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.