30 August 2015

We harvested our garlic this week.  We planted the garlic last fall and it has been very easy to grow.

 We neglected our garden this summer and overall it has done poorly.  Two crops thrived despite our neglect-- our Asian pears and the garlic.  We picked over 50 pounds of Asian pears from our tree and pulled up 13 bulbs of garlic.

Our ward challenged our youth to find 5 family names each and prepare to take the names to the temple.  As a special treat, their leaders made plans for a weekend temple trip to the Sacramento temple.  The kids did baptisms at the temple on Friday afternoon.  After their temple experience, they had pizza for dinner and went to a free movie at a local college.  This is a photo of all the youth who went on the trip in front of the Sacramento temple.

Here are Abe, Camden, Ashton, Spencer and Jake.  Abe and Sofi both spent several Sunday afternoons working on finding family names.  Once when Abe was especially frustrated with his slow progress, Becky reminded him it's called temple work, not temple relaxation.  Sofi has become our ward's youngest family history consultant (informally) and several adults have asked her to show them how to research their family.

The kids spent Saturday at the Raging Waters in Sacramento.  They stopped for dinner at a fast food restaurant on the way home.  Sofi is sitting with her friends at a table.  Clockwise from Sofi are Joey, Nonie, Logan, Carson and Jace.   Our kids are blessed to have wonderful leaders to plan and follow through on this great activity.

We've suffered all month with hazy skies and poor air quality due to nearby forest fires.  We happily woke to blue skies Saturday morning after some rain the night before.  The beautiful day demanded an outdoor activity.  We rode our bikes to Gib's favorite park and had a picnic dinner.  It felt great to be outdoors!

23 August 2015

It's pear picking time!  Everyone in our stake ages 12 and up has been working hard for the past 2 weeks to serve 12 hours each in the pear farm.  Abe and Sofi have finished their hours.  Brandan and Becky still have a few hours to go.

The farm has a platform picker that allows pickers to work 3 hour shifts from 5 am until midnight.  Brandan worked an evening shift with the high council this week.  Once the pears ripen, it's a race to pick them as quickly as possible so they can be shipped to Idaho and canned before they spoil.  The high council canceled their regular meeting to pick pears.

 Sofi and 4 of her friends signed up for one of the 5 am shifts.  Sofi woke up at 4 am so she could pick everyone up and get to the farm by 5.  They came to our house after picking pears and made crepes for breakfast.  We're impressed with kids who get up early and work hard on their own because they want to.  Sofi, Joey and Ireland are in the photo.

 Abe's deacons quorum adviser showed their class this video about service.  Inspired by the video, Abe and his friends spent Friday walking around the neighborhood looking for people to serve.  Their day had its ups and downs and included a 2 hour lunch/movie break in the middle.  They ended the day trying to give ice cream treats to construction workers, which is harder than it sounds.  It turns out the average construction worker is more than a little suspicious of teenage boys giving away ice cream!  In the photo are Camden, Spencer, Abe and Ashton. 

 This year is the 50th anniversary of the movie The Sound of Music.  Sofi invited friends to watch the movie to celebrate.  Normally our little kids go to bed before Sofi's movie nights, but who can resist The Sound of Music.  (Brandan and Abe can.  They watched The Amazing Spiderman in the library instead.)

 Becky made apple strudel to go along with the movie.  Delicious!  And crisp!

 Becky asked Sofi if she wanted to schedule an appointment for her senior pictures.  "Joey and I are taking each other's pictures," was her answer.  They did a stunning job-- these are 2 very talented girls.  This is Becky's favorite photo of the girls together, taken with the camera on a tripod and a timer on the shutter.

16 August 2015

Brandan took Abe, Sofi and Gibson to an outdoor concert.  They sat next to our friends and neighbors who took this photo.

Brandan's family gets together every other year for a family reunion.  We planned a year ago to spend a few days at Bear Lake in Utah.  Even a month ago, we expected Linda would be able to come to the reunion.  It was much easier to say goodbye to family after her funeral knowing we would be together again very soon for precious family time.  Our family drove through Twin Falls to get to Bear Lake.  We ate lunch at Shoshone Falls, also known in Twin Falls advertising brochures as "the Niagara Falls of the West". We're going to start calling Niagara Falls "the Shoshone Falls of the East." 

Bear Lake is great fun to play in-- shallow and warm with sandy beaches.  

 The weather was fickle the 2 days we went to the lake.  Sometimes it was chilly, sometimes sunny and bright-- we just needed to wait half an hour and the weather would change.  This is a photo of Jonny and Becky trying to stay warm.

 This is Niko digging in the sand.

 Gibson and Emma built a hot tub in the sand.

We rented a house with 7 bedrooms in the hills above Bear Lake.  Sofi, Abe and Parker slept on chaises on the deck.  This is a photo of Sofi, Kaylee, Sasha, Helen and Logan hanging out on the deck.

One night we hiked up through the neighborhood.  Sutton, Salem and Helen liked to stay in front of everyone else.

Parker and Logan brought the game "Dominion" and taught our kids how to play.

Everyone shared meal preparation and we ate very well.  Brandan and Becky made crepes one morning for breakfast.  Here are Gibson, Dallin and Salem filling their crepes with delicious toppings.

 Brandan asked everyone to send him the name of their favorite song of the year.  He created a playlist of the songs and we played "The Song Game" Monday night.  It might need a better name.  Everyone got a glow stick.  Brandan played each song and we tried to guess who had selected the song.  After we had a chance to guess, the person who chose the song would break their glowstick to reveal their identity.  Sofi, Abe and Parker are sitting behind Brandan.  

 Sofi loved EVERY SINGLE SONG Brandan played, so it was hard to guess which song was hers.  Here she is breaking her glowstick for her real choice, "Dancing Queen" by ABBA.  Favorite song of the year was a flexible guideline.

The Song Game was super fun and a great way to bring everyone together.  It turned out to be part game show, part karaoke and part dance party.  Here's a photo of Gib dancing to his favorite song, "Happy" by Pharrell Williams.

 Here's Sofi and Helen.

 Popsicles taste better when you're wearing glowsticks!  This is Emma.

 Here are Sasha and Kaylee.

 Here are Zoey and Xander.  By the end of the night, Xander had constructed an entire superhero costume out of glowsticks.

On Tuesday we hiked the Limber Pine trail near Bear Lake.  This is a photo of all the girl cousins.  Back row: Helen and Salem.  Middle row: Sutton, Maddie and Sofi.  Front row: Sasha, Kaylee, Emma and Zoey.

 Here are Abe, Sofi and Parker.  Parker was trying to wear a man bun.

 This fallen tree was irresistible to climb on.  This is Salem, Sutton, Sasha, Kaylee, Helen and Gibson.

 The front of the fallen tree looked like a face.  Maybe this is the fossil of the mythical Bear Lake monster?

 All of Brandan's siblings and many of the cousins love to play soccer.  Here are Dan, Jaxson, Nate, Becky, Brandan and Maddie.  You can tell the siblings are getting older because when the game ended, instead of talking about the goals they scored, they compared injuries.

 Here are Brandan and Parker. 

If they pulled their knees up high, the brothers could ride the merry-go-round at the park.  Clockwise from Brandan (in the blue shorts) are Wade, Nate, Aaron, Drue and Jonny.

9 August 2015

We made T-shirts for family night using freezer paper stencils.

We all painted the same design on our shirts, although each person used a different color.

Here's a finished shirt. Beginning in June, we have spent a lot of time traveling so we decided transportation would be a good theme. Planes, trains, automobiles and buses are some of the modes of  transportation we've used. The raft is for fun. Although we've been rafting a few times, we haven't used a raft to go anywhere. We still have one more road trip before we're done.

2 August 2015

Brandan's mom, Linda, passed away on 26 July 2015 as a result of cancer.  We will miss her, but we are also relieved that her suffering is over and deeply grateful that she was surrounded by love and full of peace in the months before her death.

Linda was the mother of 6 children and grandmother of 18 (soon to be 19.)  She will always be remembered for her love of art, music, flowers and travel.  

Funeral services honoring Linda were held on 29 July 2015.  Linda had prepared for her death by planning her funeral and writing her own obituary and life sketch.  She would have loved the beautiful flower arrangements at her funeral, many incorporating her favorite flowers -- yellow roses and daisies.

At her request all 6 children spoke at the funeral.  Linda had asked for a musical selection between speakers -- 5 pieces in all.  Sofi played "Cristofori's Dream" by David Lanz on the piano.  Brandan attended a live performance by David Lanz with his parents at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City in 1993.  Before Lanz played this song, he explained its background.  Cristifori invented the piano in the 1700s.  The piano's predecessor, the harpsichord, plucked strings without much variation in dynamics.  Cristifori's instrument struck the strings and allowed for variation in soft and loud, or piano forte.  Eventually the name was shortened and became just piano.  David Lanz imagined Cristifori falling asleep in his shop.  The initial part of the song is played in a simple style such as a harpsichord would play.  As Cristifori dreams of a new instrument, the music becomes more flowing and dynamic.  Then as he wakes, the music returns to the style of a harpsichord.

Brandan learned how to play the song while he was on his mission.  He would play it occasionally after returning home, and his sister and mom both learned how to play it.  Later Sofi came to love the song and learned to play it  a few years ago.  Her music teachers were always reluctant to let her perform it at a recital because of its length.  The funeral was her first public performance of this song that now involves 3 generations of our family.

All the grandchildren sang "I Wonder When He Comes Again" for the last number.  This is a photo of a cousins' group hug after the funeral.  Lots of hugs this week!

Becky's mom, Patricia, drove down from Pocatello for the funeral.  We appreciate very much her love and support.

After the graveside dedication, the grandchildren left flowers around Linda's urn.

Linda chose to be cremated and asked that her ashes be placed in a cookie jar she had been given 30 years ago when she was released from her calling as Primary President.

Here is a photo of Brandan with his dad and siblings.  

Back row: Brandan, Dan and Wade.  

Front row: Jon, Becky, Nate and Drue.

This is a photo of Dan and Linda's descendants.  

Back row: Jaxson, Jon, Sofi, Parker, Becky, Brandan, Logan, Drue, Nate, Wade.  

Middle row: Madison, Abe, Salem, Dan, Kaylee, Dallin, Helen, Zoey.  

Front row: Niko, Sasha, Emma, Xander, Sutton, Gibson

 Linda's friends and ward members provided much service at the end of Linda's life and for her funeral.  The Relief Society prepared the lunch Linda wanted (lasagna, not ham) and arranged beautiful bouquets for each table at the lunch.  They sent the bouquets home with the grandchildren afterwards.

 We had time during the week we were in Utah to go on a tour of the University of Utah with Sofi.  The U is Sofi's first choice for colleges.  Brandan and Becky would love for her to attend the U, too -- it's their alma mater.  The campus has changed a lot in the past 15 years since we've been away.  For example, in the photo we are standing on top of a suspension bridge that was built for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

After the tour, we couldn't help showing Sofi some of our favorite spots.  This is room 2008 in the Henry Eyring Building.  It's named for President Eyring's father who was a world class chemist at the University of Utah.

 Brandan and Becky met in an organic chemistry lab and our friendship began as we sat together in this part of the large lecture hall.  Meeting each other was the best thing about organic chemistry (whatever might be second best isn't even close).

 While Sofi wasn't bowled over by the chemistry building, she enjoyed having lunch at The Pie, a quirky underground restaurant near the U that makes amazing pizza.  When we were students, a slice of pizza cost $1-- manageable even on a student budget.  The price has gone up to $2.25, but the pizza is as delicious as we remember.

 Our stake youth left for a pioneer trek reenactment while we were in Utah.  Sofi and Abe were sad to miss out on an event they have anticipated and planned for all year.  Both of them were assigned to terrific trek families.  Sofi's trek parents sent us a forest service map and some sketchy directions, but thanks to the miracles of GPS and running into the trek water truck as we drove, we found the group. Sofi and Abe were able to be part of the last day and a half of trek.

Ashton's mom, Tiffany, sent us this great photo from the trail.  In the photo are Ashton, Abe, Camden, Jake and Jayden.  The photobomber in the back is our Bishop.

They came home dirty with sunburns and enough mosquito bites to make you think they had been at trek the whole time.   

 We'll end with one last photo -- this is Becky's favorite photo of Dan and Linda.  We love their smiles.  Linda looks gorgeous and we know that is how she will look when we see her again.