Jason arranged for all the kids to go to a fire station on Christmas Eve for a tour. The firefighters were so kind to spend an hour and a half showing the kids everything and answering questions. They let the kids climb all over the ladder truck, try on equipment, opened up every box on the truck, and even showed them all the gear they had to wear. It was funny to watch some of the little kids get a little worried when a firefighter came out all geared up, but when he took off all of the gear they weren't afraid anymore. It was a great day, one that all of us will remember that we were together to experience. I'm not sure if the kids had more fun or the adults...hmmm...it's a toss up!
We were able to carry on Chapman tradition of doing a LIVE Nativity. All the kids were dressed up to play the parts. It was really cute to see them all together. We even had some impromptu "sheep" that were allowed to disrupt (Rylie and Paxton), they were very fun to watch crawl around.
Diana went through the temple for the first time on Dec 26th and that was an incredible experience. For me, it is always a very special experience to go through with family since I live so far away from all family but to go through with Diana was AWESOME!
Mom wanted to get some family pictures taken since it had been 4 years since our last one and the number of grandkids doubled. We did that on the temple grounds and most of us thought we were smart and only packed short sleeve shirts for Arizona weather. It ended up being 43 degrees while we took the pictures. Some of us froze! But it was all good.
My mom, sisters and I, except for Sarah, went out to "surprise" Mark. He actually lives in Surprise, AZ which makes that funny. Anyway, he wasn't able to make it out due to his work schedule so we went to see him. He was very shocked when we jumped out at him, he totally didn't have a clue we were there. He thought for sure that I wasn't going to get to see him and I couldn't have that! We didn't have much time to visit but it was better than not seeing him.
I had lots of late night chats with my sisters, which I love to do. I value my sleep but I'll stay up late just to spend time with them. It is always worth it!
Monday night we went to Nate's for a bonfire as our last get together. We played as long as we could before we had to say our see ya laters. That is always the hard part. I cried more in Arizona than I had in almost an entire year. I just don't cry, it gives me a headache. Then we went to see Jason, he was on call so he showed us around the ambulance. He even cut a penny to show my boys how strong their special scissors are. As Micheal put it, "Cool!"
Lots of fun memories! I had so many pictures to share I had to do a slide show.
Enjoy!
3 comments:
I wish I would have known you were here. I would have come up to say Hi. And to go through with Diana. Oh well. Glad you got to spend time with your family! I am sure they needed it as much as you did.
I'm glad you had such a good time!! I have some to value family time so much more!! I love your picts!
ahh...we had so much fun with you guys!! can't wait to see ya again!
love ya much!
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