My girls’ birthdays are two days apart, so to save a little we do a joint birthday party. It has been really nice and I will continue to do this for as long as I can get away with it. Last year, my son Austin had his party at GTC (Gymnastics Training Center) and the kids loved it, mostly boys by the way. This year my girls wanted to do the same, and once again, GTC didn’t disappoint. All the kids had a sweaty good time! Parties at GTC are two hours of kid paradise. The kids get full run of the gym and they pretty much get to do anything they want to as long as they are playing safe. Some of the adults can’t help themselves but to join in the fun. Just climbing out of the foam pit is enough exercise for an entire week. Here are a few pictures of the fun we had last night. Olivia is now six and tomorrow Julia will be turning four. I can’t even believe it!
Olivia-my big six-year-old
Olivia hangs from the bar.
Julia-my big four-year-old
Austin on the rings
Fun with foam blocks
Austin can't wait to dig into his monster truck cake.
Julia is drenched in sweat after her party.
Olivia, all smiles-I think now she'll stop asking me, "Is it time for the party to start yet?"
On to the madness part. Since Austin’s second birthday, I’ve been making creative cakes for my kids on their birthday. Well, I have gotten myself into trouble because each year I feel like I have to outdo myself. This year was no exception. My great idea this year was to make mini cakes for the guests to take home as a party favor. Such a brilliant idea, but oh what a pain. I spent one whole day baking the cakes and about a day and a half decorating. My mom and my sister had to come over to help me because the project was so huge. In the end, we ended up with two big Barbie cakes for the birthday girls, ten mini Barbie cakes for the girl guests, and six Monster Truck cakes for the boy guests. The kids loved them! They all turned out so cute and secretly I enjoyed the challenge. My only fear is what I’ll have to do next year…
Julia's cake was a yellow/chocolate cake with butter cream cheese frosting and fondant outer covering.
Olivia's cake was a chocolate cake with butter cream cheese frosting.
Mini cakes-the truck cakes are chocolate frosting with Oreo cookie crumbs for the dirt and the Barbie cakes are a variety of frosting and fondant. The kids loved them!
Julia blows out her candles with a little help from a friend.
Olivia enjoys her birthday song.
The best birthday present of all...a brand new PINK vest!
Happy birthday Olivia and Julia!
It has been a long time since my last post. School has kept me so busy this summer. This is a piece of writing that I did in my writing class. I’d love to hear about your special place.
Smacking the OFF button on my alarm, I am reminded that today I need to get up before the sun…early, early. I don’t want to get up. And the ironic thing is I don’t even have to get up. But, I just need to. Everyone in the entire house is still asleep…kids, husband, snoring dog. I fumble around in the darkness for some clothes and manage to pull on my shorts, tank top, socks, and my comfortable shoes. I brush my teeth in the dark, trying to make sure I don’t drop a glob of tooth paste in the sink. Yuck, I hate cleaning globs of tooth paste out of the sink.
I can’t wake anyone up because if that happens, my plans of going to my special place would be completely ruined. It’s best if they don’t even know I’m leaving and hopefully everyone will still be in a peaceful slumber when I return.
I pull my hair into a pony tail, grab a water bottle, keys, and head out the door. I don’t need a purse where I’m going. It would just get in the way.
When I arrive, I make the dissent into the dark, cold basement. I shudder and a feeling of dread creeps up on me.
After making a few minor adjustments, I climb up. I tighten the foot straps and drape a small towel nearby because I know I’ll need that later. I will my feet to move, turning slowly and easily.
People begin to arrive. Around me, they make their own adjustments and climb aboard for a ride that will take us all nowhere, but at the same time take us everywhere.
Music plays. Loudly, but I like it that way. Somehow it numbs the pain. We all start out slow at first, but as time passes, slow and easy becomes fast and challenging. Muscles are aching, bodies crying tears of sweat.
“Turn it up,” she says.
We all turn it up.
“Faster!” she barks.
We all go faster.
Misery sets in and I’m really not enjoying myself. When will I arrive? This is taking way too long. Slowly…slowly my physical body takes my mind from this state of suffrage to a wonderful place…a magical place…a place where all my worries, stresses, and frustrations leave my body and drip onto the floor.
This is where it happens. Here, in the saddle of a spin bike, is where my dreams come true. It’s not an easy journey to get here and when life gets busy I don’t travel here as much as I should. But, I know that magic always happens here if I’m only willing to climb on and enjoy the ride.
I started spinning almost four years ago, shortly after Julia was diagnosed with CF. It has been my outlet and I truly believe that it has saved my mental health and wellness. I’d love to hear about what you do to keep your mental sanity…
It has been well over a month since my last post and that small, seemingly insignificant act speaks volumes about how life has been for the Mills family. It has been BUSY, unfortunately not with well planned family summer vacations. This summer will probably go down as one of the dullest summers our family has seen in a long while, but the sacrifice being made is for the long term. I am desperately trying to complete three Master’s courses this summer that I need to complete my Reading Endorsement before the new school year. These summer courses have been INTENSE! They are crammed full of content. It’s like squeezing a three month class into a three week period. This is the first time I have ever second guessed my ability to pull it all off. I will not be finished with the Master’s program as the research project will have to wait until next summer. I really think that simply getting back into the routine of “working mom” is more than enough. It is, however, nice to be more than halfway finished with the program.
I just need to say that I have loved going back to school! I have loved my classes and am so excited to put into practice all of the new things I have been learning. I know that I may have many regrets in my life, but I know that this will never be one of them. Westminster has been a great place. The professors are amazing! I have gained so much from every one of them and am so glad that I had the opportunity to work with them and absorb just a small fraction of their teaching expertise. I have one more class to go and will be wrapping it up in about two weeks and then focusing my efforts on getting prepared to teach my kindergarten students.
My own children have had the new experience of going to childcare this month. My last class is in the morning, so we needed a bit of help. We were fortunate that a woman in our neighborhood watches a few children in her home and she was willing to take our kids. The great thing about her is that she plans some fun things for the kids to do while they are there and the street she lives on is full of kids from school and church, so there is an endless supply of playmates. Austin, Julia, and Olivia will be going here on Fridays when I start my new job so I’m excited that it seems to be working out nicely. They actually look forward to going to Miss Coral’s house.
Even though we don’t have any exciting vacations planned this summer, our kids have been very active and we’ve tried to keep them as busy as possible. Austin had the opportunity to attend Scout camp this summer, which he really enjoyed. He got to go up Millcreek Canyon for two days and participate in all kinds of activities. Austin has really enjoyed Boy Scouts. This was his first year and he will definitely be involved with the program again next year. The ladies that keep the program running are simply amazing. Austin is taking gymnastics this summer along with his two sisters and will be starting football next month, which is another first. Austin enjoys hiking, biking, and has been doing a bit of running when we can get over to Skyline High School and hit the track.
Olivia is loving gymnastics this summer and her coach just loves her determination and willingness to work hard. Olivia, along with her siblings, put on a mini carnival in our backyard for all of the playgroup kids and it was a smashing success. The kids had so much fun playing games and winning prizes. Olivia is looking forward to her birthday party at the end of the month.
Julia is also my little gymnast. She works hard and follows directions and listens attentively to her coach. Julia has had great health this summer. She hasn’t gotten a bug in a long while (knocking on wood of course). I did forget to announce Julia’s culture results from her last clinic visit…she is pseudomonas positive, +1. There are different degrees of severity, rare being the lowest and going up to +4 (I believe). So, what does that mean? Well, basically we are on TOBI of course, an inhaled antibiotic that adds an hour to treatment time (28 days on and 28 days off). We are off right now, so we are loving the extra hour of free time! If the culture number gets too high, then it will most likely mean a clean-out…hospital stay…IV antibiotics, etc. I don’t foresee that happening for a while.
For now we just do breathing treatments, morning and night, and we don’t miss treatments. I can’t even remember the last time we missed a treatment. I think in her lifetime, we’ve missed only a handful of treatments. It isn’t easy, but we make it a priority. If we want to do something in the evening, like go to a party or BBQ, then we get her evening treatment in before hand. It’s better to get it done before, because no one wants to try getting a treatment done on a tired, cranky three-year-old and she usually falls asleep on the ride home from late night activities and when that happens…never wake a sleeping baby, or child in this case, so treatment time goes out the window. No matter what’s going on, we get ‘er done. I’d love to hear about how you all pull it off, so please do share.
Anyway, I’ll post a few pictures so you can see some of the “staycation” activities the kids have enjoyed. Most of the pictures are taken with my iphone…I’ve been so terrible about documenting our lives lately. Two things have taken a back seat this summer…the blog and my fitness. Oh well, where things are added, something’s gotta give, right? Gotta love summer!
Neff's Canyon Hike...Austin leading the pack
Swimming at Murray Pool
Julia enjoying a little dip
Kids visiting the State Capitol Building
Neff's Canyon Hike with Dad
Crossing a stream...
Pool party at Mrs. Jones' house...Austin is the one in the center with his arms crossed, resting on his knees. Only a truly dedicated teacher would dare to invite all of her students to her house for a pool party...
Olivia the beam...
Monday, the kids and I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Chad Lewis charity golf tournament. The tournament was held at the Promonotory Golf Club in Park City. The proceeds raised at this golf classic benefited the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Our assignment was to man a booth at hole 10 and greet the golfers. The kids passed out Creamies and I had the honor of educating high profile business men about cystic fibrosis. The experience was actually quite enjoyable. The only downside was the wind! We did get lucky and got a spot that was somewhat sheltered from the wind, but it just blew and blew. The theme of the tournament could have very well been “Blow Away CF.” We did have mostly sunny skies and warm weather. It wasn’t until we drove back down the canyon into Salt Lake that we got into some rain. The kids were on their best behavior and were very good representatives for the CF Foundation.
We all had a J Dawg at the tournament an they were absolutely fantastic! They have to be the most amazing hot dogs ever! If you are ever in Provo, you need to get yourself a J Dawg. I promise it will be the best you’ve ever tasted.
The kids were in heaven with an unlimited supply of Creamies to devour. Julia is sporting her chocolate Creamie face.
Olivia volunteering at the tournament.
The kids found that they were less wind blown under the table.
The kids running around, expanding a little energy.
I put together a table display with a few pictures of Julia along with her medications and the retail prices of some of them. TOBI an Pulmozyme's retail prices caused quite a few jaws to drop and stimulated some great conversation about cystic fibrosis.
If any of you in the CF community get a call next year asking for your help with this fund raiser, it was a great experience for the kids and I. I highly recommend it.
On a side note, I finally got to sign my teaching contract for the 2011-2012 school year! I’m so excited! The stars have aligned perfectly for this one. It’s kindergarten (I have experience in kindergarten)…it’s part time (full time would have been quite the challenge)…it’s in the afternoon (Julia will have afternoon preschool next year)…it’s in Granite School District (my kids go to school in Granite so schedules will align)…it’s only a 15 minute drive from home (I despise commuting)…it comes with medical insurance benefits (the out of pocket will be half of what we’re paying now)! Truly, it couldn’t be more perfect. I’m so excited and relieved to be employed! This is a huge for our family.
Olivia won a raffle prize for lunch with her teacher and a ride in the infamous red bug. How cool it that!?!
Another school year has come and gone. This time of year just about wipes me out with all of the events that take place in a matter of a few weeks. Olivia was the lucky winner of a raffle drawing at Eastwood Elementary skate night. She won lunch with her teacher and a ride in her red bug with the top down. She had such a blast! How cool is it to go to lunch with your teacher and ride in her car? What a way to wrap up a great school year with a great teacher.
Olivia got to eat at Shivers and go to her teacher's house to see her stream and bunny.
Julia also finished up three-year-old preschool with Miss Karen. The kids put on a short program that was very cute. Julia had a great first year of school. She has grown so much this year. She started the year with a PICC line…I can’t even believe it…wow!
Julia's last day of preschool...we'll miss you Miss Karen!
Last but not least…dance mania! This weekend was dance madness! I can’t even tell you how hard it is to get two little girls performance ready. I’m glad it only comes once a year, because it consumed two whole days. Both girls danced splendidly. It was a real treat to see them show the audience what they had worked so hard on all year long. Too fun!
At home getting ready for dance recital rehearsals...
Getting ready to dance!
Pretty Julia!
Jumping Julia
Pretty Olivia!
Austin finished a great year with Mrs. Jones. I’ll have to see if I can get a picture of the two at the pool party later this month because I wasn’t able to fight the crowd at the poetry festival to get a snapshot of those two. Austin has learned so much this year.
For me, I am drowning in my own school work. I have been recommended to Granite School district for hiring by the principal of Calvin Smith Elementary, so hopefully if all goes accordingly to plan, I’ll be teaching kindergarten there next school year. Fingers are crossed for a smooth transition. This would really be a great blessing to our family.
Happy summer break!
This post comes a week late, but I wanted to let you all know that Julia’s Warriors raised $1315.00 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation this year. I couldn’t be happier about this. Unlike today, we had perfect weather for the walk. Congratulations to Shauna Hatch and Kristy Millet for winning a $25 gift certificate to the Paul Mitchell School…we had one last round of prizes to hand out for our donation drawing. I’ll be getting your prize in the mail this week. I’ve been struggling to tie up loose ends this past week. I finished a very intense class with multiple presentations and I could hardly catch my breath. We look forward to raising more money next year!
Julia taking a little break.
Olivia and Julia
The family and my sisters
Our family and the Beach family
The kids made silly hats and Home Depot wooden crafts.
Austin's many crafts
If you have interest in joining us next year, we’d love to have more company on the walk. The kids always have a great time.
The month of May never fails to be packed full of various end-of-school-year activities. This week we were treated to Austin’s language arts program. The program featured songs that demonstrated all of the wonderful things the kids learned this year. These second graders know vocabulary words most adults don’t know. The kids sang the words to Dr. King’s I Have A Dream speech, to Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken, and chanted multiple poems by Shel Silverstein. It was a wonderful program…everything written by the amazing Mrs. Jones…Austin’s very talented teacher. Austin has grown so much this school year and we can’t thank Mrs. Jones enough for her hard work on behalf of Austin and many other second grade students.
Austin Mills-8 years old, second grade
Austin has grown so much this year...not only cognitively, but physically as well. He is up to my chin and the clothes he is wearing in this picture are size 12!
Today was Olivia’s kindergarten graduation. It was charming to watch all of the kids sing their little hearts out. Olivia is so sophisticated and mature these days. Olivia was awarded the Caramello award for being sweet , kind, never complaining, and mello! The award came complete with a Carmello candy bar. Her teacher Mrs. Lund is fantastic! Olivia has learned to read this year and she is so excited about this. She is a little unsure about having to go to school full day next year when she becomes a first grader. It’s such a hard adjustment, but I know she’s ready to be a big kid!
A side note on Olivia…after a very lengthy trial period for her hearing aids, Olivia has decided not to continue wearing them. I kind of sensed that something happened at school to trigger her decision. One morning, I fixed Olivia’s hair into two pony tails and she freaked out because she was worried that someone would see her hearing aids. I quickly changed her hairstyle and she went to school with her hearing aids on. The next day, she refused to wear them. She went from very excited about wearing them to not wanting to wear them at all. With the hearing aids on, Olivia tested in the normal hearing range for both ears.
Now, we are going to have to work very closely with her first grade teacher to make some necessary modifications so that Olivia isn’t missing anything. We are fortunate that Eastwood is equipped with the Front Row speaker system, which is a fantastic thing. The teacher wears a microphone necklace around his/her neck and their voice is amplified around the entire room. Olivia would most likely have problems hearing subtle differenced in words like if a spelling word was pot, she might hear pop. The audiologist with the district has been wonderful and very supportive, so we hope to work through things together. Maybe in the future when Olivia is presented with more challenging listening situations, she may want to try hearing aids again. We’ll just have to wait and see!
Olivia on graduation day! OK, the girl has the most amazing eyes and lashes ever!
Such a sweet girl...
It’s been long since my last post. I don’t think I’ve ever been this busy…ever. I just wrapped up another semester at Westminster, only to jump right into the next. Summer term will be my hardest yet, with nine credits…the most I’ve taken since my undergrad days. The good news is that I renewed my teaching license on Friday and am now searching for a teaching job for the 2011-2012 school year and beyond. I am licensed to teach grades K-8, so the job hunt begins. I have been consumed with filling out applications, sending transcripts, and putting myself on the teaching job market.
This has all come so fast and quite prematurely from what I had in mind for my life’s plan. I originally planned to stay home with my kids until Julia, my youngest, began first grade, but oh how things have changed. With my 35th birthday fast approaching, I now am in a higher age bracket for our health insurance and our monthly premiums are pushing $1200 per month. Ahhh, the world of private health insurance. Bottom line…this family needs some group health insurance and fast. It feels like we’re being eaten alive by health costs. Fortunately, I have a skill that will hopefully provide this necessity for our family. We just cannot be without health insurance, ever. I always knew that I’d go back to teaching and am actually looking forward to this new adventure. It’s funny how you see your life one way and it usually never turns out like you originally planned.
Today was Julia’s CF clinic appointment. She is doing splendidly! She is in the 74th percentile for weight and 84th percentile for height. This is so great! She still proves to be tall and skinny. What I was most amazed by was her FEV1 of 104. This is her highest blow yet! She has the lungs of a superhero! I’m thinking of naming her Big Bad Wolf because this girl can huff and puff. Now, I have the week long anticipation of the culture results. I’ll keep you all posted when I find out what she’s growing in there.
This morning’s appointment was an early one…8:00 AM. That’s not so early right? I had to wake Julia up at 6:00 AM to fit in her hour long treatment, breakfast, and dressing routine. That’s early for a three-year-old. Clinic visits seem so standard these days. We seem to wear CF like an old t-shirt. I’d like to draw mention of another mom’s blog about her kids’ most recent annual CF clinic visit. I just love her descriptive writing and say it like it is attitude. She describes just what it takes to get it done and on top of it all…she’s a career mom! Visit Life in a Pickle Jar…I love this mom’s blog. I must warn you…she has a mouth that goes with her attitude and can speak sailor with the best of them, but it’s moms like these that get ‘er done.
Julia holds her prize for huffing and puffing!
We can never leave PCMC without visiting rainbow horse.
On top of it all, we managed to take a little holiday and headed south to the land of sun. We left Salt Lake City and the snow and within a few hours landed safely in Long Beach and welcomed the 80 degree temperatures. The kids were shocked by the heat as they weren’t accustomed to it. I loved it and soaked up as much as I could before heading back. We felt the necessity to squeeze in this trip as this summer is jammed packed with my Master’s program and with the prospects of possibly teaching in a few months, it could be a while before our next excursion.
Here are a few pictures of our trip! With almost 200 pictures taken on the trip it was hard to narrow it down to a few.
Julia at Doheny Beach.
Julia and Olivia at Newport Beach.
Austin and the girls at Disneyland
Mickey can put a smile on anyone's face.
Austin at the tide pools in Laguna Beach.
The whole family
Olivia and Julia at the Dolphin show as Sea World. It really put the Shamu show to shame and the kids loved it!
Olivia and Julia at Knotts Berry Farm.
Joe savoring sun
Footprints in the sand
Time is up and all of the guesses are now in. I want to thank the eight people who participated in our little Marathon time guessing game. We have some great prizes to give away. So, how long did it actually take me to complete the Salt Lake City Marathon? The answer is…too long! My time was 5 hours 14 minutes 26 seconds. Nothing like going on a five plus hour jog. Well, I looked at the results a bit closer and out of the 89 early start people, I was number 28. And, upon looking a bit further, I was in the top ten female early start finishers…number 8 of the top ten to be exact. So, not so bad for a first timer.
There were a few factors that added some minutes to my time. First off, I was super paranoid about getting dehydrated so I actually ended up being very well hydrated and had to stop and pee about five or six times along the route. This probably added several minutes. Also, someone thought it’d be interesting to put a hill climb on mile 25 or so…not cool…not cool. I had to walk about five minutes on that hill which added a bit more. I also kept a pretty slow pace so I would insure that I’d finish which added even more time.
Now to announce the winners:
#1 Kay Kamper who guessed 5 hours 10 minutes-4 minute 28 seconds off-won 4 Park City Alpine Slide Passes
#2 & #3 (a tie) Heather Noakes who guessed 5 hours 7 minutes & Heather Gay who guessed 5 hours 21 minutes-7 minutes 28 seconds off-won Laser Quest passes and Golf Package
Thank you all so much for your support! We have raised $1065.00 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and that is just fantastic!
If you’d still like to donate please do! Go to Julia’s Warriors Great Strides page to help us find a cure for cystic fibrosis.
Yesterday was the big day…the day that I ran the Salt Lake City Marathon in hopes of raising a little money for CF. The forecast showed a sunny day with mild temperatures which I was very excited about. My sister Sarah was my back end support, going with me to the starting line and meeting me along the way. I couldn’t have done it without her. Thanks Sarah, you’re the best! So on four hours of sleep I get ready to run the Salt Lake City Marathon! Here is a little video of me just before starting:
It was a very long 26.2 miles, and truly an amazing experience. However, for me it’s something I want to do only once. I participated in the early start which began 45 minutes before the actual marathon began. There were some definite positives to this. First, we didn’t have to fight mobs and mobs of people. Second, I knew I wouldn’t be the last one out on the road. Third, the outhouses at the starting line were the freshest I’ve ever been in, untouched. I’ve never been in a better smelling honey bucket. The only negative about starting early is that by about half way, I was being passed by hundreds of runners, making me feel like I was a real slowpoke.
I loved the great people who sat out in their front yards and cheered us runners on. It really helped to have some encouragement. The sign that I will never forget was the one that was help up by a woman and it said, “Define yourself.” Wow! I loved that!
After about mile 20, I was really feeling it. My right ankle was hurting badly and my right calf muscle was threatening to cramp up at any moment. So today, my right ankle is swollen and bruised and my right calf muscle feels like I had one of the worst Charley Horses ever. My knees felt great the entire race. I was very under trained, but it ended up being the best decision ever because my knees needed to heal from all of my long runs. Here is the video of me just after finishing. I was holding back some tears and found that the last mile was a very emotional one for me.
So, one question you might have is, “What was your finish time?” Well, I’m going to tell you all in one week because I want to give you all a chance to go to Julia’s Warriors donation page and get your guesses in. Sarah has rounded up some great prizes for the three closest winners, things such as Park City Alpine Slide tickets, Laser Quest tickets, and much more. So far only five people have put in guesses so chances of winning are very high. All you need to do is go to Julia’s Warriors donation page and donate a minimum of $20 and put your guess time in the comments section. The top three guesses will receive prizes. My goal was to raise $3000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and we so far have raised $920. I need your help desperately! I’m begging you to please help us. We can’t do this alone. We are so close to a cure…so close.
I'm huddled under an overhang of a building, trying to stay dry before the race. I'm taking my first Gu packet about 15 minutes before starting. I hope to never consume a Gu ever, ever again! However, I think my friend Gu got me through the race.
About a quarter mile from the finish!
Just finished!
I even got a cool medal, now go and make your guess!
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