Miller Family

Miller Family fun with noodles

2009-07-05T16:41:00.001-07:00

We must have been pretty bored after dinner 2 Sundays ago. After we finished eating the spaghetti, the boys started playing with the leftover noodles. Jared and I decided we better join in. Jordan is Harry Potter. Jared is a football player. I am the lady in our ward who Jared elbowed in the head while playing volleyball. (She had to get stitches, sorry again Brenda! It really was a collision from both sides. Jared didn't elbow her on purpose.) Ethan has mad eyes. Lincoln is Master Shifu from Kung Fu Panda. Benson is a baby who just had spaghetti, but you can't really see that from this angle. Are we dorks or what?! We had fun anyway!

Fun 4th of July at Delta Reservoir

2009-07-05T14:29:00.001-07:00

Jared's Grandma has some great "oceanfront" property on the reservoir in Delta. We love to go skiing there, and the weather held out to make it a great day all around. Fortunately for all who are reading this I was the picture taker today. There will be no pics of me in my swimsuit. Sorry!

A freezing Ethan and Lincoln next to the paddleboat.

Benson about to fall over from laughter on the kneeboard. (No, he isn't quite old enough to go on the kneeboard yet.) The little chunk should have had his lifejacket on, but I promise we were standing right by him! We put it on immediately after this shot.

Ethan posing....need I say more?

Sorry about the two videos side by side, but I couldn't get it to move and I wasn't taking the time to reload it. The one on the top is Jordan and Jared kneeboarding. The one on the bottom is Jared thinking he is pretty tricky. He wouldn't let me put the video of him totally wiping out on here. It was a great day!

Benson's First birthday

2009-07-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

My baby turned one this week! He is so big....and I mean chunky too! He is such a good boy and pretty easy to make happy. These pictures are a little out of order, but it is all good. He has a smile and laugh that kills us all (see video). I decided to go with an elephant cake instead of a bumblebee when I thought about the stain of all the black icing that a bumblebee would involve. Here is the before picture of the cake.

Here is the birthday boy in between some of the festivities! Benson's eyelashes are everyone's favorite part about him!

Benson taking a big handful of cake in his mouth. It didn't take him long to figure out more is better.

Here is the video of Jared making Benson laugh from just a few weeks ago.

Happy first Benson! We love you!

Trip to the zoo

2009-07-05T11:20:00.000-07:00

We have had an eventful couple of months and I can't seem to get to my blog. Oh well! Here is an update of just this last week. We went to the good old Hogle Zoo on tuesday with some of the Millers. Here is Benson enjoying an eye level view of the groundhogs.
Benson, Emilia and Sammy waiting for the bird show to start.

Here are the boys who weren't all too excited about turning around and leaving the giraffe behind them.

Shana and Sammy and giraffes.

This elephant was chewing through some of the wooden poles. We all thought it was cool how he broke it with his tusk first.

Do I have a teenager already?!

2009-05-02T10:36:00.000-07:00

Jordan, just newly 9 years old (Birthday pics will come later) is acting a bit like a teenager. It is so sad! He has just now decided it is no longer cool or ok to kiss your mom on the cheek! I told him it was not gross, and I will force him if I have to. At cub scouts, the cubmaster makes the boys kiss their mom on the cheek after they get an award. Jordan was getting his wolf badge in a few days. I told him that he better not make a scene like a lot of the other scouts did. He just needed to straight up kiss me on the cheek and not do a gross out face! He said he couldn't do it. I said he WOULD do it. (This was all a light and funny conversation...we were both laughing the whole time.) He then asked why? I told him that moms like to get kissed on the cheek by their son, and it makes them sad when their kids make gross out faces. He proceeded to tell me it doesn't make moms sad. I sais "I am the mom here, and I am telling you it makes moms sad. Who do you think knows more about how moms feel, me the mom, or you?!" Jordan then replied....."Um, MOM, like 5 girls are in love with me already, I'm pretty sure I know what they like!" GASP, WHAT?!!! Where has my little boy gone? I cried I was laughing so hard. I always thought that self confidence was the best gift you could give your child, but there is a fine line between self confidence and cockiness!

Needless to say, Jordan had to practice kissing me on the cheek. At pack meeting he kissed me on the cheek as well....although there was a slight hesitation! He is a good kid, and we love him. (Apparently a lot of girls do too!) I hope I can keep convincing him that moms deserve kisses from their boys and that a little humility goes a long way!

Twin Falls

2009-04-22T13:02:00.001-07:00

The 3 older boys really cheesing it up!

Benson was glad to be out of his carseat!

On our way home from Boise we stopped by to have our picnic lunch and see Shoshone Falls. Unfortunately there was a 2 mile line of traffic to see the falls, so we opted to not have our kids sit through that much longer of a car ride. We went to the actual twin falls down the road and that wasn't busy, so we had our picnic there. The kids thought that waterfall was cool enough. I thought it was cool that I got a rainbow in that last picture!

Our trip to Boise...

2009-04-22T12:38:00.000-07:00

We had a great time visiting our good friends in Boise last weekend. Here are the babies! Benson and Molly were so good! The dads got in a little golfing. The moms got in a little shopping, and the kids got in A LOT of video games and trampoline time!

The kids are having a hard time looking away from their Saturday morning cartoon to have their picture taken! (Except Ethan who is doing a very nice "next top model" pose with his leg! It is even funnier when you zoom in!) A couple of the kids even turned their head and smiled for the picture, but their eyes were not leaving that cartoon!

This is for all my SNL fans out there. I taught adorable little Annie how do do this little bit for her mom (who didn't know I got it on video....Enjoy Andrea!)

funny story

2009-03-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

As I was on a friend's blog today, I took a peek at her blog list and noticed "Natalie, the Bishop's wife." Could that possibly be me? Sure enough it was. Thanks a lot Jenny! He's not even your Bishop! I realize the thought of my predicament is still hilarious to people. It is hilarious to me as well. This is not my favorite title, but I found it funny. I also was glad it didn't say "the Bishop's wife, Natalie. " (I was just glad my name came first...sometimes people seem to forget I have a name.) I don't know why I get a twitch when I hear that phrase. (I get this same twitch with "Mother of the ward." Isn't that the R.S. president?) Oh, it is all good, just funny is all. I really don't feel like my friends treat me any differently, and I still laugh at Jared when he gets a funny smile on his face when they say he is presiding over the meeting. He can't help himself.

It reminded me of one of my favorite Sunday stories in the past month. This cute lady in our ward was talking to me in the hall. She asked where I lived and I told her the street name. She then said "Where is that?" I told her it backed up to the church. She then replied,"So, do you live by the Bishop?" I was a bit taken back. I feel bad because I thought I misunderstood what she said...poor thing I made her ask it again. I just laughed and said "really close. I can see him while he is sleeping." By the look on her face, I really creeped her out! I quickly informed her that I was married to the Bishop. We both had a good laugh. I quickly told her how grateful I was that everyone didn't know me as the Bishop's wife. I am sure they will all know how crazy I am all too soon. Thanks for the laugh!

Another month gone by....and my day in court.

2009-03-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

So, here it is another month later with no new posts. LAME. However, we just got a new laptop, so I am hoping I can blog from upstairs on that and get it done a little more often. No promises though. My office just isn't condusive to having a little crawler getting into everything. Yes, little Benson does the army crawl well enough to scavange for anything he can put in his mouth. His favorite are little legos hiding under the couch and cheerios he has previously dropped from his highchair. (He likes to make sure and leave himself a little snack for later, and I don't usually sweep up until after dinner unless it is a big mess! I know...bad dirty mom!)

I have been meaning to blog about my day in court a few weeks ago. It was pretty lame and I dreaded going, but in the end it was really interesting to see how it all works. I was just a witness in a dog at large case. For all you dog lovers out there, I don't hate dogs, I just hate it when I don't have one and have to clean up after them. I did not take the owner to court, he just got a ticket and wanted to fight it, so they asked me to be a witness. Anyway....I got to court on time to find out I had to wait through all the trials until mine came up. They didn't even start until an hour after I had to be there, then about another hour and a half until ours came up. I was annoyed until I was enthralled by what was going on. First of all, to the city prosecuter, I don't know your name. You are beautiful and smart, but you have got to stop it with the sunless tanning. I don't know why someone doesn't love you enough to tell you that you are orange. Oompa Loompa orange. Good job anyway though.

I also found out I am the least compassionate person. I knew this to some degree already, but I found myself hoping that the judge would send everyone to prison. Yikes, I hope I never get accused of anything that I would have to be a judge for. First up....a lady in an orange prison jumpsuit in shackles pleading to the judge to let her out early. I don't know all the specifics, but she had committed fraud and had several counts of robbery from what I could tell. She wants to have a GPS unit to track her and go home with her kids. Her speech sounded rehearsed....(and that is exactly what the judge said might I add.) I wanted to shout out. "Lock her up...I don't want a robber in my city!" But alas, he let her have her GPS time instead. I was glad she had to pay for the monitering herself.

Next up, a man who had apparently beaten his wife. I am sorry, and if this is happening to any of you out there I apologize if I offend you. In my situation, this would only happen once. Once I got beat up by my spouse...he would no longer be my spouse. Again I say..."Lock him up!" Of course, it was good for him that his wife was there supporting him and they were going to counseling. Like I mentioned before, I wouldn't be there. If it was bad enough I had to call the police and I was scared for my life, I wouldn't be there. No lady, it is not your fault. There is no excuse for it. You can do better. So sad....he didn't get locked up...I am glad he is trying to get help.

Now on to the lady who was fined for wreckless driving. Apparently she had yelled at the policeman..."Why are you wasting time on me when there are worse criminals out there." Wrong thing to say. She didn't get locked up, but she did get a big old whopping fine. The judge went on to tell her of the number of people who are murdered every year verses the number of people killed by wreckless driving. "You go judge!"

You will all be glad to know that I didn't want the person with the dog at large to be locked up. Just the dog. It was pretty cool to be sworn in and that whole business. I was sitting there getting very nervous, and I wasn't even on trial. It turned out fine once I was up there. I didn't stutter or anything. I was even cross-examined, but only with one question. I refrained from shouting out that I thought he should be locked up. (Just because I seemed to be feeling that way for all the other cases.) Just kidding, I didn't think that when I was up there.

In the end, I got paid a whopping $18.50 for my witness fees. That is hilarious to me. At the end of the day, I do feel like the system worked, the judge was good, and no one got locked up. Just some big fines. Maybe I just wanted to see someone's face when the judge said they had to go to prison! Am I rude or what?! I was so excited about all the court cases that Jared told me if I really needed to I could get a babysitter so I could just go sit and watch court all day. Nice....I am not that bad, and I am sure I would get bored with it after I finally saw someone get sent to prison. Again, rude! Oh well, it was a pretty fun day. I was glad my neighbor was also there as a witness. (She was the one who called it in.) We had some good times!

What is up with my kids?

2009-02-23T09:08:00.000-08:00

I may have already put this picture on, but I was trying it out to see if it would upload pictures today. It seems old Shannon was right and I can put one picture on at a time. It is time to call the computer cleanup guy I guess! We are all well here. Nothing really ever happened with Jordan's teacher except that I got to give her a piece of my mind. Jordan was not misbehaving. He didn't turn in 2 class assignments which she docked him for on his classwork grade, and then she docked him for those same 2 assignments not being turned in for his class participation grade. When I asked why he was getting double hit for those 2 assignments, she could only reply that it was to teach him responsibility. WHATEVER! My answer.... teach responsibility by being responsible. The principal was nice about it all, but at the end of the day he was just going to talk to her about it. At least someone knows how she is acting. I am now keeping records of everything she says. We just have to trudge through the rest of the year. If she blames one more thing on her aide, I am going to have to scream.

On the lighter side of things, we were at Jared's parents house for dinner last night, and I think someone might have slipped my kids a little something. Both Jordan and Ethan were up in the night, incomprehensible. I am used to Jordan sleepwalking, but last night it took forever to wake him up to get him to go to bed. It is kind of crazy to look at your kid and think "this is how he would be on drugs." All the rambling.."Could you just let me be second, because on that one thing I was fourth and when you are fourth and shoot, that one thing just falls off, but if you are second you can actually get it." Us..."What thing Jordan?"....He then gets mad at us for starting to laugh. "Can I please just be second because it will be a lot better if I am first." Jared says..."You mean second." Jordan laughs and says "Oh yeah I mean second." We finally get him to wake up and go back to bed. 30 minutes later we hear someone open the door to Benson's room. As Benson is only 7 months old, we figure it is not him. Jared goes down the hall thinking it must be Jordan again, nope Jordan is in bed. He checks and Ethan is the one missing from his bedroom. We check Benson's room again and only Benson is in there. Jared starts calling to Ethan and he is downstairs walking around. Jared says "What are you doing?" Ethan replies "I don't know." Jared makes him come upstairs and go to the bathroom. He then just climbs back on the top bunk and goes to sleep. Just so no one worries, we do have extra locks that the kids can't reach without moving a stool over and unlatching them. We hope to be able to hear that. It does scare me that neither of them remember it in the morning.

Thanks a lot Lincoln

2009-01-27T14:15:00.000-08:00

So, today in preschool, Teacher Wendy asked Lincoln if he knew what his mom's name was. Lincoln replied "Mom." Teacher Wendy said, "Well, that's true, but what would I call your mom if I was talking to her?" Lincoln thought for a moment and said..."Frankenstein!" Thanks a lot Lincoln. I guess to a 3 year old, I look green and like I have bolts coming out of my neck. Oh well, maybe I need to wear makeup around the house a little more! Love ya Lincoln!

(Imagine adorable picture here, but today my picture is "corrupt" according to blogger.)

Posting issues

2009-01-21T10:32:00.001-08:00

Alright, so I am having serious issues about getting to my blog to post. January is always busy with the business getting our year end stuff all completed. (Not to mention all the filing that I need to get done. Yikes!) Sorry to all those that have checked in on me and still found nothing new. We had a great Christmas and New Year's. I also have not been able to post any pictures for some reason. I get all the way to the "your images are being uploaded to Blogger" screen and then it freezes. What is a blog without some cute pics? I am working on it.

Jordan is still enjoying school. I am not enjoying his teacher at the moment. I have sent a message to school and I have left her a message on her phone about a grade I completely disagree with, and I have still had no response. I know it sounds like some overinvolved mother, but I am really not. I left a message for the principal to call me back today, so I will see where that goes. I don't want Jordan to have to pay for my pushiness, but I feel like something needs to be done. His math grade dropped 15% this quarter. Math of all things. She hasn't put grades in all quarter, then on the last day she puts in 3 grades. classwork-89% Homework-96% Class participation 80%. The grade I take issue with is the last one. What is that about? If a child in 3rd grade is almost getting a "C" for class participation in math shouldn't the parent know about it? His grade last quarter in math was 99%. Really, my issue is I don't even know what that means to correct the problem. What does "class participation" include? Is he talking too much, is he shouting out the answers, is he looking out the window and not doing anything at all? What? Why is it only affecting his math grade? To those who don't know Jordan well, he has NEVER had a problem with this. And lets say that he did have a problem, because these things do happen, he is a very correctable kid. He doesn't want to make anyone unhappy. Now the poor thing has had video games taken away until I get a good report or better grade from his teacher, and she won't even contact me. I am going to have to let that punishment go until I hear from her I guess.

Was it too much to go to the principal? Am I expecting too much to have some kind of communication with the teacher? I know I have completely used this blog as a venting tool, and I am sorry to those who have kept reading this long.

Ok, enough of that, I just tried to post some Christmas pictures and got another error, so I will be looking into that. Maybe the blogger people are looking at the pictures and saying "Christmas morning...no one brushed their teeth yet....hair not combed.....no one should have to see these pictures....ERROR!" I will have to find some cuter pics. J/K

Jordan's Christmas concert at University Mall

2008-12-22T10:38:00.000-08:00

Jordan's Christmas concert at the University Mall. The Spanish Immersion program decided to have the concert at the mall this year. Unfortunately it was about a 35 minute drive to get there, 35 minutes waiting for the group ahead of us to finish, a 20 minute program with nowhere to sit for the 150 + parents who came to watch and then 40 minutes home. I just hope they decide to keep it at the school again next year. Now that I have got all that out, the kids did a great job and their Spanish Christmas songs were really fun to watch. Too bad my camera batteries were about dead when I turned them on, or I might have a little video! Good job Jordan! For some reason these pictures won't load and Benson just woke up, I will try again later.

Yes, we are still fans of the cougars!

2008-12-21T08:22:00.000-08:00

Oh well cougs, better luck next year! Here we are showing our cougar spirit at a basketball game a few weeks ago. The kids loved it!

Benson didn't seem to mind a little cougar pawprint on his cheek!

Whoever took this picture, (Kent), please back up! J/K

Such handsome boys!

Pretty Funny FHE

2008-11-17T13:40:00.000-08:00

Ok, so we decided to take advantage of Jared being home during lunch and early out day today by having family home evening on his lunch break. Jared was in charge this week. He is very good at throwing a lesson together last minute, and I often tease him about the hodge podge of topics he seems to throw in. Well, Jordan asked me to pick the opening song, and I asked Jared what the topic of the lesson was today. He replied that it was a surprise to all of us, even him. It turned out to be about being thankful. He asked me on the spot to tell the story of the 10 lepers. Ok, so soon you will all find out why my most dreaded calling is that of gospel doctrine teacher.

I knew the basic gist of the story. 10 sick people, Jesus healed them all, and only one came back to say thank you. It was the details that got me in trouble. I started saying something about how not even all 10 of the lepers had enough faith to look upon the river and be healed. To those of you who are laughing at me right now, I know how embarrassing this story is to tell. I cried laughing at myself when Jared had just told me I had managed to combine 3 different Bible stories into one. (The leper story, the story of the man who had to bathe in the river 7 times, and the story of the people who needed to look upon the serpent on the staff in order to be healed.) Hence my comment about "looking upon the river to be healed." I really do listen in church (most of the time) and we read our scriptures (most days). My mind just seems to jumble everything together once it is in there. Hence, why I hope to never be called to be Gospel Doctrine teacher. I would have to constantly say, "Yes, it absolutely reminds me of that story, now who would be so kind as to share it with us?" I wouldn't dare try to retell a story without studying it right before hand. Why do some people have such a gift for this?

After we laughed so hard, Jared asked Jordan why we have Thanksgiving. Jordan's reply... "so we can say thank you to the turkeys." What?! Apparently he got my brain jumbling gene. I asked him if he thought us killing a turkey and eating it for dinner was a good way to say thank you to a turkey. He said "Well, I am grateful for food." Then Jared started talking about the 1st Thanksgiving, and there was a big "Oh yeah, and the Mayflower too." from Jordan. He really is a brilliant kid, and he did know the story of the first Thanksgiving. Very odd how that could turn into saying thank you to the turkeys.

Needless to say, after all of this loud laughter, FHE was just a hullabaloo of craziness. Jared asked the kids to start all of their prayers this week with saying Thank you for certain things to Heavenly Father. It was Lincoln's turn to say the closing prayer, and Jared reminded him to say thank you for lots of things in his prayer. So, as long as this isn't too bad to do, Lincoln's prayer went like this. "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for lots of things. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

That about sums it up. To all those who are thinking how dumb I am, let me show you some Calculus. I am not blessed with the scripture story mastery talent.

Pumpkin decorating

2008-11-05T20:52:00.001-08:00

Here we are decorating pumpkins. We decided to go with the permanent marker decorations this year. I know, not very spooky, but very easy to clean up. (Except off of the boys shirts, which is why they are bare.)

Jordan was so proud of his artwork!

Lincoln and I's pumpkin....not to be out shadowed by the fact that we sat closest to the donuts on the cat's tail this year.

Somebody looks tired! Can I tell you the amount of sugar that has been consumed in our house to keep us going is unreal. We have to come up with a new plan. I know, I know, the crash coming off the sugar is not worth the short high it gives you. Hence why we have consumed unbelievable amounts of sugar. Then we crash at night. We are working out a new plan, don't you worry! (I will admit it involves the treadmill and some extreme dance dance revolution!)

Adorable Benson pics...

2008-11-05T20:29:00.000-08:00

YEAH! I got some cute pictures of Benson's smile while Ethan was holding him. Ethan sure does enjoy Benson. He loved these pics!
I mean FOR REAL! How could I ever get frustrated at this little thing?!

Crazy Life

2008-11-05T20:22:00.000-08:00

Well, we have hit the crazy life. We are doing well. I am thankful Jared has a job which allows him to come home during the days for lunch quite often. The only one who is missing him the most is Jordan (due to being at school during lunches.) It has not been as bad as I have been expecting. Like Sara Pitcher said to me the other day, pessimism is working for me. I expect the absolute worst, and then it is not so bad. I am thinking it will calm down the next few weeks since a lot of the ward callings have been made. Meanwhile, we are taking every opportunity to make our time "quality" time, and Jared and Jordan have started work on his pinewood derby car, so Jordan is getting plenty of "Dad time" in. (They have decided to make it look like a tank.....BOYS!) I am getting some me time in as well. (Since last week at volleyball we quit playing at 8:00 and then talked until 10:00 pm. My cheeks hurt from laughing so hard. Great times!)

"I'm sorry, WHAT did you just say?"

2008-10-21T10:31:00.001-07:00

This was my thought as Jared and I sat in the Stake President's office almost 2 weeks ago. For those out of towners who haven't heard yet, Jared was called to be the Bishop over a newly created ward in our stake. WHAT? Yep, you heard it right. We have gone through so many ups and downs in the last two weeks. Not to mention how sad I am to not bring all of my friends from the ward we are leaving. There have been many tears shed, and much laughter at the thought of me being the typical "Bishop's wife." Yeah, thats not going to happen. I have said for years that they won't call Jared to be Bishop because I am not good enough. Apparently they don't take that into consideration.

I am sure it will be an adventure. When I told my sister in Oklahoma she asked how am I going to keep my nose clean for that many years. I told her that no one is perfect, and people are just going to have to understand that. I will be sensitive to people's needs, and I can try my hardest to be nice to all, but at the end of the day I am still me with the same sense of humor. Take me or leave me, I am who I am. Jared will be great, and I can support him, other than that what do you do? (For those who are still in our ward, when you see me carting off both kids in the middle of sacrament, could you keep an eye on the other two I leave behind?) I am going to have to find some helpers. To anyone who is interested in that job, I will make sure to have good treats during sacrament!

For journaling sake, I am including the reactions of our kids and some family members.
Jordan:" SWEET! My dad's going to be famous!"
Ethan: "NICE"
Lincoln: "What's a Bishop?"
Benson: "PBBFFT" (He was a little gassy, and reminding me that I will have him by myself each week during sacrament. Just teasing.
Most other people: Lots of Laughter, I'm sorrys, Congratulations and Condolences
My Dad: Laughter, then "I am going out right now to buy him a condolences card," shortly followed by "I guess if you're the Bishop you can budget in a stool to help you stand up to the podium" (Poor Jared, he sure takes a lot from us teasers.)

I keep telling myself that we will be blessed, and I am sure it will calm down. (Maybe about January) We look forward to the challenge, and I hope people will not look too poorly on my behavior. At first I wished it would have been later in life when we didn't have so many young kids, but then I thought about how much teenagers need from their parents, and I decided this was probably better for them. Let it go on record, that at the end of his time as Bishop, Jared and I would like to be called together as nursery workers. That sounds really fun right now. We look forward to meeting new friends in our new ward, and we look forward to seeing our old ward friends in the halls at church. I would also like to let everyone know, Jared and I love to go out to dinner and get together to play games. So, don't forget we are still here and we would love to still get together with any of our friends, in our ward or not!

Trying to catch a smile...

2008-09-24T08:24:00.001-07:00

Here I am trying to catch a smile on camera. His smile is getting more frequent, so hopefully I will get a good one soon! We love this kid and we are glad he is sleeping a little better. I think he was a little colicky. It was rough going for a little while there, but I can see improvement, so we are happy. The older boys keep asking who was the worst baby. It is funny because Jordan would be devastated if he was the worst. (He would hate to disappoint anyone.) Ethan on the other hand wants to be the worst. He seems almost proud when I tell him we had to sleep in the recliner the first two weeks he was home because that is the only way he would sleep. Benson's bad sleeping habits have outlasted the others so far, so I dare say he will win the worst sleeper prize. Good thing he is so cute! I will put his blessing day pictures on here as soon as I download them.

Me and my "lucky braw"

2008-09-12T10:58:00.000-07:00

So ward volleyball has started again. Anyone who knows me for very long knows I love the game. I played in Jr. High and High School and have loved it my whole life. I will now tell you of how I lost a bit of myself this season when I could no longer serve very well. I watched a sitcom on TV the other day that reminded me of myself in a strange way...I don't even know the name of it (how sad). Anyway, the lady in the show was feeling older. She was pulled over for speeding and immediately wisked her hair down from a clip and made it beautiful and flowy. She plumped up her lips with some fresh gloss, and she unbuttoned her shirt to show some cleavage. All to convince the policeman not to give her a ticket. He gave her one anyway only to turn and gauk at the 20 something running down the street. Needless to say, she had a breakdown. She was no longer that perky girl who never got a ticket no matter how fast she was going. She lost her sense of self and was depressed over the new realization that she was getting older.

Cut to me at volleyball. Fresh after having baby number 5. (Ok, it was two months after, but it still makes me feel better.) I have always had a decent serve at volleyball. This is due to my 9th grade year on the volleyball team. Our coach didn't want to take the time to teach the little freshman anything, so I spent most of the year serving against the wall with the other freshman. I got pretty dang good at serving. By the end of the year I was being subbed into the back row on the varsity team just to serve. I have served pretty well ever since, until this year. I didn't know what was wrong. I even made Jared go in the backyard with me and evaluate my serve. Although this is SO LAME, I honestly was like "what is wrong with me?" I was nothing without my serve. It was a part of me.

Now back to the TV show. The woman on the show tried everything she could to get herself back. She even went to Victoria's Secret to get a new gel push up bra. This gave me an idea...I mean, I am nursing. That could throw a person off right? I mean when you take a person from extremely large to gargantuan (sp?) this could mess up a serve. So last night, I whipped out my old sports bra, tucked these babies in as best I could, and can I get a whoo- whoo....I was back. Not anywhere close to my high school days, but just enough for the other team to ask when my arm was going to get tired. It drastically picked up my spirits and I now have a "lucky braw!"(Spelled with a "W" like "lucky draws" really meaning lucky drawers. )

Now before you go thinking I was at home not getting dressed and hiding out because of a volleyball serve, you are wrong. I did feel like I was not myself on the court, but I was not having my life altered too much by the whole thing. Just kinda sad and hilarious at the same time. I am hoping I am only going to get better from here now that I am back to exercising. Who would have thought it would make that much of a difference.

Hopefully this post was not embarrasing or offensive to anyone reading it. Just thought I might throw a little humor back in the blog. Also, I hope I did not come off as bragging about my skills. Just part of the story. There are a lot of women who are MUCH better than I am on this ward team! It is still an absolute blast to me.

Camping at Thunder Mountain

2008-09-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

Here we are again at Thunder Mountain for Labor Day. Jordan and Ethan are chasing grasshoppers.

Here is Lincoln on the 4 wheeler with Landon and Grandpa.
Benson and I hanging out by the campfire. Is this bad for a baby's lungs?

Here is Brenda and I. This is where you will find us when we get too hot or too cold and wet...hanging out in the trailor probably gossiping about something not very important, but thinking we are hilarious.

Delta Reservoir

2008-09-10T12:46:00.000-07:00

We had only two trips to Delta this year for waterskiing. I was bummed I couldn't go skiing because I wasn't past my 6 week after surgery mark (not to mention I am sure I am not back in shape enough to get my rearend out of the water. Next summer that reservoir better watch out!)

Thank goodness for kids who don't mind wearing life jackets almost all day long.
Benson's first trip to the res. He was a cute little beach baby although looking a little cross eyed in this one.
Ethan enjoying himself.
Cute Shana and Sammy hanging out. I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but little Sammy has the most beautiful eyes! Love her!

That lake above Tibble Fork...

2008-09-10T12:35:00.001-07:00

I say "that lake above Tibble Fork" because I don't remembe the name of it. It may be Silver Lake. Who knows. This was back in July when my sister Janell was here from Oklahoma. We sure miss her and her family when they are gone. We are the most alike and we have a lot of fun shen she is here. I can't say how many times Dad has said "you are just like Janell." Well, what other compliment can you give me? My sister Brenda came with us too. She was so good to come up with her kids while her husband worked. Overall it was a good day. We could have used a little more shade, but it was a beautiful backdrop.

Jordan waiting to go fishing with Dad.
Kylie, Daisyia, and Lincoln getting into some muddy waters.
We are so blessed to live in such a beautiful area. Jared and I vowed to go enjoy the mountains more often.

1st Days of School...

2008-09-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

Poor Ethan with his huge cold sores. They bothered me way more than they bothered him. At least they were on their way out instead of that gross stage. I still think he is pretty handsome. (Of course, he does look the most like me and my side of the family! Ok, the other kids who look more like Jared's side of the family are pretty cute too.)

Poor Jordan, I realized I didn't take a picture of your first day. I guess you will have to settle for your 6th day picture. Love ya though!

Lincoln was only a little excited. He was also showing his serious side. Good news is he loves teacher Wendy. I need to call and get her report on if he listens to her or not.

I am so excited for the kids to be back in school. I will miss the extra help and fun, but I won't miss the chaos. I love to have everything on a schedule. Here are pictures from their first days....Jordan is in 3rd this year, Ethan in Kindergarten, and Lincoln in preschool. (Hallelujah for Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-11 when I take a moment to just be with Benson! I hope to have him on a schedule soon so he naps then, and I take a moment for myself....I don't know, a shower longer than 5 1/2 minutes would be nice!)

Playing Catch up!

2008-09-10T12:17:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I know it has been a month since I last did anything on my blog. Yikes! I guess that is what child number four will do to you. I am going to do a few posts today and then I hope to stay more on top of things.

Favorite Quotes from Primary...

2008-08-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

Ok, so Sunday I was in charge of sharing time at primary. It was on baptism. I threw out a ball for the kids to catch and answer questions about baptism. Favorites: Question: "How do you think you are going to feel when you get baptized?" Answer: "Wet." adorable. Q: "What power does your Dad have to have in order to baptize you?" A: "SCRIPTURE POWER!" Cute again, but still not quite what I was looking for. I think by the end they got that one a little better. I love those primary kids. The teachers are great too. The other day Lincoln came downstairs so mad at his brother for calling him a name. I asked Ethan what he called him and he said "I just told him he was a toddler." Apparently Lincoln didn't know what a "toddler" was, but he knew he didn't like it and it MUST be something horrible. He shouted back at Ethan..."I am not a toddler, I am a child of God!" I thought that was pretty cute. I don't go around telling him that all the time, so I figure they must be stressing that point in nursery pretty well. What great teachers!

Our Ethan is 5!

2008-08-01T14:59:00.000-07:00

...And SOOO ready for kindergarten to start!

All he has talked about since Jordan's birthday in April is having a soccer ball cake (he got two) and Indiana Jones Legos.
I loved that making him happy on his birthday was so easy. A little swimming with cousins made his day. He conquered going down the slide by himself. (I had to bribe him to try with a quarter. Too bad for him I was willing to go up to a full 5 bucks! He bit at the quarter though. SWEET!)

Nasty! Grandpa's 70th birthday party...

2008-08-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

We had a surprise 70th birthday party for Dad/Grandpa the day after the wedding. He was surprised and the kids loved it!

The kids waited so patiently for this R.I.P. cake. Only to get to the NASTY picture below.
Gross boys....that is all I have to say....

Wedding Photos

2008-08-01T11:08:00.001-07:00

My first and oldest niece got married this month. It was a beautiful wedding. The sisters/sisters in laws all went and prepared the food for the reception while the spouses watched the kids. It was great fun, but tiring. We only made enough chicken salad croissants, deviled eggs, fruit, veggies and dip for 500 people! I am not exaggerating.

We made this tie for Benson before he was born. We tried it out on a doll and it was still a little too big. Oh well. Its not like his shirt fit either, but he sure it adorable!
It is pictures like this one that make Jared want to grow his goatee again. Maybe next summer dear! Here is the best of our family pics from the wedding. The boys thought they were pretty cool with their yellow ties.

I am sick of it!

2008-07-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

Sick of what? Sick of being sick! I am missing yet another Sunday of church when I REALLY was ready to go back. I know people think I am so crazy to even go back now with a newborn, but I can't stand to stay at home. I really feel like I am missing out. I got this annoying cough about 10 days ago. I had fevers and felt like junk. Well, 10 days later the fevers have gone away, but I can't stop this barking cough. So, I decided to stay home with Benson just one more Sunday. I don't want to pass this on to the whole primary! With a wedding last weekend (pictures to come) and family in town this weekend, we never really stopped going. (No way this 4th baby is going to slow us down!) I think my body is having a hard time fighting this one off. Ok, enough moaning, I will hopefully be back to normal (but really, was I ever normal?) soon. I will pull my pictures off from the wedding and our crazy weekend soon. The boys really were adorable in their matching yellow ties!

My BEST FRIEND!

2008-07-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

Lincoln has started calling Benson his "new best friend." It is so cute. He is constantly saying "Did you know....that he is my best friend." As he ever so vigorously "pats" Benson on the head. When Jordan went to give Benson his pacifier the other day Lincoln yelled at him to "Stop it! He is my best friend, not yours." I don't know where he is getting it from, but it sure is cute. I need to catch it on video so I can show it to him when they are older and he is mad at his brother for something. We are having fun!

More Benson pictures...

2008-07-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, just a few more pictures. I can't believe how many more we take now that everything is digital. He has only been here 4 days and we probably have almost 50 pictures. (Of course, at least a 1/3 are blurry!) Oh well. Thanks for looking.

We're Finally Home!

2008-07-07T19:55:00.001-07:00

Benson Lee Miller and I came home today. We are both doing well. The boys all think they should hold him and feed him and give him his pacifier and put him in the bouncer and hold his hand and kiss his head and everything else you could think of. I guess I may have gone a little too far on my "You are going to have to help out when we get home" talk. They have been sweet so far, but we will see how we cope when we are so tired. We just had a friend who had an 11 lb. little girl the day after I had Benson. I look down at Benson and can't even imagine having one almost twice that big. Way to go Joy! Enjoy the pics. Some aren't the best.

Sorry, No Pictures Yet!

2008-07-05T13:31:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately we were unable to get this computer to read our card with all the pictures of the baby on it. We will have to wait until Monday to put new pictures of little Benson on here. The delivery went well. He was 6 lb. 4 oz. and 20 inches long. Everyone is doing well. The older boys have been to visit. So far they are all loving him. We will get home Monday morning and update then. Thanks for looking!

Jordan's Baptism

2008-07-01T16:21:00.000-07:00

We were so proud of our Jordan on this day. He was more nervous about his interview with the Bishop than the actual baptism. He was worried that he wasn't going to pass.
A little brag story about Jordan on Sunday....I asked him to get all the boys church shoes out and on and to get the church bag ready by the time I was done showering and getting ready. (Of course we were running late.) After a little moaning from him I told him he didn't have to...it would just help if he could. Much to my surprise, by the time I was downstairs he had done both of those jobs and also decided to make a sandwich for the boys. Lunch was one more job he knew I would have to do before we left for church. He had them eating bacon sandwiches by the time I was downstairs. (A little bacon and mayo on bread never hurt anyone right? I thought it was pretty creative.) Anyway, he is a great help to me and occasionally really tries hard to go the extra mile. What a blessing!

Ready for Jordan's big day!

2008-07-01T07:45:00.000-07:00

How sad I am that I was so proud of my little tulip section. Before Jordan's baptism I made all of us go out and sit in front of these few tulips to take pictures. Unfortunately the sun was right in their eyes, so they are all squinting and a little windblown!
It is impossible at this time to get a decent picture of Lincoln. He just doesn't sit still long enough. When you say "smile" to him it also means close your eyes real tight and show your teeth.

Ethan's first soccer game!

2008-06-30T09:36:00.000-07:00

Way to take one for the team Ethan. It was fun to watch both he and Jordan at soccer this year. Ethan's team was more like watching a herd of cattle. Jordan's team actually played positions and had some plays they worked. It was fun watching both of them and both had a great season!
This was the victory arms up in the air after scoring a GOOOAAAALLL!
Ethan enjoyed the season. Every game when I asked him how his game was and if he had fun, he told me it was awesome and told me every SNACK he had in detail. It was very important to him. Great job Ethan!

POSERS!

2008-06-30T08:59:00.000-07:00

Posers or future models? You can be the judge! This was a day at Grandma Doris'.

She had a fun bench, so they decided to try it out.

They don't like their picture being taken. (Yeah right!)

Way to work it boys. You need to use your lighting though. Love you all!

Our Little "Helper"

2008-06-29T20:26:00.000-07:00

Here is our little "helper." At least he thinks he is helping of course. I really am not a slave driver. It takes twice as long to let him help as to vacuum it ourselves. Lincoln sure is a little busy body. He thinks it is just hilarious to act like a dog and come up and lick us. It is cute but gets a little old and gross!

The View from Our House

2008-06-29T20:13:00.000-07:00

Jared took these pictures from our back deck one morning this spring. They are building a church right in our backyard! Thank goodness we didn't lose too much of the view. We sure have loved looking out over the mountains since we have lived here. It would be hard to give up!

Jordan's first snowboarding trip

2008-06-29T20:06:00.000-07:00

Jared took Jordan on his first snowboarding trip this year. They went to Brighton. Jordan thought it was harder than skiing but more fun. They got to go one more time this season and he did awesome! March, 2008

January 2008 Cruise

2008-06-29T17:51:00.000-07:00

These are some pictures of us in Puerto Rico. Don't worry I am leaving all of the bathing suit pictures out for now!

Jared and I were lucky enough to go on a cruise with my family in January. The water really is the most beautiful thing! This is the ship we went on. Thank goodness for the medicine created so that I didn't have to deal with too much morning sickness on the cruise! We stopped in Half Moon Key, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, and St. Thomas. We do love a good vacation! I will put a few smaller pictures on.

2008-06-29T17:48:00.000-07:00

I will be updating my blog again. I just tried a new background template. So far so good. I am going to go back a couple of months and try to get some new pictures on here before the baby comes on Thursday. Yep, boy number four should be here Thursday, July 3rd. (Surgery is at the U at 7:30 a.m.) Thanks for looking!

Cinco de Mayo, 2008

2008-05-05T13:40:00.001-07:00

Just checking to see if I even remember how to make a post on this blog. How lame is that?! Jordan is laughing at me. I will see if I can add a picture. DUH! This is a day in January waiting for church. What fun Tinker toys are! Next post will hopefully be of Jordan's baptism on Saturday.

Christmas Letter

2006-12-14T11:11:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of "the boys." They sure have grown this year and can prove to be quite the handful.

Jordan is now in 1st grade and loving it! Yes, he still loves Star Wars and all kinds of activities. He would never admit it but most of his friends he talks about from school are girls. (Cooties is just starting to hit!) He is a great student and great reader. He is our child who most likes to please us.

Ethan, now 3 sure has grown up this year. He is full of energy and character. (Yes, sometimes this means a handful.) He is absolutely adorable and full of love for just about everyone. He is enjoying preschool and learning his letters. Much to his mom's dismay he still skips 14-18 when counting to 30. (No matter how much we practice.) So this will be his goal for the year.

Next there is our one year old Lincoln. He was an absolutely perfect angel baby until one. Then something switched, and although he still doesn't mean any harm (except to Ethan), he is into EVERYTHING. We try to keep him contained, but he is a sneaky little bugger. It is something I often have had to say to all of my boys..."It's a good thing you're cute!" He brings us many laughs and smiles everyday, and we are grateful for naptime.

Natalie has just completed her classes to keep up her teaching degree. She is glad to be done with it, although she loved her technology classes. She is 2nd counselor in primary and enjoying it. She also seems to keep busy with friends, making cards, and being a mom.

Jared and the business are doing well. He enjoys making people feel better. He is still on the stake high council and was the "trekmaster" for the stake pioneer trek last summer. He did a great job. He also was a successful deer hunter this fall, so anyone with recipes to make deer taste good, let me know!

We hope this season finds you all happy and well. We truly are grateful for all we have been blessed with. We hope you all have the same happiness, and we hope to hear from you soon!

Donut Falls

2006-12-11T12:47:00.000-08:00

Here are our boys after we took a short little hike to Donut Falls in Cottonwood Canyon. We all loved it, and Dad made sure to carry up some donuts to eat at "Donut Falls." You know how Jared loves his treats!

Thunder Mountain

2006-12-11T12:42:00.000-08:00

Here are the boys while we were camping over the rainy Memorial Day weekend. We were at my parents property at Thunder Mountain, which is close to Lava Hot Springs, ID. This was the last and best day there. Everyone loved being able to go for a ride on the four wheeler.

Newport Beach 2005

2006-12-11T12:37:00.000-08:00

This was our vacation back to Newport Beach in 2005. We were able to visit several friends we had made in California while Jared was going to Chiropractic School and while I was teaching at Canyon High School.