October 04 Greenleaf Post

September has blown by for us. We've been very busy with school, sports, our callings, harvesting the garden and all of the fun stuff that comes with September. We feel very blessed that the kids are in such a wonderful school. The Charter School concept is really great and the way they are running this one is absolutely impressive. The kids are really learning and stretching and they are having FUN while doing it. They are all learning lots of vocabulary words like Hannah the other day mentioned that Jarom was very "intrepid" while playing football and that Logan has a "plethora of clothes" in her closet.

We were blessed with the opportunity to have Elder Scott from the Quorum of the 12 apostles come to reoranize our Stake here. That was a real treat to start of the month. We really gleaned a lot from him and his partner Elder Walker. They were really great.

Jarom has run for 5 touchdowns for the season and is loving football. This past Saturday we went up to a little town called Garden Valley and since they don't have enough at any one age group they can combine. Unfortunately they are supposed to roll up if they have over a certain percentage of older kids. Well, 90% of their kids were older and bigger then Jarom's team which is one of the smallest in his league. I'm the "trainer" on his team and it seemed as though every other play I was running out to help a kid off the field. Most of the injuries were minor like, getting the wind knocked out of them or bruises. Well, right before half time the Quarterback got injured and it looks as though it is a minor fracture so he could be out for the season. This is a real bummer since we had nobody who was ready to back him up. Jarom ended up playing QB for most of the rest of the game and they just had him run it. Afterwards the coaches mentioned that Jarom will likely be QB for the rest of the season so Jarom and I have been doing some practicing. Jarom is quite funny when he's taking the snap because he bends over to the side to look under the center to make sure he doesn't drop the snap. We've been working on that.

Logan's piano playing is getting really good. I can't believe that we have the hyms being played in the home. It is sooooo awesome! It almost makes Lareen and I cry sometimes when she is playing one. She has started reading the Work and the Glory and is already getting attached to the characters and wants to read all the time. It's a nice problem to have.

We watched Lareen's brother's child for the whole month of September while they went through some difficult times. She was in the Hospital and he was trying to find a new house for them so we took Luke who is the same age as Emma. It was nice that he didn't have to worry about Luke during the day while the other kids where at school. We just took him home this past Saturday to their new house with his Mom at home.

Lareen is working hard at learning all about the various things that have been affecting her health and contributing to her dizzyness. It appears as though we are making headway (get it... headway) anyway her head still spins at times but not so often and not so bad. Thank you for any and all prayers in her behalf.

BlueLine is doing really well and therefore I'm extremely busy. Everyday Lareen asks how my day was and I tell her I've been so busy and she reminds me how grateful we are that I'm so busy instead of wishing I had stuff to do.

Pictures from 2004 Reunion

August 04 Greenleaf Post

Dear Family and Friends,

Whew, time flies!!!! August came and went and it's well into September and I'm still trying to figure out what happened to the whole summer!!

The kids have been in school just over 2 weeks now. They are in portable buildings until the school gets built (sounds like it will be 2 years in the portables). Their teachers are fantastic and we are really feeling blessed that they could get into the charter school program. The main teachers only teach the basics like reading, writing and arithmatic but they get 1/2 hour of Spanish every day along with art, computers, science all from specialist teachers. It is really fun! Jarom is just struggling with the lack of playground area. They only have a small patch of grass for all the students.

Thank goodness for Football. If Jarom wasn't in Football I think we'd all go crazy. His first "real" game is this Saturday but he's been through nearly 4 weeks of practice and they have a jamboree at the BSU stadium where they play 6 minutes of offense and 6 minutes of defense against another team. Jarom plays running back (Y back) and scored the only touchdown!!! Lareen went balistic in the stands and I was pretty proud down on the field (I'm the trainer since I know a little first-aid). Anyway his team did really good and he LOVES football. He is quite good too, if I do say so myself. He's 15 pounds heavier then the average back and he is faster than anyone on his team. He really knows how to lower his shoulder and give a "crack" when he needs to as well.

The biggest news is that Hannah turned "8" and was baptized!!! It was really fun for her to have a big birthday bash with all of her friends. She had a beach party and they rode the horses and played in all of the sand we put around the stream in the back. They then, roasted hotdogs over the fire and we had a really fun time. The weather was perfect. That was in the middle of the month and just this last weekend we had the baptism. My parents came and so did the Griffin's from Logan. The Griffin's even brought the little kitty "Tuxedo" back to visit her siblings. It was a real pleasure and of course all of Lareen's family except for the twins were here for the big events as well.

One other highlight for the month was the opportunity to learn first hand from one of the Quorum of the 12. Elder Scott came to reorganize the Caldwell Stake. It was a real treat and our family is still at a higher spiritual level because of it. I just don't want to lose the feelings he gave us and left with us.

I've gotta run, thanks for all of your prayers in our behalf. Lareen is feeling some better - it appears as though she has a handle on some of her issues and will be back to her healthy best in no time.

March 04 Greenleaf Post

Dear Family and Friends,

Things are really moving now. We have the house officially on the market and we have a contract on a house in Maryland. Now we just need to sell our house here asap so that we can close on the house in Maryland by April 30th. Whew, it's been a bit busy.

Lareen and I were able to spend a few days in the DC area around her birthday. We found a great realtor and a nice area. The market out here moves really fast. If you want to buy a house you have to jump fast since it is a really strong sellers market. Most homes go through bidding wars. In fact the first house we put an offer on we didn't get. We lost out inspite of the fact that we offered substantially more than the asking price. It's really nuts out here. In the end we really got lucky and found a great house in a great area for a relatively good deal. We just hope that our house sells quickly so that we don't loose the deal.

I'm spending a lot of time away from home and we'd like to try to reunite again as soon as possible by getting my family out East with me. The kids and Lareen are all tired of me being gone so much. It isn't healthy to be apart so much.

I'm back in school. I'm enrolled in an MBA program focused on ebusiness through the University of Phoenix. It feels good to get going again.

June 03 Greenleaf Post

Here is a quick note to let you all know that we are alive and well - just extremely busy.

It was absolutely fantastic to have Mom come and visit. Thanks Mom it really was a joy and the kids had a great time with you! We hope that you can swing more trips with the Hathaways like that one.

I'm still busy with school, coaching Jarom's BaseBall team, Elder's Quorum and Work. Lareen and I have been "volunteered" to be the presidents of the PTO for this coming school year as well - no rest for the wicked.

Lareen has great things rolling for her YW camp this summer. It's a Ward level camp so she is 100% in charge and it should be a real great experience. She is very excited about it. She's planned 3 or 4 other camps and has never been able to attend due to pregnancies or moving so this will be her first time to attend a camp she has planned. I'm going to be up there with her as one of 2 Priesthood that need to be there at all times.

Logan is finishing up her SoftBall and that has been fun. She took 1st place in an essay contest for her school. She interviewed her Grandpa Hansen about the changes in Farming over the past 50 years. It was fun for her to interview him and write the paper. She has a real talent with creative writing.

Jarom is on my Coach-Pitch team and is doing FANTASTIC! I think that hard thing about being his coach is not gloating too much or being too hard on him. He is a great little baseball player (much better than I was at his age) and he outshines most of his team. The biggest struggle with baseball at this age is focus. I'm trying every trick in the book to keep them focused on the game so they're not daydreaming when the ball gets hit at them. But, Jarom is pretty good at staying focused. He loves to play the piano and has really improved over the past year.

Hannah is going to make us famous with her pies. Lareen just had a Father's day pie-making fundraiser for the YW. They made a bunch of pies but we also found a restaurant supply house for the majority (they sold more then they could possibly have made). Anyway, Hannah sat there with the YW and made a apple pie all by herself. It was (no kidding) one of the best pies I've ever had. The crust was perfect!!! (taste - not perfect in design ;-) Anyway, I've been kidding her that we will start a business and sell "Hannah's World Famous Pies". She thinks that's ok as long as she makes a lot of money - defined as at least one whole dollar per pie.

Emma is a lot like Jarom (enjoys attention and entertaining). So, we have another one. She is sooo funny. At the baseball or softball games, at the store or anywhere, she will go up to anyone and start up a conversation. She is not shy. At one of Logan's game's she found a nice lady sitting on a blanket from the other team and sat down with her and had a nice long conversation. The lady came up afterwards and just laughed with Lareen and I about Emma and her outgoing personality.

We hope that all of you are having a wonderful summer - we are working hard on getting things ready for next summer. We look forward to seeing you in Greenleaf in 2004! By the way I need to know which ones of you want me to check on renting an RV for you vs. how many are planning on using a tent. I'll get pricing on RV's for those who want that depending on how many it will need to sleep. I still plan on having same-age cousins sleep together in tents. We'll come up with as many tents as we can to cover that need.

Love to all!

January 03 Greenleaf Post

YIKES, I've had some real trouble with my Yahoo. I've tried to send this for two weeks and I've finally had to rebuild my address list to send this. I hope I haven't forgotten anyone.

Hello everyone,

Happy New Year!!!!! First of all, I appologize for not sending Christmas cards... I guess I figure that all of you have been keeping up with us through the monthly email and hey, email is free.

What a wonderful time of year. Christmas was really nice, it was great to have Christmas in a more permanant place. For the past few years we have had Christmas in homes we knew were temporary for us - like last year when we were renting a little place while we built. We are also grateful that we are not building our house this Christmas... well I guess that is not entirely true. We are going to be building on our house for many years to come. We had the goal to finish the bonus room for Christmas, but were sidetracked when our diesel truck broke down and needed a chunk of $$ that would have gone toward sheetrock. Oh well. It will be nice when it is done, but it's not an emergency. It will be nice so that when we have parties here (which is happening more often) we have a separate place to have kids play vs. underfoot.

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was a white Christmas... sort of. We had a dusting of snow that if you looked out early enough you could see in the shadows, but it was melted before noon. But hey, it snowed!

We have had a few medical situations during the school break also. On the 23rd Lareen's parents took all of Lareen's brothers, and sisters and the grandkids out to eat for our Christmas present. It was a lot of fun, but Hannah had her finger smashed in the big heavy door to the bathroom - on the hinge side! It was nasty! She was brave, but it really hurt. After Christmas we took her in to see if it was broken and a piece of the bone was broken off the tip of her finger and was floating. They had us come back to see a hand specialist and the specialist said other than missing a fingernail for a while she would be fine. Well that same day, Jarom and Hannah were sick, and broke out in SPOTS. Yep, it was Chicken Pox time for the Packers. Hannah and Jarom got it bad. Jarom even had a couple of Pox on his eyeball. They had them everywhere. I don't remember Logan's being so bad. Well we have a 2 week break and then we should be at it again with Emma. Lovely. The bright side is that they didn't miss much school since they start tommorrow and Jarom and Hannah should be ready by Tuesday.

Lareen is doing a bang up job in the Young Women's organization. Unfortunately their big winter snow party at the Bishop's cabin was cancelled the night before they were to leave. It's a long and sad story. Lots of very dissappointed Young Women.

We are working hard on getting the place ready for the reunion. We have been fevorishly moving dirt to get ready to plant grass again, on flat ground this time. We should have a lovely, big lawn by the summer of 2004

December 02 Greenleaf Post

Dear Family and Friends,

We just returned from Thanksgiving in Idaho Falls. It was fun to spend time with my parents and have a quiet Thanksgiving day. We hadn't been to Idaho Falls for a Thanksgiving for a number of years and it was really nice. The kids had a great time. They became addicted to Monopoly while they were there and my Mom and Dad were generous enough to send us home with the game as an early Christmas present. On our way home we asked the kids if they liked going to Grandma and Grandpa Packer's house and they all said that they can't wait to go back and that they had a great time. They liked Grandpa's Pancakes and the fact that we had desert after every meal!

The month of November flew past for us. Lareen is back in the Young Women's organization and is excited to whip it into shape. The young women and parent's of our ward were so excited when she was announced as the new President that Lareen was almost tackled at the end of the meeting by excited girls and parents. She will do a fantastic job... again.

The kids had a coloring contest at school and Logan and Jarom both won for their grade level. Hannah was a top contestant as well. It was kind of funny that both of them won - the teachers kept assuring us that the pictures were not labeled so there was no way for the judges to know that they were done by siblings. They all are doing great with Piano Lessons, School and Church.

Logan is preparing her Primary lesson again for this next week. She loves to teach her class and this is her 3rd opportunity. She also loves to prepare quality Family Night lessons and activities.

Jarom sang a solo for the Primary program and did a fantastic job. He has told us that he would like to be a "star" someday (referring to singing). He was also baptized at the beginning of November and it was a fantastic experience. We sang as a family and Jarom had a small solo in that presentation as well. He definitely does not mind being in the limelight.

Hannah's hair is growing, she is 110% girl who loves pink, barbies, dressing-up and laughing. She is not a big fan of the limelight and has a bit of stage fright. She cannot believe that Jarom is brave enough to sing in front of everyone. She is doing very well in the 1st grade and has Jarom's old teacher. She still loves to climb on the counter and help Mom cook.

Emma is really talking now. She has quite a personality. She feels left out every morning when the other 3 get on the bus to go to school and she wants to go too. She gets to visit regularly when Lareen goes to volunteer. Everyone at the school knows her and she puts on the "cute show" very well. I don't remember our other kids playing their "cute" card so often or so well. She is cute, she knows it, and she uses it to get attention from everyone around and does it with such an air of innocense that most others don't realize that they are being played - YIKES!

Otherwise all is well at the Packer place. We are working on finishing the Bonus Room a little at a time. I've finished wiring it and I'm almost done insulating it. It should be in great working order by the time we have the reunion. We also have spent the last couple of weekends getting the yard and pasture ready for next year's planting (re-planting for the yard) of grass. We didn't get things as level as we wanted so we tore up everything and we are living in a dust field for a while. Fortunately a friend from church brought over his road grader and we have everything pretty much leveled and sloped just like we want. Now we just need to get the sprinkler system in next spring and get the grass growing in nicely for the following summer.

We are happy and healthy and plan to have a fantastic holiday season in our new home.

October 02 Greenleaf Post

Everyone,

September blew by... too fast. All is well on the Packer home-front and we are glad for the coming of fall. We have been busy harvesting (unfortunately we did not get it all in and we lost a lot to the freeze, lesson - next year either coop with someone who will harvest more or do a smaller garden. We had some friends from in town who shared our garden space since they didn't have any. They came and helped with planting and weeding, but didn't harvest much. It was sad to see so much go to waste. Lareen worked very hard at sharing with everyone we could think of, but alas we were unable to take full advantage of the bountiful harvest.

We did try to take advantage of opportunities to glean at the Church orchard here. We canned nearly 100 jars of apple sauce. Lareen also canned some peaches, tomatoes and variations on tomato sauces. I am grateful for a great spouse and help-meet who does so much for our family. When the Sister in General Conference (I forgot her name, but she was on Sunday and she was in the YW program) spoke about Latter-Day Women of Faith and how much they blessed the lives of those around them, I was grateful for a wife who I consider to be a Latter-Day Woman of Faith.

Conference was great, unfortunately I was in Maryland for the weekend, but my associate and myself were able to go to a stake center near Columbia MD to see the 2 Sunday sessions. I really felt bad about missing the Priesthood session, I look forward to that and unfortunately had meetings for work that night in Annapolis. It was also Jarom's 8th Birthday on Sunday. We had already had a party for him the week before when I was there, then on last Friday all of the Hansen cousin's came and played (no school), then Lareen took the kids to Weiser to watch conference with her parents. Then on Monday (also no school) Jarom got his first taste of wild (and we really mean WILD) calf riding. Grandpa Hansen had promised him this summer he would let him ride a calf, but every time we tried to get together either we couldn't do it or he was too busy with his Hay business. Anyway, the calf was a little too big and so the ride was very short, and Jarom is OK. Grandpa had the calf on a rope so it couldn't go too far and so he could control it after Jarom's ride came to an abrupt end. Jarom is not planning a career of bull riding after that.

Logan, Jarom and Hannah are all taking Piano lessons now. So we are spending a lot of time with piano practicing. On Sunday's we have mini recitals and Emma gets to join in with her renditions of fusion jazz (if you know what I mean- lots of chords with dissidence).

I was released from the Young Men's organization (much to my disappointment) and called into the Elder's Quorum Presidency again. Lot's of work to do in this ward. We have 30% activity rate and 35% of our HT list is listed as "DO NOT CONTACT". Our ward has a lot of good people, and many of them are in humble circumstances, so they serve well. When it is time for harvesting the fruit at the Stake orchard, our ward finishes our assignment early and ends up going and helping other wards (much more affluent and active wards) with their assignments. I shouldn't be proud, but I am proud to be a part of a good "salt of the earth" Ward.

August 02 Greenleaf Post

Hello,

Sorry we are a bit late with this. We have been on the go constantly for a while. We had a fantastic week in the mountains with Lareen's family for our annual family campout during the week of the 4th of July. Two weeks later we went to Bear Lake for the week with the Packer clan. We only get together every other year so it's always fun to see everyone and see all of the changes and how the little ones have grown. We went to Bear Lake with my family 2 years ago and it was fun, but we had some difficulties (due mostly to Lareen still recovering from Emma's birth, housing conditions and the heat). Anyway, this year was sooooooo much better. We had a fantastic time, housing was better, the weather was more forgiving and Lareen felt soooooooo much better.

The week we returned I had a trip to Maryland to my company's new office out there. The highlight was going down to Mount Vernon and reading the final 2 chapters of "The Real George Washington" while sitting at Mount Vernon. It was a special experience for me and rekindled my love for that great man.

I flew home from there to run up to Scout camp to take my turn with them and finish out the week up in McCall. I took Jarom with my and we had a great time. It was so fun to see how excited Jarom was to become a scout. He was able to take part in a lot of the activities, in fact he even did many of the Merit Badge requirements with the older boys. The highlight was the honor trail at the end of the week when we hiked a trail in the dark and had different stops where staff members stated a part of the Scout Law (you know "a Scout is trustworthy, loyal" etc.) and would discuss what their part meant. It was neat and Jarom thought it was really cool. After that when we were home and he'd do something unscoutlike I'd remind him of the Scout Law and he'd shape up.

We returned on Saturday and left Sunday after church for a week in Las Vegas. I had a trade show to attend and brought the family. We stayed at Ceasar's Palace and had a really good time. Lareen and the kid's mostly played in the pool all day while I worked. We also had the opportunity to spend a couple of very enjoyable evenings with Lareen's Aunt and Uncle who live down there. They took us wake boarding on Lake Mead and we had dinner on the boat next to Hoover Dam. Wow, that was fantastic. The highlight was that we were down there my nephew Sam Packer's wedding in the Las Vegas temple.

Last but not least, upon returning from Vegas I turned around and went to Ohio for business and was able to see my brother Kent's family and the wonderful church history sites in Kirtland Ohio. I had never seen Kent's home and it was fantastic. What a great back yard - leading right into the forest.

Our garden is fantastic, it has miraculously survived all of our running around. We are eating all of our meals from it and Lareen is starting to can. Life is good and we are happy. The kids are ecstatic to be going back to school. Hannah is excited for her birthday tomorrow, she turns 6! Lareen and I are decorating her room for her birthday. We painted one of her walls a different color (something Lareen has wanted to do in all of our homes). We also painted a line (about chair rail heighth) of flowers and grass (like a meadow). We finished that at midnight last night. Now Lareen has to sew the curtains, I have to paint a little shelf and cut and mount the chair rail (that will go beneath the flowers) tonight for the Birthday unveiling. We have decided that instead of toys for birthdays we will try to do things that mean something and that will create memories. In the end we will also spend very little $ thanks to the fact that much of the paint was donated by our good friends the Vlaanderens who have a painting business.

Our love to all of you,

The Brian Packer Family

May 02 Greenleaf Post

Dear Family and Friends,

April was a very good month for us. As you know from past letters we are now in our new home and we have been able to settle in and start feeling much more like "this is home".

We have put blisters on top of blisters trying to get our yard ready. We were able to borrow a tractor with a blade on the back to get the yard as level as possible and then I spread a bunch of manure and planted the grass in the middle of a major rainstorm. We don't have the $ for a sprinkler system but we decided that life without grass will be much more painful than life with grass that we have to water without a system. Someday we will add a system. Anyway, Lareen suggested that we spend some more time removing the rocks from our yard area and trying to level it better - remember the seeds are already spread. So we figure we have a limited window of time to rake the entire yard (about an acre) to smooth and to remove rocks. This was back breaking work, blistering work. We finally did it (I've since learned that there are easier ways to do what we did but we built a lot of character). We had a bit of a cold spell right after all of that and it took a few weeks for the grass to start showing up. We've been watering it everyday and keeping it soaked but the weather has been to cool for the grass to really start coming in good. I Yesterday we took about a yard and a half of Top Soil and used it to level in some of the low spots and I had Logan spread seed again. It actually was warm enough Saturday and Sunday that by Sunday Evening things were looking much better with grass starting up all over the yard (from the 1st planting).

We've got some good deals on some trees. One guy in the ward gave us a bucket full of Willow starts and we were able to get a few other trees from a Nursery that was clearing out old and imperfect stuff (we figure we can straighten a few crooked trees). Lareen has planted a few pansies and various other little flowers along our front walk and in some planters in the front. Unfortunately the puppies have found the little flowers in the planters are fun to chew on. Lareen has finally convinced (with much exertion) the puppies that her flowers are not their chew toys. So far the last remaining planter has lasted almost a week... I hope for hers and the puppies sake that the lessons of the previous planters have settled into their little minds.

The kids are doing great, health in our home has not been better for some time. We have just about finished up with the post car accident chiropractic visits and all are feeling much better. Lareen is looking and feeling much better. Emma is talking very well, loves playing outside with our 2 puppies and 1 remaining kitty (the other one met it's doom on the country road). OH, we are expecting... our little kitty is pregnant - this comes as a great suprise to us (Lareen and I thought it was too young) and the kids are ecstatic. Hannah checks multiple times a day to see if it has had it's kitten's yet. This has proven to be a good reminder that we need to fix the cat after this as well as the puppies - because they grow so fast.

The highlight of the month was a trip to Idaho Falls to see my Father graduate from Idaho Falls High School. Yes, you read that right. He left to serve in WWII when he was 17 before he had graduated. They put together "Operation Recognition" for the vets who made that sacrifice so many years ago and who, like my Dad, received their GED but never had an official graduation ceremony. Well, Idaho Falls made a big deal out of this, and my oldest sister organized, prodded, convinced, sold and helped bring all of my sisters and brothers together for this in Idaho Falls. We hadn't been all together for quite a while. It was also a chance to let our children see their grandparents, uncles, aunts and a few cousins. It was a very good experience that really filled our emotional buckets and has actually played a part (I believe) in Lareen's health. Thank you to all the family for the sacrifice to come together and have the wonderful experience that we shared!!!

Our love and prayers go out to all of you.

Brian & Lareen Packer Family

April 02 Greenleaf Post

Dear Family and Friends,

We are feeling very blessed to finally be in our new home. We have moved in and have over 90% of the house done (just a little painting) to go. Now we are heavily focused on planting some grass asap so that we don't have to spend the next year in a dust bowl. Our goal is to have a lawn by the time the kids are out of school for break - it will certainly help Lareen keep the house cleaner.

We have 2 new members of the family. I need to take a digital photo because they are so cute! Our puppy that we were given when we first moved from Eagle was hit by a car while we were building the house and staying at Lareen's Uncle's house. One of our new neighbors had some puppies and we now have 2 of them... a brother and a sister. We have named them Dan and Ann (little Ann) Ann looks just like her mother (Chesapeke with reddish fur) and Dan looks like a little black lab (the mother's part lab and the father is lab and hound). Anyway they have been a lot of fun, and it has been nice to have 2 so that they can play with each other while the kids are at school.

The kids love the new house, love their rooms and really love riding the bus and having more time together as a family. Little Emma is doing so much better now that she has a life outside of her carseat... we are saving so much in Gas now that Lareen isn't driving all day long taking kids to and from school and managing the construction of the home. Emma's entire disposition has changed for the better. We have her sleeping with Hannah in a room and Emma is in a twin bed. None of the other kids would have made the transition as easy, but she goes to bed really well. I think she takes after her mother there, Lareen loves to get into her bed, and Emma has the same content look on her face when we put her down to bed.

Today is my one year anniversary at QDS. I can't believe how fast time flies. I had a one-on-one interview with the President today for my anniversary or I wouldn't have remembered that I had worked here for a year. It has been a very good move for me and the family. I travel a lot right now but there is a light at the end of the tunnel with the career path that I'm on. In the future I will have the different regions of the world that I cover managed by regional managers who will report to me. In the mean time I need to develop a reason to have regional managers and it's taking me away a lot. Anyway, I like my job and with the economy like it is, and with so many looking for jobs, I'm soooooooooooooo grateful to have a good job.

Lareen seems very happy with the prospect that we don't plan on moving anymore - that is one promise I hope I can keep. This last move was the 16th in 10.5 years of marriage so she's really done moving. I am really tired of it myself. If it is at all possible - we want to grow old in Greenleaf Idaho. They have a cemetary here... maybe we'll buy plots and really commit to the area! ;-)

We love all of you and pray for your well being,

Love, Brian, Lareen and family

February 02 Greenleaf Post

Dear Friends and Family,

First, thanks to all who expressed concern about our auto accident. For those who might not know... on the way home from church about 3 weeks ago we slid off the road, over a culvert and into a canal. Fortunately nobody was killed or severly injured. According to the nice lady who lives by the intersection there are accidents there every year and quite a few fatalities (3 last year). So we are counting our blessings to come away with nothing worse than Jarom's broken nose, and 2 fractures in his Orbital Bone (eyesocket), a bunch of bumps and bruises, a number of visits to a chiropractor and a totalled van. Jarom is now ok, his surgery on his nose was last Friday and he is doing just fine.

Our house situation is moving forward. We reached a major milestone - drum roll please - we passed our framing inspection and start hanging the sheetrock tomorrow. YEAH!!! hopefully from here on out things should move more rapidly. We are approx 6 weeks behind schedule but atleast we are moving in the right direction again. We have had some great help from friends and family and thank all who have included us in prayers as well.

Jarom and I have left the women at home and are in Miami. I have some business meetings here and brought him along thanks to my ever growing account of Frequent Flyer Miles. I set a goal to take our 3 oldest on trips this year. If I'm going to have to travel so much I might as well try and find some positive perks and include the kids in the fun. Jarom was funny... we experienced a bit of turbulance and he mentioned that it was a lot like the roller coaster at Lagoon with the way it made his tummy tickle. He did well but is certainly tired. I look forward to taking Logan and Hannah on other trips later in the year.

Love to all,

Brian Packer and family.

June 08 Greenleaf Post

Friends and Family

This is the final edition of the Greenleaf Post - not because I'm not going to send out a family update anymore - I just won't be sending them from Greenleaf anymore. We sold our home! A great family from Arizona with 5 children has committed to purchase it. We feel very blessed.

We are in the middle of a busy time. We are moving next Friday, Lareen's brother Bryan is getting married this Saturday, Jarom's Eagle Scout Court of Honor is this Sunday (YOU ARE ALL INVITED TO COME), Hannah's 8th Birthday is next Thursday, today is the last day of school and my father passed away this past week and we have just returned from Idaho Falls for a wonderful celebration and remembrance of his life. I've included some pictures:

http://flickr.com/photos/12083017@N03/

My dad lived a long and full life. He had just recently celebrated his 83rd birthday and right after that was going fishing with his Chiropractor and he accidentally took some worm chemicals instead of water (both stored in water bottles in the fridge) and drank that. That was last Friday. He had battled Parkinson's disease for over 30 years and the chemicals triggered pneumonia and he slipped fast. By last Saturday, we returned late from Bryan's Open House in Weiser Idaho to a message on our answering machine letting us know that Dad was in the hospital and to include him in our prayers. Sunday before noon my sister called to say that the siblings were gathering at his bedside and to come. I left that afternoon and arrived around 9pm and spent the night there. By 4pm the next day my last brother was able to fly in from Ohio and we were able to have a great final Family Home Evening/Testimony meeting around his bedside after which he passed peacefully away with all his children, my mother, and some grandchildren there saying goodbye for now. It was a tender mercy of the Lord to let us have that time with him. I'll always cherish it.

We are moving to the American Fork area of Utah (south of SLC and north of Provo). We are going to rent for now - and make sure we know where we want to plant ourselves more permanently.

For those interested or able to come to Jarom's Eagle Court of Honor it will be held at 7pm Sunday the 8th at the LDS building in Caldwell on Kimball street. If you need directions feel free to call us at 454-9980 or my cell at 801-230-9437.

Love, The Packer family

January 07 Greenleaf Post

For those of you who didn't take my advice last time and missed the Fiesta Bowl... you really missed out! It was a game for the ages. My voice is still in recovery. We had a great party at our house with family and friends and we were whooping and hollaring like crazy people at the end of what may be one of the most thrilling football games ever.

Christmas was great!! The best part was time together as a family. As most of you know we have spent the last year helping with Lareen's brother's family due to the untimely death of his wife Gina. Bryan and his kids have lived with us, or at least eaten with us for a large part of 2006. We love them, and are grateful for the help we could provide in the stabilization process over the past year. But, it was really great to take a couple of weeks off and just have some independent family dinners, and time. Bryan lost his job in December so during the Christmas break we had him take over his fatherly duties full-time to give our family some time.

We have plans for 07 being a year that includes some adjustments so that we can help them become more self sufficient - without sacrificing their children's stability. This is going to be a real trick and we appreciate all of the prayers in our behalf and their behalf that we have felt over the past year and hope that you won't stop.

Last week our family went to Idaho Falls to visit my folks and we sure enjoyed it. My parents now live in an assisted living facility - and it really has been a blessing. They have a great situation with lots of friends, independence, cooked meals and regular cleaning services. All this and a number of other perks and they have a great thing. Well, our kids had a great time eating with them in their "restaurant" style dinner room, playing games with them, the kids loved driving Grandpa's motorized chair and playing pool on the pool table that the facility has. Another highlight was spending time with some of our kids cousins in IF - the Walls. We didn't get much sleep Friday night but we all had a great time and a nice visit. Finally, to cap it off, we were able to attend a fun Birthday party at the IF roller skating rink (Starlight) on Saturday with the whole Bradshaw clan (my oldest sister and her kids). What a great and fun time. Our family decided we need to get back to IF more often because we didn't have enough time to see many other friends and other family in the area.

I look forward to great things in 07 and hope and pray that all of you have a wonderful year as well.

Brian & Lareen Packer Family

July 06 Greenleaf Post

We have had a crazy past while. Lareen's brother Bryan moved in with us in May and moved out at the end of June. Lareen is still trying to get them moved in and unpacked and could really use your prayers. It is a huge job while trying to be the Relief Society President and manage 9 children and both households. I'm trying to help her feel less responsibility for Bryan's life but that has proven to be very difficult. Rather than simply helping him she is carrying much of his load and she is burning herself out.

On a good note we were able to have a nice family reunion with my family in Idaho Falls and then leave and go directly to Lareen's family campout. Both were very fun and we have decided that we need to spend more time as a family in the mountains. We even left our tent standing up on the property so we'd be forced to get back up there and have some peace. We'll do that next week (I hope).

I'm sorry this is a short letter - Lareen hasn't been to the store in a while and we have got to go get some food for breakfast. This too shall end.

May 06 Greenleaf Post

Dear friends and family,

This will be short. Things are stressful but we are blessed.

The election is heating up and the mud is flying. I'm dealing with lies and slander in the paper - it was a little hard to have a good attitude and the right spirit today in church. I had just read the paper before I left. New rule, no more reading the paper before I go to Church. I am learning why good people don't run for office - I often question my sanity these days.

Hannah's soccer is over and we are done with Piano for the summer - we are ready for a break!!!

Our poor garden has been rototilled, but who knows if we'll have time to get anything planted this year - maybe after the election.

We are happy and healthy. Still haven't found a home for Lareen's brother... please keep them in your prayers. We helped him look more tonight. Everytime we think we have found a solution - it doesn't work out. Just need patience... something will work out.

Brian & Lareen Packer Family

April 06 Greenleaf Post

Dear Family and Friends,

I am sorry that I missed last month, so I'll cover a couple of months in this letter - but briefly. I'll try not to bore you.

The end of January started a firestorm with the tragic death of Lareen's older brother's wife - Gina. Gina was killed in a car accident and left Lareen's brother (Bryan) with 5 children ranging from 15 years old down to 6 years old. Lareen's family have really been helping a lot to get their lives in order. A number of things were "out of whack" due to a number of factors for a number of years and so it was imperative that the family step in and really help dig them out of a pit.

Lareen spent every day there for the first 2 weeks of February along with her parents, 2 sisters and 1 sister in law. Since that time it has been multiple days a week some weeks and other weeks only a day or two. We are just starting to feel like we are somewhat back to normal at our house due to falling behind on everything here as well. I keep reminding our kids (and myself) when we want to feel sorry for ourselves because Lareen has been gone so much that this is a choice for us and that for Bryan's family - it isn't. They don't have a Mom now and we need to share and help.

The latest and greatest on this particular issue is that we have found a nice little farm home that is about 2 miles from our house and they are planning to move out here so we can help easier. Currently they live 40 minutes away from us and that makes it even further for Lareen's parents and oldest sister who lived much further than that. So with this change their kids will be close enough to basically spend the summer at our home and when school starts next year they can come here after school. It will be great for them financially as well since the owners of the home are really giving them a great deal.

We also had another funeral just this past month. Lareen's Grandmother passed away. Her husband had passed a couple of years back and she was ready so it was truly a blessing. A totally different funeral - a celebration of her life. Lareen and her sister Tally were called on to do the flowers for both funerals - what a blessing that they are so talented and could share that talent with their family in these times of need.

On a brighter note - Logan's Young Women's volleyball team took 2nd place in their tournament and Jarom's basketball team tied for first place. Hannah has just started soccer and her first game is this next week.

Lareen's health is holding up amazingly well given the added stress and pressure and we truly feel that it is a "Tender Mercy" from the Lord that she is doing so well. I am very busy between running for Treasurer and things with BlueLine. I have a website up for my candidacy www.2CTreasurer.com is my "campaign" site. If you want to see what I'm up to on that front you can check out the site.

The kids are on spring break and really enjoying their "time off" and so are we. It is nice to take a bit of a break from the daily grind of getting to school on time (barely) and homework. We had a number of cousin or friend sleep-overs and the kids have just had a ball. With all of our lovely rain we have plenty of extra water running down our stream and the kids love playing in the mud and building damns and getting stuck in the mud. Lareen is trying to keep up with all the muddy clothes and the laundry - which is not an easy thing! We are grateful for a high capacity, front load washing machine :-) it certainly helps. When we have time to sit and watch a show in the evening we all sit and fold clothes together - fun family time!

It was sure great to listen to a Prophet of God during the General Conference broadcast. We are certainly blessed to live in a time that we can partake of the wisdom and counsel of the many great leaders of the Church in such a convenient manner. We enjoyed having a TiVo so we could pause and rewind and make sure we caught important things. It made the General Conference experience even better! We also recorded all of them so that Lareen can replay them while she is home instead of needing to wait for the CD's or the Ensign to review the points she would like to.

I'd better close this and join my family for dinner.

Brian & Lareen Packer Family

February 06 Greenleaf Post

Dear friends and family,

Here is the latest and greatest from the Greenleaf Packers.

Logan is now 5 foot 6 inches and that is just plain wierd! I can't believe how tall she is getting. She set a goal for herself to become more friendly and outgoing in school and I've really noticed a difference in her. It has been fun to watch her grow and become a Young Woman. Wow - we are not old enough to have a teenager (she turned 13 January 12th).

Jarom is suffering from cabin fever. Fortunately he is playing on a BasketBall team and that is helping him release some of his pent up energy. He - like his dad - isn't the best shot or ball handler but he is a great rebounder, defensive hustler and sets a great pick. He also learned how to "box out" nicely from his mother. He's having fun.

Hannah and Emma have become such great friends. Now that Logan doesn't play dolls as much as she used to Hannah and Emma are really playing a lot and really enjoy each other's company. It reminds me of Logan and Hannah from a few years ago. Hannah and Logan will start Soccer this next week.

Emma loves Kindergarten and is reading quite well. It is amazing how many words she can sound out. She and Hannah have been cooking treats with Hannah's EZ bake oven lately - it has been quite fun to try the tasty treats.

Recently Lareen's older Brother, Bryan's wife was killed in an automobile accident and Lareen and her family have really been rallying around Bryan and his 5 kids to help and support them. Lareen has gone there almost every day along with her parents and sisters and a sister-in-law. While it has been very difficult it has also been wonderful in the ways that it has drawn the family together.

One final bit of news. I'm running for Canyon County Treasurer. I was approached a couple of years ago by someone who really felt that I should run for this office. There are a number of needs that the County has that I could help with and I look forward to stepping up to the challenges. If you want to learn more visit www.2CTreasurer.com and you can read all about it. If you live in Canyon County or know someone who does - I'd sure appreciate the support!

January 06 Greenleaf Post

Dear family and friends,

It's been a wonderful year and we are very excited for the New Year.

Last month Lareen and I went on our first cruise. My parents and siblings had done it once before and Lareen and I had been unable to join them (during Emma's pregnancy) and this time we didn't want to miss out on the fun. We all went on a 4 day Carribean Cruise and in early December. It was so fun to spend time with my siblings and parents in the warm sunshine of the Carribean. I had been worried that Lareen might get seasick (since she gets car sick sometimes) but she was AWESOME! No problems there even on the last day when the seas got rough and there were a lot of people getting sick (including all of my sisters). Lareen was great. While we were gone Lareen's mom watched the kids for the first few days and then our "adopted grandma" Grandma Linda and her daughters Breanne and Aaron watched them for the end of the week. It was great to have good people help that we can really trust. Lareen went snorkeling for the first time and we really enjoyed that, we also went parasailing and that was really fun as well. In the end we have great memories and have decided that we will definitely be wanting to cruise again. I've already started trying to sell Lareen's parents and siblings on the same idea. We have tentatively planned on going together in 2 years. So we are saving up again.

The season of Christmas parties and Christmas fun was, well very fun but very busy. Unfortunately we were so busy that Lareen and I were still shopping on Christmas Eve to try to get things ready. That part was less than fun. On Christmas day our Church Choir gave a really nice presentation. Choir practices are in our house so Logan, Jarom and Hannah all joined us in the Choir. They did great! I was very impressed with how well even Hannah learned her parts and sang out with courage and gusto. Jarom had a nice solo as a shephard boy and he stole the show. He stood up front and sang out beautifully. Lareen and I were supposed to be singing background "oohs" and we were struggling with our emotions on that. Jarom is not afraid of being out front and that helps.

Christmas day, after church we packed up and left for Weiser to spend the night. We had Christmas dinner at Lareen's parents and spent Monday playing games and chatting while the cousins had a great time playing together. We had planned on sledding but our snow melted away due to huge amounts of rain.

We have been getting TONS or should I say GALLONS of rain since Christmas. It started right before Christmas and has been flooding all around here. The county next to us has been put in a state of emergency. A young man from a Nampa stake was killed in an accident when he was sucked into a drainage culvert as he helped his neighbors. It was a very sad and unfortunate occurance.

I need to get to my meetings. We are grateful for the opportunity we had to obey the Prophet and read the Book of Mormon as a family this past year and have truly felt the promised blessings in our home. We intend to continue with our daily reading habits in 06.

Brian & Lareen Packer Family

December 05 Greenleaf Post

Merry Christmas!

I think I'm a bit behind schedule but I'm home today with a sick son so I've got the unique blessing of time on a Sunday when usually I don't. Jarom has been having some stomach issues and ended up loosing the contents of his stomach a few times last night and this morning so we kept him home from church. I guess he missed a couple of days this past week as well. Lareen and I had been gone so we wondered if he was taking advantage of Grandma and staying home simlply because he could get away with it. Maybe we were wrong.

Lareen and I just returned from a wonderful cruise to the Bahamas with my parents and siblings. It was GREAT! I was really concerned that Lareen might get sea sick since she has been known to get car sick - but she did great. The last day we hit some rough seas and all of my sisters got sick but Lareen didn't. I was pleasantly surprised! We had such a great time spending time together with no phone (that was the best). It was also really great to be with my parents and siblings. We had some great conversations, some really fun times snorkling and parasailing and we ate tons of great food.

Thanksgiving was spent with Lareen's father's family. When we get together with all of her uncle's and aunts we are too large a group for anyone's home so we meet at a church and have Thanksgiving in a church gym. Not my favorite but it's ok. The best part was after the big get together we had all of Lareen's siblings come to our house and we had dinner here. That was more intimate and fun. I had Tivo'd the football games so we had a good time watching a couple of good games.

The day after Thanksgiving I drove to Idaho Falls to help my parents move out of their home and move into an assisted living condo/apartment. It was quite an experience to have them make this transition. It was surreal but I'm sure glad that they did it. It will be nice for them to not have to worry about meals and upkeep. The other big bonus is the shuttle van that can take them most places. That provides a lot of peace of mind.

The kids were thrilled that we were able to have our first "snow day" for the season already. The kids made a big snow fort with our neighbors and they had a great time having a snowball war. The wind had drifted the snow right in our driveway and where our little drive enters the main road. So Jarom and I had a bit of a workout shoveling all of it out of the way.

Brian & Lareen Packer Family

Sept 05 Greenleaf Post

Dear Friends and Family,

We are in the thick of it... yep school, piano, scouts and sports are now in full session. As busy as the summer is - at least we could sleep in occassionaly.

The kids started school the second week of August and are loving it. Emma is in Kindergarten, Hannah in 4th, Jarom in 5th and Logan in 7th grade. Emma is THRILLED to be going to school and not getting "left behind". She is definitely feeling slighted that she only gets to stay a half-day and doesn't even get to have lunch at the school though.

Jarom started football the week after school started and I'm one of the coaches again. The good news is that his team this year is MUCH better. We aren't quite the "bad news bears" of youth football this year. They played their first game last Saturday and really dominated (and they didn't play their best) so we have hope. It helped that we were able to get some decent sized kids this year. Last year our little team was outweighed by 20 to 30 pounds accross the board and our little guys had a rough time but they showed a lot of heart. This year we have some new kids and some of the past kids grew so our kids have good heart and an actual chance. Jarom is much more poised at QB this year since his line can actually block and he isn't in full panic mode from the snap of the ball. It's been fun to see the growth there.

Logan is now the President of her young women's group in church and is acting like a young woman in many ways. She is babysitting, talking on the phone (not too much), doing homework that I have a tough time helping her with and really quite responsible.

Hannah is loving school! She is reading soooooo much better (now that she's realized how fun it is) and is a friend to everyone. One of her favorite things remains helping mom in the kitchen. All the kids have days that they are in charge of the meals and dishes - she really does an awesome job with it. She has decided that she would like to become a caterer when she grows up. Emma is thinking she'd like to partner with her. They are already quite popular when anyone here has a wedding. They both love to get dressed up and help serve. They take their responsibilities very seriously and are all business!

Lareen and I are feeling so blessed. We are very busy but in a good way. Our weekly date nights are suffering miserably - but otherwise we are doing great. We are so grateful for our safety and well-being after seeing how quickly things can change as they have in the Gulf Region.

We wish you all the best - 'till next month.

Brian & Lareen Packer Family

July 05 Greenleaf Post

Dear Family and Friends,

First off - I have quite a list of people that I send this to - if any of you ever get sick of the letter feel free to ask me to be removed from the list. I won't be offended at all. I don't want to be spamming any of you.

Our family just made it back from our week-long annual camping trip with Lareen's side of the family. This was a "water-shed" year. We didn't camp at the same little campground that her family has camped at for over 35 years (every year). Instead we camped at their property they purchased 6 miles away in the same little valley on the banks of the Middle Fork of the Weiser River. They have 5 acres there and have owned it for a few years - but we haven't been ready to brave bringing the whole crew there for a week. We had too much work to do to get it ready. We have a small cabin/shed that we use in the winter and for hunting season but until last year there was no water source and very few places cleared for tents. This year we worked hard and cleared a lot of areas for tents, built a horse corral, built a nice shower house (hot showers!), improved our water slide and started the process for a shelter/food prep area.

We were able to bring our horses this year thanks to the corral, built by the Caldwell 4th Ward that used the property for our father and son camp out. We supplied the materials and they supplied the labor. It was great! I took Jarom, one of his cousins and a boy whose father was out of town on work. We had a great time. The kids of all ages enjoyed the waterslide immensely.

I can't believe that we are on our last month before school starts again. The kids and Lareen are starting to go over their school supply lists and reviewing their needs. They go back on the 8th of August. Even Emma is going to school this year - YIKES! It will be nice for Lareen to have that half day with her calling in the Church. I was just thinking that I was Emma's age when my mother was the Relief Society President. I remember that my Mother was always running all over the place doing things for others. I was many times the last one to be picked up from my Kindergarten - Emma will be able to relate.

Everyone is healthy, happy and relatively busy.

We love you all,

June 05 Greenleaf Post

Hello to all,

Emma's Birthday was Sunday! She is 5. She keeps going around saying "I can't believe I'm 5!" So, in August all 4 of our little brood will be going to school.

Our family is very grateful that today is the last day of school this year - YIPEE! We really enjoy the school but we are all ready for the break. Our mornings won't be so hectic - and we won't be doing homework all night - every night. I really don't like the amounts of homework that the schools send home for elementary age kids - it seems like overkill to me.

The kids had a nice spring concert for their school and they all sang very nicely. It was a patriotic theme (very common for our very patriotic Charter School). It is so nice to have them going to a school that focuses on US History so much and teaches an appreciation for this great nation in which we live. Jarom had a little solo in the concert and did a great job. He's got a nice little voice and doesn't have any issues with courage in front of the crowd.

The kids also finished up the season of piano lessons with their recital/concert. Logan, Jarom and Hannah all played and did very well. So, our schedule is looking a little better with school, piano lessons and soccer all wrapped up for the year. Now we have the traditional summer jobs to keep us busy like the garden! We have made a conscious decision to not spend the whole summer working on the place though. We spent so much time working last summer that we wanted to make sure we spent some time enjoying what we have. We've got a few little projects to work on - but nothing of the magnitude of the last few summers. Then again, we aren't in as big of a need because of all of the work of the last few summers.

This summer we have almost all of our weekends taken up with something. I was trying to schedule my Christmas overnighter with Logan and Hannah and we ended up running through the entire summer and not finding an open weekend. We may have to wait until the kids are back in school or I may have to try to cut out in the middle of the week sometime. We are going to take the horses and ride up to some natural hot-springs and camp up in the mountains with the horses. It will be a first for us and the girls are really excited about it. Lareen's Dad and I went up last Monday to scope it out and see if the horses and girls would be able to make the ride ok, and all went well. It was sure nice to be in the mountains on horseback with all of the beautiful spring vegitation from our rains.

Lareen is really doing well with finding a balance between being the Relief Society President, Mom and spouse. We have been praying for her to find that balance and she is doing pretty good. We are grateful for all she does for everyone - she is such an example and brings such a light into our home.

Brian & Lareen Packer Family

March 05 Greenleaf Post

Dear friends and family,

I think someone just hit the fast forward button on our lives here. Things are crazy but we are happy.

Logan just started soccer and has her first games on Saturday. I wish they didn't have 2 games every Saturday - it is as though nobody ever considered that a family might have more than 1 or 2 kids. It's nuts. Anyway, we'll get through it - it's only 6 weeks. Jarom and Hannah's teams start in a couple of weeks. Then it's really going to be crazy.

The kids are doing so great at the Charter School and we are so glad that Emma has made it in for next year's Kindergarten class.

The weather is so nice - too nice around here. We are fasting and praying for moisture. We haven't had this little moisture for over 160 years. It's hard not to enjoy the warm nice weather but I sure hope that it cools off and that we get a bunch of spring snow in the mountains over here - a few feet would be good.

We hope that all is going well for all of you - I know that this is a short note this month. I'll do better next month.

January 05 Greenleaf Post

Happy New Year!!!

I hope that the holidays were as nice for all of you as they were for the Packers in Greenleaf. We had a great time! It was sure nice having the kids home for a couple of weeks, the only disappointment was the lack of snow. The kids really wanted to play in the snow and we didn't get much until the New Year's Eve. I even took the Boy Scouts on an over night camping trip to Lareen's family cabin/shack and there was only a "skiff" of snow up in the hills. We really have been praying for snow since then with the realization that we are in trouble if we don't get a whole lot of moisture in the next few months.

The big Christmas project of finishing the Bonus Room was a hit. The kids love it and so do the parents. It's so great to have them have a play area where they can go and entertain themselves for hours and we can't hear them. During the winter months that is heaven sent. On Christmas morning they were so excited to finally get to go in and see the room. We got 3 big bean bag chairs and those have been a favorite. The other fun addition to the room was a foosball table (they call it table soccer now) but we have had a lot of fun playing that as well.

My business is doing great, we had our first company Christmas party which was really fun. We also had an annual shareholders meeting and had the wives come and we gave them each a report of where we had been, where we are, and where we are going. 2005 is looking really good for us. We have landed some nice "anchor" accounts and our financial situation as a company has never looked better.

Lareen is feeling substantially better. She has become very careful about the types of things we eat and use in our house now that she nows more about some of the chemicals that aren't good for any of us but she seems to be especially sensitive to.

Lareen and Jarom are both doing better now that they have their glasses. Jarom's reading has vastly improved and Lareen doesn't get as dizzy when she reads.

We are missing football. Jarom hasn't got an outlet for his energy so we have been having him run a lot of laps around the house and do a lot of push-ups. In spite of his extra energy he did set a goal for himself for 2005 to stop teasing his sisters so much and to remember to have morning and evening prayers. I've taught him to pray every morning for help to not tease and every night to report back to Heavenly Father on how he did. This has helped substantially.

Logan is on the 3rd book of the Work and the Glory series and is very addicted to the books. She has her nose in one at every opportunity. Now some of her little friends want to start reading them from her enthusiasm. I can't believe that she is almost 12. She had her interview with our Bishop last Sunday to graduate from Primary and move into the Young Women's program. My little girl is growing up and it's... good and bad all mixed together.

Hannah and Emma are playing much more together. They love to play with their dolls and their Barbies. It reminds me of Logan and Hannah about 4 years ago. Now Hannah gets to be the "big" sister and have Emma duplicate her every move. Thankfully they get along really well - most of the time. The older kids have taught Emma basic addition and they quiz her in front of people to show off their hard work. It is funny. They'll say - "Emma, what is 4 plus 5?" and Emma will count up to nine on her fingers and the kids will beam with pride.

We have felt so saddened by the terrible results of the Tsunami but are encouraged by the stories of the various factions who have set down their weapons of war to work together to provide relief. I pray that some good will come from the tragedy and that future lives can be saved from war and future Tsunami's.

Brian & Lareen Packer Family

December 04 Greenleaf Post

Merry Christmas!

I can't believe it's mid December already - time has flown by! I'll give you all a quick update on our November up through yesterday.

The Packer's in Greenleaf received a really nice treat in early November. We had the kids out of school for break, and we took some time together to simply have some fun. It was a nice break. One of the highlights of that week was the really good national news that our nation elected a good man with morals as our President and that the good people of this country made a lot of good decisions especially ridding our Senate of Daschle! I was in a good mood for many days, I guess I still feel quite happy when I think about it.

The other nice highlight for the month was going to Logan Utah for Thanksgiving. My family hasn't made a concerted effort to get together for Thanksgiving at this level since... well it's been a long time. Anyway 4 of my 7 living siblings and my parents were there with their families and it was really great. We really enjoyed seeing my sister's new home in Logan, play all sorts of games both inside and outside (the weather was drizzley at times but not too bad). We had good roads coming and going (snow the morning after we returned so we really timed it right). One highlight was going to the new movie based on Lund's "Work and the Glory" books. The movie was based on book #1. It was really great. Larry Miller was the producer and he spared no expense so it was fantastic from the camera work to the acting, props, scenery etc. My parents wanted to take the 3 oldest grandkids (that included Logan) and Lareen and I wanted to go as well so we came along. The movie was released in certain Utah area's only for the Thanksgiving weekend and then it will have it's full release in January. So, if you haven't seen it, watch for it in January. It's really great!!

I'm not sure if written about a lady in our Ward who has adopted our kids as "grandchildren" yet. Her name is Linda Hunsaker and our kids refer to her as Grandma Linda. She has a couple of grandchildren of her own but due to a bad divorce situation she is unable to see them - ever. It's really sad, so she has adopted a number of kids as her "grandchildren" and she spoils them. I'm not sure how we got so lucky to become some of her chosen kids, but we aren't complaining. She made the kids incredible costumes for Halloween. And yesterday she took them to the Nutcracker ballet in Boise. She made the girls dresses that look like they should be going to the Prom in and made Jarom a nice vest to go under his black suit. So with my old black bow tie (from my prom days) he looked like 007. While they were with her Lareen and I were able to go to the temple, go Christmas shopping and have dinner for a really nice date. They are going to have the kids over next Saturday to make ginger bread houses so that Lareen and I can have another date (or more Christmas preparations) without the kids under tow. What a blessing to have found her. Lareen and I really struggle with feeling like we are taking advantage and she keeps reassuring us that she really enjoys this. Anyway, the kids are really getting spoiled and we remind them of that regularly. We want them to remember that this isn't normal and not to EVER grow to expect this kind of treatment. I don't want it to become "common" to them. It needs to stay extraordinary.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I'll write to you all again in 2005.

November 04 Greenleaf Post

The last couple of months have really flown by! As a family we have been so busy that we have really needed to catch our breath. Fortunately the kids go to a Charter School that has a 2 week break for Fall. They had the last 2 weeks off. Football is over, and our lives have had a chance to calm down a bit. This week I took off of work (mostly just worked from home a bit) and spent some quality time with the family. We took advantage of our time together to just have some fun. We went swimming, have watched some fun movies together, played outside (when it wasn't raining), stayed up late and slept in. It has truly been therapeutic.

Weather:

Speaking of rain, we have had a lot of moisture this fall here in Western Idaho. It is really doing a lot to make up for the drought years we have had. It feels as though the Lord is literally pouring out blessings upon us. Most of the rain has been late enough that most of the farmers have not had too much of a problem so it's been really good. I know that our pasture is really enjoying the attention.

Political Editorial:

Another way we feel that the Lord has poured out his blessings is with the election. WHEW am I glad that it's over and that it turned out so well. I was really concerned about a lengthy court battle and I'm so glad that didn't happen. Our family kept praying that the "good people of this nation will get out and vote" because we knew (and the polls confirmed it) that the good, church-going people of this country made the difference. Kent - thank all of your Ohio neighbors for all of us!!

Health Update:

Lareen really is feeling much better. Thank you for all of the prayers and concern in her behalf we both appreciate it. She has been really focused on getting better and it is working. The specialists that she has been working with have helped her system almost entirely clear up the old existing concussion issue and her dizzy spells have become rare and short lived. She has better energy and her thoughts are clearer. One of the issues was that she needed reading glasses - so that has also helped. Jarom also has to get reading glasses and we found out that he has some internal optical damage that occured when we were in the auto accident while we were building the house. Fortunately they can clear it up and we caught it before it turned into a long term issue. When he broke his nose he also broke his orbital bone and it pinched some nerves and did some damage. Nobody caught it. Jarom has been complaining about getting headaches when we try to get him to read (not an easy task) so we finally broke down and took him in. The eye doctor we go to has some advanced equipment that lets him get a better view of the back of the eyes and that is when we found the damage. Anyway, Jarom is all excited about getting glasses. We'll see how long the excitement lasts. Fortunately he only needs to wear them when reading so he won't be as likely to destroy them as fast.

Financial News:

Business is doing well. Many of you received an email about www.universityoffootball.com which is actually a customer of BlueLine's but we have a large equity stake in it. We feel very blessed that we have been able to do so well this year in spite of the craziness of losing my job, starting a new venture and trying to get it up and running. Again, we thank all of you who have kept us in your prayers while the crazy job/business stuff was going on.

Brian & Lareen Packer Family

May 05 Greenleaf Post

Dear Family and Friends,

April was essentially one Soccer game after another - one big black and white blur! We have been suffering from too little moisture so April decided that it needed to offer extra showers and it did. We rarely had a game that wasn't cold, wet, windy and miserable. Jarom and Hannah have one more week then we are finished with this particular season. It has been fun for them and we have decided that Soccer is our preferred sport at this season vs. baseball. The games are shorter, livelier and the kids get more action.

Lareen is the new Relief Society President (a church women's organization) - so she is very busy with that. It was sure nice when she was the music director and Nursery leader - but we knew that wouldn't last long. It was a nice break. She has such great leadership qualities that she ends up in administrative roles often. This particular role will really stretch her growing skills at delegating. Her area of responsibility has a lot of need - single Moms, elderly, plenty of financial struggles and lots of apartments with people moving in and out regularly. We are reminded of how truly blessed we are as Lareen serves those who are less fortunate.

On the home front the Packer house is getting healthier. The struggles with the flu, pneumonia and other issues is mostly over - whew. We are grateful that Lareen is feeling much better as well. It would be a real struggle for her in her new position if she wasn't doing much better. We have been blessed in this regard.

On a sad note - we lost a baby horse this past week. The mare that mothered our last year's filly, Dot, had another little black and white paint this year. It wasn't very strong - so we were concerned about it. It was able to get up and around and it was able to nurse, so we had hope. Well, on it's 3rd day of life it slipped into the deep mud by the stream while it's mother was drinking and when the kids got home from school they found her - very lethargic. Lareen was able to get her out (a testament to her strength). She called me and I hustled home from work and we rubbed her down, warmed her up, milked the mare and fed the baby with a syringe but after a few hours she gave up the ghost. It was a sad time. We are fortunate that we had her only a couple of days so the kids hadn't named her yet and hadn't gotten as attached - but it's still hard.

On a positive note - our 2 year old (horse) named Misty is doing really well in her training. I've been working with her and riding her on Saturday's for an hour or so and she is progressing nicely. It has been interesting to learn how to train and "break" a horse but she is doing really well. Yesterday was a big breakthrough and I was able to take her down the trail by the RR tracks quite a way and she did OK. Just about lost me when some Quail startled her and took off about 3 feet from us. Wow, I'm fortunate I stayed on her for that little bit of excitement. Anyway, it has been a fun project.

Another very positive note - Jarom took 1st place with his Pine Wood Derby car. It's amazing. The first 2 years we really took time to perfect the cars and ensure that the nails and wheels were sanded and had little to no friction. We aligned the wheels just right, blanced the weight. Tried the weights toward the front and later the back. The first year he only won 1 or 2 races the whole night. The second year he was respectable but still nowhere near winning. This year we ran out of time and threw the car together at the last minute and he won! Anyway, I'm guessing that my lack of skills have been the problem and this year I didn't have enough time to really mess up the car.

We hope that all of you are doing well and happy.

Brian & Lareen Packer Family

December 09 Highland Post

Dear friends and family,

It is hard to believe that we have lived in Utah for over a year now - it is starting to feel a lot more like home. The kids have great friends, we love our neighbors, we love our home, we love the view of the mountains from our back window and love the fact that we have enough room to host friends and family for events.

On that last note it has been an eventful year:
- We were able to get Dot (our horse from Idaho) back in May and put her on a shared pasture in our neighborhood.

- We purchased a home about a block from the rental home we moved into when we came to Utah that has a pasture in the back for Dot – for those of you who may not have our new address it is: 6022 Thornton Lane, Highland, Utah 84003.

- In early November my mother moved down to a new assisted living center just 10 minutes from our home, which has been a HUGE blessing and so much fun. She decided she wanted to be down here in Utah where her youngest 3 children and the respective grandchildren are living and having life activities, now she is at concerts, games, plays and all the fun things her grandkids are doing down here in Utah.

- Later in November Lareen’s mother moved down to live with us and work on recovering from a deficiency in her blood platelets. She assumed she would be here short term, but it looks like she may be here for a while, and we love it. She’s a great addition to our home and brings a wonderful spirit.

Lareen is doing very well but is very busy helping both her mother and mother-in-law adjust to their new lives here in Utah. She’s helping them with doctor’s visits, paying bills, banking transfers, errands, haircuts, shopping and everything and anything you can imagine, while helping both feel loved and appreciated… oh and by the way, she doesn’t skip a beat at home helping all of us feel loved and taken care of. She absolutely gets more beautiful every year as well – just look at the picture!

I’m enjoying my job with ZAGG – it has gotten more intense and I’ve had a lot more travel of late, but it is great to have a good job in a tough economy with a company that isn’t just healthy but thriving. I really feel blessed though every day when I come home to a beautiful family and a home that is full of love.

Logan turned 16 this past year and has NOT wasted time getting very interested in boys. She dated up a storm for the first 6 months then has been dating the same boy for the past 6 months. She is going to have the strongest thumbs around from her constant texting… I’ll just say she isn’t lacking a social life. She is driving very well and she’s become quite adept at getting around – which is a big deal for a girl who wasn’t sure how to make it home from church after living in Greenleaf for 7 years. I’m very proud of her.

Jarom is 15 and has found a new love (no this isn’t another girl that he’s crazy about) he’s loving choir and singing. He’s in the school and ward choir and is a great tenor. He’s found another love as well (again, not a girl) and that is history. He was even willing to drop ballroom dance (yes, with girls and everything) to take World War History as an elective and he’s thinking he’d like to become a history teacher and coach as his current career of choice. Just so you aren’t worried that he’s been abducted and swapped by an alien imposter – he’s still girl crazy.

Hannah is our 3^rd teenager after having turned 13 in August. She’s an excellent student who either gets straight A’s or something close to it, every semester. She is first string, second chair in the orchestra as her violin playing has really improved this year as well. Fortunately for Emma, she’s still enough of a little girl to play with Emma and they have hours of fun being little girls together. But as you can see from the picture, she’s becoming a beautiful young lady and has really developed a style as a little fashionista.

Emma is has successfully been a star in a school play this year, sung a solo today in the Christmas program in church does well in school and has more friends than you can shake a stick at. She’s a lot like her mother J. In all of the ways that she reminds me of her mother I think my favorite is how she can make friends with those who may struggle with friendships, and who may not have many friends. Emma just loves them easily and makes them feel comfortable. What a wonderful gift! She has an incredible capacity for love and I’m grateful for the zealous way she gives me a hug as I come home from work every day.

With much love, and a heartfelt wish of a Very Merry Christmas – The Packer’s

Brian, Lareen, Logan, Jarom, Hannah and Emma

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