Rappleye Family Reunion at Zions

OK here is a summary of our Rappleye Family Reunion down to Zions. We left Thursday and hiked the emerald pools trail in Zions, we stopped at the Clear Creek Ranch Lodge before heading into the national park to put Weston's birthday cake and some salad for a big family dinner in the fridge. It was super hot hiking but very beautiful and the kids loved wading in the pool and catching tadpoles. Thursday evening we had a nice dinner with the 65 or so Rappleye family members who came to the reunion and afterwards Uncle Lloyd expounded the miracle it was that we got that venue for free the week we got it and how important it is to gather as families.  Jared and I went to the lake and had a canoe ride, and Weston joined us and the two of them had fun catching fish. We roasted marshmallows and had s'mores and then played musical beds while we figured out who was sleeping where.  With 65 men women and children in the same venue it can become a little chaotic.  Most of the "party animals" stayed up til 1:30 AM playing games.  No one got much sleep that night. The next day Friday was Weston's 9th birthday!  So he went out fishing again in the morning and we enjoyed Waffle Love breakfast and he opened some presents.  He got mostly legos and a puzzle. Most everyone left midday to go to the Terry/Barrett swimming hole in Zions, or out to eat lunch in town, except weakling Heather who stayed in the lodge and slept. The kids loved jumping off the rock into the cool pools.  After some lunch the kids enjoyed slip and sliding just outside the lodge, and Savanna won the record for the farthest sliding in the women's category.  I helped my dad make Burritos for the whole family that evening, and we enjoyed listening to Rappleye's tell stories until nearly 10:00 when I had everyone in the entire family sing Happy Birthday to Weston and have cake and cookies.  We got some better sleep but had to get up bright and early to have breakfast and enjoy one last family devotional before checking out of the lodge. The Spirit was very strong and I had the opportunity to share how I've been blessed for "staying on the right path" in my life, and I felt a lot of love and appreciation from my family members.  It was worth the hassle!  In fact we made many very good memories. We are SO blessed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weston's mother's day book

When I was cleaning off the overflowing homework table yesterday I found a treasure that slipped through the cracks while we were on our cruise.  Weston had made me a mother's day book!  It was so so so so sweet and cute and awesome, I put it in my "special" drawer and scanned it all in.

You're my hero!

End of School Year Activities

Where to start?  I guess I'll go in picture-ological order. Savanna had a lot of activities to be involved in the last week of school, one of which was a carnival for the kindergarten children of her school.  She came up with the idea to make a rock eater, the kids put a rock in one tooth and a prize shoots out another tooth.  She did this largely without any help from me or her other group members, and even spent her own money on the prizes at the dollar store.  When Savanna decides to do something, she doesn't do a half baked job!


 The only thing Savanna wanted for her birthday was an iPod or iPhone, and she didn't get either. So she settled for contact lenses and a manicure. She and I enjoyed going to the nail salon the day before my birthday and treating ourselves to manicures, she still seems to young for that sort of things but she sure thinks she is a big girl now. My nails still look great, she ripped hers off a week later because they were bugging her. Live and learn I guess.

She certainly looked like a big girl at the 6th grade graduation, in her new dress and highlighted curled hair, manicure, and graduation cap it looked like she was graduating from High School rather than elementary school.  Savanna was surprised to received the "Hope of America" award, a national award for demonstrating ethical and moral character and potential for great leadership. She thinks Mr. Walker nominated her, he really liked Savanna. Jared and I were surprised and pleased!  She had a fun time at her first "dance" that afternoon with the 6th grade.

 

Memorial Day happened that week. We had Lucy and Trevan Carpenter overnight so Heidi and Gabe could work on their move to Lehi. We rode our bikes on the nicely paved canal trail to the cemetery and put flowers on Lillian's, Grandma Sandy's, and my grandparents/aunt Barrett graves. The kids were good sports about the nearly 4 mile round trip bike ride.

Back up just a bit and I'll add some pictures of my 35th birthday. We went to my parents house and my dad made his famous burritos and Heidi made me a healthy no bake cookie no sugar added cake. It was divine! My parents and siblings gave me a few gifts and made me feel special, my favorite gift was a dozen roses Gabe took off one of his mortuary client's casket, ha ha, waste not want not. And yes those are the roses that made it to the cemetery the next day.

And that week we also celebrated my sister Kynsie's graduation from West Lake High School! She graduated with a 3.99 double cumlaude with honors and all that, and quite possibly the shortest in her graduating class. It was 10:00 by the time we got out of there and my camera was trying to take pictures in the pitch black, but it was worth it to support Kynsie. Love you Kynsie!

Could more be fit into this week!  Oh yes. My brother Jesse's wife Kelsy finally had her baby on May 30th.  Knightly Fall Barrett, 7 lbs 11 oz.  What a sweet little angel he is!  This is their first so new parents were also born on this day.

OK one more story then I'm done. Saturday I was trying to recover from all the work and activities that went on throughout the week, and somehow I drummed up enough energy to take Savanna's violin to Summerhays to fix the busted A string.  We inherited this violin from the Snows, and the pegs don't fit very tight so it comes untuned often and Savanna has accidentally broken the A sting twice trying to tune it.  So I was taking it in to replace the fine tuner.  The owner of the place took a look at the violin and told me that she had outgrown this (What do you mean its a full sized violin, how do you outgrow a full sized violin? I'm ignorant when it comes to stringed instruments).  He explained that there are different quality violins, Sav was using a "beginner" or "poor sound quality" violin, and he showed me an "intermediate" better sounding instrument ($495).  I was wary that he was just tying to sell me a new violin, but the sound of that new instrument was very much better than what she had, and the repairs on the beginner violin would be over $100, and he was willing to trade the old one as is and give me $100 credit towards the new one.  Then I remembered that I had a 3/4 violin sitting in my home that this guy had told me when I came in to repair it was a European Cremona and had a great sound, so I asked if I could trade in 2 violins. He said he would consider it.  So I went all the way back home, picked up the 3/4 violin and Jared so he could be in on the major purchase, and took it back to Summerhays.  I had an idea the 3/4 violin was not a "beginner" instrument and wondered how much he would offer for it.  Jared told me to ask for $200.  Well I didn't have to ask for anything, he took one look at the Cremona and offered $325 for it.  So we walked out with our new violin $75!  Jared was so proud that I "flipped" an instrument.  Who knows how much that guy is going to resell that 3/4 violin for, we are happy.