Mills Family Reunion

Nate's family on the Mills side decided to have a Family Reunion this summer. They have not had one in almost 15 years. It was definitely time. Unfortunately they decided to have it the last week of June and in St. George, Utah. What!? Also unfortunately, it was a record heat wave for St. George that week. Ouch!

We decided to head down a day early and use our passes at the Seven Peaks Swim Park in Orem, Utah. We spent the night at a little motel in Orem. This photo was taken right after Ally tread water for  FORTY-FIVE minutes! So proud of her! I KNOW for a fact that I would not be able to do that. 

It was very serendipitous that the weekend of the Reunion was also the weekend that our nephew, Harrison Woods, went through the St. George Temple to take out his endowments. Unfortunately Nate and I arrived a minute too late to get into the session, so instead we did sealings. It was still a wonderful day in the Temple and we were able to meet up with the rest of the family in the Celestial Room. 

It was great to share in this special day with him. It was also wonderful to be able to spend some more time with Grandma Lundberg. 

The day of the Reunion finally arrived. This photo is of Nate and all the cousins on the Mills side. 

Ethan and Elaina

Ally, Ryland, Janet,

one of Nate's cousins little girls, Kendree, Evelyn, Sydney, and Anya

Matt, Nate,

John Mills, M'Lissa,

Daniel and Wendy

After the hot reunion the kids loved jumping in the 

pool at the Condo we stayed at.

The day before we headed home we went to the Jacob Hamblin Home in Santa Clara. 

We also went to the Winter home of Brigham Young. 

They were so neat to tour.

It was another great trip down South. 

We look forward to the next time.

St. George Siesta

Because I didn't get everything done with Grandma Lundberg's family history stuff that I wanted to I decided to head back down this last weekend. So I didn't have to go alone I invited Heidi along. When my Mom caught wind of our little trip she made arrangements for her Temple job and joined us. We had a GREAT time! Super relaxing and super fun. We visited, shopped, sat in the hot tub, went for walks/runs and I got a ton more done. I ended up bringing home a lot of stuff to work on. It is so fun to learn more about your family (or your husbands family) history.

We ended up getting matching sandals while we were at the outlets. So cute! Cannot wait til we can do this again!

Easter In St. George 2013

I was so grateful when we pulled into St. George that we had finally found Spring! While it has been warming up some up north, there hasn't been any color. It has been very blah still. I just had to take our Easter pictures outside by Grandma's Oklahoma Redbud. It was so beautiful, it smelled amazing and boy was that thing hopping with GIANT bees. Luckily, no stings!

Of course, once we were getting ready for church is when Ryland realized that he forgot his tie, church shoes and church socks. Sigh. Oh well. What are you gonna do?

Because Grandma's church was at 9 am we were left with only the option of taking pictures right after. It was a bright and beautiful day and that made it difficult to not squint and it cast some shadows but I knew I wouldn't get the family back in their church clothes later.

Once we had lunch over I sent Nate and the kids out for a walk. It gave me the opportunity to prepare The Hunt. Upon their return they could hardly contain their excitement.

They each received a little basket with some little things just for them. They also received a new bicycle helmet. It was a great Easter Sunday.

Life Story in St. George

It is Spring Break and we headed down to sunny St. George, Utah. Headed down to soak in the sun and spend time with Grandma Lundberg. I am prepared with my laptop, scanner, external hard drive and digital recorder to record her life story amongst other things. Super excited.

It is also Easter weekend so of course we had to bring an angry bunny along. Haha!

At one of our pit stops along the way we stopped for dinner. The kids soon found something to occupy their time with. It was one of the best $2 education you could ever get. They learned the lesson of the Rip-off.

Once Grandma and I got started on recording her life story the kids had to find something to do. So they made a Lemonade stand with their cousin Elaina who also lives in Grandma's neighborhood. Nate also took the kids to the park, swimming, the Natural History Museum, the Dinosaur tracks and the movies. All over the course of the weekend of course.

Grandma and I ended up recording over 9 hours of her Life Story. I was also able to scan a bunch of family photos, etc. We also dug out her Genealogy work and are preparing it to be copied for me. So it was a very productive weekend. I greatly appreciated Nate and his willingness to entertain the kids while Grandma and I got to work.

I love how in this photo I took of her while she was recording that there was a book in the bottom corner that is titled The Gift of a Memory. How fitting. Grandma has an excellent memory, even at the age of 88 years old. Like an Elephant, I tell ya.

On Saturday evening Nate's sister M'Lissa had us over for an Easter dinner. It was great to spend some time with their family as well. Matt and Jen and their family were also down for the weekend a bit. 

(Kendree, Savannah, Wesley. Anya and Evelyn)

Cousin love!

(Ethan, Savannah, Wesley, Anya, Evelyn, and Harrison)

We had a great, fun filled, relaxing weekend. Can't wait to go back down!

Photo Shoot Sunday: St. George Edition

 We came down for a long weekend to have a break from our usual grind. After church we decided to have a little photo shoot with Nate's sister and her kids and Grandma Lundberg.

Savannah, M'Lissa, Harrison and Elaina

Little Mills Kingdom with Grandma Lundberg

Hula Lessons

You know, being the camera person sometimes really does have it 's perks. Like not having to learn the Hula in public, oh and be photographed! while doing it. But you gotta admit, they do look like they are having fun, don't they?

Photo Shoot Sunday: Spear Throwing

Since there seriously are so many photos from the Polynesian Cultural Center I thought I would split them up over a couple of days. So today's Photo Shoot Sunday is our little Spear Throwing Adventure at the PCC.

First up, the Men. Their first effort all of the men (about 6 or 7) failed to stick their spears in the ground. They did much better after a second try.

The Ladies fared much better. Though we didn't all get it to stick the first time quite a few of us did. All of us were successful the second go round.

As you can see everyone had their own spear throwing style. :)

I just love these photos of Grandma. She is about 4'2" when stretching so she really had to put some effort behind it. So fun!