Christmas Time in Utah

We had the opportunity to make a trip out to Utah to see some of the children and grandchildren.  We stayed with Nathanael and his family in South Jordan.  Joshua and his family drove down from Pocatello and stayed at Nathanael's home also.  And one day Tianna and Jim and their two youngest flew down and visited for the day.  Amery who is now living in Utah came by also.

 The first thing we did was take a tour of Temple Square.  We saw some of the Visitors Centers, toured the Conference Center, and went to the old Tabernacle.  This is a picture of Elliott, Hannah, Jacob and me in tabernacle where the Mormon Tabernacle Choir used to play from.

 We took a metro bus to tour a hotel that had decorated window displays inside and a large gingerbread house that was life size.

 We had a large crowd at Nathanael's house with all the grandchildren.  In this picture you can see Jonathan, Jacob, Christian, Agnes, Ethan, Asher and Hannah.

 Agnes got so drowsy she fell asleep in her chair.

 One of the days we went to watch Jacob play basketball at their Rec. Center.  He even scored a goal.

 At one of the malls they had some Harry Potter shops the kids liked looking in.

 Jonathan and I ready for church on Sunday.

The last thing we saw was a Christmas light display, the Tree of Life at Drapper, Utah.  We had a nice time.  It was too bad it couldn't last a little longer.

The Days Before Christmas

We had several activities we were involved in leading up to Christmas.  December is a fun time of the year. 

 We posed for a manger scene with Malachi and his family.  Andrew is a wise man, Mallory and Jacquelyn are angels, Spencer and I are shepherds, and Malachi and Layne are Joseph and Mary.

 One day we went out to a nativity display at the Tacoma Stake Center on Pearl Street.  They had hundreds of Nativity displays.  Andrew's favorite was this one with zoo animals.

 Mallory's favorite was the one with mermaids and mermen.

 Spencer liked the rubics cube nativity the best.  We saw a lot of nice displays and they had a small program.

 One day Jacquelyn and I went to the Victorian Christmas at the fair grounds.  Besides all the Victorian costumes we saw the city tree lighting ceremony for the Puyallup Christmas Tree.  It was bigger and more magnificent than it looks in this picture.  The lights were strung from the Extreme Scream ride and those are fireworks going off around it.

 They had reindeer there too.  Did you know Santa's reindeer had to be an all female team.  Male reindeer shed their antlers for the winter and the reindeer shown pulling Santa's sled always have lots of antlers.

 And one day we went to the Seattle temple.

 This is the life size nativity scene on the temple grounds.

 Afterwards we went to the Snow Flake Parade in downtown Bellevue.

 Besides the floats they had lots of dancing and singing and people interacting with the crowd.

 This is one of the floats.

We also went to Spencer's pre-school Christmas Program.  He didn't sing much, (he wasn't feeling well) but I think he enjoyed it anyway.

Also we've been doing the "Light the World" activity.  This is the second year our church has had this program - where everyone does something nice for someone else each day of December leading up to Christmas.  It does a lot of good for people and also gets us into the true spirit of Christmas.  Which is remembering the birth of Jesus and how he taught us to help and love one another.

Here's a link where you can check it out:    https://www.lds.org/?lang=eng

Knee surgery

Yesterday I had to get knee surgery at the Rainier Orthopedic Institute

The doctor said the surgery went well.  It was minor arthroscopic surgery and I was in and out in a couple of hours.  I had a torn meniscus, which doesn't heal on its own so they stick a scope in your knee and trim away the torn area and smooth the injury site.  Don't know when I did the tear, but I noticed it after being on my knees gardening one day and after a month it was not healing and was getting worse.

When Jacquelyn came to pick me up and I was coming out of anesthesia, she said I told her she looked like an angel.

Thanksgiving

The best part of Thanksgiving is getting to be with family.  I think that's because family is what most people are the most thankful for.

 On Thanksgiving day Talitha and David had us over for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.  David cooked the turkey, which was so moist and good, and Talitha made all kinds of delicious dishes to go with it.  Jacquelyn brought a dessert.  Caleb was with us too.  There were only 5 of us there to celebrate but we still had a great evening together.  After dinner we played a game of Clue.

 Mallory had a piano recital we attended.  She is learning fast.  I think she was a little nervous but once she started playing she did great.

On Friday morning Malachi and Layne had us over for a Thanksgiving brunch.  Also Caleb.  Andrew, Mallory and Spencer were all there too.  Then on Sunday we had a second Thanksgiving dinner over at Malachi and Layne's house.  The food was delicious, especially potato side dish.  Two turkey dinners this year, it was great.  Soon we hope to see our other children and grandchildren too.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  We are so grateful for everyone and so proud of everyone.  We have been so blessed and we love you all.

Vetrans Day

Saturday was Veterans Day and we are both veterans from the Air Force.

Captain Jacquelyn Swift entered the Air Force in September 1978.  She was a Cost Analysis Officer and served at Los Angeles AFS in California and then McConnell AFB in Kansas.

Captain Douglas Swift entered the Air Force on June 1, 1977 after attending the United States Air Force Academy.  He was an Astronautical Engineer and served at Williams Air Force Base in Airzona and then Los Angeles AFS in California.

Also Loren Keith Swift was a veteran in the Army Air Corps and was a bombardier.  Nathanael is a JAG in the the Army right now and will be a veteran when he gets out.  Below are some old photos.

 This is us at a formal military function in our official Mess Dress uniforms.

 Captain Swift in front of a helicopter.

 Lt. Swift at her desk at SAMSO.

 At our wedding cutting the cake.

 Sabre honor guard after the wedding.

 Senior picture at the Air Force Academy.

Lt. Swift's professional records photo.  Doesn't she look fabulous.

There were a lot of restaurants that were offering free food to veterans to honor those that served, so this year we decided to take them up on it.  It was really nice of them and we went to a variety of places on Friday and Sunday and both got to eat for free.  It was fun.  Thank you to those establishments.

Friday
Breakfast - Denny's
Lunch - IHOP
Dinner - BJ's

Saturday
Breakfast - Panera Bread
Lunch - Red Robin
Dinner - Olive Garden
Dessert - Menchies Yogurt

Air Force Academy 40th Reunion

I went to my college reunion last month at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.  It was fun to see the old sights where I went to school for 4 years and also some of my good friends.

 Me with Rich Masse on the terazzo at the Air Force Academy.  Rich was my best friend there.  We went through our Doolie year together, were roommates at times, and stayed friends throughout the four years.  I was glad he came also and we got to hang out during the reunion.

 On Thursday I flew in to Denver and caught a bus down to Colorado Springs to the hotel.  We had registration and a reception there that first night.

 On Friday we got to tour around the campus.  This is the main cadet area which surrounds a grassy field and terrazzo.  In the evening we had a Class Banquet.

 The cadet chapel is the most well known landmark.  We attended a memorial there for our classmates who have passed away.

 This is the dorm where I lived for the upper class three years, Sijon Hall.  My squadron was at the back of the third floor.

 I was in 39th Squadron.  We even got to go inside.  You had to live in the dorms all four years and you weren't allowed to have cars until your Senior year.  You did get to be pretty good friends with your squadron classmates.

 My first year, Doolie Year, I was in Evil Eight Squadron in Vandenberg Hall.

 This shows the air gardens.  The building in the background is Mitchell Hall where we ate our meals.

 Inside Mitchell Hall.  Each table seated 10 cadets.  You typically had three or four Doolies at the table to serve the upperclassmen.

 This shows the cadet gymnasium and beyond that the cadet field house.

 The cadets were doing combat field exercise training. 

This is Fairchild Hall which was the academic building where all of our classes were and the cadet library.  I majored in Astronautical Engineering.

 On Saturday we got to attend a football games.  At the start of each game several squads of cadets march into the stadium.

 Air Force was playing the University of Nevada Las Vegas.  It was terrible the first half and they were behind 3 to 30.  But the second half they caught up and won the game 34 to 30.  It was an exciting game and I had fun wandering around the stadium.

 They even have female cheer leaders now.

 The Air Force mascot is a falcon.  He performed at half time but this time flew off and didn't take the lure.  He came back though and I got a picture of him down behind the bleachers.

The final event Saturday was squadron dinners. The 39th Squadron met at a pizza restaurant in Colorado Springs.  Me with Mike Levenhagen, Jimbo Welshans, Randy Martinez, Flip Feeley, Mark Cochran, Kurk Taylor, Ron Stich, Jim Ilse, and Jeff Remington.

I had a good time at the reunion.  It was a unique and great experience going to college at the Academy.