Daniel and I got to be apart of our youth ministries second Untied One. It’s an outreach event for teens in our community. Daniel helps on the tech side and i run a photo booth and take pictures during the event. We had 350 teens show up to skate, eat taco’s, dance, worship and hear God’s word. It was an amazing event to be a part of and too see what God is doing in the lives of teens in Simi Valley. I love that Daniel and I serve together in youth ministries, it’s great to work side by side!
This weekend Daniel and I took our first vacation just the two of us since before Sienna was b0rn. We were a little nervous about leaving Eli for the first time to sleep over night at Papa and Grandma’s, but we were so excited to spend some alone time together!
We stayed at a lovely Bed and Breakfast called “The Victorian Rose”. It is a 110 year old church that has been converted into a B&B. The couple who own it are so sweet and made our stay there perfect. We loved all the gothic architecture and stunning antiques the filled every room. We had a amazing dinner at Brooks in Ventura and enjoyed one of the best nights sleep we have had in over a year! Woke up to no alarm and a beautiful homemake breakfast and then spent the day doing street photography and thrift shopping. Found some awesome stuff and had a great time together. It was a blessing to be able to talk and just be together with no interruption or expectations. We must do this again! And soon! 
Today the kids and I met some friends at the park to play. Eli is finally big enough to go on swings and climb on everything at the park. And today was the first time I have taken him to the park to play. And Oh man, did he love it!
Eli just loved ever second we spent at the park. As soon as i took him out of the car he went running after birds screaming in delight. Then we played on swings, which he could have stayed on all day. Sienna is such a big girl now. She can pump on the swings and keep herself going for a long time. Eli wanted to do everything Sienna was doing. Climbing behind her on all the play equipment and running after her and going down slides with her. They just LOVED playing together. Can’t wait to take them to the park with Daddy. He was working and missed our fun day out. We will be going again soon!
Tonight we celebrated my little sister Cameo’s 26th birthday with a surprise limo ride to dinner. She had no idea that her boyfriend had been planning a surprise for her. My sisters, their husbands and my mom pulled up to Cameo’s house in a limo and she gets in side and we all screamed “SURPRISE!” she was shocked! It was a great way to celebrate Cameo.
Happy Birthday Cameo!
The weather is beautiful here in Southern California and The Milner Train is going to take advantage of it. So off we went to Corginville with some our friends the Clarks.
We know the Clark family because Ruby their oldest daughter is one of the girls i disciple at my church. I love her and cherish any time we get to hang out together. Her parents are amazing and we are so blessed to call them friends. It was so cool to have a group of people hiking and most of us were carrying cameras. Todd loves photography as much as Daniel and I and is teaching Ruby how to use a DSLR. So most of our hike was spent looking for cool things to photograph. Corginvill is a neat place to hike because it’s an old movie studio site. Most westerns that were made in the 40′s and 50′s were filmed here and there are plaques all over telling about which movie was filmed where and who was in it. It is super educational and cool to see where old movies where made.
Great hike with Great People We Are Blessed!
Today Daniel and I had our first day of 2011. We decided to head to one of our favorite spots Point Dume in Malibu. It was a stunning day, sunny and 75 degrees. We both brought our cameras and enjoyed a day of taking photo’s and talking. 
I adored getting this time alone with Daniel. Plus it was so neat to be out shooting with him . He has just recently gotten into photography and for the first time in our marriage we had a hobby that we both share. It was fun to see the kinds of things he wanted to take pictures of and i LOVED that we have such different styles. Above are photo’s i took. Soon Daniel will post his photo’s. It’s really cool how we could be in the same place but see completely different things.
Happy New Year from The Milner Train! We had a lot of fun in 2010 however we are EXCITED to see what God has in store for our family in 2011!
We wanted to start our year off with a new tradition; a hike to the cross with close friends. So this morning I woke up and texted our friends and was able to get a group of 15 together to hike to the peak at Mount McCoy. It was a beautiful day and God put on a show with a lovely sunset as we all fellowshipped and talked at the top of the mountain. We all enjoyed it so much that we will be getting together to do this again next January 1st! Praise God for the gift of dear friends in Christ.
We can hardly believe that it’s been one whole year since Eli was brought into our world and became a part of our family! Today we celebrated with friends and family the blessing of having our beautiful baby boy! It was a lovely day full of laughter, games and fun. Eli especially loved getting to eat cake for the first time.
We are so blessed to have a healthy and happy baby boy who is changing and learning everyday. Thank you God for the gift of our sweet Eli Daniel!
Dearest Friends and Family,
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
We decided to post our Christmas letter on our blog this year instead of sending it out. We have started a NEW family blog www.milnertrain.com. This is where you can keep up with us year round. We post about our children’s milestones and our family adventures. So make sure to look around and see what we have been up to.
We have had a full year. And we could never fit everything into one letter so here are a few of the high lights from our year. The biggest event that happened since our last Christmas letter was the birth of our son. Eli Daniel Milner was born on December 16th 2009 at 6:25pm. He was the greatest Christmas present we could have asked for. With a new little one came a new adventure. And we love adventures!
Eli is all boy. Loving playing, running and throwing anything he can get his hands on. At almost one year old he keeps us busy. He adores his big sister and his favorite thing is his blanket. He is super out going and loves new people and places. He’s only been with us a year now and we can’t imagine our life with out him in it. He keeps us on our toes, with learning new things everyday and surprising us with how much he understands. We are looking forward to celebrating his birthday next week and can’t wait to see what he thinks of Christmas. Last year he was only 9 days old, so this year is really his first experience with all the fun of Christmas.
Our sunshine girl, Sienna turned 4 this year. That is amazing. Feels like it was just last year she was as little as Eli. She is acting very grown up and LOVES being a big sister. She is going to preschool two days a week and is learning a lot. She is doing a lot of writing and drawing. Our home is covered with little miss Sienna’s art work. Her favorite things to do is sing, dance and jump on her trampoline. If you ever get the chance to hang out in our home she will put on a show for you. She loves attention and wants to be a singer when she grows up. She is also a big helper around the house, her favorite chore is sweeping. She also helps Mama cook and cleans her own room. Sienna seems so much older and much more grown up since Eli was born. She loves to take care of him and thinks he’s the greatest thing in the world. We are savoring this year with her home most of the week, because next year she will be starting Kindergarten. What an adventure that will be!
Laura has kept busy as usual. She loves being a mom and is blessed to stay home with her two little monkeys. Also Laura loves helping at our church ( Discovery Church) every chance she gets. This year along with volunteering in student ministries (her passion!), she has helped to launch a new ministry at the church called The Discovery Photo Project. Which helps to bring the arts into the church. She was the featured photographer in the projects second show opening this past September. Laura also started acting in a children’s theater group at our church called Discovery Kidz. She plays the role of “Cammie” and is loving being back on the stage. Although Laura seems to have so much on her plate she has kept a great balance in our home. With monthly family date nights and all the special activities and outing that she plans for us as a family. You can keep up with her on her newly launched blog www.lauramilner.com.
Daniel has been at his job at Scientific Cutting Tools now for 13 years! Praise the Lord for the blessing of a stable job, that Daniel LOVES! Daniel has enjoyed getting plugged in at Discovery Church as well. With being the main man in launching Connected Community, a ministry that helps spread the word of God through social media and technology. He has also enjoyed helping with all things technical in Canvas our churches High School Ministry. He has also joined Laura in loving photography and has been helping her at photo shoots. They are hoping to do more together with their photograph business Moments Not Forgotten. It’s been a fun hobby that they have enjoyed doing together. Daniel is still doing webdesign work and loves anything that has to do with computers. With so much going on in our family and the many things that we are involved in Daniel is the calm in the mist of the storm.
God has showered us with innumerable blessing in 2010 and we praise Him for the gift of another year together. 2010 has been a fun one, but we can’t wait to see what 2011 holds for The Milner Train! Our hope and prayer is that you will be blessed and be a blessing to those around you in the coming year. We love each and every one of you! Thanks for reading the 2010 addition of the Milner’s Christmas Letter!
With Love,
Daniel, Laura, Sienna and Eli
This morning The Milner train joined our churches Youth Ministry students and leaders in serving at The Children’s Hunger Fund. This was our fifth year going to this event. It is an amazing event. TY toys donates hundreds of thousands of toys and we wrap them! Then The Children’s Hunger Fund delivers them to children around the country and around the world who would other wise not get a gift this Christmas. It is such a privileged to be a part of such a helpful event and we LOVE bringing Sienna with us. Eli is still a little to young to understand what’s happening so he stayed at home with Grandma. But Sienna was a super helper. She helped wrap gifts and did it with a smile on her face.
It was awesome to be with 50 of the students we work with and amazing leaders we serve along side. We so enjoyed getting serve our community together as a family. What are you doing this Christmas to show Christ loves to others?
