SLEEPING WITH THE GUY NEXT TO YOU

When Ry and I first got married, I didn't sleep for a month or more. Get your minds out of the gutter...he was sleeping, I just couldn't get used to sharing a bed. He would make noises, or take the covers, or even just him rolling over would wake me up. Over the years I have become used to it all and just sleep through the night. In fact, I sleep better when he is there. On nights when he is out of town or contracts the Granny/Nana disease (falling asleep on the couch in front of the TV) I don't sleep as soundly. There are the occasional nights when he grinds his teeth and I wake up enough to put my hand on his jaw and he stops. There are even times when he is congested and he snores a bit, or does the Janet "ppp" sound, but generally I just sleep through it all. Then about two weeks ago I notice something new and different. He is humming in his sleep! It's not a lullaby or even a Christmas song. It's a tune I don't know, but he hums! I'm stunned. Where did this come from? I'm supposed to be the musical one! Oh well...here's hoping he'll make up a tune we can make money off.

Warm weather, good food, and family! How lucky are we?

We love Thanksgiving in the warm weather!

Even though there was some barfing (this is not a picture of it) the kids had SOOOOO much fun with their cousins! I love this picture!
What would a family gathering be without one of Amber's plays? She got a bunch of the kids to act out the Thanksgiving story- here she is as narrator and turkey while the Indians and Pilgrims enjoy the feast!

Queen of the Stuffing!!! I loved the stuffing contest- not as much as Steve did though- because we got not one, but two kids of stuffing to eat! They were both excellent, but Janet won by a slim margin. I think she loved wearing the crown and looked quite smashing of course!

This was one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving...after dinner Aunt Peri (or as we lovingly call her- Auntie Poo-poo) got a bunch of the kids around the pool and they did the hokey pokey putting various body parts in the pool- "you put your tongue in, you put your tongue out :)!

Cute cousins...Marin, Brookie and Logan! Marin seems to fit in better coloring wise with these two- how cute are they?

Hail the Cougars!



I just have to be the first of the family to post something about the BYU v. Utah game! Winning in the last 3 seconds! Unbelievable. It was sooooooooooooo exciting!!!! I'm thrilled we won and can't believe how great the ending was and against the yucky Utes. This makes Thanksgiving weekend even better- family, great food, perfect weather and a WIN. And that's when I knowed the church was true :)...just kidding of course, but it was great!

The Pressure to Post!

I'm feeling the pressure to write and update something...but what to say? School is good. Football is over! Actually Justin was voted by his teammates to play in an All- Star game in December, but that's two weeks away... I stayed up at my friend, Joy's house til 1:30 am scrapbooking last night. It was great fun and I'm actually almost up to date with Ben! I just have the summer to scrap still and then his stuff will be completely caught up! Amazing! Yeah me! (that's for all you Suite life of Zack and Cody watchers) Amber is caught up on her book since she often comes with me and does her own. Of course, I am about four years behind on Marin and Justin, so that will be the next project. Now if only I could get excited about Christmas shopping. I actaully bought two things. That's it though and I am so NOT motivated to get anything for my kids who don't play with all the crap they already have! Zero Ideas for Ryan..Any help would be appreciated! There's the end of my lame post for today :)

Scary! Of course he couldn't use the mask as we walked around at night because the plastic over the eye area was blurry and tinted! oh well!







Pretty as a Princess!






May the Force be with you!







Look at psycho Ben...This is what happens when you eat half your candy as you go from house to house trick or treating!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Belle, Mr. Fireman, Stormtrooper #1 and Princess Leia would like to wish you all Happy Halloween. We had a great time at the trunk or treat. This picture was taken there. It's funny because we always use small buckets to collect candy and once the bucket is full they always come back and want to spend the rest of the evening handing out candy instead of getting more for themselves.

I'll have to post a few more pictures when I get a minute. We got to trick or treat at our house too and then made our annual trip to see Grandma ans Papa. We then went around their neighborhood too for a while. We even got Ryan to come with us for 20 minutes! He doesn't do trick or treating for some reason. He always stays home and hands out candy and doesn't want to join in the fun. Amber didn't make it to Grandma's house this year because she was invited to go trick or treat with her friends from 5th grade. They had a great time and got way too much candy. How grown up is she?

The Musical Production

I haven't written about hte show because I was so busy and wiped out afterwards that I didn't get a chance to post anything. So here is the rundown...It was AWESOME!!! The whole show ended up being so much better than I thought it would be. Almost every number exceeded my expectations and some seriously blew me away!

I'm too tired to figure out how to show you all these pics so you can go to http://photobucket.com and use the name Broadwayreview and the password beltit to see a ton of pics from the show- mostly dress rehearsals. Or if you want I will email anyone who responds a few of Amber and me so you don't have to look through all the other ones.

Anyway, I was so proud of Amber. She was great! She even got to wear a head mic and had a whole bunch of solos in "It's a Hard Knock Life". She is a natural on stage and looked so confident and like she was having so much fun up there. We got to stand together for the last song "Seasons of Love" and I had a few people tell me that we looked the same on stage- our facial expressions, how we sang to the audience, etc. That makes me laugh...I always feel a little slighted that my kids look so much like their dad- and Justin is his clone in almost every way. It's nice to know my genes weren't totally ignored!

The best thing for me about this show was that I got to perform. I love to choreograph and create things for others, but more than anything I LOVE being on stage. It was so fun to dance and sing! I got to be in a silly song from Funny Girl, an awesome tap number from Throughly Modern Millie, and a hard jazz dance number from Chicago. I have to say I was rather intimidated to learn the Chicago number because it was FAST and difficult and I am out of the practice of learning other people's choreography. I had to practice it a lot, but it was so fun to perfom. We had a whole bunch of friends who came to different shows to see us. One of Amber's friends, Jerrod, was stunned as he said to me, "Mrs. Miller you did cartwheels on stage!". Daniel said my new "Indian name" should be "Dances with Smile". I had quite few people at church tell say to me, "I didn't know you could move like that!" I think Laura, who is of course biased, but I'll take it- said that I out danced the high school girls with whom I performed. Yeah!

Anyway, we had a great time performing. The songs from Little Women and Wicked brought the house down. The youth were adorable in Telephone Hour and the Grease songs. Stuff from Hairspray was hysterical and the men ROCKED! The Primary kids- I am partial to Amber of course- were so cute. In spite of the, shall we say "creative differences" I had with the director, it ended up being a great show and while I am happy to have more free time, I wish I could dance those numbers a few more shows!

One of those weeks....

Ever have one of those weeks where people are very critical of you and you being to question your talents? I have one of those weeks. I chose not to spew back ugliness toward the person, but haven't felt very nice toward her either. It's made me question myself a lot and even though I have lots of other people telling me how good I am I've spent most of the week questioning and second guessing myself. Why do we do that? Why is it that negative comments have so much more effect than positive ones? My friend, Heather, has been trying to find the positive in her boys and mention it more often- something I think I need to do as well with my kids. I try to, but there are days that seem more negative than others...Jennifer once told me she was trying not to yell at her kids before school anymore. She posed the question- "how would your day go if the first hour of it someone was yelling at you?" I need to to better at that too, espeically when we are late. The Bill Cosby approach seems to work better than yelling- I make a joke out of everything- or a funny voice- of course that requires more energy and creativity on my part. So I guess my lesson for the week has been to be more positive and complimentary to others because that is what I like to hear as well. No one likes to be told they aren't good, or their stuff is stupid. In any case, these are my thoughts and ramblings of the week.

Not much news as Ryan is SUPER busy working to get stuff turned in on the Oct 15th deadline- he's been at the office til 3am twice this week already. Justin's bruised up one side and down the other since his offensive line apparantly forgot how to block in last week's game. Amber is dying to have her own blog- I'm thinking on that one. One of the kindergarten teachers said she thought that Marin had grown even since school started- she's going to be tall early like I was. Ben (I wish I had had vidoe camera) was following one of the teachers at the dance studio this week in the window and was doing his hip hop routine- it was the funniest and cutest thing I've seen in a long time! Amber and I are busy getting ready and rehearsing for our huge stake musical- it's next week. That's the update from still sunny and beautiful as ever California.

Flashback!!!!! I found some rolls of film and didn't know what they were so I developed them and here are a few othe fun pictures....These first two were taken in Florida when we took all the kids to see Nana and Grandad when they were on their mission in Haiti. They had a conference in Florida so we came to see them for a few days. The first is Amber and half of Annie face, with Justin on the floor and Spencer with the soother in his mouth. The next is Amber (always ready for a pose) with her Nana.


You probably think you're looking at Benjamin now, but it's Justin...how did that happen? These next two are in Kaui (early spring 2000). How did Amber morph into the grown up pre-teen she is now from this? It doesn't seem that long ago...

Aren't these cousins just too adorable? It's Justin, Amber and Spencer in the playpen. I miss that!!!! (Not the playpen, but them being together all the time.) In these pictures they are a little younger than Marin and Ben are now. Wow!

I'M GETTING OLD!!!

Okay so I'm not that old, but I'm felling it. I had to dye my hair this weekend because my kids were starting to comment on all the grey/white hair. Then I start noticing that the wrinkles in my forehead and nose are getting really deep- maybe I'm going to have to go back to bangs....and the biggest "old factor" of all is that I've been taking an adult ballet class once a week for the last few eeks. Now I teach two classes every Wed morning and have taught for 10 years almost, and I am in the middle of choreographing a show, so one would think that this shouldn't be so hard. My class is on Monday mornings and every Tuesday I wake up and can hardly move! I'm dying here. I have a friend teaching yoga on Tuesday mornings and she keeps asking me to come to her class- I can't- I can't move!!! I had to use my hands to lift my legs to get into my car last week. I just got home an hour ago and I can already tell I'm going to be really sore tomorrow. Getting older sucks! Anyone found the fountain of youth yet?

Sisters

Two of my sisters recently told me that they keep checking my space and there hasn't been anything new in a while....so here is a tribute to them and those I love.

I love all my sisters! I started with just one- Laura. Now those of you who know her know that she is about he best sister anyone could ever have so why would I need more? I have to admit that I did not always feel this way about her :( . This may be a bit of hope for those who have children who spend more time fighting than loving each other...but I eventually came to my senses and Laura is not only a great sister, but a great friend! I'm lucky to have her. And now she lives closer!!!! YEAH for me!

I then married into three more sisters! I have to admit I was a little intimidated to marry into a family with such amazing women. Marilee is so fun and organized. She is a very loyal friend and a great mom to my double neice and nephews. Heather has always been easy for me to talk to about anything. She has a way of making me think about things without making me feel dumb. She's always there to help me out- like setting up this blog in the first place since I am technology challenged! Julie is playful and fun-loving. I love her sense of humor about life and her excitement for life. Why would I need any more sisters?

One of my sisters married into my family. Jill is my newest sister and she is fun, loves to laugh and makes my brother, Daniel, happy - which I love. There is so much more to learn about her and I can't wait to make more memories to cherish together.

I met Jennifer Izu because I was asked to visit teach her and her husband was our home teacher. One of our first couple dates was to see Sinbad perform at the Orange County Fair. We all laughed so hard and had such a fun time together I knew right away they were the kind of people I wanted to hang out with. Jen has fed our family, taken care of my kids, listened to me for hours on end and is one of the most wonderful people I know. She is talented, beautiful and truly Christlike in the way she cares about others. Plus, she always thinks I look beautiful no matter what I wear.

I met Joy and Heather because of school and sports. I love being with both of them for different reasons. Joy is full of energy and life. She helps me keep up on my scrapbooking, has a great sense of humor and calls it like it is. I love that she has crazy nicknames for all her kids and is practical without being negative. She keeps me animated and laughing. Heather is gorgeous and makes me want to look a little more hip ( she's now rolling her eyes and saying yeah right to herself which is another reason I love her). She is beautiful, smart and so capable and she doesn't think she's "all that"- but she is! She is a great listener and a loyal friend. She is thoughtful and another great sister.

I love having sisters! Some were chosen for me and some were chosen by me, but all of them are special. They are beautiful, great moms, amazing women and I am so blessed to have them in my life! These are just a few of their great qualities- to list them all would take too long and Marin wants to play on the computer! I asked earlier why would I need so many sisters and the answer is, the Lord knows I need all the love, help and support I can get so He blessed me with each one. I don't know what I would do without sisters- and thanks to all of you fabulous sisters I never have to find out!!!!

Justin's Football Picture

Ryan posted the following picture. but didn't sufficiently brag about the boy in the picture. He had a AWESOME first game this last Saturday. The announcer must have said his name almost every other play. He played quarterback, fullback and linebacker. He ran, passed and even recovered an onside kick for the first play of the game. He scored an extra point and rushed for 81 yards on 15 carries! He had tons of tackles and got credit for a safety. Holy cow! He hurt is neck on one tackle and came off the field for a play or two and the other team moved the ball while he was off the field. Anyway, we won 15-12 and had a lot of fun in the big high school stadium. The boys seemed to think- and the parents for that matter- that all the hard work this summer had paid off- Football is fun!

Mother Amber

I have to tell a cute thing about Amber. After school on her first day she went to Justin's new teacher and then Marin's new teacher to check on how they did their first day. She has had both of their teachers in previous years and felt the need to check and make sure all was well. Justin's teacher said that Justin seemed like a very nice boy, so he must be a nice brother- Amber said, "not at home!". Anyway, it was so cute after school when I picked her up and she said that she had talked with both their teachers and received a positive report on each which she then passed onto me in case I needed to know. What a little mommy!

Bittersweet

The first day of school- Sept. 7th! The first day was truly bittersweet for me this year. We have had so much fun this summer playing together. I was sad to see our fun come to an end. I wanted more beach days and time to go to the movies. I wanted to go to San Diego, to ice skate more, to hang out. I feel like we didn't swim in the pool enough and definitely didn't do enough yard work! It will be good to get into a routine again and to be more organized, but I have truly loved being less organized for a while. The kids are excited for school and were driving each other crazy the last few days, so I guess I'll have just have fond memories of a great summer together.

Happy 5th Birthday Marin!
We had a fun pool party. There was lots of swimming, some trampoline jumping, a castle shaped pinata and cakes decorated like water with fish swimming. Lots of friends were out of town, so the party was small, but we had a great time!

On a side note, the bikini swim suit has been quite the issue at our house. A few weeks ago we went to Palm Desert for three days. Marin had packed her own bag- and had done a great job- excpet that she forgot a swimsuit! As the weather was 109 degrees we were planning on being in the pool a lot! While the family went to the pool, Marin and I jumped in the car and went to Walmart to find a swimsuit. This was the only one left in the store! There were a few left for babies- 12- 18 months and that was it! We searched and searched and finally bought this one. How much sense does it make to not have swimsuits in your store in August in Plam Springs? I asked the cash register lady and she said "They are seasonal." Were you born yesterday? Swimming is in season ALL YEAR in Palm Springs. What happens to the people who come in the winter to get away from the cold where they live? duh? Anyway, I digress...I was taught that two piece swimsuits were against our church standards and I have never had one nor let my daughters have one. I wasn't going to let Marin sit and watch us swim for our vacation, so I bought it. Justin went nuts! He wanted her to sit and watch us swim- that was better than wearing a two piece in his mind. Amber heard the story of Walmart and shrugged her shoulders- she had to have a swimsuit. And Marin thinks she's a hottie! She actaully is, but I told her she could only wear it in our own pool. Since her birthday party was in our own pool, she decided she could wear it much to the chagrin of her brother- and mother since she's in her swimsiut for all her birthday pictures. Oh well! It was a fun party!

My cutie pie Marin! She is starting kindergarten this week. She is so tall and beautiful. She is a true "helper". She loves to please people, especially mommy. She has a great imagination and is a beautiful dancer already. Lately i have been impressed with her at ice skating lessons. She wanted to take lessons like Amber. I put her in the wrong class twice! And finally found the right level for her age and experience- which is none! She goes out there every week and falls tons. It's very suprising to me because she is so coordinated at dance. Anyway, she has had a few bad falls and she just gets up and tries again. Most kids cry and go off the ice. She is one tough cookie and just keeps trying. Last week her skates- the rental ones- were crap and she had no support in her ankles. She fell and fell. Afterwards it was free skate time, so we got her a new pair of skates and she went out there again with Amber. AMber helped her a little and then she went herslef while Ben and I watched from the side. She skated and skated and fell more than once, but kept going, and we finally had to pull her off the ice so we could go home and get to bed. What a tough, cute, fun, beautiful girl I have!

Like Father Like Son

This picture is actaully from LAST fall, but as it is now football season again, I had to post something. In June or July, before I had a blog, Marilee posted a picture of Justin in his catchers gear. In her blog she wrote about how much Justin is like his dad. (see Adam and Marilee's link to look up the pic and blog). I often say that except for his eyes, Justin is his father in everyway- he does have quite a bit of knowledge about Broadway musicals and political science which is his mother's doing. In any case, he is his father's son so to speak. In college we lovingly called Ryan "nerd boy" due to his study habits and grades. Justin is following in that tradition as well. Our football league tries to stress academics as well as football and they hand out patches that get sewn onto the boys' jerseys that say "scholar athlete" for those with good grades. Our president, Mike Filia, likes to say that as you run someone over you can smile and referring to your patch say I'm not only stronger than you but smarter too! I don't know if I'd recommend saying that to anyone when we are playing in Compton, Inglewood or Long Beach! Anyway, Justin has earned this patch each year he has played because of his grades. Mike also picks one or two players (and/or cheerleaders- Amber got it last year) to receive a speical award as the scholar athlete of the team. Justin just received this honor for the third straight year! He will receive a plaque and special recognition at the end of the season and was praised by President Mike in front of the team this week when it was announced. He works so hard on and off the field. I'm proud of him.

Growing...Growing...Growing!

As school approaches we keep running into people we haven't seen much this summer. Each time, someone comments on how big my kids are getting. Yesterday we decided to measure for ourselves. Last time Ryan measured all the kids was three months ago- we have a wall in the garage where we mark their growth. One by one the kids backed up against the wall for Dad to measure. The results?! Amber grew 1/2 inch, Justin and Marin each grew an inch and Benjamin has grown 1 1/2 inches- all in just three months! I knew they were getting tall- especially Benjamin- since none of their pants fit anymore, but this is getting crazy. Justin is catching up to Amber. Amber is now 4'9", Justin is 4'8", Marin is 3'11" and Ben is now 3'4". I guess I shouldn't be suprised as we are tall people in this house- it just seems like they are getting so big which means grown- up and old too!

Ode to the Beach

I was at the beach yesterday with my kids and sister and I decided I LOVE the beach! I love the cool breezes. I love listening to and watching the waves. I could do that for hours! I love making sand castles with Amber, digging huge holes for Ben and Marin to sit in and burying people in the sand (especially Julie!). I love playing in the waves with Justin- even when the water is cold like it has been most of the summer. I love sitting and eating chips, fruit and sandwiches. I love how much fun my children have and how tired they are on the way home and the rest of the day. I even love the sand between my toes- not necessarily in my bathing suit. I love looking for seashells and digging for sand crabs. I could go everyday and it would be heavenly. I love summers at the beach!!!

Girly Day

I had write about the fun I had with my cute girls last week. My friend Heather (the best!) had Justin and Benjamin over to play for a few hours and I had the girls all to myself with out anyone to tease them- except me of course! I decided they both needed good haircuts before school starts so I told them we were going to do that. They both protested as only kids can do in the back of the car- why does it always sound louder and whinier in the car? Anyway, I prommised them slurpees if they got haircuts without complaints. My kids will do almost anything for a slurpee. Off we went to the hirdressers. We had to wait about a 1/2 hour so we told them we'd be back and went next door to the nail salon and had manicures, etc. Marin and Amber ended up with fun nails with flowers even on top. Then we headed to get haircuts- mostly just a trim- and ofterward I had the most adorable girls who kept wiggling their fingers and flipping their hair. On our way to get slurpees, Amber said, "Mom, we need to do girl stuff more often. Next time I think I'll get a pedicure." How fun to have girls to play with!

Side note- I finally got a hold of someone to fix my camera and I'm supposed to have mine repaired or a whole new one in 3 weeks! I wish I could have taken a pic of my pretty girls!

We're back!!!!!!!!!!!

Really my blog disappeared into no man's land for some unknown reason- maybe it's being read by aliens....so I'm trying again. Let me know if you can get this one open from the links on your pages. It should still be millersixpack.blogspot.com. Also, if anyone can figureout how to recover my lost blog I'd love to know. Have a happy Wednesday.