Driving and The Gateway Arch

Fall Break (October 13-20) our family took a vacation.  We visited stopped in St Louis and Branson Mo, but spent most of our time in Arkansas, enjoying the Ozark beauty.  

Flowers from our first stop, where we ate a picnic dinner and played at the park.  Kyle had a great spanking machine going on the swings.  The kids willingly agreed and even had fun being spanked.

We began the first day of our Fall Break Family Vacation at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

We then started our long drive to Arkansas.  We made a couple hour stop at Meremac Caverns on the way.  It was a beautiful cave system.  We even saw an orange cave salamander.

Our drive was mostly on the Freeway, but it follows the route of the old Route 66.  We took a short detour so we could drive on Route 66.

Festival of Faiths

I had the opportunity to sing with a choir for the Festival of Faiths in Indianapolis on September 22, 2019.  I loved practicing the music, and enjoying the company of the other choir members.  The venue was not the best acoustics, but we practiced inside the War Memeorial building and I wish everyone could have heard us then, amazing!  The family came to support me and made Chalices at one of the booths.  We also got pins at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints booth.  After the performance we visited the Memorial for just a few minutes.  It was built to commemorate the Great War (WWI)  The museum inside touches on all the wars and we should probably go back when we have more time.

Here is a video of one of our songs, My Heavenly Father Loves Me.

The Park

The People

 We spent an evening at the park.  There was a lot of complaining about going, but once we were there I think everyone enjoyed themselves.  

 The Beauty

 I love flowers, sunsets, berries, and all things beautiful.  God has given us so much to enjoy!

Zachary is 14!!!

Zachary is another year older.  He is a great teenager!  

Zachary's birthday was low key, but of course we enjoyed celebrating the wonderful young man Zachary is.  Zachary is very friendly and has a fun dry sense of humor.  He can be a deep thinker and likes to create worlds, or builds in Minecraft (now Zelda is a favorite thanks to a birthday present).  Zachary is becoming more and more independent.  This year he decided that he prefers glasses to contacts and also got braces.  He enjoys learning Chinese at school.  He continues to love to read, but would leave writing for someone else if he could.  Zachary diligently serves in his quorum and his Sunday School teacher loves his answers in class (partially that he is willing to answer😃)  Zachary has a good relationship with his siblings.  He particularly likes to talk electronics with Eric and Hyrum, and play Dragon with Sabrina.  Zachary we love you!   

School Time!

School 2019-2020 has begun.  Zachary, Eric, and Wendy are at Zionsville West Middle School (8th,7th, & 5th grade) Hyrum is in 3rd grade at Boone Meadow.  Sabrina is also at Boone Meadow and loving Kindergarten.  

 Hyrum catches the bus first at 7:30am.  The three older kids catch theirs at 8:15am.  Sabrina and I leave for Kindergarten drop-off at 8:40am.  Mornings are fun :)

Schwieder Reunion

We were able to head to Idaho for the David Schwieder Reunion and then a day of the Haroldsen Reunion.  It was great to see family!  Love truly makes a family and home a great place to be.  The kids really enjoyed playing with cousins and getting wet.

I took very few pictures so here is what you get.  

Shade's State Park

Shade's State Park was a great day trip.  We went on a hike that started out on smooth ground and ended with a rugged section.  We pretty much walked through a small stream and up two ladders to make it back to the car.  Beautiful country!