Apricots

Oh the joys of having a huge apricot tree across the street. With so many apricots our neighbors don't know what to do with them. We reap the benefits.

The Moby Still Rocks

And it's still the best investment ever. We love ours so much we bought one for my bro-in -law and sweet wife to tote around their newest addition, Vella. I found a great tutorial on how to make them for a fraction of the price So watch out all of you close to me having babies. You too will fall in love with these wraps. Here is Greg and I modeling our Moby's at the cabin during our family reunion last week.

Jerry Dances

**Graham has a private blog. I stole this post off of it. It's from the talent show at our most recent Thompson family reunion. Thanks for the pic Em. Jerry did have some pretty sweet dance moves. I'm just sayin'.**jerry:
daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaancee then he gets shot and the skits over. made by:graham.he looks as bad as his moves.

Birthday Girl

Morgan turned 4 yesterday. We had a great quiet day with her. Here was our schedule:

• woke up and opened presents
• played with presents
• her and Carmen were invited next door for a special lunch for their birthdays (Ramen Noodles).
• she got to play Starfall all by herself on the computer
• we ate homemade cheese pizza for dinner (at her request)
• sang and ate birthday cake
• went to Build-a-Bear with Carmen to spend their birthday money from Gma and Gpa Thompson.

It was a fun day. Happy Birthday Little! We love you. Her amateur cake that I made. Good thing she's so easy to please. ;) Recognize the Barbie from Graham's science experiments?
Posing by the sign put on our window from the secret messengers from our ward. They never miss a birthday! The girls after Build-a-Bear. It was fun to see what they picked out. They definitely have their own personalities. Morgan picked a multi-colored bear with a princess outfit, naming her Princess Bear. Carmen picked out a long haired wolf and gave him a hockey uniform, naming him Jack. That was such a fun experience to go there. The girls couldn't wait to go after they witnessed Graham back in June creating his brown bear named Chocolate.

New Sound

I love how a new sound introduced can be so funny to infants. Truman couldn't get over how funny the water bottle sounded hitting the kitchen table. Too bad I started filming after the best giggles took place.

Carmen's 6!!

We just got back from another great family reunion. This time it was a cabin nestled up a canyon just outside of Park City. It was so fun to be with family and like always, the time goes way too fast (more pictures and documenting to come). While we were there Carmen celebrated her 6th birthday! For the past 3 years her birthday has landed on one of the days during the Thompson reunion and she loves it. She feels like all the traveling is partly for her. The first picture was taken in the morning while opening presents. The second picture was taken in the evening after dinner. Both times she's in her swimsuit. The hot tub was one of her favorite parts about the cabin. Can you tell?

We love you Sis. We're so happy you are part of our family. Happy 6th birthday!!

Family Time

We spent the day in Logan with my brother Dan and his sweet little family. The day was packed with tons of fun. We swam in the pool and tried to teach Dan to dive. He kind of got it. ;) Went to a few factories, Gossner Cheese and Pepperidge Farms. Enjoyed some Aggie ice cream. Then went up the canyon for a cook-out. Becky and Wes made the 30 minute drive to join us. It was a packed day and by the bed time the kids were tired and cranky, but it was oh so worth it.

He Likes To Move It Move It

I am pretty sure a play mat is meant to be played with. This day Truman thought it was more fun rolling and scooting away from his toys.

Uneven

I gave Morgan a piece of gum and told her to split it three ways for her and her siblings. This was Graham's piece:

Little Scientist

Me (calling to Graham in the other room): Graham, will you go brush your teeth?

Graham: Wait! I'm doing surgery right now!

I had to check it out. I grabbed my camera and headed to his room. He was dissecting his toys and creating new ones with the pieces.

Me: You're kind of reminding me of Sid from Toy Story.

Graham: Yeah, except I am making my toys better, not worse.

Here is one of his patients. Better or worse? You be the judge.

New Toy Introduced

It's the Johnny Jump-Up. Notice the blanket. He's still a little small, but he really enjoyed his time twisting and turning and of course, bouncing.

It's a new toy for the older kids as well. This is what I saw when I walked down the hall a little later:

Phil Packer Reunion 2010

We just got back from Park City where we had our family reunion. We rented 3 condos right next to each other at Bear Hollow Village. We had a blast! It's times like these that make me feel like family really should live close by each other. The kids played great together, and we had some great adult alone time after we put the kids to bed. Each condo had it's own private hot tub that we enjoyed late at night. The first night, 6 of us packed into a small 4 man hot tub causing the water to overflow onto our vans in the driveway below. :) Sarah, Sara Lin, and I enjoyed a few early morning runs on the scenic trails there. The kids would've lived in the pool if they could've. We teased David for being the one that wore his swimsuit the longest (a day and a half straight).
Phil Packer Family. Everyone minus James who is serving a mission in Argentina. We sure did miss him. All the grandkids love to play with their Uncle James. We put together a care package for him with notes from all of us and treats.

David Thompson Family 2010.

All the siblings minus James. Ben, Sam, Andy, Daniel, Becky, Sarah, and me. (Truman is on my opposite hip and you wouldn't even know it. This picture was very spontaneous.)

Yes, my brothers. They're so hilarious!

Late night snacking. We thought it would be a great idea to have each family bring 3 different things to put in a trail mix. It was a fun idea.....for a minute. By the end of the reunion, it actually felt really good to throw it away. It must've been the Chinese Rice Crackers mixed with the butterscotch chips. Yeah, it was a huge bowl.

Historic Main Street. We got some looks from people on the street. There were so many of us.

Graham talking his cousin's ear off, as always.

It took Morgan and Susie about a day to warm up to each other, but they played great after that, along with their other little cousin friend, Lily.

We had a hilarious and famous talent show. We always laugh about how silly it is because we really don't show our talents. It's more of a performance of whatever we can think of at that moment. Although, years ago I performed a pantomime I made up for my high school drama class and am now encouraged to perform every year. It's a story of me sneaking out of my house to go skinny dipping in a nearby lake, only to get caught while I am sneaking back into my window. Sarah and John surprised us this year with something they planned. They (or should I say their chins) sang "Jackson" from Walk the Line. It was awesome. We were hooting and hollering for everyone that performed. It wasn't until Becky, Sarah, and I did a clogging routine for everyone that the neighbor came over to see what all the ruckus was all about. Oops.

And this little guy was A-MAZ-ING. He made it so easy to be on vacation with a newborn. Such a sweetheart.

We had planned to have a field day at a park. Sarah, Sara Lin and I found the perfect park while we were out on one of our runs. Later we brought the family back to it. We packed lunches and played soccer, baseball, kick ball (I schooled everyone with my home run, oh yeah!), and aerobe. Becky brought her parachute for the kids. Here Morgan is playing Bocce Ball with Grandma and Grandpa Packer.

Last, but certainly not least, we had a Packer Film Festival. Each individual family made their own movie during some free time while we were there. Sam edited them and we watched them all the last night we were there. They were great! The movie that took the cake was Ben's. He played David Bowie years after he was the Goblin King from Labyrinth and he couldn't get over his role. He would spontaneously jump back into character. Singing and dancing to the you-remind-me-of-the-babe song. I may put it on the blog if I can get permission from Ben. That may have just been a private showing ;).

We had a blast!! Ben and Sara live in Arizona, so we don't get to see them hardly ever. When we got home on Saturday, I was really homesick for everyone. The time went way too fast. Can't wait for the next time. Love you guys!

Payson Lake

We went back to find the right lake up Payson Canyon and this time we found it. It's way better than the one that we were at a few weeks before. This time we found Em and Jay and David's mom and Rena came too. It was beautiful up there.

The Hand!

It's been a struggle lately to put the girls to bed. They play and then come into our room numerous times saying they're scared before they finally fall asleep. Morgan's started saying she was scared of The Hand, which in turn got Carmen scared of this invisible fake hand. Don't ask me where they came up with that.
The other night they were really quiet not too long after we put them down. I went to check on them and found this:They were both dead asleep under those books. The next morning they explained they were covering their faces from The Hand.

Baptism Day!

Graham's baptism was wonderful. When David and Graham were in the font, I could feel how powerful his spirit really is. We are so proud of him and are so happy he is part of our family. Graham picked who he would want to participate in the program. He picked his grandpas and uncles. After his confirmation, he wanted to recite a poem about the Holy Ghost that he memorized:

Help From the Holy Ghost
By:Erin Renouf Mylroie

I’m learning how to choose the right.
I’ll do my best both day and night.
But when I’m not sure what to do,
The Holy Ghost will help me through.

In math my grade is not the best,
So when I have to take a test,
I sometimes wish that I could look
At Jenny’s work or in my book.
But then I feel the still, small voice,
And I will make the righteous choice.

There are some big boys at my school.
They fool around and act so cool.
They tell me I should say bad words
And join them to throw rocks at birds.
But then I feel the still, small voice,
And I will make the righteous choice.

My buddy Tom has some neat toys,
Like video games made just for boys.
But if the game makes me feel strange,
I’m shy to say, “Let’s make a change.”
But then I feel the still, small voice,
And I will make the righteous choice.

I’m learning how to choose the right.
I’ll do my best both day and night.
But when I’m not sure what to do,
The Holy Ghost will help me through.

Today at church he bore his testimony. He had planned on doing it all week, but by the time he got up to the pulpit, he was a little shy. I was nervous because I didn't know what he would say. He said, "I want to bear my testimony about the Holy Ghost. I know the Holy Ghost is true because I felt it when I got baptized." He forgot to close his testimony in Jesus' name, but I thought he did pretty good for his first time. He came up with it all by himself. He later said he wasn't expecting his voice to sound so loud in the microphone. :)

Congratulations bud! We love you!