Click On Over...

Click this link http://www.davidandmeredithchapman.blogspot.com if you want to see what we're up to these days. Also, replace our old blog address with this one. I haven't been getting much traffic on my new blog and I figured that it MUST be because nobody knows how to find it, right? Because if they did, they would certainly be leaving me all sorts of fun comments! Oh yeah, and once again, you private bloggers, send me an invite to your blogs at chapmanblog@hotmail.com so I can see what you are up to as well!

"I'd rather be Spinach!"

Here is a conversation I overheard Ethan having with his friend...

Ethan's friend: "I'd rather be dead than in a coma for the rest of my life. I wouldn't want to be a vegetable."

Ethan: "I'd rather be a vegetable. (pause) I would be spinach! I love spinach!"

Good choice Ethan! Keep eating your spinach and you'll be strong like Popeye!

New Blog Address

For some reason my computer always freezes on my blog, so I had to create a new blog address and import all of my posts over to it. If you would like to keep up with me, I will be posting at www.davidandmeredithchapman.blogspot.com. I hope you can find me!

This One's Gonna Be A Doozy!

It's been over TWO MONTHS since I last blogged! My computer pooped out on me, but now (thanks to Ann and Steve) I am able to blog again! HALLELUJAH!!! I seriously went through some major blogging withdrawals, but time heals all wounds and it got easier each day. I am so excited to get back on the blogging horse! I can't wait to see what ya'll have been up to! I've got two months worth of stuff to catch up on, so sit back, relax, and enjoy the little ride I like to call CHAPMANIA!

October




Ethan was one out of only three fourth graders in his school to get straight A's in the first quarter! He's so responsible. He comes home from school every day and gets his homework done without being reminded.

Avery also got straight A's! She's only in sixth grade, but at her school they change classes like a junior high, so she has seven different classes. She has adapted to the schedule very well. Look how miniature she is. I really do feed her.

Avery had a choir concert. She was SOOO nervous, but she looked so cute up there smiling and doing the little actions. She did a great job!

This is the only picture I got of Halloween. The batteries died in my camera, but you can sort of tell that Jolie was a lion, Ethan was a scary hockey man, Avery put together this last-minute punk rocker get-up, and Aidan is a caterpillar - he went through a few other costumes, and this is what he decided on. We didn't have any trouble keeping track of him in that bright green outfit.

November

Three of David's beautiful sisters, Kelly, Liz and Ann, had birthdays this month and we were able to go out to lunch to celebrate with them. I didn't have a lot of cash to get them presents, so I had to get creative. I channeled Maria from "the Sound of Music", and turned my extra curtain pannels into aprons for each of them.

TWILIGHT! Avery and I went to the 9:50 showing on the 21st with Avery's friend Chyanne and her mom, Pam, and sister, Matracia. We got there 2 hours early and were already behind about 200 other die-hard Twilight fans. We had a fun time and enjoyed the movie. We can't wait for the next one to come out, but rumor has it our favorite guy, Taylor Lautner, may not be playing Jacob Black this time around. BOYCOTT! Start a petition! (All you Edward fans had better ZIP IT!!!)

We got to go up to Utah to visit my family for Thanksgiving! We had a great time catching up and eating lots and lots of delicious food!

We went to visit my cousin, Shareen, and her husband, Kevin and their kids while we were there. They have a farm with all sorts of fun animals, so my kids had a blast! I must admit, I had a great time too.

December

My mom's birthday was on December 2nd. I love my mom! Everyone loves my mom! I'll have to do a separate, special blog about her. I'm trying to hurry and get this blog finished and she deserves a little more thought and time. As does my Aidan who turned four on December 6th. Stay tuned... many more blogs to come. I also had a birthday this month. The big 3-0! Yep, that's right, twenty-something no more. I've been dreading this one, but it came and went without a hitch. We had a big birthday dinner the weekend before for myself and David's sister, Amy, who turned 40 this month. Thanks to Ann for organizing it!

My sister, Diana, and her daughter, Rowan were even able to fly in from Utah to be here for it! Here are just a few pictures from the fun night.

There's the past two months in a nutshell. I've got many more blogs to do, but they'll have to wait until another day. Christmas is just a few days away, so I'm sure there'll be many more, but I'm only one woman people.

My Marlboro Man!

In an effort to remain at the top of your "most recently posted" blog lists, I have been trying to post a blog every day! It's also a way to pass the time while I'm busy not cleaning my house, and neglecting my children.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/. I know you are because I see it all over your blogs! On this sight the author of the blog, Ree Drummond, a country mom and housewife, shares her delicious recipes and beautiful photography, along with helpful hints and entertaining stories. It's my new favorite sight to go to. Growing up on a small farm myself, I'm a country girl at heart, and her pictures make me feel at home. She's living my dream life. Anyways, my favorite feature on her sight is "LOVE STORY - Black Heels to Tractor Wheels". Here she shares the story of how she met and fell in love with "Marlboro Man", which is what she calls her husband. It has been so fun to read! She has the funniest personality and has done a great job of writing it. Every couple weeks she'll add a new chapter to the story. I started reading it the other night, and I couldn't stop! I'm all caught up now and can't wait for the next installment! It's worse than waiting for the next Twilight book to come out! I've always had a thing for those cowboys in their Wranglers and boots! Funny how I married a man who wears baggy jeans. I've always wanted to get him in a pair of Wranglers and boots! I think that's what I want for my birthday now! He swears he's not going to sing to me, so maybe I can get him to wear Wranglers and boots! It doesn't matter what he wears though, he's still my Marlboro Man!

If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all!

I recall a phrase that a wise, old mother rabbit once told her young son, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all". I come from a family of name callers! I'm one myself. Whether it be good or bad, we always end our sentences with a name, and not usually the one that belongs to the person we are talking to. Where, to most people a term of endearment might be "sweetheart" or "honey", ours were "poopy head" and "butt hugger". Anyhow, growing up I had some older brothers that liked to tease. I had red hair, crooked teeth, and freckles, so I was a pretty easy target, but for some reason, they always found the ugliest GUYS to name me after. I think I could've handled it a little better if they were at least naming me after ugly girls, which they did too, (a girl in our neighborhood whose last name resembled swine) but these are a couple of the meanest things they called me.

ROCKY, from the movie Mask. I mean come on, I'm sure he has a sweet spirit, but they didn't call the movie Mask for nothing.

MALACHI, from the Children of the Corn movies. One of my brothers would follow me around saying, "They want you too, Malachi." (a line from the movie)

Now days I'm positive that NAPOLEON DYNAMITE would've made the list.

As would CARROT TOP!

I'm sitting here, laughing my head off, but when you're a little, awkward, red-headed girl, it can do some damage. I'm all grown up now, and I understand that when we're younger we do some silly things. The problem is, I still do it!

When Avery's being a stinker, I've been known to bust out NELLY OLSEN.

Aidan has a HUGE head, and when he gets in front of the TV I might say, "Hey, JIMMY NEUTRON, could you move your noggin?"

I'm usually just trying to be funny, which sometimes backfires on me. Children have tender, little feelings, and I know I should be more cautious. Obviously, I'm setting a horrible example for my kids, and in turn they are name-callers themselves. I need to heed the advice of that old, mother rabbit and just KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT!!! It's time to break the cycle! If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all! We know I can't keep my mouth shut, so I'll try to think of something nice to say.

Mammy's Little Baby Loves Shortnin' Bread!

Put on the skillet, put on the lid, Aidan's gonna make a little shortnin' bread!

Aidan found some wheat and decided to make some bread...

He ground the wheat into flour...

(Pay no attention to the Fry's bag on the counter.)

Kneaded it and let it rise...

Formed it into loaves...

And baked it in the oven!

Mmmmm! We love homemade bread!

I remember reading a history of David's grandma, Elsie Burk Chapman, in which it talked about how when she was just eight years old, she would mix homemade bread, twelve loaves at a time, and she had to stand on a crate because she couldn't reach the top of the table. I may be off a little, but it makes for a good story. Anyhow, I figured if she was doing it at eight, it wouldn't hurt to start Aidan at three. We actually inherited Elsie's big, stainless steel mixing bowl. It still has her name on it on a piece of masking tape. It's obviously not the same one she mixed it in when she was eight, but I imagine she's mixed many a loaf of bread in this bad boy.

I decided to let Aidan help me make some bread to keep him from playing on the computer all day, which he would do if I would let him, and believe me, I have. He had fun, and while we were doing it, I was teaching him the song, "Shortnin' Bread". My dad used to sing me that song when I was little, and I can't believe I hadn't taught it to him sooner. It brought back good memories, and we got to eat some yummy, homemade bread in the end.

Show Low High School Football...A Family Affair!

We went up to Show Low this last weekend to visit our family up there, and to watch conference with Ann and Steve. Three of David's sisters and their families live up in the White Mountains now...Ann and Rebecca in Linden, and Kelly in Taylor. On Friday night we went to the Show Low High School varsity football game. Our brother-in-law, Randy Ricedorff, is the head coach, and our other brother-in-law, Brock Bevell is an assistant coach. Our nephew Rathen, who is just a sophomore, is the starting quarterback for the varsity team, and our little niece Gracie got to cheer during 2nd quarter and do a dance during half time with a group of 170 little girls in the "lil' line". Oh yeah, how could I forget Rhett winning the sit-up competition during half-time with 73 sit-ups in 60 seconds?! It was like a mini family reunion!




Tayvin and Beau showed off their SLHS "Bling"!






Catelyn, Elsie, and Darcey cheered from the stands!

Josh got all bundled up to watch the big game!

Gracie was so cute and did such a great job cheering and dancing with the Lil' Line!

We love going up there! I'm a country girl at heart. There's nothing like sitting outside on the porch in the morning, listening to the elk bugling to each other, letting your kids run wild all day, and then later that afternoon, having your neighbor bring you a big bag of freshly-picked produce from his garden. That's how I grew up, minus the elk bugling, and that would be my ideal life ... slower-paced, more simple. We go up there every chance we get, and if we could, we would move there in a heart-beat. Thanks to Ann and Steve for always letting us impose on them and being the BEST HOSTS EVER!!! Ann is quite the domestic goddess! Every meal is a production. Even something as simple as preparing a green salad, which to me means opening a bag and dumping it into a bowl, ends up being a gourmet dish - Spring mixed greens, red onion, apple slices, crumbled blue cheese, and last but not least, candied pecans (which she candied herself) all topped with a strawberry vinaigrette dressing. So good, and no big deal to her, but to someone like me who doesn't cook much, it's PHENOMENAL!!! She also made delicious enchiladas with cilantro-lime rice, a fresh peach pie, homemade bread, a lemon cheesecake, and our favorite thing she makes every time we visit - yummy buttermilk pancakes with buttermilk syrup, just to name a few things. The thing is, I really think she LOVES doing it! It's no wonder they have guests all the time. But it's not just the food. The tone in their home is one of family, love, and happiness. We just love to be around them. Watching conference with them is the best. David came back down to the valley with Steve to attend the priesthood session with Steve's dad, brother, and brother-in-law. They went out for sushi afterward. Not to be left out, Ann and I got take-out sushi that evening. Jolie really liked it, and Avery and Ethan both were "daring" enough to eat a fish egg or two. Anyways, we're back home now - Reality check - back to arguing and fighting over our cold cereal and Top Ramen. Okay, I'm not really that bad. Actually, I've been so inspired by Ann that I've got bread rising in the kitchen, I'm making a peach cobbler for dessert with the beautiful peaches Ann and Steve gave us, I ran three miles this morning, and I'm planning our FHE lesson for tonight! I'm not even kidding! Hanging around with great, positive, productive people tends to rub off on you sometimes, and being fed spiritually by our Prophet and other leaders of our church just makes you want to be a little better. Hopefully I'll keep it up! We love you Ann and Steve! Thanks for making our weekend so great!

Run Forest! Run!

So, David's sister, Amy, is going to run a half marathon in February, and has challenged all of us sisters to run it with her. I haven't moved a muscle in years, but I figure I've got four months to train, so I may just take her up on it. I ran today for the first time. It showed me just how out of shape I am. My nine year old son, Ethan, ran with me. We left at 10:40 am, and got back at 11:05. We only went about 2.25 miles and it took us 25 minutes! At this rate I'll be able to finish the half marathon in just under four hours! It was the wrong time of the day to go running. It was stinking HOT, but there was a strong breeze that felt pretty good, until it became a dust storm and we were blinded and eating dirt. Baby steps. I'll work my way up. I'm just proud that I actually got up off of my big bootie and did it! We'll see how it goes.

* If anyone out here in the QC needs a running partner, I'm looking! I need to be accountable to someone.

Aidan's First Trip to the Dentist

Aidan had his first appointment with the dentist today. He was so excited about it! We've been trying to prepare him for it for the past couple weeks. He's been to the dentist's office when Avery and Ethan had to go, and he's seen the toys and stickers and new toothbrushes etc. that they get. Well, he was ready. That is until Ethan started teasing him, telling him that the dentist was going to give him shots and pull his teeth out. When it came time to go, he wasn't feeling so confident anymore. We reassured him that Ethan was just trying to scare him, and after a little coaxing, he was back on board.

He fell asleep on the 5 minute car ride to the office. Here he is snoozing in the waiting room.

He was still pretty groggy when I carried him back to the examination room.



He was so good while they took the X-rays. He held so still. They couldn't believe he was only 3 years old. He really wanted to see the "skeleton pictures" of his teeth.

Aidan liked the way the chair went up and down. Who needs Disneyland?

He knew he was going to have to open his mouth really wide, so as soon as he sat down in the chair, he opened up his mouth. The dental hygenist and I kept telling him, "not yet", but when it came time to really open up, he opened his mouth up so big like a crocodile! Here he is squinting from the bright light.

What an awesome patient! Look at that big, healthy smile! See you in another 6 months!