Ryann the Nudist!

Ryann made a run for it the other night after her bath. I was trying to get Dylann in the tub and forgot about Ryann for 2 minutes. I finally found her outside, naked, jumping on the trampoline.

She was so happy, freely feeling the wind on her nakedness. How mean was I to stop her? I let her jump for a few minutes. It was dark outside and no cars were passing by. She was doing the silliest tricks and jumps. I decided I needed a picture. But she needed panties on first.

Apparently panties hinder the creative expression of Ryann, so the tricks stopped. She was very angry with me.

Then she looked over to the Northwest and saw a giant dragon blowing fire into the sky. Some of us grown ups would call it a "sunset". But to this almost three year old, it was deffinatly a dragon!

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Field Trips

School is out for the summer here in the North. Before the end of the year we endured a few field trips. Rylie went to Clark Planetarium while Christopher and I were in Germany. She loved the 3-D movie about Black Holes. Alexa barfed on the school bus on the way to Salt Lake. All the kids sure enjoyed that!

Kendall missed her field trip to the zoo because we were in Vegas, so grandpa and I took her to the zoo the next week. She took a million pictures. Here are a few...











Dylann went to Antelope Island for her 3rd Grade Field trip. Again Grandpa went with us. He is good to tag along on our adventures. We had never been to the Island. It was a smelly drive over the causeway and the gnats were terrible. But the kids all had fun. We saw buffalo (we can see those in Evanston), antelope (see those everyday), bald eagles (again - everyday), and coyotes (see one or two every few weeks here). So we got to see the same old stuff, but in the middle of the Great Salt Lake while being eaten alive by gnats!

It was fun though. And the kids loved it. For lunch we had BBQ Bison Burgers. Never had that before. Dylann loves herself a good hamburger, but not so much the bison! She says it tasted different. I thought it tasted like a BBQ'ed burger.

Lola

Dylann has officially weighed in her 4-H lamb. Her name is now Lola. It was #12. She is a very stubborn lamb, almost as stubborn as Dylann is. Lola is 76 pounds of attitude.

Dylann is trying to get out every day and tame the wild lamb. Everytime we go out to the field, the other two lambs try and squeeze themselves through the fence in to the neighbors field. Sheep are not so bright!

Here is picture of our neighbors - the Peart's. They had a very crazy way of getting their 4 lambs to weigh in... only in Randolph!

What is our last name, REALLY??

I know our last name is a pretty common word, just spelled a little different. -el instead of -le. Confusing to the public around us. But after our little stop in Circleville to visit Grandpa Stapel's grave, Christopher has come to question wether or not he was taught the correct name.

Wendy and James had told us of the wonderful Veteran's Memorial on the main drag in Circleville that had Christopher's dad's name spelled wrong....

So who is right? Just kidding, we know it is STAPEL! Too bad no one checked the spelling before they carved it in to stone.

When Rylie was little and learning how to spell her last name, she would argue with me about how it was spelled. She would be so serious and tell me- "No, that's not it. My teacher told me it is S T A P L E S!"

Since our arrival in Rich County we have been Staple and Staples. Finally after 11 years here people are getting it right.

Kendall's Nose Job!

Kendall's poor nose hit the pavement the other day after school, with a little help from big sister Dylann. This picture was taken after she had picked the scabs off - YUCK! After she hit the ground, her nose gushed blood for a few minutes. Thanks to some teachers she was well taken care of by the time Aunt Laura came to get her from school.

In love with Willy Wonka!

My niece Payton is obsessed with Willy Wonka - the Johnny Depp version.

(At least she has great tates in the yummy Mr. Depp!)

She loves to watch the movie and beggs her mom for a "Willy Wonka Suit". Last night she read me a story all about Willy Wonka. The book was actually one about Sheba, but in her 3 year old mind all she could see was the tall, pale, mushroom haired candy maker in the eggplant wonder suit!

Paytor Tator is a silly little girl!

The Vegas Adventures

We spent the week in Vegas! Christopher had a 'Safety Conference' Monday through Wednesday, so the girl's and I tagged along. We stayed at the Tuscany Suites. The room was nice. We had two queen beds, a fold out couch, desk, table and chairs, sink and fridge. And a really big bathroom. Though not nearly enough toilet paper for 5 girls. (We need to invest in Cottonelle - the only toilet paper Christopher will allow to touch his tender bits!)

The only real bad thing was the hotel has only 10 channels. 3 Hotel channels, 1 Pay Per View, 1 'Learn to Gamble' chanel, PBS, Fox, ABC, NBC and CBS. And our DVD player would not connect to the TV. So we spent every minute out at the pool. The pool was nice, but there was no fruit awaiting us like in the pictures. Instead there was a bunch of drinking sunbathers. My kids kept asking why people could drink beer at the pool. While floating in the pool, in the hot tub, everywhere. So the girl's and I floated in the water drinking Hi-C Fruit Boxes! We were cool!

Ryann floated away with her water wings on. I received many not so motherly looks from the Granny's at the pool because I just let her run free. I was always right behind her, or one of her sisters were. She has no real fear of the water, so I figure as long as I can keep the wings on her for now, she is a little safe! The other three girls were like fish. Swimming and diving. Kendall is golden now. She is the one kid who tans like her dad. Rylie and Ryann tan pretty well, but poor Dylann is like me - an albino.

Anywho - we did the usual trip to the 'Strip' keeping the kids away from the corner porn pass- outs and dirty posters in the windows. We saw the lions at MGM and had a Coke at the Coke store. Dylann swears the Coke tastes better there!

Chrisotpher only gambled away $15.00. I am not allowed to gamble because I cannot stop! I am addicted to slots.

It was a fun trip. Much needed family time after leaving the girls home while we went to Germany. And now we have had enough family time away and will spend the next weekends cleaning the yard!

And we did not even take one picture of our Vegas Vacation! We are terrible about that!