In a Nutshell...

So things have been too crazy, but yet at the same time too boring to warrant a post. But in an effort to write something, here it is in a semi-condensed version.

• I've been training for my first half marathon that is on Saturday and I'm super excited!! Hope all goes well and I don't die!
• Been super busy my the new Primary calling
• I've lost all control over my boys, they're literally making me go crazy!
• Chase got kicked out of the gym daycare today for 30 days for biting too many times :(
• Rylee HATES formula...and bottles. This does not work well for a mama whose milk is going away and I've tried multiple remedies to try and get it back. The bottles are a work in progress, some feedings are better than others. I'm still nursing a couple of times a day.
• Logan is getting better with his counting, colors, and saying his alphabet. Grandpa and Grandma Miller are coming to visit for Christmas and promised Logan that if he could sing his ABC's when they got here that Grandpa would take him out for a milkshake, guess that was all the incentive he needed!
• Rylee is speedy little crawler and is pulling herself up to her knees with anything she can find and still just a happy little baby!!
• Ray is super busy...still! He finished his first semester for his Master's Degree and got super good grades. I'm way proud of him!

Well, I think that's it! I'm sure there's more, but my brain just won't process anything else right now, so this will just have to do. :)

Turkey Trot

I haven't ran a race since September (I have been running still though) and decided to run in the city Turkey Trot. The weather was windy and cold (cold for us wimps in St. George at least) and I hadn't ran at all during the week and even missed a few days at the gym due to sick kids and an overwhelming schedule. Needless to say, I was a little apprehensive at how well I was going to run but I met my goal! I ran in 24:58 and I'm completely satisfied with my time. My last race was ran in 28:30 so I cut 3 1/2 minutes off. I've been training for a half marathon in December and so I figured I would really try to push myself, it's only 3 miles! It was a lot different to run a shorter distance and push for speed rather than doing an endurance run. It was a lot of fun and it felt pretty good. I'm really looking forward the half marathon in a few weeks and if all goes well I'm also planning on the doing another half marathon in January, the St. George Painter's Half Marathon.

My father-in-law planted a little seed in my head last week and has me seriously thinking of trying the Newport, OR Marathon in June. My bro-in-law (miss him sooo much!) will be coming home from his mission about that time and said I should give it a try since we'll be there for his welcome home. I think it would be kind of cool and such a beatiful place to run! Ray said he is even toying with the idea of it and we're trying to talk my other bro-in-law, Trevor, to try and make it out there and do it with us, afterall, he already ran the St. George Marathon and did awesome! I also want to see if my sis-in-law, Nicole, will do it too. The only issue there might be that she will of just had a baby in February! I don't know, lots of scheming, I just think it would be fun to make it kind of a family affair. We'll just have to wait and see if my body will even hold up after a half marathon.

Hide and Seek Games

On Saturday Ray was out playing Hide and Seek with Logan. I went out to see the grand adventures they were having and this is how I found them, climbing around in the tree. Logan now asks everyday if I will lift him up in the tree. :) When Chase saw them up there he of course needed to join in on the fun.

Can I just say that I love these guys soooo much! Ray is an absolutely wonderful dad and my most bestest friend ever. Logan and Chase are so fun play with, they have such energy that they will just go and go and go.

Fun with the Kiddos

The boys like to have fun taking pictures lately. Here are just a few of the random ones!




Not one of the best pictures of either one of us, but it was the best one of the moment.

Wizard of Oz Family

This year for Halloween I wanted to attempt a theme as a family and this what we came up with.

The Miller Family

starring in

THE WIZARD OF OZ

It was fun making the costumes. Ray and I's costumes were simple and not much to them but the kids were a little more involved. Chase's lion costume was a monkey that Logan used a couple of years ago. I just cut the monkey nose off and used yarn for the lion's mane. Pretty easy and he looked super cute in it. Logan was the Tinman and I wasn't quite sure how go about it so Ray helped out with this one. We used an oil funnel for the hat, cardboard for the body, and dryer vent hose for the arms and legs. We didn't get quite enough dryer hose but it still turned out fun. And then Rylee's dress I had to sew. This was an adventure because I've never sewed clothing before and I'm not exactly skilled in this department. I was pretty proud of myself though because I didn't have a pattern or anything and just kind of guessed what I had to do. I asked my mom and a neighbor a couple of questions, but it still turned out good. Rylee was pretty dang cute as usual (PS - she got her first tooth yesterday!!! Lets hope it doesn't put a monkey wrench in nursing now. I don't know now long I can handle it if she starts to bite when nursing :) ) But overall, it was a fun holiday and I'm already starting to think about what we could do as a family theme for next year.

Ok....so there's a lot of pictures, but I'm going to try and capture the events of Logan's birthday as best as I can without writing a novel. He turned 4 yesterday and we had a blast!! He opened his presents in the morning and then that night we went to Staheli Farms to get pumpkins and to play. They have quite the setup at the farm where the kids can play. So here we go!!!



Grandma Miller made Logan a cowboy vest with chaps and leather gloves. The sunglass are from Grandma Jolley who also gave him a bouncing ball, you know the ones with the handle and you sit on and jump. He gets quite the kick out it, plus it's funny to watch!




Logan wanted a Cat in the Hat birthday cake. It's not perfect but I thought it turned out pretty cute. The one thing I totally forgot about until after was the whiskers for the cat. Oh well, Logan loved it!



We got Logan a big boy bike. He's been riding a much too little tricycle for quite a while and he's loving it! He took off on it like a little champ and is even doing good learning how to use the brakes.



Chase with his pumpkin at Staheli Farms. It's about as big as him!




Oh magosh!! Is Rylee not the cutest little girl ever!! I just can't get enough! And sitting up all by herself like she's so big....

The boys choosing their pumpkins.

All of my darling little children!

My handsome men!

Our attempt to get a family picture. It turned out a little blurry but gets the job done.

Logan doing the duck races. He had fun with this game.

Staheli Famrs had this slide and dumps you into a pit of dried corn. Chase had blast!

Chase loved the slide!

This is just a random picture of the boys outside. We've had awesome weather lately (the reason we love St. George!) and we've tried to take advantage of it as much as possible.

I have a very sweet friend that I attempted to make this nursing cover for. I was proud of myself with the way it turned out. I'm soooo not a seamstress so to get something that turns out semi-right is such an accomplishment! :)

So this weekend was a blast!! First off Ray and I went on a date to the homecoming football game for the school he teaches at. It was so nice to be able to actually watch the game and follow it. Then Saturday morning I ran in a 5K race. My sister-in-law's Stake put on a fun run and so I decided to run in it. It's been about 10 years since I ran a race and so it felt really good. I finished with a time of 28:13, placed 2nd for my age group (20-29), and placed about 35th overall. I'm hoping to run a couple of more races this year and improve my time.

This is the running crew. :) My good friend Katie, Katie's sis-in-law and Kathryn's nieghbor Kandice, my sis-in-law Kathryn, and me. Trying to get a little warmed up before the race. It was cold that morning!

I was NOT about to let this young kid beat me. Proudly, I did beat him!! :)

They also had a 1 mile run for the kids. Logan placed 3rd for his age group and finished in about 14 minutes. Way to go kid!!

After the race we (meaning Ray's three sisters and their families) all went for a walk. This was not a good idea where it was about 95-100 degrees outside. But it worked because we walked around the river and decided to play in the water which the kids thoroughly loved!

Chase and cousin Emily

Little Miss Rylee in Unlce Darrin and Aunt Nicole's hiking backpack. Thanks for hauling her around!

Cousin Kimmi, Logan, and Cousin Kassi

Logan found a "skeleton rock".

Playing in the river. I'm still getting used to the idea that this is a river. Where I'm from, a river is a "little bit" deeper and faster. Oh well, it works for what we need!

Logan enjoyed relaxing in the water.

Messy Faces

These messy faces are just too stinkin' cute!

Somehow Logan has stayed relatively clean lately and so there's no messy face pic for him, but he's still cute!

Finished!!

This last week has been a "finishing" week for us. We've been looking for a new car for a few months and finally found one!! Yes, we are now minivan owners and it doesn't bother me one bit! It has the room we're looking for and the separation for the kids. Now I don't have to hear "he's touching me" anymore! :) It's a 2007 Chevy Uplander and I love it!!!

The next thing we finished was our back yard!! I can't even tell you how excited I am about this! It took ALOT of hard work, and the help of very good family and friends. We plan on using this yard alot, whether it be for the boys to escape to or to have many BBQs, it is totally worth all that it took to make it happen.

I love how family is always there for you. It doesn't matter if there's a major catastrophe going on or whether it's just to have somebody around. Lately me and my 2 sis-in-laws have been doing "Cousin Time" once a week where we all just get the kids together and play at a park, splashpad, or just at a house. It's been nice to know that at least once a week I will have real adult interaction. I also enjoy how it strengthens the relationships I have with these girls and how they are more like sisters to me than just in-laws. Here's just a couple of pics of one day at the park.

Pushing kids and my super cute little niece.

As a side note, I was getting all geared up for this half-marathon in October and running steadily and feeling good and pretty good distances too. But last week during one of my runs, my knee gave me some serious problems and pain. I thought that it would be good the next day, but it's not working out that way. I got some Glucosamine to try but it's not seeming to do much yet. I'm kind of decided that running just isn't something I can do anymore. I had knee surgery about 10 years ago and I'm having the same problems I had before the surgery. I kind of think that I shouldn't push it too hard and permanently injure myself so I can't do any physical activity anymore. I LOVE going to the gym everyday (which oddly doesn't bother my knee at all) and getting good exercise and making new friends so I would prefer to keep being able to do that instead of running and making it so I can't even do that. I don't know, I really really wanted to run this race and it felt good working towards a goal. It's frustrating and I don't really know what to do. Anybody have any ideas?

Also, tomorrow we should finish up our sprinkler system (thanks to some awesome friends who came and helped yesterday) and then hopefully grass this week!! Here's how I tried to keep the boys out of the way while we worked. I'm totally not a healthy mom, they're eating Popsicles and chips in their fort.

Still Alive

Hello!! Yes, we're still alive! Things have just been so crazy busy and stressful that blogging just has not been a priority. Lately we've been getting Ray ready to start teaching again and then he's also starting his Master's Degree in Education in a couple of weeks also. We've also been working on our back yard again. We hauled in a few truck loads of compost from the landfill (which is pretty darn stinky) and tilled it all in. The next step to do is to start the sprinkler system. Almost seems like a reality that we might actually have grass in the near future!!

Shoveling the stinky mulch.

Tilling the ground was a rather difficult task because our ground is rock-hard clay! Ray got a workout with this project.

We've also been car shopping for the last couple of months and can I just say that I HATE car shopping!! I don't enjoy the whole process of it. I don't think it would be too bad if there were more of a selection in St. George. If you can afford to buy a new car that are endless possibilities, but well, a new car is definitely not in our budget. But now we have to wait to until next month to even think of a car because we're in the process of refinancing our house! Interest rates dropped so we're able to refi and we're going to save a good chunk of change! Speaking of money (or the lack thereof) I'm supposed to be starting another piano student this month! I have 2 girls already and then this new girl starting. I would really like to pick up one more so if anyone is interested or knows of anyone looking for lessons, let me know!! :)

But lately my kids are giving me a serious run for my money. The boys are just out of control and I really don't know what to do! It's hard because I hear a lot of people saying that their kids (who are the same age as mine) just love playing together and they get along so well and having so much fun with this stage. Well, NOOO!!! Not in this house. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but it's nonstop fighting and contention and complete lack of respect. Disobedience is at an all time high and I'm ready to start waving the white flag and call it quits. They fight me with everything I do, even sleeping, especially Chase. The kid is always exhausted because he never sleeps anymore. He fights me for like an hour to get to sleep (a nap or bedtime at night) and then he only sleeps for like an hour during naps and wakes up super cranky and then at night he wakes up nonstop crying or just wandering around the house. He also has started this nonstop screaming thing. It doesn't matter if you're giving him juice or a treat or just looking at him, but he just starts screaming and going crazy. All I know is that I'm exhausted and stressed. Life is more difficult than I ever imagined and it's everything I can do to just make it through each day. I say a lot of prayers and rely on Ray like crazy. The poor guy already has his plate full without taking care of a basket-case wife. Please don't take this post the wrong way, I totally love my family and wouldn't trade any of them for anything. We're just kind of in a rough rut and trying to figure out how to get out.

Just Rylee being her happy, cute little self! She's rolling over like crazy and scoots around a little too.

The boys have loved playing in the rainstorms we've had lately.

One last tidbit though, I think I'm going to run a half-marathon at the end of October. One of my awesome gym instructors talked me into it. It's kind of difficult to find time to run because in order to beat the heat down here you have to wake up early and with being to tired and being up with Chase through the night, waking up is rather difficult. But I have to be back to get Ray out the door for school and get kids taken care of. Don't know what I got myself into, but it's kind of nice to go running and have a little time for myself. Thanks Ray for helping out so much!!!

Other than that, things are just plugging right along. :) All in all, the kids are healthy and doing good, and I've learned to be soooo thankful for what I have. If you stop and think of what you could potentially lose, all of the sudden you're so much more grateful and appreciative of what all I've been blessed with. Count your many blessings....that's what I'm trying to do right now. I just hope life works out right now.

PS-Sorry this ended up being so long. Didn't have intentions of sharing all of this when I started. Just kind of kept coming out and could use some advice, support, ideas...you name it, I need it right now.

Irresistable

There's nothing more that I can say except, I LOVE YOU!!!

Update

So Sister Dotson had her surgery on Tuesday and everything went fantastic!! She ended up not getting her whole breast removed and she is recovering very well. She is such an amazingly strong woman and I am so glad that we have the opportunity to have her as our neighbor and part of our family.

Praying

We have a neighbor that lives across the street that has become family to us. Last week she came over and told me that she has breast cancer and will be having a mastectomy. The surgery is scheduled for tomorrow and I'm very nervous for her. She is being very brave and taking it very well, and all she says she wants is prayers for her. I love this woman to death and she has filled the void of living so far away from my grandma's. I hope and pray that things will go well tomorrow and that she can recover quickly with no problems. We love you!!

My New Motto

Right now I am going through some of the most difficult challenges in my life. There are some really tough trials that are happening that are making me reevaluate myself. I'm feeling and intense desire to try to increase and develop a real testimony, not judge others and realize we're all human and just trying to do our best, not to take advantage of the wonderful family I've been blessed with, and rely on the Lord to take of me. While at my sister-in-law's church on Sunday, the girl giving the lesson read part of Julie B. Beck's talk from the last April session of General Conference. It hit home quite well right now.

A good woman knows that she does not have enough time, energy, or opportunity to take care of all the people or do all of the worthy things her heart yearns to do. Life is not calm for most women, and each day seems to require the accomplishment of a million things, most of which are important. A good woman must constantly resist alluring and deceptive messages from many sources telling her that she is entitled to more time away from her responsibilities and that she deserves a life of greater ease and independence. But with personal revelation, she can prioritize correctly and navigate this life confidently.

Smile

So right now, there is nothing that makes me smile more than my kids. Don't get me wrong, I want to pull my hair out most days, but all they have to do is give me one little grin and my day is so much happier!!

They were supposed to cleaning their room and this is what I found. Logan was totally passed out cold on the floor and then Chase using him as a bed. Made us laugh pretty good. Logan never even twitched with Chase climbing all over him.