"There never was a child so lovely, but his mother was glad to get him asleep."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good-Bye

GOOD-BYE to Saturdays hoeing weeds in the garden.

We sure enjoyed the harvest of our labors, but sometimes it felt like A LOT of labor. But, as a parent, I was grateful for the chance to have the kids learn a good work ethic! Of course, with all the work there was lots of fun in the mud . . .

GOOD-BYE to all the kids home.

There are some things I miss when Steven goes back to school. BUT the teasing, yelling, and DO NOT ENTER signs on the door are not one of them.

GOOD-BYE to lots of hours and days working on the van.

(wishing this was a final farewell, but I'm not so sure.)

GOOD-BYE to a fun stop at Arches National Park on our way to Utah.

My dad came down and helped me make the long drive . . . he and Cory have a much different road trip philosophy.

Cory starts and doesn't stop until we reach our destination.

My dad likes to 'stop and smell the roses.'

So, we stopped . . . . and had authentic Navajo tacos on the reservation (my dad served a mission on the Navajo reservation--good memories!) and then spent the night in Moab and did Arches the next day. We had so much fun, we decided we need bring the four-wheelers and come back with the whole family!

GOOD-BYE Bear Lake

Our annual trek to Bear Lake did not disappoint. Always lots of fun--the lake, the food, family and cousins, games, etc. The only negative is Sabrina has woken up at night a few times scared of the "Bear Lake Monster!"

GOOD-BYE summer concert.

For my dad's birthday, my brother, Dave, got tickets for everyone to see Chicago in concert! It was an outdoor concert at Red Butte Garden in Salt Lake City.

We had a BLAST (no kids) . . . we sang (i only knew the 80's stuff), we danced, we yelled. And it was fun to be spend time with my siblings again . . . I miss that. My favorite song was, "Look Away," I added it to my playlist for your listening enjoyment--you know you love it, too!!

GOOD-BYE facial hair.

Cory missed our trip to Utah (Last year of Ph.D.=no playtime). But he flew out to drive us home . . . and surprised us with a beard. Jackson definitely didn't like the mountain man look, so it came off. Thanks Kevin!
Wait . . . who's taller? Cory's pride took a bit of a hit when we noticed Kevin, my 16 year-old brother, had out-grown him!

GOOD-BYE beautiful mountains.

I love the Utah mountains. Whenever I see them I feel like I am home. So, our day in the canyon was the perfect end to our trip. It also helped that Cory was finally there--I love that boy.

Good-bye summer . . . . .

If you were at our house long enough you would probably notice phrases that are repeated quite often. Things like,

"Chew with your mouth closed."
"Don't hit the wall." (We live in a duplex)
"Stop teasing."
"Put your seatbelt on."
"No biting."
"Say 'you're sorry.' "
"Eat all the food on your plate."
"Go back to bed."
"No punching,"
"Say 'you're sorry.' "

and, because we have a 15-month-old, you would hear quite often, "shut the bathroom door."

Or in many cases, "Who didn't shut the bathroom door?"

and in horrible cases, "Who didn't flush the toilet?" (I will let you imagine what that means.)

Well, tonight I heard, "Mom! Jackson is in the bathtub!"

This troubled me for two reasons. First, the child who made the declaration was suppose to be in the bath (I put her there myself), instead of standing in front of me. Second, because 30 minutes earlier Jackson had been bathed, lotioned, and dressed in PJ's. I had sighed in contentment. Cory was gone (to see a movie with friends) and I was on my own for the bedtime routine. But I had a plan and if things worked out right the kids would be in bed on-time and I would have some much anticipated alone time.

So, after investigating I found this:


Which led me to ask, "Who didn't shut the bathroom door?"

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I think if I could live my life over again I would choose the life I have now . . . wife, mom (x4), etc., etc.

But sometimes I wonder . . . what would be like to have a totally different life? If I could try out different lives, I would definitely try being an astronaut. Couldn't you just imagine being in space and looking down at the earth? I would love a picture in my space suit with me holding the helmet thing before blast off. Or going on a space walk . . . walking on the moon . . . squirting my juice in the air and slurping up the floating liquid . . . yep, I would like to be an astronaut.

Maybe in heaven I can get assigned to some kind of space job.

Happy 40th anniversary of the first man on the moon!

a wedding and a luau

Well . . . we hit the road for the first time this summer! Part of our travels included a wedding and outfitting our family of six for the different occasions is no small task . . . I knew things would go much smoother if I had all of the ironing taken care of before we left, but how would I keep it from getting wrinkled in the car??? Cory came up with this ingenious solution to my dilemma . . . .

Aren't they AWESOME??? We put them together late the night before we left with some screws and wood stakes. We didn't even have a saw to cut the stakes with, but Cory (ever prepared), pulled out his Leatherman! They are my very very favorite. Aren't all you minivan moms just drooling with jealousy!?


"First came love, then came marriage . . . " My little sister Holly is married! She and Chris were married in the Salt Lake City temple. We are so happy for them and wish them lots of happiness . . . love you guys!

Abigail playing at the temple with her cousin, Brianna.

The morning after the wedding my mom put together a tea party for the girls in the back yard. Chelsea (my little sister), Abigail, and Sabrina wore their cute dresses from the wedding . . . even grandma dressed the part . . . we had lots of fun trying out our best manners and ladylike conversations!

We ate with very sweet and small tea sets . . . Chelsea had so many refills on the punch we named it "cherry cordial" in honor of Diana and Anne's tea party in Anne of Green Gables!

Cherries picked from the cherry tree in the yard . . . not quite ripe, but they were too pretty not to include on our table.

After the tea party, it was up to Idaho for a Luau in honor of Grandpa Mills. He turned 65 years old and we had a great time celebrating how much we love him! Our luau was full of food, games and lots of fun.

Uncle Wayne, Dad Mills, and Uncle Gordon

Aunt Judy, Mom Mills, Grandma Mills

All the couples competed in a three-legged race. We had lots of fun and I am proud to announce that Cory and I actually won . . . surprise, surprise!

Potato sack races

Jeremy and Cory

After all the fun it was time to start the LONG trek back to Texas . . . minus a few moments of desperation the kids did great in the car--thank goodness for portable DVD players!

Turn the camera on Cory and the flexing begins (just kidding, sweetie!). Cory is great at keeping us smiling when the hours keep dragging on.

Steven has muscles too . . . can't you tell?!

let the games begin

Our official summer kick off . . . face painting!!! Steven came home from school today at noon and just a few short hours later we already had swimsuits on, popsicles eaten, faces painted, and lists written of all the adventures planned for the next few months. Really face painting was the last thing I would have wanted to do today, but Steven insisted it was going to be really cool . . .

Steven painted Double T's (it's a Texas Tech thing) on the other side!

leaving kindergarten . . .

Today was the last official day of kindergarten for Steven. It was a big milestone (probably more for me than for him) and he loved it. So, here is my very tender hearted (though still crazy) Steven with his first teacher, Mrs. Mendoza.

stuck

Automaker debate

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

An interesting debate . . . . we live in America, right--how can the government own 70% of GM!? It seems like we (the American taxpayers) are throwing A LOT of money away that we will never get back . . . of course we are told we have no choice, but we do have a choice--these companies can and should deal with their own problems, without Uncle Sam making choices for them. I can already hear Cory telling me not to get upset about things I can't control . . .

Jackson's First Birthday

Our little Jackson turned one! We had spaghetti (a favorite of every 1 year old) for dinner. I planned on making a cute cake, but I realized while I was trying to remove the cake from the pan that I had forgotten to grease it . . . . so the cake stayed in the pan. But, of course, Jackson didn't know that his mom failed at her Martha Stewart attempts and he loved it anyway. Jackson is so sweet--we are really lucky to have him in our family. Happy first birthday, baby!