Friday, December 21, 2012

16 December 2012 - Getting the Christmas Spirit

What better way to get the Christmas Spirit than to spend hours conducting tithing settlement?  Oh, I know, take your Christmas card photo and make gingerbread houses, among other things.

The girls are so crafty and creative.  They've got a whole village working here.

Joanne has been working dutifully with the girls on a variety of Yule-related projects.  Aside from the gingerbread village, they've been spending an awful lot of time in the sewing room.  I guess we'll see why on Christmas.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

9 December 2012 - Finals Week/Decorating

Since we're going to Florida for Christmas this year, we decided on a minimalist approach to our tree.  We got another plantable one like last year's, but this year it's only about three feet tall.  Much less expensive and easier to manage physically.

Joanne brought it home and went to work decorating it.  It will be a nice addition to the yard come springtime.

Joanne took a shot of our four active young women this past Wednesday.

While hanging Christmas lights in the entryway, Joanne decided to clean the chandelier and change a couple light bulbs.

On Saturday we had our ward Christmas party.  The bishop had to have his photo with our special visitor.

The girls decided to have a "sleepover" in Jessica's room.  They were out cold quickly, but at least Emily and Jessica looked pretty comfortable.

Madeline on the other hand, did not look so comfortable.

'Tis the season to make and decorate cookies, and the girls have been hard at work.  Once the cookies were ready to go, we took some time and delivered them as a family to neighbors.

This week was finals week, and I've never given a final exam without bringing Krispy Kreme Doughnuts to my students.  This year Krispy Kreme had snowman doughnuts.  The students loved them.

Beginning this year I am the faculty advisor for the wrestling team at W&J.  Most of you will probably know that I was a wrestler in high school.  On Saturday (before the ward Christmas party) I went to watch our first home meet of the season.  We lost, but it still got my blood pumping.

2 December 2012 - Utah Wedding

For Young Men's and Young Women's on the Wednesday after Thanksgiving, our youth decorated one of two trees at our building.  This tree is the 'Angel Tree' which we use for an inter-faith Christmas giving event with the Salvation Army.  The youth also made bracelets to send to Mexico with a family in our ward that used to live in Patzcuaro and still goes back to visit almost every year.

Joanne left for Utah on Thursday to attend her mom's wedding.  In her luggage she carried a handmade pillow that Emily had lovingly embroidered.  It says: "Love Is Spoken Here  Phil and Dianne Schow  December 1, 2012".

The new couple exiting the Mt. Timpanogos temple after their sealing on Saturday, December 1st.

Back on the farm, the girls had another swim meet.  This was an away meet at New Castle, about an hour and a half north of Washington, PA.  All three girls had a smashing meet, improving their times markedly in almost every event they raced.  In this photo of the 13-14 Girls 100-Freestyle, Jessica is in the lane at the top of the photo.  She's in third place at this point, but with clean turns and a strong finish, she won the event by a body length and improved her best time by 6/10ths.