Sunday, January 21, 2024

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.

Sunday, October 8, 2023

Cousin Camp July 2023


Because Jace had FSY  in Flagstaff for a week and Ryan had a High Adventure Hike with our Young Men church group the same week, I decided it was time for the girls to hit the road and visit cousins in St. George, so we had a Cousin Camp while the boys were away. 

We had so much fun!!

It started with me booking a private cottage at Stucki Farms in St George.  I love this place and their darling cottages!  They are new and come in various sizes depending on your group size and are well maintained, cutely decorated, and have the perfect location.  I got one big enough to accommodate cousins!  The rooms have bunkbeds and games and the pools there are a blast!   




Spa night!  The nails got painted.

 


Cousin sleep over in matching PJs!



Game room upstairs. 


Since we couldn't stay indoors all week, we made a wish list of things to do.  Tubing the Virgin River  made the list!  It was SO fun for Calista and I!  No one else seemed to love it as much as we did!


My sister, Malynne was a good sport!!




She turned 70 in June and still decided she'd give the river a go!  On one of several occasions that she ended up high centered on river rocks and I scrambled over to help her, she may or may not have yelled " I hate this da%$@%$# River!"  I have never laughed so hard!  It was hysterical. 




The tubes were super cozy!  And like I said, the river was super rocky!



This is my sister, Calista, at the river's edge. 






This is the lazy river at Stucki farms.  Its one of our favorite pools there. 



This is my cousin Cragun, with his wife Sarah and their daughter Rhiannon. 



We spent hours in the lazy river.  I was so enthralled by it that I called a pool company in Kingman when I got home and had them design us one for our land.  I really want to build a super awesome pool out there for friends and family to enjoy.   The Dr has said --no!  He insists we build a home out there first. Why must he be so practical?



Malynne with her daughter in law and granddaughter. 


Calista driving her Honkin' Van.  It's a 14 passenger van.  It was the perfect way to transport all the cousins.  She's had this vehicle for 2 decades and I have tons of memories in that van. I really wanted to discover Toquerville Falls on this trip.  We gave it a really good try, but we were not successful. The road was too severe.  SO rocky.  We got stopped by a guy in a Razor that told us to turn around.  We'd never make it with our tires he said.  



It was disappointing.  But we stopped at Wendys on the way home and when we pulled into Calista's driveway, her back tire was already nearly flat. It would have been a really bad decision to drive it for 6 miles on rough roads to those falls in the middle of the day in 113 degree July heat.  





So we went to the City Center splash pad park and played in the water there and stopped for a treat at Judds Old Fashioned Ice Cream and Candy Shoppe!!  Love that place!!






St George has the best parks.  They have designed a magnificent town.  Look at this water creek kids can play in next to the splash pad. 


The camp was so fun and great memories were made!!  We hope it becomes a tradition in years to come!



On a side note, we did return to St George a few weeks later and Ryan got us to Toquerville Falls!  It was a treacherous 2 hour drive going super slow in a rental SUV .  I had to get out and walk almost the whole way.  My job was to guide through the dips in the road and over the sharp rocks. We almost got high centered a few times. The town in behind me in this photo.  That is how far up the mountain we have climbed.  We still had a ways to go at this point in the drive.  But the view was super pretty and it gives you an idea of how rough the road was. 


Once we made it there, there were some pools we could jump in and we swam for about an hour. It was a pretty cool and beautiful little spot in the middle of the desert. Such a long drive there and back and almost worth it.  We won't do it again unless we rent Razors. 



July is my favorite month of the YEAR!  I completely love summer. The sunshine and warmth invigorates me and takes away my anxiety. Hurry back July. 

Sunday, July 9, 2023

Family Photos!



Kjersti was a baby and we lived in Iowa when we last had a professional photographer take family photos!  
That was 9 years ago!

Part of the reason has been--we live on a desert island so to speak.  We're in the middle of nowhere in a small town in Arizona, and photographers aren't an easy find.

But we found Melissa, who lives near us.  She majored in fine arts in college and now has a studio of her own!  And -- she is good!


We took these photos on our 60 acres of land. Sixty acres you say?  That is a bit of land!  Yes, it is, and no, we are not developers, and don't plan to be. But we did get 2 goslings during the COVID lockdown--(because everyone should get goslings during COVID).  

Well, as I'm sure you guessed,  these goslings are now geese, and not just regular geese, but members of the family.  They are loud and obnoxious and hilarious, and Jace and I and Grammy Jill (Ryan's Mom) love and adore them.  The rest of my clan--barely tolerate them.  

 Dr. Swigert wasn't loving them pooping on his back patio and swimming in his pool anymore.  He was OVER it.   So, we did the simple thing - we bought land,  lots of land - and drilled a well,  a deep, expensive well, - because it's the desert,  and water isn't easy to find.  Then we put up a fence, not just any fence,  a coyote proof fence, then  we built a pond,  a 10,000 gallon pond with a super duty filter, because geese poop A LOT.  Then we built  a goose house,  a cute goose house with windows and shutters, because that's the bare minimum of what every goose requires, -or maybe that is just what Swigert, royalty geese require??

I do still miss them coming up to my back door--- and knocking on the glass window with their beaks so I'll spoil them with my romaine lettuce. 


Now, back to the photos.  Here is the whole clan!   Oh how I love my peeps! Check out the view behind us!   I do hope to one-day build a dream home on this land, that overlooks the town.  It's so serene and gorgeous!  And yes, I'll have a glass backdoor again so my geese can visit me. 



Here are the kids.  Kjersti, age nine, is a violinist.  She has studied 5 years. She's beginning to really sound good and is level 5 Suzuki.  Between me and you--that's really good for her age. She has a wonderful teacher, that is also demanding.  She averages 2 hours of practicing per day. Pretty good for a 9 year old. 



Jace, age 16 is a cellist--



and a good one at that.  His level of commitment to his instrument comes and goes.  High school kids are busy and homework takes away from practice time. Unfortunately.  Jace is witty.  He says funny, clever things.  He is a delight.  He's rarely moody, and is just an easy teenager.  He is solid and steady.  He isn't swayed by the foolish whims of the world. 



One thing I love and admire about our kids is their kindness to each other.  They are not mean or selfish with each other. 


All growing up my mom would tell us- "Your  friends will come and go, but you will always have your family."  And I have found that to be true. 


Kjersti is quiet and reserved. She also has a sense of humor and has funny comebacks to her Dads frequent teasing. 


And, I have to say, her violin posture is perfect!!


Jace--with a twinkle in his eye.  He's totally thinking something funny!



Sisters, all you ever need is a sister!


Man, I love my girls!!


This is Madelyn Grace, 13.  (Twelve when we took these phots) She is gorgeous and graceful, and her name suits her.  Years ago, when I was teaching violin in Salt Lake City, before I knew Ryan, I taught a 6 year old violin student, named Gracie.  She would come to lessons with a big bow tied to the side of her head.  It was so cute,   It was then I felt that someday, I would have a Gracie of my own. 
 Gracie is compassionate and caring. She is also an accomplished pianist-she has a lot of natural talent.  Her fluidity and touch on the keys is superb. I love hearing her play pieces like Fur Elise and Nocturne by Paderesky. 







Here is the Dr.  - the man who holds us all together.  He lightens the mood at our house when the pressure is on to get prepared for music lessons and he makes sure we have fun.  His goal is to make lasting family memories. 








Here are the girls sitting near the waterfall of the goose pond.



Meet Charlie, now age two.  He hates the geese.  They chase him and bite him. 

Since we couldn't haul Gracies piano out into the desert for photos, because we aren't the Piano Guys, we brought the dog!



She adores him! He's the perfect companion for her.  Gracie has a big heart, and she can pour her heart into raising Charlie. 



And here is my boy--affectionately called Buddy Boy - with his most sophisticated and regal goose--Ducky!!   Oh how I love that bird and boy!  I never thought I'd love a goose--but that goose has my heart. 



She's loud and protective, and mean to everyone except her select few!!


And as you can see,  by the way she's nestled into her boy's lap,  Jace has her stamp of  approval!!