Photos and Phorgiveness

Our oldest daughter, a.k.a. MOK (mother of Kate), announced at the end of the holidays that not only had she absconded with the family camera, she had erased all of the pictures from our very eventful vacation. Taking her at her word that it was, like totally, a not-on-purpose thing, we held a family fast, talked to our bishop, her bishop and Sister Pierce, and have decided to let it go -- we feel much better now. However, not wanting to deprive anybody of the chance to hear about our vacation, we have decided to go ahead and post our Christmas vacation highlights:

This first photo has Kate in it (as you might know, she is our favorite granddaughter, and is already way ahead of any grandson situation that might occur in the future). Kate is showing off her recently acquired sporting skills. Here she is spinning ceramic plates in opposite directions atop two plastic baby forks, while simultaneously asking for a bite and someone to walk her. Not that unusual for a Swendsen, but as you can see, what is really interesting is that each eye is independently following its respective plate, and each foot is tapping out a separate rhythm.

This next photo has me in it! I am on our recent skiing vacation. Due to the very short afternoon session we were attending, I didn't have time to ride the lift all the way to the top. At this particular point Scott got the family camera out fast enough to catch me in a spontaneous double flip off the chair lift onto the sweet spot in a black diamond run that was perfect for my current skill level. I prefer powder up to my waist, and truly feel that Utah snow is just the greatest.

This is a photo of Austin studying.

Another photo of me. One important thing I did over Christmas vacation was get hair implants. We have a great medical center here in Houston and I consulted with the best doctor available. We did have a slight disagreement over the pattern, however. He seemed kind of relaxed about follicle placement (I think he was a '60s holdover) and wanted to position the sprigs willy nilly all over my head. I come from an Idaho farming background and prefer careful planting, regular spacing in straight rows. I won. Let me know if you like the grid effect.

In this recent photo I am receiving a major award.

This photo is Clint on his first date since his mission. We urged him to go slow, not to make any major commitments until February. As you can plainly see, he appears to be taking our advice about as well as any of our other children.

Finally, it is January, time to turn things around. This last photo shows me doing my honey-do list, surreptitiously so that no one will notice. Not only did my right hand not know what my left hand was doing, no one else noticed that I had done anything either. I am very much looking forward to my reward in heaven, but forcing myself to be patient until then.

A final Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.