2008 Christmas Letter

2008 for our family was a good year and we spent it enjoying our busy lives with our kids, making new friends, visiting with family and being grateful for all we have. Our most exciting event was the newest addition to our family-Max!

Brent turned 35 and is marching right along towards the big 4-0-but he doesn't always act like it:)! He continues to love being a dentist and, for the most part, is enjoying his second stint in the Air Force. He still loves his sports and is becoming a Real Salt Lake soccer fan after going to a bunch of games this last year. Still not a Jazz fan but loves going to the games. BYU and Utah are another story, however, he's not a fan and he is definitely in the minority there. People always ask him who he's for not realizing that a San Diego boy who went to ASU could care less about either. The Utah/Byu game is like a state holiday here or something. Really. He occasionally gets together with his dental school friends who live here and he loves to see them. He worked with the cub scouts at church all year and is great with those boys. He also continues to be one heck of a dad and husband-he is Garrett's homework buddy (mom can't help because she messed up the order of operations one time and Garrett and Brent haven't let her forget it!), helps the kids with soccer and baseball, is good at teaching them to work, especially with outside jobs and knows when Mom needs a break and then shoves her out the door to get one.

Rachel was busy with the boys and their school stuff and activities all year. She spent most of the year pregnant and had the kids all home from school in the summer during her last trimester. It was exhausting but she lived and had one whole week after school started to recover from summer before Max was born 5 days late! Thank goodness he was late so she could catch her breath! Some highlights of her year were: attending General Conference for the Solemn Assembly, going to women's conference at BYU (will now go every year-she's hooked), making new friends and having great friends to play with, going to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas concert, and having a sweet baby boy to love on.

The only way to get a good picture of four busy boys-have them facing away and give them some ducks to stare at!

Garrett is 9 years old. He had a little bit of a rough year in 3rd grade. He struggled with changes in a new school and a new routine and 3rd grade curriculum is faster with harder concepts. We worked hard with the school and the district to make sure this year was better and it has been! His teacher is absolutely perfect for him and his resource teacher could possibly be the most patient woman ever. He is loving school and has some really sweet friends. He continues to build, create and wow with his skills. He can make kind of complex things with his legos (made a WallE that looked exactly like him and had movable parts) and some days he calls me to pick him up from school because his "inventions" are too big to carry home. We have to hide our tape so that it doesn't get used up the second we buy it! We hadn't hung our stockings yet this year, so he got them out and duct taped them to the wall by the tree. Also, he wanted more lights outside, so he dug through the bins, found lights, put them up, found extension cords, stacked bins to reach the eaves and plug everything in, and then called us out to reveal what he had done (think Christmas Vacation-he sang triumphant music and everything). That is Garrett in a nutshell, when he has his mind set on something there is no stopping him. His mind is always working. He also swam every chance he got this summer and did a little summer camp for high functioning autistic kids which he loved. Oh, and he wants to be an adventurer so that he never has to bathe or clean up. Because, as I'm sure you know, adventurers never do those things.

Eli turned 8 earlier this month. He was baptized and became a cub scout. Not sure which is a bigger deal to him! He played soccer on two different teams this year and it's definitely his favorite sport. He also played baseball and swam alot. He started piano lessons and just had his first recital. He was nervous but he did an awesome job and we were proud of him. He loves to play with friends and play video games-I think we've said that about him for a few years now. Some things don't change! He does really well in school and it seems to come fairly easily for him. His teacher says he gets to busy socializing sometimes. I seem to remember that exact same comment on my report card when I was his age. I love that quality in him and think his teacher should harness his abilities for good-sit him next to shy kids or new kids. He enjoys reading but swears reading is totally boring. He is still our thoughtful guy. Last week he watched a movie with a moral at the end and when it was over I asked him how he'd liked it. He said "It was good but at the end I felt like I wanted to cry but I don't know why." He's a cute kid. (for more on Eli read his birthday post below)

Luke is about to turn 6 and started kindergarten this year! He loves school and recently became obsessed with letters and their sounds. So much so that he's been helping Owen learn them. Luke played soccer earlier in the year. I use the term "played" loosely-he mostly laid on the field and ate grass. The last game of the season he actually ran around most of the game and ended up scoring a ton of goals. He is always skipping and bouncing around and he is usually pretty happy-go-lucky. Maybe that's because he doesn't hear us when we say no and does whatever he wants. He is our best baby helper and loves to get Max cozy with blankets and talk to him. He was like that with Owen and we love that about him. Luke took more swimming this summer and is getting much better. He always smiles underwater which cracks us up. He also is a sugar addict. We hide it, he finds it. We throw it away and yes, he's been known to grab it out of the trash can. We know-yuck.



Owen just turned 3 a couple of weeks ago. He is infuriating, cute, hilarious, mischevious, smart and irresistable all rolled into one. A typical 3 year old. Except that he talks like a four or five year old. He loves kung fu, pirates, Star Wars, music, and all things his older brothers are doing . He tells us exactly what to say in our converstions and he knows pretty much everyone in the whole neighborhood by name. He is a true joy to have in our house-we can't get enough of him! (for more on Owen read his birthday post below)



Max is almost 4 months old. He pretty much looks like all of the other boys and is chubbing up nicely. After losing most of his hair he's working hard at growing some new hair. He eats, spits up, poops, sleeps and then does it all over again. He is smiling and giggling and the kids love to try and get a good belly laugh out of him. He has turned into a thumb sucker! We've never had one of those, and while it's completely adorable now, the dentist in our house isn't loving it. He is patient and content to just hang out. He loves to sleep in his carseat-poor kid gets dragged around everywhere and that's where he's used to hanging out! He is a great baby and we can't imagine our family without our sweet little Max.



We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and that you have a Happy New Year. We love all of you-our sweet family and friends-and miss you every day. Love, The Milnes

THE REAL SCOOP FROM BRENT

OK - HERE IS THE DEAL WITH THIS SECTION......

I DON'T KNOW HOW TO BLOG, SO NONE OF THE FANCY FONTS OR PICTURES HERE. WHAT YOU WILL GET ARE SMALL, FUNNY, INTERESTING, POSSIBLY MILDLY EMBARRASSING BITS OF INFORMATION ABOUT MY AMAZING WIFE THAT SHE WOULD NOT GIVE OUT - AND WILL PROBABLY PUNISH ME FOR POSTING. I THINK IF YOU ARE GOING TO GO TO ALL THE TROUBLE OF CHECKING IN ON THE HAPPENINGS OF MY FAMILY YOU ARE ENTITLED TO MORE THAN JUST GLAMOUR SHOTS OF MY KIDS AND THE LATEST ON OUR AWESOMENESS AND ATTEMPTS TO CONQUER THE WORLD THROUGH MASS PROCREATION OF SONS.

I CAN'T SAY HOW LONG THE POSTS WILL LAST BEFORE SHE DELETES THEM, SO COMMENT WHILE YOU CAN.

SO, THE FIRST PIECE OF INFO ON RACHEL IS............................

SHE HATES FEET. I DON'T GET IT. IT DOESN'T SEEM RATIONAL TO ME, BUT IT IS TRUE. SHE DOESN'T SEEM TO HAVE A PROBLEM WITH HER OWN FEET (HERS ARE BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE'S I GUESS). BUT IF YOU WANT TO SEE HER VERY UNCOMFORTABLE, ASK HER TO LOOK CLOSELY AT YOU FOOTSIES OR HIT HER UP FOR A FOOT RUB (YOU SHOULD PROBABLY BE PRETTY GOOD FRIENDS WITH HER FOR THAT ONE).

ANYWAY, CHECK BACK PERIODICALLY FOR MORE ON RACHEL

PS - GREAT JOB ON THE BLOG BABE - I LOVE YOU

Happy Birthday Owen

Today my favorite Owen in the whole wide world turned 3!

To know him is to love him!

He is one awesome kiddo. Even when he's being a big twerp he makes me laugh. I told Brent that I wish I could preserve him in a time capsule. I want to remember forever what he is like right now. I know too well how you think you'll always remember every detail but with time the details fade and it makes me sad to think I won't be able to remember every detail of how he is at this age. I cried when he turned one, then two and now three. It's kinda painful for me to have him keep getting older because he is such a joy right now. He lights up this house and is hilarious. When I'm not too distracted I can honestly just sit with him and listen to him talk-I don't have to do too much-he tells me exactly what to say for our conversations. And I could stare at his so-cute face forever. I want to eat him up! (SIDE NOTE: It disturbs Eli that moms always want to "eat" cute babies and tiny kids.) People young and old love this funny boy. One of our friends, after observing him in church, told us that Owen was going to rule the world someday. Well don't tell Owen, but he already does!

I thought all day about what to say about him and I just didn't know where to start. So here are my top 3 on Owen. Or atleast my top 3 at this very moment.

1. The boy can seriously talk! This provides endless entertainment not only for us, but for everyone who knows him and even some who don't and just happen to here him jabbering away at the store! We've been getting comments-how old is he? he really can talk!- since he was about one and a half. He also loves to sing, knows a ton of songs, sings on key, and will crack himself up by making up words to songs he loves. By the way, occasionally the talking thing can be a negative. I sometimes get a nervous tick from hearing this sweet boy go at it non-stop all day. He does sleep at night though.

2. We've always been able to reason with him, well for the most part. I mean he is 2, now 3. For about a year now he's been putting himself in time out. If he gets upset or is pitching a fit, he'll stomp off to his room and slam the door. He'll only come out when he's done crying. You gotta love that!

3. He is funny (tells knock- knock jokes), really smart (he knows all of his letters and their sounds-and I didn't teach him. He learned with his kindergartener brother), and entertaining. "I'm just awesome. Not cute. Awesome. And there's no charge for awesome. "(Exact quotes from Owen himself!)

3 1/2. He loves his brothers or "the guys" as he says. He gets excited for them to come home from school (although I do think he loves having Mom and Max to himself for a while each day) and asks them how school was and even does homework with them sometimes. If I'm getting on the boys to do homework or clean up, he says "Mom! Be nice to my brothers! Don't yell at my brothers. They're MY brothers"

Owen on his birth day.

Owen at 3 months

After a couple of colicky months-he was the best baby ever!

Mom is his "best friend in the whole, wide, world!"

Today he had play group at our house with his friends...

he ate lunch with Dad, shopped with Mom, ate pancakes for dinner, closed his eyes for his present and...

got a new basketball hoop!!

Then he had Happy Birthday sung to him for about the millionth time (most were at his request, like I said-he rules the world) and devoured some cake. Great 3 year old birthday, don't you think?

For those of you who know him I think you'll agree how special he is. For those of you who don't you're missing out!!!

Owen, Happy Birthday! We love you. You are AWESOME!

Happy Birthday Eli

A couple of days ago this handsome guy turned 8 years old! Eli was a sweet baby with crazy hair and he grew to be a sweet kid with crazy hair-and crazy teeth. You gotta love that 8-year old smile! (SEE BELOW) People have always said how polite he is. Even when he could barely talk he was saying please and thank you. Now he says things like "Excuse me, since you're not using this toy anymore, could I please have it?" (that's when he's at someone else's house asking for their toys) and "Excuse me, Mom but why are always so bossy?" Like I said-polite. He is so smart and loves to learn new things. When he was in pre-k he told me "Keep it up, Mom. Way to be tenacious!" And then he told me what tenacious meant.

He has always been pretty sensitive to others' feelings. If Brent and I say the food's not good at a restaurant he says "Well be nice. I'm sure the people are working hard to make the food. They're just trying their best." When we went to a pro soccer game he cheered for the opposing team because they were losing, people were booing them and he felt sorry for them. They were trying their best, you know! His brothers all love him because he's fun and usually nice to them. He's pretty helpful and responsible. He calls when he gets to a friends house to let me know where he is and he will tell friends who come over to play that they'll have to wait while he gets his homework done. He can argue Brent and I into a stupor-we have to be on our toes when he comes at us fully armed with reasons why he should get what he wants.

He is stubborn and silly, he loves soccer, chocolate (no nuts or caramel to get in the way, thank you), cheese pizza, orange chicken, comic book-type stories (doesn't feel like actual reading) and video/computer games. He has a talent for making friends wherever he goes and, I especially, love that about him.

The day before his birthday, Brent took the day off to spend with Eli. Eli was sooo excited to miss school! They went to the dinosaur museum and to lunch. Then we took him and a few friends to see a movie. I think they had a pretty good time.

Eli was baptized on his birthday, so it made it extra fun for him I think. His buddy was baptized the same day so I think that will be something he remembers too. We were so grateful to all of our friends who came to the baptism. It is always emotional and exciting to watch your kids grow and take big steps in their lives. We made sure he understood it was his choice to be baptized. We are so proud of the choice he made and the example he set for his little brothers. It was a great day.

Eli was excited, as you can see, and not nervous at all. Garrett was so happy that his baptism suit was passed down to Eli. He told Eli he was going to have a great day just like he had when he wore the suit and got baptized. That big gap you see in his smile (which one you ask!) is from the tooth he lost on his birthday. He thought it was so cool that he lost a tooth on his birthday.

We sent out this announcement for our families who couldn't be there-I love how grown up he looks. Like a little missionary.

Here are some more pictures from that same shoot. My awesome friend did the pictures and I absolutely love them! (My other awesome friend did the announcement! Thanks you guys!)

We love this sweet boy of ours. Hope you had a happy birthday Eli! You're awesome! (I'm officially not allowed to say cute anymore. Not even to my two year old.)

I am glad for many things

We had a fun, relaxing Thanksgiving with our old friends but we were so wrapped up in the kids (and let's face it, the food!) that we forgot to take any pictures! I can assure you everything was lovely and delicious and we definitely did not starve. Our kids, however, ate about three bites and then had quesadillas a couple of hours later. Lame.

Today we kicked off the Christmas season with a little shopping, a visit to the Air Force museum and lunch with the fam (not sure what that has to do with Christmas!), and a Christmas choral performance and nativity. Tomorrow it's Christmas decorating (lights are up and on-thank you Brent) and Sunday is the Messiah sing-a-long (thank you Shannon for indulging my need to pretend like I'm in the MoTab and not be alone in doing so)

A few things I am thankful for...

1. My wonderful husband who treats me like the person he thinks I am and not the person I think I am. He really is amazing.

2. My awesomely rowdy and crazy boys who are never, ever boring! Who needs mellow kids, a clean house, and order anyways?

3. My sweet, new little baby who smiles at me in the middle of the night, helps me have perspective, and forces me to sit, relax, and enjoy being a mom.

4. Brent's job! Steady employment and wearing uniforms to work every day that I don't have to wash. And he loves what he does. (It helps that he gets every holiday off)

5. Parents who support us even though we're far away and who come and visit whenever they can. And siblings who go to great effort to stay in touch even though we all live so far apart.

6. Old friends and new friends who are our family wherever we live, love us and our kids and would do anything for us.

7. A son who will sing rounds with me in the car and write important things on the calendar-like when movies come out and when he's off from school. A son who tells me I'm pretty and thank you for dinner. Another son who still loves to snuggle and giggles all day. A fourth son who makes me laugh every hour of every day and tells me I'm his best mommy friend in the whole wide world. A fifth little son who is perfect for now, lets me hold him whenever I want and kiss him all over, and doesn't talk back or make messes-yet.

8. Girlfriends. I love a good girls' night out (see picture below) You help me stay sane and happy.

9. Music-especially Christmas music right now. I love to hear my kids sing and I love to sing.

10. The gospel and my testimony of the gospel. I know how to be happy, have my sweet family with me forever, and I know from whom all of my sweet blessings flow.

No kids (or husbands)+ butternut squash ravioli+ great girlfriends+ a movie based on the book none of us could put down+ a vampire with wacky hair=fun girls night out! I know you're reading this and I love you all!

Max-2 Month Update

Max is two months old and I can't believe how big he is! He's been gaining weight like crazy-he was 12lb. 4 oz. at the doctor two weeks ago. He is so alert (meaning always awake!) and cranes his neck to see us when he hears our voices. He smiles and makes little sweet baby noises. He's starting to get a little more vocal and loud. He's already learning how to survive and be heard in this crazy house!

He kicks and waves his arms around and wacks himself in the face alot. He can stuff practically his whole fist in his mouth too! (Our gene pool seems to produce big heads and big mouths) His eyes seem to be staying a dark blue, for now atleast. And he seems to have stopped losing hair-or atleast it's slowed down! Yay! My kids always go bald and I'd love for him to keep some of that dark hair, although I can see the light hair growing in underneath.

Luke is already his favorite brother, probably because he's so attentive. He runs to Max when he's crying and helps feed him. He always tells him about his day and says good morning and good night to him every day. He tells him all the things he's going to do with him when he gets bigger. He even tells him about the food he is eating and how yummy it will be for Max when he gets big and has teeth. And he always introduces "baby Max" to people and tells them he is zero, which cracks me up. Owen also loves to be around Max, I'm just not sure that Max isn't a little scared of Owen!

He loves his carseat. It might be because there are days that he's in it the whole day being dragged around.

He finally isn't screaming every time he gets a bath. Owen helps bathe him and Max just stares at him while Owen talks non-stop.

He's beginning to chub out and I love it! I love squeezing on him and kissing him to death. I think it scares him a little!

I crack up when I look down and see just his little face peeking out from under the carseat cover. I think I would get claustrophobic in something like that.

Harry Potters and Jedis and Cowboys-Oh My! (and one cute little bumble bee)

Here are the obligatory Halloween pictures! My kids are awful about getting their pictures taken and it was made worse because they were so anxious to go trick or treating! We had a good time though. My kids last longer and longer every year. Especially Garrett and Eli-we dropped the younger ones off at home and then kept going. Brent and I-Oops! I meant the kids! -got alot of great candy!

Garrett was Harry Potter

Eli was Obi-Wan Kenobi (or as Owen says Nomi-Kadobe)

Luke was Harry Potter, The Younger (my kids recently discovered Harry Potter and are a little obsessed) Notice the flared nostrils keeping his glasses up!

Owen was a "Mean Cowboy" We told him he was a cute cowboy and he said "No, I'm mean! Stand back!". Then he drew his guns and shot us.

Max was a bumble bee. Buzzz.

It's fun to see how excited the kids get-how much they like to dress up, the parties at school, the candy. It always brings back memories of being a kid. I think it's almost more fun to relive it through our kids' eyes.

Happy Halloween! Until next year...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This...

plus this...

equals this!

Owen's perfectly round head made this a must! It was calling his name. Well, actually Charlie Brown's name...