California McMillans

I turned 43 and it was the best day ever!  I started the day off with the best gift, being able to talk to Scott for the first time in Chile. He is loving his mission and I get to hear and see how his heart is filled with love for the Chileans and their way of life.     And then I was showered with so much LOVE at Woodlands!  I love my job, the kids I get to coach and am so grateful for all their parents and all they do to make our summer filled with fun.  Coaching summer rec is not for the faint of heart in our area but our swim family and kids make the crazy moments and anonymous letters worth it.  The kids made so many cards for me.  I can't wait to post them in the coaches office!  Each kids has their strengths and struggles and I hope at the end of the day I helped make life just a little easier and happier for them. And then we ended our day at MYO with Danny and the other 5 kids who are my heart.  Hanna and Parker started an otter pop business and Hanna gave mea  card with $

 When it is 80 degrees out, it is definitely time for a pool party.  We put together a last minute Sunday afternoon dinner with friends and had a blast.  Rasmussen, Wirig, Wirig, Walker and Halversons make for a fun night! We have the greatest friends in our life.  We are so blessed! Reagan and Tyler has goals locked in for DALS and Oliver is locked in for emotional support.  Tyler did SeaSerpents at Heather Farms and found Brennan playing volleyball which was a fun surprise for dinner.  The girls enjoyed the hot tub, the boys enjoyed basketball and the adults enjoyed having kids entertaining each other and great food!  

Year 5 of me at Woodlands has begun and in a lot of ways it the easiest year yet.  When you take over a new team, you patiently chip away at one thing at a time until it finally feels like the team you envisioned and worked so hard to create.   This journey was a little different due to COVID.  Year 1 was COVID camps.  Countless hours on zoom meetings with the county and adjusting just to function.  We split everyone into groups of 12 with different instructors.  Parents were heightened and everyone had different comfort levels.  I tried to remind people that if it wasn't time for them to come back, that was ok.  Easier said than done since everyone wanted their children to participate but many were filled with so much anxiety.  It was interesting to hear from coaches in other parts of the country whose states responded differently to COVID.  At the end of the day, grateful we got to do something since we were in one of the most restricted areas in the country.  Year 2 was also mod

We had a great stake conference.  Mike Chapman was announced as our new stake president.  It was fun getting to know President March the last few months as Scott prepared for his mission.  I grew up with Mike. He and Marci will be great leaders.  We are so lucky to have such incredible families in our area helping build this amazing community we have.   We had two general authority 70 come to reorganize the Stake.  My two favorite quotes came from the Friday night session.  I think Elder Sabin said (it could have been the other general authority), "It's harder to be 95% in that 100%."  I think that applies to everything in life.  If you do it, do it well and do it with intent!  The gospel is no different.  It is so hard when we let 5% of how we live our lives or feel conflict with the other 95%.  Elder Sabin talked about how when his 15 year old daughter got a double lung transplant a year after his son had passed from the same disease.  She said, "It doesn't mat

Blake had his 12th birthday party last night.  We have been waiting for the weather to be nice to host a hot tub/pool night with his 6th grade friends and the kids had a blast.  Pizza, junk food, hottubbing/dipping in a cold pool and smore's. Happy Birthday Blake!  We love you!  Here's to a great 12th year.    

Elder Holland ...." I testify that God hears  every  prayer we offer and responds to each of them according to the path He has outlined for our perfection. I recognize that at roughly the same time so many were praying for the restoration of my health, an equal number—including me—were praying for the restoration of my wife’s health. I testify that both of those prayers were heard  and  answered by a divinely compassionate Heavenly Father, even if the prayers for Pat were  not  answered the way I asked. It is for reasons known only to God why prayers are answered differently than we hope—but I promise you they  are  heard and they  are  answered according to His unfailing love and cosmic timetable." Sister Dennis ...."The garment of the holy priesthood is deeply symbolic and  also  points to the Savior. When Adam and Eve partook of the fruit and had to leave the Garden of Eden, they were given coats of skins as a covering for them. 31  It is likely that an animal was sac

Kira's choir had their first CMEA event and they got unanonymous superior. She was proud of her choir and we were proud of her for doing choir.  It was a good experience and she even recognized Jen Krey who was in our ward in Brentwood which was a long time ago for her.  She carpooled with friends, but hopefully I will find some pictures to add.  She is my first kid who wants to do choir in high school. Scott did choir in middle school but not in high school.  The high school choir teacher doesn't have the best reputation in our area and they are getting a new one next year so I am hoping it is a great experience for Kira.   

Tyler tried out for golf again this year and he made it.  He was really going through some challenging emotional things before Scott went on his mission and we weren't sure we were going to let him play.  He changed some behaviors and has been playing golf since.  He goes to the gym about 4x a week and has gained about 20 pounds in the last 6 months.  At first we has doing his own thing and then we signed him up for aquastrength for Jack which has been great.  It is the same program Scott does.  He showed me a couple of things they do and I did it with Northgate and felt it for a week.  We are very proud of him.  He has been put in a couple of matches.  They take 6 guys and 5 score.  The last tournament he got 4th for his team. He is so new but doing so great and really seems to be enjoying it. We are so proud of him and glad that he found a sport that brings him so much joy!  

My mission president got released as a general authority 70 over Conference and it came with a lot of reflection for me.  He and his wife were two really influential people in my lives.  I got to spend my first 6 months in the field watching and interacting with them and noticed two things. They love the Lord and love others.  It made me realize that it goes hand in hand. Everyone always tells you that having a missionary in the field strengthens your home and testimony so much. One way that it does that is by helping you reflect on your time as a missionary which brings back experiences, feelings and a reminder of what service does to ones life.  One day I will put all my pictures in digital form and make a book.  Until now, I will add little pieces here and there.   

Parker had a field that was a walking tour through downtown Walnut Creek.  We didn't think it was going to be that fun, but it ended up being really cool.  The class, which is pretty active, did amazing for about 90% of the tour, which was a huge win.  It helped they played at the park before and after and had really engaging tour guides.  They heard about how they were the hands of the future world, the Miwok native americans and what Walnut Creek used to be like, horse and buggy streets, the historic buildings and even a trap door. I was glad I got to go with Parker.  He was sad because we couldn't drive others because they needed a new declaration page from me, even though nobody else needed one but it all worked out and Parker was in a group as soon as we got to the park. There was one mom who was on a mission to punish the kids.  It was sad to see her interactions and made me grateful that she wasn't their teacher.  Every teacher has their strengths and weaknesses and

Last night and this morning we had the opportunity to attend stake conference.  The conference was amazing.  Some highlights were the Friday night session for adults.  There was a convert who was 80 and a sister who came back to the church as a young mom.  The gospel has had such a powerful light and influence in their life.   Tyler accompanied the stake choir.  They had never practiced together and it took a lot of hard work and faith on his end to go and do something he was asked to do.  He said he never wants to do something like that again and it was very stressful for him leading up to it, but he did it!  And the conference was so focused on just going and doing what we are asked to do.  I am proud of him for working so hard and doing something out of his comfort zone.  I did tell him that in the future it would be nice to work on being a little more patient and kind in the process when he is stressed out.  Elder Sabin shared a really touching story about his daughter.  His son ha

We went to a trunk or treat over Halloween hosted by the city of walnut creek and they were sponsored by the Lion King Broadway Production.  You could put your name in a drawing to win. I wasn’t going to put my name in because there was no chance of winning but I decided to last minute because the kids were coloring a page at their booth and I had nothing to do.  Well, they called me on Monday and said I won and wondered if I could go on Tuesday to the play. I was so excited we had nothing to do and knew at least 3 of my family members would want to go. Kira, Scott and Tyler all wanted to go.  We drove into the City which only took about 45 minutes, found parking and walked through 2 blocks of homeless shooting up.  No joke.  It is so sad!  Missed the clean streets of Chicago. Got to the play, took some pictures, got our tickets at will call and was so excited.  We had amazing orchestra seats.   I had seen the play with my mom in New York and it was just as good as I remembered.  There

 We spent 3 days in Pismo Beach for Spring Break.  Anytime there is warm weather on the Coast, we go!  We left Monday after Tyler got back from the gym and I packed up and got there around 2 and went straight to the beach.  It was the perfect day! We spent it at Avila Beach. The kids loved boogie boarding, playing in the waves, building sand castles and motes and digging holes to bury themselves.  Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to hot tub and play in the pool. Day 2, Blake and Tyler went golfing while I took Parker and Hanna on a hike.  We found the cutest trail and wish we could have gone farther but Tyler and Blake finished their course and Hanna's legs were tired.  Kira was sadly sick before we left but still decided to come and spent day 2 in the hotel.  She thought it would be better to be bored at a hotel than at home.  We went to the beach in the afternoon and then went back to the hotel for more swimming and hot tubbing.  There are always kids playing at the hotel po