News from the Hansens

First, Merry Christmas Season everyone. Hope everyone is enjoying a white Christmas. I am ,mostly, except when I think about going swimming in an outdoor swimming pool two Christmas' ago in AZ.
It was fun seeing everyone over Thanksgiving. We had such a good time. Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa for allowing us those fun memories.
Charlie and I would like everyone to know that we will be adding to our family! We are expecting a baby in July. We are very excited. I must say that I am more excited to get through this morning sickness more than anything.
Charlie and I are going to be living in Springville, Ut for the next two months and then we will be going to Nevada for two months. We are excited for changes and yet sad to say goodbye to Boise. It has been so fun living here with Mom and Dad and the girls. I am not sure what Brielle and Macy are going to do without each other. They have been stuck like glue for the past 4 months.

Love,
Chelsea Charlie and Macy

Uncle Arlin

Most of you probably already know, but Uncle Arlin passes away today. His funeral services will be scheduled for next Thursday or Friday. He was my fathers last living sibling. He has been like another father to me.

It is kind of scary as I am now the second oldest Mecham 0f my Grandparents family.

I love you all!

Nolan, Dad, Grandpa

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAYDEN

We just wanted to wish you a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I still remember you mom writing and telling me she was pregnant with you while on my mission. She wrote and told me she was having a boy and wanted to use the name Kay in it some how. I wrote her back with the name Kayden and the day she got the letter the night before she dreamnt about the name Kayden. I know that was suppose to be your name. We are very glad to have you as a part of our family. We love you very much.

We are looking forward to seeing all of you this week. Please travel safely!

The Packard's

Fun times ahead

We are so excited for the upcoming activities. We love this time of the season to be able to visit with family and share our blessings with others. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving and are so appreciative to Mom and Dad for putting this on. We will bring our swimsuits and fun table games. Do they have racquetball?

I was on the Eagle Board of Review for one of my former scouts tonight. Another one is going to do his Eagle project next week and should be done just under the wire. This will leave only about 2 priests to get their Eagles. There is one priest that will not get his Eagle as he procrastinated too long. I have 5 life scouts in my teacher's quorum that are working on their eagles and we will have 100% Eagles in the teacher's quorum. I will be receiving 4 life scouts this year from the Deacon's quorum and the last of my scouts will come to me as an Eagle scout. When all this is accomplished, I will have seen 26 of my 50 scouts I had as a scoutmster earn the rank of Eagle. Most of the ones who didn't get Eagle were non members who quit, or less active families that moved away before they finished with me or came in too late to get started. That would be a great accomplishment to see these boys do this. I have some work to do to keep them focused.

I can't wait to see everyone for Thanksgiving. It should be a lot of fun.

Love Always, Bryan

This is a test

Thanksgiving

If you are not going to be there both nights please let us know so we can make adjustments in the room reservation. We are looking forward to seeing you.

Nolan and roberta

Thanksgiving Outing - 25 - 27 November

Place Sherwood Hills Resort ( Between Logan and Brigham City)
Check In Time: 3:00 Wednesday Nov 25th
Check Out Time 11:00 Friday Nov. 27th
Food: We will bring the fixings for hoagies, chips, potato salad, vegetable tray and dessert
Wednesday Evening.
We will have a continental breakfast Thursday and Friday mornings served between
7:00 - 10:00.
Thursday's Thanksgiving dinner will be held at the resort in their restaurant at 2:00 pm.
Menu as follows: Thanksgiving Day Grand Buffet - All you can eat
Turkey/Ham/roasted chicken/ Mashed potatoes/candied sweet potatoes/seasoned vegetables/Stuffing/green beans/tossed salad/cranberry sauce/gravy/rolls/punch
Desserts - cheesecake, chocolate cake, apple crisp, pecan pie, pumpkin pie

The following rooms have been assigned:
Chase Jorgensen - room 2113 - two double beds
Shawn Jorgensen - room 2108 -two double beds
Charlie Hansen - room 2110 - two double beds
Bryan Mecham - room 2117 - two double beds
Josalyn, Kaitlyn, Makenzie - room 2118 - two double beds
Gary Packard - room 2101 - two double beds
Nolan Mecham - room 2103 - two double beds
Derek, Brant, Kyler, Kayden, Jarom - room 2111 - two bunk beds, two queen beds
Keith Mecham - room 2104 - family room with two queen beds, one king bed in a joining room
Brielle, Annie, Tegan and Emmalynn will use he two queen beds

Activities: Swimming, basketball, foosball, table games (bring your favorites) and more.
Thursday night we can go bowling at the Logan Lanes Bowling Alley. They will be open from 3:00 until 11:00 and then get pizza if everyone agrees.

If you can't be there both nights so we can change the reservations. We are looking forward to a fun Thanksgiving. Don't forget your swimming suits.

Love Mom and Dad,Grandma and Grandpa, G-Grandma and G-Grandpa

Thanksgiving Outing - 25 - 27 November

Week of Nov 2-7

Hi everyone,

We have had a busy and enjoyable week. Thursday and Saturday we served in the temple in Idaho Falls. Wednesday afternoon we went down to the Isoms and pressed 50 two quart bottles of apple juice. We brought 20 of them home.

Our Board of Directors of the Sons of the Utah pioneers met with our national president and I received a folder so I can begin learning my duty. I hope I am up to he challenge.

Today we attended Emmalynn's primary program. We were really proud of her. She had her part memorized and knew the words to the six songs that were sung. (Way to go Emmalynn).

Grandma has the Daughters of the Utah pioneers in our home Monday so Saturday we had a major house cleaning day. It looked nice when we finished.

Monday I have a five minute dentist appointment in Idaho Falls to check the Titanium Post that he screwed in my mouth. If everything is okay Dr. Harper will build a tooth on it.

Brant and Kyler we wish you well as you start your 2009-2010 basketball season.

Thanksgiving is getting closer. (18 days to go). We hope you all can come.

Love you all!

Dad, Grandpa

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNIE

Annie,

We just wanted to wish you a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We hope you have a great day and that you got to do what you wanted.

We love you!

The Packard's

Time Change Week end

Dear Family,

We have had a good weekend. Roberta was kind and we went to ISU to watch Poky and Jerome and Blackfoot and Century play. Poky won 35-33. We left at the half of the Blackfoot game they went on to win. The Fifth district lost all play off games except for the one with Poky. Saturday Gary and Laree and Daniel and Emmalynn came to visit. Emmalynn was really cute in ghost costume with her Grandma Packards black wig. Daniel was a Ninja. We had six trick or treaters and Emalynn gave them the treats. After that we had ice cream Sundaes.

Today we left at seven this morning and attended Dick and Rheas meetings. The Bishop asked them to share their thoughts and testimonies. Lisa was scared but did a nice job. The had a lovely meal with Roast Beef, potatoes and gray, peas and carrots plus an excellent salad bar. The food was great. Allison and Tristin were the from Meridian. Tristin will be freshman at Mt View next year. Todd and Katrina and boys came and Les and his family were there from Salt Lake.

I visited with Les and he would like to look at to get Derek's Resume. Bryan I think this is a good opportunity for Derek to expand his net work. Could you get the email addresses for them.

Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment at 8:00 a.m. in Idaho falls to get the titanium pin put in my mouth so the dentist can build me a new tooth. They drill a hole in my jaw and then screw the pin I don't know how long it will take before they can put the tooth on.

You Mom wore her new outfit she bought at BYU homecoming. She looks terrific. It was the best thing that happened at BYU. No offense to Derek and Josalyn we really enjoyed visiting with them at dinner.

Enough for the week end report. We love each of you!

Dad, and grandpa

How is the family?

Well two months left of 2009 and they are some of my favorite months of the year. We had a lot of fun for Halloween. We carved pumpkins. We did an okay job and wished Derek was with us as he always does such an awesome job with pumpkins. I am getting excited for Thanksgiving and Kyler's Eagle Scout Court of honor. We have a lot of things ahead of us from a work, family and life standpoint. We are planning a little get away this weekend to the Menlove's cabin in Garden Valley. Michele, Chelsea, Macy will be taking a quick trip to Provo to see Josalyn in her fall concert at BYU. I have my favorite campout of the year coming up the weekend of the 13th and 14th. We are going to Bruneau Sand Dunes. If any one else wants to come, please do. We would love to have some other scouts of the family come and climb the highest sand dune in north america. Thanksgiving will be the next big event and then another quick trip to Provo to watch Josalyn's Christmas concert. I will have quarter end and then Christmas. I am not looking forward to Chelsea, Charlie and Macy leaving our home. I am going to try to slow the clock down. It has been a very enjoyable and fun experience having them in our home. What a treat for grandparents. I now will never question why grandparents let their kids move back home. I have been in heaven. It is so much fun to see your grandchild develop and grow right before your eyes. Christmas will be fun as I think I will be off work again from the day before Christmas to New Years.

Karen, congratulations on your weight loss. I am still trying to lose the cruise weight yet alone another 90+ pounds but I will try to follow your example. I am in the first week of my diet and am getting close to my pre cruise weight so I will only have 90 to go also. My goal is to be there by the end of 2010.

I am enjoying basketball and racquetball. It has been fun having Charlie as a basketball and racquetball partner. It makes playing a lot easier. The only problem is that he is now winning more games than me each time we play.

Laree, good to hear about your heart. I hope you regain your strength. I am not suggesting that you have sleep apnea but sometimes sleeping disorders can cause you to be tired. See if the doctor believes this is a possibility if the other is ruled out.

Mom and Dad, way to go on figuring out the blog. It sounds like you have been very busy. I need you to come to Boise again as things always get done when you are here. :-) We appreciate all you do when you come and it means a lot. Thanks for always supporting our children.

Kaitlyn did well in her Band Competition. They finished 4th out of the big school bands and most likely 5th or 6th overall the bands.

We look forward to Thanksgiving! We love all of you!

The Mecham's in Meridian

Still Learning

We hope you are each enjoying the fall. We have pretty much caught up on our outside work: raspberries pruned, garden tilled, hoses up, leaves picked up for the first three times-we probably have two more to go weather willing and sprinkles drained.

We worked in the temple twice this week it has been a good week.

Today we made the first batch of soup-14 pints and 7 quarts. My role was pealing the vegetables.

Snake River lost to South Fremont 31-28. Snake was on the 11 yard line with eleven seconds and got sacked.

We are thinking about going to Pocatello tonight and watch Poky and Jerome and Blackfoot and Hillcrest.

Mom's been busy all day this will her a chance to work on her knitting.

Monday we are going to the Majestic Theatre in Pocatello with our home evening group for a dinner and show. The show is Thoroughly Modern Millie or something like that.

We love you all and looking forward to thanksgiving.

Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma

My Heart is okay

I went to see the cardiologist today. He stated that he felt all the test that were taken that my heart is okay. He said that I was having premature heartbeats and that it was normal occurance and that most people will have 20-50 of them out of 1,000 heart beats a day. He told me to be liberal in my salt intake to see if it would help with my dizziness. He stated that he bet that I thought I would never hear a doctor tell me to increase my salt. He wants me to try that for a month and see how it is helping. If I don't see a lot of change then he will put me on a hormone that will tell my body to retain more salt. I discussed with him how tired and worn out I have felt and that I have no energy. He decided to draw blood and test me for mono. I will know the results in a day or two. Just what I don't need with this busy time with work but I would rather have that then have something wrong with my heart.

Thanks to all of you for fasting and praying on my behalf. The Lord has heard our prayers and I don't have anything seriously wrong with my heart.

We are looking forward to Halloween. Emmalynn is going to be a witch and Daniel is going to be a Ninja.

We are looking more forward to seeing all of you at Thanksgiving. Yeah a stress free day of no cooking for a lot of family. Thanks mom & dad and the Golden Corral for taking care of the cooking for us. I am truly blessed and honored to have all of you as family!

We love you
the Packard's

Hello Family....

Good Morning Everyone! Just got on to check my quilted bear numbers and saw 2 new posts. I love reading about what's going on in everyone's lives...it's a great way to keep in touch. I haven't posted in so long so I thought I'd give you an update.
Shawn is super busy. They gave him more stores to manage because of cutbacks. That stinks...but he did get Hawaii so that smells good!!!! I'm sure we'll be checking on that twice a year and he'll need his executive assistant (me) to help him do that.
I'm up to my ears in wax. I've been making tarts like crazy. I have people complaining that they want bears and candles....so I'm trying to catch up on those today. Tis the season.....I guess I can expect it. I'm glad you liked your tarts Michele. I know fall is your favorite. As of today I have lost a total of 80.2 pounds. Can you believe it? I've got 10 more to go and then I'll be at my goal weight. I thought 90 pounds sounded impossible when I started out and now I can see an end in sight. I guess it's like anything else that seems impossible. If we just tackle it one bite (no pun intended)at a time then it's manageable. I sure hate the weight thing....it's been such a struggle my whole life. Yuck!
Kayden (and Kyler) have their last football game today in Spanish Fork. Shawn is excited it's on a Monday so he can go. He's only been able to see 2 games because they are usually on Wednesday. It's raining outside so we'll hope for a little sun by the time the game starts today.
Makenzie is loving school. She "sugared" (a form of waxing) my eyebrows and my lip last night. Hurts like the dickens but it's sooooo much better than tweezing. She's learning hair cutting right now. She's on the floor a lot more and is having several people come back and request her. That's always fun.
Chase, Steph and the boys are doing great. We are having our first ever "Monster Ball and sleep over on Halloween. We are really excited. We've got a scary menu planned and fun games and movies....a little trick-or-treating....and new p.j.'s and scary books for bedtime. I love Halloween. It's my fav.
Hope everyone is doing well. We are excited to spend time with all of you at Thanksgiving. That will for sure be a "free" (no calorie counting) day....or few days for the Jorgensens. Woohoo! Love you all........

California and Boise Trip

Dear Family,

We are still working on becoming computer literate and accessing the family blog. We went with our friends the Dixon's and stayed in their daughters time share at the Newport Beach Marriott condominiums. The weather was in the low 70s. We took a boat tour around the harbour and saw how the wealthy live. The little battery powered boat we toured the harbour in was about 5 feet wide and 23 feet long. It looked like a big row boat. It cost the owner 465 dollars a month to dock it in the bay. You can imagine the price to park of the big 65' to 100+' yachts I understand they cost over a thousand dollars a month to park. Never the less the ships were beautiful.

We enjoyed watching Brille play soccer. They lost 1 to 2 but it was a good game. Brielle was very agressive and had several good kicks and a couple of intimidations. We then went to the Mongolian Grill for supper. It has been a nice week. In Bryan's ward today they put a a new Bishropric. The Bishop is 70 years old. It was interesting has he opened his remarks. He said my wife was suprized but I wasn't. The spirit had been working with him for several weeks. I new then he was the one the Lord had chosen.

Have a nice week. We are looking forward to homecoming and listening to Josalyn's choir sing at the BYU Homecoming spectacular.

We love you all!

Mom and Dad; Granma and Grandpa

New Changes, New Blood! OOOOh spooky

I'm going to beat Bryan at blogging tonight while he is at a youth fireside. We got our new Bishopric today. Gary Oviatt Bp. Lyle Bair 1st Coun. Sheldon Larson 2nd Coun. Steve Browne Sec. It will be a great bishopric. New blood, new ideas, new leadership. We sure have had fun with Grandpa and Grandma here this weekend. They were a great help on Saturday as we started cleaning out the garden. WOW WERE THEY EVER A GREAT HELP!!! I think I would like a postage stamp size yard and garden next year. (Dad says to invest in a gallon or two of roundup) grin)
Kaitlyn had a good time in Portland at a Marching Band Competition this weekend. Brielle also had a great soccer game. She is learning a lot and gaining confidence every game. She went head to head with one girl running toward a loose ball and when the other girl saw the determined face of Brielle, she backed off and kind of ducked just in case her 'kick' came straight toward her body.

Laree we sure appreciated the opportunity to fast for you today. Charlie was explaining a diagram of the heart and his diagnosis to all of us. We hope that all the tests and reports come back in your favor. Keep us updated.

Chase we were so sorry to hear about your dog. It made me cry just to hear Mom tell us the story of Little Shawn. Really does it get much sadder than that? A little boy trying to dig up his dead puppy.... oh my gosh kleenex please!!!

Robyn, We were surprised to hear that you are teaching full time. WOW my admiration for you just jumped ten notches!!! You must be one exhausted lady at the end of your day!!! What lucky kids to get you as a permanent sub!!! Brielle loves her teacher (and so do I) and I know REALLY great teachers are rare.

Karen I love all the melters you gave me. It really gets me in the "fall mood". I know you must be busier than ever right now in preparation for the holidays. And speaking of Fall... My prayers have been answered, the frost killed all the squash and tomatoes in my garden YAH HOO! (I still am picking a bowl of rasberries every now again tho.) We're excited to see everyone again. Thanksgiving will be FUN!!

We sure love having Charlie and Chelsea and Macy with us. Karen, I'm now understanding a little more about the "joy of being a grandma". There is no greater fun that hearing "Gramma, where are you, I want to go to the park". Love being a Grandma!! (And I guess a Grandpa's job is just to spoil 'em)

Hope all is happy in your home. In our Relief Society lesson today, we were talking about the joy of having an eternal family and someone stated.. Eternity starts today. How true that is. Families can be our greatest joys thats for sure. (with a little worry thrown in. grin)

Love you all
Michele, Bryan and gang

Hello Family

I am teaching mom how to blog. We should be seeing more posts from her in the future. :-)

Pocatello Packard update

We have had a interesting month. Everything that could break down before Gary left for hunting did. His truck and camper gave him fits this fall but all is well now. It is amazing that a $4.00 part get have him stranded on a hill in Salmon during a major snow storm.

Emmalynn and I built a snowman on October 5. It was about 2 feet high. I was glad when it melted because I am not ready for winter yet. Emmalynn had a field trip to a pumpkin patch. Daniel went with her. We had a lot of fun going through the corn maze and answering question to help us get through. They then made a bird feeder. They then got to go feed a horse which Daniel thought was the greatest thing ever. He loves "neigh neighs" (that is what he calls horses). They then got to go out into a field a pick a pumpkin. We are waiting tell a little closer to Halloween before we carve them for our front porch.

I have had to wear a king heart monitor for the last week. When I had a dizzy spell or light headedness I had to press the record button and it would go back and record what my heart was doing during the spells. I have had these spells for about 3 months and my doctor is running tests on my heart until they figure out what is going on with it because I have a sporadic pulse. Hopefully by next week when I go into the doctor the cardiologist will have given him a report on the reading that the heart monitor did. I guess I have taken for granted how important your heart is in keeping you feeling well. I will be glad to find out what is wrong and hope that it isn't anything serious.

I was sorry to hear about your dog Chase. I am glad you are feeling better Kyler and that the swine flu wasn't as serious for you as it has been for others.

We hope all of you are doing well and we are looking foward to seeing you for Thanksgiving.

We Love You!
The Packard's

Hello from the Meridian Mechams

Yes, I have been a little quiet since the cruise. I have been very busy with work and everything else. I really enjoyed attending conference this week. It was a great recharging experience. I so love listening to the leaders of the church. I realized that we must do more to help Diane and John. We need to make a stronger effort to keep in contact with them and to share our family successes. I had many strong impressions during this conference. Elder Holland's talk was simply amazing. I want to be able to bear testimony like that. Boy do I have a lot of work to do and things to change but I think it is worth the effort.

Brielle is enjoying soccer. Her team doesn't win but she is learning and having fun. She loves being an Aunt to Macy. Kaitlyn is very busy this fall with Marching Band and student council and mutual and school activities. She is doing great.

It is so fun to have Charlie, Chelsea and Macy in our home. We enjoy good times together. We enjoy working and playing together. I can hear Macy in singing right now as her parents are wanting her to go to bed. It is funny in a way to see your children go through what they put us through. :-) Charlie and I are playing basketball and racquetball together. We are having a lot of fun. The racquetball tally is Bryan 13 and Charlie 10 so I am still hanging with the youth but I don't know for how much longer as Charlie is getting better every time I play him. It is also fun getting motivated to start playing basketball again. I am enjoying it very much. Not to brag, but it is still fun when I hear the other team say "you cannot let him shoot." I still leave the gym only after making a three point shot. I jokingly say that this is what I want on my grave stone that "my last shot was a made three pointer." :-)

We are getting a new Bishop in a couple weeks. Our bishop was called to the new Stake Presidency. We have heard that the new Bishop has been called and are very excited about that.

We are happy with our current callings and enjoy the association with such great leaders and youth. I love teaching the 14 and 15 year old young men. This is the greatest age. I love their excitement for life and their transition from boys to young men. We all earned our varsity letter and I even earned the triathlon pin with the boys. It was fun running in the two mini triathlons. It is fun to see young men achieve their goals.

We cooked scones the other night at the football game and made the softball team about $185. We sold over 250 scones. They want us to do it for homecoming too. We haven't decided yet if it is worth the hassle. I will have to check the weather.

We had our first frost which ended our gardening for the year. We might get a few more raspberries and apples, carrots, potatoes and onions but not much else. I have to start my pepper relish on Monday night so the peppers don't go to waste.

I love all of you very much. I am grateful to be part of such a great family. I hope and pray that we will be those members who comit to living the gospel principles so that we may gain eternal life together. We have and are truly blessed to have such a legacy as we do and to have parents who show us by example the meaning of enduring to the end. Mom and Dad, I love you. We love you. Thanks for all you do and for the time you spend in the service of our family and the church. We have been truly blessed because of your diligence and perseverance.

Well, I am still working on getting the weight off that I gained on the cruise. Boy is that a workout in and of itself.

Hopefully, I will soon be able to report that I have done it. :-)

I love you!

Bryan

Happy Brithday MOM!

Mom I just want to tell you how much I love and appreciate you! I have been truly blessed with a mom who has taught me great principles and showed me them by example. Thank you for your testimony of the gospel. I can rehearse right along with the stripling warriors. "I do not doubt my mother knew it!" You have been a strength in my life. Thank you for all your support and love that you have given me over the last 26 years. I love you so so much. I hope you have a very special day! Happy Birthday

Love, Derek

Happy Belated Birthday to Macy

Macy

We just wanted to wish you a late happy birthday! We hope you 2nd birthday was a blast.

The Packards

Packard Update

Just an update on our family. Emmalynn started preschool this year. She is going 3 days a week and loves it. She decided she wanted her hair short instead of growing it to her butt. We went Saturday and had it cut to just above her shoulder. She looks really cute. Daniel finally got his bottom teeth that has been missing. I am sure this is just in time to have him get his 2 yr. molers. I will be glad to get through the teething! Gary is preparing for hunting and is discouraged at not seeing any elk in the unit he drew to hunt a bull. Hopefully as the weather gets colder it will bring down the elk. Pray for him to get his elk soon or I am going to be a hunter window for the month of October. I had a scare last Friday when I woke up with chest pains and my arm going numb. We went to the ER in the middle of the night with the kids getting woke up to go. I had a EKG, chest exray, blood work and urine sample done. All came back fine. They are unsure what caused my problem. I am going into my regular doctor at the end of the month to discuss this and the fact that I have been having dizzy spells. Hopefully it isn't anything serious.
We are celebrating Emmalynn's birthday this Wednesday. I know she invited all of you to it and she knows you probally won't make it but was excited to share this big 5th birthday with all of you.

We just wanted to wish Stephanie, Brant, and Michele a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Love the Packard's

Okay everyone, I've noticed the blog has been a little quiet lately! So... I'll do my part to catch you up on our news. Hope you'll do the same!!! First of all, congrats to Josalyn. I will be watching the broadcast on Tuesday! Our house has been busy but glad to be making it! Keith is in the middle of his internship. He is at the high school because one of the assistants had surgery. Instead of being an intern he is doing her job. The problem with that is he has a hard time finding time to do the reports and projects required of an intern when he is doing her job. Football coaching is taking more time than we thought it would. Let's just say, I'm looking forward to basketball season because he will be home more. (I never thought I would say that!) Brant is playing in a fall baseball league and practicing basketball everyday. Kyler is enjoying his freshmen football season and got to play in the sophomore game this last week! Jarom had a frustrating football game yesterday. The other team scouted Jarom's team last week and put their two biggest guys right on Jarom. He got held and pushed and couldn't do anything the whole game. He felt bad because both sets of grandparents came to watch him play and he didn't feel like he was able to do anything. Those days happen. Annie and Tegan are really into school. Tegan came home and said," I love Mrs. Orgill more than anyone in the whole world." Keith said, "How about your parents?" And she said, "Well, I guess you guys too." She is in an all day class so I have had some free time from kids! I am going to substitute teach for a fifth grade teacher when she has her baby. She is due the first of October. I will probably teach until about Christmas.
Hope everyone is doing well! Happy Birthday to all the September birthdays!

Congratulations

Josalyn,

That is so exciting about you making the women's choir. We are so proud of you. If we don't make it down for some performances just know that we are thinking of you and wishing you great success.

Love the Packards

GREAT NEWS!!!

Hello Everyone!!!

So just a little update :) I recently auditioned for the Women's Choir at BYU and today I found out that I made it!!! It was a very long and stressful process and I am so glad that it is over! Out of 150 Sop. 2 girls, she only took 40! It makes me so happy that I will once again be singing in an official choir! I know that the blessings I recieve from this experience will be such a strength in my life! So just so you know there will be lots of performances and other times we will be singing. I know you all have busy lives, but if you ever wanted to maybe come to one or watch on TV here is the information!

Sept. 15th (Tuesday) BYU Devotional 11:00 Marriot Center or on BYU TV
Choir Showcase September 24th and 25th in the de Jong Concert hall (tickets available through BYU)
Homecoming Spectacular Mon-Fri Oct. 19-23rd
BYU Devotional Tues Oct. 20 11:00 Marriot Center or on BYU TV
Men/Women's chorus concert Nov. 3rd (tickets through BYU)
BYU Devotional Tues Nov. 10th 11:00 Marriot Center or BYU TV
Christmas Concert December 4th and 5th (tickets through BYU)

that is the scedule through Christmas! I would love to see you at any of them!!

I love you all!!

Josalyn

You are never alone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIrGKB5nRKE - Check out this video. It is a comfort and a great reminder to all of us. It can also be found at www.LDS.org. Just copy and past the link into the web browser and you can see the video.

You are never alone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIrGKB5nRKE - Check out this video. It is a comfort and a great reminder to all of us. It can also be found at www.LDS.org. Just copy and past the link into the web browser and you can see the video.

Many Thanks and a Few Belated Birthday wishes!

Wow, this has been an eventful month. From reunions, to scout camp to cruise to funeral and graveside not to mention some long hours at work. Life definitely has its joys and its sorrows.

First I want to wish a Belated Happy Birthday to Makenzie. Sorry for missing your birthday. I should have followed the prompting so I didn't have to wish you a belated one. Oh well, we all learn through these missed opportunities and hopefully I will follow promptings more diligently.

I enjoyed passing off Kyler's camping merit badge which I understand completes his merit badges for Eagle. Kyler, way to go. Keep up the great work. Sorry for teasing you a little bit. You are a fine young man.

Mom and Dad, thanks for a wonderful cruise. It was truly a joy to be with you and my my siblings and their spouses. I truly enjoyed every minute. It was a trip of a lifetime and I am glad I could share the time with all of you. Given the events in the Clark family, it makes me realize how important it is too create these fun memories and to share time with one another.

Mom, Dad, Karen and Robyn, thank you for coming to the graveside service today. That meant a lot to me and I know Michele really appreciated the support as well as the Stucki and Clark family. To the rest that have kept us in your prayers, thank you. We appreciate the love and support that we have felt through prayers, notes, calls, and visits.

Mom and Dad!

Happy Anniversary!!! Number 57! What an example to all of us of the importance of eternal marriage and the example of being comitted to our spouses. What a great legacy this is to all of us as we realize the importance of the marriage covenants.


I love all of you very much! I am glad that I belong to such a wonderful family that loves and supports one another. Now our lives are going to get busy in a quick hurry with school right around the corner. It is amazing how time flies when we are having fun. Soon it will be Thanksgiving and then Christmas and then Makenzie's graduation! I know it will go just that fast!

Thanks again for being such a great family.

Love Always!

Bryan

HaPpY BiRtHdAy JoSaLyn

No way.....you are NOT 20 years old today! Your teen years are now behind you. Wow...20 years has gone by soooooo fast! Hope you're doing something fun today. We are going to go boating for your birthday so if you want to join us we'll be out on Willard Bay by 6. Are you up for it??? I could maybe even round up a hot guy to have there too. Hope you have a great day....whatever you do. Love you tons!!!!!!

Happy Birthday-Josalyn

Josalyn,

We just wanted to wish you a very happy birthday! I also wanted to thank you again for being a second mom to my kids during our cruise. We hope you have a great 20th birthday!

Love the Packards

Happy Birthday Makenzie

We just wanted to wish you a very HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY! We hope you are having a great day! We love you very much!


the Packard's

THINKING OF YOU

MICHELE,

WE JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW THAT WE ARE THINKING OF YOU DURING THIS TIME OF LOSS. WE LOVE YOU AND PRAY FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY DURING THIS TIME. WE ALSO PRAY THAT YOU WILL HAVE THE SPIRIT WITH YOU AS YOU GIVE YOUR SISTER'S LIFE SKETCH. WE KNOW THE LORD WILL BLESS YOU!

WE LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!

THE PACKARD'S

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEREK

DEREK,

WE JUST WANTED TO WISH YOU A HAPPY BIRTHDAY! WE LOVE YOU! WE HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY!

LOVE THE PACKARD'S

Happy Birthday Derek!!!!!

Happy Birthday to you....la,la,la,la,la,la. Now you've been sung to. Hope you have a wonderful day! Eat cake, sluff work, and act like a teenager. It's all down hill from here so take advantage of it. ") just kidding. We were just talking about when you were born on the cruse. I couldn't believe what a beautiful baby you were. It just doesn't feel like it's been that long ago...and it has been. Yikes...you guys are making us feel old. Have a great day....you deserve it! Love you!!!!

Mission Reunion-Happy Birthday Dad

I just wanted to wish you a very Happy Birthday Dad. I hope you have at least 25 more with us.

Last night I went to my mission reunion. I can't tell you how great it was to visit with old companions, elders that were my district and zone leaders or those who served in the same ward as me. It was great to see how President (Elder) Jensen and his wife Kathy and the children had grown. This was our first reunion in 13 years and I am grateful for the opportunity that I had served. We had 2 hours to socialize and then we ate and then we went into the church and sang our mission song, had a prayer, recited the Standard of Truth (I haven't recited that in 14 years but luckly most of it came back to memory) and then President and Sister Jensen spoke. They then opened it up for some of the missionaries to get up and share testimony/memories. Then we closed with the hymn God Be With You Until we Meet again. President Jensen in his talk said he learned something new this time while reading the Book of Mormon about the allegory of the vineyard found in Jacob. He said that one sentence stuck out to him about when the Master of the vineyard asks "What more could I have done for my vineyard?" He then challenged us to ask ourselves what more could we do for our personal vineyard (ie work, family, church calling). All I can say is that it was a great boost for me to see people from one of the greatest moments in my life and I was able to share it with my husband.

We are looking forward to next week and the opportunity to make more great moments in our lives.

Love
Laree

Slacker!

Okay, I have been a bit of a slacker and have not written for a while. I apologize. I am getting excited for the cruise. I can't wait. I love all of you very much and hope that all is well. You all mean a lot to me and I am happy to be part of this family. I am glad my parents taught me how to work and to be kind to others. I hope I will continue to follow both these teachings.

How are my scouters doing? :-) I just couldn't pass up asking the question. I hope to be invited to a double Eagle Court of Honor in 2010 the 100th year of scouting. If you work hard you could both get your Eagle Boards of Review on the 100th anniversary. That would be way cool! Good Luck!

Love Bryan

My Job

I just wanted to share some good news and fill you in on what I am doing down here in Provo.I do not know how many of you know, but I started an internship with Northwestern Mutual after I graduated from BYU. Jobs were very hard to come by and I thought it was going to be a great opportunity. So far it has been. I am a financial representative for them. We work with individuals, families, and businesses, and help them evaluate where there financial security is. We help them decide what their goals are and then help them make sure they are moving to those goals in the most valuable ways.It has been a very rough start and hopefully it will pick up, but it has been rewarding during the little work that I have done. The good news I wanted to share was that the new financial strength ratings came out and Northwestern Mutual has once again received the top ratings from all the rating agencies, making it the strongest financial institution in this industry. It is exciting to work for a company that has such a powerful presence and adds such value. I just wanted to make sure my family knows that as I continue with this company that I would love to help you in any way that I can, and that you might be able to help me by thinking of people you know who could benefit from looking at were their financial security is and wanting it to get to where they have goals for it to be.
I love you all and take care.

Happy Birthday Shawn & Charlie, Happy Anniversary Karen & Shawn, Bryan & Michele

We just wanted to wish a Happy Birthday to Shawn & Charlie. We hope you have a great one. Also a Happy Anniversary to Karen & Shawn and a belated Happy Anniversary to Bryan & Michele. We hope you all have a fun filled day. We love all of you.

The Packard's

Happy Anniversary Bryan & Michele

I know it's the 11th but I thought it was the 10th so that's got to count for something. Hope you had a wonderful day.....and an even better night. (he,he,he) Great....now I just made the blog "R" rated. Love you guys...you're one of my favorite couples!!!!!

Happy Birthday

Chelsea,

We hope you had a wonderful birthday! It will be nice having you back in Idaho for a little while so that we can see you!

Love
The Packard's

Happy Birthday Chels!!!!!!!

I almost ran out of day....but I still have 45 minutes to wish you a happy birthday!!!! I haven't been able to get on to the blog but I wanted to wish you a h.b. so I thought I would just try again and see what happened and ....wallah! Hope your day was great and you were spoiled rotton! You're a doll and I'm so glad you're part of this big crazy family. We LOVE you!!!!!
Karen

The Big 24!

Happy Birthday Chelsea!!!!

Happy 4th of July

I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July!!!!

Today we are leaving for Park City for a week! But, I wanted to let you know that I talked to a friend in our ward today that went on the exact same cruise we are going on. They got back two weeks ago. Here's some things she said:
*Get on the boat early to avoid lines and you can explore the ship and get your bearings before you actually leave.
*On Monday find the naturalist named Kathy to give you inside info about what you will see in Alaska.
*Bring jackets. It was especially cold on the morning that you go through Tracy Arm. They got to the deck at 5:00 am to see the sights and were glad that they did so that they had something to lean on. It got crowded. It was great views of glaciers and they stood there for almost four hours because they didn't want to miss anything.
* 17th floor has a disco where it is the best place to see where you are going. (windows all around)
*They booked all their exursions when they got on the boat. Seemed safer to them although other people were being adventureous and just taking off to find whatever!
*These opinions on the exursions are from her and the people that she talked to on the boat.
Definately do the train ride at Ketchikan (everyone's favorite)
Don't do any gardens at Victoria, they did a bus ride in town and it was okay.
Don't do any whale watching, everyone that did that was disappointed. Don't pan for gold or do the fish hatchery.
People seemed to really like the Mendenhall Glacier tour and hike to a waterfall. Our friends did the totem pole and lumberjack show at Skagway and said it was well worth it.
I think that is about it.
Happy 4th of July!

Update on the Meridian Mechams

We had a fun week of Softball and more softball. Kaitlyn had a great game last Tuesday. In the top of the last hitting with the bases loaded she ripped a shot to right field which ended up scoring three of her teammates and she was able to make it to second base on a throwing error that she caused. She also had another great hit during her first game.

This past weekend she was in a tournament that had 19 teams from Utah, Oregon, California and Idaho. Her team one the first pool game but lost the second pool game to the team from California. In the tournament that followed pool play, Kaitlyn's team won 3 and lost 2. Overall their three losses were to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place teams. Kaitlyn's team finished 4th. The best victory was beating Blackfoot for the second time this year. We were so excited. Yes the arch rival continues through my children.

Kaitlyn played awesome at third base and made many great plays on fielding bunts and throwing the girls out as well as taking some hot shots down third base and throwing the girls out. She hit the ball well during Friday and Saturday and was moved to clean up hitter for those days.

It was a lot of fun seeing her get better everyday. State tournament is July 10th - July 12th. We will see how they can do. It will be a tough tournament because there are a lot of good teams in the tournament.

We have our garden in and Michele picked 3 9x13 pans of raspberries off our bushes. Oh are they good. I enjoy them every night before bed time.

We are keeping busy with work, garden, yard work and bike rides. I just wished work would settle down but having lost two people and not being able to replace them is taking a toll on my time.

We are looking forward to the cruise and are so excited of the idea to be with siblings and their spouses and Mom and Dad. We are going to have a blast!

Love always!

Bryan and Michele.

One Big Pig!

It has been a while since I put anything up here and so I thought That I would fill you in on my life down here in Provo.The biggest and most recent event being a Luau that I more or less got sucked into, but also willingly volunteered to be part of. I put this first picture down so you know the culprits of this story! Dayla (the one on the left) myself and The cute brunet on the right Julianna (the big reason I willingly volunteered to do this whole thing:)) This is a picture of us towards the end of our luau next to our partially cooked pig head which was displayed on a spit in the front yard.

So the story goes: There was this Cute Julianna who I meet at a Sunday gathering. We both became weekly attendees to what we call Sunday Sundae (an ice cream social every Sunday evening) One day Julianna came and said the she was going to throw a Luau and that every one was invited. It was going to involve a cooked pig, dancers, Dj, coal walker, the whole enchilada! She knew that I served in Tahiti so we started talking about the actual planning. The First piece being, raising money so that we could decorate provide utensils and buy a PIG!

The Girls had a yard sale and bake sale which people from all over contributed to. Dayla was brave enough to go stand out on the main street of Provo to advertise and drive traffic! With this and our donation jar at the Luau, We raised $250.


With such a huge success Some girls got a little over zealous on the next part. They knew there were going to be a lot of people there so they went out to find the biggest pig the could. They found on from a Farmer in Payson that said we could buy is 200 lb pig. Which Julianna did unbeknown to me, until a couple days before the party. To make a long story short I spent the next couple of days researching the best way to cook a two hundred lb pig and had to do a lot of convincing that it was not going to be over a spit which a member of the bishopric made and welded for them. No matter what I tried these girls were not going to be convinced that it could not be done. It was not until Aunt Teri suggested that with a pig that big, it could catch on fire quite easy due to all the fat that, I was finally able to suggest we cut the pig into smaller pieces. Thank goodness this happened 3 hours before we were going to go pick up this whole pig Friday afternoon. Luckily the butcher agreed to chunk it for us to make it more manageable.

We would have been in big trouble if it had not been for a nice butcher, none the less we spent about 5 hours that night cutting the skin and fat off and getting it ready to put it in roster ovens. (which I was in charge of rounding up the day we were supposed to cook the thing! (Thanks again to Aunt Krissy, Teri, and Carolyn, and My mission president!)




I still think they should have kissed me instead of the Pig head :) oh well!

The first hour of the Luau it rained cats a dogs. After that the Sun came out, it made for a fun and glorious evening. Here are just a couple more pictures


We ended cooking the whole pig that had a butchers weight of 173 Lbs. By the end of the night we only had about 20 lbs left, which got finished up at Luau # 2 on Monday for FHE! Our turn out for Saturday was at least 250 if we go by the number of plates that disappeared. It was an adventure and a blast. I am kind of Luaued out for a little while though. As for the story of the Cute Brunet, well that is for another blog down the road:)

Happy Father's Day to my Dad, Keith, John, Shawn, Gary, Charlie and Chase

Happy Father's Day!!!! It is great to be a father. I love being a father and learning from all of you as you show me how to even be a better father! I love all of you and appreciate the opportunity to know and associate with you.

Dad,thanks for all you have done for me. You have taught me well. I am just a slow learner at times. I appreciate your example and testimony. I look up to you and am glad to call you father. You are an inspiration to me and I appreciate all the positive things that you have taught me throughout my life.

Happy Father's Day!

Bryan

Post Surgery

Today Gary had his hernia surgery and is doing very well. He is home and seems to be getting a long great. The kids have been pretty good about not bumping there dad's "owie". He still has cataract surgery left to do but it waiting until he is healed up some from this surgery before he goes and has the cataract repaired.

Other than the surgery we are doing pretty good. Sandra and I have received 2 referrals and a possible 3 from a service coordinator who is quitting. This will put us up to 37 if we get the third one. We are feeling very blessed and feel that the Lord has really looked out for us.

We hope all of you are doing well. We love you and would love to hear from some of you who haven't posted for awhile.

Chelsea & Charlie congratulations on your triathlon. It sounds like you had great times. We are impressed.

Love the Packard's

Race Day!

As fun as the triathlon was, I am glad we are finished. There was a lot of anxiety going into it, and it was a tough race. We got up at 3:45 am and met with 3 other couples. After securing our bikes onto the vehicles, we drove to Payson where the triathlon would take place. We pulled in around 6:00 am, unloaded our stuff, and pumped up our tires. By the time we made it to the registration table to get our bib numbers and timing chip, it was getting close to race time. We found out that Chelsea and our neightbor Nicole were both in the first heat starting at 7:00 am. They still needed to change into their swim suits and almost didn't make it in time. Charlie, and 3 others from our group were in the 2nd heat starting as soon as everyone from the first was out of the water. The timing chip went around our ankles and there were sensors that marked the time it took for each event.
After leaving the pool, we had to run to where the bikes were parked, dry off, get shoes, socks and helmets on and speed down a small hill toward an 8 mile loop. The bike portion was done while traffic was directed at stop signs allowing us to go through with out stopping. When we signed up for the triathlon, we were told there would be one large up hill and one large down hill. What they failed to mention was that the rest of the bike course would have medium sized hills nearly the entire way. The second time around the loop was much eaiser than the first, because we were a little more prepared for the long series of hills and knew a little better when the turns would be coming. The bike portion finished at the same place it started. The run was mostly on level ground (which was a nice, I don't think I could have made it through any more hills after the bike). It was just over 3 miles, overlapping a little with the bike course and cutting through a few neighborhoods. As I crossed the finish line, I saw Chelsea walking towards me quickly, having just finished herself. I was a great feeling to be done. We look foward to doing another race in the fall.

Chelsea did very well, finishing under 2 hours with a total time of 1:55. Her swim took 11 minutes 23 seconds, the bike 1 hour and 10 minutes, and the run 34 minutes.

Charlie had a goal of finishing under 1 hour and 30 minutes. I am glad that I sprinted at to the finish line. My total time was 1 hour 29 minutes and 55 seconds. Swim- 11 minutes and 2 seconds, bike- 54 minutes, and run- 24 minutes.

What a great family!!!

OK, so I don't blog ever! I told my wife that i had to keep in check what i did so people didn't think i was gay... you know, working at jewelry store and loving to go with my wife shopping for clothes and shoes (don't let her fool you i put her in most of what she wears) so i told her i couldn't blog, have a myspace page, or do face book because I need to keep the balance more near the masculine side (now you know why i have guns and own a Harley i have to tip the scales some how). but i wanted to thank everyone for wishing me a happy birthday and wanted to reflect on my thankfulness to my heavenly father for what a great family i have been blessed with.

I wanted you all to know how much me and Stephanie love each and everyone of your families. We talk often about the Mecham side and what a blessing it is to have great parents, uncles, aunts, cousins and amazing grandparents to look to as examples in our lives. we know that having a close family is more important than any other of the "things" that we receive on this earth. We are proud of all of you and hope and pray from your success at all things whether it is Derek's fish tank Brant's basketball game or Garys big fish. We wish you all the best in everything you are seeking. we love you all and are grateful for each one of you in our lives.
Love,
Chase and fam.

Update

Hey family, we finally have our 30 hour of training done and also finished our autobiographies for the home study. I am just finishing up get everthing put together and we will send off our homestudy packet to our caseworker. Then we will go from there.

Last week Gary went in for his annual physical and found that he has a hernia. He is going in for surgery on the 16th of this month. We are hoping he will be completely healed and ready to go fishing in Alaska. He is going to go see an eye doctor/surgeon at the end of this week for a cataract that his doctor states is getting bigger. So he may end up having two surgeries we will just have to see. He is hoping that he gets a long with the doctors since both of them are in our ward and live nearby us. Gary will be off work until the end of the month so it will be different having him here all day.

We hope all of you are doing well. Kaitlyn good luck in your tournament this weekend.

Love
The Packards

Summer has arrived.....

Hey family,

I must repent for not blogging the past few months. Robyn has kept me updated but I have been slothful. Sorry....

Just wanted to let you know about a few things. First, Jarom was given the "Mayor's Award" at his elementary school for his many acts of kindness towards his peers and teachers. The Mayor of Brigham City actually came and gave him the award. I think he was suprised but excited that he was honored.

Brant was voted to the Standard Examiner All-Area Basketball First Team. He was the only non senior to make the team. You can view this article at http://www.standard.net/ASP/BoysAllAreaBBall.pdf

This was a nice honor for him and well deserving.

The kids are all busy with summer activities. Kyler is feeling the stress of playing 3 sports that all coincide during May and June. It can be very tiring and I hope he can handle it... He through a no hitter last week vs Mountain Crest but still lost 2-0. Bummer. :)

Jarom has had fun playing baseball and has pitched well.

Annie starts softball tomorrow. She is excited. Annie was the only girl in her class that had perfect attendance at school. I think she is already missing school including her teacher and classmates.

Tegan graduated from pre-school. She really enjoyed her teachers and classmates. On a sad note, Tegan was diagnosed with Asthma this past week. She has an inhaler that she has to take as needed. We have discovered that she mostly needs it if she is running outside and playing hard. We still don't have our thumb on it but we have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday to get some more information on how we can best help her.

I was just notified that I will be doing my administrative internship starting in the fall. This will entail 6 weeks at our middle school and 6 weeks at an elementary school. It will be weird not to be teaching math for the first time in 16 years. I am excited to see if I like what people call the 'Dark Side".

Robyn is still hot. I mean good looking. She is very busy with our summer schedules. She has her sister Kristyn coming to Brigham on the 13th of June for 3 weeks. It will be nice to see her and her family since they have been in Germany that past 3 years. We have plans to do swimming lessons for the kids, basketball camps, Lagoon, and to visit the OKUR mountain Temple open house. I know you don't speel Oquirrah like OKUR but that is how Kyler pronounces it because of the last name of the Utah Jazz center.

Happy B-day Chase. I still remember you sitting on my lap with a basketball in your hand. It is great to see how you have grown up and are doing great things with your family.

Alaskan Cruise Update: You all have asked many questions about the cruise and the things we would like to do. We have some ward members that are on the same exact cruise this week and when they get home, we are going to ask them for suggestions, hints and ideas. We will let you know what we think.

Enjoy the month of June. We love you.

KRBKJAT

Cruise

Dear family,

I can't believe the cruise will be upon us soon. I am getting so excited about this. It will be my first time away from my kids that long. Josalyn, I hope you will be okay with the home/mom sickness they may experience. Mom said that she reserved the train ride in Skagway for all of us. I am up for any excursion that any of you want to go on. I have reserved the fishing trip in Ketchikan for Gary from 7:30-12:30 but I will be available for any other excursion to do in Ketchikan. I figured this may be a once in a life time opportunity for Gary to Fish King Salmon. Lets all pray that he catches one and then the cruise stated that they would prepare the fish for us on the boat if he does. It would be fun to eat Salmon that he caught.

Mom & Dad, if I haven't already told you, You're the greatest. Thanks for allowing us to have this experience with you. I am sure it will create memories that we will never forget.

Any of you out there ever written a consent form for medical treatment? I thought I should have one for Josalyn in case something happens to Daniel & Emmalynn so that she could take them to a doctor if needs be?

Thanks for being my eternal family! I couldn't ask for a better one to belong to.

Love
Laree

Happy B-Day Chase!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHASE

JUST WANTED TO WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! WE LOVE YOU!

THE PACKARDS

Happy Birthday Chase!

If my calculations are correct you are turning the big 24 this year? Wow, next year you will turn 25 and I will turn 50. I can remember when I was your age as this is how old I was when Chelsea was born. It just seems like yesterday and now 25 years later, look where we are at. I have a feeling these next 25 years will probably go just as fast. That is scary.

We hope you have a wonderful day!

Love Uncle Bryan and Aunt Michele

A fun weekend!

We had a wonderful weekend. It was good to see the Brigham City Mechams and the Jorgensens. It was fun talking about the cruise and hearing all about the Hawaii trip. Have fun Jorgensens and enjoy and create the memories.

We love all of you!



Grandpa and Macy having some time alone.



The Newlyweds and their parents.



Macy on Grandpa's shoulders!




Macy with her Aunt Brielle




Chelsea and Macy

Hello Mechams!

So it's been awhile since we have found anytime to even sneak a peak on here. About a month or so. Thanks Bryan for the Mother's Day message! It gives me confidence to feel like our family feels like I am doing a good job as a mother!

Chase had an Endocrine appt about a week ago and he was doing MUCH better this time:) His A1C was 7.2, which is a huge improvement from a 9. His doctor did a really good job of motivating him to test his blood more. He told him that if he would test 4 times a day he would easily be at a 6. He rarely tested before this visit, I'm talking only when he felt high or low, which was about 4 times a week. So now he is almost consistently taking his blood 4 times a day!!! I can't tell you all how much stress that relieves me of. He has also been ecouraged the last few visits to exercise more. So recently he has found a huge love of the outdoors. This has been great and a little scary at the same time for me. I am so happy he wants to do REAL camping (outside of a hotel room, in nature) but he has gone a little past my comfort zone. He wants to go camping in areas that are not camp sites. He just picks a trail and says, "this would be fun. " No buildings or roads for miles!!!! He also has taken up hiking, not by himself, but the whole fam. He reads these books on Utah hiking and we go try it with the boys. So far, it has been amazing! They have been challenging enough for us but not too much for the boys. The views are amazing and it is so nice to escape the everyday stress of life.

This was our payoff once we reached the top of Buffalo Peak. This is south Utah County we were looking over. It was amazing to say the least! It was about 3 miles round trip which is pretty good for us newbies!A couple sundays ago, Chase and I are enjoying sleeping in and I heard the boys laughing. I was expecting them to come in and cuddle as usual, but got this instead!

Shawn called Max a "super hero." We like to call him "Desitin Man." This took about an hour in the shower, all the hot water and a half bottle of baby wash to get it all off. He still smelled like Desitin the next day. Needless to say I was furious to have to deal with this "mess" first thing in the morning, and got plenty of lessons on Patience and dealing with stress and anger all day Sunday!

Laree, we are so glad that we are not the only ones doing the whole puppy thing again. I swear it is like having another baby. I am up about 3 times a night letting him go potty. We named him "The Golden Super Duper Cooper" We like him a lot:)

We are glad to hear that everyone is doing well. Bryan hopefully the YM Presidency will keep you just as busy and happy as the scouting did.

Tegan we are sorry we missed your big Bday, but hope you had a great day and we love you:)

We love you all!

Chase, Steph and boys

Great Fishing

We just got home from our Memorial weekend at the Packard's cabin. Emmalynn went fishing with her dad and grandpa Packard and caught 6 fish over the weekend. She held the fishing title this weekend. She out fished her dad and grandpa. She is becoming quite the little fisherwomen. We had a great time going into Yell0wstone and we were able to see lots of buffalo and their babies, elk, 2 black bears, antelope, and a coyote. We had a lot of fun. We hope that all of you had a fun weekend also.

It has been very quiet from some neck of the woods. We hope you are all doing great.

Love The Packard's

It's been a while

Hello Family!!

It has been a while since I have written anything on here, although it's been pretty slow for everyone lately. You would think the warm weather has finally come :) Well my semester ended pretty well. I won't lie, they were the worst grades I have gotten in my educational career yet, but no C's or even a B-. It was quite a wake up call, now I am fully prepared for fall semester. I stopped coaching the cheerleaders, it just wasn't working out, which makes me sad, because I really liked it! I am now just doing the whole teaching swim lessons and lifeguarding. I am cutting lots of hair out of the apartment and hopefully someday I can get into a salon that is perfect for me! I only have 3 weekends off the entire summer and so I am carefully planning each one out. The highlight of the summer will be when you are all on your cruise and I will be watching Kaitlyn, Brielle, Emmalynn and Daniel in Boise. Be ready for an eventful week of fun! Well I have to run, but there is a little update on me! I love you all!

~Josalyn

Kaitlyn's events of the week

Kaitlyn had a band concert on Tuesday night. Unfortunately I cannot get the video to load. She did a good job. The music was very nice.

Kaitlyn also played in a softball tournament this weekend. Her team went 5-2 but lost a heartbreaker in the 2nd Championship game. They won both pool play games and then won their first game of the tournament. They lost the second and won the third to make it to the championship game. They won the first championship game forcing another one. They jumped out 12-0 in the first two innings. Then everything fell apart and the other team went on a 16-1 run to win 16 to 13. Our pictures just ran out of gas. It was sad to see. Both teams are pretty evenly matched and I think it will be fun to watch them play several times this year.

Here are some pictures from her ball game.

This swing resulted in a great hit out into right field that scored the girl on third base.


Kaitlyn played third base and catcher. She did well at all positions.

My Tenure as Scoutmaster has come to an End

My last campout (#115) as scoutmaster. I will miss this group of boys. 2 life scouts, 2 star scouts, 1 First Class and a non member that came with us on this campout.



Yes, I can still rappel after all these years.



Okay, maybe I should have been roped in but I had to prove that I could still do it. :-) It wasn't that steep.

It is a very empty feeling right now to know that a very involved period of my life is ending. However, as you know in the church it doesn't take long to get busy again. I have been asked to serve as the 1st counselor in the Young Men's presidency so for all these boys they will be back with me in less than a year. I guess I return to where I started in this ward almost 12 years ago and that is back with the teachers but this time I will be their priesthood advisor and assistant varsity scout coach rather than their varsity scout coach. I will look forward to some fun times ahead working with this group of young men. I know that 14 and 15 year olds face many challenges and the transition period from Deacon to Priest is one that is critical. I look forward to helping this age group realize their full potential. I am ready for the challenge.

I love all of you and wish to thank my dear sweet wife for 9 very supportive years and I know that her heart will also feel an empty spot for these many wonderful experiences that we have enjoyed. I could never have done the things I have done in scouting without her and only ask for her continued support as we move it up an age group.

Bryan

Happy Birthday

TEGAN,


HAPPY BIRTHDAY! WE HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT BIRTHDAY.

LOVE
DANIEL, EMMALYNN, UNCLE GARY, AND AUNT LAREE

Happy Birthday Tegan

Tegan,

I hope you had a wonderful birthday. You are such a cute little girl. I am glad to be your uncle. I always like to see you when I come to your house. You always have a smile and give me the shy look. It is fun to watch you grow up. I am sure it is not easy being the youngest in your family but enjoy it because not everyone gets to be the youngest. You are so talented and I love how you love your mom and dad and brothers and sister. I hope they take good care of you!

I can't wait to see you again. We will be passing through the last weekend of May as we are coming home from a wedding in Salt Lake.

I love you!

Uncle Bryan

Zoo & new dog

Family,

I thought I would post some pictures from the Zoo, Easter and some of our new dog Tuc (Emmalynn named him). He is a cute golden lab. We are starting all over with the chewing but Lexi has already chewed up everything so we are a little immune to it all. Hope this finds all of you happy, and healthy.

Cruise

Ketchikan 6:30 AM to 4:30 PM - Totem Pole and Lumberjack Activity
Juneau 2:00 PM to 10:00 PM - Mendenhall Glacier and City Tour $40 and Tram $27
Skagway 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM - Train Ride
Victoria 5:00 PM to Midnight - Maybe just stroll the city but this is the last night on the boat so the entertainment could be more appealing. It will be our last night on the boat to have dinner, etc. However, I am not opposed to going on a little self guided tour just to say that I did it.

These are my initial thoughts. They are also suggestions I have received from my hometeaching family who went on this cruise. We might be able to do Juneau cheaper by checking into it when we get there. Maybe the same for the Totem Pole and Lumberjack activity in Ketchikan. But I think the train ride we need to schedule because we have to ride back in a motor coach to catch the ship. At least that is what is sounds like.

I am really open to the various activities.

Once we hear from everyone, maybe we can decide what makes the most sense. Another idea is to assign one city to each sibling to do some homework and give us a recap of what we can do.

I actually don't like being off the ship at night because there are so many fun things to do on the ship at night. So Juneau and Victoria are the two cities that would allow us to be off the ship at night. Juneau, we could probably do the tram and see the glacier park in 4 to 5 hours and get back to the ship for the nightly entertainment if we wanted to.

Look forward to other ideas.

Bryan

Cruise

I was looking at some of the excursions available.

IN Ketchikan the Rainforest wildlife sanctuary looked fun. $85 per person
IN Juneau the Deluxe Mendenhall Glacier & Juneau Highlights looked fun $89 per person
IN Skagwan the White pas scienic railway looked fun. $125 per person

What are the rest of you thinking looks fun or have you not had a chance to look.

Have a great week
Laree

My Mother's Day gift to Michele

This is our new strawberry patch. Hopefully, the strawberries will not go into too much shock. I am hoping that they will even produce strawberries this year. This sits west of our dining room window at the corner of the house. It should be a lot of fun to see this fill in with strawberries.