Wiggling

So I've told you that I'm weird right. So yesterday I said to my table I could wiggle my ears.(In witch I can.) Then I did it for them. Thay were amazed! So then, of corse, other tables joinned in. Even a friend I've had since 2nt grade diden't know I could wiggle my ears. ( I think my friend diden't know.)

Josh :)

Spelling Bee

Yesterday I had a class spelling bee. I won class the spelling bee! today I went to the final spelling bee I won that to! there were two others. but we got past the real words. so we decided to stop and wait.

by Ben

Moving

We are moving to Spanish Fork and we are bringing all our stuff. We are bringing our coats. We are bringing our toys. We are taking the boxes, and our apples and peaches and juice. We are bringing our shirts. We are bringing our computers. We will fix things. We are bringing our shoes and our socks. We are bringing strings. It is big. We are bringing our baskets and our glass slippers. We are bringing our phones.

By Lillie

Packing

Wow! We got busy fast! And you can tell because I haven't posted anything on here in a while again. But really all there is going on is packing. Lots and lots of packing. I have to say, it is somewhat concerning that I have been packing almost every day, at least a few boxes, and some days a lot more than just a few, and so far it has all been "non-essential" stuff. Stuff we won't miss in the next few weeks before we move, and then will continue to not miss if it takes a while to unpack. Hours and hours packing things that we won't notice are gone. Joe even said with all the junk gone, we have plenty of room in the house. Who needs to move? Sounds like we need a serious garage sale, or maybe just a huge trip to DI.

two weeks ago I went to nebraska. I went on jog I joged three miles. I went with matt nancy
and dad.





byben

brad

Brad is going to live with us. for a hole year. he shode up today.






by ben

The Slip and Slide

The summer before I turned eight years old I wanted a Slip and Slide. You know, those long sheets of plastic that you spray water on and then run and slide onto. I dreamt about that Slip and Slide, I could imagine the fun we would have all summer long, playing with my friends on my new cool toy. I asked my parents for one, I begged, I pleaded, and always the answer was no.

I distinctly remember the day it happened. My mom came home from somewhere and called us inside from playing. She said she had a big thing to tell us that was going to affect our whole family. I was sure it was a grand Slip and Slide announcement! We were going to get one, finally!!! And of course this was something that affected the whole family, we would all have so much fun together on it! (It still makes me smile to think about how my eight year old mind worked.)

I remember running into the house, begging to know if my dream was about to come true. "Are we getting a Slip and Slide? Are we? Are we?"

My mom sat Kenny and I down, and the big announcement was made. "We are moving."

WHAT????

MOVING????

WE CAN'T MOVE! ALL MY FRIENDS ARE HERE!!!! I DON'T WANT TO MOVE!!!!

I JUST WANT A SLIP AND SLIDE!!!!!!!!

But we did. And to the best place in the entire world, Missoula, MT. I am the person I am today because of where I grew up. I made friends those first few days of third grade that are still some of my best friends in the entire world. One of them introduced me to the LDS Church, something I will be forever grateful for.

But I never did get that Slip and Slide. Every time I see one in a store, or on a commercial with kids happily sliding their summer away, I remember that feeling of not only having my childish hopes dashed, but of having my world fall apart. All I knew was Aurora, CO.

And that is why my kids are getting an air hockey table.



(It's in Spanish Fork, UT, only 10 minutes from where we live now.)

Hats

I love hats. I wish I lived in a time when you could wear a hat without people looking at you funny. But since I don't, I put them on my babies! Hooray for babies in hats!

Sophie

Blessing bonnets count too

Lillie

Funny hat

There is a baby under that hat, I promise

There is a Josh under that hat, I promise.

Santa hat

Goofy hat

Another goofy hat

Goofy girl in a hat

Kindergarten graduation hat (from way back)

Josh in a hat from even farther back!

And even me in a hat.

Family Shmamly

A couple of days ago I was talking to Josh about some plans we had for what we were going to do that day. Josh had other ideas, wanted to play with friends, mess around on the computer, battle Ben on the Play Station. Finally I said, "Josh we are going to do this as a family." He turned to me and tried to say "family shmamly", while rolling his eyes at me, in the most smart aleky way. Instead he got flustered and said "Family shmaggard!" I burst out laughing at him, as did he. My Josh is getting so grown up, eye rolls and all, but even Josh the smart alek is pretty funny. Now I just have to look at him and say "Family shmaggard" and he cracks up. I love little boys, even when they aren't so little any more.

Inasint

Before I wrote this blog Ben was bugging me, and was writing this on the blog spot (Boom boom tshshsh!)hudgduyuy! So I cornerd him slitly kicked him. He said it hurt.






by Josh W. Millward (:

Weird Dream

I’ve got to start this post with a disclaimer and mention that I don’t normally dream of rainbows and fluffy bunnies. My dreams are filled with far manlier topics like motorcycles, sports highlights and race cars, but the other night I woke up laughing at the weird dream I had.

The dream took me back several years and I was sitting in class at BYU. I looked down and could see the ends of what looked like a flame or tribal tattoo on my forearm. (This was so common at BYU I can’t count how many students had tattoos like this.) This in no way surprised me because I could clearly remember getting the tattoo several months earlier – with Kamie. Naturally we went and got them together. (Can anyone say “date night”?)

When I got home that night I took off my shirt and above the forearm tattoo was our anniversary date and .......…. a pink Care Bear next to a blue unicorn – WHAT???. This came as a total shock to me and I realized there had been a terrible mistake months earlier. (Why it took 4 months to discover the error was not fully explained.)

You see, there was a mix up at the tattoo parlor and although they got the forearm correct, Kamie’s tattoo of choice was put on my upper arm, and she got mine. Unfortunately I woke up before finding out what she got. There you have it, a mix up at the tattoo parlor.

You’re welcome to take a stab at interpreting the dream on your own, but unless you’ve got something really good I am sticking to the fact that we saw Toy Story 3 a few days earlier and that the Care Bear was Lotso Huggin Bear and that a blue unicorn made an appearance in there somewhere. I’m not quite sure how it fits in with the tattoos, but it must mean something.

In Other News

We just wrapped up Ben’s final season of T-ball. I was the coach and Josh did a fine job as the assistant coach. My main goal for the kids was to have fun, create some memories and hopefully teach them a thing or two about baseball.





Most of the kids showed improvement over the season, I’m pretty sure they all knew which way to run around the bases by the last game. We had a chance to tour BYU’s baseball facilities which if it wasn’t a highlight for the kids, at least it was for me.

It was fun to be Ben’s coach and have Josh on the staff. As a bonus, the parks and rec gave each of the coaches $20 off our next sports activity. That sealed the deal for me, and I will see you next year for Ben’s inaugural season in coach pitch.


Joe

joging and walking

today I went on a jog. with my grandma and my dad. we were going to go on a shorter distance jog. but we went on a longer distance jog. we walked 2 miles. we jogged 1. by ben

soccer camp

I had soccer camp like 3 weeks ago. I had someone that was on my soccer team. byben

Slurp

Yesterday and today,we've bin having Slushies!Thare yummie.Yesterday I had Grape,today I had Lemin and Blue Berry mixed.




by Joshua W. Millward :)

camp

I just went to basketball camp. I got a byu waterbottle . and a basketball. and my mom is signing me up for a ball boy tomrrow! by ben

Theater

Last night we saw Toy Story 3!





by Josh W. Millward (:

t-ball is awsome

My dad is the coach of a t-ball team. Josh is the assistant coach. I am on the team. by ben

Ben the Soccer Man

The longer we are here, the more advantages I see to living in Utah. One of them is some of the really cool sports opportunities for Ben, especially as he gets older. With BYU so close, he is able to go to their sports camps, something that is right up his alley.

A couple weeks ago he went to the soccer camp they have for four to eight year olds. It was taught by the head coach of BYU's women's soccer team, and a bunch of men's and women's soccer players. And the coolest thing about it was it was held in the Indoor Practice Facility! It is a huge indoor football field, air conditioned and everything! There were TONS of kids, probably over two hundred, all playing 8 on 8 soccer, and there was still room for more games. It was amazing!

The only drawback I see is, since it is artificial turf, they use teeny tiny rubber pellets to cushion the ground. Not only did it somehow get spread all over my house from Ben's shoes and clothes, Ben himself was filthy every day when he came home. He was quite bugged that he had to take a bath every day that week. Here he is:

You can only imagine his knees and legs.

The funny thing is, I did not see another single kid who was so sweaty and dirty. But I know why; that kid did not stop running the whole time he was out there. He was everywhere man, offence, defence, and the kid who chased after the ball when it went out of bounds. I'm pretty sure Ben imagines Heaven as a huge Indoor Practice Facility with lots of soccer balls.

Sneak

Yesterday my mom made cookies.So,I snuck a BIG glob of cookie dow.Then I said "Wich hand is something in." When she picked the right one I ate it right in front of her!





by Joshua W. Millward

Lillie vs. The Cat

We have a neighborhood full of cats living under (and somewhat inside, we think) the Firebird. What Joe thinks about this is worth a whole other post. Let's just say Joe has been thinking about getting "Josh" a BB gun, and the words "blow away" have nothing to do with a blustery day.

Anyway, because Joe is so allergic to pretty much anything that is not human, fowl or reptile, these cats are about as close as the kids are going to get to a furry pet. Lillie especially loves trying to play with them. Most of them are pretty nice, but one cat especially does not appreciate her attempts to play.

Well, a couple days ago, Lillie came inside absolutely hysterical. Crying so hard she could hardly breathe, but still trying to tell me what happened. After quite a bit of time calming her down, I got her to try to tell me what happened. And I still could not understand what she was talking about. All I could figure out was it had something to do with the the cat with the green eyes. Finally I was able to understand her words, but it took me a minute to decipher their meaning. She said "The cat with the green eyes made a blowing nose sound at me!"

I actually had to picture a cat blowing it's nose to figure out that the cat hissed at her! I have to say, it is actually a very accurate description of a cat hissing.

So poor Lillie is now totally afraid of the cat with green eyes. And presumably, cats with colds.

My Great Idea

I will totally admit, I was scared to death about summer arriving. Not the sunshine, the popsicles, and the bad TV, but the fact that all four kids were going to be home - all day, every day. And not because I was afraid the boys would fight constantly (which is a distinct possibility). And not because I was afraid of a reprise of Lillie's "Christmas-Time Freak-Out of 2009" brought about by the combination of boys being home from school, and the arrival of a little sister (also a distinct possibility).

I had no idea how I was going to survive things like going to the bank, running to the post office, and the dreaded grocery shopping.

Don't get me wrong, individually, all of the kids seem to know how to behave in public. Even in small combinations they are tolerable on short errands and shopping trips. But put them all together and it is like an explosive chemical reaction happens. Suddenly a nine year old seems to find it appropriate to run up and down aisles playing hide and seek. A 6 year old thinks it's funny to try to car surf on top of the cart that looks like a car. And a three year old starts tossing every kind of junk food known to man into the cart. You know you are in trouble when your infant having a diaper blowout is the best part of the shopping trip.

So I was scared.

And then I had an idea. What if I don't have to bring them? What if I find a babysitter to watch the kids for a couple hours one day a week, and I run around town, getting things done? Isn't that what teenage neighbor girls are for? Genius.

So for the last two weeks Rachel has come over on Monday morning, and I have had the minivan to myself. I have to say, it is SHOCKING how much I can accomplish when I don't have to unload and reload four kids at every stop. Just this morning I ran to the church, two banks, the post office, Babies R Us for a crib mattress, the theater to pick up midnight Eclipse tickets (!!!), and the grocery store where I got a weeks' worth of groceries, all in just two hours! Hallelujah!

Funny how a couple hours away from the kids doing ordinary errands can make their, and my, summer so much more sunny!

School's Out For Summer!

Well, we are two weeks into summer vacation, and everyone is still alive, some missing a few privileges, but that is to be expected I guess. Before it gets too far out, I wanted to get some pictures up about the boys' last few days of school.

Every year the third grade at Reagan Academy does a big end of year program all about different cultures they have learned about during the year. And I mean big! There was singing and dancing and all the kids were in costume! I cannot imagine how much work it took to put it all together! It was over an hour long, and was totally amazing. Josh learned an African tribal war dance, and he was totally into it. I don't know how to post video, but I'll have Joe put the video on here sometime. Here are a couple pictures. Josh is in the bottom left of the second picture.

As for Ben, he had a fabulous Kindergarten year. He learned so much and I can hardly believe he's going to be gone all day in just a couple months! I am really going to miss him. Ben had a great teacher, Mrs. Miller. She is an older lady with 14 (!!!) kids of her own, so she knows how to handle a classroom of crazy 5 year olds! He had a program on his last day, where they each talked about the continents and the US presidents. Ben's lines had to do with the continent of Europe. He did a great job. (Again, hopefully video will come soon.) Until then, here is a picture of Ben all graduated from Kindergarten with his teacher.

Finally, I just have to say how much I LOVE their school. Josh and Ben have learned so much, they have been challenged, and the atmosphere there is just special. The teachers go above and beyond, and I know they love my kids. When we switched from our neighborhood school a couple years ago, it was difficult. Josh had to be the "new kid" and that was scary for him. I worried that I was expecting too much from a school, and what we were experiencing at his old school was just how it was. And I worried that I was being a whiner. I never had a choice about what schools to go to growing up, I just went to the school I was supposed to. And I think I got a great education, from mostly great teachers. But I just couldn't shake the feeling that my kids needed more than they were getting. That I wasn't expecting too much, the school was just expecting too little. So we switched to Reagan. And I have not had a single moment of regret. It is everything I thought a school should be. My kids are learning so much and discovering new things. Josh loves art now, due to an AMAZING art teacher. He had a self-portrait chosen to display at an art show at BYU last year, and even won an award for another piece at their school Fine Arts contest. So thank goodness for Charter schools, ours has made a huge difference for my kids. Hooray!

new bike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 days ago I got a bike I road it yesterday. My bike is blue. I like my new bike.




byben

Riding

Today I was at Cub Scouts.We were riding are bikes for 1 mile.There were 3 miles in there and back.I made it alive!



by Josh W. Millward :)

Cousins Are Awesome

Look at these two sweet girls! Ava and Sophie were born only three weeks apart. We went to Boise over Memorial Day weekend, and the kids all got to play with their cousins. It is so fun for Josh, Ben and Lillie to have cousins of about the same age to play with when we go to Boise, and now Sophie will have a built in buddy too! I remember going to Nebraska every summer, and one of the best things about it was having cousins to play with.

Josh and Ben were both excited to be there for Ethan's 10th birthday party, and had a great time rock climbing. The biggest thrill was when Ben slipped off the wall and flipped upside down in his harness, quite an adventure!

Lillie just loves Eowyn, and is always so excited to have a little girl to play with. This time she also liked playing with Ella, but she is still figuring out how we are all connected, because while she knows Winnie is her cousin, she kept calling Ella, "Winnie's cousin." (She also called her "the running girl", an appropriate description -I have finally found a kid who runs as much as Ben did at that age!)

Sounds

I hear the T.V..I hear a baby toy.I hear Ben.And I definitly hear the computer.






by Joshua W. Millward :)

Learning

I leanrd how to ride my bike when my brother was practicin. Ican ride all the way around the block by ben

A B

A b b b.






by Sophie

It's a girl!

Let's just start by saying I never imagined I would have a daughter. Having no sisters, and marrying into Joe's family, with six boys and no girls, I just figured my chances were slim. Plus, girls sort of scare me. I have no idea how to do the girly-girl thing. I was a tomboy, I didn't have any girls in my neighborhood to play with, so I hung out with all the boys, racing bikes, playing football (complete with tackling), playing baseball (I take great pride in the fact I have never thrown like a girl), and in general making sure they all knew I could hang with the boys in all they did, if not flat out beat them. I don't think I ever owned more than one dress at a time until I started working at Morgan Jewelers! So when that ultrasound tech said it was a girl (and Ben burst into tears), I knew I could be entering new territory.

And yes, Lillie is a total girly-girl. Her favorite color is pink, she thinks a tutu matches any outfit, and she wants so badly to be a dancer. And while I still don't understand the drama, and I have no idea where she gets the poses she does when trying on new clothes, she is not the "typical" girly-girl I was so scared of. She still hauls out and smacks Ben for bugging her, she immediately wanted to ride her bike when the boys figured out how to ride this past week, and she puts together outfits like this:

And this:

Now that is a little girl I can get along with!

Home

yesterday we got back from boise we had a fun time there. and We had a safe drive back.

3rd day of boise

todays the 3rd day of boise today. were going to 3 houses were going to bill and wayne and steve's.

by ben

trip

2 days ago we went to boise. by ben

Last Day!

Todays the last day of school!First,we sighned year books.Then we routated and did some games.After that,we ate and shared some books. Then we went home. The best part is...

We went home at 12:00!

by Josh W. Millward

Some Words

We're having dinner soon.

new playground next year

I normally play on the kindergarten playground but today I got to play on the big kid playground by ben

Field Trip

At school I had a field trip.I went aorund the Springvill comunity.First we went to Allin's Groshry Store.At Allin's,we: Walked behind the bakery desk,walked inside a freezer,and walked behind the wall.(I think.I dident really know where we were.Embarassing)

Then,we went to the Police Station.We visited the place were the person who ansers the phone works.Later we visited the Police Station Jail.After that we went to the geroge.Then heard his sirins.

Third,we went to the fire station.Did you know,that the olny red fire truck in springvill was built in the 1930's?!Dany was the one that put on the fire suit.He put everying on exeped the mask.He even put on the air tainks!(He almost fell down.)

Then,we went to a farm,played there a bit.


After that,we went to a park and ate lunch.


Lastly,we went back to shool.



by, Josh W. Millward

museum

One time I went to the Bean Museum. I got to pet a snake. and got to see a tortus. by ben

Movie

Me,Luke and Ben are goeing to make a movie soon.Its goeing to be baced on: Star Wars! :)

by Josh W. Millward

abc's

When I leard how to play the Abc's on the piano.the keys are cc gg aag ff ee dd c gg ff ee d gg ff cc gg aa g ff ee dd c by ben

Finding

I was loosing a Lego piece.It was a Lego bullet.Today I walked into my Lego lab,I saw it in one of my Lego containers.But then I couldent find my Lego spaceship.Don don doooooooooooon.I saw it... behind me. :)

by Josh W. Millward

my friends

i have 4 best friends gabe jackson luke and austin. by ben

In the beginning...

Well, it's about time I started a blog. I read several, and I find myself composing posts in my head, if only I had a blog. So as a family project, I decided we would start a family blog. I have discovered it is really hard to get rambunctious boys to sit down and write in a journal, but I also know how fun it is now for me to go back and look and the journals Joe and I have from when we were little, so I thought it might make it easier to encourage them if they get to do something cool on the computer.

I was a devout journal keeper from the time I was in grade school, until the night Joe proposed to me, and then my journal keeping began to slack off. Busy, you know. Then we got married, and I worked at a mall, my life was just not that exciting, not too much to write about. Then I had Josh. I tried again for a while, but got busy again. And busier, and busier, and busier with each little kid. Let's just say my poor journal has no record at all of the fact that I have one daughter, let alone two! So this is also my attempt at becoming a journal keeper again. Plus all those kids that keep me so busy say the funniest things, and if I don't start writing it down, I am going to forget it all.

So look forward to posts from all of us here at Mill-words. I am excited to get started!