Dancing Queen!

School is back and in full swing and that means the return of sports, not that they ever left. Our Cheerleaders held their annual cheer clinic this past week, and the performance was Friday night at our first Football game. Here is Chloe cheering and rocking out to Hannah Montana's "Best of Both Worlds."

Pretty As A Princess

Yesterday Chloe went to her friend Brooklyn's birthday party, and came home dressed in the most adorable "princess" skirt and accessories--I just had to share! My friend Brittney made all the little girls a skirt, and then the girls were able to decorate their own "magic wands" & "crowns."














Brittney, I think you just won the Mom of the year award--we need to hang out more so some of your creative, craftiness will rub off on me!

First Day Of School

It's never a good thing to start off the year running late, but in typical Schwab fashion, we did just that! My kids are "big" kids now. Lexie is in 5th grade and attends the middle school and Jaden is in 3rd grade, so they didn't want me to take them to school on the first day. Unfortunately for them, they missed the school bus so I got to take them after all...Lucky me! (You'll notice the pictures were taken in the car, they didn't want to wait around for pictures and be late--instead they were 15 minutes early; silly kids)

THIS IS THE PLACE!

The weekend that Lexie and my mom flew back from their California adventure, we ended up with a few extra days in Salt Lake so we decided to take the kids to "This Is The Place" Monument. After all, you can't visit Utah as often as we do and never go.
















The kids had a great time doing "chores,"












Feeding the animals,











riding horses,











being crafty,












and playing "old time" games.
















Thanks Grammy for letting us stay with you and hang out!

Let's catch up a little...or a lot!

I had planned on catching you all up on every individual event of this summer, but after posting just two, I realized that that would simply take WAY too long! We had a wonderful summer in Seattle; met new friends, caught up with old friends and made lots of lasting memories!
Travis and Jaden celebrated their birthday's by going to a Mariners game...










Jaden was able to "run the bases" after the game,











and then each had little parties on their acutal birthday.














Nana Bear flew up to watch the kiddos while Travis and I took our annual Las Vegas trip, but before we left we all took a Ferry over to Tillicum Village.











We where greeted with a cup of "clams and nectar;" I think the children had more fun crushing the shells then eating the clams but who doesn't like to make a mess?












Next, we ate a not so yummy authentic Indian Salmon bake and watched a tribal dance presentation,















skipped rockes in the water,











found some water creatures,














and enjoyed the beautiful view of the Seattle skyline. This was a great experience.













I had the best roommates ever back in the days of college, and unfortunately I don't get to see them very often...ever actually, it's been 12 years. Lucky for me, two of them live in the Seattle area so we all got together one afternoon and had the most amazing dinner (compliments of Sarh and Jake).











While the adults sat around and caught up,











the kids enjoyed the pool. Sarah, being the cool mom that she is, even allowed bubbles!










My sweet little Chloe was being a stinker and had to have a moment of "time-out"--she's the only kid I know that will still pose for a picture while in time-out.















Thanks Sarah and Jake for having us over, we had a great time!

The week we left Seattle, my mom flew up and got Lexie and took her on a "little girls" trip to California.












As they were boarding the plan, all the kids were huddled together crying..it was so tender to see the love they have for each other; some days I really wonder!:O)












One of Traivs' former basketball players is currently serving a mission in Portland, Orgeon. Concidering how close we were, we decided to drive down and take he and his compainion out for dinner. Treagan is a wonderful young man, one of Jaden's many heros.












Jaden and his cousin Gavin are best buds, I can't even tell you how similar they are in so many ways!











Of course Jaden is all boy, who wouldn't want to climb a brick column?















For our last "hoorah" we decided to all go to a Mariners game (except for Lexie, she was in California still)










We met up with our new friends, the Belnaps, and had the best time.











"Mikey B" might be the funniest man in the world. You get him and Travis together and you've got TROUBLE!

Sweet Baby Cambree

There are few things in life that are as sweet as a brand new baby. Travis' brother Scott and his wife Chandi blessed their 3rd child today, Cambree Hayden. My kids absolutely adore her, they are still trying to convince Travis and me that we need another baby...sorry kids, it's not happenin'!








Cambree and Jaden




The whole gang








The girls

4th of JuLY

For the 4th of July we did the typical 4th of July things...
Had a Bar-B-Q with family and Friends, Swam until we were pruney,
















and watched fireworks late into the night!















Besides Chloe stepping on a hot piece of metal and getting a 2nd degree burn, it was a very peaceful and entertaining day. Thanks to all those brave Men and Women who put their lives on the line so that my family and I may enjoy a wonderful day like today...God bless you and your dear families and God Bless America!!!

A Room With A View

This summer we lived in Puyallup, Washington (just south of Seattle) while Travis was working for Pinnacle Security. It's always interesting moving from a house to an apartment, but this year it was a little more tolerable, as we were able to look out our front window and see the most amazingly beautiful view of Mount Rainier. Although it was 45 minutes away, it looked close enough to touch!