fun in the sun.

a week or so ago we snuck down south for almost a week. can i just tell you how nice it was to see the sun! it's amazing how good it felt for everyone! we went down with russ and liz and kids. it was so fun to see oma & opa clark and gramps too! this was the first time will has met his oma and opa. they had a good visit getting to know each other as you'll see by the pics. the photos came up in a random order, i'm not gonna fix that cause, lets be honest, i'm being lazy. but...at least i made a post to remember all the great fun we had!

beautiful view of wolf creek golf course.

where we spent hours having fun.

out to lunch with oma and opa in st george.

the older kids before we ventured off to hunt for golfballs.

twinners.

shopping in vegas. 

seriously, what were we thinking shopping with 8 kids, 8 and under?!?

the littles sleeping at the park.

boys playing baseball. 

girls being awesome cheerleaders and tumbling queens.

such cuties!

oma meets will.

doing just dance on the kinect. this was so fun and so entertaining! for everyone! there may or may not be a video of all the adults doing it at once. i still need to get a copy. pretty sure it's hilarious!

poor else got her hair stuck in thomas the train.

will and gramps.

all in all, it was a super fun trip!! though it was pretty depressing to come back to the grey skies again. i keep telling myself, "just think spring!" yes. i'm ready. please come. soon.

be my valentine.

will you be mine? we had so much fun this year making homemade valentines for each other and for the kids' classes. the kids also loved their traditional valentine flip-flops! we're really getting tired of these grey skies! we're trying to force spring to come.

connor's valentine parachuters. "dropping down to wish you a happy valentines"

mabel's gumball valentines. "you're sweet"

the lighting on this one is kinda funny...

my cute valentines...minus will...he was still asleep.

we had a yummy valentine dinner with anna and kelle as dinner guests. thanks for making our valentines night even more special! ...except for kelle's chemistry homework. ;) that was definitely not romantic. it has definitely been too long since i took chemistry!! we may be in trouble when the kids get older!!

snow day!

i only remember three or so snow days when i was younger, but they were the best days ever! so when we got a call from the school district at 6am{!}, i was pretty excited for the kids. and even better, cory got a snow day from work too! 

needless to say, we had tons of fun in the snow. this year our snow creation isn't frosty, it's a huge snow fort, whose only entrance is a tunnel. as the snow kept coming and coming, the fort got bigger and bigger. cory also used ryan's snowblower to harvest snow from the neighbor's! it's a toss up who had more fun, the kids or cory! 

the snow continued on through early saturday morning, so more playing in the snow for everyone. the girls, anna and i went sledding, cory and connor went skiing, and then the whole fam {minus will}  and anna went ice skating! little known fact...{at least to me even after 9 years of marriage}...cory is a really good ice skater!! he totally smoked me. yes i was the one inching along and he was the one zips along and sprays snow on you as he stops!

snow harvesting.

a huge icicle at grandmas!

poor else was frozen by the end!

cousins.

elsie was born just 7 weeks after her cousin carson. about a week or two after she was born we sized the two of the up. carson looked massive against elsie!

then last night will got to meet, or probably better said, reunited, with his new cousin thomas. born just 8 weeks apart. pretty fun to have cousins so close in age!

will's big day.

we had will's baby blessing yesterday. it was such a beautiful day, surrounded by friends and family. will is such a sweet happy boy. we sure do love him!

will and his namesake, grandpa packer. 

is gpa will's namesake or the other way around?

december instagrams.

this was what our december looked like.

homemade ornaments.

movie night.

will @ 1 month.

mabel's christmas dance recital.

connor as "blitzen".

rocket launching with the scouts.

sicko-s. 

elsie wore 3 blankets out this month. 

she loves to rub the satin tag on her cheeks.

christmas bread.

sisterly love.

connor making such sweet notes.

the last note found on the ceiling.

happy dreams.

setting up the nativity.

santa and his elf.

new jamms and sleep next to the tree.

ski pass for connor.

movie night. cars 2. connor's collection.

winter wedding.

will meets gpa jaxon.

evidence of the blankies wearing out.

eagle hunting with new christmas binoculars.