Family Pictures

The Christmas season is a wonderful time a year. It is such a fun time of year when we get together with our families. We had a fun...interesting day getting family pictures. Oh how we love our families!!

David and Juliann

Juliann's Family

Grandpa Stanley with all the grandkids

Members of the Uncle David Club

We Love You All!!

Update

My surgery went well and I am starting to feel much better. In fact, I believe there was a small miracle in all of it. When I went in for my six month check up, it was very obvious in the ultrasound that I still had a significant hole in my heart. The doctor could see it and I could see it. The hole was as significant as it was before my first surgery in April. It was determined that I needed to have another surgery to repair the leak. I was very nervous about the surgery because it was a very real possibility that the surgery would have to be open heart surgery. I went into the surgery fearing the worst and hoping for the best. They made two incisions in my groin and went up into my heart through a catheter. When the doctor was in there he could not find any hole. He did several extensive tests in my heart and lungs with the catheter to make sure there wasn't a leak somewhere else. He could not find anything, anywhere. It was all completely healed and normal. So the doctor did nothing. He could not explain what happened only the fact that it was all normal. I believe it is a miracle. There is no other explanation. I am grateful for the prayers in my behalf as I know they were heard. I feel blessed for this small miracle in my life.

Halloween Fun

We had a fun Halloween here are a few fun moments...

David and I dressed up for the occasion

David and I went on a Halloween Cruise down the Provo River. It was really neat. You can't see very well in the picture but we are on a boat floating down the river. It was a lot of fun..they told ghost stories as we floated down the river.

Halloween fun with our Nieces and Nephews

Labor Day Weekend

It has been many years since David and I have been to Yellowstone. We have been planning the trip for a while and were so excited to go!! On the way up to Yellowstone we went through Idaho Falls. We were able to see the Idaho Falls Temple. It is such a beautiful temple with the river right by it.



Trip Blunder: While we were in Idaho Falls we stopped to get something to eat and take a "romantic" walk along the Idaho Falls River. Well while we were walking under a few trees admiring the beautiful river a bird decided to "lay an egg"--if you know what I mean-- right on me. It went all down my hair and onto my pants...well needless to say our romantic walk didn't last too long.


Then we went to Rexburg, Idaho. Neither one of us have been to Rexburg. We really liked Rexburg. It is such a cute little college town. We were able to go inside the Rexburg temple. It was so amazing and very beautiful.

Then on to Yellowstone. We camped in the park at the Canyon's Campground. It was such a nice place. It is hard to describe Yellowstone other than---amazing. We really liked Old Faithful, the gysers, and the falls.

Old Faithful

We hiked down a ways to the brink of Lower Falls. It was a spactacular view.

Here we are on the opposite side of the canyon looking at the falls we had just hiked to.

On the way home we went throught the Teton Mountains--wow what an amazing sight!! They are beautiful.

We enjoyed so many sights it is hard to say which one was our favorite.

Summer Fun

In June was our nine year wedding anniversary. David came home from work and decorated the car. He attached pop cans to the back and we went out to dinner. I felt like we were newly weds again...what do you mean we are still newly weds!!

I was able to go to girls camp. We went to our stake camp which is Camp Cobblecreek. It is up Ogden Canyon above Pine View Reservoir. We had a lot of fun. There was a moose scare, which really scared all of us. At the end of camp we were told that the moose sounds/sightings were all made up and that it was a joke. I'm not sure it was all a joke as I took this picture of moose tracks. I'm not sure you can fabricate that but who knows. Whatever the case the joke...well...not so funny or was it???

We were able to participate in the temple sealing of Shaela. She is Juliann's niece who was adopted in January and her adoption was finalized the first part of July. She was sealed to Juliann's Brother and Sister in law in the Mt Timpanogas Temple. We are so grateful she is in the family.

David's parents took all the family on a wonderful family vacation to Sacramento California. We stayed at this house in The Lake of the Pines. It was beautiful. They have this lake that is just picture perfect. We spent a lot of time at the beach playing in the water and soaking up some sun. David tried learning to walk the tight rope. We were also able to raft down the American River which is near Sacramento. So much fun! Thank you Glen and Janine!

We went to St. George for a McMillan Reunion. While we were there we went to Tuacahn and saw the plays Tarzan and Cats. They were both really good plays. We especially liked Tarzan. Here is us with Deuteronomy the Cat in the play Cats.

Update

Update on my heart...I am doing well. The recovery has been a little harder than I expected. Just a week or so ago I started to have symptoms of a stroke. My whole left side of my body went numb. I could not feel my foot or my arm and I started to lose vision in my left eye. This greatly alarmed me. I went into the doctor and they did a few tests and discovered that I am asprin resistant. They have me on a lot of blood thinners so I won't get blood clots. Well I guess the medicine is not working as well as it should so the doctor changed some medicine and now I have to have shots in my stomach twice a day of blood thinners. This I guess is to prevent clots from forming around the device in my heart which causes these symptoms of a stoke. The blood thinner is making me bruise really easily. It has helped with not having as much numbness which I am very grateful. Hopefully this won't last long. The doctor said that it might take up to a whole year to fully heal before I won't have these symptoms--yippy. Actually it is very scarey to not be able to feel my arm and leg and to lose my vision. I am grateful it wasn't a stoke and the medicine seems to be helping.

We are excited that the "Uncle David Club" is growing and becoming such a big club. We are proud to announce that in the last 3 months that we have four new additions to the club. Kira McMillan born March 20, Lily Stevens born April 22, and just recently we welcomed twins Abigail and Jane Boyer into the familiy on June 3. We now have 15 exclusive club memebers. We love them all!!

Fun "Uncle David Club" Moments

The first time we met Abigail and Jane. They are very small. Abigail weighed 4 lbs 8 oz and Jane weighed 3 lbs 8 oz. They will be in the NICU for a while. We are grateful they are doing good. They are just really little.
Uncle David and Aunt Juliann with Kira on her Baby blessing day.

Uncle David and Aunt Juliann with Lily. It was the first time we met her.

Aunt Juliann reading with Savannah and Owen

Uncle David playing with Owen, Ellie, Shaela and Savannah

Uncle David watching a movie with Ellie, Savannah, Owen and Max

Scott and Tyler with Uncle David riding bikes
Jade and Brigham with Uncle David

Siena With Uncle David

Update...

This is a replica of the heart procedure I had done.

I can't believe it has been over two weeks since my surgery. The last two weeks have been a blur. My surgery went as well as can be expected. The first day in the hospital following my surgery was a little rough as my leg where they inserted the catheter kept bleeding. The nurse would not let me move anything at all until it stopped bleeding. I could not even lift my head an inch. They had to give me a steroid shot in the leg to help stop the bleeding but that didn't help, so they put a 10 pound sand bag on my leg for over a half hour. It seemed to help but I didn't have any feeling in my leg afterwards. The doctor said that the hole in my the heart was larger than he had expected and also that they had found a "pocket" inside the septum, which in his words were "that is very bad". I guess blood can clot in that pocket and then break off and cause a stroke etc... So they were able to put this Helex medal device into my heart and seal off the hole and the pocket. It is amazing what they can do. The surgery lasted about and hour and a half. The recovery has been slower than I want it to be but I am doing well. I have to take it easy for about a month--I am not suppose to do anything that will raise my heart rate. This I find almost impossible as I seem to be winded just going upstairs. After the month the doctor will evaluate my heart. He said that it could take 6 to 12 months to heal completely. In the meantime I have to take it easy so the device doesn't shift or dislodge. I have been very touched at the kindness and prayers of so many people. I could not have made it without them. It has not been easy, but my burden has been lightened by the many kind acts of others. Thank you to everyone!

This is an x-ray of the helex metal device in my heart. Fun Stuff!!

Heart Surgery

I am having heart surgery tomorrow. It was discovered recently that I have a congential heart defect called a Atrial Septal Defect or ASD.

During fetal development, the upper chambers of the heart (atria) divide into right and left sides. In some, the closure is incomplete leaving a "hole in the heart". The hole in the heart is measured on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the greatest) and mine was considered a 5+.

Since pressure in the right side of the heart is lower than the left side, blood can flow from the lungs directly through the ASD back to the right heart; re-circulation through the lungs again and again. This abnormal recycling of blood through the lungs is called "shunting". The amount of blood flowing (or shunting) through the lungs may be many times more than the blood flow to the rest of the body. Shunting is an extra blood volume to the right side of the heart which can cause an overload of the heart. This overload can cause enlargement of the heart, abnormal heart rhythm, congestive heart failure, and injury to the arteries of the lungs. Since the filtering function of the lungs is bypassed, stroke or brain abscess may occur if clots or bacteria cross the ASD into the left side of the heart.

I have had severe migraine headaches my whole life. I usually get them once a day. The heart problem was discovered because of my headaches. Tomorrow (Monday, April 12) at 8:00 a.m. I am scheduled to have a surgery. I will be put to sleep and a catheder will enter my femoral vein and go up into my heart. There, the hole will be closed with an umbrella-like patch that comes out of the catheder. I'm scheduled to be in the hospital for two days.

Hopefully all of this will help my headaches. Wish me luck!

Best Dressed

Recently our Stake had an adult dance with an 80's theme. A few days before the dance, we were talking with David's family and asked them if anyone had some 80's clothes. Adam, David's brother in law said, "Ya I have some pink parachute pants". The day of the "big dance" arrived and I did not know what I was going to wear. I went to my closet. All I could do was laugh as I reminisced about actually wearing some of the clothes that now I was going to wear as a costume. I peg legged my pants, hair sprayed my hair to make me look like I had wings, put on bright blue eye shadow and I was ready for the dance. David put on his bright pink pants and a Sesames Street neon yellow shirt and we were off to the dance. I was hoping we would not be noticed too much as I don't like to be the center of attention. Well that did not happen. We walked into the gym and the crowd was in the middle of learning a line dance. A friend in the ward noticed us and yelled out..."HEY STOP! EVERYBODY!! LOOK AT BROTHER MCMILLAN!". or something like that. Well the music stopped right in the middle of the song and all eyes were on us!!! It was like it all happened in slow motion. It was very embarrassing. Everyone started chanting "McMillan's, McMillan's" So we ran into the middle of the dance floor and David did some sort of break dancing move and I tried to act... well not totally humiliated. Later in the dance David and I received the "Best Dressed" award. We won a 80's wig. FUN TIMES!!!

We have a New Uncle David Club Member

We are so excited to welcome another member to the Uncle David Club, Kira Janine McMillan. She was born on March 20, 2010. Her parents are David's brother and his wife, Danny and Heidi. This is a significant date in our family for several reasons. March 20th is David's Mother's birthday and Juliann's parent's anniversary and now Kira's birthday. We have many reasons to celebrate on this special day!!

Congratulations Lindsey!!

David's youngest sister Lindsey, got engaged on Jan 30, in Salt Lake. She is marrying a guy she met at BYU named Preston. They are getting married June 11, 2010. They make a great couple. We are very happy for them!!

In Loving Memory

Late last night or early this morning I awoke with a start. I got up and went and got a glass of water, as I was drinking my water my eye glanced at the calendar and then at the time. The time was 12:04 am and the day January 23, 2010. My mind immediately became aware that it was 10 years ago today at 12:09 am that my dear mother Pauline passed away. It seems like yesterday, yet at the same time it seems like a lifetime ago. The years have healed the outside wound. I don't cry outwardly as often as I use to, but inwardly I miss her deeply and wish I could tell her this or that. Her courage and example of how she faced life with a smile has given me courage so many time when I face challenges in my life. And so ten years later I reflect...

Thank you Mom. I love you!!

Mom had a fun sense of humor. We always seemed to have fun together.

Mom and I just before she passed away.

Mom as a young Bride


Mom and I, when I was a teenager.



Mom and I, the day I was born.

We have a New Uncle David Club Member

Announcing the new arrival of Shaela Linda Boyer.

She was born December 30, 2009. Juliann's Brother and Sister-in-Law (Robert and Kris) are the proud parents. They had been hoping to adopt soon but were surprised when they got the call that they needed to be at the hospital in 15 minutes as the birth mom had decided that she wanted Robert and Kris to be the parents and was going to be leaving the hospital soon---Kris called me on the phone and said, "Guess where we are going?" I was very surprised to hear they were going to the hospital to pick up Shaela. We went and saw her and she is adorable. We are a proud Aunt and Uncle.