Miller Family

First Family Bike Ride

2012-01-30T11:09:00.000-07:00

It was the last sunny weekend before the snows were suppose to hit and I was getting the itch to do something out doors as a family. So, we fixed up all the bikes into good working order and decided to take a family bike ride. I packed some water and snacks, and away we were. It turned out to be one of the funnest family activities we have ever done. The kids loved going on a long ride, usually they are confined to our driveway and near by houses, but today we rode 3 miles with one stop in the middle at a local park. It was a great adventure and I can't wait until the snow melts so we can do it again.

Family Bowling

2012-01-25T10:38:00.001-07:00

Ben had told me about the fun they had with Daxton when they all went bowling, so when they called and invited us to join them we were excited to try it. He was right, it was a blast! Hallie and David were so funny to watch as they waddled across the floor carrying their balls to the lane. It didn't take long before they wanted to do it all by them selves and that is when it got really funny. The bowling alley didn't have a ramp for them to roll the ball down, so even though they would push the ball (or in Hallie's case, bounce the ball) as hard as they could, it would take from start to finish about a minute or two before the ball hit the pins. In the mean time they would stand their dancing or walking in circles waiting to find out how many pins they would knock down. It was really funny and entertaining to watch the kids get excited for their turn to bowl. All in all it was a fun experience, and we will definitely be doing this again.

A Very Merry Christmas

2012-01-25T10:04:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful Christmas this year!!! Hallie and David are at the age that they understand the excitement and get into the spirit of it all. If I had to pick my favorite part, I would pick getting ready for Christmas. It began with Hallie begging to decorate, and as I have mentioned before, that is a real specialty of hers. She loves putting up decorations and getting in the spirit of the holidays. So finally the house was decorated, Christmas music was playing and treats were being made, but there was something missing...a ginger bread house. It was fun this year because just as we would finish one Christmas project, Hallie would come up with another. I am always a sucker when it comes to making fun memories, so when she suggested making ginger bread houses I couldn't say no. David and I saw the kits at the store and fell in love with the little train. We decided that he would decorate the train (with my help) and Hallie would do the house. It was a blast to create these little masterpieces with my children. They are the light of my life and make everyday an adventure. I am truly grateful for all the fun we had together and memories made this year.

Happy 3rd Birthday D-man

2011-12-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

David turned 3 on Nov. 13th, I can't believe how quickly he has grown. At the ripe old age of three, David is a real sweet heart. He loves Lightning McQueen, Thomas the Train, airplanes, helicopters, trucks, his tractor blanket and pretty much anything that a typical little boy would love. He is a real teaser too, he loves to play and tease with Hallie and me, and he loves jumping and wrestling with Matt. Any time Matt is sitting on the ground, you can guarantee that David will notice and jump on his back. David is getting better at talking, but as Hallie likes to say, sometimes "David speaks Spanish." He calls lighting McQueen Nany McQeen and calls his blanket binky. Although it is hard to decipher his "Spanish" I think he is adorable when he tries to tell me something or explain something to Hallie. I can't help but stifle a laugh almost every time. I love my little boy and thank God every day for blessing me with such a perfect little boy. Happy Birthday D-Man!

Halloween Fun!

2011-12-08T10:29:00.000-07:00

We loved Halloween this year because the kids really got into it. Hallie wouldn't stop bugging me until we had decked out the house in Halloween decor, painted pumpkins and finished costumes. David was so excited to have a cape, he thought he was a super hero. We kept telling him that he was Dracula, but he wouldn't have it, he was a "superhewo". I asked Hallie what she wanted to be this year, and at first she had her mind set on being a unicorn, but the closer Halloween got she kept changing her mind until she settled on a rainbow fairy. She was very specific about the fact that she would be covered in color, so we drew up a sketch and came up with this. I love the way my kids love the holidays, each one loves them for different reasons. Hallie loves the decorations and activities that come with the holiday, and David loves the treats. Lucky for him most holidays involve treats.

Hallie's 4th Birthday Party

2011-03-24T10:52:00.005-06:00

Hallie's 4th birthday party was a complete success, I think it was as much fun for me to plan and put on as it was for Hallie. She wanted to have a fairy garden party with lots of flowers and that is what we did. She and I started at Ben Franklin where she picked out sparkly paper and pretty flowers for her invitations. Later we went to the dollar store to pick out lots of flowers, party favors and the garden hats that we would decorate with even more flowers. It was really fun doing all this with Hallie and getting her take on it. Hallie saw the suckers and I came up with the fun idea of having sucker flowers as the center pieces, and Rosie shared her butterfly cupcake idea with me, which was perfect. Over all it was truly beautiful and really fun to break out some of my creativity, and most importantly Hallie LOVED it.

When the friends arrived the fun began. The girls each picked a hat and covered their hats with flower clips, they were so adorable. Next they all went down to sing happy birthday to Hallie and eat LOTS of treats. The girls loved the butterflies on the cupcakes, and were really excited when they realized they could eat them. In fact they all spent most of the time on the wings rather than the other food. After they were all sufficiently stuffed with sugar, we all went outside for an easter egg hunt, followed by pressants. To finish it all up we had a Tinkerbell pinyata, which was fun. I thought we might have planned too much, but in the end I was glad that we did because it all went really fast. It was a fun day, and Hallie was sad when it was all over, she wished she could have another party. She even started planning the next party theme and who would be invited. I love my little Hallie, she is truly a sweet heart.

Frosty the Mini Snowman

2011-01-15T17:38:00.000-07:00

All winter long Hallie has begged me to come out and build a snowman with her, and today I had some time so I agreed. Our attempt to build this big awesome snowman was not a possibility due to the bad snow, so we had to settle for a little one. We all still had fun though, and I think frosty turned out pretty good.

A Successful Christmas

2011-01-10T17:17:00.003-07:00

After every Christmas there is always that one gift that is beloved by both children and in turn fought over, so we came up with a really good solution...they could both use it. For the past week they insist on sleeping together is their "cars" tent (and you can't see, but they both have their matching "Cars" jammies on too.) At first I thought this meant a lot of sleepless nights, but it has turned out to be quite fun. The kids love sleeping together and better yet they love having a friend to wake up to. Thank you Grandpa Sypher for your inspired gift.

Silly Hallie!

2011-01-10T17:13:00.002-07:00

Hallie is so funny, she is always pulling these crazy faces every time we pull out the camera. All we wanted was a shot of her cute little outfit, but she had a whole other idea, and so here she is in all her glory and silliness...man I love her.

Hallie vs. the Scissors

2010-12-03T10:34:00.002-07:00

In pre-school Hallie has been learning how to use scissors and she has been doing really well, so I decided to give her a project at home where she could work on her scissor skills. Her job was to cut pictures out of a toy magazine and paste them on paper for Santa. She was doing really well and I was in the kitchen with her making dinner the whole time...mostly. I had to run to the basement to grab a can of something and when I returned I looked on the ground and along with all the paper scraps was a nice little pile of hair. I was confused because I was gone for less than a minute and I couldn't see right away where it had come from...but then I saw it. Her hair was pulled to the side with a clip, and braided in the back, but the hair in the clip had come loose from the braid, so she cut it off! This was the first of three hair cuts she would give herself this week. How could I possibly let this happen you ask? Well I will tell you.

The second time a friend of mine brought her little girls over to get their hair cut, and while I was cutting their hair Hallie had managed to find a hidden pair of scissors and was up cutting her hair at the same time (at least this time Matt was suppose to be watching her). By this time I thought she had learned her lesson, because both Matt and I had talked with her about how she should not use scissors to cut her own hair, only mommy can do that etc., but it must not have sunk in (the first set of pictures is after her 2nd attempt at cutting her hair.)

The third time we were at Matt's parents house. While washing her hands in the bathroom, she stumbled upon a pair of scissors and began to thin out her bangs just as I caught her. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and after that she got quite the talking to from me, Matt, Grandma, Grandpa and pretty much everyone there. Needless to say, I think she has learned her lesson now, but she no longer has her sweet curls, which makes me sad. Luckily for her she looks cute in a bob.

David Turns Two

2010-12-03T10:09:00.003-07:00

On November 13th David turned Two. At the age of two, David is a lot of things...Happy, he has one of the greatest smiles I have ever seen, it can cheer you up in a second. David LOVES sweets, and has a nose that can sniff them out anywhere, and I mean anywhere. He has a true passion for "Cars" (from the movie), motorcycles, 4 wheelers, and trucks. He drives them around all day long and won't go to sleep unless his bed is filled with all his favorite motor vehicles, oh and his favorite tractor blanket :-) . I think the final thing that would describe David at two is his love of the word momma. He will repeat it over and over and over until he gets what he wants. David is still learning to talk, so sometimes it is difficult to understand what he wants, but he is a determined little boy and he will take as much time as he needs to make sure I understand him. I truly love this boy, he is as sweet and lovable as I could ever ask for, Happy Birthday David!

Designing The Living Room

2010-11-06T15:44:00.010-06:00

I recently asked a good friend of mine (Melissa Clark) to help me decorate my living room, and I am so happy with how it turned out!! Melissa and I came up with a layout that I liked and went to work. First we replaced the roman shades with blinds to match the center window. Then we painted the bay window a dark gold, and the other walls a champagne off white, playing off the colors from chairs I had bought for the room. We then decided to do a hand painted mural on the side wall which we did in a slightly darker shade of the champagne.

After all that manual labor we went shopping and picking out accessories, furniture, and fabric for pillows. We spent the next week hanging curtains, sewing a variety of pillows, hanging pictures, putting furniture together, hanging a light fixture, and putting the finishing touches on the room. In all it turned out to be a lot of work and fun, that I think really payed off.

Before

After

Happy Halloween!!

2010-11-06T15:12:00.003-06:00

It has been a while since my last post due to such a busy summer, but I realized that this blog is as much for myself as it is all of you, so I have decided to try harder to stay updated with all the new and fun things happening in our lives.

Halloween was fun this year! Hallie insisted that we decorate our house for Halloween she called it "having Halloween". I have to admit by doing that it made the holiday much more fun. I have never been one who really has gotten into the individual holidays, but having Hallie and David so excited to decorate and get into Halloween, it truly made the holiday magical. In the spirit of making this a memorable day I decided to make my first costume. Hallie and I went to the fabric store and together we picked out the fabric together. We went with her favorite color "red" and black. I decided to customize her belt by putting an H on it. I think it turned out great and Hallie made the cutest superhero. She decided to be a superhero because being Batman would be too scary, and if she was a superhero she could wear red (her favorite color.) David was a rooster, and admittedly he hated his costume, the only way I got him into it was by telling him he was going to get candy. Next year I think I will let him pick out what he wants to be.

Hallie's "Cars" Party

2010-05-04T10:14:00.003-06:00

Hallie's birthday was March 12th, and she had been planning her "Cars" party ever since she attended her cousins princess party back in November. She had been talking about it for so long that it was nice to see it all come together. As the kids arrived, they began by decorating goody bags, followed by an Easter egg hunt in the back yard. The kids had a blast and so did we! After some goofing around we ate car cupcakes (which the kids loved), they each were topped with a different car, and the kids had fun picking the perfect one. We then sat around and watched Hallie and her helpers open presents. Finally to finish the day we all went out side and blew bubbles and played. It was a perfect party and Hallie loved it. The whole day turned out to be a miracle; the weather report said to expect snow, so I was praying the sun would hang around until her party was over, and sure enough it did. Just as the kids were leaving the weather turned cold, and started snowing, it was truly a miracle.

Playing with Daxton

2010-02-21T12:07:00.003-07:00

On Friday we watched Daxton (Ben & Kay's little boy), and they were all so sweet. At one point we put on Sesame Street, and that is when I got these pictures. All three of them were cuddled up on the couch looking so sweet. My kids love Daxton and he loves them, they just follow each other around the house laughing and playing, it is adorable.

A Day of Beauty

2010-02-21T11:21:00.001-07:00

Hallie loves to pull out the spray bottle and hairbrush, and brush Matt's hair. He is a good sport about it and Hallie just loves it. When she is all done, she will then start spraying him in the face. It is fun to watch, and I am glad she has chosen Matt as her muse instead of me.

Cute Kid Quotes

2010-02-10T18:45:00.003-07:00

Mom: "Hallie, how old are you?"

Hallie: "69 and a half, just like grandma and grandpa."

One more...

Dad: "Hallie I'm going to wrap you up."

Hallie: "Ok daddy, wrap me up like a borrito, and then you can eat me :) ."

The Tree House

2010-02-04T11:55:00.003-07:00

I took the kids to a fun place called the Tree House. This place is so fun for kids, it has all sorts of fun and educational areas, and my kids loved it. Hallie wanted to stay on the horses all day, but I made her explore a little more. David loved to draw with chalk in the school house. My favorite part was that all the different areas had coordinating outfits that the kids could wear. For instance in the doctor area there were lab coats, by the horses there was cowboy and farmer gear. It was truly great!

Angel Face Hallie

2010-02-02T13:26:00.005-07:00

I was taking pictures of the kids and Hallie started totally posing for the camera (which she never does). I loved the variety of faces, so I had to post them...enjoy! The video is proof that she was in a good mood (probably because I gave her "Cars" fruit snacks.)

Curtains for Hallie and Walking for David!

2009-12-31T12:13:00.007-07:00

Rose came to visit me a couple of weeks ago and together we took on the project of girlifying Hallie's curtains. Together we came up with this, a white flower with a bunched center. The curtains turned out really cute, and Hallie loves them. One of the best parts came as a surprise, the sun shined through the stitching, which made the flowers glow. Later, I made some matching pillows for her bed, which Hallie and I both liked.

Baby David is growing so much, it is hard to see my baby turn into a little boy, but he is so adorable and has such a wonderful personality, I also enjoy it. He has finally taken his first steps. By steps I mean more than just one stumbling foot forward. This is a video of David right after he had walked to Matt for the first time.

Recap of November

2009-12-13T21:11:00.006-07:00

Life has been really busy this last month so unfortunately the blog has taken the back burner, but I will share a couple of fun memories that happened in November. David had a birthday!!! He turned 1 on November 13th, he has grown up so fast it kills me. Sometimes I long for the days when I could lay him next to me and just snuggle him, but those days are long gone, he is a mover. David loves to crawl, dance and wiggle, but most of all he loves to chase Hallie around and she loves to be chased. She and David already tackle and wrestle each other, I can tell they will have a wonderful relationship. The pictures were taken at David's birthday party, while he was eating his cupcake. It was fun watching him tear it apart, because Hallie didn't hardly touch her cake on her first birthday. Of course this time around she couldn't help but have a taste of David's cupcake.

We decided to make our first family fort out of couch cushions. The kids loved it, we couldn't get Hallie to come out, and David was squealing and crawling in and out over and over again. It was a fun day, in the end the kids, pillows and blankets ended up all toppled on top of Matt, it was great.

Getting Ready for Halloween

2009-10-14T14:37:00.002-06:00

Hallie is so excited for the upcoming holidays, she is always asking if we can go see Santa Claus or if she can wear her witch hat and get candy. I think it is cute, so I let her play in her witch hat, and of course her cousin Amelia had to have one too. They were so cute running around outside playing witches.

Matt and David have come up with a new game where they crawl towards each other really fast and Matt crawls right over David, and then they turn around and do it all over again. One day I was in the kitchen making dinner and I hear David laughing his head off, so I went around the corner to see what was going on and there they were doing this crawling thing, it was so funny.

Back in the Blogging Game!!!

2009-10-14T14:25:00.000-06:00

It has been a while since our last blog, but we have finally gotten Internet at our new house so I am now able to keep everyone updated. A lot has happened, but our latest house adventure was our gate project. When we bought the house, there was a fence around the property, but the backyard was not fully fenced in so we decided to finish that so our kids could freely play in the back with out any worry of them running into the road. It was a fun project and I think we did a fine job. Here are some pictures of me and of one side of the fence we did.

A House for my Birthday!

2009-07-21T10:15:00.003-06:00

Yay, we bought a house and we get the keys today, I am so excited. When Matt and I first decided to start looking, the housing market was at it's high and finding something decent was difficult. We have been looking for so long that I was beginning to think that the only thing changing was our expectations. Along the way we had a few good offers in, but nothing panned out until now. I wanted to share our excitement and send a picture. Wish us luck, we have a lot of moving to do now.

Farmington Festival Days 5K

2009-07-15T13:46:00.004-06:00

This last weekend was Farmington Festival Days and every year they have a race in the morning, followed by a big french toast breakfast, a parade, festivities during the day and finally fireworks at night. Each year, since Matt and I moved to Utah, we have attended and I even participated in the race once before I had Hallie. This year I decided to participate in the race again, and I was able to convince my sister in-law Julie to run the 5K with me. She was such a trooper! I have always loved to run, I'm not the fastest, but I truly enjoy it. As for Julie, she has never been a runner, she and I walk together most mornings, but she does not run...until now :). We decided to start training in the evenings so we could run without the kids, and finally when the day of the race arrived we both did great. I beat my personal best and got 27:59, and Julie just over 28 minutes. I was so proud of us, and we have decided that next year we are going to shoot for the 10K, which will be an adventure, because that will be a first for me as well.

The Kids didn't love getting up so early, but they were good supporters as you can see.

Kid Updates

2009-07-10T10:56:00.005-06:00

David's first crawl was last thursday, he as been working at it for a long time now, I was thinking it would happen any day now for about two weeks, but the wait is over. We captured some of it for everyone to see, so I hope you all enjoy this video as much as we do. (To view the video you must be at our actual blog site.)

Hallie has been working on learning new songs, and I think I mentioned how she sang I am a child of God for us out of the blue one day, so I captured it in a video today. I love this video, she is so cute in it.

I love my children so much watching them grow up so fast is really hard for me, but I can't help but be excited to see them hit such fun stages in their lives. I am truly blessed to be at home with them everyday, I couldn't imagine it any other way.

Miller Camp Out

2009-07-10T10:26:00.006-06:00

The 4th of July weekend was packed full of fun! We decided to go on our first family campout with just me, Matt and the kids. We went to a camp ground down in Scipio, Ut. and it was beautiful. I had been down there a few weeks earlier to fish with my sister in-law and I knew I wanted to go back. The campground is set next to the red rock mountains and there is a stream and trees everywhere. We had a great time introducing Hallie to the art of roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire, she decided that raw marshmallows were her favorite. We only stayed for one night, but by the end of the trip both kids were dirty from head to toe.

A Day at Lagoon

2009-07-10T10:17:00.003-06:00

We recently took the kids to Lagoon, we figured that Hallie would be a lot more brave if she had her cousin with her and we were right. Together they had a blast, it was so fun to watch them. Matt and I were even able to go on a ride or two with them, it was a fun day. When we were all done and going home, when we asked Hallie what her favorite ride was, and she said she liked the car ride with Amelia. They are so lucky to have eachother, what good friends they have become.

2009-06-27T21:59:00.004-06:00

Hallie and David have a great relationship, she is always running over to David and getting him laughing and squealing for her. One of my favorite things is when Hallie asks to hold baby D, it makes her happy, and David is a champ about it.

I thought everyone would appreciate this video as much as we do. Hallie loves her fruit snacks, I don't think a day goes by that she isn't begging for her "boot snacks". Matt captured this priceless video of Hallie just after a shower begging for some fruit snacks or as she calls them "boot snacks".

Baby Achievements

2009-06-24T12:32:00.005-06:00

David has just started to pull himself onto his knees. It is very exciting for us because Hallie as a baby never really went through the step of getting on the knees and rocking. He is really fun to watch, because every day he gets better at it and I know it won't be long before he starts to crawl.

Hallie is learning the words to songs now. It is the cutest thing to watch her sing, and out of the blue she will start to sing a song that I didn't even know she knew the words to. Like the other day she sang I am a Child of God from start to finish, I was astounded.

2009-06-17T00:31:00.001-06:00

I took the kids to the "This is the Place" monument and we had a great time. Hallie loved the ice cream cone she got and had a great time riding on the train. She loved it so much that she did not want to get off when the ride was over. They had an area where the kids could go and pet baby animals, and Hallie really liked that. She really liked the baby lamb, and the bunny. Her favorite by far was the ride on the pony, she was literally giddy. She was so excited to ride the horse, that when it was over she pointed at the horse in front of hers and said she wanted to try that one now. If it hadn't of started pouring down rain, I would have let her do it again, but it got way too cold.

2009-06-17T00:25:00.001-06:00

Learning to Scoot

2009-06-09T14:43:00.002-06:00

David is so cute, he is just learning how to scoot. He has been scooting himself into some pretty funny spots lately, and because he can't move forwards yet he is stuck until I move him. A couple of days ago, he was scooting a lot, and I had gone into the other room for something, when I came back he had backed himself half way under the couch. Hallie thought it was pretty funny too, she even tried to join him under the couch, but she did not fit. She is such a sweet big sister! Later that same day, Matt came home so I started making dinner and I heard David making some noises, so I went to check on him but I couldn't see him anywhere, so I followed the sounds and found him around the corner of the couch, behind his car seat playing with the diaper bag. It made Matt and I laugh, but I think David will be a much happier man when he learns how to scoot forward.

2009-06-04T11:09:00.001-06:00

We got together with friends of ours and took some family pictures. We went to an old part of downtown Bountiful that had some really classic fun places to shoot. I really like how the background of the photos not only are interesting, but also will give us some historic value. David was a little tired, so unfortunately we weren't able to capture his fantastic smile, but Hallie had a great time.

2009-06-04T10:51:00.001-06:00

Getting started!

2009-06-02T13:47:00.000-06:00

Matt and I have never been much for keeping in contact, but as we are starting to get older we are beginning to realize that there are a lot of people out there that we miss and want to keep up with so this is our attempt to keep in touch with those we love.