Oasis in the Desert Heat

The Before:

The After:

How it got to looking the way it does now:

Pool boy aka my hard working husband

the not so lucky frog found among other not so alive animals at the bottom of our pool. We won't even tell you that we found frogs, mice, dead birds and too many bugs to count.

Somehow wearing a shower cap made the not-so-plesant job seem just a little more fun. (You should try it sometime. It is true what a difference a tiny piece of plastic can do.) Mark and I lugged bucket after bucket of mucky water out of the bottom of the pool. It didn't look like that much was left after the pool pump got most of it out, but we stopped counting after 25 buckets each!

Extreme Home Makeover-Newlywed Edition

Most people, when they get married typically get their cars decorated, right.!? Well we did too. Although by the time we saw the car it did not look like this it was a melted runny mess. I actually did not know what it looked like until Dawn posted pictures of it on her blog. The kids all told me that Chris was the one responsible for it, but I'm sure he had some help. . . Anyways the windows were so messy that I couldn't see out of them. Mark wanted me to drive but I said I would not until we went through a car wash-good luck-we had to travel over 30 miles to the nearest one. (I think I still have an Oreo cookie down in the crack by my windshield wipers. Maybe it will come in handy one of these days.)

Well, their adventures did not stop with the car. Nope. Not even close. When we arrived home from our honeymoon, it was very late or maybe even early early morning. We were tired and glad to be done traveling, but the house seemed different to me. To start, there was tin foil covering the entryway glass. Weird, I thought. Maybe Dad thought that would be an added safety measure since we were not home for all that time. Upon unlocking the door the strange russelling noise began. "Um, what is that? Mark why don't you go first-what is going on?" Well this is part of what we saw. . .

someone. . .or a bunch of someones. . . completely changed the look of our kitchen to a space age stainless steel kitchen. From our chandelier to our carpet, counter-tops to covered doorways. They covered everything. How could they have known I'd always wanted stainless steel appliances? (Loved that they covered the toaster cord too)

Wow! We wandered through the house surveying the damage. Although the bulk of it was in the kitchen we found cupboards opened with sports balls all over the living room. Our T.V. was going to be a little difficult to watch with all that tinfoil on it. We were tired and determined that we would take care of it in the morning so we just went to bed.

More surprises in bed! We found little rolled up tin foil balls between the fitted sheet and mattress. Our sheets had been short sheeted too! (Mom, I heard that was your idea. . .) Luckily in the morning I also discovered on the night stand were loads of goodies to enjoy. (I heard that Braden wanted us to have something nice so he took it upon himself to gather us up some yummy treats leftover from the reception. Thanks Braden!!)

We woke up ready to conquer the tinfoil and found it was much more elaborate than we had originally thought. We kept finding tin foil everywhere (and still do actually). We opened the cupboard to get a drink and found this

Our silverware was also covered-each piece individually wrapped. (We didn't actually take the tinfoil off the silverware since we thought it would take way too long and besides, we got new stuff for our wedding. We just loaded up the silverware and put it in dad's new work office. Wonder if he's found it yet? :)
Breakfast anyone? Yeah, even the eggs inside the carton inside the refrigerator were covered in tin foil. I can't even imagine how long it took them to do this. It seriously must have taken all day. I mean it took the 2 of us 3 hours to unwrap most of it. We actually took a break in between to sculpt tinfoil clothing for each other. Project Runway, here we come!
Some of my favorite things they wrapped (which still make us laugh even as we write this) are the dishes in the dishwasher (which were dirty, by the way-YUCK! :)), my rock collection with each rock individually wrapped (and I have a lot of heart shaped rocks), the papers on our kitchen counter, the pens in the pen holder-all individually wrapped, the cupboard and drawer handles. I also kept finding little wadded up tin foil balls in everything for weeks to come, in our shoes and my coat pockets. I loved how they even wrapped the toilet paper roll but then re-wrapped it with the paper covering so you couldn't tell until you went to use it. I can't believe the effort and detail they invested in their prank! I don't know who had more fun-them wrapping it and imagining us finding it or us discovering it and having to unwrap it all. But hey, when we were done we had one way cool tin foil ball (and memories to last a lifetime-thanks!)

That's amor

Scandalous! Here start the adventures of married life for Mark and Charity Miller, but the plane
tickets and cruise passes do not reflect this.


For those who do not know, we went on a cruise to the Mexican Rivera for our honeymoon. Okay and we loved it!! We could just end this post at that, but we wanted to post some pictures to remember it and make you all a little bit jealous :).


The ship was amazing! For those of you who have never cruised before it is hard to imagine that all that can be inside a boat. From 3 swimming pools and 5 hot tubs to a mini-golf course overlooking the ocean (I got a hole in one and won the game!) and rock climbing wall. They had an ice skating rink, theater and a promenade filled with shops and restaurants. They had dance clubs and karaoke competitions. And there were so many rooms. We liked ours. It even had a nice window view. The bathroom was very practical (I guess)-you could use the toilet, brush your teeth and shower all at the same time. I guess they figured you wouldn't be spending much time in there.


As for food-we were never hungry and most of the time stuffed. The first couple of days we loved the options and ate as many things as we could fit on a plate (or two or three). Breakfasts and lunches were generally buffet style and dinners were 5 star dining every night. We loved our waiters Achmaad and Ben. Mark was a little more adventurous when it came to ordering new things off the menu: escargot, lamb and watermelon gazpacho are a few things he ordered. (The escargot was amazing by the way!) I stayed safe and ordered salmon, strawberry cheesecake and seafood pasta. We both loved lobster night! Wow, that was yummy. Achmaad even snuck us a third lobster tail to share! By the end we were sick of food and all wanted was normal stuff. Our serving size shrunk considerably and we stopped ordering midnight room service (oh but right now a vegetarian panini sounds amazing. Oh room service. . .)

Our first port of call was Cabo. We tested our skill on the beautiful blue waters of the Pacific Ocean in a two person sea kayak. And, if we must say so ourselves, we were good. Neck-and-neck with our guide the whole way there. We saw whales and sea lions. We snorkeled and saw many tropical fish (until Mark lost his snorkel to the bottom of the ocean-oops). Relaxing on the beach and swimming in the ocean was refreshing. Mazatlan, here we come!




Mazatlan brought on an excursion we can't wait to repeat. We went on a zipline canopy adventure. If the drive up to the first zipline was an indication of the events to come, I wasn't sure I wanted anything to do with it. We almost drove off the edge of the ravine (even our driver was a little shaken with how close we got). The first zipline was absolute scary for me and a complete adrenaline rush for Mark. Phew, one down, 8 to go. By the time the third one came around I got it figured out and Mark was already on to flying down the zipline upside down (I thought I was doing good just going right side up). We would definitely do that again sometime. We rappelled down at the end and headed back to the ship. Yipee!













In Puerta Vallarta we decided to relax on the beach and enjoy the the water, that is if the beach vendors would leave us alone for 5 minutes. That got annoying fast! I put my Spanish to good use and used my new husband as my excuse not to have my hair braided or buy and of the jewelry. (I actually thought he wasn't understanding my conversation and that I had used him as my scapegoat but when I finally confessed, he already knew. Busted!)

On the way back to LA I thought it would be fun to go to a towel folding class. (Mark has some amazing turtle towel folding skills-you should ask him about it sometime. He will act modest and try to deny it, but check your nearest you tube for a demonstration soon.) He was a good sport because he really didn't want to go. Mark wanted to go ice skating, but the way back home was very windy and walking was hard enough. I couldn't imagine trying to skate. The water in the pools was splashing out 7 feet out of the pool and by the time we docked in LA the pools were almost empty.

I'm not sure we will ever again have the chance to watch whales out our breakfast window or while we exercised at the health spa, but we sure enjoyed it while it lasted. One morning I think I even saw a shark!

It was hard to leave all that behind and go back to real life. I mean we kind of got used to being together. The longest time we were apart in our first nine days of being married was 20 whole minutes. The only bad thing is that it had to come to an end.

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Miller

Our story began just over a year ago. It's hard to believe how fast time flies and hard to believe we are finally married! It seems like the weeks and days leading up to our wedding seemed to drag on forever and now we've been married for over a month already! We thought it was probably time to post a few pictures from our wedding day.

We are loved! It was so much fun having family and friends join us to celebrate this much awaited anticipated event.

Braden and Luke, it is okay for us to kiss. We are married :).

Dress, check. Veil, check. Temple bag, check. Groom, check. (Mark was a little anxious as he was driving to the temple and very relieved when we pulled up right behind him. Rats, I wanted to make him sweat a little bit. :))

cute shoes, yeah I know :)

My mom was simply amazing. She made all those little poka dot dresses-aren't they so cute!

already watching over me
We were and are very happy!

Ahh. Love that boy. Just relaxing with him at my side. I love the content look on his face (I think he loves me too :)).
The new Mrs. I love that I only had to change 2 letters from Michel to Miller. (It makes it easier to fix when you forget that you are now Miller. The 'c' can easily be made into an 'l' and so can the 'h'-not that I've had to do that or anything :))

If I could whistle, I would!

and this is the beginning of forever. . .

Starting to have lasts

I remember on the mission when it was getting closer to the time I went home and with mixed emotions I would realize the lasts were coming: last month in the mission, last zone conference, last transfer, last. . .eventually ending in last Sunday, last Monday, last Tuesday. . . (the difference with the mission and now is that I did not want to go home. This is besides the point, but I think if my mom and dad didn't come to Brazil to get me I just might still be there today :) I didn't want that time to end).

Well next Sunday starts the lasts of with the last fast Sunday being single. They were talking about fasting at church today when I realized that by the first fast Sunday in March we will be married! I can hardly believe it. It seems strange. I had to do a quick calculation of how many fast Sundays I have been a part of. I actually started fasting (by choice) at a super young age. Mom says I started fasting when I was 3 years old so by calculation I have had roughly 372 fast Sundays in my single life-one more to come and then I have some catching up to do with starting on those firsts: First fast Sunday, first month being married, first Sunday, first Monday, first. . . I can't wait! :)

I am actually starting to cry as I write this. I'm pretty sure they are happy tears, because I can't wait to spend more time with Mark. I never feel like there is enough time being with him. I can't wait to not have to say good bye and good night at the end of the day. I want to just be able to say good night. Mark is so patient with me. He is so good for me and with me. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a few quirks :) and some strong opinions. I am also kind of particular (okay picky is another word for it). Most of the time these things don't even phase Mark-he just takes it all in stride. Occasionally when I think my pickyness is starting to get to him I remind him that for him it is a good thing-I am picky and I picked him!! :)

At church today a lady, who I don't know very well, just found out we were getting married, to which she responded "Congratulations! Enjoy these last few weeks of courtship. They are the best days of your life. It just goes downhill from there". Sad thing is-she was serious. Please tell me she is wrong. I can't imagine how sad that would be if it were really true. I am excited to share my dreams, my hope and my life with Mark. I think, hope, feel that the best is truly yet to come.

Marriage!

We're getting married! In case you can't tell we're kind of excited.