Good-By 2009......

Hello 2010! Wow! Another year gone by....a lot has happened at the Schroeder House....Hmmm let's see what I can remember....(hopefully mostly good) Our little street was taken out of the Marcrest 1st and put into Marcrest 2nd ward....sad to lose great friends, but it was a good move and we are making good NEW friends....(HONESTLY I really hate change so this was hard at first) then I was released from Stake Relief Society Presidency...I miss working with those great Spiritual Women and am so thankful I was able to rub shoulders with them for the time I did.....they were such a great influence on me. Kristi graduated from LDS Business College in April, Kati graduated from Snow in May, and Rob graduated from Cyprus in June...WHEW! Gary and I were put in as 'Shephards' for the Young adults in our Ward....did some costuming for Beauty and the Beast..this being our Stake production this last summer...HUGE production and very well done! Took Grandma Schroeder to live at Washington Terrace...some good...some bad experiences with this. She is not with it at all..doesn't know who we are most of the time but happy in her own little world. Hired to work at Kearns High as the Guidance Counselors Secretary...love the people I'm working with...they are great. Saw friends move in, move out...again really hard 'cause I'm just not good with change. Spent great time with our family at the cabin....lost a very dear friend-Mockey-our very special dog of 17 1/2yrs...he will never be forgotten. Had join our family Jack...Kati's jack russell terrior and Shado our 6mo old shelty/pomeranian who we have grown to love very much for their own personalities..Max and his emergency room visits...one with croup and one getting him 7 stitches in his ear..OUCH! He did real good...then Kristi moved out into an apartment in Logan with friends (we miss her)....then, of course, some hard times and challenges I won't mention at this time but which have been and are challenging us to stretch and depend on our Testimonies and Faith in the Gospel.....I have found these things make us stronger in every way if we allow them too...lots and lots more but, instead of looking back...I am looking forward to 2010 as a year we commit ourselves to pray more, read scriptures more, study more, love more, grow more and be thankful for all we do have.....here's to 2009 ... but now on to 2010 with open arms!!!

Deck the Halls ...falalalalaaaaa.....

Ok....this is our Christmas tree...my very 1st BIG Pre-Lit beautiful Christmas tree...I bought it last year after Christmas and got a really good deal............little Shado loves to sleep under the tree, but in his puppy dog fashion, chewed off some of the lower lights..UGH! Ok...I can live with that...just the lower branches are OUT....then, you can't see them in this picture, but I have the cutest little teddy bears all over the branches Um...yes you can just imagine...I found 5 bears in the snow outside!!! It was the dogs! I saved the little bear lives.. (and the dogs lives too) but now the bears are ALL in the middle to the top of the tree..oh yes, we have red and silver beaded garland....You guessed it....the dogs chewed the beads up on the lower branches..GOOD GRIEF!......Picture this..a big beautifully decorated (thank you Kristi) pre-lit Christmas tree now totally re-decorated looking a bit out of order and lopsided with decorations only middle to the top......these dogs are worse than my kids ever were! Yes, there's more .. So...then...last night Shado was chewing a bone under the tree and all of a sudden he yipped, flew up and ran down the hall.....yup, you guessed it, he chewed through live wires from the beautiful big pre lit tree! He had the SHOCK of his little life....but never fear...the tree is still lit and the dog still alive...WHEW! Wires wrapped in electrical tape and doggy chillin with his friend Jack! Dogs, you can't live with them and ya can't live without them!



This is Max at Grandma Schroeder's...we went over to the nursing home and decorated her little
room with this cute little tree...I made the ornaments..they have pictures of her family...she really seemed to like it...she is in her own little world and doesn't quite know what this is all about, but Gary visited with her yesterday and her tree was still decorated and lit...we were wondering if her roommate would pick at it...so far so good!

Oh how I love Christmas and all it brings...we have been so blessed this year with some fantastic Christmas Events to bring on the Christmas Spirit...we had tickets to 1st Presidency Message (great seats), Forgotten Carols, Sunday morning Spoken Word and Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert with guest singer Natalie Cole (fantastic seats....very inspirational), Christmas Carol in Bountiful (thank you Staci & Trevor)......then...fun shopping (black friday hahaha), eating, decorating, being with family etc etc etc.....The Schroeder's wish you and your families a Very Merry Christmas...make these special days something to remember. We all, especially the Schroeders, have lots of struggles, challenges and discouragements...but you can make any day great inspite of what roadblocks are in your way.....keep positive and laugh...things are never as bad as they seem....most of all...make the memories..they last forever!

Decorating Grandma's room.....

These are pictures of Max and his Masterpiece!!! He really enjoyed decorating the TREE!!!

Ok....after a great time decorating Grandma's tree,
Max wanted to go play at the Mall....
Mall's in Ogden are really fun! They have their
own Playgrounds for the
kids to play in...................and, a fun Train!!! Max had a blast!!!

Thanksgiving and Christmas....My Favorite time of Year......

Well, again Thanksgiving has come and gone! I love this time of year. I just wish I could find a way of holding on to it and making it stay just a little longer...but, I can't, so I will just enjoy each minute. We, again, had Thanksgiving dinner at our house. It is getting harder and harder to keep everybody home long enough to really enjoy each other...but I totally understand other family commitments...we play "sharzies" at our house. We had dinner at noon. All the kids were there, my mom, my brother, my niece and her little family...total about 15 for dinner. We set up a larger table in the living room and the kitchen ... I love to be able to sit down for this particular dinner. It was yummy of course. The company was great and we enjoyed each other. Everybody had to leave to other engagements so we just enjoyed the time we spent with each other. Kati went to Ben's family and later they both came to our house for pie....real nice. Next, Staci came back in preparation for "Black Friday" Love this day! Unfortunately Kati had to work the next day, so she had to make a choice to not spend the early morning with us...Booooo ... we really missed her. We were up at 1:55am...heading to Old Navy at 2:30am....yes, we stood in line for about an hour...actually it wasn't too cold....and yes, there were those people who came later, stayed in their cars and wanted to "crash" the doors to get in without the benefit of standing with the rest of us in line....BOOOOOO! Security was great and most didn't make it in....haha. Kristi got her little boy coats for $15 for her sub for santa...Yippeeee! I stood in line while they looked for things so we didn't have to wait too long to check out...by the time we checked out the line was winding all around the store...CRAZY! Then off to Target...with a short stop at the Maverik for Hot Cocoa...Yummmm....we stood in line, again, for about another hour...again, the door crashers came, but once again...SECURITY!!! What a great bunch of helpful men...they deserve a donut or something Hahaha! Yes, we got some really good deals for, of course who else, Max...again, I got in line as the girls shopped which made our "escape" much more bearable...LOL.....Next, we stopped by Walmart...unfortunately, we didn't see anything we really needed (this year it is "need" gifts rather than "want" gifts...budget budget)and the lines by then were HUGE and not worth standing in....so off to Jim's for breakfast...there Kati met up with us too. We had a great morning. We then went home for a short 2hr nap and then, yes, off to the Malls! The day was long and totally enjoyable, but....it was not finished yet.....yes, we threw in a Movie....Holy Cow, could we do anything more? We saw "The Blind Side" What a great movie....totally a keeper! We will certainly buy this one for our DVD library! Can you say "tired" well I can and did.....we were done! So worth it and will do it again next year! Saturday we set up the tree and decorations while Gary decorated the outside with lights.....we decided to scale down the lights outside this year....they are nice but simple...................what a great Holiday weekend! Through it all, it made me so thankful for all the blessings our family has...we are so blessed and I am so grateful ......now, on to Christmas, deck the halls, falalalala, We Wish you a Merry Christmas, Silent Night and all that good stuff!!!