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