Caleb's Blessing

On September 13th Caleb was blessed by his daddy in their Ward. Hasn't he grown? He is a little cutey, and all boy.
Kyle and Tiffany's family is looking good - and growing!

We went on a vacation!

The first part of September we (David, me, and Todd) traveled to upstate Washington and Vancouver Island, Canada for a fun vacation. Last January I set a News Years resolution to visit somewhere I had never been this year. We picked a good place. Maybe next year I will set a goal to visit TWO places I have never been. (Don't tell David)

Isn't Todd quite the good looking man?

Off to the North country

Our vacation took us to Olympic National Park where we saw the beautiful Olympic Mountains, a rain forest, and the ocean. Quite a variety huh?
We also drove through Forks
and Port Angeles, WA and didn't understand the "Twilight Festival" they were advertising until we
drove into la Push on the Quileute Indian Reservation. There we saw a sign stating "no vampires past this point". Those who have read Twilight will understand. At left is the ferry we took to Vancouver Island, BC, Canada.
In the city of Victoria on Vancouver Island we visited Chinatown (at Todd's urging). It was quite interesting and Todd loved speaking to the people. But He couldn't find the sweet winter melon tea he wanted.
We spent half a day at The Butchart Gardens and I brought home several packets of seeds. It was beautiful

In Seattle we went to the Space Needle and Pike's Place Market. I came home with a new purse.
We ended our vacation with a session at the Seattle Washington temple in the morning before we boarded the plane. It was a great vacation!

Canyoneering in Zions National Park

August 21-25 we camped outside Zion's National Park. David and some of the kids went into the Park to go canyoneering on Saturady and Monday. We had a great time and the canyoneering was exciting, but these photos are only from Friday and part of Saturday because David dropped the camera into the water in the canyon. Thus, no more photos.


The route they choose is called Pine Creek and has some wonderful slot canyons. They did six repels and some technical downclimbs. Here are Todd, Brett, and Leslie. It was tricky and a little scary for some of them.
Here is David starting one of the repels and ending in ....
....the water. Very cold black yukky water! They got wet on almost every repel and even had to swim in one spot where they shared the pool with a big ugly tarantula. I will not try to descibe how they smelled when they got back.

At left Todd is belaying and Leslie is just hitting the cold water. You can't see the expression on her face in this small photo, but it is priceless. The other photo shows the the fun slot canyons.

I was the designated baby tender on this trip. I got to tend Mark, Elden and baby Abigail while the other adults got stinky and wet.

Another Reunion - August 14 & 15

All the Harold Schwieder family gathered for our yearly reunion. Since grandma turned 80 this summer, we celebrated her birthday.
The reunion theme was family circus. Grandma was our clown and Grandpa was the strongman.
The strongman lifted a "1000 pound" barbell but he couldn't lift Todd. Todd must weigh a bunch!
Our family was the tumbling act. All the kids got involved with summersaults and cartwheels. We ended with a human pyramid. Aren't we talented?
There were lots of games and activites. The adults enjoyed the giant elastic and the kids enjoyed the blow up activity center complete with slide. David and I enjoyed the grandkids.

Here we have Hailey, Mark, Elden and Zachary

David Schwieder Reunion - Aug. 7-9

We held our reunion here at our home. We had lots of fun. Here is our best family photo
Brett and Leslie planned it this year and did a great job. I'm sure Mark helped a lot.
Friday night we had family skits. They were simply amazing. We laughed a lot. Here are Josh & Shanalee, and Rob & Tammie participating.

3 cute babies

Of course the babies were the hit of the reunion, and all they had to do was just lay there and smile once in a while.

Here we have Abigail, Caleb and Wendy