Papa and Grandma Miller did some Christmas shopping while they were on vacation in Big Bear. They thought warm hats and mittens would be good for our snow crew.

I don't think they could have predicted what a HIT they would be!


Mom was blessed with a very nice pearl necklace to match some earring I already have and Dad got the coolest meat thermometer (In remembrance of Uncle Mike's news segment) that comes with a wearable beeper that goes off when your meat has hot the right temperature. I can't wait to photograph Robert lounging around the pool with his 'beeper' on.

And the 2nd HUGE HIT - Legwarmers. The younger girls got legwarmers to wear to dance, but they are so fashionable (I guess) that they wear them all over. They love them. Thank you so much Papa and Grandma!!!! We love you!

With Dan & Francee here for Thanksgiving and in Illinois for Chrsitmas, we wanted to have our Christmas with them before they left. They girls put up the tree to set the stage for exchanging Christmas gifts,

Tonight we headed downtown for some light shopping and light admiring.  The Gateway was beautiful and not too crowded.  The girls seems to find something good at this display.  They also loved the Apple Store.  I think they could have stayed there all night.
It was a great night for strolling, and I think the warmest light admiring night we've had in years.
We did make an indoor stop at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, which is always decorated so beautifully.

We traveled around downtown via TRAX.  Everybody loves a train ride, especially when the trains aren't packed.

Francee and Dan only had to share their seat with Emi's feet?? Not sure why she needed to stretched out her legs?
The Salt Lake Temple at Christmas time is amazing.  The lights and spirit truly warm your hearts.

Tonight we drove to Murray to visit the 'Christmas Utah' house. It is a light diplay-light extravaganza that this family puts on each year.

Each movement of the lights is synchronized to music. The music can be heard playing throughout the small cul-de-sac OR from the the comfort of your own car, via 99.9 fm. The show is amazing. There are lights, and characters and conversations going on throughout the house and yard.If you look closely, you can see Santa in the window just to the upper left of the front door. He looks out and waves at you and smiles, but he is totally real (I think that's my favorite part).

Robert loves the talking/singing trees. It is just a phenominal display of lights, sounds, and talent. A BIG shout out to the family that makes this all happen each year.

Rock On!

A few weeks ago, one of my friends told me about how she 'brines' her turkey, which pretty much means 'fills up a 5-gallon bucket with yummy marinade and lets the turkey swim in it the night before Thanksgiving'.  I'm sure that's how they explain to do it on the Food Network?  Well, that technique worked quite well for us this year, as our kitchen frig died on Tuesday and by Wednesday night we needed more room in the extra garage fridge for the jello pretzel salad to set-up over night.  Plopped the turkey in the bucket, plopped the jello in the fridge. Voila!  What we didn't expect was how AMAZING the turkey would taste after the 'brine process'.  Oh man, it was sooo good and juicy and tender.  There is no reason to ever have dry turkey again (now that may be an actual line from the Food Network)

Annual Thanksgiving morning Turkey Trot in Draper, also known as the Human Race. It was a fairly warm 36 degrees and much better than the past 2 years. This was the first year of Brenna running it, and she held her own, coming in 5th for the 5 and under age group. This was a big run, with over 4500 participants and raised over $100,000 for the Utah Food Bank. It's a great way to start Thanksgiving Day!

We had a few friends and family running the Human Race as well, so we offered to do packet pick-up for everyone, since it was downtown. 22 shirts, bibs, maps, and bags later, (and only about 15 mins.) we made our way back to the car. Kudos to the Utah Food Bank who ran the most smooth and organized packet pick-up process I've ever been through. And there is not much I like better than ORDERLY PROCESSES! Love it!

Kayla lost her last baby tooth today. Her teeth are all adult now.  Kayla thoroughly enjoys pulling teeth, so though her interpersonal career may be over, I'm sure she will carry on her role as 'tooth puller' for her sisters for many years to come.

It was a cold Saturday, but we bundled up to go watch the NCAA Regional Cross Country Finals at East Bay Golf Course in Provo.

We had never been to a cross country race like this and it was so fun to go from location to location watching the runners go by you.  I can't imagine how cold these girls must have been waiting for the starting gun.

Here she is - Our hero and favorite BYU cross country runner, Rachel. The girls made signs for her and cowbelled her on as she wizzed passed us a few times throughout the route. She is an amazing athlete and such a kind girl, just like her family, and we love supporting her. We wish her the best as she finishes up her education and runner career at BYU.

Here was my (Linz) and Emi's idea of a "healthy breakfast". Someone made pancakes and we (me and Emi)put whipped cream,chocolate chips,syrup,carmel, and last but not least, NERDS! (to Aubrey and Kayla's disgust) but it was deeelishish.
Here we are eating our whipped cream,chocolate chip, syrup, carmel,and NERDS pancakes.

Kayla has never liked pizza (or chocolate). Unfortunately she was born into a sometimes-pizza eating and often-chocolate eating family (minus Dad who doesn't like chocolate either).

Well, tonight she bucked the trend and decided to try eat. And look, Kayla likes it. She may not love it, but she said it wasn't bad, that it tasted mostly like bread. That's because the bread addicted females in our house only buy pizza with serious crust to them.

I asked Lindz to take a picture of the flower bed before we pulled everything out in preparation or winter. I love my zinnia's, though they didn't turn out quite as I hoped this year. That's the benefit of living where there are season, you get to take a break and start again in the spring.

No one in our family ran in the SoJo Half/5K this year. We are finding our lives very full and have not been consistently running. Some of us miss it and some of us don't. But we did get up early (straight out of bed and as you see by the clothes and hair) to support the runners. Our house is located at mile marker 9 and the girls were cow belling and giving high 5's to all who passed. It was fun to be out there and have a small part in that race.

One of the things I love about this route is the view as you head east around the park.  One of the things Brenna does not like about this route is the uphill section.  She beats me on the downhill and I beat her on the uphill.  We also have some flat routes.  Riding on the Jordan River Trail is one of our favorites.  I love the peace and tranquility of that run and B loves seeing dogs walking with their owners on the path.  She always shouts "I like your dog" as she passes by.  We love living in such a great place.
Another favorite route is along 27th.   At our first signal heading south there is a 7-11.  Brenna often asked if we could stop and get a slupee, but I never run with money, just my phone.  On this day, I brought money and placed it in Brenna's brand new basket while she rode.  We enjoyed our slurpee's and headed back home.  I normally run in the bike lane of the street while Brenna rides on the sidewalk, but today the bike lane was blocked by some cars so we were sharing the narrow sidewalk.  That only worked for so long, until...Boom.  Runner cut off by biker leads to sidewalk crash. Runner suffers road rash on knee and palms of hands.  Biker suffers broken basket.