Beckett is FIVE

Our sweet Beckett boy turned five today. It was a great day with a fun start--matching sweaters from my mom for the boys. Aren't they the most handsome kids you have every seen. 

Beckett wanted his picture by the snow and since its his birthday, that's what he got.

And Kyle only holds still if he is eating...

Or I am holding him. 

I wanted a nice picture of the boys in their matching church attire, but that is much easier said than done. I love these crazy boys and their fun personalities. I'll take the funny out takes, those are my favorite anyway. 

I literally took about 14 pictures just like these. 

When we got home from church, we let the birthday fun begin. First up on the list was decorate the cake. Considering all the decorations I order online are stuck back east with the snow storm and I had to come up with a power ranger cake on the fly, I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. 

And B was happy with it and that is all that matters. 

We threw Beckett a little family party. It is so fun being close to everyone so we can celebrate together. We had some dinner and got to the presents. Beckett had been waiting all day to open his gifts and he was beyond excited when the time finally arrived. 

I love this picture of Beckett and his mini-me Kyle. They look identical. Its like a blast from the past and a glimpse into the future all at once. 

Unfortunately, the cake was a bit of a miss. I had made it before with success, but tonight, it was a little awful. Entirely to rich and the chocolate chips I used tonight just seemed off. Cooking for people makes me completely nervous and it always shows in the finished product. I am desperate to learn how to cook and bake, but I have a long journey ahead of me. Sadly, I am taking my whole family...extended and all...with me. But, that is for a post of its own.

Back to the party. Scott set up a fun blow dart game. It was a hit and everyone had fun shooting the balloons for points. No surprise that Scott won. 

This is what all our pictures of Kyle look like these days. A little blurry. This boy is on the move. 

Then, of course, we needed a picture of everyone that came with the birthday boy. 

Grandma and Grandpa Packard.

Aunt Ashley.

Jeff, Sharlee and Aimslee.

Uncle Matt.

Mom and Dad. 

Grandma and Grandpa Mennear.

It was a great party and Beckett felt totally loved. It was great for him to have a day completely about him. As one of the middle boys, I think sometimes he is overlooked. Or the attention he gets is about his speech, or his quick tempered emotions or his red hair. But today, it was just him and all his great qualities. Which are about a million. I love this Beckett boy with my whole heart. He is the kindest little boy with the biggest heart. He is the first to give his things to his brothers to make them happy, no matter how hard or how disappointing to him. He is naturally good and loving. I can't count how many times a day I get random hugs and kisses and well wishes from Beckett. He is smart. Surprisingly enough, he has turned out to love school. He is doing simple math in adding and subtracting to ten. He is interested in letters, writing and numbers, and works incredibly hard at his speech. This boy loves power rangers and has an wonderful imagination. He likes to exercise and make his body strong. He is a good eater and our best sleeper. He doesn't like to help much and feels like he has to everything by himself, until I remind that families work together and he changes his tune. Beckett sees the world in such a sweet and innocent way. He sees the best and wants to help people whenever he can. He brings and infinite amount of joy to our family. I cannot tell you the amount of love I have for Beckett. 

Happy Birthday, my sweet sweet child. 

Nurfing

Scotts little brother, Matthew, just started school at BYU-I. After two years in South Africa, we thought we take advantage of his proximity and invite him to dinner. It was fun having him in our home for the evening and the boys talked his ears off. After dinner, a nerf war broke out...not sure why I am surprised.

 The boys opted to be on Matt's team and unfortunately got the stairs and basement bunker.

Cache took the game seriously and decked out in protective wear. The red socks are the big brothers baseball socks. They went clear up to his underwear. 

Scott was prepared too. Pumpkin helmet. 

And proof that Ky and I were there. We were the official journalists. 

It was a fun way to end the weekend. 

I think we'll like have Matt around. 

Sho Shnowy

Today has not stopped snowing. Not even for a minute. I decided to give Scott a break and shovel for him.

Oddly enough, I am not hating our first Ammon winter. 

But, I'll let Scott keep the shoveling gig. 

Know better

I should know better than to bake during a nerf war.

Such is life with boys. 

Kyle Nine Month and Sledding

Kyle is officially nine months old as of yesterday. This little boy brings us joy beyond compare. We love him with our whole hearts. He is the greatest blessing. 

At nine months baby Ky:

-Is a major major mamas boy. I can't leave the room without him crying. But is totally happy if I'm holding him.

-Is a crawling machine.

-Has started to cruise.

-Can wave.

-Moves your hand or anything else in his way.

-Loves his brothers.

-Gives the sweetest kisses.

-Has a strong awareness of his surroundings.

-Has four teeth.

-Still a big boy. Wears mostly 12-18 month clothes.

-Has red hair.

-Loves to drop things so we can pick them up.

-Is on a good schedule and a pretty good napper.

-Starting to sleep better at night.

-Is tough. He puts up with a lot of rough housing from his brothers.

-Has us all in constant awe.

To celebrate his nine month mark, we went sledding. Okay, not really to celebrate, more because we had been promising the boys for a few days. So we bundled up and braved the cold.   

There is a little hill at a local high school not far from us, so we decided to try it out. The boys had a blast. And to be honest, so did the mom and dad. 

We went during nap so Kyle could sleep in the warm car. It worked out pretty perfectly. 

Cache didn't really feel like walking up the hill. 

And Beckett didn't really feel like taking a family picture with us. You can kind of see him behind Scotts arm. 

Today, we had more reasons for celebrating. I gave the boys hair cuts. Tayden was pretty particular about his hair. He always asks for it long on top and I always tell him no, but I consented this time. It's pretty long, but he loves it. And if hes happy, I'm happy. 

I tried to get a good picture of all the handsome before church, but I don't know who I thought I was kidding. 

I'll take all their silliness. 

 But today, the first reason we celebrated -- Cache had his first day as a Sunbeam! He loved big kid Primary and did fairly well. Scott and I teach primary, so it was a total pleasure watching him the first day. After learning a song about listening to the Savior with your heart he ran up to the song leader and in a quiet(ish) whisper and a his ear cupped he said, "I hear him! I hear Jesus!" It was the cutest thing. 

He was a little mad when they sang a welcome song to the new Sunbeams and they called him Cache, instead of Cache Thomas Packard.

But all in all he loved it. And I am so excited to have three kids in primary!

The other great thing about today, and perhaps my favorite, was listening to my sweet oldest boy bear his testimony for the first time. I was in the mothers lounge feeding Kyle and over the speaker I heard Tayden, in his sweet voice, earnest as ever bear a simple testimony. He knows the church is true. He knows if we are good and make good choices we can live with God again and be with our families forever. My heart burst with pride. I wish desperately I could have seen him, but I was so glad to hear it. The minute we heard his voice, Kyles head popped up and started looking around. He knew it was Tayden talking. We haven't pushed our kids to get up during Fast Sunday, so to know he did on his own free will, makes it all the more sweet. 

Beckett begged me to take this picture before bed and show everyone. I love this boy.

This weekend was great. 

I am so blessed. And so blessed to know it. 

New Year Blessings

2015 was a good year. Perhaps our greatest blessing came on the very last day. We accepted an offer on our home in Las Vegas. We have been praying our guts out to sell this home. We have fasted, prayed, pondered and looked for lessons to be learned for the last 3 months. And too honest, the longer the house sat, the thinner my faith become. It was frustrating, stressful and completely worrisome. But as the offer came, my heart knew our prayers had been answered. The offer is a solid offer and the end game is better than we had hoped for. I have not quit giving thanks since. We feel so incredibly blessed. 

We rang the new year in with a spontaneous party with our good friends  and neighbors. We are so lucky to have the Hansens across the street. We love them. We ate good food, chatted and played Mario cart. It was a fun evening. 

I had to steal Jodie's Instagram picture to document the night. 

I'm grateful for the year we have of health and blessings. I'm looking forward to the next.