For Eternity

The Dress Lady is Coming

2008-10-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

It's going to be a party. Many of you are familiar with the "dress lady" she sells department store dresses at major discounts. I am hosting a party at my house on October 30th. The party will last from 9:00 am - 11:00 am. Drop your kids off at school and come by and see the dresses. I get all of Gracie's dresses from her. Here is her website if you would like to check it out, http://thedressparty.com/ she only comes to Arizona a few times a year and I was lucky enough to have her this time. We need 30 people to come or she will stop coming to Arizona so please help! If you are interested please email me at alysenc@hotmail.com or leave a comment and I will get you more information, any and all are welcome so tell everyone you know about this. This will be a great time for all of us girls that never get together to get together. I can't wait to see everyone.

And then there were 4

2008-08-19T10:47:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we welcomed the arrival of Bryan Dee Chaffee to our family. He was 2 weeks early but very welcomed. I woke up Saturday morning around 1 am with steady contractions. We needed to have antibiotics 4 hours before delivery and because of how fast I deliver I was a little nervous. First thing in the morning I called Aunt Becky who works as a nurse at Banner Gateway and she told us to come on in. We arrived at the hospital to be induced and were able to get the antibiotics in plenty of time. There was really no active labor at all while we received the antibiotics; it was very boring and anticlimactic. The on call Doctor came in our room and broke my water at 6:09 pm. Shortly after that the active labor kicked into high gear and Bryan Dee Chaffee was born at 6:59pm. That’s right just three pushes and he was here. He weighed in at 7lbs 5oz and 20 inches long. He is perfect in every way and the kids just can’t get enough of their new little brother.

Welcome to the world Bryan Dee Chaffee!

Alysen & Little Bryan

The kids just can't get enough of Baby Bryan

Neither can Mom & Dad

Where did the summer go?

2008-07-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

On Monday our summer officially came to an end. In QC we have the modified year round schedule which means we get more days off throughout the year but also a much shorter summer. Wyatt started 1st grade on Monday and Jesse’s preschool is not far behind. I can’t believe I am going to have 2 kids in school! Wyatt loves his class and was very excited to find that many of his friends from last year are in his class again. He also starts his third year of “Lets Play Music” (Highly Recommended) in a few weeks. It is sad to put our summer in the rear view mirror, but it is also very excited to get back into a normal routine of bedtime, morning scripture study and a little slower pace for the time being. We are expecting Bryan to arrive within the next month so that slow pace will be shot lived. Anyway so much for the summer and hello school year!

While the boys are away

2008-07-02T16:57:00.000-07:00

The boys went up north with Grammy & Papa Chaffee to a family reunion. Dane had to work and that left me & Gracie home to rule the roost. We have had so much fun, we have been shopping two days in a row and Gracie loves all the attention. She has really milked the entire experience. We have done her hair special everyday, she loves doing girl things. She has taken over the couch and replaced the cushions with a blanket and all her dolls. She is such a sweet girl when she wants to be, tonight we are taking Dane and all three getting pedicures.

Here she is with all her dolls

Almost Over?

2008-07-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

It is officially summer, and the kids think it is a holiday. They think we have to have an activity everyday of I start to hear, “I’m board, there’s nothing to do.” Here are a few of our happenings so far this summer. In-between the swimming lessons which have really started to pay off, the kids have become increasingly better swimmers, we have stayed busy. Irrigation continues to be one of the kid’s favorite bi-weekly events. They feel very cheated if irrigation gets scheduled in the middle of the night. We are half way through summer movies, which have brought many smiles and provided the kids with many new quotable lines to rehearse with mom and dad. A few visits to the zoo proved fun until our every comfortable weather officially melted all of us sending everyone back to the pool. We have been to the cabin twice and have a few more visits scheduled before all is said and done. The monsoons have provided manageable weather and allowed us to teach the kids the game of hopscotch; this has become an afternoon favorite as the monsoons continue. Overall it has been a wonderful summer and we have much more to fit in before the bell rings us back to school in only 28 days!

Irrigation is one of the kids favorites!

The kids love the Zoo.

Hopscotch has become an afternoon monsoon tradition, Dane thinks they just like drawing on the sidewalk

We found a little snake, Dane would not touch it, he had a neighbor boy come over to kill it.

This is not Mickey

2008-06-19T13:26:00.000-07:00

We live in a small community with horse privileges. That means lots of hay barns and tack rooms. The mice love it. Every summer when the neighborhood starts irrigating, the mice start running for cover. We have seen them in the garage occasionally but luckily for us we have never had them in the house, until now. We came home on Sunday to find one little field mouse scurrying across the floor. Dane tried very hard to catch the little guy but was unable to out wit the mouse. Frustrated, he headed right to the store to pick up some mouse traps. He returned home with enough traps you would have thought we had a heard of mice or something. He carefully set each trap and strategically placed them around the house. Our house was literally booby trapped with mouse traps. We had put the kids to bed and settled down for a movie when we heard a snap from the back bedroom. Sure enough the traps worked and dad got his mouse. I have not seen Dane so excited in a long time, he had to go wake up the boys to show off his catch. After the disposal I made him take all the traps down and luckily we have not seen any more mice in our sanctuary.

Schools Out

2008-06-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

We are still a little behind in our postings as things continue to get crazier and crazier. I keep telling myself that I will do better and catch up as soon as things calm down. Well I have finally resided to the fact that it will be a long time before life slows down. School is out, and the summer has officially started and slow does not describe our life at all. Between swimming lessons, summer movies, playing with friends, trips to the cabin, reunions, chores, hopefully some time for a family vacation, and last but not least a new baby in August, life is crazy. With that being said we would not have it any other way. Wyatt ended his first year of school as the student of the month. Dad already has the sticker on his truck. Funny how kids change you, while we were dating Dane constantly made fun of those with bumper stickers, but as soon as he saw this it was on his truck like a badge of honor. He had the best teacher in the world, Miss. Groves was wonderful. We are so proud of Wyatt and still can’t believe he is starting the first grade in less than 8 weeks.

Happy Mothers Day

2008-05-16T08:19:00.001-07:00

On Friday afternoon this flower box arrived from Honolulu Hawaii, I was so upset. When we first got married I informed Dane that while I love flowers and how absolutely beautiful they are, I prefer to have the money to go shop and spend on my family. After all the flowers last only a few days before they wilt and die and shopping for your kids and hubby is just what I love! With that bit of background maybe now you can understand my frustration to see a giant flower box arriving from the flower capital of the world. Two years ago Dane got creative and gave me a flower bouquet made out of money. Last year he wrapped a piece of cardboard like a present and attached it to the ceiling with a string. Behind the cardboard was the money so when I pulled the string I was showered with bills. I figured he had just finally got lazy and gave in to the easy way out. When Dane got home he asked if a package had showed up and I think he could sense that I was a tad bit miffed. He took the boys in the back room for about ten minuets and emerged with the box. He got all the kids together and they sang me “Mother I Love You” and then explained that “Mothers Day” was being changed to “Mothers Weekend”. The kids then opened up the box. Much to my surprise I found a Hawaiian Lei made out of money. It was absolutely perfect except for the fact that Dane loved to tell people his wife got Leid for mothers day? We then went out to dinner with my sister and her husband. On Saturday I got a pedicure and on Sunday Dane talked in church and paid me the sweetest tribute I could ever ask for. I may be bias but it was an incredible talk, I got compliments for him all day. I can’t believe I thought for one minute that Dane would have taken the easy way out; I have the best husband ever! Hope every one had a great and happy Mothers Day.

Happy Mothers Day to All!

The Sleeper

2008-05-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

Gracie has so much energy. If there is an activity going on she has to be in the smack dab middle of everything. It is so extreme that she is starting to annoy her brothers at times. She is so afraid that she is going to miss something that she has decided that she no linger needs a nap. This makes for a very cranky little lady come afternoon and evening. But lately we have started to find Gracie konked out in the strangest places. She just goes 100 miles per hour until she just konks out. It is the funniest thing; we will find her just sleeping in strangest places and positions?

Here she is watching her brothers play the computer

Out she goes.

She wanted to read books

Out she goes.

One minute she is this

In the next breath she is sleeping on Papa?

She strikes again

Everything’s coming up Roses

2008-04-18T11:51:00.001-07:00

I love this time of year when everything starts coming to life again, and I really LOVE my rose garden. My roses are doing so well this year. When we moved in last year I had Dane pull up all the nasty cactus and replace them with green shrubs and 14 different roses. We have 3 different red, 2 different pink, white, orange, purple, and yellow roses. I love the smell and the blooms are so beautiful. I could spend hours sitting on the porch swing enjoying my beautiful roses, but the best part is I always have a vase of fresh cut roses in the house. As soon as I walk out the back door I can smell all the different roses and I love it!

My Rose Garden

It's Over!

2008-04-16T08:08:00.000-07:00

April 15th is over, it has come and gone and once again it was memorable. Each year we plan on picking Dane up from work at 5:00 pm sharp to celebrate the closing of tax season. It is a crazy day for him from the time he gets to work all the up until 5:00 so the celebration is much needed. This year Dane woke up at 2:00 am sick as a dog. He was so sick he was not able to even go in and help. Diner plans were canceled and replaced with chicken broth and Gatorade. While it was not the normal April 15th that our family has become accustomed to, in the end we are finished and got our daddy back!

Tanker-banker

2008-04-08T18:01:00.000-07:00

Back in October we gave in to the kid’s pressure and got a dog. Tank was a small, little, cute, and cuddly little guy. Times they are a changing; Tank is now 6 months old and huge. He chews everything in site; we have gone through 3 hoses in the last 3 weeks. Dane is learning that he must put things away. =) While Dane has talked about getting rid of him and how much he hates him, Tank has brought so much joy to the kid’s life. The kids call him Tanker-banker and he is the best dog and is so patient with them. He lets them do whatever they want to him. The kids pull on his ears wrestle and even try and ride him and all the while he just loves them back. I don’t know what we would do without our big Tank, and to be honest, as much as Dane talks big I think he really loves Tank to. While we were out of town Dane went out and bought him a spike collar. Then the other night he brings home a dog tag with Tanks name and our address and phone number on it. What a softy. The kids have done great taking care of Tank. They feed him and make sure he always has water and they don’t even complain too much about “picking up” after him. Dane calls it poop control. Anyway we truly love our “little” Tank.

Then & Now

Here are the kids doing poop control. They pull the wagon around and fill it up with the droppings.

Finishing poop control, Wyatt uses two cups to scoop it up so his hands stay clean, Jesse just opts for gloves.

EXPECTING

2008-04-07T11:31:00.001-07:00

We are expecting the 4th addition to our little family on August 29th. We just found out that the addition is a he! It’s a boy! Dane is so relieved, he was not sure he could do another little girl. We look forward to the addition and will try to keep up with this blog thing better in the future.

Pretend Santa Clause

2008-04-07T11:25:00.001-07:00

We had an amazing ward Christmas party this year. Our ward is so blessed with some of the best voices I have ever heard. After much debate our ward decided that after the signing and at the tail end of the party Santa would come for the kids. The person that was supposed to be Santa did not show up so at the last minute Dane got roped into playing Santa Clause. He was not happy about it at all and in fact I thought we were going to get a grumpy Santa for all the kids. He came out and quickly the line formed. For almost 45 minutes there was a steady stream of kids. When it was our kids turn, Jesse quickly told Santa everything that he wanted; Gracie screamed and wanted nothing to do with him and Wyatt asked, “Daddy why are you playing Santa? Dane whispered something in his ear and Wyatt was off. As things were winding down, and the final kid was gone Wyatt and I came back in to see Santa. Wyatt was grinning from ear to ear and so proud of his daddy. He climbed up on Santa’s lap but I could se a puzzled look on Danes face. All of a sudden out of the blue Dane says, Wyatt did you know that Santa is not real. WHAT, did you just tell our 6 year old son that Santa is not real. I was so confused and to be honest mad! He then took the next few minutes and in detail explained why we celebrate Christmas and told Wyatt how much he loved his Savior Jesus Christ. As he talked to Wyatt my anger was quickly replaced by the love our Savior has for each and every one of us. Wyatt hugged Dane and the spirit filled the room It was so neat and very special to all of us their. Wyatt will always remember when his dad, dressed in a Santa costume, taught him about the real meaning of Christmas. He then told Wyatt that this was their secret and not to tell his friends that Santa is just pretend. I was shocked and mad at first, but I could not have dreamed that moment could have or would have gone any better than it did. Latter that evening Dane explaine dto me that when Wyatt was sitting on his lap the first time that the spirit whispered to him to teach his son that Santa was just pretend. Then later when Wyatt came back, again he was prompted to tell Wyatt that Sant was just pretend. He said he tried to fight it but in the end followed the promtings.

December 2007

2008-04-07T11:03:00.000-07:00

BUSINESS GROWTH

In late October Dane went to Philadelphia for a business development seminar. Ever since the Landscaping fiasco he has felt that maybe he just needed to focus more on accounting and helping their firm grow. With the info from the seminar Dane came home with lots of ideas and was excited to focus on accounting. Over the next few months and with help from the firm, Dane developed some packages to help small businesses with their accounting needs. It was a little bit of a redirection from what they had done in the past but since December he has found great success in helping small businesses stream ling their accounting services. They are bringing on new clients almost every week, so if you know someone who needs help in that area call! While it took a lot of his spare time that the family so dearly enjoys it has been a huge blessing professionally for our family.

CHRISTMAS

Christmas was equally as fun. We had all the Chaffee family out to our place for the feast. We really are so blessed. Grammies and Papa showed up with so many gifts for all the grandkids we tried to decide why we parents even bother to buy gifts. After dinner we spent the day playing cards and games while the kids played in the backyard with all their new toys. Christmas night we reenacted the nativity and for the first time since I joined the family Papa did not play the part of the donkey. This year the donkey was passed on to Dane. He did such a great job!

News Years eve was rather uneventful. To be honest I don’t think we did anything. We just stayed home and enjoyed the kids all night.

November 2007

2008-04-07T10:54:00.000-07:00

MOVING?

In November we had an opportunity to move back to Mesa. The house was bigger and even had a basement and was only 5 miles from Dane’s office. We would lose the land and all the space. With gas prices on the rise and the loss/theft of the landscaping investment we tossed this idea around for a long time. It was a very emotional time; Wyatt had just started school and loved his teacher and classmates. We love QC and were enjoying all the blessings our church service was bringing us and had just started to feel like this was home. We had made so many new friends and just really did not want to move. In the end we decided to stay in QC and forgo the change.

We decided not to move, who could give this up?

THANKSGIVING

For Thanksgiving, we escaped the rush of the valley and headed north to the cabin with all the Essley’s. This was the first time we had attempted this. We arrived the day before so we could relax end enjoy things before the big day. We had so much fun playing in the pines. The dads all chopped firewood for the winter ahead, we brought some home and have loved our fireplace this winter. The cousins explored and climbed all day while the moms cooked up the most delicious dinner ever. The only downside to the day was that there was no TV. This meant that around 5 pm we had to pack up and head home in order to watch the USC vs. ASU football game. What a waste of time, ASU lost 44-24 which sent Dane into a bad mood. Other than that it was a great day.

Back from our Hiatus

2008-04-02T22:20:00.000-07:00

It has been a very long time since our last post. I am sure many if not all of you (if we even have any friend and family who still check on us) are sick and tired of the State Fair. The past 5 months have proven very hectic and crazy for our family, but with a little help and a lot of love we are finally starting to get a since of normalcy back to our lives. Over the next couple of weeks we promise to update all the happenings over the past 5 months and look forward to sharing our future events with all of our most loved family and friends.

The State Fair!

2007-11-05T09:23:00.000-08:00

We made our annual trip to the State Fair this last week. We started going a few years back and it has kind of become a little tradition for our family. I know it is a little bit white trash, but we really enjoy it and plus we used half a bottle of hand sanitizer and wipes. Wyatt has done so well in school that we pulled him out for a day and off we went. We always choose wristband day to go so that we can ride until the kid’s give-up. We arrived just after 12:00 and went right to Uncle Keith and Aunt Jackie’s Indian Fry Bread stand. They are located on the south end of the fair, it is the best. After lunch off we went. The kids loved it, from the tea cups, slides, bumper cars, roller coasters, fairs wheels, to the mild fun houses, they never stopped. It was the least crowded that I have ever seen the fair. We never had to wait in any lines and the food and displays were so great and fun as usual. The kids loved the petting zoo and game system displays. I loved just walking through the displays and seeing all the fun gadgets and toys. I even found the perfect porch swing for the back yard; I am crossing my fingers that Santa Clause brings it to me. True to form Dane loved the demonstrations, he is an infomercial nut. He was ready to buy waterless cook wear for $1600.00 by the time we left the displays? It was so much fun. We thought that we would be home for dinner, but we were having so much fun we settled on corn dogs, turkey legs, and a funnel cake for dinner before finally calling it a night around 8:30. What a great day!

On the Giant Slide

On the Dragons

The "boys" on the Hydro Slide

Up and Over the Fair

Gracie loved her Ice Cream!

Wyatt milking the cow

Jesse on the bumper

Happy Halloween

2007-11-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

Halloween has come and gone. Our ward decided against a Trunk or Treat so we were left fending for ourselves this time. Grammy insisted we all come by for dinner and door knocking in their neighborhood. We got all our costumes together, Wyatt was Spider man, Jesse was Buzz Light-year, Gracie was a princess, Dane was cloudy with a chance of rain, and I was just a mom. The evening was really very fun except we decided we really love the Trunk or Treat format. By the end of the night Gracie had turned from the adorable princes to the White Witch from Narnia. In the end candy filled the buckets and memories once again made.

Dane was "partly cloudy"

The Princess

The Kids

Dog gone-it!

2007-10-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

Seven Years nine months and twenty eight days! That’s how long we were able to put off the dog thing. Dane and I always said we would consider a dog when our kids starting asking for one. Wyatt started asking for a dog about six months ago, and we finally gave in over the weekend. Some friends in our ward had a litter of Rottweiler puppies a few months back and we got hooked on little Tank. We picked him up yesterday and the kids are simply in heaven. They played with him all the way up until bed time. As we were finally winding down, Wyatt picked up Tank and sat in his basket we made for a bed. He informed us he was going to put Tank down to bed. Sure enough five minutes later there was Tank fast asleep on Wyatt’s lap. We went in side and had a very peaceful night. When we woke up this morning there was Tank sleeping in his basket. Anyway we are excited to introduce Tank and hope he brings as much joy to our family in the future as he has brought in the last 24 hours. Who am I trying to kid?

Welcoming Tank

Gracie showing her approval

Wyatt putting Tank to bed, & it worked!

Back from Philadelphia

2007-10-23T16:55:00.000-07:00

Dane’s work sent us back east to Philadelphia for some marketing seminar. Apparently accountants are horrible marketers and so of to Philly we went. This was perfect as it gave us an opportunity to visit Lee and Vanessa along with Jaxon, Lily, and new baby Edison. They live just outside of the city while Lee is finishing up dental school at Temple. It was so much fun, no kids and no responsibilities! While Dane went into the city everyday for his seminar, Vanessa took me to all the fun shopping spots that Philadelphia had to offer. It was maybe the best three days of my life! When we left Phoenix we had to check one bag with the airlines, when we came home due to my shopping (with Danes support) we checked four bags with the airlines. I had to borrow Vanessa’s luggage just to get home it was great! Now I have always heard it said that people from Arizona are very laid back. It’s a west coast thing they say? Well after driving in Philadelphia for the past week I understand exactly what they mean. It was such a fast pace thing. We were honked at more in the four days that we were there than my previous 29 years in Arizona combined. As soon as a light turned green, before we could even press the gas, horns were honking. Buses and Diesel trucks were driving around like they were compact cars, it was truly crazy. We topped of the weekend with a trip to Mortens Steakhouse, usually very reliable, this time very disappointing. As soon as we informed we would not need to see the wine and cocktail list the service got very bad. Long story short they ended up comping our entire meal after we complained. For the entire story visit Lee and Vanessa’s blog. Anyway we sure had a great time, but we are now back and fully entrenched in the blogging world again.

Edison Broc Chaffee

This is the newest addition to the Chaffee family (Lee and Vanessa's) I could not get enough of him. I have been going this way for a while, but I am officially baby hungry!

Go Diamondbacks!

2007-10-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

Dane and I were lucky enough to get tickets to see the Diamondbacks beat the Cubs in game 2 of the playoffs. They swept the Cubs in 3 games and are on to the second round against the Rockies. Baseball and basketball are the sports I really understand and enjoy. We sat 9 rows from the field behind home plate. They were great seats, we sat right behind Matt Williams, who through out the first pitch and in the section right next to us was Donovan McNab, some quarterback in the NFL, I don’t know who he is. It was so much fun, on the next pitch after we took this picture; Chris Young hit a home run to left field that put us ahead for good. The game started at 7:00 pm and true to form, Dane made sure we arrived at about 5 pm to so we would not miss batting practice. The game ended up lasting until 11:30 and we did not get home until about 12:45 am. We were at the game for almost 7 hours, but honestly it was so much fun and I hope we get the chance to go back before the playoffs end. GO D-BACKS!

We sat right behind this guy, we thought for sure it was Anthony Hopkins from his Zoro days.

All Wrapped – up!

2007-10-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

Gracie has her tough macho dad wrapped around her little finger. The other night she jumped up on Danes lap and started giving him kisses like they were going out of style. Since I get to stay at home with the kids and see this every time she wants something I quickly grabbed the camera to catch her shenanigans on camera. Well sure enough, within minutes of buttering up dad they went in to her bed room changed in to some lounging clothes and put on her favorite movie Annie. This was great except that I had told her no movie repeatedly throughout the evening. Thanks daddy.

Here she is ready for the movie with her "I won" smile on.

Diorama Project

2007-10-03T17:03:00.000-07:00

I don’t ever remember doing a report in kindergarten, but last week Wyatt received his first report assignment. The directions asked parents to help their child research a dinosaur but not to do the project for them. Wyatt had to make a diorama and research 4 facts to represent his reptile. He had a list of dinosaurs to choose from, but knew exactly what dinosaur he wanted to do. He chose the Velociraptor. It was interesting, I knew about the Velociraptor from Jurassic Park. In the movie they are portrayed as very large and vicious dinosaur. In actuality they are only 5 – 6 feet long and 3 feet tall while weighing in at a whopping 20-30lbs. Hollywood ripped us off. We were so proud of Wyatt and his excitement, he picked out the 4 facts and other than the mountains (Dad drew them) he did the entire project himself.

He did it all himself, I think Dane would have done it different if he were allowed

The 4 facts about the Velociraptor

Stress Relief!

2007-10-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

And just like that it is gone. About 2 years ago we invested in a landscape company with our friends. It appeared to be a great opportunity and indeed it was really good for a while. Dane and Kenny split the administrative duties and had another partner who managed and operated it. Well about 5 months ago our lives got flipped upside down when the operating partner decided he would leave the company and take all the employees and clients and do the work himself leaving Dane and Kenny all the liabilities and stress. It has been a very uncomfortable and stressful 5 months trying to piece things back together and get a grasp on how somebody we trusted so much could go and do something like this. We have slowly started to put the pieces of a broken company back into place. We decided to try and sell the company and have been praying that someone would see the potential involved. Last week we found that someone. We have sold our portion of the business. This is going to work out great for everyone involved. Prayers are indeed answered, and the best part is no more stress and I get my yard back! Thanks to all that have been their for us to lean on through all the tears and rough times.

Happy Birthday Wyatt

2007-10-02T10:56:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Wyatt’s birthday on Saturday. Wow 6 years, where does all the time go. It seems like just yesterday we were living at Dane’s parents while our house was being finished. I woke up in the morning about 5:30 am and told Dane, “I think this is it.” He jumped out of bed very confused and I calmly went in to the bathroom to showered and do my makeup before we headed off to the hospital. Just a short time later our lives were changed forever. We have shared many firsts with Wyatt since that special day. We are so glad that you are ours and look forward to many more firsts to share together. Just please go easy on us. We had all of the cousins over for slip –n- slide fun along with cake and ice cream. We told Wyatt that he could do whatever he wanted since it was his birthday. Well at 11:48 pm Dane asked Wyatt why we were all still awake. Wyatt just flashed his handsome smile and said, “It’s my birthday, I can do whatever I want.”

Wyatt wanted moms homemade waffles with whip cream powdered sugar and strawberries for breakfast

All the cousins

Happy Birthday Wyatt

It’s an Office party

2007-10-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

Last week The Office season premier aired. We have heard about the Office for a long time but never saw an episode. Finally some friends in our ward talked us into watching it with them. Well we quickly became hooked. So we had a little party last week with some friends from our ward to watch the season premier. It was so much fun; everyone had to dress up as their favorite office character. Dane made a little prize of a framed Schrute Buck and a Stanley Nickel for the best dressed office employee.

Dane(Kevin), Alysen(Angela), Jay(Dwight), Ashley(Pam), Beca(Kelly), Jeff(Jim)

Schrute Buck

Stanley Nickel

Mr. Toad (the 2nd)

2007-09-20T10:53:00.000-07:00

The first week we moved in back in January, the boys found a frog and named it Mr. Toad. How original. They kept him in the sprinkler box and would catch crickets and toss them in for him. Not a bad life for a frog until the cousins got a hold of him. Cousins came over and slid Mr. Toad down the water slide, tossed him in the pool and just played with him like he was any other pet. Well long story short, Mr. Toad did not recover. A few days after this Wyatt & Jesse came running to Dane with a very stiff and cold Mr. Toad demanding some answers. Since that time the boys have been looking for Mr. Toad’s replacement with not much luck. They can hear the frogs but have had no luck seeing and catching them. Well last week Jesse came running inside, he was so excited he could barely speak. Jesse is difficult to understand at times and with the excitement level deciphering his speech was especially difficult this time. He was trying to say Mr. Toad is back. When we finally got things translated we made our way out to the back porch where sure enough there was Mr. Toad #2. The kids hopped around following this little guy everywhere. What a fun night we had, but this time we let him go home instead of putting him in the sprinkler box where he could be subject to cousins once more.

Happy Birthday to our little Princess!

2007-09-13T11:10:00.001-07:00

Two years ago today I woke up with mild contractions. I had seen our wonderful Dr. Beck earlier in the week and was told that I was progressing and that things could happen any day. Dane went off to work and I checked in every few hours but no real changes. Dane was so excited, maybe even more than I was. For those of you who knew Dane, you are very aware of how very much he longed for and wanted a little girl. He loves his boys, but there is something special about a dad and his little girl. As the day went on things seemed to slow down and cool off. Since nothing was happening, I pushed Dane out the door to mutual. The priests were learning to “give proper respect to women, girls, and children” and were babysitting for anyone in the ward. Dane took the boys and I went to the mall with some of my girlfriends. We got to the mall shortly after 7:00 pm and with no kids we were looking forward to a fun girl’s night out. Well at 7:36 pm while walking around the food court, my water broke. I was so embarrassed, but my fabulous girls Michelle and Paula helped me call Dane and off to the church we went. Dane and I got to the hospital at 8:34 pm checked in and Gracie Kate Chaffee arrived at 9:02 pm just 28 minuets after check in. There was not even enough time to get an epidural, that’s right it was all natural. Since that time two years ago our life has changed. How we ever operated with out our little girl is beyond all of us. The get ready to go time has changed from a quick last minuet comb through the boy’s hair to a carefully planned and coordinated process involving bows and clippies. She has truly changed our lives forever. Her brothers and dad adore and tote over everything that is Gracie. She is and always will be our own little princess, Gracie we love you happy birthday.

“I like to look for Rainbows”

2007-09-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

Wyatt came running in the other day shouting and making a big fuss over something. It had been raining for about an hour and was just starting to clear up. We finally walked outside to find a huge rainbow that filled the entire sky. The kids were so excited to see a real live rainbow. Jesse is at the question stage so of course the questions started to flow. Where did it come from, why is it here, and where does it live. Wyatt thinking he is so smart now that he is in school started to try and answered Jesse’s questions. He tells Jesse that it comes from Heavenly Father and Jesus and it means the earth was just baptized. Dane asked Wyatt what he meant, and he said, “You know it’s like the song says.” One of his favorite songs in primary is “When I am Baptized” here are the lyrics. Once again I was humbled by how much our children understand and comprehend.

I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain
and ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again.

I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.
I want to be the best I can and live with God again.

I know when I am baptized my wrongs are washed away,
and I can be forgiven and improve myself each day.

I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.
I want to be the best I can and live with God again.

Bridge to Irabithia

2007-09-05T10:07:00.001-07:00

We stayed home and avoided all the traffic for the long holiday weekend. Actually we had irrigation and the boys decided that we just could not miss it. Since we moved in 9 months ago, we have only had irrigation during the day once. The kids think it is the best thing in the world to play in the irrigation so when we informed them that it was coming during the day the got so excited. It was indeed a party; I think every toy we own was out in the yard by the time the irrigation was finished. Its amazing how something as simple as a little water can create so much fun. After about an hour, Dane started to call the irrigation Lake Chaffee. Wyatt decided he did not like that name and insisted on coming up with something more creative than what dad had thought up. One of the boy’s favorite movies right now is The Bridge to Terabithia, so Wyatt decided that the irrigation would be called Irabithia. Wyatt’s logic was that when the water ports open it is like opening the bridge to his new kingdom, hence the name Irabithia. It is so amazing how these little minds work and what they comprehend. The new kingdom started a new game for the kids as they ran around with swords fighting off all of their magical make-believe creatures. While we missed out on the cool weather and the calmness of the north country, we definitely made our own memories.

We have 12 citrus trees that we planted when we moved in. The boys have named each and every tree. Here is Jesse with his favorite tree "Skinny" Wyatt could not decide which tree was his favorite, so he picked 2, "Fruity" has more fruit than any other tree, and "Miracle" who Dane ran over with the lawn mowers and it lucky to be living.

The kids playing in Irabithia

Wyatt sneaking up on something?

Jesse showing he is strong enough to fight the monsters.

Gracie with her sword.

Before Irabithia

Irabithia

More Irabithia

Digging up those HOLES!

2007-08-30T09:15:00.000-07:00

When we decided to move to the QC a major factor was the space and yard for the kids to play. You see we came from a nice little home in Mesa that had well a modest back yard. Here is our fun filled backyard before the move, and yes that is all of it. Our new back yard is 1.4 acres for the kids to run and play and do whatever they want. Here is the problem, they have all this space, but all they want to do is dig holes. Anywhere they can find a spot they are digging holes. In the flower bed, holes, on the irrigation berms, holes, on the side yard, holes, spots where the grass has died and you can see dirt, you guessed it HOLES. Some of the holes are large, but for the most part we just have small little holes all over our yard. We got holes everywhere! To this point they have left the grass alone but everywhere else they got holes. On the side of the house there is a small 20X5 foot section that separates the rock from the grass. Dane just has not gotten around to filling in the rock there. This is their favorite place to dig their holes. The boys have one hole there that they have been working on for some time now. They say they are trying to make it big enough to put Dad in it? I just don’t get it?

This is our first yard, Yes those are houses on both sides

This is our new yard.

This is the hole they want to put Dane in, eventually.

By the back fence.

In the berms.

And last but not least my flower beds!

Cinnamon Rolls

2007-08-27T14:59:00.001-07:00

At the request of Dane, I made cinnamon rolls this weekend. Because our family can not handle an entire batch of cinnamon rolls, we decided that we were going to take some to a few individuals in our ward as a thank you for lots of support and love the past few weeks. The boys also decided they wanted to help mom make the yummy treats, so they pulled up their chairs and got dirty. They absolutely loved “helping”, from smearing the butter, to spreading the middle, the boys were in heaven. I don’t know if they really actually helped much but we sure had fun and made lots of memories. Oh yeh and boy were they good!

Spreading the Butter

The brown sugar

Lets Play Music

2007-08-24T15:46:00.000-07:00

We have Wyatt in a music program called Lets Play Music. This is his second year he is officially a green turtle shell. Last year he learned a little harmony and note recognition while banging away on some bells. Well luckily he gets to start learning the keyboard this year. YEPEEEEE! He is so excited and really we are to. But this whole keyboard thing will be a bit of a noise challenge. Here is some info on Lets Play Music.

http://www.letsplaymusicsite.com/home.php

Green turtlt shells.

Let’s Play Music believes that all children are musically talented, and that talent is developed through fun, interactive play. FUN, FUN, FUN! Children learn most effectively when they are playing! If you were to peek in on a Let’s Play Music class, you would see jumping, singing, skipping, storytelling, and laughing! Music educators have long taught that the young child learns best through play, experience and discovery. As musical concepts and skills are presented in a playful, joyful setting, children absorb knowledge and ability.

Brother & Sister love to get involved.

High School Musical 2

2007-08-23T10:44:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we had a High School Musical 2 world premier party. I am still so baffled as to why Dane likes this so much and just holding out hope that it has more to do with how our kids love it and not the movie itself. Regardless, we had a great time; the boys had been counting down the days all week and could hardly wait for Dane to get home so we could start the party. We had pizza, friends, and a movie, what a great recipe for FUN. Dane kept commenting on how mean Sharpe was and insisted it was not as good as the first, but we have watched the movie almost 10 times now, Wyatt DVR the movie. I am sure others watched, which was better, 1 or 2?

Music Fireside

2007-08-23T09:50:00.000-07:00

When I was 12 or 14 I had a young men’s leader who gave a fireside on music. It was one of the only firesides I really ever remember having much of an impact on me. Well a few years ago I called and asked if he would come and give that same fireside to our youth. He politely turned me down and insisted that it was time I started giving that fireside. Well I have now done this fireside three different times for three different wards and am working on my fourth ward in a few weeks. Each time I do this the songs and content gets a little worse. It is unbelievable what is on the radio, and even more unbelievable that we don’t process what we are listening to. The fireside consists of a survey given to the wards youth and youth leaders in advance and then we talk about their musical content without singling out bands or songs. The most interesting part of this is that in every ward I have done this for so far, the difference between the most popular music the youth listen to and the most popular music the adults listen to is almost identical. As I went through this wards content I found a very popular song that in fact I have on my play list at work. I was totally shocked when I looked up the lyrics of that song, needless to say that song is no longer part of the play list. I guess the moral of the story is we must be aware of the world around us. Here are some of the findings for this upcoming fireside. These are the slides I will use, sorry if it is hard to understand. This is what our youth and youth leaders are listening to and probably most of us, WOW!

Content has been replaced

Transformation

2007-08-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

A few nights after we brought Gracie home from the hospital I walked into her room to find Dane standing over the crib talking to his “sweet” little girl. He had wanted a girl so bad and was so excited to finally have her here. It wasn’t that he didn’t just adore his boys, but there is just something about dads and their little girls. With tears in his eyes he smiled, gave me a hug, and mumbled something about his sweet little girl. She was indeed special and had brought a spirit into our home that my rough little boys had lacked. That was then, and o how times have changed. Daddy’s sweet little girl has transformed into something our family has previously not experienced. Diva does not do her any justice at all. We have always tried to teach our boys that girls are special and Gracie has caught on to the fact that she may be able to use that to her advantage. Her latest terror tactic is biting. If things are not going just the way that she would like she will show her brothers her teeth. This morning I walked in to an argument between Jesse and Gracie and found our little princess grab Jesse’s head with both hands and with an open mouth move in for the kill. Wyatt and Jesse were not biters, but this has become a very regular activity for Gracie. It is almost like she thinks it is a game and she will never loose. Any advice on how to fix this lovely little problem would be greatly appreciated.

Showing off her "Chompers"

Here she is just after tasting one of her victims

The Best Getaway

2007-08-14T09:12:00.001-07:00

With all the crazy happenings in life, we decided that we just had to get away. Danes parents own a little house just north of the temple, which just happens to be vacant at the moment. On Thursday night we left the kids with a sitter for the weekend and took off. It was so nice; we stayed out late every night, NO CURFEW! We went and saw Bourne Ultimatum, it was so good, but very suspenseful. But the best part of the weekend was the temple, it just makes everything easy. It was very busy as it was the first week open since being closed. It was so much fun, no kids just the 2 of us. We got back home on Saturday night to the peaceful sounds of screaming children and never ending bickering. Oddly enough we really missed those sounds? I love our life

School Lunch

2007-08-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

What a difference a week makes. Life is seemingly falling back to what we might call normal. Wyatt has finished his first full week of ALL DAY Kindergarten. I was not sure how I really felt about sending him off all day, but I must say I love it. He is doing so great, has a fabulous teacher and comes home with fun stories every day. He has already taught everyone the “Days of the Week” song to the tune of the Adams Family, and the “Month-oraina” to the tune of the Macoraina. It is very fun and rewarding to see him start to use his brain for other adventures than just TV and computer games. Of course his favorite thing about school is recess, lunch, and who would have thought, girls. I’m too young for this. Last night after everyone had gone to bed Dane and I sat up talking about Wyatt and all of the fun adventures he is having. Dane told me a story that Wyatt had confided in him to “not tell mom.” After looking over the menu at school we decided we would pack a lunch for Wyatt the majority of the time. His first day he came home and told us he had only ate ¼ of his sandwich and tossed the rest in the garbage. We told him he needed to eat the entire sandwich and to bring home every thing he did not eat so we could monitor if he was eating enough. On Tuesday he came home and informed us he had eaten his entire sandwich. Later while Dane was talking to him he told dad “not to tell mom” but he only eats some of his sandwich and throws the rest away. Dane told him he was very disappointed in him and asked him why he did that. He looked at Dane and with a very mischievous grin said, “I can go to recess faster?”

Thank You, May I Have Another?

2007-07-30T12:46:00.000-07:00

When our family started this blog we decided it would act as a journal for our family. With that being said not all journal entries are happy and positive, however when looked at it the right frame of mind they can help teach and mold us into the individuals that our Heavenly Father wants us to be. Back in the days of Toro Football, we had to memorize a saying, “Fire melts wax, hardens steel” The application meaning adversity or trials separate the week from the strong. Well, our family has dealt with our share of adversity lately that has tested our strength. We fully recognize the importance and even acknowledge the fact that trials are a part of our Heavenly Father’s plan, and indeed are blessings in disguise. Lately just when we have found our selves thinking the sun is starting to shine again more trials present themselves. It has been tough yet as our family looks back over the past few months we are realizing even more how much our Father in Heaven knows us and is very involved in our growth as sons and daughters. Last night we spent several hours in the ER dealing with unexplainable complications involving Alysen’s pregnancy. In the beginning the doctors told us that they believed that she was experiencing a tubular pregnancy, however in the end she simply miscarried. This is the second time we have experienced a miscarriage, however this time was much scarier and very different than the first. On the way home from the hospital late last night, my rock of a wife started to talk about how blessed we are and how thankful she was for this and that. I started thinking about the past few months and kept thinking “when it rains it pours” but as I was able to put things in a little better perspective I started to think very much about section 121 of the Doctrine & Covenants. This is the section where Joseph Smith pleads with the Lord regarding all the suffering and persecution. He asks the Lord where art thou and how long shall thy hand be stayed. The Lords reply is humbling, “My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes. Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.” We are indeed grateful for the trials and pitfalls that life gives us and even more grateful to our wonderful friends and family that support and help us through our darkest times. I know we all have trials and hard times through out life and I pray and hope that Alysen and I can be the support to all of you that you have all been for us.

First day of School!

2007-07-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

This is indeed crazy. We have read on everyone else’s blogs about their kids starting school. Well today was our turn. Wyatt, our precious little child started all day kindergarten! I still refuse to believe any of us are old enough to have kids in school. Wyatt was up and ready to go early this morning. His lunch packed his supplies ready, he could barely control himself. Dane made sure he could go in late to work so that he would not miss a single moment of this exciting event. To be honest I think Dane is having a tougher time than I am. He does not let go of things very well and is very sentimental. He remembers all the important dates and all the little details that other men always forget. Lots of our friends say that he is the wife in our family. Anyway, our little boy is going to school!

Ready to Go

On the playground

With Miss. Groves

Saying Goodby

The Secrets Out

2007-07-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

Dane is going to kill me for this one. Our kids have really gotten into the Disney Channel Movie “High School Musical.” The funny thing is so has daddy. Dane really honestly enjoys it, I don’t exactly understand it but he likes it. The kids and Dane sing the songs all the time. Dane will start a song and Wyatt will pick it up and finish it. They think they are superstars or something. Actually it is always enjoyable to see and hear happy voices, even though this one is pretty strange. Dane even knows that Friday August 17th is when High School Musical 2 premiers on TV. He is even planning a party for the kids (more for him I think) that evening to watch the movie. So last night, Dane decided that because school starts next week, and we will have to abide by some sort of bedtime, we should have a movie night and watch High School Musical. Of course all the kids were thrilled and quickly got ready for bed and plopped themselves down on the couch next to me. It is the funniest thing to watch Dane sing along to this little kid’s movie. I will try and catch Dane singing on tape and post for all to see. I must admit it is a cute movie just not one I would have thought Dane would watch let alone like. We really had a fun night, but now that the secret is out!

Summer Movie

2007-07-27T08:50:00.000-07:00

We did the summer movies at Hearkins for the 4th year in a row. Because school starts on Monday, we will miss the final movie next week. The kids have loved seeing all the different movies in the theater. Each week they load up their backpacks with all their treats and off we go. It seems very strange but with school starting and the summer movies over it almost marks an end to summer, but it is still July!

This was our last movie for the summer.

Chocolate Monster

2007-07-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

Our beloved bishop is a chocolate aholic. His office has a 3 gallon jar of assorted mini candy bars, a half gallon jar of M&M’s and a backup cupboard full of enough candy to fill both jars three or four times. Needless to say the kids and youth love his office. We missed church on Sunday due to Dane taking care of our sick family. With the guilt getting the best of him, and an obvious case of boredom, Dane took Jesse down to make sure he was not needed and that all his responsibilities were taken care of. Jesse knows the Bishops office well; he goes down there with dad often and in very aware of exactly where the candy is kept. Now Jesse usually asks both Dane and Bishop if he can have some candy. This time was no different, but while Dane was tying up his loose ends, Jesse gave in to the temptations and stuffed his pockets with chocolate. One their way home, Jesse proceeded to stuff his face with as many of the chocolates as he possible could. Keep in mind he stuffed these in his pocket and who knows how long they were their for. By the time he got to them in the car and proceeded to eat as fast as he could before he was exposed we had major meltage. When Dane got home all we could do was laugh, for the mess was already made.

We love our Jesse Bug!

Arizona Sun-Sets

2007-07-23T09:33:00.000-07:00

We just love the Arizona sun-sets. One of our favorite things to do is sit on the back porch and admire the beautiful sun-sets. Now that it is warming up we do not do it as often.

The beginning

Awesome

And we dont pay any extra for the view of our nieghbors RV!

Sickness overtakes us!

2007-07-23T09:02:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, I got a number of calls from Alysen stating she was not feeling well. She has never been sick with any of our kids (no morning sickness at all) but was thinking that this one might have got us. Now Alysen is not a complainer at all, so when she says that she needs me I know its time to drop what I’m doing and respond. I took off Friday to play Mr. Mom and help Alysen however I could. I have once again renewed my faith and love for all of you stay at home moms out there, especially Alysen. You have the hardest job I could ever imagine. It turns out Alysen had the beginning stage of Strep. Now the worst part about Alysen when she is sick and especially when she is pregnant is that her since of smell kicks into high gear. On Thursday night I spent all night cleaning, sweeping, mopping, and disinfecting the entire house so there would be no funny smells to bother her. On Friday, when I was not waiting on Alysen every need, I spent my entire day trying to keep the kids from messing up the house I spent so much time cleaning. There must be a secret to this, because I do not think it is possible at this point. How do you moms do it? Finally I decided it was a winless battle and I would just wait until the kidos went to bed then I would clean again. Well Friday night Wyatt decided it was his turn to get sick. Now Alysen is easy and even fun to serve and help, but Wyatt he is a piece of work. He plays the sick card better or worse than any one I have ever seen. By Saturday morning I was ready to ship him out. Anyway after a long weekend no church on Sunday, Alysen is better and released and sent me off to work. I have never been so happy to go to work in my life. To all you Moms who never get enough praise for what the world thinks you don’t do. Thank you VERY MUCH, and to Alysen I love you, don’t get sick ever again.

This is what the kitchen looked like most of the weekend, but i did clean, sweep, and mop every night.

Happy Birthday Daddy (Dane)

2007-07-19T10:12:00.001-07:00

On July 14th our daddy turned 31 years old. Can you believe it what an old man? To celebrate we went out to see Oceans 13. We have really become fans of the Oceans movies and really enjoyed this one as well; we would recommend it for a good date night, but not for the kids.

Anyway after the movie we returned to our house for dinner with all the Chaffee’s. This is the last time we would all be together for a while as Lafe, Lacy, and Stetson have already left for Cleveland, and Lee has returned to Philadelphia. Mom took care of dinner, it was fabulous. We had some sort of southern sea food pot. It starts with many ears of corn, small red potatoes, onions, and lots of southern seasoning along with garlic, salt & pepper all boiled in water. Next you add sausage, shrimp, scallops, and crab legs. When it is all done, mom strained off the water and poured the goods right into the middle of the table for eating. Wow so very good (but messy). We had a great evening with all the family and toped it off with home made ice cream and of course a choir of happy birthday for our daddy Dane.

Verry Yummy

You can see by our shirts how messy this was

We love our Daddy

David & Goliath FHE

2007-07-19T09:34:00.000-07:00

Alysen put on an amazing FHE for us. She had a real life to scale drawing of Goliath that was taped to the wall. The boys were very impressed at the size of Goliath. In fact having heard the story so many times it even brought a different perspective to me seeing the size, I would have been a little intimidated going to battle against him. What great faith David had. Anyway she told the story and we all marveled at the size and then we got to fling little marshmallow at the guy. The kids loved it and I must admit so did I. We would soak the marshmallow in water to get them sticky, and then fling them at the giant with a plastic spoon. It really brought the entire story to life for our kids. I have a truly amazing wife. We are very lucky to have such an amazing mother and wife and mother

Our little warriors

Our Little Mother

2007-07-19T09:14:00.000-07:00

Gracie has finally started to show interest in girly things. She is almost 2 and has developed a rather large interest in shoes and dolls. The other day we found her putting her doll down for a nap. It was so funny to watch as she did EVERYTHING that we parents do. We had to capture it with photos; I hope you enjoy this as much as we did.

Gracie just finishing singing her doll a song

The "gental" good nap kiss

All tucked in

Shutting the door for privacy

A Childs View

2007-07-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

Child Praying
"Our Father, Who does art in heaven,
Harold is His name."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Child Praying
"Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it.
I'm having a real good time like I am."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the christening of his baby brother in church,
a boy sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car.
His father asked him three times what was wrong.
Finally, the boy replied,
"That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home,
and I wanted to stay with you guys."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Child Praying
"And forgive us our trash baskets
as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Sunday school teacher asked her kids
"And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?"
One bright little girl replied,
"Because people are sleeping."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons.

The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake.
Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson.
"If Jesus were sitting here, He would say,
'Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.'
The older boy turned to his younger brother and said,
you be Jesus!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A father was at the beach with his children
when the four-year-old son ran up to him,
grabbed his hand, and led him to the shore
where a seagull lay dead in the sand.
"Daddy, what happened to him?" the son asked.
"He died and went to Heaven," the Dad replied.
The boy thought a moment and then said,
"Did God throw him back down?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A wife invited some people to dinner.
At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter and said,
"Would you like to say the blessing?"
"I wouldn't know what to say," the girl replied.
"Just say what you hear Mommy say," the wife answered.
The daughter bowed her head and said,
"Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?"

Time for School?

2007-07-10T10:21:00.001-07:00

We received Wyatt’s boundary exception for school starting this fall. Yeh! He will be in all day kindergarten, wow where does all the time go. Dane came home from work yesterday and informed me that he received permission to go in late for work on July 30th. I could not figure out why so I finally asked him why he needed to go in late on that day. He said in a rather grumpy voice, “I can’t believe you don’t remember that is Wyatt’s first day of real school.” I guess dad is having separation anxiety. Anyway, they do grow up so fast, I hope you all enjoy the pictures as much as we do. We sure love our little buster Wyatt. (Especially Dad I guess)

Move over Stetson, Regan is here!

2007-07-10T09:35:00.000-07:00

Stetson is Lafe & Lacy's little boy. Since Lafe is the youngest on the Chaffee side, and Stetson has really been the only baby for a while, he has had a strangle hold on attention. Just look at how cute he is. Yes Stetson has been the most popular individual in the Chaffee family for quite some time now.

Stetson

With all that being said, Stetsons rain is over. Dane's sister Nicole delivered the newest addition on Sunday evening. Regan Genive Good has officially taken over as the attention grabber in the Chaffee family as only the newborns can. Little Regan (pronounced Ree-gan) is so precious and cute. Her rain will be short lived however as Lee & Ness are expecting a little boy in September and us of course next March!

Regan Genive Good

Me and little Regan

Tough Times?

2007-07-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

Wow it has been a very eventful few weeks. Last time we posted we were celebrating the exciting news of baby #4! Dane was so excited and life seemed like it couldn’t get any better. We should have known better. Well that following week our Landscape Company that we have had for the past year and a half suffered a huge set back. Long story short the individual that had been running the company abruptly left one morning and took equipment, tools, and clients with him. Huge mess. Dane went from happy and excited to very down and depressed. Needless to say, this individual that we had trusted and loved really left us in a very tough and hard spot. It has been very hard on our family, but with prayer and faith in our Father in Heaven we are making it through this ordeal. We have appreciated everyone’s support and prayers; the light is indeed starting to shine at the end of the tunnel, hopefully. The refiner’s fire is very hot and uncomfortable, but we are coming out of this stronger!

Chaffee's Turn

2007-07-03T07:24:00.001-07:00

This week we are on vacation with the Chaffee part of the family. Lee and Ness are in for the summer from dental school. Lafe and Lacy leave for dental school in two weeks, Dan and Nicole have not decided where they might be, so this may be the last time in a while we all get to get together. There will be 10 adults and 9 grand kids ( 3 pregnant moms). We hope things don't unfold like our last vacation, Dane has promised to be on his best behavior. Look forward to catching up when we get back, we will have lots of pictures.

The Evolution Continues

2007-06-23T20:46:00.000-07:00

As Alysen stated earlyier we celebrated Fathers Day this weekend instead of last week due to girls camp.Alysen and the kids surprised me with the best gift/news I could have received.

YES WE ARE

Happy Fathers Day Daddy!

Dad is so excited, #4

The boys are already in love

The beginning

The Evolution of our Family

2007-06-21T09:55:00.000-07:00

Change is fun, surprising, and many times not noticed until we look back

Pre Wedding

Christmass with Wyatt

Our Boys

We got our little girl!

Christmas 2006

Shampoo Princess

2007-06-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

I got home from girls camp yesterday. It was a lot of fun but I was very glad to be back with my kiddos and husband. While I was talking with Dane, Gracie comes walking into the kitchen with shampoo all over her hands. Apparently daddy has had problems all week with his little princess getting into our shower and playing with the shampoo. As soon as we saw her, daddy was obviously frustrated and a little miffed and she quickly understood she may be in trouble. However I had been gone all week and did not know this was a reoccurring problem and immediately started to laugh. This action quickly informed our little princess that she would not be in trouble and she turned from concerned with daddy to jubilant and happy with mommy.

Gracie while daddy was mad

Realising mommy thinks this is funny

Laughing with mom

Happy Fathers Day

2007-06-18T10:15:00.001-07:00

Our family was not fully able to celebrate "Fathers Day" yet. Dane was asked to be at girls camp this weekend with many of our "ward daughters". Because of this we will be celebrating our daddy next weekend, but to all of those fathers, grandfathers, and futures out there we wish you all a Happy Fathers Day.

FATHERS ARE WONDERFUL

Fathers are wonderful people

too little understood,

And we do not sing their praises

as often as we should...

For, somehow, Father seems to be

the man who pays the bills,

While Mother binds up little hurts

and nurses all our ills...

And Father struggles daily

to live up to "his image"

As protector and provider

and "hero of the scrimmage"...

And perhaps that is the reason

we sometimes get the notion

That Fathers are not subject

to the thing we call emotion,

But if you look inside Dad's heart,

where no one else can see,

You'll find he's sentimental

and as "soft" as he can be...

But he's too busy every day

in the gruelling race of life,

He leaves the sentimental stuff

to his partner and his wife...

But Fathers are just wonderful

in a million different ways,

And they merit loving compliments

and accolades of praise,

For the only reason Dad aspires

to fortune and success

Is to make the family proud of him

and to bring them happiness...

And like Our Heavenly Father,

he's a guardian and a guide,

Someone that we can count on

to be always on our side.

We LOVE our Daddy!

Broken Arm

2007-06-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

While on vacation last week, Jesse had an accident in which he rolled the kids quad over the top of him. He complained a bit and defiantly favored that arm, but there was no swelling and when we would push on his arm he never showed any discomfort. We decided it must be bruised or sprained and went on with the vacation. Yesterday after watching him run and play in the irrigation, he is still favoring that arm, we decided to take him in and have it looked at. As we showed up for x-rays, the “technician” came in with his best Hulk Hogan haircut minus the bandanna. That’s right; he was totally bald except for the long mangy mullet around the sides. Needless to say Jesse was a little scared of him and even told Alysen he thought he was a Pirate from Pirates of the Caribbean. So when Jesse was less than impressed with this guy he proceeded to argue with Alysen over how to be more friendly and loving to our terrified little boy. After much arguing he left and was replaced with some more patient and loving “technicians”. Indeed the arm is BROKEN. We were informed there was a small break in the arm and sent off to have it put into a cast. It took much convincing but I think Jesse was starting to come around to the idea that a cast might be “cool”. However, when we arrived at the cast doctor, he informed us that the small break was just under his left shoulder and that casting the arm would not stabilize anything but would add weight to his shoulder and potentially hurt it even more. Our only option was to put his arm in a sling for three weeks and keep him from any and all activities that will potentially keep it from healing. In English that means no jumping on the trampoline, no running, and absolutely no rough housing with dad or brothers? Jesse is so frustrated and angry at his sling and the things that it prohibits and it has not even been 24 hours yet?

Jesse showing where the break is

The Break is just under the shoulder socket

"The Break"

The Sling

Zion Ponderosa Vacation

2007-06-11T11:31:00.001-07:00

Well we are back, and let me say it is good to be home. Our family spent the last week just outside of Zions National Park in Southern Utah. There was 25 of us (10 adults and 15 children) all in a 5 bedroom 3000 sf cabin. There were a few feuds (Bob & Brett style) but for the most part a great time was had, and definitely memories made. Here are a few pictures of our adventures.

Inside Zions National Park

The park was absolutely beautiful. Stunning views, lots of wildlife and fun tunnels. There was a shuttle that took us all over the park to the places cars were not allowed.

This was a view of the park from the first lookout

This tunnel was drilled right through the rock and was 1.1 miles long with no lights

The deer in the park would almost walk right up to you, the kids loved this.

This was one of the canyon walls, the boys called it the bridge

This was a view from the bottom of the park coming out

Our last stop in the park, Gracie was sound asleep by this point

The Ranger

The ranger was definitely a hit with the kids and adults, we only had one accident with the quads, Jesse went for a ride with one of his cousins and while they were turning, Jesse hit the gas and shot the quad up onto the road bankment and flipped the quad on top of them. The quad landed on Jesse's head, but luckily he was wearing a helmet and suffered miner damages. I think he might have had a mild concussion, but everyone is OK.

The kids loved going for rides on the ranger

Zip Line & Rock Wall

They had a huge zip line that went from the roof top of one of the barns down about 200 yards. Wyatt loved it and went over and over, Jesse tried, he got out on the ledge three different times but ended up backing off and skipping the fun. Dane's "fear of heights" kept him from trying, but i showed off and represented very well.

Wyatt in his zip line gear

Wyatt getting ready to jump

Away he goes

Showing off

Wyatt climbing the wall

At the top

So much fun!

Where we spent most our time

The pool was very fun and relaxing, the boys loved the pool slides and especially the hot tub. We went to the pool almost every day, and because of daylight savings time it we also went most evenings. Lots of fun.

Wyatt on the rock slide

Dane would toss Wyatt over and over, Wyatt could have done this all day!

Just hanging out

Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort

2007-05-31T10:04:00.000-07:00

We are setting out on the first ever Essley Family joint vacation this weekend. We are heading to Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort in Mount Carmel Utah for an entire week. This is the first time we have done this as a family on the Essley side and we are hoping a week together in a large cabin will not ignite any fights or feuds. To say the very least personal space will very much be tested, but then again we are family. We will post many pictures of the event when we get home next weekend.

We will stay in something like this

Some fun Activities

Memorial Day Fun!

2007-05-29T10:14:00.000-07:00

We woke up Monday morning, and since Gracie does not have much of an opinion yet, we decided to let the boys decide what we would do since dad did not have to go in to work. We gave them a few options, but the boys decided they wanted to go slip n sliding. So we spent the entire day sitting around the backyard soaking up the sun just hanging out. Most of us were acclimated to the sun and absorbed the rays pretty well, but to put it simply, Dane just burned! I guess sitting behind a desk really makes your skin sensitive. After nearly 5 hours of playing in the sun, we had the Essley families over for a hamburger cookout and movie. Dane borrowed his dad’s projector and we watched “A Night at the Museum” projected on to the wall of the house. It was better than a drive in and so much fun. If anyone’s interested we should all get together some time and have a movie night. The day was just perfect, nothing better than getting to spend quality time as a family and just make memories. We hope everyone had a great Memorial Day.

The Boys

Gracie, Wyatt, Mom, & Jesse

Coming Down

My Boys - After going down the slide they would jump in the waiting pool to get worm

The kids drove "Girl" (thats what they call thier car) all over the back yard to dry off and get worm

The best Pets in the World!

2007-05-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

I must say that we have the absolute best pets in the world. Let me explain. We moved in to our place at the beginning of the year, and almost immediately the boys started asking for pets. Alysen and I would counter with the same excuse we used to get as kids, “pets are a lot of work and you have to pick up their poop all the time.” We found a frog, they named him Toad and put him in the sprinkler box where he lived for a couple of months until their cousins came over and killed him. We would find a new frog to replace it but frogs just aren’t very fun to play with? This satisfied for a while, but very soon not a week went by that we didn’t hear, “dad I would take care of a pet and pick up its poop.” Sure they say that now, but when it really gets down to it mom or dad are out there taking care of and picking up after a pet we didn’t even want in the first place. Well Alysen and I started to give in and began talking about pet possibilities. This was strictly because we are suckers when it comes to our kids and have had a hard time learning to tell them no. That’s right we will not be earning parent of the year status any time soon. I started to pray that the boys would forget about the pet thing and that’s when our fortunes started to change. Our great neighbors have a very friendly dog named Cooter. There is a hole in the fence that allows Cooter to come into our yard whenever he wants. Cooter is able to come over and play fetch with the kids while his owners are away at work. This is great a dog that is friendly and patient with the kids yet goes home to sleep, home to eat, and home to poop! Are you kidding me can life get any better? The answer is yes! A few days latter a cat starts to show up at our house every day. It is very obvious that this is someone else’s pet, I think the owner puts the cat out in the morning while they go to work and brings it in at night when they get home. This is the nicest cat I have ever seen. It plays with the kids, snuggles with the kids and yet at night goes home to sleep, home to eat, and home to poop! The kids named the cat TigerByger. Our pet prayers have been answered and yes we do have the best pets in the world!

Thats our TigerByger

Our little "sleepwalker"

2007-05-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks, since switching from the crib to a bed, Gracie has been getting out of bed and sleeping on the floor. We wake up in the morning to find her curled up with her blankie in such places as the hall, the foot of her bed, the boy’s room, and even under the crib? It has become very common to find her outside of bed on the floor or within a few steps of her room. Last night I woke up around 1:30 to use the little boy’s room and get a drink of water. As I past Gracie’s room, I noticed that she again was gone. I went in her room expecting to find my little boots (one of daddy’s many nicknames for my girl) curled up awkwardly on the floor, but this time their was no such luck. I checked all the "regular" spots again with no luck. I went and woke up Alysen and we proceeded to search for our little boots. It has never taken us very long to find her, so after a few minutes a little panic started to set in. As we made our way down the hall and into the living room we finally found our little girl slumped over the edge of the couch with her arms tightly wrapped around her blankie. This was the farthest from her room that she has ever traveled at night. I am starting to think we might have a sleepwalker on our hands.

Thanks to Ness for this Gem

2007-05-17T12:37:00.000-07:00

The Kids wanted to have thier own, so here you go.

Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com

Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com

Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com

Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com

Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com

Mowing the Lawn

2007-05-15T16:04:00.000-07:00

With summer officially upon us, that means it is time that the dormant winter lawns have woke up and started growing like crazy. While we are absolutely loving our new yard, it has been quite a chore keeping up with the lawn. After spending around 2 hours a week sitting on my riding mower, I decided I had to take some action. Most of you are aware that I purchased a landscaping company about a year ago. I have lots of extra lawn equipment at my disposal, and that is where my plan started to develop. I brought the smaller mower to the house and started letting Wyatt follow me around, with the blades off, and learn to operate the machine. After about 2 weeks I have Wyatt so excited about the idea of mowing the lawn, and he really does a good job operating the mower. So if everything goes as planned, the only lawn work I will have responsibility for is edging the lawn.

Wyatt & Dad

Garden

2007-05-15T15:38:00.000-07:00

This year we decided to give gardening a try. I spent the better part of three Saturdays, a total of 16 hours, rota tilling and preparing the soil. I have always considered myself as a manly man (easy on the comments) but tilling that soil really beat me up. Well after all of this preparation we finally planted tomatoes, peppers, spinach, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, onions, green beans, sweet peas, carrots, corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, & pumpkins. We spent the better part of three weeks looking for anything to pop out of the soil and even got very excited at the sight of a few weeds. Finally we began to see our garden start to take shape only to find Gracie decided to pick most of our small plants setting us back on our quest for produce. After much patience and love we have finally started to reap the benefits of fresh produce. It has really been a fun learning experience for Alysen and I, the garden has literally been like a child. We have had to spend a lot of time in order for our small little garden to survive and succeed. In fact I am giving a fireside in a few weeks to the youth based on the garden lessons we have learned, but that’s another post for another time. Anyway we are very proud of our garden, hear are a few pics, hope you enjoy.

Zucchini

Peppers

Tomatoes

McCormick Railroad

2007-05-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

It is rare that all the Chaffee cousins get together with Lee & Ness living in Pennsylvania and Lafe & Lacey going to Cleveland we have to take advantage of these fun times. Here are a few gems from The McCormick Railroad Park in Scottsdale.

Arden, Gracie, & Lilly
"The Girls"

Jesse Gracie Wyatt

Goodbye IBC

2007-05-04T11:08:00.000-07:00

IBC root beer is one of my favorite indulgences. Alysen likes chocolate and sweets, but when I think of treats, I think IBC root beer. I don’t know what it is, but IBC is just better than any other root beer out there. The other night Wyatt went next door to play with his neighbor friend DJ. While playing in the back yard Wyatt noticed DJ’s father, who was mowing the lawn, drinking a beverage from a bottle. Wyatt watched him put the drink down and thinking this was “the same thing daddy drinks” he went over and picked it up. DJ quickly realized what Wyatt was doing and screamed to him, “put that down, that’s my daddy’s beer”. Wyatt came home and explained the entire instance to us. Alysen asked him if he had tasted or smelled the drink to which he replied, “No way, that’s not good for our bodies”. It made us so proud, but at the same time made us realize just how impressionable our children are. We then had to explain the difference between root beer and beer to our 5 year old son. It was very difficult to explain why they both were called “beer” and both in a dark bottle, but one was ok and the other was not. The more we tried to explain the more questions Wyatt asked. He had a very hard time understanding. Needless to say, we will be making some changes in our home. It is amazing how much we can learn from our children if we are just open to listening.

Graduation

2007-05-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

After nearly 10 years of advanced schooling, 5 at MCC, and I still don’t think he ever received an associates degree? Dane finally finished his MBA! It seems like he has been in school forever, but we are very excited to “get our daddy back”. He graduated on April 15th from the University of Phoenix. The plan is for him to sit and pass the CPA exam within the next year. They say the average person sits for the CPA exam 3 times before passing; we really hope this does not take that long. Anyway we are so proud and excited that he is done!

"The Chaffee Curse"

2007-04-25T15:01:00.000-07:00

Growing up my father constantly reminded us boys of the "Chaffee Curse" The "curse" was why females found the Chaffee boys so very irresistible, and of course the only logical reason anyone can come up with as to why Alysen decided to mary me. Anyway, the "curse" has struck again. Alysen and I have become very aware of Wyatts interest in girls and the interest that they reciprocate to him. I do not remember realizing that girls exists until late in my elementary education, however Wyatt has taken notice in a very big way. We have had to have talks with him on a few occasions now about kissing. This was supposed to be years down the road for me, and the only explanation is the "Chaffee Curse"

Moving South

2007-04-25T14:17:00.000-07:00

After years of criticising everyone for moving south to Queen Creek, we finally gave in and made the trip south at the beginning of the year. We moved in on January 1st and i think i speak for everyone when i say life has never been so good. Alysen loves her kitchen with double ovens, and I cant spend enough time in my back yard. The horror stories that we heard about the traffic have been nothing but stories to this point. The worst and slowest part of my drive everyday is from my office to the 60, go figure. One of our favorite activities is to lay on the trampoline at night and look at the stars. To say the least we are really enjoying Queen Creek and invite all to come and visit.