25 January 2015

We celebrated MLK Day with our 7th annual day of service.  Four other families joined us this year.  We made 13 blankets in about 2 hours.  The big kids left for soccer practice before we finished and the little kids lost interest.  Hooray for the moms-- Tiffany, Jodi, Rebeka and Brandi--  who kept working until the project was done.  The photo below shows the few kids we could corral for a final photo.  There were 21 people of all ages in our group.

 JoAnns fabric store thoughtfully had a sale on fleece the week before our project.  Every family brought cute prints to make into blankets.  We took the blankets to a drop in center for homeless teens.  It won't take them long to give the blankets away.

 Brandan and Abe went on a campout Friday night with our scout troop.  Those of us at home felt sorry for them sleeping in a tent in January.  However, judging from their stories and photos, they didn't suffer too badly.  This is a photo of the river they camped next to.

 The 11 year old scouts were in charge of cooking breakfast.  Hooray for leaders who let the boys work!  Abe and Camden cooked sausage for breakfast burritos.

 Abe, Malakai and Ashton cleaned up after breakfast.

 The campers hiked around a nearby lake.

 There were 3 rope swings at different points around the lake.  One of the older scouts tried the highest swing.  It was too cold to let go of the rope this time, but a brave person might like swinging into the lake in warmer weather.

 This is Abe on a different swing.

 Abe was worn out by the time he got home.  He had to take a nap before he took a shower.

Sofi had a different kind of exhausting Saturday-- she took the SAT.  Becky made her a good luck breakfast before she headed off to the test.  By the way, Sofi got contacts last week.  We've heard a lot of compliments this week about how beautiful she is.  We think Sofi has always been beautiful!

18 January 2015

Helen brought home the plaque that lists her name for having 1000 Accelerated Reader points so we could all admire it.  The plaque hangs in the school office.  To our surprise, we saw the plaque also has Abe's name on it for having 3000 Accelerated Reader points.  It's fun that their names are next to each other.

Brandan had a short business trip this week.  His trip was extended by a few hours when his plane lost pressure and was forced to make an emergency landing.  Suddenly losing pressure means your ears feel like they will burst.  For several minutes while the pilot dropped altitude to compensate, Brandan almost wished his ears would burst to relieve the pain.  Fortunately no children were on the plane to experience that pain and no major problems happened.  He and his coworkers thought about renting a car to drive the rest of the way home, but the airline was able to reroute a different airplane and get them home by 10 pm, about 3 hours later than they were scheduled to arrive.  The photo below shows the fire truck that met the airplane on the runway as a precaution when it landed.

This is a photo of Gibson writing his talk for Primary.  Abe and Helen helped him with it.  He gave his talk today.  Here is what he wrote:  I know Heavenly Father and Jesus love me because they gave me a family and friends.  I can talk to Heavenly Father through prayer.  Jesus died for me so I can repent from my sins.  I know Heavenly Father and Jesus love me because they have given me many great blessings.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

At a recent youth fireside, our Bishop recommended the book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens" by Sean Covey.  Sean Covey rewrote his dad, Stephen Covey's, famous book for a younger audience.  We started a 7 habits club for our family.  Although we only have 1 teenager, we can all benefit from living thoughtfully.  Our club meets on Sundays.  We read a chapter from the book and eat popcorn.  Helen made a sign for the club.  Becky taped it to the kids' bathroom mirror along with the idea we are working on this week.

Our other fun project this week has been brainstorming ideas for our upcoming visit to England.  For a tiny island, England is packed with attractions.  Our family room is scattered with guidebooks, history books, maps and family history charts.  Super exciting!

11 January 2015

Gibson lost a tooth at school on Monday.  The school office sent him home with a special tooth buddy.  The tooth buddy has a pocket in its mouth for the tooth that fell out.  A parent donated a big box of the stuffed toys to give away.  When the school runs out they'll go back to the paper envelopes they usually send teeth home in.

 The school is usually good about letting us know when one of our kids will be getting an award at an assembly.  However, this week Helen and Gib both came home with awards we didn't know about (and we missed the assembly).  Gibson got a certificate for having 50 Accelerated Reader points.  Helen got a gift card to Barnes and Noble for having 1000 AR points.  She'll also have her name added to a plaque that hangs at the school.  The plaque wasn't back from the engravers in time for the assembly.  Helen will get to bring it home for us to admire for a few days when it's finished.

 Helen also brought home a 500 piece puzzle of the world for her class puzzle club.  Each week her teacher draws a person's name.  That person has a week to put together the puzzle and take a photo of the finished puzzle to send to the teacher.  The student then gets a prize.  Helen, Gib and Abe put the puzzle together twice this weekend.

4 January 2015

We started the week with Helen's 10th birthday!  Helen's Primary teacher surprised her with a treat.

 Here is Helen blowing out the candles on her 4 layer vanilla cake with cool whip and berries.  Helen is very capable.  She makes plans daily and carries them out.  She likes helping in the yard and in the kitchen.  She's artistic and creative.  We love spending time with her!

 Sofi celebrated New Year's Eve at the stake dance.  It's the biggest dance of the year.  The photo is of elegant Sofi as she headed to a friend's house to do hair and makeup before the big event.

The rest of us spent New Year's Eve at our neighbors' house.  Since they moved in several years ago, they have often suggested New Year's Eve as the perfect time for a neighborhood party.  This was the year to finally do it!  We loved seeing our good friends as well as meeting neighbors we only wave at.

Gib, Abe and Helen rang in the New Year with sparkling cider.  Our friends gathered everyone together just before midnight for a prayer to give thanks for 2014 and ask for help in 2015.  It was a lovely prayer and a lovely tradition we plan on adopting.

Another new tradition-- we went out for Chinese food on New Year's Day.  We asked Zheng Ling to recommend the best Chinese food in town and ate there.

 Our week ended with another birthday, Brandan's!  We might extend the holiday season and start saying that his birthday falls on December 35th.  Brandan had molten chocolate cakes for dessert.  Serving hint-- the frozen ice cream kept his candle from melting into the hot cake.

Becky continues to torment Brandan with an annual math problem.  The answer to the problem equals Brandan's age.  Although we all know the answer, none of us know how to solve this year's problem mathematically.  Becky thinks it's kind of fun to make large numbers by combining 6s, 9s and 20s, but she doesn't know how to prove you've reached the largest number possible.  If you know the solution, send us the answer and we'll swing by with a molten chocolate cake for your effort (or we'll mail a chocolate bar if you live out of town.)

 Hip Hip Hooray for Sofi who received her Young Women's medallion today!  She earned her medallion in September, but our Bishop wanted to be sure to honor her appropriately.  She is the first Young Woman in many years from our ward to receive her award and he wanted to start some new recognitions that he hopes will motivate other girls.  It took a few months to get everything in place.  Besides her medallion, Sofi received a personalized plaque to keep.  Also, her name will be the first engraved on another plaque mounted at the church.  She received her award tonight at the monthly Bishop's youth fireside.  The recognition is nice-- Sofi especially loves the medallion-- but the true value of the award is the knowledge Sofi accumulated over the 5 years she worked toward this goal.