Week 25- June 13th thru 19th

     Our week was super busy as always.... I thought summer would be a little less running around but I guess not.  In fact I got my oil changed when I was in Sacramento the 2nd week of May,  and I am already due for another oil change.  It has only been 6 WEEKS!

     Sunday our lesson in YW was on keeping a journal.  Not one of the girls actually writes in a journal.  I totally did at their age.   I do not keep a personal journal anymore I just use my blog as a journal.... one with things that you do not mind the rest of the world reading.  But I do have it printed out so that it is actually on paper not just in cyber-land.

     Monday was soccer.  Thank heavens we carpool with the Fortin family otherwise soccer would absolutely drain me mentally, physically, and financially.  3 hour practices are too long to just sit there and wait, and just short enough that once I did drive back home I would not be home for long before running back to town.  Thankfully  I only have to drive one way and Sandy drives the other way. 

     Tuesday the YW met here and we learned how to use Royal Icing.  It was really fun  decorating the cookies.  I think these lessons on cake decorating  have been so much fun for the girls.  Some of them have really learned a lot. 

    Wednesday we drove to Reno and picked up Eddie's  "New to Him Truck".  It was a rather exhausting afternoon.  We could not meet the guy until 4 as he had to be at work.  So there was no point in leaving first thing in the morning.  Claira had soccer so we left her with Sandy around 1.  Then we headed to the bank in Reno.  We arrived at the bank to see a note on the door. "This Branch is Closed"   What the heck we were just here 3 weeks before making sure that this bank was a "sister-bank"  to our bank in Sacramento, and that we would be able to pull out enough money at one time to purchase the truck.  So that added a bunch of anxiety.   So I called a bank on the list of "close branches"  to see where in the world they were located.  Of course they had to be in the most awkward location.  Down town Reno  where there is no parking and streets are screwy,  and it was on the 3rd floor of a medical office.  Who would have thought to look for a bank there????  So I went in to get a check printed for the sellers and plain forgot there last name.   So  down I had to go to find the boys in the car to get the paper that had the last name -  cause Eddie did not bring his cell with him.   Then back up and got the paper work.   After all was said and done it was an hour later than planned  and it was now time to get back on the road to meet the guy.  They happen to live in Red Rock, which is a very cute little valley but of course it is about 40 min from Reno towards home.   So we get there and they are very nice people.  We stayed and chatted for a while, the wife was feeling a little guilty because her husband was getting rid of his baby because of her.  She was just getting to "old" to ride in the truck anymore.  Once that was done I headed home and Eddie headed to Reno to go to Home Depot  so he could get some supplies to build a wood rack.  

(I will upload a pic of the new truck tomorrow)

     Thursday was another oh so fun day.  Registering the truck!  It took Eddie all morning.  The rest of our money was turned over to the Great State of California, and we were given a sticker to place on the truck in return.   Dallen and Eddie built the racks that afternoon, while I had a presidency meeting in the house.  It was a very productive meeting.  We planned some fun things for the girls.  That evening Claira and I got the joy of attending a 4-H counsel meeting.  It was not that bad but it just ment another trip into town.

    Friday we slept in - that is one nice thing about summer  I HATE getting up in the mornings no matter if it is 4 or 9,  though it is a little easier at 9.   Then we watched Alice in Wonderland while I worked on Eddie's Fathers Day blanket.  It is a rag quilt and dang my fingers hurt by the time I was done snipping the edges.  2 of my fingers still hurt and are a little tingly.   He better like it Dang it!   I know he will. he had been asking for one for a while now.

( I will post a picture of the blanket tomorrow  it is currently wrapped up in a box)

     Saturday (today- man I am on top of blogging this week hehehe), I took the truck out for the first time.  It is alot higher than I am used to driving and a lot wider and it is a deisel so there are a few things I am not used to.  So I did not drive as my peppy self.  Our first adventure was to the DUMP!!!   I was so excited to have a truck again so that we could make a run to the dump.  Sick I know, but that is what I was most excited about.  We filled up the truck, honestly could have gotten a little more in it  but I was not in the mood to stuff it as full as I could.  And off we went.  Of course I am so short that I had to scoot the seat up nice and close, which ment I could not even use my side mirrors.  Eddie is going to have to purchase different mirrors for me. (These ones are not adjustable.)  The guy at the dump, the worker, just sat there and gave me dirty looks while I slowly tried to back up. I think honestly he was hoping that I would hit his truck and boof it.  We got the yucky garbage unloaded and were out of there.  Man that is a stinky place. 

      Now we are just hanging out waiting for Eddie to come home from work.  The kids are playing the Wii and Xbox  ( yeah not at the same time - just back and forth between games)  and here I sit on the puter trying to stay on top of things. 

Week 24- June 6th thru June 12th

     It took me forever but I got caught up on the blog.  It is way easier just to do it week by week but sometimes there are just not enough hours in the day.

     This was our first full week of summer.   Monday, Dallen went swimming all day up at the Carters.  He always has fun running around on their ranch up there.  Claira and I went to town and ran some errons.  I  decided that at least during the summer I was just going to work 3 days a week max.  I just want to be able to have fun and actually go places with the kids while school is out.  So day one of no work turned out to be perfect that I was not there.

    Monday also happened to be our anniversary. 14 Years.  We decided to go out to dinner.  We ended up heading into town for Chinese at our regular Chinese spot. Claira and Dallen stayed home and ate our leftovers when we got back.

    Tuesday, we had another cake decorating class here.  This time the girls were to come with a cake that was fully frosted and they would do the fun decorating part here.  It was lots of fun they all have improved a lot.  Here are a few pics from that night.

Claira decorating her cake

Her final product 

Sam and her cupcake

Miss Paige

Kambry's finished product

     Wednesday, Claira ended up having soccer and Sandy was nice enough to take Claira both ways for me.  Dallen was up camping at the lake with Darrell.  He left for Darrell's house Monday night and was not going to be back until Thursday afternoon.

     Thursday, Dallen came back home.  Claira was so excited about that as you can imagine.

     Friday was the ward pot luck dinner and baseball game at Janesville Park.  So we headed over, Eddie even came with.  He actually ended up playing baseball too.  I did not!  It was a fun time.  We played beach blanket volley ball.  Eddie was himself and grabbed a hold of the water balloons and tagged Tara with them, she was a good sport though and grabbed some herself and tried to get him back.  It was quite funny.  Then we played a pioneer game of tag.  Basically everyone has 3 clothes pics on the back of your shirt and you run around and try to steal them off the other people.  Last one in wins.  The YW ended up getting me to  play that it was fun but man it is hard going against fast little kids.  Here are some pics from the evening.





     Saturday, Claira had soccer all day. It was good though cause it left me and Dallen home alone to get some things done.  She is going to have soccer every other sat all summer.  It shall be interesting.

I Heart Faces Photo Walk - Sacramento

 I attended the I Heart Faces Photo Walk in Sacramento this past weekend.  April Williams and I drove down together.  It was our first Photo Walk so we really did not know what to expect.  It turned out to be a lot of fun and we plan to attend some more soon.  I am not a professional photographer by any means but  I love taking pictures for fun.  Here are a FEW of my pictures from our walk. (The girl in most of the pictures in Marina, she was our model.)

Week 23 - May 30th thru June 5th

      It has been weeks since I updated my blog so in order to keep my weekly posts in order I have created a "post" for each week I missed.  Hopefully before I totally forget what happened in those weeks I can  edit the posts and update them with pictures from those weeks and list the events of the weeks.  We will see how good I actually do. ( LOL )

     On the 30th Dallen was finally baptized.  He had been waiting to be baptized for a long long time.  We kept putting it off for one reason or another and then all of a sudden he was already 9 years old.  Once you are officially 9 then you have to take the discussions from the Missionaries.   So  we then kept putting git off because  when in the world were we going to have the time to talk the discussions.   But we finally said "OK,  IT HAS TO BE DONE NOW!"    Why now you ask????   Well, Dallen was very addiment that he was not  going to let Callie Marie ( Auntie Michelle's daughter) get baptized before he did.  He kept asking  if he was going to be able to be baptized before Callie.   Callie's 8th birthday is this  4th of July, so he just barely made it.

     It was decided that Elder Davis, was going to be the one who would actually baptize Dallen. (After all the long hours the Missionaries spent with Dallen teaching him - they needed to get something for all the hard work.)   Grandpa would be the one to confirm Dallen.  Grandma would give the talk on baptism ( as she did at Claira's baptism, cause Dallen wanted to have his own Baptism Box).  Cindy Gamrath ( Dallen's previous primary teacher and Mom's visiting teacher), would  give the talk on the Holy Ghost.  Tavin Carter, would say the opening prayer, and Dominic Bias would say the closing.  Dallen chose to sing his 2 favorite songs ( well 2 of his favorites)  Baptism and I am trying to be like Jesus.   There is just something about primary songs that brings in the Spirit.  The kids can just belt them out to their little hearts content.  (Dallen is especially good at this, as many of my ward members know.) Sometimes I think we should sing them in Sacrament  Meeting it just brings everyone  together more.

     After the Baptism we had Carrot Cake and Ice Cream for everyone.  It was a nice treat after a long day at church.  It was also the perfect time to visit with all the different families who were able to stay after church and watch Dallen.

    Following the Baptism however we had to say Good Bye to Elder Davis.  He had to report the following morning to the Mission Home, were he would then  be transferred to Las Vegas for the last bit of his mission.  We were thankful that he was at least able to stay in Susanville to finish out Dallen's discussions and baptism.

Week 22 - May 23rd thru May 29th

 

     This is a chart that I made for the YW  to track  their Personal Progress.  I  did not come up with the idea on my own  I took it from a blog I saw.  I thought it was totally cute to have jewels on it  just to give it a girly feel. I even added a coat of clear glitter paint on top of the title.   As you can see from the picture we have some girls that are doing an awesome job on getting things done, and others well, not so hot.  I hope this will inspire the girls to get moving on their Personal Progress.

     This week was super busy with trying to get  things ready for Dallen's baptism.  We took a trip over to the church book store and purchased Dallen his own set of scriptures, that is the tradition in this family when you get baptized to get your own set with your name engraved on it.  Then it was over to Costco to pick up a cake for afterwords.  Since we had no kids with us Eddie and I decided to go to Sushi Pier for lunch.  Our whole family LOVES sushi!

     We did have a little time to go and look at a truck.  It had a lot of the aspects Eddie was looking for and the guy had all the paperwork on all the things he had done to the truck.  So we ended up putting a down payment on it and signing a contract that we would be purchasing it  from him come pay day!  That is one HUGE stresser off my mind. Now maybe Eddie can focus on something other than finding a truck.

Week 21 - May 16th thru May 22nd

     This week for YW's we  helped Monty Bates work in his garden.  Monty is one of my favorite people in the "Elderly Club" in our ward.  He is always so warm  and welcoming, he is the total loving Grandpa type.

                                            Grace is in front, Lindsey, Claira, Annette, Me and Monty


     Friday this week Dallen's class had another feild trip.  This time it was to Shasta Caverns in Redding.   Claira did not get to go when she was in 4th grade so I took her out of school early so that she could go with us.  I drove my own car so that I would not have to be stuck on the bus with a whole bunch of kids.   Since I drive a lot faster than the bus,  (suprise suprise) we made a couple  pit stops in Redding.  We hit up Target first, but that was a bust  they had nothing we needed.  Then we went to In and Out for lunch.  I figured if we had to drive right past there then  why bother packing a sack lunch we could just eat there.    We still got to the caverns before the bus.

      The caverns themselves were actually cool.  You have to travel across Shasta Lake in a boat to get to them.  Once  there you have to take a tour bus up a windy little road to get to the interance point.  The caves were a bit humid but it was  not too bad.   The stairs though..... at times those were killer!   We made it through with Zero kids lost or hurt!   It is an experiance you should have at least once.

Dallen, Cody and Tyler being goofballs in the back of the bus

Dallen in all his gear in the Caves

Jodi, DD, Morgan and Claira inside the caves

Week 20 - May 9th thru May 15th

Sunday happened to be Mothers Day and also Gran's 50th Birthday.  Sat we went out for Gran's Birthday to her favorite restaurant  BJ'S.  Of course for dessert we had a Pizzokie Trio.  Sunday we went to church and got some nummy truffles as our Mothers Day Gift.  After church we made dinner at Mom's and tried a chocolate cake recipe from Lisa Busath.  It did not turn out as good as Lisa's though.

Week 19- May 2nd thru May 8th

This week was just another normal week at the Schwab's.  Friday  however we  went down to Coloma for a field trip with Dallen's class.  We planned just to head to Grandma's house afterwords since we were  already half way down the hill.

Week 18- April 25th thru May 1st

     This weekend we went up to the Bennett's cabin in Tahoe.  It was a bit of work to get there with me being dizzy but it was good for the kids to hang out with their cousins, aunts, and Grandma.  We got to meet Emmalyn for the first time.  It had been a long time since we had seen everyone (Grandma Schwab, Aunt Brit, Ellaree, Emmalynn, Aunt Tricia and Orissa) else too. 

     We arrived on Friday afternoon.  That evening we just hung out and relaxed.  We set up the X-Box and played a little Lips.  Lips with Schwabs is always an interesting event.  Some of us are very competitive!   Saturday we went into Tahoe and did a little shopping and played mini golf.  We came home and made some of our yummy Homemade Oreo Cakesters for everyone.   Sunday morning we ate breakfast and then headed over to the Lake.  We hung out there for a little bit but it was rather chilly still.

Week 17 - April 18th thru April 23rd

     Dallen celebrated his 10th Birthday on the 17th but, his actual birthday was the 18th.  He got  all the new gear needed for becoming a Bear in scouts, an MP3 player, CD of Josh Turner ( Dallen loves his new song Rain is a Good Thing) and lots of other things.

This ended up being a busy busy week - especially since I was dizzy all week. Which meant I got nothing accomplished!  I ended up going to the doctors but  they really did not know why I was dizzy.  I was given some pills but they made me super sleepy. Not something that was actually going to be of any help.  Other than that I can not remember what we did this week. That would be why you need to blog week by week LOL!

Week 16- April 11th thru April 17th

      On Sunday  I gave a talk in Sacrament.  I HATE talking in front of people  it is not something I am good at.  But I gave my talk and lived to tell about it so everything is good.  I was asked to speak on Charity  and the Love of Christ.   They thought that it could be tied into my calling of Ward Activity Leader.  I do not know if I actually tied it in  they way they were looking for, but at least it is done.

     That afternoon our home teacher came over.  While he was here he said, "Your going to be called to YWs"   I told him not to jinks me  and that I was only put into my current calling a few months ago so  I am pretty sure if I do get called it  would not be for a while at least.

     A few hours later there was a knock at the door.  It was Larry Memmott -  a councilor in our Bishopric.   He asked me to be YW 2nd councilor.   Nice Brother Petersen jinked me!   So  now I was going to be put in YW and they will release me once they find a person to take over the Activities calling.  I told him I had to talk to Eddie  but I was sure it would be fine.

     A few hours later the phone rings,  it is Eddie, he had been working a double.  "Hey I hit a cow, do I call Triple A for towing?"    I  told him who to call and  told him I would be there in a minute to pick him up.   When I got to the scene, I stepped out of the car to find a HUGE  cow on the side of the road.   I was shocked at how  big it was.  So I looked at the front of the truck..... yeah it was totaled for sure.  It was a dang good thing he had driven the truck that day cause otherwise he would have been hurt really bad if not killed.  The cow turned out to be pregnant...... yeah NOT GOOD.   So the insurance will end up paying for 2 cows. Thank heavens we have insurance.  Lassen County is open range...... which seems very ridicules  because of how much traffic we have on the roads and how many people are NOT farmers here.  But I do not make the rules.  So it of course becomes our fault for hitting a black cow on a pitch black highway in the middle of the night.

     Of course there has to be drama with the truck it can not go super smooth.  Much to our dislike we ended up having the truck towed to a tow yard  and parked it there.  We had new tires on the car that we wanted to get off and overload springs and a wood rack.  Eventually we were able to get them off but trying to be able to do that was drama too.

 

Now for the next task.....Finding a New Truck

     Claira attended Lit Jam on Thursday.  She entered a story and ended up taking 2nd place in her grade.  Funny thing is she did that story super quick and did not put much thought into it.   

     Friday,  Gran  and KK came up to spend the weekend with Dallen for his birthday.   We took the kids for a walk Saturday after  I got home from work.  I of course took my camera....

Week 15- April 4th thru April 10th

     Claira is very into baking and decorating lately.  Not so good for the waist sizes around here though.  The cookies above are ones that she had seen Sandra Lee make on  the Food Network.  They are Lemon Cookies with a colored sugar  sprinkled on top.  They were tasty but we could not get them to raise up at all.

     She made them for am Easter treat. This year Easter happened to fall on the same Sunday as General Conference, which made it kinda nice to stay home for the week. The kids had the week off of school so we kinda just hung around the house and were lazy all week. I of course worked everyday, it was no fun getting up while  they got to sleep in.

Week 14- March 28th thru April 3rd

 

Our Eggs for Easter....

Dallen of course made his traditional "gun" egg... Claira did a funny one with piggy tales.