Chapman's are Champions

This evening we had a joint family night with all of Trent's side of the family. I was able to put this activity together along with Susan and Kelly. It was one of those nights that I had dreamed of doing for quite some time but didn't do anything about it until I was pushed a bit when I went to my motherhood retreat back in June.

At the retreat we talked about Family Systems and how it was important to create a family identity to unify eachother. I had the thought and inspiration right then that this type of night needed to happen.

I want to do this with my side of the family too one day so that will be next on my next actions list which I learned about also at the retreat.

To preface the night I have to tell you about the homework that we did. I asked each of the families for the month of August at their family home evenings to research a champion and find out the reasons why they are a champion in their minds.

Next we met up tonight to spotlight our favorite one that we picked as a family. We met up at the beach which was a perfect day until the mosquitoes came out. We enjoyed the beach for a bit and then went into our family discussion.

We had a great experience sharing together and I could feel from each of the presenters from each of the families a true love and gratitude for these individuals.

Here is some of the "Champions" each of the families spotlighted:

Jesus Christ
Coach John Wooden (legendary college basketball coach
Jeff Burns (cousin in the family)
Stripling Warriors (in Book of Mormon)
Ameila Earhart (first women to fly)
Travis Chapman (my brother-in-law who 2 weeks ago challenged the whole family to read the Book of Mormon for one hour a day and write down impressions in our journals)

and finally our family choose:

Team Hoyt (father/son duo who runs ALOT) click here to see more.

We chose Team Hoyt because of his devotion to his son and that both of them together changed eachother's lives through their act of service. Running race after race for 30+ years. I admire champions like these who just go and do and don't want to receive praise or recognition they just know that it makes them feel good inside.

I also found this awesome song and please pay attention to the lyrics. Its moving and brought me to tears. Click here to watch.

Wow! What a night this was. A night to remember and when we returned home during our evening prayers Reeghan thanked Heavenly Father for teaching her about champions! This is the moment as a mom when you say, "They got it" At times I don't think much is going in and I just talk and talk and lead by example but until a night like this happens it just makes you feel sooo good inside to know your doing the right thing.

To continue with our theme for the month we will be going to the "Hall of Champions" museum down at Balboa Park tomorrow. It just so happens to be free Tuesday for the particular museum so it worked out perfectly.

Finally on Saturday we will host our first "Cousin Chapman Olympics" where the kids will be able to showcase their way of a champion. I'm looking forward to seeing how this day will turn out.

To be continued.......

Chapman March birthday

I believe March is the busiest month for Chapman birthdays! And of course I volunteered to host for this month and I decided to change it up a bit. I decided to have a brunch on a Saturday morning and invited the family to come and enjoy the beach beforehand if they wanted to bring bikes or just go for a run. My SIL Susan and MIL Kelly are both training for marathons so they had to do their long distance run that morning so we ate when they got back.

It was so easy to do because I know that I can make breakfast food! It was very simple to do and now I had wished I took pictures but I don't have any. So family if you have pictures of this day will you send them to me?

Happy Birthday March Chapmans! Especially a special shout out to my Honey, Trenty!

St Patty's Day and Todd's Endowement

We have had a lot of move in's to the ward lately and its so exciting! One family, The Haws, that just recently moved in from Arizona invited the kids and I over to her place for a St. Patrick's Day activity. I'm not big into Holiday celebrating besides Thanksgiving and Christmas so I don't do much at all in regards to others so I will take whatever comes my way as far as enjoying someone else's work and planning. Sad to say but its true lets be honest here. Its something that I hope to work on for my own children's sake. Tradition! Tradition!

That evening was Todd's endowment session. It was so wonderful to have all of us that are temple recommend holders to be there for him. We need to do it more often! It was an enjoyable time in the temple and I love to watch the first timers just basking it all in! We ended the night at Fin's for fish tacos with Trent's siblings and parents.

The Leftovers at the Chapman Home!

My in-laws, Gary and Kelly, have only 5 kids at home now and soon will be down to 4! I'm sure that's going to be weird for them. If you haven't heard Trent comes from a family of 13 and don't they look amazing! Its been 30 years since they have had only 4 in the house because Trent is #4.

Todd the one that's on the bottom left is headed to South Korea on his mission in June! So excited for him and he will definitely tower over those Koreans. Its going to be fun to watch him grow and learn the language. Good Luck Todd!

St George Jackson Family Reunion

We stayed at the Wyndam at Wingate Hotel just outside of downtown St. George. It was a very nice and brand new hotel. We had a pretty nice room and setup. The pool was rather small and the breakfast was ok but overall I was comfortable so it was a nice experience. I did alot of shopping at the outlet mall with my sisters-in-law and mother-in-law. Then we headed out to the Pasta Factory for dinner as a family. That night the girls and Trent ended up watching "My Sister's Keeper" that had just come out that day. It was a tear jerker thank goodness for that box of kleenex we had. Trent originally wanted to go see Transformers but it was sold out so he had to come see our movie. Poor Guy!

Saturday we did the park thing which was super crowded with like 5 other parties there. It was an awesome park with great kid stuff but it was super hot and just too many people. The kids had fun though and ended up being there for 4 hours! Then we headed back to the hotel for some swimming and my sister came down to take the girls back to her house so that Trent, Easton and I could go to the Tucahan theater to watch the musical "Footloose" we only ended up staying until intermission though. It was too long!

What a long and draining week and I am just glad that we were able to make a presence at some of the activities with Trent's family. Some of them got sick towards the end so sorry if you got it from us!

Zion Ponderosa

Our Chapman Family Reunion started on Tuesday but we didn't make it down to it until Thursday which was the last day there because of our sickness. We had a great day there and the kids would have loved to have been there longer. We drove through Zion National Park just to get to this place and it was absolutely gorgeous! We drove through the tunnels and Reeghan suggested that we turn the lights off while we drove through it! Crazy kid!

I remember as a kid going to this park about 3 different times with my family and we actually camped and brought our bikes. At that time I didn't enjoy being there but now that I have my own family and experiencing it it makes that memory even more special to me. So Thank you mom and dad for dragging me kicking and screaming and all to get me to remember that time with you!

When we arrived at Zion Ponderosa we met up with his family at the cabin that they were staying at. It was pretty nice place. We then went off and did some adventures and some swimming. The girls did bungee jumping on the trampoline (kid style) and then we did the zip line with Lindsay and Sydney. The girls were hesitant about participating but in the end they wanted to keep going! Trent's 86 year old grandmother did it too! Trent went off with his parents and brothers and went on a 4 wheeler excursion as well. You could have went on horses, a jeep tour and other such activities. It was quite the place for a family to have a good time.

That night we drove back down to St George to stay at our hotel that we were having the next reunion at which was Trent's grandmothers family. It was a very short but sweet day together!

Tory and Orchids Temple Sealing

We had a great night together as family as we witnessed the two of them being sealed for time and all eternity. I love to be reminded of when it was my turn to sit across from Trent and make promises to the Lord to love and cherish eachother. This is the 1st of 3 sealings that I will be attending in one month! The next one is Trent's cousin, Julie and then my baby sister, Rebecca! Yeah!