Day 1

I woke up Wednesday morning at 3:45 am to shower and get ready for our 4:30 shuttle to the airport. Bryan and Courtney got up about 4:00 and we woke Ethan up at 4:20. 

The shuttle dropped us off and we checked our luggage in and went to security. The line to security wasn't too long and the man who checked Courtney, Ethan and my tickets authorized us to leave our shoes on. Bryan had to take his off. 

We got through security and found our gate. We waited until it was our turn to load onto the plane. We got a snack at the airport because we left the hotel before breakfast began.

We loaded on the plane and set up for the long flight to Seattle.

When we landed in Seattle we had about 50 minutes to get to our new gate and get on the next plane to Anchorage. Ethan was hungry so he bought some food. Courtney went and bought some mentos to snack on. 

We got on our next flight to Anchorage. Courtney and Ethan watched movies while Bryan and I watched some tv shows online. I slept part of the time.

We landed in Anchorage, got our luggage and then went to wait for the shuttle to the airport. It was a long wait...

By this time we were pretty hungry but the airport food was really expensive. So we toughed it out.

We finally got to the hotel and found our room.

We walked up the hill to the center of Anchorage and found a Hard Rock Cafe to eat at. Ethan got a huge hamburger (surprise) and Courtney got some chicken strips. We were now happy!

We wandered around downtown trying to find a store to buy snacks at. Courtney had to go to the bathroom and we found a public bathroom. It had some cool art.

We went back to the hotel, Courtney and I went swimming and then the kids and I crashed early. Bryan went exploring and saw a bunch of fishermen at the river behind the hotel.

We were exhausted so the sun being up until 11 pm and then back up at 3 am didn't bother us.

Starts in our vacation

On Tuesday the kids had their last day of school. It was pretty uneventful. Ethan got his yearbook and then they put the kids in the gym to sign yearbooks for the rest of the day. He called me to ask if I would pick him up early, which I did.  Courtney just had a party.

Ethan went to do insulation with the teachers and priests in the afternoon while the rest of us finished getting ready for our trip. 

We packed the van and started to Las Vegas around 5:15 pm. We were just in time to see a bunch of F16 jets flying around Nellis. Bryan and Ethan were in heaven.

The dark spot in the middle is one of the jets.

We stayed at a hotel near the airport where they would keep our cars and shuttle us to the airport. We went to dinner, Courtney went swimming in the pool and then we all went to bed. 

Mr. Hansen

Courtney had a great teacher this year who she just loved.  He is in our Stake so she gets to see him when we have Stake meetings.  He has been really good for her and I was happy he was her teacher.  He has retired once from teaching but felt like someone needed a grandpa so he went back to it.  This sweet note was in Courtney's report card and made her day!

Awards for Courtney

Monday was the awards assembly at Santa Clara Elementary.  Courtney asked me to go because she thought she would be getting something.  I was one of only two parents there so it was a bit awkward, but she was happy I was there so that's all that matters!

They always start the assembly with the "moving up" ceremony.  They ask the 5th graders to stand up and move to the sides of the room.  The 4th graders then move back to where the 5th grade classes sit, the 3rd graders move to where the 4th graders sit, and so on.  The kids LOVE it because they are moving up and becoming the "big kids."

They sang the school song (I tried to record it but they were singing/yelling so loud you can't understand it at all), said good-bye to some teachers who wouldn't be back next year, and were introduced to a summer program to keep kids moving.  Then....

The prizes for the Rockin' Rad Readers were awarded.

Courtney earned hers so she was given a certificate.  They had a drawing for a Kindle and a boom box but she didn't get either of those.

The certificates for newspaper were given.

Courtney was given one of those also along with a rice crispy treat.

This was her last assembly in the elementary school and the last one for our family.  It has been a great school and I am so glad our kids were able to go there.  I'm a little sad it's over.

Ethan's Rocket

Ethan got a couple of rockets for Christmas and it has taken him this long to get them out and put them together.  I think he was afraid they wouldn't work and he would be discouraged.  Well, he was finally bored enough to pull out the rockets and give them a go.

He put one together, got it all ready and we were off to the field behind Lava Ridge Intermediate to see if it would work.  It was pretty windy but not as windy as earlier in the day so we thought it would be okay.

Ethan got it ready...

Connected all the wires.

Backed up at least 13 feet.

And let it go...

...but the cords had come unhooked from the battery so he hooked them up again and...

We were all so happy it worked.  It went REALLY HIGH into the air.  The box claims it will go 1000 feet and it did go really high but I don't know if it went that high.  I do know that the wind took it a good 1/2 mile away from the launching pad.  We ended up driving a little bit, climbing under a barbed wire fence, and searching all over for his rocket.  But he found it and was so excited it had worked.

The launch pad had some burning which we all thought was really cool!

He is now thinking he wants to be an aerospace engineer.  It was so fun to see it work!

Piano Recital

Courtney had a piano recital and she decided to practice doing it for an audience so she wouldn't be so afraid.  Here she is:

Here is the video:

The recital was on Saturday afternoon at Vista.  Courtney had been practicing hard and she did a great job!

Soccer pictures

A couple of weeks ago we had soccer pictures. The photographer called me last night to say they were back from the printer. I was pretty excited. I think they turned out great!

This is the U11 team.

Our cute soccer player.

Birthday part 2

Courtney was excited to decorate Ethan's birthday cake this year. She had a lot of fun!

The finished product...

Ethan requested lobster tail for his birthday dinner. So he got lobster tail and steak with garlic mashed potatoes. It was very yummy and he was in heaven.

After dinner my parents came over and we had cake and ice cream. They gave Ethan some birthday cash, which made him very happy!

The celebrations are now done and we hope Ethan has a great year!!

Ethan's birthday!

Ethan is 14 years old!!! I can't believe it until I turn and look up at him. It's then that I realize he isn't my little boy anymore.

He requested a Texas sized maple donut and oj. He got his wish.

After he filled up on donut, Courtney sent him on a hunt for his presents.  She had hidden his presents and taken pictures of where they were. He had to go and find them. He was a good sport.

Then he opened presents. Grandma and grandpa Pack gave him a Spikeball game. Courtney gave him a new phone case and we gave him a new phone. His old phone was so old that the apps he needed for school and the mountain bike team wouldn't work. So we got him a new one. 

Funny story about the phone. It came last week and so I have been putting  parental controls on it. I didn't want to set the whole thing up because I knew Ethan would have fun with the new phone. But in order to out controls on the App Store I had to log into Ethan's google account. I didn't even think about it until I got a text from Ethan saying "I just got a notification from google that someone just logged onto my account from a Moto g phone. Weird, isn't it?" I was busted. I said "yup, that is weird." And he said "I sure hope no one has my password." I replied "if they do, they are using a pretty cool phone." So his birthday present wasn't a surprise.

Anyway, back to Ethan's day. Today was the "No Tardy Party." This is for the students who didn't have a tardy or unexcused absence all quarter. They were going swimming at Sand Hollow and Ethan was able to go. So he got to go swimming during school!

After school he had mountain biking 101 with the team so he got to ride for an hour and a half. They sang happy birthday to him. 

Leigh Ann dropped by to give him a present. It was a new video game and some money. Score!!

On the way home from mountain biking, they picked up pizza for Ethan's dinner. His real birthday dinner is tomorrow and we will have cake and ice cream with the family tomorrow. So he will have 2 days worth of celebrating.

I am so glad Ethan is part of our family. He is hilarious, kind, generous and a great tease!!

Oscars and Zion

We usually go on a hike for Mother's Day.  But the Saturday before Mother's Day was the Ironman and the Pizazz end of the year review...it was also rainy and cold.  So we decided to stop in Zion on our way home from Courtney's soccer game and go hiking.

Since it was later in the morning and the kids had eaten breakfast so early, we decided to stop at Oscars for lunch before hiking.  Ethan had the time of his life ordering his food.  He got the "Big A** Burger" and then laughed after he ordered it.  It was a full pound of meat and HE ATE IT ALL!!  I couldn't believe it.

He had to cut it up to fit it in his mouth!

Look at all that meat!

This is how he wants to us think he feels after eating it all....

but this is how he really feels.

I couldn't believe he ate it all.

We then drove into Springdale to find a place to park to hop on the shuttle into Zion.  It was crazy with how many people were there that day.  We parked and then waiting just a little bit for a shuttle.  We were lucky because we got on the shuttle close to the start so there were plenty of seats.  The closer you park to Zion and try to get on the shuttle the less likely you are to get a space because the shuttles fill up quickly.

We bought a new National Parks Pass, went into Zion and hopped on another shuttle that took us all the way through the park to the River Walk trail.  This is our favorite because it isn't too hard and you can get in the water at the end or along the way.  We had fun walking around and trying to scare off the psycho squirrels.  They are everywhere and they aren't afraid of anything!  Ethan almost stepped on one and it didn't even move out of the way.

We decided to get our feet wet in a shady spot near the river.  The water was really cold but it was nice to put our feet in.

We tried to keep cool.  We walked back to catch the shuttle and then hopped on another shuttle to take us back to our van.

This makes me happy!

She still gets Ethan to give her piggy back rides.

When we got off the shuttle we decided it was too hot and we needed ice cream.  So we got some and sat next to the monument explaining how Isaac Morton Behunin had named Zion while we ate our ice cream.

Then we took off for home.  We were tired and sweaty so we were happy to get home to shower and relax.  It was a great belated Mother's Day hike in Zion!

Last Galaxy Game of the Season

Courtney had her last Galaxy Elite FC soccer game of the season on Saturday.  It was in Cedar City at 9 a.m. so we had to get up and get on the road by 7:30 a.m.  Their team did a great job.  It was a physical game with a lot of parents yelling and screaming but in the end...we won!

We ended the season in 3rd place, which isn't bad at all!  She now has the summer off, kind of, and then will start again at the end of July.  The league has changed the dates of eligibility but we will still have the same basic team.  The age deadline was August 1st so Courtney was always the oldest on her team.  This season she was supposed to be a U10 because she was only 9 as of August 1st, but her team didn't have a U10 team so they played her up a year and she as on a U11 team.  This was great because she was playing with the girls in her grade.  The new rules goes by birth year.  So all those born in 2005 will be a U11 team because they were 10 at the beginning of 2016, but with the way the birthdays fall of the players, they are going to play up the team born in 2005 (so the team will be girls born in 2004 and 2005) and Courtney will be on a U12 team.  Clear as mud?  Yup, it is for us too.

Courtney is third from the left.

I noticed a couple of girls on the opposing team wore mis-matched socks.  I have always wondered why Courtney hasn't done this before.  She rarely wears matching socks!

Track Meet

I thought it would be fun to sign Courtney up for a track meet because she has been doing so much running with soccer.  We signed her up for the 400 meter, 200 meter and 100 meter (I think).  It was a hot day and she wasn't too thrilled to be sitting around waiting for things to happen.  She ran the 400 meter and qualified to run the next day in the finals (although she had a soccer game at the same time so she wasn't able to) and Bryan took her back later to run the 100 meter but then she was finished and didn't want to go back.  I had forgotten how long track meets were!

Her numbers:

Getting ready to run the 400 meter:

Choir Concert

You will notice that there aren't any pictures or videos from Ethan's end of the year choir concert.  That is by Ethan's request.  He didn't want video or photographic evidence of his dancing and singing skills because they did go together in this one great concert.

They sang great oldies like "Good Vibrations" while pretending to surf on a surf board.  But I really have been sworn to secrecy so that's as much as I can tell you.  He tried to talk us out of going because he was quite embarrassed but I told him we had the right to go as his parents but promised that we wouldn't take photos or videos.  In fact, I left my phone at home so I wouldn't be tempted.

He did a great job and it was hilarious to watch his face and eye rolls as he danced around.  Poor kid.

Snow Canyon Middle School Awards Night

We received an invitation to attend the Snow Canyon Middle School Awards night because Ethan was receiving an award.  We didn't know what it was for but I made him go...and I made him dress up in Church clothes which he was not happy about.

Yes, I am a mean mom that makes their children go to receive recognition.  Ethan says that it wasn't hard but with all that has happened this year (his leg, his toes, etc.) I felt like he did work hard.  So we went.  He was on the high honor roll (which he was for all 4 quarters now).  They called his name, he walked across the stage, grabbed his certificate and everything.

Thank you Ethan for doing that for me!

Everyone was given a generic certificate when they crossed the stage so they wouldn't have to take the time to find the right certificate for the right person.  Great idea!  After the awards were over Ethan found his homeroom teacher and she gave him his real certificate.

Here is the picture of his 3rd quarter certificate (he just found the certificate in his locker):