Happy Birthday to me . . . and Erica!!

So last Monday was my . . . and Erica's birthday.
My friend Yvone and I made our birthday cakes (ok, I made the cake and colored the frosting and she did all the work shaping the cake and applying the frosting) and I think they turned out fairly well... betcha can't guess which cake is mine and which is Erica's! :)

Belle from "Beauty and the Beast"
Notice her gloves are made of frosting
Sully from "Monsters Inc"

I was so excited for Erica to see her cake so we went over to her apartment at 3am.
If you couldn't guess whose cake was who's now you do!
Anthony got me a sweet tripod for my camera too!!
And because it was our birthday we got free frozen yogurt from "Spoon Me."
Erica got strawberries, kiwi, coconut and grahm crackers on hers and I got double strawberries, kiwi and raspberries, yummy!!!
What a fun afternoon together!
When I got home my Kappa Delta Sorority girls had hung this poster on the front living room window, so sweet!!

So all in all it was a pretty decent, fun filled day!!

Time flies when you're having fun... and busy!

What an eventful month!!

Summer school is now over and the Anthony & I did very well in our classes.

He finished up some education requirements and I FINALLY passed Biology (with a B-, can I tell you how proud of myself I am??? The third time really is the charm) and am now officially accepted into the Social Work program.

About two months ago I applied to be a Housing Director for the Kappa Delta sorority here on campus and while they said the interview went well I was not chosen.

However, last Tuesday I got a call saying the older woman they had chosen to fill the position had chosen not to follow through (something about an emotional breakdown??) and it we were still interested the position was ours, and could we possibly be moved in by Friday so the girls could begin checking in?? That gave us about 4 days. We went to the apartment and checked it out, thought it sounded like a decent option, prayed about it and 4 days later (Thursday night) I am sitting in our new living room surrounded by boxes and various pieces of furniture thanks to Mom & Dad Mills making a trip to Logan with their truck to help us move.

Our bedroom is nearly put together, but that’s about it. We brought EVERYTHING with us and now we need to sort it and decide what we do and don’t need to keep here, then there's hanging pictures, figuring out where odds and ends go....

It’s going to be a pain but when you’re getting paid $200 a month w/ free rent and free breakfast & dinner Monday-Thursday, free laundry services and located across the street from campus there’s only so much complaining you can do!!

We nearly had a deal breaker thought; the bathroom is carpeted. Who does that? It is SO disgusting!! I usually bleach bathroom floors and there’s not much I can do with carpet!! Anyone have any ideas on how to keep things a little less germy? We got one of those rugs that is made to go around the toilet, but does anyone have any fantastic ideas? I’m all ears!!

As far as right now everything is working out well and we know this was an answer to our prayers (it sure is good to see the difference in the blessings Heavenly Father bestows when we’re better about following his commandments and go to the temple more often!!) but I’ll be interested to see how things go when the girls arrive. . . . . I do NOT deal well with excessive amounts of estrogen and am quite worried about feeling overwhelmed and knocked down by overpowering scents of hairspray used by 18 girls in the morning....

Oh well, we wouldn’t have been accepted last minute if there wasn’t a purpose.

We keep joking that we’re going to have daughters only and this is my way of easing into the role of females only caretaker.

Ok, what else… work is going well. Anthony is still working weekend graves at the Best Western and has also been hired by the Book Table to teach voice lessons in their newly remodeled basement. They haven’t started yet, but he’s excited and rearing to go.

I’m working as Northeastern Services (NES) with three boys with disabilities and am loving it!! I’ve been offered a manager position beginning in the Fall at one of the female houses but am pretty sure I’m going to turn it down and will bide my time until I can manage the house I am currently working in (plus the boys are more laid back than the girls and I like having male staff, which I’ve never worked with in this type of setting before).

NES has a lot of problems and I know one person can’t make a huge difference, but I’m trying to change things from the inside out. We’ll see how it goes.

Until next time,

Anthony & Alisha

Richard Mills vs. Carl Fredricksen

Has anyone seen "Up" yet? If not, it is definitely worth seeing, it is now one of my favorites (right up there with Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc.)
We saw it in 3D and kept the glasses and when we were moving Dad found them in a box and tried them on.
Sure they doesn't look exactly like Carl, but enough that I thought it would be fun to share!!

Women's Retreat & Summer Party

Today as I was unpacking boxes I came upon the bath salts Krystal made for everyone who came to the women's retreat (which was FANTASTIC!!) and I realized I didn't post any pictures yer.
I was having such a great time I didn't take many photos. Those of you who took some need to share as well!!

We had a lot of very good discussions and spent time just chatting like we always do!!

We did a lot of crafts and made love letter books, great idea ladies!

Krystal brought her little shapes cutter outer thingy and I think Susann, surprisingly, liked it the best.On that same Sunday everyone got together for dinner.


Then in early August we had our fun family summer party hosted by Twila , which was very enjoyable. I didn't get many photos, but here are a few... others' who did take photos need to post them!!
Sweet girls relaxing together, so cute!!!


Danny and Richard were all tuckered out after playing a LONG game of capture the flag up at first flat.Ch'ree fit 10 marshmellows and Frank fit 11... I'm not sure how many Benjamin had tucked away. Soon after this photo was taken Curtis looked at his strangely chipmunk look-a-like wife and said "I don't think I've been so unattracted to you in my life" and Ch'ree and Frank both began snorting and giggling around the marshmellows, which spurred laughter among everyone else, and then twenty some odd marshmelllows were spit out of swollen cheeks and thrown on the fire.
It was diffinately one of the highlights of the night. We sat around the fire and made s'mores and sang songs and just enjoyed out sweet family.
I'm sure glad I came to our family and we all get to spend eternity together!

Family Nauvoo Trip

Maria and our children recently came to visit me in Chicago. We took the kids to Nauvoo since we were so close.



Our first stop was Carthage Jail. We went on the tour and heard the story of the assault by the mob on the jail.

We walked through the jail and took this picture in front of the window Joseph fell out of.



























We went to Nauvoo after visiting Carthage.

We dressed up like pioneers and played pioneer games.

We walked down the Trail of Hope and looked back at the Temple like the Pioneers did as they left Nauvoo. We also rode in a Wagon pulled by Oxen.

We sat out front of the Temple and talked about all the Pioneers gave up when they left and how special Temples are and walked up and let the kids touch the Temple.

We got to participate in all kinds of activities. We watched the Nauvoo Pagent and many other skits. We visited many of the shops to learn how the pioneers made things themselves and saw how they lived. Christy and I got to dance Pioneer dances and Christy danced with one of the Pagent actors.

Erica's Blog

Hey all!!! I love you, first off! Secondly, I created my own blogg. It probably won't get updated all that often cause I'm a slacker like that :) but here it is anyway www.ericamillslife.blogspot.com