Christmas 2011

We have been very blessed this Christmas spending it with Grandma and Grandpa Tuck and Uncle Brandon, Aunt Amy and Lawson, Mallory, Miranda and Evelyn. The weather was very white and beautiful for the visit. We celebrated the season and family togetherness by playing in the snow, seeing "We Bought A Zoo", attending church services, and playing games--oh, can't forget opening presents. Santa was very good to us this year, we must have ALL been on the nice list.

You'll shoot your eye out!

Christmas PJs! Lawson, Evelyn, Mallory, Miranda, Sloane, Sydney
and Andrew above all comfy and ready to watch Mr Krueger's Christmas on Christmas Eve. I can't begin to say how wonderful this Christmas was with family visiting.

Surgery for Andrew

We woke early in the morning to get to the hospital. Here is Andrew with his new hair cut watiting to go into surgery.

Poor guy is still trying to wake up from anethesia. He woke up, talked to us, cried for a minute and then fell asleep again. His nurse told him that he did better than many adults having surgery- he was so brave.
The earmuffs are to protect the ears from being bumped during the first days after surgery. Scott and I took turns watching him all night to make sure that he didn't take them off. Those were very long nights! (I was able to catch up on some movies I wanted to watch)





After wearing the earmuffs for awhile, Andrew began wearing a band that fit semi-tightly around his head. He was back to himself making his airplanes and other art projects remarkably fast!

Here he is at one month.  His ears look great.  He still has a little swelling in the back with some stitches, but they're almost all absorbed.

Andrew's Christmas Program Dec 14, 2011

This year the Linden School had a program featuring Bubble Gum Bart, he wanted to cover the town with bubble gum goo. Not to worry, Santa came to save the day.

I love this tradition with Linden School. The end is a song with actions that is about Jesus Christ and all the Linden School alumni get up and go to the sides of the auditorium and sing with the kids on stage.

The Hastings' Annual Gingerbread Party

Every year we go to our neighbors, Scott and Heidi Hastings for a Gingerbread decorating party. There are about 8 families who each bring a gingerbread house, ready to decorate and a couple of bags of candy. Afterward, a winner is declared and we have a small program and reading of "I believe in Santa". This year Santa came a read the book to us. The theme this year is "Building our homes (or gingerbread houses) on a solid foundation".

Snow Caves!!

We've recently been slammed with snow. So fun, the kids went sledding a couple of times with Scott. However, I haven't seen any snowmen in our yard yet, what I've been seeing are snow caves. The kids have been digging in the snow piles and making their forts and having snowball fights. Here's Sloane comfortable and warm in her cave.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

What a busy day Dec 10, 2011 is. We started out with our Primary Program Practice Pizza Party, then learned that we missed Santa coming into town on a helicopter. Andrew was so sad, he cried big aligator tears, worried that he wasn't going to be able to tell him what he wanted (he only wrote one thing on his letter to Santa). He thought his opportunity was lost to talk to the big guy. After making a few calls, we learned that he was visiting that night at Camp Tattiyee. So, we went and were able to see him. Note, Sydney wasn't about to visit Santa this year (just like last year).

Andrew asked for a remote control plane, helicopter and a flying p38.

Sloane asked for skis.

Veteran's Day Program

The Linden School had a wonderful program honoring the Veterans this year. All the grades performed various songs with some in sign language. After the music, each branch of the armed forces stood independently to be recognized. Very touching.

Canoeing at Scott's Resevoir/Hiking to the Ice Caves

Rick, Tracy, Truman and Quinn came to visit and we we to Pinetop Lakeside to canoe and hike to the Ice Caves. We borrowed the canoes and everyone went to the other side of the resevoir. Tracy and I walked around the water and met them on the other side.

The air got cooler as we got closer to the cave. The mouth of the cave is basically a big hole in the ground with a fence around it. Climbing in was tight and a little muddy, but it opened up some further inside.

It was a great, fun day and ended with us all stuffing our faces at KFC and stopping at a bookstore. So Fun!!

Large dominoes for the walls!

We love to play dominoes at our house. So, when I saw this project I knew it fit our family.
I found it at shanty-2-chic.com, large vintage dominoes. I also really enjoy making things with wood. It was high time I pick up some power tools and make Scott proud!

2011 Mountain Tuff Mud Run!

Scott participated in the first annual Mountain uff Mud Run in Clay Springs AZ.

Remember the Alamo!

We traveled from Round Rock TX to San Antonio TX to visit the Alamo. We stopped and ate at IHOP and we all had to sing p a n c a k e s (as per Brain Regan). The Alamo is right smack in the city, you might miss it with all the tall buildings around it. We had Charo with us and she was not allowed to be on The Alamo grounds, and we couldn't leave her in the car because it was hotter than Hades. Scott and I had to take turns going in to The Alamo with the kids.

One thing that was neat is that it is a sacred place and you must be reverent and respectful inside.

We came home and watched PeeWee Herman's Big Adventure and the kids could barely stand to watch it. It seemed so much more funny when I was a kid. Alas, there is no basement in the Alamo hiding PeeWee's beautiful bike.

Special Family Night Meeting at Tuck Family Reunion

Joseph playing the piano for us. He's a genious with the piano and was forced to listen to me with my simple planking.

The family as we began to gather toether for our family/talent night.

Elizabeth showing us how limber she is!



One night of our stay in Round Rock TX, my mom and dad called a special family night. They talked about the importance of family and how we are all connected thru the generations. They presented each family with a binder of family pictures that were recently gathered. There were some pictures of people that had special meaning to me as we (Sydney, Scott and I) have done some temple work for them. So good to see faces matched up to names.
This binder is a prized possession of mine, I feel very connected to my ancestors. I've thought about them often.
Also that night we have a family talent show with each family showing off their unique talents with us. It was very fun and full of laughter.

Tuck Family Reunion

This June we went on a trip to visit Jonathan and Jill in Round Rock TX along with all my siblings and their families. We did miss one cousin Jordan, who is living in Spain with the Navy. One crazy, hot, hot, hot afternoon we got together at a park and had some family pictures taken. I did mention it was hot with about 100% humidity, can you see the gleam on everybody's sweaty faces?

This is the original Tuck family. David and Kathie in front and left to right is Jonathan, Jared, Aaron, Brandon, Jamie and Bethia. It's hard to believe that I used to have slap fights and spit fights with these adults standing by me.

And here we all are (minus Jordan). It was a great few days visiting with my siblings and their families. When we get together, it seems that time has stood still since the last visit, we just pick up where we left off. Good times.......

Captain Moroni for the Cub Scout Day Camp

So, it is well known that Scott like to perform (like on the stage). This year for the Cub Scout Day Camp, Scott was asked to portray Captain Moroni with a short presentation.

We did not have a costume for this and the responsibility fell to me to figure it out. I called anybody and everybody I knew and finally determined that I would have to make one.

A friend gave me a green tablecloth that was nogahyde-ish. I put together some pieces, then spray-painted it silver. I heard many good comments about Scott's presentation. Good show, Scott!