Tomatillos

We realized that the tomatillos were suddenly ready. We picked a huge bucket full and the kids had fun "opening the presents" or peeling off the tomatillo skins.

Adeline loved opening them and then chucking them across the lawn.  I think Eloise thought it was hilarious and Teagan was torn between being frustrated and laughing.

We had about 20 lbs when all was said and done. Wow!

Hopefully this salsa verde turns out to be good on enchiladas and other mexi foods because we made 17 pints! I 

I love to have the kids keeping me company as I harvest and preserve our garden food! They love to help harvest and are pretty good sports about peeling tomatillos and shucking corn, but when it comes to the cooking in the kitchen I guess I'm on my own.  They are learning the value of hard work. We work hard in the garden and we get so much out of it. It's pretty magical!

BYU-I

Zac had the brilliant idea to take the kids on a tour of our old stomping grounds at BYU-I.  We started by driving by the different places that we lived and showing the kids where our family began.  Then we headed to BYU-I for a campus tour.  It was summer break so it was fantastic that the kids could ride scooter/bikes and have free reign.  Unfortunately, most of the buildings were locked up so we couldn't show them where we worked and went to class.

Addy spent most of the day pushing the wagon.  She loved it and was so happy!  The math building was still open so we went in and I was amazed that the display case that I decorated and designed for a project was still there.  I'm not going to lie, I was very proud.  Unfortunately, no picture.

I found it interesting that the highlights for the kids were so simple.  Getting to pick a candy from our favorite vending machines was a hit!  They also loved playing air hockey and pool in the new Manwaring(sp?) center.  It was such a wonderful day!

After BYU-I we took them to Porter Park where we would go to play tennis early in our marriage.  We told them about how we would ride our bikes to school every day to save on gas money and pass by that park.  We were so good that we could ride the whole way to school with no hands.  I even did it when I was really pregnant with Teagan.  I told them about how I would imagine what it would be like to take my kids to Porter Park.  To let them play on the splash pad and go on the merry-go-round.

As it turns out, it was better than I had imagined.  These kids are pretty awesome!

 The grand finale was to stop at Del Taco and get blueberry bavarian cream empanadas.  We used to treat ourselves each to one when we went to the temple or on a date.  It was so fun to share those memories with our kids and actually show them what it was like when we were first married.  It's hard to believe that there was a time without kids.

Ridiculously Good Looking

This man though.  Not only is he super good looking, he's an awesome dad.  Got that baby girl right to sleep in the middle of priesthood.

Fun at Home

These three love to play the piano.  Teagan is really excited to start piano lesson this fall.

Teagan loves to take baths in our jet tub on Sunday mornings.  On this particular day he got a little out of hand with the bubbles.  We couldn't even find him!

Eloise loves to hang around all the older girls in the neighborhood.  The Heath sisters asked if they could give her a makeover (they are 10 and 11).  Eloise was in absolute heaven.

Eloise loves to color and takes paper from the printer and a pen and colors for a long time.  She doesn't like to use crayons or markers though, just pens or pencils.  She is so sweet.

Teagan is growing up too fast.  He is growing right out of his church clothes already and is just too handsome for me.

Three Little Buddies

Seriously though, these kids are way too cute.  Boston drives the girls around in his awesome truck.  I feel like this is some foreshadowing into their future...

Great Grandma Durtschi

We had a glorious day up at Grandma Durtschi's house a few weeks ago.  Julie and I somehow managed to fit all our kids into her van, carseats included!  The kids loved it and had so much fun!

We had a great time visiting while the kids played in her magical yard.  I loved listening to her stories about raising all those kids.  She has such a fun personality, love her!

This is her pond, the big kids loved boating around.  Teagan has been asking to do this for a while now.

After all the reunions these two have become buddies.  Ellie and Ty love to run around together.

The rope climb is alway a big attraction at Grandma's house.  You can earn $5 if you make it to the top.  This time it was just Kate and Teagan that could make it, the younger ones have something to dream for now.  

Thank you Grandma Durtschi for hosting us and our families for the day!  It was wonderful!

Packer Reunion-Lava Hot Springs

We had the first annual Packer reunion over the 4th of July weekend and it was so much fun!  We all got together and rented a house that fit our family perfectly.  We split up the meals, planned some fun activities and the whole family had such a blast!

We spent the first day at Lava Hot Springs.  It was really fun.  Teagan and Addy especially loved playing in the water.  Eloise, as usual, got bored after a couple hours, but did love the tiny slide and went down over and over again.  

Teagan ran around with Ethan and Kai and the three of them went on every slide, diving board, and rock wall they could find.  They talked about going off the platforms a lot, but it only happened once. 

 When it was their turn, Teagan and Kai both started getting second thought about jumping at all.  Zac could see that it might not happen so he said, "Teagan, let's do this!" and got him to hurry and jump before he changed his mind.  It was awesome!

 Each evening we would eat our dinner quick and then go to the park down the road to play.  There was an amazing playground that the kids loved and a huge field where the adults played ultimate frisbee and soccer.  We played for hours each night, until it got dark.  This was a highlight for both Zac and I.  It was just so fun to play. On the 4th of July we played until they did fireworks and stayed at the park to watch them.  It was a perfect night.

Every night we stayed up way too late and played games after the kids were in bed.  Most everyone was playing Whitney and Joe's fancy games, but the three of us girls, me, Elise, and Julie, were in for just some mindless fun so we played skipbo.  It was so fun and there were a lot of laughs!

 One of the favorite activities was the Soda Springs 4th of July parade.  Each kid went home with bags of candy and it had a great small town feel.  Before the parade any kid could run the parade route and win a prize at the end.  Long legs Teagan was definitely closer to the front and was super fast, I don't think he stopped the whole time!

Eloise had Daddy to help her run and help carry her, and grandma Packer joined in to help her make it to the finish line.   Both kids got a ticket to Lava, sparklers, and candy!  Holy cow!

While we were busy watching the parade, this little miss found the candy stash and was devouring tootsie rolls, paper included, at an alarming rate.

After the parade we went and watched the Soda Springs Geyser.  It is apparently man made so the water was safe to play in.  On such a HOT day, we definitely enjoyed being able to cool off!

After the parade we headed back to Lava to float the river.  This is Teagan and cousin Grant in the tube.  Teagan went down about 6 or 7 times and loved it so much!

Zac and Eloise had a fun time going down as well.  I guess their tube tipped and when Zac popped out of the water and saw Eloise she was laughing still, luckily.  It was a little tricky finding them, eventually Zac just walked back to the house.  We all got separated, so it was a bit of a bummer.  Next time we will definitely make a plan beforehand so that we don't loose people!  Eloise went down twice but was done after that.  Me and Addy just watched and took pictures.

This was the first time that we'd had a reunion with my mom and sibling and it was so fun to have everyone there.  We definitely are ready to go again soon!