Everything Else

April was a big month for us. We went to visit my brother in NY and then every weekend after that was filled to the max. Here's all the things that didn't fit into the other April posts...

Let's start with last weekend. I mentioned Serve the City in my last post but didn't really describe it. It's a great organization that Drew got involved with over a year ago. 6 churches and their congregations come together to serve the city twice a year. Drew has been heavily involved with all their planning (meetings every Saturday for 2 hrs and an occasional meeting during the week for the past 3 months) and has loved meeting other pastors and preachers in the area. In fact Brother Mosely from the Mt. Calvary Baptist church prayed for Drew when he found out we Mormons have a lay ministry (don't get paid), "Please bless Drew cause he's the only one not getting paid for this":) It's been a great way to have other churches get to know our faith and realize we're not so bad:)

Saturday was the big service day and we met at Crossroads Christian Church. Despite the rain 600 people showed up and over 160 were from our ward and another 100 from the neighboring wards. We got shirts, were assigned to a service project and then the Mayor and our President of the Lexington LDS stake, Pres. Lindmark, spoke to us.

We were assigned to clean up Kirklevington Park while Drew was in charge of the food drive and cleaning up a cemetery.
A couple of days before, city workers cut down all the dead branches in the park and then we hauled the branches to the road so they could be picked up. It was HARD work but fun to work alongside new and old friends! (thanks Angela B. for the pics)
Moving on...
A couple of weeks ago we went with some friends to Raven Run to hike around. I am proud to say Mac hiked the whole mile loop without being held once. It was a first!

Couldn't keep the kids away from the water!

Last our little Gray...

This kid cracks me up. Gray got our boggle game, took all the dice out, then put them in the boggle grid, then lined them up. Repeat. For an hour, no joke! All the while making this cute concentrated face. Love him!

So there you have it the last of the wonderful month of April!

Saturday was a BUSY day

8:00am woke up made sausage and toast for breakfast. Mac asks for sausage everyday but Saturdays are the only days he gets it.

8:45 am Drew left for his last Serve the City meeting while me and the boys attempted to pick up our house and get ready for the day.

10:15 am Drew got home and took the boys Yard Saleing while I finished my hair.

10:45 am The boys picked me up and we went to Reforest the Bluegrass.
Every year this organization picks a place in Lexington to replant trees. This year they picked a spot on Saron and Clearwater which is just blocks away from our house. Our little family planted 7 trees.

We got free T-shirts, and ate way too much pizza, and donuts!

Mac made a pine cone bird feeder and a real bird house.

We were there until almost 1:00pm it was such a great morning and so well organized. It was great to do some service and have activities for the kids to do. 7,000 trees were planted in that area. We will definitely do this every year.

After the tree planting me and Mac went to How to Train Your Dragon. Mac loved the movie but was terrified the whole time. He sat kicking his legs nervously and saying "So scary" throughout the whole movie. When I asked him if he wanted to leave he said "NO!" After the movie was over he said "Lets watch it again!" Hiccup and Toothless was the topic of all his conversations for the rest of the weekend. It was great to have just me and Mac time outside of our house.
3:00 got home cleaned up the house. Woke up Dad and G and headed to Louisville to meet the Blood family for Thunder over Louisville. If you google #1 fireworks show in USA, Thunder comes up. Don't believe me? try it!

So we got hooked up. Blaine works in the PNC building and it so happens to have a great view of the fireworks. We set up camp in someone's vacant office and let the kids play. His firm also provided a buffet and games for all the lawyers and their friends.
They had face painters but Mac just wanted a squid on his hand. Who asks for a squid?

Waiting for the fireworks to start. The kids were CRAZY!

The fireworks show was pretty amazing. It consisted of two in sync barges and a bridge and it lasted for a whole half-an-hour. If you like fireworks you must go to Thunder!
Where we were we could really only see the bridge and one of the barges so you can imagine what it looked like with the other barge.
Thanks Bloods for the the great night! I'm pretty sure sitting on the grass with half a million people smoking and drinking wouldn't have been nearly as fun!

12:45 am home and in our beds.

Meet the newest member of the Millar family....

Let me intorduce you to Atrial Flutter. Last year Drew, with the help of Kev, talked me into "letting" Drew buy some of her (an 1/8 to be exact). The plan... breed her with Big Brown (09 Derby winner) and a year and half later sell the baby for big bucks. Well, last week Atrial Flutter had her baby. Come November I'll let you know if the rest of the plan pans out.:)

Isn't she adorable?!

Only one week old and running like a champ!

Love that the filly never leaves her mom's side!

Keeping with the horse theme, Drew and Kev dragged us to races on Saturday...

and we were happy to be there!

Easter Weekend!

With Mac's trusty map he drew, we made it safely to Ithaca, New York to visit my brother Ryan and his family. The boys were amazing during the drive, little Gray had a couple of fits but who wouldn't on a 10 hour drive. On the way we stopped a couple of times to shop and ended up staying the night in Cleveland with Drew's cousin. Thank you Chris and Katie, it's always good to see you!
Friday we made it to Ithaca around lunch time. Since our trip was so short we left immediately to see some of the sites and let me tell you, it's a beautiful place.

We went on a hike to one of Ithaca' s many water falls.

Mac showing us how tall the waterfall was.

Saturday we played at the park and hit the farmers market where we tasted amazing food and saw some of the Ithaca's finest.


Sunday morning Ry and I hid the Easter eggs in the woods behind their house.

G's favorite... egg gumballs!

Mac's favorite...gummy bunnies.

After we went on a a nice long walk. We asked Mac what he saw on the walk and he said, "ducks, deer, squirels, snakes and woodpecker noises."

Thank you Ry and Roo! We had a fabulous weekend! It was just what we needed and definitely worth the drive. We love you guys!!!

After the morning session of conference we hit the road. We made it all the way to Kirtland, Ohio before we stopped (half way mark). We let the boys run around the sites. Kirtland is my favorite church site, so many amazing things happened there. When we showed Mac, Joseph Smith's house he said,"No Joseph lives over there in the woods." Mac loves the picture of the first vision and I guess he thought Joseph not only prayed in the woods but lived there too:)

click here to watch Joseph Smith's first vision movie

Wasn't conference great? I missed going to church and seeing all the kids dressed up in their cute new Easter dresses, but I loved listening to conference! Since we missed the Sunday afternoon session, I watched it on our DVR yesterday. What a blessing technology is! I sat and cried during President Monson's talk on eternal families and felt an overwhelming love from my Heavenly Father for the knowledge that families are forever! The rest of the talks were fabulous as well. I thought it was interesting that so many were about parents and teaching our kids correct principles. After watching conference I felt inspired to be a better mom, wife, sister, daughter, friend, and member of the church. It was just what I needed.