Cheap Christmas Card

Dear Friends and Family,

We have had a too eventful year!

Our family was in a car accident in January. We feel very blessed that we all walked away from the scene, but we certainly weren’t without injury. Kate spent the night in the hospital since she was 9 months pregnant, and Dave missed 2 weeks of work. The seatbelts and airbags saved our lives, but they sure can make a person sore.

In February Braden Poteet Mills was born a healthy 8 lbs 9 oz. (9 days after the accident). He has been so fun to have in our family. It is so fun to watch his big brothers love him and be excited for every new thing he learns. And, he keeps right up with his brothers, crawling stink-bug style the day he turned 6 months old, and already taking his first steps this month at 10 months old. Dave is sure he will be running by Christmas.

Colton is 3 ½ and is our comic relief. He is the funniest little boy with always something hilarious to say. And his facial expressions are the best! We never wonder what he is thinking because his face shows it all. He is learning to write and has his alphabet and numbers all figured out. He is excited to be a Sunbeam in January and go to Primary. Luckily we had a new family move into the ward with a boy Colty’s age, so now he isn’t the only boy in his class.

Tanner is now 4 ½ and is growing up way too fast. He started Pre-school this fall and has really enjoyed it. He has his alphabet all figured out and is spelling things phonetically too. Tanner is a shy boy, and I am still not sure he has ever talked to his teacher. He is our little artist and draws all day long. The problem with it is that we can’t figure out what to do with 15 different drawings everyday, each one worthy of being kept. Besides his teeth that are rotting out of his head and need extensive work done, he is a good boy and definitely a keeper.

Kate was just released from 2nd Counselor in Young Women’s at the beginning of this month, and put in as a primary teacher. On top of being a stay at home mom with 3 wild boy, she has made and attended a million and three doctor’s appointments, made and sold scones and homemade jam at the Farmer’s Market, had a garden, enjoyed socializing in the ward, participated in a Zumba class, worked VERY part time for the insurance agency in town, canned pickles, beans, apple pie filling, apple juice, applesauce, pearsauce, salsa, tomatoes, peaches, and tried to keep a clean house.

Dave continues to work in Driggs at Intermountain Aquatics, and we are really praying the company can hold on through this economic mess. His hours have been cut way back this winter, so Kate will go back to work 3 days a week and let Dave be the mom. In April and May he had surgeries to remove a cancerous thyroid, and then did radiation treatment after a 3 week no-iodine diet. He is now regulating his thyroid via medication, and it is has been a little tricky getting things regulated, but as of this month his levels are where the doctor wants them. His diabetes has been great the whole time, thankfully. He is the 11-year old scout master, and although he’ll never admit it, really quite enjoys it.

Although our year has been full of lots of unpleasant surprises, we feel so blessed. Heavenly Father has worked many mighty miracles in our behalf, and sent angels in many forms to our aid. It is hard to complain too much when we realize the many blessings we have.

We are wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and are hoping that we all enjoy a very UN-eventful 2010.

With love,

Dave, Kate, Tanner, Colton and Braden Mills

Christmas

One of my favorite things about Christmas is the letters and pictures we get in the mail. And I have always been so good about getting mine done and out. But this year, the hand of cards we have been dealt is going to require us to do our Christmas letter electronically. I am really sad about it, but I hope you enjoy it just the same. Merry Christmas!!

We're moving to MEXICO!!

We checked out this fun little movie from our library called "Leap Frog Letter Factory". It was very clever and taught all the letters to make their sound. For example, a monster would jump out at the A, and they would all say "aaahhh" Now Tanner and Colty know the sounds that all the letters say. And, Tanner is figuring out how to spell things. Every night after dinner he lays on the floor with his white board and dad and they practice writing letters and sounding out words. It has been quite frustrating to realize just how STUPID the English language is. How do you explain to a 4 year old that A says aaa like in cat, but it also says au like in car, AAA like in tape, and about any other sound it might feel like making. Then there are all the sight words, and exceptions and exceptions and exceptions. Dave and I were talking and he said, I guess we need to start teaching him that oi says oy, like in coil, toil, boil, etc. Are there exceptions to that?" I said that I suspected that there were exceptions to every rule, and then we heard someone say stoic, and I said, see, another exception. He decided that the fact that we can read, write, and speak English basically makes us geniuses!
So, we are moving to Mexico, where letters always make the same sound, no exceptions.

Sweet Prayer

Tanner said the prayer tonight. We have had a bit of a struggle getting the boys to willingly pray, but after a lot of thought and a little inspiration, I made a chart with a wheel and now the boys will check the chart and pray when it is their turn. Anyway, tonight was Tanner's turn, and as he prayed for dinner and such, he said, "And please bless Braden to walk. And please bless Braden to get big."

I guess he is the only one that wants our little munchkin to grow up.

Sunday Dave kept teasing the boys and telling them he was going to put them in a shrinking machine. When they got into the shower with Dave he told them that when they got out of the shower they would be smaller. When Colty got out of the shower, he crouched down and walked around being half his size, telling us that the shrinking machine worked. He is a funny boy.

Happy Halloween

We had the funnest Halloween this year! Our whole family, including our grumpy dad, dressed up! And here we are, an African Safari family, elephant, cheetah, zebra, tiger, and lion. And, the weather held out for us and we had a great time at trunk-or-treat at the park. Then we had dinner and played games with some families in the ward, and then stopped to say Trick or Treat to some of our grandma neighbors. When your whole family is this cute, we are irresistable, and boy did we get lots of treats!

Pumpkin Carving

Can you see the excitement in Dave's face!! We had a great time carving pumpkins. The boys were all excited, but wanted nothing to do with touching the guts of the pumpkins. Colton did attempt to clean out his with a spoon, one seed at a time. They looked way cool lit up too, but sadly we forgot to light them on Halloween night, so their big debut and only debut was in the pictures here.

Happy 31st Birthday!

October 22nd was Dave's Birthday. He went from old to older...funny how that happens. We had a fun day. We decided to start a new birthday tradition with waffles and icecream for breakfast. It was a tasty thing that I used to do in college with my roommates. And why not! It is your birthday afterall. Then we had a little party for dinner with cousin Jo and her boyfriend Tyler, and Uncle Mitch. Tasty hamburgers were on menu with an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen for dessert. (Dave's only request.) For his birthday he got an MP3 player that needs to be exchanged for one that the headphone jack works in, new ice pack for his insulin cooler, and a body pillow, because like his wife, his was getting flat and lumpy. (I did inform him that there was no getting a new wife, only a new pillow.) Although Dave says he could do without any celebrating for his birthday, I think it is important to celebrate for all those around you. It gives us a chance to celebrate just how grateful we are for our wonderful Daddy! Happy Birthday!

Fall Fun

We have had some fun outside this Fall. The boys wanted to make a scarecrow, and so we did, and he sure has been a fun addition to our family. And, once our trees get started, the leaf fun never ends!

Straw Maze

A few weeks ago (Oct 15-18) Aunt Cami came to visit for her Fall Break. We had such a fun time with her here. On Friday night we went to the straw maze over in Salem. It was such a fun time had by all. I don't know why I didn't get pictures of Cami with us, but we got pictures of the rest of the gang. Mitch and Tanner and Colty got glow stick weapons. Mitch got a sword and felt like a real pirate, and Colt and Tanner got guns. We were glad we had them because it was kind of dark in there and we didn't think of that as being an issue before hand. It has turned out to be a fun thing anyway as the boys keep their glowsticks in the freezer and get them out frequently to play with. It took us a long time to go through the maze, then "amazing" Dave decided he could do it again without any problem, so we went through again and were truly out in like 5 minutes. The memory of and elephant, or maybe a lab rat! They also had a kids maze that the little boys liked most. The straw was only one bale tall and it was much easier to do. But, even after doing it 3 or 4 times, they still didn't remember how to do it. I guess they got their mom's skills, not their dads!

New Toofee

Braden now has a tooth!! Yippee! He is 8 months old and we noticed on Sunday that his bottom right tooth has broken through. Tanner was about 10 months, and Colton was over a year old when they got their first teeth, and I was done nursing both of them by then, so nursing a kid with a tooth is a new experience, one not so pleasant I might add. Makes me contemplate weening him soon.
So, I guess I will make this whole blog about our littlest brother. Brady Bug, as I call him regularly, is a fun boy. He wants so badly to do what his brothers do, and most of the day is spent calming Tanner and Colton down from acting like his is going to ruin all their stuff. He has been crawling now for 2 months, and it is quite hilarious. He gets up on his feet and crawls like a stink bug. But, his legs are kind of short so his back end really doesn't poke up too much.
He is at the stage where he puts everything to his mouth, and he eats okay too, but he is really quite partial to applesauce and pearsauce, will not eat veggies, and loves dry cereal (cheerios, cap'n crunch, etc.)
I love this stage. He is fun to play with, responds to funny noises, makes funny noises, and is so dang cute.
It is so fun to be a mom.

Braden

Country Boys

Tanner