Birthday Boys

It's that time of year again. Birthday time. We celebrated Becketts third birthday on Friday and Tayden's fifth birthday on Saturday. For Becketts birthday we had a small birthday party with his preschool friends and the Turney girls. It was fun and pretty low-key. We didn't do much but played a few games, open presents, ate pizza and had superman cupcakes, per B's request. We did, however, have one quite frightening event. The kids were upstairs playing in the toy room and the moms were downstairs talking. All of a sudden Cori yells, "scorpion scorpion" and we all start screaming and running. I didn't know where it was so I grabbed the two closest babies to me and jumped on the counter. Everyone was up on some sort of couch, or piece of furniture. All the screamed prompted the kids to come running downstairs to see what the matter was, which lead to more screaming to get upstairs! Once Cori and told us it went under the couch, we knew we had to get to business. Luckily, Sheena was here and saved the day! She has had scorpions in her home before so she knew just what to do. We lifted up the couch, well mostly pregnant Melissa lifted up the couch and Sheena grabbed a mason jar and caught the scorpion. She is my hero. After the rush of finding the scorpion and all the commotion it caused, it seemed like the party never really calmed down. But we had a lot of fun the kids enjoyed each other's company and Beckett loved having a special day to himself.

I could not ask for better three-year-old. Honestly, he is amazing. He's the sweetest boy you'll ever meet and so kind and caring. He's his brothers protector, both older and younger. We wrestle in the evenings with dad when he's home and B was on my team one night. He protected me with a passion and I've never seen before. He was not going to let anyone touch me. He is very protective. He's funny,seriously super funny. He's turning into the best big brother and is Tayden best friend. We are facing one challenge with Beckett. He's got a major speech delay. It breaks my heart but he cannot articulate the majority of the words. It took me a long time to come to terms that he was going to need help, but now that I have accepted it I am more excited than ever to help him. I can't wait to show everyone how funny he is and how smart he is. Just because he can't communicate well does not mean he doesn't understand what's going on around him. And that's the hardest part. He is aware people can't understand him. We'll get him a referral on Monday at his three-year checkup and go from there. But I'm really looking forward to getting him the appropriate help before he hits the crucial social years. His friends all love him and are so kind, but I know as they get older his lack of communication will become more evident to them, so I am glad to be able to start working on it now. It hard seeing your child struggle, and like I said, it took me a long time to accept it--but if this is as bad as it gets, I can deal with it. Things could be so much worse. But I wouldn't change a thing about my little B. I can communicate with him without any problems, so I know just how amazing he is and love every little thing about him.

Classic Beckett face.

Saturday morning we celebrated Tayden's fifth birthday. It's crazy having a back to back birthdays, but so much fun too. Tayden was kind of sad on Friday night that he wasn't getting any gifts, so he was super excited to wake up Saturday for his birthday. Much too excited and woke up earlier that I would have liked. We had his party with some friends at the park. They played for a little bit, had pizza and cake (he wanted a shark cake this year) opened presents and then had the much-anticipated snowball fight. It was so much fun and lasted much longer than we expected. All of the children would pick up the little teeny tiny pieces off the grass to make bigger bigger snowballs so it lasted quite a while. It was so fun to have a snowball fight in Las Vegas and made for one happy five year old.

Tayden is a great five year old. He's a big help. I depend on him for a lot of things around the house, like running to grab stuff or helping with the boys. You name it and he helps. He listens pretty well though his dad would argue that. But it's nice to have an almost completely independent child. He loves preschool and cannot wait to start kindergarten. He knows all of this letters and their sounds and can write most of them. He has recently started to sound out words and also is learning how to spell. He can do math on his fingers though he doesn't know its math. He loves to sing and make up songs. He loves church, school, being outside, wrestling with his dad and all things physical I love having him in our home and cannot imagine my life without him.

This is what life is all about. 

I love these two so much. They are a joy to be around and I'm grateful that I get to be their mother!

Happy birthday, boys!

Brothers

There are days when having three boys is really hard.

But there are more days that make it awesome! 

Like today. Totally awesome. 

Helicopter Tour!

After two and a half months we were finally able to go on the helicopter tour for Scott's birthday. It was canceled due to rain in November and this was the soonest we could work it out. I was pretty nervous but it turns out it was really fun and I quite enjoy flying. The views were amazing and it was awesome flying over the city and looking at the skyline and all the humongous houses. Happy birthday sweetheart I love you more than you know, really. I'm grateful that I was able to go on this adventure with you.

 The edge of the gigantic houses. Directly behind them in nothing but desert for miles. 

 The desert.

 The red rock mountains truly are magnificent. The coolest part about this tour is that it was on our side of town. These mountains are literally right behind us, miles behind us, but we still see them every day driving to our house. So it was awesome to see them up close. Really up close. Closer than I expected to be.

 We went through this gorge. It was awesome. 

It was a fun morning and I can't wait to do another helicopter tour! 

We're Happy!

We're happy because...

Not so little boys still fall asleep in mom's arms. 

Our home is coming together.

Cache's teeth are finally coming through. Not happy about the process, but excited this little guy is getting his molars.

 

Tayden still loves his legos. 

And last but not least...we are happy because, 

God saved the most beautiful sunsets for Nevada. 

Because I want to remember...

...The one time I was putting the boys to bed and Tayden was having a particularly rough time going to sleep. After hitting his Jesus picture over and over, I went in and explained why act nicely towards Jesus' picture and told him how much I loved our Savior and he said to me, "But I HATE Jesus!" In the tired and no more patience moment, hearing those words come from my sons mouth drove me to tears. I looked at him with tears streaming down my face and calmly said, "Okay. But I love him, so much. And I won't let you know act that way towards him." I took down the picture and left the room. Moments later, he called me in his room and told me, "Mom. I'm sorry. I don't hate Jesus. I love him too. Can I have his picture back?" Before I brought the picture back, we decided it would be a good idea to say a prayer and apologize for the mean words. His prayer was so pure and simple. He told Heavenly Father sorry for acting that way and saying those hurtful words. He expressed his love for Jesus Christ with the purity only a child has. I hung up the picture back up and climbed in his bed. He fell asleep in my arms and I held that sweet sleeping child for an hour pondering the lessons I had learned from that experience.

...The time we went to our neighbors house for dinner. They offered us wine and my sweet husband gracefully declined. They insisted that we needed something to drink. Scott, explained to them what we believe and why we believe it. It was like being a fly on the wall and watching him as a young missionary. He explained a few things that we believe and the word of wisdom that we follow. I fell in love with him all over in that moment. He is one of the strongest spirits I know.

...The time I was preparing my lesson on fore ordination and was reading about the Council in Heaven and who was there. I read D&C 138:39 that says, "And our glorious Mother Eve, [was there] with many of her faithful daughters who had lived through the ages and worshiped the true and living God." And I was overtaken with the spirit testifying to me that I was a faithful daughter of Eve. That my womanhood is of importance and significance and I am numbered among the faithful. It gave me more strength and courage that any other scripture to this date.

I want to remember this small events that had a great impact. And I want my posterity to know about them too. 

Photo Fun

Holy Cow! I full week since I last blogged. Sorry Grandma(s) and Grandpa(s). This week has mostly been getting back to normal. All the visitors have left, Scott is back to his regular shift, the boys started school again and I'm back to own. Its nice getting back to our regular schedule, but we miss the fun of everything else. So now, when we need a good pick me up laugh, we turn to our new iPad (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Mennear). It has a photobooth with lots of different camera tricks. It keeps us entertained for hours. 

And every now and then we take a normal picture. 

Here's to getting back into the swing of things and new year. 

I promise I'll post more this week. 

Grandma Mennear

Scotts parents left early Sunday morning. When we got home from church we had a visitor sitting on our couch, my mom. She has a friend who has a sister that lives here, so they carpooled down here and stayed for a couple days. The kids were so surprised! They had a full week of grandma(s) and a grandpa. How lucky are they? And me! Super lucky!

I didn't take any pictures while she was here, but we had a blast. We spent lots of time on the floor playing with the kids, going on lots of bike rides, a trip to lunch and a few hours of Mom and Stacey time. She even let Scott and I enjoy a movie date while she was here. It was awesome. 

Having her (and Scott's parents) here and time to ponder the birth of our Savior made me think about just how blessed I am. Sometimes I get caught up in everyone else. I get caught up in what they have-- Their big homes, their new job opportunities, their expanding baby bellies, dinners with their husbands and so on and so on. I have to force myself to concentrate on me and my family and our current situation. Its in those moments of frustration and heartache that I see the hand of the Lord in my life. I am blessed. 

We live in an amazing community surrounded by the most wonderful people. 

Scott has a job that provides for the family.

My boys are healthy. And smart.

We live in a beautiful home that provides safety.

My new calling as Gospel Doctrine teacher teaches me so much.

We have the spirit in our home.

Tayden is learning to read and spell.

The kids know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love them.

We have two cars.

Cache is sleeping through the night and napping great.

We enjoy modern technology like skype and facetime.

Our families love us.

Beckett is learning to love nursery.

I like where I live.

The desert is beautiful.

The church is true.

I am where I am for a reason. 

 My situation is unique to me as yours is to you. The plan Heavenly Father has for us is tailored for the Packard family and even when its foggy and I can't see it--its still there. And one day the fog will lift and I will be eternally grateful that His hand shaped and molded my path. 

We are so blessed.