Angel Watch Moms

Have you ever met women that are just amazing? I did. This is Brandi (Aaron's Mom) and Emily (Daniel's Mom). We all met at the gateway about a week ago. I had met Brandi over a year ago when 

Reed and I were pregnant with Jacob and we have been friends since. We are from all across the wasatch front and we have all lost our babies due to TD. Emily is the most recent with her baby passing away in May (just a few months ago).

Emily's Mom found Brandi by her blog and contacted her and then Brandi contacted me so we could all meet together. We all met at the gateway fountains so our kids could play while we talked. My kids were in school so just Brooklyn came along and she slept almost the whole time in her carseat.

I was so nice to meet all together to talk.

I love these women. They are truly amazing.  After only a few minutes I felt so comfortable with both of them. I cherish my friendship with Brandi and I've always felt comfortable with her like an old friend that you feel comfortable chatting about anything and yet after only a few minutes I felt just as comfortable with Emily. (I don't know if they feel the same but, that is how I feel).  It was so nice to be able to sit and talk about things that people tend to avoid with us typically. I think most people are afraid that they will unleash a mountain of tears. Which they might, but it is always nice to talk about our babies. They are ours and we don't ever want to forget them or our experiences. Those experiences have made us the individual we are today. And...it's okay if we cry...it helps us to heal.

We talked, shared different parts of our experiences and asked each other lots of questions. We were able to relate to one another. We were able to ask each other questions that nobody else could probably answer. It's not everyday you get to meet ladies that have been through a very similar experience as you have been through and it was so touching to hear about those special moments and it brought renewed strength to me to see how they are persevearing. These are strongwomen.

Because I use this blog as a sort of journal I wanted to mention these amazing ladies. They are really special to me and I truly appreciate their honesty, willingness to share their experiences and their caring and kind nature.

Thanks ladies...it was a wonderful day and I think the world of you two!

Snap shots

While getting ready for our garage sale this weekend, I was working in the garage and snapping pictures of some of the items to post on the ksl ad and had to snap a few shots of the cutest thing in the garage. My cute little baby girl was all smiles for the camera! Too cute! 

Swimming Lessons

The kids are LOVING swim lessons. Abbie and Kaden are in the same Level 1 class and Isaac is in Level 2 swim class. 

Kaden has learned to put his head all the way under water.

This is the kids first attempt of jumping in the deeper end and learning how to swim back to the surface.

Kaden

Abbie

Kaden after first swim lesson.

Abbie after first swim lesson.

Isaac after swim lessons. Isaac's class was on the opposite end of the pool and I didn't get a good picture of him.

The kids have another week of swimming lessons and they are so excited they have a WHOLE other week. I guess that's a good sign!!

A Bee Sting or War Paint

Isaac came in from the backyard and had gotten a bee sting above his right eye. I told him to go put mud on it (even if he had to take some water and make it) because I had gotten a bee sting at the family reunion and my mom had put mud on it and it took the sting out. So, I told him to try grandma's technique and put mud on it. He came back in (with Dad's help) with not only mud on his bee sting but, war paint stripes on each cheek. Boys!! (Side note: he wore his war paint the rest of the day...too funny...love you buddy!)

Millett Family Reunion 2011

A Millett Family Reunion can't be had without some late nights playing games. We started the day by setting up camp and then having Japanese for dinner in honor of Dustin. While we were driving to camp(we were the last to arrive because we have kids in year round school) we kept driving towards the dark clouds that looked like rain...and rain it did!! It was a terrential down pour for a half an hour then cleared up. We were so blessed we had a large pavillion to hang out under and make and eat dinner.

Once the kids were in their jammies for the night and the games started. The kids rode their scooters around the tables. Here's Kaden riding his scooter.

Ian

Reed relaxing

Here's us playing games into the night. You can see the Japanese lanterns that had been hung for our Japanese dinner.

The next morning we took the yearly family pictures. Here is John, Allisha and family.

Mom, Dad and Jordan (if you think his hair is wild...he had just taken out the rubber band crazy hair-do that us sister's had given him and this was better than it had been. LOL)

Reed, Cassy and Family

Ashley and Family

Justin, Adrienne and Family

The kids only needed a few sticks to make them happy. They made forts in the bushes and had many of them around the camp.

Kaden playing in the bushes.

Abbie on her scooter.

The kids loved playing with the bubbles.

The lanterns down the center table where we ate our Japanese food.

Reed and Brooklyn on the foot bridge.

Everyone hanging out on the foot bridge after taking family pictures.

Then it was on to a game of baseball. We divided up to two teams.

Ian up to bat

Isaac tagging Ian as he ran for home base.

Brooklyn sleeeping in her stroller the first night. It was a bit cool at night.

Isaac hitting the ball.

Jordan and his "cool" sunglasses

That afternoon...in the heat of the day....grandpa and Reed launched a water fight.

Reed showing his weapon

Grandpa and his water gun

The kids were constantly back to the water to fill their water guns and balloons.

Morgan tried to dump a bucket on grandpa

Then the kids resorted to trash can lids to use as shields to defend against grandpa and Uncle Reed. It was a fun water fight to watch.

Then it was the whirley pop contest. This was our entry as classic cherry jell-o popcorn.

This was John and Allisha's cinnavun carmel corn and it was delicious.

Garrett and Jordan were in the contest for the first time this year. Garrett made cream filled chocolate dipped strawberries over a simple popcorn.

Ashley made turtle popcorn balls....delicious!!

Adrienne and Justin made S'mores popcorn

Then it was time for dinner. Reed and I made grilled chicken sandwiches, dutch oven red potatoes, corn on the cob and a lemonade/fruit mix-in.

Then it was time for the night's activities.....the whirley pop winner announced and John and Allisha won with their Cinnabon Carmel Corn. Yum Yum Yum!!!

We then watched our old home movies. It was SO MUCH FUN!! Adrienne made us all copies of the hour long movie she had made! It was so fun to see us all as kids and having our kids see that.

Kaden fell asleep during the home movies and we had to carry him to his bed.

Reed took time to sight in his bow while we were having down time.

The last morning we were at the reunion we went to the fish hatchery in white rocks. It was really fascinating to see how they stock the lakes in Utah.

Reed got excited seeing all the fish and starting showing me his reeling skills. You're funny!! 

Each one of these bins held 15,000 baby fish.

There were trout, cutthroat and a ton of other species.

Then we were to head out to see the "big" fish!! The kids were so excited that they were out to the front window before the adults could get there. This is the kids looking at us in the window trying to hurry all the adults along. Too cute!!

The building has been built recently over the large fish ponds. Apparently Herring would come in and gorge themselves silly with fish that they could barely hop back over the fence. They even tried using electric fences but the birds would put their beaks between the ropes and still eat the fish. So they now have this enclosure over the fish tanks. They said that they were down 30,000 lbs of fish that they would lose each year to the Herring Birds. Crazy right?

The "fish guy" was very popular with the kids especially when he gave the kids food to feed the fishes.

The door was barely opened and the kids were excited to get in to see the fish.

Abbie with her fish food. 

Isaac and Kaden feeding the fish.

The fish would make a huge splash. The kids would scream then go throw more food in. They loved feeding the fish.

The building is HUGE!!

The large fish.

Heading back to the cars and Uncle Jordan is being Uncle Jordan and "torturing" AKA "fun time" picked up Abbie and was teasing her.

This is the sign to our camp.

This is us all packing up and getting the last of our stuff from the pavillion.

On the way home we stopped at Strawberry Reservoir to go fishing.

Kaden was excited to go fishing and caught the only thing all day.....a crawfish!

Isaac baited his own hook this time! He's growing up!

Reed had to untangle A LOT of lines due to the high water.

The kids posing for Mom...smile kiddo's!!

Reed was the only one brave enough to pick up Kaden's crawfish. Kaden was excited he caught it but, wouldn't hold it for a picture.

Reed showing me the crawfish.

Brooklyn and Mom hanging out watching everyone else fish.

Abbie was a great fisher even though she didn't end up catching anything.

We had a great time at reunion this year. The highlight for me was the home movies. It was so fun seeing Dustin again on video. I miss him and it was fun seeing him when he was younger. It was SO fun seeing all of us when we were younger. It was also fun telling Reed about things as we watched the movie. Now he understands why we call Patsy our second Mom...she's in a lot of our movies and did a ton with our family. Love you Patsy! This year's reunion we missed two families that weren't able to make it. Miss you Jennie and Nichole! We love all of you and were so excited to spend a few days camping with all of you. It was relaxing and so much fun! Can't wait 'til next year!!