Welcome Home

This week hah been pretty epic. And I'm not talking about our field trips or our outings, I'm taking a little break from blogging about the Milner Summer Adventures to take a minute and blog about something a little more important......family.
I grew up in a pretty large family. We aren't perfect, far from it, but my brothers and sisters are my best friends and we know what it means to be there for each other.
After almost two years of being away our "prodigal son" came home.

This was a great day for all of us. We have missed our brother more than anything. And we are happy to have him home.

 

 

 

 

WELCOME HOME JORDAN!

This has been a really fun and busy week. There is so much to do in Utah! Who would have known?

On Tuesday we toured Sweets Candy Factory. We brought along my nephews Issac and Eli. The kids had a lot of fun learning about how candy is made. I'm sure the funnest part was actually getting to taste the candy, but they still had fun!

 

Every Wednesday we head to Jordan Landing for the Summer Movie Clubhouse.  This week we saw Happy Feet 2.  It was a good movie for .50 cents. Thats all I will say about that 

Thursday was one of the funnest days. We put our swim suits on, lathered up the sunblock and headed out to a splash pad with Andrea and her kids. This is my one of my favorite summer activities. Kids have a blast and its completely free! Its so much funner than just running through the sprinklers at home, and hey its not using MY water. 

Love this picture of joe joe!

This is the other reason I love splash pads....nap time is always inevitable!

But friday was the most monumental day of the week! We hiked Ensign Peak! This was not my first mountain but it was for my kids and on this hike I learned two things.
1. I am grossly out of shape
2. Brigham Young was an inspired man.

I couldnt get Joe Joe to get in the picture with us.

Aaliyah was the first one up the Mountain and this is how I found her. LOL

Beautiful right?

They are all really tired by this point but Charmaine is still pretty hard core. :)

Looking over the Salt Lake Valley was amazing. And I loved sharing the moment with my kids.
I have had alot of people in my life complain about Salt Lake City; the culture, the city, the politics. And as many faults as this city may have, I love living here! There is so much here for me and my family to do and be a part of. And as I stood at the top of that mountain I couldn't help but feel inspired by all the scarifies the pioneers made to make this place a home. I am proud  to live in this valley. :)

More to come on the summer of 2012..........

Free Stuff = Happy Mom

In my attempts to make this summer as memorable and epic as possible, I am always looking for cheap/free deals.  A friend told me the Huntsmans sponsor a free day at Heritage Park. (She had me at free) I took my kids last year and my kids had a blast! Who knew learning about Utah history and pioneer life could be so much fun! So when I heard I could get in for free I jumped at the opportunity! I called up my friend Natalie to brave the crowds with me and we headed up there. Here are some pics:

Poor Mason had to sit next to the Crazy Milner kids. LOL

Im not going to lie. It wasn't the easiest adventure ever. Six kids, two moms, walking around a recreated pioneer town, on the busiest day of the year. Im sure we might be a little crazy.  But the kids had so much fun and its always fun to hand out with Nat. Plus how can you pass up FREE!

The Milner Family Epic Summer Adventures

..........And so begins summer of 2012.  You can look at the next 3 months as a prison sentence or as a time to reconnect with you kids. I personally dont think  prison sounds very fun so I am going to opt for the latter. I have two goals this summer, first to not allow my kids to spend more time on the t.v. then they do with me. And second, to not end up praying for the day school starts again.
We started off this epic summer with a trip to Manti to visit my sister and her kids. I left the hubby at home and as much as I am sure he enjoyed the quiet time, he really did look happy for us to come home. :)
Here is a pic of us getting started:

When we got there we immediately headed up to mountains for a hotdog/ marshmallow roast

Dallin picked me wild flowers. LOVE THIS BOY!

Me and my amazing sister Carmen :)

Carmen and Keeley

Joe-Joe's face cracks me up. And I love that Aaliyah is resting her head on my shoulders. She is growing up so much and I love these little times when she still wants to be my friend. :)





The next day we set off for Palisade Lake.  It cost us 6 bucks to get in and other than the sunburns/mosquito bites  we received while we were there we loved it!

I was also able to do a session at the Manti Temple, I had actually never been.

They recently built a reflection pool across the street from the temple. Absolutely beautiful at night.













So there it is, our brief visit to Manti. We had a lot of fun and cant wait to go back, hopefully for the pageant. Much love to my sister for making this trip economical for us.