Wait... school started when!?

I just realized; school started forever and a half ago! It's true. And even though mom takes "first day" pictures every year, we never do anything with them. I think it's time to remedy that.

So here's Amanda! She's sporting our laid back, happy, "first day of 9th grade, no biggie" look. I like that shirt... Hey... hold on half a second! That's my shirt!!

She's secretary of the student body this year, and would like to comment that her algebra 2 teacher is crazy. She's first chair viola in orchestra this year, but claims that it's only because everyone else isn't that great, either. She just completed a bug display for her biology class (she's been hunting bugs all summer)

Here's Jake! He's looking, er... very prepared for a year filled with calculus, physics, honors english, Nerds 101, and a informative class on "how to tell if you should buy a shirt or just make one that looks just like it with paint and a brush."

Jake just got a new car, and he's pretty happy with it to say the least! It's everything he wanted; sun roof, leather seats, drives nice, easy to handle. And it looks good too, which was something else he wanted. Note to self: put up picture of Jake's car. Maybe that'll be his chance to make his own post!

Here's Max, with a bonus Ogi! Max went into 5th grade this year, and is loving every minute! Well, ok, there may be one or two assignments that aren't so loveable, and consequently, not so loved. He's hanging out with friends all the time. He's in the the choir as well as the bell choir, and he's doing a garden project this year. It's lookin pretty good outside, if I do say so myself!

So...yep, this is me... takin' french this year.

So, yeah! That's everybody! I'll have Jake post more about his car later, and I'll see if I can convince him to take some pics too!

Ok! So, I figured we might as well stick up a few pictures of our basement that we're working on right now. If I could find pictures of what it looked like before, I'd stick them up here too. It's weird how different it is... But, I can't find any! But, hey, I figure mom's gonna see these and notice I didn't clean up before taking pics, and make sure that my efforts are more complete next update.

This first one is just as you're comming in the door at the bottom of the stairs... the nice ping pong table, a huge bean bag that's actually filled with fluff, the cool swirly chairs that spin forever and ever for no plausible reason, and the random popcorn bags from watching Planet of the Apes. Ta-da!

And this is our awesome old coke machine! 10 cents a bottle. There's even a handy-dandy bottle opener!

This is looking in on the theater room. Hey, look, there's the bar with no stools!

Here's the couches inside the theater room. They're way comfy, a fact that Jake is quite proud of, 'cause he picked them out the minute they walked into RC Willey's. Even Spidey thinks they're comfy!

Hi! It's Amanda. Well, it's been a while and a lot has happened since we didn't post in December. Dad has been as busy as usually, but always finds time to spend with us. Mom is still keeping our lives in order and we're still doing a good job of messing up that order. Kensey's been volunteering at the Museum of Natural History downtown. Between playing with bugs and learning a lot about archeology she really enjoys it. Jacob's been having fun at wrestling camp and efy, when he's not hanging out with his friends. I've enjoyed my new colt, which came as a surprise with the horse that we bought last October. He's a handful but a sweetheart. Max is taking piano lessons and is currently increasing his lego collection.
Here's a few other things that have been going on with our family.

• Kensey and Dad went to Swaziland for a humanitarian trip with the church. Kensey learned a lot of new african names as she entered them into the computer. Dad taught neonatal resuscitation to people there. As for what that even is, I think it has something to do with helping a baby breath after it's born. I think.
• We finally finished our basement! Well, sorta. The theater room still doesn't have a sound system or a good projector in yet and we don't have stools for our bar, but it's still a way fun place to hang out as a family or with friends.
• We got a place up in Laketown, a small town up in Bear Lake near Garden City and Ideal Beach. It's a really small house but it's plenty big for our family. We've got three acres of land that I hope I'll take both my horses up to this weekend.

I guess that's it for now. We'll be posting some pictures later, once Kensey is around to help get them off of the camera. It's kinda sad, but she's the only one who really knows how to work the thing....

The Drapers are officially bloggers!

Ok, maybe not REAL bloggers, but we've joined the blogging world! And I, for one, (as in McKensey) am quite excited about it.