Miller Boy's Fishing Trip

For Father's Day, albeit a little late since it was in September, Matthew went on a fishing trip with his dad and his brother's, Rick and Dan. They woke up early Saturday morning to head to Kennedy Meadows, an hour out of Sonora. According to Matthew it was just beautiful. They had great luck fishing with Matthew catching the most, 8 fish! They enjoyed dinner together and then passed out in a little cabin. They woke up the next morning and had a cowboy breakfast and a little more fishing then headed home. It was a special time for Matthew to be together with his brothers and his dad. They had lots of fun and took lots of pictures. Matthew said he wishes they had not waited so long to take a trip like this together.

August Happenings's

We spent Labor Day with our best friends, the Brownie's, up in Salem. We had such a great time all being together. Mattie loved on Sam and Ches bossed around Caleb. The kids had lots of fun outside in the backyard swinging away. They also got to go to the Gilbert House, a children's museum, with the daddy's. Kara and I enjoyed some girlfriend time, chocolate cake and shopping. The boys enjoyed some boy time with football. The picture of the guys on the couch is all of them watching a game. It was such a blessing to be with our best friends for another fun filled Labor Day!

This is Caleb at church leaning on Matthew and holding his hand, just precious!

Mattie my little hippie girl! I love this picture!

Matthew took the girls to Old Shasta. They got to go to a bakery, a courthouse and a museum. They got to pan for gold, Chesnie's favorite. Then they found a beach at Whiskeytown lake. They swam and built castles and found treasures. Mattie was so brave, she swam just like she was in our pool. She has gotten to be a good swimmer this summer. They had so much fun they took me the next day. The picture of just bubbles in the water is Mattie and Matthew going under at the same time. We live in a beautiful place and it was nice to get out and enjoy His beauty.
Matthew is such a good daddy and at the end of the day her carried both girls up all those stairs. The girls loved the special day with their daddy and I love that I have such a loving to husband that treasures his girls.

The last of Summer

August started off with a trip to the Bay Area to see my sister Catie who had moved to TN in January. She was bringing along her new boyfriend, Jaime, for all of us to meet for the first time. My brother, Chris, his wife Jen and their kids James and Kylie were there too. It was great to see Catie after so long, meet Jaime (whom we all like by the way), have the cousins play and just be all together.

All the grandkids helping Gma cook

The new pool at Gma and Papa's

Auntie Catie keeping the girls warm

Chesnie, Kylie and James

Catie got the girls shirts that say "My mom's the bomb" My shirt says "the bomb mom"

Me reading bedtime stories to all the girls

Chesnie singing Jesus Loves Me with Papa at church

Mom and her granddaughters

My dad bought the girls all matching dresses and an matching outfit for James

Matthew trying out the slip and slide

Papa keeping Ches warm

Papa playing tic tac toe with the girls

Gma loving having her grandkids with her

Auntie snuggling with Mattie

Auntie Catie with Mattie and Kylie

Then we traveled to Oregon for my cousin Joel's wedding. It was like a mini family reunion and it was great fun! The girls enjoyed playing with their cousins and we enjoyed being with family we hadn't seen in too long. The wedding was beautiful! It was outside in the bride's parents backyard full of greenery and white twinkling lights. It really couldn't have been more perfect. God was honored and two amazing people where joined together. Love you Joel and Emily! The girls couldn't wait to get on the dance floor. From the moment the first dance was over Mattie and Chesnie were on the floor dancing till 11:30pm! Chesnie literally danced till she dropped. She asked Matthew to hold her as the band was singing their last song and then he passed her off to me and she was instantly asleep. Thanks for all the fun Quisenberry's!

This is how Ches travels, watching a movie and stuffing her face

Tryin' out the zip line at the park

Matthew trying out the zip line at the park

Mattie on top of the slide

The girls with Papa on the sea saw at the park

Ches trying on Gma's shoes

Matthew two handin' it with Ches and little Richy

Ches stylin' in mommy's glasses

Ches sitting on the grass at the wedding

Family prayer and blessing

The happy couple, Joel and Emily

The girls smothering Matthew with love

Chesnie and little Richy

Mommy and Ches with my beautiful mom in the background

Ches and Ruthie

Mattie and Jordan

My handsome hubby

The girls having so much fun on the dance floor

Ches doing a new move

Mattie dancing with Catie and Jaime

The girls dancing with Drew

Chesnie twirling with daddy

Mattie is having a lot of fun

Mattie dancing with Papa

Chesnie twirling

The girls with their cousins

Mattie all tuckered out at 11:30pm

Then we went up to our cabin for one last hurrah with Matthew's parents. It was very peaceful and relaxing. The girls enjoyed one on one attention with grandpa and grandma. They enjoyed riding their jeep and finding lots of "treasures" in the outdoors. They also enjoyed "driving" on the dirt road to the cabin

Mattie "driving" to the cabin

Chesnie out the window

Just hanging out with grandpa

Mattie's wooden head band

Roasting marshmellows on the bbq

Our summer officially ended today as it was Mattie's first day of school. She is our big Kindergartner now! We are home schooling so be in prayer! She enjoyed helping me make blueberry pancakes for her first school breakfast. And in the picture you see her doing her first writing in her book.

Salem, OR-Caleb's 2nd birthday

The girls and I made a trip to Salem, OR for our little man, Caleb's 2nd birthday. We had a great time and enjoyed the cooler weather. We love the Brownies and miss them so much. It is always nice to go for a visit to spend some much needed quality time together. Caleb loves the girls, following them everywhere and doing whatever they want. He calls out Che, Che (for Chesnie) all day and calls Mattie Ma and me Co. I was privileged enough to be there for his birth and rejoice that I could be there when he turned 2! We also celebrated Mattie's birthday since they couldn't be in Redding for her party. Our favorite part of the trip was picking blueberries! We are huge fans of blueberries but they are so darn expensive. We picked 20lbs at about $1/lb. I know, you are jealous. The kids ate more than they picked and had fun doing it. Matthew couldn't believe how much we brought home. We have been enjoying them ever since, we just had a banana blueberry smoothie yesterday. I got to enjoy some one on one time with my best friend, Kara, along with the best chocolate cake you have ever had and some great tea. We had a wonderful time and can't wait for Labor day when we will return with Matthew in tow!

Summer

Alright, I'm sorry, I know that it has been way too long since I posted. I think the summer has gotten away from me. I am not sure where to begin so I think I will just post lots of pictures and that will tell the story of what we have been up to. A lot of trips and traveling this summer and a lot of fun in the pool.

Chesnie enjoying the waterfall.
The girls and I at some falls in Dunsmuir.

The girls with daddy at middle McCloud Falls.

Chesnie following Matthew in the McCloud River.

Mattie enjoying her trout for dinner.

Ches in the Sacramento River. It was freezing but she is so brave and loves the water!

Mattie caught a huge brown trout at the hatchery.

The girls and I with sweet pea wild flowers.

The girls at Mt. Shasta Fish Hatchery.

Riding a purple dino in Mt. Shasta.

Standing on logs at our campsite in McCloud.

Mattie doing a handstand on our lawn.

Mattie got just about everythink Tink, including PJ's!

The girls watching a movie with their favorite Papa.

All the kids ready for the Tink pinata.

Mattie liking her birthday candle at her Tink party.

Chesnie trying to hula hoop.

Fishing with daddy at the cabin.

Chesnie and her mountain soap.

Chesnie catching grasshoppers with Auntie Tanya.

Chesnie with a big june bug on her shirt.

Enjoying backyard smores.

Mattie celebrating her 5th birthday with Grandpa and Grandma at the cabin.

Chesnie jumping in the pool.

The girls trying on mommy's bras, oh so funny!

Me mowing the lawn for the first time at age 32!

Mattie jumping in the pool

Matthew reading to all the girls.

Cotton candy in the rain at a fair.

The Lyman cousins came for a visit. All the kids at the Sundial Bridge.

Well, that just about sums it all up. We have enjoyed having cousins visit, camping trips, waterfalls, fishing, cabin, birthday's and lots of swimming. There is more to come but this at least gets you caught up on the Miller family goings on!

Cabin

The whole gang: Corrie, Matthew, Jeff, Vikki, Chesnie, Mattie, Keely, Rhett, Dallas, Codi

Mattie on the rope swing

Ches on the rope swing

Dallas flying off the rope swing, he was the only brave one

The girls on the sandy beach at the Trinity River

Mattie B at the Trinity River

The girls and their treasure

Looking for the Geo cache

Mattie and Keely having fun

Pile of kids at the cabin

Vikki and Codi playing badminton while Mattie and Rhett drive through

Mattie loves Rhett

Chesnie kicking the soccer ball, taking after mommy

Keely driving while Mattie chats on the phone

The girls making "soup"

This last weekend we went to our family cabin in the Trinity Mtns. Matthew's best friend Jeff and his family came along for the adventure. We got up there late Friday night and it was rainy so we all piled into the cabin and slept inside. The next morning we enjoyed a big breakfast and the skies had cleared so we went outside for some fun. The kids enjoyed playing in the sand, riding in the jeep, playing ball and especially badminton. Vikki and I took the kids Geo Caching and they had a great time finding treasures while the dads did some fishing. On Sunday we all went to the Trinity River. There we enjoyed the sand, the water and we even found a rope swing. Fun was had by all! We love the cabin and were so glad that we were able to share it with good friends.

Cherry Pickin'

The girls swimming with their babies

14 lbs of cherries

Chesnie and the ranch dog

The cherry pickers

Matthew hard at work

Mommy and sticky Ches

Look at those sticky hands

Mattie B climbing up to help pick

Mommy and Mattie B

Chesnie enjoying a juicy cherry

Mattie loves it

The girls perfecting the art of spitting the pits

They like to hide in the dryer

Mattie made an catapiller with a bananna, apples, raisins and pretzels

We love our fruit around here! We went and picked some cherries this last weekend. The girls enjoyed seeing goats and a few friendly dogs. Matthew picked most of the cherries. Everything I picked the girls ate. At one point I looked at Matthew's bin and said that we probably had enough. He didn't seem to think so. So I went to the van with the girls because they were tired of being sticky. Not to mention they decided to pet the dog after getting cherry juice all over their hands so not only were they sticky but they were hairy too! When we came back to Matthew Mattie said, "Dad that is enough, let's go!" He weighed the cherries and we had 14lbs! Yes, a little excessive. At least they were only $1.50/lb. We have been to this ranch quite a few times and have thus befriended the old man that lives there. He wanted to show Matthew his garden. The girls and I waited in the cool air conditioned car while Matthew checked out the garden. He came back with a bag full of chard, an arm full of bok choy and a elephant garlic the size of a softball! We were blessed.