Familes are like fudge, mostly sweet with a few nuts







Dance the night away!


So while the Simmons' and VanDykes were here, Todd invited them to go dancing. First Todd and Bethany taught the Argentine Tango (sounds exotic!). Elden had a great time "dancing". Of Course everyone thought he was adorable. (He was!)


Then they all went swing dancing while I tended. It looks like they had a great time!

Family Fun



This past week, Rob, Tammie, Abigail, Shanalee, Josh, and Elden came for a visit. It was so nice to have them here. We did a bit of playing and bit of work (sorting in the basement). We celebrated Rob's 28th birthday and Addisons 5th birthday. We also had a recital at Great grandpa's house on Saturday which included performances by Katelyn, Addison, Elden, Mark, Hailey, Kyle, Tammie, David and Me.
Abigail is getting cuter by the minute. It won't be long before she decides to crawl. Don't you love her big blue eyes?
Elden discovered that the empty bottom shelf of the entertainment center was just his size.
He also discovered the giant soccer ball bean bag that Charlie uses for a bed. One afternoon he started saying "soccer ball" from the other room. We thought he had found a soccer ball and so told him to bring it to us.
After much tugging and grunting he appeared in the family room pulling the big bean bag. He loved the "soccer ball" and spent as much time in it as Charlie did.

Valentines Day

Mark (and his parents) surprised us on Valentine's Day. When David came out of his Priesthood meeting this sign was hanging on his office door. And when I left at the end of church, I found this on my car windshield. It was great!

Happy (Chinese) New Year!



Today is the Chinese New Year. Congratulations! you didn't get eaten by the Tiger. Todd wanted to celebrate the New Year, so yesterday we brought up the decorations from last year and put them up. Aren't they cute with the Christmas lights that are still up? Katelyn, Addison and Hailey helped me decorate inside the house. Then Todd and David fixed us a Chinese New Year's Eve dinner. I enjoyed my first Chinese Hot Pot. This is where you have hot broth and spices boiling and you dip meats and veggies in to cook them and eat them with rice and dipping sauces. Then at the end you have a pot of soup to enjoy. It was fun. The only thing I didn't like was the HOT mustard sauce. My folks and Brett and Kyle and their families came to enjoy it with us.


After dinner we set off new year fireworks - probably made in China. Brett and Todd lit them out in the snow while the kids and grandfolks watched through the window. It was lots of fun. All the kids seemed to enjoy themselves, though Kyle had to bring some Orange Chicken so that there was something his kids (and himself)would eat.

Happy New Year!

So, I never blogged about New Years and since I have such a fun photo I thought I just better post it. Tammie and Rob are still obviously our newly weds and I hope they always will remain so. (of course, "They say when you're married in June, you're a bride all your life")
On New Years Eve we held the (kind of annual) "Schwieder Family Game Tournament of the World". We played lots of different games in different groups and kept points according to who won and who lost and who placed 2nd and 3rd etc etc. The point system was all worked out in advance. I have to tell you all of that because I don't want anyone to think that I cheated because I didn't. Kyle Flamm was defending his championship title but we crowned a new champion this year. And it was ME!! I am officially the game champion of the world. My extremely high score in Skittles (the game at left) is what won it for me. Stay tuned for next years tournament to see if I can defend my title.

Our acrobatic snowman

Well, Harold, our snowman, finally bent over far enough to get his head to the ground. He really is quite limber for a snowman. This picture was taken the morning of January 19th. Go to the proceeding post to see him as a young upright snowperson. His carrot nose fell off also, you can see in on the ground below his head.

Alas, by that afternoon Harold finally succumbed to the warm weather. His head fell off! Please do not mourn. He lived a good long life to the ripe old age of 18 days.

Harold the Snowman

While Shanalee and Josh were here during the Christmas holidays we had a great snowfall and the snow was perfect so they took Elden outside and built a snowman. Shanalee named him Harold (I guess after her grandpa - I figured if she built him she could name him). Anyway you can see what a strong upright snowman he is. He looks really quite content with life. Well, over the next few weeks he started bending over. I figured he was doing yogo but my 4-H girls claim he is just bending over to pick up his hat since it fell off. I think it is really fun that he has bent over this far and his head is still intact and he hasn't just fallen over. I think soon his head may actually touch the ground. I'll keep you posted.









Harold was built on January 2 and the last photo was taken on January 17.