IT'S MILLER TIME

I can't ever seem to decide who looks like who in my family, I thought if I did a side by side comparison it would help me out. It didn't really :)

This past weekend we packed up the car, all 6 of us, plus both dogs, and headed up to Shady Dell campsite in the Uintahs. We had so much fun, the girls had great attitudes and the dogs were in heaven. Sean slept in one tent with the older girls and I slept in another with Hazel. Neither of us got much sleep. Sean got to experience Olive's random night terrors and Lucy's need to charge positions at least once every hour and I got to try to sleep with my first baby that has hated sleeping in a tent. Aside from getting no sleep we had a blast playing in the sand, painting rocks, hiking to fairyville, and watching Mikka re-live her puppy glory days fetching logs as big as her from the middle of a lake. We ended the trip with yummy burgers and shakes from Dicks drive-in and then got yelled at by an elderly woman because Mikka ran onto her lawn :) Good times.
Nothing re-focuses me on my family more than spending time in the outdoors with them. Clarity is truly found in the mountains, I can't wait to head out again.

Lucy: is what I'm doing dangerous Mom?

Me: yes, please stop doing it.

Lucy: but, it's dangerous and fun.

So today Lucy decided to obey for the first time ever (and for those of you that have no sense of humor, no, not literally). In general, I have a problem with strangers that try to parent my kids or just people that don't spend a lot of time with me and my kids that try to give me parenting advice. So here's the scene: me at Walmart with all four of my girls (I usually avoid this scenario at all costs but it had to be done) Olive in the front of the cart, Hazel in her car seat in the back of the cart, and Izzy obediently standing by my side. Where does that leave Lucy you ask? I think the correct question is, where doesn't that leave Lucy? That kid is all over the place, trying to ride under the cart, running away, hiding, balancing on the side of the cart, etc. Now, it should be known that Lucy has special store privileges that I generally agree no child ever should have, like climbing in and out of the cart by herself and balancing on the side of the cart while we are moving. She has crazy balance and climbing skills, we could strap a harness and rope on her and she would lead climb her entire preschool class up a bookcase to safety. Anyway, I have just accepted the fact that she is going to climb, I work around it and try to get out of the store as fast as I can with the least amount of dirty looks possible. So, today as I'm checking out Lucy is climbing up to look at the pay pad thing (like always) and the lovely checker decides I am not doing my job and proceeds to bribe my daughter to get off with promises of a stamp. I roll my eyes and mutter, "good luck with that" and then the little stinker listens! She hops right off with an angelic little smile to get her stamp, totally validating this Walmart employees opinion that I'm just doing it wrong, never mind the fact that I live with this child and know her better then anyone. Grrrrrrr.
And while I'm ranting, what is with people finding out about Lucy cutting her hair and then telling me I should really be putting my scissors up. Really?! I NEVER thought about that!
Whew, that feels better :)

When I was a kid I assumed that my parents existed for the sole purpose of being my parents, taking care of me, and as a teenager, cramping my style. I had little to no understanding that they were people with problems, a past, heartache, joys (other than fabulous me), in other words, real people outside of being my Mom and Dad. Tonight is one of those very adult nights where all the things going on in my life make me think back to my childhood and wish I would have been nicer and more understanding to my parents. Being an adult is heavy sometimes.

Somehow the stars aligned and we had a perfect afternoon of swimming at Lagoon, with minimal tears and drama!

The sweet Barbie cake I made while I had the stomach flu, I deserve a  Mom medal.

Birthday dinner at Johnny Rockets