The Schwitzer Family: November 2013

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Uncle Mike

On October 31, Uncle Mike passed away. He got an infection and his cancer filled body couldn't fight it. I was not really close to Uncle Mike but, I really felt for my Dad. He has watched now both of his parents and two younger brothers pass away. He kept saying he couldn't believe that Mike was gone. My Dad was really there for his brother over these last couple of months. My Dad was been a wonderful example of what being a sibling is all about. Lots of family flew in for the funeral so, we caught this rare picture of some of the Young cousins. Mike was a wonderful man and I know he is doing a great work on the other side.

12 Years!

Mike and I have been married for 12 years this year! I love this guy so much and I am so grateful for our marriage. This year we caught an early movie and then went out to eat at the Garden. We enjoy going down town to the SLC Temple where we were married. I want our kids to know that on our wedding day the man that Sealed Mike and I told us he felt like our children were present in that room. I am so grateful for our Temple marriage and that Mike and I are together forever! Love you Sweets!

Friday, November 8, 2013

Halloween

On Halloween this year the kids were off track. During the afternoon we got together with Cowley's since they were off track too. We went to their house and got some pizza and let the kids play until it was time to go home and get ready for trick-or-treating. Anne this year was Cleopatra.

Eliza was a mermaid.

Jason was a hobo

Lucy was Little Red Riding Hood. I have to explain these pictures. Lucy was happy the whole day until I asked her to put on her red hooded cape. It looks so cute with her costume. Anyways, she burst into tears telling me she doesn't want to wear the cape. I told her it was okay but, the tears kept coming and coming and she would not stop! So, her Halloween picture this year is her crying.

It was a sad moment for Lucy. She quickly become very happy when we told her it was time to go get candy though.

Trying to get a picture with all the kids but, stubborn Lucy wasn't going to have it! The Olson's invited us over for a Halloween dinner and then we headed out with friends to go trick-or-treating. It was a cold night but, the kids stayed out for hours. Happy Halloween!

Schwitzer Halloween Party

The day before Halloween we got together with the Schwitzer side and had a party. Grandpa Harvey was in town so, it made it extra special to have him around. I, however, was terrible with my camera this night and didn't get as many pictures as I should have.

Grandma Schwitzer had some fun activities for the kids and they all got special prizes from Grandma and Grandpa at the end.

The older kids enjoyed a good bingo game.

Lucy loves babies and she really wanted to hold baby Dallan. I don't think he was too happy about the whole situation.

Some of the kids were given harmonicas and if you are a Schwitzer you can play a harmonica. Greg showed us all some of his skills.

After all the games the kids and Dads headed over to a nursing home. The people there were passing out candy and we thought the kids would bring them some cheer. It was a fun night topped off with Andrew showing us his duck calling skills!

Braces

I took Jason and Anne to have a consultation at the orthodontist while they were off track. I really didn't think any of the kids would need any work done until they were a little bit older. The orthodontist checked out Jason and said he would need braces but, not until all his baby teeth had fallen out. Anne on the other hand he had a different plan. She is going to have some crowding once her grown teeth grow in so, he thought the best route would be to bring her front 4 teeth together to make room for her other teeth to come in. This would then make it so none of her teeth would need to be pulled. So, my little girl Anne has braces just on her top 4 teeth. She will have them on for 6 months and then when all her baby teeth have fallen out they will start her 2nd round of Braces. She will only have to have her 2nd round on for a year. She was really excited about getting her braces and she chose blue bands to match her Halloween costume. She looks so cute in her Braces! So, we have started the never ending process of having one of our kids in braces for the next couple of years.

Pumpkin Carving

We spent an afternoon carving our pumpkins. This year all the kids carved them on their own. I still had to clean out the younger girl's pumpkins but, Jason and Anne did everything on their own! Lucy insisted on carving her pumpkin. I am grateful for the child safe knives they sale at Halloween. She was very determined that it would be her creation.

Nice job kids! Now we just hope the deer do not come and eat our pumpkins! Those crazy deer.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Off Track October = Fall Fun

One afternoon Kurt Larson in our ward called us up and said to come up to his house to help him make apple juice. None of us had ever made apple juice before and we had a great time doing it.

Kurt buys 5 of these huge crates of apples! We couldn't believe it. He juices all the apples and takes the juice to people in the ward and canyon. What a great family.

We would sort through and pick out the bad apples. Wash the apples off and then put them in this apple juice grinder. This machine would work by spinning a wheel which Anne is doing in the picture above. It would grind up the apples and then it would squeeze all the juice out of the apples. It was the most amazing juice I have ever tasted! We worked for about an hour and earned some apple juice to take home.

One afternoon we headed over to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins for carving.

They had some corn the kids could play around in. We were the only ones there so we played in it for a while.

We spent an afternoon at Ryan and Erin's home and visited with Aunt Carol from Oregon. It always fun to catch up with family.

Spooky Dinner

The spooky dinner is one of our favorite family traditions. It's fun to see all the grand-kids in their costumes.

Our random family. Lucy is Little Red Riding Hood, Mike is the bad wolf, and I am supposed to be the grandma but, my costume didn't quite work out.

The best part of the the night is all the spooky food. We have very creative ladies in this family so, it's always fun.

Bug juice

Bread stick bones

Spaghetti with eyeballs

Witches hats and brooms

A spider web cake.

We did the traditional eating a donut off the string and a little spooky ally down in Grandma's basement. It was a great party!

Fall Break

Over Fall Break the girl's and I decided to head over to Gardner Village to see the Witches. We had fun looking for all the witches and then we got our cookie at the bakery after we were done. It was pretty crazy the day we went but, the weather was so pretty!