Millertime

Recent Photography

2012-01-30T12:17:00.000-07:00

Vanessa Vision vs Thomas Vision

2012-01-29T07:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my brother Thomas and I went on a photography adventure! We traveled to Salt Lake City and up Big Cottonwood Canyon (near SLC) to take pictures and have fun. Since we were taking pictures of the same thing (and of each other), I thought it would be fun to share our pictures in Vanessa Vision and Thomas Vision. Here it goes:

Thomas at the SLC City and County Building: Vanessa Vision

Vanessa at the SLC City and County Building: Thomas Vision

Vanessa Vision

Thomas Vision

Converse Back light: Vanessa Vision

Converse Back light: Thomas Vision

Vanessa Vision

Thomas Vision

SLC Temple: Vanessa Vision

SLC Temple: Thomas Vision

Vanessa Vision

Thomas Vision

I had such a fun time (even though it was really, really cold) and we both got some amazing pictures! Thanks for such a fun afternoon Thomas, we had some good laughs!

Happy 6 Month Birthday Alexandria!!

2012-01-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

Happy 6 Month Birthday to my beautiful, sweet, funny, awesome little girl! Daddy and I love you so much and we have really enjoyed watching you grow so far. We can't wait to see what you do next!!

Alex sitting up all by herself!

A total shoe girl already!

Salt Lake Auto Show 2012

2012-01-16T07:41:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, Chris and I introduced Alex to one of our annual traditions, the Auto Show! Since Chris does not work on Friday's we went hoping that the show would not be as busy as the day's that we've gone in the past. To our surprise, it was still pretty busy. Even so, we had fun looking at, making fun of, and climbing into the new cars of 2012 and 2013. Alex was asleep for most of it but when she did wake up, she really enjoyed sitting in a 2012 Ford Mustang convertible. She got really excited when Chris pushed up the seat far enough for her to reach the steering wheel. In fact, she was having so much fun that random people who were looking at the car, asked our permission to take a picture of her in the car. I think that Chris and I are going to be in a lot of trouble when Alex turns 16...We also had fun running into Chris' missionary companion Brandon Gregory and his family. We usually run into them at these shows since Brandon is a car enthusiast like Chris. It was really nice to be able to catch up on them and their two cute kids. Overall, we had a lot of fun and we can't wait to take Alex to the show again next year!

Me in a Jeep Truck...I forget the technical name.

Chris in the Ford Raptor...Such a cool truck!

Alex in her future car....

Having fun! I think that she'll take after her Dad :)

Chris and Alex with the new VW Beetle

Michigan Photography

2012-01-11T16:40:00.000-07:00

While we were in Michigan for the holidays, I took the opportunity to take some pictures. Enjoy.

Christmas in Michigan

2012-01-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

Cutie Cousins Alex and Evette in their Christmas Dresses

We just got back from a two week vacation in Michigan where we celebrated Christmas, Boxing Day (not really), New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Kathy's Birthday (my awesome Mother-In-Law), David and Kathy's Anniversary, and just being together. It was a lot of fun, especially since so many family members were able to attend. All of Chris' sisters were able to make it plus our cute niece Evette. Unfortunately, Lorie's husband Adam had to work and could not make it. We wish that he could have met Alex, but we will just have to get together again soon. Oh darn :). The holidays were awesome and we had a good time. We went and saw some movies (a huge treat for us), visited Frankenmuth, MI which has the largest Christmas store in the US (soooo much fun)!!! Alex really liked looking around at the store and was super happy to be there. During our stay we also visited downtown Detroit (briefly, it was snowing) and we went to many restaurants and went out shopping. The best part of the trip though was just spending time with family. It was also a lot of fun to see the little cousins together. They loved holding hands and trying to figure each other out. It was so dang cute!! We were sad to have to leave and hope that its not too long before we meet up again.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-21T15:13:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We'll be back in 2012!

Happy 6th Birthday Gir!

2011-12-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

During this time of year (since we're not exactly when) we like to celebrate our beloved Gir's birthday. We got him the first summer that we were married (2006) and he has made our life quite the adventure ever since. He constatnly keeps us on our toes, warns us of imminent (and not so imminent) and imaginary danger, he is quite the snuggle buddy, can be hilarious (you should see him after a bath!), a great hiker (if there are no other dogs present), and is the best sort of friend. If you can't tell, we love our Gir dog very much! Here is a look down memory lane:

Puppy Gir...this is the first picture we have of him.

Gir newly moved to Utah

Gir graduating from Puppy School (the first time).

Gir hiking at the Desolation Trail, Utah

Gir and his new snuggle buddy Alexandria (1 month old).

Gir Enjoying the Summer Grass

Happy 6th Birthday Gir! We love you so much!

Winter Photography

2011-12-15T13:10:00.000-07:00

Today, when I woke up, everything was covered in frost and it looked so beautiful! The first three pictures are plants around my house that were touched with frost. The last two pictures are of a marble monument that I've been to recently. I hope that you enjoy!

Temple Square Lights

2011-12-12T10:11:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to Temple Square where we looked at the beautiful lights. Alex was such a trooper and she loved looking at all the bright lights. Her eyes lit up when she was looking around and she was talking up a storm. It was so cute!

Our Little Trooper

Beautiful Temple Square

Lights!

Happy Kris Kringle Day!

2011-12-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Kris Kringle Day! This year Kris Kringle was very kind to us. Chris got a new steering wheel cover for the Jeep that was made by Jeep and has Jeep printed on it in several locations. Vanessa really hit the jackpot with the latest Eragon book, Inheritance and a pair of earrings. This is Alex's first Kris Kringle day and in her tiny shoes she received a new hair bow with three flowers! Alex has no idea what is going on, but I had a lot of fun showing her, her new gift and helping Kris Kringle pick it out! Maybe next year she'll enjoy it more.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

What I am Thankful for this year:

1. My amazing husband Chris. He is my love, my rock, and my best friend.

2. My cute little daughter Alexandria. She has changed my life forever and she is such a joy.

3. My Gir dog. He has been really patient during all of our changes this year.

4. Prusso and Miller Mom and Dad. Thank you for all of your love and support this year, it has meant a great deal to me. Thank you of being wonderful examples of loving parents, I hope that I can be as good of a parent as you all are to me.

5. My Brothers and Sisters. Thank you for being there when I need to talk, figure things out, and need to just hang out. Thank you all and I love you!

6. Chris' job. It has helped our family to grow and allowed us to move into our beautiful little house. I am grateful that Chris is employed during this difficult economic time. We are so lucky!

7. Friends. I am grateful for all of my friends who have supported me this year and I am grateful for finding new friends in my new ward. It has made Church a lot more fun!

These are just some of the things I am grateful for, I would list them all, but that would take way to long to type and I would like to eat turkey sometime today. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope that you all have an enjoyable day and thank you for all that you do for me!

Recent Photography

2011-11-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

Here is some of my recent photography. It was all shot in my backyard this afternoon. Enjoy!

4 Months Old!

2011-11-21T11:08:00.000-07:00

Little Alex Right After Birth

Alex at 2 Months Old

Our Little Princess at 3 Months Old

4 Months Old!!

Its hard to believe that our little Alex is 4 months old! She is such a wonderful addition to our family and we are so lucky to have her! We love her so much and its hard to imagine life without her. Everyday is a new adventure with Alex. We love you and can't wait to see what new developments and growth are in store.

Congratulations Chris!!

2011-11-15T15:39:00.001-07:00

Chris was just accepted into the PMBA program at the University of Utah!!! Congratulations!!! I'm so proud of all of your accomplishments!!!

For those of you who are not sure of what a PMBA is, it is the Professional MBA.The University of Utah Professional MBA program (PMBA) is a 24-month, 48-credit hour general business and management degree designed for working professionals who have one or more years of full-time work experience and wish to continue working while earning a degree.

WAY TO GO CHRIS!!

The Luckiest Girl in the World

2011-11-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

I am the luckiest girl in the world. I had told Chris that I wanted an all pumpkin day for my birthday (pumpkin food). I found a recipe for pumpkin ravioli that I thought sounded really good. The only problem was that I couldn't find pre-made pumpkin ravioli in the grocery store. I looked for weeks, but still couldn't find any. So, amazing person that he is, Chris decided to hand make me pumpkin ravioli for me. He found a recipe for handmade ravioli online and decided to make it! He spent most of my birthday preparing this dish. He made the pasta dough by hand and then had to roll it out after my pasta machine broke. The end result was an extremely tasty dinner! It was amazing!!! Not only did Chris make me a superb dinner, but the day before and continuing onto my birthday, he made me a pumpkin roll for my cake. It was also so tasty!! I had a wonderful pumpkin filled day and it was all due to my awesome husband! Thank you so much Chris for making my birthday so special. I am truly the luckiest girl in the world!!

Chris and the first finished ravioli

Cooking the ravioli

Happy Birthday Dad!

2011-11-05T07:57:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday to the best Father, Husband, Son, Brother, Friend, Uncle, and Grandpa! We love you so much and we're so happy that we get to celebrate this day with you!

My Project

2011-11-01T14:43:00.000-06:00

Here is a look at my new project. I got this dresser (?) from my parents and I've decided to give it a makeover. I'm going to strip the varnish off and re-stain it in a different color. I'm also contemplating changing out the hardware. I'll post more pictures when I've gotten some work done. This is going to be exciting! I've never done anything like this before!!

Halloween Festivities

2011-10-29T20:41:00.000-06:00

This weekend has been a very exciting weekend. Lucy was here, Alex was stuck in her first pumpkin, and Alex and Lucy got to go Trick-or-Treating at our wards Trunk or Treat. It was a lot of fun and the girls looked so cute in their princess dresses. Alex got a pretty good haul for her first Trick-or-Treating experience. It's been a great weekend and it was a lot of fun to see the girl's together. I can't wait for next year's Halloween extravaganzas! Here are some picture, sorry there are quite a few. Its just so hard to turn the camera off when there are such cute girls to take pictures of.

The Beautiful Princesses

The happy little Princess Alex

So cute!!!

Our little family!

Happy girl!

Alex all tuckered out from Trick-or-Treating

The girls!

Alex and the Pumpkins

Cute Daddy and Daughter

Grandpa Prusso and his cool pumpkin (grown at home)

Grandma Prusso and little Alex

Daddy and Alex

Alex in her pumpkin! Such a cutie!!

Good Job Chris!

2011-10-20T13:21:00.001-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, Chris took the GMAT exam and he did AMAZING!! He got a score of 620 which is in the 70 percent tile of all people who take the test. I am so proud of him and for his achievements! One part of the exam is a written essay portion which gets graded separately from the rest of the test. Chris got the results back yesterday and he got a score of 5 out of 6. Way to go!! Next step: applying for grad school...

Out with the Old and in with the New

2011-10-17T12:59:00.000-06:00

Our washing machine broke last week so it is out with the old...

...and in with the new!

I've done one load with it so far and I already am psyched about the new features. It has a lot more options than our old machine and it can hold almost twice the capacity. I just hope that this one lasts quite a while.

Thankful

2011-10-13T13:46:00.000-06:00

This week seems to be a difficult one for me. In light of this, I was thinking of writing down things that I am grateful for (even though Thanksgiving is next month). Here it goes:

1. My AMAZING husband Chris. He is my rock and the love of my life. He is always there to support me and make me laugh when i'm having a rough day. I don't like to imagine what my life would be like without him. It would be sad.

2. My adorable little family. Alex's smiles and Gir...well, being himself really makes my day. I love them so much and I am very lucky to be their Mom.

3. My support group (my parents, my in-laws, my brothers, my cousins, my Aunt, my Sister-in-law Lorie, and my friends). They are always there for me if I need a favor, just to talk, or advice. I am so grateful to have all of you a part of my life and thank you for always building me up when i'm intent on taring myself down. I love you all!

4. Chris' Job. I am very grateful that Chris has a good job that is flexible enough to let him come home early if I need rescuing.

5. Our health. I am so lucky that we are all healthy and that Gir is recovering well. We are truly blessed.

6. My cute little home. Well, homeowner ship can be a blessing and a curse...but I love our little house and i'm happy to finally have something that is ours.

7. A semi-working car. I'm grateful that we have at least one working car so that we can get everything done that we need to during the week.

8. Unexpected letters from friends.

I'm sure that I can think of more things that i'm grateful for, but I think that people would stop reading my blog. Above all, I'm grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves me enough to let me learn a thing or two on my own and helps me in unexpected ways. I love you all and thank you for the positive impact that you have on my life. You have no idea how much you all mean to me.

This is the Place Photography

2011-10-03T08:39:00.000-06:00

These are a little late, but here they are anyway. I took these at This is the Place Monument in Salt Lake City a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy!

Alex's Blessing Weekend

2011-09-29T08:28:00.000-06:00

This past weekend was a busy but wonderful weekend. Chris' parents flew in from Michigan while his sister and her daughter (who is only 2 weeks older than Alex) flew in from California to come to Alex's baby blessing. We chatted, played with the babies, ate good food, and had a good time together. Alex's blessing was beautiful, Chris did a really good job! We had our friends and family over to our house for dinner on Sunday where we blessed Alex. We are so grateful for the love and support that our families are constantly showing us and we are thrilled that so many people could come for Alex's big day! The house got so lonely after Lorie and Evette went back home. I can't wait to see Chris' family again! The girls are going to be so different by then!

Grandpa Miller with Alex

Grandma Miller, Aunt Lorie, and Cousin Evette

Grandma Miller with little Alex

Two tired girls; Alex and Evette

Grandpa Prusso with Evette and Alex

Grandpa Miller with Gir

Grandpa Miller, Daddy, Alex, and Grandpa Prusso after the blessing

Uncle Brett and Alex

Our little family

Cousins Alex and Evette...their holding hands!!! So cute!!

Please Pray for Gir

2011-09-22T22:16:00.000-06:00

Gir and Alex

Our poor Gir doggie has had a really rough week. While Chris and I were gone at my Grandfather's funeral, Gir got a urinary infection and kidney stones. He had to go to the vet because he was in so much pain and Chris and I were heartbroken that we were not home when he needed us. Fortunetly, my brother Brett took the time out of his day to take Gir and bring him back home while we were gone. My cousin Amanda also picked him up from the Vet once and stayed with him for most of the night. We greatly appreciate the sacrifices that Brett and Amanda made on our behalf for Gir. After the Memorial for my Grandfather, Chris and I try to come home as fast as we could. Chris drove all night without rest so that we could arrive just in time to take him to the vet this morning for surgery. Gir's surgery went really well and the Vet removed around 7 kidney stones. One was so large that it was almost completely blocking his urinary track. The Vet said that it was a good thing that he was taken to the hospital because when he was admitted, his bladder was close to bursting. I felt absolutely aweful that we weren't here for most of his suffering, but I am happy that he is home with us now and he should make a full recovery. It will just take him some time before he is going to be his old self again. Chris and I would love it if you could keep Gir in your prayers while he is healing and recovering from this horrible ordeal. Thank you so much for all that you do; we love you all very much.

Thank you again Brett and Amanda! You guys are my hero's and it really, really means a lot to me that you would sacrifice your time for our dog.

Dino Museum and L3 Company Party

2011-09-19T11:51:00.000-06:00

This weekend was quite a busy weekend for our little family. We found out that my Grandfather passed away Friday morning. That was sad, but I'm glad that he can be reunited with family and friends that he hasn't seen in a long time. Even though the weekend started off sad, Chris and I had fun as well. We took Alex to the Museum of Ancient Life (Dino museum) for the first time. We had fun showing her around although, she didn't seem too impressed. Maybe she will like it more when she gets a little older. On Saturday, we got up early and headed up to This is the Place Monument where L3, Chris' employer, was holding their company party. They rented out the whole park for the event. The party started off with a 5K walk/run around the park which we participated in. Before you get too impressed, we walked the 5K. It was still a good workout and it was pretty fun. We finished in just under an hour and Alex got a metal for her participation. After the 5K we walked around the village, got old fashioned pictures taken, saw candy being shot out of a cannon, said "hi" to some of Chris' co-workers, and ate lunch. It ended up being a lot more fun than either of us had anticipated and we can't wait to go next year. Maybe we can beat out 5K time.

Daddy and Alex with the Utah Raptor.

Mommy and Alex with the Utah Raptor.

Alex and her metal for "participating" in the 5K.

Chris after the 5K

Me after the 5K

Alex having a good time at the L3 party!

Until We Meet Again Grandpa Prusso

2011-09-16T08:13:00.000-06:00

"Aloha-oe, aloha-oe, ikeona ona noho ikanipo

One fond embrace ahoea ea

Until we meet again

Until we meet again."

-Aloha-oe, Blue Hawaii, Elvis Presley

I love you Grandpa! I'm glad that you are happy with your family and friends. Until we meet again.

Magic Sweatshirt and the Bumbo Chair

2011-09-14T13:39:00.000-06:00

I have recently discovered something magical...a purple Baby Gap sweatshirt that Chris and I recently bought for Alex. Its kind of big for her but she LOVES IT!! Its amazing! If she is being a bit cranky, i'll put her sweatshirt on her and she cheers right up! Today she took her first long nap of 1.75 hours while wearing her sweatshirt. It was awesome!! Chris thinks that the magic is derived from the adorable ears on the hood, but I think that its just comfortable and warm. I really like it though because happy baby means happy mommy! Other than her Magic Sweatshirt I have discovered that Alex really likes her Bumbo chair. She is still kind of small for it, but it really helps her strengthen her neck and she enjoys sitting up and looking around. I love to see her so curious about her surroundings!

Alex waking up with her Magic Sweatshirt

Alex and the Magic Sweatshirt

Alex in her Bumbo Chair

Alex looking around

Tanner Flat Photography

2011-09-12T15:11:00.000-06:00

Here are the pictures that I took during our recent trip to Tanner Flats. Enjoy:

Blue Fire

Metallic Fire

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-07T11:46:00.000-06:00

Every year for the Labor Day weekend members of my family (and extended family) get together for a camping trip up the canyon. This year was an interesting camping trip since we had two new additions to our usual party: my Aunt Donna and Alex. I wasn't quite sure how well Alex was going to do on her first ever camping trip. She surprised me by doing pretty well (for a 6 week old baby). Alex had plenty of people who would be more than happy to hold her so, she was almost never out of someones arms. Lucky girl. Other than passing around Alex we played games, ate amazing food, talked, read books, enjoyed the beauty surrounding us, went on walks, and generally enjoyed each other's company. It was a great weekend with amazing people. Thanks for all the fun! We'll have to do it again next year!

Chris chopping wood for our fire

Alex all bundled up. I wonder what she thinks of this camping thing...

Picture time!

Great Aunt Donna with Alex

Grandma Prusso with Alex

Daddy and Daughter...awww!

Nature!

2011-08-31T14:32:00.000-06:00

Alex, Gir, and I went on a walk the other day and I decided to take some pictures. Here they are. Enjoy!

Home Improvement Updates

2011-08-29T13:56:00.000-06:00

I meant to post this a while ago, but little Miss Alex keeps distracting me. Chris has been a busy beaver around the house. Last weekend he installed a four plug outlet in our bathroom (much to my delight). I'm so glad that I don't have to unplug anything when i'm doing my hair! Hurray! Anyway, he also finished tiling and painting the stairs quite a while ago, but as mentioned, Alex has been distracting me. Along with his house improvement projects, Chris has been working on the Focus and he has recently (about two weeks ago) pulled out the engine and the transmission! The Focus looks so empty! I'm really proud of Chris and all the hard work that he puts into his various hobbies. For future projects: Chris is not quite done with the stairway to the basement. He would like to finish and paint the walls, stain the handrail, and stain the wood that he is going to put on the stairway leading to the garage (not pictured). We already have the stain and wood so that will probably be done soon, but the painting will probably be down the road a bit. As for the Focus, Chris is hoping to start working on the engine and transmission soon. Good luck! Here are some pictures of the various projects:

The new wall outlet

The tiled and painted stairs

The Engine and Transmission

Focus

Something's missing...

Engine

Transmission

Chris' newly clean work space!

Gardens Photos

2011-08-22T16:34:00.000-06:00

Here are my pictures from our recent trip to the Gardens. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Point Gardens

2011-08-21T10:25:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, we went to explore the Thanksgiving Point Gardens with our little Alex. The trip started out pretty interesting when we discovered that Alex had a blow out and we found some shade to change her. Alex got to lay in the grass for the first time while we got situated and she seemed to enjoy it. I'm glad that I carry extra outfits around with me, it was really helpful this time! Once that excitement died down, we walked around enjoying the beautiful flowers and spending time as a family (out of the house). It was pretty hot outside, but we would take brakes in the shade so that everyone was comfortable. Alex was so good. She mostly tried to sleep or looked around. We had a lot of fun! I will post some of the pictures that I took of the flowers soon. Hopefully we can have more successful family outings soon!

Aquarium Fun

2011-08-12T14:16:00.000-06:00

Today Little Alex went to our local Aquarium for the first time. The trip was really a chance for me to show off our baby girl to my friends and former co-workers (I worked there two years ago). All of my friends absolutely loved her! She gave some of her cute/funny faces and everyone's hearts melted. It was really good to see familiar faces of my friends, many that I haven't seen since I left. After I caught up, Chris, Alex and I went to check out the penguins. Alex is too little to really enjoy the Aquarium, but I had a good time and maybe when she gets older, we'll get a membership and come back often.

Daddy and Alex with the Penguins

Mini Photo Shoot

2011-08-10T21:40:00.000-06:00

These are my attempts at doing a mini photo shoot of Alex. Enjoy!

Snuggle Buddies

2011-07-30T19:12:00.000-06:00

Gir has found someone new to snuggle with...Alex! Gir is so good around Alex and loves to snuggle and sleep with her. We are so happy that Gir is doing so well with Alex and Alex doesn't even wake up when Gir barks! She must have gotten used to the sound when she was still inside mommy. We can't wait to see more cute developments between Alex and Gir in the future!

1 Week Old!

2011-07-28T08:22:00.002-06:00

I can't believe that our little Alex is already 1 week old! Happy One Week!!

July 21, 2011

2011-07-22T12:32:00.000-06:00

July 21, 2011. This day is a day that will live in infamy...at least in our family. Our little daughter Alexandria Luthien Miller was born Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:20am. She is 6lbs 0 oz and 20in long. She has a head full of brown hair (much to the complete surprise and delight of her mommy), and she has gray-blue eyes. We are both so totally in love with this little girl! Its amazing how quickly she has gotten us wrapped around her little finger. So far, Mommy, Daddy, and Baby are all doing well and enjoying each other's company. We had a lot of visitors on the first day including Grandma and Grandpa Prusso, Grandma and Grandpa Miller, Uncle Brett, and Cousin Amanda. We are so lucky to have so many people here to support us and Alex through this exciting time in our lives.

Alex right after coming into the world

Our new little family

Proud Daddy and Alex (and me looking really freaky in back)

Grandpa Prusso and Alex

Grandma Prusso and Alex

Grandpa Miller and Alex

Grandma Miller and Alex

Amanda and Alex

Daddy with his new baby girl Alex :)

Gir's New Friend

2011-07-16T10:50:00.000-06:00

Grandma and Grandpa are here visiting and waiting for the baby to come. They brought gifts for both the baby and for their Grand-dog Gir. He got a red stripped sock monkey and he LOVES IT!! He has been carrying it around ever since he got it. Unfortunetly, when Gir really loves something, he loves it to pieces...literally. Probably about 10 minutes after he got the monkey (which I've nicknamed Legolas), he chewed off one leg and an ear. Last night, I put Legolas up so that Gir could not squeak it all night and Gir cried all night for him. He just sat/laid down near his monkey and cried. He was so happy when I took him down this morning and gave Legolas back. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Miller! Gir now has a new best friend!

The other leg is now gone too, hence the name Legolas... :)

Millcreek Canyon "Walk"

2011-07-10T10:08:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I wanted to take Gir up into the mountains for a nature "walk" since we don't get out of the house much these days. We had planned to go on a pretty easy hike that I know of called the pipeline trail. Its a mostly level walk which I thought would be easy for me. So, we all got into the Jeep and headed out to Millcreek Canyon which is the closest canyon where dogs are allowed, and after a beautiful drive we found the start of the trail. The only problem is that two other trails start at the same place and we accidentally took the wrong trail head (we'd only been there once)! So, we started walking and it seemed to me that the trail was a whole lot steeper than I seemed to remember, but it was so pretty that I was enjoying taking pictures and seeing the sites. The trail just kept going up and up! There were hardly any level parts or downhill parts. My poor legs were just killing me! Chris and Gir were quite a bit ahead of me (which is not unusual, i'm a fairly slow hiker) and I was going much, much slower than I normally do. We had to stop quite often for me to catch my breath and eventually I had to ask to turn around and go back. I was really tired! It was probably a good thing that we turned around when we did since it started to sprinkle and by the time we were driving back out of the canyon, it was raining quite hard. I enjoyed being out in the canyons, but our "walk" ended up being pretty intense! I'll definitely have to get back into shape after Alex comes so that we can try this hike again, knowing the difficulty.

Chris' first major home renovation project

2011-07-05T12:07:00.000-06:00

The stairway from the main house down to the garage were pretty nasty. There were just some plain wooden stairs with a ratty piece of carpet at the bottom. We have been wanting to add some tile to make the stairway look better. So, we went to Home Depot and found some linoleum tiles that we liked and bought to try out at home. When we got them home, we really liked how they looked and so Chris got to work sanding the stairs in preparation to lay down the tiles. This past weekend, Chris had enough free time to start laying down the tile. It looks wonderful! We just need to get more tiles to finish! Good job so far Chris!

Before

Chris adding tiles with Gir's help

Progress so far

Funny Story

2011-06-21T11:44:00.000-06:00

This morning, Gir and I had (for me) a funny encounter. As we were going on our morning walk, a little white and black bird flew ahead of us on the path and started walking around. Gir went crazy! I had him on a leash so that he could not just run after the bird, but he sure tried. He pulled me right along the path and the bird kept walking up the path far enough that we couldn't get to it, but close enough to tease Gir. What a mean bird! Gir was panting and trying so hard to get that bird and I kept trying to calm him down and not be completely dragged by Gir. When we finally got close to the end of the trail, the bird flew off and we thought the teasing was over. Gir relaxed a bit, and we were able to have a nice pace again. Then, on our way back down, the bird struck again. Our trail is near a water treatment plant that has a chain-link fence facing our path with a concrete structure behind it. On our way back down the path, we could see the bird sitting on the concrete structure where Gir could see him. The bird was teasing us again!! When the path came close to the fence, the bird started walking along the concrete structure at the same pace that Gir and I were walking along the path. Poor Gir. He wanted to get that bird so bad, but now there was a fence blocking his path and the bird seemed to know it! Gir was much better this time and only stared at the bird walking with us while we were going. I was happy when we finally couldn't see it anymore and Gir wasn't being teased. Well, if nothing else, it was a good laugh for me and a good workout for Gir!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T09:14:00.000-06:00

There is something in common with all of these pictures! They were/are at one point fathers-to-be! Happy Father's Day to all those who already are and are soon to become fathers! You are all amazing and we love you so much!! I chose to do baby/young child pictures since we are soon to have our baby and I thought it would be fun!

Daddy-to-be-Chris

Daddy Miller

Daddy Prusso

Sketches

2011-06-14T09:52:00.000-06:00

The other day, I was going through some boxes that my parents brought over. The items in the box were random souvenirs/memories from my childhood and amid the billions of papers, I found these cute sketches that my Dad had drawn for me some point in my life. Neither of us remember when or why he drew these, but I thought that they were so cute that I couldn't throw them away. My favorite is probably the Surfing Rex. I just thought that this was a fun discovery!

Nursery Progress

2011-06-05T09:54:00.000-06:00

This weekend, my brother Brett and Chris made great progress in painting the nursery. On Friday, they painted the base color of yellow and yesterday they taped up the room to paint the stripes. It took several hours to tape up the room. I think the boys were having fun using Chris' laser leveler to make sure the lines were perfect. They then started painting the stripes which were done in a metallic yellow. The result was stunning! It looks amazing!! The next step is to paint the celling white (it's a strange off white now) and do touch-ups. Good job boys! The room looks spectacular!

Before

Taping for stripes

Stripes finished

Last Day

2011-05-27T15:47:00.001-06:00

Today was my last day as an employed woman. I've been looking forward to this day since I started working, but I never thought that I would actually be sad about leaving. During my year at work, I've made some pretty good friends and it was harder than I thought to say goodbye. My co-workers have been very supportive about my baby and the ladies that I worked with even threw me a wonderful baby shower. It was hard to say goodbye, but hopefully i'll be able to keep in contact with the friends I've made.

Busy Day

2011-05-15T08:40:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was quite a busy day for Chris and I. We first went to the Utah Renaissance and Fantasy Fair and ended the day at a fancy Semi-formal dinner for Chris' company L3 at the Grand America Hotel in downtown SLC. The fair was pretty fun, although it was smaller than it has been in the past. We watched an amazing show of young ladies who did acrobatic stunts while on the back of a moving horse (see picture). It was really cool and we were guessing that every little girl who was watching were wishing that they could dance on horses. I was amazed at the skill and poise of the acrobats, they smiled and performed their stunts with great skill. After the show we walked around the tents, looking for cool trinkets. I found a cool chain-mail bracelet but that was the only thing that we got. One reason that I like to attend these kind of festivals, is to see what costumes people will show up in. There were some really cool costumes yesterday such as a very well done Jack Sparrow and some fancy Renaissance Ladies Dresses, but most people were disappointing. There were a lot of "belly dancers" who showed up with bad looking costumes and way too much belly exposed (especially those who should never show off their belly's in public). We did meet a man who called himself "Chocolate Jesus" which I thought was funny. He looked like Jesus and owned a chocolate stand. There truly are some unique people in this world. We started watching the Joust, but the performers talked for so long and I had been standing on my feet for too long, so, we ended up leaving before we saw much and heading home. Later in the evening, we got all fancy to attend an Evening of Excellence for L3 (where Chris now works FULL TIME!!!). Chris wasn't sure why he was invited since he did not really work on any of the projects that were being highlighted, but we weren't going to say no to a free dinner and a chance to see inside the Grand America Hotel in SLC. Since we didn't really know anyone there, we mostly talked to ourselves and enjoyed the good food. We did chat with a couple people and we sat down with a nice couple during dinner. It was a fun evening and the food was really good also. Overall, we had a fun, busy day!

15 Semesters in the Making

2011-05-06T18:56:00.000-06:00

Congratulations to Chris for his remarkable achievement in graduating from College today! He graduated with a Bachelors of Science in the College of Engineering. I am so proud of Chris and all that he has learned and accomplished during his time at the University of Utah! Way to go!

5 Years and Counting

2011-05-06T18:53:00.000-06:00

5 years ago today Chris and I were married in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple. They have been the best years of my life and I can't believe that I get to spend the rest of eternity with the love of my life. How did I ever get to be so lucky?

Happy Birthday Chris!

2011-04-26T09:10:00.002-06:00

Today is one of my favorite days of the year...its Chris' birthday! Chris is the most amazing man I've ever met, and I absolutely love celebrating his special day! Chris is the most selfless, funny, thoughtful, intelligent, hard working, and fun loving man that I have ever known. I love him more than words can say. He is a wonderful husband and will be a great father! I love you! Happy Birthday, my love.

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T15:54:00.002-06:00

Christ rose on the third day and broke the bonds of death. I can't think of anything more miraculous and wonderful to celebrate. We are so grateful for our Savior and everything he has done for us. We hope that everyone has a wonderful Easter and will remember that we celebrate this day because of Christ and the miracle of His resurrection. Love, Chris, Vanessa, Alex, and Gir

First Homeowner Duty

2011-04-15T16:08:00.002-06:00

Well, this week we had our first homeowner project! The heating unit in our oven broke the other day and we came upon our first challenge. We weren't sure if we should have someone come out and try to fix it, buy a new one, or just try and fix it ourselves. Once we relized that the problem was not that bad, we decided to try and fix it ourselves. Chris ordered the part that we would need and he installed it last night. Our oven works again!!! We can bake once more!!! Good job Chris for being such a handy handyman! So far House: 0 Millers: 1!

Coolest Thing Ever

2011-04-05T20:21:00.001-06:00

I just saw the coolest thing ever.....a SMART CAR ROADSTER!!!! Thank you Top Gear Season 2 for showing me this gem. I now have a dream car...too bad they don't sell it in the US :(

Backyard Visitor

2011-04-05T17:30:00.002-06:00

Today as I was starting on dinner, I looked out of my kitchen window and saw three deer cheerfully munching on the grass outside! I love our new house!!! We used to be able to see deer from our apartment and I was really sad that we would be leaving them behind, but it looks like they followed us! Hurray!!

Happy Birthday Mother

2011-04-03T11:18:00.002-06:00

Today is a wonderful day! It is a day that we are able to celebrate the most influential woman in my life: my amazing mother. My mother is so amazing because she has a quite strength which guides her family along. She is our rock and we love her so much. She is an amazing cook, organizer, thrift shop guru, and she is an example to all of kindness and thinking of others. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful, thoughtful mother who would do anything and everything for us. I love her very much and am so grateful for the example of motherhood that she is to me, especially since I am soon to be a mother myself. If I can be half the mother to my children that my mother is to my brothers and I, I will consider myself a successful mother. Happy Birthday Mom, I love you so much!

New Blog

2011-04-02T19:59:00.002-06:00

I have started a new blog dedicated to our daughter-to-be Alexandria. I'll be posting updates on her condition, my condition, and how her room is coming along. Most of the information about her will now be posted on this new blog and perhaps briefly on this one. Check it out at: http://alexandria-millertime.blogspot.com/

A Rare Occurrence

2011-03-27T08:34:00.002-06:00

This weekend, a rare occurrence took place: my whole family was at one place at the same time. At one time, this was not such a rare occasion, but since my younger brother joined the Air Force, having him has been a rare privilege. He came home this weekend to attend the wedding of one of his friends and he just happened to come home on a weekend where my niece was going to be in town! Since everyone was home and my niece is turning two soon, we held a birthday party for her and it was really fun to have the family together. We had our cousins and Aunt come over for dinner, cupcakes, and presents. It was a lot of fun, especially to see sweet Lucy open her presents with the help of her dad. It was a great evening and I hope that we can all get together again soon!

First Time Homeowners

2011-03-23T16:38:00.003-06:00

This week, we can happily say that we are first time home owners! We bought a cute little two bedroom town home and we're moving in this week! Chris is very excited that we will have a garage and we will not have to fight for parking anymore! Hurray!! We got the keys to our home yesterday and we were soon walking through, trying to decide where everything was going to go. We even took our dog Gir, so that he could explore his new habitat without the stress of moving. He liked the house so much that he even christened it for us...Oops. Oh well, we had some good laughs about it. I'll post pictures once we have settled in a bit.

Snowshoeing

2011-03-12T16:49:00.002-07:00

Last Saturday, my Parents, Brett, Chris, and I went snowshoeing up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Chris and I haven't really gone since we were engaged and it was the first time for Brett. We had a blast! I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to make it all the way up the trail (since I'm 5 months pregnant), but I made it! I was super proud of myself. When we got to the end of the trail, Brett and Chris had fun climbing up the side of the ravine and sliding down. It looked fun, but I decided to just take some pictures and video instead. The surrounding land was absolutely beautiful and we had great timing. We didn't see many people while we were hiking up, but on our way back, there were a lot of people starting out. We had a lot of fun and hopefully we'll be able to go again next winter.

We Are Very Excited to Announce That...

2011-02-25T16:04:00.002-07:00

WE ARE HAVING A

GIRL!!!

Happy 90th Birthday Grandpa!

2011-02-22T16:45:00.002-07:00

This past weekend was my grandfather's 90th birthday. My parents and I drove out to Washington state in order to celebrate with Grandpa. There was a huge party on his birthday and a great number of family and friends came down for the party. There was amazing food, a stellar video (good job Dad), and lots of family. Overall, it was a great gathering. Happy Birthday Grandpa and congratulations on 90 wonderful years.

Sand Dune Jeeping

2011-02-13T07:51:00.003-07:00

One guy in our group liked to jump his Jeep. I personally think that he's crazy.

The Jeep/Truck group.

Chris and Brett driving the Jeep at the top of a dune.

Yesterday, Chris, Brett, Miller Light (it had no choice), and I went sand dune jeeping in Western Utah. None of us had ever been sand dune jeeping before and for the most part we really enjoyed it. The parts that we didn't enjoy were waiting around while others had to fix their vehicles or waiting for lost people. Chris and Brett had fun driving around the rims of the sand dunes and I enjoyed watching from a safe distance while taking pictures. The sand dunes were very tricky because when you were going up them, you had to push the Jeep as fast as it could go to keep momentum, but you were never quite sure what the top of the dune looked like. We got surprised (I freaked out) a couple of times but luckily nothing bad (like rolling the jeep) happened. By the end, we were very glad that we went, but we were very tired and happy to be back on straight pavement again.

A Strange Sensation

2011-02-05T09:23:00.002-07:00

Well, I think that i'm finally starting to feel when Miller Light moves. I picked it up for the first time yesterday and to be honest, I wasn't quite sure that it was baby moving at all. It mostly felt like some bubbles were moving strangely on one side of my baby bump. After I felt it, I stood still for a moment thinking, is that Miller Light or what? My doctor had said that the baby's movements could feel like bubbles so, I'm sure thats what my strange sensation was. I was kind of disappointed that I couldn't tell it was Miller Light until I sat and thought about it. I was hoping to feel an amazing mothering feeling when I first felt my baby move, instead of confusion. Oh well, maybe the motherly feelings and excitement will come as I can feel it move more and more. Oh, by the way, three more weeks until we can find out what Miller Light is!! :) Not that I'm counting down or anything...

Baby Update

2011-01-25T16:19:00.002-07:00

Here are some little updates about our baby and I:

I am now at 15 weeks and am starting to get a little baby bump

My energy is coming back...little by little

It is growing on schedule :)

It has a very good and strong heart beat

Hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll be able to find out if baby is a boy or a girl!!!

Best Decision I Ever Made

2011-01-12T16:19:00.003-07:00

Almost 5 years ago, I made the best decision of my life. I married the extremely attractive man in the picture below.

To this day, I have a hard time comprehending how I ended up so lucky. He treats me like a Queen and I couldn't ask for more. Since we have found out that I am pregnant, his generous nature has increased (he was so generous to begin with that it was hard to imagine that he could treat me better than the best)! On the days where I have been extremely tired (and lazy) he has cheerfully picked up my slack by making dinner, cleaning the house, walking Gir, and generally taking good care of me. I am so grateful to have such a caring and wonderful husband. He is truly my best friend and he is going to be an amazing father. I am very blessed and I am so happy that I found and married my true Knight in shinning armor! I love you Chris!!!!

Wonderful Visit

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

This past weekend we had a wonderful visit from Chris' mother Kathy. She came into town after driving her youngest daughter to BYU-Idaho for the winter semester. It's too bad that we had absolutely awful weather! We weren't really able to do anything outside, but we had fun anyway. We ate at some of our favorite haunts including a lunch with my parents. We also chatted, enjoyed family history, and playing/watching others play games on the Wii. I was impressed with Gir because he is usually skittish around people that he has never met or does not see very frequently, but he had no problems with Kathy. He was a little hesitant towards her, but he ended up playing with her, cuddling, and sitting on her lap in the car. Overall, it was a great visit!

Disney World

2010-12-31T12:29:00.002-07:00

For Christmas, Chris and I took a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fl. We were excited to get away from the snow for a while (even thought we couldn't escape the cold), and go to the sunshine state (at least one of them). We had a blast!! We ate amazing food (a lot of fancy cheese for Vanessa and steak for Chris), we went on awesome rides, bought a lot of stuff, and just had fun with each other. On Christmas, we decided to visit the Animal Kingdom in hopes of avoiding the huge crowds that would be descending on the Magic Kingdom and we definitely lucked out. For the whole trip, the longest that we waited to get on a ride was 40 minutes. I think that the definite highlight of our trip though, was when we saw Cirque Du Soleil. It was amazing!! We were so impressed by all of the acrobats and the incredible talent that they have. Our second favorite memory was in Germany in Epcot where we had a Christmas ornament made for us by a German glass craftsman. It was really neat to watch him work with glass as if it was water. I love it. We were sad to leave the parks, but happy to be home with Gir and happy to sleep in our own beds.

Exciting Announcement

2010-12-29T17:04:00.002-07:00

Chris and I are proud to announce that we are the excited parents-to-be of little Miller baby due next July!! It is currently 11 weeks old and is so far doing really well.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-20T17:25:00.003-07:00

"We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!"

We hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas wherever you may be! This year we are doing something a little different...We are going to be in Disney World for Christmas and we can't wait!!! We are going to miss being with our family and friends though.

May your Christmas be filled with love, laughter, and joy as you celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. We'll see ya (and post) when we get back!!

Kris Kringle Day

2010-12-06T17:01:00.002-07:00

Happy Kris Kringle Day! I have been celebrating this wonderful holiday (?) (excuse for presents) since I can remember and Chris and I have been celebrating it together since we've been married. Since last month we got our Blu Ray player, it was no surprise when Kris Kringle brought each of us a new Blue Ray. I got Gladiator and Chris got Star Trek. That Kris Kringle sure knows us well...

For those of you who may not know what Kris Kringle Day is, it is a German holiday celebrated the night of the 5th of December and the morning of the 6th. On the 5th of December, family members put their shoes out into the hall or other open area and while everyone is asleep, Kris Kringle comes and brings small gifts (if you are good) or coal and sticks (if you are bad) in your shoes. On the morning of the 6th, the family runs to see what they received and there is much rejoicing. I have loved this holiday since I was a child and I can't wait to continue it with my family.

Happy Kris Kringle Day!

Winter Jeeping

2010-11-28T08:48:00.002-07:00

Yesterday, Chris and my brother Brett had a man's day of jeeping. They met with a bunch of jeeping enthusiasts at around 10am and went to a place out by 5 Mile in Utah Valley. They had a lot of fun and Brett even drove a bit of the trail himself! Way to go Brett!! They watched a dune buggy try to go up a really steep trail (without success) and several of the jeeps had breakdowns (which is fairly common at these events). One Jeep lost its power steering! Bummer!! Overall, they seemed to have a great time and hope to go jeeping again soon!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T08:46:00.002-07:00

Thanksgiving was a really fun day. Sorry, I didn't take any pictures but in the morning Chris and I relaxed and tried to finish our rolls for Thanksgiving dinner. At around 2:15 we met up with my parents and brother Brett and all of us headed down to Thanksgiving dinner with Amanda, Aunt Julie, Mary Beth, Kevin, and some other people that I didn't know. We had amazing food, an awesome Thanksgiving quiz (bu my Dad and Butterball), and we played the wii for the rest of the evening. It was a lot of fun and I was sorry when it was all over!

Family Pictures

2010-11-24T17:01:00.003-07:00

So, for my birthday, I had my good friend Hannah Galli, who just happens to be a professional photographer, take some family pictures. Well, she is amazing!! Here are some of the pictures:

I'll post some more later! I hope that you enjoyed these.

My Birthday

2010-11-09T16:18:00.003-07:00

This past weekend held my birthday and I have to say, I was really spoiled! On Friday, Dad and I celebrated our birthdays with family with cake, ice cream, dinner, and presents. I have to say that my family is awesome (cousins and aunts included). I got books, Legos (hehe), the coolest pillows in the world, and more books. Friday was a lot of fun and I enjoyed sharing the celebration with my Dad. Saturday was such a relaxing day! I got up, opened my presents and then we went for a family photoshoot (which the picture below if from) and then played video games until it was time for dinner. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband who made my birthday so special! Thank you Chris, you are amazing!! Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday, I really appreciated it! Now on to my next quarter century!

Happy Birthday Dad!

2010-11-05T11:35:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday Dad! You are an amazing Father, Husband, Son, Brother, and Grandfather. You are artistic, creative, fun, and adventurous and I am so blessed to have you not only as my Dad but also as my Birthday Buddy, Friend, and you are such a great example to me. I have always tried to follow in your footsteps so that I can have great stories to tell my own children. Don't ever change. I love you!

Blu Ray

2010-11-05T11:30:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, Chris was really happy and here is why:

Can you guess? We got our new Blu Ray player. We have been talking about getting one for over a year now, and Chris finally found one to his liking that was also a good deal! We had also been collecting movies in the Blu Ray combo packs so that when we eventually got a player, we would have something to watch. I'm glad that we did because we were able to watch Avatar on our player and it looked amazing!! Chris and I are so excited to add this to our ultimate watching experience. Now we just need some awesome speakers, but we'll have to save that for another time.

Halloween

2010-11-01T17:41:00.003-06:00

This Halloween was a blast! I was Captain Scrimshaw and Chris was a Karate Master. We went over to my Aunt and Cousin's house for dinner, crafts, and games. Dinner was amazing! My Mom made some sticky Vulture Legs, my Aunt and Cousin made awesome salads and we brought bread. After we ate, we decorated some masks and then my Mom's cousin and son came for a visit. While the adults + Chris were visiting with my Mom's cousin, Brett, Amanda, and I went downstairs and played the Wii. I watched Brett and Amanda play Beatles Rock Band and then we played Just Dance 2 together. Needless to say, we were pretty tired by the time we finished. We then got a game, Curses, and played it with my Mom's cousin's son. He was funny to watch (since he was so much younger than the rest of us). We ended the night on a high note and I for one can't wait until next Halloween.

Pumpkins

2010-10-28T16:04:00.003-06:00

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and one of the things that I especially look forward to is getting together with family and carving pumpkins. I really like odd looking pumpkins and this year, my pumpkin had wart-like growths (which sounds weird but looked cool) and it was my downfall. The skin of my pumpkin was like cement!! It was so hard for me to carve it that Chris had to help me finish my pumpkin (since he had a normal pumpkin, he was finished with his pretty quickly). In fact, everyone had finished with their pumpkins before I was remotely finished. Nevertheless, it did get finished and both mine and Chris' pumpkins look amazing (as does my family's pumpkins). Chris ended up with a mickey head design on his pumpkin and I ended up with an ambigram that says fire (like in the book/movie of Angels and Demons). Maybe next year i'll find a cool looking pumpkin that is easy to carve!

Incredibly Cute

2010-10-20T16:22:00.002-06:00

I just have to brag, I think that I have the cutest dog in the world. Chris and I got Gir a stuffed animal from our trip to Disneyland and he loves it. The problem is that he loves it a lot and loves to chew on it (which we totally expected). The funny thing is that he will chew on it one moment and the next he is using it as a pillow. On Sunday the Pluto stuffed animal had all ears, arms, legs, tail, and collar attached. That's not necessarily true right now...He only really has his arm, legs and tail still attached. Well, since Gir loves Pluto so much, I guess that its money well spent. Alright, I'm done bragging about my dog...for now.

Disneyland

2010-10-18T17:07:00.002-06:00

I can't believe that Disneyland has already come and gone! It was so much fun!! I was very excited that a lot of the Millers were able to come with us! Chris and I spent most of our time with them and we had a blast! We went on our favorite rides Many, Many times, we ate at some amazing restaurants, we enjoyed searching for pins, trying to stay dry (which is not easy on Splash Mountain), and occasionally met up with the other 5 members of our group. By the end of the trip, I think that all of us were extremely tired (especially our feet) and we had to bid Disneyland ado. It was sad to leave, but I know that we will be back some day. Hopefully it can be another fun family trip. Thank you everyone who came with Chris and I and made this trip so wonderful!

Tracy Aviary

2010-10-10T09:16:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, Chris and I met up with my friend Hannah and her boyfriend Michael at the Tracy Aviary in downtown Salt Lake City for a double date. We had never been to the Aviary before and I was impressed. It was a little small, but the birds that they had were fun and interesting to look at. The thing that all of us thought was the strangest was that there was a wedding reception going on at the Aviary. We kept seeing people really dressed up walking around and we were beginning to feel slightly under dressed when we saw the wedding couple. Then it all made sense. The pictures above are some of my favorite that I took yesterday. Overall, we had a great time hanging out with Hannah and Michael at the Aviary! Thanks for inviting us to come with you guys! We had a great time!!

Brett's Birthday

2010-10-03T09:31:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was my older brothers birthday and the best part was that his daughter, my niece, Lucy was able to spend the weekend with us! It had almost been seven months since i'd seen her and she has changed so much! It was a lot of fun to be able to interact again with Lucy and see how adorable she has become! She is starting to talk now and everything is "doggie". She is also walking all over the place and its hard to keep her in one spot. I think that the very best thing about her visit is how happy my brother was. I haven't seen him this happy for a long time and it was really good to see; especially on his birthday. Happy Birthday Brett! Thanks for letting us come over and share your time with Lucy! We had a wonderful time, and Lucy is amazing! We love you!!!

First Soccer Game

2010-09-26T10:19:00.002-06:00

Last night Chris and I got to experience something new. We were invited to go with my cousin and brother to a Salt Lake Real soccer game. It was a new experience for us because we are not big sports fans, so we don't often go out to games, but we thought that it would make a fun change and it did. It was a lot of fun, especially to watch the other fans and how into the game they get. We were sitting near a group of die hard fans who for the entire game were dancing, beating drums, shouting, and throwing shredded paper into the air. It was funny to watch and i'm fairly certain that they were very drunk. It got pretty tense at the end because Real was down 1 point (well, they didn't have any at all) and it would have been horrible to lose on home turf. But, in the last 3 minutes of the game, they were able to score which means that the game ended up being a tie. I don't really understand how a professional sport game can end with a tie, but I guess it's better than losing. Overall, Chris and I enjoyed our first soccer game and would be open to going again. Thanks Amanda for inviting us to come!!

Exciting Work Day

2010-09-23T07:17:00.002-06:00

I never really thought of the dangers that were present when a job is located up in the mountains. Yesterday, I learned what some of those dangers are. It started like any other work day, I got up, was at work by 7:00am and worked. I had lunch with my friend Hannah and its after lunch that my typical work day became less typical. I guess that I should step back and say that yesterday was a bit of a stormy day. It wasn't as bad as a storm that we had a month ago, but that storm combined with the dry weather we had been having in September created a bit of a problem for yesterdays storm. After everyone had started working after lunch, a couple people were asked to go see the managers. This is not a singular occurrence, so no one thought of anything until those individuals came to get their belongings and were told to immediately go home. What? We asked them why and they said that the rain had caused mudslides and the access road to work had a slide across it. Well, now everyone wanted to go home early and we were just discussing the mudslides when one of the managers came and told us that we were all going to be evacuated in groups of three. Lets just say that no one was very upset that we would have to leave work and go home. Oh darn...The manager continued to say that those who had parked close to the mountain (which just happened to be me) could go home first since they were more likely to have trouble getting out (since where their cars were located there was now a fairly strong moving current of water, mud, and small rocks). I was in one of the first groups of three to get to my car which was luckily undamaged. So, I got to go home an hour and a half early from work and i'm now waiting on word from the managers to see if I will be going in today or if it is still to dangerous. I'm hoping that it will be too dangerous so that I can have a nice day at home, we shall see. So, working up in the mountains can give you some exciting days at work, i'm just happy that no one was hurt.

Cheaper by the Dozen?

2010-09-14T17:24:00.002-06:00

In one month, Chris and I will be standing at this spot once again. This time however, we will not be alone! Earlier this spring, Chris and I (mostly I) decided that another trip to Disneyland was a definite must for this year. We decided that it would be fun to invite some of our family to go. At first, we just invited my parents, then it was extended to my Aunt and two cousins, then we asked Chris' parents if they would like to join us. One of my cousins dropped out of the trip because she was going on another major adventure which happened to be at the same time. I also let Chris' sister who lives in LA know that we were coming to her neck of the woods and we would love it if she and her husband would like to join our merry band. So, for most of the year the grand total of for sure attending people was 8. This past week, that number changed drastically! Towards the end of last week, Chris' parents let us know that they were for sure coming because they had gotten their plane tickets. We were so excited! Our party of 8 was now 10! I thought that this would be the grand total for our trip. 10 was a good number, right? Well, I was wrong. Over the weekend, another Aunt humbly asked if she could join us to which we said "no problem." Our total was now 11. This time I felt sure that our party was now full. I was wrong again. Yesterday, we got another email from Chris' parents letting us know that another one of his sisters will be joining our not so little party. We are thrilled! For several members of our party this is going to be their first time at the original Disney park (although they have been to Disney World) and I am so excited for them. I can't believe that from our casual talks earlier this year that our party to Disneyland will have 12 people!! This is going to be one epic vacation! I can't wait!!!

Second Blog

2010-09-12T09:49:00.001-06:00

I've started a second blog about my attempts to be crafty. Please check it out at http://wannabecrafty007.blogspot.com/.

Tanners Flat Camping Trip

2010-09-06T15:59:00.002-06:00

This weekend, we went on our annual camping trip to Tanners Flat which is in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. This year was super fun! We just relaxed the first day, making crafts, reading, and playing games. The second day we did a 8.2 mile hike. It was really hard, but it was so worth it because the trail was stunning and Chris and I saw snakes, squirrels and a dear! My cousin Amanda and my aunt Julie also saw a Moose! We also enjoyed great food and amazing company! I had so much fun and I can't wait for next year's trip!!

Desolation Trail: The Sequel

2010-08-28T15:13:00.003-06:00

This morning, Chris, my parents, Gir, and I went on a hike in the mountains near Salt Lake City. Chris and I have been on this hike several times, but this was a first run for my parents and they loved it. I think that we picked the perfect day to go because there was a nice breeze and we almost had the trail all to ourselves for the entire trip. Gir had fun, there were lots of birds out and he tried to hunt them down. It was quite funny, but unfortunately for Gir, the birds foiled his every attempt to capture them. It was a nice hike though and everyone enjoyed it. Thanks Mom and Dad for coming with us, we had a blast!!

Caught!

2010-08-24T19:26:00.002-06:00

Chris caught me sleeping on our couch the other night (while he was trying to fix our new computer). I can't believe that I was able to sleep in that position! I must have been really tired. Doesn't Gir look cute!!! He really likes to cuddle when he's tired!

Back to School

2010-08-23T17:29:00.002-06:00

Today was Chris' first day back to school. The important thing about this back to school, is that it is the beginning of Chris' LAST YEAR OF SCHOOL (not that i'm excited or anything). The first day went well so far, and he had a meeting with a school councilor to discuss his possibilities of entering the grad program after he graduates next May. They seemed optimistic that he could be accepted in, but it's going to take a lot of hard work on Chris' part. I know that he can do it, and I'll try my best not to distract him while he is supposed to be studying and doing homework. I'm very proud of Chris and how well he has done at school in the past, and what he'll do in the future. We're in the home stretch!!

Model Man

2010-08-17T19:22:00.002-06:00

My older brother Brett, gave Chris a great surprise the other day. He came over and presented Chris with a beautiful red and silver Mustang model that Brett had made for Chris. Not only did he build the Mustang, but he built a garage with car posters and tool boxes to keep the car company. It turned out AMAZING!! I have to confess, I was totally in on the surprise. I picked out the colors and gave my opinion on the car in progress! Well Brett, Chris was extremely surprised and he LOVES IT!! Thanks your all of your hard work, it really paid off!

Thomas' Birthday Celebration

2010-08-13T21:20:00.001-06:00

This week, my brother Thomas was home on leave from the Air Force, so we decided to celebrate his birthday. Some of our family came over to my parent's house for cake, ice cream, and presents. He got a good array of presents from Converse to Kool Aid (oh yeah). He gave me, my cousin Amanda, and my cousin Liz a spin in his new Ford Mustang which was a lot of fun. We also watched a funny show called Top Gear (which my family loves) and we had some laughs. At the end of the night, we took some family pictures and the top picture is my favorite. Happy Birthday Thomas! You're awesome!!

Geo Cashing

2010-08-13T20:57:00.002-06:00

At the beginning of August, Chris took a man-cation (a manly vacation) to go jeeping with some of his buddies from a jeeping forum that he subscribes to. The jeeping trip was held in the Uinta Mountains and Chris said that it was absolutely beautiful. Apart from taking in the nature, Chris had fun driving the jeep around and camping under the stars. He had a lot of fun, but I was glad when he came home. I missed him!

Mt. Timpanogos

2010-07-31T13:42:00.003-06:00

So far, out of our four years of marriage, Chris and I have gone on a hike up to the Mt. Timpanogos caves (in American Fork, Utah) for three out of the four years. It is usually a hike filled with both pain (the hike is really, really steep) and awe (the caves themselves are worth the painful hike to visit). This year we were joined by my brother Brett and it was a blast!! We hiked up to the caves faster than I ever have in my life! We took almost no stops and it seemed like Brett was almost running up the steep incline. Once we endured to the end or top of the hike, we were so early that we had to wait over an hour for our appointed time to take our cave tour. I was really surprised to see how many families with very young children were attempting this hike, especially due to the steepness that is the climb up. The caves themselves are spectacular! I can't describe in words how beautiful the cave formations are, but I am always awed by them even though I have seen them many times. The hike down was fairly quick and we grabbed a bite to eat once we made it down to the bottom. Thanks for coming with us this year Brett! You made this trip really special!

P.S. If you ever go on this hike, here are some words of advice:

Go early in the morning

Try to go on an overcast day

Bring LOTS of water

Bring a sweatshirt for the caves, they get pretty cold

Denver Roadtrip

2010-07-26T20:43:00.003-06:00

So, a couple of months ago, my best friend and cousin Amanda and I decided that it would be awesome to have a girl's weekend out. We decided that it would be fun to go to Denver since it was close, we couldn't take too much time off of work, and neither of us had visited much of downtown Denver. To show that we were serious, we booked our hotel. That was a big step. So, now it's several months later and our epic road trip is over. We arrived in Denver on Friday and we walked around for a while before going out to dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. It was really good and we both left with souvenir glasses. While we were walking back to our hotel, a man stopped us and wondered if he could have our leftovers from our dinner (we were carrying a bag from the Hard Rock Cafe which had our souvenir glasses, not food) and we had to gently let him know that sorry, but we have no food. It was really weird. On Saturday, we toured Molly Brown's House (as in the Unsinkable Molly Brown) which was a really neat experience. We then went to the Denver Downtown Aquarium where we saw otters eat, a weird mermaid show, and a statue of Sponge Bob. That's right, Sponge Bob. After we left the Aquarium, we visited our Aunt Sylvia, Uncle Kevin, and Cousins Megan and Alex. When we went back to our hotel, we got a huge shock. We were waiting for an elevator and when one arrived out stepped about 5 Drag Queens in their full regalia. It was quite shocking! We were so stunned that all we could think to do was just say hi. It was awesome. On Sunday, we went to the Denver Art Museum where we saw a King Tut exhibit which was phenomenal. It was probably my favorite activity this whole weekend. When we were done, we went to a Butterfly Pavilion where we took many pictures of butterfly's and we got to hold a tarantula! It was really cool!! Afterwards, we had lunch and headed over to our cousin's Matt and Mindy's house where we visited for several hours (as well as playing the wii and watching some of Top Gear). Today, we had to face the reality that we would have to go back to work. Bummer. Our ride home was pretty uneventful accept for the two tornadoes that we saw and the piece of tire that bounced off the car and scared us pretty bad. Overall, this was an awesome road trip!! Thanks Amanda!!

Doughnut Falls

2010-07-17T15:22:00.003-06:00

This morning, Chris and I got up nice and early-ish for a hike up to Doughnut Falls (located in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah). We started the hike with the thought that it would take about 2 hours, yeah, it took us 20 minutes. We were a little started that we got to the falls so quickly, but we had fun climbing up around the falls and taking pictures when we got there. We also managed to get slightly lost on our way down and found an alternate path to get back down to the parking lot. Needless to say, we had a lot of fun (even if we got home far sooner than anticipated).

Desolation Trail

2010-07-05T17:40:00.003-06:00

Since Chris and I both had school and work off today, thanks to Independence Day, we decided that a hike was in order. We decided to hike up Mill Creek Canyon near Salt Lake City so that we could take Gir with us (due to the watershed in the canyons closer to our house, dogs aren't allowed up those canyons). It was a beautiful day for a hike, the weather was warm, not too hot, and had a nice breeze to cool us down. The trail is 4 miles long round trip, with a view of the Salt Lake valley at the end. Gir was such a good Adventure dog. We were able to take him off of his leash the entire hike and he stayed right by our side. In fact, he liked to hike in between Chris and I, and if I got too far behind (due to taking pictures and my slower pace) he would sit and wait for me to make sure that I was still behind him. Needless to say, it was super cute. It felt so good to be able to be outside and enjoying nature today and we were glad that hiking is something that we both enjoy and can do with Gir. All of us are now pretty tired from our adventure (even Gir was wiped out which does not happen very often). Hopefully, we will be able to go on some more hikes soon.

Independence Day

2010-07-05T09:28:00.004-06:00

This year we had an awesome Independence Day. We had a BBQ with family and friends and after the meal, many of the young-ins went downstairs and had a Wii-a-thon. It was a blast!! We really got into each of the games that we were playing and the hours flew by. At the end of the night, Chris and I got to light a sparkler which truly made it Independence Day. Thank you to everyone who made it such a wonderful night! I had a blast!

Sweet Surprise

2010-06-25T14:31:00.003-06:00

This week Chris and I were in for a wonderful surprise. We received a package and we were confused because neither of us had ordered anything online. When we got home and opened it, we were delighted to see that it was a package from our Michigan parents, David and Kathy, and that inside was POPCORN (one of my most favorite things in the world) and a Pirate deck of cards (Pirates are another thing that I absolutely love). We were pleasantly surprised by this great little package which really made our day (especially because it was the specialty Popcorn that is my favorite)! Thank you so much David and Kathy for that thoughtful gift we LOVED it!