It's the Devil's Work!!

So we were coming home from a BBQ with some friends the other night. We were happy, feeling content with life, and unprepared to meet the Spawn of Satan in our drive way. Emma was the first unfortunate soul to gaze upon the horrible creature. As I was walking into the garage I heard her scream with the voice of a million dieing angels. A piece of my heart died at the sound.

As I turned to her I saw her pale face illuminated by the moon, pointing at the beast. By this time Bree was passed out on the ground from the terror being emitted by the vile creature from below. Loralee was in convulsions and levitating in the air, speaking in demonic tounges. Luckily for the women folk I was able to keep my wits about me and attack.

It was a fierce battle. The ground shook, trees were felled, and blood was shed. When the dust settled I stood over my foe knowing that all that seperated me from being dragged down to the firey depths was the beach bucket I was able to capture him with. If not for the pink plastic mold of a castle I would now be blogging from a sulfur pit of dispair.

I will now include a picture of my adversary in the hopes that all may be warned. Do not tread lightly with the evil known as the POTATO BUG!!! (Not to be confused with a Rollie Pollie. Those are cute adorable bugs that come into existence every time a puppy chases his tail for the first time)

If you look closely you can see the houses being crushed by the beast. They average about 20 feet in height, or at least they seem to when you see them for the first time. For further information about how to protect yourself from the emotional trauma suffered by too many innocent people please consult the following web site: http://www.potatobugs.com/faq/index.html My prayers are with everyone that we may stand strong against the adversaries forces. Stand strong everyone, stand strong.

It can't get better than this!

Many of you know we moved here without a job, big leap of faith and all that. We had a couple months of savings to take care of us while we tried to find a job, and we got one JUST as we were about to be all out of money. And now, as we're making another leap of faith, we've been blessed again. Dave found out today that he got the job we've been praying for.

I don't think I've ever doubted Heavenly Father's plan for our family, but it sure was nail-biting to be making another move without a job. And once again, He pulled through. I know that this isn't always the outcome for others who make similar leaps of faith, and sometimes I question why this continues to be a successful situation for us when it doesn't work for others. Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely grateful! Just curious. It makes me wonder which "lessons" I need to be learning from this experience.

But one thing that really struck me in this last General Conference was the talk Elder Scott gave about listening to the Spirit's promptings, acting upon them, then waiting, and asking "what else?" I felt so strongly that we should move to Utah, and we followed that prompting. I'm not saying I'm a wonderful person b/c I followed that prompting-I only wish I was better at always following the promptings of the Spirit. But now I feel like the next step is "What else?" What else should I be learning from this? What else do I need to know? I think I've already had a few "epiphanies" about changes I need to make in my life. And I'm excited for what those changes can mean for our family's growth.

I know Heavenly Father is watching over our family. I know He is aware of our needs. I know He provides us with certain experiences so we can grow and learn to become more like Him. I know He can change our hearts if we really want it. He can help us have the desire to be better and try harder if we just express the tiniest desire to Him. I know He loves us!

Familial Confusion

Sweet little Emma. Tonight I was talking to her about learning to spell her last name. I spelled out my name and showed her our last name and asked her to tell me the letters. I thought I was being such a good parent and told her how the "th" makes a different sound than just a t and h separately. So then I asked her to write her last name. She looks at me and asks "what is it?" I kind of laugh at her and say, what do you think?? She eyes me carefully and says, "sleeping beauty?"

Nice. I laughed and she retorts, "What's wrong with having sleeping beauty as my last name??!"

Good question. What IS wrong with having sleeping beauty as your last name?

Trip to Utah & Disneyland!

No pictures of Kimmy's wedding yet, but here's what I got:

Kimmy's bridal shower with just the family!

Some pics Dave took of us setting up for the reception-we worked HARD! Can't wait to see what the final pictures look like. I didn't even get my own picture of the cake I made!

Let me tell you, we spent the week before the reception baking 400 mini cupcakes, 150 sandwich cookies, 4 batches of Russian tea cakes, MANY batches of frosting and fondant, lemon filling for the cupcakes, chocolate covered popcorn, wedding cake (top layer-the rest was fake), buying apothecary jars and TONS of yellow candy to go in them, sewing dresses and fabric panels for decor, getting plants, hanging lights and lanterns, setting up tables, having a bridal shower, putting together a "meet the family" dinner, dealing with a crazy neighbor lady, trying to find a house to rent (for our family) and SO MUCH MORE! But only the Packards can do this! (with help from Garrett's family, whom we LOVE LOVE LOVE!).

The day after the reception we were able to breathe. AM/Collins and family and Dave and the girls went on a hike to Stewart Falls in the morning. I could tell the Emma wasn't feeling too well, but I thought she was just tired from having fun all week. Well, they get back, we put Bree down for a nap and Emma was playing with the cousins and Dave and I headed over to look at a house in Cedar Hills. We got caught in game day traffic on the way back so I called the house. Just as I was talking to my sister, my brother walked into the house with Emma, coming back from playing at the park, and she threw up right then! GROSS!! I felt so bad that I couldn't even get there to help clean it up. It took us an hour to get home b/c of the traffic. When we got back my mom shoo'd us out the door to get to the BYU game. SWEET WOMAN-she stayed home and watched Emma so we could all go to the game. I felt so sad that Emma was missing out-she LOVES BYU and was bummed that she couldn't go. But Bree had a blast. It's not often that we get time with just one child, so while we missed Emma, we totally had a great time with Bree. It was a good game-lots of back and forth scoring, with BYU obviously winning :) We were in the sun and HOT, but all the cousins had a fun time and we loved being with everyone for something like this.

yes, Bree looks like a boy in these pictures. But she's wearing a disney princess hat, so that makes up for it!

Luckily Emma was mostly over the sickness the next day for the drive home-still a fever but no throwing up. But lucky us, we got caught in traffic out of Vegas. Note to self-do NOT drive south on the 15 on a Sunday EVER AGAIN. I should've known there would be traffic there. So a 9 hour trip ended up being about 12 1/2 hours. But we made it to our awesome hotel down the street from Disneyland! Allan and Kris were supposed to be joining up with us and Patti, but Kris got pneumonia and couldn't make the trip. We were so bummed-we were really looking forward to the girls getting to go to Disneyland with Grandma and Grandpa, and it's never good when Kris gets sick. But we still had a blast with Patti, Alan, Ryan, Mari and Becca!

Emma got the meet the princesses that she didn't meet last time. We met Cinderella in March after a small show they do at California Adventure, and it was the same girl this time. She looked at Emma walking up, then looked at me and said, "I think we've met before-am I right?" She totally remembered us!! I thought that was so cute.

We got to go on more rides this time and us parents utilized the fast pass and switched off-way fun. The kids had so much fun and weren't too whiny, which always makes for a nice day. We ended a little early and headed over to Downtown Disney-Emma was begging the whole time to go to Wetzels Pretzels-we did it both times before and that's what she remembered! And here's a pic of our sweet little Mari-she's SOOOOO cute. And so ITTY! I've never seen someone this little walking before (no joke, Adrienne, she's a month older than Eden and even SMALLER than her!).

All in all, a great trip. We're heading back to Disneyland before getting to Utah, just to utilize our annual pass a little more. I like having the pass b/c you don't feel like you have to jam everything into one day.

K-I'm done. Dave says I'm too chatty when I blog. But oh well. This is my blog and I'll be chatty if I want to. :)

It's final!

We're moving to Utah. Long story short, we felt the Spirit and we're obeying. We'll be leaving at the end of October and we've found a home in Cedar Hills that we'll be renting. This has nothing to do with how much we love it here or about not making it financially. I've been so conflicted about this b/c of how much I love it here. But the peace I've felt since deciding to obey the promptings that I felt is indescribeable. Doesn't mean I'm not freaked out-we'll be doing the same thing we did when coming here-HUGE leap of faith, going without a secure job yet. But we have faith that it will all work out.

Pictures of our fun trip to Utah for the wedding and Disneyland coming soon!

ps-if you know a dentist who is hiring let us know :) doesn't hurt to nudge that faith along

Exclamation points

You can usually tell how a person writes from the way they talk. Most who know me can expect a ton of exclamation points when I blog, write email, facebook, letters, etc. I'm an exclaiming person! HAHA-I just now remembered the Seinfeld epsiode with Elaine and the whole issue of when it's appropriate to add exclamation points. That's soooo funny! But anyway. Dave, on the other hand, is NOT an exclaiming person. I don't think ever in my life I have seen him express himself in exclamation.

One of the areas in our marriage in which we're so opposite is our enthusiasm for things. I get spazzy, he's still just calm and cool. Early on in our marriage I would get quite frustrated when I would think of the PERFECT gift and eagerly await his reaction, only to get a nice smile and simple thanks. When we're doing fun things I get giddy and make dolphin sounds (that one's for you, roomies)-I get so excited sometimes I feel like I'm going to explode! You know, like something inside you just wants to jump out of your body in joy? Dave hardly cracks a smile. I have to ask him if he's excited, and he just looks at me like-you're expressing enough excitement for the both of us.

So, you can imagine my amazement when I come home, sit down on the computer, and see an instant message from Dave saying this:

"Rich is getting engaged!!"

This is so much a shock and momentous occassion that Rich got a DOUBLE exclamation point from Dave.

*I haven't heard anymore from Dave, so I'm not quite sure if the engagement has happened already or if we're acting excited prematurely, but I'll give this a HUGE

"WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

(I'm generous with my exclamation points)

He makes me laugh

A conversation Dave and I had over IM today, while he was at work:

**p.s.-it's only funny if you know that sept 7 is my birthday. **

Loralee says:

just wondering if the office is open on labor day

Dave says:

when is that?

Loralee says:

sept 7

Loralee says:
sound familiar?

Dave says:
should it?

Loralee says:
lol

Dave says:

what?

Dave says:
I'm kidding. Of course I know what day it is

Dave says:
labor day

*Grandpa & Grandma, LOL means laugh out loud ;)*

Brian Reagan has changed my life

Does anyone else find themselves speaking in Brian Reagan-ese? I can never look at a recipe the same again. The second I see "1/2 cup", my mind goes into monologue mode. Scooping ice cream? I go through an inner battle about how much I'm allowed to eat! HALF A CUP!! WHO EATS HALF A CUP??? I went through the whole segment in my head as I was making a chicken recipe the other night and it called for half a cup of oil.

The first time I watched a Brian Reagan video was a few days before getting on a plane. I was laughing to myself watching people try to put luggage into the overhead bins and listening to the flight attendants try to politely tell them that it won't fit. And the mad rush to the door? I almost did that whole "spit" laugh-you know, where you're trying to keep it in, but then it's too much to hold in so it comes out in a big spit?

But how great is it that we can now look at things that drove us nuts before and LAUGH about it?? People, Brian Reagan has changed the WORLD. We will now laugh when we are eating fig newtons, ice cream, or any other dairy item, when we go to the doctor, when we are shipping packages, when we are getting on an airplane, when we're trying to talk to customer service over the phone, when we're watching our kids play sports or are in a spelling bee, and anytime that someone tells us that we're going to feel a little PRESSURE!!

And here's a little snippet to make you chuckle:

Fun with Family!

We met up with Ann-Marie and family in Santa Barbara on Saturday, and it was so much fun! I'm so glad we live close enough now that we can do things like this. In addition to Santa Barbara just being fun in and of itself, it was the Spanish Fiesta Days (or something like that). VIVA LA FIESTA! (and if I could do the upside down exclamation point I would have put it at the beginning of that sentence).

We started the day at the Botanic Gardens. California botanic gardens are different from Ohio botanic gardens. Each has their own beauty, but I think sometimes I forget that California is actually a desert, especially in our cool climate here on the coast. The girls had a blast finding lots of lizards-I missed those little guys when we lived in Ohio! It was a nice place to walk through, undisturbed by crowds and traffic.

A rare shot of "Mom". I'm usually behind the camera. Bree was into jumping off every rock. Needless to say, getting around took a while.

Looking at lizards

This is how taking our family pictures usually turns out-Emma posing nicely while Bree tries to escape

Then we headed to the pier and rented a SURREY!! WOOHOO!! We were hot stuff as we coasted on the trail! It was so cute having Cameron and Bree in the front basket with their little helmets on, then Emma grabbing onto the bar for dear life. We yelled out VIVA LA FIESTA to everyone nearby and rang the bell a lot. We even got filmed. We were having so much fun-we KNOW some people decided to rent one themselves after seeing us. We should have been their advertisement. Most people got a kick out of seeing the triple row one being used-most people were just on a single row surrey. My bum still hurts from the bike seat. But that was a fun experience! Everyone should do it sometime!

After some lunch it was off to the zoo. Even though we were spoiled and grew up going to the San Diego Zoo, I still find animals at any zoo just as fascinating. It wasn't crowded at all, so it was nice not to have to worry about the kids wandering off or getting lost. We just moseyed (spelling??) our way through the zoo. Probably most fascinating to watch were the California condors. There were a few of them in the netted area, each with numbers. The signs talked about their wing span and we were disappointed that they were just sitting on their little perches. After waiting a while and watching we decided to head out, and just as we did, one of them opened up his wings. It was like he was saying, "what's up?? you getta load of this??" Then another one did it. It was fun putting dialogue to what they were doing. But, yes, impressive wing span. And then Bree got bit by a goat. Her fault for putting her fingers too close. It didn't break the skin, but it left a mark! We made up for it, though, by taking the kids to the most coveted spot in the zoo. Nope, no animals, just an astroturf covered hill that they could slide down on pieces of cardboard. Who knew?? We could have spent hours there. I think we decided that we're doing that one day with our dream house.

We went to Palazzio for dinner after the zoo-it came highly recommended! It was really good, and I'm excited to try some of the other recommended spots next time we go down there. Then we went through the mercado to the stage set up for the festivities! The kids all got some eggs filled with confetti. There was confetti EVERYWHERE. Ann-Marie said it was worse the day before during the parade. But on every corner were these vendors with crates of eggs that had been broken, emptied, filled with confetti, then a piece of tissue paper was glued over the open edge. And people would come up to you and crack them on your head, spilling confetti down all parts of your body. All the boys got me pretty good. I think Ann-Marie was glad I was getting the brunt of it instead of her :) I was feeling confetti go down my back (and even further) all night.

At the stage a group started playing, so we sat down in the front with all the people dancing around in front of us. Cameron got up and stole the show. The kid was ROCKING OUT and everyone loved him. I'm talking doing the worm and everything. He was "that guy" in the middle of the circle. HE'S THREE, for crying out loud! We were laughing so hard at the things he was unexpectedly doing. Bree eventually joined him, but all she knows is girly ballet pointy toe things, so her dancing looked a little out of place, until she started imitating Cameron. And she did not want to do it alone. It was so cute-she came up to Dave and yelled, Come on Dad! and he wouldn't, but she wouldn't take no for an answer!! So up he went to dance with his little princess. So cute. And of course we had left the camera in the car at this point. Dave got a few shots on his phone. But it was a blast. After they stopped playing we just walked around to some of the shops before getting frozen yogurt and heading back to our house for Sunday.

You can't get any girlier than this store. It was lined with hot pink with zebra print carpet. And the stuff in there was so affordable! The girls got some pink rhinestone heart and butterfly clips for super cheap, plus there was a 10% discount for the festival-VIVA LA FIESTA! This pic was taken through the window, but the girls were wearing some awesome tiaras-they didn't want to take them off!

Spending Sunday with everyone at our house was so great. Besides my brother and both mine and Dave's parents, we've never had any family at our own house. Ever. I loved it. We had a fun birthday dinner for Ann-Marie, mud pie and all!! Jaymie (Collins' sister) and her family came over too, so it was so much fun.

Such a fun weekend-can't wait to do it again!!

New post on other blog

for those interested, I finally added a new post to my Ideas n Stuff blog-link on the right!