Christmas pictures (finally)

drag your mouse over the picture to see my witty commentary

New Years in pictures

There IS sunshine in my soul

Yesterday was the funeral for my friends daughter. It was very hard. Marsha told me at Grandma's funeral that Grandma said southern women do not cry at funerals. Well I must have a whole lotta northern blood cuz I cried the whole funeral. I have decided that I want the same opening song they had, which is There Is Sunshine In My Soul. It's always been one of my favorites, but it took on a world of new meaning in that setting,
There is sunshine in my soul today, more glorious and bright
Than glows in any earthly sky, for Jesus is my light.
There is music in my soul today, A carol to my King,
And Jesus listening can hear, the songs I cannot sing.
Needless to say I couldn't actually sing it, but it was lovely. They had all the youth in the stake come up and sing a EFY melody and Matt went up and almost got stuck right behind the podium and the look on his face was so priceless I laughed totally inappropriately that the friend sitting next to put her arm around me as if I needed comfort. The speakers were wonderful but I was still left throughout the day with a heaviness that seemed to go all the way to my bones. This morning I was given the opportunity to make dinner for their 30 member family which I really appreciated being able to help. Then when I got home and I am unable to focus when Matt came over and said something in his lovely deep voice and I was filled with happiness for my son, and then I could hear AJ and Elle laughing and bickering on the wii and I am filled with gratitude for my life and family. For my faith that buoys me up, without I could too easily sink into the mire. I am so grateful that we are sealed together as a family as my friends were. With this new found happiness that has been largely missing since her tragic passing I am going to conquer the mess in my kitchen and try my darndest to post Christmas pictures by the end of today!!

6 miles!!!

I ran my first ever 6 miles today!! It wasn't very fast I took 85 minutes to complete it, but I DID IT!! I did the run/walk method. I ran for 10 minutes and speed walked for 10, it' helped break up the monotony for me. I was on the treadmill in the basement since I haven't mapped any runs around my house. I had charged my ipod all night but the silly thing is so old it lasted 47 minutes which is not quite good enough!! But Connor was down there playing his fishing game on the xbox so I watched him fish for awhile, not exciting but could have been nothing which is worse, and he felt like I was watching him play so maybe I get bonus mom points!! Anyway my knees and ankles were sore at the end, so I clearly need new shoes, but I have some glimmer of hope that I can actually do this! Then again maybe not, I only have 10 weeks to add 7 miles and get faster!!! But at the moment I still have the successful glow, so I think I'll bask in it a little while longer!!

Struggles

So I'm struggling a bit today. I have a friend whose 15 yr old daughter died yesterday after major complications from a outpatient knee surgery. I don't struggle with the faith side, I know she is in a good place, I know that these things happen. It's just so awful that it was so avoidable, Dr's mistakes, insurance idiocy, those things, the fact that it's 2 days to Christmas even exacerbates it. I dreamt about the funeral all night and none of it was right, she requested sometime in the days before surgery if she were to die that she wanted everyone to wear yellow. So in my dream everyone was wearing orange tide shirts, logo included. And the mayor was there and her grand daughters were doing some African tribe dance in leotards, it was very odd. I think all of us who knew the family are taking extra time to hug our family and make sure we tell everyone that we love them. I hope none of us take this for granted. Last night I didn't want to turn the Christmas lights on, as if they should be dark for a light that is no longer with us, but then I thought I should turn every light I have on, in celebration that Christ was born and then died to live again, so that we can all be together together again. Thank heavens for that, thank heavens for the gospel and that I have it in my life. I want you all to know I have testimony and I cling to it everyday, and that I love all of you, family and friends and consider yourself hugged by me today!! www.HaileyMiller.org.

Music in movies

It's interesting how music stays with us especially well done music. You know when the music perfectly fits the moment in a movie or even commercial it's like magic. Last night I was relaxing after a whirlwind eagle project and on tv I found the last hour of Scaramouch, I wish I had all of it. But when it comes to the scene almost at the end when our two actors come out of the boxes on stage and the women then recognize each other the music that plays then is so perfect that even though I barely remembered anything else that was memorable. I re watched it twice before I botched something up and it wouldn't let me rewind anymore. Fun to see the old movies. My friend has a copy of Condorman and made me a copy, talk about old school!! My kids weren't as impressed with it as I remember being!

Eagle project

So most of the Eagle project is done! The long, hard, exhausting part is done. Yesterday it rained the entire day and was 37 degrees. I really thought we needed to cancel it, but with lots of faith and prayers and all our fingers crossed it stopped raining sometime last night and hasn't begun again. We rented a auger to did the post holes and that was so awesome, each hole took 30 seconds or less, totally rocked. We put in the posts shoveled the dirt back in, painted the post and we were done. I wish I had one of the watched that count your every step because I think I walked the 3 mile trail system two or more times. It was wet and boggy but a surprisingly warm 44 degrees. However once we were done and packed up and freezing wind came in further convincing me that we were absolutely blessed today. We had 15 people show up, 2 from our old ward and all the rest from our new! And most of them barely know us, it was so great! Kirk, Matt and myself stayed up until 1am putting them together. Then I got up at 6am to make cinnamon rolls for the volunteers and a pancake breakfast for our family. All that is left to do is walk the trail with a GPS or something so we know how far a distance everything is and we can mark you are here on the map, the current maps are impossible to understand where you are. Big sigh of relief! Now who is going to clean my kitchen and the basement cuz I'm getting in the shower!!