Where Did The Last Two Months Go?

Oh my gosh! Where did the last two months go? The last time I posted Bridger was brand new and now he's smiling at us and telling us all kinds of stories!
We have had so many fun times with our family the last two months! So..here is what we've been up to.

April 27th Bridger Steven Chappell joined our family. He is such a blessing and joy! I love watching my son interact with him and his little daughter. He is such a good daddy!

May 2nd I ran the Hurricane 5k. My second one. Steve was so great to stay by me til I faultered on the hill. He did so great for his 1st run and only training for 2 weeks! I actually finished 2nd in my age group and it felt so great!

May 3rd: We all met in St George except for Courtney and the kids, of course, to bless our beautiful little Grayson. The weather was so beautiful and the kids had such a great time at the park. Chris is always such a sweet hostess and Chris' mom, Vicki was there also. Cody and Chris have the cutest little boys. Cody is going back to school and I am so impressed by how hard he works at all he does. He is such a good dad and he has always had such an incredible work ethic. Since he started his first job, he has never given up. Just keeps plugging away. He always does it quietly, never expecting and praise or recognition. I love you, son!
Mother's Day Weekend: Mont took me to Lake Powell fishing on Saturday. It was SO much fun and even more fun when I kick his butt while fishing!

May 25th: I accepted a 120 day detail with the Forest Service. I am working at the Richfield Interagency Fire Center with an official title of "Acting Assistant Center Manager over Operations". How's that for a mouthful? I absolutely LOVE the job! The drive over the mountain everyday isn't so fun, and gave me a new appreciation for Steve driving everyday. I have talked to people who say they love the hour of peace before they get home, but I guess I'm old enough it just wears me out! The days in dispatch during fire season can be very long. There are periods of very quiet time and then, like yesterday, we have a lightning storm go through and have fires everywhere at the sametime. CRAZY!

May 27th: MaKenna graduated from preschool. She sang ever word of every song just as perfect as can be. She knew her part word for word . I was such a proud Grandma! I just can't believe she's going to be going to Kindergarten! She is so excited!

May 29th: We went camping with Marcie and Jeremy and the kids, Cody and Aaron and Melinda and Ray. We went out on Parker Mountain and watched it rain and hail and snow. No matter what, we always have a good time! Ray was such a good sport. I don't know that camping is his thing, and sleeping in a tent with an overnight temp of 30 degrees doesn't help, but he was still smiling when he left!

June 11th: Our 33rd wedding anniversary! Gosh, I didn't think I was 33 years old yet! We spent our anniversary with Mont in Moab for training and me in Richfield at work! Happy Anniversary Mont! I love you!

June 13th Brooklyn's 3rd birthday! We went to Cedar and spent the weekend at Steve and Courtney's house. Courtney's mom is such a sweetheart. She is always so welcoming and would do anything for us. We all went to the Pizza Factory afterwards to have pizza. Now THAT was a party! LOL It was so great to have Jerrod and Staci and Ethan come and party with us. I love having them so close!

June 14th: We gathered in the orchard at Steve and Courtney's house and blessed Bridger. I was so proud of Steve. He is such a tenderheart. Such a beautiful little family. We are so grateful for them!

June 19th: We had the Pearson Family Reunion in our backyard. All of the kids were here. Crazy and fun! Grandma has a tendency to get a little wound sometimes, but I love having them here. I love watching them interact and reminding me of the closeness our family has always had. Chris had planned so many great activities for the kids and they had so much fun decorating cookies, making hats and painting shirts. My Mom's sisters, my Aunt Beth and Aunt Marge were here. They've always made sure that we've been kept close as a family; and Sheila and Greg. Kerry and Lisa and the kids, poor Lisa had been to girl's camp all week and was trashed! She's always such a good sport. Brent and Lenna and Kyler and Kimber; LeAnn; Staci, Jerrod and Ethan; Uncle Bill was here for about a week. My only regret with my Uncle Bill is that we didn't find the relationship we have now about 40 years ago. But maybe this is the way it was meant to be. We love having him here. On Sunday night after everyone had left, Uncle Bill and Mont were sitting at the table and he was teaching Mont how to tie flies. I know it sounds cheesy, but it made me quite emotional. Of course, they had to go test the new flies the next day. They remind me of the "Old Poop and Billy" in the movie On Golden Pond after they have wrecked the boat and she won't let them out of the house anymore. So they sneak out to do their fishing. Only it's and old and older man! lol They take off and go fishing and I just wait to hear about it when they get home!

June 26th: We met Marcie and Jeremy and the kids to camp at Palisade State Park for the weekend. Melsy came and stayed with us on Friday night. We went to the Mormong Miracle Pagent on Friday night. I loved seeing it. I haven't been to it for some time. The next day we walked to a little craft store that was near the campground. They sold shaved ice. Of course, we had to have one! We had had one the night before and after we had the one on Saturday, Kenna said, "Grandma, this is the best day of my life!" I asked her why? "Because I got to have a snowcone 2 days in a row!" We played we swam in freezing cold water, we ate and ate and played and had such a great time. Mont got to go fishing with his nephew, Kerry. He came back with a huge smile on his face. Funny, he's always like that after he has been with Kerry.
Back to work. Whew! No wonder I came home and took a 2 hour nap today!! Sorry this is long, but I believe this blog is more for me than anyone. I've never been too great at keeping a journal, maybe for now this will work.

4th of July I spent working. Mont came over and watched fireworks with me. It was a tough night to sleep with all the fireworks going off. That was about all the excitement for that holiday!

I just want my family to know how much I love and appreciate each one of them. I don't know what I would do without them. I know that it's always crazy when we're all together, but with 14 adults and 7 little people, it can't help but be a little nuts. It's those crazy times that create the memories that mean so much as the years go on!

Bridger Steven Chappell

Here is the newest addition to our family!

Bridger Steven Chappell

Born April 27th, 2009 at 7:15 a.m.

Weighing in at 9 lbs 13 oz and 22 inches long!

He looks just like his daddy!

My heart is so full today. Can't hold back the emotions very well. I am so blessed. As I spend time with these beautiful little grandchildren, I am so eternally grateful to my Heavenly Father for sending these special spirits to our family. I love hearing them call me Grandma, Grammy, Granny. . . I miss them all so much and wish I could spend more time with them. I'm so thankful to their parents for teaching them and being good examples to them.

This is the best time of my life!

A Glimpse of Retirement?

Last year, Mont and I purchased a toyhauler trailer house. We thought it was just the ticket for us. Load the wheelers, head on the mountain. Needless, to say, the bunk bed was not made for two older (not old!) people. I couldn't find the ladder in the night to get to the bathroom and Mont was paralyzed by the bed and couldn't get down in the mornings. We then decided the answer was to use the blow up bed after the wheelers were taken out of the hauler. When we bought a trailer, there was 2 things I wanted. A bathroom and a bed I didn't have to make every night!.

After lots of thought, we put our toyhauler up for sale, and found a great deal on a 29' "retirement" house. It's a little long, but SO comfy and easy to spend weeks at a time in.

Now let's go back in time a few years. Mont's folks used to head to Quartzsite, Arizona every January to enjoy 70 degree + temps while we were shivering here at home. The last few years that Grandpa and Grandma went down there, Grandpa's health didn't allow him to drive them down there and back. Mont and our great brother-in-law, Ken would get them there and back. The last year they went down, I went with Mont to bring them home. They were staying in a little RV park in the middle of the desert and all I could think to myself is "there is no way in hell I am ever going to do this"! Honestly, I thought the most entertainment they had was watching their underwear tumble in the dryer!

Now back to the present. The past three weeks Mont has been having decompression treatments on the disks in his back with a chiropractor in St. George. The first week he had water meetings there and then would have a treatment each night after his meetings. The second week, he took our new trailer down to his sister Polly's and her great hubby Ken and parked it in the little RV spot they have at their house in Santa Clara. I was pretty jealous that he got to go spend a week there! Last week, I joined him. We spent Monday night and Ken and Polly's and had a great time having a barbecue with them and just catching up. It has been so long since we have seen them! They are such great people and always willing to give everything they have to help someone out. On Tuesday we took our little house and went out to Sand Hollow State Park and stayed there for the next two nights. It was SO much fun and so relaxing! The weather was absolutely gorgeous and Steve brought our boat down and we spent Wednesday fishing and soaking up the sun. Suddenly, I had glimpses of me camping down in the desert of Arizona, soaking up the sun, attending the swap meet and rock show in Quartzsite and meeting some great new friends from all over the country, just like Grandpa and Grandma! And you want to know something??
I think I'm going to LOVE it!!

Green Acres

I'm sure most of you are too young to remember a show that used to be on tv at least a hundred years ago, or when I was young. A farmer went to the city and found him a bride (ZsaZsa Gabor) and brought her back to live on the farm.

Now Richfield is not New York but Lyman is probably just about as rural as it gets. I've "helped" out on our little family farm. I've fed, lambed sheep,attempted once to help dock lambs (you don't want to know), helped with the shearing, fed the shearers, herded sheep (once in purple house slippers), plowed, changed sprinklers, baled hay and probably several other things I have chosen to block out.

I'm amazed that my husband can spend a day in the corral mucking around in sheep poop to his eyeballs and never bat an eye. Why then did he gag and have dry heaves when he had to change a baby's diaper? Which, I might add, was NOT very often!

I have, at times, been left to be the shepherd of our small flock. Now, I admit, I love when the baby lambs are born. I love to watch as they come into this world, usually on the coldest night of the year, get on their shakey legs and find something to eat. It's amusing to watch as they play together. Running as fast as they can to one end of the corral and back. It never ceases to amaze me, that no matter how far the lamb can be away from the mother and no matter how many sheep there are, that lamb can hear its mother calling it. Cracks me up when a pair of twins come on a dead run across the field and both attack the mother to have something to eat at the same time and the ewe's hind legs come clear off the ground.

And now, the NOT so amusing part. I was called to be the appointed shepherd this week. "Only 2 ewes left to lamb" Piece of cake. Monday night, we have the blizzard of the year. Couldn't even see to get home from they gym. Wake up Tuesday morning, it's 3 degrees. Yeah 3! I go to the corral to feed...there standing in the snow...SHAKING..are triplets! 3 AGAIN! Is this a pattern? I do my shepherd duties and get them all locked into a little pen. Thinking at this point I am SO proud of myself. I go home at lunch and checked on them. One is dead. Oh great. Have they not eaten? Did she step on it? Are the other 2 going to die? Lambs DO NOT need a reason to die. So then I get nervous they haven't sucked. Now what to do. I reach into the files of the things I have been taught over the past 32 years about lambing. Bellies look full, but still..why did the other die. SOOOooo..I climb into the pen...position my fat derierre on the bucket that is used to water the mama sheep and proceed to teach these little lambs about where their bread is buttered.

Problem #1 Mama sheep has only 1 place to suck from.
Problem #2 Place to suck from isn't very long.

At this point I am trying to hold the mama's leg up and shove the lamb in there to find something to eat. Sheep DO NOT like their head touched, let alone having them drug somewhere they do not want to be. Mama sheep was at this point somewhat amused, I think. She kept turning her head back to look at me as if to say, "What in the hell do you think you're doing?"

After rigamortis (sp?) set in and I couldn't get off the bucket I wandered into the house, still wondering what to do about the little lambs. Around 7 I warmed up a bottle of milk and took out to them. Reaching into the poop pit I dug one little lamb out and proceeded to pry it's mouth open and insert the bottle. So proud of myself! The little lambed sucked a little, then blatted at me like, ok I'm so full I'm bout to puke, could you remove the bottle? It was then I noticed how tight his little tummy was. Ok so they HAVE eaten. They do NOT want anymore and it's ok for me to go to the house and get warm.

As I slipped off my poop covered shoes, coveralls, coat, gloves, etc., I could hear my husband saying to me, "Good job, honey!" In the words of my sweet little granddaughter, MaKenna, "Whatever, dude!"

The Pink Jersey

I started taking a spinning class at the gym in November of 2006. For those of you who aren't sure, no I'm not spinning in circles or spinnig yarn lol. Spinning is a cycling class taught by an instructor to music.

I thought I was in pretty good shape. I had burned up the motor in one treadmill and pretty much had worn a path on the road to the cemetary and back. So the first class I took, I was pretty cocky. Knew I cold get on that bike and kick a little butt. WRONG! I honestly thought I was going to die. I couldn't breathe and my legs were so shakey I couldn't stand up on the bike for longer then 30 seconds. I was done with that. I was comparing myself to everyone else in the class and beating myself up about my physical condition. I decided then, that the ride on that bike was mine. No one elses. I would do what I could and just keep plugging along.

So, 2 years ago, the gym started "Bike Across America". We would log the time on the bike and made our way from San Francisco to New York. An equivalent of nearly 3,000 miles. To put it all into perspective, a one hour spin class was equal to 20 miles. That's alot of days and hours in the gym and on the bike.

My great friend, Nan, was the first one to reach New York. I think she was half way back to California when the rest of us started getting close.

Last night, I went to the gym and got on the treadmill to see how close I am to reaching of my goal of participating in a 5k race. That's another story! lol When I was finished and getting ready to go home, Tina, the owner of the gym and such a great friend and coach said to me, "I have had something for you for a long time." She handed me this pink biking jersey. "You were 2nd place in the Bike Across America." Well how cool is that? This baby boomer beat several Generations X and Y to the finish line. It was quite an accomplishment for me.

I don't know that I'll ever "love" to workout. But what I do know is that I feel so much better when I do workout. I have made some great friends at the gym and it's always a catch-up session when we haven't seen someone for awhile.

No, I'll never be a Lance Armstrong and I'll probably never be a triathlete, but for me the Pink Jersey is the pat on the back I needed!

Bucket List

So the bucket list quiz has been going about Facebook. I loved the Bucket List movie and it has made me stop and think about some of those things I'd like to do before I leave this earth. Who knows when that will be? I never thought I'd live to be 50 and here I am! SOoooooo...drum roll please...my bucket list!

Go Sky Diving! The thought of it scares the living daylights out of me, but yeah I want to try it!

Go to college. I don't know if I can do the math!

Visit Washington DC. Preferably in the springtime when the cherry blossoms are out.

Take all my children and grandchildren to Disneyland and watch the looks on the little one's faces. And while we're there, take them to the ocean so they can let the water chase them back to the safety of the beach. We'll find seashells and play in the water. Then, we'll all sit together for the moment when the sun drops into the sea. For me, that is the most incredible site!

I'm going to run a half marathon. I know that's a big stretch for me. My goal is a 5k in April and I haven't been in the gym much the last 2 1/2 weeks, but I'm going to do it!

Visit the places that have so much meaning to me in regards to my beliefs. Vermont, Upstate New York, Nauvoo..

Make a difference in the life of one person. Who that is is left to be seen.

I guess in most people's lives, these things have already been done and you're all wondering what the big deal is. But hey, it's my bucket, right? lol I'm sure the list will change as time goes by, but for now . . .

Happy Birthday Marcie!

Where have the years gone since they laid that beautiful baby girl in my arms?
Thank you for the beautiful woman you have become. You are such a wonderful daughter! You have made me so proud and so thankful to be your mom. I love you more than you will ever know. Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

What A Week About A Month Ago!!

It has been such a busy month! I detest January and normally it crawls by. I have to admit the first week back to work did crawl. And then, the second week hit! I was involved in planning a retirement party for a great friend and co-worker who thought that maybe after 40 years of government service he should hang it up. It was pretty bitter sweet and it's weird as heck to go by his room in the Supervisor's Office and have the lights off and the walls are bare. His retirement is well earned. He has a great and supportive family and my best wishes are sent out to them all!

I worked in Richfield on Wednesday to get things ready for the retirement party then went to spend the night with Melsy in Provo so I could buy the groceries for the above mentioned party. My dr. called me and told me that he had forgot to call and remind me I needed to see him so I could get my prescriptions refilled. So I stopped and picked up Melinda and went on to Salt Lake to see my dr. who was so great to see me after hours. It was a great night! I finally got to meet Captain Carlos who treated us to dinner at Olive Garden. Thanks again, Carlos! It was awesome.

I picked up the groceries on Thursday and headed back to Richfield to get ready for the party. Friday morning I woke up at 3:15 a.m. Nervous about getting everything ready, I think! The party seemed to be a great success and Mont and I finlly fell into bed about 10:30 that night. Long day!! We spent the night in Richfield and I got up Saturday morning and headed back to Provo and the air from hell!

Melsy and I kept MaKenna and Madison so Marcie could have a weekend before our new little grandson arrives. I was hoping she would spend it just relaxing, but not my Marcie! She cleaned and cleaned and cleaned! The baby must be coming soon! lol

As for the girl party, can I just say we know how to party! We watched movies, popped popcorn, went shopping, ate painted toe nails, wrestled, colored, ate, made cookie, played playdough and ate some more. And might I add, I have the pinkest toenails (and toes) you could ever want! It was so much fun! Thanks Melsy for letting us trash your house!!

I'm SO looking forward to going to St George for Grayson's blessing. It seems like forever since I have seen them and not to mention the Dixie sunshine! My luck, it'll probably snow!

Catching Up (again!)

Wow! Where did the last month go! Well let's see . . .

I went to Ethan's blessing on the 7th of December. He's such a beautiful baby and might I add, he LOVES his Aunt Mar. Cody, Chris, Aaron and Grayson were there. It was so fun to see them. I may be a little prejudice, but I have the CUTEST Grandsons!

The next weekend, we went to Marcie's to celebrate MaKenna's 5th birthday! She is such a sweetheart. She gets so excited over the smallest of things. It's just so hard to believe that she is five. We went bowling and had pizza and cake and ice cream. It was great fun!

Christmas came so quickly, before I was ready, AGAIN! I was trying to be so prepared! We had our ward Christmas Party on the 23rd. It was so great. The Primary kids presented the Nativity so cute. We had angels and shepherds fighting over Baby Jesus. Too funny! I was trying to figure out how many years I have been playing the piano for the Ward party. I always play when Santa comes in. I'm thinking this is about 20 years, but I'm not sure. Maybe I'll be remembered for something!

Christmas was quiet. We had Merrill, Colleen and Meggan, Kerry, Lisa and kids and Melinda, Mont and I for dinner. Quite different than the more than 20 we had last year. It's so hard for me to accept this part of my life. I'm not ready to be this old! Friday, the kids started coming home and the party started! It was snowy and windy and the roads were horrible, but Cody and Chris and boys and Clint and Krista made it home. Marcie and Jeremy and the little girls came on Saturday. Such a great time! We played cards and ate, and rode sleighs and tubes behind the wheelers in the field! On Sunday, we were in Sacrament Meeting and Bishop asked me to say the closing prayer. I explained to Aaron that I was going to go say the prayer and then we would go home. I started up the isle and I hear, "Graaaandma, GET BACK HERE!" I couldn't help but giggle. He is such a sweetheart. SO loving and so smart. He even got on the sleigh!

Another first for us, no one here for New Year's Eve. Thank goodness for Merrill and Colleen. We went to Sunglow and had prime rib for dinner. Came home, soaked in the hot tub and were in bed by 10:00. How pathetic!!

We finally went ice fishing for the first time on New Year's Day. The trusty GPS told us the prime fishing time was sometime in the afternoon. Holy cow. Fishing was slower than molasses in January. Hopefully Fish Lake will have a little thicker ice soon so we can fish up there! Either that or we get some 80 degree temps and I can head back to Lake Powell!!

Well, if I haven't put you to sleep yet, good for me!!

Happy New Year to you all!!