22 January 2017

On Monday we pushed all our furniture to the walls to make room for our annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.   Two other families joined us.  We made fewer, bigger blankets this year.  Here's a photo of Rebeka and Helen finishing up a blanket.

Abe completed most of a blanket by himself.

We put toys in the library for the little kids, but some of the big kids ended up there while the littlest girl kept busy by walking back and forth across the blankets.

On Wednesday the Activity Day girls returned to paint their pinewood derby cars.  They've loved building the cars and it has been fun to see their creativity.  We're looking forward to the derby next week!

 Brandan went with the Young Women for their mutual activity this week.  The girls met at a food bank and packed food boxes for families in need.  The food was collected at a variety of canned food drives during the holidays.  Clockwise from the lower left are Nina, Emma, Rachel, Eliza, Emily, Haylee, Jamie, Mackenzie, Brooke, Taryn, Mia, Renna and Helen.

 Brandan, Helen and Gibson drove up into the mountains on Saturday for the cub scout Snowcapades.  The stop signs look a lot bigger when you're standing next to them.

 The kids practiced building fires.

 They walked a course on snowshoes and went on a lot of sled runs.  Helen and Gibson are easy to spot with their bright orange hats under their helmets.

 Here's Helen standing under snow falling from tree branches.

 We had dinner Saturday night with Masood and his daughters, Ari and Desi.  We enjoyed a delicious Persian meal that ended with Sholeh Zard.  It's a rice pudding flavored with rose water and saffron.  It's served with elaborate designs of cinnamon, pistachios and almonds on top.  Mason's daughters had fun with their designs.  This is a Pokemon ball.

 Gib's pudding had the symbol from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on top.