Swanson Snapshot

Happy Holidays from the Swanson Family! We are all doing great and looking forward to some visiting with Mom and Dad Stonoff and family in Sequim, WA during the Christmas holidays. This is a snapshot of our lives during 2017. Enjoy the journey with us; the struggles, successes, and family fun. As always, we pray that your holidays will be filled with Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world who we celebrate during the holidays (and always.)

Quick family update:

Pete: Still principal of McNeil Canyon Elementary School, elder at our church, leader of Adult Sunday School, mentor of a couple of wonderful young men, and host/teacher in our home of an amazing group of young single adults. Looking forward to SNOW and snow machining. Never a dull moment.

Lenore: Teaching Music, PE, and 2nd grade again this year. Teaching high school Sunday School, singing on the music team each week, hosting small group, co-director of drama club, after school archery program, and partaking of as much skiing as possible. Loving snow machining with my main man!

Karl: Naval Officer, Nuclear Propulsion Engineer on a submarine, got his "dolphins", and living in Silverdale, Washington when not on his boat. We were able to visit Karl several times this past Summer while taking care of some things for Mom and Dad.

Kjirsten: Finished her undergraduate 1 1/2 years ago, spent some time working away from Alaska and came back to live with us last year while getting her MA in elementary education. She will finish up her degree this spring and launch out into the teaching world (probably not in Alaska) Fall of 2018. We have truly enjoyed the unexpected time spent with her at home.

Claire: Sophomore at UAF getting her Elementary Education degree as well. She is heavily involved in the Chi Alpha Christian program where she helps lead worship, and mentors a group of girls. She spent 3 weeks in Laos in May and will go to Juneau over Spring break for another mission trip.

We were super blessed to spend spring break in Kauai in March. We had a wonderful time with family and cousins (we just missed Karl.) Such a nice break from winter.

And then back for winter fun skiing and snow machining! Best of both worlds.

Karl even took a trip to Alaska and hung out with us for a few days. It was such a treat to have him home!

No trip to Alaska is complete without catching a little Salmon! Or a big one!

And never to be outdone by her brother, Kjirsten has become Pete's fishing buddy.

In May, my co-director and I put on an awesome Pirate Musical. The students loved it as much as the audience.

One of my favorite things to do is help lead worship music on Sunday mornings. I am so blessed to share music with this awesome team.

Mother's Day was a treat in Soldotna, shopping for flowers and enjoying some first days of spring.

Enjoying the brisk Summer in Alaska with my girls.

Karl has become quite a hiker and loves taking his truck on adventures that lead to many hikes. I even got to go on a short one.

Pete, Kjirsten, and Lenore spent the Summer in Arizona and Washington. Dad had a heart attack in April, which led to many weeks of recovering after having 3 stents placed in his heart. At the end of June we helped Spark move Mom and Dad up to Washington to live in the Sequim area with Mike and Spark. Both Lurinda and Katrina live very close by as well. Mom and Dad have adjusted well to living with Spark and Mike. Dad is struggling with physical and mental decline, but still has many funny stories and enjoys being with family. We are so grateful for Spark and Mike's open heart and sharing home with Mom and Dad. Meanwhile, Pete and Lenore have been busy putting Dad's businesses in order, cleaning up properties, and taking care of overdue maintenance. It is a lot of work, but an honor to support Mom and Dad in this way. We are looking forward to seeing them at Christmas.

One of several trips to Sequim (U-Hauls, etc.) we visited the Naval Submarine Museum. It was very interesting and gave us a tiny insight to Karl's life.

Grandpa and Grandma Swanson drove up to Silverdale and Sequim and spent time with all of us as a family. They also got to visit with Mom and Dad at their new home. Claire stayed in Alaska and held down the fort!

We became pros and taking the train from the airport downtown, and walking several blocks and then taking the ferry across to Bainbridge Island where Karl would pick us up.

We came back to Alaska during the Summer for a very short 2 weeks where we hosted Summer and her family. We packed a lot of activity into a very short time, trying to show them as much of the Kenai Peninsula as possible in a short time.

Homer 4th of July parade is always a treat!

We gave ourselves a 3 day break and took the girls canoeing to our favorite lakes before heading back to Phoenix/Washington to take care of more business.

Pete is sure going to miss his fishing buddy come fall when she goes off to teach.

Karl barbecued for us while we were visiting.

One of the things we did while in AZ was to drive to Grand Junction to begin clean up efforts at Mom and Dad's property there. We brought back the things they wanted, including an old Cadillac.

Our very good friends, Cam and Becky Wyatt hosted us in Colorado and Cam was our main man for cleaning up the property. It took 4 months and many people to get it ready to put on the market.

Karl picked us up on the transporter van as well. Many interesting ways to get to Silverdale.

Mom and I sat on the porch and soaked up the sunshine in the Summer morning light. Mom and Dad are quite content there.

Mom and Dad at their new place outside of Sequim, WA.

Dad looking great!!!!

We like to take advantage of riding our bikes on the Spit in the Summer and Fall which always lands us at one of our favorite coffee places - Coal Town Coffee!

View from our deck in the fall.

We had fun hiking to Grewink Glacier with the Lyon clan. Did some mini rock-climbing with the kiddos.

On the way home from hiking and having an exciting time meeting a bear on the trail, Pete was able to catch this beauty!

Last coffee/bike riding dates with Claire before she goes back to UAF for sophomore year.

Captain Kjirsten. Pete and I discovering how we can sleep on our tiny boat.

Coffee Date!! Again!!!

Late fall 4-wheel ride with the girls!

First Day of School with my friend and co-worker Anne!

Lifetime friend Maria Bahr down in Homer for a visit. So glad she lives close in Anchorage.

Pete took a week off from work and headed into the wilderness on horseback with a friend. Not only did he get a moose, he also ended up with a second brown bear. Meat for the winter!