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.