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. 

Grandma and Grandpa Packard Visit

I always say that late gifts are the best kind of gifts. This rang true this year as we received on of the best gifts the day after Christmas. Grandma and Grandpa Packard came to see us for a few days. The boys had no idea they were coming and were so excited to see them at the airport, rather than the 'friend of a friend' I had lied to them about. We didn't do too much the first two days they were here, but hung out and enjoyed good company and great conversation. The boys loved having the extra attention and were so good while they were here. Cache was a little cranky, but I finally figured out he is working on 3 new teeth and while some meds in his system he was a brand new boy.

On Saturday, we had a super fun day. We went fishing, but didn't have any luck. All the birds were eating the fish and Tayden was heart broken, but nothing a little snowball fight couldn't fix! Then we watched Dad fly his airplane for a few minutes before it crashed and broke and then set off to dinner. 

It was a nice visit and so wonderful having them in our home. I can see why Scott turned out so amazing, he had some pretty stellar examples.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa.

We love you more than you know! 

Christmas Eve and Day

Christmas was great this year. We were so blessed to have Scott home with us on Christmas eve this year. Since we stayed home in Las Vegas, we decided to plan a full day of Christmas fun. 

We started the morning out baking sugar cookies for Santa. The boys loved helping and picking out the cookie cutter shapes. I tried to steer them towards Christmas theme shapes, but they picked letters and dinosaurs and ghosts and bones and whatever else their hearts desired. They turned out perfectly! 

Before we ventured out for a few last minute things, we stayed home and played for a little bit. I had to take some pictures of Cache playing. After watching his brothers, he really gets the concept of pretend play. Its so fun to watch him.

He fell on the side walk the other day and scraped up his little nose. 

  We had planned to buy some snowballs from a local snow cone shack, but when we pulled up they had closed for the day. Luckily, we hadn't told the boys about it yet, so they weren't near as disappointed as Mom and Dad. We'll have to save the snowball fight for later!

After some yummy Teriyaki Madness for dinner, we came back home and decorated cookies. The kids loved it! Beckett was shoving things in his mouth just as fast as he could and Tayden enjoyed taking the time to make them look nice. At the end, I let them pick one to eat. Tayden picked his fish, but ended up putting it back because it was just too beautiful eat! 

Christmas morning couldn't come fast enough. We wrapped the stair case with wrapping paper to prevent them from going downstairs without us knowing.  Tayden came in at 4:12, rather angry about the booby trap, and demanded to go downstairs to see if Santa had come. I told him he had to wait a little longer and pulled him to bed with me. We woke up around 7:00 and headed down to start the day. 

We unwrapped our gifts from Santa, had some breakfast and then started on the rest. We took a little intermission to Skype with Scotts little brother, Matthew, who is serving a mission in South Africa. It was so great to see him for a minute and be able to tell him we love him. We are constantly talking to the boys about Uncle Matt being a missionary and it was really cool for them to see him in the act. 

One perk about living in Las Vegas during the winter is the lack of winter. The boys got new bikes and we took them out for a spin this afternoon. Tayden had a garage sale bike that was pretty hard to ride, so he was happy to have a smooth sailing bike that he could take as fast as he wanted. He was in little boy heaven. This was Becketts first time on a bike and he did surprisingly well. It took him a few minutes, but he got the pedal motion down and loved doing what his big brother was doing. 

Scott also got a fun new toy from Santa. A remote control airplane. He took it out to show the boys how it could fly and immediately got it stuck on our roof. After that, he took it out the the dirt field behind our house and flew it for a little bit while we watched. It was fun and Cache loved it the most. He watched and oooohhhed and aaahhhed the whole time.

We ended the day playing with toys and building with legos. When we were staying at my parents, my dad introduced Tayden to legos and he has wanted them ever since. He played a good portion of the afternoon with his legos and is unbelievable good at building things with them. Actual things like rockets and airplanes. It kind of breaks my heart watching him graduate to big kid toys, but makes me beam with pride all at once. 

 Taking a picture of each other.

 Scott got in on the building too. It's fun watching these two play together.

His finished product was this rocket ship, complete with bunks for his guys too sleep on. Not bad for a first timer. 

It was a great day with my family. I loved being able to spend it together and enjoy each other in our new home. I am grateful for this season and the love and joy it brings into our home. As I ponder the gift of our Savior and the gift of my family I can't help but be overwhelmed with emotion. I am so grateful!

Merry Christmas everyone.

Hope your day was as wonderful as ours.