Brittney and Lane Update

Hello everyone this is my first try at this so hopefully it works out. Thank you for the instructions Mel and Aunt Donna. Anyway Lane and I are doing fine. He is getting so big and puts a smile on my face daily. He just got moved to the older class with all the three and four year old kids; therefore, he is in preschool 3 days a week. I asked him what color an apple was and he said, "Red, apple starts with the letter A" I was so proud of him.

I am still working working working. It is going well though. I am still in process of buying my Aunt Linda Bohannon's house. I should know more next month. Your prayers are appreciated though, I am so scared of it not working out. Every thing happens for a reason I guess.

Well on not such a high note... James and I are going to court tomorrow for temporary orders. Hopefully we can just come to a civil agreement; but that would be a miracle. So once again your prayers are appreciated. I will let everyone know of the outcome.

I love you all, and miss you tons

A weekend of fun!!!

This Labor Day, Donna, David, Linda, and Randy joined the "Moab Clan." What a fun weekend we all had, as usual!!!

Friday was dinner at Bruce and Terri's where the couples enjoyed some jalapeno jelly over cream cheese with crackers. Of course steaks were the main dish. Saturday was spent on Bo and Bonnie's property, with a large breakfast and an awesome four-wheeler ride to Medicine Lake (see pictures above). Dinner was delicious also - grilled hamburgers. Sunday was planned to be a trip to Monticello for some golf, but the weather got in the way, but Sunday evening Lloyd and Kathy had dinner at their house where everyone joined together to enjoyed sloppy joes (As I write about what we ate, it reminds me of Grandma. She always told us what everyone would eat. Oh how I love her!!!!) Brandy, Brook, Bonnie, Bruce, Brittney, Donna, and Dave enjoyed a bright an early round of golf on Monday before the Shultz's had to head back (Delicious breakfast sandwiches out there at the golf course...lol). It is so great to have everyone together. The laughter, memories, and sweet spirit of love is felt by all.

Bo, Bonnie, Bruce, Terri, Lloyd, and Kathie have made it official, they are going on thier first cruise February 15!!!!! Fun, fun!!!!

Love to all!

We've Moved!!!

New Address:
Davie and Melanie Helm
3295 E Sweetwater Springs Dr
Washington, UT 84780

I know that it's been quite awhile since I last posted. But, I hope you will all understand. The last two weeks have been a little busy getting settled in our new home in sunny St. George. We moved down here on August 11th and the kids started school on August 12th.

It all happened extremely fast and hence the reason for my lacking in posting anything. We had been coming down quite a bit to help with Davie's mom and step-dad. I know I posted before that his mom just started her second round of chemo and his step-dad was having problems with his heart. On the third weekend down here and after Davie had spent two weeks solid down here with his mom, we started to entertain the idea of moving down here to be closer to them so we could assist them in any way we could. On August 3rd, we actually looked around at some neighborhoods and found a house that we thought might work for us. I went back up to Salt Lake on the 5th and that is when we found out the schools started on August 12th down here. We made the final decision to move and the next thing you know, here we are. We were able to pack our entire house and move it down here in about six days making several back and forth trips. Jack and Mckenna and Davie worked so hard packing up the house and driving back and forth and Kira and I were here in St. George unpacking. For the next several days, I worked by butt off unpacking the rest of the boxes, getting the kids settled and ready for school including school shopping, and making sure our home was comfortable. This last weekend, we unpacked the last of the boxes and organized the garage. Needless to say, I'm quite exhausted. But, I am looking forward to just enjoying life from here on out. I love our little house. It's not really that little, but it's all on one floor and we have scaled down from 7000 square feet to just under 3000 square feet. It's a big difference. Our lot is quite small as well. We are living in Coral Canyon, which is actually in Washington City and it's only about 5 minutes from Davie's mom.

The kids are doing great. Kira is not quite sure she likes it down here, but she is doing well in school. She is attending Pine View High School. She has already made it into Concert Choir and is also taking some advanced placement classes. On top of that, she is in driver's ed and she will have her license by November 5th. So watch out...lol. Zack is in the 6th grade and attending an intermediate school. Down here, the 6th and 7th grades are in a school all by themselves. He is really enjoying it. He is in band this year and is playing the drums. We just picked up his percussion set today and he played his practice drum all afternoon. He actually told me that he was glad that there wasn't any recess this year. He is making friends and says that he just doesn't like the heat. (It's averaged about 102 degrees every day, which for him is sooo hot!) Little Miss Makayla started kindergarten and loves school. Our house is only about 10 houses down from the elementary school here and she can't wait to go to school every day. The first two weeks of school they were doing "Color Days" and so they would have to dress in a different color every day and then everyone took turns taking a snack that correlates with that color. She picked BLUE....yeah, try and find a BLUE treat to take. Not an easy task. But, she had so much fun every morning picking out her outfits that would match the color of the day. She has many little friends and it's so adorable because every day that we pull up to the kindergarten playground, her little friend comes running out and they hug eachother and say "let's go play friend!"


Well, we are all doing great and miss you all very much!

Update

Hey everyone! I miss hearing from you... I just wanted to send you guys a quick update because I know some of you know what I do and some of you don’t. I go to this church called the Rock Church and it is an Evangelical church that has Baptist roots. Anyway, some friends from another church and I have started hanging out and the things we do are incredible. During the week, you can find us Rock Climbing, biking down to concerts in the city, or whatever. Then on weekends we take our sleeping bags, hike up and camp under the stars. It has been really cool to hang out with all of these friends on all these extreme adventures. I have some Rock Climbing pictures attached.

Monday Nights are something completely different. We go to downtown SLC to pass out food, clothes and anything else we might have. It has been an incredible last few months. I have heard a couple of people saying that we are the only thing that works. We get clothing donations from people at the church and so we try to pair things up with people.

Now, my friends and I are trying to set up a day center type of role for Monday nights. We want to make a difference for the adults, the teens and the children that are homeless. Eventually we dream of getting a grant for a day center to provide mentoring and a good, positive, educational environment for kids.

Monday was our first night to offer a job table. People are really excited that we are interested in getting them ads and trying to help them with their resumes. Another thing we have done is to ask them for their top needs or their wishes. Some of them are far fetched such as “sending the teenagers from the shelter to the Montel Williams show so they can be in boot camp” which cracks me up and some are as simple as lotion.

I know that some of you have extra clothes or extra items that you don’t use any more. If you have any of these items, will you let me know and we can arrange for me to come pick them up? I can also send you a list of items and get you a statement from K2 the Church that you donated to Monday Night Life. If you will just join with me in praying that we can continue to meet basic needs, it would be so incredible. One woman wrote that she would like to be in a drug free, positive environment and she only wants prayer that it would happen.

Also, this is dreaming big, but if you know of anyone that owns a piece of property downtown and wants to partner with us to build a day center where we can help kids, that would be amazing. A gentleman was telling me that he was an equipment operator but that he had an expired license and some fines he had to fix before he could renew his license. He said that he had a 13 year old and a 3 year old but that he couldn’t leave the 3 year old to go to work because the shelter doesn't provide care and won't allow him to leave his kids. It is these basic problems that we want to meet.

Finally, in a week, I leave to go to be a counselor at a kids camp for kids in the foster care system. This will be a challenge for me and the other counselors so please keep us all in your prayers that we will change lives next week.

And before I forget - Ony is doing well. He loves living with my parents and Kendall and anytime I call, they spend half their time talking about the dog :) It was definitely a good match. My brother is doing well, he is trying to channel Cesar the Dog Whisperer and my Dad is just as soft with the dog. I think my Mom will have a hard time leaving Ony when she goes back to work.

The Lee Family

I created a blog site for my family, I've posted a link on this site. It needs some work, but it is a start.

We enjoyed seeing everyone at the reunion. I can't believe how much the grandkids are growing! The Bohannon's did a great job.

We're really enjoying the summer, it has been great so far. I'm including some pictures of my kids enjoying their swimming pool in our back yard a few weeks ago.

Thanks Mel for starting this site. Love ya all!

Melissa

Swenson Family Reunion 2008

I can't believe the reunion has come and gone already! Thank you to everyone who played a part in making this year's get-together absolutely amazing! There were plenty of laughs, lots of good food, tons of splash time, and more good food! There definitely wasn't a shortage of activities from the family dinner, Cherry Hill, the Bees game and fireworks, and Lagoon. It was a lot of fun. For me, catching up on everyone's lives and playing with the kids is my favorite part. It's so fun to see the great-grandkids running around and playing just like I used to do with all my cousins. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family! I love you all!

Linda & Randy's Thank you

Happy Birthday Melanie

The DVD you and Davie put together was so wonderful we laughed, we cried, Such good memories. Again we thank you so much.

It was such a great "Reunion" a big high five to the great job the Bohannon's did. It was so great from the good food to the auction, the swimming, to lagoon, watching the video, to the great conversations.

How lucky are we that we have a family full of keepers? Have you ever seen so many darling grandkids?

It sounds like every one made it home. We are so looking forward to next year.

Love to all and thank you for being our family.

Melanie is 40

The Family Reunion is Almost here! I don't know about the rest of you, but as for myself and my little family, we are so excited! I personally love seeing everyone that we don't get to see as often as we would like. I know I keep saying that I will come to Moab, and then my life gets crazy and I don't. But I know for sure that once a year, every year, I get to visit and catch up. I am so grateful that we have such a close-knit family and that we can plan these reunions and look forward to them. My little Makayla keeps asking all about her "friends" and she can't wait to get to see them and play! As I've been preparing the family "slideshow" I have had a lot of opportunity to reminisce all the fun we had as kids. It's amazing that we all fit into Grandma and Grandpa's little house. It was sometimes a little overcrowded, but it was always cozy and right where I wanted to be. I can't wait to see everyone! Love you all!

Donna's comments

Okay - so this is getting pretty cool. It would be so great if everyone started posting on this. No I haven't gotten to getting the pictures in yet - but I love checking the blog and seeing what is going on. Chris and Keith happenings (Chris - Bruce always has a smile on his face when he takes your money), Kimberly canyoneering and mountain biking, Linda and Randy being retired and their adventures to start. Melanie posting our picnic last Sunday. It was so fun and everyone had a riot eating, running around and enjoying the good weather. And of course I still can't believe Caitlin graduating - she is so dang cute and we are so proud of her.It was still hard to believe watching her going up to get her diploma - plus she sang with the choir and the jumbo tron at the Marriott Center was on just Caitlin for about 15 seconds - which up on the screen seemed like a long time. We were going " yea - how cute is she?" "She belongs to all of us?". It was really neat. David and I went camping this weekend up to Wasatch State Park. Weather was not that great but did get in some golf and walks. Amy and Dave and the kids went fishing at Jordanelle on Saturday (which isn't far from Wasatch) and they all caught a fish so they did come over and show us what they caught - grandpa helped clean them with Dave. It was so cute - got pictures (but again not quite sure how to post them yet). Love to everyone and can't wait to see everyone in a month. Melissa and Linda - we are doing the baseball tickets tonight and I will mail out tomorrow. I am so sorry - I have been so bad - I think the shortimers is turning into longtimers.

Hey all, ok well not much too report here. Keith and I drove to Salt Lake to grab the new trailer to us from amy and dave. Thanks so much it is perfect you two. It cost a small fortune in diesel but hey no price can be put on the fun we had with The ferre clan. Keith spent all his hard earned money on new nike golf clubs and a new archery bow. I haven't decided who is more excited me or him about the bow of course. On sun. we went golfing with bruce and bryson (bruce took my money as usual but he does it with a smile on his face)bryson is a hoot. We had a lot of fun. Bryson will be bacheloring it tonite with keith and I. I purchased the Rambo movies so I'm sure we will corrupt him with that this evening. Well can't wait to see everyone at reunion. Love ya all tons, Christopher D

Happy Birthday!

Today we all met at Draper Park to celebrate Dad and Kris' birthdays. The whole family was there for a fried chicken picnic and we had a blast. The kids had a lot of fun playing on the playground while the older boys played football. We got to sit around and eat, chat, and watch the kids play. It was a gorgeous day and the weather was just perfect for our picnic. We have decided that this is the way to have our family get togethers in the warmth of the summer days. It was so much fun getting together. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD AND KRIS!!

The Rowley's

Well I'm not sure what I am doing but we will try this. The Rowley's are all doing well. I hope I am attaching a picture of Grandpa and the Briggs Boys. They are all growing so much. Dillon just left on a trip to Washington, New York and Points of interest with his Honor Society Group. I sure hope he has fun. Dallas is in Jr. Golf. Logan is playing Coach Pitch. Cody is living with several other guys and working. Randy and I are enjoying retirement. We finally have the trailer almost ready to do some serious camping if the weather cooperates. Love to all. Can't wait for the reunion. Linda & Randy

Time goes by...

Well, Summer is upon us. The weather is getting warmer. The sun is setting later. The kids are about out of school. And Caitlin Skye is graduating. I can't believe how quickly time goes by. It seems like just yesterday she was my baby girl! I am so proud of her and so excited for her to start the next level of her life. She has been accepted at Utah State and has already pre-registered her classes. How exciting! Kira will be a junior this fall at Riverton High, Zack starts 6th grade, and little Makayla begins kindergarten. My family is growing up. I am going to completely enjoy this summer with my kids before the strict regimented schedule that is school begins--- before we know it.

Kimberly's Update

So, I have a blog too so I just checked my old email and saw that the Swenson family has a blog. I can't wait for everyone to start posting. For those of you who don't know, my Mom and Dad tell me nothing :)

So, I thought I would share quickly what I have done the last two weeks. So, I took a group down to Moab again on May 8-11 and it was a blast. I went hiking, Mountain Biking (my 2nd time and I love it) and canyoneering. It was awesome. I have attached a picture of me repelling right next to some beautiful poison ivy. I have the owies to prove it. It was so much fun. If anyone wants to go Mountain Biking call me.

Oh, and I think I am getting a puppy tomorrow. I am naming him Ony because he is like a black Onyx.

Everyone should post! It could be amazing!

Hello all!!!

Hey Swenson Clan!!!! I love this idea, everyone get on at least once a month post some pictures and let everyone know how the family is. It will sure lighten up Melissa's load on the newsletter, and save on stamps..... Well I hope you all start posting and can't wait to see you in July... check out my family blog ferreclan.blogspot.com it is fun...Love you all, Amy Jane!!!

Donna's comments

This is so cool. Course I have to have a lesson on how to do a lot of this stuff. Mel - thanks for doing this - it's great. With pictures and stuff it will be fun to see everyones happenings and growth spurts etc... especially with all the kids. Okay as soon as I get my lessons I will attach some pictures and surprise everyone. Love you all and so excited about the reunion (2 months YEA!!!!!)

Well, I have become a huge blogging fan. I thought this would be a great way for all of us to stay in touch and see what is happening. Everyone can post their family events and pictures here. Amy and I have been having fun with our own personal blogs and I decided we should all be having the same amount of fun! So, this is the first post of many to come. I hope you all jump on board and use this blog to let the rest of us know what is going on in your family. Love to all of you! I can't wait for the reunion coming up to see you all!

Love,

Mel