In loving memory

MARVIN CHIPMAN MILLER

Marvin Chipman Miller 4/28/1934 ~ 8/16/2011 Marv was born on April 28, 1934, with a rifle in one hand, and a fishing pole in the other, in Provo, Utah. He is the oldest son and third oldest child of Marvin G. Miller and Loraine Chipman Miller. He attended Granite High School, where he met and later married Nancy Dee Cowley. They are the parents of eight children, four boys and four girls. Descended from these eight children are 38 grandchildren and 48 great-grandchildren. Marv and Nancy enjoyed 59 years together. Marv enjoyed and lived a full life. He hunted, fished, and spent every hour he could in the outdoors. The epitome of a great dad and family man, his life was centered around any activity that was a family activity. Countless experiences can be recalled by all family members and friends. On one trip the next one was being planned. After a year- long battle with rare and infectious diseases, Marv finally succumbed and went home to be with those who preceded him in death, his parents, one sister, and his brother. Marv is a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served faithfully throughout his lifetime in many callings and positions, a testament to his great testimony of the validity and truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Marv is survived by his "love" Nancy and their eight children and spouses, Jeff, Kerry and (Karrie) Miller, April and (Byron) Little, Jill and (Jay) Christensen, Lori and (Steve) Miles, Marcie and (Brad) Fairbourn, Jed and (Melinda) Miller, Brett and (Lynel) Miller and all of his grandchildren and great-grand children. A viewing will be held in the River View 9th Ward Chapel at 11400 S 700 W, South Jordan, Utah, on Friday, August 19, 2011, from 6:00 p.m.- 8:30 p.m. Funeral services will be held the following day, Saturday, August 20, 2011, at noon, at the River View 9th Ward Chapel. A viewing will be held that morning from 10:30 - 11:30 prior to the funeral service.

I lost my grandpa last week. He has been my hunting and fishing buddy for most of my life. I have so many good memories of time spent with him. I am so thankful I was able to spend time with him during his last weeks while we were in Utah visiting. He was and still is a great man with a great family and I will always be proud to be a part of it. Love you Grandpa!

Friends

During the past month or so I have been thinking a lot about how blessed my family is to have such good friends. When we moved to Kansas almost 2 years ago (has it really been that long?!) we knew not a soul. How quickly that changed.

Until we moved here I never really understood what a ward family is. Now I will never forget how sweet it is to be a part of one. Our ward family has loved us and helped us so much, it has become our family. We work, play, laugh, cry, and so many other things, together. I have learned so much from so many, I don't think I can put into words how much it means to me to be associated with such wonderful people.

If you've read the last few posts you know Kaydie was baptised last Saturday. It was a big day for her, and although she couldn't share it with her extended family, she still had so much love and support. Friends came to see her and tell her congratulations. Friends invited us to be a part of their family that day so we could celebrate together. On a day when family is so important we had family. Thank you friends for all of your love, we love and appreciate all of you!

These are pictures of the fun afternoon we spent with our friends after Kaydie's baptism. We had a bbq, then went

with them to their parents' house to go swimming in their pond, and finished off the day having dinner with them.

It's great to be eight!

Kaydie is 8!

Did I mention time is going way too fast?!

Kaydie was SO excited for her birthday.

She had been looking forward to her birthday for a long time. Her birthday was on a Monday and she was thrilled to get to celebrate at school. She took sugar cookies to her friends and teachers. After school she and I went shopping for clothes. It's pretty fun see her growing up and becoming a young lady. After dinner our friends came over to help her celebrate. Trifle was the dessert of choice this year. Along with the clothes she also got money and a new scripture bag from her grandmas, and a CTR locket, and baptism book from us.  It was a fun birthday, and it has been a fun month anticipating her baptism.

Kaydie's baptism day!

 Her baptismal service was so good. She was baptised with her friend Lizzy. Their primary teacher gave the talk on baptism and the Holy Ghost, she gave them crystal hearts to help remind them of their special day. Kaydie was first to get baptised. She said the water was warm, but it wasn't very deep. It's a good thing she's little, Kevin was able to get her under the first try. She was funny in the dressing room, after Lizzy came in they were both giggling about being all wet. They were so excited. When everyone had changed Kaydie, Lizzy and a few girls from their class sang a song, then they were confirmed.

Kaydie is such a special part of our family.

She is caring, sweet, spunky, and tenacious. She takes a lot of pride in doing her best

 and doing what's right. She loves to learn and loves to try new things.

We are so thankful for our sweet daughter.

Palmer's Birthday

May starts our birthday season, and Palmer's is up first!

He's 9, and I can't believe how time is flying!!

His birthday was on a Sunday, so he had a birthday weekend.

On Saturday we drove go-carts, went to a movie, and had a doughnut cake.

On Sunday he had a steak dinner (his favorite) and Thunder Cake.

All he wanted was a watch.

He only slept with it on for a couple of nights :)

Palmer is such a fun part of our family. His imagination is one of a kind.

He loves all things boys: guns, swords, army, jets, light sabers... you name it.

He also loves to read and write. His teachers love the funny stories he comes up with.

Scouts is another one of his favorites.

He just finished his Wolf and is so excited to be a Bear.

And golf usually tops his list of favorite things.

Among the list of things he wants to do when he grows up is be a PGA Tour Player.

Palmer is such a great kid. He has a good heart, a happy personality, and a

fun sense of humor. We love having him in our family.

We love you Palmer!

Things we've learned...

We've had some busy weeks and I'm behind on blogging again.

Here are a few things we've learned since my last post:

This is what Palmer looks like with a black eye. We learned when brothers play

one of them sometimes ends up looking like this.

 See the nice cup?

Preston learned this is what happens when

 you put jelly beans in water and then microwave them!

The Kemp kids learned how to drive!

 I have them on video, but it won't load.

When I learn how to do that you'll get to see the big races :)

This is what Nick looks like with another lost tooth.

Palmer learned enough to earn his Wolf in cub scouts....

And he learned how to pin his mom!

Conversations

This was a conversation our boys had earlier this week after watching an episode of Mythbusters:

Preston: Dad, did you know if you super-heat distilled water and then put in a sugar cube it will explode?
Dad: No, I didn't know that.
Nick: Cool! Let's try it!!
Preston: No Nick, it was on Mythbusters and they tell you don't try this at home.
Nick: Oh...then, let's go to the park!

A few days later Nick had a stomach ache before school, and since he is prone to puking and I was worried he might "make" himself do it, he went to school with dad.

He enjoys being with dad at school and getting to say hi to all the people he knows there. One of those persons is his best friend's dad John. This was a conversation Nick had with John:

John: Hi Nick, you're here again?!
Nick: Yup!....Hey John, guess what (whisper) I faked a stomach ache!
John: You did?
Nick: Well, it was hurting earlier, but not anymore!

This may not be the exact word exchange, but you get the point :)

I love my kiddos, they make me laugh and smile. They are kids, so all the crazy, frustrating madness comes along with them.  But, they also are sweet, funny, giving, and kind. And yes, I am totally aware that we are in for TROUBLE!

Spring Break

Keeping up on a blog has been difficult lately. In my defense our computer was dying and would shut off in the middle of running some programs like Picasa, and that was so frustrating that I gave up for a while. Then, right during the middle of our spring break the computer died for good, so thanks to a tax return, and a computer whiz who saved the old hard drive, we have a new computer (complete with all our pictures) that loves to run and so maybe I can keep up a little better!

Spring break this year was a blast! We had an entire week off of school; what to do, what to do? Since Kevin had school work he couldn't completely neglect, and we are on a budget we decided to do a "staycation" and be creative.

 On Monday we took the kiddos to a park and played baseball. The weather was nice and it was fun to get outside and play. We had a good time breaking out the bats, we've kind-of missed our crazy b-ball life. Later that night I heard the kids talking about our outing, they had already decided it was the best spring break ever, it doesn't take much to make them happy :)

On Tuesday afternoon we headed for Wichita. There is a big zoo there we had wanted to visit and an arcade that we found our first time there that the kids had been dying to go to. We spent the night at a hotel complete with a putting green and a sports court so we had plenty of entertainment that evening. The next morning it was off to the zoo....

The Sedgwick County Zoo is the biggest zoo our family has ever visited. There were so many animals and so much to see. I tried to put in a good variety of what we saw. Some of the favorites were a baby chimpanzee, the hippos, and a jaguar named Nick ("Nick Jagger"...get it?) We also got to see penguins, otters and the hippos swimming which made the kids super happy.  After being there only about 30 minutes the kids were all raving and telling us that we have to go back, which we probably will, because it is a great zoo!

After the zoo, and before it was time to go home we went to the arcade that the kids have wanted to visit since last August. I didn't take many pictures, no one wants to bother with saying cheese when there are games to play, tickets to earn, and prizes to win!

I did manage to get a good picture of this. I totally want one! This is the first kid-sized air-hockey table I've ever seen, and they loved it!

The arcade was a blast, another place we'll have to go again. Arcade games, bowling, rock climbing wall, and laser tag inside, and bumper boats, mini golf, and go carts outside. We could spend a few hours there trying it all out :)

To round out the week we took the kids to the driving range on Friday. The weather was cold, but we still had fun. The highlight of this was Kaydie giving me a surprise and making me laugh. She got done hitting her balls before anyone else and she was cold so I sent her to Kevin to get the keys to the car so she could get out of the wind while she waited. When I got to the car I found that it was running!? I asked her if dad had started the car and she said that she had! She wanted to watch a movie while she  waited. It totally took me off guard, and gave us a good laugh. Luckily no one else has decided to try that out too.

Later that day we took the kids out to eat at Golden Corral. It's not my favorite place, but the kids love it, and I love watching the funny ways they fill up their plates. Where else can you eat a piece of pizza, a chicken leg, an egg, a pickle, and jello? Also, as our boys are starting to eat like horses it's starting to be more economical to take them to a buffet :)

Our spring break was so much fun. One of the best parts was being together as a family. As a parent I sometimes find myself wanting to do big things, thinking that's how we make the fun memories. But weeks like this show me how wrong that is. It doesn't matter what we do, as long as we're doing it together, the memories make themselves.

FINALLY!

It was a day very impatiently awaited.

It's sometimes hard to be the youngest and have to wait your turn.

But eventually your turn will come...

                                   Just in case you can't tell...                                     

Nick FINALLY lost his first tooth!

 He has watched as everyone else has lost tooth after tooth after tooth, and he's been a little envious.

He did great, he was so brave! He just walked in the bathroom and let me pull it out with some pliers.

Now he is proud to show off the hole in his mouth, and his money from the tooth fairy!

...and he's so happy to not be the only kid in the family who hasn't lost any teeth :)

Winter

January is a good month. It starts with a holiday that comes right after another holiday.

Then we get another day to celebrate. Kevin and I celebrate our anniversary on January 8th.

This year was our 12th anniversary. We went on a movie date, and had a take-out dinner date.

Those have become a tradition :)

Then January got weird. When we moved to Topeka we were told by several people that it doesn't snow much here....Really?!?

The kids went back to school on Jan 4 and 5. They were in school that week.

Then we had snow days. Jan 10th, 11th, and 20th. 

And more on Feb 1st and 2nd.

5 snow days!!!

So, if you look at a calendar, you can see how crazy our weeks have been,

 and why the kiddos think it's odd when they actually have to go to school 5 days in a row! 

Some of our snow fun

 One of the worst parts of the weather was the cold temperatures.

It's so hard to look out at snow that you can't play in because it feels like -15!

But we were able to have some outside fun when it warmed up.

This was after some melting had started to be sure we could make a snowman

 Another bad part of being trapped indoors is that your house gets destroyed!

Kevin had snow days along with the rest of us in Feb. and he made lots of yummy food :)

And you have to entertain four completely bored kiddos.

They spent a lot of time in pjs....why get dressed?

And they spent a lot of time playing every electronic device in our house.

Netflix on the Wii was a favorite.

We are all excited for spring. I am hoping for no more snow. I never thought I would ever say that!

But after 5 snow days, I'm done!

I was in high school before I experienced my first snow day, my kids have now had 8!?

Christmas 2010

The Christmas of 2010 will be one we remember with fond memories.

 I may or may not be speaking in sarcasm!

It started off on Friday Dec. 17th. We were getting the house cleaned, car packed; preparing to get up at 5:00 the next morning and make an 18 hour drive from Topeka to Salt Lake the following day.  All was going according to plan until at 11:30 that night when Kaydie got sick. Then she got sick again at 1:00am. Blah! why does this always happen?!?  We left a little later than we had planned, but by 6:40am (central time) Dec. 18th we were on our way to Utah. Kaydie felt awful, and I knew it was going to be a long day. I wasn't wrong! It took about 18 hours, too many stops, one car sick episode, and a few weather issues, but by 10:30pm (mountain time) we had made it the 1,000 miles!

Everyone was excited to be at Grandma's house for Christmas; and it was a good thing too, because we didn't leave much once we got there! Whatever it was that Kaydie was sick with, it made the rounds through all the kids, with Nick and Preston coming down with it on Christmas eve.

 Nick liked to steal Grandpa's chair and get his germs all over it.

 See how excited for Christmas Preston is :)



Needless to say, we had a very relaxed holiday. We did have our Christmas eve pizzas and we read the Nativity before writing letters to Santa, but the mood was subdued.

Christmas morning

Kaydie was feeling so much better, and she was very excited to get a Littlest Pet Shop.

Love the Christmas morning hair! 

 Palmer got the camera he had been asking for.

Nick got his Lego castle.

Then he watched his mom and dad build it because he wasn't feeling that good.

This is about the extent of the pictures I took during our holidays. I am not good at being the family photographer! But in my defense there wasn't a lot to take pictures of. We spent most of our time indoors because every day of the trip someone was sick. I'm not complaining too much, we did have some fun times.

We got to see all our family, including our new baby cousins (and we all love babies!) it was so fun to visit with everyone that we've missed so much. We had a fun game of Phase 10 on New Years Eve, it was also the first year all of the kids stayed up to watch the ball drop. I have that on video and it was pretty funny. We saw a couple of movies, and the kids all got hair cuts from their favorite stylist!

We did miss being able to see friends at church, visiting Temple Square, and a few holiday parties, but that's life in the winter! It was a Christmas to remember, maybe not the way you hope for before the holidays start, but any Christmas with family is a good Christmas.