Catching Up

Well, I have finally gotten up the nerve to tackle this post and report on the adventures of the Miller family for the last few weeks! During the last part of the month of July we had a wonderful time staying with Mana and Papa Miller. It was a full house with B & C, S, and R there as well as us, but it was a lot of fun! Alex loved being with so many people who love him and he seemed to especially grow an attachment for his Mana. Here is a trick he learned while he was there.


On August 4th, we made the move to Iowa. All of our things were already here so it was just a matter of getting unpacked. That doesn't seem like much, but Joseph and I discovered quickly that moving and unpacking with a mobile child is not an easy task.


Our first night here was interesting as we discovered that we have some neighbors that really like their THUMPING car stereos. Nice people, but loud people. We don't notice it that much now though, so no big deal. We also have a little friend who works at a home next door to our duplex as a caretaker and this is his car. We think the license plate means "Over 40 Boy." Well, it does make for some good entertainment. Here are the pictures By the way, the person he takes care of is a mentally handicapped girl named Katy. She mostly stands outside doing some interesting things with her clothing that I will not go into on this blog and then sometimes she has screaming fits or sits in the street and refuses to move. She also likes to stick her tongue out at me when I am outside with Alex. She is our friend. :o)



After we were here about a week and a half my sister Kim came to visit from Glen Burnie, Maryland. She also brought her new grandson Jayden who is seriously the CUTEST baby . . . except for Alex of course. The sad thing about our time with Kim was that we did not get one single picture of her with Tummy (that's what she calls him.) Here are Alex and Jayden playing. Jayden is 4 months old and Alex is showing him who is boss.

While she was here, we went to Waverly where my parents live and went to a really fun picnic at the Branch President's house. Alex got to play on the John Deere and meet some new animals. He LOVES animals!!!


Alex and I stayed in Waverly with Kim while Joseph came back to Iowa City to start his week of Orientation. He is working hard and learning a lot already. I am really proud of him. I'll report more on school when he actually starts on the 28th!! Alex is proud of his Daddy too!


Before Kim left us we just had to get a picture of the two babies on a HUGE John Deere tractor, so here is it. They are so tiny in that tire huh??!!


Just one small tidbit about Alex (there are lots of updates and pictures on his blog now). . . he has 4 TEETH now!! Here is a picture where you can sort of see the top two that have just come through. He also has a fifth coming in on the bottom. So cute! Not so cute when he bites, but we are working on that.

In closing, I just want to say how much we LOVE LOVE LOVE Iowa City. Everyone here has been soooooo nice to us. Even the people at the Drivers License place and the Car Title and Registration place were not only nice, but helpful. They were offering to show us where other places were and everything. I couldn't believe it. No offense to Chicago, but that would NEVER happen there. We also found out the other day that Iowa City was rated in the top 10 places to live in the US. Cool huh? We feel blessed to be here and we look forward to the next 3 years. Well, we miss all ya'll that aren't with us!