The Latest and Greatest

Josh is up to his usual cuteness and being his normal self which is so funny.  Here are some of his latest.

This morning he and Brooklynn were up to their usual early morning argument which usually winds up in both of them getting in trouble.  After one of there exchanges and Josh coming into tattle he was walking back to talk to Brooklynn and Steve and I heard,  "You are a wude (rude) sister Brook!"  Said with alot of contempt. 
The other morning on the way to drop the kids off at school he was talking about how he just wants to go to school with Brooklynn.  I proceeded to tell him that he was to little, this is the conversation that followed.

J - I am too big.
M- I know you are a big boy, but you are too small to go to Brooklynn's class
J- No, I am a big boy
M - I know you are a big boy but Brooklynn is bigger than you and you are just too little to go to school
J - Yep, I am big little.
I couldn't help but laugh.  He adores Brooklynn and Tyler and all day long asks me when we can go pick them up. 

Early one morning last week he came in and used our bathroom.  It was very evident to me in my half asleep state that he was not hitting the water as he should.
M - Josh make sure to hit the water
J - But my _______ (insert your name for it here) is spraying all over the place
Steve and I couldn't help but laugh at that. 

Then last week Steve took Josh to run some errands.  When they got home Steve told me that Josh had informed him that he wanted to play football for the Green Peckers  - meaning of course the Green Bay Packers.  Tyler had been trying to teach Josh how to play a football game on the PlayStation.  This one really got me giggling. 

He is so funny and super cute.

Sick and Tired of being Sick!

Since we arrived home from our most fantastic Christmas Break we have all been sick in one form or another.  I realize this is probably in part because I prayed so hard before and during Christmas that we wouldn't get sick while we were gone.  Thankfully we didn't, but now it seems as if it has all built up and someone has been sick since we got home. 

First, most of us got the 24 hour flu stuff.  It wasn't nice or pretty, but you know we dealt and got through it ok. 
Next I got mastitis only 2 days after the 24 hour stuff.  It knocked me out and it took me almost a week to get my energy back. 
Then Brookie got a random fever and felt icky last weekend for about 12 hours.  Super random, but I am glad it didn't last long. 
Now this weekend it is the little boys turn.  Josh and Noah both started with fevers on Friday, it carried on into Saturday.  Last night I was up with Noah for half the night.  Today Josh's fever seems to be gone, we'll see how he is tomorrow.  For Noah I was convinced when he was up last night that it was Ear Infections, add a fever and complete fussiness and it seemed like that is exactly what it was.  Seeing as I have some experience with Ear Infections, I was certain I was right.  I took him over to a friends tonight (he is a pediatrician) and his ears were clear. I am baffled and can't figure out what the heck is wrong with my poor little man, but he is super duper sad and crying and just not himself. 

I am convinced we have now had our turn with the sickies.  As January comes to an end this week, I hope all our illnesses come to an end as well because in truth I am sick and tired of being SICK. 

It is Tater's Turn!

This cute little Monkey 













Has now turned into this Crazy Monkey:

He is now FOUR, even though he is still saying he would rather stay three.  It has gone by much too fast for my liking.  This past year has been full of fun with Tater.  It was a year that included getting Glasses, loving swimming, discovering his favorite color is green and all kinds of other great things.  Since he was born this little person has always had the ability to make us smile and laugh, even when we probably shouldn't be.  Our family certainly would not be the same nor would it be complete without him.   

Steve and Tyler decided the other day that when we were lining up in Heaven, Tater decided to skip the good eyesight line and hit the Crazy line twice.  How true that is! 

I am blessed to have this wonderful loving little man in my home.  He is my momma's boy and not a day goes by that I don't hear, "I love you!" from him at least 10 times.

Happy Birthday Tater!  You are the best four boy in the whole world! 

Birthday Wishes!

With the birth of Noah in September we completed our Family Birthday Calender quite nicely.  We have 2 January, 2 May and 2 September birthday's.  I find that makes the birthday's spread out quite nicely.  So with that our Yearly Celebrations start with Miss Brookie Kay. 

My Sweet Little Girl was born 7, yep that is right, 7 years ago.  She came 4 weeks early, much to our surprise, and has made our home lively, loud and happier ever since.  The time has passed us by much too quickly and I can't believe how big my baby girl is getting.  She is so sweet and kind and considerate and we love her bright smiles in our home.  She is ever the optomist, but is also very determined and stubborn.  She has a lifetime of teasing to endure with 3 brothers and a tease of a Daddy, but I will say she handles it quite well and is learning out of necessity how to dish it out to! 

Today we had a small family celebration, I am not a good birthday party mom, but maybe we will have one later on. 

Here is to you my sweet baby girl.  You are loved more than you know. 

Christmas #2 - Utah

On Wednesday the 23rd of December.  We loaded up all our stuff, and it was a lot of stuff, into Mom Empey's Suburban (thank you thank you thank you) and headed off to Utah.  It was time for the half of our trip where we hung out with my side of the family.  Yet another adventure and more chaos to be enjoyed.  It was fantastic to all be together.  Here are a few of the highlights.

We went to Build A Bear on Christmas Eve Morning.  This picture is of Marilee's Logan, I know I know he looks lots like Tater.  Each of the kids picked an animal, stuffed it with love and then we headed off to donate them to the hospitals for kids who had to be in the hospital over Christmas.  It was a perfect way to start off the day

 Later in the day we went up to the beautiful but very cold Heber Valley for a Sleigh Ride.  It was frosty but so beautiful and very fun!  Before we left we found that One of Santa's Elves had delivered some Toque's (Beanies for all you American Folks) to Julie's front porch.  They even had one tiny enough for Noah.  They came in quite handy to help keep us all warm.

All of us

After this fun event we went back to Auntie Julie's house for food, a special visitor, and the LDS film, Joy To the World about the Savior's Birth.  We also had Auntie Julie tell us a great Story and the name of it is totally gone from my mind. 

To say the least - Josh is not a fan of Santa - not this year at least.  At one of our encounters with Santa this year he even told me that HE DID NOT NEED A TOY, so he didn't have to talk to him.  It took me going up with him, but he did tell Santa what he wanted and give him a big hug.  It didn't help much that the poor kid was not feeling well and had a fever.  Santa had a little discussion with each of the kids, gave them a certificate for making the nice list and also a real reindeer bell (Oh the noise that brought).  It was great!

Christmas Morning was next - and in accordance with the old Miller Family Traditions Nana and Granddad told the kids 7:30 was the allowed time to enter their room, they all went to sleep in one room and woke up very excited and counted down the minutes.  In the morning Tradition continued as Nana and Granddad had to tell some of their favorite Christmas memories and then the kids could finally line up youngest to oldest to see what Santa had brought.

The rest of the week was filled with seeing my cousins.  Sledding - lots of sledding -  including a few minor injuries.  Tater skinned his nose on the snow after Daddy sent him and Tyler over a jump on a tube.  Tyler was a dilligent big brother and didn't let go of his brother as Daddy had instructed, but they did hit the snow hard. We were able to attend the Temple and do some family names.  We also were there for Natalie's baptism.  It was fantastic and we are proud of her.  Mostly we just enjoyed being together.  I am so blessed to have such an amazing family, not just mine but Steve's as well.  They bring us so much joy and happiness.  It was an incredible blessing to be with them all!

Christmas #1 - Idaho

We started our Christmas vacation super early this year.  We left our house on Dec. 16th.  It was awesome and so needed.  We were lucky enough to fly to Utah and were met at the airport by Steve's Dad.  The kids were super excited to see him.  A few days before we left Tater said, 'I am so excited for Grandpa to see me!"  Haha.  It was so super nice of him to drive down to pick us up and take us back up to Idaho for the week. 

After our airport pick up we met up with Mike and Stephanie for a very yummy breakfast.  It was the perfect way to start our vacation - Good Food and Good People.  Not to mention fantastic kids, they were so good and even Noah did great on the plane. 

Thursday we spent just hanging around - Brookie and Ty went to school with Grandma.  Of course Brookie had instant friends and was in heaven being Grandma's little helper and I'm sure Ty had a great time too, he was just not so vocal about it. 
Friday we drove up to Idaho Falls and had lunch with Trina and kids, Kristen and kids and Dave and his 1 kid.  It was fun to see them all, meet Trina's new little one Zoey and see Dave's cutie Amani for the first time since she was just a tiny girl.  Kari and J and Mike and Steph and their crews arrived at mom's house on Friday too and work began on our 'Roast'  for Dad Empey.  Kari had come up with the idea of a roast months ago and on Friday night as we sat down to discuss it, the Magic started to happen.  I discovered that my husband may have missed his calling in life to be an actor/comedian.  We threw together a pretty fantastic video of the top ten reasons we loved Dad/Grandpa in just over 12 hours and I must say it was a definite highlight of our week.  Kayla and Paul arrived late Friday or early on Saturday as the case may be too.
Saturday was the get ready for the Empey family party day.  It was the first time the entire family had been together for the first time since I don't even know when.  We had a wonderful day together.  It was especially great to see Paul and Kayla and their boys since we hadn't seen them in a couple of years.  Their boys are super cute and Chase kept us giggling with his awesome dance moves.  The family party consisted of lots of food, A Nativity complete with costumes and then of course  THE ROAST.  We were mildly worried about how Dad Empey would react to the video - good or bad.  Let's just say it was a huge hit and never have we all been together and all laughed as hard as we did watching the movie!  It consisted of reenactments of all our favorite stories about dad.  Thankfully Dad loved it!   

The rest of our week was spent just loving being together.  It really makes us miss our family when we are there.  On Wednesday we headed to Utah with Grandma's car to meet up with our Miller family.  The best part about taking Grandma's car was that it meant we would get to see her again before we left when she came to pick it up!  Here are a few photos from our excursion.  I never get enough pictures, but I know Grandma got a whole bunch!

This is Dave dressed up like his dad for the 'Roast' Video.  When he walked in Dressed like Doug - Trista looked at me and said, 'Wow, there is my future!'  He looks so much like his dad!

Noah meeting Grandpa Nelson.  It is the best to watch his face light up when he holds the babies.  These two are only 101 years apart in age.  He liked Noah and couldn't believe how big he was.

Noah like Grandpa Nelson too and gave him some great smiles.

Auntie Kari worked her magic on Brookies hair.  It was super cute.

'Mary'

The whole Crew.  How did our bunch get this big?

We buttered him up before the roast with the crown the Frosty Mug of Diet Coke and the Cape.

One of those moments you just have to capture - it was super cute.

Jake - Rockin those suspenders and the glitter head band.

Josh - so NOT impressed with his cow get up

Steve and I filming our 'Untalent' for the Miller crew

Buddies.  These two are super hilarious.  In fact one night we noticed a really strong electrical smell and thought we had pinpointed it to the light at the top of the stairs.   Well we were wrong and come to find out these two little hooligans had taken some large plastic Candy Canes (the ones we used for Shephards Crooks) and somehow discovered that when touched to the hot glass on the fire place they became great Giant Crayons.  So they melted down a couple of those Candy Canes and none of us realized it until the smell of burnt plastic was meandering through the house.  I am sure it is an indication of all the trouble they will get in to as time goes on.  They both got in lots of trouble from their Daddies - who found them hiding under a bed - even though Grandma defended them to the bitter end. 

Little Miss Maggie loves babies and she loved Noah.  I am sure if he wasn't almost as big as her petite cute little self she would have been carrying him around. 

My cute Kari!  All I can say is LOVE HER.

That is it.  I didn't get too many pictures of the older kids because they were just too busy playing with their cousins.  It was fantastic to see and be with everyone.  How we wished we lived a little closer!

Christmas is coming!

My Christmas posts are coming. We had a fantastic 2 1/2 week excursion to Idaho/Utah.  There is just so much to blog it will have to be done in installments.

I have to say how happy I am too that I took in my memory cards to run a recovery on them because of some technical difficulties.  Joy of Joys and I do mean some mega joy - they recovered not only all of my Christmas Pics, but also all the ones I lost from the summer!  Yippy,  I can't tell you how excited that makes me.  Here are a couple from the summer just because.