Caleb, Audra, Luke and Ryan

Lukey turned 5!

2011-02-12T12:36:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it has been 5 years! The time has flown by! Luke is such a sweet, loving, tender hearted little boy and he brings so much spice to our days! (one day he told me while we were driving in Snowflake, that he just saw a hooker. I was a little concerned until I figured out that a hooker is kinda like Mater, a tow truck with a hook on it...i was relieved!)

Somethings we did for Lukes birthday while in the valley:

got to play on neighbors tractor, he even started it and let them control the throttle

I have no idea why this picture won't turn the right way.

Had a birthday party with his Cate cousins

Really excited that Leslie made him a how to tame your dragon cake!

Daddy's kind of party favors!

I didn't know when I bought it but moon sand is MESSY! but fun!

Luke really thought that the first morning he woke up 5 years old he could go to school (kindergarten)! Poor kiddo...has to wait a few months, good thing he has pre-school to keep him busy!

Halloween

2011-02-12T12:26:00.001-08:00

Halloween was crazy this year! The week before Caleb moved to Phoenix to start a new job and I was trying to pack our house all up in between all the things going on!

We took our usual Willis Farm trip to pick out pumpkins. And it never fails, the little one always gets a pie pumpkin!

I had the boys draw what they wanted to carve on the pumpkins.

Ryan was the cutest hunter I have ever seen (he was looking for 'wabbits')

Lukes dream came true and he got to be Iron man!

Train Park October

2011-02-12T12:09:00.000-08:00

There is a train park up in NW phoenix that Calebs mom always is talking about taking the kids to. So we went. It is just a bunch of retired guys that have this huge plot of land that they have model trains everywhere! They even have a few trians that are big enough for people to ride on (not as big as real trains though). They took us out for about a half hour ride all over their little park and it was so fun! They have little villages set up with barbies and toy animals, and each little place has its own theme it was really cute! And the boys LOVED it. Ryan always asks to go to the train park!

waiting patiently for our turn

just got off the train

funny signs all over the place

one of the model trains they had driving around

Loving watching the trains

Shooting (we do alot of this)

2011-02-12T12:02:00.001-08:00

Luke is getting pretty good at shooting with dad helping him

Ryan liked playing in the bullets

The damage Luke did to his box with my 10/.22

Packard Addition(s)

2011-02-12T11:25:00.000-08:00

In September we got 2 welcome additions to the Packard family! Cole got married and gained a daughter (Sascha)! We are so excited! Luke couldn't be happier that his best friend is now his cousin! (funny story though. Sascha told Luke that when her mom married Cole she wouldn't be Lukes friend anymore because they would be cousins!)

All the Packard Grandkids (the look between Luke and Egan worries me!)

Love that Blake is trying to catch Sadie! (while everyone else looks on helplessly)

Ryan was obsessed with the veil

Me and my newest sister in law! (ABOUT FREAKIN TIME TOO!)

And my hubby lookin hot as ever ;)

Taylor 5th ward Girls camp

2011-02-12T10:34:00.000-08:00

I got to go back to Vernon to go be a leader on the over night hike some of our wards girls needed to do. We had a blast! We about got flooded out with SOOO much rain but it made for some interesting games in the tent, (like ZZZZZZIP........BOOOOONG). What a fun bunch of girls!

After we got back to camp we went to Harris Cave (really a lava tube), and Thresa talked to them about how our lives would be as dark as the cave if we didn't have the light of Christ. It was neat.
The theme for camp was 'there's no place like home'. On our way back from the hike Theresa decided she was the scarecrow (maybe the lion?) and the girls started missing their makeup so we used some mud to freshen them up!

Packards Take over Brown Creek (picture overload)

2011-02-12T09:34:00.000-08:00

When I was little every summer we had the Flake family reunion at Brown Creek (by Vernon). We haven't been for YEARS but this year we decided to go camping the middle of July (monsoon season). It was SO much fun! All my brothers came with their kids and we spent a few days playing in the water, riding the horse and just hanging out. My boys LOVE to play in the dirt and water and with their cousins so it was a very sad day when everyone got packed up and left.

There was a lot of stick throwing for Arils
Ryan was a dirty kid, even though he was in the water more often than not

Brown Creek is a natural spring, we took a walk to the spring head (and got drenched on the way back)

One of the most beautiful places on earth I think!

Me and my boys, (caleb didn't come)

picture taken before everyone got there, missing Will & Carries bunch

I didn't have the heart to tell him that there were no fish in a natural spring :)

Uncle Orin was nice enough to give Luke a ride on Blue

This was a MAJOR accomplishment. Ryan was scared to death to go over the make shift bridge

there was lots of rock/stick throwing in the creek

We saw a few of these out there too

Swim Lessons

2011-01-05T20:18:00.000-08:00

Introducing our future Olympic swimmers! I was lucky enough to stand in line for 3 hours to sign these two up for swimming lessons! They sure had a good time.

It was really good for Luke. There were a couple of times I glanced over at his group and he was crying because they were pushing him out of his comfort zone but he bucked up and learned alot. He can't wait to get back in the pool and play, he shows me in the bathtub all the things he has learned!

Ryan was in the mom and tots group so I got to get in the pool with him and play. It was fun. They focus on getting to the wall with the little ones and floating. He LOVED jumping off the side of the pool and scoot along the side of the wall to the ladder and climbing out and jumping in again. On the last day of his class Caleb took an early lunch and came to play in the pool with Ryan and had alot of fun.

I loved the swimming lessons because they were right before nap time, and both kids would be so worn out from spending an hour in the water and i was lucky to make it home and get them out of swimming suites before they crashed!

two too cute boys!

2010-06-08T12:16:00.000-07:00

Tried to get some cute pictures of the boys for calebs fathers day present but my battery was really dead and Ryan was grouchy! But I did get a couple of them....

Here Ryan is Ticked....

This is his grouchy face (and if anyone has a cuter grouchy face I haven't seen it!)

This is Lukes idea of the perfect picture, he loves to pose for a picture!

Rock Hounds

2010-06-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

We had a nice picnic with some pretty fun company while helping them look for 'pretty rocks'. The boys had a great time and so did the dogs, so long as someone kept throwing the stick in the water!

Noftsger Hill Inn & Happy 8 years to us!

2010-06-08T10:08:00.000-07:00

For our anniversary we found this cute bed and breakfast in globe (of all places!) It used to be an academy in the early 1900's I believe and it was so neat! We slept in one of the class rooms and they all have chalk boards still in them and people write on them when they stay in that room it was really neat! And in the morning we had the most delicious breakfast EVER! I totally want to go back and see what all the other rooms look like!

I think our bedroom (not including the bathroom) is bigger than our whole house!

Gila Valley Temple open house

2010-06-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to get to go see the temple open house 2 times! The boys and I went with my parents and then Caleb and I went down for our anniversary to go see it.

We got stopped for blasting or something both times! But Luke and grandpa didn't mind! Not sure what they were looking at but it was cute.

Me and my boys in front of the temple

This is what I LOVE about traveling with Grandma! She knows how to keep boys happy for the long drive!

Easter

2010-06-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

The easter bunny stopped by our house this year. He also stopped by grandmas house too and so between conference sessions all the grand kids got to find them (and the easter bunny hides them HARD at grandmas!)

This was a cleaver idea that I did NOT come up with but I thought it was too cute not to try. The night before easter we planted some special jellybeans and in the morning these easter lollipops had sprouted! Luke was pretty impressed ;)

Packard Grandkid Pictures

2010-04-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

Ok so this is the second time we have had the very talented Tiana Hunt come and take pictures, once was for our family pictures when Ryan was just tiny and now that Orin is going to be heading off to Idaho for school soon my mom wanted pictures. And this is what we got with 10 kids! And let me tell you it was NOT easy! It was freezing cold,the day before and the day after were atleast 10 degrees warmer!

This was the favorite

can you find 10 cuter kids out there?

Hide and seek, can you see all 10?

tallest to smallest!

Riley, Tyrel, Aften, Egan, Luke, Paydon, Blake, Ali, Ryan and Sadie

I have Tianas number if anyone is interested! She is so much fun to work with and SO affordable!

Cate Cousins

2010-04-06T14:00:00.001-07:00

It seems like we havent been to the valley in forever and then we go like 3 times in 6 weeks! Crazy! The boys sure had fun getting to play with some of their cousins.

Layton, Ryan, Luke, Abby

(calebs older bros kids)

Ryan and Grandma Cate

cheezy smile!

Ryan and Daniel

(calebs cousins little boy. I TRIED to smuggle him home but she wouldn't let me)

Ryan and Danny

2 of the lovingest boys i have ever seen!

While we were there the last time we went to the Game and Fish Expo. It was really cool and I forgot to get my camera out of the car dang it! But while we were there the boys got to pet an 19 foot python, (yes I touched it and GROSS!) and they also got to pet an alligator! It was SO awesome! I loved touching it I had no idea it would feel like it did.

We had planed to go see the easter pagent but found out it was only in spanish that weekend, bummer. So we just spent time with Calebs parents and a few friends who happened to be visiting. It was good to visit with old friends and we got to go to the airport to pick up a friend of Calebs dads who I had never met but he was awesome and had a great time with my boys (and watching airplanes!)

I also had some time to realize that either I am the crappiest mom on the face of the earth, or that it is really easy to over look the sweet simple things in life and dwell on clean house or uneaten food. I hope I always can appreciate the cute little boys I have and never let a day go by that I don't take the time to watch them play, be silly, make a mess and just be BOYS!

St. Patricks Day

2010-04-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, as I have before, I love to dress up my boys! And I love to do silly things to make memories with them. Like green eggs and sausage (we didn't have any ham!)

And green mashed potatoes and corned beef (YUM!)

I have no picture of green anything for dinner because some husband, who shall remain nameless, got tired of green food.....and hid the green food coloring. I was not happy.

Consolidation

2010-03-10T14:20:00.000-08:00

Ok so Snowflake has wanted to consolidate with Taylor for a while now, not sure why. The flyer I got in the mail talked about how much Snowflake wanted to help Taylor out and blah blah blah, they are such good helpful loving people....yeah so I was wondering why I was seeing all these signs all over Taylor saying no to consolidation! So asked a couple people, one of which is my VERY outspoken land lord...Now why doesn't Taylor want this 'help' that is being thrown at them? Kinda wierd if you ask me....I smell a rat, not sure what it is, but something is going unsaid cause last I heard last night was that the count in taylor was 900 + for not consolidating and 200 something to consolidate! (total reverse in Snowflake). Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Snowflake but I tell you what, the politics in Snowflake would be looking a good tar and feathering in the face if the pioneers who settled this valley were here to witness this mess! But, I am with Taylor on the vote for this, and I am SO glad it didn't go through. I think we are doing just fine being neighbors and sharing what needs to be shared. My thoughts on life.....

fun in the snow

2010-02-23T12:32:00.000-08:00

She is a dumb dog but atleast we found something she is good for!

poor ryan had the coldest hands!

Bikers Soar for Wildlife

2010-02-23T12:10:00.000-08:00

This year the bike run was on Valentines day and we were lucky enough to be able to make the trip to the valley so Caleb could make the run! He has been able to ride all but the first year but we still attended, he just didn't have a bike! It is a lot of fun, and One day, I would really like to make the run with him, It is just hard because we have 2 boys and it is on a sunday so thats alot of work for someone! Anyway, they had a blast it was 80 degrees and BEAUTIFUL!

getting ready to leave the house....boys wanted to go too!

Caleb and his Dad

My Valentine and me, this was our valentines date apparently

One of the vendors was nice enough to give Ryan one of her balloons, it kept him busy for quite a while until he laid it on the rocks and laid on top of it and it poped!

Ryan and his Cousin Abby, cute little girl!

I was such a slacker with the camera this trip, I got to go clear over to queen creek to visit a friend it was so much fun to get to see her and her sweet kiddos who we haven't seen since last year when we came for the bike run!

I should probably stop doing that because it makes me miss her so much after I leave!

Who doesn't LOVE a wood burning stove?!?!

2010-02-23T11:48:00.000-08:00

Lady dog LOVES the stove, she will lay in front of it and get so hot she is panting but won't move...she is a smart one ;)

In our house this is the ONLY sorce of heat. Its actually kinda nice, we don't have any utilities besides electricity and we can keep the house as warm as we want!

both boys LOVE to help get the fire going. Here is ryan blowing the fire

and these are the bellows that Caleb made. He is pretty handy, I'm thinkin about keeping him around :)

Cute little story about the artwork on the bellows. Caleb had to draw them out on the wood before he cut it and while he went to go get his saw Luke and Ryan decided that since Daddy drew on the wood, they had to do what he did too! Daddy wasn't too happy but to this day he has not sanded it down or painted it. I think it gives them character!

Oh! And with a wood stove comes the tremendous blessing of a CHAINSAW! Caleb has wanted one for a while, even thought he thought it was super funny when we first moved up here he would hear people bragging about how big their saws were and how much wood their truck can carry.....now he is one of them! We were really blessed to get a really good deal on this saw and have gotten free wood cutting permits for ceder (which lots of people don't like to burn but I LOVE IT! It smells so good!) And we have had lots of 'memories' going out cutting wood already!

Oh and this is for the last post, both boys love the bed in the kitchen!

The Cates move to TAYLOR?!?!!!

2010-02-23T10:08:00.000-08:00

For Christmas (or rather new years) I got the best thing EVER! Some friends of my parents have a little house known as 'the cabin' that they rent out to family and friends. It just so happened that Caleb was working on cleaning up a fire in the home of the guy that was renting the cabin so we called and asked if they had anyone lined up for it after he moved out and lucky for us there wasn't! He had actually already moved out when we had called about it but hadn't told the owners yet....So for new years we got to move in! It is such a cute little house. Its only one bedroom but that one bedroom is HUGE! Anyway, we love it so much! We really appreciated the friends that opened their home to us for a couple of months while we figured out what we were doing after our house sold but it is REALLY nice to have our own space, our own schedual and our own dogs to deal with! No more dog poop in the house!

The side of the house, the window you see is the kitchen the part by the ladder is the living room and bathroom

This is the backyard. Luke is in LOVE with the 'treehouse with no tree'

our living room as you walk into the house....as you can see with the toys all over the floor, it is very lived in!

Kitchen, and yes you can see Ryan sleeps in the kitchen. His bed was too big to fit through the door of the bedroom and we were just too tired to take it apart and put it back together so there it has stayed.....but he actually loves it. When I cook dinner he wants in his bed so he can watch and when I cook breakfast in the morning he just rolls around in his bed and jabbers at me!

The view from my kitchen sink, not so fond of the laundry in the kitchen but it works!

Another view from my kitchen sink.....little stinker :)

Christmas tree '09

2010-02-10T11:52:00.000-08:00

Since Lukes birthday is so close to christmas we usually try to go get a christmas tree for his birthday but it was on sunday this year so we met up with calebs parents to get their tree too! Its always fun to go out in the forest and play!

Grandma & Grandpa Cate with their tree

This one is PERFECT! he says now we just need it to grow about 3 feet for next year!

Helping Daddy cut the tree!

Ryno is ready to be done! Too much falling down in the snow makes COLD hands!

Happy Family

Wouldn't you know it, the only picture in which everyone is looking at the camera is the one that Luke is wearing calebs moms goofy hat! Ahhhh memories!

Santa Visit

2009-12-29T12:14:00.000-08:00

This year my moms ward had a christmas party and Santa came! We went to see him and I couldn't believe how focused Luke was! He was so cute, I could go off and visit with people and look back and was still in line and being good! I was really exciting for him to see Santa, this year he was finally understanding what was going on. So he sat on his lap and told him what he wanted for Christmas and was bouncing off the walls he was so excited!

Ryan on the other hand was LESS than excited to see the man...he wanted nothing to do with him and only wanted to look from a distance and pat his leg...it was funny.

A 4 year old in the house!

2009-12-13T20:21:00.000-08:00

4 years ago as of about 4:27 this morning, our sweet lukey was born! He was as stuborn then as he is now! He is a ball of fire and we can't imagine our lives without him! He is such a sweet boy, full of imagination and very spirited. I can't believe he is 4 already, it seems like it went by too fast, soon he will be going to school and making friends and I will just be his mom, not his best bud anymore ( i hope it never happens but I'm preparing myself!)

For lukes birthday cake has been telling me for about a month that he wanted a red dinosaur cake, so I did my best and I think it turned out alright, but I didn't get a good picture of it. And for his birthday dinner he wanted Steak and potatoes with little trees (brocoli).

Happy Birthday to my Sweet, loving Lukey!

I have a confession to make.........

2009-11-08T17:30:00.000-08:00

I LOVE to dress my boys the same! Caleb is constantly telling me it is SOOO lame but I think they are so handsome and its kinda cute right now....It will stop....someday....when they make me, but as for now I am the mom! When he starts dressing them, he can do what he wants!

Halloween.........better late than never right!

2009-11-08T17:21:00.001-08:00

Luke Skywalker
Ryan the Ewok
Haylie as Darth Vader

Ryan didn't make it throgh the Bashas trick or treat

Isn't he a cute Ewok? I loved it! And he figured out the trunk or treat pretty fast!

Pumpkins!

2009-11-08T17:09:00.001-08:00

We started with these.......

made this,

and this,

and took a try at this (caleb has been BEGGING for a pie from the pumpkin, not the can) It really wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, but its still easier to open the can. Caleb said that there wasn't much difference in taste but when I made pumpkin rolls out of it, they were fluffier than the canned pumpkin!

BTW, one pie pumpkin made 2 pies and 3 pumpkin rolls! Can you believe it!

SNOW!

2009-11-08T17:02:00.001-08:00

Can you believe we woke up to this the week of Halloween!?!

It was so crazy cold and the kids loved to be it in.....

for like 5 minutes, until he got cold!

Birthday

2009-11-08T16:58:00.001-08:00

Every year Caleb makes me a birthday cake! This year it was chocolate with cherries and whipped cream between the layers....YUMMY!

Here is Ryan enjoing the pizza and rootbeer

Living the High Life!

2009-11-08T16:52:00.001-08:00

We had the opportunity to go to flagstaff where caleb had been working and stay in a motel room....a first for my boys! Luke LOVED it! It was so fun to watch him in his excitement, he was so silly!

what a cute boy he found in the mirror!

corn maze and pumpkin patch

2009-10-10T19:18:00.001-07:00

Today was the harvest festival, yay! I love this time of year, I do think that October is the best month! We had lots of fun, we can't wait for the haunted maze later this month! fun fun fun!

Primary Program

2009-10-06T12:51:00.000-07:00

This year was Lukes first time to be in the Primary Program! We got his part about a month before and he had it down that day! It was 'Heavely Father has a plan for me!" I would ask him about a dozen times a day what his part was and he would spit it out like a pro :)

A couple weeks before the program he was picked to give a talk in primary and I was helping him and I couldn't get him to STOP saying his program part and just give his talk! It was cute.

The day before the program I got a little worried because they had a practice and he did NOT want to stay and practice, so I was afraid he wouldn't do it in sacrament meeting. But when the sacrament got over he marched up there like a big boy (i started to tear up a little) and he was the second one on the line up and he stood up and said his part like a Champion! I was so proud! I was a little more teary then, but my heart was so full! I really feel like that was a good part for him because with all that has happened in our lives lately just when I was at my breaking point he would tell me 'Heavely father has a plan for me huh mom" It was so sweet! I am so grateful for primary and for the AWESOME teacher he has in sunbeams, she is amazing and totally picks up the slack for me being such a slacker mom! He is such a sweet boy and I'm so lucky to have my Lukey! (you gotta love Rynos tie too right!)

2009-09-08T12:55:00.000-07:00

See this little boy?

He really knows how to push the limit, but at the same time, he MELTS my heart!

Story behind this picture:

There is a sweet little 9 year old girl in our ward who is currently in Phx Childrens Hospitle with ovarian cancer. They removed a 12 pound tumor. We have been fasting, and praying and thinking an awful lot about this sweet girl and her sweet family.

Well last night I was at the store and ran into a friend and we started talking. Well Luke kept finding things to put in the cart that he thought we needed and I would tell him no and he would take them and put them back, until he came to me with this Sierra Mist. I told him we were not going to buy it but he wouldn't budge, I kept telling him to go put it back and he came up to me and told me,

"there is a girl in primary that is very sick and she needs this!"

I wasn't sure what kind of little care packages the primary has made but I know they have been making card and have started a quilt that everyone is signing but I wasn't sure what Sierra Mist had to do with this. So I told him we would talk to the primary president and see what they needed, and this little boy would NOT take no for an answer on this! He just hauled that soda all over the store because Halli needs it! I don't know if she dose or doesn't but maybe this is a lesson I needed to be taught. Maybe my sweet little boy is trying to learn service or is thinking of others. so we bought the soda if she ends up getting to come home this week like they plan on, then he can take her that soda and feel good because he wanted to help someone get better!

Camping (serious picture overload warning!)

2009-08-24T07:46:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning Calebs boss told him they were slow on work so to finish up the morning and come back on monday, so we decided to go camping! We actually haven't been at all this year and didn't go last year either! I can't believe it! I think I had gotten burnt out because camping is usually when we are deer or elk hunting so its October-December camping and its COLD so its not really that much fun cause you wake up so freakin early its miserable! Anyway, the boys had alot of fun. Ryan couldn't have been happier than he was playing in the dirt (less ants and bees would have been nice) and we brought Lukes BB gun and his bow and he had a blast shooting the stump. It was fun to just get away for a couple of days with the boys.

It is so cute how many times I catch Luke trying to do exactly what Caleb is doing

Luke in his element

this cracked me up....

starting him out young

Ryan would not stay out of the fire pit while Caleb was getting it ready......

and kept wanting to climb in while a fire was there!
soooooo much help!

Couldn't wait to get inside!

our little campsite

Greed?!?

2009-07-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

Ok so on Tuesday we got an offer for our house. It was a real crappy offer. It wasn't even going to pay off our mortgage, so we have to counter with $5,000 just to break even. Anyway, I just don't know what to do because this guy is a very well known member of the community and is paying cash! but that still doesn't change the fact that we have to be able to pay the house off and pay the realtors and closing costs.

So this is the delema. Caleb and I can not see eye to eye on this. We have been praying to sell our house. And now that we have the chance to (assuming he accepts the offer) Caleb is wanting to counter with 10,000 over what he offered us. To me, in this market and taking into account that we have NEVER recieved an offer and the year mark is coming up, I think we should feel lucky and like our prayers have been answered to break even on this deal! I am scared that if we come back with too high of a counter then he will walk because this is a serious buyers market if I have EVER seen one! I just don't want to offend God by saying 'thanks for answering our prayers but we want more money' I keep telling Caleb, 'we didn't pray to be rich! We just prayed to sell our house so that we can be together as a family and now we have been given that opportunity'!

Does anyone else agree with me? Or am I crazy?

random boy-ness at our house!

2009-07-10T12:36:00.000-07:00

Ryan offically loves horses,
and hats, any hat will do

I think........

its going to.........

runin the family!

(don't you love calebs hat? its really lukes bob the builder hat. I guess daddy misses his orange hard hat from the papermill)

Luke learned how to ride with no training wheels! I can't believe it! 3 year olds shouldn't have training wheels taken off! But his cousins do and he had been trying to ride their bikes so we took him to the park and now, I can't ever find him!!

(unless the bike is tied to the tree...hee hee hee)

Ryan likes bikes too

and mud....100% boy, just like his brother

4th of July

2009-07-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

We were convinced last year that Holbrook (yes holbrook, az) has the best fireworks! It is true, you have to go watch them some time!

Last year Ryan was a month old when we watched fireworks so he slept in the car but this year he was HILLARIOUS! Cute kid, he loved them!

With all the busy day, Luke got no nap and fell asleep on the way to Holbrook so this is how he watched the fireworks...and telling me he was cold and wanted to go home. Oh how different 2 boys can be :)

A new baby to love

2009-06-28T18:46:00.000-07:00

Meet my newest, and super cute niece!

Sadie Rose Packard

June 28

7lbs 7 ounces

20 inches long!

And freakin adorable!

moving out

2009-06-15T07:35:00.001-07:00

So Caleb left yesterday to start a new job in Phoenix, it was sad. But what was funny is this

notice the bow strapped on too...lol

I used to joke that I was a single mom because with 12 hour shift work Caleb wasn't home much, so I think I should have not joked about it because now I AM a single mom! I was actually told that I am being dumped by the elders quorm in our ward and am now the property of the High Priests as a single women/widow! LOL

Anyway, so now the little boys and I are just hanging out...i really with our house would sell! Its the cheapest on the market right now (even mobil home are listed for more than my house, weird)....so anyway please pray for us to sell this beast!

1 year, and shots

2009-06-09T08:02:00.000-07:00

I took Ryan to his well child check up yesterday and my suspisions were confirmed......he is yet another P-E-R-F-E-C-T litte boy!

His stats:
1 year old
30 inches tall (48%)
24 pounds (54%)

Still not walking, but after having Luke walk at 9 months I have no complaints! He is as happy as a baby boy can be and we LOVE having him in our home! He got 2 shots and he only fussed for a minute and then he was fine! It must be those super chubbilicious legs that I am so fond of!

The winds of change!

2009-06-08T14:29:00.001-07:00

Ok, it is official! I have cried and tried all that I can to prevent it but.....we are changing

this for this

down town for down town

job for job

(maybe) but forsure...

Tuesday is Calebs last day of work at Catalyst paper (formarly known as Abibiti)

Friday morning he came home from work with a copy of the 'Mill Street News' and threw it on the bed and told me to read it, and that he was putting his 2 week notice in that day. I will share with you what I read. This comes from John McKee who is THE general manager for the Snowflake Mill.

(i'm gonna quote most of it for you, the important parts anyway :))

"Two weeks ago, One of our competitors made a drmatic change i the pricing of newsprint. Newsprint had been selling for about $550/tonne until Boise Deridder announced a price drop to $430/tonne -- delivered (fyi.....boise is a virgin fiber papermill where as snowflake is recycled fiber....virgin fiber is WAY better). That sales price is much less than it costs us toeven mae ur product. And we are certain that $430/tonne is a lot lower price than it costs to make newsprint as well. So what is going on? Boise is trying to put mills like ours out of business, and they are getting help from the federal government to do it. They are using a tax credit loophole availableto paper mills that make their pulp from digesting wood chips like we used to do. These chemical pulp millsburn a material that is made when you pulp the wood known as 'black liquor'. Pulp mills have always burned their black liquor to generate steam to run the mill, but now they are using a loophole in a transportation bill to claim that they should get a credit for relacing fossil fuels, like oil and diesel fuel, with biofuels."

Now for the numbers! This makes me sick! This credit was only expected to cost the government $61 million/year. There are currently 30 paper producing companys that are claiming this credit and it is estimated they have paid out between $6.6 billion to $10 billion! One paper company has already reported $540 million in the first quarter of 2009 and plan on collecting $1.27 billion by the end of the year!

So, what this means is, the Snowflake paper mill is going under F A S T! Already they are planing on 20 days of downtime in July! So this is the reason for our change. As much as I would LOVE to stay in Snowflake, it isn't going to happen. It has taken some time and fasting and many prayers and even more tears (mine and my moms) but I know that this is what we need to do. Caleb is a wonderful husband and father and I know it breaks his heart to take me away from my mommy :( but he is trying to take care of our family and provide for us the best he can. And if that means we have to move, then we will follow him across the world if we have to! People keep telling me that change is good, I know that it will be hard but no matter where we are we will be an eternal family and no loss of a job or crappy economy can change that! (you wouldn't believe how long it took me to open my eyes to that!)

But that is what our plans are as of now! NOW! If only we could sell our house! anyone??????

Ryan is 1!

2009-06-03T21:20:00.000-07:00

Yes I know! It went by so super fast! Ryan is the baby that mothers dream about. He has been such a blessing to our family. He is so sweet, mellow, cuddly, patient, and he is so lovable and loves to give kisses! I can't believe he is one already, he has been so much fun and while I would LOVE to keep him as a baby forever and ever, it is going to be fun to see what he has in store for us! Here are a few pictures of how he has changed.

Coming home from the hospitle

I love this one

Kaelee, the human bouncer :)

2 boys, (almost all of their sunday clothes match.....i love it.)

Our bumble bug (halloween)

1st birthday! didn't like the candle

but LOVED the cake!

my watermellon cake

Fence Painting!

2009-06-03T20:47:00.001-07:00

#1 fence painter
This is his handy work.....

and this....

Luke over heard me say to paint over the screws, so he went and painted ALL the screws

The child labor I enlisted. This will be the last time they say they are bored!

Mickelle, Jarom and Colton

Taking a much needed break for lunch, it was freakin hot today!

This one is for Julie :)

2009-06-02T21:08:00.000-07:00

So I think Ryan is my spiky hair boy! I just tought Luke looked so much better with his hair combed, and while Ryan does look handsome as ever with his hair combed, this haircut totally makes him pull off the spiked hair (ignore the oreo/dinner on his face!)

My baby got a hair cut

2009-05-30T19:15:00.000-07:00

Ryan has needed a hair cut for a while. So I went ahead and did it yesterday. I did it after 3 people at church told me he looked like he had an old man comb over! It was so soft and cute the way it waved and flipped up.....oh well, gone are the long wavey locks........

And now my baby boy looks like a big boy! It is crazy how much they grow up in the 10 minutes it takes to give them a hair cut! (yes it took me 10 minutes! I am not a professional and he is a very wiggly boy!)

Just Daddy's boys

2009-05-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

What can I say? Or do? j/k...

(Luke is not pointing the gun at Ryan, it is just the way I was standing when I took the picture)

Memorial Day

2009-05-28T11:53:00.000-07:00

Trapper Days is something we have started looking forward to at
our house! Luke is a huge fan of the Vintage tractor show, they are starting to get lots of cool tractors and things coming out.

This one is some sort of belt driven corn pick-er off-er. It takes all the corn off of a corn cob and spits the cob out.

This one grinds corn meal

This was just funny

Luke found someone nice enough to let him sit on their tractor, this one was my favorite....it looks like it would be fun to play on

What a sweet brother huh?

Rainy day fun

2009-05-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

Last week was SO nice! It rained every day! I love the rain and apparently so does Luke, just as long as it leaves some puddles to jump in! He loves taking the 'brella' out and I saw him holding it while he rode his bike.

This is the man chair....lol....My boys Love their papa!

And papa loves to putbabies to sleep! (do you see Ryan likes Oreos?)

Sleepy Boys!

2009-05-28T11:29:00.001-07:00

I'm thinkin'.....maybe I should put my boys to bed before they fall asleep?

Papa got a new horse!

2009-05-28T11:07:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it, but Luke wouldn't go for ride! He used to be Grandpas best cowboy, but apparently Ryan has taken over that reign! Every time my da would come back in the yard I would reach out to Ryan to get him off the horse and he would shake his head 'no' so he and grandpa would take another ride! He LOVED it!

Mothers Day

2009-05-12T08:04:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how mothers day goes for other moms, but it is pretty much just a normal day around here...not that I mind! What would mothers day be if I wasn't the mommy? Luke made me the cutest little flowers in Primary and my mom got me some pretty tulips and had us over for dinner. And Caleb got me a sewing machine! YAY! I'm super excited, my other one was trashed when we had the fire, 2 years ago!

What A Birthday!

2009-05-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

Today is Calebs great grandma Abby's brithday! She is 103 today! Isn't that amazing! She is quite the character too. She has always called Caleb 'cable' (no one knows why either) and she just has the funniest things to say. Happy birthday Grandma Abby!

When the weather gets NICE!

2009-05-06T16:32:00.000-07:00

What I mean by nice is NO WIND! Yay! So we had family home evening at the park with, well, most of my family! It was tons of fun. 2 of my nephews are playing little league this year so ofcourse there was a baseball game (i'm using that term loosely). Orin was our master chef (using that term VERY loosely!)

Wills twins (ali and blake) and Egan..cute kids!

Orins wife Minette. Poor girl has super high blood sugar. How the heck is she supposed to get through the last 8 weeks without CHOCOLATE!

Don't mess with him when he is 'in the zone'

Grandma helping Ali 'run the bases'

Rex was helping Ali (truth be told, she probably would have done better on her own j/k)

My mom helping Blake hit the ball

Caleb giving Tyrel a hard time

Scout o Rama!

2009-05-06T15:52:00.000-07:00

Sandy (mother in law)
Caleb and Ryan, it was cold and windy

gila monster, so gross

Great horned owl

burrowing owl

Caleb and his dad Ron

Caleb is the assistant cub master in our ward, and my brother Will is the cubmaster...I know, you gotta watch both of them...

A couple of weekends ago we had the scout o rama. Caleb was working when they had the meeting so he didn't know what was going on but like 3 days before the event he learned that our ward didn't have a booth (some people just do the very minimum, you know what I mean?) Anyway, so Caleb called his mom who works for Arizona Game and Fish Department. She runs the Adobe Mountian Wildlife Rehabilitation Center (http://www.earthodysseyonline.com/ good article just done on her). At his facility they take in wildlife that have been injured and they either get them healthy enough to survive back in the wild and release them into their natural habitat. but there are some animals that do not get to go back, she has a couple of eagles that have injured wings or animals that people have cought and imprinted and she uses these animals to educate the public. It is really fun. I have got to see some crazy animals up close that I would never have seen otherwise.

Anyway, so we convinced her to come set up a booth for the Scout o Rama. It was soooooo freezing cold and the wind was HORRIBLE! But they were troopers and stuck it out and it was a Huge success! So thank you SOOOO much Sandy!

The last month....or so.

2009-05-04T21:14:00.001-07:00

Today is our anniversary, 7 years! I can't believe it.

Ryan wakes up about 5 almost every morning and won't go back to sleep until I bring him to our bed, he loves to snuggle!

These boys LOVE baths! I got Ryan out of the bath tub and put him in the living room to go get pjs and a diaper and he hustled right into the bathroom (oh yeah, he started crawling a couple weeks ago, 10 1/2 months)

Our super sweet neighbor gave Luke a kite and he decided to hook it onto his bike and make it fly

I never thought I would ever see him in a suit, but he looks good huh?

RSV

2009-04-15T21:20:00.001-07:00

Ok this is getting so old. I took Ryan in yesterday to the doctor because he has this cough that will not go away, no matter what we have tried so I asked to have some chest x-rays done, and my awesome doctor said he would do whatever I wanted because I am the mom, and if I think there is something wrong then it needs to be addressed.

So he gave me a paper and I took it to the imaging center, waited 2 hours with 2 boys, through lunch time and everything (luke was the best he has ever been!) to get 2 x-rays and then waited a couple of hours for the images and the radioligist report to get to my doctor. So when he did call me, he told me that this is the exact reason he listens to moms when they say something is wrong with their kids.....Ryan has RSV.

Have I ever mentioned that I absolutely LOVE my doctor? When Luke was 4 weeks old he had RSV and we spent some time in the hospital, but before that he had given me every phone number he had, pager, home....everything, and I called him so many times and he was so nice about it and he even made a house call, had me come to his house, (when caleb was sick too) and he called several times over the weekend to see how things were going. Sweetest doctor a mom could ask for.

Anyway, so now we are dealing with this too....how fun. but it is really weird because he has never ran a fever, or acted sick other than the cough! So I don't know what to think.....its all just puzzleing to me.

Easter

2009-04-14T22:26:00.000-07:00

So the easter bunny came to our house....and stayed! Caleb was so against this, thats why I didn't tell him what I was doing until I had the rabbit in hand, at house. haha! Anyway, my cousin had some bunnies and I thought, what the heck! The boys LOVE him/her, we aren't really sure (hence only 1 rabbit!)

Anyway, we had a wonderful easter and hope everyone else did as well!

Asthma?!?!

2009-03-27T08:09:00.000-07:00

Ryan started coughing the other day and it wasn't getting any better so I took him in to see our doctor. Well, after listening to his lungs he told me he could hear weezing....Luke had RSV at 4 weeks old so let me tell you, this 'weezing' is no friend of ours! BUT, Ryan does not have RSV, he might have asthma! So now he is on the nebulizer and albuteral, if it lasts for very long they will diagnose him with asthma, but he is so young that it is almost guaranteed that he will grow out of it. But its still no fun! He HATED it when we gave him the first treatment, but, when they cry they are taking deeper breaths so its all good :)

He thinks it is a chew toy

We should have gotten a sucker flavored one, that would have made him like it more

He won't spit his pacifier out to eat a cracker or drink a sippy cup so I thought he would be safe with a sucker.....he figured it out and then put his pacifier back in.....silly boy!

Luke Days, Luke AFB

2009-03-22T22:57:00.000-07:00

I thought this sign was awesome, I want it to hang on my fence...lol

Friday afternoon we went over to my cousins house and she said 'hey luke, are you going to Luke Days?' And Caleb said 'oh is that this weekend, we should go'.......so long story short, 2 hours later we were packed and on the road!

We sat in traffic for 2 hours after getting off the 101 and then paid $10 to park (luckily admission was free, lol) and a freakin long walk/wait to get diaper bag and stroller checked then we were ready to roll! Luckily while we were waiting we were able to watch a B22 do its tricks, we kept showing Luke where it was in the sky and all he cared about was the soldier with the gun and the cactus....he is sheltered this i know...lol.

This is about the only view of Caleb we had for the whole day

Caleb and Luke by Calebs favorite war plane....EVER

The dome on top of this is freakin NUTS! It would scare the crap out of us if we knew all it could do, I just heard a little bit and its crazy!

Luke loved the planes, he wanted to go fly it

There were tons of old planes on display

Luke wanted his picture taken in front of every plane that they had, there had to be 100 of them

Thunderbirds

2009-03-22T22:38:00.000-07:00

Ok so we almost didn't stay to watch these guys, the kids were hot, there was NO shade and TONS of people, and as we were leaving someone said there was just a few minutes until the thunderbird show, so we toughed it out and boy are we glad we did! I wish I would have had my video camera because you never knew what they were going to do and it was AWESOME! If you have never been to an air show (this was a first for ALL of us) I very highly recomend it! There is no way to tell you how cool it was to be there and watch all these guys having the time of their life up in these planes! But here are a few pictures.......

Luke is ready..... Ryan is ready....

poor baby, these were so uncomfortable for him so I took them off cause it wasn't loud....2 seconds after I took them off.......FLY BY!
All 6 in formation, I still get goose bumps!

cool huh?

It was so cool when these 2 would come around and meet, they did something different everytime. My favorite was when one went upside down and the other stayed up

blanket please

2009-03-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

Ryan is my blanket baby, weird that my winter baby still won't sleep with blankets and my summer baby is addicted. Well he loves a blanket on his nose to go to sleep. The other day I was folding clothes on the couch and he was sitting by me and when I came back from putting some clothes away he had picked up a sock to put on his nose to go to sleep, it was so cute. I have never seen a baby that loves to snuggle as much as he does.

3 year old and Yoga

2009-03-19T09:07:00.001-07:00

So Caleb decided that he couldn't live life with out a Wii and we ended up getting the Wii Fit as well (sooo fun!) Anyway, one of the things on the wii fit is yoga and Luke is the master of it, none of us can hold the pose as long as he can! It is so funny, and he always asks if he can excercise, its so cute.

pre-easter shirts

2009-03-19T08:44:00.000-07:00

I hate it when people say that girls are more fun to dress up than boys, I love to dress my boys up! I found these shirts for them, they were going to be their easter shirts but I couldn't wait 2 months! So they were their valentine shirts....lol I know I really had to reach for that one. Anyway, they look so handsome in their matching shirts at church and they each got new rangers (thats what Luke calls Wranglers) and they couldn't be any cuter!

Ryans smile is cracking me up, little cutie.

Blogger overload

2009-02-23T15:30:00.001-08:00

So there are a hundred posts today because I had lost my camera cord when Caleb cleaned the computer room. But I found it and so today was catch up!

But as for us we are doing good. Caleb has been getting laid off every other weekend due to the crappy paper that the paper mill is making. It is only supposed to happen until the end of march but we will see how that goes. Other than that things are pretty boring, just life and living with our sweet boys.

Nephi vs. Peter Pan?

2009-02-23T15:18:00.000-08:00

So last night I was reading Luke some stories out of his Book of Mormon picture book and we read the story about his brothers tieing him up and the Liahona not working and then we got to the end of the story and Luke tells me that the last picture is of Captain Hooks ship and he told me that the Liahona was a bomb Captain Hook sent to Peter Pan and its gonna blow the ship up cause they didn't listen to Heavenly Father! Oh boy, do we have some work to do over the next 16 years!

Its so funny how the stories play out in a little boys mind. I am always wondering what he is going to say next! I can only imagine what Sunbeams is like!

A message from the Lord

2009-02-23T15:13:00.000-08:00

Luke hasn't quite got the conversation heart thing yet. The other night I would pick one out for him and tell him to go have dad read it to him cause it had a little message on it, and they were the ones that said 'i love you' or 'hug me' or things like that and he would come back laughing that daddy gave him a hug or a kiss or something. Well he came back and I gave him one and he said some jibberish and I said no, it says 'i love you' and he looked at me and said, 'NO! Its a message from the Lord'. So I think he has watched Veggie Tales Jonah a few times! But it was so cute.

Silly boys

2009-02-23T14:05:00.000-08:00

CAUGHT RED HANDED!
I guess I left the curly fries too close to him....happy kid though!

This is the sweetest picture, too bad I got it after the graham cracker was dropped!

These boys LOVE each other! Ryan just squeals with joy when Luke comes to play with him.

Trip to the valley

2009-02-23T13:39:00.000-08:00

Calebs mom puts on a motorcycle poker run every year in February and Caleb likes to go. So while they were off doing their thing, me and the little boys did our thing (which is how it usually is everyday). So I thought Luke would love to go to Cabalas and see all the animals they have. We went when they first opened the store in Glendale but Luke was pretty little still so he didn't really get it. He LOVED all the animals! Espically the elepant. It is so big! He like the turtle swimming in the aquariam. If you haven't been there it is worth the trip just to see all the stuff in there. My favorite is the fish. It looked like some of them were as big as LUKE!

Big enough to go hunting!

2009-02-23T13:20:00.000-08:00

I was going out to lunch with my mom and 2 of my sister in laws and I told Caleb to find something for him and Luke to go do. So as I am getting ready to leave, Caleb comes out of the bedroom with his hunting camo's on.....I was a little concerned, I was just hoping he would go get sonic and take him to the park and let him play or something but he wanted to take him out coyote calling. I had a BIG BIG laugh! For anyone that has never been hunting, expically for coyote, you have to be QUIET. And when its coyote you have to hold STILL. 2 of these things are not things most 3 year olds have mastered....and it is definently not something OUR 3 year old can do!

Well I had a good laugh over it and so did my mom, Carrie, and Minette when I told them what the big boys were doing. So lunch got over and I went home and had been home for an hour or so and was starting to get a little worried about where these boys of mine were, I thought they would beat me home and be super grouchy...lol. But after a while, I hear them drive up and Lukey comes in the house and I tried to be chipper and said 'hey! Did you have fun?' and he has this bright exicted look on his face and said 'we shot a coyote' and procedes to tell me the story about sitting real quiet and not moving and then BOOM! DADDY SHOT THE COYOTE! It was so funny, and he isn't old enough to tell me something that didn't happen so I walked out to the truck and sure enough there was a dead coyote in the back of the truck! I couldn't believe it! I was so proud of Luke! And he was super excited too!

A few of the big Blue eyes

2009-02-23T13:07:00.000-08:00

Ryan is starting to know what he wants and when he wants it....I obviously wasn't fast enough at feeding him his baby food.

I had to post the Mohawk! When he gets out of the bath tub his hair just automatically curls like this on top of his head.
It is so stinking cute.

The mohawk even stayed through the night! I was surprised.
I was eating an apple and he was going CRAZY! So I handed it to him and he loved it! He rubs is bottom teeth on it to scrape off little bits to eat. Silly baby!

Story time

2009-02-23T13:04:00.001-08:00

Go figure, Like father like son. Luke brought this book in to Caleb one night and asked him to read it to him.

Too short for the walker

2009-02-23T12:58:00.000-08:00

Ryan still isn't putting weight on his legs at all! So we decided to buy him a walker and see if that helps, it doesn't. He is too short for it! So we have to put some books under him! He thinks its so much fun thought!

Ahhh, the adventures of BOYS!

2009-01-09T20:20:00.001-08:00

This sweet little boy.......Doesn't he look so sweet?

Well he is.....

He has his moments....he is 3 you know!

But lately he has made me laugh more then usual!

Luke has been potty trained now for a couple of months! And this starts my funny story........Well there are a couple....

story #1. I thought I was so clever teaching Luke to sit down to go potty, thinking I wouldn't have a huge mess to clean up everytime he went to the bathroom....Well he learned to stand up to pee. Not the happiest day of my life. But the funny part of this story is...we have tall toilets and he isn't quite tall enough to stand up so he has to hurry and get his stool and then go pee....well the other day I had taken the bathroom garbage out and mopped floors and left the garbage can out in the hall while the floor dried and to remind me to put a bag back in it. Well I see Luke come out of the bathroom butt naked (no picture, sorry) and he grabs the trash can and takes off running for the bathroom! I know my son so I ask him what he is doing, and the reply I got....was, 'i'm gonna pee in it!" He figured it was just the right height for him! I debated for a long time on if I should put a trash can back in that bathroom!

story #2. Last weekend Caleb and I left the boys with my parents while we went up to Show Low, we were gone a couple of hours and when we got to my parents Luke kept trying to go outside and the door was locked so I asked him why he wanted to go outside and he said he needed to pee. So I asked him if we pee outside and he said 'i will show you' so I open the FRONT door, and he takes me out and shows me a little patch of wet dirt right off of the step! Now I laughed so hard I couldn't even tell everyone what happened so they came out to see and shared in my humor.

story #3. Yesterday we were over at my parents and Luke was playing with my brothers puppy and I walked out back to check on him and he is standing on the back porch with his pants down! He was once again peeing off the porch! It was still funny to me! Until today. When he comes in to where I was on the computer and tells me he pees on the tree. We have trees in our front yard....so he takes me out and shows me where he peed and my neighbor and her daughter are about to die laughing! Oh boy! he is so lucky he is cute! Little stinker.

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T21:05:00.000-08:00

Well the new year, to me, marks the end of the Christmas season. I take down my tree and all of my decorations, and this makes me kind of sad. Luke was born less then 2 weeks before Christmas and so I would sit and snuggle him on the couch and sing Christmas songs to him. This year he still would let me hold him on my lap and sing, but it was on his term...as everything is. But my favorite song to sing to him is Mary's Lullaby (Tonight you are mine). I tried to find it on youtube or anywhere actually but there is a different Mary's Lullaby and thats the only one I could find...but the words to the chorus are so sweet:

All mine in your loveliness, Baby, all mine;
All mine in your holiness, Baby Divine.
Sing on herald angels in chorus sublime;
Sing on and adore, For tonight you are mine

Oh let me enfold thee, my baby tonight;
While legions are singing in joyous delight.
A new star has risen to hail thee divine,
For you are a king, but tonight you are mine.

That's how I felt on Luke's first Christmas and that is how I feel on Ryan's first Christmas as well. My 2 sweet little Kings.

And these are my thoughts of sadness as I un-christmas my house. Call me a sentimental fool. I'm just an emotional Mom!

All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth

2008-12-26T09:54:00.000-08:00

Well that is just what Ryan got! Well his 2 bottom teeth. He was sucking on a cookie last night and he got it down to a small piece so I took it away and swept his mouth with my finger to make sure there were no pieces to choke on and...I felt something! So I rubbed my finger around and found 2 little tiny baby teeth! I was really surprised because he never got grouchy! Not once did I see swollen gums, not even a hint of a fever and no sign of teeth coming in at all! I am so happy! Not for the teeth, cause I have already been bitten, but that my sweet chubby, happy baby wasn't in pain for his teeth! If the gypsy's had been in town when Luke was teething he would have been down the road (not really, but it was bad).

YOU'LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT

2008-12-25T21:12:00.000-08:00

I don't think much needs to be said about this. Luke's Grandpa and Grandma Cate got him a BB gun for his birthday. There could not be a happier 3 year old in the world!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T20:40:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was good! It was really fun with Luke this year, he understood about Santa and that being naughty would get you rocks in your stocking instead of candy. We kept it small and simple as far as the presents go. Our boys are little and we want them to appreciate the things they have and not have the gimmies. All total, (i am quite proud of this too...) there were 10 presents under our tree this morning. There were a few that Grandma & Grandpa Cate brought on Tuesday that got opened cause Grandpa said they could...lol. But we had a very enjoyable Christmas, it is nice to focus on family and being together rather than fighting the crowds and stressing over money.

I think that my favorite thing that my boys got were slippers that my mom made for them. When we were little my mom would crochet us these same slippers and it brought back lots of memories of running and sliding on the kitchen floor!

A Ryan post

2008-12-19T19:42:00.000-08:00

Well we thought that it was going to be hard to keep Luke out of the christmas presents this year, but boy were we wrong! The other night I walked into the living room where I had left Ryan laying on his blanket and found him unwrapping a present! He was so excited by the noise the paper makes when he plays with it!

Caught red handed
(a deer in the headlights look if I ever saw one)

Luke decided Ryan needed more pillows than the 2 I put in back of him....what a helper he is

He played with his boots for like an hour after church, it was so cute

Those eyes are gonna get him out of a lot of trouble some day!

3 Years Old

2008-12-13T20:13:00.000-08:00

Well today is the day my Lukey turned 3! I can't believe it. It seems like only yesterday that I was laying on the operating room table after being induced twice in one week and finally going through labor for 12 hours, just to have an emergency c-section!

It was a week I will never forget, just like almost every day of Lukes life! He has kept us hopping! At 4 weeks old he was hospitalized with RSV for about a week and every day since has been an adventure! We sure love our Luke a whole lot and don't know what we would do with out him.

For his birthday he got a hunting bow! Spoiled rotten. It was a comprimise on my part. Caleb wanted to buy him a .22 rifle when he was born but I said no.

We went out to get our christmas tree today, its a tradition we started for Lukes birthday. It is usually alot of fun but the wind was horrible nasty today and Luke wasn't feeling well....come to find out he has the croop....er......

After the christmas tree we had a birthday party with some of the cousins and Grandma and Rex and also Mickelle, Jarom and Colton came. They are some of Lukes favorite people in the whole world! He loves to 'go to kels house' to get babysat, which means he gets to play with Coltons toys! But he got some fun stuff at his party, and we had a PINATA (hand made by his awesome mamma)!! Some of the loot that he got was; walkie talkies, a chain saw, and a lightning mcqueen car that talks! AWESOME! He even picked out his own cake and frosting and what shape it HAD to be! Its so hard for me to let him grow up, but it is kind of fun to let him pick the things that he really wants.

Pictures!

2008-12-09T13:02:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh! We had a friend take family pictures for us a couple of weeks ago and I just got them back today and they are SO AWESOME! Luke was such a ham for the camera, as he is for everything, but she got some really cute pictures of Luke being Luke! Ryan was still a little young to interact but he so just fat a happy so his were cute too. But what I really love is that she made me look good in them! She probably junked the ones that I looked bad in (thanks!) but I just can't stop looking at them! They are so good, I can't decide which one to use for our Christmas card this year! So if you get a Christmas card from us with a thousand pix on it, you know why! Here are just a few of them, enjoy!

Oh and if you want to hire this genius photographer, her name is Tiana and I'm not sure how she feels about me posting her phone number on my blog.....so I will post her blog address and you can get a hold of her there! Anyway, its coupleofhunts.blogspot.com.

Thank you so much Tiana! You are amazing!

How fast they grow....

2008-12-05T07:21:00.000-08:00

Well on Wednesday my little Ryan was 6 months old! I can't believe it! I just barely brought him home from the hospital with tiny little bird legs and a car seat that engulfed him, now I can't hardly pull pants up over his chubby little thighs and his legs hang over his car seat! I love every stage they grow into, its fun to watch them change, but dang he is so good at being a baby I would just love to keep him the snuggly, happy, adorable baby he is! But I can't.

Anyway, my boys have the best grandma! My mom started this silly little 6 month birthday party for my oldest nephew who is now 6. So even though Ryan was treated to squash we celebrated his 6th month! Caleb thinks it is so dumb so we did it while he was at work! I think its cute, we usually put a little candle in a chocodille and everyone gets a bite or something. But I think it will be something fun to tell the boys about when they get bigger, they may just roll their eyes and think it was silly but they will always know that Grandma thinks they are special and loves to celebrate her grand kids.

Turkey day with the TURKEYS!

2008-11-27T18:54:00.000-08:00

It isn't very often that we get all of my parents grand kids together all at once, so today when Cole brought his girls over we took advantage and tried to get 9 kids under the age of 6 to hold still and smile at the same time.....Let me tell you before you attempt this.....ITS IMPOSSIBLE! But they had fun and are now full of marshmallows! But it is fun to get have all my brothers together, I just wish we would have gotten a sibling picture, oh well!

All the Packard grandkids (plus grandpa and my sister in-law)
Left to right: Egan, Payden, Aften, Tyrel, Riley, Ali, Blake, Luke, Ryan

The twins would not sit without screaming so we had to get Carrie to sit in....and my dad, well he wouldn't quit screaming unless he was holding the baby, so, well we let him sit in too...lol

All the boys, Will has three with mine

Tyrel, Egan and Luke, These three are T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

Ali, Ty-ty, Egan and Luke. This little girl is so prissy but yet she is always in the middle of wrestling with the boys! She is a Doll!

Anyway, it was a good thanksgiving. Its always fun to get everyone together and have food. We really have a lot to be thankful for, I hope everyone takes a moment and thinks of all the things that they are blessed with. And remember, Our worst day is better than a lot of peoples best day!

I was jinxed!

2008-11-25T08:11:00.000-08:00

Less than a month ago my dad was riding in my car with me taking Luke to go get stitches and he told me 'welcome to the life of having boys'. Well I thought about that last night about 10:30 as I was driving to meet our family doctor, Dr. Dewitt. (Awesome guy, we absolutely LOVE him.) In the last 3 years I don't know how many house calls or times we have met him at his house to check on one of my boys (caleb and luke) so we didn't have to go to the ER and sit for hours. So he seemed to not be surprised to get a call from me so late last night and told me he would see me at the clinic in 3 minutes.

Luke was sent to get a pull up on his bum and decided to play in the hall closet instead. He hit my ironing board and it knocked binoculars off the shelf and he now has 3 stitches and a bald spot on top of his head. I'm kind of concerned that this is his second set of stitches in less than a month! I hope that these emergency visits to our favorite doctor slow down!

SNOW!

2008-11-10T07:52:00.000-08:00

Wow, it snowed last night! And to make it even more exciting, it is still here at 8:30 this morning! I love it! Its November so I guess its allowed to get winter-ish. And can I just say, I am SO glad October is over? What a horrible month it was for me! I guess it wasn't all bad but it was very stressful but good things did come out of it. Caleb got laid off from his job at the paper mill but he did get a call back so he has a job even though he was out of a job for 2 weeks. It was a lot of fun to have him home. We had no money and he felt bad that we couldn't do anything for my birthday, but he was sweet enough to make me a birthday cake (with the help of our biggest boy) it was so yummy and it was cute to watch them master the kitchen! Now they are ready for Thanksgiving!

Flags should be lowered to half mast

2008-11-04T20:44:00.000-08:00

As I sat at my computer tonight, watching John McCain give his concession speech, I couldn't help but think about the future of our country and what a dark, horrible time this country is going to go through in the next 4 years. I want to set the record straight. I am by no means racist, I am a patriot and I would not even support a natural born white citizen of this country if he would not sing the national anthem or stand with respect and pledge allegiance to our flag. I am not looking forward to the horrible things that will happen to our country with this new president. I do not respect him, I never will. I am very ashamed of the people of this country that voted in someone who shows such disrespect to those who have fought and died for the freedoms he will try to take away, when they could have (SHOULD HAVE) voted for someone who fought for our country, was a prisoner of war and came home with HONOR when he could have very well revealed secrets and trashed his country but endured such torment and pain. I am very ashamed, and its so sad that we all have to pay for their mistakes and stupidity. May God have pity on them.

Boys will be boys

2008-11-04T07:03:00.000-08:00

Saturday night Luke went head to head with a bowling ball and ended up with 5 stitches! Can you believe it? He isn't even 3 years old and he has had a concussion! He looks pretty rough but the only thing he can think about is showing it to his cousins! He is one tough boy too, I would have been bawling if it was me (I was on the verge already) but he laid on the table while our Dr. sewed him up and he was helping me tell '3 little pigs'. Oh and after wards we were talking about what to look for in a serious concussion and Luke is jumping up and down on the table and saying 'catch me'! I hope this isn't a sign of what is to come! Crazy boy!

Halloween! a little late i know!

2008-11-03T21:54:00.000-08:00

Halloween was so much fun this year! Usually Caleb is out hunting so its just me and Luke. This year Caleb decided to head out a day late and stay with us for Halloween! Soooo.....since Caleb was home, he made our costumes! Well we bought most of Lukes and Ryans but Caleb made Luke a 'real' Pirate hat. Then he got going on our costumes, he is so funny, and handy to have around! He really was excited for Halloween this year because he remembers only one time growing up that his family was not hunting and he actually got to go trick or treating, sad huh?

In our neighborhood we have been hit really hard in past years, so I was super prepared this year, I had 15 bags of miniature candy bars, we had 8 kids come! What in the world am I going to do with all this candy!?!?? We only took the boys to a few houses, mostly family....And luke STILL made out like a bandit with candy! Spoiled kid!

What a cute pirate huh?
The inspiration was the veggie tales 'pirates who don't do anything'
(favorite movie of the week)

Ryan was our adorable Bumble Bug.
He had no wings so we can't really call him a bee!

Isn't this awesome! He spray painted a hat and broom for his helmut!

I was cleopatra, Caleb made this one too.

2008-10-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

Tonight Luke had way too much energy (what else is new). Ryan was laughing so hard at him for like half an hour and so I finally got the camera out and caught the tail end of it.

Again, this kid has waaayyyy too much energy! Seriously, he and his dad do this for like half an hour, but I think the only reason they stop is because Caleb gets tired of it! Luke is still begging to him to throw him on the couch.

Flavor of the Day

2008-10-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

Ok this is so gross, it makes me gag (almost) to even post this but it was too funny not to! Luke usually begs for scrambled eggs ever morning, and I HATE eggs, so i try to get him to want pancakes, so lately he has been asking for pancakes. If I don't make syrup to go on them we usually just eat them with peach jelly (homemade of course), well this morning Luke wanted ketchup on his pancake! I thought maybe he just thought the jelly was called ketchup but no, he went and got the ketchup out of the fridge and threw a fit until I gave in and put it on his pancake! And to make it even worse, he asked for another one! With ketchup! My brother always tells me, 'don't knock it til you try it' this is just one of those things I can not bring myself to try. Gross.

Pumpkins!

2008-10-18T17:22:00.000-07:00

Today we took the boys to our Bishops pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin, which turned into 3 pumpkins! Its always so fun to go there, every year the town has a harvest festival where there are wagon rides out to the fields and you can pick your pumpkin. This year it was too cold and windy and yucky to go so we went today, what a beautiful day too! For our 3 pumpkins that weighed 30 + pounds, we only paid $11!

Unemployment: Day 2

2008-10-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

Me and my biggest boy

Caleb has a deer hunt in a couple of weeks so he took Luke and I out with him to sight his guns in. It was fun, Luke is a typical little boy and loves guns! Caleb would let him pull the trigger and he was so excited! Caleb can't wait until Luke and Ryan are old enough to start doing youth hunts, that will really be exciting!I don't know why we put these on him, he doesn't hear anything anyway!

My handsome hubbby

Shooting MY gun (funny story with that...caleb bought it for me for my birthday one year)
He put his own glasses on

Luke loved this .22, he could easily pull the trigger and he loved it!My turn!

We set up the clay targets and Luke was helping, he laied them flat and we couldn't see them! What a helper!Luke got a little bored while Caleb sighted his hunting rifles in

Unemployment: Day 1

2008-10-16T07:32:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday Caleb was laid off from the paper mill as a reduction in force....Catalyst and Smurffit Stone couldn't come to terms for a new contract on the machine Caleb worked on, so they are just taking it out! Crazy. Anyway, There were close to 100 people affected by this and on tuesday night Caleb was #1 on the call back list to be rehired if there was an opening. Well Wednesday morning he got a call! I'm not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing but he took the job but can't start until October 27th.

So with no work and nothing to do, Caleb decided that he IS going to catch a fish, and Luke IS going to see it! So we went fishing again! Luke just loves to cast his line in the water, he just has a weight on the end so it doesn't get snagged on things. There were lots of fish jumping and Caleb almost had one but right now it is catch and release only so you can't use barbed hooks so the fish spit it out before he can get it out of the water to show Luke! What fun and what a Beautiful Day!

Cute Boys

2008-10-14T16:07:00.000-07:00

Caleb told me that Ryans sunday outfit made him look gay, so I was at Kmart the other day and they had a sweater vest for Luke that was almost identical to Ryans! So taking my husbands advice on clothing, I bought it! And boy did my boys look sharp at church! Sadly, we have 1:00 church so after church when I wanted to take pictures of them, my napless Luke wouldn't cooperate with me, so I will have to get a better one next week, but here is what I got!

Tagged by Becca

2008-10-14T15:49:00.001-07:00

Almost a month ago!

8 t.v. shows I love to watch:
Haven't had t.v. for about a year now...but we liked to watch:
2 and a half men
the office
martha (i can't stand her but she has cute crafts once in a while)
ok, thats not 8 but i can't think of any more!

8 places I love to eat:
Olive Garden
Trappers
Mr. Goodcents
Pizza factory
The Pasta house
my moms house!
Branding Iron
and the new bagel shop by the movie theater in pinetop...can't remember the name but holy cow, bagel sandwiches are the best!

8 things that happened yesterday:
made breakfast
went to the store
went to pick up calebs latest deer hide
made lunch
put luke down for nap
got caleb off to work
played warcraft
took the boys over to my moms for dinner with my grandma flake

8 things I look forward to:
Well right now, I am trying to enjoy every minute of my little boys being little, i am learning that they grow up too fast!
But the one thing I DO look forward to is Having stability! This crap happening at the paper mill and not knowing if we will have a job, not knowing when we will loose insurance, when we will move, will we sell our house........thats about it....lol

8 things I love about fall:
hello! Its fall! whats not to love!
My birthday
cool weather
the beautiful colored leaves
pumpkins
canning food from the garden
peaches
being able to use my oven with out suffering a heat stroke
the smell in the air

8 things on my wish list:
Selling my house
Getting my schooling done
Caleb becoming a journeyman pipe fitter
moving back to snowflake (i haven't even left yet!)
building my dream home
millions of dollars
happiness for my boys
world peace :)

Cool weather for the WIN!

2008-10-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

Yeah! It is finally jacket weather!
It was quite cool today in Snowflake.
We went to go run errands this morning
and I broke out the jackets!
It was 57 degrees earlier this evening,
the leaves are going to start changing
fall is defiantly in the air! I love it!

On a chubbier note......

....Ryan is addicted to his fingers!
I haven't decided if this is a good thing or a bad thing,
but its so darn cute.....right now!

My Handy Husband

2008-10-02T17:06:00.000-07:00

Caleb has always had a thing for working with metal. When we were dating he made me a bench out of horseshoes with my name in it.(You have to look close to see it through the sunflowers)

When we got married he made our wedding bands.

(just the band not the diamond part, and it was made out of a solid silver quarter. The picture dosen't do it justice, its really pretty)

And last week he started making knives! They are made out of railroad spikes. These are not yet finished, they still need to be tempered, hardened and sanded. The finished product looks awesome. I would post a picture of it but he took it hunting!

(Luke loves to do whatever his daddy is doing)

5 generations

2008-10-02T16:36:00.000-07:00

I took Caleb down to the valley on Tuesday to meet up with his dad so they could go hunting.....turkey..........up by the Grand Canyon....don't get me started....

Anyway, we got together with Calebs moms family and the boys got to meet their great-great grandma Abby! We are really lucky to have gotten this picture with the boys because we don't know how much longer she will be around, she is 102 years old!

In the picture: our boys
Caleb
Sandy (his mom)
Herman(her dad)
Abby(his mom)

Also while we were in the valley, Calebs cousin Jenni cooperated and had her sweet little baby boy Tuesday night so we were able to go see her in the hospital! Congrats David and Jenni! And a big huge welcome to sweet little Daniel James! He is such a cutie (even if he does look like his daddy!)

The imagination of a 2 year old

2008-09-11T21:36:00.000-07:00

Luke does the funniest things! Sometimes I go to check on him to see what he is doing and I just automatically bring my camera cause I never know what I am going to find! He is such a cute kid and sometimes Caleb and I would like to know what is going on in his head, what he is imagining. We sure love him! But its a good thing he's cute, cause he is defiantly 2!Wearing daddy's hat and sunglasses "goin' to work" he tells me

He would sure love to live in a nudist colony

He probably would have taken a nap in the hammock if I would have let him!

He thinks he is getting married. "like Net" (minette, my newest sister in-law)

Luke LOVES to be read to, so he figures that when Ryan is sitting on the couch he needs a story. Such a sweet big brother! He also sings to Ryan when I am busy and he's fussing.

This is by far the funniest picture I have of Luke.
If you can't tell, he is putting on pantyhose, he thought it was awesome!
Caleb just shook his head. I told him, Luke wouldn't do half the stuff he dose if he didn't see daddy do it first! HAAA HAAA!

Does this sweater-vest make me look........

2008-09-11T21:25:00.001-07:00

This little outfit used to be Luke's and now it fits Ryan. Well I put it on him to go to church a couple of weeks ago and Caleb said I'm trying to turn him GAY! I may be a little one sided on this but I thought he looked ADORABLE! You be the judge..........

3 months old
almost 16 pounds!
Say it with me...
chubba, chubba!

Mountian Man

2008-08-28T20:18:00.000-07:00

Well with hunting season coming up my husband goes into mountain man mode. He and his family got drawn for deer and turkey this year. I found a couple of pictures of him with his full facial hair. I'm not real fond of it but he thinks its kind of fun, whatever....The top one is on Lukes 1st birthday. Caleb and his dad had Bull elk tags here in the same unit we live in. This is over by Heber. His dad shot one and all the trees had fallen across the road from the fire and they spent several hours cutting trees and moving them, lucky for them it had snowed that night so they didn't get too warm!

The second picture is of Caleb and his dad. He is really close to his dad so he loves these pictures. They had deer in the bottom one, they love to hunt white tails! And these deer are seriously the smallest thing I have ever seen. I think his last deer the total weight of the meat was about 25 lbs! They are about the size of a large dog. I don't think there has been a year since I met Caleb that he has not left for a week in October to go hunt deer!