Flashback Friday: Fasting for Fast Snow

Today's Flashback Friday is dedicated to snow. 

This last Sunday we were asked from the pulpit to pray and 

fast for more snow in the mountains.

 We have had an exceptionally dry winter thus far and come summer we will be in trouble for sure.

The kids have taken this very seriously this week and it has made my heart feel good to hear them follow the guidance of our church leaders and pray for moisture.  

I loved hearing my children after hearing the weatherman's 5 day forecast call for snow this week. "It worked! It worked! It's because we prayed for it!!"   

One storm obviously will not get us out of trouble this summer but it sure doesn't help either. So we will keep at it.  

These photos are actually from January 2013. We had gone sledding on the hill behind the church on a bright beautiful day. 

I hope to be taking more photos like these in the coming days and weeks. Love these cute kids of mine. Pray for snow.  

1,700: Running The Numbers

I can't believe this project is finally done. 

1,700 slides. Two months. 1968-1984. 2 Binders. Ten Years.

Those are the numbers folks. I have had in my possession my family's 1,700 piece slide collection ranging from 1968 to 1984 for the last ten years. I have wanted to get these bad boys digitally scanned and organized for what feels like forever. 

I finally got around to doing it and it took me two months. 

Two months to scan them in, organize and label them both digitally and into two different binders. It was a super fun but long journey. 

With the possibility of move in our near future I did not want to drag those slide reels to one more place. They just took up too much space and I really wanted to downsize them. Plus, there are some great treasures in these. For example most of my baby photos are on slides and I really wanted to get them out where I could see them. 

I just love doing family history. I have such a love and a passion for it. I work on different projects all the time and I love seeing things get done and to be able to share things with my kids that they have never seen or heard before about their family. 

I love how it makes my family come to life. Family that I didn't even know but that have always just been a name to me. It is such fulfilling work to do. I am really pushing to get a lot of it done this year while the kids are in school because I have a sneaking suspicion that this coming summer will be like last year. Zero family history done. Too busy having fun with the kiddos. Of course that is the way it should be. Right?

SURPRISE!!! You're 70!!!

Well, after A LOT of preparation the BIG DAY finally arrived.

After months of planning and preparation 

to throw an epic 

SURPRISE 70th Birthday Party for my Dad, 

I am pleased to say it was a HIT!

It honestly was everything I hoped it would be all of those months.

We totally surprised him, 

we had a GREAT turnout,

the program was the perfect blend of emotions.

AND.... 

we didn't burn the church down lighting 

70 candles 

on the bonfire, er, cake.

Everyone had a great time, especially my Dad. 

I wanted him to feel special, loved and in the spotlight. 

The party definitely delivered all of it.

Here is a fraction of the photos to remember that night by.

This was the "decorative" cake.

This was the "candle" cake. It took a bit to get all of those candles lit AND blown out! The old man did it though! 

We had a great "program". From stories told. Poems read and Travis's family singing a little song they wrote. It was perfect.

Burke Cousins Photo

Heidi, Angela, Randy, Ronda, Jen,

Travis, Jack, Sam, and Jared

Little Mills Kingdom, the Birthday Boy and his Sweetheart

Birthday Boy, his Sweetheart and the Grandkids 

Ridge, Sawyer, Evelyn, Ally, Sydney and Birthday Boy Grandpa

Birthday Boy and his kids

Ronda, Heidi, Dad, Travis, Jennifer

Nate, Ronda, Travis, Sarah, Dad, Fran, Heidi, Travis, Jennifer, Ryan

We all had a great time!!!

Happy 70th Birthday Dad!

Environmental Excitement

I got to spend this beautiful day with this cute kid. 

It was wonderful!

The sun was out, the sky was gorgeous and we

 were having a blast together!

We went up to the Environmental Center. 

Which is always fun for me. 

I have so many great memories of that place 

and I am loving that I am making more there with my cute kids.

We got to cross country ski. My first time ever.

Ryland loved it and was a bit of a dare devil in my

own opinion.

We also got to snow shoe. This was my 2nd time doing

this and I gotta say I LOVE it! Much more than 

anything requiring skis. I don't love the feeling of being 

out of control.

We snow shoed up to the top of a little mountain. If you look carefully in this picture you can see where the cross country skiers were at. On the far right, right above all of the trees in that open area. We got up pretty high. It felt great and was beautiful!

What goes up must come down and that was true in this case as well. We preferred sliding down on our bums. It was great!

At the end of the day we spent a little time inside the Environmental Center lodge. Ryland took advantage of the rock climbing wall.

I am thinking we will both sleep well tonight.

Flashback Friday: Fieldwork: Lee's Grocery

Today's Flashback Friday is dedicated to Ryland. 

In January of 2011 we went with his first grade class on a field work to Lee's Grocery store in North Ogden. 

His class was learning about their bodies and healthy foods. 

They got to tour the entire store. Freezers, fridges, bakery, meat department, everything. They had a great time. 

At the end they had a budget of $5 and we had to find a healthy, well balanced meal for them to buy. It was great fun!  

Miss Rosalie Hart's 1st/2nd Grades Crew 2010/2011

Award of Merit

Tonight was the Bird Haven District's Annual Awards Dinner.

I received a fun phone call about a week ago and was informed that Nate would be receiving the District's Award of Merit tonight. I was told to keep it a secret. I am surprised that Nate didn't figure it out when I said that the whole family would be going. 

The presenter for Nate was Kay Kraus, she is the mother to one of Nate's Order of the Arrow boys, she is on the District Recognition committee and she works at Camp Fife in the summers among other things. She had a wonderful write up about him. The presenters read it without the audience knowing who they are reading about. It was fun to watch Nate's face as she read about him and seeing the realization it was him dawn on him. As Kay read about him and his influence on the boys she choked up a bit. She has thanked Nate previously about his influence he has had on her son, Spencer. It was a wonderful night. Below is the wonderful presentation they had about him. 

BIRD HAVEN DISTRICT AWARD OF MERIT

Nathaniel Mills

This person has been an adult leader in scouting for over eight years and in that time he has touched many lives. He has attended NYLT as a youth and Wood Badge as a leader, for which he recently earned his beads. He has also earned the Den Leader award, and the Cub Scouter award. He has held various positions in scouting including Assistant Team Coach, Pack Committee Chair,

Pack Trainer, Wolf Den Leader, Webelos Den Leader, Order of the Arrow Associate Advisor, District Trainer, and District Training Chairman. This past year he was able to go to the National Jamboree in West Virginia with his son while serving on the National Jamboree staff.

(Nate and Ron Bingham)

He has made a huge impact on all the young men that he has worked with in his pack and in the Order of the Arrow. In the OA, he has driven himself and the young men to OA events all over including those in Wyoming and Delta, Utah. He has been a mentor to many of these young men and he is an example to them of someone who lives the scout law. He always has a positive attitude in all that he does.

Also, this person is actively involved in service in the community. For the past six years, he has helped with the community project to clean irrigation ditches. For the past four years, he has been a peer counselor for Cancer survivors. He is active in his children's school and he is on the Parents Crew of Service for Venture Academy.

He is an active member of his church and has served in many callings including Elder's Quorum President, Teacher's Quorum Advisor, primary teacher, Gospel Doctrine Teacher and Sunday School President. He served a mission for his church to Taiwan and his Chinese is Excellent! He is the father of two daughters and two sons.

Bird Haven District is pleased to present Nathaniel Mills with the District Award of Merit and recognize his wife Ronda.

I don't even know where they got all of that information on him. They didn't ask me any questions about him. 

It was such a wonderful night and so fun to see Nate's surprise and delight at receiving the award. So proud of him and all of the hard work he does in Scouting. 

Wordless Wednesday: Static Situation

(evelyn january 2014)

Photo Shoot Sunday: Better Late Than Never

I think it is absolutely crazy that my Dad and Fran came out to 

our house on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day AND for the Burke Christmas party and we never had our picture taken with them. Hello! I may have been a little overwhelmed those days. 

Well, they came out tonight for dinner and to participate in our Family Home Evening: Introduction to Indexing. 

I made sure to document our time together. 

Luckily, or lazily, our Christmas Tree was still up. 

Better Late Than Never. Right?

New Year's

"Another fresh New Year is here....
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!

This bright New Year is given me
to live each day with zest...
To daily grow and try and be
My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant some tree,
And sing more joyful songs!"

-William Arthur Ward