Merry Christmas!!!

We've had a 'cotton pickin' year!!

As you know (or may not) Clark was offered a job last November (2006) in Montgomery Alabama to be the Cover Plant Manager and Plant Superintendant of the Yearbook division. He wears two hats at work and they both keep him running. Clark is also the 2nd counsler in the High Priests Quorum along with teaching the Young Single Adults Sunday School Class in our ward.

Stephanie is still a stay at home mom. She helps Clark teach the YSA's usually on the week's he teaches the High Priests, along with her calling as a Wolf den leader in the Cub Scout program. Even though she claims she is a stay at home mom she feels like she is always on the go.

Clark is in the 5th grade this year, he was just accepted into the A.C.E. program at school and he is loving it (A.C.E. is for students who excell in their studies). He also went to Starbase Maxwell (an Air Force Base) this year, where he learned how rockets are launched, how jets fly, etc. In the picture he won the award for the best drawing for his class. It will be posted at Starbase Maxwell forever. He was so excited, Mom and Dad are so proud of him. Clark is doing well in schoool he has been on the AB Honor Roll first term and The A Honor Roll second term, we are so proud of him and we hope he keeps it up. This year Clark started taking piano lessons. He is doing very well and cruising through his lesson books. His teacher is always saying how good he is. We hope he stays enjoying it and keeps it up. Clark played soccer this last year, and he has learned a lot to keep him going. He also has gotten his Webelos badge in Cub Scouts, and he looks forward to going every week, even though his mom is there.

Ryan is in the 3rd grade this year. He is doing so well in school, he has made the A Honor Roll first term and the A Honor Roll second term, we are so proud of him and we hope he keeps up the good work. Ryan was also one of the kids in his class who had the most A.R. points for the first term. Congratulations Ryan! Ryan is also in the A.C.E. program at his school and he looks forward to going on his day. This year was a very special year for Ryan he was baptized. It was a great day, I hope he will remember it always. We were able to baptize him while we were home for summer vacation, it was great having family around. Thank you for all you did!! Ryan is also in Cub Scouts and he loves it! He is working hard for his Wolf badge, and having fun. Ryan is also taking piano and he is doing very well, he really enjoys it, and he and Clark fight over who is going to practice on the piano first most days. We hope he stays interested and keeps it up. Ryan also played soccer this year. He makes a great goalie, but he does like to come out of the net to be a forward/midfielder at times. He is just a great kid.

Emma is just a joy to have. She loves to make us smile. She loves her daddy too. She still likes to be with mom whenever she can. She would rather stay home with mom then go to school. Emma is in Kindergrten and she goes all day. They really try to keep them busy. She is taking ballet, gymnastics, tap and baton after school on Wednesdays, and she LOVES it. She can't wait for Wednesday to roll around. Emma is just a ball of sunshine.

We have enjoyed being down south. It is very different from Utah. We have been really warm for the month of December and it dosen't seem like it's Christmas time yet. It will be different not having cold weather and snow flurries but we will make the best of it.We miss our friends and family back home, and we wish you all the best this year at Christmas time.

We love you all!!

Have a very Merry Christmas!

The Drapers

Thanksgiving and the Montgomery Zoo!

Well Thanksgiving has come and gone and we survived our first Thanksgiving without family near by. It was nice but I think everyone here missed their Grandpas, Grandmas, Aunts, Uncles and cousins. But we made it through. We were even able to start putting up our Christmas tree that day. It' s starting to feel like Christmas. It is going to be weird not to have any snow around for the Christmas season. I hear back home they got their first snow storm the other day.

Well the kids were out for the whole week of Thanksgiving, so we decided to go to the Zoo with some friends from the ward. It was a beautiful day I think the temperature was in the low 70's (Weird for the end of November). At the zoo there was a baby rhinoceros born in October, a baby elephant born November 9th and a baby monkey. We actually saw the monkey back in January when it was just a couple of days old, it was there just playing around this time, it is so cute, all of the baby's were cute. Emma even got to ride the train with her friends Kaylee and Aaron. Kaylee's mom had a pass for four to ride the train, and she decided to take the youngest three. The kids all say that they had fun.

Well we hope all is well for you. We also hope this Christmas season will bring you lots of joy. We love you all. The Drapers

Walt Disneyworld

We finally were able to get to Disneyworld. The kids were so excited. Dad had to go to Orlando to check out a show for work, so he decided to take the family with him. When he told the kids we were going to go they were so excited. I have pictures on the blog with captions, I hope they do it justice but if it dosen't I'm sorry you might just have to go there yourself (I am just kidding).

We arrived late Tuesday night at the hotel. It took us longer than we expected to get there (stay on the freeway as much as you can). Clark thought if we took a highway we might get there quicker, nope it took us forever. We saw more of Florida, then we expected (untill it got dark) , but it was nice. We stayed at the Residence Inn in Orlando, FL. The kids liked that because the Clark, Ryan and Emma had a room for themselves and one for mom and dad. Emma really liked that she got her own king size bed, and the boys had to share.

The first day we were there dad went to the show to check out what was needed and then he took us up north into the areas, where he served part of his mission. I thought it was really interesting because I had only ever been to Fort Lauderdale before (and when I say Fort Lauderdale I really mean the hotel, for a conference with Clark). I can't believe how big some of the rivers are. Clark was able to find two of the apartments where he lived, and I think it brought back a lot of memories for him.

I don't know what to say that the pictures don't so I will say a little and then you can go look at the pictures. We started off to the Disney MGM park on Thursday October 25th and the Magic Kingdom on Friday October 26th. We took the hotels shuttle the first day and the kids were having a hard time containing themselves. When we finally were on our way all you could hear from them were giggles. They were looking out the windows to get a glimpse before anyone else. The first thing the boys wanted to do was go on the Tower of Terror, Emma was reluctant but she did it anyway (I don't think she will ride it again anytime soon). All Emma wanted to do was to meet the Princesses. She was able to see the Beauty and the Beast Musical, the Little Mermaid show, she had storytime with Belle, she met two of the Little Einsteins, she was picked to have a hoedown with Woody, Jessie and Bullseye (we had a hard time getting her to do it, she is so shy) , and last but not least she met Cinderella, Belle, Sleeping Beauty and Minnie and Mickey Mouse. She was so excited and she still talks about it.

The boys really didn't care about the princesses so Dad took them on rides that Emma really didn't care about. They were able to meet Mickey Mouse and while Emma and I were on our way back to the boys, from meeting the Princesses, Ryan was picked by Jack Sparrow to duel with him. He is now a pirate with Jack Sparrow's crew. I hope the boys had fun. I enjoyed myself.

I hope everything is going well with you, we love and miss you.
The Draper's

Tricks or Treats!

Happy be-lated Halloween!! We had to start a new tradition in our family, this was the first year in several years that we weren't able to go to Grandpa and Grandma Weir's for our annual pumpkin carving party and dinner. We hope they had fun anyway. So for Family Home Evening we carved our pumpkins had some chocolate chip cookies for refreshments and went outside for pictures. The kids still had fun but they did remind us about doing this at grandma and grandpa's.

The kids were so excited for Halloween this year. We had a Headless Horseman, a Pirate and Snow White (and no it wasn't dad this year). Clark and Ryan were able to wear their costumes to school. This is the first year Clark has ever been able to do that and Ryan has been able to wear his twice (last year and this year). Schools back home didn't like the distraction. Emma went on a field trip that day so she wasn't able to wear her costume, but I was able to go on her field trip with her and I enjoyed myself. They got to go to the Pumpkin Junction, were they learned how smoke rings are made, how apple juice is made (we even got a taste of freah apple juice) how to pick pumpkins without a lot of seeds and then they got to pick their own pumpkin. They were so excited. I will get pictures from her teacher and put them on the Blog (I forgot my camera).

Later that night we were invited to go to our friends to go trick or treating with them. The kids had a lot of fun having more than just mom or dad take them. Dad ended up taking them with our friends. I got to stay with Lori and hand out candy, I am usually the one taking the kids around, it was quite nice staying behind, I did miss the door to door though.