Picture Infused Post of the Polar Plunge

I love how bundled up Crystal is in this picture...

she is prepared for WINTER.

Ron on the other hand acts like it is SUMMER.

He says it feels like SUMMER in Montana! 

Just a few of our GUINEA pigs...waiting!

Ron gets the party started...

No FEAR at all...

and he begins to swim laps! 

This little boys' face says it all for the rest of the CROWD.

 

Nobody's face says it as good as EVANS'.

And the GUY in the video that is screaming like a girl...well this is that guy!

 

He gets a good LAUGH in about it too!

Especially now that his body is numb!

These 2 girls were the funniest.

The pictures tell the whole story.

The one girl has talked the other girl into doing this,

then tells her they are going to jump,

I count to THREE,

the one girl (who got talked into it),

jumps in,

leaving the other girl (who wanted to do it),

on the sideline.

So after a little teasing...she jumps in!

Classic...I just LOVE it! 

Ron's work is DONE for this season.

Our FIRST annual Cortina 3rd Ward Polar Plunge...

was a HUGE success...

and so much fun.

As part of our Ward Christmas Party we included

our first ever,

POLAR PLUNGE.

We had 23 people willing to jump,

including the brains behind the idea...

RON.

And if you want to hear "real" mean scream like girls...

watch this:

We had 23 people in total take the plunge.

3 Men...and 20 kids.

And when I was asked why there were no women.

I said,

"Women are the smart ones!"

Take me back in time...

To a 50's Night at the HOP!

Ron and I have had the wonderful opportunity...

of being our ward's

Activities Committee Chairpeople.

We have had LOTS of fun activities this year...

and I haven't BLOGGED a single one.

One of my favorites was the one we did in April (yes April!),

where we invited our ward to

go back in time...and join us for a 50's Night at the Hop.

This is our WONDERFUL committee...

which we couldn't do any of this without them.

They are so GREAT and such a forward thinking group...

it makes it easy to do these FUN activities.

Ron and I took time out for a quick photo op 

before the festivities began.

Man, I sure love this GUY.  He still makes me MELT.

We dined on Hamburgers, French Fries and 

Old-Fashion Root Beer Floats.

YUMMY!

We had a Bubble Gum Blowing Contest.

We had a Hula Hoop Contest.

We ended the night breaking up into 3 groups,

gave them ALL a piece of music...

some props and told them to make the most of it!

And they did! 

 

I'm so grateful to ALL these Ward members

that I am growing to LOVE...

for making our Activities so much FUN.

 

I'm learning to LOVE being the "Party" Girl!

Especially when I get to do it with SUCH a great group of people...

and the BEST husband on the planet.

 

COLD to the BONE...

Rachel has been bugging me for YEARS

to go on

a field trip with her.

So I told her, the first field trip she goes on this year...

I will go and chaperone.

Usually a December field trip in Arizona is NO big deal...

and much better than

a field trip in August.

But today...I froze.  

I was COLD to the BONE.

I came home, sat under a blanket and shook!

It took me several hours,

to WARM up.

Now I know most of the country is in BLIZZARD

like conditions...

so I sound pretty wimpy.

But cold is RELATIVE.

And us, Arizonians think a sweatshirt is all we need

in the winter time...

so when I showed up with two sweatshirts, gloves and a scarf...

I got laughed at!

So imagine my surprise...

when these kids made the day seem like a walk in the park...

Literally, we went to a park!

And they made me LAUGH and even have some FUN. 

This was my GROUP...I called them the COOL group!

Rachel's three BFF'S!

Summer - Madison - Rachel

These were just a "FEW" of the "MODELS" pictures! 

Rachel getting a chance to hold the butterfly display.

Listening carefully to the Park Ranger's instructions.

Well done, kids. 

Rachel and Mom sharing lunch.

It felt so fun to MAKE my own lunch and I had my favorite from when I was a kid...

Peanut Butter and Honey and Chips.

Fun (but cold) Field Trip. 

TEN is our lucky number!

Last Thursday we got a phone call from the school nurse...

we get these phone calls often!

And I have to admit,

I was skeptical.  We've had a lot of fake illnesses and injuries at our house.

So when we arrived at the school

and saw Christopher's hand swollen...

we knew instantly he had to go to the Emergency Room.

And we found out Ten is our Lucky Number.

Christopher broke his thumb (lower part)...

and that brings our total broken bones to

TEN.

And now we can be done!

(I HOPE)

Let is RAIN....

We've had NO rain since September...until today!  

Yippee...it feels so good...

AND COLD!!!

It's making me get in that wonderful mood for the Holidays!

AWWWW....Christmas in Arizona...it does exist!

There is FALL in Arizona....

You just have to DRIVE to go find it!

With temperatures above average...

we took off to the NORTH country to find FALL.

And I'm happy to say...

it does exist in ARIZONA.

And the spectacular view made it all worth it!

More Traditions to Start?

Hey, if you can get your kid to POSE for a picture like this...

then of course we have to make

SCHNEPF FARMS

one of our new family FALL traditions.

The best part about it...besides being together as a family is

that the place is in LITTLE ole' Queen Creek, AZ

where we live.

And on Thursday nights in October any resident of Queen Creek

gets in 50% off.

Now that's what I call a GOOD deal,

and one we took advantage of this year!

We had one of the BEST times...

and I absolutely LOVE the age of my kids.

There are pretty much no restrictions...and I loved riding this roller coaster with Jacob!

Katie even let Ron talk her into riding in the front car...

arms raised high!

Way to go Katie!

 

We had a blast on these four wheel bikes.

Rachel and I took on the boys...

and came out victorious!

(Well, not exactly...just in our own minds!)

 

Christopher set us straight!

 

My kids have one GREAT step dad!

Jacob winning a consolation PRIZE when his PIG lost.

Katie's PIG really did win and she did WEAR her prize!

And last but not least...we walked away with

the YUMMIEST kettle corn

that was freshly made before our eyes...

and memories that will last a lifetime!

 

Happy Fall everyone!

Sneak Peek....

Remember a FEW months ago

when Rachel found the $100 and we decided to use it to

redecorate her room?

Well, it has been a work in progress....

let's just say,

I've been a little busy.

But I am now on a mission to finish their room.

So here is just a Sneak Peek...

Note: The cute table is actually vinyl with a real piece of wood Ron cut out and attached to the wall!

(This was entirely Rachel's idea!!)

Pretty clever, huh? 

One of my FAVORITES....

We just received ONE of my favorite letters...

from ONE of our favorite people!

CAMERON!

He continues to amaze me...which I shouldn't be...

I was privileged enough to hear his

Patriarchal blessing...and Setting Apart!

But what he is being ASKED to do at this time on his mission...

is going to be HARD!

But CAMERON is the one who can do it!

Here is an excerpt from his latest letter:

 Ok. I got transferred to another city. This city is called Yevpatoria.  About my branch.... There has been a lot that has happened in this branch over the past. There are over 50 non active members. A lot of them went in-active when an old Branch President got up and said to the congregation that the church wasn't true. Some missionaries also made a mockery of the ordinance of baptism (I won't say exactly what happened) and this also made a few more people go in-active. All of this happened before I even came to Ukraine so it has been a long time. Basically, this branch is hurting really bad right now. We had 5 people come to church this last week. Usually there are about 10-15 but a lot of them didn't come because they were out of town or something. My companion is the Branch President and I am the Financial Secratary. It scares me to think that when Elder Sarkisyan leaves that I will probably be the next Branch President. It would be a really tough calling to have, especially in Russian!

President Nielsen said that I will be here for a long time which makes me think that I will serve the rest of my mission here in Yevpatoria. I had a vision when I was in church the other day. I dreamt that the sacrament hall was full of people. I am going to do my best to get it back to that. We have our own church building because there used to be so many people coming to church a few years ago. It doesn't look like a church. It has no steeple. It is just a descent size building. Pretty in my eyes. 2 stories actually!

Because I am the financial secretary and my companion is the Branch President we have to do all of the paper work for the branch and so that is what we are going to do tonight. He is going to show me how to do it and hopefully I will be able to get a grasp on it and try to do it faster. It sounds like that before I came it was taking them a long time to fill out all of the papers and they weren't getting a whole lot of time to go contacting. President Nielsen sent me here to be the senior companion and tell when we will do branch work and when we will do missionary work.

Love Always,
Elder Cameron Flewellen

This letter has brought a lot of TEARS to my eyes...

Just VERY, VERY proud!

Love ya too Elder Flewellen,

Momma Jana 

We may NOT kill Bambi...

but we do kill
SQUIRRELS!
Sorry to all you nature buffs or PETA people
but our family loves to squirrel hunt!
So a couple of weeks ago...during the kids' FALL break,
we took a couple of days to go
CAMPING and HUNTING.

This was our first successful HUNT of the day!

Ron ended up KILLING all of them,
but not without giving CHRIS a TRY!

In case you are wondering why you LOOK up...
well you must realize the process of squirrel hunting.
First, I drive VERY slowly
through the forest, while the family looks for squirrels.
Second, when they yell squirrel...I slam on my brakes.
Everyone jumps out of the car shouting and hollering...
so the squirrel runs up the tree!
You then shoot it out of the TREE...although sometimes they are hard to find!


This is Christopher's kind of shot...
when they are on the ground...and you make sure they aren't suffering.

I like to HELP look....


Rachel chose to do this,

While Katie and Jacob stay a SAFE distance away.
And just to point out how cute Katie looks...
with one of her FLOWERS'
in her hair!
Such a FASHIONISTA!


I didn't take this picture on purpose,
but I loved how when I got home that I noticed
all the kids were LINED up by age (and height).
A picture I would NEVER have been able to get on my own!
I just LOVE these kids!


Final count....5 in 2.5 hours!
I'm just impressed these KIDS will touch them!
Not only will I not kill BAMBI or a SQUIRREL...
but I won't be touching them or eating them either!
But I LOVE the joy I feel in spending time with my family...
and the wonderful LIFE it is becoming!

add Taxi Driver to my list of JOBS...

I've decided to add
TAXI DRIVER
to my list of jobs.
This is how I spent my yesterday
afternoon...and evening.

I drove the kids home from school.
I drove the girls to Activity Days with a pit stop at Summer's house.
I drove the girls home from Activity Days...but stopped to pick up Rachel's friend.
I drove Katie home so Baylee could pick her up in time for dance class.
I drove Rachel and all of her friends to a Birthday party.
I drove Christopher to mutual.
I drove Katie and Baylee back from dance class.
I drove to pick up Christopher and three of his friends from mutual and back to our house for a sleepover.
(No school today...Ugh!)
I drove to Christopher's friends' house to pick up clothes.

And just when I thought my taxi driving duties were over...
and I was sound asleep in bed...

I get a call at 1:15 a.m.
I drive back to Rachel's sleepover!

And Rachel can NO longer give me grief for singing and dancing in the car!