A Big Day!

The day started off with Millar family pictures taken by the talented Matt Clayton.
Next, Party time! Colin was born on May 21 and Gray on June 15 so we threw them a little joint birthday party. Gray was a champion at unwrapping his presents.
Am I neglectful mom or what?
On to the cake. Not quite sure about it at first but that didn't last long.
Lovin it.
Birthday boys
Colin was not a fan.
Swim time!

Miss Chubs herself. Isn't she a doll?!


Mac swimming.

Maggie Graduated from Lone Peak High!
Who's the creep in the background?

Annie, he's your brother whether you like it or not.

the Great OutDoors McAllister Style

Growing up we camped all the time, in fact I loved it, but now the thought of camping with kids does not sound appealing what soever. Luckily my dad had forgot what it was like camping with little ones and he thought it would be fun to set up a tent in the backyard and camp out with Mac. Ok, so this wasn't real camping but like camping, there wasn't a lot of sleeping. They stayed up late watching movies and eating popcorn. Thanks mom and dad for sacrificing two nights of good sleep. Mac loved it!

We spent an afternoon up the canyon. All Mac needed was a squeeze it and his clubs and he was ready to go.Lu joined us.
Threw rocks

A little miniature golfing jig.

Memorial Day Weekend

We were lucky enough to spend Memorial Day in Utah with my family. Thursday night we flew out to Utah, woke up Friday and slowly made our way to St. George stopping at the Orem, Edgemont, Payson, Oak City, Delta and finally Sutherland Cemetery. I would be lying if I said I was excited to decorate relatives graves all day Friday but it ended up being a really sweet experience.

It's always nice to visit my Grandpa McAllister's grave. He would have loved being a great grandpa.
Scott Graham posing by his name sake, Graham Brown McAllister our great, great grand father.
My great grandpa McAllsiter was a rock hunter and made some beautiful and some interesting art work out of rocks. My grandpa would tell us stories of his dad finding rare stones out in the middle of no where. I remember taking some of my Great grandpa's trilobites and Geodes to school on show and tell days. I was so proud of them.
So when we were driving to Sutherland cemetery we stopped at their house. This is the house my grandpa grew up in. It shows you how much his dad loved rocks.A Mailbox made of Geodes

My Great Grandma, Mary Luella Gray and Great Grandpa Leland G. McAllister grave stone. I wish I had a picture of both Mac and Gray with this.

The rest of the weekend consisted of: jumping on beds, laying out/ swimming, playing tennis, golfing, eating, playing baseball and reading. It was one relaxing, hot weekend!

Spring time

I Love the Spring in Kentucky. I love the rain, the green grass, the beautiful weather, playing outside, the smell of humidity, gardening, garage selling... the list could go on and on. Here's a little update on how we have been enjoying our spring.

We went to the Bluegrass Classic Stock dog Trial....


If you've seen the movie "Babe" then you know exactly what a Stock dog trial is, minus the pig of course. We later learned a little more about the sport. The handler and their dog have 12 minutes to get 3 sheep from a point across the field, through the first pair of gates, into a circle, through the second pair of gates and back into the circle where one sheep is separated from the herd and run out of the circle and then into the pen where the handler closes the gate. All without touching the sheep.

We were there for an hour and only saw one dog close to completing it. It was amazing on how the dog responded to the handler's whistling. For a competition this size, a herd of 600 sheep were needed. You cannot get sheep from different herds, or they will not stay together.
Cheryl and Nancy are always coming up with fun/weird events to go to. Thanks for letting me tag along.

Did I mention Annie is living with us for the summer? It's fantastic!

It started pouring rain, the kids found shelter under the tent.

I enjoyed a lovely Mother's Day. Mac made me this in Nursery. It made me tear up. My first Mother's day card from Mac! I Love it.

There are few things I like more than gardening. Last year, because of planting late in the season and the lack of knowledge of Kentucky gardening, we didn't get too much produce. This year we built garden beds, hauled in top soil and I have been studying up on gardening tips, so hopefully we will have more success. We planted 3 pepper plants, 9 tomato plants,1 cucumber, 2 squash, 4 zucchini, 1 basil, 1 parsley and our front yard is full of flowers. Wish us luck!

the Last day...

These were the fastest 10 days ever. I felt like everyone had just arrived and yet it was the last day before they flew out. Since it was a beautiful day we decided to spend Monday up at Shaker Ville.

We saw two frisky cows.


Uncle Jed threw the boys up in the air.

We ate lots of taffy and caramels.


We enjoyed walking around the village.

We got photographed for The Midwest Living Magazine. Look for us in the Spring 2010 edition.
Thanks for visiting. We loved every minute you were with us! Can't wait to see you in two weeks.

New Fireplace

When I said we put them to work I really meant it. We haven't liked our fireplace and we knew it would be expensive to pay someone to replace it, so we waited until Beej came to visit and totally used his expertise. Here's the before picture(black, square, marble tiles)...

The project ended up being a bigger mess than expected but isn't it usually:)

the after...

We love it!!! we just need to do one more layer of paint on the mantle and it will be perfect. Thanks beej and jed for working so hard on it. We owe you guys!