All full of excuses...

That's right, I'm finally back and blogging. Now that I have a computer and camera again, no more excuses, for now anyhow. I was whining to my sister the other day when she was giving me a hard time for not blogging anymore that I just didn't want to do it because I was so far behind. I mean, we've had Michael's birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, CJ's wedding, Christmas, New Years, and the all of my family in town, so it's been non-stop activities. I have just been overwhelmed. But now that the holidays are over, maybe I can just be whelmed... I think you can be in Europe (a little Clueless quote for you). So we are going to do a quick update, then on with life again.

So, we moved in to our new house in Sugarhouse back in August, and yes, I did take some pictures, but of course I never got around to posting them. Call me a slacker, if you must. So here are a few pics.







Also, my Mikey turned 2 in October. He loved his birthday and opening presents. I wish I had video to show you, but you will find out why I don't if you keep reading. We tried to get his picture taken at Kiddie Kandids twice, but he wanted nothing to do with it. Here are a few pics from his birthday.



Mikey has turned in to such the little man. He is tall for his age, average for weight, and his head is now officially off the charts. Yes, he's always had quite the noggin. He is talking like crazy, however, most of it is his own language. He talks the most when he is telling you off, which is hilarious because he will be so serious. There is never a dull moment.

Mikey mowing the lawn with his dad.

trying on my Uggs.

Then, after Mikey's birthday in October, we all got sick with H1N1. Let me tell you what, I have never been that sick in my life. Mikey was thankfully over it when I got it because I couldn't take care of myself, let alone a 2 year old. He was a champ through it though. I felt so bad because he would try to play and after a few minutes he would just lay on my wood floor because he didn't even feel good enough to move. I had one really bad weekend too where my fever just would not break for 4 days. I was sick over Halloween so I missed it completely, and therefore don't have any pictures. Mikey was a lion and looked so cute... that is when he wouldn't leave his costume on. Thankfully, we are all better and haven't been sick at all since.


Two days before Thanksgiving, our house was robbed in the middle of the day while we were at work. They stole all our small electronics including our computer, camera, video recorded, iPod, GPS, etc. Then they also took all of my spare keys. I apologize to all those reading this whom have heard me vent so many times about this, but I still feel violated. They were "kind" enough not to take our external hard drive, so we didn't lose everything, but I hadn't backed up our video camera in almost a full year. We lost all those videos of Michael which still makes me sick. You can't replace those first words and first dance moves.

Through our insurance, we have gotten our house re-keyed and new items to replace those that were stolen, but it was a real headache to get it all done that took a month of fighting trying to prove that we did in fact own all the items. We had just switched to a new insurance company, so it didn't look good that we were making a claim the first month, and they had to do all this extra background checking on us.

The police did come and dust for fingerprints and everything, but basically told us that our stuff was probably already sitting pawn shops and to kiss it goodbye. We didn't expect to hear anything, then one day Johnn got a call from the police that they had someone in custody that had possession of my old iPhone that was taken in the burglary. The phone is broken from when Mikey tried to flush it down the toilet last year, but they were able to pull the contacts off of it and track us down. The police are almost positive can't get a confession out of them, however, they do have them on breaking into multiple other houses so they will be going to jail. Still no clue about where our stuff ended up though.


In December, I hosted my first shower in the new house for Brooke and CJ with my Mom's family.
And Natalie and Dave blessed their little Hailey. I had so much fun making the cookies for this one because of the little girl "Zoolander" Haileys.

Johnn got the opportunity to try out the luge course up at Park City. He said that if he had the time and money, it is something we would definitely do all the time. He did come home with a few battle wounds. Johnn's scuffs weren't as bad as this guy pictured below that went with him, but they looked painfully. For the ice to break the skin through your coat and shirt, you must hit the sides pretty hard.


We had a lot of fun getting to know Brooke better and all her family at all the fun showers. I believe that the blondes now outnumber the brunettes in the Miller fam.

Grandeur Peak

I absolutely love the fall as the leaves are changing. We had a beautiful Saturday morning hiking Grandeur Peak.

At the summit

Hansens

This is Michael smiling for me... it needs a little work, but it's a step in the right direction. I have dozens of pictures of his back because when I would pull out the camera he would run away.

Mount Olympus

So we had this wonderful idea to go on a hike last Saturday. Johnn and I had both already done our workouts for the morning so we thought we would just take on something simple...

Then we somehow decided to hike Mt Olympus. Lets just say that we were and are still a little sore.

I have hiked this mountain a dozen times, but that was in high school & college, you know, way back in the day. We used to hike it for sunrise then run down in under 3 hours then go to school. It is a very different hike carrying a 2 year old. Thanks to my wonderful hubby for taking on that task.

It was absolutely gorgeous, but I forgot how steep that hike is. It took us 5 hours.

Mikey was actually amazing. He didn't walk very far but that was mostly our fault. He probably would walk half of it, but going Mikey pace, it would be a two day hike.

Mikey loved picking leaves off the trees and eating the snow up top. When he got fussy about 3/4 the way up, Johnn put a movie on his phone for him and he was so happy. Pretty posh hiking right? Get carried up with a blankie and a movie.

I highly recommend this hike to anyone willing to take on the 6 1/2 miles. However, I would leave the kid behind.

Silver Lake

Okay, so here's the deal. Johnn and I have this tradition where we go up to Silver Lake every fall when the leaves are changing. It is always gorgeous up there & Mikey loves the "wa-wa", aka the lake. You know when you have a great plan, but it just doesn't turn out the way you expected. So here's what happened. We were enjoying the beautiful drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon, and were seriously 1 minute from the parking lot for the lake when Mikey threw up everywhere. That's right, not just the spit up but the projectile vomiting that just keeps coming and coming to the point where you wonder how that much stuff could come out of such a little person. Have I grossed you out yet? Michael apparently gets car sick like his mommy. I'm just glad that Johnn was there because there's not much you can do to help a child throwing up in the back seat while you are driving, and with his quick thinking, he was able to catch a lot of it in the towel that we keep under his car seat, which now has a new purpose. My plan was to take some cute pictures of Mikey by the lake, but instead he ran around like this.

That's right. You gotta love the diaper and sandals look. I swore to myself that I would never be one of those moms that took her kid places in only a diaper (if any of you reading this do, I am sorry, but don't). I now understand that there are certain circumstances where you don't have any other option. I didn't have an extra set of clothes since we are past the blowout and spill allover when we eat stage. We washed out his clothes in the bathroom sink and used the car windshield to dry them off. The good thing is after a half an hour they were dry enough to put back on & we were able to enjoy our walk around the lake fully clothed. And I was still able to get some good pictures.

Jackson Century Celebration Reunion

Last weekend was the big Jackson Family Reunion up at the Heber Girls Camp property. I had never been there, but for a camp, it's about as posh as you can get. The weather was dreamy and the leaves were beautiful. It was fun to see several of my cousins and second cousins that I don't see very often and meet some extended family that I didn't know. Each family branch got different colored shirts and hats. Gotta love that we got the bright orange. It was so appropriate for my Grandpa's family. I think they will be great to have up at our cabin to wear during hunting season. We have some pretty hideous, white trash orange tank tops that we got from Walmart up there now.

The Miller girls on our hike. We were sad that Alli & Nats couldn't be there.

The kiddies

Andrea and Meggers

Our little hikers. That's Mikey in the lead. He led the whole way and did the whole hike all by himself. This was a first. I am so glad that he is going to be a hiker. He loved every minute of it.

Papa and the girls

Mikey absolutely loved it up there. I spent hours chasing him around all the trails through the camps.

Playing with cousins in the pavilion.

Playing in the bunk houses.

Weekend in Wyoming

We had another fun weekend up in Wyoming, this time with the Hansens. I love the cabin this time of year as the leaves are starting to turn. It is so beautiful. We had fun four-wheeling, playing with the kids on the playground, doing puzzles, watching movies, and relaxing.

Josh, Amy, and Jaxson

My Boys