Miller Family Year In Review

I love getting Christmas cards that include a review of each family member.  I thought it would be fun (for me) to look back on our blog and review our family's year.

January - We found out we were expecting again and were so excited!  By the end of the month the excitement had given way to a very sick mommy ;-)

February - We welcomed our sweet nephew Nathan into the world, and poor little Ollie got croup :(

March - We welcomed another adorable nephew, Ezra into the family.  We spent some time visiting San Francisco.  One of my besties Brendi visited.  My sister Letty came home from Ecuador and stayed with us for a few days.

April - We found out Ollie was going to have a brother...yay!!  We spent time in Lincoln & Newcastle with our families for Easter. My sister Chrissy and her kids visited from North Carolina. I went and saw Wicked with my mom and sister.  Jason participated in the Oceanside Half Ironman and we got to hang out with some of our favorite people, the Henrys.

May - We started our garden (I know exciting).  Ollie counted to ten.  Jason participated in the Tour de Lincoln 100k bike ride.  We rented an RV and headed to Lake San Antonio so Jason could participate in the Wildflower half Ironman triathlon.

June - We went camping at Mt. Madonna with our good friends the Nashs.  We flew out to Utah for Ezra's baby blessing.

July - We spent our 4th of July as a family watching the fireworks at the Shoreline amphitheater.  Ollie started sleeping in a big boy bed.  Ollie turned 2 years old and we celebrated with a Thomas the train cake in Napa Valley with most of our family.  The same day Jason completed his first full Ironman triathlon, he worked so hard and did awesome.

August - Jason and I had a romantic weekend in Grass Valley.  I threw a surprise 30th birthday party for Jason.  Jason and I decided at the last minute to go see Brian Regan, and LOVED it.

September - Our sweet little bundle of joy Max joined our family and we were instantly smitten!  Jenny and Ezra came to visit and meet Max.  We enjoyed Jason's time off work by going to the beach.

October - We blessed Max.  We went to Lincoln so I could attend my bestie Stacie's bridal shower.  Jason did the Warrior Dash.  We celebrated Halloween at the Nash's Halloween party and our wards trunk or treat by dressing up (Jason and I as Juno and Pauly Bleeker, Ollie as a monkey, and Max as a peapod).

November - Stacie got married!!  We had family pictures taken.  Jenny and Ezra visited again and we had tons of fun with them.  I turned 28, and Jason and I celebrated 7 years of marriage.  Jason's brother Mike came and spent a couple day playing with us, and we all drove to Lincoln/Newcastle to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families.

December - I started back to work.  I will be working every Monday and every other Wednesday, pretty much the perfect schedule for me.  I had my Relief Society Christmas dinner, which is my big thing as RS Activity leader.  Jason is very busy with work and will be doing some traveling next month for one of his projects.  Overall he is enjoying his job, and loves Apple.  Ollie went poo on the potty for the first time so potty training is probably in our near future.  He is talking like crazy and says the cutest/funniest things.  Max is getting close to sleeping through the night, but isn't quite there yet :-/.  He is the sweetest little guy and we can't get enough of him.  The rest of the month will be filled with the Nutcracker, work parties, Christmas with our families and a staycation in Walnut Creek with my extended family.

It has been a wonderful year for us.  We have two healthy, beautiful boys, who we love more than anything. We have wonderful friends and family that make our lives happy and fulfilling.  We thank our Heavenly Father each and every day for all of our blessings.  We look forward to celebrating Christs birth this season and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.  Apple gave everyone the whole week of Thanksgiving off which was SO nice.  Jason's favorite brother Mike flew in to San Jose on Monday, so the kids got to play with their Uncle Mike for a few days before we headed to the parents.  We had a really nice, relaxing time.  We love our families and friends.  We have so much to be thankful for.

The Flex fit 5 adults, 2 children in carseats, and all this luggage, not too shabby.                                                                    

Thanksgiving morning some of us played soccer.  It was so muddy, I fell a million times and realized I am not the soccer player I use to be.

Letty and Max

Dad with the bird.

My sister in law Ashley and Max.

Friday we watched the Boise State game, which was VERY intense.  We all cuddled on the couch, I thought it was fun but apparently Mike didn't.  

Oh man...matching jammies, nothing cuter.

Ollie is seriously the best big brother.  He is so sweet with Max.

Saturday we watched the BYU game with my grandparents.  My grandpa was so cute with Max.  As for the game, lets just say it was a depressing weekend of football.

Loving grandpa.

I got together with my best friends on Saturday night to play games, I will post pics as soon as I steal them from the people who actually took pictures that night.
Here it is:

I got to sit in the back row of the Flex with this little love muffin.  I took a few pictures of his cuteness.

What?  The vacation is over already?

Stacie's Wedding

A couple of weekends ago one of my very best friends Stacie got married in Sacramento.  Ollie, Max and I headed up there Friday morning.  Friday evening we (all Stacie's girlfriends) went out to dinner.  I picked Jason up from the train station afterward.  Saturday was a very busy but fun day.  We had our family pictures taken, which I will post when we get them.  I really hope we got some cute ones.  Stacie's wedding was that afternoon and her reception that evening.  It was a beautiful wedding and we are so happy for Stacie.  I have been so lame at taking pictures lately.  I stole all these from my friend Brendi.  I'll try to be better.

All the ladies at dinner.

Me, Stacie and Brendi.

Megan, Evelyn, me and Brendi

Haha...some totally random and not posed pictures Jason took.

Having a great time together.

Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses.

Waiting outside the temple for the bride and groom.

Stacie and Drew with all of Stacie's closest friends.

Our favorite things

The other day when Gin burst into song, "...these are a few of my favorite things" (apparently Oprah was doing a Sound of Music special on her show), it got me thinking what are some of my favorite things? Not my real favorites like family, triathlons, etc. but the more fickle things that I love, drum roll please....

# 1. Crock pot liners - Crock pot cooking is great, the only downside is trying to scrub food off the inside of the unwieldy thing, especially after its baked on for 8+ hours. Leave it up to Reynolds to save the day with crock pot liners. Just slip the liner over the crockpot then throw it away afterward, the only cleanup is washing the lid of the cockpot. These are #1 on the list for a reason, they would be a steal at twice the price.

#2: Automotive trash bags - Anyone who knows me also knows I am kind of a neat freak about my cars. So I went on a search to find the best car trash can. Unfortunately they have been discontinued by Thule but I scoured the internet to find the last 12 of these on the planet to give as gifts to all our family members. I love it because I no longer have to curse Gin for leaving wrappers, kleenex, papers, etc. in the car.

#3 Parchment Paper - You would think Reynolds was paying me because their parchment paper is another awesome invention. Throw it on cookie sheets and no PAM, no mess, and no need to wash the cookie sheet.

#4 The Presto Letter Opener - I know what your thinking, "really you are putting a letter opener as one of your favorite things?" If you own one you know what I'm talking about, if you don't and your related to us just wait until christmas and you might find one in your stocking.

#5 Bay Area Weather - I know the Bay Area/California has some serious issues, bankruptcy, high taxes, traffic jams, corrupt politicians and I won't even go into how I will never own a home in this area, but one of the many WONDERFUL things about it, is the weather.  From November to August it never disappoints.  And I know, we all love fall leaves, drinking hot chocolate in the winter, and blah, blah, blah... but I would take this weather over trudging through snow any day of the week.  So while you may not want to live here permanently, you are welcome to come visit :)

A weather forecast in the winter (November shown)

A weather forecast in the summer (August shown)

#6 Free HDTV - We aren't big TV watchers so we certainly aren't willing to spend $70+/month on TV. Turns that if you live with-in 80 miles of a major city you can get free HDTV by simply putting up an antenna. We only get the major channels (ABC,NBC,FOX,CW,etc) but combine an antenna with a Tivo DVR and we have what seems like unlimited viewing options, from Thomas the Train to ANTM.

HD Antenna

Plus Tivo

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Now for our least favorite things:

#1 Multilevel marketing - Seriously what is up with us Mormons and these scams? I think Utah is the capital of the world for this stuff. While in Provo and we were invited to try more exotic berry drinks, exclusive shopping opportunities, amazing supplements, and fuel additives than you could ever imagine. When it comes to drugs or multilevel marketing, I learned to just say no.

#2 Paying for Parking - I don't know what it is but I have a real problem paying for parking. I would rather walk 3 blocks than fork over 10 dollars for prime parking. I also don't get the notion of trolling around a parking lot for 10 minutes looking for the closest possible parking spot, do we really abhor walking that much?

#3 Traffic - Like I mentioned traffic in the bay area can suck during commute time. Jason hates traffic so much that we can't live more than 10 miles from his work so he can bike to work everyday. In fact I think sitting in traffic is the only thing that really upsets Jason, kind of random.

Halloween 2010

We have had lots of fun Halloween festivities this year.  It started last weekend when our friends threw a totally wicked (haha) halloween party.  It was fun to dress up, and to see all our friends dressed up.  We also watched the Giants game, which is a REALLY big deal here, obviously.  I found I really like watching baseball if I only watch the last inning and the World Series is at stake.  Since I took Ollie to my pumpkin patch at home where he got to go on the hayride and ride the train, we didn't bother taking him to the big pumpkin patch that we normally go to in this area.  Instead we took him to a little pumpkin patch near our house.  He of course had a blast running around and picking out a pumpkin.

It is nearly impossible to get a front view picture of this kid, especially at the pumpkin patch since he didn't stop running the whole time we were there.

Me and Max staying warm.

Ollie's pumpkin.

 This weekend Jason and some friends participated in the Warrior Dash in Casa de Frutas.  It was a 5k run that included obstacles along the way.  They had to climb over cars and haybales, scale cargo nets, go through a tunnel, slid down a big slip-n'-slide, jump over flaming logs and crawl through a huge mud pit.  They had a lot of fun doing it and I enjoyed watching with the kids.  I thought I would be too out of shape to do it , but now I'm wishing I would have done it too.  Oh well, next year.

Jason, Ben and Geoff nearing the finish line.

Amy crawling through the mud.  There is barbed wire across the mud so you have to get down and crawl to avoid it.  This is where I was parked and it was a good place to be.  Very entertaining.  

After the race.

After being hosed off.

Our friends Austin and Ashley also did the race (in fact Austin is the one who told us about it).  They actually dove into the mud, hence the mud all over their hair.  

 Our cute little warriors.

I put the following picture up on facebook, but here it is again.  Jason and I were Juno and Bleeker for halloween.  Jason won Creepiest costume at our church party.  I guess most people don't enjoy seeing Jason in short shorts as much as I do...haha.

 Saturday night we headed to our church for a trunk-or-treat, where people decorate their trunks and hand out candy.  It was a lot of fun.

Max as a peapod, 6 weeks old.  The costume was like a sleeping bag, he was so comfy.

This is Ollie as a peapod his first halloween.  He was  3 months old. 

Ollie got his face painted.  I was surprised at how well he sat for it.

Ollie was the cutest monkey you have ever seen.  He kept trying to take the banana out of his pocket but it was sewn in.  He loved getting candy, of course, but we were surprised that every time he had the option he chose milkduds.  What a funny boy.