San Antonio

Cal and I had a great time in Texas. We went to babysit my brother Josh and Heidi's 4 kids for a week while they went on a cruise. Poor Callin is going to go through a state of loneliness for a while. He really loved all the attention. Sam, Isabel, Noah, Callin, Grace

Most of the week was filled with moments like this. Callin was in heaven.

After all 5 kids went to bed my first night it took me 2 hours to get the house cleaned up from the day's adventures. I am a fast learner. From then on it was, "No computer time until that mess is picked up," and "No dinner until that room is picked up." I have to say, it was not as hard as I thought it would be. They are really good kids!

The Fun Run

The Care For Life 5k turned out to be a blast! I beat Doug by a couple of hairs, but unfortunately they recorded our times as the exact same so he is not letting me say I beat him. The guy at the finish line who took our numbers kept saying, "It was yellow, then gray, yellow, then gray." (I was yellow folks!) I think he thought we were seriously competing. What I am talking about...we were. What can I say, we LOVE a good healthy competition. Doug's parents introduced us to the "15 minute back rub bet." It is a great idea for a couple where both individuals think they are ALWAYS right! Any who...Cal thoroughly enjoyed the race from his jogging stroller!

Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday to my Beautiful Mom and my cutest and oldest nephew Ian!

This is officially THE saddest rendition of Happy Birthday that has been produced by the Packard family. Sorry mom! I should have told them before hand that it was for you! But you get the point! Emily did make you a divine Chocolate tort with ice cream and strawberries. I ate 2 for the both of us!

The Professor:

My mom has shown me all the ropes.

From rose pinning, to bean cooking, to having high hopes.

She's never been pushy or even demanding.

But teaching with love has been her standing.

She's always been my BEST pal,

while being hundreds of other's best gal.

She laughs, she listens, and what a great dresser!

I couldn't have asked for a better professor.

Barber Shop

Doug's latest client: Bubba! And no he did not play Jesus in the recent Mesa Temple Easter Pageant. But boy would he would have looked great!

A big THANK YOU to Bubba for all the airport runs and lawn mowing favors! These would be his green feet after a long afternoon of work at our house.

We've Made our Decision...

And the winner (officially) is Baylor Medical School. Houston here we come! We put on our calendars to move around July 14th.

A picture of downtown Houston above. And below is a picture of the Medical Center District which Doug described like a little town buzzing with medical research. Baylor is somewhere in the mist.

We are hoping to live in the near by town of Pearland. I love the name! Only a 15 minute drive for Doug and out of the big city.

The Number 2

2: the number of teeth Callin has (the second is still working its way up)

2: the number of words he can say (Mama or sometimes just mum, and ba-ba)

2: the number of GRANDMA's Callin has in Africa (Doug's mom is over there to hopefully finalize the adoption of Kelvin and bring him home)

2: the number of WONDERFUL days of conference we enjoyed!

2: the number of missionaries that called 2 hours before dinner and asked, "What time is dinner at?" Oh, yea, right, later is better for us!

2: the number of DVD's of Sound of Music we watched this weekend by request of DOUG! We had a great time singing along together!

too: we began "repacking" this weekend. We did a very rushed job when we moved down from Utah and I told Doug I am not hauling everything to Texas. So we began going through each box one by one. We have way TOO much stuff! (I will be making way more than 2 trips to D.I. without Doug knowing!...major pack rat!)

2 + 1: the number of weeks I have left of my 2 classes!

okay, I think I am stretching now! I better stop while I'm ahead!

Happy 25th Tara

Not every one is lucky enough to live next door to their best friend of twenty-five years! I wish I had a scanner and could show you some of the classic pictures of us growing up. Poor Tara! She is mad at me in most of our pictures because I always forced her pose with me. (I also tried once to make her hold my hand like all the other best friend couple did- but that didn't go over that well either.) For those of you who don't know Tara, she is they type of friend that you will strive your whole life to be like her but will never catch. She is THE nicest person on the whole planet. She is genuinely kind to EVERYBODY. She will do ANYTHING for you at ANYTIME...

I think you are getting the picture.
Here is the top 10 list of memories after 25 years: (Not in order because that would be just way too hard.)
1. Prom night- she waited in the back of her Dad's truck to spy on me. She ran right over and we talked about our nights.
2. When I told her I was switching junior highs. It wasn't an option, if I was moving, so was she.
3. Eating nachos at her house or Spaghettio's or party pizza's at my house for lunch everyday.
4. Our garden we planted in about the 3rd grade. A dumb bird devoured our 1 watermelon that grew.
5. The night of the "Southern Cross" in Mozambique. Singing "How Great Thou Art" under a pitch black sky filled with trillions of stars in some tiny village.
6. Playing "mailbox." Every Sunday we would pass each other notes and tea party invitations for the upcoming week by putting them in each others mailboxes and then calling the person and saying "Mailbox" and then quickly hanging up.
7. Every SINGLE Christmas morning! As soon as I was done opening my presents I ran over to Tara's. (They have 10 kids in their family and it took them all day to get through their presents.) With out fail, we always got something the same. My favorite year was when we both got American Girl Dolls (I got Samantha and she got Molly), trunks for their clothes, and tables and chairs.
8. Whenever one of us went out of town, the other had the large responsibility of babysitting that persons dolls. (I recently found Pearltay packed away and feelings of childhood love came pouring back.)
9. Both of us winning the 6th grade Student Council election (She was the secretary, I was the treasure.) Side note- we were in every single same grade school class.
10. This year! I love being neighbors again, our daily communication, our dinner group, our joint calling in Nursery, having our husbands get to be such good friends, etc.

Happy Birthday Tara! How I love you!