Merry Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! We're grateful to Galen and Jayne, and the Nielsens, and the Annens, who joined us for a simple soup supper and singing on Christmas Eve.

We had the usual lively rendition of Sleigh Ride along with a few other numbers and some singing.


Then we headed down to St. George Christmas day to be with the rest of our family. . . we waved as we drove past the MTC, where Jon reported they heard from Elder Nelson on Christmas. Quoting Jon "So Friday night we had a fireside and all the missionaries sang the 12 days of Christmas. I can't remember all of them but I'll give you a few... 12 hrs of class, 11 loads of laundry, 10 new commandments, 7 luke warm showers, 6:30 wake up, 5...hours of GYM!! 3 new companions, 2 free new haircuts, and a rock solid testimony!"


We enjoyed Christmas dinner at the Millers with Sharon and Hugh and the Ure family.


We repeated Sleigh Ride with new pianists and new audience members.



Hugh and Sharon brought some fun race cars so we all enjoyed some wild races.
After Church Sunday Steve and I and sons continued on down to San Diego, where we enjoyed some Maritime museums and famous boats, ships, submarines, etc. Here we have Nate, Steve and Will enjoying the spacious bunks on a submarine.
Nate got lucky enough to model the apparel of the members of the Mormon Battalion when we checked out their visitor's center. Sister Miller and Sister Stott (believe it or not) took us through. This is a great place for children (and Senior missionaries) with lots of hands on activities.
We took a cruise around the bay.
The next day Nate and Will (with their brother in mind) went on into Tijuana where they found the mission home and posed with Jon's future mission president (left of Will) and the office elders. Then they waited four hours in the line to get back across the border. They succumbed to hunger and bought a couple of tacos from a vendor - and lived to tell the tale.


We drove home in the storm on Thursday and are grateful for our safe arrival. We hope you all fared as well. Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Baby Ben

By now it's probably old news for most of you, but I'm finally getting around to posting about our little sweet arrival. Benjamin Michael Miller was born Monday, November 8th at 3:54 AM. He weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce and was 20 3/4 inches long. Our babies keep getting lighter each time! And we are thrilled to have a boy. It's been fun to see for myself that baby boys are just as sweet as baby girls, in their own little way. We are all doing really well- Jan is doing such a great job covering for both of us while I am doing my best to lay low and let myself recover. And the girls love their new brother!


Less than 24 hours old. These first two pictures are Hugh Yancey Originals.
My three children!
Rebekah really wanted a sister. But she couldn't deny how sweet her baby brother was when she saw him. When she was asked what she thought of her new brother she said, "He's not a brother, he's a baby!" I guess that's her way of reconciling things until she can deal with the gender.
Jane is a sweet little mother to her new brother.
Six days old. They don't waste any time growing up!

Jon's Mission Call

I'm afraid I've been rather slow getting the news out about Jon's mission call. I was cooking for 120 at girl's camp the week the call came and am still recuperating! I was able to come home when he read the call, then returned to camp. We are pleased that Jon will be learning Spanish. This summer he is reroofing the Federal Building in Ogden and has been bringing home some Spanish phrases from his Mexican co-workers. He has studied both Spanish and Latin in school, so I think he'll be a quick learner. He read his call from the bottom up: Language first - Spanish: MTC entrance date - December 15th: and Mission - Mexico Tijuana.' Jon is happy to be learning a language, and we are delighted to have another Spanish speaker in the family. He is grateful to be able to go this year and so close to his birthday, and the timing will be good for getting back into school on his return.
Jon will recieve his endowmwnt on Friday, August 27th at 12:30 in the Bountiful, Utah temple. We'd be pleased to see anyone who is able to join us there.

Uncle David's Cradle Pattern

Over a year ago Marc and I went to dinner at David and Shauna's and uncle David pulled out pictures of the cradle he had made. Marc was very interested in making the cradle someday and that day finallycame when I was 4 months pregnant--7 months later he finished it. It's gorgeous and I couldn't be more impressed with his hidden talents that keep showing up the longer we are married. He used curly maple for the panels, maple for the spindles and jatoba (brazilian cherry) for the rest. I helped him with the wax finish/polish, some sanding and the casters. I can only do so much when it comes to making cradles. We are very happy with how it turned out.

Carolyn visiting Battle Ground WA

Happy Mother's Day

To the mother who began it all for us, and to all you superb mothers in the Young family, I wish you a Happy Mother's Day! (Click on the link) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNJBe5kZEjk&feature=related

Spring Break with the cousins!

Carter, Dawson, and Julie went to Japan for Spring Break! Actually the Hunsakers Spring Break! We missed a week of school and no one was complaining! We had the best time! It has been 10 years since Julie and Dawson were there. This was Carter's first chance and since he is now 8 he can enjoy Business Class. Which I must say we all thoroughly enjoyed! Look for the picture of the boys sleeping. Yes, they are totally reclined! New experience for us! Cory was so jealous when he heard we went on a 747! Anyway, it was awesome! I'm including a lot of pictures since many of the aunts have been to Japan with my mom. I thought I could take you down memory lane.
So we start with Mark and Jane overlooking Tokyo! Then we have the boys outside playing basketball! The boys in the rain. Karaoke! I'm not sure you guys have experienced this one. Especially with the costumes. Tokyo Disneyland! Big Budda!

Trip to the Fish Market

Eating in Japan

We had a great time with the Hunsakers, trying out different Japanese foods. The next pictures will show us trying Sushi at approximately 7 A.M. This was right after a trip to the Fish Market. I don't know if you can really say that the boys ate sushi though. I mean they did have it in their mouths, but only a for a few seconds! I believe Dawson did swallow his bite of eel. The next pictures show us with our great bibs, so we don't splash on ourselves. We loved grilling our own meat! We also loved the ramen! It was AMAZING as Greyson would say. Then of course McDonald's! Thank heavens for the golden arches. Although my boys caused us some grief at Tokyo Disneyland when one wanted a "plain" cheeseburger, and the other one wanted a "plain cheeseburger with pickles!" Jane was a great sport trying to get the worker and then the manager to understand!

We had a wonderful trip! Thanks so much for having us!!!!!