The Stapley Family

The Stapley Family

Monday, January 19, 2009

Last of the Year

Well, I thought I would finish the year with some pics of last year and exciting things that happened. Kelli and Kyle have done a great job adding their pics of the wedding and crabbing. That was a lot of fun!!!!



There they are in the middle of the Maze.





After crabbing we took Kyle and Laura up to Canada, which Laura has been wanting to do since she's been coming up to Washington. We went up to Vancouver and hit some of the fancy Shopping places, New York Style. We went to our favorite Gardens that have a maze that you can run through, Kaci and Kyle used to race through them to see who came out first. I think the last time we went there was with Nancy and Brittanie. They loved it! They were acting silly that day and ran all over taking crazy pictures of themselves.










I wish I had pictures of the great adventure we took with Cori and Aaron on the Boise River. Wasn't a good time for a camera though and I'm thankful we didn't take one to ruin. We started off going down the river, all things were great, we had Ellias and Cori and Aaron had Sydni. Aaron told us to follow him, he knew the river well, and knew the right places to go over the rocks and get around trees. Boy, we should've known better than to follow his lead. As we were going down enjoying the nice winding river, Aaron and Cori were going in all directions, running over low rocks, ripping their boat to shreds on the bottom, and as we looked over at them, all we could see was little heads popping out above the raft, as the bottom had deflated. They were sinking, so we pulled over to the side of the river, as Cori tried to pull their raft to the side, needless to say they were still about 15 feet away from the bank, she sprained her ankle, and almost fell in the water, which didn't matter, she was wet already. We decided that it was safer to go with grandma and grandpa so we enlisted Sydni to go with us. So we had both kids and we took off again. Cori, getting a little fed up with Aarons rowing techniques, decided to show him how it was done. As she pulled on the oar, the very first time, it broke and sailed down the river. So then they had to row with one oar. It was hilarious, to watch them struggle down the river, turning around and around, we wondered if they would have anything left to hang on to, as the boat kept deflating, but we couldn't stop laughing. Once we were done and finally out of the water, they were a little, or should I say soaked. They dragged their raft up to the the garbage can and dumped the whole thing and the other oar, in the garbage and we all just laughed. A river trip never to forget. WARNING!!!!! BEWARE OF THE RIVER RAT!! We had the best time ever!!!


Can't wait for another fun river run!

Save our raft for next year!!!!!

The best part is always being with the kids, and GRANDKIDS!!
Christmas was great, A real memorable one in our eyes!!! Dad had gotten an e-mail asking if any one could help an elderly couple with some water issues up at the church property. Dad went up there and helped, the next day he had a feeling he should call them. This was Christmas Eve, so he did, they had many struggles that week, their awning to the 5th wheel had collapsed with the weight of the snow and the electricity was off and still no water. So, dad went again to help and took more people to help with the other problems. When he got there he could see that the poor couple had just had it and were tired and DONE!!!! Dad invited them to come spend Christmas Eve and Christmas with us. Kaci and Aaron spent the night with us too, and when they heard that this couple was coming, they quickly turned into Santa's elves and went to gather some things. WOW! that was awesome. The couple had a wonderful time!!! We really enjoyed sharing our Christmas and making theirs a little brighter. Elder Cook is a Poet and has published a book, so he wrote a poem for us and signed it which made it even more special. It was fun having Kaci and Aaron here for their first Christmas together.






Elder and Sister Cook are from Idaho and this is their 8th Mission for the Church.


Then we got to open our Christmas from the kids, Always a scary thing to do since they have decided they are now giving us Adventures, WHICH I Personally, LOVE THE MOST!!! But is always a little scary wondering what is on their mind. Last year the dog sled was a blast, we loved it. So, here is our gift that they all gave us!!! It's a Garmin GPS with a destination, in coordinants, so we have no idea where it is until we put it in the Garmin, so we will be going this next week to find out where this place is that they are sending us. I'm in love with our GPS.... We call her LIA, for the Liahona.....I think sometimes though she takes us a totally weird way though, but it gets us there. It will be great for those long road trips. Thank you, it's a great present and just what we've wanted....WE LOVE YOU!!! You're the best kids ever!!

******Sorry the video won't load!!! I'll send it to Kyle and see if he can put it in!!********

After that we went to Kelli and Duffy's for New Years!! We played games!!, took the kids to the children's museum, and made yummy food!!! Dad watched the UTES WIN!!! His favorite game, we practically have to hold our hand over our heart when they play. It took some fixing up the antenna but we managed. We had a great New Years with them and it was fun to see the kids.

So that's the rest of the year 2008. Next year we'll have a new Dezember baby, Brinley getting baptized, maybe a new house for Kyle and Laura and who knows, Kaci and Aaron. The Lucoffs new adventures on the river, and hmmm crabbing. Thank goodness Van will be navigating. We are in the planning stages for our big CRAB Trip with our Captain Van on the Oregon Coast, Lets hope the wind keeps down this year and we don't get skunked. I don't think (Kaci's) Aaron will go hunting for any little critters (SNIPE HUNTING)this year.
Cutest little people around!!!