shout out

Not that she needs the extra publicity, or that anything I could say on this blog would make much of a difference, I'd still like to give a quick shout out to my friend Caitlin for her fabulous interior design blog that has taken off rather quickly- Caitlin Wilson Design: Style Files.
I first met Caitlin when I was dating Bret (she's married to a good friend of his) and I quickly realized that this is a girl with class, style and impeccable taste (which, I'm sure you'll agree with as soon as you look at her blog). Brig and Cait live in Dubai with their little girl and some of my favorite posts have been the ones of their home there. It's absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to return the favor of their visit to see us in Seattle and someday go to Dubai and see it all in person. "Someday" being the key word there. Here's a little peek.


I'm sure that at least half of the people who read our blog already know about the Style Files because they know Caitlin, too, and perhaps even more of you know since the blog has been so successful already. But for the few of you who may not know, I strongly recommend looking into it. She's actually having a design storyboard giveaway right now that sounds amazing. I could certainly use her help designing our future Brazilian home and baby's room!

Speaking of which, Bret and the Rigbys and I are headed down to Brazil real soon for a quick trip to find our house and hopefully hit the beach in Rio. Crazy! Just hoping that the 2nd trimester energy boost I keep hearing about will hit soon. Yep, any day now....

"i love surprises!"

Thanks to everyone for all the support and love that you've shown us over our big news. We are very excited and impatient to meet our new little friend- and very antsy to know what it is! ("I'm guessing a human infant" is what Bret would probably say at this point).

It's good to finally put the news out there; I was beginning to turn into that lady on Saturday Night Live that loves surprises and can't keep a secret cause she gets so excited. If you don't know what I'm talking about you should probably watch this.

*I realize there's another one about announcing a birth but I think this one is better.

My friend Megan was pretty close to "pulling a Sue" herself. A couple of weeks ago we were having dinner with a group of friends and I was planning on announcing it at some point that night but finding it hard to pick the right moment. Megan, who already knew, whispered impatiently in my ear, "If you don't announce this soon I will do it for you!" So I immediately just blurted it out while everyone was in the middle of their conversations. It was awkward.

big news

Just when you thought our lives couldn't get any crazier, we go and pull a stunt like this....

That's right folks, Bret and I are having a child. Not sure what the gender is yet but we expect baby Miller to join the human race the first week of September- perhaps even Labor Day, we'll see. As excited as we were over the prospect of giving the baby duel American and Brazilian citizenship, it just made more sense insurance wise to return to the US for the birth (me, a little earlier than Bret) before it joins us on our Brazilian adventure. I hope that means many of you will get to meet him/her! And we'll be sure to visit often.

As a matter of proof, let me just say this: As soon as the ultrasound technician brought up the image of our child, it immediately gave a giant, full body kick. A "Yes Kick" if you will.

"Yep, that's our definitely our kid."

d-land

Bret and I had a fantastic Valentine's/President's Day week with my family in sunny California, just a couple weeks after my last trip to Cali to visit my sister :). It was the first time the entire fam has been on vacation together since I was like 13 I think. The size of our family has grown considerably since then so it was great being all together as we visited beaches, restaurants and Disneyland.

The Udall crew (includes some Smarts, Cannons, Bowens and Millers)
I love going to Disneyland with kids and seeing them soak up the magic. It was the first time for most of them too which made it extra special.
A boat to ourselves makes for some rowdiness on Small World and Pirates.


Making a plan. Miraculously, we had only a few meltdowns and we stuck together for most of the first day.Yep, my brother-in-law is man enough to sport a Mini Mouse visor.
Bret really is so much taller than me. I only remember that when I look at pictures like this.
Sisters.Waiting for the Pixar parade at California Adventure/ ready to go be done with Disney.
Apart from Disneyland, we made the most of the 80 degree weather by visiting a few beaches.

Dana Point- our favorite spot.
Laguna

Point Dume in Malibu (with my parents and Bret this time)

Apparently this beach is a hot spot for filming movies. If you look at those rocks in the pictures above, it's supposedly the spot in the film Planet of the Apes where you see the Statue of Liberty sticking out of the sand. We also heard that Tony Stark's house from Iron Man is there. When we went there this time we noticed a random movie set on the beach and a film crew packing up for the day. Apparently this set will represent Chile in a scene from an upcoming Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz movie called Knight and Day.
Thanks to the whole fam for sharing your time, pictures and dreams with us. And a special thanks to my parents for making all the magic happen. We'll never forget it.

come to dell

So it was about three years ago this weekend that Bret and I fell for each other. Well, I may have had a crush on him a little bit longer than that but it wasn't until that particular Saturday night that he finally noticed me.

At that time Bret was our ward's activity committee co-chair and they began a tradition of sending out video messages to the members of the ward to tell them about that week's upcoming activity- very BYU. This video is the only one I know of that survives (for obvious reasons; BYU 181 members will know it as a classic). Typical of most Bret and Jordan improv collaborations, this video includes fake mustaches, some Hansen music, a wig and a lot of nonsense.



You see, I wasn't planning to go to that activity (I was still new to the ward - and to BYU- and there was an America's Next Top Model marathon on that night) but there was something about this video that I couldn't refuse, can you blame me? Luckily, I went on that sledding trip up American Fork Canyon where Bret and I shared a magical sled ride, sang karaoke together and started a dance party. The rest is history.

P.S. I think I even sent a link of this video to my sister back then and said "I have a crush on this boy. The one on the right with the Boy George hair." She probably thought I was crazy.

Scooter & Gilbert: Some Real Cool Dudes

Bret Miller here with a special shout-out to some cool friends of mine. These friends have changed my life in unseen ways. For my own posterity and for your entertainment I present to you the history of Scooter & Gilbert.

Scooter is a brilliantly yellow and naturally gentle parakeet/budgie. Had her ancestors not been caught by the white man and tamed she would be roaming free in her native Australia. For reasons unknown, Scooter found herself in the parking lot of Fastsigns of Provo on the side of a pick-up truck in April 2007. Orphaned but trusting, she didn't hesitate to step onto our fingers and take a tour of our sign shop. With that step, Planet Earth as we know it, made a dramatic change for the better.

Scooter has been through quite a bit for a budgie. Disregarding the honor code, she moved in with a bunch of men at BYU. Most the time she was a good bird, never needing a lid to her cage. Only once did she flee and foolishly leap out of our 3-story window to a wild tumble. During another adventure she visited The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and was used as an object lesson in Sunday School.

After our marriage we introduced her to a new friend of her own, Gilbert the parakeet. We no longer felt bad for leaving her lonely in her cage when we were about during the day.

Unfortunately, Scooter and Gilbert, are without their masters for the next few years. My sister Melinda and her husband, Landon, have been more than kind enough to hold onto these little dudes while we're away. Our lives have been uncomfortably quiet without them. As weird as it sounds, they were one of the few constants Laura and I have had in our lives these past few years.

Thanks little friends, you're some cool dudes and you'll be missed.

nice and easy

Since B has been in Brazil for the past couple weeks, I decided to spend some of the time he's away visiting my sister and her family in southern California (I also spent some of the time having the stomach flu, but I'm guessing you'd rather not hear that story).

The trip went by too fast, but it was just what I needed. Quality sister time, beautiful and warm weather (and so green after all that rain they got), major r&r and a great distraction from missing Bret. I also got to have lots of fun with the little one, miss Norah.
Afternoon in Santa Monica

Picking out cupcakes at Crumbs (red velvet for me!)
Point Dume Beach in Malibu...

They're a family.

I love this one.

(whitest person on the beach with the cutest person)
Please appreciate the amount of activity on this cliff: photo shoot above, swimsuit photo shoot below and rock climbers in between.
Thank you Bowens for a fabulous time and for getting all those Yo Gabba Gabba songs stuck in my head.

simply tragic

I rarely get caught up in entertainment news* but, despite still having some of my favorite shows on television, NBC has gone too far with this whole Conan business and I'm seriously considering writing them a strongly-worded letter.

Conan, you're a gentleman and a comedic delight. Please don't leave us for good.

*I think we all know that statement is a lie.