Plasma Cars!!

Sawyer, Drake, Sierra & Makenzie were having a lot of fun playing on the plasma cars. Thank heavens they didn't break their heads open. They were having a lot of fun and scaring mom to death. They had a lot of fun.

Basketball

Drake is the little "John Stockon" the people call him. He dribbles a lot!! He makes good passes and occasionally shoots the ball. He loves to steal and go on the fast break. We loves to watch. Sierra is doing much better this year. She actually is somewhat into the game. She has a couple boys on her team that dominate so she usually only touches the ball while dribbling down and if she rebounds. Last game she got a rebound and actually after some encouragement from the crowd shot the ball. Nice job Drake and Sierra.

Carrie's Getting Married

Well another trip to Heber was great. Carrie had a great bridal shower and got a lot of attention that she didn't like. She got a lot of nice gifts and we got to meet part of Shane's family. It was nice to meet them and can tell they are a great family. We are going to miss her being around but are excited for her to be getting married. Shane you are a lucky man!!

It snowed and snowed Sunday morning. We were all out shoveling and trying to get ready to head back the the warm country. They kids insisted on making a snow man before we went. So we hurried and made this cute little guy. Thanks for letting us visiting the seasons. We sure enjoy them but love to go back the warmth. By the way grandma your looking hot!!

Grandma Draper

Grandma Draper passed away Jan.31, 2007. She was such a sweet grandma and was always very concerned about all of us. The slideshow has a lot of pictures from our great photographers some of them are funny and some are awesome. I also wanted to post the thoughts that Cody compiled even though I know you all have them.

Here are Carrie's thoughts.

Some memories I have about grandma are when she dressed up as a witch and went to a Halloween party and won the best dressed. Then when she sang Shane and I a beer drinking song. I couldn't stop laughing. Then grandma was always trying to shoot any animal that came in her yard. Grandma always had some concoction to clean with She was always making me smile from talking to me about boys and about cleaning the way she wanted it. Well I love grandma and I am going to miss her.

Brady...

things i loved about grandma are

The deer hunt at her house. The chicken noodle soup and mash potatoes and most of all her rolls. She would always make you someting to eat weather you were hungry or not.
Grandma was always up for killing things like i am. She wanted me to come over and hide out and kill the damn squirrel that kept eating her plants. She was so excited when angie killed her first deer she had to make sure we brought her a peice of the lever. If her aim was a little more steady she would have killed alot things. She was always telling funny stories about moon shine and marijuana plants and things that just made you laugh.

Casey...

I wish I remembered her exact stories. After my mission when she was staying at our house in heber, I loved to just sit down and ask grandma questions about her life. I never knew that she had travel so much, she had been to Hawaii 3 different times and some other places I don't remember. She said she had been up to Canada a few times to the Calgary Stampede. I also loved to hear her tell stories about Poly and growing marijuana because it was a pretty flower, and making moonshine.
My favorite is her old style attitude toward killing things. It didn't' matter what the season or if it was legal or not, if the deer, squirrels, birds or anything was eating her flowers or the apples on the trees she just thought we should shoot it and get rid of it. I still remember her taking out the old .22 and popping a pigeon off the power line, she hit it right between its eyes, she as always a good shot. Every year she loved it when we came to go deer hunting and was always so proud of us when we shot a deer.
Another thing I liked to do with grandma is ask her about my dad and what he used to do to get into trouble, that gave me some defence when I did something wrong. She always told a good story.

Lesa...

I remember my Grandma being the happiest when she was taking care of
others. She loved to cook for us, quilt for us, and help out where she
was needed. Her homemade chicken noodle soup and rolls will never be
outdone. I know my Dad will miss that terribly. Every Christmas I love
to pull out the stockings that she made for me and my family. And I
know that I always can find a quilt to remind me of her too.
One of things that I admired most about Grandma was her strength. I
believe she passed that strength and determination on to her
granddaughters. I will never forget the incident with the rattlesnake
in the front yard. And I will especially never forget how she was
determined to live by herself and do for herself until she passed on
to Heaven. She was a great grandma and I will miss her.

Tracie...

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Grandma Helen is her delicious rolls and chicken noodle soup. She is famous in the family for the food she makes. At times, when I looked at the meal she made me, I was nervous to eat it but once it went in it was mouth-watering good. She could just whip up anything without a recipe and it was amazing.

Next, I think of all the quilts and Afghans she spent many hours working on. The Christmas stockings that we all cherish and the little Christmas stockings she would hand out with a $2 bill in them. And most recently she spent so much time doing the edge of baby blankets and burp clothes. About two years ago I decided I needed to spend a little more time with her. I asked her to teach me to crochet. She was so patient as she taught me the stitches. I will never forget that time we spent time together as she taught me something that she was passionate about. During that time she gave me a letter that she wrote to me when I was born. It was a project she had done with Relief Society. It had memories and advice for me, only to be opened and cherished when I had grown and begun a family of my own. Other memories include her poetry in the cards she would send on birthdays, graduation, wedding and holidays. Here is an example of a card I save from my 10^th birthday! :

Tracie here you are 10 and a little grown up girl,

who likes to dance and go in a whirl,

so mind your parents who are special to you,

they know what is best for you to do.

So help your family all you can,

for that make a happy family,

and that is God’s plan.

I also have many fond memories of all the family gatherings at her house for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Deer Hunt and Monday Night Family Home Evening projects.

Lately the best memories come from the stories that she has told about her life. She has so many funny stories about Moonshininig, growing Marijuana plants she found on her walks, and living a farm life. Dave’s favorite memory about her is the stories she would tell about shooting out the back door at squirrels, deer, or anything else that would get in her garden. She would tell us that she was a good shot to and would never miss. The last story she told me was about my dad and mom. She had told Grandpa Draper that Val was crazy to keep having all these kids. She said Val does not enough patience to have this many kids and that we would not all survive. She was amazed to see that all eight of us grew up happy, educated and all going to church. She said “I guess he did a good job.”

Overall, my memory of her is the love she had for her family and the time she put into making specials gifts for us. I know that she loved each one of us.

Nikki...

Well it's hard to put all the memories I have into words. First of all the kids all mentioned a few things. Drake said she was nice and fun. She collected a lot of things and had a lot of fun things to look at. He enjoyed collecting bones behind the barn, sledding and playing in the fields behind her house. Sierra said that she had toys to play with. Always gave her a hug and smiled. She wanted to say "I Love you Grandma!" Makenzie said she liked her table "wagon wheel table" and liked playing with her toys. She liked giving her hugs. Steve enjoyed listening to her tell of her history. The story of how her and Grandpa got the farm and about when she grew up. The memories I have of Grandma when I was little was sleeping over at her house and waking up to breakfast that her and grandpa had cooked. I always loved to here her advice and loved to here her say "You just be careful Nikki". I enjoyed learning to crochet with her and making hot pads. Easter was always a great time at Grandma's too. The deer hunt w/ ckn and noodles will never be forgotten. Her rolls w/o a recipe were always something to fight over. Sledding down the lane is something I'll never forget. I love the memory of making a quilt for me for my wedding. She always put so much time into it and loved doing it. She was very frugal and always had a story to tell about when she was young and to be grateful for what we have. They sweet voice and warm touch of her hand. I am so thankful to have had such a wonderful grandma who we grew up by and were able to spend a lot of time with and learn so much from. We Love you Grandma and we'll miss you but we do know that you are happy, watching over us and that we can be together forever.

Amy...

Some of the things that come to my mind are
Her baking a squash pie this year. I don't think I've ever heard of such a thing but she said she didn't have any pumpkin. Of course, it was good. Kace said it was the best pie.
I'll miss her saying "Wait a minute" It seems like that was one of her favorite sayings.
Of course she was a great shot with a gun. Recently, she was after two squirrels who were driving her crazy (I think that's what they were, ask mom). It seems like she always had a 22 by the back door.
I remember hearing her short little laugh on Christmas Day watching a santa dance. I'll miss that laugh. Famous rolls that no one can duplicate. Her way of cooking without recipes. Homemade chicken and noodles every deer hunt.

Happy New Year!!!

I decided to be a little adventurous have a little get together with the kids friends since Steve was working. We had initially invited a few over but ended up with about 10 plus mine over for the party. We played freeze dance and a few other games. The kids had a great time. We all ate and then the kids decided to do plays for each other. The boys went first and this is how they came out. It was pretty hilarious. Then we settled down for a movie as I stratigically set the clocks ahead a few hours. The movie got over about 30 min before count down and it got pretty wild. We handed out pots and pans and we counted down out front and made quite the racket. Then settling down again was a chore. They finally did go to sleep about 2:00 or so they thought. I fooled them all. We had a great time!!!

Christmas 2007

We hope you all had a great Christmas!! We started by enjoying Christmas Eve day with Steve at the fire station. They had a huge lunch for us. We had prime rib, ham, ravioli, salads and desserts. It was delicious. We watched a couple different times when they left to go on calls and just hung out for a few hours. Santa came to visit on the fire engine and gave all the kids a present and told them to be extra good for mom and go to sleep early. We were glad we went in and enjoyed that time with Dad because he couldn't be with us that night. We went home and went to Grandma and Grandpa Staheli's to go Christmas caroling and have dinner with the Applegates. (Steve's aunt and uncle). We had the only kids this year so it wasn't very crowded and we kept singing Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. We opened our cute matching pajamas that Grandma made and we read the Christmas story. Then it was time for bed. It was already 10:00 so I didn't get kids to sleep until almost 11. We had a very nice Christmas Eve day and night. Drake woke up about 6:15 and so we only had to wait 45 min until dad got home. We had to wake Makenzie up just before dad got home. Tyson found his truck and trailer from Santa and wanted to play with it right now. Makenzie got a dolly that eats, drinks, pees, and poops. Sierra got her mini sewing machine and made 2 pillows that day. Drake got a wave and a new bike and of course Madden 08. Steve got a laptop and I got clothes and a beautiful ring. Thank you everyone for your gifts to the kids and to us. We are so thankful to have a great family and to have the gospel in our lives to help us understand life and remind us to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas our Savior Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas and have a happy new year!!!

Draper Family Party

What a weekend!! Two parties in two days. Thanks to Carl, Geri and family for a great party. The food was great and the kids had a lot of fun with the pinata and making the ornaments. It was great to see everyone. Basketball was another hit of course. It is always fun to see the competitiveness come out of everyone. Thanks to Grandma for the gifts and for all you do for us. We love all of you and were so glad we could make it.

Lee Family Party

The party was great. We were so excited to come up and enjoy the party. There is always a lot of craziness. Thanks to everyone who cooked the great food and put it all together. We miss seeing everyone so it is nice to get everyone in one big blow. The entertainment was great. Thank you Grandma Lee for the gifts we truly do love you.

Stahlei Disneyland Trip

We had a great time in Disneyland with the whole Staheli family. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed beautiful weather. Our highlight of the trip was of course Stacey winning the big prize and allowing us to tag a long with her. We got to ride in the parade and have private meetings with Mickey, Winnie, Tigger, Mary Poppins, Eeyore, and others. We will attach other photos later when we get the other SD card.