The Kiddos take on their new sibling......can you guess what it is??

Liberty's Got Talent

I know, two posting sessions in one month? I cant believe it either. This just cracks me up, so I had to post it before I forgot about it.

Halloween!

Every year has been extremely different for us here in the midwest. This year the change was welcomed, as we had an amazing, beautiful 65 degree day. Two years ago I think it might have topped out at 30! It was also fun to live in a neighborhood with tons of kids roaming, and family friendly neighbors all out and about. The kids had to be their favorite book character. Blake choose star wars....he is Captain Rex, and Michayla is Cam Jansen, her favorite mystery book series right now (well back then....she has recently started the babysitter club books, and has also formed a club at school....the 5 funky sisters....funny!) Allyson, as you see in the pictures was a repeat this year, a cowgirl. Although she did change the name of her horse to Rose. She is an interesting character. It was her choice completely, which I was very happy about, since I didnt have to get her another costume. Halloween always starts about 2 weeks too soon in my opinion. Its hard to monitor all the candy that comes through the door for those two weeks, but we seem to have made it out unscathed, besides the mounds of candy sitting on our fridge that Brent and I pick from every night:).

Swearing In

We trecked to Jefferson City for Brent to get sworn in. The kids did really well, especially considering they were the only kids in the entire room at the federal courthouse. The buildings were beautiful, and we couldnt have asked for better weather. Brent also got to sign the official Book of attorney's while there. It was a great day! Just as an update, Brent is LOVING his job. He gets to take the Kansas bar in Feb, since we live right on the border of two states, he has to be official in both, so one more test to go! Yehaw! I'm sure once that is done, he will decide to go to medical school....who can live without test taking?

Look who is joining our family!

ITS A BABY!!!

Baby Johnston is to make his/her debut May 5th!

We couldnt be happier!

Drum Roll Please........

If you have not heard yet, I found out yesterday that I passed the bar! It was the most nerve-racking experience of my life (opening the results was even worse than taking the exam). I'm not sure why I was sooo nervous, but I was. I was pretty sure I "should" pass, but I had convinced myself I could find a way to blow it. The second I opened the PDF document--which is just a list of names of everybody who passed--my heart immediately started to pound about an inch out of my chest. I don't think I took a breath for like 2 minutes, and I scrolled down as slowly as possible. I even made Michelle and the kids leave the room before I got my results so that I could discover my fate in private (just in case it was bad news and I had an embarrassing melt down). I cannot even explain the relief I felt when I saw my beautiful name on that list. (I never thought I would consider my name beautiful)

I want to thank everybody who prayed for me and supported me and my family during the last 3 1/2 years. I am so thankful to be surrounded by such wonderful family and friends. I especially want to thank Michelle and my amazing children. I could never have done it without them.

Now, I get to take the Kansas bar in February. It won't be nearly as stressful though because I only have to take the essay portion, and even if I don't pass, I'm still a licensed attorney and I still have my job!!!

And away they go.....

My kids are now officially Schumacher Sharks:). Blake started 1st, and Michayla 2nd grade. They were SOOOOO excited, and not even scared at all. I was surprized, since their elementary school is bigger than my highschool! Anyway, we had a mid-west style thunderstorm that night, and it was still raining in the morning at 8:30, so I told the kids I'd take them. They were bummed. They wanted to walk. We are just down the street. We went to get out in the van, and it was only sprinkling, so we decided it would be ok. On the way there, we were fine. On the way back, Ally and I got a little wet:) But it was fun, and they were cute all decked out in first day apparell. Sure love these kiddos!

Beating the HEAT

Before the kids went back to school, we spent as much time as we could stand here...

My kids have turned into part fish, which I am very happy about. This summer was easier at the pool, with both Blake and Michayla being able to swim in the deep end and Ally happy with her floaties:). We have a community pool a couple blocks down from our house and the last few weeks we went at lease ever other day. Its been a blast!

Ally's obsession

Thanks grandpa! How can I ever live up to that? Michayla is also showing her skills of trotting:). She was very happy that grandpa finally let her do it by herself in the arena.

City of Beautiful

These next couple pictures REALLY just made me rethink the whole Amish idea:) Arent they the cutest pioneer kids ever? They played until it closed. They had a great time.

Nauvoo was definately beautiful. AND it was gorgeous weather! We got lucky.

Next on my list of things to get...a log playhouse with oldschool playthings and pioneer dress-up.

This one just happens to be my favorite. I think I'm going to frame it:)

This is the teddy bear rope games. Blake's favorite!

The kids writing on little chalk boards in one of the schools in Nauvoo. They told such sweet stories about all the pioneers. I remember the spirit of sacrifice that I felt strongly throughout the day.

Tug of war. The kids against daddy....with a little help from a side-liner that felt bad that dad was loosing!

Hommade Stilts, and bean bag races were all part of the fun games that go on each night before the pageant. We had a wonderful time! I would highly suggest a visit to Nauvoo if you havent been there.

Allysons pastime in Nauvoo was picking "flowers."

Learning the scottish dance with the bagpipes playing.

Carthage Jail. The window that Joseph Smith fell out of.

Inside the Jail. I have been here 3 times. Every time I feel the spirit testify to me of the sacredness of this place. What a blessing that we have it restored!

The actual door that the bullets passed through. Allyson is pointing to the hole of the bullet that killed Hyrum.

Back in Liberty we took my neices to Liberty Jail, which is now only 2 min. from our home. Its really neat to be so close to all this church history. Hopefully our kids will remember the things we learn at all these places. I guess we'll hust have to keep going back, so they do!

Happy Birthday Blake!!!!

The Force was with us for the 6th Birthday of my favorite Star Wars fan:). What a fun kid he is turning out to be. He continues to surprize us with how smart he is, and how good his memory is. We had a party for him at the swimming pool with our family and his new buddy (and fellow star wars fanatic), Reed. My neices Payge and Parci were also in town. What a party!

Thanks for the pillow Reed! I sleep with it every night.

Snowflake Fun

I am the first one to admit that I'm not an avid picture taker. We have done SOOOO much here in Snowflake, and I've really only gotten just a smidge of it. We drove in just in time to enjoy the 24th celebration festivities and family reunion fun. Since then, we've pretty much just played with cousins and rode horses almost every day. Allyson is in HEAVEN! She gets up in the morning and gets herself dressed and then announces that she is ready to go riding. Luckily most morning, my neices Payge and Parci are making their rounds on their horses in the morning. Then in the afternoon, my dad saddles his horses and we go again.

A couple more graduation pics

This was the processional before the graduation. It was so fun to pick him out of all the grads!

Our family pic


A couples pictures of family law school survivors
Jeremy and Kendra(BYU law school to be done next year!), Brent and I, and Julie and Hunter