Our Easter weekend....

....a couple of days late. 

We first headed out to Riverwoods and participated in a bunch of things they had there. The weather was perfect and there were little kids everywhere! Evelyn was in heaven.

^^Evelyn petting the cutest baby bunny and....skunk?!^^

^^Evelyn was in love with the easter bunny. I thought for sure she would cry^^

Easter morning we had a little trail of easter eggs that went from Evelyn's room out to her easter basket! It was so cute to watch her follow the eggs, try to pick them all up, and put them in her basket. 

^^Evelyn had a little too much fun with her basket and scattered stuff everywhere! It was so much to clean up...I'm still finding some in the carpet^^

We then went to church to celebrate Jesus Christ. The real meaning behind this Easter holiday. And we managed to take a couple of pictures with Evelyn in her easter dress.

^^obsessed with all the flowers that are popping up around here!^^

^^Daddy's little girl^^

Hope you all had a great easter!

A couple of photos

Here are a couple of photos from St. Patricks Day!

Three shades of green!

Very sleepy girl with yummy spit up on her shirt

What baby e looks like when Auntie Megan does her hair

Play time with papa

My mom had the tables all decorated with green everything! I wish I had gotten a picture. And yes the thumbprint cookies were amazing and disappeared very quickly. Hope you all had a fun St. Patricks Day! Oh and may I say what the snow?! 

Go away! Please?

Pink only please!

Jake's nieces and nephews are adorable and it was so fun to see them all excited, looking for easter eggs. One niece, Hazel, would only pick up the egg if it was pink. It was so funny to see her pass all the other eggs and go straight for the pink ones. She was excited until she opened them up to find "not pink" candy. She walked over to Jake and I and started to give us all her "not pink" candy. 

Too cute. 

Tillamook

Thanks to my family members from Oregon, Jake and I are now stocked up on cheese. Not just any cheese. It has been voted the "world's BEST medium cheddar" cheese. Tillamook. They brought to Utah bricks and bricks. I can't even tell you how happy this made me. We are too cheap to buy it at the store. Jake and I opened a brick as soon as we got home. He had never heard of Tillamook cheese so I had to show him what he was missing out on. Lets just say he keeps leaving to slice another slice. Again....thank you!!

BMT Birthday

Remember this? Well it's been another year and Megan and I got to celebrate our BMT (bone marrow transplant) birthday for the 9th year yesterday. It seems crazy that it was that long ago. We have both come a long way since then. I was looking back at all the pictures that were taken around that scary time for my family and it just boggles my mind how young we all were! Crazy that I am still alive and fulfilling so many things in my life right now. We celebrated it this year by going up to Park City and bowling here. I highly suggest you go there if you have not. So much fun! I won for the first time in my life (seriously....sad) with a score of 101. My dad and Jake were having a bit of an off day. We have also started a tradition (9 years ago) where my parents give each of us kids an ornament to put on our own tree when we are older. Jake and I totally forgot to pick up an ornament at Disneyland (also tradition) while we were there so they picked one up for us.

I love my family so much and am so grateful for this time when we can all be together for the holidays. Grateful for Megan and for this experience that brought us close together. I'm also very grateful for the chance Heavenly Father gave me to continue my journey in life. Hope you all have been enjoying this holiday season and hope you ate a lot of good food because I sure did!

Here is another journal entry from my time in the hospital that I would like to share from my dad.
Nov 21, 2001 11:16pm
"On my way to the hospital on Tuesday I heard a radio add for a new book called the Angel of Eleventh Avenue. I thought it was just a new little Christmas "feel good" book that I might enjoy reading with Heather so I asked Ruth to pick me a copy. We started reading it together and I was surprised to find out that it was about Primary's Children Hospital and a little girl who is 12 years old being treated for leukemia in 1966. Many of the emotions of the last two weeks came flooding back as I sat with Heather in her bed and read to her. More than once she had to take the book and continue reading when I couldn't continue. She would say "That's alright dad, let me read for a while". It helped us both pass the time as we waited for her first chemo treatment to begin. After they got her started with the Cytoxan we finished up the chapter we were on so Heather could try and get some sleep. Before she went to bed I asked her if she would like a fathers blessing to help her through the night. I am so grateful for the Priesthood at times like this when I feel so powerless on my own. As the tears were flowing from both of us during the blessing, Heather put her arm around me and held me tight. So much for me being strong for her. I hear her breathing getting heavy now, she is resting well...thank you."

Mmmm cheese cake

One Thanksgiving dinner down.....two more to go! It's nice having both of our families here in Utah but can get kinda tricky with all the Holiday stuff! I don't mind because I just love when all the family gets together. That is why this is my favorite time of year, minus the snow. So far I haven't over stuffed myself this Thanksgiving season, but I still have a couple more to stay strong through. My dad made the most amazing pumpkin cheese cake ever for dessert. He seriously has a gift for making cheese cakes. Any of you guys that have tried his cheese cake will agree. Hope you all are having a wonderful Thanksgiving week and are eating lots of yummy food!

Sixteen days

Sixteen days people.

Sixteen days.

I feel like my life has been in fast forward for the past two months.
It's a little ridiculous. Surprisingly I haven't been stressed. At all.
Which doesn't explain why my face is
going out of control right now. It's been FOREVER since I have had a zit.
Kinda mad.

Two showers down, a few more to go!
Thanks to everyone who have come to those!
Seriously you have my deepest thanks.
It's hard starting off completely on your own.
And a little scary. College was just a fluke. But again, thank you to
everyone who helped. It was so fun to catch up with friends that
I have not seen in a very long time and catch up with families that I grew up with.

Sixteen days.

I can't wait!

Aunt Heather

Pictures still aren't done. I'm just a little impatient! I got a glimpse of six that he finished and I absolutely loved them! Super cute. I seriously can't wait to see the rest. Jake has moved down here and started his job which so far he is starting to like so I guess that's a good thing! Not I guess....that is a good thing! We have recently been spray painting some furniture black. My pointer finger has never been so sore in it's life! Totally pathetic I know. But seriously. It hurts.
My bridal pictures are this Saturday and I still need to figure out how I am going to wear my veil. And iron it with out melting it because it's a netting veil.

Through out the week certain things will happen that keep reminding me that this is all real and happening in less than a month. Last weekend I was with Jake's family celebrating a birthday. One of his little nephews yelled, "Aunt Heather, Aunt Heather!" and ran towards me to give me a big hug. I'm his favorite and you could say the feeling is mutual. He's hilarious. But it was super weird to hear "Aunt" in front of my name. Super weird.

But so exciting!

Blessed

Alright here is an update.

After a grueling search, while studying for finals, Jake has a found a job!

And it has insurance! And he is almost done with finals.

Heavenly Father is definitely looking out for us. I also have a wonderful grandma who is always looking out for us. She has managed to round us up two night stands that have plenty of storage space, some dishes until I get my fabulous square dishes, and a dresser.

Seriously I love my family. You all are the best.

Here's a story of a lovely lady

Alright peeps here is my version of the proposal. I am making Jake write his later. We have both been extremely busy people! I am happy to announce that my dress is bought and now getting altered. It's fabulous. Photographer is booked. Reception is being planned. Decorations are being thought of. Temple is booked. The cake....is probably the lowest thing on my list at the moment. I could care less....just make sure it tastes good :)



Okay now here is the story. First off let me take you back to Saturday February 27th which was when I thought he was going to propose. I made sure I looked really cute that day. Notta. I was getting a tad impatient because I wanted to get the temple booked and what not but I was just going to let him do his thing. Well Monday came around, March 1st, and we had plans to watch a movie with some friends. The girls at my work totally thought he would propose today but I didn't think so. Who proposes on a Monday! We met up at Ikea, which is where we usually meet because it's halfway between the two of us. He gets there and tells me that something came up and that we had to change our plans and that he quickly put something together. At first he wouldn't tell me what we were going to do which is typical of him. He likes to surprise me.



All. The. Time.



We get in the car and he had a gorgeous bouquet of flowers for me. Beautiful. Of course that should've been a huge sign to me but I was totally oblivious. He finally tells me we are going to make dinner together which I thought we were going to do that at his house since we had done that before. He gets on the freeway and starts heading South. "Umm where are you going?" He tells me we are actually going to make dinner at my house. We pull up and he has already prepared most of it and brought it with him. Including a cheese cake which he made by himself! Boy does he know me well! He also knew my favorite dish of all time is pasta. Penne pasta. So we made a lovely dinner together. My family was all there but they go upstairs to "watch a movie". Of course they knew what was going on. My brother turns off a light as he leaves and Jake and I have a candle light dinner. It was sooo good! I pretty much stuffed my face. After we were done eating he tells me he has a surprise for me. A quick thought popped into my head that maybe he would propose tonight....nah! He pulls out a bunch of letters that he had each member of my family write to me. This was super cute because letters has been our thing. Ever since he got home from his mission we have written each other the old fashioned way and dated at the same time! I got through one letter before I started bawling. I made Jake read the rest because I couldn't do it! As we got to the last letter, it was a letter from him. Made me cry even more. After all the sobs I was just ready to eat my cheesecake. He told me that he promised my family they could have some if they left us alone for a little bit so he went upstairs to grab them. They all came down, including my grandpa Packard. We started getting everyone a slice and I was just about to eat mine when Jake told me he had another surprise for me.

I turned around and he grabbed something out of his coat pocket, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him. In front of my whole family! Seriously I know this guy has guts! I was in shock! I don't know how long I just stood there looking at the ring, then at him, then back to the ring....but I said yes! Obviously. The ring is perfect. Everything I could've asked for in a ring that I would wear. It looks even better with the wedding band!
















So there is my version. I'm sure his is pretty funny so when I get the chance I will have him write it. Oh and as much as I despise the snow right now, I had to post this picture because yes,
snow can be pretty. I opened the door and saw this beautiful scene and ran downstairs to grab my camera.

So pretty!

21

So it's been a while since I have written! Life just got a little crazy. I am now twenty one and it feels....really not different....but extremely different at the same time! Getting my license changed was a pain but I actually didn't end up waiting for a long time. I think I was there for a total of forty-five minutes which was amazing! However I was surrounded by a bunch of smokers in line which just about made me puke. I don't do well with that lovely smell! My signature still sucks but my picture isn't awful! The Saturday before my birthday I met up with a dear friend and we went out to lunch and celebrated my birthday, followed by a night of 80's dancing and eating lots of cookies. I had these awesome neon green pants and some bright blue shorts, TONS of makeup....it was awesome. Then on my actual birthday, all the family got together plus Jake and grandparents and we had my yummy birthday dinner which my mom slaved away all day to make! When I told her I wanted chicken cordon bleu for my birthday, I didn't get a nice look from her! Haha I'm sure I will understand why she gave me that look when I myself make chicken cordon bleu someday! After dinner it was time to blow out my candles....however I didn't have any.

I have now reached the age where cakes come without candles.

Then it was time to open presents and I got everything I could have asked for and more. It was such a fantastic birthday. I finally got my crock pot which I actually used this week and made a very yummy chicken Thai dish. Super good. Received some more clothing which is always needed. Jake surprised me with a gorgeous pearl and diamond necklace which I absolutely love! My mom and dad gave me a pearl necklace and the second edition of the Packard family cookbook which I am thrilled to look at. Overall it was seriously the best birthday ever!

Birthday

Today is officially Megs 19th birthday!!

This video is for you.



Happy Birthday!

A little this, A little that

Who would have thought that life could get even busier when not in a semester of school.

Well it is.

But....it's grand!

We just celebrated Meg's 19th birthday....which it really isn't until Thursday but she was working that day, mom and I are both gone for choir stuff....pretty lame. It was great though! I hope she got everything she wanted. I'm counting down the days for mine! Twelve days my friends! Honestly I think twenty is a fat age. Boring. Twenty one...now that's exciting! But I am sad I have to change my license. I am quite fond of mine, except for my awful signature. I should start practicing that.

I spent the weekend with Jamie and her family which I always love! They are pretty much my second family. We went to see her sister in a musical called The Boyfriend. Loved. It. We got home so excited to watch Italian job because who wouldn't want to see Mark Wahlberg's amazing arms and cute smile. We both fell asleep within the first ten min. It's those couches I tell ya!


I met his whole family this last Sunday and had a blast! Of course I was a tad nervous at the very beginning but soon just found my place. One of his little nephews, who is five mind you, came up to me and said this.

"Heather, what are your intentions with my Jacob?"

Me: face turning redder by the moment and laughing. A lot. Does he even know what that word means? It was so cute.

So I've decided I want to explore the whole crock pot thing more. So if any of you have some really yummy recipes you should holla!

Weekend activities

What a weekend! I know Thursday isn't really part of the weekend but that day was important too. UVU's institute has the opportunity to provide a choir for Aprils Sunday morning session of General Conference! They had auditions Thursday night which went on really late into the night. There were soooo many people there auditioning. They only have room for 365 singers and......

I am one of those 365! I am so excited to be able to take part in this wonderful experience, and to share my love of music with others. So look for me Sunday morning! Friday we had the privilege of being able to hear from L. Tom Perry, also at UVU's institute. What a funny man. His talk was on living a well balanced life. To summarize his talk, he gave us four tips.

1. Realize who we are
2. Value truth, and be truth seekers
3. Be a trusted generation, and live by good standards
4. Seek learning from the scriptures

There was a lot more that he went into but that was the gist. Such an amazing apostle and boy is he tall! Friday was also a fun date snowshoeing and a night of games. Life is amazing right now.

Saturday morning was spend celebrating my dear roommates 20th birthday! Man we are all getting old. We stuffed our faces at Los for lunch and it was amazing. She had to wear a dorky "Happy Birthday" hat too! After that, I journeyed up to Salt Lake to spend the weekend with an old roommate who is pretty much my adopted sister and I consider her family to be my adopted family. I love them all! We were able to catch up, and make wonderful cookies n' cream cupcakes with the most amazing frosting ever. We had a girls night which included the face masks, and a good episode of Saved by the Bell. Next morning, we both got up fairly early and went to Music and the Spoken Word. It was awesome! Lots of good songs were sung. After that I raced home and made it just in time to listen to my cousin speak at his homecoming. If you know our family, you would know that we are all really close. It was so good to see him and other family members, and to hear stories from his mission as well as to see how much his testimony has grown. Like I said....what a weekend.

And can I just say how much I love Monday holidays?!

Chore

So I've decided that putting together my dental hygiene application is one big annoying chore. There are so many little things I have had to do to get it all ready. First off, there was no way I was going to type up a whole new essay. I didn't use the exact one, but changed it around a bit. Then I had to go to UVU and have them send up my transcript to Weber. After that I had to make sure everything transferred over and that my official transcript at Weber had everything for my associates done.

Luckily it did.

Then I had to go to the previous dentists that I had worked for and have them all fill out a paper of how long I worked there, what were my responsibilities...yada yada. Still working on that one. There are a couple of other things but I can't remember. And everything is due February 1st! Coming up here pretty fast!

Dearest Matt and Andy came to visit all of us family here in Utah and it has been wonderful to have them here! They make me laugh and I love hearing about all their crazy stories. Other than that, no spectacular news my way. Except there is a certain boy that is sweeping me off my feet. I'd say that is pretty spectacular news! Work is great as always, and I really really wish it were Spring.

Finding

Besides Calvin and Hobbs reading, and scripture reading, I have found Sunday to be a very appropriate day for going through old photos.

I happen to come across this....

and this....

In the first picture is Megan and I in our overly frilly dresses. I remember wanting to take Megan for rides all. the. time. The second picture is the family, minus Natalie and Amie because they were not born yet, standing proudly over our semi finished kitchen floor. Love the hair mom! Dad has more hair! And both Megan and Nathan look like midgets. Me....oh the dress and bangs.

Gotta love it.

Breaking in entry Carolers

Yesterday was the annual Crosland get together for food and caroling. Oh how I love caroling with the fam. After we had stuffed ourselves with all the wonderful food, we all got bundled up in our warm winter coats and headed to the houses we usually go to sing to. We just had one last house to go to. We rang the doorbell and started singing. We could see the cute old man through the window just sitting there watching tv.

"Dude he is totally ignoring us!"
"Lets sing louder then."

We all increased the volume. A lot. The cute little old man was still just sitting on his couch watching the tv. So my awesome grandma decides to just walk into his house to tell him we have come to carol to him! Hahaha I was dying.

"Grandma you can't just walk into his house!"

Well the cute old man turned off his tv to listen to us. I think he enjoyed it. He looked like he enjoyed it. Sorry we had to all barge into your house and interrupt your tv time! However, it is said that "the best way to spread Christmas cheer, is singing loud for all the hear."

Tradition

Is it me or does it still not feel like Christmas yet? I never thought I would say this but I really, really want it to snow. This year is definitely going to be different for our family. The youngest now knows about the whole "Santa" thing so we can't really do our family tradition of hiding from Santa and watching him deliver our gifts. Seriously it was the BEST tradition ever. All of us kids were devastated when my mom said we were not going to do it this year. She does have a point though. I'm almost tempted to head over to our neighbors behind us and be part of their family for a day because they can still do the tradition! My mom looked at me and said,



Mom: "Well as soon as you get married and have a kid then we can start up the tradition again!"

Me: "Yeah mom....I'll get right on that."

I love my family.

Celebration

Wait for it.....wait for it....

FINALS ARE DONE!!!

Oh man today is the best day ever. Finals always take it out of me and to say they are done is like a ginormous weight off my shoulder. It feels fantastic. Easiest semester I have ever had and probably will ever have. Sad day. Now I finally have time to do some Christmas shopping which I haven't even started. I know I am totally behind. Don't judge. I did get to go to my bro's high school Christmas concert with the fam which was so fun! Brought back so many memories and made me miss choir even more! I saw so many friends that I haven't seen in years. Some are getting ready to turn in mission papers, some are home from missions, some are engaged....some are working their butt off in school like me....seriously it's crazy. Megan gets home from Idaho this Friday so we will finally have the whole family together! Christmas time is the best.

Speaking of Christmas time, I've noticed that there are more crazy drivers around this time of year. Running red lights like no other! Relax people. You still have time to get that perfect gift. Or not so perfect gift.

Something Missing

So I came home, walked upstairs and saw this.

Apparently my sister (and I wont name which one so she doesn't get embarrassed) couldn't keep her room clean so my dad decided to take her door completely off.

I am so writing that one down for when I have kids of my own. It's genius.

PS. have I told you how much I love peach mango salsa?

Because I do. A lot.