Swensen Family

Now back to the second half of our furlough.

While in Eastern Washington, we were able to visit with Mark's aunt and uncle. This visit will be most memorable for the kids because they had the rare opportunity (for them anyways) to see a herd of white tailed deer gathered in the back yard.

It was great to be able to catch up with what is happening in our extended family's lives.

We had a wonderful ten day visit with Mark's mom, step-dad, and brother. The kids were completely spoiled. Okay, Mark and I were spoiled too. We had quite a bit of time to just kick back, relax, and pretend we were on vacation. And how could we not relax with a view like this out the living room windows.

(A typical misconception of "furlough" is that it is a vacation for missionaries. Furlough is a time for missionaries to visit friends and family and also to speak at churches to update them on the ministry. It is fun, but it is exhausting. It is more exhausting than being home and working in the minstry we are in Alaska to do.)

Grandma sure knows how to make a hot chocolate drink look like as Katelyn said, "My birthday cake!"

Grandma set up a table just for them, where they could do all sorts of coloring, painting, and crafts.

The kids had a blast riding around on the 4-wheeler.

Playing video games is always fun, especially when you get to play with Uncle Zac.

The kids got to experience bowling for the first time. We were very impressed with how well they did.

There was always a puzzle to work on. We must have gone through at least eight puzzles that week.

Flying kites was a highlight of the week for all of us.

.
Grandma even made a ping-pong table out of the dining table.

Alaina and Katelyn made sure they captured as much of their Uncle Zac's attention that they could.

Making cookies with Grandma was a treat that lasted for days.

In addition to having time to play, which included an early Easter egg hunt, Mom planned and hosted three dinner parties to give everyone who knows us and opportunity to spend time with us. This alleviated the need for us to run around visiting everyone individually. Thanks Mom, it was a blessing.

Before returning to Western Washington, we spent a weekend with Mark's grandpa and Grandpa's dear wife. It was a sweet time for us.

Back in the Seattle area, we had only one more week to visit with everyone we hadn't seen yet and get ready to go home. What a feat it was. There were friends that we didn't have a chance to see and we are sorry for those missed opportunities. We sure did have a great time with those we did get to see. You know who you are.

We made sure we got one more visit with Mark's dad and step-mom. They gave the kids an Easter egg hunt and made a candy craft with the kids. What a fun time.

We are happy to be back in Alaska. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as the days have gotten longer we have been going at full speed, but have done our best to make opportunities to have a bit of fun in it all. With spring's arrival and summer approaching quickly we had fun this past weekend planting flowers around the house. And we made our annual Memorial Day hike to the Russian River Falls.