Christmas Morning

 Checking out stockings.

 Lily calls chap stick "some". She got Princess "some's" from Santa.

 Ben got BYU stuff.

 From Santa: A 3 DS!!!

 From Santa: Princess Dress Ups!

The big present...we leave for Disneyland in 13 days!

I love Christmas morning. There is nothing better than seeing the light of a child's eyes. I thought that we would feel a little disappointed with nothing to open under the tree (since everyone got a vacation for Christmas). But it was really nice actually. It made shopping easier, wrapping easier, planning easier. We had a great morning. It was short and sweet (and it started at 5 a.m. ---Luke was too excited to sleep.) One of my favorite Christmases ever.

Having Fun For the Holidays

Our Ugly Sweater Party with friends and neighbors.
The Rappleye's, the definate winners!

The Hegsteds

I love my husband! He cracks me up! Totally channeling Randy Quaid from Christmas Vacation.

Tom and Lindsey.

Going with Luke's class to see the Nutcracker.

 

Going Sledding!! My kids prefer winter to summer any day. Weird huh? They love to play in the snow

Burt family Nativity.
Cast: Sydney-Mary
Alex-Joseph
Ty and Mom-Shepherds
Lily and Brooklyn- Angels
Ben and Luke-Wise men
Baby Ben-cow.
So adorable. I love that we do this every year.

 

Cooking up some Christmas fun!

I love Christmas Eve. We always have a ton of fun plus we always have a great spiritual moment or two. A great combination for lasting memories. So before our evening devotional, we prepare for the evenings festivities. We listen to music, make cookies for Santa, watch the grinch and just be together. Here are the cute kiddos, posing, instead of getting to work :)
My sweet Tyger! He and Lily are always such big helpers in the kitchen. They love to cook with Mom. I think Ty likes it because he gets to taste test. :)
Crazy Luke! Always the preformer. I love it!
Mistletoe Princess.

One of my favorite Swensen traditions is the 12 days of Christmas. I was bad at getting pics of all our events, but here is one night where we made a gingerbread house together. Can we say sticky? Jake was about to puke I think. We all know how he feels about being sticky. But the kids loved it!

Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas from the Swensens!

More Pictures

Trying to decide which set I like best for the large prints to hang up.

Updated Photos of the Kids

Halloween

He looks just like Woody in this picture. I love it!

To infinity and beyond!

Saying "Yee-haw!"

Ben wasn't super happy that we were making him dress up and go to the ward party. He had been napping.

Ken and Barbie. A little cheesy, but we had fun.

These are pictures from our ward Trunk-or-Treat on Sat.

Home of the Eagles

Luke was lucky enough last week to have his name pulled in the lottery drawing for an excellent Charter School near us. It is called Oquirrh Mountain Charter School. We have had great experiences and teachers at Antelope Elementary and it was hard to say goodbye. But we felt strongly that Heavenly Father was leading us in this direction for Luke. Luke is a child who is extremely bright. This charter school offers more individually based curriculum to continue to challenge him. OMCS also focuses with larger intensity on math, science and history.

Luke seems to be adjusting well and the transition was not as difficult as we anticipated. Way to go Luke! We are so proud of you!


First Day at the New School. (Notice Luke still has his splint for a few more days and Ty can hardly open his eye....ugh).
So handsome in his school uniform.

Tooth Fairy Here We Come!

Luke lost his very first tooth on Saturday. He was so excited.

Can't believe how big he is getting!

Ty's Nose

Last week we followed up with an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor at Primary Children's Medical Center regarding Ty's nose. I almost didn't go. He never complained about his nose, the swelling was almost gone etc. The night before his appointment I was looking at his nose and noticed a hard bump on one side. So to be cautious we decided to take him in. Sure enough he needed to be seen. The actual bone in his nose had been fractured (broken) and was starting to set off to the side. Crazy!! How does that not hurt??? How can he have never complained about that??
Apparently when Luke "broke" his nose when he was little he just separated the cartilage from the bone or something like that. But not Ty, he really broke his nose!!
Then it was time for me to get over some shocks....1. It was truly broken and required fixing 2. Fixing meant general anesthesia and an O.R. visit at Primary Children's Medical Center 3. Needed to be TODAY! ASAP!

We quickly made arrangements for Lily and Luke and Jake rushed home to head back with us to the hospital. The procedure was quick and Ty was such a trooper. He came out of the anesthesia great. Nothing slows him down.

We had our 1 week post-op check yesterday. Looks like it was a success and he is healing nicely. Now that it is fixed I realize what his "real" nose looks like and what I thought was just swelling, was a totally messed up nose. My poor guy.

Cross your fingers...no more broken bones for us....I hope.

The picture above is two weeks post original break. The bruising has been quite impressive.

Mary Poppins

We went to Mary Poppins last week. It was fabulous! We loved it. The dancing was fantastic and it had the most elaborate sets I have ever seen. Take your breath away. Stunning, entertaining, awesome!

Broken What???

Ty broke his nose this week. This is a picture on Day 2. Some of you may remember that when Luke was two he did the same thing. How does this happen to two of my kids...? I wouldn't think it is that common of an injury to children.
Anyway, Wednesday afternoon we were at the park playing with friends. The boys were "podracing". Not exactly sure what that entails. They were around a corner and kinda out of sight. Then I heard Ty screaming and the other kids were coming to get me. Ugh. What a horrible feeling.
Ty is such a tough kid. Hasn't complained at all. He looked in the mirror and exclaimed, "Mom, look at my face!" But thats it. What a trooper. It has to kill.

Day 1


...and here is Luke with his broken arm. Yup thats right. In the last month they have both broken something. He did this on August 27th. Again, we were at the park...(starting to think its bad luck there) and Luke was trying to do the monkey bars. He slipped and fell and tried to catch himself. He broke his humerous (the big bone in the top of the arm) through is growth plate and broke the tip of the ulna (little bone in the bottom part of the arm). He got his hard cast off this week and is now in a soft cast. For now we will just have to watch him and make sure there are no complications from the top brake. Keep your fingers crossed.

He never complained about his cast at all. He didn't love getting it off however. But he is starting to be willing to excercise his arm when we take the soft cast off for baths. He is supposed to have to off more and more over the next three weeks and do exercises all along the way. Man. What a month!