Grandpa Earl turns 80

David's Dad had his 80th birthday on Tuesday, February 1st.   David's brother, Brian, and his son Jeremiah, flew in to Albuquerque for the occasion last Friday.  

We started the weekend with some good hanging out.  The kids all opted to spend Friday night at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  This was a first.  I really didn't think they'd stay all night, but sure enough - I woke up Saturday morning to an empty house.  (On a side note - I will make a HORRIBLE empty-nester.  I hate having an empty house.  I hate it when my kids aren't here, especially overnight.  Sure, once in a while I like a few hours to myself, but I start missing them pretty quick, even when they're in school sometimes.)

Our girls really do love their cousins, each and every one.  Whomever they just saw last is their current favorite.  So, if you want to make it to the favorite list - you better visit us!  Grace and Jeremiah spent a lot of hours on the wii and tolerated poor Harriet tagging along. Hattie is the youngest Chapman cousin by quite a bit.

Saturday, well, I spent Saturday morning with the Relief Society at Super Saturday, David and Brian went on some bike rides, and the kiddos got lots more time with Grandma and Grandpa.  Finally, though, we did have the big birthday party.

Grandma hosted.  We had a really nice dinner and Grandpa's favorite - a chocolate birthday cake.

David looked up lots of info on 1931 - the year Grandpa was born.  It is amazing the things that were going on then, and that it's been 80 years since:

1931 saw the doubling of unemployment to 16.3% , and everybody realized that the stock market crash of 1929 was having far reaching effects . The US government started making some progress on the mob and a notable success was the conviction of Al Capone on tax fraud charges in 1931 which got him an 11 year prison sentence in Alcatraz. Many car manufacturers also went out of business as people did not have money to buy new cars. One of the few successes was the completion of the Empire State building , and in Las Vegas the small local community made the decision to legalize gambling . Nature even conspired to make things worse by causing a serious drought in the Midwest which in turn made food more expensive and turned some area's into dust bowls.  
"Star Spangled Banner" officially becomes US national anthem


How Much things cost in 1931
Average Cost of new house: $6,790.00 
Average wages per year: $1,850.00 
Cost of a gallon of Gas: 10 cents 
Average Cost for house rent: $18.00 per month 
A loaf of Bread: 8 cents 
A LB of Hamburger Meat: 11 cents 
Alarm Clock: $3.50 
New Car Average Price: $640.00


Brian asked Earl to name the top 5 events in his life other than births, deaths, and marriages.  I really don't know or remember most details, although I've heard the stories before.  Maybe David can fill in a little here?  Earl named 3 spiritual experiences when he was given specific instructions to get out of a serious problem at the time.  One of them, I know, is when David was 7 years old - they lost him in Yellowstone National Park - really, really, lost him.  Again, I forget all the details, and I know if I write something it won't be quite right.   But, they prayed and Earl was able to find David by looking where he was inspired to look, somewhere he never would have looked.  His 4th was meeting the prophet of the church at the time, President Kimball.  He didn't give us a 5th.  The brothers took over the conversation - just a bit.  


Grandma's tradition for birthdays has always been to play games after dinner and then choose prizes from her "prize basket."  She is pretty smooth with that prize basket.  There's always something fun in there for the kids that she knows they would like.  There's always something nice for the women.  And, quite often, there's something in there that she really wants to get rid of, and really hopes you'll take.  Either that, or there's something she really thinks you ought to take because she put it in there for you - specifically.  She's pretty funny about her suggestions.  Her prizes have ranged from a can of mandarin oranges, to new socks, gorgeous hand-made bookmarks, cute pads of paper, candy, books, pencils, well, I really couldn't list them all.  When we were poor newlyweds, she often had essential household items in there - I think she's even had toilet paper.   


By the way - you cannot win a game against a Chapman.  They have played too many games for too long.  You'll never beat them.  If you do, they don't like it either.


Sunday, we wrapped up the party with a hike after church.  Most of us had never hiked the volcanoes by our house, so we headed out to check out one of them.  It was a short, 1 hour hike, that was easy for everyone from tiny-legged Hattie, to old doggies - Velvet and Shadow, to out-of-shape Mommy, to Grandpa.   It was a good bang for the buck, with spectacular views of Albuquerque.  

Happy Birthday Earl.  We love you.