todd really got crazy in the backyard.  The kids were put to work helping construct rock walls and the fire pit.  Construction on the pool FINALLY began.

 

However the most important events were all the preparations for the opening/dedication of the Brigham City Temple.  Kiarra, Zac, Karissa and Ally were all busy with extra practices for the cultural celebration the youth would be perfoming the night before the dedication.  I had the opportunity to serve as an usher during the open house.  I wasn't sure I would enjoy the experience, but I loved doing it .... even though it meant being at the temple by 6:30 AM.  Believe it or not, I was on time (3 times!).  Of course this meant Todd had the opportunity to get the kids off to school on those mornings...can't say that he loved that.  I also agreed to help with some costume construction for the cultural celebration.  I'm not the best seamstress in the world, so that made for some very late nights against short deadlines.

 

The most amazing experience for me however was the time I spent being a chaperone for the youth in our ward during the cultural celebration.  Our ward could only have 4 and I lucked out when my name was drawn from the hat.  It was crazy spending two whole Saturdays with about 4000 youth as they rehearsed and performed, but so worth every minute.  Here's a few photos of the fun.

First full Saturday practice a week before performance

Break time: Zac, Wyatt and Scott

Saturday, Sept 22.  Performance day started with practice at 6:30 AM!

You'd think by lunch, they'd be exhausted, but nope...Kiarra and others played games during the lunch break.

Didn't get great photos during the evening performance.  I was in the back helping kids get changed and in the right spot.  Elder Nelson and Elder Perry gave the youth great advice and encouragement!

We met at the church on performance day at 5:45 am and delivered the youth back to their homes around 9:30 pm.  It was such an exhausting day, but the rewards were incredible.  The youth's testimonies of the temple are inspiring.  Most of the kids have developed a bond with this temple through this cultural celebration as well as assignments cleaning the grounds or helping with the open house.  Many of the youth, including my own, have told me that they can't wait to receive their endowments and be married in the Brigham Temple.  Words can't even describe the spirit that descended on that football field that evening and I feel so blessed that I was there to witness it!

HELLO!

Once again I'm attempting to blog.  I almost closed our blog...but my kids have asked that I keep it going so that they can show family and friends this or that.  The last seven months have been busy as usual and sitting down to post is just about 100 on my list of things I want to do...so sorry for becoming a hermit.  I also have no idea what's going on in the lives of distant family and friends.  I STILL don't Facebook (I know, I know... dreadful) and looking at your blogs only reminded me how far behind I was.  Selfish?  Maybe...but I'll just say it saved hours a week.

The kids have been watching for some main events to be posted, so I promised a quick catch up..........again.

March highlights:  Sophie's Justin Beiber Bash and her baptism.

 

 

April brought Easter, clogging competitions, Kiarra's 14th birthday and soccer, soccer, soccer.

 

May (always crazier than December) was filled with more soccer, a dance revue, piano recitals, an orchestra concert, kindergarten graduation and Zac's received his amazing Wheaties box for being in the top 5% all year.



 

June's journeys included a family camping trip, Washington DC for Kiarra, Girls Camp for Kiarra at awesome Heber Valley Campground, T-ball and Todd & I got to relive a little of our 80's teen years by meeting up with friends in Vegas to see Poison and Def Leppard in concert!  Rock On!

 

July was nice.  Lots of yard work, BBQ's, swimming lessons and the annual trip to Altamont for Longhorn Days.

August was over before I even knew it began.  Kiarra, after conditioning with the high school soccer team for two months, made the JV team, so it was straight into some lengthy practices for her.  The first weekend of the month is Garland's Wheat and Beet days and with Todd on city council we were plenty involved.  He cooked at the breakfast then he had his nifty councilman four-wheeler and I had my beauty queens for the parade. Todd usually drives the float for me...so it was a little scary...all survived though.  The kids operated a treat stand at the park for two days.. (and enjoyed sampling the competition...the chocolate strawberries were the BEST!)

 

Also in August, there was camping with the Kunzler family (two of their girls moved in with us for the school year) and the county fair.  The fair is always the final party of the summer.  Even though we didn't have animals, it was busy enough.  Sophie danced in parade, (I was responsible for the beauty queens again), the kid's had 4-H projects, including a blue-ribbon dress Kiarra had sewn, Sophie and Max clogged,  and Max had the opportunity to give Mutton Bustin' a shot at the rodeo.

And finally in August was the First Day of School!  Yeah!

3rd grade for Sophie, 2nd grade Max (after a lot of thought and a little testing, we decided the best option for Max this year was to skip 1st grade)

7th grade with new braces!

Our freshman, Kiarra!

Kiarra with her "adopted" big sisters.  Karissa is a senior this year and Ally is a Junior.  It's a wild ride having three teenage girls in the house.  Yes, Todd and I are learning how to chase the boys off.
 

Because September deserves it's own post, I'll stop this lengthy post here.  I hope to post about our amazing September in the next day or two.  If you're still with me, thanks for checking in on the Millers!

Aaaannnd....we're back!



Yep, I know... My blog was way behind once again. I have no real excuse except that I just didn't feel like blogging. I've actually been trying to make a dent in my scrapbooking that's even further behind. (That and I've enjoyed the chilly months curling up with book after book.) Weekends were spent in various gyms for various wrestling tournaments.  So to catch up, here's the highlights of the last three months in quick review.

There was the ward Christmas party. Zyatt (that's the bromance nickname of Zac and Wyatt) both had parts in the program. Zac was a wiseman and Wyatt was a shepard. Don't ask about the ping pong paddle on the staff... we have no idea.

Santa for both the young and...

old.

We hosted my parents for Christmas Eve dinner.  My poor sister was home with the flu.

The kids helped to get everything ready with their usual pre-Christmas silly.  One of the most important things for them to have on Christmas Eve is our traditional English crackers with our paper crowns to wear throughout dinner.

Yes, I'm a mean mom.  I didn't let anyone open presents on Christmas until we were home from church.  Everyone changed back into jammies and we let crazies loose.

The day after Christmas we went out to Grandpa and Grandma Miller's house.  Kiarra spent a lot of time alphabetizing their family ordinance cards from the temple.  They've been very busy.

And of course there's quality time with cousins...oops, I mean DS time with the cousins.

We finished off December with our annual New Year's Eve party... the kids survived WAY past midnight.

Todd started off the new year by taking his oath of office for the city council.

Icky photo...but I hurried to snap this as they started the first council meeting.  Todd's direct responsibilities include planning & zoning and streets.  This makes for a few extra meetings and A LOT of time, but so far he's enjoyed learning more about our town.

Zac had been working all year on his World's Fair Report and did an excellent job.

And last on the list of updates is Max's 6th birthday on Feb. 15th.  He started the morning with his traditional breakfast present.  Two new Skylanders.  This is the newest obsession for my boys.  They need the figures to unlock different levels and stuff on their X-Box game.  Whatever.  But dang...these figures are not the easiest to find.  They sell out as soon as they get stocked.  Crazy good marketing ploy.  Yep...call me sucker.

That evening we had a small family party.  Max got a new, big boy bike.

The following Saturday, we had his friend party.  It was Cars Extravaganza!

Max and his Best Friends.  Poor Hannah handled a party of boys just fine.

The tool chest game was fun.  Everyone got several chances to pull the slats out.  If any candy fell that player gets to keep the candy.  I was surprised just how much they like this one.

Everyone got to paint their own car.  Move over Ramone.

Several challenging games of Red Light/Green Light.

They got to try out Guido and Luigi's job.  Who could make the tallest tire stack?

And finally...cupcake time!  I had a great time planning this party and the kids were all very good.  I think I had as much fun as the kids.  A HUGE thanks to Kiarra and Zac for all their help. 

And whew!  I'm done.  Once again I'll try my best to update more often.  Thanks family for not giving me too much crap about the state of my blog.  :)