Merry Christmas!

We hope all of you had a Christmas full of fun with your loved ones around you while you celebrated and remembered the birth of our Savior this year. We started our morning by bringing our kids in bed with us after they woke up, to have a quick reminder about the reason for Christmas while enjoying their snuggles. The best.

This is what our tree looked like right after Santa left last night:

Before heading down to the tree, we made a stop at the stockings.

Teslyn is checking out her new binkies and zhu zhu pet.

Keeping with Miller tradition, there had to be more balloons than presents! And of course Tes loved those the best.

Owen did most of the unwrapping, but Teslyn had fun helping.

These kids were spoiled and had so much fun. It was definitely a memorable Christmas to be at home as a family. We all loved it. And we are blessed to have Nick's two sisters and their family close by to spend Christmas dinner with. It was perfect!

And I had to attempt to take a family picture in our Christmas apparel last Sunday before church. Nick has the patience for one shot, so this is the one I got with the self-timer. Seriously, he can be worse than the kids. Good thing I like him.

Owen's preschool had a cute little Christmas program yesterday. They sang a few songs they've learned including a couple holiday ones.

My little singer.

They even did a spotlight on Hanukkah and Kwanzaa to show their diversity and teach the children some culture.

At the end, all the parents were gathering the kids in groups for some cute pictures. This was my attempt to get Owen to join them:

Don't get me wrong, he really likes them and enjoys being there, he just has a very strong dislike for attention and group pictures lately. He's always been just a little shy though. I worried about it for a little bit, but he gets along well and plays great with kids in small groups. I guess he's just like his parents in that way. I showed him the grumpy picture on the camera, and guilted him into a group picture with some buddies that were already "posing." Nice, huh. Parents and their needs are so funny.

Then he tried and gave a half-sincere smile here.

While we were waiting for the program to start, Teslyn and I played in the park outside the building. She loves to swing!

Notice all the leaves on the ground? I guess I forgot that fall doesn't come to Las Vegas until December.

And on a sad side note, Owen got a nasty case of the hives last week. We have no clue what set him off or what he may be allergic to. It's the first time he's had a rash like this. It was bad and he was itchy. This was the morning of his preschool pajama popcorn/Christmas movie party that he absolutely did not want to miss, so I took him to the doctor first thing in the morning for a dr's note to get him in class.

Poor sad guy. He went to the party and enjoyed it though. The next day he wasn't as red, but his hands, feet and lips were swollen. That was a little scary, but by the day after that, you could hardly tell. It was just a 3-4 day ordeal, luckily. Hopefully never again!

My ode to Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving was not forgotten in my home, like it has been in all the stores. I was so frustrated to go shopping after Halloween and not be able to find any cute Thanksgiving decor, if any at all. But I did find a cool Native American Indian to stand next to my pilgrim.

Besides the work that goes in to all the planning, prepping and cooking of the feast, I made a point to reflect on my life and all the many things we have to be grateful for. I really do feel so blessed to be where I am in this point of my life. My husband, our children, family, health, home and things to keep us comfortable are just a few of the many. I am also so thankful to my Savior and Heavenly Father who I know is always looking out for us.

We headed up to Utah to hang out at my parents house for Thanksgiving. Nick and I were so busy cooking, we didn't take any pictures of that day or the feast! I really wish we did. It was delicious. I even ran a 5k in like 7 degrees that morning. I tagged along with my older brother and his high school buddies who ran the 10k. It was actually pretty fun and went well, besides the fact that I am not used to the frigid Utah air. I felt like I was gasping for air to catch my breath the entire time. It was the Human Race to benefit the Utah Food Bank. There were 3,000 registrants (not all showed up) and they made over $40,000! Glad to help out.

That weekend was extremely cold, but we decided to venture to Temple Square in Salt Lake City to see all the lights. It's been a few years since we have, I am not not even sure if we have taken Owen before. We bundled up the best we could.

Above with my parents, and below, with my sweetheart! Being there in the cold winter reminded me of our wedding day in that temple, almost 7 years ago. It's getting close!

It was a nice weekend. Today out of the blue Owen told me that when Teslyn is 4 years old, we will be living in a new house. Then he asked if our new house can be close to grandmas house, because he likes it there. I told him we can try. What a cutie pie.

We were expecting to drive home through some snow, but not a storm of this magnitude. There were a few times I feared for our lives. Especially when the brilliant driver of a mustang in front of us tried to change lanes and started fish-tailing as soon as it hit the pile of snow between the lanes. It swung back and forth several times, the last felt like inches from my door. I do have to commend him for getting his car under control and driving on. Many didn't. They were EVERYWHERE on the sides of the highway. After that, I held my breath and almost had an aneurysm each time Nick changed lanes.

A big slow down was this semi accident that closed the freeway. We were routed onto the frontage road which took us 10 mph for like an hour.

A normally 6 hour drive turned in to 8, but I really can't complain. I have heard of a lot of people around here that took much longer to get home as the day went on. And the kids napped and watched movies the entire time.

Teslyn has grown in to such a little busy body. She has always loved pushing things around the house. This past week she has finally mastered walking!! And just a few weeks before Owen did as a baby. She's 13.5 months. I love savoring these baby moments. They won't last long. I find myself spending a lot of valuable time just sitting and watching her be. Loving the way she moves and the things she finds interesting. I remind myself that it is not wasted time. And I love it. Even if dishes and laundry are always on the back of my mind, trying to make me feel guilty.

Oh, ignore the first few seconds of my talented recording abilities. Why did I think it was a good idea to hold the camera vertical? No clue.

Yay for family pictures!! My sweet cousin Marsha lives here in town and is a great photographer. We finally got to meet up with her for some pictures. We headed up to Spring Mountain Ranch, and it was a COLD morning! And it was SOOO hard to get both kids looking good at the same time, especially Owen. Here are some of my favorites:

I have finally gotten around to painting my bedroom! We had painted almost our whole house within the first few months of moving in, but by the time I got to my bedroom I was a little burned-out. So I took a break. For like 2 years. Then I got so sick of looking at the dirty white walls, I decided it was time to paint. It took almost a month, from putting the tape on, to taking it off. Why so long? I think I was still burned-out from painting. (And a baby makes everything take longer)

Last weekend I ran my first half marathon! I am so glad my sister-in-laws decided to do one. It got me motivated to train and make it happen. It was the Snow Canyon Half Marathon outside St. George. It was an awesome run. Mostly downhill, so I felt good running it, but the recovery has been another thing. I did not train on any hills, so my thighs were not prepared for the beating they endured. But thanks to those hills, I finished well before I had even imagined I would! My time was 1:59:10. Not bad, considering I ran with a nasty head cold, and I started my period that morning. (sorry, too much information, I know.)

That is me with my sis-in-laws, Heather to my right and Jamie to my left, and their friends that ran with us. It was a nice quick trip to St. George for me, Nick stayed home with the kids!

Nice closed eyes shot. I thought it was better than my blood blister toe picture. Oh yeah, thanks to those hills, I got several blisters on my toes, one of which was a blood blister. But even then, I would take that over the pain in my thighs which has made it really hard to go down my stairs the past few days. Ok, enough complaining. Would I do it again? Yes. Will I do it again? Not any time soon.

I think this link will take you to pictures of me during the run, if you are interested:

View Photos from Snow Canyon Half Marathon

My parents made a quick visit this past week on their way to my dad's 50th year high school reunion in San Luis Obispo, CA. They came in late one night after the kids were asleep so I didn't tell Owen they were coming. It was a great surprise when he woke up! He was so excited! They had to be on their way pretty quick, but on their way back we had some time to play with them. So, we took them to one of our local favorite spots, Calico Springs up by Red Rock Canyon.

Owen was really happier than he looks, he just doesn't like to pose for picture very often anymore.

Thanks for the visit! Come back more often, please. The kids miss you.

It's catch up time! It's the time of year when things get really crazy busy so I am just trying to keep up. And enjoy every minute of it because it goes by too fast! Starting with the week leading up to Halloween. We had some great parties and lots of fun.

Here is my little bumble bee at our ward playgroup party:

And Buzz Lightyear working on a Halloween craft:

And I had to throw in a picture of me because I am always the one taking them, almost never in them.

That week Owen had a preschool party. It started with a costume parade.

The teachers had the kids pose for pictures. They were so cute and funny!

Then they went inside for cookies and juice.

Owen loved the cut-out photo ops.

And had to do both!

We made and decorated Halloween cookies one day.

Carved a pumpkin.

This is at the ward trunk-or-treat, which the kids LOVED! It was a really fun party.

Daddy got a great smile out of Tes while I was decorating the car.

And here is the car! It's supposed to have a spooky haunted house theme.

And the handsome dude passing out candy.

I was so excited that we won 2nd place, and apparently Owen was too! We wanted the award pinned on as soon as he saw it.

BUT, the most amazing part of Halloween is this family. The Long's. Nick's sister and her husband and kids LOVE Halloween and they know how to do it right. Lucky for us they live close by! Here is Jolie showing us what we are having for dinner:

It consisted of guts, innards, brains and bones.

Owen was actually pretty disgusted and wouldn't eat after he saw that. It didn't bother Teslyn at all! They even made cute name tags, and she is the Creepy Crawler!

This is James (the dad) his two sons and their two friends, ready to scare away the trick-or-treaters.

And scare they did. I actually felt bad for the tiny ones who were too scared to make it to the door for their treat. They did have a rule that they can't scare kids 10 and under, but their house alone was enough to scare them.

Strobe lights, speakers playing creepy sounds and a fog machine.

Owen wouldn't even go outside once it got dark.

But it's fun to feel spooky and get in the spirit!

Hope you all had a great Halloween too!