#21

21 years ago, Mark and I were married in the Dallas Texas Temple. 

We have been through many adventures together.  We have a wonderful marriage.  I am so thankful that our marriage is sealed for eternity.

Belize City, Belize

We arrived in Belize City, Belize on December 22.  We got off the ship and immediately got on a bus.  The bus took us to a river.  We boarded a little boat and traveled for about an hour and half to some ruins.

iguana in a tree

the river

crocodile

Robert swinging on a tree root

Richard swinging on a tree root

Matthew

Rebecca

Rebecca, Matthew, and Grandpa climbing the pyramid

Robert, Mark, Richard

the boys found this large moth

Matthew and Grandpa towards the top of the pyramid

Rebecca, Grandpa, and Matthew at the top

Matthew, Mark, Dorias, Rebecca
Richard and Robert

A very large ant.

We spent a couple of hours looking at the buildings and then got back on the boat and headed back. 

We were a little late back to the ship.  Since we were on a ship excursion they waited for us.  There were also about 50 of us on the excursion. 

We enjoyed the day. 

Eagle Court of Honor

Matthew earned his Eagle Merit Badge over a year and a half ago.  He didn't really care about having a Court of Honor.  I didn't want to put one on by myself.  The 4 boys in our troop that have grown up together all had their Eagle Merit Badge and had never had their Court of Honor.  We have a new Scout Master in our troop and he decided it was time to get it done.  We had the Court of Honor on December 10, 2011

Matthew had a wonderful Chemistry teacher.  He took 2 years of Chemistry from Mr. Bradshaw.  Matthew picked Mr. Bradshaw to get the mentor's pin.  I was glad that Mr. Bradshaw was able to attend the Court of Honor. 

Evan Webb, TJ Moyer, Hunter Benson, & Matthew Swensen

These are the 4 boys that have gown up together in our troop.

Hunter and Matthew. 

These 2 have been best friends for years and years. 

Santa Breakfast

Rebecca's choir does a Breakfast with Santa every year.  They serve a pancake breakfast and Santa visits.  They also have crafts for the kids to do.  The choir sings Christmas carols.  It is a nice activity for a Saturday morning.

Christmas Tree and Traditions

I love the Christmas Season.  I love all the traditions that go along with it.  I love the excitement over giving gifts.  I love all the baking and goodie plates.  I love doing the 12 Days of Christmas for 2 families in the neighborhood.  This year is a little different for us.  We decided to go on a cruise as a family this year.  My sister said that I would miss all the traditions  She was right about missing all of the traditions that we usually do.  I was feeling kinda sad about it.  When I talked to Mark (he was in London), he told me to go buy a small fake tree that was pre-lit and set it up in the livingroom.  Because we are leaving on the cruise on December 18th, I have to be completely ready for Christmas early.  I set up the new little tree and started wrapping presents and sticking them under. 

I did get one advent calendar out.  I think I have about 15. 

I am excited about the cruise because it is a nice family vacation before Matthew leaves for college.  But our traditions build family memories also.  We will take a few of them on the ship with us. 

  We found a scorpian in the box with the ornaments.

High School Physics - Rebecca Style

Rebecca had to build a catapult for her physics class.  This is well beyond my abilities and Mark has been working in London.  We saved the project for over Thanksgiving where we would have some man-power to build this.  Rebecca found the plans and figured out the dimensions ( It had to be under 50cm cubed).  She made me a list of supplies.  I visited Home Depot.  We took everything to Weatherford.  Mark and my brother-in-law, Jarom had fun making the catapult.  (remember this is Rebecca's physic project).  Rebecca put in 4 screws.  When she tested the catapult at home, she decided it didn't shoot far enough (4 meters was required).  She changed out the bungee cord and painted it silver.  The paint made all the difference.  lol  It shot 9 meters and got at 90%.  Go Mark and Jarom !, for a job well done.  Rebecca did a fine job of leading the project and her physics grade appreciates the A.

Thanksgiving 4 Wheeler

We have started a tradition of taking the 4 wheelers to Weatherford with us every year for Thanksgiving.  The grand kids all love it. 

We didn't quite have a full house, but we still had a ton of people.  Mom and Dad.  My family of 6.  Rob's family of 6.  Stephenie left to go back to Houston with her 6 kids the morning of Thanksgiving.  Mike's family of 3.  Bonnie and her husband.  And Charles and his wife.  (Amber went into labor Thanksgiving night and had a healthy baby boy).  Dan and Eric's families were not present.

We had a lot of fun.  At times the noise level was quite high.  The weather was good enough that the kids could play outside.  We ate lots and lots and lots of pies.  I think we went through 10 pumpkin pies, 2 pecan pies, 4 apple pies, and 2 cherry pies. 

Matthew letting Robert drive

Mark letting Richard drive

This year, I was busy inside working on a Young Women's project with my niece and didn't get pictures of all the kids riding.  I didn't even get a picture of the project Lauren and I completed. ( We made a really cute ruffly hand bag).

Learning to Ride Bikes

I think this is Robert and Eden

We decided that it was time for the triplets (Richard and Robert and my niece, Eden, who was born 6 wks later) to learn to ride a bike.  We were at my Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving and Rob and his family were there.  Mom and Dad have a nice long cement driveway that is perfect for learning to ride a bike.

Robert and Uncle Rob

Dad (Mark) and Richard

Uncle Rob with Eden and Mark with one of the twins

Dad and Richard

Richard got the hang of it.  Robert and Eden are so close.  One more practice time and they will both have it.

Big Lou's Pizza

My sister, Stephenie, and her family came to visit the weekend before Thanksgiving.  They had heard about this pizza place.  We decided to try it.  We drove about an hour to the other side of San Antonio. 

We ordered our pizza.  They told us it would take at least an hour to get it.  Good thing we were there with good company.  Steph's little Gavin behaved wonderfully.

We finally got our pizza.  It was 42inches.  Wow that's big!  Our pizza had 30lbs of cheese on it.

We boxed up the rest and took it home for lunch the next day.  14 of us ate on this pizza and still did not finish it.  I guess that is a good thing. 

National Honor Society

Rebecca was inducted into the National Honor Society at Boerne High School.  There were only 9 Sophomores who made it. 

We are proud of all the hard work she is putting into her academics and extra curricular activities.  She tries really hard to keep her grades up and is involved in many things. 

Thankful Day #18: Immaginations

All of my kids have had large imaginations.  They are great for going on many adventures in the backyard and under blankets in the game room.  I get to see Lego creations, dress-ups, sword fights, dart gun wars and hear make believe stories.  The little ones play for hours every afternoon in their pretend games and made up worlds.  The big kids play along sometimes and laugh with me at some of the tall tales that are told.  I remind the big kids that they were once like that. 

No idea what they are playing.  Only they know

The tent that Aunt Susan made for the big kids many years ago

I am so glad that I get to share in the fun imaginations of my children as they grow up.

Thankful Day 15: Sewing

I really enjoy sewing.  I don't know how good I really am but I enjoy it.  I love to make lace and embroider things but I also like regular sewing.  This year in our High School's play, I got to help with costumes.  I posted a few of those pictures. 

Rebecca as an enchanted fork

Belle from Beauty and the Beast

 Belle's costume stretched my abilities.  I am so glad I was able to make it work and learned a great deal.

Enchanted Chorus in Beauty and the Beast

The kids worked hard on the play and did a very good job.  I am proud of how hard they worked.