Busy and Fun

Puppy Store!!

Feeding the Turtles..

Nap Time on my Favorite uncle. She laid on him every chance she could.

Playing the piano, mom and dad does this bring back memories of your little ones??

Rudolph at the Park with Beckie and Arianna

This week has some very mixed feelings about it. Early on in the week, it was so great to enjoy the spirit from the decorations up, and the tree we bought Monday made the house smell so great!! I must say we have never had such a hard time getting a tree to stand in it's tree stand. It took us about two hours just to get it to kind of standing up, lol. But none the less it is up and decorated, and I think it is beautiful. (Love the smell of the fresh pine!!) And we must not forget the wonderful tree skirt that lies at it's base! Thanks to our Aunt Madonna... The next few days were boring. Back to the regular life stuff. Marques is finishing up and getting his last projects in, this semester went fast. One down! Three to go. Thursday my sister came down with her two little ones. We spent the weekend wtih them. Thursday was at the ward Christmas Party, Friday was going to the puppy store, visiting me at work, and watching a movie, Saturday was feeding turtles, going to Christmas in the Park (a park here that puts on a movie, singing, crafts, lights, petting zoo, nativity scene, etc..), and eating dinner with the missionaries. She left earlier today to miss the three hour lighting, thunder, and pouring rain storm we got here tonight. I can't express how much fun it was to have them here, and what memories we will always treasure, but that leads me into Sunday, today, of again a sad day of good-bye-ness. She is moving in a week to Minnisota and thus it'll be a long while before we see them again. I cried on my poor husband for about an hour once she left with my sweet little ones, Brendon and Arianna. We thought that I was doing better and moving forward, but tonight I have been crying for about three hours with the rain. I am struggling today with living so far from at least one family member. I don't miss the chaos sometimes, but it is always nice to have some family around to love and cherish. Today has been a reminder of how much I am indeed grateful for the church so that even when I am sad and crying of missing my family, I know I will always have them forever!!! What a blessing. Again my poor husband has been so cute to hold me and let me cry. He patiently waited for dinner that didn't get served til nine, but hey, I managed to cook it and not cut my fingers through the tears. Anywho, I hope this week was well for all of you and we will talk soon.

The Christmas Season

What a week, it flew by.. Nothing really different. Marques is finishing up some of his class work, and of course staying busy with it. I am staying busy with work, and cleaning. We ate out, trying a few new places in town. Pretty Good. Towards the end of the week Marques and I started a little war..He said I was mouthing off to him with some jokes and he decided to bring the kitty's squirt bottle in to the kitchen and squirt me. He says I am not trainable so continued to spray me as he saw fit. Later that night, he knew that I couldn't let that go, so thinking before hand, closed off the bottle, lol. I tried to squirt him before bed, but that ended sadly in a wrestling match with him winning both battles that day. The next day we were playing with Rio in the room, and in distraction I grabbed the bottle and got him pretty good!! Still deciding if that was a good idea, however. It then led him to trying to give me a swirly, but I fought back and won that battle, and after a 5 minute or so fight of laughing and wrestling he managed to get me in the shower p.j.'s and all in cold water.. Oh the honey. As my mom always said, you may have won this battle, but you have just begun the war. It was really funny though, and we will see how the pranks keep playing out. Now that we are all dried off, I spent Saturday morning cleaning our truck, and the afternoon putting up Christmas. It was so fun to decorate the house. Outside it feels nothing like December here so inside we'll hope to feel the spirit a little. The missionaries called and asked to join us for dinner, and of course we said yes. And ending our evening in watching Elf. It was a boring week for the most part, but a good start to the holiday cheer as we started December. Have a good week.

Thanksgiving

Golfing- Anthony, Marques, and Dad

Arianna, my niece. She loves the shower and joined many whether invited or not, at least she's clean right!!

Tired Boys. "Just need to cuddle with Daddy a bit." -Rio



(Sorry it is sideways, still figuring this out) My nephew, Brendon. In his new christmas snow outfit preparing with his family  who moves to Minnasota in a few weeks!! Love the new cars slippers!

Well, Can anyone Believe the Holidays are here.. Wow. Two weeks ago was pretty normal for us. We helped out at the Service project and fed the missionaries, and Marques finished up his simulation class. Which he really enjoyed. He got registered for his next term, luckily getting all the ones he wanted. Last week was a bit more full. Monday was his last day of school. That night was spent cleaning the house, and packing for our trip. Tuesday was my lst day of work. Upon my return, we packed the car, Dusty and Rio too, and off we went for my Sister's home in Oklahoma City. Getting there late we headed to bed pretty quick. The animals relieved to be out of the car. Wednesday was full of crafts with my nephew and niece, and time with the family. The boys got to go golfing! Thursday was so fun, a great dinner, and a little Christmas after, considering none of us will be together for Christmas. Friday we celebrated my sister's birthday, and she did my nails!! Then we packed the truck and got in. My mom, I, and Rio in the back, with Marques driving, and Dad and Dusty in Shotgun. We made great time, so the animals weren't to bad. I think Rio lost a few pounds in slobber, but he is fine now, lol. That night we turned my parents into College kids again taking them to Midnight Yell at the Staduim for our football team. The next day was spent touring the local fun sites to see and ended in Marques and Dad at the A&M Game. With mom and I grocery shopping, aren't parents filling your pantry great?? Sunday was wonderfully spent. I taught Relief Society, and we made brownies for the missionaries delivery they had, then off to the turtles. Of course the turtles were hiding so we only saw two!! Maybe next trip out they won't be so shy. Then we had the missionaries join us for dad's enchiladas and games!! So Fun. That leads us to this sad morning of Marques returning to school and I dropped of my parents at the airport. Yes, I cried. It was so wonderful to have family around and liven this place up a bit!! Well, that's all for now and I hope you all had a great start to this wonderful season!!

Starting November

This week was pretty full. It started really slow, but ended very quick. Monday we had a couple over from our ward for dinner and FHE. I must say I was impressed with myself. I made Manocotti  with battered Zucchini, and it was really good!! Then we did our Mills family tradition, The Thanksgiving Thankful Turkey. Tuesday, we got brealkfast together and voted. That night we fed the missionaries, watched to polls, and played Monopoly with them.Wednesday and Thursday were pretty regular. Friday I went and took my fake nails off and had Shellac put on. It is so weird considering I have had acrylics since junior high. I think I will go back to them, it is to weird for me. Then off to work. It was a good Friday. That night we made HoBo Dinners in the oven and they turned out great. Which takes us to Sauturday. We rose early to go help with the ward service project to find out that it had been cancelled. Oh Well.. Marques decided to go play flag football with the ward and then head to the gym. After my morning nap, I started cleaning the house. I went kind of crazy. I had marques take off the doors to the laundry closet  and I scrubbed them down!! They needed it so bad. The previous renters had never cleaned them and it looked like splashed several brown questionable liquids on them. I also did the walls which had this same splash on them. After that I cleaned the rest of the house. Our night consisted of making dinner, shopping at the mall, and going to a carnival. It was a fun filled day.. Oh yes and I must not forget our exciting neighbors, while I was outside were arguing about the boyfriend abusing the girlfriend. It was not so happy, so I finished in the house. Sunday was relaxing, nothing really different. Talked to family in Facetime, and watched a movie with eachother, while I painted crafts. That sums our week. Marques is doing well in school, by the way. He is really enjoying the simulation class he is in and gets to play a lot being a boy while at it!! Have a good week.- Love you all.

Halloween Fun

Wow another week down. October flew by for us around here. This week was kind of lame.. Monday and Tuesday we didn't have much of a different week. I forgot, however, to mention that last week Marques slept on the floor...No we weren't in a fight, lol. I went to bed earlier than he did and I had some cuddle buddies join me. When he finished his paper, he came in to me sound asleep on my side, Rio snuggled on his side, and Dusty taking a cuddle on his pillow. He didn't have the heart to move any of us, so I woke up at 3 and realized he wasn't with me, sat up, and he saw me to say, "babe i'm down here, go back to sleep." I quickly noticed the little room left and feel back to sleep. But What a Great Husband!! The nice sleeping spot must have given Dusty extra energy because the next day or so he took a full on leap from the bed flying squrriel style and landed on Rio's head, He was sitting in the sun on the floor. If once wasn't enough, he did it twice. It was super funny to see Rio react and Dusty totally disregard any of it. Anywho, back to this week, Halloween was alright. We got only 3 sets of trick-or-treaters, but we had the missionaries here for the afternoon and evening because they weren't allowed to go tracking all day. We enjoyed their company laughing, eating, and playing games all night. Thursday I went to "enrichment for relief society." It was a pretty fun craft night. After I went to support the honey playing in the soccer play-offs. The other team didn't show up so they automatically advance. His team played around for an hour or so. Friday I had a Talent Show at work with the Kids. Marques came and watched. It went really well, it was fun to see the kids perform. Saturday was spent watching football, Go A&M and UTES!!! We then went grocery shopping and came home to watch the LSU and Bama game. I was screaming, Marques got a little weirded out, I was so excited for Bama!! Sunday we went to church and of course had a sunday nap together! Usually I sleep and Marques plays on the I-pad, but he actually slept this time..excited to cuddle!! I played the piano a bit once I woke, and made dinner. We are about to watch a movie, but I thought I would check in.. Have a great week all. Love you!!

Our Latest

Things are slowing down around here. Marques is doing well in school and has gotten some results back from papers and tests: Doing nothing less than an A- and a B. He played in the play-offs his last flag football game for this season, and plays in the soccer one this week. It is really fun to watch him! Work is getting better for me. Hopefully, we are getting some more training on how to help these children. Last week I got some pretty good scratches to the face and neck from a child. They are healing well though. A few days after that I was hit in the head with shoes and decked in the cheek. The hit to the face was more of a skim as a bent backwards to avoid it, and he just caught me a little. So work is never dull, lol.
We have fed the missionaries a few times too. We are enjoying them, and come to find out they are enjoying our home as well. They asked if they could come for Halloween and a few times in November. Mom taking after you I guess, growing up always feeding them! We also attended a baptism for a new guy in our ward Saturday afternoon followed by the Stake Trunk-or-Treat. Marques did his usual under a mask thing scaring little kids.. It was really fun.
 Rio and Dusty are hanging in there, literally for Dusty. We hung curtains in our room and he has made those his personal climbing mat. He also managed to climb to the top of the laundry closet knocking off the light bulb and shattering it. Rio is just a knuckle boy. The sneaks on the bed, and has learned to words, "Go sleep on the couch." He has also become pretty good at following them, oh the poor pup. Yesterday we, of course, went and fed the turtles. On the way home we took a drive that ended up an hour and 15 minutes longer than expected. We went to see the ranch Marques stayed on here for his interview, and it is way out there past town on a one way road over the tracks. Once we saw the ranch we turned around, came to the tracks where the train was crossing, thinking it'll be a few minutes. Well we looked at each other and both said, "it's getting slower huh?" Indeed it was, and than stopped conpletely leaving us stranded in the dark with Rio in the back whining. It moved  like I said an hour and fifteen minutes later... Our week beyond that has been normal. We'll keep in Touch. Love you guys..

Catching Up

I am so sorry I forgot to post last week. The last couple of weeks have been not to bad. Marques has had a few papers and books to keep up on, but nothing overwhelming. I had a few things to do for work, and a few crazy days, but we are doing really well and moving right along. It was wonderful to listen to conference last weekend and hear all the new changes and things we can do to better ourselves. We had a couple from the ward over all day Sunday, it was pretty fun to have them here and be able to share things with them.
This past week Marques won his flag football game!! He had a few good passes, but it was a blast to watch and cheer for him. We went to feed the turtles today, and wow, there were probably twenty of them. It was a feeding freenzy!! Marques took me shopping yesterday and I didn't even know it, we went out for some regular errands and I got two pairs of shoes and some things I'd really wanted to the house. Oh and I must not forget my really late birthday present arrived yesterday. I pooled the money I was given and contacted the author of the books, Rip Squeak, I love, and her and her husband, the illustrator, personally signed my painting!! I love it and it already made it to the wall. I also cut Marques' hair for the first time yesterday. It turned out really well, I am proud, lol. We got the opportunity to take the missionaries out this week, which is always a fun treat to have them around. And last but not least, I made two incredible dinners this week. Marques will even tell you. I made beef taco's like cafe rio with the shells and sauce and all and steak, potatoes, and zucchini. I made dinner every night, but those two were new and very delicious. I was so excited and impressed with myself. Anyways, that seems to sum our week, and I will keep in touch better. Love you all.