Untraditional Tradition

So last year 2012 was the first year we participated in the sending out of Christmas cards. Mostly because we had this phenomenal picture that may have been mocking, slightly, the tradition of Christmas cards. 

And lets face it, I do most things:

a. To say I did it / the story.

b. To get a reaction out of people.

c. Because I have to.

And Last Years Christmas card fit snuggly into option "b." (Blame it on my middle child status, I obviously needed more attention growing up.)

After a couple of friends calling us up and telling us how much they loved our card, or asking us if we were serious, or telling us they were a little concerned (concealed carry permits). I knew that a tradition was born:

The Untraditional Christmas Card Tradition

I literally started thinking about this years Christmas card in about January. I had some ok ideas, but luckily I am married to a man who loves puns and has the sense of humor of a 65-year-old man. (The tackier the phrasing = the better untraditional Christmas card.)

Then we got pregnant.... and my brain wheels started turning.

It honestly took me a while to convince Trevor this was going to be a good idea. 

He believed it to be on the sacrilegious side. You tell me what you think. 

Unfortunately for him when I get something in my head I get a little persistent. Fortunately for me, he is a good sport and loves me despite it all. In fact he came up with our greeting, (if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.)

So without further ado, the Millar 2013 Christmas Card:

THE MILLARS 2013

We are loving our home and especially living in Spanish Fork, Utah. Although we quickly learned that to fix things around the house you need tools… Trevor has not complained once and perhaps fabricates his “honey do” list. (Do you really need a skill saw to change a light bulb?)

Bridget would rather dance over sing, blue over green, and Cinderella over any other princess. She is very tactile and loves to pinch the knuckle skin on anyone.

Every morning this is the first thing out of her mouth and the EXACT conversation:

“Wunch?”

“You hungry? You want some lunch?”

“Brefast?”

“You want breakfast and lunch?”

“Yeah, an dinner.”

Needless to say our house revolves around meals. She is also convinced that going potty on the toilet is for the babies and much prefers her diaper, makes much better use of her very precious time. But anytime the toilet is flushed she runs over and says: “Bye, bye potty! See you soon!!!”

Expecting baby girl #2 in a few weeks at the beginning of January. She is doing well and is already well aware of her sister, making sure to give Bridget a good wallop if she squishes her too long. We are eagerly anticipating her arrival especially because we have planned a home birth.

April has enjoyed growing a human inside her for the majority of this year and spending everyday with Bridget! She has also loved the work she does as a doula and HypnoBirthing instructor, feeling so blessed and bonded to those families who have shared that sacred event with her. It’s been fun to watch her business grow (aprilinwaiting.com) bringing her total of attended births to 11! She also is proud to say she completed her first half marathon this summer at 14 weeks pregnant, and is grateful her time can only be improved upon.

Trevor very much enjoys his job as a traveling hitch salesman. He has been able to do more business development this year, which has been fun for him to learn new skills. He loves owning his own home and is very active in all decorating / home improvement decisions. He is an avid “pinterest-er” but don’t worry he pins tough stuff like fireplaces and finished carpentry.

We hope this season finds you happy and healthy. You are in our thoughts and prayers.

Much love,

Trevor, April, Bridget, & Ruthie Millar

Practice makes Pregnant

Most of you probably know by now, we are pregnant with baby #2! But because this is a blog I thought I would share a few more of the details. No, not those kinds of details! 

Hindsight, I would like to give a little piece of advice to all those who are contemplating their first child: If you plan on having more children take into careful consideration when you start your family because after that you feel like you are on a timeline with all the rest of them. My wise father-in-law once told me: "You either have your children for yourself [spread them further apart], or you have your children for each other [produce them closer together in age].

Being the planner that I am, I had it all planned out, We were going to actively work on producing another little Millar come JULY. Because then we would be out of the clear from the Holiday and winter months. NO ONE wants a winter / Christmas baby, am I right or am I right? 

Well, apparently I had a lesson to learn that the only way to guarantee not to get Pregnant is... abstinence. 

They advertise a small percentage of inconsistency on preventative prophylactics because sometimes it really does happen. 

TMI? No, just a good citizen warning her fellow man.

In April we went to Hawaii with our friends the Markus'. During the trip there may have arisen some inconsistencies in menstrual cycles. Clearly it was Callie's fault for my late start, she and her domineering period threw mine off. 

I bought this rational hook line and sinker. For over a week I bought it. It probably would have been longer if Trevor didn't mention one night, in May, that I had been pretty tired lately. 

The next day I went and got a pregnancy test. 

Took the test and immediately the negative line came up. Of course I'm not pregnant, I track and chart everything and there is literally NO possible way I could be pregnant.

I left the bathroom and went about my day. 

About 30 minutes later I was back in the bathroom (peeing again!) glanced over and saw a little + sign.

Excuse me?! WHAT?!

Bridget and I immediately went out and bought more pregnancy tests. 

Alright, so I was pregnant. 

Now, to tell the father. Trevor's birthday was in a couple days so.... I made him a cake.

I know, I know. It's not very birthday festive, but it was a cake.

He was surprised. 

Lets face it, so was I.

Elated! but surprised.

We announced it to our families at about 10 weeks.

And last night we found out that we are having a....

We were going to video Bridget announcing what we are having but her "brother" and "boy" are much more distinguishable than "sister" and "girl" We thought it would just confuse people.

But she's pretty excited to have a sister!

We are pretty sure we a have name but still need to discuss. 

We are excited to have Little Lady Millar join our family

Beginning of January 2014!

Hawaii

Hawaii is just so laid back that it took about a month for the island life to wear off so I could blog about it. 

Here you go, be jealous, it was the most perfect vacation ever!!!

 Trevor is so romantic that he grafittied the bamboo with our initials.

 (We are the T +A)

 Polynesian Cultural Center

 This was the beach just outside our condo door on the North Shore

 Our vacationing friends Tyler and Callie Markus

Swap Meet

Pearl Harbor

We ate lots and lots or amazing food!!

We saw and swam with turtles!

We had rented a compact car but they were out so we got this sweet minivan to roll around in all week. It was perfect!

Hawaii, we love you. 

'Till we meet again!

Jay

My grandpa passed away on Saturday. 

An absolutely amazing man, 92 years old and one of the most sincerely kind persons you will ever meet. 

I was fortunate enough that a couple weeks before he died I called to catch up, he was the only one home so he and I chatted for awhile. He and my grandma live in Wenatchee, WA so I don't see them often. We had a nice conversation but I could tell something was a miss. No quite his laid back cheerful self.

We both knew his time here was coming to a close, more likely sooner than later. Although we skirted around the topic I wanted to ask him if he was ready to die. But that sounded so, I don't know, accusatory? 

So I avoided the question. 

But now I wonder if people who know that their time in mortality is swiftly coming to a close want to talk about it? Or do they want to maybe pretend that nothing is changing? I suppose it depends on the person. 

Again, we didn't talk about death, but I could tell there was some fear in him. Not necessarily the fear of the act of dying, I honestly think he was welcoming that transition, but he was afraid to leave his beloved wife. They have been together for 67 years. 

But he truly was a wonderful man and the best grandpa. He was the strong silent type. He didn't always say a lot but when he did you listened. 

And such a tease, if you ever complained about something hurting he would quietly pull out his pocket knife and start trimming his nails, after a few minutes he would say "I can cut it off for you, so it will stop hurting."

And did you know that a creature lived in the cleft of his chin? If you touched it it would snap at you. Except for Sundays, the creature always slept on Sundays.

About 5 days before he died I was talking with my parents and I told them about my conversation with Grandpa, I told them that I didn't think he was doing very well. At that point I had the thought that he wouldn't make it through the week. Two days later he was in the hospital quickly declining. My parents got in the car the next day and made it there early Saturday morning, my sisters drove from California to go say goodbye as well. He passed 15 minutes after they arrived. 

He so sweetly waited for everyone who was coming and then his spirit peacefully left his mortal body with many many of his loved ones around him. 

I wasn't able to be there but I have since felt a confirmation that he is happy where he is, free of his pain and deteriorating body. 

I know that he still exists, his spirit lives on and that I will be reunited with him again when my time here is complete. 

So I say to my dear sweet Grandpa Jay, 'till we meet again.

Read Jay's obituary HERE 

It's My Birthday

This year Trevor has been traveling a lot for work and I have been missing him. So when our friends the Markus' invited us to go to Hawaii with them we jumped on it. 

Trev and I have never vacationed together. We pretty much keep our trips strictly to Utah and Idaho.  I actually really do love Utah and Idaho but a change of scenery is very much welcomed.

We have a great excuse too,  I am turning 27 and Trevor will be 29! (It will also be our 4th anniversary) So yeah, it's kind of a big year full of major landmark celebrations.

We leave tomorrow! I am so excited I can't stand it, I have never been to Hawaii.

This is the first time Bridget will be without both of us and surprisingly I am taking it really well. Sure I'll miss her, but I am really looking forward to a whole weeks worth of nights sleep with no baby in the next room. when I can wake up whenever I want to. My current attitude may be a direct result of taking care of my sisters 6 kids this week and waking up everyday at 6am. Just a hunch.

So I leave you with this: aloha, ma halo, pineapple, Oahu, Tegucigalpa, ... and other Hawaiian words. 

See you in a week! 

 Picture of Trevor on his mission in Fiji. 

Hawaii is the same just with indoor plumbing, right? 

Merry ValenPat Easter.

So I have kind of missed posting about a few holidays.

Holidays are so much fun with kids, yes I agree, but at the same time as the mom of a kid I feel so much pressure on holidays.

I way did not realize how much time thought and energy my mom put into every holiday. She never went over the top but she always made them special and nice.

Valentine's Day

I love these "Little Miss..."  books! I have made it a tradition to get one for Bridget every gift holiday. I am sure I love them more than she does right now, but I have forced them on her enough that I am confident they will be her favorite books.

St. Patrick's Day

(We actually didn't do anything for St. Patrick's Day but I took this picture that day so it kind of counts.)

Easter

As a mom I am finding I just want to raise grateful children. 

I want them to be happy with simple holidays. 

I want us to remember the reason why we celebrate holidays anyway. 

And mostly, I want us to fill our house with memories instead of things on holidays. 

The whole thing is a balancing act and I am learning with each subsequent festivity.

One of my favorites

You may have notices the Shabby Apple button I have on the side of my blog.

I love Shabby Apple! Their dresses are absolutely beautiful and the quality is awesome. Even their swimming suits are super cute.

They have a new line out called Fete des Fleurs, Party of Flowers, doesn't that just get you so stinking excited for Spring?

Go check them out, see if they have that dress you have been searching for. I bet they do!

Time out with My Girls

So I may have just sat here for a solid minute trying to decide if that title could be taken inappropriately.
Conclusion: most likely. 

But I'm going to keep it, only because anything can be taken inappropriately now-a-days. Get your mind out of the gutter people, I refuse to conform.

I'm a pretty lucky lady, throughout my life I have always had amazing girl friends. 
College was no exception, my kindred spirits I tell you.
It has been years since we have been roommates; we have all grown up (sort of when we aren't together), married (despite your resistance I know you are working on it, Brianna), and doing our part to multiply and replenish the earth (12 babies so far between us).

Every year we get together, it makes me so happy!

This year we actually went back to Rexburg, Idaho. It had been five years for me, longer for some of the others.
Holy smokes has it changed! (All y'all that attend BYU-Idaho now or in the future, spoiled I tell you. You don't even have to plan your route to class, hightailing it through as many buildings as possible to thaw out your nose hairs. They have built you sky bridges, you don't even know what cold is anymore.)


We had so much fun, this year Meagan turns 30, so we planned a little scavenger hunt for her down memory lane. We visited a lot of the places with the most precious memories.
(I would like to point out here, please notice Meagan's squinty eyes in every picture. Those crystal blue eyes and sun don't mesh. Glad some things never change)

The Smith Building the location of a lot of her classes.
Meags, do you remember when we took that French choir class for extra credit and practiced in that room right there at the top? I can't sing.... or speak French so we just watched people out the window slip on the ice? Prime location for people watching.

The dorms. Ironically Meagan was the only one of us who ever lived in the dorms.
Lizzy is 26 weeks pregnant (you would never be able to tell) thus her belly has a mustache.

Meagan, to put it kindly, is a bit accident prone. She may or may not have been a frequent visitor to the health center.

 The David O. McKay Library. Can you believe that we went to school before every student had a laptop? So we had to go to the library... regularly, not just the third floor. In fact if I remember correctly Meagan was the only one who actually had a computer in our apartment. And for the first few years we didn't have cell phones, we had a land line.
(Am I doing a good job describing how old we are? Or am I just making others feel really old?)

The Hart.
Gone are the days of a free gym membership. Speaking of, their new gym is amazing.

Birchwood Apartments. Where our group fused together.

 The Ravishing Club and Spy Tech will live forever in our hearts. Thanks Porter Park for providing the setting.

  It was at Baronnessa that these ladies were first roommates, so happy that happened.

This was the apartment where we were all finally roommates.
The Ridge 104.

Oh yes, and the church where we were played an intense game of dodgeball.
At exactly the same time I dove for a ball hurling it to my opponents, Meagan ran forward tripping over my large obstacle-esque body. Down she went, catching herself with her chin. Blood everywhere her first words were, "dangit, my dad is going to kill me, I have already been to the ER too many times this semester."

I propose that we all move to Spanish Fork.
Please?