The Newest Member of the Church

The long awaited day finally arrived. It was a perfect day weather wise and Grace had a ton of friends and family come support her. It was so cute to see her up in the front row listening to the talks with all of her friends surrounding her. She appreciated everyone coming. I wish I had taken a picture of all of them together, but I was worrying about other details...like giving talks and preparing luncheons and such. I wish the moms could just sit back and enjoy it too! Here is a picture with mom and dad before the meeting started. She picked out this dress to get baptised in at the church. It was shorter than the ones that I have seen before, but it fit Grace really well.

Grace was very blessed to have her daddy baptise her. I don't realize how blessed we are with the priesthood in our home. It is something that I sometimes take for granted. Grace wasn't nervous at all! She was only worried a little about logistics like if she should wear her socks into the font and if someone would open the door when she was getting out of her wet clothes!

I really enjoy seeing my children make good decisions in their lives. I am so proud of Gracie for making this decision and really knowing what it means to keep promises to our Heavenly Father. I was privileged to give the talk on the Holy Ghost at the baptism. I enjoyed researching it out. I think that I've been pegged as the talk giver at all of my children's baptisms. It's become a tradition now, whether I like it or not!

Messy Ella!

Moses picked out some ice cream cones at the store today. I never buy them and thought it would be a quick and easy FHE treat. Ella was so excited. I wish that I had video of how she was watching Nate put the ice cream on the cone and actually handing the whole thing to her. So sweet! This is one of Ella's excited faces. She tries to get a serious look on her face with her eyes as big as can be and her lips puckered a bit.

Grace is Getting Baptized!

Here is my attempt at making a cute announcement for Gracie's baptism. It never turns out how I plan it in my head, but here it is! Anyone who wants to can join us on March 28th for the special day! By the way, I don't have these in the mail yet. It should be coming soon to all of the family!

Airforce Museum

We live just down the road from Hill Airforce Base. They have a snazzy airplane museum that we drive by frequently. Moses always points to it and wants to go. Nate took a day off on a Monday. He was going to surprise me, but couldn't keep it in. We decided to take Ella and Moses to the museum together. I think that it would be very nice if he retired soon! They have these huge airplanes outside, and then a bunch more inside. The bummer is that you can't climb on them. When Moses learned that he couldn't be so hands on he lost interest. But we had a nice stroll anyways!

The Dinosaur Park

I came across this website that was selling $50 gift certificates for the Dinosaur Park for $15. I snatched it up and we were able to buy a whole year family membership with it. We went this weekend for the first time. The kids really enjoyed it. There were a lot of little interactive exhibits inside and a ton of playtime outside! I LOVE pictures of the kids helping each other out. Isaiah took Ella up the middle of this tree and took her down the slide inside of it. She enjoys time with her siblings.

Here is Ella inside a dinosaur play structure with her dad. She just loves to be outside!

Grace posed for tons of different dino pictures. She wanted a picture with her sassy hat. I love her in this hat.

And here is our Miles!

Can you say, "OUCH!"

Here is the whole gang. Triniti was with us for the weekend and was able to come with us to the park. After the park we went to Cafe Rio and got many weird looks. I am amazed at how people react to a big family, even here in the children rich state of Utah. People think that we're crazy. I was so proud of all of the kids at the restaurant. They had amazing manners! They were quiet and polite. There were many families with two children there who were loud and running around with very bad restaurant manners. I hope all who thought that we were crazy took note!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACIE!

I can't believe how old all of the kids are getting. Grace just turned the coveted "8!" She has been looking forward to this birthday for a long time and it finally arrived. She debated back and forth whether to have a friend birthday party or to get a big birthday gift from mom and dad. She really wanted an American Girl doll (those are expensive!) and so she finally opted for a family gathering with a gift from mom and dad. She is already planning her friend party for next year. I've heard about 5 different ideas that she has come up with over the last week or so. She does LOVE her friends! I can't resist getting pics of the kids in the blowing mode. Their little cheeks look so cute!

Grace did get to have one of her favorite cousins at her party. Trin and Grace had a fun weekend together here at the house. They played with their dolls and loved dressing up every chance they got.

OK, so after giving Grace all of her birthday present options, she opted to get a much more affordable knock off of the American Girl doll. I was really proud of her for being so frugal. She decided that these Our Generation dolls from Target were just as cute and much cheaper. She wanted to get a few accessories for the doll and that pretty much sealed the deal. Here is her new doll, Robyn!

Another great gift was from Grandma and Grandpa Pack. She was able to get a dress from her upcoming baptism. She is really looking forward to this day and is excited to get to wear her new white dress. I'm sure she'll enjoy adding colorful accessories to the dress for future wearing after the baptism too!

Temple Square

This day was a surprise day off. We woke up on Saturday and did some jobs around the house and realized that we had no plans for the rest of the day. I don't remember this happening in the past 6 months at least. We called up Mom and Dad Clawson and Spencer and Kelli and we all met down at temple square. It was really fun to just relax and enjoy the day. Here are the kids posing in front of the Christus Statue. It always humbles me to see this. The kids are always in awe of this statue and it reminds me of the innate knowledge that all of us has of Christ's amazing countenance. I'm not sure what Ella was looking at! Notice Moses' coat. He has decided that he likes to wear it backwards so that he can look down and see Lightning McQueen. I think he is brilliant. What kid wants to wear a piece of clothing with a picture on the back where they can't see the picture of the things that they are obsessed with at the moment. I get all kinds of comments around town. People must really think I'm stupid because they'll come up and tell me that his coat is on backwards. I've also had people laugh and tell me that he looks like he has a straight-jacket on!

My favorite thing is to see the kids looking up to the statue. They were so reverent and alert to what the voice was saying. There is such a spirit there...

Here is Ella all amazed.

And can we say, Future Ballerina! Well, maybe not right now with her body type, but she is very flexible. She spent a while trying to climb onto this bar. We thought she looked like a beautiful princess ballerina!

Ella's Hair Attempts

For a mama that loves to do hair, Ella has not been giving me much to work with and Grace no longer wants me to do her hair. Here are my meager attempts at pulling little bunches into ponytails. You might want to know how I get Ella to sit so still for her hair. The two most successful places are in the bathroom sink and in her high chair while she is eating. By the way, we took Ella in for her 12 month check up and she was a whopping 26 lbs. She is also in the 95 percentile for her height. We have a big, healthy girl on our hands! This is my favorite. The first time I attempted it they looked like little twigs sticking out of the back of her head. She has since grown in a little more hair.

This is a top of the head pony. Never did this with Grace when she was a baby. She didn't have any hair on the top of her head. It works pretty well. Love Ella's little personality in this picture. This hair description thing is kind of getting boring...Sorry!

Alisha's Wedding

On February 28th, Nate's sister Alisha got married. We had a great time at her reception. It was at a garden center, so all of the decor made me very excited for spring to start. The kids had an amazing time running around with their cousins. Here a few pics: Here is a rare kiss from Moses. Actually, it looks kind of forced, but it started out as genuine one. He recently has stated that he does not like kisses. He gets really mad at me when I try to kiss him good night. He tells me that he only wants hugs, but not big ones. Lately he has been puckering up a little bit more.

Here is Ella dancing with Nate. It was a rare smile for her this night. She was a real crabby pants. But ya still gotta love her. She had a really good time dancing!

Here is a rare picture of us. We never get pictures together because one of us is usually the photographer. This one was taken by Isaiah. He did a pretty good job. Maybe you'll see more pictures of us in the future.

Here is a picture of all of the Pack brothers. Yes, there are seven of them. They all look so good dressed to the 9s. I hope my boys look this good when they're older. I really hope that I don't have seven of them though!

Here is the only picture that I have of all of us. It isn't the best picture, but at least we are all in the picture. We were about ready to lose Moses and have Ella scream. That's just how it goes sometimes. I still think we're a pretty cute little family. OK, I guess I can't really say little...