Dustin's Gun Fund

Dustin has been in love with some fancy gun that he says is "the finest piece of weaponry known to mankind." It's an M1A. About 2 months ago he started a gun fund (a jar that says "Gun Fund" with a pic of the M1A on it) and has been saving up money via selling plasma. I'm so proud of him, after his Birthdaya week ago, he's successfully saved up $630! I'll admit, I didn't think he could do it, but he's proving me wrong. For being unemployed and finding other various sources of income for this fund, he's doing a great job. The gun is $1499 brand new, and about $1000 used, so he still has a little bit to go. I'm just so proud of him!

And BTW- my last post was aimed at noone who reads my blog. There was a bit of discrepancy about it, and I just wanted to officially clear it up!

To Thank or Not to Thank

Did your mother teach you to send out thank you cards? I find it not only appropriate to send them for wedding gifts, shower gifts, but sometimes for Christmas and Birthday gifts. It seems like this practice is lessening. I was always taught to send a card for every significant gift given and to do it as soon as I could. I think it's a nice gesture of appreciation, and though I'm not giving a gift to receive a thank you, I still think you should. Don't we all like receiving a nice card in the mail to know that the recipiant appreciated it? A 25cent card that takes about 1 minute to write out and mail is the least one could do to say thank you to someone else's thought and time. After all, I'm sure their generosity took more than 1 minute towards you.

I once met a lady in our Stake in Las Vegas that, while laughing, told me and a group of ladies that she's never sent out one thank you card her entire life, including her wedding and both wedding and baby showers and gifts. Her "hilarious" excuse was that she directly told some of the givers thank you for the gift(s) in person or texted them, and that the people shouldn't be giving to receive a thank you card. Can you believe that? The other ladies I was standing with all glared at her- one even spoke up and said, "That's very rude."

Obviously not every gift is in need of a hand written thank you card. I'm not suggesting you buy a costco-sized box of stationary and write out thank you's to people who hold open doors at the mall or let you borrow a movie, I know I don't. But I'm sure we can all agree that sending a thank you card is never a bad idea, and that when in doubt, send one.

I know writing out and sending thank you cards is tedious and tiring, but it's just what you do. You don't text, facebook, call, or worse off, assume that by saying thank you at the time you've done enough- you send a thank you card. We're all busy, but atleast someone wasn't too busy to go out, spend their hard-earned money, and buy you a gift!

Want to learn more about Thank You Note Etiquette? Check out the link.
http://www.thank-you-note-samples.com/sample-thank-you-notes.html

We have some exciting news!!

Nope, we don't. I just thought that maybe you were sick of all my million blog posts lately that you wouldn't read my blog unless I tricked you.

Anyway, the real post title should say, "Another 5 more pictures." I guess we've been busy this month or something, only to get busier. Dustin turns 28 tomorrow! That will be another blogpost.

I read a certain friend's blog (you know who you are) and got inspired to check out the Idaho Falls Zoo. It wasn't bad! First of all, 3 and under are free and adults are 5$ a person. We paid 10$ for our whole family to come in. Plus, we packed a lunch. The zoo isn't big, by any means, but it has all the cool animals and it's the perfect size for a toddler that has a short attention span. We'll go again, for sure.
Here's my Jack again. I'm obsessed with this little guy. He's just so happy and squishy. He's sitting up now!
Alli's baby's quilt. I should have just said, "Brycen's quilt." Anyway, I liked the way it turned out. I used a pattern this time and learned how to bind! I fell in love with it and was seriously considering making another one for Jack.

Here it is inside, and you can see the back fabric.

Tonight we had 2 of Lillie's cousin's over for a sleepover! Alyse and Lillie are both 2 and are best friends. They boss each other around and tonight they even insisted on sleeping in the same bed. After 1/2 hour of hearing them giggling they finally fell asleep.

So that's it for now, friends! I promise I won't trick you again unless we really do have some exciting news.

Oh, and that job Dustin had an interview for: Dustin was placed #3 out of 5. The first guy turned it down, and they're still waiting to hear back from guy #2. If guy#2 doesn't take it, then Dustin will have a job! We'll just have to wait and see.... but keep praying please.

14 New Pictures

That's right everybody, Jack turned 6 months old 8 days ago and is now enjoying a new variety of food. So far he hates peaches as much as I hate cottage cheese, and loves bananas, peas, squash, sweet potato's, and pretty much everything besides the peaches.

Hallelujah, Idaho doesn't suck anymore. The snow melted and it's been sunny and in the high 60's for the last couple of days. Dustin set up the trampoline and Jack's been loving the little red swing. It's time I start spending more time outside, I noticed today that my legs looked almost see-through from being so white.

Jack is almost 17 pounds! It's almost time to switch car seats for him. Lillie can be in a booster seat with a back, and lets be honest, I can't carry a 17 lb baby in a 4 lb car seat.

On Friday night Dana and some of her girls, Elisha, and me and Jack went to Rigby High's production of Beauty and the Beast. It was great! I would recommend it to anyone. The costumes and set were amazing and it followed the movie pretty closely. Here's a picture of little Jack and Sayde (2 months apart) sitting together at the musical.

The girls loved Bell!

My favorite was "Be Our Guest." People came out as china, various silverware, and salt and pepper shakers.

Alli had her baby 5 weeks early, so her baby shower came 1 1/2 weeks after Brycen was born! On Saturday we had the shower. Alli got tons of cute baby clothes and blankets. I volunteered to make the cake, it was fun and pretty easy to make.

The table-scape.

Favors.

The quilt Grandma Hill made.

It's been a busy weekend, but a fun one! Last night Dustin took me out to the Drive-In to see "Bounty Hunter" and "Date Night." I've never been to a drive-in theatre, and I loved it! It was only 6$ a person plus you can bring in all the food you want. What a steal.

The Cocoa Bean

Okay Southeastern Idahoans, you win. All this time I thought Idaho had nothing good to offer me besides the amazing food selections at all my favorite franchises. I met my match on Friday when I stepped into this little cupcake cafe in Rexburg. I purchased the "Raspberry Chocolate Cheescake" cupcake for $2.75 and almost peed my pants. It was splendid, no, more than splendid. It was by far the most amazing moist chocolate cake topped with glazed raspberries, light cheesecake mouse, and a fresh berry anyone could purchase, anywhere... and it came in a really cool box.

Next time you're in Rexburg and are feeling down, are on your "you-know-what," or need a quick and easy Birthday present, head over to College Ave (across from Porters) and partake. That cupcake gave me all kinds of crazy endorphins.

Dustin got an interview!!

Some guy from Kartchner Homes (out of Idaho Falls, ID) called Dustin tonight around 4:45 and asked if Dustin could come in for an interview tomorrow morning. We're so excited! Finding a job these days seems impossible, so that phone call was a pleasant surprize.
Please say a prayer, or send positive energy, or whatever you do our way!

The past week.. sheesh!

Holy Moly.
Not only was it General Conference weekend, a weekend that takes up a good 8 hours for me, and 10 hours for Dustin (well, maybe more like 8 1/2. He doses off a lot.) but also Easter weekend. We had an egg hunt on Saturday between conferences at Aunt DeeAnn's house and another egg hunt Grandma Julie put on after dinner on Sunday.
Then, Alli went into the hospital around 8 or 9PM Easter Sunday and had their baby at 10:48AM Monday morning! He was 5 weeks early, but is doing pretty good. I'll have to dedicate a whole 'nother blog post to just baby Brycen Timothy Miller when I get more pictures.
Lillie and Jack got a really fun package from the "I-gotta-package-man" on Saturday. Lillie loves getting mail, and started laughing really hard when she saw the box! She opened it and told me what everything was. Grandma Diane really spoils our kids! Lillie and Jack are always getting fun things in the mail. Lillie loves talking on the phone to "bah-bah" and "Bap-bah" (grandma and grandpa).

Easter morning we made Lillie wait to go and see what the Easter Bunny brought them until Jack was finished eating. She was dying!! She really was excited when she ran out. The first thing she yelled was, "WOW!!!" And she was being a little pill when we tried taking the picture... typical Lillie.
Sunday afternoon Grandma Julie had her Easter Egg Hunt for the Miller grandkids. It was so much fun! Even Jack got in on the fun and played with all the bright eggs.

Angie was kind enough to hold Jack so that Dustin could help Lillie and I could take pictures.

Jack is getting so much bigger! He's always chewing on something.

The Easter Bunny must have been watching the ads and found some great deals on things to give to Lillie and Jack. He must have known that Lillie needed a trike! She loves it and rides it as often as the weather permits.

My favorite part of this picure is the wrench in Dustin's back pocket.

Here's baby Brycen!! This was taken about 1/2 hour after he was born. I love that little guy! Can't wait to hold him. Alli and Tyson are already really great parents. Dustin and I are so happy for their little family.

It wouldn't be Idaho if there wasn't a huge snow storm in April. This was all from April 5th-April 6th. It snowed about 7-8 inches in Ucon. Lillie loved tromping around in the snow. It was almost up to her knees! We had fun and made a snowman. Jack still fit into his snowsuit, too. We put him in the red swing for a few minutes. He loved it.

Welcome to Idaho, baby Brycen!

And did I mention through all of this we're potty training Lillie... again??! She's doing really great. It's been a million times easier than it went about 8 months ago.

This is the dress Grandma Julie gave all the little girls, BTW.

It was a fun Easter! Even though it was busy, Dustin and I still sat down with Lillie and explained in very simple terms what Easter is really about. I loved all the talks at Conference. Especially Elder Hollands talk at the end of the 2nd Saturday session, and President Eyring's talk at the very end of the 2nd Sunday session. I loved how so many talks were about eternal families and loving our neighbors and the power of Christ (atleast that's what stuck out to me). I'm very grateful that Dustin and I were able to be sealed together. I'm grateful to know that if we keep our covenants we can be together forever with our family. I'm grateful for Christ preparing a way for me to be with my family. I'm grateful for the safety and security of the gospel. I feel very blessed, even at our hardest times. I love the gospel and I will never be quiet about it!

Happy late Easter!