Christmas Tree 2010: Ethan Edition

Welcome to our Christmas Tree 2010 again! Today we will be focusing on Ethan and his collection of ornaments, or at least the ones that have survived thus far!

I was super excited when I found this ornament this year. At the beginning of this school year Ethan started playing the Trumpet in band! LOVE IT!

Nate and I picked this beauty up at the scout office down in Salt Lake City this past summer. We thought it was perfect to remember Ethan's first year of being a BOY Scout, coincidentally it is also the 100 year anniversary of Boy Scouts this year. Super Cool.

In 2008 I got this ornament for Ethan, what I REALLY wanted was a cool Harry Potter ornament. However, I had the most difficult time finding one. Hence the inner need to buy some in Orlando. But I am getting ahead of myself. You'll see.

This was one was the first ornament Ethan brought home from school. It was 2002, he was in his first year of Pre-school.

This was made in 2003. I remember thinking the Pre-school was crazy to put those little beads on with the kids. It has always been placed up high on my tree to keep it away from little fingers and mouths. Crazy that seven Christmases later it still sits up high!

This sweet ornament Ethan made in school a few years ago. Crazy me forgot to write the year on it, so it's a wild guess to figure out when it was. I LOVE this ornament. The cute little snowmen on it are made out of his hand print. Can you say CA-UTE! I love hand made ornaments. It melts this mama's heart in a major way!

Ethan's primary ornament in 2007.

This was the ornament that Ethan made in Primary the first year we lived here in Willard. It was 2006, he was seven years old. Have I mentioned that handmade ornaments are my favorite?

This ornament was given to me from a co-worker back in 1999, when I worked for Customer Service at Living Scriptures. Ethan was six months old. Since we had just had these pictures taken of him, it worked perfectly.

We picked the next two up while in Orlando a couple weeks ago. The first one is a Gryffindor ornament that we purchased while at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

While we were at the Lego store in Downtown Disney, we picked up this Dumbledore Lego ornament. They were out of Harry Potter ones, so Ethan opted for this one.

Photo Shoot Sunday: Christmas-time 2008

I remember this Photo Shoot very well. It was after church, of course. Why I feel so compelled to subject tired, ornery, hungry kids, that just want to eat lunch already, to a photo shoot is beyond me. Let's just say, I still haven't learned my lesson! Well, to make matters worst my camera was being especially stupid that day. It was awesome! So, after doing some major work on these suckers, here they are for your Christmas-time enjoyment!

Flashback Friday: Wii Goodness, Christmas Morning 2009

For Flashback Friday today I thought I would share some photos of Christmas Day 2009. That was the year we finally got a Wii. Needless to say, it was on A LOT that day. Here are a few photo highlights from that morning, followed by one of my all time favorite Wii quotes from Chub.

Ryland said to me while playing Super Mario Cart "Mom, I am just passing these guys like they were cheese!"

My Monster

Sometimes when we are sitting around the dinner table together we play random games with each other. Earlier this week it was: My Monster. We went around the table (over and over) taking turns describing what OUR Monster looks like, acts like, says, whatever. It's fun to see where the kids imagination takes us. I thought it would be fun to share here what everyone came up with.

Nate: His Monster is grey, he likes to tell jokes. He plants weeds in the flower gardens and puts wood chips in the grass where he has to weed eat. His name is I-NEE-KNOW (which is the way Ally used to say, "I don't know", back in the day), he has bad manners but denies it.

Ronda: My Monster is yellow, he likes to paint my toenails and pierce my ears while I am asleep. He makes messes everywhere, his name is NOT ME!, he has a fluffy tail and whiskers.

Ethan: (eleven and a half years old) His Monster is red with 2 golden eyes, and he is small and scaley like a dragon. He likes to play wizards with Ethan, he has a wand and travels around with Ethan as well. His name is TRUMPET BONE and he has lived under his bed for the last year and a half

Ally: (nine years old) Her Monster is a girl, she is pink and purple, she wears a red dress and has baby blue glasses. Her name is SALLY and she likes to paint your nails and curl your hair. Her nickname is Kitty.

Ryland: (seven years old) His Monster is green, he looks like a monkey and he has green eyes. He likes to play with his lego's when he is asleep, he puts them back and zooms under Chubs bed when he wakes up, and he only plays with Ryland when no one else is around. His name is MONKEY SPIDER.

Evelyn: (3 and a half years old) Her Monster is blue, she is a girl, her name is TESSIE, she has 2 hands and 2 eyes. She likes to play on our playground, and be a monster tree. She hides under Evie's bed when she is asleep and scratches her bed and her back.

So there you have it! Now you know the secret in-depth things the Mills family discusses around the dinner table. Don't you feel more enlightened?

Flashback Friday: First Santa Photo 1999

Todays Flashback Friday is a photo of our first family photo with Santa Claus. Ethan was just six months old. All I gotta say is, "Wow!"

Wordless Wednesday: Gold, Frankincense, Myrrh and......

Evacuation!

For the Mathie/Mills Family Reunion we held a mock emergency evaluation. We were given a bag with family shirts inside and a set of instructions. On the appointed day we were called sometime in the morning hours and told to "activate". The majority of the family had no idea what we were doing, just that we would get a phone call and be told to open our bag and follow the instructions inside. When we got our call, our instructions told us that there had been severe weather throughout the night and that there were now flash floods in our area. Which was very convincing since the entire night it had rained and stormed outside, in fact it rained the entire day. We had 30 minutes to evacuate and meet with the rest of the family at Nate's brother Larry's house in West Haven. Every family got a different emergency. Since Nate and Ethan were gone to a Merit Badge Midway that morning, the task to evacuate fell to me and the three younger kids.

What an experience. I was the only one who knew that this was a drill. Ally was already up milling around with me, but Ryland and Evie were still asleep. I was so proud of Ally. I calmly but firmly told her the news and explained what I needed her to do. She got right to it. I went downstairs and woke Ryland. I immediately told him we needed to evacuate and what to grab. He almost immediately went into a panic. I felt so bad. I calmed him down and got him to focus on what I needed him to do. He got right to it. Those two were just awesome. They did everything I asked and more. Ally started grabbing food for them all to eat for breakfast, she grabbed things that she knew Ethan would want to save. I woke up Evie and got her ready and proceeded to load the car. We got all of the 72 hour kits, emergency toilet, etc. I grabbed our photo discs, family videos, my journals, the jewelry that Nate has given to me, etc. It was interesting those last few minutes before we left. The van was loaded, the kids were buckled and I walked through the house one last time. I scanned each room to make sure there wasn't anything I would regret not grabbing. It was a strange feeling. I knew it wasn't real, I knew I would be back later in the day and yet, I had a strange detachment to everything left. Like it really didn't matter. Which it really doesn't, in the grand scheme of things. The kids had only needed a little guidance in what kinds of things they should grab, it was interesting to see the things that they deemed important.

Almost the entire time the kids were nagging me to grab our cats. I kept putting them off, telling them we would get to them. Of course if it were a real emergency I would round up the cats, but I knew this wasn't real and I DID NOT want to take them all day to West Haven. They would have had to stay in their crate all day, and I was afraid if we let them out to go potty they would run off. I wanted this to be as real to them as possible so I finally had them grab the cats and we loaded some food and their crate into the van. When they weren't looking I tried to pull it out. I got caught, so I made up some lame excuse of something I needed to do with it. I carried it out of sight and let the cats out. I was hoping they would stay out of sight til we got out of there. Of course they are cats and did whatever they wanted to. As we were backing out of the drive they saw the cats. Hysterics ensued. I figured at this point it was okay to let them in on what was going on. It was funny because Ally said she had been wondering why none of the other neighbors were leaving!

The entire drive there we discussed our adventure. It was an awesome learning experience. I asked them if it was all worth it, knowing that now if a disaster occurred we would feel more prepared. Ryland was the only resounding "NO!" in the entire group.
We arrived right on time. We then spent a good portion of the day talking about emergency preparedness, both with the kids and without. It was a cool experience and very enlightening.

Ryland, Larissa and Trevin F.
Sydney M., Ally, Lauralea F. and Kevin B.

Everyone that could make it that day. Nate and Ethan arrived at the tail end of it. For the rest of the family that lived at the southern end of the state they did the same thing within their group at the same time.

Evelyn and Anya M.

Kelsey, Mandy, Jayden and Jarod M. family,

Nate's parents, and Anya, Jaicia, Jen and Kendree M. family

Our family, Cody, Dale, LaRay and Kevin B. family, Sydney, Daniel, Mya and Jen M. family

Later on that night I found Ethan and Evelyn doing this in the great room. He had dragged her all the way down the hall to her room by her socks. He then laid down and had her drag him all the way back to the kitchen by his socks. It's a good thing we have slippery hardwood floors and he is a lightweight. I asked him what they were doing. His answer, "Mom, this is good practice! What if I am knocked out or something and Evie has to get me out of the house!" I laughed and secretly hoped that would never be the case.

A few days later Nate was trying to take a nap on the couch. Evie busied herself by taking care of his "owies". I think we are getting prepared!

Are YOU prepared?

Christmas Tree 2010: Nate and Ronda Edition

I was thinking the other day about some of our possessions in our house. Pretty much everything in our home holds some meaning to us. We had just taken part in an Emergency Preparedness Reunion with Nate's family (more on that another day) and we ran a mock emergency drill. We were given a pretend emergency and had a certain amount of time to grab things from our homes and evacuate immediately. Christmas decor definitely didn't make the list of things to grab. So, I thought it would be good to take some photos of some of our sentimental ornaments/decor that we have. Just in case something happens to them. Today I just want to look at the ornaments that are mine and Nate's. We will get a peek at the kids another time.

When we first moved her we still had our tree that Nate bought the day after Christmas in 1997. We were engaged and his mom worked at Dillards at the time. He went early and waited in line and then dashed inside and grabbed one of the display trees tags. It was a great tree for all of those years, but I gotta admit pre-lit trees are HEAVEN! I didn't think we had space for a fat tree in our little corner of the great room in this house, so our first Christmas here I bought this pencil tree. The last year or two I have definitely decided I am ready for a fuller fatter tree again. Unfortunately I didn't get around to ever getting me a new tree so we are using it again this year. I am totally planning on using this tree somewhere else in the house next year because I will have a new one, for sure! We are also outgrowing it at a rapid pace. This year I didn't use almost half of our ornaments! Time to become a two tree family! Maybe three!

I love my little train I have at the base of my tree. I picked it up last year I think. Maybe the year before, who remembers. It always makes me happy when I see it.

This is an ornament given to Nate by his Mom. I don't remember the year, but I believe it was during the time that they lived in Europe while in the military. She started a tradition of getting her kids an ornament. I don't know if she did it every year or what but here are a few that have survived all of these years that were given to Nate.

We picked this up to remember the year we went to Paris. It was March 2006. Isn't it beautiful? I want to go back.

Nate got this for me for Christmas in 2007. The year that our youngest, Evelyn, was born.

Nate's mom gave one of these to he and his brothers in 1986. The year
that the space shuttle Challenger exploded.

Nate's mom got this for him for his first Christmas home from his mission to Taiwan. It was 1996.

This ornament was one that Nate's mom gave to him when he was 12 years old.
It was 1987.

We picked this one up at Mount Vernon while visiting the DC area back in August 2009. I thought it was super pretty.

It's funny, we have had this ornament since February of 2007 and this is the first year it has been put on the tree. Since Christmas was obviously over when we got home from our Caribbean Cruise it didn't find it's way into the Christmas the boxes. I put it somewhere to keep it safe. Apparently safe is another word for lost or forgotten at our house. I came across it again this summer and it has patiently been waiting for Christmas down in my croffice ever since. In fact when we put the tree up this year I still forgot about it. I only remembered today that I even had it.

Some years we get more than one ornament for our tree. Just whatever we come across that has significance for us. This wristband obviously isn't really an ornament but it means something to us. It first graced our tree in 2009.

The kids and I got Nate this ornament back in 2008. The year he was diagnosed with Cancer.

Nate and I picked this up while on a trip to the Big Apple back in December 2008.

Finally Have An Answer!

Well, turns out I for sure never had a stress fracture. It took 3 different doctors and 7 months to finally figure out what is stinking up with my foot! I went this week to see an Orthopedic Surgeon down in Utah county. I heard he was "the best". So, I made the trek down hoping that I wouldn't be told that I would have to go under the knife. After a slew of x-rays, weight bearing ones no less, I was told there was definitely no evidence of any stress fractures. So, what's wrong then? Peroneus brevis Tendonitis. He hooked me up with some wedges that I wear inside my every day shoes and I need orthotics for my running shoes. Since the master-guru-orthotic maker wasn't in the office that day I have to head down south again in a few weeks. I also need to make sure that my runnng shoes are supernators and not for pronating. They need to be heavily cushioned or shock absorbing shoes without any motion control. I am so relieved that I don't need surgery that I almost don't mind waiting another couple weeks before I get to run again. Almost. I can't believe I haven't been running since mid-May. I think I am starting to develop a nervous tick, so this comes at a great time! I'd be lying if I didn't say I am a bit nervous to get this saggy, post-surgery body moving again though. So, wish me luck! Definitely some sore days in my future!

Flashback Friday: Temple Square Lights 1996

Today for Flashback Friday we are going WAY back to 1996. It was about six months after high school graduation. We were all at the tail end of our first semester of college. A bunch of my friends from high school got together to go see the lights at Temple Square. The photos are old and scanned in, so they aren't the best quality, but what do you do?

Amy N., Sarah W., Melanie W., Me, Bart T., Jason N.

Ty M., MaryAnne P.


Needless to say, we had a great time freezing our behinds off that night. I miss those guys and the great times we had!

Wordless Wednesday: Ever Feel Like This?

(november 2010)