Chapman

 *** It is 3:34 in the morning and I just finished this blog.  I just read through it and it is incoherent at times and often choppy and unpolished.  Just take the time into consideration and be forgiving because I need to put my baby to bed!

Well!  We haven’t updated in quite awhile!  I am not going to be able to remember much but I will do my best.  Last weekend we went down to Long Beach to visit the Aquarium of the Pacific and it was AWESOME!  It is this huge aquarium of sea life.  We touched 6 different types of sharks such as Zebra sharks, Tiger sharks, etc.  TONS.  We also touched Manta Rays, Sting Rays, a variety of star fish, sea cucumbers, anemones, and all types of things.  It was SOOOOO cool.  The lady kept yelling at me though because I kept trying to grab the sharks out and was not touching them “with two fingers”.  I was so mesmerized by the sharks and intent on capturing one that only after Trevor grabbed my hands and told me the lady was yelling at me did I know the chastisement was directed at me and not the 5 year olds surrounding the pool.

    All the exhibits were incredible.  My greatest love (besides Trevor) are sea creatures so I was in absolute heaven.  A very cool exhibit was the live shark hatchery where they had shark eggs and they had them in various stages with half the side extracted so we could see the sharks developing.  They were swimming around inside the eggs with the umbilical cord attached to their bellies and everything.  It was amazing.  The next set of sharks are set to hatch in a few weeks so I really want to go back and see if I can witness it.

    Trevor, ever since we moved to California, has developed an obsession with buffalo wings.  Every time he has the slightest twang of hunger while we pass Carl’s Jr. he makes a beeline to the drive through.  As soon as we pull up to the place his mouth starts just manufacturing enough saliva to digest a whale.  Anyway, with his newfound love of buffalo wings we were overjoyed to see “Jake’s House of Buffalo Wings” and had to stop.  He was sorely disappointed by the inferior quality they were to Carl’s Jr. so we went to Cold Stone to drown our disappointment in big vats of “Chocolate Devastation” ice cream.

    Sunday we substituted in the Nursery and Trevor vowed never to allow our children to step foot in a nursery.  He said the room reeked of snotty nose, unwashed hands, and stinky diapers.  He cowered in the corner protecting Jace from the atmosphere while I rode herd on the entire nursery.  As soon as the last child was picked up by their parents he doused the whole family, me especially, in a vat of antibacterial hand wash and didn’t let me eat the cookie that one of the children left untouched on the table.

    Every time we go down to Ventura or to the beaches through Simi Valley we pass by this beautiful Oasis on the side of the freeway.  Trevor always says that he wants to go there so finally we decided to check it out.  We pulled off the freeway and tried to figure out how to get there.  We soon found that it was gated and off limits to the general public. Trevor, however, is not the general public and set to work devising a way to get to the Oasis.  We drove the Jeep up the side of a sheer cliff, rode over the railroad tracks, rode down the very middle of the tracks, slid off the side of a small cliff where the dirt was soft, and traversed a myriad of other terrifying obstacles.  In the end, however, there were just too many cliffs, barbed wire, and electrical fences.  We never made it to the Oasis but it was sure adventurous and fun trying to get there.  I just sat in the front seat chowing down on our picnic lunch that was intended to be eaten at the Oasis while Trevor ran all over the countryside trying to find a way in.  It was very reminiscent of Europe with Dad and Lia.

    We returned home, cleaned up, and went to the mall to indulge in one of Trevor’s favorite pastimes: buying video games.  OH YEAH!  Trevor has been wanting an Xbox 360 ever since they came out but I have always been against getting one because they are marketing scheme and he has a perfectly good Xbox.  He has been so patient and a real sweetheart and even when I tell him I want him to go buy one he doesn’t because he knows I think it is an absolute waste of money.  Anyway, I bought him one for Father’s Day because he is the best father in the world and that was the least he deserved for being so fantastic.  I bought it two weeks ago to make sure it was here in time for Father’s Day, but I was so excited to give it to him that I only kept it hidden for about 3 hours before I went crazy and gave it to him.  So, we have spent every spare minute at the video game store and online at Amazon.com so he can get his fill of video games.  He has been staying up until at least 3 every night saving the world over and over again while you all sleep peacefully in your beds.

    After the mall we went to our favorite store—Barnes and Nobel—to just relax and read.  We LOVE that place.  We usually get a bunch of books and then sit in the Café and get hot chocolate and Panini’s but this time Jace was not so good and we had to cut the outing short and go home to watch a bunch of episodes of “Flip that House”.  That show is AWESOME!!!!

    Today we had Kostia over for dinner and he brought Kimchee.  It is this Korean dish that tasted like Jace’s wet diapers smell.  Trevor and Kostia both liked it, however, and I hear that it is Brooke’s favorite dish.   To each his own!  The big thing today was the rescue of Trevor’s dad and brother.  This past weekend they set out to climb the tallest mountain in Sitka, AK and it was supposed to be a two day climb, but when the plane flew in to pick them up they were not there.  They searched for them but could not find them anywhere so after hours of no communication search and rescue was set out to look for them along with the Coast Guard.  They were finally found hours later by their smoke signals they were sending up.  They are so tough!

 I know a lot more has happened these past two weeks but I can’t remember so I will just update on Jace’s new tricks.

Jace is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good at crawling!  He crawls perfectly, just like a little tiger!  He crawls everywhere and then when he wants to check something out he will stop and plop himself up on his little bum.  He has PERFECT posture and sits at a 90 degree angle.  SO CUTE!  He also knows how to wave and he waves at people in the store.  He loves to hit everything and his little arms are constantly slapping up and down.  Even if he isn’t making contact with anything his arms are still slapping.  It is also cute when Trevor holds Jace in the air while he is lying down because Jace immediately starts running and jumping ferociously as if to save his life. It is adorable!  Ever since he has learned to crawl he has LOVED to be under the coffee table, chairs, and dining room table.  He loves tiny spaces and is always bonking his head.  It is funny/sad because he will be in the crawling position and then will leap forward and bonk his head on the chair leg, cry, and then do it again and again and again.  He can’t figure it out.  I am going to get him a baby helmet if Trevor will let me (Trevor thinks it will sissify him and make the other kids think he’s a pansy).  I am really worried about the kid’s head damage!  He also is like Baby Davy because he will just BULLDOZE with his head.  If we are laying on the ground he will come crawling up at lightning speed, put his head down, and just bash into us, back up, and do it again and again.  It is SO funny!  He is very interested in whatever I am interested in.  When I am using my laptop he wants to bang around on it, and when I am reading a book he insists on holding it, too.  It is funny when I am reading on the ground because all of a sudden a tiny little hand will appear on the page and then a big fat bum will seat itself right in the middle of the book.  He will not remove his bum unless I go play with him.  He makes all kinds of new noises and all kinds of fake sounds such as fake sneezing, fake coughing, and his favorite—fake crying.  He loves the balconies and I can just set him out there in the sunshine and he will be so happy just hanging onto the balcony bars trying to escape.  He is very interested in food now and never gives me a moment’s peace when I am trying to eat.  He always lunges for my plate and anything on it.  He LOVES broccoli, cauliflower, and baby carrots.  He will just sit there chowing down on them for a good half hour; it is adorable! As I type this I am looking at the floor and it is littered with a trail of baby carrots. He also likes to put his little feet up on EVERYTHING.  If you are holding him he will work his little feet up until they are against the chair, the table edge, the wall, the shopping cart, ANYTHING because he likes to push with them so he is tightly wedged into whatever is holding him and he likes to see his cute little toes.  He is also mesmerized by the fact that he can open and close his hands and will just sit there while he is eating just staring at his tiny fist as he opens and closes it over and over.

He does a lot more but Trevor has held him long enough and I better put him to bed.  Happy Father’s Day Dad Suttner, Dad Chapman, Justin, Jonas, and Grandpas of all family’s and any other father who checks out blog and the biggest “Happy Father’s day” to the best father ever: TREVOR!!!!

THE FOLLOWING WAS WRITTEN ON 05.09.2007 BUT NEVER PUBLISHED ONLINE:

    Sierra’s number one goal for her trip to Cali was to get super tan so we spent a lot of time at the pool.  She and Jace had a ton of fun just swimming together.  Jace LOVES the water!  He is SOOOOOOOO cute in his little swim trunks!  He is only used to the bathtub so in the HUGE swimming pool he is just overwhelmed and looks at it with the cutest little face.  It is SO funny!  He loves to splash and kick his little legs and is the cutest little frog around.  He also is making leaps and bounds in his progression.  He used to scoot around on his belly but now he hops around on his back!  IT IS SO CUTE!  If he sees something he wants, he will flip over to his back, extend his legs and neck, arch his back and “hop” backwards over and over again until he reaches his desired destination.  It is absolutely adorable.  He was doing that for a really long time, but now he is trying really hard to actually crawl.  He gets up in the crawling position and then rocks back and forth gaining momentum and when he feels he has stored up enough potential energy he leaps, lands flat on the floor, get back up in crawling position, and does it again.  It is adorable.  We think he will be crawling in no more than 3 weeks!

    I took Sierra to the airport on Friday.  I was very very proud of myself because Trevor is always stressed that I am going to run into every moving vehicle on the highway.  However, I got us down to the Newport Airport just fine!  Sierra wanted to skin Trevor alive because he said it was too dangerous for us to drive to Disney Land, Universal Studios, and Knottsberry Farm but we passed every single one of those on the way to the airport.  Sierra can get quite heated if you cross her!

    Last weekend was a very funny one.  Misha, Kostia’s brother, was on leave from the military for 2 weeks so he came out to visit Kostia.   On Saturday we decided to go to the Getty Center in LA.  It is one of the most prestigious art museums in the world and a really huge deal.  Well, for those of you who do not know Kostia, he is from Russia and he looks like the typical guy you think of when you picture a Russian.  He is 6’4”, about 230 lbs, and just a really big guy.  He looks like that guy that Rocky Balboa fought in Rocky VI or whichever one it was.  Anyway, we had just gotten to the Getty Center and it was packed.  In the middle of all the museum buildings is this beautiful fountain.  Trevor told Kostia to go stand on the rocks in the middle of the fountain for a picture.  Kostia, being a loyal friend, did it.  He went out, trekked across the water, and struck a post on the rocks in the middle of this fountain.  All of a sudden the security guard saw him and started running over yelling at Kostia to get off of the fountain.  He pulled out his radio and was bringing in reinforcements.  Kosia got freaked out and became disoriented and tried to get off the fountain as quickly as possible.  Instead of going back the way he came, he leapt forward to what he thought was the edge of the fountain.  However, in his panic, he had failed to realize that it was not dry ground he was jumping to, but a continuation of the fountain.  The water made the ground seem closer, and when Kostia jumped he slipped on the water and came crashing down onto the side of the fountain in front of him.  We didn’t know he had badly injured himself so we just started laughing our heads off.  IT WAS SO FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!  He finally pulled himself out of the fountain, completely soaked, and hobbled over to us.  Only then did we see that he had torn a HUGE chunk of his leg off in the fall—there was this 3 inch gash that was absolutely horrific to look at.

We took him to security to get medical attention and so they asked Kostia for his information so they could make their routine report.  Kostia, however, being Russian and a very wary Russian at that, started freaking out telling them that he was fine, did not need medical attention, and would not give them his information.  They started getting suspicious thinking he had murdered someone or something because he was so reluctant and frantic at the thought of giving his info.  Since we knew Kostia, we thought it was the most hilarious thing in the world, but everyone else was probably thinking they had a murderer on their hands!  It was so funny!  After much negotiation he finally conceded to the medical attention.  He could barely walk so we decided to leave the Getty and check out a less dangerous place—Hollywood.

    We checked out Hollywood and did the whole tourist thing then went to the mall and got delicious sandwiches from “The Great Steak and Potato Company”.  Check it out if you ever see one—it is incredible!  When we got home the boys went to the pool and Jace and I took it easy.  The next day Kostia and Misha came to church with us instead of going to the singles ward so that we could go spend the rest of the day together.  It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO funny because we picked them up and Kostia looked like a Secret Service agent.  Again, he is this big Russian guy with short blond hair.  He had on his church suit and it was all black and then he had on his black sunglasses.  He seriously looked like a body guard.  We were driving to church when Trevor accidentally entered the wrong freeway.  He realized when he had gotten halfway up the onramp, so he told Kostia to go watch for traffic so he could just quickly back down the ramp and get on the correct one.  Kostia, very determined, hopped out and ran down the ramp.  We started backing down and then all of a sudden we saw Kostia raise a commanding hand to oncoming traffic as he beckoned us on with the other hand.  IT WAS SO FUNNY!  He was literally standing in the middle of the road, in  California traffic, dressed as a secret service agent, halting traffic.  The stopped cars surly thought we were some sort of important party because Misha was sitting in the car dressed in his military suit.  It was AWESOME!  We then went to Six Flags and went on all the rides.  My favorites are Superman, the X, Tatsu, and of course Goliath.  It was so fun!

    That is what has been going on!  We are loving California! Jini leaves on her mission in less than 2 weeks so we are going to St. George this weekend for her farewell and then to Lake Powell as a family “goodbye” trip.  It will be a lot of fun because Justin and Lia are flying in from New Haven for the occasion.  The whole family will be together for the last time in at least 18 months!  Wow!