Dog Friend

Kay and Odie. He is a good dog friend for our family.

Chrsitmas 09

Here's just a few pics from our Christmas Day. We got an amazing Nativity Set from my good friend Becky in Oregon. The girls spent much of the afternoon dressed up in the basement. We can't wait to use it next Christmas Eve.Our gift from Santa this year was a telescope. You put in where you are and it's suppose to tell you what you can see that night. Haven't tried it out yet, but we'll let you know how our space explorations go.One of our many bakers liked her new apron. Robert claimed that he is the official 'Cookie Taster' as long as they are not chocolate. Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas. Love you, RJAKLEB

New Tradition

I inadvertently skipped one of the new traditions we started this Holiday Season, so I'm going back. (We have so many people with cameras and memory cards in our house that when I go to work on the blog, I don't always have all my materials together. Does anyone else have this problem? What about losing the battery chargers for your camera? Does anyone have that problem as well?)

Anyway, we decided to go downtown to the 2009 'Christmas Sing-A-Long'. I believe it was started by Larry H. Miller and one day he hoped to fill the Delta Center (now the Energy Solutions Arena) with families singing Christmas Songs with the Utah Symphony Orchestra. Though he passed away earlier this year, I would say his vision is now complete.

This post may look a little discombobulated and that would be a good description of our evening. One thing about this 'Sing-A-Long' is that is was free-FREE plus MORE FREE(I'll come back to that). FREE brings out the crowds here in Salt Lake City. We underestimated that fact when we decided to do this outing. You could get on TRAX (the mass transit train system) anywhere along the route and ride for free. Being that we don't ride the train much, we thought this would add to the charm of the evening. AAGH.

There must not be a limit on how many free people you can cram into a Trax train. We got in at the first stop (meaning the farthest from our destination). The first train we tried to get on was full so we waited for a second train. Once we got on, we were able to find seats, though Linz and Em were across the aisle from us, but we were all good. The train has about 10 stops before it reached downtown. There were people lined up to get on that train at each and every stop, and they did. They just kept piling in. By the end, multiple people were making reference to the trains in China where workers wear white gloves and push-shove-cram the people in so that the doors will shut. Ooooh, that reminds me, the doors. Yes, at each and every stop the doors would open, but before they could shut there needed to be some clearance room in front of the door. This caused our ride to be MUCH longer than necessary. There were stops where we would wait 5-10 minutes with the conductor saying,"The doors can not shut, please make clearance room in front of the door". So lets cram-squeeze-push a little closer. If you don't know, Robert and I are not crowd people, in fact we try to go out of our way to do things off peak times. Yeah, not tonight.

But eventually, we made it downtown and off the train, vowing to leave the event very early to beat the crowds on the train ride home. Oh, and wishing we had just driven ourselves and used the free parking. Next year we drive, for sure! But once there, it was a fun night. Everyone got hot dogs and drinks (FREE, of course as long as you were willing to stand in a long line) and we had a program with the words printed to sing along with the Utah Symphony. We found great seats in one of the first rows of the upper bowl, so we had a great view of the orchestra and goings ons. Midway through the program we were treated to a mini show by pianist Jon Schmidt. If you like piano music, you should google him, he's very good and puts on a great show. By then, we were ready to head back home via the only choice we had--the train. Luckily, it was not nearly as crowded and we were ready to get home. As we left the arena, each person was given a set of tickets. Each set contains a FREE ticket to 1 Jazz game, 2 Bees game (Minor League baseball here, which we love!) , a 10 minute Go Kart session at the Miller Motorsports Park, and a popcorn at any MegaPlex theater. And we got 7 sets of those - FREE.

Well, it was a good night, especially since we were all together, and has given us opportunities to attend several more fun events together throughout the year. Thank you to the Larry H. Miller companies for all they do to support our community. Oh, and I forgot to tell you what good singers we were. Haha.

Christmas Eve surprises

Our Christmas Eve traditions are simple, but meaningful to us. We start with a simple dinner of cold cuts on 'wreath-shaped' bread. It is tradition Robert's parents started many years ago and luckily we have a store nearby where I can get it. We talk about the symbolism of a wreath, etc. After dinner the girls get to open one present. This tradition comes from my side of the family, and seems to a pretty common one. The good ole Christmas morning jammies. Gotta love 'em. I actually enjoyed shopping (now that's unusual for me) for their jammies and trying to find the right size in the right color and pattern that fit each girls personality. I did pretty good minus the 'sizing' part for Brenna. That girl has very short legs.

This is when the surprises started to come. Knock, knock, knock at the door. When what to our wondering eyes would appear.... but Santa Claus himself. This was a surprise to everyone!

He visited with the girls for a few minutes and left them with a treat. I am not a big 'Santa person' but it was pretty awesome to see their faces light up.

Not long after that, we had more visitors at the door. It was the In-N-Out crew delivering hats and gift certificates to the Miller clan. We were so glad to see Mike and Amy, and yes, they know, we So Cal's love our In-N-Out burgers!

From there, it was back to the usual schedule of events. A puppet show of the Nativity (can't wait 'til next years show, I'll fill you in on that in a minute) and finally the watching of Luke II. Christmas Eve is always such a great night. I love the feelings of anticipation and hope that the kids feel. For me, I enjoy the feelings of knowing I've done all I've needed to and could in preparing for the upcoming day. Throughout the month of December we often talk about how preparing for Christmas can be like preparing for the Second Coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. The anticipation, preparation, thoughtfulness, diligence, generosity, charity, hope, love, and unity that we feel during the Christmas season is what we hope to feel upon his 2nd Coming. Though the day and time of his next arrival is not known, it is a small similitude for us as we prepare each year to celebrate Him, who makes all things possible. Good Night.

12 days of anticipation

Do you know our 'Secret Santa'? Someone decided to do the '12 Days of Christmas' for our family this year. We have yet to discover who it was, but we hope they read our blog. Can you guess which day this picture is from?
It's the 9th day of Christmas. This tangram puzzle has 9 pieces. Each night we would get these totally cool and imaginative gifts that correlated to that 'day.' We kept the note from each days delivery in our 'Christmas experiences' box and went through them on Christmas.
We felt very loved and special as this 'Christmas magic' was played out for us each night leading up to Christmas. Thank you Santa's Elves.

Sophie's gift

Brenna's friend Sophie made this gingerbread house and brought it to her for Christmas. Is that not just the nicest 3 year old gift ever?

Care Center Caroling

Today after church we went to the Alta Ridge Care Center to carol with our friends -the Bloxham's and Naegle's. We chose this particular center because Amy's Dad, Jerry, lives in the Alzheimer's unit here. Jerry lived with Mike and Amy when we first moved in, and we were glad to see him again. In this picture, Brenna and Jerod (the boy in the argyle sweater) are actually still with us, but they both spent much of the time wandering the room, which the people love. Brenna likes going to care center's and is comfortable talking to the people and letting them touch her. Our singing may not have been perfect, but our spirits were strong and we hope that they could feel of the Savior's love for them.

Cookie Parties

It's the annual cookie decorating parties. Due to crowd control issues, we had to divide the party into a younger party on Friday (Lindz/Em's friends) and an older party on Saturday(Aubrey/Kay's friends). That actually worked out well. We had our usual assortment of star, stocking, bell, and ginger men shaped sugar cookies. Here is a picture of the orderly younger party (maybe it's cause I had my friend Amy S. over to help me) Here's a picture of the wilder older party. All the girls had fun creating their own style of cookies. Each group also made a plate up to take to a widow or someone we thought might enjoy them. Well, that's where our problems began. We could not find ANYONE home to be the recipients of our caroling and plate of cookies. Door after door after door after door. They'd knock and wait...and nothing.

Hey, look, an open door. The younger group resorted to going to one of their own house. That works! The older group, I actually ended up driving to another neighborhood and after trying 2 houses there with no success, they eventually just carolled to the door and left the cookies.

'Twas the Night'

I have always loved the story, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.' I keep a small green copy up on a bookshelf all year long because it reminds me of my first Christmas memories at my Grandpa Shields house on Parvenu.
Today we received a box of presents from Grandma and Grandpa Webber and it had a 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' book at bottom of the box. It was not wrapped, so I knew it was something for us to enjoy right away. Just prior to scripture time, I pulled out the book to read it to the girls. As I opened it...to my wondering ears did sound....Grandma Webber's voice reading the book aloud to us. It was so great. We all just grinned from ear to ear. At the end of the story she said, "Good Night Aubrey, Kayla, Lindsay, Emily, and Brenna." It is something we will always treasure and I so appreciate her sharing it with us. Love you Mom!
The girls listening over and over again.Brenna thought it was pretty cool too.

Computer Complications

Sorry about the long delay between posts, especially at Christmas time. We have been having some computer issues, so our good friends at Dell sent a technician to replace the motherboard and memory drives on the laptop. Unfortunately, the deeper problem lie in a software issue that corrupted Windows. Hence, I'm a little behind on the blog, but no worries. Life is good and over the next week or two, I'll get caught up.
One more note...during this process we were lucky enough to not lose any of our files or pictures, but we did lose all of our settings/favorites, etc. If we read or subscribe to your blog, will you please send me a link or the address again, so I can rebuild my followings. I've missed hearing from you the past few weeks. Yes, do it now, cause if you're like me, and you wait, you may never get back to it. Hope you're having a great day! Love you lots, J

Ski Bunnies

The girls just finished up their ski lessons for the season. They are now rearing to go. Robert and I stayed and skied with them last weekend and they did great. It's fun to add another thing to the list of things we enjoy doing together. A few more years and we should have all 5 of them out on the slopes.

Here they are following their teacher in order...Aubrey, Kayla, Lindsay. We're looking forward to a fun ski season ahead.

Dinner-your choice

Robert had a business dinner tonight, so I told the kids they could choose whatever they wanted for dinner. I saw some cereal boxes come out of the cupboard and some leftover pasta from the frig. But then here comes Brenna towards the table with a head of romaine lettuce. She set it on the table and proceeded to eat it like corn on the cob. That was dinner for her.

Polar Express

Each year the Heber Valley Railroad does a Polar Express experience. We have taken the kids on it before and they feel just like they're in the book (or movie more likely) This year we decided to send Papa and Grandma Miller with Emi and Brenna. The kids dress in their pajamas and read the 'Polar Express' book together and drink hot chocolate as they travel by rail to the North Pole. Upon arrival, Santa and Mrs. Claus join them on the train and present each child with their own 'jingle bell.'
Here are Santa's elves greeting Emi and Brenna. I think B is pretty interested in her rosy cheeks.Here's Mrs. Claus greeting the girls and Grandma Miller. And finally, Santa himself, giving the girls their special bell. It's a magical night for everyone.
Robert, Aubrey, Kayla, & Lindsay attended "Savior of the World" at the Conference Center Theater while the others visited the North Pole.

Grand America

This afternoon we went to the Grand America Hotel to see the Gingerbread House displays and donate to the Teddy Bear Room. Robert got a great picture of the "How do we act in the nice hotel lecture."

And, you can see how effective that was, as that is Brenna running down the hall.

The Gingerbread Houses were amazing. They were all made by pastry chefs from local hotels/resorts. The girls tried to get some good ideas for their gingerbread house next year.
Aubrey was quite in awe of the detail inside this one. Click on it to get a closer look.

At the time, I didn't know we were taking pictures inside the womens' restroom, but I guess we were. Who doesn't love a beautiful restroom. And yes, that is Emi dancing in the background looking at herself in the big mirrors.

We made a quick stop in Santa's sleigh, but the 20 degree temperatures had us quickly returning inside.

We then headed to the Presidential Suite on the top floor of the hotel to donate teddy bears to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. The girls had a hard time finding a good location for their bears. One started out on the master bed, another on a small sofa, but in the end, I think several left their's in the jacuzzi bathtub. They hope to fill the entire suite with teddy bears by the end of the holiday season. It was a fun afternoon spent with the girls and Robert's parents.

Elves

The Elves are out at Gardner Village. We went for our annual stroll around the village to see them. Some of the elves were a little scary looking I thought, but the girls didn't seemed bothered by it. We got our usual fudge samples and bought a Christmas decoration from the Down to Earth store (which Odie has already chewed up).Brenna even made a friend when she found an elf just her size.

Early Present

When we remodeled our master bath last year, we added a storage room above the garage. It's been great, except you have to climb up a ladder to get stuff up there. Hence, I asked Robert for stairs to the storage room and he and his Dad were able to install them over the weekend. Now I can go up and down whenever I want to. I quickly started moving stuff from the storage room in the basement up to the attic. I love it! Thanks so much!

Turkey Trot

Last year we started a family tradition of running a 5K on Thanksgiving morning. Last year we were in La Crescenta and ran with my Dad, and sisters Ally and Barb. This year the 3 of them ran together in Queen Creek, AZ and Robert's parents joined us up here in Utah. We decided to run the 2009 Human Race. It was a big race with over 4,000 participants. It was a chilly 25 degrees at race time so we bundled up as best we could. Below the Human Race logo on our shirts it says, "Running with an attitude of gratitude" and that's what we tried to think about during our run. (Hold on, I've got to pull out every body's bibs to see their times)
Robert came in at a fast 21:25. I ran with Kayla, who came in 2nd place for her age division, at 27:15. Aubrey was close behind us at 28:50. This was Lindsay and Emi's first 5K and they ran together finishing at 37:10. Brenna got the best gig by riding in the jogging stroller being pushed by Papa and Grandma. It was a fun event that brought in over $50,000 for the Utah Food Bank and it was a great way to start our wonderful Thanksgiving Day.

Our Mini-Minerette

The Minerette's are the drill team at our local high school, Bingham. Someone in our ward invited Kayla to do a mini-minerette's camp. They taught the girls a routine and then held a performance. It was something fun for Kayla to try and she's hoping there will be a mini-cheer leading camp as well.

Odie Casualty

We've had quite a few casualties since Odie joined our family. Socks, mittens, shoes, headbands, stuffed animals, etc. This is a clip on koala bear that Aubrey and I brought back from Australia. Killed and skinned by Odie.

Playhouse

As if adding a dog to our lives this weekend wasn't enough, we also added a new playhouse. One of our friends had purchased the playhouse at a March of Dimes Auction, but upon returning home, realized it wold not fit in their yard. She thought who better could use a cute playhouse than the 5 Miller Girls. The next morning the playhouse was delivered via trailer and a crane operator was there to move it into the yard. The girls were home to see the special delivery and some of their friends across the street at school also got to watch. It is a great addition to the backyard. Getting it ready. The house weighs about 4000 lbs. One of the 4 chains broke on the first attempt to life the house. Then a strap system was put in place for the 2nd attempt.

The strap system worked. Going up.

Clearing the fence.

Delivery complete. This is Boyd, the builder of the playhouse who orchestrated the delivery. Now we just have to paint and decorate. Let the fun begin!

Odie the Beagle

We've been thinking about getting a dog, specifically a beagle, for awhile now. We thought we'd wait until spring and get a puppy, but this guy caught our eye, and we decided to go for it. He is one and a half years old, potty trained, neutered, micro chipped, has multiple fence sets, an igloo house, kennel, multiple leashes, nail clippers, nail filer, treats, food, bones, you name it, he came with it. He's very active, strong, lovable, follows scents like crazy, and as of tonight, her is ours.

Aubrey is soooooooooo happy!