One CRAZY Spring Break

When we found out that Spencer had over a week off from school for spring break we decided it was the perfect time to head to Utah for a visit. It was an action packed week of family, friends fun and more...

Most of it isn't photographed but we will start with the parts that were. After Scott spent Saturday morning helping his brother Nate and family move into their new home we decided it was time to hit the movies with the Duncans.

The Boys at The Lorax

Spencer went home with the Duncans and we brought Parson with us. I couldn't get enough of the little chatter boxes in the back seat.

Cool Cousins
On our 8th wedding anniversary we packed a lunch and took the boys on trax downtown. The boys loved the childrens section of the church history museum.

Headed to the promised land

Doing some building Mayan style
and harvesting some crops.
It was fun to be at the Salt Lake Temple grounds exactly 8 years later and talk to the boys about the day we were married there. It has been a wonderful 8 years and it hasn't been exactly how I pictured my life would go...with all the changes and challenges it has been better. Love you Scott.


Great Grandpa Miller took us on an awesome tour of Hill Air Force Base. He worked there for many years and then spent many more years volunteering. He hasn't been up there since he stopped being able to drive and it was fun to be there with him and see him in his element.
This picture is in front of the exact type of plane my Grandpa Scott flew in during World War 2.

"To infinity and beyond."
Rae put together a great little St. Patrick's Day party for the Miller cousins and I love how everyone helps out to make it a success. Fun was had by all.
Do they come any cuter?


It was seriously a week jam packed full of fun. We were able to:

Go to a friends 30th, 80's themed, birthday party and surprise him (play some awesome dodge ball).

Hang out with old friends and do some catching up.

Hit up the much improved Classic Fun Center with cousins.

ANNOUNCE THAT WE ARE EXPECTING BABY NUMBER THREE IN SEPTEMBER

and....

GET AN AMAZING JOB IN UTAH!!!

To expound a little on the last two I will share some details.

We found out in January that we were pregnant and decided it would be fun to keep it secret until our visit in March. It seems like no big deal but we both kind of stink at keeping those things secret. We hadn't quite decided how we were going to announce but within the first hour of us being at the Miller's Owen mumbled..."My mommy has a baby in her tummy." Grandma was the only one to catch it and asked him to repeat it and that took care of that. Our secret is out! We are so excited.

Last but not least of this incredibly lengthy post is the story behind getting a job that will move us back to Utah. About 6 months ago Scott connected with a guy who does GIS work (what Scott does) for a company in Utah. His brother Willie gets all credit for that one. When they first talked he told Scott that his company wasn't hiring but he would let Scott know if heard of any other jobs. Well, time went by Scott was making some progress with his job here in Kansas and we decided that we would try to buy a house here and just stay and see what happens with his current job. On Valentines Day we put an offer on a cute little house that we both loved. We wanted it SOOOO bad. Turns out someone else put an offer in the same day and out bid us. We were devastated. I was hormonal and ticked thus ensuing an emotional melt down based on how nothing ever works out for us. Scott and I talked and prayed and decided there was something we were supposed to be doing. He emailed the guy previously mentioned and turns out they had a position that just opened up. He sent his resume over and two hours later had a phone interview set up. The phone interview went well and we packed up to head to Utah for spring break (bringing his suit just in case). On the drive out there while we were somewhere in Iowa they called and set up an interview for while we were in town. Can you say perfect timing? He interviewed and felt it went really well and sure enough the next day as we were sitting in Arctic Circle having shakes we got the call that changed out lives. Great job, better pay and close to family. We feel so blessed and I have since repented for my previous pity party. Scott started two weeks later and he is in Utah while I am here in Kansas wrapping things up and Spencer is finishing the school year. Come Memorial Day we will be Utahns again!

Owen is THREE

I know it looks like he is holding up two fingers but I promise all three are up Ü. I love this silly little guy so much. He has this little sense of humor that entertains all of us. His facial expressions leave little room for wondering if his is happy or mad. When he is happy he grins form ear to ear but when he is not he will scowl a pretty fierce scowl. We decided on a cars theme for his birthday because he almost always has a car in his hand and it worked out nicely that Cars 2 stuff was on clearance at Target! He loved his cake which turned out good and tasted great but apparently I shouldn't do cakes late at night. Happy Birthay Owen!

It doesn't take much to make this kid happy. When He got a card from his Great Grandma Scott in the mail he ran around waving it in the air yelling, "It's for my birthday!" and wouldn't put it down.

"I clean it up"

I am a little embarrassed to post yet another entry about my mistakes as a mother but this must be remembered so here we go.

Owen has this problem. He always has to poop right around nap time and most days lately he is forgoing the nap altogether. So today since he played hard this morning and then went poop right before his nap I knew we were in the clear for him to have a good nap. Well, after he had been in bed for about 2 minutes he came out and said he needed to go potty. I told him no, that he just went and he didn't need to go and told him to go get back in bed. He did as he was told and was quiet for about 5 minutes when my phone started to ring so I answered it and snuck out to the van to talk so I wouldn't wake him up. After talking to Scott for a couple minutes I opened the door to listen for Owen and didn't hear anything so I decided to call and talk to my mom. 30 minutes later I paid for it.

I came in from the garage and as I was about halfway up the stairs I noticed Owen's door was open and just then the smell hit me. I found Owen with his pants off, poop everywhere and poop smeared wads of toilet paper all over the floor. Owen just looked up and me and said, "I clean it up."

The poor kid had smeared the mess all over himself, the rugs, the toilet and the floor. I wiped him off with wipes and then put him in the bath so I could clean up the mess. As he sat there watching me work he looked at me and said, "I tell you I need to go potty and you say NO!" Yep, this one is on me. I just wonder how long he was in there "cleaning it up."

Sunday Best

I love these handsome little boys. They look so cute all dressed up for church. Owens hair doesn't stay looking nice past sacrament meeting but at least we got one picture with handsome hair. It never gets old to me to see them dressed up like this for church.

We absolutely love our ward here in Kansas. When we moved away from Utah we had many people say things about being prepared to be Relief Society President or in the Bishopric as if we would be so needed in the struggling wards outside of Utah. This couldn't be further from the truth. There are so many amazing people in our ward. So many families that we look at and think "we want our family to be more like the so and so's or what are they doing to raise such awesome strong youth." I am convinced that Scott and I need to be here to learn from them.

Scott works with the young men which he loves. I think he is just glad to be around people who are willing to beat box with him.

I am in the Primary which is so great! I secretly wanted to be for a long time and although I am going to miss the awesome RS lessons each week I love being in primary with Spencer. I love knowing what songs he is learning and being able to talk to him about the lessons he had each week.

Basically we love our ward. We miss Utah and being close to family but we really love our Red Bridge Family.

New Toys!

One of the wonderful post Christmas perks is the kids play for hours with their new toys. Hours of happy, playing kids equals happy kids and a happy mom. Here are some pictures of the fun.

I could never get a picture of the cars going around...they move too fast.

This is also a favorite of Scott and I.

When Owen concentrates out comes the tongue...just like his dad.

Thanks to Grandma Miller Spencer got his first Lego set. He has spent hours with this firetruck. Usually repairing the damage done by his brother.

Other 2011 fav's include new trucks, guns, movies and games. I can't even tell you how many games of Guess Who I have played in the last two weeks.

Christmas Eve in Kansas

This year Christmas was much different for our little family. We made the hard decision to stay here in Kansas and spend our first Christmas away from the rest of our family in Utah. It was different but not bad. We had a great time relaxing and hanging out with out the normal hustle and bustle. Christmas Eve day since we knew there wouldn't be snow for Christmas we made our own snowflakes for a white Christmas. Then we did tradition holidayish things like playing football

and eating cheese balls.

Then we joined a family party via webcam and enjoyed watching gifts that we sent be opened and also opening presents from family far away.

Next on the list is getting ready for Santa's arrival. I love how basically the pictures below tell so much about the personalities of each of these Miller boys.

Sweet-

Silly-

Crazy-

We were so grateful to be invited to a party that night with many great families from our ward. They really are our family away from family and what a treat it was to spend the evening laughing and eating and enjoying each others company. I am sure that helped keep the homesickness at bay. Then home we went to get ready for the big events to come.

We had so much fun with the magical feeling of Christmas. Each year it gets more and more fun with these little guys.

The house is ready...time for bed.

The Minivan Express

The night before Christmas Eve we surprised the kids with a ticket to ride the Minivan Express. As Scott got the kids ready for bed and did the normal routine I put tickets on their pillows and then went out to the van to wait for my passengers. We had just finished watching The Polar Express and as soon as they saw the tickets the fun began. They put their robes and slippers on and Scott led them out to the van. We don't really go out much at night after dark so the kids hadn't seen many Christmas lights. The Minivan Express took us to a neighborhood that is WAY decked out with lights and while we drove they had hot chocolate and ate popcorn. The kids loved it! I loved it! So simple but it was a hit. In fact when we got home Owen insisted on sleeping with his ticket and the next morning when they woke up the first thing they did was play Polar Express with the kitchen chairs all in a row and taking turns wearing the Engineers hat. We might have to do this again next year!

Like father like son...seriously alike

Scott and I were looking through some old boxes the other night and found these of him at about Owens age. If Owens hair were longer they would be identical.

Seriously, are my genes involved at all? Actually, it's fine because the are both so cute.

Just because he's cute

Potty Trained

I should have posted this a couple of months ago but I can't pass up on giving props to my Owen Jack. I was convinced that he was going to be difficult to potty train and well he basically rocked it. When we started he was scared to even sit on the toilet. So, I did the same thing I did with Spencer. We went to the library and checked out "Go Potty Go" and I brainwashed him. After watching it about 5 times in a row he wanted to sit on the potty. We stocked up on reward treats and we were fully committed. The boy is a genius. He regularly pooped about twice a day before potty training but once there were reward suckers the kid was eeking out little nuggets all day long and basically had a sucker in his mouth all day everyday for a week. A week later he was trained and now a couple of months later he even sleeps in underwear. I'm so proud of him!