First Day Of School

 The first day finally came!  They had the 7th graders come a day early for half day just to get use things before school with all the other kids.  Jason was pretty nervous this day!

 His first real all day of school.  He was a lot more calm and ready to go!  I have to say that I was not so calm.  Letting him go that day I felt so nervous for him.  I guess I remember my first day of middle school like it was yesterday.  I remember what I wore and all the feelings I had.  So, it all came rushing back to me that day.  I have to say he handled it like a champ and Middle School will be great for Jason!

 Eliza our 2nd grader!  She has an amazing teacher and I am so excited for her!

 Our 5th grader Anne!  She also has a great teacher and I am excited for all the things she will learn this year.  It seems that during 5th grade they grow by leaps and bounds!

These two will still represent the Schwitzer family in elementary school!  They all had a great first day!

Nice Work!

Mike texted me this picture and I thought it was great.  This shipment of cans has been so stressful and crazy, but finally they have got it in the Berlin warehouse.  Mike did a great job with the help of Peggy and Jordan.  It's fun for Mike to see the fruits of his labors

Small And Simple Things

 Our Back to School dinner theme this is year is the scripture found in Alma 37:6…. "By Small and Simple things are great things brought to pass."  We talked about small and simple things we can do to make it a great school year, to things we can to do strengthen our testimony, to things we can do to make our family stronger.

 We had a yummy dinner while we talked about our theme this year!

 I want my kids to know things that make them special or talents that they have.  Sometimes it takes having others tell you these things to see them in yourself.  So, we all went around the table and told each person something we love or admire about them.

 After we had an archery competition!  If your last name is Schwitzer there is always some sort of competition going on!

 The littles sat and watched with Max.

It was such a beautiful evening.  We hung out in the back yard all evening soaking up our last night of summer.  Soon schedules and homework would begin and we just wanted to hang on to Summer as long as we could.  I know this will be a great school year for all our kids!

Welcome Home Carlee

Our cute neighbor Carlee came home from her mission this month.  The kids were so excited to decorate their house with yellow ribbons.  It was Jason's idea to make this huge finish line over her driveway.  He wanted her to run through it when she got home.  She ended up driving the car through the finish line.  hahaha!  She was a great missionary and we are grateful to have prayed for her these past 18 months!

Walk To The Temple

 For FHE one night we parked at one end of Daybreak and walked through Daybreak to the temple.  It was a fun walk and we enjoyed being out on such a nice summer night.

So grateful we could take our kids to the temple that night and let them touch and see the temple!

Back To School Dates

 The week before school started I took the kids out on one on one dates.  We went school shopping and out to lunch.  It was so much fun to hang out with each child and talk to them about school and anything they were worried about.  I sure love these kids and wanted to make sure we started school off on the right foot.

 Eliza was fun to go shopping with.  She decided that she really wanted to go to Red Robin.  The thing she was most worried about this year was if she was going to get a nice teacher.

 Anne and I went shopping all day trying to find a cute outfit for school.  It starts getting harder as they get older find clothes that still are cute, but don't make her look like she is 16!  Anne wanted to eat at Kneaders for lunch.. yummy!  Anne is most worried about having friends in her class this year.

Jason was a champ and went shopping with me.  He hates shopping!  He was super fast and simple to shop for.  He wanted to go to In n Out for lunch.  Jason is most worried about finding his classes this year in middle school and just the whole middle school experience.  I think this kid will do great!

Shania Twain Concert

 Cute Tina called me and said she had two tickets to the Shania Twain concert.  I was so excited because I love Shania!  She invited Ashley Butterfield and we had a girls night out.  Tina is my visiting teaching partner.  She still lives with her parents due to some of her health issues.  She is trying to come back to church and I am so proud of the progress she has made in coming back.  We had a fun night out!

 Shania put on such a fun concert!  I knew all her songs and they brought back lots of memories from high school and college.  The whole place was filled with ladies about my age.  We had fun time singing along and enjoying the show!

Lucy's First Day of Pre-school

 Lucy has been looking forward to this day for a long time.  She is so excited to start pre-school!  She gets to go to the funnest pre-school and loves her teacher.  I was gone at camp for her first day so, Grandma Young was so nice to come and take Lucy.  She got Lucy dressed so cute and her hair done perfect.  She had a great first day!  I can't believe my baby is getting old enough to go to school, but the excitement in her eyes makes me excited and not so sad!

Girls Camp Lava Hot Springs

 So, I was really bad and didn't take very many pictures at Girls Camp.  The only time I pulled out the camera was during our service project.  I have to say this was a very fun Girls Camp.  These girls are so lucky and got to go up to Lava Hot Springs.  We swam, went in Hot pools, and went tubing down the river.  We played games, sang songs around the camp fire, and just enjoyed getting to know each other better.  For our service project we went to this little pioneer town up in Idaho.  They have restored this town and it was so fun to see and tour.

 An old Sacrament table

 They had some handcarts that the girls got to try out!

 For the service project the girls helped mud this old cabin that the families of these pioneers are trying to restore.  The girls did a great job and helped this family out a lot.

These girls are so good to each other.  There seriously was no drama or fighting between the girls.  Our last day there it rained and rained.  It was raining so hard that some of our tents were leaking and girls stuff was totally soaked.  I kept thinking that we needed to go home because it was going to be a terrible night.  We finally decided to pack up that night.  It was a hard decision because we had not had our testimony meeting yet and that is an important part of camp.  When we were packing up Gracie had a seizure which was really scary, but she ended up being fine back home.  On Sunday, we met at Bishop Olson's to finish up camp.  We did our skits and had a testimony meeting.  It was really neat to hear the girls testimonies and their experiences up at camp.  I had a great time, but returned home to find Mike so sick.  He had the flu and pneumonia.  The kids basically took care of themselves while Mike was upstairs not even able to move.  So, coming home early might have even been for my little family.  Maybe Heavenly Father sent the rain to get me home… I don't know, but I am glad I was able to get back to help out at home.  I am sure enjoying my calling in YW and am grateful for all I am learning from these great girls!

Berlin Summer Party

 For Berlin's summer party they got a suite at a Bee's game.  We were so excited to finally go to game and get to watch it with food and good seats.  It was fun to see everyone who Mike works with and get to hang out with some of our Schwitzer cousins at the game.  It's not to bad when your Dad works with your uncle!

 Watching the game.

 All the kids were so excited to meet the Bee.  He has a name but I can't remember it.

It was fun for our kids to make friends with other Berlin employees too.  It was a really fun night!