Dunkley Girl night

Natty, Kristi, Ju, and Nicolie (Jamie--you were missed)

We had a girls night at my house.  It involved Dairy Queen blizzards, two movies, and painting our nails.  Natalie was her usual silly self, and Nicole spent most of the night telling us to be quiet so she could listen to the movie.  It was a fun night!! Love ya girls!

                                       Natalie was super hyper as you can see from the photos. 

This is her version of taking a picture of me and Kristi...

                                     This is me saying "Natalie you are freaking me out girl"!

Proud moment!

 We had a "Proud moment" in our home yesterday.  It all started a couple days ago when I spilled some sauce on the element in our oven while pulling dinner out.  It sparked a huge flame and killed our element in the process.  My Mom said I could just pull the element out and plug a new one in, but our oven had wires you had to connect and disconnect and so on...So I  bought the element and was going to have a friend come over to install it.  But to my surprise, Spencer decided to give it a try and see if he could fix it himself.  Which you have to understand is a BIG UNDERTAKING--Spencer and I were not born with handyman skills.  So when Spencer installed it correctly and had the oven working again we celebrated with a little cowboy dance thanks to a ring tone Reece found on my phone.  These are pics of the boys celebrating our success.  I was so proud of Spencer--it was like falling in love with him all over again!  It was an attractive moment!

Thank you Tanner

Doesn't he look so handsome?  And innocent?  He may look handsome, but definitely not innocent.  Tanner was a little stinker last night and got up EVERY hour last night.  I'm not kidding either.  As soon as I would start feeding him he would fall asleep so he never got a full feeding which made for a tiring night.  I decided this morning that I was to tired to get Reece ready for school so he stayed home.  I gave him math, writing, and art homework which he loved.  Sometimes I think home schooling would be a great option for him.  The only problem is I can't imagine finding the extra time to put together study materials.  Benson had homework too.  He had to write his name and in "Benson fashion" he wrote it backwards just to be funny.  That kid has a comeback for everything.  And for myself--I made it through the day with only a 10 minute nap!  The house was a total disaster until after dinner but we somehow managed to have Family Home Evening and a happy bedtime routine (bedtime is an easy time for me to lose my patience)!  That is called a successful day!

Lovers Day!

 Spencer surprises me with fun roses each year for Valentines Day.  I like the color red, but I LOVE it when he brings me different colored roses.  These roses were BEAUTIFUL--they were yellow with orange around the tips.  For valentines day I surprised him with 8 hearts on our bathroom mirror that had scenarios of what we were up to that year.  I thought it would be fun to post them--it's a quick recap of our lives together.

#1: Our first Valentines Day we probably spent at home because I was to cheap to go out! Or we spent it on the couch with you consoling me (wed. night breakdowns).  Or maybe we just had a googily-eyed session!

#2:  Our 2nd Valentines Day was quite memorable.  I cried the whole day while you spent the day taking a chemistry test.  I was 3 days past my due date feeling rather large and scared about the unknown of motherhood.  Luckily the next day was super awesome because we found out I was going to be induced!

#3: Our 3rd Valentines Day we most likely had one of our sisters watch Reece so we could go out for dinner.  You were busy in the Jr. Core Accounting program but always had time for me and Reece.  We might have spent the night making a 10pm run to Dairy Queen and feeling young and cool while doing it!

#4: Our 4th Valentines Day I was 8 months pregnant with Benson.  We were stalking our e-mail accounts waiting for an acceptance for medical school.  We might have spent the night at IHOP or Magelbys Fresh and then ended it with a large bowl of ice cream.  Life was fun and exciting.

#5: Our 5th Valentines Day we were snowed in in Moscow, Idaho.  You were a busy medical student staying up all night studying, while I was busy learning how to manage two energetic boys with health problems.  Life felt simple and blessed.

#6: Our 6th Valentines Day you were a busy, but burned out medical student.  We lived in a fun and entertaining part of Seattle.  We most likely traded babysitting with Brad and Traci and enjoyed a nice dinner and dessert at a new restaurant.  Life was pretty awesome and all our children's medical issues had now started to relax a little.  Until Reece ran into the wall, anyway!

#7: Our 7th Valentines Day was probably spent with you in Scrubs working at the VA in your medicine rotation.  You were falling in love with medicine and we were starting to figure out what path we would take for residency.  We might have also decided on Valentine's Day that it was time for the IUD to come out! :)

#8: Our 8th Valentines Day was spent as a happy family.  The boys had their valentine parities at school and mom prepared for a busy birthday week.  Tanner entertained us with his sweet smiles, Benson with his witty comments, and Reece with his plethora of random facts. We couldn't be a more blessed family and we couldn't ask for a better father and husband.

Thanks babe for a fun, happy, and perfect life you have given me and our children.  You are everything I ever wanted for my children and myself.  Love you always, Juliann

We spent Valentines night at the Miller fams favorite pizza joint!!  We were served a heart shaped pizza and enjoyed a delicious salad with it!

Reece's 6th Birthday!!

My oldest son turned SIX last week.  Can you believe I have a six year old?  He's handsome, smart, fun, loving, and one of my little buddies.  He's learned from his Mother that a birthday should last a week, not one day.  A couple weeks before his birthday we started talking about what he wanted to do for it.  He said, "let's get a piece of paper and pen and start writing things down!"  He may not look like me, but he definitely picked out making lists from me.

I tried to get a "first day of being SIX" picture--but this is all he would give me. 

He was dancing around like a crazy man.

SIX things I LOVE about REECE!

 1. He LOVES to take care of Tanner.  He wants to be helpful all the time.

2.  He is ALOT of FUN!  He loves to be silly and tease to make people laugh.

3.  He is genuine.

4.  He is curious.  Always wanting to know something about everything.

5.  He likes to teach Benson new things or help him understand something he doesn't get.

6.  He wants to do what is right.  He reminds us to say our prayers, loves to give talks in Primary, and won't go to bed until we've told him or read him a story from the Book of Mormon. 

Reece, you are a STUD and I couldn't be more proud of the awesome boy you have become!

Love MOM

Friend Birthday party

We had some friends come over after Kindergarten for a little party.  We fed them lunch, had a pinata (I had 5 times the candy needed for it.  I had to take half of their candy away because their party bags were filled to the top and I was to embarrassed to send them home with that much candy--it was kind of ridiculous), then they played outside, came in for presents, cake and ice cream, and then made book marks to take home!  It was a success.  Everyone had fun, including ME!  The cake was supposed to be a Velociraptor Dinosaur--but it ended up looking like a lizard! haha.  I tried.

 This is Isobel.  She walked into our house and said, "Reece is my very best friend".  She is a super genius and has a little crush on Reece. She chases him around the playground trying to tickle him! She's a sweet girl.   

 

U-Swirl

I'm not kidding when I say his birthday lasted a week.  One of the "to-do's" on his birthday list was to go eat at U-Swirl.  I just happen to share my love for ice cream with Reece, and thanks to Groupon we got a killer deal, and so we had a mini-party with their buddy George at U-Swirl!! The best part was watching the three boys laugh hysterically while telling jokes.  They had genuine, pure, and contagious laughs.  It was priceless.

Family party--does this birthday ever end?

 Reece LOVES cousin Charlotte.  He can make her laugh so hard!! It's adorable to watch and listen too.

                           Reece was precious.  He read EVERY card before he opened his presents. 

                                                         Tanner Chad and Chad Miller!



AAU/Lexi's wedding

 Aunt Natalie has been an all-star basketball player on her AAU team.  We've enjoyed spending our Saturday afternoons watching her.  This week she had a big cheer squad thanks to the family visiting for my cousins wedding.

                                                                    Lexi's wedding
Tanner is 3 months old and I still don't have my routine perfect.  I got the boys looking rather handsome for Lexi's reception and was only a couple minutes late.  We got to her darling reception and I started dishing up ice cream sundaes for the boys.  After scooping Benson's I went to give him insulin and realized I forgot to put his pump on.  I had changed his pants and didn't switch his pump.  Then I gave Reece a sorbet sundae thinking it didn't have any milk in it (most sorbets don't) and quickly found out that it DID have milk in it.  At this point I felt defeated.  I took the sundaes from the boys and they quickly found a new game--ring around the rosy with the bride.  That was the final straw--Spencer took them home and Tanner and I stayed for the remainder of the party.

                                                      Isn't my sister Nicole so darling!

Love my baby....

 Tanner looks just like Benson did as an infant.  I'm pretty sure I call Tanner "Benson" more often then I call him Tanner.  He feels the same, has the same facial expressions, and has similar mannerisms as Benson.  I'm a little paranoid about him getting diabetes because his diapers are always full and he eats like he's starving all the time.  I convinced Spencer to let me check his blood sugar but it came back normal (Spencer only let me to shut me up about it).  But, I still worry.