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Bear Lake '09 reunion t-shirt design contest

Submissions have ended for the Bear Lake 2009 Packham Family Reunion t-shirt contest, and we received eight worthy entries. Voting will proceed as follows:

  1. Each attendee (no age limit) ranks their top 3 favorite t-shirt designs.
  2. Email your ranks to me by end of day Friday, 6/19.
  3. I will compile the results and announce the winner here.

Scoring: A top rank gets 3 points, a 2nd rank gets 2 points, and a 3rd rank gets 1 point. All points are tallied up and the t-shirt with the most total points will be selected as the official reunion t-shirt. The designer will then have a final chance to clean up the design and work with me to get the shirt produced.

And here are the submissions (click for larger sizes):

Design 1:

From Bear Lake 2009 – T-shirt design contest

Design 2:

From Bear Lake 2009 – T-shirt design contest

Design 3:

From Bear Lake 2009 – T-shirt design contest

Design 4:

From Bear Lake 2009 – T-shirt design contest

Design 5:

From Bear Lake 2009 – T-shirt design contest

Design 6:

From Bear Lake 2009 – T-shirt design contest

Design 7:

From Bear Lake 2009 – T-shirt design contest

Design 8:

From Bear Lake 2009 – T-shirt design contest

Non-attendees are free to comment below, and maybe we will sell you a shirt for a small fortune.

San Francisco here we came

The kids have been fascinated by the Golden Gate Bridge ever since we took our trip to San Francisco in May for Laura’s wedding (Aubrey’s younger sister). Aubrey and I were fascinated for quite some time by the wedding officiator’s gray dreads that fell to the ground before he wrapped them around his waist twice. All in all, it was a beautiful wedding at an old German retreat on a hillside among old redwoods in Muir Woods, north of San Francisco.

We stayed at a mission style home down at Stinson Beach with all of Aubrey’s family and had a great time. We spent a morning at a wide open beautiful beach playing games in the sand and running around.

Much of the day was spent at Laura’s wedding, where it was fun to see Owen embrace his role as ring bearer and even spend the afternoon dancing with the flower girl. They were quite the cute pair.

Another highlight of the trip was our big excursion out to Alcatraz Island via the ferry. We explored the prison, and the boys even got into one of the cells, which was quite exciting for them. I was lucky enough to get locked into one of the solitary confinement cells, which was entirely pitch black inside. Very eerie, and I couldn’t imagine staying sane in that thing for the week or more that prisoners would spend in there. It was also cool to be out on the prison yard and recognize some of the places from lots of classic movies.

We strolled along the Embarcadero where we watched some street performers and bought a $6 sci-fi looking painting of the SF skyline with several moons and planets floating in the sky. They do the paintings in like 5 minutes using spray paint. I never thought I’d buy one of those, but there I was. The kids love it.

And, of course, we found a sour dough bread shop and had clam chowder in a bread bowl. Delicious, as always.

We had plans to do more stuff in the city, but the kids were pooped so we just headed down to Gilroy and dropped in on our old friends, Dave and Marcie Richards. The next day we went to church at our old ward in Gilroy and saw lots of friends from when we lived there over six years ago. We barbecued in the afternoon with the Hales, the Zollingers, and the Richards. It was great to see everyone and we felt a bit nostalgiac for Gilroy, but all in all it solidified for us that we made the right move in coming to NC.

Here are a few pics:

From San Francisco Trip, 2009
From San Francisco Trip, 2009
From San Francisco Trip, 2009
From San Francisco Trip, 2009
From San Francisco Trip, 2009
From San Francisco Trip, 2009
From San Francisco Trip, 2009
From San Francisco Trip, 2009
From San Francisco Trip, 2009
From San Francisco Trip, 2009
From San Francisco Trip, 2009
From San Francisco Trip, 2009
From San Francisco Trip, 2009
San Francisco Trip, 2009

1st quarter 2009 adventures

Wesley and his joy school class toured Apex Fire Station #3

From 2009 1Q

We got some snow!

From 2009 1Q

We had “playset pizza” for FHE one night:

From 2009 1Q

Collin had his first Pinewood Derby and took 5th place overall!

From 2009 1Q
From 2009 1Q

Collin ran in his school’s “marathon”, running a full 26 miles over a couple months:

From 2009 1Q

 

We had lots of fun outside:

From 2009 1Q

 

Aubrey went wild at a Rock Band party:

From 2009 1Q

Grady kept us entertained:

From 2009 1Q

 

And Indiana Wesley kept us in line:

From 2009 1Q

And then the pollen came and brought allergies!!

From 2009 1Q

See all these pictures and more in my 2009 1st Quarter photo album.

Wrapping up 2008 — At the beach

After spending Christmas week at home vegging out and just relaxing around the house, we were ready to get out, but weren’t quite sure where to go. Then we remembered that we had always wanted to go to the USS North Carolina battleship memorial down in Wilmington. So we booked a hotel in Carolina Beach for a couple of nights and headed down.

The battleship was very, very cool. The scale of the parts was amazing, from the links on the anchor chains to the 16-inch gun barrels. And the interior of the ship was cool too. The kids loved exploring. Collin started getting anxious when it seemed like we were going in circles down in the underbelly. Perhaps its a sign that he won’t be joining the Navy.

From Bald Head Island and Carolina Beach Trip

The next morning we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise from our hotel room:

From Bald Head Island and Carolina Beach Trip

Then we headed over to Bald Head Island via ferry. On the island there are no cars, so we walked up to Old Baldy Lighthouse and climbed to the top.

From Bald Head Island and Carolina Beach Trip

Then we rented a golf cart and toured around the island, stopping at a few remote and beautiful beaches. It was a gorgeous, sunny, warm day.

From Bald Head Island and Carolina Beach Trip

One scary thing was when Owen fell out of the back of the golf cart while we were doing about 12 mph (top speed) and rolled a couple times. He seemed dazed but only came out of it with a few decent abrasions. He’s a tough kid.

From Bald Head Island and Carolina Beach Trip

A few other recent highlights:

Aubrey’s 31st birthday:

From Fall 2008

Wesley’s 4th birthday:

From Fall 2008

Halloween:

From Fall 2008

And even more scarier Halloweeeen!!! Bwah-hah-haahaa:

From Fall 2008

Collin’s 8th birthday and flag football party:

From Fall 2008

Collin’s baptism:

From Fall 2008

New job, busy week

I took a new job within IBM, which I’m pretty excited about. I’m now the Jazz.net Lead, meaning I’m in charge of all development for the site, meaning I have to make sure that all the changes that need to get done get done. It’s a pretty big deal for me, so I’m pretty excited for the opportunity and shift in career. 

As sson as the job was finalized last Friday, they immediately asked me to go to Boston for meetings and a customer conference later in the week. So, I was there all last week. I got hit with the firehose for a couple of days, then spent a couple of days meeting and talking with mostly my new co-workers and people who are interested in what will happen on the site.
So, that meant that Aubrey was here all by herself with the four boys all week. She did great! I got home late Friday night, and Saturday morning we got the kids all ready and went to the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University for a family photo shoot. Our photographer seemed pretty laid back, but she wasn’t too expensive and she will give us the original high-res digitals, so that is a plus. We’ll see how they turn out in a few days. The park was beautiful with all the vibrant fall colors, and the kids looked cute, so we’re hopeful.
Here’s the Duke Gardens:
[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=sarah+p.+duke+gardens&sll=36.002182,-78.932154&sspn=0.007994,0.016522&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=14&iwloc=A&cid=36002351,-78930118,2861158444001751675&ll=36.013699,-78.925953&output=embed&s=AARTsJqy3eX0W8FwP0eUdWydLltDJuWYDw&w=425&h=350]
Aubrey is at the gym right now doing gymnastics. I think if she could somehow combine graphic design with doing back handsprings, she would do it all day long. They both put smiles on her face!
Collin read Helaman 5:12 for the scripture tonight in FHE. I helped him draw a picture and he used it to tell the younger kids what the scripture was saying. It was really nice, and I’m excited for his baptism next month. Owen gave an impromptu lesson about being nice, which sort of fell apart as soon as Wesley started trying to give his input into the lesson. Ha. Sometimes being a parent just feels like an impossible task. 
Wesley is doing fine from his collision with the ceiling fan last night. Aubrey put a couple of butterfly bandages across the cut, and it looks like it has closed up just fine and is healing. 
Oh, and the kids are tracked out now too, which means they don’t have school for the next four weeks, since their track out spans over Thanksgiving. It’s always challenging to stay sane around the house and keep the kids busy and out of trouble. The house — we just have to let it go!
Aubrey also picked up two tickets for us to see Twilight on opening night. She’s excited for the movie; I’m excited for the date night!

At the fair and soccer time!

Wesley had a great time going to the state fair with his Joy School friends!

Collin is almost finished with another great season of playing soccer. He gets really into it and is very intense and competitive. We encourage him to have fun, and he does, but he is really focused on winning. It will probably pay off for him over the years, but will also make it tough for him.

NY in July

Back in July we took a little road trip with the whole family. We drove from North Carolina up to Palmyra, NY where we spent several days seeing the LDS sites (where Aubrey’s sister Megan is serving a mission) and the Hill Cumorah Pageant. We visited the Peter Whitmer farm where the Church was organized in 1830, the Sacred Grove on the Smith farm, and the Grandin Press where the Book of Mormon was first printed. It was all very nice and memorable.

From July 2008 – New York trip

We spent another day on a side jaunt to Niagara Falls. We went on the Maid of the Mist boat that took us right down below Horse Shoe Falls. Everyone loved it, and we got drenched. We also went over to the Canada side and enjoyed the better views.

From July 2008 – New York trip

Then we drove across the state to NYC where we stayed for about a day and a half. We hit Toys R Us and rode the indoor Ferris wheel. We walked around Times Square. We enjoyed a big breakfast in a diner. We went to the Museum of Natural History and saw all the dinosaur bones. Then we stood outside in the 100 degree heat for several hours waiting to get on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. It was so hot and the kids were totally sweating, but we kept buying water every chance we could get. Did I mention that money does not last long in your wallet in NYC?! The Statue of Liberty was awesome though, and the kids loved it. We also walked all over the Soho district trying to find this Grilled Cheese Sandwich Company restaurant that Aubrey found listed in a book, but when we finally tracked down the address, it was gone. It had shut down two years earlier. By that point all our kids were dragging, and Collin, who had walked all over the city in flip-flops and had even helped pushing one of the strollers some of the time, was even limping but still barely complaining. Fortunately, we were near a great Jewish deli called Katz’s Deli. We had huge Corned Beef and Pastrami sandwiches at $15 a pop. That was crazy. But it was good and we were hungry.

All in all, it was an amazing trip and tons of fun. The boys did great and had a blast. I’m sure they’ll remember it forever.

I put a bunch of pics on my Picasa Web albums. Here’s a sampling:

From July 2008 – New York trip
From July 2008 – New York trip
From July 2008 – New York trip
From July 2008 – New York trip
From July 2008 – New York trip
From July 2008 – New York trip
From July 2008 – New York trip
From July 2008 – New York trip