Christmas 2009 and Sariah's 6th Birthday

I can't believe another Christmas has come and gone. The kids had so much fun and we had so much fun watching them. We spent the day at home playing games, eating way too much, watching a couple movies, and I squeaked in a Christmas nap. We had a very good day.



Jakob and Corrine got guns. Now, I know this is not the most politically correct picture you will ever see... but they are so happy. Jakob got a Marlin 22 and Corrine got a Cricket 22... but not just any Cricket... a PINK Cricket. She has been asking for one for almost a year. We just kept telling her "You'll shoot your eye out kid!" and she felt like she would never get one.



Naturally, if you get a gun for Christmas, you need to take it out shooting. Keith took the two older kids with their Schramm cousins shooting this morning. They had so much fun! I stayed home with the 2 younger kids and we got ready for birthday stuff.



This is Corrine so proud of her shooting skills. This is of her and her targets.




My baby tured 6 today!! I can't hardly believe it! We got her a little horse and she just loves it. Her horse is named Crystal. Its pretty funny to watch Sariah with it. This is as close as Sariah will probably get to a real horse. Happy birthday Sariah! We love you.

Christmas letter... sort of

I'll type this as our Christmas letter! I'm even going to be very brief, because really, the pictures are funner to look at anyway. I'll do a quick update and then call it good.

Keith is the scoutmaster in our ward. So, yes, things are busy. He is busy at work and still enjoys it there. He has lots of projects at home and stays busy helping with the kids. Camille(me)is still busy with home school, and running kids to all of their activities. I'm the CTR 5 teacher in primary and I enjoy it... when primary is over for then day. Jakob is 11 and busy with scouts, piano, and school. Corrine is almost 9 and is busy with school, ballet, and using her creative imagination. Sariah will be 6 the day after Christmas. She is busy with school, ballet, and playing with Corrine.

As a family we are still doing foster care. We hope to have things 'resolved' in a few months. I can't go into more detail here. We appreciate all of your prayers and concern for our family. It has been a long year and our faith has grown for our Heavenly Father and his divine plan for each of us.

We hope that all is well with you and your family. Please keep in touch!

Love, Keith and Camille Schramm Family

Festival of the Trees

Today we went to The Festival of the Trees. It was fun... but a lot of walking and a lot of trees. I think I must be getting old. After about the 2nd row, the trees all started looking the same to me. The only complaint I would have is that people kept getting in the way... there was no go up one side and down the other kind of thing. There were are lot of adults that kept walking on top of my kids and wouldn't get out of the way. They really needed to move and let the shorter people see. All in all, it was a good experience. Sariah liked the Barbie and Tinkerbell trees. Corrine liked the Fancy Nancy and Go Utes trees. Jakob liked the Star Wars trees and the Cobra with Santa in it. I liked the upside down tree. I might try that next year! Here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Halloween, and piano recital

Things have been busy (as usual) around here. I'll give you a brief update, but mostly pictures this time. The kids had a piano recital on the 20th of October. This was Corrine's first piano recital and she did a great job. Jakob worked very hard on particular song and he had it ready for the recital. He did a great job as well and we are so proud of them both.






A couple of days after the piano recital, our neighbors invited us to go to a "pumpkin walk" with them. Im not sure why they call it a pumpkin walk, because we did all the walking, but it was fun to see so many pumpkins. Here are just a few. The Joseph Smith one is in here for Mike and Julie... only in Utah would this happen. My favorite was the Charlie Brown pumpkin.









This is Halloween day. We spent the day with the Cain cousins. Keiths dream has been to pour cement on a holiday AND a Saturday at the exact same time. His dreams came true this Halloween. The dads did cement for my sister and the kids ran around like crazy with the cousins. We decided since we were all together on Halloween, we would get a few pictures of the kids in their costumes together. We are missing 2 cousins that stayed home with the piggy flu.





After visiting with grandparents, we raced(literally) home and went to a Halloween party at our neighbors. The kids look forward to this party every year. We had pizza and then the kids and the grown ups go trick or treating together. After getting as much sugar as possible, we went back for more party. We introduced the kids to bobbing for apples. They thought this was an excellent game and Im betting we started another tradition. The kids did a pretty good job with it... and got just a little wet. Apples and water... what a great idea for a game. We had so much fun! Thanks for letting us come play and trash the house Kirsten!!

Its finally fall!!

I know, I'm a little behind on updating this. Things have been busy, and I finally got the time to get the newest pictures up. Last Friday, we went to Black Island Farms for a school field trip. The kids look forward to this field trip every year. This time, Keith took the day off of work and was able to come play with us. Now that we have been to the farm and got our pumpkin, we are officially ready for fall.

This first picture is of the kids on the wagon ride. They pull some wagons behind some tractors and take us out to the fields. They talk about the food they have grown, (mostly corn, onions, and carrots) and then each kid can get out and pick a pumpkin.





This is of us feeding the cows. The kids got a kick out of the cow. The cow was smart... for being a dumb animal. He knew when someone came up to the fence, he would get food. He would follow us begging for more food.





There are also some pretty high slides. You climb up hay bales on the back and then slide down. Sariah got my incredible fear of heights. She got to the top and freaked out. This is Corrine helping her, and then after much screaming.... (much and loud) dad came to the rescue.





On that note, we wish you all a happy fall! We love this time of year. Most of the canning is done, the temperatures have come down, and we can burn the woodstove. There is just such a nice cozy feeling in the air. Enjoy it now, before the snow!

4-wheeler trip with friends

We went with friends from the ward and did an adults only 4-wheeling trip yesterday. We had so much fun! Thank you mom and dad for watching the kids while we got to play! We went up to Avon and made it to inspiration point. At the point, you can see the Ogden valley on one side and the Logan valley on the other. It was kind of cool to be able to see both at the same time. We were a little over 9,000 ft high. We ate lunch up at the top and it was so cool! (cool as in cold....) Anyway, here are some pictures of the trip. Ya, we look so nice. We have about 3 layers of clothes on and have been in just a little bit of mud.














A few days ago I made some "halloween" skirts for the girls. They were so excited but I told them they couldn't wear them until Oct. So, bright and early on October 1st, the girls came bounding out of their room with their skirts on. Im glad they like them.

Motorcycle accident and Swimming lessons

Yesterday Keith got hit while riding his motorcycle. He was on his way home from work and was on one of the main roads here in Clinton. He was stopped at a light and the cars in front of him started going and then stopped suddenly. He started going with them, and then stopped. The car behind him didn't see everyone stop and he rear-ended Keith. Keith said it was all a very surreal experience. While he was flying through the air he was thinking "What is going on? Did someone pull me off of the bike?" If you are going to get hit while riding a motorcycle, conditions couldn't have been better. (although we don't recommend getting hit) They were only going 5-10 miles an hour. Keith had his helmet and his nifty armor riding jacket on. Because of those things, he wasn't hurt badly. He did decide to go to the hospital because his hand was hurting. He ended up with a sprained wrist and some bruises. We are so grateful for our neighbors!! Again, more and more blessings. One neighbor sent their son over to watch the kids so I could go to the hospital. This babysitter got the kids dinner and got them all in pajamas and got them to bed for us. I was so grateful. Thanks Jake!! The other 2 neighbors went and got Keiths bike for us while we were at the hospital. It was so very nice to come home and not have to worry about getting the bike. Thank you Curt and Dave!! We feel so blessed. Things could have been so much worse, and our neighbors really are the angels among us. After all of that rambling, all I have to say is "WEAR YOUR HELMET!".









Things have been so busy for us. When Im doing swimming lessons, not much else gets done. When Im going canning, not much else gets done. Since I did those things back to back, you can imagine how behind things are now! The kids sure do love their swimming lessons though. Here are some pictures of my little fish.

Solar Oven

We (meaning Keith) made a solar oven. We have wanted to try this for a few months now and finally got the time to work on this project. Now, we are going to work on learning all we can about how to cook in the oven. (not that we don't have a million other things to research and learn....) We also conducted a little science experiment and used our neighbors solar oven to compare how our homemade one would work. Keith is going to make a couple modifications, but all in all, things worked pretty well.




We wanted to try something "easy" for our first try. We also thought that if we tried the little muffin tins, the food would cook faster since it wasn't that deep or thick to cook through. Well, what would be better than brownies?





These will now go down in our family history as "solar brownies". The kids loved them. I have to admit, if you like brownies with a little hint of paint... these were exactly what you would love. This is a picture of Sariah begging for "solar brownies". The paint can't hurt her.... right? I like the fact that if the sky comes crashing down and we actually have to use the solar oven, I can still have chocolate.