Emma is in Preschool!

Emma started Preschool this Monday. We found a preschool for her to attend in Tioga. It takes me about 15 minutes to get her there. There are 10 kids in the class, seven of which are boys. She was pretty upset when I told her there would be girls AND boys in her class. She said she doesn't like boys. I explained to her that boys need to go to school to learn how to read too! That way when they grow up they will be able to read stories to their little kids just like her daddy reads stories to her. She is okay with it now.
She was pretty scared when I first dropped her off but her teacher said she did fine. She likes to just sit back and observe when she is in a new situation. She will warm up in a week or two and be herself. After the first day I asked her what she learned and she said, "I didn't learn anything. We just played." On Wednesday when I picked her up I said, "What did you do in school today?" She said, "it's not school, it's my castle and I'm the princess." That makes sense. The preschool is in a church that kinda looks like a castle. She said that she looked at a little girl in her class and they're friends now. Apparently it's pretty easy to make friends when you're four. As I'm typing this she just came up and told me that she's not a princess anymore...she's a queen because she has a crown. There is a crown sticker on her forehead. She is also singing that her daughter is her mom. I'm really not sure how that can work. haha Emma is a smart little girl and she is so excited to be going to school. She asked me everyday for a week if it was a school day today.


She will probably only get to go to this preschool for a couple months. We are going to move...hopefully to Williston. We got a notice on our door a couple weeks ago that told us that when our lease expires in February they are raising the rent from $750 a month to $1500. Wow! That is quite the increase. We figure if we are going to pay that much we might as well get a brand new apartment in Williston with a garage and clean water. We found some that are being built next door to our church. They are $1475 a month and should be finished in 8 weeks. We have our application in and are on the list. We hope to find out soon if we got one or not so that we can plan our move or find somewhere else. The housing here is out of control. Our checker at WalMart the other day told us that she has been here 2 years and her rent has been raised 4 times! They have opened up the park for people to "camp." Some of the property management companies we called wouldn't even put us on their list because they are so long. That is why our landlord can charge $1500 a month for a trailer in the middle of nowhere with rusty water. We also called on a two bedroom in Tioga that also has a loft. They told us they were charging $3000 a month because it sleeps 3 people. It is pretty insane and we are looking forward to having a house of our own in a couple years when we sell ours in Corinne. I think we have decided to build. I am excited for that project. I am already looking around to find just what I want. Who knows though...maybe we will find a nice house to buy when the time comes.
Here's a picture of the kids I took yesterday...just because. We are going to try this one again when it's not so sunny! The little rocking chair we got for free at a yardsale. I painted it black and am still looking for the right fabric for a cushion. Cute!

Ike turned 30!

Ivan had his 30th birthday on August 8th. It seems so weird that he is 30! I am glad that I have over a year before that happens to me! :) His birthday was on a Sunday so we didn't do much. We went to church and he got to say the prayer in Sacrament Meeting...what a good present! He said it sounded fun to celebrate his birthday this year by going to the fair...which is what we did on Saturday. He likes ice cream cakes so we picked one up on Saturday at Dairy Queen. Emma helped me pick out a gift...we got a big green tractor! Surprise...surprise! We also bought him lots of treats. Emma was so excited to give him his gift. It is fun that she is old enough now to really get into celebrating things! It was kind of different to just celebrate with the four of us but it was nice. We love Ivan and are happy he loves us too! :)

Maryn shakin' it in Sidney, Montana

What do I say about Maryn? She is my hero! This girl is one tough cookie! Life has handed her some pretty tough cards and she just keeps truckin' along. She has recently decided to make some BIG changes in her life. She started by renting out her condo in Lehi and moving back in with her parents in Springville. She quit her job and decided to go dance with Powerhouse for the summer. She also enrolled in school and is hoping to get into the nursing program. (Jake just got accepted into the nursing program and is working towards becoming a nurse anesthetist...I am a proud sister!) We found out that the weekend after we got back from Utah she would be dancing in Sidney, Montana. Boy was I excited! Sidney is just about an hour from Williston...so about 1.5 hour drive for us. We were going to go watch her dance on Saturday, but decided to go Friday night and go to the rodeo with her as well. They put on quite the show! Emma loved it but had her embarrassed look on her face. She does that when she gets excited but doesn't want to smile! They did a half an hour show...it looked exhausting! At the end of their show they invited the little kids to come up and learn a few moves. Maryn had to drag Emma to the stage and she wouldn't move a muscle but she had fun! We are so proud of Maryn and we're happy that we could be there to see her dance!










After her show we headed over to the rodeo grounds. We got our tickets and went to find a seat. There were NONE! We actually ended up sitting on the cement/dirt/grass. It was not comfortable. We were just happy to be able to spend some time with Maryn! She had run back to her hotel to shower and change and she and her group met us at the rodeo a little while later.




We ended up spending the night in Sidney that night. For some reason the hotel had given Powerhouse an extra room so we took them up on the offer to stay. The next morning we slept in and then went with Maryn and walked around the fair and took Emma to the carnival. We had a good time! Thanks Maryn for letting us be there!

Mills Family Reunion

Wow! It has taken me forever to post this. On the 31st of July we headed to Idaho where Ivan's sister Melissa lives. All of Ivan's siblings were there minus Dusty. We went to the Burley boat dock and hung out on the grass under a big willow tree. Melissa's husband Klade brought their boat and took everyone out that wanted to. Ivan and I went out with his mom while she tried to water ski. After she made a few attempts Ivan gave it a try. Neither one of them got up but it was fun watching! ;)I think everyone had a really good time playing in the water and visiting.














After we were there a couple hours we headed out to this random house of a famliy that decided to have a water park in their yard. It was amazing! They had two huge water slides that you could go down on a tube or your belly or whatever. The kids went up and down the entire night! Emma thought it was the funnest thing ever! People go there for famliy reunions and parties and stuff. They don't charge you to go but they do accept donations. Mellisa just had to call and beg to get us a reservation for that weekend. There really weren't too many other people there so everyone got plenty of turns on the slides. They also have a candy canon that they will shoot if you bring your own candy. There are pavilions with picnic tables, spots to camp, bathrooms and a nice playground. They also have a zip line that looked scary. It doesn't go into a pool of water or anything...just grass. You have to start running when you get to the ground and hope that you stop before you hit the fence! It was kinda crazy but was fun to watch. We were so glad that we could rearrange things a little to be able to make it to this fun reunion. Now that we all live far away from eachother times like this won't happen as often. It was good to see everyone and hear about all the fun changes that are happening in everyones lives.










That night we headed back to Corinne to spend the night. It was kind of an adventure on the way home too. We knew that we needed to fill up with gas which we thought was no problem 'cause there was a gas station right by the interstate. When we got there however they were closed and did not have card readers on their pumps! Who does that? It was only just after nine as well. We ended up turning around and driving to this tiny town that did happen to have a card reader on their pumps. We called Melissa and Klade to make sure before we went anywhere. Things like that happen in North Dakota but I didn't think we would have a problem in Idaho. Worst news is we hit a beautiful white owl on the way to the second station. I saw it coming and covered my eyes but looked up just as it hit the windshield. Sad.
The next day we went our ward in Corinne. It was good to see some familiar faces and visit with friends that we have missed.