May our joy be full!

What an amazing year!. After studying the law of attraction over the past few months I have become much more aware of my inner dialogue. I am constantly improving my positive self talk and I am excited to see what it will become by the end of the year 2007. Life seems to be handing me joy the more I see joy. The way I see life truly does have an affect on what I receive. I see good... I have more good. I see sadness... I have more sadness.

We have had an armful of what could be called challenges. Moving out of state with a four week old, trying to get a new business off the ground, trying to build a house that doesn't seem to want to be built, Ryan being called to serve as young men's president in our church, being asked to do what I once thought was the unbearably hard calling of music teacher in primary.

But on the contrary what a basketful of blessings. I was reading Leslie Householder's blog when I came across her November 29th post titled my favorite rejection. I had an amazing realization. We have been in need of a large sum of money to really start our house. Ryan and I have been assuming someone would loan it to us. The control was out of our hands, Right? As we were driving yesterday Ryan asked a new question, "How could we come up with the money ourselves?" Then an amazing money making idea came. It was like the flood gates opened and we couldn't stop it even if we tried. Idea after improving idea came. As I read Leslie's post I realized what a blessing it has been that we didn't have the money, otherwise we would not have had the necessity of coming up with a new idea.

Last Sunday I was to sing a wonderful song in church about the birth of the Savior. Well the whole week before I lost my voice and had a challenge even talking. My six year old daughter Sarah loves to sing as well. So when I tried to practice she would sing along. She had learned the song better then me. She decided to sing it for our extended family the night before I was to sing in church and what a wonderful job she did. Because of my lack of voice I had the thought come to me to let her sing with me. What a most wonderful blessing it was to sing this duet with my little girl. I have always had a dream of singing with my children. This dream was realized because I got sick. As we sat down the tears started flow from her eyes. She shared with me how grateful she was to sing testimony of Jesus on Christmas Eve. We truly can see what we think are misfortunes as the beginnings of tremendous blessings.

I also need to mention that being allowed to lead the little children in song has become a cherished event. I look forward to helping these little ones learn that they too can bare testimony to their God through song.

New Years funness!

Funness is not really a word but it sure does make me smile. We enjoyed a feast of snacks for dinner and then sat down to write 101 goals. Jared and Sarah are old enough now that we had them write goals with us. I was surprised how easy it was for me. It is a good sign that I now know what it is I want. You can't get what you want if you don't know what you want.

Sarah makes this funny face lately. We call it her old lady face. In our silly mood we all tried making it.

Yeah! Life is good!

Chapman's Christmas Exchange

With Ryan's family all of the married children do Christmas every other year at mom and dad's. Since this was an off year we had an exchange party. With 13 children (six married) 13 grandchildren, Grandma and Grandpa, plus a special treat of Great grandma and Grandpa. We had a delightful houseful. This is what big families are all about!

Aunt's, uncle's and cousins all in there.Some more of the crew.

For Christmas we got this picture blown up for Great Grandma and Grandpa. I no longer need to wonder where Joshua got his chin. What a wonderful looking couple they are.

And here they are today. We love them both so very much. Thank you for being such an example to all of us!

Aftermath

We have enjoyed the nice vacation from school and work. It has been so good for us. We have played together and laughed together. I cherish these moments!

Jared let me help him organize his Lego's for this amazing ship. I think he said that it had 53 pages to the how to book.

Sarah, EmmaLee, and I made jewelery one night. Thanks Allie for teaching me how!

Christmas Day

I really didn't take as many pics as i normally do because I wanted to simply enjoy the morning. We had them open one present at a time and it was so nice and mellow. As my Mom pointed out. You know your kids are not spoiled when they get excited over pants.

The kids thought dad took to long getting dressed. They were so excited to start the opening!

And here is the reason I buy the jammies, for these two pictures!

Calvin and Hobbies, is there a better gift?
Grandma and Grandpa got to be with us also. What a treat since they are leaving
for France in a few months!
Joshua enjoying toys of his very own. They didn't stay his for long. Joseph made sure of that.

"Setting up Jedi is hard work"
"I got Pant!" He was seriously excited over his pants!
Dress up Queen got even brand new outfits!

Santa hit it right on the nose with my little fairy princesses.

Joseph insisted I take a picture of his "Guys" he set up.

Christmas Eve

A tradition in our house is to let the kids open a pair of Jammies Christmas Eve. That way they look nice for pictures on christmas. Boy do I have cute kids!

JOshua is helping with some last minute wrapping.

Christmas At My House!

We were so blessed this year to have my family come to our house. I love having everyone over! I have not seen my brother Clark in a few years so I was glad he could come. We were so busy in the kitchen I forgot to take pictures. I am not sure why this was one of the two pictures I took. But I was glad I did. Look how cute it turned out!

Pictures with Santa

The kids and I drove over an hour away to get their picture taken with a rather real looking Santa. We also went to have lunch with an old high school friend, Shannon. It was so good to visit with her. It is amazing how two people can never see each other yet pick up right were we left off. We waited in line for almost an hour to see Santa so I took pictures while we waited.

Kids Christmas Party

The kids threw a party for their friends. We made gingerbread houses, played a few games, and made an ornament. We also asked the children to bring a new toy to give away to children who wouldn't have much for Christmas. We thought this way the kids could get in the spirit of giving. The toys ended up going to a branch in Mexico were the families are so pour they have dirt floors. Man are we blessed!

When they were playing this game the kids kept yelling,"The babies cheating!" Joseph kept "helping" both teams. It was so funny! The object was to get candy as much candy as you can into your bucket using only a spoon. Joseph kept taking the candy and filling the buckets. What the kids did not realize is that he was helping both teams relatively equal.

Joshua is 1/2 a year

6month milestones

*Joshua is now a real crawler. He still basically leaps forward and looks like a seal, he gets where ever he wants to go. He completely skipped army crawling. He is to big and strong for that.

*He weighs about 23 lbs and the last we checked he was 28 3/4 inches long.

*He has started to really jabber and every once in awhile it sounds like a real word.

*He can roll over both ways but prefers crawling.

* He had his first meal. He didn't like or dislike it. He was indifferent about the situation so I haven't really tried again. He does not really like the sippy cup so I am considering trying a bottle. Well see. I am not in a super big hurry.

*Joshua says Dadadad and bababa

Joshua did get to go with us to Universal Studios and I think he was so good. He is a little flirt and every where we go he demands smiles.Sponge Bob would not leave Joshua alone. At first it was funny then it was like, Ok, enough already!

Here he is getting ready to crawl. He looks like a bulldog when he crawls. We love it.

And here is that first meal. I was trying to feed him and take a picture at the same time so this is all I got. It's great!

Cute kid facts.

Joseph calls Christmas "prismas" He has almost single handedly redecorated my house. He has colored on my couch and walls. he has taken apart most of my Christmas decorations, with a little help from Emma. Basically the two of them have wonderfully curious minds.
Sarah is super aggressive in her Basketball. She will take down the players if needs be.
Jared's team is more serious. The parents get real into it. Jared is an awesome dribbler and great on the defense.

Emma is Five and alive

Emma was so fun on her birthday. She realized that she is now big and can do everything by herself. She refused to let anyone help her open her presents. She got a doll that had a hundred of those ties on them and she insisted on doing it all herself. After this experience I decided to let her decorate her own cake. She loved that. I layed the fondant on and she got to put on all the other stuff. She had a blast.

Cute things about Emma. She put on a Hawaiian dress she got from her Aunt Kaylee and she said, "Helloha" She is having a hard time understanding why she can't do what the bigger kids can do. She is learning to how to read and that has been fun for both of us. She has known all her letter and how to spell some words but she is finally understanding how to sound things out. She loves to look at books and I know she will be thrilled once she can read them. Most nights we go to tuck her in and she has fallen asleep with a book.

Emma was so thrilled to get a big girl bike.
Here is her masterpiece.She is blowing out her candle not trying to eat it/

She calls this hair do the Princess Lea hair.

Blogger is not letting me edit the last post so sorry for weird grammar and odd wordings. I'm glad you all love me anyway.

It the results are in.

First we all guessed were we thought they would go.

So they finally got their mission papers and my Mom and Dad are going to................Yeah, you thought I would tell you. Watch the video to find out.

It was such a wonderful experience to be able to be with them when they opened their call. My parents were both so touched as I think we all were. I am so grateful for wonderful parents that would set the example for our family. They have such strong faith in our Heavenly Fathers plan. They want to show us with not only their words but with their actions also. I wonder at the love I have been shown by being given such wonderful parents

Sarah and Jared's blogs

Sarah and Jared both have been keeping a blog. I think they love doing it. Their blog is:
Sarah's Homesweethome.blogspot.com
Jared's Jaredjustjared.blogspot.com

5 months of fun!

Joshua is 5 months!
*He now weighs 22 lbs. I think he is starting to slow down in his weight. At least I can hope right?

*He acts like he wants to crawl. He is already getting up on his hands and knees and he never stays where you put him.
*He grabs at everything. It is very challenging to eat while holding him. It is so cute though because he enjoys toys and can hold on to them for short periods of time. He now loves his bouncy set because he can grab at the toys.
* Everything goes into his mouth. When we saw Sponge Bob at Universal Studies Joshua tried to eat his hands.
*I think I have really spoiled him. He wants to be held all of the time. Cute? yes! Hard to make dinner? Of course. I am still figuring that out.
*His sleeping patterns are pretty regular he only wakes up once during the night most of the time and wakes up around 5 or 6 for another feeding. My Dr told me I could let him cry through the night because he is so big but I am not ready to let him due that yet.
*Joseph loves when Joshua holds his finger. It's a cute bonding moment for them. The other night Ryan was putting them to bed and he let Joshua lay in Josephs bed for a while. Joseph was so excited and didn't move an inch for fear that dad would take his baby away.His hair is starting to grow in really thick. I am so glad we cut it.

My wonderful family!

What a wonderful weekend! Ryan's Papa John was baptized on Saturday and we were blessed to take part in that. It was so tender to watch him go into the waters of baptism. He looked so majestic. Tears filled my eyes as I thought of the wonderful ordinance he was partaking in. I take for granted all I have in my life. I have been blessed with such a feeling of God's love for me and my family. How do people survive without that knowledge and comfort?

It was so sweet to watch my father-in-law gentle take Papa John in his care and dunk him under the water. You could see the tenderness on his face as he wanted to make sure Papa John was ok yet making sure he made it all the way underwater. Then the sweet embrace followed by tears all around.

We then listened to testimonies by the older grandchildren. I am so blessed to be a part of this amazing family. They have such strong faith and knowledge of what is right and each one of them in their own way are trying their best to do what God wants of them.

The next day we went to church at Grandma and Papa Johns church. The confirmation was beautiful. What touched me the most that day was an amazing 16 year old girl. She seemed wise beyond her years. She couldn't understand why more teens weren't following the prophets council and doing what they knew was right. I remember feeling that same way when I was in college. I had finally gained a deep testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and I wanted everyone to love and appreciate it the same way I did. This young girl gave me hope in the rising generation. I talked with her mom afterwards and she told me how this girl struggled for two years with what she believed but once she decided and committed she never looked back. I hope I can give my children that growing and breathing room. I truly am scared to raise teenagers. Things have gotten so much harder then just ten years ago. I can't believe some of the stuff I hear goes on with the youth. Satan is working so hard to make the teens feel worthless. I will teach my children who they are, truly. So that when the time comes when all else is crazy they will understand that they are a child of God. Right now that is all I can think to do. Just random samplings!

Then we had dinner at Grandma and Papa John's house. It was so wonderful. Grandma Ardee was so cute with my children. Joseph was clinging onto Ryan's arm when Grandma was trying to talk to him. He just hide behind Ryan. So she bent down and grabbed Ryans other leg. I think that got his attention. I also got to get to know My mother-in-laws sister Candie. She was hilarious. I really could relate to her. I felt like I had known her for years. I only wished I had more time with her. I drive home took three times longer then it should have. I guess it was a horrible accident. But all in all it was a great weekend.

Happy birthday!

My dearest Ryan,
I am so grateful you chose me to spend your life with.
To learn, to grow, to share with.
I am excited to see what the years to come will bring.
Since every day is a grand adventure.
I am anxious to learn what more you have to teach.
You have taught me so much over the years.
You are my one, my only.
You are my True Love

Yeah who's Da blogger now?

I know what you're thinking. Four posts in one day, how does she do it?

Ryan is playing a game of clue with some of the kids while the others are sleeping. We went out this morning to buy Ryan's birthday present while he finished up some work. Now he is all ours. That feels so nice. We all thought for sure that my parents would get there mission call this week so I had put all our plans on hold. We found out that it won't come for at least another two weeks. Since I had already decided that we didn't need to go to practices and Emma's game was cancelled due to the smoke in the air we have a free Saturday. What did we do when we had them all the time? I don't remember.


We had our church's Trunk or treat last night. I love to watch the kids get dressed up. There were so many kids in adorable costumes. Our kids were the cutest, not that I am partial. There were triplets in a bananna split stroller. The kids had on whipped cream and cherry hats. Very impressive.

Here is my night in shining armor. At first he was very overwhelmed with all the people. Once he got used to it he really got into it. We bought him a monkey costume and for some reason he refused to wear it. I remembered that at this age my kids didn't really like dressing up. For this reason I let him pick out his costume. He was very picky but he loved the monkey costume. He tried it on and I thought he would wear it with no problem. When we were ate the Disney store the other day I saw that they had an Edmund costume on clearance so I bought it for him for a dress up costume for Christmas. To make a long story longer.. he dressed up as Edmund.

"Trick or treat!"

He would say Tank you at first but then he realized it was a none essential formality.

Jared partaking in some of the festivities.

Joshua in the car waiting for the fun to began.
Here is the lot!
Ryan and I dressed up thanks to Kyle and Amy. It was so fun to dress up. I felt like a princess.

Ryan is our "Father"

People thought that we were all dressed like narnia characters. Sarah loved that idea and from then on said she was Susan.

I curled her hair and we had so much fun being girlie together.

A few random photos just because. I went to get Joshua from bed today and this is what I saw. So cute.

And here is our lot. It is so wonderful to see it being worked on.