Temple Square

Em came to town for Christmas! We haven't seen each other since last Christmas and that was WAY too long! We went on a double date with Emily and Josh to Temple Square. It was so fun, and cold, and beautiful and crowded!











Then we headed over to the Gateway for some Hot Cocoa and to warm up by the fire.

Josh had never been to Temple Square before and the rest of us had not been there for years. It was so beautiful and we had a ton of fun!

Family Christmas Parties

This year the Miller family Christmas party was at my sister Jill's house. We had yummy food followed by Minute to Win It games and of course the Nativity.



As you can see from family member's #1,2,3,and 4, it's pretty funny to watch. #5, however, didn't find it too amusing.

The Nativity this year was especially awesome. Each family took a section from Emily Freeman's book "A Christ Centered Christmas." It is an amazing book and I highly recommend it. There was not a dry eye, (well, amongst the women) and it really brought the Christmas spirit to our party.

Griffin was a lamb, but his outfit was rather toasty and it was way past his bedtime, so he was in the other room with dad being a little cranky.

South Family Christmas Party

Again, lots of yummy food! And, white elephant stealing!

Griffin and Gabby had a good time playing together.

And Everyone loved on sweet little Parker!

Thompson Orthodontics Christmas Party

Dr. Thompson is so good to us. He took us to Harvest Restraunt at Thanksgiving Point for dinner and gave each of us a beautiful gift basket. It was a fun night out! I was so excited to get dressed up and go. We spent lots of time chatting and eating. After dinner I got up to go to the bathroom and when I was washing my hands, I looked in the mirror and saw that I forgot to put any eye makeup on! I was so embarrassed! I guess in all my excitement to go and be on time (rare for me) I skipped a step. Lucky for me, Marc still loves me, sans makeup and with braces!

Dr. T and the Girls! Love that I get to work with these awesome people! Aren't they beautiful?!

Family Pictures

We finally got some family pictures! We haven't had any since we've had Griffin so it was about time! My babysitters daughter is a college student and she wanted some practice, so she was gracious enough to take them for us.
First, we have our darling Griffin

The biggest problem was that I was DETERMINED to NOT show my braces. Huge mistake, HUGE! You'll see for yourself. Marc kept telling me that I looked ridiculous and that I was gonna look mad in all the pictures. He was right. I should have listened. Good thing my boys are so handsome that hopefully you won't even waste your time looking at me!

These boys are the best!

I managed to smile for one picture. Love this boy... hate the braces!

Vegas!

Jeni and Patrick flew into Las Vegas from Kentucky this weekend for a medical conference. We drove down for a couple of days to hang out with our favorite country bumpkins.

The Huffs are so good to us. They let us stay in their two bedroom suite at the Mandalay Bay. It was so beautiful and definately the nicest place that we'll ever get to stay. The room was so nice we really had no reason to leave... but we did, a couple of times. Jeni and I did a little shopping, while Marc and Patrick were at Patrick's booth at the convention.

This was our first get away without Griffin. Thanks Wendi for taking our boy and our dog! We sure did miss him, but we enjoyed the 2 days of sleeping in.


Everything in the hotel was decked out for the holidays. It was gorgeous!

We really just took it easy all weekend. We ate, talked and walked around the hotel. Oh, and a little gambling took place. Marc won $6 and I lost $4. I know what you're thinking, Whoa big spenders! Jeni taught me how to play roulette, so technically I lost $14, but $10 of it was Jeni's. Apparently, I'm not very good.

We had a blast! Thanks so much Patrick and Jeni! You two are the best. We love you!

Not Quite Clark...

I had to beg Marc to put lights on the house. He had lots of excuses, but finally gave in to my begging. This is how it went.

Does this electrical mess make you nervous? I was a little worried! The plug on the lights was on the opposite side of the power for our house so Marc just reversed it... no big deal.

Griffin and Ruka enjoyed watching dad on the roof by sticking their heads out the window.

And finally, the finished product!

Now that it's done Marc is already talking about what he wants to do next year. Perhaps I'm creating a little Griswald after all. Meanwhile I was working away inside.

Not nearly as impressive or dangerous as the outside. No ladders were involved.

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was the best we've ever had. We fed the homeless at the Road Home Shelter in Salt Lake. Marc's brother organized the whole thing and we all helped. We started out by getting donations of food and money. Once we had everything we needed, we split up the food assignments and brought it all together to serve on Thanksgiving day. We were in charge of the cooking four turkeys. Marc set the alarm for 3am to start cooking these birdies. Thank goodness for double ovens!

When we got to the shelter we put everything together. I was the gravy lady.

Marc helped make the stuffing... outside, it was FREEZING!

Dinner was served! We didn't really keep track but we estimate that we fed around 150-175 people.

We had a lot of rolls, pies, soda and butter left over. We donated everything to the people and the shelter.

One of my favorite things is that we were so busy that I didn't stuff myself like I normally would! Normally, I eat my weight in mashed potatoes and then I'm miserable for the rest of the day.

It was an awesome experience and I would do this again in a heartbeat! I am so grateful for all that I am blessed with, especially my wonderful family and amazing in-laws! Thanks so much Steph for keeping Griff for us so that we could do this! I am also thankful for all of the generous donations from our friends. Without thier help, this wouldn't have been possible.

Over the River and Through the Woods...

My perfect, loving, sweet and amazing grandma passed away on November 11th. We went down to Blanding this week to celebrate and remember her wonderful life. She was a righteous woman who didn't go a day in her life without finding someone who she could serve. She made each and every one of her 8 children, 38 grandchildren 39 great-grandchildren feel like we were her favorite. Her example of Christ-like service is one that I will surely try to follow.

This home is so full of memories for me. It was so hard to pull into town and drive up the hill and know that Grandma wasn't there. All of my aunts, uncles and cousins gathered to go through pictures and share memories of Grandma. Her funeral was a beautiful celebration of the wonderful life that she lived.

Blanding is in South-Eastern Utah. It is surrounded by absolutely beautiful country. We made a few pit stops on our way home to take it all in.

First stop was Newspaper Rock covered in petroglyphs that date back to 2,000 years ago. It's pretty awesome! Then we were off to The Needles overlook. It was really windy and cold so we bundled up and did a little exploring.

This darling boy just clapped and gabbed everywhere that we went!
Then we were off to Moab and Dead Horse Point where it was even COLDER and WINDIER than the last place. Griffin was double bundled and we pulled out the lamb jacket... look at these cute little ears just flappin in the wind.

The view was breathtaking!

And again, more clapping!
We enjoyed our little roadtrip and Griffin was a little angel for the whole trip.
I am so grateful that my Grandma and mom lived in such a beautiful part of the state so that I have had the opportunity to visit it. I am sad that my sweet Grandma isn't here anymore but I am so happy that she lived a long, happy life and that she is back with her sweetheart after 14 years. What a sweet reunion!