Riley Takes the Plunge

Saturday, March 7th was a big day for our family...Riley was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church. There were lots of friends and family in attendance, and we are so grateful for all thier love and support. Riley's sweet spirit and simple faith are a great example to our entire family.

Connor Takes a Trip

On Monday, March 16th, Connor took a little tumble in the bathroom and hit his eye on the edge of the toilet. After a little screaming and a whole lot of blood, this was what was left...a nice 1"+ gash over his right eye. His eye ended up swelling shut not long after this. After a quick trip to the doctor, it was decided to let it heal up on its own, though he probably needed a stitch or two. After hours of ice packs and q-tips, the bleeding finally stopped about 7 hours after the initial injury. His eyesight seems totally unaffected...thank goodness! And now, 3 days later, the swelling is almost totally gone, though he definately has a rainbow of colors going on! He is even ready to play in his game tonight! Way to go Rocky!

Baseball Begins

Well, it is that time of year again...baseball. Riley is playing for the AA Angels (with Chris as his Manager). The team is currently 3-1 with 12 games left in the regular season. So far this season, Riley has been hit 3 times while up to bat, and he has walked almost every other time. He even got to pitch two innings in the team's third game. He did a great job the first inning, but I think his arm had pretty much had it after that. Connor is in his first year of baseball playing Coach Pitch for the Padres. In his last game he hit one homerun, followed by a grand slam homerun...there is a lot of power in that little body! Gehrig is still sitting on the sidelines with me at all the practices and games, but he is definately looking forward to getting out on the field next year for t-ball.

Our big boy is growing up.

I am prety sure that at this time many of you are aware of what is happening with Scott & Heather. If not then I urge you to please read Mike's blog for the quick version, or for those of you who want more details please see heathers sister Cherise's blog. What I want to write about is my families participation in it. chantelle & I can not take any responsibility for what we did.

On Sunday Riley, Connor & I were at church, and in Sacrement metting the talks were on the power of fasting. Durring one of the talks a person who some of you might know became weak and collapsed a couple of rolls in front of us. He was rushed off in an ambulance. It was mentuioned at the pulpit that we pray for this brother. After church Riley came home and asked if he could fast for this gentelman, and Heather. We told hi that he could and that would be a good idea. so after dinner Chantelle, Riley, and I knelt down in prayer and Riley offered the Fast for these people. Riley understood that the pourpose of a fast is a sacrifice, so he said that he would not eat until after he got home from school. Chantelle & I were not sure what the schools response would be to Riley's fasting, so we wrote a note explaining Riley's choice. His teacher who is wonderful told Riley that his stomach could not withstand a fast, and made him eat durring snack. Riley was really upset about it, and we had to explain that his intent is what heavenly Father wanted to see.

The reason I am posting this, is for 2 reasons. Reason 1) I am extreemly proud of his decision, and do something that I was not prepared to do on my own. Reason 2) I would like your imput as to if you feel that the teacher is right in this situation?

2008 in Review

The Chapman Family-2008 in Review


We started off the past year by adding a new friend to our family…Daisy. She is a beautiful yellow/white lab, who has gotten considerably bigger since this picture was taken.

Chris continues to work at Allied and enjoys

what he does. This year he helped to coach

Riley’s basketball, baseball and football teams. He learned a lot about coaching the different aspects of each game. He is looking forward to coaching both boys in basketball, Riley in baseball, and then taking over as head coach for Connor’s football team. Recently Chris acquired a couple more “friends” for our family…2 northern Brazilian Red Tail Boas.

As you can see, all the boys love to hold the snakes. They are 5 months
old, and they are both a little over 2 feet long.

The boys name is Sardinho (which means

“little freckles” in Portuguese), and the girl is

named Ana Paula, a popular Brazilian name.

Chantelle continues to run a full-time preschool and day care from our home, though she was forced to change the name this past May, after her partner in Widdlebugs decided she no longer wanted to be a part of the business. Chantelle renamed the preschool Socrateenies (after the Greek philosopher Socrates). And if that isn’t enough, she also volunteered to be an assistant team mom for Connor’s football team…it makes her crazy, but she loves it!

Riley celebrated his 7th birthday this year with a “Jurassic Party”, and finished up his first grade year with a speaking part in the end
of the year presentation. He nailed his part, but when he turned around, he tripped and fell in front of everyone…it was awesome! Riley tried

basketball for the first time and did okay. He then

went on to play up a division in single A baseball

(kid pitch). He was the youngest player on his team by almost a year, but ended up leading the league in triples, and batting .429.

Riley then went on to play his first season of tackle football with the
Wildcats. He was an animal on the defensive side of the game, where he
recovered a couple of fumbles and made many tackles and sacks. He is
loving second grade, and is looking forward to his next season of basketball and baseball, but most of all, he is looking forward to getting baptized this year!
Connor, turned 5 this year, and was excited to start kindergarten. Mom and Dad were definitely more nervous on the first day than he was. Though he was too young to play baseball this year, he was able to play his first season of flag football for the Huskies, where he pulled a flag on a critical 4th and 1 to help preserve his teams undefeated season. He is loving school and looking forward to his first seasons of basketball
and baseball.

Gehrig, turned three this year, and much to the dismay of his dad, he is
still in love with Elmo. So, for his birthday, we took him to Breakfast with Elmo at Sea World…he LOVED it! I’d say he never looked happier, but Gehrig is almost always happy. He is still huge at 44” and 45 lbs. He is only and inch shorter than Connor, but he outweighs him by a good 5 lbs. He loves playing with his big brothers, and looks forward to getting out on the field with them in a couple years. He is also a big help to Mommy during preschool.

This year Chris and Chantelle celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary… where does the time go? The last time we took a picture in front of this temple, it was on our wedding day, and there were three less people in it. This past summer, we decided to celebrate by taking a family trip down to San Diego, where we visited the Wild Animal Park, the San Diego Zoo, the USS Midway, and Sea World, where we also had breakfast with Shamu,.
It was a fun-filled week for the whole family.

As a family, we are doing great! We survived the recent firestorm, thank goodness Chris decided to stay behind during the mandatory evacuation, and spend the night on our roof putting out all the hot embers that flew our way. We are extremely grateful to have made it through unscathed. We are truly grateful for the blessings that we have had over the past year, and for each of you. We hope that your year has been as blessed as ours.