Polar Plunge

For the past 5 years we have held a Polar Bear Plunge on January 1.

I did these growing up.
My dad loved to provide a good challenge for us kids to do.
This was a more mild one.

Here were the stats for Jan. 1 2013:
The pool was 46 degrees and the weather outside was 56 degrees.
Just enough of a bite to it.

This year the Shills and Tingeys returned once again for another plunge
 and we had two rookie families join us-
My brothers Clint and Adam.

My niece Adlee's face demonstrates how fun this can be.

  

Kate realized that the idea of the plunge was a lot more fun than the reality of the plunge.

Clint had to give her a little pep talk. 

Whatever Clint told her...worked

Lots of different ways to make an entrance.
Personally, the pencil dive would be my last choice.

I am not sure what type of dive this is...stumble/trip into the pool?

I love this goof-ball brother of mine.  

He and his family are moving back to Az in a few months

and they are going to live just a stone's throw away.  

Clint's dive is a bit more graceful than the others....but that's Clint for ya.
If Physical Therapy doesn't work out -- he could possibly go into competitive diving.

After they all jumped and swam across the pool, a 101 degree jacuzzi was waiting for them.

This little warm luxury was not part of my childhood polar bear plunges.  

We just got a towel and the shivers.

These two weirdos didn't get enough the first time around...

Once everyone assured little Josh that we thought his underwear was really just a Cars' swimsuit,

he took the non-swimmer dip.

Adam's kids are very adaptable.
No swimsuit--no problem.

January

Wow, where has time gone?  January is already behind us
 and I am still trying to remember to write 2013 and keep up with my goal to post monthly.
Sorry to the one person that gives a hoot....Isaac. 

After the Polar Plunge, we had a really cold snap for about a week.  It was brrrrr.

We rounded up every sheet, towel, pillowcase in the house and covered our

backyard plants.  I still don't understand how a sheet can save them.
Crossing my fingers they make it through.


But then we had our beloved sun back.
Beloved in the winter and Evil in the summer.

Ike is usually sitting at the kitchen counter, table or desk creating something. 

Right now it is drawing.   

The only help I can provide for this budding talent is 

paper, pencils and to search out images on the internet for him to draw.

 I can't get a stick figure to look right.

My mom found a great drawing app (Paper53)  that these two love.

We have been trying to get to as many high school basketball games

 to support our nephews Rock and Luke.  

All this exciting high school play has rubbed off on Ike.  

All the coaxing from Tom didn't get him to go out and shoot ...
it just took watching his big cousins play.

There is a new intensity and determination in this kid.

He no longer feels like it is unfair or rude to steal the ball from his opponent.

Eye of the Tiger

On another court.....

Meg is right in the thick of club volleyball season.

We aren't winning a lot of games and that is not easy for this competitive player.

However, Meg is improving, she has her jump serve, 

and is learning how to be a good teammate...even when you keep losing.    

 Cole is always recruiting family members to join in the Ab ripper.

I should, but I don't

 This month, Ike reached his goal of 32 push-ups.

Summer has been working at her tennis game, 5 days a week, to get ready 

for high school try-outs.  She won't let me include photos of this effort.

She took a few lessons when she was young but then we took a 3 year volleyball detour.   

Tom and I will miss her volleyball games but if she loves tennis--so do we.

She is also finishing up a couple of projects to earn her YW medallion in Personal Progress. 

The fact that she wants to get her driver's permit in March may have something to do with this.

One of her 10 hour projects is to index genealogy records

To wrap it up I have to mention a big change

I was released as YW President.

I have loved and learned so much from these wonderful girls for the past 3 years. 

Such fun memories with the girls and the women I served with.   

They surprised me with a good-bye visit and a book they made for me.  

Tender moment for me to see them all standing at my door.  

December

December was jam packed.  It is hard summing it up in one post, but here it goes...

We started off the month of December with a family trip to Disneyland.

Almost all the Farnsworths were there....except the the two most important members, Mama and Papa.

Tom's dad is slowing down and it is difficult for him to travel.  

So I lugged my big camera around so I could capture some moments for them.  3 hours into the trip, my battery died and I did not bring a replacement or charger....shocking.  

That is the typical way I do things.  

(New Year's Resolution for me is to plan better for success...but that will be January's post)

I made a little movie with everyone's pictures of Disneyland and watched it at Ross's 81st birthday. 

I can't contribute a special musical number but I can put a slideshow together (:

 We didn't plan on Cole coming with us because of his heavy school load, 

but he worked it out and joined us for the quick 2 day trip.
He is a nice teenager to be around.

I realized on this Disney trip that I don't have littles any longer.
sigh
My baby is now carrying around other babies....

and we are now surrounded by a lot of zany teenagers.
We, adults, had to talk them into going on the Peter Pan ride....just for old time sakes.
No more time spent in Fantasy Land and we didn't even step foot into Toon Town.

(Ike looks ready to pounce...?)

My favorite part--World of Color show.
Lights, colors, water, and music make a great combination.

Celebrated Ross's 81st birthday

We are grateful for every year we have with this man. 

We had an adult dinner all together with a short program to celebrate.

It was a sweet evening.  

I came home motivated to be a better person and with a greater

appreciation for the family unit.  

 This picture sums up how all his 12 children feel about him.  

They love and respect their father.

Winter formal Dance came next...

I hate being the bossy photographer mom but I was that night.

Cole went with cute Shanni Davis.  They have been friends since junior high.  

My favorite shot of the night is with my long time friend, Julie, and her daughter Nicole.
I love her!

A few YW highlights in December. 

Our ward does a "Dessert -n- Devotional in the Desert."  

For the Devotional part, our Bishop spoke to the youth about "Light" and

at the end of the night we launched 20 lanterns into the dark sky.

I absolutely love Elder Bednar's series on "Patterns of Light" .

I have been thinking about it all month.

You can find these lanterns online at http://www.birando.com/eco-colored-wish-lanterns

The next week we had a really nice member of our ward 

take us on a caroling hayride in the back of his semi-truck.  

We paraded down the streets of our neighborhood blasting the horn and singing to Christmas music.

Annual Adult Christmas Party
More than 1/2 of my brothers and sisters live out of state,
so we always look forward to the holidays
and our adult party each Christmas.

Tom and I host the dinner, my sister Aryn is in charge of games
and then we do a gift exchange/yankee swap.  This year's gift theme was
"Favorite item of 2012"

After we made pizzas, we started the games.
My sister comes up with some good ones.
Simple but very entertaining.

See how many cookies you can move from your forehead to your mouth in 1 minute.

Toilet Paper Hike.
A couple works together to see how many rolls they can get in the box.

One hikes the roll, the other catches it with their feet and then drops it over their head into a box.

We weren't quite ready for the night to end...so we started another game.
Oh boy beware!  Tom and I played this once before with friends and boy does it get the heart pumping.
If you want a group game this is a fun and intense one.
I placed it on youtube for our family, but if you want the see
how it is played check it out here.
(At the end you will see what the consequence we decided on for the loser)

This game can be heavy because you do NOT want to lose.  

There is not a better feeling when you get out --you feel like you made it to heaven.

The next night was our  Cousins Christmas Party.
For crowd and sound control...we did age-group rotations.
Photo booth, Charades, and Flag-Making.
The flags were for their camp-out later in the backyard.
My brother Chad ( above) hosts this fun tradition.  They have a camp fire, set-up tents and
have a sleep over in grandma's back yard.  Chad also puts them into groups and they do
competitions, come up with a camp skit, and tell ghost stories around the camp fire.
It is freezing cold and nobody ever sleeps but it is their favorite tradition by far.

Charades

Santa coming down the chimney,  Snowball fight, Wrapping Presents, Baking Cookies, Sledding.... 

Nothing fancy with the photo booth.  Just a blank wall and some fun props.

Even the littles had fun doing it.

We ended with opening pjs from Nana and a visit from old St. Jack-- then the kids grabbed their sleeping bags and headed outside to the campsite.  

The next night, we spent Christmas Eve with the Farnsworth side.  I was a bit sick of my camera by then...so no photos.

We always have mexican food, a talent show

 and then a big breakfast on Christmas morning.

Christmas Day

 Brother and Sister gift exchange--my favorite

 Opened Gifts from Cousins.

Opened up a trip to Hawaii.

We later took the older kids to see Les Miserables with a few other families.

I loved it.  Some of the vocals were not strong...but who cares with a story like that!

I am so grateful for a season full of family, friends and most of all to remember our Savior.
The older I get the more beautiful His birth is to me:  the star, the angelic announcement to the humble shepherds, the journey of wise men, his young mother Mary, the manger--all these beautiful symbols mean more and more each year.

Also, thank you for all the wonderful Christmas cards!
It is like receiving gifts all month long via the mailbox.