David & Gwen Schwieder Family

The Game Champion of the World!

2012-01-18T08:51:00.000-08:00

On New Year's Eve our family gathered for "The Game Championship of the World". This is the 3rd year we have done this. I was the defending champion, but MiKell won the crown from me! Brett was in charge this year and he did a super job of organizing the games and the point system. He even had a grading system, a spread sheet and a way to earn extra credit. You can diffinitely tell he is a teacher! It was fun. Thanks to all who participated. Hopefully next year we can get some baby sitters and even more of the family can join us.
The three winners (past & present): Kyle Flamm, the winner for 2010. I was the winner for 2011. MiKell is the winner this year.

The Faces of Christmas

2012-01-08T14:50:00.000-08:00

Christmas was wonderful. I loved having my children and grandchildren here for so much of the Holidays. These are just a few of the many
many pictures I took. I hope you all enjoy them! I did.

I love my children. I have 6 wonderful kids and I have gained 6 more wonderful children through marriage. I love you all. Thank you, all of you, for your good lives and good choices.
May God bless you all this year.
I didn't get a picture of Kyle and Tiffany or one of David and I. Next year I'll do better.

Christmas activities

2012-01-07T11:15:00.000-08:00

Leslie had a wonderful Santa party. Elden scooted closer and closer to Santa until he was right there when his name was called. He was SOOOO excited! The four babies visited Santa for the first time. Lincoln was interested in the beard, Clark went right for the gift, and Alena and Hyrum didn't know what to think. And of course Tammie had to have a turn too.

We totally baricaded the tree to keep Hyrum and Clark away from the ornaments.
We played in the snow, painted stars for FHE and went caroling to the neighbors (after decorating cookies).

We danced with the Wi (I might blackmail some people with my videos of this) and we played games.
It was fun to see the next generation carrying on the game playing tradition. It was also fun to watch the cousins exchange gifts.
On Christmas morning we had the Flamm's and the VanDyke's here to open gifts. Even the babies enjoyed it. Abbie carried on the home made gift tradition by making a beautiful painting for her Dad.
Christmas was awesome this year. I loved having family around for over two weeks. Now I'm lonely again, but my house is slowly getting put back together;-)

The Gift of Music

2012-01-07T07:35:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve, my family put on a concert for my parents. It was our Christmas gift to them. My mother is essentially blind and though she cannot do very many things, she does enjoy music. The Concert was Shanalee's idea, inspired from a comment my dad made about songs he wanted sung at his funeral. "Why wait until his funeral?", Shanalee reasoned. It was such a special evening. I appreciate Shanalee for the idea and ALL of the family for their willingness to participate, practice and perform. It was awesome!
Those who participated: Girls-Leslie, MiKell, Shanalee, Bethany, Me, Tammie, and Tiffany. Boys-Josh, Kyle S, Kyle F, Rob, Dad, Todd (behind the music) and Brett. We performed 16 numbers - piano, vocal, and guitar; solos, duets and quartets. I think my parents really enjoyed it. Thanks again to everyone who participated.

Pre-Christmas activities

2011-12-19T22:33:00.000-08:00

We started out the Christmas season this year with a "Journey to Bethlehem" Ward party. David was the tax collector (food for the I.F. Food Bank) and I was the tax collector's wife. (go figure) Josh and family came with us. It was a fun night as we visited different food stalls in Bethlehem and saw the angels and shepherds and wisemen. We even saw the Babe in the manger. The best part was that the party was on Dad's birthday so the tax collector's stall was decorated black.
Then we went to hear Addie's class Christmas program. She really gets into the singing. She even had a special roll in the song "I'm getting nothin' for Christmas". She got to open a gift and make a sad face when she found nothing in it. Kyle played the piano for them.
Of course we made chocolates. This year I taught a friend, Malane Anderson, how to make and dip candy. Shanalee came and joined in too. With three dippers, we kept Dad and Malane's husband very busy melting chocolate. Shanalee and I both tried some new centers and they are yummy! Yesterday Malane brought me a box of chocolates she made and dipped at home this week. They were very good. I must be a good teacher. :)
This year I also taught a group of 9 ladies (and several of their daughters) how to make rock nativities. I called them the "rock stars" and we had a great time gluing, breaking, reglueing, painting, breaking, reglueing etc etc. Above is a picture of my counter on the day we resined the finished sets.
I made the rock nativity set this year for Bethany, and on the day I presented it to her, she and Todd presented this beautiful nativity set from the Phillipines to me. It is really pretty. I think I got the better of the deal. (Thanks Todd and Bethany)

Happy 60th !!!

2011-12-07T20:58:00.000-08:00

We celebrated David's 60th birthday this past week! He is an old man, but a wonderful marvelous old man and I like him just as he is.
Sunday Kyle and his girls came over while we were at church and decorated the house with black crepe paper and balloons. Katelyn
and Addison put up the steamers in the doorway with a sign that said "You have to LOVE Grandpa to pass!!!!". Then everyone came for dinner and of course the grandkids just had to help open gifts. The Ward gave us the cake with 6 candles that said "60". Thanks, everyone, for celebrating with us!

More fun!

2011-12-03T12:31:00.000-08:00

After Thanksgiving we headed down to provo to visit with the VanDykes. We also visited with the Johnsons. Heather arrived home from her mission in Hungary on Thanksgiving Day. It was fun to see her and listen to her stories.
I just had to get this video of Abbie at the piano. She loves to sing and is already accompanying herself!

A full day of Thanks

2011-11-24T22:27:00.001-08:00

David and I had a very good Thanksgiving day. In the morning we worked on projects around the house - David on the dorm in the basement and I on Christmas gifts. I put current pictures of the progress on the dorms at the bottom of this blog, but I didn't put pictures of the gifts I'm working on. Sorry. No peeking. At mid-day David and I went with Susan Horwith (a single sister friend from the Ward) and served food at the Community Thanksgiving dinner sponsored by the Salvation Army. What a great experience that was. My table was filled with men from City of Refuge, a men's shelter and rehabilitation center. They were great. Later in the day we went over to my folks to celebrate Thanksgiving with them. We invited Susan along again and she brought the homemade cranberry sauce - very good! We had a good Thanksgiving meal with Mama and Daddy and lots of good conversation. Then Shanalee, Josh and Clark showed up for a visit. It was just very enjoyable. When we got home, David turned on our Christmas lights for the first time this year. What a surprise. Brett had come and put up lights along the roofline. I had told David I didn't want him on the roof this year (He is getting too old for such shinanigans) so he only put them around the windows and door in front. Brett did the rest for us. Thanks! it looks great! Below is the dorm as it looks now
and looking at it from the TV room.
I am very grateful for David - and not just because he is building my dorm! David is wonderful. He is a super dad, a fabulous husband and just a very very good man. He, my children (all 12 of them), my grandchildren, and my testimony of the Gospel are my greatest blessings.

The first video is Clark crawling in my folks dining room. The second is Clark helping his folks look through Black Friday ads. The last one is of all those at Grandpa's house that night.

Fun New Things at Our House

2011-11-11T11:32:00.000-08:00

Quite a while ago, I think back in September, my "Grandma" blanket disappeared. It turns out Shanalee snuck it away and had it updated with all my grandkids' names. I've been meaning to blog it ever since and just never took the time. Thank you Shanalee. I love it!

Just this week they finally got here to blacktop our drive way. I've been waiting for this for 20 years. I like it a lot. I'm sure I won't like the bill when it comes next week though. Oh well.(I was right. I don't like it!)
Dad has started working in the basement! The left picture shows where the boys dorm will be. The right one is the storage room. You can see why I am trying to clean things out of the basement. It will be a pretty small storage room! Do you think Dad will finish the dorm by Christmas? Zach and Eric are supposed to sleep there. I have faith in him!

Visiting Kanab

2011-11-05T05:51:00.000-07:00

In October we went to Kanab to visit the VanDykes. We had a great time. We sat at home and relaxed, played at the park with the kids, found a great sandstone cave to explore, and visited Pipe Springs National Historical Monument. Of course the best part was seeing Tammie, Rob and the kids and just being there with them. What a sweet family.

Tammie found out about these caves from her visiting teacher. They have lots of different colored sandstone in them and are just up the canyon from Kanab. What a fun place. I found lots of sand for 4-H. Pipe Springs was a fun place to visit. It is a restored fort. The longhorn cows were a bit intimidating but the ducks were just cute.

these are just two fun videos. I think you can guess what book Dad is reading to Abbie in the background.

In "tune" with the season

2011-10-28T15:32:00.000-07:00

We had a Halloween Recital/party for all the family that was around last night. Our costumes were all just amazing ;-) In Kyle's family we had three fairies, an elephant, 2 cats and the grim reaper. Brett's family featured two ducks, a duck hunter and the Fish and Game warden. Josh brought a family of Supers. Raggedy Andy, aka Dad, was the MC for the program. Everyone was involved in the recital - piano or voice or scary surprise. Grandpa and Grandma came for the fun too. I think Grandma is doing super well with her new hip! After the program we played the donut-on
-the-string game and Grandma brought Halloween owl treats for the kids. Enjoy all the videos of the fun talents. Some are not complete but you get the idea. Just for your information, Elden did NOT play "Three Black Bears". He played "Three Black Spiderman Cats"! James was too stage shy to perform with the family but he did it for us later by himself. Hailey sang a song from her Primary Program and she really likes to sing!. Katelyn and Addie are doing excellent with their piano and Josh and Shanalee had fun doing their duet. The last video is Grandpa, Mark, Brett and Hailey doing the donuts. Brett always finds the short cut, but the others were much more entertaining. I just wish I had a gotten a video of Dad telling his great Halloween jokes... such as: Why didn't the skeleton go to the prom? He had noBODY to go with! or What game do ghosts like best? Hide and go Shriek! He had some great ones!

Winter Already?

2011-10-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

I was really hoping for a long drawn out fall. I guess it proves that hope is not enough, and obviously I did not have enough faith. The storm started Thursday and hasn't let up yet. These pictures of the yard were taken Thursday afternoon. We were told to expect a frost, but nothing about snow for 3 days. Our garden is ruined, we lost the plums just as they were ripened, and now no more raspberries. So sad.

One week later: Happy day - the snow insulated everything so we didn't lose the plums, the raspberries, or the garden! Maybe we will have a long fall after all.

Charlie we will always LOVE you

2011-10-05T11:10:00.001-07:00

Charles Montgomery Schwieder

July 24, 1999 - October 4, 2011

Yesterday we did one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. We took Charlie to the vet for the last time.
I will remember Charlie as a wonderful dog, a loving friend, and a wonderful companion for my children. Thank you Charlie for everything. See you in heaven.

Ward Talent Show fun

2011-09-29T01:38:00.001-07:00

Last week we had a Ward Talent Show and the bishopric was the hit of the night. They did a lip sync to Elvira - a country western classic (I guess). Randy King was the main "voice" and dressed the part of the "cowboy in love". Dad was the "um pa" back ground guy and did an excellent job. When they did those chorus parts he got out in front and really moved to the beat. And then Kent Beck dressed as "Elvira" and flounced around the stage. It was halirious watching him in high heals. It was great fun! I didn't hardly get any pictures because the stage was so dark the camera mostly just blurred. Dad happened to be holding still for this one so it actually worked.
The three stars!

I tried to get some video of the event, but this is the only one that sort of worked out. The first is very blurry, but it gets better as it goes. You can kind of get an idea of how it went.

I was in a number too - about what I do best: EATING!!!
4 others ladies and I sang a song about tiptoeing to the kitchen for a midnight snack. It was also a lot of fun. I'm sure we totally made fools of ourselves, but it was okay because we did it together. There is safety in numbers.

2011-09-26T13:25:00.000-07:00

Mark and James have spent several days and nights with us while their folks were at Wood Badge. They are quite intertaining. James spent his time trying to climb on everything and being very proud of himself when he succeeded. Consequently he took some good falls too.
While they were here, Shanalee brought her boys over several times, so I got some photos of all of them. Clark is trying to learn to crawl. He really wants too, and as soon as he can figure out how to move that much weight around he is going to take off. He really wanted to get to Charlie. It took him about 10 minutes, but he made it at last. Charlie was very accomodating.
All of the boys loved being outside so I am glad we had good weather.

Under the playset was a good hideout from "the dragon".
Mark loved to help me water the flowers. He watered everything real well; the house, the tree, the sidewalk, Charlie, himself, and Me. He even got some on the flowers occasionally.

Biking in Yellowstone

2011-09-11T09:58:00.000-07:00

We were inspired by Todd and Bethany! They spent the long LaborDay weekend and their anniversary biking around Yellowstone Park. Well we couldn't go that far, but we did borrow their bike rack and took our bikes to Yellowstone yesterday to enjoy the day there. The weather was fantastic and we were able to bike to places I haven't been in years - since I stopped hiking in fact. It was great!
Actually, the weekend started at a campsite in Teton where we spent the evening with the Ward Priests and their leaders. We fed them breakfast Saturday morning and sent them on their way up to TableRock. Then we headed for the park. The Tetons were perfect. We saw 4 geysers go off and we biked into Lone Star Geyser and Morning Glory Pool. It was great to be out amongst the trees away from the cars. I had forgotten. I'm so glad Todd inspired David with the idea. The Park needs more biking trails.
We saw Castle Geyser go off. The picture of me with my bike is in front of this geyser.
We saw Riverside Geyser go off. David is standing in front of Riverside geyser. Morning Glory Pool was beautiful but not as blue as I remember it.

We biked into Lone Star Geyser and waited for an hour to see it go off. David had the camera and decided to get some "artistic" pictures of me. This is why I usually carry the camera! It was a wonderful day!

What's been happening

2011-09-08T08:28:00.001-07:00

Since getting home from all our trips and travels I've just been trying to finish unfinished projects. One was this crocheted hat. I used Tammie's pattern. I think it turned out very cute and Clark models it well. Elden wanted to model it too though it is a bit small for him.

David and I have been very busy with yardwork, and
Mark joined in one day. I even mowed the lawn myself this past Monday!(this ought to amaze all of you) Charlie still loves to be loved as you can see in this cute photo. He really is not doing too well, but is managing.
Earlier in the summer my friend Joanne and her husband Mark came to visit and I never posted any photos from that. Here we are across the river from the temple. From here you can't see all the construction going on around the temple. It is supposed to be finished later this month and is going to beautiful!
I thought this photo of the temple turned out very nice!

I Love Leigh Lake

2011-08-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

This year we went to Leigh Lake with Shanalee and Josh and their two boys. It was just so nice and relaxing - at least for me. Dad and Josh did all the hauling, packing, portaging, and setting up. Shanalee and I got to take care of kids. Not much of a break for her, but I thought it was great. Elden had a wonderful time and Clark did well too.

Shanalee hiked in with Clark on her back. Josh hiked in with a pack and David and I canoed in with Elden. Elden sat in front of David and had a great time tying his (David's) shoelaces together on the way. David about fell in the water when he went to step out of the canoe. I really wish I had had my camera! David and Josh set us up a wonderful camp, the weather was great (just a bit cold at night) and we had a good time!

Elden, what big eyes you have.
What a wonderful man I married. He even did most of the cooking! I am soooo spoiled!
Father and son (Josh and Elden) had a great time together for 3 days.
I'm afraid that water is too cold for me.
learning to skip rocks
Josh and Elden weren't the only ones in the water.
Shanalee was prepared for the cold nights with Clark bundled in his bunting. We also took the swing to hang from a tree - the smartest thing we did!

I wasn't the only one with a camera - like mother like daughter. Dad and I didn't pack too well and
all our clothes got wet in the canoe. The clothesline was the first thing set up in camp. Luckily it was a hot day and our PJ's were dry by nighttime.

Enlarge these two pictures to see the colors in them. The sunset/dusk colors were beautiful.

The David Schwieder Reunion - parts 4 and 5

2011-08-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

Part 4: The GREAT SALT LAKE
My first time in the Great Salt Lake. This photo will join those of me in the Gulf of Mexico,the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the Mediterranean Sea. One more thing off my bucket list!
Bathing Beauties!

Floating along on the Briny Sea!

Fun in the Sun and the Sea

Canoeing along on the briny sea
Part 5: Elden's Birthday Party

Happy birthday sweet boy! We all love you and your glasses!

Shanalee and Josh, Thanks for organizing another great reunion - and everyone, thanks for coming!

The David Schwieder Reunion - parts 1, 2 and 3

2011-08-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

PART 1: Camping on Antelope Island
The kids had a great time and got dirtier by the minute. (Isn't that supposed to be part of camping?)

The adults came prepared for the sun with hats, but the little ones thought they were toys.

Shanalee and Josh came prepared with "win it in a minute" games. Both adults and kids joined in the fun.

We also just did a lot of relaxing

Our four newest family members, Lincoln, Hyrum, Clark and Alena, spent their time in carriers, back packs and blankets. Next year we will have a batch of crawlers. Won't that be fun?

PART 2: The FIRE
Of course I had to give this a part all by itself. I mean, how often do you get a family reunion interupted by a spectacular thunder and lightning storm, a wild fire, and a forced evacuation? It's a first for us and I suspect it will never happen again (I hope, anyway). Thanks to all you wonderful relatives who took us in late that night - Kyle's brother, Tiffany's parents, and Rob's parents. We can not thank you enough! This picture was taken not too long after the lightning struck, before Tammie called 911.
PART 3: The Museum - It was great to regroup at the museum and just continue on with the reunion. You guys are fantastic! The museum was very interesting and we enjoyed it all -

even the snow cones.

I'm glad Leslie suggested a family picture. Everyone but Brett is in the picture - what a wonderful memory to have.

Time to catch up

2011-08-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

So..... I am way behind with my blogging, so I am going to do several blogs in the next few days to catch up. First: The Flamm's came and stayed with us for a few days between their Flamm reunion and their Schwieder reunion. It was wonderful to have them. I wish they could have stayed a LOT longer. I guess I'm going to have to get back to Mississippi!
What a great family! And an absolutely adorable baby
(all my grandbabies are so cute!)
Wendy had her luggage and was ready to go at a moments notice. She's already the world traveler.
Shanalee and her kids came and visited a lot while MiKell was here. Elden loves to play with Eric. Here is Clark and Hyrum. They are only 2 months apart in age (Feb 12 and April 9) but Hyrum has decided to stay little like his big brothers and sister, and Clark just doesn't want to stop growing. They are both such sweethearts!
The same week the Flamm's were here was 4-H fair week.
Katelyn entered 6 projects and got blue ribbons on all of them. AND she got these two special awards: An Outstanding on her "junk" project where we made lots of different frames and photo holders, and an Honor Roll on her sewing project for which she made a drawsting purse and the pillow case pictured here. GOOD JOB KATELYN!

Polly Pureheart Prevails

2011-07-22T07:34:00.000-07:00

Brett is THE VILLIAN! and poor Polly Pureheart and her parents must rely on Dexter Dogood to save them (though he doesn't do much but strut around a lot). Typical melodrama action unfolds on the tiny Iona Community stage for Pioneer Days. We had a great time watching Brett as he connived and plotted and still lost in the end. It was especially fun to see Brett in drag. Though he lost the money he did gain something more important - come and see what. They are performing again tonight and Saturday night.
You must pay the rent!
The plot thickens.

The villianous deed.

The villian exposed!

A happy ending? Even for Wesley Wicked?

The kids enjoyed the melodrama though all of them had a hard time identifiying Brett (daddy) at first.
It was Lots of fun.

Harry Potter and company

2011-07-15T09:59:00.000-07:00

Last night we had a gathering of witches and wizards

join us for a Harry Potter Party. Wizard Elden joined us before he went to bed.

Harry Potter, Nymphadora Tonks, and Minerva McGonagall joined us. We played games and ate wizard food. Here we have cookie wands, Bertie Botts every flavor bean, and Cauldron Cakes.

We thought Harry Potter was extremely lucky since he won everything, but then we found out he was charming the cards with his wand. Why didn't the rest of us think of that.
Then they all got ready to go to the midnight showing of the last Harry Potter movie. Left to Right: Harry Potter (Todd), Tonks (Bethany), Professor McGonagall (Shanalee), and two Gryfindor students (Josh and Samantha)

The faces of Harry Potter - I wonder what he's thinking about?

Harry Potter and Tonks? Something seems all wrong here!

Our 4th of July celebration

2011-07-14T19:38:00.001-07:00

So, I'm a little slow with this post, but we did have a great 4th of July. Brent and his family stayed from the reunion, and they along with all our family close by met at Freeman Park Monday afternoon to relax, eat and play games.

Donna painted Shanae's face to be in keeping with the festivities.

videos from the reunion

2011-07-08T13:40:00.000-07:00

At the Haroldsen reunion, I got some fun videos. Here are several of them. The first one has a story behind it. I was taking a photo of Craig's family and was trying to get the kids to smile. Suddenly they all started laughing. This is what they were seeing. Craig took my place so I could get the video. The second video is of the kids playing "ghetto ball" and the 3rd is Abbie playing "ghetto ball". After watching her parents play she decided to try it.

A fantastic Haroldsen Family Reunion

2011-07-05T15:13:00.000-07:00

what a great reunion we had with the Haroldsen family at Three Peaks Lodge outside of St. Anthony, Idaho. The picture at left is my family - my folks, me, my siblings and our spouses. These are the beginnings of the our Haroldsen clan. We had a great turnout - 62 people - and the lodge
accomodated all of us very nicely!
The kids all had a great time with cousins and second cousins. Here are just some of the adorable pictures I got of some of my grandkids.

In our individual family, the only ones we were missing were the Flamms. So this is our family photo minus the Flamms. We missed them! Notice how many of the little ones like to have their hands in their mouths. Not seen in the photo is how much the older ones like to have food in their mouths. We didn't lack for good food!
I took a family photo of every family at the reunion this year. It was a great way to document those attending. Here are our family portraits. I think they actually turned out quite nicely. Only problem - I forgot to get
one of David I. Oops!
I want to thank all my kids for coming and bringing your families. Especially the new mama's with their babies. I know it wasn't easy, but it sure was fun to have you there. Thanks!!

Above are my sisters and sister in laws. What a blessing to get along so well - we actually like to be together! Left is a picture of the Tetons taken from behind the lodge. It is a very pretty place, but you will probably have to blow the photo up to really see it.

We have some wonderful Dad's in our family!

2011-06-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

For Father's Day we had a gathering at our house. We presented our husbands/fathers with a list of reasons why they "are special to us". We had 268 reasons listed, but we could have put twice that many if I hadn't run out of time. When we unrolled the list, it stretched from the front step to the
trees out by the road. We cut it into pieces to hang on the wall for this photo. I thought it
so appropriate that when the photo was taken, two of the dad's were holding babies. We really do have a group of fantastic dad's in this family. Thank you!!!

You all do a wonderful job loving, supporting and teaching your children and your neices and nephews. We love you!!!

And a special tribute to my Dad and David's Dad. You are our best examples of what father's ought to be. Thank you for your service all these years!

David thanks for your example for our children, and Daddy, thanks for your example of true love!

Great time in Kanab

2011-06-20T08:10:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful time in Kanab with the VanDyke family. I was there for 2 weeks and David joined me for the last few days. One of the last things we did was take family photos. This is one of many. Below are some of the other highlights of my time there.

I got to photo journal Lincoln's first bath. He actually
enjoyed it!

Abigail was a lot of fun and we did lots together. We went on walks, played in the park, played peek-a-boo, tried on Grandpa's hat and just laughed a lot.

One evening I got to go to a concert in the park where Rob played with the Kanab Jazz Band. That was fun - specially chasing
Abbie around. I was impressed with Rob's playing.
We didn't JUST have beautiful warm weather - we had one rainstorm while I was there. There was a gorgeous complete double rainbow out Tammie's back door but of course my camera couldn't capture it all or it's intensity. Blow the photo up and you will see it better.

I had a birthday, shout hur-ray!

2011-06-20T07:19:00.001-07:00

I celebrated my birthday this year in Kanab. Tammie made me a yummy caramel chocolate nut bar cake. Tammie, I forgot to get the recipe.

We enjoyed Chinese food with Tammie and Rob that night and during the day we took Abbie swimming. It was cold - I mean the water - but we got used to it. Abbie likes the water!

Lincoln at one week

2011-06-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

Here is bright eyed Lincoln at almost one week. He still sleeps the majority of the time, but he does stay awake for longer periods too. He likes baths, he loves his binky and he likes to be held upright. He hates diaper changes and he also does not like to lie on his back.

He likes to talk too. Well, it is more cooing than talking, but it's cute.

Peacefully at sleep. I wonder how long this will last?

Swimming with Abigail

2011-06-09T11:38:00.001-07:00

Grandma VanDyke took Abbie swimming yesterday. Abbie loves to swim!

Hide and Seek

2011-06-07T06:38:00.000-07:00

So, Tammie and Abbie were playing Hide and Seek. I just had to share.

We have another new baby

2011-06-06T10:41:00.001-07:00

Tammie delivered little Lincoln Robert early Friday morning, the same day that I flew to Kanab. He was only 9 hours old when I took these photos. Mama and baby and doing very
well, and papa couldn't be prouder!

Abbie is occasionally interested in baby brother. She was more interested in laying in the baby's hospital crib and pretending she was a baby. She likes to do that at home too. She's actually handling it all very well.

Bringing baby Lincoln home Sunday morning! He's beautiful! Tammie felt so well that she and Lincoln went to Sacrament Meeting that afternoon.

Flying to Kanab

2011-06-04T07:59:00.000-07:00

Josh flew me down to Kanab Friday. It was great.
The flight was as smooth as glass except for a few thermals the last 1/2 hour. We flew from I.F. to Kanab in just under 4 hours. Lots better than the 10 hour drive. Above is I.F. just after we took off. At left is Kanab as we banked for landing. Below
is landing in Pocatello where we had to
make a brief stop. It was a fun flight.
Thank you Josh!
I videoed the last part of take off from I.F.
And I videoed the landing in Pocatello.

Already growing

2011-06-03T19:08:00.000-07:00

Lena is growing already and she's beautiful!

All three of the girls just had to have a picture taken with Lena. I specially like the first picture where Lena's eyes were focused right on Katelyn's face. So sweet! Caleb wanted his picture taken too, but he wasn't interested in Lena. What a wonderful family!

Nail Fun

2011-06-03T16:29:00.000-07:00

left-Hailey, below-Katelyn, bottom-me.

I told Katelyn and Hailey I would post pictures of our nails. Aren't they beautiful. The fun part is that Kyle, their daddy, drew the designs on Katelyn and Hailey's nails and Katelyn painted them, and David, my sweet and patient man, painted my toe nails just because I wanted something new. Aren't the men in our lives wonderful?

Family Fun

2011-05-31T12:04:00.000-07:00

We went swimming at Green Canyon on Memorial Day. Our three sons, Kyle, Brett and Todd, and their families joined us. Even I went swimming. We had lots of fun.

We picked Green Canyon because it is a warm indoor pool and even has indoor picnic tables. The day outside was rainy and cold so we needed indoor activites.

We all had a good time and the kids did great!

Announcing another precious grandchild

2011-05-24T17:44:00.000-07:00

Sweet little Alena Mary was born this morning. Kyle says they will call her Lena, with a short 'e'. She is beautiful and Mama and baby are doing well. She has lots of pretty red hair and dark eyes. She was awake a lot while we were there today, but she didn't like the camera flash so I couldn't get a picture with her eyes open all the way.

Of course I had to get a picture of the proud grandpa. He was already helping Lena "connect those synapsis to say 'Grandpa'"

Things we did on our cruise (a very long blog)

2011-05-19T13:30:00.000-07:00

ALong with being totally spoiled by the food and the service on the ship, we also did some other fun things on our cruise. We saw some spectacular scenery and visited 3 different towns in Alaska. At Juneau we saw Mendenhall Glacier and visited a fish hatchery and aquarium. I got to pet a star fish and a spider crab and saw an 8 foot eel come out of hiding to eat.
From Sitka we went on a sea otter tour where we saw lots of sea otters floating on their backs with their pups sitting on their stomachs. It was really cute but I couldn't
get good pictures of them. To the surprise of the tour guide, we also saw lots of hump back whales and several gray whales. He did not expect to see any and had told us so, but we saw dozens of them. We saw several mother and babies together (at left). We could find them very easily because they were spouting water all around us (below) and often would flip up their flukes after they spouted. Even knowing this, it was hard to get a good photo. They are up
for only a second. Dad took over 200
photos on this excursion!
I took these last two!

Also in Sitka we visited a raptor rehabilitation center and met "Sitka" the eagle - their mascot. Because of an injury he can never be released back into the wild.

In Ketchikan we visited Saxman
village, a native Alaskan village. We saw their lodges and totems and learned about their culture. We watched them dance and visited with a carver as he carved a new totem.
When we were there 6 years ago, David danced with them. This year he refused, so Laurel Willis danced with them. It was great! We also went to a real fun Lumberjack Show in Ketchikan. We were on the Canadian team - and we won!! Gay and Laurel were on the American team. A little friendly competition spices things up!
While in Alaska, we were also in the Juneau newspaper. This is the beginning of the news article about our ship.
Holland America's cruise ship Westerdam sustained non-critical hull damage after striking ice near Yakutat Bay on Tuesday. The Coast Guard is investigating the incident. Sector Juneau's public affairs office Lt.j.g.James Dooley said the hull was mildly indented about 15 feet below the waterline while maneuvering through ice during high winds while sailing near Hubbard Glacier. There was no reported hull breach and so the ship proceeded to its Sitka destination where it was met by investigators. "They reported the incident and what was happening on scene, so the Coast Guard here in Juneau coordinated and decided there wasn't a reason to prevent them from moving on to Sitka," Dooley said. He said the next move was for divers to conduct an underwater inspection in Ketchikan Thursday. He said there were no injuries or pollution reported. So, you see, we are famous!

Our Alaska Cruise

2011-05-17T06:49:00.000-07:00

These two young men, Yudi at left and Andrian at right,
always served our table, table #56. Andrian always served the dessert and after meal coffee. I ordered milk the first night instead of coffee and every night after that he always brought me a glass of milk. Everyone talks about the food on cruises, and everything they said is absolutely true. I gained weight but totally enjoyed doing it. I only got this picture of David's desert and he had them leave the berries off (mine looked and tasted better), but every part of every meal was a work of art as well as scrumptiously delicious.

We had a very nice stateroom. It was a bit larger than usual because they gave us a handicap room. We didn't ask for one (didn't know they had them) but it was really fortunate we got one because it had a sit down shower and room to store the wheelchair I used for part of the cruise.
The stewards for our stateroom (and Willis') were Made (pronounced MaDay) at left, and Ayu (pronouned Iya)at right. They were sweet and very friendly. We got to know them quite well because of the handicap room and also because their workstation was just across from us. Made always folded us a towel creation and left it in the room each day. Others would come by our stateroom just to see our creation for the day. We started with the ducks and swan,followed by the puppy, the elephant, the monkey and the ape. Everyone on the cruise was great and we had a good time being spoiled.

Cruising with friends

2011-05-15T16:30:00.001-07:00

We enjoyed our cruise to Alaska. At left, Dad and I are in front of the Mendenhall Glacier which we saw outside of Juneau. At right we are in front of the Hubbard glacier which we saw from the ship.
We traveled with our friends Laurel and Gay Willis. They are a lot of fun. Left:Gay and I on our Sea Otter tour (Gay is holding some sea
otter fur which is very soft.) We saw many many otters with their cubs, Humpback whale with their calves and even a few Gray Whales. Gay bought us matching sweat shirts for the cruise and we even had our names put on them. Aren't we all soooooooo cute beside the Beaver Clan totem pole? We thought standing by such a "pleasant" looking totem would make us look better.
We had a super time and I'm so glad the Willis' were able to go with us (and even wanted to go with us!)

April Birthdays

2011-05-05T12:04:00.000-07:00

We celebrated 4 birthdays in April. Brett started out the month followed immediately by Mark.
If you can't tell, Brett's candles write "31". My how the years sneak up on us! I don' have a picture of Mark's beautiful blue elephant cake, but he was very interested in Daddy's cake.
Mark loves his new sleeping bag.
The next birthday was Kyle. Tiffany made his age very obvious. (Why do I feel so old?) I got a family photo on Kyle's birthday. I think it turned out pretty good.

Last was James birthday who turned one. Leslie made another beautiful elephant cake, this time orange. I don't think James cared about the color, but he did enjoy the cake. He also liked opening gifts while Mark enjoyed playing with the gifts. James is very good at giving hugs. Great Grandma enjoyed that.

Easter - and a Blessing

2011-05-04T04:56:00.000-07:00

Easter Sunday was wonderful. We blessed sweet little Clark Abram. Josh gave him a beautiful blessing, blessing him with a "quick memory: quick to remember the Lord, Jesus Christ and quick to remember his ancesters who prepared the way for him." We love our children and grand children so much!! Blessing a child on Easter, when we remember Christ and how He made eternal families possible, was very special.

We enjoyed Easter Saturday with family also - even Charlie enjoyed it. The day was pleasant enough to enjoy the trampoline,
playing on Brett's go-cart and having an Easter egg hunt.

The Children's Museum with Zachary and Eric

2011-04-26T21:50:00.000-07:00

While in Mississippi, I went to a Children's
Museum with Zachary and Eric. We spent most of the day there and had a great time.

Both boys got thoroughly wet playing with boats in the water and they really enjoyed playing with the construction equipment. The climbling wall was a big hit and they went back several times. They were really quite interested in the earthquakes and tsunamis and put on lab coats to study oil drilling and climb through the "mine" tunnels.

Being a turtle was fun since we had just seen a turtle in their front yard that day.
This video shows the boys dancing with a dance/exercise game. They did much better than I did.

Wendy and Hyrum

2011-04-25T07:55:00.000-07:00

Hyrum was 2 weeks old when I left Mississippi. I got some photos of him with his eyes open. He is cute little fellow but doesn't look much like his two brothers yet.

Wendy is as cute as ever, with a ready smile and an infectious giggle. When you ask her to smile for the camera she crinkles up her eyes and really plays it up for the camera.

I asked Wendy to show me "happy" and "sad". Happy is easy, but sad is always eyes closed and a puckered up mouth. She really tries to do "sad", but it is difficult. I thought it was cute.

The new Flamm home

2011-04-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

when I got to Mississippi the Flamm's were living in their new home but their furniture had not yet arrived. They had a sofa, a bed, 2 blow up mattresses, a card table and 5 folding chairs. On Tuesday the moving company finally showed up.
The front room and the dining room (which
they are using for a computer/music area) were very empty when I got there.
When I left the furnture was inplace but
there were still lots of boxes to unpack.

The deck and back yard are wonderfully large and absolutely perfect for kids. They all love that part of the house.
The video below shows the kids playing in the backyard.

"The Tornado"

2011-04-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

So... tonight Grandma Schwieder called to ask about the tornado in Jackson, Mississippi. We told her about the tornado warning sirens that went off most of the morning and part of the afternoon and about the violent thunder and wind storm we had but that was all. Well, after speaking with Grandma, a neighbor came by with some home made blueberry coffee cake to introduce herself and she started talking about "the tornado". It turns out that it came much closer to us then we had thought. She mentioned how she was quite nervous today and wanted to make sure we were okay. MiKell admitted that we didn't know enough to be nervous.

Anyway, I guess while MiKell was picking up Zach from preschool at about noon, the storm was heading across the reservoir which is quite close by here. She noticed that there were hardly any cars on the road but thought it was just because of the horizontal rain. Shows how much we know. We thought we were just experiencing a fierce thunder storm. Instead we were on the fringes of a tornado! What's really funny is that when it was at it's worst, I tried to get some pictures of it to put on my blog. It was really wild. But the pictures didn't really show anything. When Zach got home from school he was quite indignant because he had to sit in the hallway half of the day. He said it was so "boring". Later the storm turned and came back across the reservoir, and it did touch down in Clinton. Kyle came home from work about 2 PM because they wouldn't let them stay in the building, and it took him awhile to get home because he had to find a route where trees weren't across the roads. That is our exciting experience which we didn't even know we were experiencing! I do hope it is the closest I ever get to a tornado.

PS. At church Sunday (yesterday) the Bishop announced the volunteer efforts to help with clean up. The tornado touched down in three places. One man in Sunday School spoke of his car getting picked up out of the parking lot and thrown against the building where he worked. He was glad they were still in the building!

Welcome number 13!

2011-04-11T16:12:00.000-07:00

Hyrum Frederick, grandbaby number 13, was born April 9. He is beautiful! MiKell and baby are now home and both are doing well. Hyrum has dark hair, but I have only seen
his eyes once so I don't know what color they are. He has a soft little cry, but he does know how to use it.

All the family welcomed Hyrum. Wendy was fascinated and everyone had to have a turn holding him.

Eric had to count his toes to make sure there were ten and Wendy gave him a kiss.

We have a PRETTY Car

2011-04-07T16:55:00.000-07:00

YES, WE BOUGHT A NEW CAR! And it is even a PRETTY color. The color was my only criteria. I absolutely refused to buy another neutral colored car - no gray, tan, white, off white, gold, black or almost black. NO SIR! Luckily David had a few other criteria so we ended up with a good car as well. It is a Subaru Legacy and is a 2011 but not brand new. We like it a lot! David decided he looks good enough in it that he should use it for work but that would leave
me with the almost black SUV so you know what my opinion of that idea was.

March Madness - the best kind

2011-03-29T04:47:00.000-07:00

March has been all about grandkids. My dad had his birthday in March and his grandkids (my kids) helped him celebrate. Also in March my grandkids were here a lot. Tammie and Abbie came to stay a week and Shanalee, Josh and their boys came for a few days. Of course Kyle's family and
Brett's family were in and out all the time. It was all so much fun! Baby Clark was a great attraction with the other little ones, and Abbie enjoyed playing with Elden, James and Mark too.

Elden and Abbie discovered the empty office cupboards and Mark and Elden loved sitting on the back of the sofa to watch DVDs

Abbie likes to ham it up for the camera just like her mom used to. Here are "happy", "sad", and "surprised".

all the kids like book readings and the boys even listened to Josh teach the FHE lesson!We did all kinds of fun things. I could have blogged another 30 photos. Sometimes we had a "mad" house, but it was great!

Scouts and Dancing

2011-03-21T13:31:00.001-07:00

Yesterday in a Court of Honor, David was awarded his WoodBadge bead. He
has been working on his wood badge over the past year and a half. Good Job David!
This past week end, Leslie and Brett were in charge
of our Stake's Dance festival. They organized the Wards into four groups and arranged for them to learn four different dances and perform them for the stake. A youth dance then followed. It turned out real nice. Brett and Leslie taught the country two step and they also performed it with their group. Abigail and Mark enjoyed dancing too, and Abigail also wanted
to dance with James. That took some help from the
adults.

Piano Recital

2011-03-16T07:48:00.000-07:00

We have a family of piano players!
Todd is taking a piano class at BYUI and for that class he needed to have a piano recital with at least 6 adults in attendance. So, we just decided to have a family piano recital. Lots of the family participated, but David didn't have time to prepare anything. :(

Even the little ones got involved. I specially enjoyed Elden's rendition of "My donkey's gray". His HeeHaws were great! Everyone did a very good job. I am impressed with Todd's playing. This class has been great for him. The audience was good too, though the photographer was a bother at times.

Dance Alliance

2011-03-13T09:11:00.001-07:00

Todd and Bethany are in Dance Alliance at BYUI. They put on their big show - the one they will take on tour this spring - for the school this past weekend. David and I went to see it on Friday. I really wish I could have gotten some pictures during the dances. They did such a nice job. These photos were taken after the show. Todd and Bethany were both in a lot of the dances and even danced together in some. The whole show was high energy and thought provoking. Excellent Job Todd and Bethany!

My newest grandson

2011-03-09T06:40:00.000-08:00

Clark Abram was born almost 1 month ago though he wasn't due until the 20th of March. He spent his first 2 weeks in the NICU and the Simmons' family (after Shanalee got out of the hospital) spent that time here at our house because we are closer to the hospital then their house is and because they needed someone to be with Elden while they spent lots of time at the hospital. It was a hectic but very enjoyable 2 weeks. Now we are happy to announce that Clark, and his family, are all home and doing well.

Beautiful baby. Beautiful mother. Beautiful grandkids. Beautiful family. We are truly blessed.

January Birthdays

2011-01-30T09:33:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday!

Bethany and Todd are now both 23 years old. We celebrated Bethany's birthday at her parents home the first of January. We celebrated Todd's birthday here at our house just this past week. We wish them many many more happy birthdays together. I just can't believe my "baby" (and his wife!!) are 23 years old. Where does the time fly?

Saying Good-bye

2011-01-19T11:16:00.001-08:00

We helped take the Flamm family to the airport on Saturday and we got a call from them that night that they were safely in Mississippi. These are our airport good-byes! We love you. Good luck in Mississippi!

Last day (for awhile) with the Flamms

2011-01-17T21:00:00.000-08:00

This past weekend David and I spent some time with the Flamms. We took the kids all day Friday while Kyle and MiKell finished getting their house ready for sale. We had a good snowfall the night before so David took the opportunity to play in the snow with the kids. Zach enjoyed the snowball fight with grandpa.

This may be their last time to make a snowman for several years. Mississippi is not known for snow. The kids helped by following David around.

We spent all afternoon at a children's museum and the kids had a great time! Zach got to play the part of the king in a play. He got to sneeze and sneeze and sneeze. In fact he sneezed himself to death. He had quite an interesting death scene. I'm sure going to MISS these kids!!!!

The gingerbread house is finished!

2010-12-09T22:26:00.000-08:00

The gingerbread house is done and on display at the museum. Ahhhh - it feels so nice.
We had a fun time trying to make a gingerbread version of the photo of the house at left, taken on my trip to Vermont a month ago. David did an excellent job with the archetectural and structural drawings. I put some walls together wrong and that necessitated redoing some of the roof pieces. Altogether we used 18 batches of gingerbread and over 20 of icing. I think it turned out okay. We put a light inside so you can see the furniture and Christmas tree inside. Of course there is a manger scene in the front yard and David is very proud of the Santa Sleigh and Reindeer he found to put on the roof.

One side of the house has a 2nd floor balcony - far left - and the other side has a covered porch. There is a dog house and puppy, of course. Shanalee named the dog "Jolly" but I forgot to write his name on his house - oops. I'm proud of the idea of a deciduous tree with a bucket hanging from it for collecting syrup. Probably the wrong time of year for maple syruping, but it just fit with Vermont.
The back of the house has a covered porch the whole width of the house and in the back yard we added a skating pond and sledding hill. Notice the bunny on the frozen pond and the fox watching him. A little added drama!
This picture was taken at 1:30 am Thursday morning. I only had a few details to finish before we took it in for display Thursday afternoon. It was a fun house to make and I really appreciate David, Kyle and Brett and all the help they gave me this year. Thank you - thank you.

I think we might get it finished in time

2010-12-07T10:57:00.001-08:00

Brett also came to help with our gingerbread house. He comes up with great ideas!This morning, Tuesday, David and I put the top level of the house on before he went to work late and he got hold of the camera before I did. The house is coming along but I only have 2 days to go.

More Gingerbread

2010-12-05T16:13:00.000-08:00

The gingerbread house is progressing. Saturday night Kyle and David worked on balcony and porch roofs. They do a great job.

gingerbread update

2010-12-03T08:41:00.001-08:00

This is what our gingerbread house looks like as of Friday morning Dec. 3. Not much yet but we have already put in 36 hours. The windows alone took 3 hours to pour - 35 windows, 3 batches of sucker candy. All the gingerbread pieces are spread out on tables like this around the house. Now it is time for long hours on gingerbread. I've procrastinated this year and I'm going to pay for it with sleepless nights I'm afraid. But isn't it fun?

Snowed in at the cabin

2010-11-26T09:04:00.000-08:00

After church on the Sunday before Thanksgiving Alesia, Nancy, Heidi (with baby Wynn) and I drove up to Nancy's Island Park cabin. It was a bit snowy but not bad. We knew a storm was coming in on Tuesday but we planned to come home Monday afternoon. Well, Monday morning
the roads between Island Park and I.F. closed and they did not open until Wednesday midday so we were strandded at the cabin all that time. We had a great time, and though we did get a lot of snow up there, the storm never got really bad where we were. However, we were very thankful
for showers, laundry facilities and the food at the cabin as we had only gone prepared for one night and one day. We were also very very glad to get home Wednesday afternoon in time for thanksgiving.

We played lots of games including a pingpong tournament and watched lots of videos.
We didn't get dressed until afternoon and we played with baby Wynn a lot. Alesia and Nancy went snowshoeing.
It was so beautiful! The last two pictures are a sunset and a sunrise.
It was so peaceful!

The Gingerbread house begins

2010-11-19T22:08:00.000-08:00

While in Vermont with Tammie, I went looking for gingerbread house ideas and this is what I found. It is an old derelict house in the middle of a town called Barre and it just looks neat. I printed out the pictures and David started working out the archetectural drawings this week. That takes a lot longer then many would suppose. We finished them today. We have 47 different pieces and many of those will be cut out twice. We also started making gingerbread today and got 5 batches made. We figure we will need at least 15 batches for this house. I'm already planning the decoration and the yard. Any ideas what would be in the yard of a New England home? And what should we name the dog?

David is a "Friend of 4-H"

2010-11-15T08:20:00.000-08:00

Saturday night at the 4-H Recogniztion night, David was awarded the "Friend of 4-H" award. I knew about it a few days earlier when they called to make sure they were spelling his name correctly, but it was a surprise for him. The people in county 4-H call David "Mr. Gwen" because he is always around, helping me and helping the program. The secretaries love him (and I do too). I really enjoy doing 4-H and being so involved, and I absolutely could not do it without all his support and help. He never complains about all the time I spend on 4-H and he sure could if he had a mind to. He is wonderful and I am so grateful that he has always supported and even encouraged my 4-H activities. Thank you David. I love You

Fun in Vermont

2010-11-12T07:23:00.000-08:00

Tammie, Abigail and I went to Vermont
together to attend Joanne's wedding. We spent a week there. It was great fun. I had the camera so there aren't many pictures of me. At our last breakfast together the waitress took the picture at left and this one is Abbie in the trunk of our rental car. She was such a good traveler! Bedtime play, at left, was fun every night. Abigail actually warmed up to me a lot. Abbie was fasinated by the dog figurine outside one of the museums we visited. Left to right:
Abbie liked playing in her stroller while waiting in airports. Abbie and Tammie at the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial, and Tammie inside a Vermont covered bridge. The country was beautiful as can be seen below. That is until the last day when we had to drive through a snowstorm to get back to Burlington for our flight home. I'm not sure Tammie was comfortable with my driving in a storm.
This is Hilldene, the Vermont Mansion of Robert Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's son, one of several very interesting places we visited. My favorite was the Normon Rockwell Museum in Massachusetts. Our visit with Janeen in New Hampshire was also real nice. I had a really really good time and I'm so glad Tammie and Abbie went with me. Thanks Robert for loaning them to me for a week!

A Vermont Wedding

2010-11-10T14:47:00.001-08:00

Joanne, my good friend and past college roommate, married Mark on November 6th.
I was able to go to Vermont to the wedding.
Left - Tammie and little Abbie went with me. Below is Joanne's family the night before the wedding. L to R. Mark, Joanne, Chris (son), Tiffany (future daughter in law), Alan (son in law), and Janet (daughter)
It was such a nice wedding and I wish Joanne and Mark all the happiness in the world!

They love my flowers

2010-11-02T08:08:00.000-07:00

In the last few weeks before it got really
cold, I decided to clean out my flower beds for winter. I was amazed how many butterflies and bees were enjoying my flowers out front.

Halloween fun

2010-11-01T08:06:00.001-07:00

Trick or Treat. Aren't they a cute bunch of Halloween spooks - a cat, 2 witches, a bat, two tigers and a turtle!

Kyle and family came trick or treating before leaving for Logan and we had fun at "Boo at the Zoo" with Mark and Elden and their families. James, the cute turtle, just went along for the ride.

Todd and Bethany stopped by Saturday and changed
into their costumes here - the killer peacocks. What fun costumes but Todd refused to go outside in it.

Fun with my adorable grandkids

2010-10-28T13:07:00.000-07:00

Wendy, Eric, & Zach at our back yard circus

Addie, Katelyn with Wendy, & Hailey

Caleb likes to play on the chair and Abbie likes to play on the rocking dog - "woof woof"

Ring around the trampoline, pocket full of lima beans, ashes ashes WE ALL FALL DOWN. Mark and Elden have fun on the trampoline.
James enjoys the back yard swing.
And Elden gets covered up with fall leaves in the back yard.

Addie played soccer this fall. This is her last game. She isn't very aggresive, but she knows how to kick the ball when she has the chance.

2010-10-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

DeAnn, Lyn, Donna, Kathie and I went on a Sister's outing last week to St. George and Cedar City. We had great fun mostly talking and watching theater productions. Here we are at the Jacob Hamblin House. We traveled in Lyn's motor home and
Donna, Kathie and I were the "Back Seat Girls"
Bringing home the cows
Lyn drove and DeAnn sat up front with her
This was DeAnn's favorite activity - rolling on her back to get everything back in place.

Day at the Zoo

2010-10-03T18:02:00.000-07:00

One of our family activites this fall was a trip to the zoo. Everyone had a good time. Even the newly weds.

Abbie loved feeding the goats and all the kids enjoyed the picnic and playground afterwards.

Day at Rigby Lake

2010-09-27T13:23:00.000-07:00

We spent a Saturday at Ribgy Lake with some of the family. We canoed, played in the water and the sand, and ate good food. Even the littlest ones seemed to enjoy themselves.

Don't they make life vests in larger sizes?

We discovered some cute and friendly mer-folk.

Summer is quickly coming to a close so we're glad to share these nice days with family.

Wedding Dance

2010-09-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

The last half of Todd and Bethany's wedding reception was a dance. Todd and Bethany started out (above center and right), then Bethany changed out of her wedding dress, and the fun really started. Todd performed a tap dance (left) choreographed to L.O.V.E. and then danced with Bethany (above left). (part of Todd's tap dance is on the video at the bottom of this blog) Then Bethany danced with her dad and Todd danced with me and David danced with Bethany, his new daughter in law and then EVERYONE began dancing. It was so fun, and I took scads of pictures. I had a hard time deciding which ones not to post so, even though there are a lot of pictures, I hope you enjoy them.
(Below) Zachary and Addison really got into dancing. They had a great time, and then Zach noticed the position the adults were taking to dance and he moved himself and Addie into that position albeit backwards. Is he left handed? Anyway, I was quite impressed.
Lyn told Jim he had to dance, so I took a picture of Heidi and Jim dancing to document that he really did.

MiKell and Wendy formed a line dance for the "ladies in green".
David & I had a wonderful time. Thanks so much to Bethany & Todd for making the evening possible. We love you both. (And Bethany, welcome to the family!!)

Part of Todd's tap dance choreographed for Bethany to the song L.O.V.E.

The newly weds

2010-09-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

Todd and Bethany were married on September 3rd. It was a beautiful clear day, perfect for a wedding. It was a wonderful ceremony and the bride and groom were the perfect couple.

Bethany's dress was absolutely stunning. She designed and made it herself including all the beadwork and the 36 buttons down the back. Her mother did the embroidery on the bodice. (Bethany was married in her temple dress)

We appreciate all who attended the wedding to

wish this sweet new couple happiness as they start their own family together. Top left-all the girls in their matching skirts and dresses. Top right-all my kids. Bottom left-the parents and grandparents. Bottom right-all the Schwieder/Haroldsens who were at the Temple

Great Time at the Open House

2010-08-23T02:56:00.000-07:00

Bethany and Todd had an open house in Boise this weekend to celebrate their upcoming wedding. It was a lot of fun. Bethany and her family did a good job decorating with balloons and pinwheels. I plan to use some of their ideas for the luncheon, including this sign.

Coming back from California Todd was just so excited to see Bethany again. They are such a cute couple. This was a very summery event, and though the weather threatened not to cooperate, some divine intervention made it just perfect. Bethany wore the crocheted dress her mother had worn as a "going away dress" when she got married. It is very pretty, so I included the next two photos to show it front and back.

Above is a picture of Todd and Bethany with her parents, John and Mitzi, for those who have not met them. Bethany has a very nice family. We enjoyed the open house and of course I took a million photos including this
one of them opening their gifts that night.

Congratulations Bethany and Todd and thanks to all those who came to the open house.

Iona Stake Treks...and Treks...and Treks...

2010-08-17T12:17:00.000-07:00

The Iona Stake recently held a pioneer trek. David was involved in part of it. Here are some pictures of him in his pioneer garb, dancing the Virginia Reel one night, with some Ward members, and treking with his "family". It was a very good experience for everyone involved.

Our Schwieder Reunion

2010-08-11T20:36:00.001-07:00

We had a marvelous time at Bear Lake. Tammie did a fine planning job and the weather co-operated perfectly. I'm so glad everyone could come - except Todd who is in LA - we missed him but it was great having all the other families there. Thanks, everyone, for coming. So I have a million pictures and can't pick just a few so enjoy all the following.

Zachary and Rob were having a water fight and Zach always got splashed in the face as he shot water at Rob, so he solved the problem by turning around and shooting backwards.

Abbie was told she could have one cookie so she took one (handful of) cookie. (I've always said I have brilliant grandkids)

What a show!

2010-07-25T17:10:00.000-07:00

On Saturday July 24 I talked your dad into taking me to the Blue Angels Idaho Falls Airshow. WOW! I've posted some of my best pictures, but a photo just can't capture the amazing sights and sounds.

Sometimes the angels flew in formations of 4, 5 or 6, and sometime solo. Notice two pilots flying upside down in one of the pictures above. The announcer said that in the diamond 4 formation the plane wings are 18 inches apart!
Many others performed at the airshow too. At right are three restored Mustang fighters. We also got to watch a Mig/Fury dog fight and the Airforce had a air display of vintage to modern aircraft. We saw some fantastic aerial gymnastics and trick flying. My favorite was a flyer from Boise. Not only did he do barrel rolls, he also rolled his plane top over bottom. He did loops and figure eights and he totally stopped his plane in flight and just fell from the sky pulling up in a very dramatic loop and roll.
The plane at right was called the mystery plane and the pilot, Kyle, did some fantastic displays. But, look on top of the plane and you will see his wife, Amanda, who is a "wing walker". She climbed out of the cockpit along the bottom wing, onto the top wing and then strapped herself to a pole on top of the plane. She was there as he did all his tricks like at left. It looked like she was having a blast! I heard someone say "that must a be woman up there. A man would have more sense".

PARTY!!!!

2010-07-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

Shanalee, Leslie, Mark and Elden joined us for our annual 4-H swim party and picnic. I think they had a good time. They played, they got wet, and they got very noisy. They both enjoy yelling! Be glad the pictures at left aren't videos. James spent the time in his carrier being absolutely adorable.

This photo of James was taken a few days earlier. It was the first time he actually giggled!

Memories from Leigh Lake

2010-07-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

Leigh Lake is one of the most beautiful places on earth and we have some wonderful family memories from there, so it was great when MiKell inspired us to make a return visit to Leigh Lake the 2nd week of July. Thank you MiKell. Twelve of us went, just the number you can have in the group camp site, so it worked out perfectly. Some of us walked in and some of us canoed in. The campsite was as nice as we remembered though the mosquitoes were quite bad. We learned to stand by the fire to keep the mosquitoes away - by the end of the week we smelled quite strongly of smoke and mosquitoe repellent.

The kids (and adults) played in the water and sand, went exploring, made woodland creatures with googly eyes and did all the regular camping things. Everyone played hard and even the adults didn't mind a nap now and then.
Of course everyone enjoyed the canoes.

We had a wonderful time. I'm sure we will go back into Leigh Lake again.

Grandkids at Leigh Lake

2010-07-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

I think the kids had a great time at Leigh Lake - climbing on rocks, playing in the sand and on the beach, playing in the COLD water, sleeping in tents, going on exploring adventures, and collecting everything from rocks to sticks to leaves. All great fun!

We had Katelyn, Addison, Zachary, Eric, Wendy and Elden with us and we had a wonderful time.

Bridal Shower for Bethany

2010-07-12T10:57:00.000-07:00

We had a bridal shower for Bethany on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. The theme was "Hats off to Bethany" and we all wore hats. This is a fun group photo of all of our hats.
For one of the activities we designed two wedding dresses out of toilet paper, which Bethany and her sister, Taylor, modeled. Aren't they beautiful? We created such stunning designs! The ensembles were complete with trains, bouquets and even the "ring" that Bethany is displaying at left.