TDW Summer Party

Scott's work sure put on a fun summer party.  This is what we ended up doing on Anna's due date.  

 This kid is fearless

 He made it all the way to the top, twice.

How to win a doughnut eating contest:

1. Pick the doughnut closest to the end to reduce the amount the string bounces once everyone starts.

 2. Bite off the upper corner to allow room for removal of the doughnut from the string without letting it fall.

 3. Remove the doughnut from the string then lean head back and let gravity help you finish strong.

 After beating out about 20 other people Scott was awarded with a gift card to Macaroni Grill.  Totally worth the embarrassment right. 

How not to win a doughnut eating contest:

He was a little disappointed not to win but one Scott gave him the medal he had won it didn't matter.

Little Lady

Isn't she lovely?

She is such a good little baby and I am loving having this little girl in our home.  

Sleeping Beauty

  

 "Mom why did you wake me up?"

 "Seriously Mom enough with the pictures already"

 "Oh great Owen is in on this too"

 Getting closer...

That is the one I was going for...thanks for your patience Anna.

I had just put Anna down for a nap and went in the other room to fold laundry.  I heard her fuss for a minute but then she was quiet.  When I came back in to check on her this is how she was sleeping. The things us girls go though in the name of beauty.

Bath Time.  Nice foot placement.

Isn't that the sweetest little face you ever did see?

Summer Favorites

We had an exciting summer.  In all the craziness I fell way behind on things I wanted to blog about so here is a quick recap of some of my favorite pictures:

My Spencer loves fishing just like his Dad.

Owen just enjoys the great outdoors like his Mom.

Family BBQ Miller style...my in-laws are crazy Ü 

We spent many summer days at the pool and my boys turned into little fish.

Reunited and it feels so good!

 Owen and Becca

Way to go Grandpa!

A great adventure or negligent pregnant mother...you decide.

Mirror Lake with some cousins

Then this little lady joined the fam!

 First day of first grade.  I can't believe I missed it (being in the hospital and all) but Dad did a great job and it's official Spencer is growing up too fast. 

Anna Kate

We had a little surprise on Sunday, August 19th.  Our sweet Anna Kate decided to join our family three weeks earlier than expected.  At my doctors appointment earlier that week my suspicions were confirmed that she was still breech.  My doctor said we would wait another week or two and see if she turned that then talk about the other options.  Well, we never got the chance because early Sunday morning my water broke which meant that Miller baby #3 was going to join us via C-section. Everything went very smoothly and before we knew it we heard the beautiful sound of our baby girls first cries.  We are totally in love.

I may be biased but I think she is one of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen.

Because we love her so much we will excuse the fact that she totally messed up our plans by coming early.  We were still two weeks away from moving to our new home and hadn't done much by way of preparing for  her to be here but we worked it out.  We feel so blessed to have this sweet little baby in our family.

"I blame you!"

I'm sure I provided the neighbors some great entertainment as I ran up and down the sidewalk 8 months pregnant, hunched over trying to help this kid figure out the art of riding a bike.  At first he wanted to give up but after a little pep talk and a few days of trying a little each day  he got it!  My favorite memory from teaching my first born this valuable life skill was when he was trying to master starting on his own.  He went up the street aways and then stopped to turn around.  He told me he wanted to start himself but after watching him struggle and get more and more frustrated I started to walk up the street to help.  When I got about 20 feet away he looks up at me and shouts, "I blame you!"  Apparently it was my fault because I was coming to help so I turned around and left the boy to figure it out on his own.  Moments later he came riding by as happy as could be.  Now at his request we spend about an hour a day outside as he rides up and down the street savoring his new found independence.

 Not to be out done by his brother Owen has learned to use his pedals and is very proud of himself but I must say there is something mischievousness about a little boy on a big wheel riding at full speed.  He is smiling for the camera here but he usually looks like he is on his way into battle.

We're not in Kansas anymore

This post has been a long time in coming because it's a little overwhelming to share all the feeling that I have felt over the past few months.  We have been blessed in so many ways but still change is hard for me and we've had a lot going on.  

When Scott found out that he got the job in Utah and needed to start in two weeks we decided that it would be easier for him to go out alone and we would stay in Kansas and take our time packing up and let Spencer finish Kindergarten and then meet him there.  It was a perfect plan but we greatly underestimated how hard it would be to be apart for 9 weeks.  It was hard and we will never do anything like that again but we made the best of it.  One of the hard parts was that Scott was going to miss my sonogram and finding out if our baby is a boy or girl.  Spencer was given the title of "Man of the house" while dad was away, which he took very seriously, and one of his duties was to accompany me to the appointment.  He was so cute about being there for me.  The nurse wrote the gender of the baby in an envelope so we could open on video chat with Scott and share the moment as a family.  Terrible picture but the only one we got.  We couldn't be more excited about the news that we are having a baby GIRL!!!

What better way to wrap up our time in Kansas than a good tornado scare.  It was a Sunday night when the sky got eerily dark and we decided we better turn on the news.  Sure enough a tornado touched down about 5 miles west of us and was heading our way.  I had just finished making french toast for dinner when the sirens started so we grabbed out dinner and headed to our safe place to eat.  Spencer was so brave but Owen was really nervous about it all so we tried to make it feel like a party in the pantry.  I thought I better call and let Scott know what was going on and unfortunately he was right in the middle of family dinner with his whole side of the family.  I think we gave them all a pretty good scare but we were safe and no tornado hit our house.

We made sure to fit in as many of our Kansas favorites before leaving.  The Deanna Rose Farm was one of those.  Owens first time being old enough to ride the pony's.  Of coarse he got the biggest one and I was worried that he would freak out but he loved it.

Feeding the goats 

Lunch break

Another one of our favorites were all the great river trails.  We spent a lot of time running, biking and taking long walks on these beautiful trails that are all around Overland Park.  This is a relaxing Sunday stroll after church.

It seems so silly but I am really going t miss running these trails.  It was so pretty and shady and I could go for miles without dealing with crossing roads or traffic.  

I was really good about bring my camera with me everywhere we went in those last few weeks.  Unfortunately I kept forgetting the battery was dead so many of our outings were not photographed.  We loved every minute of time with our Kansas friends.  

I was so spoiled by my friends in the Red Bridge Ward.  They threw me a baby shower where we ate great laughed together and talked as we made hair bows of every variety for our little girl.

I was lucky enough to have a friend watch the boys for me one morning so I could go do a session at the new Kansas City Temple and what a great experience that was.    

We went with our dear friends to the coolest dinosaur restaurant ever.  Almost too cool because Owen was terrified of the huge T-Rex in the entrance and took some major coaxing to get him in the restaurant.  He warmed up too it all and we had a great time. 

We spent one last afternoon poolside with our favorite pool buddies.  

I left Kansas overwhelmed by how much I had grown to love it there.  We made great friends and we miss them already but are grateful for the time we had with them and are glad that many of them have family they visit in Utah so hopefully we will still get the chance to get together.  We had some great neighbors who we loved getting to know and who took great care of me and the boys while Scott was away.  I thought I was making the ultimate sacrifice to move to Kansas of all places for Scott's job.  I did not expect that two and half years later it would be hard to leave.  We will always cherrish the memories and friends made.