Wordless Wednesday: Before and After

(june 2006)

Cincess Birthday Celebration

Evelyn's Birthday celebration was kind of spread out over a couple days/events. For Father's Day we also had a June Birthday party. The actual day of her birth was our Ward party, so we went and partied there for a bit. Afterward, my Mom and Bob stopped by right when we were ready to sing, blow out her candle and open presents. Perfect timing if you ask me. I was surprised to see her suddenly get embarassed while we were singing to her. I thought it would be a few more years before that happened. Maybe she will ultimately be like her mommy, uncomfortable being the center of attention. We'll see. Isn't she cute when she is demure?

Evie fell in love with these Princess cupcakes at the store. It made my life easier so I thought, "You got it kid!"

It took her a few minutes to blow out her candle. In the end though, Ryland got too impatient
and out it went. I don't think she noticed though! I just thought it was funny of Ethan for chastising him because, "Now she won't have learned anything!" Umkay.
She loved opening up her presents! She received TWO princess coloring books, one with over 600 stickers in it. I think she has already used up to 250 of them, and counting! The Ariel notebook, sunglasses and princess combs were also greatly loved! Definitely perfect for a Three year old Cincess!
Happy Birthday (again) Cincess!

Wish Us Luck!

Busy working on this today! Please send us "Happy Potty" vibes, I have a feeling we are gonna need it! Oh, and more laundry detergent for the "oopsies" would be appreciated!

Photo Shoot Sunday: Pinkalicious

The other day Ally dressed herself and Evelyn for the day. Doesn't she have great fashion sense?

(june 2010)

Raingutter Regatta and The Tale Of The Fastest Sailor

Last week our Cub Scouts had their Raingutter Regatta. It was a huge, fun success! Here are some of the highlights.
Ethan up against the Black Pearl. Looks like it could turn into a close race!

Ally headed for a victory!

He's in the lead! He's going for it! I just hope his breath holds out!

Isn't he super cute? I love seeing his joyful energy splashed across his face! Way to go Chub! Another win for the Mills clan.

These are the Webelos (plus Ally) while singing a Scout song "Vas ist Das?" I love how they are all supposed to be doing the same song and the same hand motions, but they are all pointing at completely different things! Ah, good times.

After racing undefeated against every Cub Scout, Ethan is declared to be the Fastest Sailor with the Fastest Boat! Way to go Tiny Man!

Ethan up against fellow 11 year old, and best friend Trey S. Looks like another victory! Fastest Sailor is undefeated yet again!

But wait! What's this? Fastest Sailor being dethroned by who? LITTLE SISTER! What an upset!
I love this photo because of the happiness (cockiness?) exuding off of Ally after her victory! Hey, us little sister's have to enjoy the gettin' while the gettin' is good! Way to go Sis! Live it up!

Ally rejoicing in being the winner! What's better than beating your older brother, the fastest Raingutter Regatta Cub Scout of the night? Having him do your chores for TWO days because you won!!

What was Evie doing during all of this? Well, when she wasn't running wild like a banshee, she was "mother-henning" the Adams baby. Here were some of the antics she was pulling to entertain him. What a character!
All in all it was a great event! The Mills kids were very happy in being so victorious!

Flashback Friday: Can I Still Call Her Baby?

Today my baby turns three. THREE! I can hardly believe it. In celebration of both Flashback Friday AND Evelyn's Birthday today I thought I would share the story of her birth. I feel very good about our family and that we are all here. I don't feel as sad about the fact that I won't be doing this again as I thought I would've when I started having babies. But, I gotta tell ya, I LOVE BEING PREGNANT. I know a lot of women despise the actual process, but not me. I loved it, and I do miss it. But not enough to do it again. You are looking at one complete family Baby, nobody missing here, and we like it that way. But oh that belly was fun! These photos were taken 3-5 weeks prior to Evelyn's arrival.

Just like my other three babies, Evelyn was not about to wait til her due date. She arrived ten days early, which was perfect if you ask me. Even though she was early, I knew for almost a week that she was gearing up to make her grand entrance. I literally felt like a ticking bomb. I am one of those women who are hyper-aware of their bodies, and with each day I was aware of every change I was undergoing. Well, on the evening of the 24th I must have been even more aware subconsciously that things were being set in motion. I had a major urge to WALK, and A LOT. I remember walking around the neighborhood with our family about 8 pm. Walk, walk, walk. Around this time I felt some heaviness settle into my lower back. That's when I truly knew it wouldn't be much longer. I became a woman obsessed. We got home, got the kids settled for bed and my sister Heidi showed up with her kiddos from Bear Lake. We have a running joke that my kids wait for Heidi to arrive in town before they will be born. Evelyn was no exception. Heidi came, we got her kids in bed and guess what? We walked. We walked around the neighborhood til just after 1 am.


When we got home Nate was still up. Heidi and I sat on the couch and continued talking. Within twenty minutes of sitting down I began watching the clock. At first it was twenty minutes apart, then fifteen, then ten, you get the idea. For the most part they were like Braxton-Hicks, with the occasional extra intensity. The three of us stayed up talking til almost 4 am, crazy, I know. I was wiped out but way too wired to sleep. Even once we laid down I watched the clock. Finally around 5:30 am I gave up and decided to soak in a warm bath. I was feeling achy, the contractions were still 5-7 minutes apart for the most part, and not painful. I decided that I would wake Nate up about 6 am to let him have a chance to get cleaned up before heading to Ogden Regional.


Once we arrived I was a little worried that I would encounter one of "those" nurses. You know the ones, they look at you like you couldn't possibly know you were in labor unless the baby was already halfway out and send you packing even when you know it is time. Mostly I was worried about this because I was NOT in pain. So, I walked right up to the desk and announced that this was my FOURTH pregnancy and that my contractions were five minutes apart for over an hour. I totally played the confidence card, and it worked. Thank goodness it did. Even though I hadn't really felt like I was "laboring" through the night, apparently I was. By the time I was checked in and settled the nurse checked me and declared me to be a FIVE! I thought ,well, sheesh, I am almost there then, usually I hit a five and within two hours baby and I are all cleaned up and cozy in our bed. That is when they decided to call my Doc. I knew that he had gone out of town a few days prior and was due back the previous night. So when they walked in and told me that he was still out of town I kindly told them that they were misinformed and to please try again. They did get a hold of him, but he was at the SLC airport! What!?! I love my doctor but this would not be the first time that me and the baby had to WAIT for him to arrive. A nurse all but had to hold Ally back to keep her from falling out while waiting for this man. I told the nurse then that she wasn't to touch me, no pitocin, no water breaking, NOTHING, or else she would be catching her instead of the doc. She then told me that that was what he had told her as well. I was glad we were on the same page. Doc arrived about an hour later (8 am), I was still doing just fine with my barely noticeable contractions. He breezed in, made a few jokes, checked me (still a five), broke my water, and put me on pitocin. As he was about to breeze out of the room again I reminded him to stay close because we were about to rock n' roll. He agreed. As we neared the 9 o'clock hour my contractions were beginning to become quite intense. I was starting to think about caving and getting an epidural. I thought if I was checked and told of the progress I had made that would motivate me to stay the course. The nurse finally came in at 9:07 am to check me, I was at 7 cm. At that point I was going to clear the room of my visitors so that I could really focus on labor because I could tell I was nearing transition. At the time I had my 12 year old niece Megan, my Mom, Nate's mom, my Dad and his wife Fran and of course Nate in the room. They were all being very quiet and respectful, I just knew I would need to focus. I was going through a contraction or two (or three or four) before I was even able to say anything, when suddenly I felt her coming! So, instead of turning my head to the right to tell everyone to kindly leave I turned to the left and frantically said, "She's coming! She's coming!" Luckily for me when they told me I was a 7 they had started prepping the baby warmer, etc. and had paged the Doc. Upon my declaration the room flew into a flurry of activity. More nurses flew in, one was yelling down the hall to the Doc to RUN! Even if my poor family had wanted to get out, they had lost their chance. The door was blocked. Before Doc even hit the door my natural instincts had already kicked in and I was pushing. He barely entered the room, I pushed two more times and she was here. They hadn't even had time to prep the bed for delivery. It was crazy. She was born at 9:18 am. Evelyn's birth story doesn't end there, but for today it does. Aren't you relieved? The rest of the story is for another time.
She weighed in at a whopping 6 pounds 7 ounces, and was 19 inches long. She was our largest baby. This is one of my favorite photos of Evelyn's birth. She is just minutes old here, those are my Dad's hands on her comforting her.

The first photo of all four kids together. Aren't they cute?

Evelyn's Favorites At Three:

Favorite Color: pink

Favorite Food: plain hot dog/hamburger buns (what's funny is that when she get's a bun with a hot dog in it, she eats the dog, but not the bun!)
Favorite TV Show: doesn't watch broadcast tv

Favorite Song: your guess is as good as mine

Favorite Thing To Do: play barbies, color, NOT go potty in the potty, swing and jump

Favorite Movie: anything with a Cincess or Manny (Ice Age Trilogy)

Favorite Book: ironically, it's a princess potty book

Happy Birthday Baby! I hope this year brings you lots of wonderful blessings, like potty-training. Among other things!

"Holy Sodcutting Skills Batman!"

The following project was largely inspired by this sight. Isn't it boring?

This is the first yard we have ever put in. It is .52 acres, which is a great deal larger than our .16 lot size in Ogden. Back in Ogden I didn't really do a lot of yard work, just your basic upkeep. Mow, weed, have a tiny flower patch, whatever. I was busy popping out offspring while living there, I didn't have time to have a green thumb. So, when we put in our yard here, not only was I a landscape newbie but I was also great with child, and just wanted it done. It was overwhelming to think about how much flower bed we were already putting in, and how large of a lot we were having to conquer. We opted for a lot of open grass areas for the kids to "play", a 2100 sq foot playground, an RV pad (still sans RV), and a good size vegetable garden to kind of "help" with the amount of upkeep we were envisioning.

Fast forward a year, to the end of May 2008. We were just gearing up to tackle the flower beds (having just gotten the sprinklers, curbing, grass and fence in the previous year) when Nate was diagnosed with Cancer. Instantly he was down for 6-8 weeks. Everyone under the sun encouraged me to just let the beds go, I couldn't do it. We had already spent more hours that spring than I cared to admit pulling weeds and cleaning them up. I just couldn't let them go again. So, once Nate was a few days past surgery and not sleeping his life away I left him to visually supervise the comings and goings of the kids inside and I was posted outside. Luckily for us at the time Evie was barely scooting on her bum, so Nate could sit in his lazy-boy and watch her. When she needed something he would call me on the phone and I would come inside and take care of her. For six plus weeks that is how we rolled. I got a TON done. That is when I discovered "Dirt Therapy". That is when I fell in love, became obsessed, however you want to put it. That is also when I started realizing that I needed more flower beds. I only conquered 75% of the front yard flower beds at the time, and even now there are original flower beds that aren't completely tamed yet. Don't you worry, their days are numbered.


So, if I still have original flower beds from two years ago still not done, why in the world did
I opt to do this project now? Good question. It all began with a tree. I have been babying along my Japanese Maple this spring, hoping it would hang in there. Because of our freakish Spring weather it received a lot of winter kill. I was wondering about whether I should keep nursing it or just yank the bad boy and put in something new and healthy. Enter my neighbor Karla. We have lived next to each other for almost 4 years and I have never really "met" her. Well, all of that changed on June 13th. It was a Sunday and Nate and I were wandering around the yard discussing our "master plan" for the yard when we again encountered the ailing Maple. Nate mentioned that he heard our neighbor Karla was a "tree rescuer" and maybe she would be able to help us. So, since their garage door was up, a sure sign that there was life at the house, I trekked across the street to "meet" her and ask her, no beg her, for some help. Boy, am I glad I did. We are like kindred gardening spirits. For almost two hours we wandered around each others yards comparing notes and talking in garden geek. It was AWESOME! She gave me some tips on how to encourage all but dead trees along. When I went into her backyard I felt like I had walked into the Garden of Eden. There were a ton of trees and they were all HUGE compared to mine. 97% of her trees were all ones she rescued from the clearance section at nurseries. The ones no one wanted. She told me how to trim them and to give them 16-16-16 fertilizer every six weeks and then to just stand back and watch them grow. I determined then and there to go check out the clearance section of one of my favorite nurseries the next day. Well, that night at midnight Nate flew out for the week. Monday morning bright and early I was checking out trees. I came home with TEN more for my yard. TEN! We already had eleven. We always wanted to add more but when they are $85.00 a pop you have to add them when you can. I bought ten trees, 4 shrubs and a bag of fertilizer for $220.00. WOW! So, I hired the teenage neighbor boy to help me plant some of the trees. On Tuesday I ran up to Logan to spend the afternoon with my sister for my birthday. We hit shrub jackpot at Lowes. There were many for $2.48, or $4.98, etc. Big, beautiful shrubs. I kinda went nuts. My minivan looked like a jungle on the way home. I think I purchased around 20 more shrubs, and that is where this story truly begins.


It has been in our "revised master plan" to get rid of any and all grass that touches my fenceline. Nate is sick of weed eating it, it's a pain to mow along, and I want more beds darn it. I have been wanting to soften the hardlines of the backyard for two years. Well, with more shrubs and trees than I had any prepared space to plant them I knew I needed to get serious and "getter done". I also really wanted to have it completely done before Nate returned home at midnight Friday. So, Tuesday night I got organized, hired Ethan and his 11 year old buddy Trey and prepared to attack the lawn the next morning. Wednesday came and silly me decided that we could just use a shovel to dig up the sod. For about 5 hours that is what we did. It was absolutely backbreaking work and mind-numbingly slow, but we managed to tear up two truckloads full (Ford Ranger size) and haul it over to my friend Jenn's house for her backyard. There was a storm that day and later the Raingutter Regatta at the church so that was about as far as we got. When Thursday morning dawned, I could hardly move. This project was out to prove that I am no spring chicken anymore. I looked at our progress, looked at two 11 year old boys, looked at my shovel and almost broke down. What in the world was I thinking? This was by far one of my more crazy projects on a whim. After several moments of contemplation I thought, "Forget this, I'm getting a sod cutter!" I headed out in the truck, and within an hour was standing behind the blasted thing getting shook around like it was a jackhammer and I couldn't figure out how to lower the blade. Great! Now I am going to waste money AND not get anything done! This is perfect. So what does any girl do who is beyond stuck while in the middle of a top-secret-hubby-doesn't-know-what-I-am-doing-to-the-yard-project do? She calls her daddy. That's right I did. I tried to sound all with it and nonchalantly ask if he knew how to lower the blade of a sodcutter, you know, typical every day kind of question you get from your daughter, right? He didn't know AND he saw right through me. In less than 20 minutes my dad was in my backyard NOT in work clothes running circles around me with that sodcutter. It was awesome. HE IS AWESOME! He ripped right through that sod and had me loaded and back at the rental place before you could say, "Holy sodcutting skills Batman!" It was amazing and I love him so much for doing that for me. If he hadn't I have no doubt that I would still be out there a week later reduced to tears while the sodcutter sat there silently mocking me. Seriously.

So, here is one of the only photos I have of this stretch of fenceline prior to this project. It doesn't show much but you get the idea.

This photo was taken mid-April of 2009, when I finally tamed this flower bed. Imagine a gazillion puncture burr's and weeds as high as my hip with trunks the size of tree trunks. Umm yeah, good times were had. Although looking back it was a piece of cake compared to this project. To the right of this bed is the grass area I changed. So, this is all before. And this is the after. Can you see the difference? Pretty crazy, eh? Once we got the sod cut and hauled away, I got out the rototiller, then I planted all but 7 of the shrubs, added some rocks and transplanted a few perennials into the bed. I worked all day Friday, finally laying the last of the soil prep, by headlamp mind you, at 10:30 pm Friday night. It took 20 bags of soil prep to fill the bed, why didn't I go with bulk instead of bags? Seriously, don't ask. A girls gotta do what she's gotta do when she is under a deadline. To give you a better sense of the enormity of this project let me tell you the dimensions of this new flower bed. Forty-two feet long by 13 feet 4 inches at the deepest part. Roughly about 560 square feet of sod removed and a flower bed created, in three days, with me, 2 eleven year olds and an amazing cameo appearance by my dad, Batman, for about 30 minutes. Can you say, Whew!?!

I also have to give a shout out to Ryland, he put in about 2 1/2 hours over those three days. He always reminded me of the dogs in the movie "UP", you know when they are going along and all of a sudden they are like, "SQUIRREL"! Well, with him it was more like, "WORM!" Then he would lose all focus for about 20 minutes. Do you have any idea how many worms are under 560 sq feet of sod? Anyhow, thank you Ryland for your efforts and for working so hard to keep all of "our" worms in our yard. Mommy appreciates it. I also have to tell Ally thanks too. She was johnny-on-the-spot with getting us fresh glasses of lemonade. She took good care of us and of Evelyn so that we could work on our project. Once it was dark on Friday night and the kids saw that I wasn't done they sure rallied around me. They brought out flashlights and a headlamp for me to wear. While I was finishing up they surprised me by cleaning up the house. It was great. I tell you, there really is something about having the whole family actively engaged in a project together. It was a very cool experience working together towards a common goal, doing a project together we have never done before and having it be a special surprise with a deadline to boot.
I am sure I will always remember this experience whenever I am working in this bed or just admiring it.

This is what you see when you walk into the backyard through the east gate.

So, was it worth it? Well, I gotta tell ya, it was totally worth the not being able to bend over or stand up straight for 2 days. Also worth the being so wiped out I was basically good for nothing for almost a full week after. Totally worth the major sunburn I received, despite wearing spf 50 sunscreen. I am sure you are wondering (atleast if you are still with me, this is a VERY long post) "Did Nate like it?" The kids were sure cute about it. For three days whenever he would call and I was chin deep in mud and working in a frenzy I could always count on the kids to distract him and keep him talking to someone til I could discreetly talk. They were always so careful not to mention anything to him. When they would hang up they would almost be in a fit of giggles over the fact that they "almost" slipped and said something to him. Since he didn't get home until 2 AM, we waited til Saturday morning to reveal our surprise. We blindfolded him, led him through the garage and over to the east gate into the backyard. To say he was surprised would be a huge understatement. He was definitely pleased. I was so relieved. Yes, it was part of the "master plan", but the timing wasn't necessarily. Yeah, that's how I roll sometimes. I think he's used to that by now.

This is the view off of the back deck. To the right is the playground.
So? What do YOU think? Was it worth it?
There is still a lot of boring fence and grass to the left of this bed, actually more than this project entailed. But that is for another day, another dollar and another back. Unless Nate goes out of town again. Time will tell.

Until then, I will turn to the right and enjoy watching the plants grow and fill in, knowing it was worth it. I will keep you posted on it's progress. If you come over and can't find me I will be doing a lot of this

Wordless Wednesday: Yeah, that's about right

(june 2008)

Dance Recital 2010

Ally had her first Dance Recital on May 15th, 2010. The dance studio pays someone to photograph the recital so that the parents can just sit and relax during the performance. I just barely got them back this week.

I could feel her nerves starting to show while I was getting her ready. Can you tell?
She had to be at the auditorium over an hour early. Since we had some time to kill I took a few snapshots of her in the dressing room.

This was her Ballet dance, it was done to the song, "Dance Your Dreams". Doesn't she look beautiful out there? It was so much fun to watch.

This was her Tap dance. The song was "Let's Tap Charlie Brown". She later told me that she was nervous up there and just tried to pretend that there was no one in the audience, like at Dress Rehearsal. Nervous or not, she did a great job!

After the Recital we took Ally out to eat with Grandpa and Grandma Burke. I was pleasantly surprised when she wanted to go somewhere that didn't have a playland. Chili's it was. She was so excited about her trophy, she earned it too! Way to go Ladybug!

Birthday Breakfast

Last Monday was my birthday. Today I wanted to show you what greeted me when I awoke that morning. Aren't they cute? They wanted to make sure that I "felt the love", especially since Nate had flown out the night before for the week.
Ryland was insistent that I get a photo of him holding the towel, Ally is in the background instructing him that he should be holding the towel like a butler. He didn't care and it drove her crazy.

Are you ready to see my tasty breakfast? Brace yourself because you are gonna feel extremely jealous. Two decent pieces of toast, which Ally and Ryland swiped first chance they got. The crumbs from the bottom of the chip bag, which Evelyn scarfed down. A cold leftover pancake from the previous day, smothered in maple syrup, which they left for me. Plus, a huge glass of oversweetened Kool-Aid. It was delish. Thank you kids for making mom feel like a Queen on her special day. I love you.

Becoming A Daddy

In honor of Father's Day today I thought I would share photos of Nate the days he became a new Daddy.

First up is obviously Ethan. I am sure this particular day was the scariest one of them all. He was entering completely new territory. Also the fact that when Ethan was born he wasn't sure he wanted to breathe for us, so Nate had to accompany him down to the NICU for a bit to get him going. Little stinker. Oh, but it was for sure exciting too. (June 1999)

Next up is our little Ally-girl. Showing up a little over three weeks early, being a girl and weighing in at 5 pounds 2 ounces she was instantly Daddy's Girl. She had her Daddy wrapped around her extremely tiny finger the second she came out. It's been the same way ever since. He loves it too. If you are wondering if he is wearing the exact same shirt 2 years later, you would be correct. Nate's Mom had a t-shirt made for him that said, "I'm a New Daddy Today". He was wearing it both days. (August 2001)

Ryland was a surprise in every way to us. Still is. We weren't planning on him when he announced he would join our family, or when he declared the day he was to be born. He has always been a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of boy. (November 2003)

Last but not least is Evelyn. With her arrival we finally felt complete. Coming in at a whopping 6 pounds 7 ounces she was our biggest baby. Little did we know the fear she would instill in us those early days and months. Crazy, but totally worth the fun she brings into our lives. (June 2007)


Each of these days and the days in between Nate has been an amazing Daddy. Like I have told him before, I could tell in the early days of our courtship that he was "great Daddy material". I was right, just more than I could have imagined. Happy Father's Day Babe! We love you and thank you for all that you do!