David's Mission Call

Several days after deciding to go to Arizona for Spring Break, and after our departure date and time had changed about 3 times, the prompting came to invite  David to go with us so that he could spend General Conference/Easter with his family once last time before he left on is mission.  We had no idea that our trip would also coincide with him receiving his mission call, though it ended up arriving about 3 hours after we had pulled out of town. A good friend of his, who was traveling to Gilbert later that day, was able to pick it up and deliver it to him later Friday night.  

We had quite a bit of time on our drive down to AZ to talk about missions, his experiences living in the mission field with his family, his expectations, desires, fears (he had very few).  He definitely has a good sense of the demands and difficulties that come with missionary service, but also the great blessings and joy that are a part of those Best Two Years.  His ideal place to serve - Costa Rica, as he had traveled there with his family about a year ago and loved everything about it. 

David had the special opportunity to open his mission call with his parents.  What a special tender mercy from the Lord.  We were able to join his extended family on Saturday night after Priesthood Session to hear him read his call.  Nicaragua Managua Mission- Spanish speaking, reporting to the Provo MTC on May 16th.  His call is a reminder to us that the Lord knows each of individually and that mission calls are assigned through divine inspiration and revelation. 

We are so happy for David and know he will use the gifts and talents the Lord has blessed him with to teach, serve, and share the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ during these next 2 years and throughout his life.  

Solemn Assembly

Today was a very special day as we had the opportunity to sustain Russell M. Nelson as the current Prophet and 17th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Though general Conference can be viewed via the internet or satellite throughout much of the world, but chose to attend a church building in Gilbert to participate in this special Solemn Assembly.

We know that Christ's Church is a church of order, and the transition from one prophet to another is no different.   There is no lobbying or jockeying for position or rank.  The transition is done through tradition and divine revelation and is set in place many, many years prior to going into effect.  Here is an overview of the process that takes places and how it was followed after President Thomas S Monson passed away on January 3, 2018.

1. The First Presidency is automatically dissolved.
2. The two counselors in the First Presidency revert to their places of seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Seniority is determined by the date on which a person was ordained to the Twelve, not by age.
3. The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, now numbering 13 and headed by the senior apostle, in this case President Russell M. Nelson, assumes church leadership.
4. The senior apostle presides at a meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve to consider two alternative propositions: Should the First Presidency be reorganized at this time? Or should the church continue to function with the Quorum of the Twelve presiding?
5. After discussion, a formal motion is made and accepted by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
6. If a motion to reorganize the First Presidency is passed, the Quorum of the Twelve unanimously selects the new president of the church. The new president chooses two counselors and the three of them become the new First Presidency. Throughout the history of the church, the longest-serving apostle has always become the president of the church when the First Presidency has been reorganized.
7. Following the reorganization of the First Presidency, the apostle who has served the second longest is sustained as the president of the Quorum of the Twelve, in this case it would fall to Elder Dallin H. Oaks. When the second-longest-serving apostle has also been called into the First Presidency as a counselor, the third-longest-serving apostle becomes acting president of the Twelve.
8. The president of the Quorum of the Twelve, along with the rest of the apostles, sets apart the new president of the church through a formal laying on of hands.

That transition naming Russell M. Nelson as the prophet and 17th president of the Church took place on January 14th of this year in the upper room of the Salt Lake Temple.  Today we gathered as a church wide body of members to sustain him and show our individual and collective support of him as our current prophet.  President Gordon B. Hinckley described a solemn assembly to sustain a new prophet as “a gathering of the membership where every individual stands equal with every other in exercising with soberness and in solemnity his or her right to sustain or not to sustain those who, under the procedures that arise out of the revelations, have been chosen to lead.”   

What a blessing to be able to sustain President Nelson and to receive our own personal witness that he truly has been called of God to lead and guide His church at this time. I know that the Lord provides living prophets here upon the Earth, just has in did in ancient times.  We learn from those ancient prophets through the Bible and Book of Mormon.  Modern revelation continues today through our living prophet.

Click link to read More about President Russell M. Nelson

Egg Hunt on the Farm

In  Utah, we don't always get to wear bathing suits or shorts for our egg hunts.  It was nice to have such warm weather while we were down here.

B helping Saybria

Chubby finding one in the tree

Jayden running - no shirt and mud boots; a true farmer boy

The boys avoiding the rebar and construction to look in the pens and stalls

Saybria May with her full basket

Going through their treasures.  A big Thanks to Ruth next door for hosting the egg hunt 😊

Spring Break Trailer Living

Heading to Arizona for Spring Break we knew we had lots of options for housing.  I have a sister in Gilbert, a sister in Mesa, and John & Alexis had offer for us to stay at their house as well.  When an offer came to stay in one of my sister's trailers on her property, the girls were all over it.  They always want adventures mixed in with whatever we do, so this gave us some built in adventure. 

The girls room/living room.  Or the 'where everything goes' location

Our bedroom which we were able to keep fairly tidy

And the bathroom, complete with a sink, shower, and Brenna doing some kind of pose on the floor. 

Though the trailer was parked in their front yard, it was hooked up to water and power, so we had the camping feel with hotel amenities.  

It was fun to be together at night to talk and play 'Phyche' from our beds, but it's fairly tight quarters and we only had 4 kids and 1 weeks worth of summer clothes with us. It was hard to imagine living in that trailer for an extended period of time. The experience gave us a whole new level of respect for our friends the Harvey's - who will be leaving in July for a 1 year RV trip around the country with their 5 kids ages 13 down to 1.   I know it can be done, I just don't know how well we could do it. For the short time we were there, it was awesome!

Celebrating Grady's B-day @ JR Temple

This is the post my sweet friend Carrie wrote about Grady's Birthday celebration that Brenna put together.  Carrie is the best!  She is hilarious, so kind hearted, loving, honest, open, and extremely real.  She tells it like she sees it and is such an amazing example and friend to me.  You may remember Grady from previous posts.  (If  you type his name in the search bar in the upper right corner of the blog you can see previous posts he was in). He and Brenna have been friends, really good friends for years.  Carrie and I are pretty sure they were friends in heaven and that they'll be friends forever.  

Remainder of blog post written by: BRENNA

"So at Stake Conference while President Maxfield was talking, I had the strongest feeling that I needed to take Grady to the Jordan River Temple Open house. I didn't know why or how I would ask him because I knew his mom Carrie was a little against him getting too involved with the church. I was really nervous and kind of ignored the thought for a while but I couldn't get it out of my head! Later on I knew I had to tell someone besides my parents so I could have some support when I actually asked him.

 I was at the Stake Fireside about being READY for the temple to open and I knew I had to do something or else I would regret it forever. I told my friend Hayden about the idea and he was totally on board. Then I remembered that Grady's birthday was coming up soon and I could somehow incorporate that and maybe it would make it seem less like only a church thing. I thought of a whole plan for the day. We would walk home together to my house and chill for a little and then get ready for the temple. We would go just the kids so Grady could feel more open to ask questions. After we would go back to my house and change again to go swimming at the local recenter. After that, we would then go to Makayla's house and watch "Lego Batman."

It was going to be a perfect day and we were excited. I was scared but I asked Grady and he said yes! We were pumped! Everything was going as planned until the day before Hayden got sick. We established that he probably couldn't come, but the show must go on. The day came and we did as planned. Carrie came and helped Grady with his suit as much as she could and then the rest of us helped him with his tie and straightened him up. She also brought over his swim suit because we were going swimming after, but she asked if he was suppose to bring them because he was going to get 'dunked' in the baptismal font at the temple?  😊  She always makes funny jokes like that.

Then we went to the temple open house and WOW. The spirit with just the five of us being there together in a place so sacred was so amazing! Grady asked a lot of questions which was awesome and I tried to answer them as best as I could but I knew it wasn't me talking, it was the spirit. Everyone else who was there told me that they too learned something from what I was saying, and so did I! After we took pictures and talked about how he felt in the temple and asked if he wanted to learn more. He said sure! We talked about the Resurrection and the Christus and asked if he wanted the missionaries to come so they could answer more of his questions. We knew this one was pretty far out there, but he still said that it would be great!

 We were really happy and left the temple feeling the greatest things. Then we went to the recenter and it was so fun! I felt so in touch with them in a way I never had. Its like when you have been in the Lord's house together you feel so sacred and special around them. We played around on everything and had a really great time together. Later we went to watch "Lego Batman." A lot of people we were with hadn't seen it yet and I was so excited because I literally love that movie. I'm pretty sure I quoted the whole thing. It was a really amazing experience and I never felt so connected to people my age. Happy Birthday to Grady!"

A week or so later I was with the same people again and I saw that Grady's lock screen on his phone was a picture of all of us at the temple! I was so happy! Today we were playing four-square and Grady was being very open about everything. He was telling us how his family was part of the church and how they were all sealed in the temple. This was news to me, good news! Then he told us that they had gone to church until he was about six years old which was really good to know. Then we asked him if he wanted to go to church this week and he said yes and that he would bring his dad who served a full time mission when we was younger! I was so excited for him! I love the temple and the people that I was able to go in it with. Even if I can never go in with Grady again, I'm glad we could go once together.

Emily - Bingham Minerette

Robert did a great job capturing Emily among the throngs of girls trying to see if there name was listed on the hot pink paper posted on the Bingham dance door.  #1 on the list - Emily Miller

And with that.....she is now on official Bingham Minerette

The new Minerettes were brought into the dance room to get their official shirt and have their first team circle experience. We parents got to watch our girls enjoy this special moment.

Congrats to Emily!

Minerette Tryouts

This cute girl has been watching the Minerette's dance since she was little and today she begins auditions to become one herself. 

A few final hugs and words of encouragement from Lindz. 

These girls are so good to each other, and definitely one another's biggest fans and best supporters. Good Luck Em!

Hangin' with Presley

Today I got to spend my afternoon with Presley while her parents were working.   She is such a fun little girl and I love having a baby in the house again.  I posted a pic of her in our family group chat and everyone went crazy wanting to leave school or work to come hang out with us.  

She is just a bundle of joy.

Lunch with the Superintendent

Last week I got a call asking if I could meet with one of the Vice Principal's at Emily's school later that afternoon.  I spend a lot of time over at the school and know the 2 vice principals and principal well, but I couldn't think why'd they want to meet with me versus shoot me a quick email or text. 

When I got there the secretary had me wait outside the vice principals office until they could call Emily down to be there as well, and I started to get nervous.  Just a little fear of the unknown.  Emily joined us and she was all smiles, so that reassured me it was nothing bad.  He said that Emily had been chosen to represent SoJo Middle at a luncheon with the superintendent next week and they needed my approval before submitting her name to the district. Each school in our area sends one Student Body Officer to this luncheon each year to discuss 'best practices' and share ideas of things that are working and not working well in their school.  Em was honored to be chosen and super excited to represent SoJo.  

Before we left his office, Mr. Preston shared how he hopes his oldest daughter, who is now 4, grows up to be like Emily.  That was a very nice compliment for her to hear. (He brings his kids in periodically after school when SBO's are working on posters/displays and Emily loves playing with her)

A few days after the luncheon I received the following email from the principal, Mr. McCloud:

"I was thrilled to hear that Emily would be representing SOJO at the superintendent luncheon last Monday. Emily is terrific. I am going to miss her leadership, style, hard work ethic, sense of humor, and her smile that lights up a room.

She is the best, and I wish her well as she moves into high school. She has such a bright future ahead of her. You need to be a proud parent of such a wonderful young woman. It has been our honor to support her and educate her through her middle school year. I know she has impacted her teachers and classmates for the better during her three years here at SOJO. SOJO will miss her next year." 

Presley turns 1

This is our friend Presley.  She is a favorite friend in our neighborhood and the girls love to babysit her.  She will be celebrating her 1st birthday while we are in AZ, so we wanted to get a present to her before we left. 

Some new books :)  Hard to know if she liked the books or the bag and tissue paper best

But we know the books will last longer. Happy Birthday Presley!

Academics over the Years -Past & Future Decisions

A few weeks ago Grandma & Papa Miller asked how the girls were doing in school.  I don't normally post anything about grades, but I want to include a little something, so that when they look back or share the blog with their kids, they will be reminded of how their academic lives shaped, strengthened, and prepared them for the future. 

 As with many things, Aubrey was our first and we were less familiar with school options and programs.  She moved from Welby to Jordan Ridge in 4th grade and had a traditional education and we learned as she went.  My only regret (and Aubs totally knows this) is not sending her to Algebrain - which was a before school Math program Mrs. Rose ran at Jordan Ridge for many many years.

Kay took a different path, jumping from Kindergaten testing into a 1st grade classroom a few weeks later.  Following 1st grade, she got moved to an ALPS (Accelerated Learning Program) 2nd grade class, which uses the curriculum of the next grade (so she pretty much missed Kindergarten and 2nd grade, but it all worked out)  We learned a lot about the  ALPS program during Kayla's years, inlcuding the fact that most ALPS kids do not live within school boundaries (some as far as 25 minutes away) and that most ALPS kids did not go to our neighborhood middle school, as they are either bused to the ALPS Middle School in another city or return back to their neighborhood boundary school.  Good to know.

Lindsay and Emily both tested into ALPS, but both wanted to stay with their friends and not switch tracks nor endure the enormous amounts of homework they watched Kayla do while they played outside.  

Brenna tested into ALPS in 3rd grade and loved it.  She had friends spread out over several cities, making it harder to get together to play and work on projects, but it all worked out.  As she approached 6th grade, and knowing that most of her ALPS friends would not be going to the neighborhood middle school, she decided to return to C track and rejoin her friends from 2nd grade.  She is now pretty much repeating 6th grade, but she LOVES her teacher (all of these girls have had some really really great teachers that they have stayed in contact with over the years) and is happy to be going to middle school with most of her classmates.

Middle school is where you really start laying out your academic path.  Aubs and Kay both started 7th grade in Honors English, which then opens the door to Honors English and Honors History in 8th grade, and then some AP (Advanced Placement) classes and/or upper level science (Biology) in 9th grade and then a rigorous college prep/AP schedule through the remainder of high school -- usually earning college credit while still in high school.  They also both started in 8th grade Math leading them to get their math college credits as seniors, which is much cheaper than paying for it when they are actually in college.

 Lindsay and Emily also started 7th grade in Honors English which puts you on that same advanced track, but they both took 8th grade Honors Math as 7th graders, which puts them in AP Calculus/College Math in their Junior year. Balancing this type of school load with their other extracurricular activities is very challenging. It is a hard road, and there are moments when we worry it is too much....but onward we go.  

NOW.......it's decision time for Brenna (hence all the reflection and thought on this subject as of late)

Brenna has now tested into Honors English and  8th grade Honors Math as a 7th grader.  She now gets to read through the pros and cons of her sisters experiences and decide what is best for HER own academic path.

Though the girls are the ones who actually choose their classes and academic levels, we have supported them in all of their rigorous endeavors.  Not to say there aren't moments -Oh, there are definitely moments - especially the last week of just about every quarter, when we second guess ourselves on these hard journeys, but we do believe that Hard is Good. 

We've always believed in doing Hard Things in our family and school is just one aspect of that. One more aspect that has played a big role in the girls academic paths are FRIENDS.  The friend circles that have come from these more rigorous classes have been such a blessing for each of them.  You tend to hang out with those you have classes with, and Lindz especially has developed many life long friends from working together on projects, assignments, marathon math sessions and studying together late into the night and early morning hours. When you spend most of your free time doing homework, it's nice to be able to spend that time with your closest friends.

We recognize how hard these girls work to achieve academic excellence and we know the skills they are developing now will bless them throughout their lives. There's my thoughts on school programs and academics for today :)

I'll have Brenna post what she decides and about her decision making process when she makes a final decision.   

  

LAX vs. Davis

So fun to watch this girl play...

and go in for the Score!

She is a great offensive and defensive player

and loves to play!

Hanging at the Hill

Tonight we spent a few minutes hanging out at our favorite hill in between drop off and pick ups. We love driving up there to enjoy the view!

Lindz PROM 2018

Lindsay & Adam

These two have been friends for years and she was excited to be his date for Prom.

Group Pictures in the snow.  Brrrrr.

Lindz and Abby Deign

Lindz and Caroline

Lindz & Dad

Oh how we love this girl!  She is beautiful and kind in every way, and has a gift for including and welcoming others into her ever growing circle of friends.  So glad you had a great Prom!

Visiting Baby Kai

We spent the morning at a conference down in Provo and made arrangements to visit Brian & Isa and their new baby Kai while we were down there.  Isa worked with Robert back at TD and now does contract work for FE.  We have kept in touch over the years and were excited to learn about her pregnancy while Isa helped me with a recent design project.  Kai (which means ocean water in Hawaiian) is beautiful and super fun to hold, even though he slept through our entire visit.  Until next time sweet Kai!

Another Wedding, Another Temple

Today we were at the Salt Lake Temple for the wedding of our former bishop.  His sweet wife passed away unexpectedly just over a year ago.  Today he was married for 'Time' but not for 'All Eternity' to another wonderful woman, who was also a widow.  They will spend the remainder of their lives together - learning, serving, growing, and caring for each other as well as others.  They will bring great joy to one another and their family's will be blessed by their union.  It was so nice to be the temple today, to feel of God's love for all of His children, and to recognize the Plan of Happiness & Salvation He has established for us.   

In 2 Nephi 2:25 in the Book of Mormon it says, "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy" 

The Lord desires for us to have JOY.  There is much sadness, heartache, and suffering in this life, but we know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, He has overcome sin, sorrow, and death so that we might have JOY in this life and be resurrected, so that our JOY may continue on throughout eternity.  

Tessa is 15 :)

Meet Tessa - Emily's BFF and a proud member of the 'Miller's 6th Daughter' crew.  Today Tessa turns 15 and we are so HAPPY for her.  We LOVE this girl and love watching these two grow up together.  They may not love the pic I chose, but this was the only one I got on her actual birthday.