Merry Christmas from Alabama! We hope you’ve had an exciting year and that you are safe and well this holiday season! This summer we traveled as a family to Utah again but this time it was for a very special event! Jessica turned eight years old and we were able to baptize her in our old Ward in Woods Cross, Utah! What a wonderful opportunity for us to share this life event with the many people who we love and miss! Several friends and neighbors gathered to join us for Jessica’s baptism as well as family from all over! Arnold’s parents from Colorado, my parent’s from Nevada, my sister and her husband from Hawaii, friends from all over the Wasatch front, two of our former Bishops (Larry Widerburg and Rickey Garner) and members of our WX 8th ward family were there to enjoy the exciting day with us! What a great experience for Jessica to share her baptism with so many close friends and relatives!
Lisa Nicole turned sixteen years old this year and has started wearing makeup, dating, AND driving! She had the opportunity to attend Youth Conference with the Woods Cross Utah North Stake while we were visiting Utah this summer. The group spent several days at the Wasatch academy in Manti where Lisa was able to renew old friendships and make some very special new ones! EFY at BYU-Provo was also on the agenda for Lisa this summer. She had a great time and learned lots of amazing things while there! Thanks to Facebook she has been able to keep in touch with almost all of her favorite friends from her EFY experiences! Lisa continues to excel in school. She is the Vice President of her Sophomore class, member of the Key Service club, High School Honor Roll, and all around great student! We couldn’t be more proud of her! The dating thing has kind of thrown us for a loop! I have learned that I must refer to myself as Mama Lisa on the phone or the boys who call here are pretty embarrassed when they find out it wasn’t who they thought it was on the phone with them! I’m not sure when where or how but this text-ing thing has replaced a lot of the phone calls I remember getting as a teenager. Unlimited text-ing plans allow Lisa to hold three conversations at one time with boys she knows from school, church, and Utah. I know I should be worried, but I just look at it as a very in-depth learning experience on how to multi-task successfully!
Kenny is in the 5th grade this year at Hutchens Elementary. He ran for Student Council Treasurer and did a wonderful job on his speech. He lost to a girl, but it was a really cute girl so he said it was okay. Kenny continues to excel in his studies at school and participates in the accelerated PACE program. He reads everything in sight and has received several top reader awards from the Accelerated Reading program at school! He enjoys piano and is preparing for our end of the year recital this week. He can’t wait for next year because his teacher has purchased the Star Wars sheet music for him to play! He is so excited! We broke down and finally let my parents buy a Wii for the kids for Christmas this year! Shhhhhh! It’s a secret as we haven’t given it to them yet, but it took several trips around town and a random chance walk into a GameStop for us to find one available that had just been delivered by the Postman. The man behind me thought I was joking when I told him that I was totally prepared to fight him for it. The clerk managed a nervous laugh and handed me the one and only Wii available here in the entire Gulf Coast area! I was thrilled!!! Arnold cautioned that I shouldn’t joke like that as it could get me into trouble but who was joking? : D
Jessica and I got to spend 12 days in Hawaii this November visiting with my family! It was a wonderful trip and a very fun experience for Jessica! She has seen pictures of our family trips to Laie before but doesn’t recall ever being there herself. She was there as a baby when Lisa Nicole was baptized in 2000 so it was really nice for us to be able to create her own memories of the place I like to call ‘home’... Jessica got the special treatment on the plane ride over receiving a tour of the cockpit and a chance to sit in the pilot’s seat. At the USS Arizona Memorial the shuttle ferry captain took the time to take Jessica up to the front of the boat for special pictures and a tour of the area that most people aren’t allowed. She learned a lot about the history of the USS Arizona and had lots to take back to her class for her show and tell report. Jessica’s favorite thing of all though was the chance for her to go to church in Hawaii and make lots of new “Hawaiian” friends who gave her leis on her first visit to Primary and exchanged email addresses with her when she left. Jessica summed it all up pretty nicely for me when she just looked at me kind of aghast and said, “Why
don’t we live here Mom?” I’m so glad Jessica had such a wonderful experience in Hawaii that her heart longs to go back one day. Kind of like mine has everyday for the past 20 years....
Arnold is doing well with his job at Chevron. He keeps busy at home on his off days securing our food storage, fixing things around the house, and cultivating his newly planted fruit trees. We were able to pick some of the fruit this year. We can’t wait for next year’s full harvest! The deer enjoy a lot of the fruit right off the trees but I guess we’ll have plenty to share since we planted a total of seven in all: satsumas, pomegranate, fig, persimmon, oranges, and lemon. Who knew after we left our home in Utah with that backyard orchard full of pears and peaches that we would be so quick to plant even more trees here in the South!
I have stayed busy this year with our POA Board, PTA Bookfairs, Room mom activities, YW church calling, and everyday chauffeuring of the kids. We are about to complete our second reading of the Book of Mormon as a family and have helped Lisa memorize her scripture mastery for seminary. Lisa Nicole received her Young Womanhood Recognition Award from church this week. Kenny has completed his Faith In God requirements in Primary this year and is ready to receive his Arrow of Light award in Cub Scouts. Jessica has started the Primary Activity Days program and is enjoying working on her Faith in God activities. Arnold and I had a chance to spend our Anniversary in Atlanta, Georgia this year. A whole weekend to ourselves at a Marriott hotel near the Atlanta temple was exactly what we both needed! And to think just a few years ago we thought this day would never come!
We miss all of you terribly and have really enjoyed keeping in touch and hearing all about you and your families’ adventures! We hope we can continue to keep in touch as we spend another year here in the South! We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope the New Year brings you health, happiness, and the continued joy of this season.
Lisa, Arnold, Lil’ Lisa, Kenny and Jessica Schloemer
If Kenny had a little brother my days would probably be spent referee-ing these types of matches from noon til night.
Here's Kenny with Logan visiting for the week. We took Taz on our drive over to Daphne to see Logan and the two of them got reaquainted really quick!
Here's our group with the elders after our dinner at Keola and Bev's house in Daphne!
Jessica's Pogo Stick was a hit with the Elders yesterday! A few of them were brave enough to give it a try! Some were much better at it than others were but we all enjoyed the entertainment! 
The Crash and Burn hop...
The frog hop...
The "I can do it with my eyes closed" hop...
And the group favorite...the one legged hop!
So on Christmas night, Lisa's friend Michael showed us a new fun way to drink Hot Cocoa! He learned it from another missionary who served in his home ward. The Tim Tam Slam process comes from Australia...how it made it all the way here to Mobile, Alabama is beyond me but its sure to become a hit!
First you find you some Tim Tam Slams. World Market has the authentic Arnott's brand Tim Tams in Chocolate Creme, Chocolate Caramel, and Chocolate Mint. Target now sells them under the Pepperidge Farm brand name and they run about $3.00 a box.
You take a cookie. Bite opposite ends of the cookie off. Put half in your mouth and the other half in your warm cocoa and use it as a straw sipping the cocoa through the cookie. Once the cocoa reaches your mouth you suck the entire cookie in before it drops back into the cocoa or completely melts in your hands! Its our new favorite way to drink cocoa AND it may now very well replace Arnold's all time favorite cookie..the Oreo! Cheers for Tim Tam Slams!!!!
After an early breakfast with the elders from our area we drove over to the Salvation Army Head quarters in downtown Mobile and helped serve their Annual Christmas meal. 
We spent the morning donning aprons and serving meals to the homeless, low income and displaced families from our community.
Kenny and Jessica helped pour drinks with Arnold while Lisa served desserts that had been donated by the local bakeries.
The elders helped with the serving and clean up as well as held an impromptu caroling concert that got all our "guests" in the holiday mood! What better way to spend Christmas morning?
With everything going on in the morning we decided to let the kids open their presents up a little early. Jessica just about jumped out of her pants when she realized she wasn't going to have to wait any longer! Here is Jessica opening up her POGO stick which was the only thing she asked for this year!
Being the teenager that she is Lil Lisa really enjoyed all the "small" presents she got! Especially since she knew they'd have gift cards tucked away inside of them! Note to teenage moms out there...Gift cards: Its the only way to go for teenagers!!!
She did manage however a bit of a smile when she opened what she thought was some clothes and saw a Wii remote!!!
Thanks to Oma and Appa, Kenny Lisa and Jessica are the proud new owners of a Wii video game system. Don't ask me what how why or whatever...all I know is that the kids went crazy over it and couldn't stop smiling!!!!!
For about a year Kenny has talked to us about getting him a Guitar Hero Video game system for his PS2. We thought it was fun to see him "rock out" to some of the songs from Aerosmith that are on the game. Who knew all these years later I'd still remember those lyrics? Here Kenny is enjoying his new Guitar Hero game looking like a pro!
Kenny's hero... HOMER SIMPSON!
It wouldn't be the same without our annual get together with the Pak's! Darian and Nicholas had fun opening their presents with Lisa, Kenny and Jessica right there in the restaurant where we met to have lunch together today! Who says we have to wait for Christmas to open presents?
Nicholas and Darian's grand parents are visiting from Hawaii for the holidays and we are loving having stand in 'grandparents' around for our children to enjoy! 
Whenever we get together with the Pak's, Uncle Johnny insists on an update about Lisa's dating adventures! We love that when we teased about Lisa's first kiss he jumped right up and gave her a kiss on the cheek so that now she can say its over and done with and she doesn't have to go looking for one any more! Whew! It's a relief not to have to worry about that one anymore!
With Christmas only a few days away one of the traditions we have is to take the children to the Mall to see Santa. Jonny and his family helped us start this tradition when all our kids were real little and all about the same age! Usually I try to avoid the Malls this time of year because they are just too hectic but there's something so very magical about all the shiny decorations, the merry loud music, and the hustle and bustle of the season!
The Bel Air mall here in Mobile was packed this week with last minute shoppers but the line for Santa wasn't too unbearably long. They even had a train ride and a carousel going for all the children who had had enough shopping! 
The kids are growing up fast right before our eyes and although they all agreed to accompany me to the mall to see Santa and to stand in line and to see all the beautiful decorations I wondered quietly to myself if this may be the last year I am able to pull this one off. Kids grow up, interests change, Santa isn't as exciting as he use to be, and mother's like me are left wondering will it ever be the same again? At least of course until the grandkids get here! Thank goodness for grandkids! 
We recently found out that the YW will have a value added to their personal progress program. That value is VIRTUE and the color we will associate with that value is GOLD. What an amazing time we live in when we can look to our church leaders for guidance and inspiration in leading our young women and young men through a rocky and often tumultuous world. I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who guides and directs his church here on earth.
Last night our Youth group got together with the Ward Cub Scouts and Activity Day girls to carol at a Rehabilitation center in West Mobile! We sang songs while visiting up and down each of the hallways of the center. Most of the residents must stay in their rooms and are unable to get out and about so they welcomed a group of carolers who weren't afraid to wander down the hallways! 
This is a picture of our group singing to the nurses at the East wing station. I don't know if any of you remember me talking about our youth group in the past, but look how we've grown! We counted 54 people (parents included) in all at our Hot Cocoa and Cookie get together after the caroling! What a great group of kids!!!
Our favorite part of the evening was being able to stop at the room of a Ward member and personally sing a few carols for her! Each of the young children gave her a hug and wished her a Merry Christmas! What a great way to spend the evening! Merry Christmas!
Tonight we had our Christmas piano recital for all of our children. Each played two numbers for the audience and did a fantastic job! 
Lisa played A Pachebel Christmas and the First Noel. Kenny played Come, Though Long Expected Jesus and Got Tellit on the Mountain/We Wish you a Merry Christmas. And Jessica played Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee and O Come, Little Children. 
We are thrilled at how well they are all doing in piano this year!
Kenny's time in Cub Scouts is quickly coming to a close. Last night at our Pack meeting Kenny was presented with two Gold Compass points for his work in passing of requirements for 11 of the areas in the Webelos handbook. Way to go Kenny!
Kenny loves to carry around his pet snake, Taz. Some days Taz will curl up around his neck and sit there while Kenny is playing the piano, working on the computer, or even doing some chores. Today Taz figured out how to curl up around the frame of Kenny's glasses! It was too funny we had to get a picture of it!
On Sunday our Bishop presented Lisa with her Young Womanhood Recognition Award for completing her Personal Progress requirements in areas of Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice & Accountability, Good Works and Integrity. Lisa started the Personal Progress program four years ago when she turned twelve and entered the Young Women program in the WX 8th ward. She has worked hard to complete all of her requirements and we are so very proud of her!
Well it took all day to finally finish, but the Christmas tree is now officially up! Arnold helped drag everything from the attic and the garage. Lil Lisa helped assemble the pieces. Kenny and Jessica fluffed the branches. And everyone placed an ornament or two on. (They all have their favorites!) Even Arnold had to do the very very top because I couldn't reach and I wasn't about to climb the ladder. Each year after we complete the tree I wonder why I didn't get it up sooner. And then New Year's comes around and I think about throwing on some red hearts and leaving it up til Februrary! There's something about a Christmas tree that warms the heart and sooths the soul. Merry Christmas everyone!
Today our goal was to decorate for Christmas! Arnold and Lil Lisa brought the tree down from the attic and took it out of the bag. Kenny and Jessica helped fluff the branches back to life and I have been sorting through boxes of ornaments. After a quick break for a snack Kenny said that he had started to decorate the tree! Come to find out...it was just his snake Taz going for a climb. He seemed rather intrigued by the whole thing and slithered in and out of the branches. If Kenny lived in a perfect world he would have lots of snakes on his Christmas tree! Luckily, we only have the one snake to deal with! And this year our Christmas tree will only have "traditional" ornaments on it!
If not the leaves, at least the price of gas is falling! $1.68 a gallon was what we saw on the road yesterday! How exciting! Especially now that we have a teenage driver in the house!
We took two cars to our Thanksgiving lunch appointment yesterday and it was Arnold that was selected to drive over with Lisa at the wheel. Here she is parked at the Target lot waiting for the missionaries so they could follow us over to the Nik's house for lunch. For a brief second it looked like she might look over for a better picture but she was too busy texting her friends. Arnold was no help either. I think he was doing the same thing...
Happy Turkey day! This year we were invited over to Peggy Nikolakis' home for Thanksgiving! While there we got to see JT who now lives across the bay! A few inches taller but still the same lovable boy we knew from before! We sure miss JT! 
Here Meg Nikolakis (Both Kenny and Jessica's 2nd grade teacher) helped serve up Elder Russon and Elder Wright the best southern food around! Oyster stuffing, green beans, deep fried turkey, the works...
While at the Nik's home we played a little football! We met some wonderful new friends! And learned that Lisa, Kenny, and Jessica are pretty good players! Please don't ask me who won. As you see from the picture...there's still a controversy over the score!
As with every year we try to cook as many turkeys as possible and share the wonderful world of deep frying! It doesn't take much convincing. Just one bite. And as long as we are able we are determined to 'convert' everyone we know to the DEEP FRYING technique! Last night we hosted the missionaries from our area at our house for their final meal of the day! I can only imagine how stuffed the missionaries must've been by the time we all gathered at our house that night, but one sampling of our deep fried turkey was all it took!
I am most grateful for a house full of love, for elders who serve in our area, for friends who offer to come spend their special day with us, for a beautiful life, for a beautiful family, for being able to watch Lisa Nicole flirt and do it really well, for seeing Jessica come alive when she's around other people, for Kenny's quiet and sincere helping hand, and for Arnold who loves me and takes care of me and lets me have huge parties with lots and lots of people even on Thanksgiving day!
Canoe Ride through the villages at the PCC!
Jessica making music with a bamboo stick in the Fijian village!
Jessica and I braving the rain at PCC!
Jessica and Bro. Tovo in the Tongan village! Bro. Tovo stayed with us in October when he and his wife came to pick up their son from his mission here in our Ward! It was fun to surprise him at work in the village!
Jessica wearing her woven hat from the Tongan Village!
