Happy Birthday Landon!

Today my "baby" turned 15 years old! Man, I remember SO WELL when this little guy was born, and it doesn't seem like that long ago. And now he is going to be a sophomore in high school this year. I am so grateful that I had these two last kids instead of stopping after the four girls (like I thought I wanted to). It was not a very eventful day for Landon, but he is still thankful he at least got a cake. Last year he didn't even get that, evidently. Bad mom...
He was also lucky to have his sister Lexie visiting at the same time as his birthday!
"Come give your mother a nice birthday kiss!"

I deserve one after all...this kid weighed 9 1/2 lbs. when he was born and about killed me!

Everyone joined in on eating the cake, of course. Right before dinner...good timing for a birthday celebration!

Marce thinks this is a good idea.

Phoenix is alright with it too...

Happy Birthday Landon!

Wedding Weekend

Okay, so our "plan" was to have a nice, leisurely ride down to Carlsbad for a great weekend of wedded bliss. (And fun with the family) Everything was going great, until we reached Corona. Someone had placed a nice, big (huge) pothole right in the middle of the fast lane. Needless to say, that pothole took a bite out of our car and made the right tiebar sheer right off the wheel. It sounded like an earthquake was hitting right beneath the car. We were able to pull it over off the freeway, but the car was rendered undriveable, so we sat there at 9:30 p.m. trying to figure out what we were going to do. We had a 5:30 wakeup call to get to the temple for a 9 a.m. sealing the next morning. To make a long story short, this is ME at 2 a.m. the next morning, the morning of the sealing, FINALLY at mom and dad's house. (The look says it all...)
So with 3 hours of sleep, we get to the temple where these crazy Chappell kids end up "freezing." (I don't get it...)
Here's Parker, Jordan, and Britney (ready to give birth in about 5 weeks)

The sealing was beautiful, and grandpa (dad) did an amazing job, as usual. My sister, Lisa, and Connie are just waiting for everyone to get outside afterwards.

If any of you know my brother Jeff, you know that he LOVES to ask questions, all kinds of questions, questions that tell him everything there is to know about you. So here he is drilling Grandma and Grandpa Chappell (Val & Sharla) on what he needs to know about them. Ya gotta love him for it...

Still waiting... Grandma Packard, my brother, Chris, and his wife, Dianna. (looking at SOMETHING)

Okay, this is going to be confusing for those of you who don't really know my family, but hang in there. This is Jack, Peter's brother, and his wife Kathy. Peter is married to Connie, our oldest daughter, and Kathy is my brother Chris' daughter - which makes the brothers brothers-in-law, and the girl cousins sisters-in-law. Does that make sense?! If you didn't get all that, then just remember that Jack and Kathy were the ones who came and bailed us out on the freeway that first night, which means that they didn't get home till 2 a.m. also and had to get up at 5:30 the next morning too. That is probably easier to digest, but not quite as fun!

Here we are at the back of the temple (the freeway side that looks the coolest) waiting for the happy couple to emerge for picture taking.

The kids were waiting too. They had to wait longer than we did because they had been outside the whole time we were in the sealing.

Still waiting...

And here they come...They'll probably have to see these pictures to remember any of this!

Oh happy day! (but not quite over yet)The relieved dads. (plus Jeff)

We can go home after all pictures are taken. And that means a picture of just about everybody.

The Chappell kids, including Heather. Yay!

The grandparents. (a good-lookin' bunch)

The Willards (best friends with BOTH families, how lucky is that?!) Tibi and Landon missed this trip to California because of either not wanting to take another trip, or football lock in. You figure out which child goes with which reason...

Gotta love these father/son shots! (suck it in guys)

What a treat for Kevin and I to be a part of this day with our best friends. And to go home to do it. AND to have dad do the sealing. AND to get out of the heat. AND...

We finally left, headed back up to Carlsbad to The Hunter, where we had a delightful luncheon.

Hey, how did this picture get in here?! This photo didn't happen till Saturday night when we were finally able to sneak in a game or two. (pretend you don't see it until after the reception)

So here we are at the reception, and it looks like some good-looking guy has already found Michaela. (j/k) They actually met at a Single's activity earlier in the week. This is Sterling, who with a bunch of other friends came to California to play. They were from Mesa, Arizona and just happened to be there when we were, which ended up being a great time for these two to meet.

Having some yummy food at the reception.

Brock and Heather's cake was beautiful. (That guy on the left is Gregg going back for his 2nd...no 3rd...no 2nd....I lost count, piece of cake!)

It was a long day, especially for Kevin, Kira, and I (AND Jack and Kathy) but we made it without falling asleep in the middle of something, and still had energy to stay and clean up a bit until they threw us out. What a day...

The Last Beach Trip of the Summer

We were able to sneak in a beach trip on Saturday, but ended up picking the wrong weekend to be there. Oh well, we still had fun and really did it for the kids anyway.
Grandma and Eden trying to stay warm. Evidently, August is NOT the hottest month in Carlsbad.

Kira used her creative juices and sculped a lovely mermaid for all us beachgoers. The seaweed made for pretty cool hair!

We got home from church on Sunday just in time for Michaela to come over and say goodbye before her ward started. She looked great in her purple and bright colors.

It was a great weekend. We crammed more into it than there were days, but is was well worth going. We won't be back until December 17th, when another wedding takes place. We love these girls and can't miss - these kids all grew up together, either in California or Nevada, so they are definitely family!

Sweet 16!

Okay, so for probably 2 out of the last three years, Tibi just happened to be in Arizona at Connie's house for her annual trip there during the summer. So now that she is home for her birthday, her 16th one at that, she doesn't really want to do anything. I ask her what kind of cake she wants, she doesn't really want one ( she IS 16, a girl, and trying to keep her weight down...she's a measly 100 pounds!) How about going bowling tonight as a family for FHE - no.
How about me fixing you what you want for dinner - whatever, I don't care mom. So, as her mother, I'm thinking it's going to be a bummer of a birthday for her, even though she says she doesn't care. I'm reading between the lines by this time, and figure that nothing will do unless her friends are involved. So after suggesting that she can have some friends over, she gets the texts going and we end up with a house full of girls! They watch a movie, eat 7-layer dip and chips, fruit and dip, and sing to Tibi.
Thank goodness for a large family room!

Tibi is a lucky girl. She has so many great girlfriends. Some people are lucky to find one, true friend. Tibi can say that every one of these girls is a true friend, and there were some that couldn't come, so she has even more than this. Kevin and I are very lucky ourselves, come to think of it...

Out of the Heat...and into Paradise

Last time I took off to Carlsbad, California I told myself that the next time I went down there, Kevin and Landon were going too. So when Kevin had a lull in his work schedule, we took off and left the heat of Nevada behind. We got down there last Thursday and stayed till Tuesday. I love being there for Sunday because I get to see my high school buddies and people that I grew up with when we go to mom and dad's ward. We got there at 4 in the afternoon on Thursday, had some time to relax and unpack and hang out with grandma and grandpa. Grandma was especially glad to see Landon...she kind of has it bad for him, I guess. I ended up waking up with Vertigo that next morning (I'm used to it, for some reason) so Kevin and Landon took off to the Oceanside pier to enjoy the surf and fisherman. I stayed in bed and slept till 2...
They found this fun houseboat down at the pier. Kind of nice for a boat...even for some houses.
I was surprised at how many people were at the beach when Kevin showed me this picture. People think that the weather is perfect in the summer for going to the beach. Little do they know that the best time to go for good weather is in January. I kid you not...
Cool picture of Landon...

They were able to watch the fishermen on the pier too. A lot of men rely on their catch that day. Any given day, there will be quite a few guys up on the pier fishing.

The next day we all got ready and headed down to San Diego's "Old Town" and took in the Mormon Battalion monument. It has recently been remodeled and was actually quite fun and informing. I loved the moving and talking pictures at the beginning. It reminded Lisa and I of The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. Who knew?!

My brother Jeff, sister Lisa, Landon, Vicki, Michaela, and Michaela's friend Marc.

At the end of the tour, there is a place to do some "hands on" activities. Michaela and Landon helped the guide play the fiddles. They really played a song too.

Lisa panned for gold (well, fool's gold)

Upstairs, in the lookout tower. (where they can see hombres coming to cause problems, no doubt)

After the monument, we walked down the street to walk through Old Town, checking out the shops and restaurants. We settled on an authentic Mexican place that filled our tummies to the brim. Yum!

One last picture before we hike back to the car.

Driving back up to Carlsbad, we snapped a picture of our beloved San Diego temple all bandaged up. It is getting the roof fixed and a fresh coat of cleaning done.

Then back to grandma and grandpa's place for games and fun. We ended up watching "The Apple Dumpling Gang" for entertainment that night. Needless to say, we just vegged and enjoyed a good laugh...

The next day we went to church and enjoyed the Sabbath Day. On Monday afternoon, Kevin and Landon took off to Anaheim to take in an Angels/Red Sox baseball game. They, of course, were rooting for the Sox, which ended up winning the game on top of it, 6-3.

Got there in plenty of time to watch the team warm up - one of Landon's favorite things to do.

On Tuesday, we got up, cleaned the rooms, washed sheets, and had to leave the 65 degree weather of California to go back to 110 degrees of Nevada. I'm still not sure why we came back, but I'm sure it has to do with work, chickens, lawn, and bills. Otherwise, I'd still be there. Oh well, we can't have everything...

Goodbye, for at least two weeks, when we get to go back for Brockton and Heather's wedding. Save us a place mom! We probably didn't even need to wash the sheets...