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!

Rigby Lake

We had so much fun at Rigby Lake with some of our neighbors.  We went with the Newells and Heaths and we all had a blast.

Teagan also brought his friend Mason Murdoch so the boys had so much fun.  This was the only picture I got of Teagan, he was a blur most of the day so it was hard to get a good one.  He ran from the slide to the sand to the dock to the toys all day long.  It was heaven for him.

The young BFFs, Ellie and Jordan, played in the sand and loved being together all day, and Courtney photo bombed, I love that lady!

 The older BFFs also played in the water, but also enjoyed some lounging, laughing, and snacking in the sun.

Adeline loved the water so much!  She would crawl in and out of the water and sit and splash and throw sand.  She is a water baby for sure.  She also rode around on the inflatable toys a ton.  And then she took her puppy and bubba and snuggled in for a nap.

Eloise is not so much into the water and changed into clothes and hung out in the shade and sand.

The lake was such a fun activity for our family, we can't wait to go back again soon.

Jam!

Strawberries were on sale and we took advantage and made jam.  Everybody had a job and it went pretty quick.  Addy was in charge of being cute and happy, Eloise was in charge of stirring, Teagan chopped the strawberries and I washed, chopped, mixed, poured and delegated.  We had the music playing and I really enjoyed the time with the kiddos, even if they did abandon ship about ¼ of the way through.

A counter full of strawberry jam is so beautiful to me!  We have already been enjoying it!

Coach Pitch Baseball

Teagan played baseball this summer and loved it.  I was so impressed with him.  He would watch that ball so close and hit it almost every single time (which is so foreign to me since I pretty much struck out every time at his age).  What really amazed me was how fast he would run the bases.  Teagan is fast!  Watching him play sports always makes me grateful that he inherited his dad's awesome athletic ability, it makes watching him a lot of fun!

He loved playing baseball and looked forward to every game.  He would get dressed way in advance and be pushing us all out the door.   It may have had something to do with the fact that the batting line up was in order of arrival.  He loves to play.

Now I don't know baseball, but I didn't think you were allowed to block the runner from getting on base.  He is running into his buddy Quinn and they both thought that this collision was pretty funny.

The little girls loved playing in the dirt and playing at the playground and eating snacks during the games.  Baseball really is so much fun in the summer!

 After the games the kids always wanted to play at the park.  Fun fun, for everyone.

Go Teagan!  Can't wait to see what amazing thing you do next!

Father's Day 2015

Zac is the most amazing Father.  He loves and cares about our kids so much.  He prays for them, cries for them, laughs with them, plays with them.  He works so hard to provide for us and give us a wonderful life together.  You can tell he is amazing because the kids love him so much.  They light up when he enters a room and when they hear the garage door go up they all start cheering, "daddy's home!"  He is an incredible example and we are so blessed to call him ours!  Happy Father's Day!

Camping at Teton Canyon

We went on our first ever family camping trip.  It was just us and the wild and we did great!  We overpacked a ton, but learned some too.  Teagan loved the fire, Adeline loved the camp chairs, and Eloise loved the idea of sleeping in a sleeping bag in a tent, so much that she asked to go to bed early and went right to sleep.

We went on a hike friday night to see some beautiful water falls and another hike the next morning.

The kids climbed every boulder on the trail.

 We found several strawberry plants along the path and even some actual strawberries.  That was so fun!  We gobbled them right up and they were super sweet.

Having to pack up the next day made us realize that a camper might be nice and that camping isn't worth it unless you go for at least 2 nights!  So much work!  The kids all loved it and I would do it again, just so that they could have fun.

Happy Home Evening

Bike rides to the snow shack by Broulims are a favorite family home evening around here.  We forgot a wallet and I only had enough cash in my pocket for one, so we shared an XL and Adeline hogged it.  Next time I think we each need our own so we'll have to remember to bring money.   No worries, we had a great time, regardless.