Retirement is the Best!

2018 is quickly coming to an end.  As I went through this year's pictures I am amazed at all the things we have been able to do.  We have traveled and taught and visited family and have traveled some more.  We have visited Harbin, China, the coldest city I've been to and seen their beautiful ice and snow sculptures.  We traveled to Japan and Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore. We went to many many cities and places in China:  Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Leshan, 4 Gorges Dam, Yangtze River, Guilin, Yangzhuo, Hong Kong, Hainan, Lee River, Mt. Huashan and Zhanjiajie.  We said goodbye to the many dear friends we made in Xi'an China with hopes of someday meeting again.

We returned home on July 2 to three of our daughters and their families waiting for us when we got off the airplane.  It was a wonderful uniting better than we could envision before returning.  We traveled to Colorado 3 different times to visit Annie and Dale and their 5 children.  Kim was able to baptize Robi during one of those visits. We spent a week in Iowa helping my mom as my dad recovered from a hip replacement.  Then back again in November to celebrate both of their birthdays but especially my dad's 90th.   We traveled 3 times to California to help Abbie after giving birth to Maverick James on September 11 and back again when he was blessed by his father, James.  We spent many days in several different occasions visiting with Millie and Jacob and their 2 girls in St. George. Kim had 2 visits from 4 former students from XISU in China.  We were able to spend 3 weeks in Europe.  We went on a Rhine River Cruise with our neighborhood friends and then spent 2 weeks touring Kim's former mission in Germany.  We spent 4 days with Ellen Müller, whom Kim baptized on his mission, and her husband Peter. We visited Berlin, Goslar, Celle, Fellbach and Rothenburg, Germany.  We spent 2 days in Paris and a day in London.  WOW!  I often stop myself and ask, is this really happening? 

We have had quite the year and feel very fortunate to have the means and the health to be able to do all that we have done.  We look forward to 2019 as we anticipate the birth of our 9th granddaughter and 13th grandchild into the O'Neil Family.  Early in March we will return to Xi'an, China to finish a contract for the couple that replaced us and are not able to fulfill the contract themselves.  We will teach English at the same university for 4 months and will return around July 1.  Then we anticipate going on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in August, going to Fiji to help school teachers receive their teaching certificates.

We are grateful for this time of year when we catch up on the lives of all of our family and friends.  But especially when we can celebrate the greatest event in history, the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We're grateful for our membership in His church and for our testimonies of his love, life and atonement.  May you each have a peaceful and joyous Christmas season.

Love from The Ropers, 

Kim & Rhonda

Jacob, Ellery, Aayla, & Millie for Aayla's baptism in January. We got to experience through Face Time.

 Saying goodbye to our Branch in Xi'an

Homecoming!  Ellery, Aayla Webb & Macie Schramm

 Robi, Meggie, Annie, Dale, Brinley, Ben

 Annie, Dale, Robi, Rem, Ben & Meggie

Robi's baptism

Macie meets Maverick James 9-11-18

Maverick's Baby Blessing: Kim, Rhonda, Abbie, Macie, James, Maverick, Jacob, Ellery, Millie & Aayla

 Lee and Grayson, Kim's students from XISU

 Andy & Nicholas, Kim's students from XISU 

Universal Studios with the Webbs

 Lucerne, Switzerland

 Goslar, Germany

 Rothenburg, Germany

Paris

 Rhonda, Cheri Hargadin, Kim Flores, Darwin & Ardith Dixon
90th Birthday Celebration

 Love having these guys living with us.

Check out our China Blog:  roperstakeonchina.blogspot.com
Kim put together a video of the Christmas story with our family narrating it.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvMJ_3-zROs

Annie and fam....

What a year 2017 has been for our family.  We have experienced many changes, highest highs and lowest lows.  I started out the year enjoying life as a working single mom, navigating independence and balancing work, home, kids, and dating again.  Although I wasn't looking for love, it found me.  Dale and I decided we wanted to start a life together and blend our families early in 2017.  We had a lot of logistics to discuss and work out which included introducing his boys to my girls, and deciding where we would live.  We all worked hard to get Dale's house in Denver ready to sell and get on the market in March; amazingly we had an offer the morning after.  Dale and I exchanged wedding vows May 19, 2017 in a simple ceremony with our children.  Kim, Rhonda, Katie, and Abbie surprised us by showing up as well.  I was so surprised! (Dale may have been in on the secret.)  We all moved into a rental house as we wait for our new home to be completed March 2018, and have been getting used to a household of 7!  It has been new, fun, exciting, different, and scary for all parties to get used to each other.


Brinley is a sophomore this year and doing well in her new classes and school.  She's keeping busy with stage crew tech in the fall, choir, and now swim team in the winter.  She is talented, funny, responsible, and sassy.  She is passionate to say the least!

Remi is in 8th grade, and loves history and sports.  He and Ben both played basketball in the spring, football in the summer, and Remi tried out lacrosse.  He loves anything spicy and is friendly, outgoing, and sensitive. 

Ben is in 7th grade and enjoying his new school with Remi.  He is sweet, kind, and polite.  He's always willing to help out and likes to cook.  I've loved learning about and getting to know these boys.

Meggie is in 7th grade as well, but at a different school than the boys.  She tried out volleyball this year and did really well.  She's also in choir and is becoming more independent and responsible.  She is really growing up into a bright young woman.

Robi is in 2nd grade and loves school.  She loves to read and learn.  She is loving, kind, silly, and makes friends easily.  I never get tired of her cuddles and hugs.

I moved hospitals during the summer to be closer to our new location, and am working full-time nights in the NICU.  I love my job and the babies and families I have the opportunity to care for and teach.  Dale is an industrial hygienist and works for the federal government in Boulder, and does some consulting work on the side.  He is passionate about safety and very educated and informed.  He makes me happy everyday and I'm beyond grateful for him in my life.  Through him I've found a love, passion, happiness and stability I never knew I'd have.  We are so grateful for all this year has brought us and are looking forward to continued blending, a new house, and joy in the coming years.

O'Neil's 2017

2017 brought a lot of change for our family. It started out perfectly with the birth of our third child, Indy Mae. Her sweet and calm personality is just what our family needed. Six short weeks after her birth we moved from our home in Springville to house-sit for my parents. 

This year Esme turned 6, "graduated" from Kindergarten and started 1st grade at a brand new school. She has done a great job adjusting and making new friends. She is still our little dancer and was able to take both dance and cheer classes this year.

Kyson turned 4 this year and wants to be Batman when he grows up. His favorite person in the world is daddy and will do anything for him. He tolerates me. ;) 

Brandon continues to work at Northstar Alarm as a UX web developer. He went from "AGuyWithGlasses" to a "AGuyWithSunglasses" thanks to Lazik eye surgery. The kids' favorite day of the week is "Daddy stay home day" a.k.a. Saturday. . .  I think it's my favorite too.

I am still a stay at home mom. This year I was able to run a couple of half marathons and hope to continue running with the new year.

We have been blessed beyond measure this year and are grateful for this Christmas season that we have the chance to reflect on the birth and life of Christ. Merry Christmas from the O'Neil's.

Merry Christmas from Around the World

2017 has been a fabulous year with many changes in our lives.  For Kim and I, the biggest change was retiring at the end of the 2016-17 school year after a combination of 65 years of public education service.  I retired in May with a total of 26 years and Kim officially retired the end of June with 39 years.  We've had a great career.  We have loved teaching and Kim has loved being a Principal.  It was a happy sad day when we said goodbye to many colleagues and friends and associates.

Starting July 1 when Kim was a free man, we took off and visited children and grandchildren in St. George, Utah, Castaic, California and Arvada, Colorado.  There's nothing better then spending time with the ones you love the most.  We also were able to make a visit to my parents in Coin, Iowa.

The middle of August took us to a two week training at BYU to prepare us for our 10 month teaching excursion to Xi'an, China.  We really had no idea what we were getting in to but we jumped in with both feet and have had no regrets.  We have now been in Xi'an almost 4 months and are quickly coming to the end of our first semester of teaching Freshmen (for Rhonda) and Sophomore (for Kim) college kids.  Our classes are mostly girls.  We both only have 2-3 boys out of 30 in each of our classes.  We have learned to love these students and their culture and this city.  We have also been able to explore many parts of the city.  We have traveled to the far west, Xinjiang Province of China and seen some beautiful country.  It's more barren and dry then Xi'an and much less populated.  Everywhere in Xi'an there are people.  People People People Everywhere!  We have had wonderful experiences that have changed our perspective and opened our eyes to the many children of God that exist in the world.  We would never give up this adventure.

Love to all our family and friends who we miss so very much.