Millar Moments: WHERE DID JUNE GO? TOO BUSY TO NOTICE!!!

This month was so busy with missionary work, planning our family reunion, and getting ready for and attending my dad's 100th birthday celebration that we hardly realized June had come and gone.

Let's start with Dad's 100th birthday party. It was held the 24th and 25th of June. Paul and I left Heber Thursday and traveled as far as Las Vegas. It was 115 degrees there so we ate a quick In 'n Out dinner and then hurried back to the coolness of our condo. We arrived in Bakersfield just after noon. We met Todd and Kailee at the hotel and went to lunch with them before going over to the church to decorate for the reception that night.

Deon and I were in charge of table decorations so we brought gift bags and tissue paper in red, yellow, blue, and lime green. We had balloons coming out of the bags in those same colors. The hall looked very festive, with the tables and several balloon bouquets placed around the room. I had also brought the vinyl banner to hang behind where Mom and Dad would sit. Once the hall was done, it was a quick trip to the hotel to change and then hurrying back to the church to be there when the cater arrived with the food. I was responsible for keeping the serving tables filled and the other tables bused. Gratefully most everyone fulfilled their assigned time to help. Over two hundred people attended this affair, including 160 family members. Dad and Mom were thrilled with the turn out, especially that so many family members would come all the way to Bakersfield to honor them.

Our family with Mom and Dad

SISTERS!!

COUSINS!! Kim, Tammy, Andrea, and Jeanie

Steve, Sonnie, Dave, Deon, Ed, Kathy, Sam, Me, Don
with Dad and Mom in front

The next day's activities included meeting and visiting at a local park. Luckily there were many trees for shade as it was going to get up to 107 degrees. We still had to start the party in the morning hours so it wouldn't be too hot. This event was for family members only. We were glad when Darrell and Wanda and Ron and Patty showed us as they had been unable to attend the night before. There was a bounce house for the younger children and the rest of us just enjoyed being together and visiting. Lunch was tacos from a taco truck along with snow cones. There was supposed to be a talent show for which I had written a poem our family was going to read but that part of the activity never materialized. Luckily the poem was printed and put into a book for Dad so he could read it and know how much we all cherish his life.

At the park

Front row: Kathy, Sonnie, Deon, Shirley
Back row: Dave and Ed

Some of the family went over to Dad and Mom's to swim after the park but we opted to go back to the hotel. All of our children drove back to LA that afternoon to catch their flights home, so Paul and I just relaxed at the hotel. We had a great dinner at Boss Pizza and then went to Dad's to visit. We were glad we chose that time to go visit with mom and dad as everyone had left and we had some quality time to be with them alone.

We are so concerned for Mom as she is losing lots of weight and is having a hard time getting around. We noticed a big change in her since the last time we saw her 9 months before. Dad looks the same and is as alert as ever. At 100 that is quite a feat. We were so glad that all our children could come be a part of this celebration. We are grateful for Kailee and MIndi and 3 granddaughter, Allison, Lydia and Aria, who also came. As fun as the weekend was, we were happy to return to the coolness of Heber.

Jessie and Melanie
and daughter Sadie

As to our missionary efforts, we kept busy also. A highlight of the month was attending the temple endowment session and sealing of Jessie and Melanie Mair. We have been teaching them since November. Our teaching culminated with the presentations of the 6 temple preparation lessons. We were so glad they made the needed adjustments in their lives to qualify for a temple recommend. It was a joy to be in the temple with them as they received their endowments and oh, so sweet to witness the sealing of them and their daughter together forever. That is the apex of missionary service.

At the dump

Other happenings included helping two sisters move from their apartments. They had both been evicted do to drug issues but both are trying to get their lives back in order. We dropped by several times during the month, bringing them boxes for their moves and offering our help. They were more in need of emotional help than anything else. We tried to give that to them with words of encouragement and helping them see that this could be a new start for them. It wasn't until their final day in town that they accepted our offer to help them physically. They both had some rather large items that needed to be taken to the dump. We had one last free dump pass and offered to use it to take their things to the dump. We loaded our truck to the brim and were grateful we could help out in this small way. We just hope their lives can get better. It is all in the choices they make.

Elders Garrido and Elder Thompson,
a great missionary companionship

Transfers happened at the end of last month and in the first week of June we said hello to Elder Garrido. He is from California but is of Spanish decent so speaks perfect Spanish. He will be a great asset to the missionary effort in the Spanish branch. We enjoy feeding the elders lunch each week and coordinating our missionary efforts. We also appreciate their willingness to serve whenever we have a project for them. The service they rendered with us last month in weeding Sister Hilton's court yard resulted in her letting us take her to church for the first time in many years. Two weeks later, she came on her own!!!

Also this month included Charlotte, our oldest granddaughter, graduation from high school. We did not attend due to this mission and limited tickets available for the ceremony but we were with her in spirit. We are so proud of her and all she accomplished in high school. She is very talented musically (voice and piano)and is quite a presence on stage, having played the lead in the last two musicals presented at the high school. We are especially proud that she has decided to serve a mission and submitted her papers at the end of this month. Now the wait begins as to where she will be serving.

Pretty major repair

At the first of the month we had to have our deck repaired. Due to the heavy weight of the snow pack this year, the boards sagged, popping the nails upward which caused the membrane to tear. When that happened, water got in under the rock surface, warping and rotting some of the supporting boards. It was quite a project taking over two weeks to repair. We're glad it was repairable as it could have been much worse. We're also glad that expenditure is behind us as it was quite expensive.

We also planted our annuals the first of June.

Loving his ice cream sandwich cake
for his birthday

To go on the new decking, we bought a new Traeger barbecue for Paul. It was a birthday/Father's day present. We had been thinking of buying one and then, when we were at Home Depot the weekend of Father's day, they were having a good sale. We decided it was a good time to make the plunge and buy one. It took a bit of time to get it put together but it is on the deck now ready to be used.

We attended the wedding of one of our former missionaries in Russia, RaeAnn Taylor. We have been following her relationship with this boy for over a year and were thrilled when it all worked out and they became engaged. We met him at the mission reunion in April and thoroughly approve of this match. At the wedding, we got to hug two of our other favorite missionaries - Jolyn Shepherd and Dayton Hoffman. We love our missionaries from Russia.

Another Russia related event was getting together with Valya and Tahir, from our Russian young singles group. They have since married and are in Utah studying at BYU. We were thrilled to meet them at PF Changs for dinner and catch up on all their news. They are such a darling couple. We also love and miss all our special friends in Russia.

Again this month, another few days were spent at Jon and MIndi's helping them with their yard, especially the sprinkler system. They have taken on such a big project in remodeling that large home but are making some great progress. We are planning a day of swimming and barbecuing in their backyard during our reunion the first week of July. We feel we need to do all we can to help them and, hopefully, take some of the pressure off them to get it in shape. The pool is finally up an running which is so fun for their children.

The new look to the front of their house.
Black awnings and large shrubs on the porch.
Looking good!!!!!

Taylor and his girlfriend came up to visit one Sunday.
We are always glad to see him.

We also love it when Jon and Mindi
and their family come visit. This
was taken one Sunday this month.
Mindi's children were with their dad.

We attended the baptism of the granddaughter of a friend from Spokane, Ralee Bunnell. Her daughter moved into our stake a few months ago and Ralee was up visiting for the baptism. I surprised her and showed up at the baptism. We had a great visit. She hasn't changed much at all...the same vivacious and positive person she has always been. It was good to see her.

Sarah (Bunnell) Brey and her husband and daughter

The rest of the month was spent in preparation for our family reunion to be held the first part of July. That meant making reservations for the Timpanogos hike and cave tour, scheduling times for Get Out Games in Provo, and securing tickets for the Scera theater outdoor production of Sussical, the Musical. We also made assignments for the daily family spiritual thoughts. The theme is going to be 'Family Fun....and forever' so our spiritual thoughts were to be on past reunions and the things gleaned from them. Each person was assigned a specific past reunion. I promised I would have a slide show available to show each night to remind us all what we had done at that particular reunion. Whenever I had a free moment, I was on the computer doing power point presentations of the four selected reunions.

One last thing....wonders of all wonders, Paul and I went golfing!!!! We mean to go golfing more often each summer but things always get in the way. We had to do it in June as we had a gift certificate that expired June 19th. At least something got us out on the golf course. We love it once we get there but it's the getting there that is difficult.

As you can see, our month was busy....but every eventful

Now for Aria....