Miles' Baseball Team

Miles was the only one who wanted to play baseball this year. He really enjoys all sports and is going to have a hard time narrowing it down when the time comes. When you have 5 kids in a family everyone can't do everything!He was on the Cub team. My favorite thing about this picture are his ears! He has total Clawson ears. I have this same problem when I wear hats!

Here is the whole team. His friends Jackson and Tyler were on his team this year. He had a blast!

The Last Day in Midway

The last day of our trip we went and toured the natural crater swimming areas. We didn't end up swimming in them, but we'll have to get up there in the future and check it out. We also rented bikes and rode around all over Midway. I'm just glad we made it back safely! The kids always fought the whole trip about who got to ride in Uncle Abe's Jeep. When we were in the parking lot of the crater he took the whole gang for a ride around the lot. They LOVED it!

Here is a not so happy Moses in the bike trailer on our bike ride. He wanted to ride the bike attached to his Uncle's bike. He was able to trade his cousin Joe about half way into the ride and was happy about that. Both Ella and Moses fell asleep during the first half of the ride. I need to get myself one of these to go jogging with!

Here is Nate pulling Ella and Moses, and Miles behind. I think that Grandpa Pack is to the side. We drove up this huge mountain on a spiral trail. It was pretty challenging, but we all made it. The fun part was riding down the hill afterward.

After riding bikes Miles and Isaiah played a game of chess on this huge chess board. They love playing chess. I don't even know how to play!

Moses' Birthday Party

After coming back from Pioneer Park, we had Moses' birthday party in the condos. We were sad that the Clawson side of the fam weren't able to attend, but we wanted to celebrate on the actual day and there wasn't really another time to do it with everything going on. Here is Moses showing up his muscles. Up to this point he had been telling people that he was 9-years-old. He now would actually say that he was turning 4. This is how big he has gotten!

Here he is about ready to blow out the candles! I LOVE Moses' smile. It melts my heart. I think it is because he shows his cranky side a little too much. When he is happy and smiling and his little dimples show, there is nothing better!

He got a Star Wars "light-up" lightsaber from mom and dad. He has been asking for this since Miles' friend got one for his birthday in April. Needless to say he was very patient waiting for his birthday to come around.

Grandma Pack gave him a Lego's Star Wars ship. It is a little difficult for a 4-year-old to put together, but Miles and Isaiah enjoy helping him put it together. This is what he wanted and he enjoys taking it apart and making other "cool" ships!

Moses has been talking a lot about baseball lately because he has been watching Miles play. So, mom and dad got him a glove, bat, ball, and a tee to practice on. Hopefully these will get a lot of use!

Aunt Erika gave him a water bottle and M&M's. He always loves candy and was very generous to share them with his cousins. We LOVE you Moses and are so excited to see you learning and growing up so big. Next stop...preschool!

Pioneer Park

On Thursday we decided to take a trip down from Midway to Salt Lake to check out some places that we rarely go. We first went to the LDS Conference Center to check out an art exhibit going on there. We then headed out to lunch at Noodles and Co. We were enjoying our meal until Ella threw up everywhere! I guess there was a bug going around because Eli and Erika couldn't join us on this day because they were throwing up all night. Luckily Ella just through up once! We then headed over to "This is the Place" park and had a blast. I like the look of this! Just put Grace to work on our laundry. If she doesn't start picking up her clothes I've threatened to have her start folding all the laundry. That would be a big help!

Here is Isaiah trying out the stilts. He couldn't quite get going.

Here is Nate unsuccessfully trying to show Isaiah how to use the stilts. In his defense they were kind of small for him.

Here is one of the homes that Ella and Moses had had enough. They just laid on the floor! I think that Ella still didn't feel very good and Moses was very tired!

Here is Moses learning how to brush out wool to get it ready to make into yarn.

I had to post this because it was so sad, and so funny! Miles got a little sliver and you would have thought he broke a bone or something. He was freaking out, making a scene all for a little sliver. He wouldn't let us look at it for the longest and freaked out when we tried to touch it. Finally with a little prodding we used a needle from the yarn house to try to get it out. He seriously was freaking out. I have never seen so much drama over a sliver in my life. I think he might have been a little tired staying up late with his cousins...

Grace had to be the dunce at the Pioneer school because she forgot to turn in her homework. The kids got a kick out of this! The funny thing is that Grace really does forget to turn in her homework frequently!

Here is everyone on a train ride around the park. It was on this train that we learned that Michael Jackson had died. I'll never forget that!

Here are the kids in front of their ancestor's home. John Pack was Nate's great-great-great-great grandfather who was one of the first to come to the valley. His home was the first university and the first dance parlor. We learned a line dance while we were there.

We were too late to ride the ponies, but they let Ella at least pet them. She loves animals! Everyone was so sad, we didn't realize that the park closed at 5:00 and missed the pony rides. All in all it was a very fun day!

Midway Vacation

After the Ragnar we met Nate's family up in Midway, UT to hang out and vacation for the week. Erika and her 6 kids were there along with Jake, Abe, Ben, Kellie, and Ezra. We had a great time just hanging out and doing a few activities. On this particular day we attempted to drive up to Timp caves to hike, but our car started overheating just as we arrived at Sundance. We decided to hang out there for a while and then we just went back to Midway to get the car looked at. Here are the kids by the river eating some suckers. They enjoyed finding hiking sticks and playing by the water.

Isaiah skillfully was able to climb over to this island. He had to walk through a shallow section of the river to get there.

The girls joined him later!

The Jungle Book Musical

This musical actually occurred at the end of April, but it has taken me a while to get some pictures of the event. I saw the play at the assembly the day before the actual performances because I was going to be out of town at BYU Women's Conference. Nate had planned on taking pictures, but I guess taking 4 kids with you to a musical performance wiped out those plans. I was finally able to order these pictures from a professional photographer who sold them for a pretty penny. But, I had to get some for memories sake!One of Isaiah's parts was being part of Kaa's coil. He did have one solo line where he said, "We are so hungry for visitors." He was able to sing in all of the chorus parts and he had a great time!

Here he is in action trying to gobble up Mowgli. I believe this was where he actually spoke his solo part.

When Isaiah wasn't performing as Kaa's coil, he was a tree in the jungle. Here he is messing around at a dress performance. He was very dramatic in his tree duties!

Here is the whole cast. They all did so great! I appreciate all of the work that the parents put in to making this musical happen. It is all done through volunteer work and it is amazing. I love the kids' school!

RAGNAR RELAY

Nate and I had the opportunity to participate in the Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back edition. When Nate first came home last summer and told me that he wanted to run in a relay race from Logan to Park City I instantly said that I would like to do it too. I think that Nate thought I was crazy! First of all, I don't think that Nate has ever seen me run and secondly, I have always told him that I hated running. Well, that part is true. I really do hate to run, but I really felt like doing something challenging and out of the norm. In all actuality I have never run for "fun"; only when I am forced to do it like at volleyball practice. So, our team consisted of 2 vans of 6 people each most of whom Nate works with. Island View let us use their vans and we had some very dedicated members of our team. Mickey donated a bunch of Rossignol gear. We each got 3 shirts and 1 jacket. They were so nice to have. He also has a sister who did all of this vinyl for our vans. Didn't they turn out awesome?! Our team name as you can see was Team ShamWow! I'm not sure who came up with that name but I loved it! I think that we became infamous throughout the run. Everyone loved our decorated vans. We also "tagged" other vans with little Team ShamWow vinyl logos. There were some very interesting team names and weird decorated vans. Some that I can remember off the top of my head were: The Polig Rig, Team Swingers, The Stripping Warriors, and 4-letter word Cancer. There were many others that were strange, but I can't seem to remember them now.

Our names were on the side of the van too. I loved everyone in our van. Besides Nate and I we had Jake (Nate's brother), Mike P., Angie, and Judy. Our driver was a co-worker of Nate's named Jon. He was amazing. I don't know how he stayed awake driving us around for 24 hours. I really enjoyed getting to know Mike, Angie, and Judy more. They were all very supportive the whole time we were running!

Here are a bunch of the guys on our team. The 2 Mikes are in the foreground and then we have Adam, Jason, Laura, Jen, Judy, and Angie in the background. Everyone was so positive and having such a great time. I need to have more fun next time around. I was really nervous and I get really mad while I'm running. Two things that will hopefully be improved for the next time around!

Nate made a ShamWow head band to fashionably sport for the race. After his second leg, which was 9.6 miles, he wrung out his head band and seriously got ounces of sweat out of it. I was pretty gross, but impressive as well.

Here is Nate after that long run. He was amazing. I think he had the hardest leg of the whole race. His first leg was pretty flat and 3.5 miles. His second leg went gradually uphill and was 9.6 miles. Although 9.6 miles was very impressive, his last leg was the killer. It was straight up Guardsmans pass between Midway and Park City and was 3.6 miles long. The van was even having a hard time getting up the muddy hill.

Here is me right before my last leg. I was pretty excited that I was almost done. I was really tired, only having slept a total of maybe an hour since the race started. I couldn't really sleep that well laying on the van bench. It was probably a lot nerves and a bit of anxiousness. Anyway, I started with my first leg that was flat and 4 miles long. It was pretty hot during that leg though. My second leg was a moderate climb for 3.8 miles, and my last leg was a flat 4.6 miles through Heber residential neighborhoods in the cloud cover! I had the easiest leg of the race, but it was really challenging for me!

Here is a view from the top of Guardsmans Pass. We had a lot of beautiful views throughout the run. My favorite leg, although it was probably my most challenging, was my 2nd leg in the middle of the night. There were crazy stars out and the air was nice and cool. One thing we discovered through this experience is that we need to utilize the nature that we have close to us more often.

Here we are at the finish line. It rained crazy for the last 2 legs of the race. Poor Angie and Judy had it bad. It was pouring with thunder and lightning. They were troopers, always having a smile on their faces! Overall we had a great experience. We signed up to do it again next year, and are thinking about doing the one in Vegas in October. I really want to get up to Washington and do the Whidbey Island run up there! I am excited that learned how to run 5 miles without stopping through this experience. I have learned how to keep going even when I am really tired. I have learned that after a few minutes you get through the pain. I run terribly slow, but stay consistent at least!

Here are some of Nate's highlights:

I had such a great time (mostly the times that I wasn't running) during the Ragnar event. It was all so memorable. That's why I got to get in next year. Here are some highlights:

* Tagging others' rides with the stickers (vinyl graffiti)

* Tiny shorts guy, old guy, no-shirt guy, lots of struggling guys...

* Green team, Pinky and the Stripping Warriors who were the enemy until, Where did they go?

* The Salt and Vinegar Almond scandal

* Wringing out the sweat from the ShamWow headband after the 9 mile leg. I didn't know it held liquid like that.

* Sara seeming so bothered that we were cheering her on. She says running makes her angry.

* A surreal experience = bumping to Chariot's of Fire after Sara's second leg in the middle of, where were we?

* Jake complaining of fatigue while passing about 20 dudes on his last leg. (He couldn't walk the next day.)

* Mike P. "mountain-goating" it up the pass with a smile.

* Angie cruising down the steep backside as the rain gushed -- I was a little worried about safety.

* Judi had way to much excitement and energy after all of her legs.

* Drafting off of old-guy on leg #2

* Angie missing the hand-off (twice) while Judi was freaking out.

* That Honey Bucket hand sanitizer smelled nice, huh?

* I'm glad we finished the thing.

* We need to invest in a new cowbell next year. We need more cowbell!

* We decided that our van drew the short straw.

Some of my highlights:

* Getting really angry while I was running. I can accomplish anything angry. Need to work on accomplishing things while I'm happy!

* Worrying that I was being passed by everyone while everyone in my van was focusing on how many people they were passing.

* Having to go to the bathroom every time I stopped running, even though nothing came out. Is that a consequence of having so many kids? At least I made it to the Honeybuckets!

* Having our IPOD stop working the night before the race so I had to go to Wally's and get a new one the day of. I can't run without that music!

* The almonds disappearing during one of my legs and reappearing during my last leg. I don't normally like almonds, but the salt and vinegar ones are amazing.

* Always being amazed at how fast everyone in my van was running. They were awesome.

* The nice man that sprayed everyone as they were running by during my scorching first leg.

* Being a part of the conversation about what a brief minute is. It is interesting how people had very different ideas on this. We were all exhausted and giddy by that point though.

* On the first leg being really mad when I saw the blue "one-mile to go" sign because I thought I was closer than that! Being really happy to see the sign on my last two legs.

* The cowbell breaking while Nate was ringing it out the window. The ringer fell off on top of the van and we recovered it. I thought that I fixed it and gave it back to Nate only to have the ringer fall off again out the window in the dirt as we were driving.

* Loving the cowbell so much that I found a pencil to hit on it after it was broken, only it didn't have the same effect.

* Running to the finish line with the whole team swinging our ShamWows over our heads.

Thanks to Jen for putting the whole thing together. You see while your involved in the race how much organization and work goes into putting the whole thing together. Thanks to mine and Nate's parents for watching the kids during our adventure and showing them a good time. Thanks to my vanmates who kept me running and being such a fun and inspiring group!

Kindergarten Graduation

Miles has officially grown-up. It is really so sad that he will be away for a full school day next year. I don't know what I am going to do without him around. Much to Nate's dismay, SAA holds a kindergarten graduation. Nate believes that moving from kindergarten to first grade isn't much of a celebration and so he was rolling his eyes the whole program. I just love watching Miles with his classmates, joyfully taking it all in! Here is Miles waving at us when the Kinders entered the gym. Doesn't he look so proud and excited?

Here he is sitting beside his classmates. The kids sang a couple of songs and had a grand-finale of doing a chorus line to the song, "Here we come, First Grade." It was hilarious watching especially the boys kick their legs in the air. Miles kept kicking the same foot, instead of alternating. It was so cute.

Here is Miles with his teacher, Ms. Lambson. He thinks she is the best teacher ever!

Here is Miles with his buddies. Bryson, Tyler, and Jackson. They are known as "The Gang." They are all very competitive and love playing sports at recess. One cute thing at the graduation is that 3 different mothers came up to me and told me how much their daughters LOVE Miles. One mom even told me that her daughter calls Miles "Her Troy" when she plays High School Musical. So funny. I guess he really is a charmer!

Moses' Pretend Birthday

Moses has been in a playgroup during this school year with some neighborhood friends. When it's the child's birthday we have a party for them to celebrate. Moses' birthday is at the end of June, but our last playgroup day was June 1st, so we had an early birthday celebration for him.The kids did a lot of little activities together including play-doh, bubbles, decorating with stickers, and coloring. Here is Moses blowing his bubbles outside.

Here is one of the whole group. Hayley, Nikia, and Carson. Moses has grown to love these kids!

Because it wasn't his real birthday, we celebrated with donuts and ice cream cones rather than cake. These are Moses' favorite treats right now. He always wants them for FHE treats.

One hilarious thing that happened at the party was that Moses took a huge bite of this candle. At every birthday party the kids always take out the candles and lick off the frosting. Moses has been watching all of his siblings do this all year, and he was so excited to pull out his candles and take a lick. Only there wasn't any frosting on the candles because they were in a donut, so I think he thought he was supposed to take a bite. It was so funny. He was saying, mmmmm, and then he got this funny look on his face and immediately stuck out his tongue. He was able to wash it down with his ice cream cone after!