bucket list #53: watch the fireworks in washington d.c.

oops...i'm a week behind...

our 4th of july holiday was amazing this year. we started the day off with the annual ward breakfast complete with a kickball game. there's nothing like a game of kickball to take you back to your younger days. i got to watch the game from the sidelines this year because of the kickball that i seem to be carrying around under my shirt these days. i always love watching nate play though.

i love to take these awkward photos of him

and hear him complain when he finally looks at our blog. "ah, you put that one on there? i look like such a dork." after several "pop-flys," he finally kicked a home run. although looking at this picture now, its unclear if he pushed the erekson kid down to score?

and the fun came to a screeching halt when he kicked the ball and it popped. i guess thats what you get from a $4 ball.

in everyone's lifetime, they MUST watch fireworks in washington d.c. there really just aren't words to describe how unreal it was.

500,000 people gathered in the national mall for the event.


lucky for us though, sam and rachel are living in d.c. this summer. so we parked our car at their place and then took the metro into the city. rachel and her friends go their early to stake out our spot. so even though there were so many people, we had plenty of room.

we had a little picnic lunch, played cards, and listened to the concerts that were put on by the army band and then country star, mark wills.

its amazing the difference one year makes. last year, we watched the fireworks at the inner harbor. we thought we were pretty dang lucky to have sam and rachel with us. we didn't know it then, but little jett was already in rachel's tummy. this year, we are lucky enough to have sam & rachel back, as well as ben & caitlin. it's crazy that now i'm 7.6 months pregnant and rachel has a 4 month old.

and spending time with jett makes us pretty excited for our own little baby girl.

aren't they adorable?
i was lucky enough to get to hold the little guy during the fireworks. check out the look on his face. he loved them!

i'm pretty sure that we had a little moment as we listened to my all time favorite song, lee greewood's "i'm proud to be an american." yeah, so i'm a big dork but i sang all of the words and maybe shed a tear or two. it was a pretty amazing experience though to be holding a sweet, cuddly baby...standing in our nations capitol and feeling so blessed to live in a free country that so many men & women have given their lives for.

and now lets talk about the fireworks. they were incredible!!! the entire show was like the best grand finale you have ever seen in your life. and the entire time you could hear patriotic songs from the orchestra being played. there really just aren't words to describe it but its something that everyone should see in their lifetime.

and now i can check it off my list of things to do before i die.

summertime...and the livin is easy

have i told you how much i love the summer? everything just seems so much better when the sun is out and shining. this year we decided to go on an exotic beach vacation to...

white marsh, maryland...a whoppin 40 minute drive from our house. seriously, why hasn't anyone told me this place existed before now? it's called hammerman beach and its inside of gunpowder state park. and its fabulous!!! you might just find us there every saturday for the rest of the summer.

the weather has been so rainy this year in baltimore. although the weather was borderline tornado in the morning, when we showed up...it was absolutely perfect! we spent the afternoon with the blooms, johnsons, murdocks, joe & lindsey, and ben & caitlin

the boys fixed up a nice barbeque.

and the girls just sat around and chatted. nobody else really thought the weather was going to be nice so they weren't prepared for swimming, except nate and i.


nate played with isaac and lexi and built sand castles

and played football and frisbee.

and we tried to get some good pics...but they all kind of looked like this. i'm blaming it on the maternity swim suit that flared out under my shirt and makes me look the size of a planet, but really...i'm just looking more and more pregnant everyday.

we stayed until the park closed at sundown. the great thing about this place is they have so many fun activities. besides the obvious beach and swimming, you can rent boats, kayaks, canoes, and fish. i can't wait to do some waterskiing/wakeboarding...but that will probably have to wait until next summer.

and in case you weren't already jealous of this great state of maryland, we took another trip to baughers to do some cherry picking. the cherry season only lasts one week, so we've always missed it every other year. we were a bit worried that the cherries might not be very good this year due to the crazy weather we've had...a late frost in april and then hoards of rain and no sun.

don't worry though, nate tried them out and they were really yummy. the best part about picking is that you can eat as much as you want.

i didn't really do my fair share of helping with the picking. and when i say that, i mean that i actually did not place one single cherry in the basket. funny thing is though, i picked just as many cherries as nate did...its just that i ate every single one of them. i'm not teven kidding when i say that i ate over 100 cherries. i've never had cherries that tasted that good and i really couldn't stop eating them.

baby chile sure didn't mind.

luckily everyone else worked really hard and we ended up with two beautiful baskets of cherries and even picked another large basket of strawberries.

"about as good as its going to get"

if there's one thing that i've learned for certain being married to nate, its that you don't mess around with his french toast. more specifically, you don't mess around with his moms french toast. he's obsessed with it. we have it each and every time we go to camp verde and he usually eats anywhere from 10-15 slices, depending on how many of his siblings he is having to share with.

when we got married, i was bound and determined to make him love my french toast more than his moms french toast. and i tried everything. i was constantly looking for gourmet french toast recipes that could top his moms. i tried it with cream cheese, thick texas toast, soaking the bread the night before, casseroles, homemade buttermilk syrups...you name it. i even served it to him as breakfast in bed. and each and everytime he would graciously thank me, but say "you should really get my moms recipe."

well this last time we were in camp verde, i watched his mom and took very specific notes. i decided that i would try to make it for him as part of his very first fathers day celebration.

i did make a few vital errors...i couldn't find the exact kind of bread. i don't think they sell it here in maryland.

i didn't realize how low we were on the boysenberry syrup until sunday morning. and really, if you're trying to make it perfect, it should be knotts berry farm boysenberry syrup, not smuckers. and you'd better make sure that there is plenty of butter and powdered sugar to go with it.

and i realized that its a good thing that we're having a girl first because i can't make it fast enough to feed boys. i don't know how debbie does it. nate still thinks that baby chile will be able to pound her fair share.


i served it as breakfast in bed and nate loved it. of course i was eagerly awaiting the verdict. which was...

"i think this is about as good as you're going to get it." and i consider that a victory!!! you just don't mess with a boy's momma's cooking.

and then nate got to open up his first father to be presents.

the traditional fathers day tie from me


and a luxurious brand new HUGE showerhead from baby chile. she wanted to get him that because she figured he'd need a nice shower in the mornings to wake him up after being kept up all night long with her crying.

happy father's day nate!

the growing belly

sorry joe...its time for a pregnancy update. hooray for babies, right?

its hard to believe that i'm starting my third trimester. where is the time going?

here's the pictures that prove that little chili miller is definitely growing! at least she better be or else i've just been enjoying food a bit too much.

21 weeks

how fun is it that me, melanie, and becky are all pregnant with baby girls. becky will be having her baby this week and melanie is due 3 weeks before i am.
22 weeks

comparing my belly to a jug of homemade rootbeer at the amish market. my sciatic nerve was really bothering me this week to the point where is really hurt to stand up/sit down and just simple walking was tough. thankfully, the pain is completely gone now.

23 weeks

obviously taken in sedona and not maryland. this was the first week that nate could feel the baby kicking.

24 weeks

our first trip to baughers for the year to pick strawberries. i can't wait to pick cherries and apples...how big will i be then?

25 weeks


26 weeks


i went to my doctors appointment today and everything looked healthy. i've gained 15lbs (gasp!) total now and can blame my trip to arizona for that. the heart beat was nice at strong at 159 beats per minute. when dr. perkins measured my belly, i measured 3 weeks small. she told me not to worry though because that can differ based on the babies positioning. she said that we will check again in 2 weeks and if my belly is still measuring small then we will do another ultrasound to verify that baby is growing okay. i can clearly see that my belly is growing so i'm really not worried. my mom always had tiny babies (5-6 lbs) and nate was nearly 9lbs and supposedly 3 weeks early. i'm hoping that the small belly is an indicator that i take after my mom. she let me know that the baby's head is down and so i'm hoping that she stays that way.

i can feel my baby moving around constantly and i love it. it always puts a smile on my face! i love to lay on the sofa at night and just watch the baby move from side to side. occasionally i will feel her up in my ribs, which isn't quite as comfortable but not too bad yet.

i'm still working 6 days a week (60 hours this week...yikes)and plan to keep working right up to d-day. i'm starting to feel really tired again, whcih makes the days seem a lot longer. most days i will go out to my car and sleep during my lunch break. last week, i was waiting for my patient, who called to say she was running late and i fell asleep at the little work station in my operatory. i woke up 20 mins later and my whole face was smashed and red. oops! luckily, my patient had still hadn't shown up but the girls at the office thought it was pretty funny.

only 3 months left until we get to meet this little girl!

nieces and nephews

although we love living on the east coast, the worst thing about it is missing our little nieces and nephews. they grow up so quickly that we feel like we don't even know them. luckily sam and rachel ended up in washington d.c. selling security systems this year, so we finally got to meet little jett. he was in the beginning of march.


one of the best things about babies is that they provide the entertainment. look how everyone in the room just can't get enough of him!

holding him made me so excited for when my own little baby gets here. theres nothing sweeter then a little baby who just nuzzles in. i'm pretty sure that he can't wait to meet his cousin.

and here's one for Nate's mom...her 3 youngest boys. now how can people claim that they don't look anything alike. i don't get that.

and of course when we see one nephew, it makes us miss all of our niexes and nephews who are so spread out now.

we did just get to see maria's kids...

kohlter just turned 7. he's crazy about computer games and just being a crazy boy, as you can see that he is wrestling his uncle nate. he was so proud of himself for picking out his glasses on his own.

eva is 4. she's as girly as it gets and loves anything pink. she made this sock monkey almost completely by herself!

giselle (gizzy) is 2 now. she's grown up so much since we saw her back in november. she talks up a storm now and the first thing she said to me was "where's uncle mathan?" (not a spelling error) its good to know that she at least knows who we are.

we haven't seen jake & deanne's kids forever! for me its been 18 months. they live in colorado now.

isaac is 6

aubree is 4, and emilee is 2. i'm pretty sure that emilee would have no idea who i am.

and then there are the cute little mayberry's (katie and kevin) they live in san antonio right now but will be moving to north carolina soon. we're excited to have them a bit closer and hoping that we'll be able to see them now because it has been over a year.

ryley is 6, "little ben" is 4, and olivia is 2
and they have a new little brother who was born in march...

cute little ethan. hopefully we will meet him soon. until now, we'll have to get our fixes on skype.

and of course we can't forget sariah, who might as well be family.


isn't little chili (chile for nate) so lucky to have so many great cousins?

my arizona baby shower

i have wonderful friends and a wonderful husband. shireen being the bff that she is really wanted me to be able to have a shower in arizona. so she and nate conspired together to surprise me with a trip "home" and a fun shower for me and the little chili miller. she enlisted the help of april and pamela, as well as my family and others to throw such a darling shower. everything was absolutely perfect!

i've am pretty much obsessed with yellow, black, and white right now.

the invitations were so cute
front

back


and as always, the food and decorations were fabulous...i only wish that i would have taken more pictures. i was way too busy enjoying myself.


april's cupcake tower was adorable! she has her own business making cakes (http://designercakesbyapril.blogspot.com/) and everything that she does is fabulous. not only were the cupcakes so cute, they tasted heavenly.

there were 4 kinds to choose from:
-chocolate with chocolate mousse filling and white chocolate mousse on top
-chocolate with raspberry filling and chocolate ganache on top
-lemon with white chocolate mousse filling and lemon-flavored meringue on top
-lemon with raspberry filling and white chocolate mousse on top
and yes i had one of each! can you blame me?

and of course there were cute party favors



i also regret not taking a few more pictures of the guests. thankfully kristi snapped some pictures for me or i wouldn't have had any at all.


i was so glad to get a picture of my mom and sisters and with jade- dan's gorgeous girlfriend. we missed you lindsey!

if you can't tell from my creepily huge smile in the all of the pictures, opening gifts was just plain fun. i normally hate the awkwardness of gift opening but when its for a tiny little baby girl, its great! i was so spoiled by everyone. baby chili is definitely going to be extremely well dressed and accessorized, wrapped in adorable blankets and spitting up on cute homemade burp cloths. i will have to post more pictures later or all of her fun things like a tutu, teensy tiny bracelets, her first bikini, shoes, and even a purse! not to mention all of the practical gifts of diapers, a booster seat that functions like a high chair (who knew?), and all of the gift cards that will help out so much.


aunt shireen managed to find time to make chili a beautiful rag quilt and matching taggie in all of her party planning.

if you didn't catch my excitement, it was a really fun night.

a huge thanks to shireen, april(the hostess), and pamela...who left before the picture so here she is...


we were so spoiled that we had to vacumn seal all of the gifts in our luggage to get them home. we have cleaned out the room that will be her nursery and i can't wait to get everything put together and organized in her nursery. who knew having a girl could be this fun?

the differences between boys and girls...

thats a pretty loaded title. how long do we have?

a big difference between me and nate are what we choose to spend our time doing. when we go to arizona, we always have our list of things to do that include both of us, mostly of which involves eating at places like in-n-out burger (3 times!), costa vida, sonic, barros pizza, and etc.

my trip is never complete without a trip to my absolute favorite bargain shopping store.

nordstom's last chance. basically this is a huge step down from even nordstroms rack. this store is filled with all of nordstroms returns. and there are really nice things and there is also a lot of junk. it takes a lot of talent, skill, and patience to be able to shop here. i'm not kidding. my sisters and i have mastered the art. sometimes you have to fight over clothes or shoes but it is completely worth it when you find something good like true religion jeans, betsey johnson handbags or bcbg girls shoes. and the prices? really its cheaper than your lunch for the day. $5.97 for a new shirt? sweet.

the only problem is that i usually find like 20 things at $5.97 and thats where is sort of becomes an issue. good thing i work a lot.


i spent my portion of the trip shopping- particularly at all of the cute home decor and fun baby stores, hanging out with my family, and trying to cram in as many dates with friends as possible.

and then there's nate. the minute we get to arizona, he's looking for the nearest golf course with brett and calling up jake and colton to get together. now don't get me wrong, i love jake and colton. they're loads of fun. but after 5 years of marriage and me constantly tagging along with the boys, it sure would be nice to have a fun girl to chat with...or at least to be a wimp with me.

as always, nate tried to convince me to go do a little hiking/fishing at beaver creek. judging by the fact that my sciatic nerve was killing me with every step, i was happy to have an out this time.

the hike went something like this...

nate promised a nice, flat, easy terrain.

here is the slot canyon that they hiked through at the headwaters of beaver creek.
and then heres the cliff that they had to climb down to get to the bottom of the creek.


and then you just kind of grab a hold of those rock ledges and pull yourself along through the freezing cold water





but once you get to the bottom, you can just relax and fish.


oh and lets not forget that to get out you much climb back out the way you came.

and heres how the car looks when you get home.



looks completely easy and do-able for a 6 month prego right?

seriously, the first thing nate said when he got home was, "its a really good thing that you didnt come." now don't get me wrong, i've been dragged all over that state on nate's adventures and i usually love it. i've hiked my butt down the grand canyon, been through a near-death flash flood, been cliff jumping and all of that good stuff. but this time i was thankful to have stayed home. nate described it as one of the craziest thing he's ever done. at one point he dropped his sunglasses about 15 feet down. even though he could see them, he didn't think that he could get down to them and then still be able to get back out. he talked about the sheer ledges so high off the ground that if he just moved wrong he could have fallen to his death. uh...excuse me? our child needs a father. please don't do that anymore.

all in all, we were both pleased as pop and i'm pretty sure nate was just as happy that i didn't drag him along on my shopping adventures.