Visit from Grandparents and Blake at 1 month old

We are so lucky to have such great families. My mom came for a week right after Blake was born, and Lindsay's parents and little sister came for about 10 days shortly after my mom left. Hailey hardly missed the attention her mommy had to give to her new little brother.

Grandma Mills and Blakers


Hailey in Washington DC


The Kiddos with Aunt Hannah


We're so glad you guys came!


Blake at 1 month old

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Last night was the final night of our visit from Lindsay's family. The girls disappeared upstairs for a few minutes, and when I went up to check and see what they were doing, I found Lindsay, Grandma Bench, Hannah, and Hailey dancing their little buns off.

Blake, Hailey, and more Blake

Duke v UNC

This Wednesday night I attended the greatest collegiate sporting event I've ever experienced (the Stanford/Cal football game I attended was pretty great...but this still takes the cake). It was bitter-sweet since my Blue Devils lost, but nonetheless, standing courtside during a Duke/UNC basketball game at Cameron Indoor was unbelievable!

Blake Alan Mills

Yesterday (Jan 29, 2009) Blake Alan Mills was born at 11:12 am. He weighed in at 7 lbs 9 oz, and measured 20.7 inches long. Lindsay and Blake are doing amazingly well. I am once again astounded at what an incredible woman I'm married to. She is so strong! Hailey seems to be adjusting, aside from the fact that she REALLY misses her mommy. Hailey stayed with our friends the Quintons on Wednesday night. Last night I picked her up and she and I slept at home. She woke up this morning searching everywhere for her mommy. She's been really sweet with Blake; pointing out all of his body parts to us and giving him lots of kisses.

Snow!? Seriously?!

We moved to the south to avoid the bitter winters of Utah and Colorado...but this year we got a little taste of home:

"I'm a Real Boy!"

Last weekend Lindsay and I decided the strange sounds emanating from the front tires of our one and only family vehicle needed looking into. After finding out that the only problem was the brakes and rotors, and getting a ridiculous estimate from the mechanic we decided that it was worth making an attempt at doing it ourselves. After a a few trips to AutoZone and some elbow grease the brakes were replaced and work like a dream! I'm not the manliest man when it comes to fixing things, but as I drove around our parking lot using the new brakes, I felt like shouting the immortal words of Pinnochio "I'm a REAL Boy!!"

...and a Happy New Year

Our New Years Eve activity:

we definitely had some of the best seats in the house!

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas Everyone! We stayed in North Carolina for the holidays, and while we didn't miss the traveling, we did miss our families. Here are some photos of our Christmas this year:

Hailey opening presents Christmas morning



Our very first family gingerbread house


Hailey's spread



Lindsay and Hailey on our Christmas day walk in the park (the temperature was pushing 70 degrees, so we just couldn't pass it up!)



Here's a video that will probably only interest Grandparents and other serious Hailey fans (it's just the first few minutes on Christmas morning)

Santa Claws?

A friend of ours told me that one of her sons was afraid of Santa Claus for the longest time; she eventually figured out that he thought his name was Santa Claws, and he was going to come and scratch out the eyes of the naughty children during the night. Maybe this is a common problem...Hailey didn't seem to like out Mr. Claws too much.


(this was attempt number one at the Northgate Mall)


(this is attempt number two at the South Point Mall)


(this is our most recent attempt at the ward party)

33 Weeks and Counting

Due to popular request, (okay mostly just Lindsay's sisters and Camille) I have decided to post a picture of Lindsay showing off her belly. She doesn't want to blab on about how her pregnancy is going...so I'll do it for her. We can't wait for the boy to arrive! We haven't got a clue what we're gonna name the little turkey, but I'm sure we'll come up with something...eventually. Also, Hailey already loves the baby. She's always trying to pull up Lindsay's shirt to give the baby kisses. All in all everything seems to be in order, except that our son keeps pushing and kicking and otherwise making my wife uncomfortable.

This is the only photo I got off of the camera before Lindsay went on a deleting spree:

*this photo has been removed by the author's wife.


Let's just say, she looks somewhere between the 32 and 36 week lady in this picture.

Gobble Gobble and Naughtiness

I forgot to add this to the Thanksgiving post, so here ya go.



Hailey is having a hard time leaving the Christmas decorations alone...especially our miniature tree. Yesterday while Lindsay was picking up the tree and putting all of the ornaments back on the tree, Hailey disappeared. When Lindsay got back to the kitchen, where she had been making cookie dough, this is what she found:


She had pushed a chair up to the counter and was shoveling the dough into her mouth with reckless abandon...I think someone is working her way onto the naughty list.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

We had a great Thanksgiving week. We spent a few days in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia with some friends. We all rented a house, and cooked our Thanksgiving meal together. Hailey had the time of her life playing all day with one of her very best friends, Amelia. Hopefully we will have some more photos to add to this post very soon, but here are a few.



Playing on the back porch with Amelia


Going for a swim in the neat jetted tub



Some of our friends watched Hailey while we went for a trip to Luray Caverns, pretty eh?

Blasted Afternoon Church!!

We can't wait until next year when our church schedule is changed...right now we leave for church at about 12:30, which is normally the time we try to put Hailey down for a nap...which means that on Sundays, no nap for the baby and by the time church is over at 4pm she is a cranky, tired, hungry little stinker. Today when I got home from church I walked in the kitchen to find this...


Apparently, she had screamed and screamed, until eventually she just curled up on the kitchen rug and went to sleep. Poor thing.

Happy Halloween

"I want my pumpkin to look like this, dad!"


Ward Trunk-or-Treat



Pumpkin Guts



Ward Trunk-or-Treat

Recruiting Trip

Last week I went to the University of Utah and BYU to represent the law school at a couple of law fairs. I graciously offered to take Hailey on the trip with me (so she could play with Lindsay's family, and Lindsay could take a break)...not fully realizing the implications of what I was about to undertake.

The trip took nearly 10 hours each way (including getting through security and a layover in Phoenix), and Hailey refused to sleep on the longest leg of the trip. Despite being stuck in a window seat on a completely full flight, and having to go through the security line twice in Salt Lake (because the snow globe that Lindsay demanded we retrieve from her parents house apparently has "untestable liquids" and looks a little like a bomb), both Hailey and I survived the trip and are even better buddies than when we left.

Trunk-or-Treating with Aunt Hannah and cousin Kamdyn


Uncle Jeff, Aunt Julie, and Aunt Chelsea

A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa Mills

During Brian's fall break a couple of weeks ago Brian's parents came out and we took a road trip.

We first drove out to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania


Then we went to Philadelphia



And ended the trip in Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia

Some Videos

I'm no dummy, I know where my toes are.


My parents never let me take a nap...
so I have to sleep at the dinner table


Can you guess my favorite dairy product?

A little update...

For the final leg of Brian's internship interviews, we all spent a couple of days in Denver. Brian did a couple of interviews and Hailey played with her cousins. Once we got there, we had a lot of fun...the plane ride on the other hand...not so fun.

So much for giving up the pacifier...all bets were off on the plane; Hailey got her binkie, she got to play with the iPod, and one of her all time favorite toys, Daddy's hi-lighters (note the green marker on her cheek)


Some photos since we got home:

Hailey's favorite new game is to close herself inside the cabinet of our entertainment center.


She wants to be just like her mommy and wear big girl shoes (when Hailey says shoes though, it sounds like she's whispering the word "chew").