The weekend

CELINE DION... the much anticipated night (we waited 4 additional months since she cancelled! But she was very apologetic and made up for it)

Jennett in the backseat, on our way up to Salt Lake for CELINE!!!!!!! Me and Air-Bear at Cheesecake Factory with Jennett.. it was soooo good. That's one restaurant where I have to get dessert... those cheesecakes are like heaven. We had planned on dinner, and then the boys headed to a "boy" movie while we enjoyed our concert... They ended up seeing Taken, which I guess was pretty good..

Me and Jenna all stoked for the concert! We had pretty bad seats, but ended up scooting up to some empty ones, even AFTER the stupid USHER yelled at us! He was so rude!

The ending Titanic song... so great!! I usually hate that song because it was sooooo overplayed, but being there LIVE, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Aaron, recently called as Assistant Scoutmaster had his first campout with the boys for just an over-nighter about an hour away. I guess it was freezing, but they survived! Meanwhile we had girl's night to celebrate (or just occupy our time) while our husbands were gone!

Dave

A couple of weeks ago, Aaron's dad, Dave came into town and stayed with us for a couple of days while he had some doctors visits. His birthday had been about a week previous, so we made a cake and had a few presents for him, since Aaron hasn't really been around to celebrate his dad's birthday much. Aaron got him a golf book (both of them are big fans) and also the game of Acquire, which Aaron has lately come to love, just like the rest of the Packard family! Sure enough, those 2 couldn't resist but get into the game playing mode, and they even ended up having a boys night at my Grandpa Packard's house! Now, I'm not usually an Acquire fan, but they even got me to play it one night and the three of us stayed up til 2 in the morning!

CELINE DION

Well, the event me and Jenna have been waiting for for MONTHS is finally here! Bennett (my cousin who just married one of my BFF's) had bought her tickets to Celine- which honestly was Jenna's life dreams!! This was back in October for Jen's birthday and the concert was set to be in Salt Lake I believe in November. Sadly, Celine got sick and had to cancel, and reschedule... for TODAY! Bennett, being the nice guy that he is, knew that he would not enjoy a Celine Dion concert as much as.. say, one of Jenna's girl friends, so she invited ME to go with her!!!!!!!!! Our hubs are driving up to SLC us with us for dinner, then they're off to see a boy movie. Can't WAIT!!!!

OMAHA, Nebraska

When your husband does summer sales, you never know where you could end up for those 4 months and you hope for somewhere fun and tropical like Florida-- I'd even take Texas. DC and Baltimore last summer was awesome. Yet after the anticipation of the Apx draft, we were surprised to learn that Omaha was chosen for our team to go to around the end of April. Aaron has researched and found that the college world series takes place there... and the famous Omaha steaks. And that's about the most excitement we've found in that state, but we've still got a positive outlook!

Apparently no other companies have gone there (no explanation needed), but that provides a great market for us, since they're not sick of door-to-door salesmen yet! And to be honest, I'm optimistic. It can't be THAT bad and will probably be quite pretty.

This is about what I picture for Omaha.... fields of corn, huts and cows...

But based on these beautiful pictures, hopefully we will be pleasantly surprised...

Mission

This past week or so has been interesting and emotional for me, as I have been reminiscing about my mission and missing those good times. Those who know me well know that those 18 months were not a cake walk.. I'm sure they heard more complaints than about blessings! Whether it was the third world country and all that that entails, the humidity and heat, the burnt hair, ugly clothes and struggles with the language, or frustrations and pressures to baptize, I still remember all those hardships but I'm lately remembering why it was so worth it.

In my first area, the night before I got transferred I was able to see my favorite girls, Iandra and Iangela finally get baptized, but after my mission, they had moved and we lost contact. Having found them online this week after more than 2 years, it just reminds me of those wonderful people of Brazil and how grateful I am to have had that experience. I can't imagine not having gone and not meeting that family that I came to love so much.

I also learned that a woman I had taught who refused the invitation to get baptized had finally gotten baptized a year later, and it occurred to me that the fruits of our labors still surface even years after the mission. Seeing her join the Church just helped me feel more connected and that we can relate to each other; we speak the same language in the gospel. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in life and forget those miracles and experiences that once brought us so much joy. Even those difficult trials on my mission seem minor compared to the wonderful outcomes of serving and strengthening the testimonies of others and especially for myself.

Super Bowl Mania

This Sunday, as a new tradition, the Packard cousins got together for Super Bowl Sunday over at Doug's house

Jenna and Bennett.. I think towards the middle, the game was pretty dang slow... and Jenna was smart to take a little siesta for a while!

Kara and Bennett

Aaron, Jenna, Ricky, Laura and Jeremy

We went to the Temple this last week with our friends Tauna and Jason, and also went bowling during the weekend! I am THE WORST bowler in the world, I think I keep beating my own record for the lowest bowling score (we're talking in the 50's)!!

Aaron killed us all... He has yet to skill me in the art of bowling.

Tauna, with baby Breydon chillin in his carseat most of the game, had a good round of bowling, I must say. These butt shots of all of us are great, I know..

Jason chillin in between turns, sportin the nerdy bowling shoes!