April

April started with Easter! We had a great Easter in Delta with my Family. The weather wasn't excellent, but we had good food, and great company. The Elders helped out with the Easter egg hunt! We have a new addition to our family! We decided to get some baby chicks! The plan was to get 2 chickens so that we could have eggs when they get a little bigger. But when we got to the store, they told us we had to get at least 5! so now we have 5 baby chicks. They are so cute! I know they won't stay cute for long, but we have an area out the side of our house that we plan to fence off with some chicken wire so that they'll have a safe home without making our yard a mess. I know, . . . We're crazy. We'll never know if we like it though until we try, and If we get sick of them, we'll have chicken for dinner. ;) Just don't tell the kids that! A couple of weeks ago, we had a baby shower for 2 of my sister-in-laws at my house. Roger's wife Tasha is having a girl in August, and Ryan's wife, Jocelyn is having twin boys! She's due in September, but will most likely come early, and since she lives in Las Vegas and won't be able to travel much longer, we decided that sooner was better than later for the shower. It was so fun to see the cute twins outfits that Jocelyn got! It was like two of everything!

And Tasha got some of the cutest frilly little girl things! It's been a long time since we've had a girl in the Rappleye family.

At school Erin entered a contest similar to reflections (if you know what that is) And she won an award for a poem! She won teacher's and student's choice. Pretty cool considering it was a last minute entry. She had her art and her photos all ready to enter, and she came down to me at the last minute with a poem that she wanted to enter as well. I was pretty proud of her for having the guts, and she won! Pretty cool.

Well there is a reason I'm so far behind in my blogging, and everything else around the house for that matter. I've been so tired lately, cause I'm expecting a baby in December! I'm due December 5th. I'm pretty excited because I've been ready for another baby for a while now. Between my sister-in-laws, my older sister who just had a baby in march, and me; we will have a grand total of 5 babies in the Rappleye family this year! That's a record for us!

Erin's Baptism

On March 6th, Erin was baptized. what an exciting day! I can't believe we have a child old enough to be baptized! I had these pictures taken of her in the baptism dress I made for her. It was a really nice day. We had a lot of my family and a few family friends come, and John's Mom flew in from Ireland just to be there! It was so great to have everyone come.

While John's Mom was here we took a couple of day trips. One of them was to the Gateway Children's museum in Salt Lake City. The kids thoroughly enjoyed their time there. I even enjoyed it there. They had all sorts of fun things for them to do. There was a store where they could cashier, make sandwiches, or just go shopping. They had a farm where they could plant and harvest crops, ride a horse, or collect eggs. They had a ton of science experiments that the big kids could do, and a news and weather station where you could read the news or see yourself on the green screen. There was also a helicopter that they could go inside. I highly recommend children's museums. I've been to one before, but this one is excellent. We all enjoyed ourselves. John's Mom loves convertible cars, so John though it would be great to borrow a convertible car from our very generous neighbor, and take her for a ride. They all had a great time. We also went to the aquarium in Draper. Yes, Utah has an Aquarium even though we're completely landlocked. It's not huge, but it was still fun. My favorite part was this huge Octopus. She was very active! Every time I've seen an octopus at aquarium, their hiding, not out in the open like this. I found out later that I wasn't supposed to take pictures with a flash. Oops!

On the 14th of March, we celebrated John's birthday. I took him out for dinner and a movie on Saturday, and then we had a family dinner and Cheese Cake on Sunday. It was a nice relaxing day. Happy Birthday John! We love you!

Erin's Birthday

Erin turned 8 on February 7th. It was a very low key family birthday party. She baked her own cake, I frosted it and she decorated it herself! She though that was so great!
I think that her favorite gift was art stuff. Grandma and Grandpa gave her a binder with tons of paper, and all sorts of art stuff, and then we gave her this set of paints. I'm not sure she likes them, What do you think?

Anyway it was a great birthday. Pictures at the Baptism soon to come

Grandma Sorensen

On February 1st, my Grandma Sorensen passed away. She was such a wonderful lady. Always so kind and loving, and appreciative. I'm going to miss her.

January

A lot happened in January. I guess one of the biggest things, though are that John went to Ireland for visit his Mom. Yes, He went without us. He's been begging me to let him take a trip on his own to see his mom for months now, and after we saw her in October, I broke down and let him go. This is him and his Mom and Sister. He was so excited, and had a great time while he was there. The funny part was that he kept telling us that he wished we were there with him. I guess next time we'll just have to go all together! I don't want to miss out on another trip to Ireland!

While he was gone, I decided to paint the boys' bedroom. I though it would be a great surprise for him when he got home, and that he would be happy to have one big project crossed off the list. It was a lot of work, but I was excited to be surprising John. there was only one day that I really thought "What the heck have I gotten myself into". I think it turned out great! I'm just going to have John make a couple of Road signs for the walls.
At the end of January, we took the Kids swimming. This pool is so much fun with all the fountains and slides and such. We've been there before, but I always forget to bring my camera. Here are some of the cut pictures. I also found this picture of Devin at Christmas on my Sister-in-law's blog. It is hilarious! Thanks Callie for sharing. (as if you had a choice) ;)

Christmas

Here it is half way through January and I'm finally getting around to writing about Christmas. It was a great one! We went to my Mom and Dad's house along with all three of my brothers and their wives! With the missionaries that are now living in my parents' basement, we had a full house! Christmas morning was exciting, and chaotic! Imagine 12 adults and 4 kids all ripping into their gifts at once! This is the kids before they saw what Santa brought. This is after.

This is what Christmas for 16 people looks like!

The kids were so excited! Some of their reactions were priceless! Here are some of my favorite that I actually caught on camera.

John got a little jewelry box, and when he opened it up it had a picture of a treadmill in our basement! He's wanted his own treadmill for ages now! It was good for him to finally get one.

We got Ryan and Jocelyn's names for Christmas this year and it was awesome to see they loved what we got them!Thanks Mom and Dad for a great Christmas!

After Christmas weekend, John went back to work, but the kids and I stayed for the week. On one of those days, Grandma taught Erin to sew! She made a baby blanket. It's pretty cute! She was so excited! That's been a big thing lately: "Mom will you teach me to knit?" "Mom will you teach me to sew?" "Mom will you teach me to crochet?" She wants to do it all! Thanks Grandma.

Well, we had a great New Years too. John came back to Mom and Dads and the Moons came too! On new Years Day, we all decided to go sledding. What an adventure!

Devin took to it like a fish to water.

I love this little thumbs up he gives everyone on the hill.

Colin liked it, but not the snow spray he would get in his face at the end. Erin was so excited to go, but after a few short runs decided that she was tired. She stayed up until 12:00 for her first time the night before, and it wiped her out. She was brave enough to take on the really steep hill though!!!

When she hit the bush at the end, she was done sledding for the day. She had a great time hanging out with her cousin Jana though.

Mom was not interested in sledding at all. She wasn't feeling that great, and she just wanted to watch everyone else, but we talked her into going just once. Well, I hope she doesn't kill me, but I couldn't help but post it! It was good to see her dive in and have fun with us.

What a fun day of sledding! We had a blast!