"Validation"

This short movie is AWESOME!! Enjoy -

Baby Sam

(This picture was taken by a wonderful organization "Now I Lay me Down to Sleep." Professional Photographers volunteer their services and their time to take pictures of these little ones.)

On September 10, we went to Utah to celebrate the birth of our nephew - Sam. We have been anxiously awaiting the birth of this little one. At the half way point ultrasound, his mom and dad found out he was going to be born with a heart defect - Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. He was going to live for a only a few days. The months before his birth were very trying for my sister in-law/and brother in-law, but through prayer, faith, and their understanding of the plan of salvation - they felt understood, heard and loved.

Sue and Baby Sam

I loved his light hair and chubby cheeks.

Kaylee was so excited to meet Sam. She prayed for him every day and brought one of her stuffed animals to give him.

She loved holding him.... and gained a deeper understanding of God's plan.

It is very difficult for me to put into words how I felt holding this special child of God. I did not want to let him go. I remember very clearly the first thing I felt when I held him. I thought, "So this is what it feels like to be in heaven." I wanted to be better and do better. I want to do everything I can to return to live with our Heavenly Father again. Sam was such a special child and his spiritual gift of charity changed all those around him.

I am so grateful for my wonderful family. Surprisingly, it was Sue who calmed our emotions. She was so strong and will always stand as an example to me of one of God's faithful. As Sue told me, "Heavenly Father gave Sam his heart. It wasn't an accident - He has a plan. It was meant to be this way."

Little Sam Michael Schwab passed away at home surrounded by his family during the afternoon of Saturday, Sept. 12. As Grandma Johnson said, "In the last four days, he felt the sun on his face, the kisses of his brother and sister, and the love of his mom and dad. He received his body and was blessed with special spiritual gifts."

Summer Activities....

Since the first day of fall has passed and it has already SNOWED, I finally decided to post the pictures from our eventful summer. Here we go....

WE WENT CAMPING

GIRLS CAMP -

I went to my first Young Women's Camp!! It was such a WONDERFUL experience...and I am so glad I was able to be with these great girls!!!

Here we are!! All the Stake Beehives...FUN TIMES!!

Nothing like girl's camp songs...

Stake Leaders....It was so fun working with these fantastic gals!!

Our FANTASTIC YCL's ....We could not have done it without these girls!!

THIS IS WHAT WE DID A LOT OF THE TIME....LAUGH, LAUGH, LAUGH!!

WARD CAMP OUT:

We only went camping once as a family - the ward campout. But, it was alot of fun and the girls really enjoyed it. Every time I go, I think to myself, "Why don't we do this more often? It is alot of fun."

Kaylee has such a good time at the church activities. She loves her friends...

WE WENT 4-WHEELING

Warren finally found a 4-wheeler for the girls and it is so much fun.

We went off roading too many times to count. It was a cooler summer this year, so we spent alot of time in the mountains. Taylor loves to go on rides with the big kids and our friend Sam was such a sport to take her on numerous rides.

One of my kids favorite things about off-roading is the endless supply of soda and treats. My girls got into the cooler non-stop, looking for another Root Beer, or Lemonade.

I love my Quad. It is fun to go on "A Big Girls" ride through the trails. I am getting more comfortable with my quad and love standing up while going over a hill.

This was the first year we could go on family rides. Warren had a BLAST riding with Nicole and Kaylee following him on her motorcycle.

Taylor enjoys walking around playing with all the random things around...especially trees. She also likes to go on rides with Dad.

Taylor likes to pretend to ride the "cycle." Her friend Jake was not too thrilled to ride in the back.

He was a lot happier in the front seat making his motorcycle noises.

Kate and Kaylee went around singing some of their silly, made up songs. Here is alittle sampling..

You get the best of motorcycles

Every size, every shape, every color

When riding it can be kind of fun,

as long as you are always very careful

Riding motorcycles is so FUN

As long as you are OKAAAAAAA

You get the best of motorcycles

You get to ride everywhere

Do, da, do, da, do dear

You get the best of motorcycles

Mix all together and ya know you get the best of motorcycles

Oh, Nicole. She loves dirt...

Look at that face...so DIRTY !!

BUGS!!! Taylor hates bugs...she freaks out when they touch her and talks about it for a long time.

Our good friends the Bartons came to visit and we had to ride motorcycles. They have 3 little boys and our girls love doing stuff with them.

Warren loves to dump water on the girl's head to cool them off.

GOOD FRIENDS!!

KAYLEE LEARNED HOW TO RIDE HER MOTORCYCLE WITHOUT TRAINING WHEELS!!

Kaylee's favorite place to ride is through the trees. She fell off once and ran into a tree. A few tears were shed, but she still rides through those trees.

WE WENT WATERSKIING

Kaylee learned how to wake-board and water-ski this year. Her prize for wake-boarding was a brand new pair of shoes (This is what she requested...just like her mom!!)

Kaylee was not very thrilled about water skiing. It made her very nervous, but she did it to earn a brand new bike.

Kaylee ROCKED!! By the end of the summer, she was quite the show off. She loves it!!

THE WONDERFUL PRIZE..A BRAND NEW BIKE!

Now, guess who loves to waterski...

Nicole loves the water and does a great job hanging on to the knee board.

Nicole pulls the silliest faces..

Such a BEAUTIFUL gal...love that smile !!

Warren is so happy on the boat and we are so grateful for his Mom who was so kind to give us her old boat. It took us awhile to get it working...alot of trips to the lake to have the boat not work, but once it started to work - WE WERE SO HAPPY!!

Nicole's favorite thing to do is to be thrown into the lake.

WE WENT TO THE POOL

Best Buds!!

Little Miss Princess...she needs her purse.

Nicole loves her "Hannah"

Kaylee took swim lessons this summer where she learned the different strokes. Her favorite is back stroke, and freestyle. Butterfly just makes her laugh, because it is "so hard.")

That is it...on to FALL!!