7 October 2012

This is a photo of Sofi riding a longboard.  She's ready to spend all her babysitting money to buy one.  We think why buy one when it seems there are plenty of boys in the neighborhood who will let her ride theirs.   ~   We enjoyed the powerful General Conference this weekend.  Brandan's favorite talks were Elder Ballard's talk about honeybees and making a big difference through small acts of service and Elder Bowen's moving story about finding comfort after the death of his baby boy.  Becky liked Elder Cook's talk and found it a personal call to repentance and conversion.  Sofi liked all of President Monson's stories about listening to the spirit and answered prayers.  Abe liked Elder Whiting's talk about how the high standards required in temple construction are a pattern for high standards in individual lives.  Helen's favorite part of conference was the candy.  Her favorite talk was by Elder Bednar because Elder Bednar is her favorite apostle.  Gibson liked playing bingo the best.  Of course, the biggest event of conference was the announcement that boys can serve missions at age 18 and girls at age 19.  Sofi immediately committed to serving a mission.  Because of her fall birthday, she can leave a few months after graduating from high school-- just 4 years away.  The announcement feels like such a game changer.  We've had our laser focus on college, with Sofi taking a demanding course schedule at school and keeping careful track of all her volunteer service, awards and other activities.  We'll still keep those efforts on track, but now we need to step up our game in gospel preparation.  This announcement is a huge opportunity for our family.

We made chin faces for our family night activity this week.  Sofi drew faces on our chins and we lay with our heads upside down and sang silly songs.  This is Helen.

This is Sofi.  The tiny heads with huge mouths made us laugh.

We planted a magnolia tree in a sunny spot of our yard.  The tree we originally planted in this corner died in a cold snap a few winters ago.  It took us awhile to decide what to replace it with.  One research strategy we used to help us decide was to look at neglected yards and see what was thriving in spite of being ignored.

 

We've been fish sitting a betta named Gil for a few days.  Feeding the fish is now a favorite chore. 

This is a photo of Gibson conducting the Tabernacle Choir during General Conference today.  The Choir sounded fantastic, but think how good they could sound if their conductor dressed like a pirate-- "Sustain that note or you'll walk the plank!"

Sofi made another Hunger Games themed shirt while she listened to conference.  This is the 5th she's made for herself plus a few others for friends.  We enjoyed the powerful conference this weekend.  Brandan's favorite talks were Elder Ballard's talk about honeybees and making a big difference through small acts of service and Elder Bowen's moving story about finding comfort after the death of his baby boy.  Becky liked Elder Cook's talk and found it a personal call to repentance and conversion.  Sofi liked all of President Monson's stories about listening to the spirit and answered prayers.  Abe liked Elder Whiting's talk about how the high standards required in temple construction are a pattern for high standards in individual lives.  Helen's favorite part of conference was the candy.  Her favorite talk was by Elder Bednar because Elder Bednar is her favorite apostle.  Gibson liked playing bingo the best.  Of course, the biggest event of conference was the announcement that boys can serve missions at age 18 and girls at age 19.  Sofi immediately committed to serving a mission.  Because of her fall birthday, she can leave a few months after graduating from high school-- just 4 years away.  The announcement feels like such a game changer.  We've had our laser focus on college, with Sofi taking a demanding course schedule at school and keeping careful track of all her volunteer service, awards and other activities.  We'll still keep those efforts on track, but now we need to step up our game in gospel preparation.  This announcement is a huge opportunity for our family.