Familes are like fudge, mostly sweet with a few nuts







Schwieder family music recital

We had our spring Schwieder family recital this month. It turned out very nice. The kids are doing well. I wish we had more of our grandchildren close by to participate in these recitals and in piano lessons. I would love to teach all my grandkids to play the piano. It is such a useful skill and a great confidence builder. It also teaches patience and practice since it is not a skill learned in a day, or even in a year.  Here I have uploaded just a small clip of each child performing. They all performed multiple pieces.

This was Elden's very first piano recital. He did very well.
Hailey plays well and sings well so I included her doing both.


Addison has really progressed on the piano this year.
Katelyn plays this piece in her large school end of year show. 
She also began violin lessons this year. (obviously not from me)



Family times

On Father's Day Shanalee invited us to dinner. These four just happened to be sitting together so I got a 4 generation photo. Happy Father's Day to all you wonderful fathers in our family!


I finished Kaydrie's quilt. So I'm a little bit early? Kaydrie is due in September but I wanted her to know she is loved. 

On a Saturday in June we took my Dad down to SLC for the Condie reunion. It was lots of fun. Here are some of the Haroldsens who attended.  L to R: DeAnn, Maren, Craig, Aunt Norma (not really a Haroldsen), Daddy, Luara, Emily, Gwen and Lyn

Aaron's family was up from Texas at the time. Emily, Ang, and Luara's family also attended as did Craig and Kathie. Almost their entire family was there.

DeAnn was the only one from her family and David and I were the only ones from ours.

Lyn and Maren attended from their family. This picture includes my Aunt Norma, Mama's younger sister and her daughter Mary. MiKell and Tammie may remember Mary from Logan special needs programs




California Here We Come

The end of May and first few days of June we met the Van Dykes in California. We had a great time on the beach and in Disneyland. Dad and I also visited friends and family but of course I didn't get photos of that.
Abbie in the sand

Grandpa and Lincoln in the ocean


Rob and Spencer playing in the sand. Rob made a pool and Spencer loved climbing in and out.
 
Tammie and Spencer blowing bubbles and Lincoln playing in the water splash park                                             


We also celebrated Lincoln's birthday

David and I enjoyed the Merry Go Round
 
This is a video of Lincoln in the ocean

Disneyland Magic

We had a magical time in Disneyland with Tammie's family. We are so glad they invited us!
 
The night before we went into Disneyland, Lincoln said the family prayer and he said; "And please let me see Googy". So we (and he) were thrilled when Goofy showed up.
  
Abbie loved Minnie and all the Princesses she saw and talked with.
This is Rapunzel.


The rides were great fun and the kids had a good time and were so co-operative and happy.

 I went on some of the rides. Dad took most of the photos. He did go on a few rides - even one new roller coaster - Cars (a racing roller coaster), it was fast and fun.
 



 
We didn't want to leave, but all good things must end. Of course we look forward to lots of more good things with all our kids.

Grandma's playset

On Memorial Day David, Kyle and Landon and Marianne Wilde put up a play set for Grandma S. It is fancy!
 

The little ones had to help by climbing all over it while it was still being built


The two Grandpa's helped by giving good advice. They enjoyed sitting in the sun.

The slide is a hit


The boys loves the climbing wall

After words we had a BBQ. Kyle cooked the hamburgers and
the kids sat at the "bar" on the new play set.

 
It was a fun day and you will all enjoy the play set. Grandma expects more visits now!

Fun at my house in May

May was a busy month, but we found time to have fun too.
 
When Brett's family came for a visit Andrew showed us his beater licking techniques.

Daisy likes to smile - specially when Elden plays with her.
Isn't she adorable?


The apple tree has become the favorite climbing tree. I don't worry too much about Elden and Mark, but Clark gets himself into some scary situations sometimes. However, he is determined to keep up with the big boys.


The sandbox is still a favorite and the sand is even still in it.

Family Home Evening included "Father Abraham" with Dad as the leader.
A really cute photo don't you think?

We launched rockets in May. Here is Caleb. He was the first and the only one I got with the camera. I forgot after that. Oops!

More Catch up - Ranchester in March

In March we went to Wyoming to "help" Brett and Leslie move into their now home. Actually they were already moved in when we got there so we just played with the kids. What fun! The last morning before we left I got this family picture. Isn't it great? What I failed to get was a picture of their new house! Hopefully they will bring some photos to the reunion.
 
 
 

Andrew wanted to be outside and he liked playing peek-a-boo through the glass

Brett has finished his Eagle. It looks really cool.

                  Super heroes to the rescue!
 Looking out their back door and across their back yard, you can see their "playset" - the elementary school playground. That is Mark in the blue coat at the left and James on the slide. They have a pretty fancy playset in the "back yard"!

Trying to Catch Up

This spring David and I have traveled all over the place and I have taken so many pictures, but I haven't gotten around to blogging any of them. So, this is my catch up blog. 
 
The first of May me and my sisters went to BYU Women's conference together. We had a great time.
 
I took this photo on March 31st looking out my back door. It was the last gasp of winter I think. The day before we had been out doing yard work.

I had a great Mother's Day. Thanks for all the cards. Shanalee brought me this homemade lava cake. It was YUMMY! I have need to repent because I didn't even share it.
 
At Jim's wedding we took this impromptu family picture after everything else was done.

After Jim's wedding while still at the temple we just happened to run into one of our Chinese Study Buddies. She lives in Washington and just happened to be in Boise and we just happened to be in the same place at the same time, and Lyn just happened to mention to her in passing that her sister (me) was going on a mission to Taiwan, and she just happened to volunteer the information that she was a Chinese teacher and so Lyn got us together. Lots of just happenings. It was great to meet Pearl in person.

I never blogged about Todd and Bethany coming home from Thailand. They are home and I thought I should show you all. This picture was taken at Jim's luncheon.
We celebrated Alena's 3rd birthday and I got these cute photos