James Haroldsen

Our newest grandson has been born. He weighed 7.3 lbs. and was 20.75" long. He has enough dark hair to know he has hair. He really doesn't look much like Mark but he is beautiful.
Leslie and James are both doing well for which we are very grateful.

Below is James' first family portrait. Aren't they a wonderful family?
This is Leslie just hours before James was born. She was so cute!
Mark really didn't know what to think about baby James but he was willing to have his picture taken.
Proud daddy!
Mark spent James' Birth Day at grandma's house (my house). His cousin Elden came to play. They had a great time together.

Has Spring finally come to Idaho?

So I was down in SLC several weeks ago and MiKell had pansies, tulips and daffadils all in bloom. I felt cheated because we still had snow on our flower beds. But, joy of joys, the weather finally warmed up some and little shoots have come up and on Saturday I discovered the first flower in my flower beds. It won't be long before we have more!

Todd's Dance

I mentioned in an earlier blog about Todd and Rachel's dance at BYUI Battle of the Dance. Well, someone has posted it on youtube. So, if you are intereted in seeing it go to youtube.com and search under BYUI Battle of the Dance- Rachel and Todd. It's fun to watch.

Helping Grandma S.

Last week Grandma Schwieder mentioned to Marianne that she was going to hire someone to do some yardwork for her. Well, Marianne decided that there were plenty of able bodied family members around so she sent out an email. On Friday afternoon everyone who could gathered at Grandma's house and weeded, trimmed, swept, washed, raked, hoed, cleaned, rototilled, etc. until the yard, garden and deck looked ready for summer. It was great fun and I tried to talk everyone into coming to my house next but even my own kids didn't go for that.
The kids picked up trash and pinecones and gathered all the old leaves out of the flower beds and under the bushes. It was good to have some little people. They can get into places we can't.


Of course grandpa still found time to play.
Heather, Brian's fiance, was there with her kids and her sister's kids. It was nice to meet her. This is Heather with her older son, Ben. They are very nice.
Grandma made two big pots of soup and some homemade bread for everyone to eat after the work was done. Nice ending to a good day!

Jack's funeral

My Brother-in-law Jack Misner passed away on March 30th from a brain tumor. Jack's funeral was Monday April 5th. Jack spent most of his life in the military, retiring in 2004. His service at the Idaho Veteran's Cemetary involved a military honor guard as can be seen here. Lyn, my sister, was presented the flag which draped his coffin. We remember Jack as a fine man who exemplified a life of service. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family as they cope now with his loss.

Birthday battle

For his birthday, Brett got a set of nerf guns. Dad was there when he opened them and a battle insued.

When Todd showed up, he got ambushed! Without a gun, Todd proceeded to use arm
power to retaliate.

At the birthday celebration I got this family portrait. Cute!

Battle of the Dance

So I wanted to brag a little about Todd. He won't appreciate it I'm sure. A few weeks ago, Todd and an old friend from BHS, Rachel Snow, entered the Battle of the Dance at BYU Idaho. They danced a Tango which he choreographed. I took my camera to get photos and when I got there I found that I did not have a memory card. (I am such a nerk - and I am very upset with myself!). Anyway you know how college crowds can be and they were very vocal about what they liked that night. Well Rachel and Todd absolutely won the crowd. The dance started with Todd sillouetted against a red background light and the girls went crazy. Then during the dance, Todd had choreographed his hat into the dance and he and Rachel did some very fun dance steps which involved the hat. That is when the boys really started getting involved. In fact the boys cheered more than the girls. It was LOTS of fun and I am just sick that I did not get photos. Well, they won first place (the audience had ballots and got to choose one dance, and they also had a panal of judges) and they were supposed to dance at the end of the year talent show but due to conflicts and Rachel getting sick they were not able to. I was sad because I didn't have another chance with my camera. I am still hoping to get some photos from the Snows but so far no luck. Anyway, Todd did great!