HALFTIME!!!!

Hello, friends and family! I'm hoping this blog will help keep all of you updated on what is going on with the Millers here in the far north. It seems like a good alternative to clogging your inbox periodically with 3000mg pics! Most of you are well aware of my love affair with my camera! :-)

It may also, from time to time, contain some general musings and rambles about life from my view here on top of the world. Good luck sifting through and gleaning what you want!

Well, we are halfway through another LOOOONG Alaska winter and its about this time of year that we all start losing a marble here and there. I was born and raised in southern Indiana (the promised land) and according to my internal calendar, winter has been around for 3 1/2 months now, therefore it's time for spring. Unfortunately it doesn't happen that way here, we are only halfway through. If I could hibernate through the next 3 months, like any good mamabear, I could cope just fine, but no, I'm expected to function as normal. That is usually fairly elusive for me anyways, SO... if you detect a hint of insanity gleaming from my eyes, or a bit of a grumbling growl from time to time here in the den,, its just me, well and fully sick of the dark (about 5 hours of semi-daylight right now) and the cold (around 0F to -50F), and longing for an Indiana spring! :-)

We had a wonderful Christmas! My favorite present is my pool table. We've wanted one for years and finally have enough space for one,,, well, sort of. For some side shots, you have to use the mini-sticks from the little game-table,, but thats ok, its still a blast! I've been letting Stevo win alot,, you know how those male egos are! It has nothing to do with my level of "skill" and his LUCK,,,nothing at all. Whats really funny is he's still trying to insist that we're supposed to "call" the shots,, RIGHT! Like anyone actually knows where the ball is going to go when you hit it! (insert eyeroll here) He's making up rules, as usual.

Steve's favorite present is his leather coat from Sportsmans Warehouse. He does look like "one FINE man" in it,, right Katie B.? :-) I think Kaitlin's fav is her Zune. Alyssa loves her Meerkat stuff, Matt says he likes ALL of his best, and Stephen LOVES his "steering wheel" (lots of button, lights and noise) and his playmobil Noah's Ark. Mommaw just liked watching the kids open all of theirs,, though I do think she's kind of partial to her "Where Jesus Walked" book.
We put all the 5000 pieces of all the toys together, played with them, had our usual ham and potato salad (it FINALLY tasted just like Mom Millers! I have attained the pinnacle of potato salad success!!) and ended up the day with some games with our dear friends, Jerry and Danielle Snider and their three little blondes.

We brought in the new year with the Sniders, and some more friends and family. The fireworks were great! Since it never gets dark enough on the 4th of July up here for fireworks, we enjoy them much more on New years. We all freeze our toes off watching fountains and rockets and doing sparklers ( I think it was about 15 below) but its a blast!
Happy New Year everyone,, I hope 2008 is full of love and happiness for all of you!