Coming This September...

We are SO excited to have another baby join our family! This ultrasound was taken almost 2 weeks ago & I've been dying to share it:)

Funny Dylan Quotes of the Day

At Dinner tonight Dylan scarfed down his enchiladas & then started complaining of an upset stomach, so we thought maybe he had eaten too fast or maybe he was still hungry. I was making chocolate pudding for dessert and asked him if he was still hungry. He said yes and I told him that maybe eating some pudding would make his tummy feel better. So he eats a serving of pudding and then said "Hey, my tummy feels better!" then proceeds to open the freezer and get out the ice cream & says "Alright, now it's time for dessert!" Ben says "What?! You just had dessert, pudding was your dessert!" Dylan replies with "That wasn't dessert, that was medicine!" Oh boy, does he got some tricks up his sleeve or what?!

Later at bedtime after we said prayers & sang a few songs Dylan asked "Why do we whisper at church?" I said " So that we can feel the spirit & think about Jesus" He said "Cool!"

I was looking at Dylan's cute little skinny neck as he lay down in his bed & it reminded me of Ben's neck so I said "You have daddy's neck" and Dylan replied with "No, Daddy has his own neck!" he said it like I was the craziest lady on the planet! So funny! We were all cracking up:) He always keeps us laughing that's for sure!

New Car!

We've been wanting to upgrade to a minivan for a few years now so we saved up & were finally able to afford one! It's a 2006 Honda Odyssey & we love it! It doesn't have too many miles on it, it still has that 'brand new' car smell, It has 8 seats, and my favorite feature is the sliding doors open & close with a push of a button! So cool!

The thing I love the most about this van is that it's 100% ours! We really didn't want any more debt so we made sure we could pay for this car in cash (Thank you Air Force Sign-on Bonus!). Claira asks me to pick her up from school with the van instead of walking to pick her up & I am more than happy to oblige, but maybe that's just because I'm being lazy;) We're all really excited to go on a trip so we can see how much junk we can fit in there!

Dylan's 4th Birthday!

Dylan decided to combine some of his favorites for his birthday cake this year. Light blue is his favorite color, "H" is his favorite letter...I know funny huh? It's been his favorite letter for about a year now & every time he sees it anywhere he calls out "There's an H! That's my favorite letter!", another near and dear favorite of his is CHOCOLATE.  So we came up with this yummy cake & he absolutely went crazy for it! He kept saying "That's just what I wanted!"

So excited. I LOVE this picture so much:)

He is intense in everything he does haha!

Yummmmmy

opening presents

Tada! He got a few Hot wheels and a race track!

We took the kids to the movies to see Tangled! It was such a cute movie, we all highly recommend it to anyone. There was a cool fountain in front of the theater so I wanted to snap a picture...Dylan is such a ham!

getting ready for the movie to start!

After the movie we went home & I made Dylan's requested birthday dinner of homemade cheese pizza & after that we surprised him by going to Disneyland for the night!

Since it was his birthday he got to pick out a special toy from a Disneyland store so he picked some sweet Mickey Mouse gloves & a huge lollipop:) Here's Claira & Dylan sitting on the firetruck on Main street.

She's got her 3D glasses on for Toy Story's Midway Mania ride! (Dylan's favorite!)

The kids had so much energy they wanted to stay until 11pm! Mom & Dad were wiped out but it was worth it & we all had so much fun:)

Happy Birthday little bud!

December Things

We had a pretty exciting December this year! We kicked off the month by decorating the house & putting up our Christmas tree.

We LOVE our Nightmare Before Christmas ornaments & this little ham had a ball putting them on the tree:)

We are lucky enough to have a fireplace again but this baby is a gas fireplace & fires up nicely without smoking us out! Yay! For some reason we've accumulated a lot of stockings over the years so the kids have plenty to choose from each year. This year Dylan decided to go with the red snowflake stocking &Claira went with the classic Care Bear.

There was a Creche Festival at church so we went to enjoy all the pretty nativities & the beautiful music

Can you believe someone made this by hand?! So cute!

We got a little silly with the hot pink vampire teeth:)

playing dress up in costumes that are 3 sizes too small:)

We made sugar cookies & had a blast decorating them for Santa! Unfortunately we made the cookies a week before Christmas so Santa was out of luck in the cookie department, they were gone, gone, gone! Mmmmm:) I just noticed that my kids are always wearing "nightgowns" aka my old shirts that they now use for pj's. We make them wear these anytime we're doing something messy...dying easter eggs, when bright colored frosting is involved...etc. So that explains their lack of clothing during these types of events:)

The finished product! Aren't they FUN?! The peppermint wheels were Dylan's idea, you gotta have wheels on a truck cookie!

We went to Disneyland on Christmas Eve with Ben's parents, his Uncle Glenn & cousins! We had SUCH A BLAST! It's awesome when you go with a big group, I love how crazy everyone gets on the rides:) I was super bummed that I completely forgot my camera at home for that but here are some Disneyland pictures from another day (we have annual passports so we get to go all the time!)

Ben was in charge of getting pictures of Christmas morning so this picture is pretty much it. Ha ha! Grandma & Grandpa Miller were with us so it made Christmas morning so special!

After presents we sat down for our traditional Christmas breakfast! I made a fresh fruit salad along with a little egg dish we have named Christmas Breakfast Bake because I usually make it every Christmas morning:) Yum!

On Christmas day we headed up to Ben's aunt's house in Santa Barbara & spent the day playing games, visiting, laughing, & eating delicious mexican food! Once again I was having so much fun that the camera didn't come out! We stayed a few days at Ben's parents house & I had a huge get together with some of my besties from high school! It was so much fun! From left to right: Jenae, Lucinda, J.T., Meaghan, Bekah, me, & Kasey. I love these guys!

I got to hang out with my sister Ashley, her boyfriend Arturo & my nephew Vinnie

We HAD to have a little DDR showdown. I think she won. Look at those game faces!

Ben vs. my mom!

We wrapped up the year & started the new one with a quiet party at home. We ate lots of chips, dips, and of course drank martinelli's & settled in for a quiet night with just the four of us & watched movies. Ahh, it was great!

Happy New Year everybody!

A Long Time Comin'

Yeah, I know. Thanksgiving? Really? Really. Are any of you fellow bloggers out there like me? Where you HAVE to blog about past events in order to move forward to current events? It might be a long shot for me...I can't believe I've let 3 1/2 months go by without a post! I do update on Facebook occasionally so that should count for something right? Oh well, here's to moving forward but first I'll take you back to November;)

 Miller cousins

Claira serenades the boys

The whole fam together for Rockband! Matt is really getting into it on that couch!

This year my sis-in-law Kandie organized a family 5k turkey trot for us all to run together on Thanksgiving morning! So much fun! Getting ready to RUN!

Claira even ran a lot of the race & poor Ben ran with Dylan in a regular old stroller, what a trooper! Maybe we should get a jogger for next time!

Our little turkey trot was aptly named The MiMo Turkey Trot! MiMo stand for Miller & Morgan families who ran:) pronounced meemo! I love it!

Stopped for a quick photo op!

Go Marsha!

Crossing the finish line!

The course we ran

We had a magnificent Thanksgiving Feast at Ben's aunt's house & ate outside because it was so nice! Ahhh California:) (Ryan is always a charmer in pictures...haha)

Kandie & Evelyn enjoying some beverages

Hot tubbin'!

What's Thanksgiving without a nap?

The desserts come out & I woke up from my nap to a plate of desserts that Karina had prepared for me:) She's so sweet!

Games!

More games!

Alan rockin' out!

Enjoying some In N Out the next day

Karina & I prepared lots of pies the day before Thanksgiving, we had so much fun!

YUM!

Totally LOVING Ryan's sweater. Isn't it the best? He said he found it in a laundry room. ha ha!

Okay, I have never done black friday until NOW! Most of us wanted to chip in & buy Ben's parents a TV for Christmas but we were hoping we could find one for super cheap so we heard about a deal going on at Walmart for black friday & Karina & I thought we'd be crazy & go on a little adventure! We showed up at Walmart at midnight only to find out we had to wait until 2am to get a ticket for the TV. so we waited in line for that...in the fishing aisle, sitting on coolers, and praying we get a ticket. We became quick friends with other shoppers around us & a few went & got towels for us to sit on for some cushioning:) Sweet people! Not at all what we were expecting. We expected blood, teeth, hair and fingernails flying, but it was...dare I say...pleasant...and even...fun?! We scored a ticket for the TV & had to stand in another line to pick up the TV at...5am. Yeahhhh. So we get back on our coolers & wait for 3 hours. During that time we went from giddy, to tired, to giggling uncontrollably from the delirious sleep deprived state we put ourselves in. Then we got hungry and thought we might starve right there in an aisle in Walmart. It was straight out of Survivor;) Luckily I am used to packing everything but the kitchen sink in my purse so we were fine! The best part of the night was when Karina yelled at a guy cutting in line when we had been there ALL night waiting. He was wearing a green hat. She appropriately yelled out "HEY, GREEN HAT!" everyone else in line looked at her and they loved her for it, she was a hero!

Karina @ 5am buying the prized TV...so tired!

We couldn't wait so we made them open it the next day!

Hooray!

Later we went to see Harry Potter while Grandma &Grandpa watched the childrens.

BBQ food for dinner! Mmmm Tri-Tip! (Again Ryan is enthralled) :) It was a wonderful Thanksgiving week! Thanks for the good times guys! we love you!

What a POWER POST! Hope you made it to the end! I miss you all my bloggy friends!