An Early Christmas

Since Jeff, Julie and the boys aren't able to come for Christmas this year, Gram just had to fly to California and "hand deliver" the presents!! We let Trey and Kaden open the "big one" from Gram & Grandpa, mainly because it was taking up too much room in the apartment.




Kaden is THE cutest 16 month old!!

Trey loved this Polar Express display at the mall. Merry Christmas you guys, we love you so much!!

Cougars go Undefeated!!

Derek's football team, the Cougars made it through the season undefeated. They finished off by winning the Superbowl last Saturday. Derek was again selected to play in the Pro Bowl and his team won that game as well. Way to go Cougars !!

Survived the MTC---AGAIN !!

Well we survived the MTC for the 4th time today!! Was it easier than the first time? Not at all, saying good-bye for 2 years is still extremely hard. I decided that MTC should really stand for "Mothers Torture Chamber" !! Peter did great though and is looking forward to his new journey.

Our Summer Vacation

Before Peter takes off for the MTC and the Philippines, our family took off for a great summer vacation. We went on a Royal Carribbean Cruise!! We left from LA, went to SanDiego, Catalina Island, Ensenada Mexico and then back to LA. Cruises really are a great way to travel. . . lots of food, fun, entertainment. . . and more food!!

At "Old Town" in San Diego

Peter and Derek were trying all sorts of new things to eat, here Peter is sampling "Escargo. . .also know as snails" I guess he needs to get used to eating strange things right?!

Formal night. . .we cleaned up nicely !!

Derek and Peter couldn't wait to get back to the rooms at night to see what kind of creature the room attendant had made from the towels. This monkey hanging from the ceiling was their favorite.

Snorkeling on Catalina Island

Shopping in Ensenada was an adventure in and of itself!

Derek making it to the top of the rock wall which was on the ship

What jobs? What responsibilities?? It was nice to forget about them for a few days anyway !!

After the cruise we headed to Six Flags--Magic Mountain so that Peter (The Rollercoaster Maniac) could ride them to his hearts content, and that is exactly what he did!

Called to Serve

Peter has been called to serve in the Philippines Bacolod Mission !! He enters the MTC on October 22nd where he will learn Tagalog. He is very excited because he wanted to go foreign and he wanted to go somewhere tropical. Bacolod (pronounced Baa-cole-ode) is located on the southern Philippine island of Negros. It is know as the "City of Smiles." Hopefully that is a good sign!!

Derek's Summer Sports Adventures

Derek's had another great summer in Sports. His baseball team, the Padres, won the City Championship on Friday, ending their season undefeated !! He made a great hit in the top of the 6th inning which earned him the "game ball" so he was pretty excited about that !!

Today Derek took second place in the Provo Freedom Festival Jr. Golf tournament. Now he has a few weeks to rest, football starts in August !!

Yampa River Trip

Last week we spent 5 days rafting the Yampa river in Northern Colorado and Utah. It was a great trip with good weather, good company and good rapids. It was fun having the 4 brothers there along with their "lovely" brides !







Grandpa Chem still going strong at 79 !! The below picture really doesn't do this Class 4 rapid called Warm Springs justice, just take my word for it----it was huge !!


It was weird for us to just have one boy to look out for on this trip, Derek had a great time though and even got a few lessons in rowing from Grandpa and Dad.

Brand New Bloggers !!

We have so much fun looking at our married kids blogs we decided to get in on the action too! Although our lives are really not that exciting, hopefully we'll be able to come up with a few things to post in the coming months so stay tuned !!

Grandsons Are Great !!!

Who needs girls anyways? We LOVE our 3 Grandsons !!!

Trey just turned 3 and loves Thomas the Train and riding his scooter.

Kaden. . . alias "Kaden Kong" is 7 months old and will be the football player of the bunch for sure. Jeff and Julie are living in California while Jeff attends Podiatry school. They are doing great and are enjoying the "Bay Area."

Morris Owen LeCheminant, also known as "Baby Mo" is 2 months old. He is starting to give us big smiles now which of course makes us smile! It's great having Jason and Ari close by. Jason continues to work at Western Community Bank and attends UVSC. We look forward to their Sunday visits.

Elder LeChem

Hard to believe it's been a year since Nic left for the Kentucky Louisville Spanish Speaking mission. He is doing great and having many wonderful experiences. Currently serving right in Louisville, he was really excited about this transfer because he has been hoping to go to the "Louisville Slugger" museum. (On a P-Day of course).