Busy Summer

There's been so much going on that I haven't had time to post in a while. So I'll catch up on everything with lots of pictures.

The week of the 4th of July we went out to Palm Desert with my family for three days. It was super hot, but super fun. The boys would golf in the morning and then the girls would lay out and read in the afternoon. Bailey took her first dip in the pool. She liked it because it was just like a big bath. She didn't do much but chill with me in the shade with her huge sun hat on. The exciting part was that she was able to debut her cute bathing suit. It's so tiny with little elephants on it. I also discovered how much water a diaper can hold because I couldn't find swim diapers small enough to fit her. The diaper probably weighed three pounds! The last day at the desert, Kyle, Sam and the twins drove out to stay for a day. It was so fun to see them. They had a little bit more fun in the pool because they are always on the go. Bailey also saw two movies while we were there and she was a perfect angel. I'm trying to take advantage of the fact that she'll sleep through movies right now because I've been told that it won't last long. On Thursday night, all of the girls and babies drove back home to get ready for the 4th of July.

Our family tradition is to go to the beach all day on the 4th of July. Our plans had to adjust this year because of all the babies. Normally, we all go down around 6am to get a prime time spot for the day. This year we had several shifts. Our set up crew this year was Toni, Tera, Keri, and Sam. They got there at 6 to secure us an amazing spot. It was really crowded this year, but they prevailed with some beach front property. They came with the truck loaded up with all of our gear--cribs, tents, tables, barbeque, chairs, towels, etc.. The next shift of people was me and my mom. My mom had the delicious food she had worked on all morning and I had the babies--Kate, Owen, and Bailey. Luckily, I picked up Brittany along the way because I had two strollers to push down to the beach. The city of Oceanside was really stingy with parking and access to the beach this year, so it took a while to find a parking place. When we did find a spot, it wasn't as close as I was hoping. My mom, of course, did some fancy talking and gained close access to the beach front road and the best parking spot ever. She's always good at talking her way into things. I thought I would be able to talk my way through or at least get the sympathy vote with a mini van filled with crying babies, but the babies were smiling and happy and the cop blocking the roads didn't care one bit. Once all the girls, babies, and food were at the beach we were ready to begin celebrating. It was a really gloomy day, but I think that was best for the babies. The last shift of people included all the boys (after a round of 4th of July golf) and Brian with a skateboard. Brian dropped everyone off then parked at a friend's house and skated down to the beach. We were all very impressed with his skating skills. We had our usual yummy barbeque food, games, and presents for Keri's 21st birthday. We stayed until 7:00ish and then packed up and went home. It's a good thing we didn't stay to watch fireworks at the beach because it was so cloudy that nobody could see them. Over all it was a great day--a different day compared to all previous 4th of July days, but very fun. I spent a lot of the day sitting in a chair with Bailey reading The Host (a great book for anyone looking for a good read).

The 4th of July was not the end of our busy schedule. On Saturday we went out to lunch with Brian's dad and his step sister Lauren; they were out here from the East Coast for a few days. The big event was that on Sunday we blessed Bailey in church. All of my family was here--even my grandma and grandpa made the trek down here. And all of Brian's family was here too. It was good to have family around, but all I could worry about was if Bailey would cry the whole time during the blessing. We fed her about 45 minutes before church started to she would be full and get the majority of her spitting up done before church started. I didn't want her to spit up in her beautiful dress because my Grandma Miller made the dress for me when I was blessed as a baby. All of my sisters wore it for their blessing and little Kate wore it last summer when she was blessed too. It's so special to have something that was made by my Grandma Miller; she was an amazing seamstress. The dress is absoultely beautiful! Bailey looked like a little angel in it. While we were waiting for church to start, Bailey came close a couple of times to launching a load of spit up down the front of the dress, but due to some quick moves by Tera, everything was saved. Right before Brian took her up to the front of church, I gave him her pacifier to stick in her mouth in case she started screaming. Brian was really nervous to give her blessing, but he did a wonderful job. She started to make some noises right when he started, but Kyle was quick to calm her down with her pacifier; she was a perfect angel the rest of the time. The thing that I remembered the most from the blessing was that Brian mentioned obeying parents and rules three times. When he was done, I told him that and he said he wanted to make sure that she listens to us as she grows up. It was funny because that's what Brian is the most nervous about having a girl--that she won't want to listen to anything we have to say. As soon as it was done, she fell asleep for the rest of church. After church, we went back to my parents' house to eat lunch. It was such a great day with all of the family around. The day would not be complete with out a photo shoot in her blessing dress.

Here's my little happy angel!

(If you've ever seen A Muppet's Christmas Carol, she looks just like the ghost from Christmas past in this picture, but in a not so spooky ghost way)

Me, Brian, & Bailey. The whole familia.

My little Bailey. She's thinking about her day.

All the Miller kids!

My grandpa has the magic touch in walking all of his grandkids and great grandkids to sleep.