My baby turned 10! TEN! Last November!

 

How did she get so big?

                                                           

I can't believe it's been 10 years ago since we welcomed this special girl into our family.  It truly does go by in the blink of an eye.  

Kjersti almost shares a birthday with her beloved dog, Bentley.  His is 2 days earlier than hers. 

What is Kjersti like?  Well, she is quiet, and kind, and reserved.  She is a true friend.  I adore her. She is also witty.  She says  funny, little clever things, like her Dad. 

She has the best of friends.  This is Lucy.  She plays the violin too!  I'm Lucys teacher!

They have shared their lives together for the past several years. 

She picked out her birthday outfit.  It reflected who she is.  Beautiful and elegant. 

Ryan made the ballon arch while we were downtown. The giant cupcake is the piñata. 

Every year for Kjersti's bday-we do the same thing.  We grab her besties and go shopping downtown at the little shops on Route 66. So fun because it is always the Christmas Season kickoff that first weekend in November!

Lucy, Kjersti, Sophie

Every girl gets to pick out something delightful for themselves.  The we go home and eat cake,  hit a piñata until wonderful things come out,  and show our treasures to each other.  Its so fun, but lets not have any more bdays.  I can't handle it. Stay young forever for me baby. 

Happy Birthday my Dear One!

Christmas 2023 Part 2

Christmas morning finally came!!   It took Jace until late morning to discover this beast in the driveway!!  Super fun to see his surprise when he walked out the front door, and to his amazement, there was an armored assault vehicle in the driveway!!  Oh yes there was!  Thank you Santa and eBay motors!

This is what every home needs might I add.  Not sure what exactly we're going to do with this thing--but I've heard reports that it is a super fun vehicle to use when playing airsoft. So glad, because it takes up the entire driveway!

 

I think the bow and wreath are stinking cute!!  

Meet Kevin

     He has become the Humvee mascot.  Another item Jace ordered for Christmas. 

Another great tradition that I highly recommend if your budget allows,  is going out to a nice dinner on Christmas Eve.  This Mom is exhausted and  frazzled from all the Christmas preparations, and it's really nice to have a sit down dinner, where we can visit and discuss the highlights from the year.  We then go home and have our family devotional and gift exchange.  I love all of it. 

Our favorite place is the Gourmet Room in Laughlin, Nevada.  It's an hour drive from home, but it has lights that shimmer on the Colorado River at night, it's beautiful and the food is always divine.

Gracie has had a crush on this nutcracker since she was 4!   

Gracie has h
Kjersti is not sure how much she loves them.  She's still thinking about it. 

I wonder what's in this?  If I could remember, I'd type it here. 

Bentleys first Christmas with our family!

Jace had Gracies name this year--and he teased her with the gifts he got her. 

She really wanted a gift card from a little jewelry shop down town. So he got her one and put it in this maze puzzle box.  

It turned out that she couldn't open it, and she may have gotten a little teary after trying for about 15+ minutes.  So Jace gave it a try as well.  It was late, and all were tired and needed to get to bed so Santa could come. But it was finally opened!

At last the kids were all snuggled down into their beds in our bedroom.  Christmas Eve is traditionally one big sleepover in our bedroom, dogs and all!!  I love it!

Little peak at what Santa left. 

Kjersti asked for this little razor.  The girls have fun driving it here on our land. And so great to haul hay for animals etc. Defiantly a good call Santa. 

So glad she is still young enough to want a Barbie for Christmas. 

This teenager only asked for a phone. I have many opinions about getting teenagers phones.  In the end she met all the Swigert requirements for getting one, so Santa delivered. 

Jaces usually asks for airsoft stuff this days. 

Pretty fun all around.  I feel very blessed to live in this great country, and to have the knowledge that Jesus Christ was born, and lived and died for each of us. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas 2023.

December 2023 Part 1

 

We have been out of school for 9 years now!!!  The 12 years we were in school felt like an eternity.  I have to say the past 9 years have been mostly happy and less stressful then the school years. 

You are probably wondering- what is this red picture advertising a concert?    It's something we started as a family a few years ago in our living room.   It has grown so much we have had to move it to the stake center chapel.  It's just a Christmas Concert we plan and perform for our friends and neighbors here in Kingman.  I have a few violin students, so they are involved as well.   This year, due to a downing accident of a 22 month old baby boy cousin in the Wilcock's pool, 2 days before the concert, we cancelled.  This family is dear to us, and 3 of their children were playing with us.  Our hearts are broken for this sweet family. 

Saturday mornings in December found us doing plank challenges as a family.  This is Ryans thing.  He can hold a 5 minute plank.  He started at 30 seconds about 4 years ago when his back started killing him from doing surgery on his feet all day.  It has changed his quality of life. He does his long plank every morning at 4:30AM while he reads his scriptures.   Ryans forte is his consistency.  He is just consistent with everything he does. Its impressive!  And something I strive to do!

For the first time since we moved here, a Christmas light hanging company  came to town!!! Yay!  This saved our marriage!!  Ryan hates, HATES hanging Christmas lights with me.  His goal when we start is to get them hung as quickly as possible.  My goal is to make them look perfect and beautiful.  So the project ends with him being frustrated with me because I am unhappy because the lights don't  look as perfect as I think they could.  Granted I am not the one hanging from  the ladder!!!

This year also saw me learning new things--like what an armored assault vehicle is--and about guns esp. the  Browning M2 and M1919.  For those who don't know--those are machine guns used in WWII.  

Jace has a passion for studying the history of WWII.  He asked for  this play ride on tank from Walmart for Christmas.  We looked at it.  It was cute, but pretty tiny for a tall lanky teenager that grew to heights of 6 foot 2 this year!!  If he were still 7 years old--it would have been perfect!!

So that lead me to do research on my own.   A guy in Kingman collects WWII vehicles and sells some of them.  We went and saw his collection.

This is a WWII 1/2 track.  It was so cool, but sadly already sold. Still super cool to go see. 

December also brought Kjersti's first concert with the GMS.  (Gifted Music School in Salt Lake City)

Thanksgiving weekend was spent in St George--so fun this year!! The kids all painted a figurine!

This is Kjersti's-- a replica of her dog Bentley. 

December always finds me with high anxiety levels and feeling overwhelmed mentally!  This is because of my Stake and Ward music callings.  I'm asked to plan a stake music community Christmas Concert that has about 700 attendees from several different faiths.  It takes probably 100 hours to pull if off-between me and Ryan.  On  the ward level--it's planning all the Christmas music and Christmas program in December.  On a personal level--it's rehearsing myself for all the programs I'm playing in, then it's helping my children  learn their music for all the concerts they are playing in.  Then I'm also Santa for my family--or Mrs Clause as I like to call myself.  And, I take this job very seriously.  It is one of my most favorite December rolls.  

While I'm juggling all this--I try to focus on the real reason December is so special.  It's because of HIM!! The Savior of the World was born!!  I feel it to be a special privilege to be able to honor HIM, celebrate is birth and life--by playing beautiful music that testifies of HIM.  It is something I can't and shouldn't say no too, until I can no longer pull a bow across the strings of my violin.   So, I pray and do!! 

Something else that happened this December was Ryan's hunting trip.  It was here local in AZ.   He has a good friend that runs a ranch here.  He had a few rogue bulls that were mauling his horses.  So he helped Ryan get one for our family this year.   I'm pretty sad for the bull.  But I guess it was pretty aggressive, and better in a freezer. 

I love finding my girls selfies on my phone.  

Gracie and I took on a fun project this year.  It was decorating a tree for mine and Ryan's bedroom.  I think it's so cozy and romantic to have a Christmas tree in our bedroom for the Christmas season.  I love to lay in bed at night  and look at the lights. 

It turned out lovely.  

This is the end of part I because I can no longer load pictures.  More to come.