What Do I Love?

This month has got me thinking about love and what's important to me. I thought I would list a few things that I love (in no particular order). Family seems to be the #1 item on my list. My family always comes first in my life as well they should.
I love my husband Steve and our beautiful children Katie, Steven, and Shad so much and am thankful every day that I get to be a part of their lives.
I love all my family; my mom, my sister, my brother, my nephews and nieces, all my in-laws, aunts, uncles, cousins etc. I think of all my family that I don't see so often and it makes me sad. I miss them all so much.
I love my friends too. I have a very good friend Diane who lives in Clover, SC whom I don't get to see very often though I cherish the time we do get to share with one another. Thank goodness for phones and e-mail.
I love my home and the feeling of peace I get when returning home from any trip long or short.
I love my van. It makes it so much easier on my back getting my sweet Shad in and out plus there's always room for a friend to ride along.
I love my church and knowing the truthfulness of the gospel of my savior Jesus Christ.
I love knowing that Jesus loves me and all my imperfections.
I love our prophet President Thomas S. Monson. It's such a comfort knowing that we have a living prophet to guide us in these latter days.
I love the temple and am so thankful that Steve and I were able to go there and be married for all time and eternity and have our children Katie and Steven sealed to us for all time and eternity,along with any future children [Shad so far :-)] we may have.
I love chocolate, most any kind will do.
I love blogs. It's nice to be able to share what's on my mind even if no one reads it but me. Too many times instead of blogging myself I'll read other blogs and I do enjoy it so much. I always get a smile, a laugh, a cry or an inspiration out of reading them. Thanks to all you bloggers out there.
I love hugs and nothing beats a hug from your own child. Especially when they're little and those tiny arms wrap around your neck and squeeze you tight. Melts my heart.
I love to bake. Cakes, breads, pies, cookies, it doesn't matter what I just love to try new recipes. They don't always turn out perfect but it's always fun.
My list could go on and on and on and on....so I better cut it short. I've been inspired recently by a blog I read. It inspired me to think about all the little things in my life each day that I love and that make me happy. I have so much to be thankful for and should remember those things each and every day. Thanks for letting me share. I love you all!!!

Joyful Christmas, Happy New Year, Fun Family Visits & Snow!

Wow, It's almost February and I've not even posted anything from Christmas yet. I'm behind. It's been so crazy with company and traveling, work and school. But I still wanted to take the time to say how wonderful Christmas was for our family. We all had a wonderful time giving and receiving presents. You can't pretend that it's not exciting to receive presents even if your as old as I am. Christmas morning was so fun and brought me so much joy watching the children's faces light up as they opened their gifts. It was lots of fun with Shad this year too. First thing he went for was a bowl of candy that Santa left out for us all. He brought me one piece after another in hopes that I'd open it and let him eat it. I gave in and let him have one lollipop then hid the rest. Once he realized that the packages contained his well loved Cars toys he was all about opening them. He loves that movie and he loves playing with cars so he was completely enthralled. Katie and Steven were happy about mp3 players, cell phones, and the Wii. Steve and I enjoyed our gifts as well but received the most joy from our children's excitement and happiness. What a wonderful day we had full of love, food, and the joy of being together as a family.


We've had lots of fun visits with family over the holiday season. My mom and step dad came to see us right before Christmas for a short, but hugely fun visit. Shad had great fun being silly with funny glasses with his nanny and greatly enjoyed playing with his paw-paw. The day after Christmas my sister and my nephew came to visit. Shad loves them both so much. We all do. They were here to bring in the new year with us. It's rare that we get to spend so much time together and we enjoyed every minute. They left to go home on January 2ND and then on the 9Th we got to see them again. My family got together in Charlotte for a brief reunion. My mom's side of the family: aunts, uncles, cousins, and my cousins children. It was a wonderful visit getting to see everyone that I hadn't seen in quite some time, years. There are 2 new babies other than Shad in the family that we got to meet for the first time; Anna Grace and Peyton. It was just so exciting having us all together reminiscing and now to see all our children hanging out together. It was wonderful. The trip broke us but it was well worth it to me for the memories. What a wonderful year 2009 is beginning to be! Hope every one's year has started out as terrific as ours.



Well, I hope you enjoy the pictures. I always have a hard time choosing so I probably post too many. Nah, you can't have too many pictures. So many wonderful memories.
Oh yeah, how about that snow. The kids had a ball-making snowballs! : ) Shad's face just lit up as he watched the snow falling from the sky. He marched around checking things out but didn't much care to touch it. Too cute! I wish it could have lasted longer. If it's going to be cold, we might as well have snow to make the cold more enjoyable!
Well, love and happiness to all!

Kids, Fun, and a Rooster?

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Raleigh. The kids had a ball together. Shirley, Steve's oldest sister from CA, had the kids posing for pictures so much that I believe they were ready to smash the cameras! I didn't mind 'cause we got a lot of good shots too. I'm also putting a picture of Shad that looks as if he's trying to wash his hair with banana pudding. Too funny! Oh, while I'm at it I might as well include a picture of our new rooster. Our chickens, who are not red sox fans Senor Conary, were getting a little lonely so Steve got a rooster to keep them company.

Family, Food, and Fun!!!

Wow, Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is just right around the corner! We had a great Thanksgiving filled with lots of family, food, and fun! : ) We do have so much to be thankful for. We were able to go to Raleigh to visit with our family, some of whom were in town from San Diego,CA which we've not seen in several years. It was so good to see everyone, especially to see the kids hang out with their cousins. I couldn't help but remember how they all played together when they were younger and they're all so big now! I have to look up at a couple of the boys who are now around 6ft tall. Even though most of them are young men and women now, I still see the beautiful faces of those sweet little children laughing and playing together. It was so much fun! We were able to attend church with Steve's mom and I know she must have felt a little pride having her family (which included her 3 oldest children, their spouses, and 10 of her 13 grandchildren) taking up 2 whole pews. When we were trying to leave to come home everyone was together and I thought we'd never get finished with goodbyes and get out the door. However, in the midst of all the chaos of kids running around, adults having conversations, and trying to make sure we hugged everyone goodbye, I had the most overwhelming feeling of peace and love come over me. I truly felt the spirit of family and what family is meant to be. How wonderful it will be to have all our family together in the celestial kingdom with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ our elder brother. How blessed we are to have such a large, loving family.
We were back home for Thanksgiving day and my sister Sarah and her son, my handsome nephew RJ, were in town to join us for Thanksgiving. We had a terrific visit and Sarah and I had a great time cooking together. That's the first time we've ever cooked a big dinner together for any occasion. It made me think of when we were kids and we couldn't even wash dishes together without arguing. We're so different from each other. Now that we're adults we love and appreciate one another for those differences. I so enjoyed having her here and I especially enjoyed getting to see her enjoy her little nephew Shadrack. He had fun playing with her and she enjoyed all the hugs and kisses he was handing out. He was too sweet. Watching her with him made me miss my mom and wish that she was here to play with Shad too. It also made me long to see my brother Ike. I've not seen him since I was pregnant with Shad and that was just briefly at my unlce's funeral. He has never met his nephew and that makes me feel sad inside because I know how much he and my sister-in-law Kristie would love their nephew. Hopefully soon we will have all my family together for a visit. I know that would definitely please my mom.
I know that we have so much to be thankful for and I am truly grateful for all of our family near and far. So to all those family members we get to see often and to those we don't see much at all, we love you and miss you all so very much. You are never far from our thoughts or prayers. I hope every one's Thanksgiving was as wonderful as ours.

Let's All Give Thanks!

I wanted to take a moment to give thanks to my Father in Heaven for the amazing technology he has given us to be able to share our thoughts and our experiences with our family and friends through this blog site. I feel that we all need to take the time to give thanks for all the many things we have been blessed with that enrich our lives in endless ways every day.
My incredibly wonderful husband, Steve came up with the most creative, yet simple idea to help our family remember to give thanks each day for what we have been given. He made a 'Thankful Jar' out of a large plastic container that used to be full of pretzels. Now it's full of thanksgiving. Each day each member of our family (the ones who know how to write) drops into the jar a piece of paper on which they've written something they're thankful for. We're all having great fun doing it and we remind each other to be thankful every day. Katie and Steven are enjoying it, I think they are anyway. If they miss a day, they make up for it the next day by dropping into the jar two things that they're thankful for. I'm very proud of them for keeping it up and I'm extremely proud of Steve for coming up with the idea. Thanks Honey, I love you! : )
So I hope that by posting this blog I've inspired you all to give thanks for all the little things that enrich your lives each day along with the Mills' crew.

Chicken Farmer!

Our neighbor James from across the street has given us some chickens to raise. He's not home enough to care for them anymore and they kept getting loose. Steven and Katie would try to wrangle them back into the cage for him when he wasn't home so he said they could have them. Steve and Steven built a nice little chicken coup for them. Steven worked very hard alongside his dad for hours preparing the coup. He also helps to feed them, collect their eggs, and keep fresh hay spread for their nests. Katie helps some too but she's not too sure about those birds. She thinks that they may attack her. It's really funny to see how timid she is and then watch Shad laugh and chase the chickens wanting to pet them and feed them.There are 5 chickens and I believe they are called Rhode Island Reds. One of them roosts up high by herself while the other 4 hang out together. We're getting eggs from them almost daily. Steve plans to get a rooster for them also. Steven has really been a great help to his Dad with these chickens. I'm really proud of him for working so hard to help out. I believe we can call him our chicken farmer! Although he doesn't dress much like your typical farmer. Check out our pics!

October Fun!

October was very eventful for the Mills crew. Shadrack turned 18 months old on the 19th. On the 20th he had to go to the doctor for his well check and had to get shots. Katie and Steven ended up getting their flu vaccine that day also. Steve and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on the 25th by taking the kids to Trunk-or-Treat at church. We had lots of fun and Steve won a prize for his decorating skills. He had a very spooky trunk.
In the middle of all this activity, I found out I was pregnant but within the week I had a miscarriage. I was at least 6 weeks along. We were sad but we know that our Heavenly Father has a plan for us. We don't always understand it but we have faith in Him that he knows what's best for us. He may still have in store for us a baby brother or sister for Shadrack. Who knows! I have had a miscarriage before each of my other successful pregnancies. I pray that another little one is in the plan for us but let His will be done and not mine.
OK, back to the October fun. On Halloween we loaded up the kids and went to Victor and Tiffany's for some trick-or-treating. We had a great time. Thanks to Vic & Tiff for having us! Shad really had a great time, once he figured out what was going on. It was so hard for him not to sit right down in front of every door to eat the candy. He was a cute little monkey which really suited him because we tell him he's a monkey every day because he's constantly climbing on everything. Everyone had a terrific time. Especially the kids when it was time to go through the loot! Here are some pictures of our fun. Hope you enjoy viewing the pictures. We sure had a great time making them.