Merry Christmas from the Swanson family! We hope you enjoy a snapshot of our family life. Megan Sullivan Lyon took these terrific photos for us. Enjoy.
Megan also took Kirsten's senior pictures. Kirsten is planning on attending Point Loma Nazarene University next year. She is looking forward to going to school in San Diego, California.
Nutcracker was amazing this season. Kirsten was the "Snow Queen" and wowed the audiences as well as her own parents. She was gorgeous and a beautiful dancer.
Instead of Russian dance this year, we had the wolf dance. This was a fun and unique alternative to the traditional Russian dance.
Kirsten dances "flower" for the very last time!
Kirsten as 'WOLF"
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Kirsten dances with the Nutcracker
Kirsten and Mariah check to see if their 1st chair Alaska All-State medals were gold. (Homer was well represented!)
Kirsten made Alaska All-State Choir (she made it all 4 years of high school). Students from all over Alaska performed a magnificent concert.
Kirsten, Peter Hendrickson and Claire enjoyed hanging out with the family for Thanksgiving. Karl got to come home as well. We enjoyed spending time with friends and family.
Claire turned 14 in October. In Alaska a person can get their driving permit at 14. She is enjoying 8Th grade and looking forward to ski season when Christmas break is over.
Homer Middle School Concert. Claire sings in the the choir and plays the flute in the band.
Thor on his throne! Karl flew down from UAF (Fairbanks, AK) to attend the Football state playoffs. Homer came in 2nd in the state.
Claire
Claire and Mariah dressed up in Togas for Halloween.
This is how we grow our pumpkins in Alaska!
Pirates at the Alaska State Fair.
Claire had fun playing soccer for the first time. She really liked it and plans to continue in future years.
We canned some of the fish Karl caught in Bristol Bay so he could take it to college. How many college students do you know that have fresh canned wild salmon at college!
Claire's first day of 8th grade at Homer Middle School.
Kirsten's first day of her senior year of high school.
Pete got us all stuck on the moose trek. We had to walk back in the dark.
We spent the night at Hidden lake campground on the way home from the Alaska State Fair.
Rachel, Claire and Mariah enjoy a mini shopping trip.
Lenore with her first moose....and food for the winter!
Lenore was one of the lucky ones that got drawn for the cow moose hunt. Karl had not yet gone back to UAF for the school year and was able to hunt with us. After several attempts Lenore went out alone and got her moose. The boys came to help take care of the aftermath.
Karl is still at UAF in the Honors Engineering program and doing well. Kirsten is ready for scholarship applications, upcoming Junior Miss pageant, and soccer. Claire is about to start cross-country skiing again. Lenore is still working on her M.A. and will be taking 6 graduate units again, and Pete is busy at school and lining out next year's high school football season.
Well, we hope you have enjoyed this snapshot of the Swanson family! We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas full of family, love, peace and joy. Keep in mind the point of celebrating is Jesus!
Love, The Swanson Family
Pete, Lenore, Karl, Kirsten, and Claire
