Bunkbeds and Leaves

Just had to show the new bunk bed in Tanner and Ryan's room. They are so excited that they hung out in there all day just playing on the top. I remember the bunk bed we used to have when we were little and how we put stickers all over it and colored underneath the top bunk when we were laying on the bottom. I climbed in with Ryan tonight for a minute and to just remember the good ol' days and how claustro-phobic it actually feels! Oh well, they think it is a new adventure.

Somehow we ended up in the back playing in the leaves and everything was calm until a leaf-throwing-fight broke out. Kaden and Tanner went full force and so Ryan buried himself in the leaves to hide. Never a dull moment

around this joint...

The Birthday Boys

October 21st is a special

day around here-- Tom and Zach's birthday! What a cool thing to share your birthday with your dad. Double cakes are the highlight and this year it was the sparkler candles that were fun to watch as they tried to blow them out. Notice the BSU colors and new jersey on Zach. It was all about BSU as Zach got a nice Hoodie from Grammy & Grandad, a Big Blue body pillow, and Ian Johnson's jersey #41. Can you tell we are from Boise? He was excited to get Gpa and Gma's package with a new video game for his DS, too.

Thanks to all of you that called to wish them a happy one... You guys always make it special.

Trains and Pumpkins

Yesterday was a special day that both Tanner and I will never forget. I was able to go with his school class to Horseshoe Bend and ride the Thunder

Mountain Train Express to a Pumpkin Patch. Thanks to Grammy and Grandad's help with Ryan for the day, Tanner was so excited to have me alone, which is something that doesn't happen often when you have 3 other brothers. We had a blast riding the train over bridges and through the hills on a sunny, warm fall day. On the way back we even rode outside the whole time and Tanner had fun with his buddies looking over the edge at the tracks. We got to pick out a pumpkin (of course Tanner picked a huge one and guess who got to carry it all day) and eat lunch at a park back in Horseshoe Bend.

It is days like these that make life magical. First graders smiling, laughing and walking up and down the train eating popcorn and licorice. Parents sitting close and spending time with their child, sacrificing whatever else they could have been doing on a Friday in order to relax while staring outside as the train moves, just knowing that being there was worth it. Sometimes it just takes that little 1st grader's face begging you to say, "Yes, I can come on your field trip" in order to stop everything else for a day and make a memory.

First Timer!

I have to admit that I am a little nervous to be a blogger. There are some amazing blogs out there and so I am just testing the water to see if I am even smart enough to do it. If any of you have an good tips or cool ideas that you have found please let me know (aka Kelly, J, Taneil, Kym, etc)!


It will be fun to chronicle the highlights, blessings, and laughs around our home with our family. That is truly where the name of "Draperland" came for this blog site. Partly because of the theme park feeling with raising a family of all sons and partly including the wonderful neighbors we have in the driveway. This is indeed Draperland and we are loving just about every minute of it...