31 March 2019

Helen taught us a very detailed lesson about how to be safe after an earthquake for family night. 

We celebrated Gibson's 12th birthday on Tuesday.  His birthday always falls during spring break so he never has to go to school on his birthday.  He is steady, good-natured and quick to observe.  Gibson likes uncomplicated food the best and asked for chocolate chip cookies for his birthday treat.

Brandan took Gibson snowmobiling near Diamond Lake on Wednesday.  They rode through a hailstorm that was so thick they couldn't see through it.

It was a wet, drizzly week and we spent a lot of it indoors watching movies and basketball.  We spent a few hours outside getting our yard ready for spring which feels like it will arrive any day now.

We stacked firewood for our friend, Jeanie, who lives alone.  She uses her wood stove all day to heat her house and it takes a small village to keep her stocked with firewood.

Helen and her friends have been training for the upcoming Pear Blossom 10 mile race by running increasingly long distances every Saturday since January.  They have been good sports to let Becky tag along.  This week we ran 10 miles.  Here we are at the end of our run.  Becky was very tired, but the girls were still going strong.  The race is in two weeks and these girls are ready!  From the left are Lily, Helen, Becky and Clara.

 Brandan read about an organization called Rebuilding Together in the newspaper.  Their goal is to help senior citizens stay in their own homes safely by installing ramps and grab bars.  Brandan attended an orientation, thinking the group would offer great service opportunities for our ward.  His first assignment was to paint a ramp with non-skid paint.  It was such a small job, he thought our family could take care it ourselves.

Another volunteer built the ramp a few weeks ago, but there hasn't been a dry day since then for painting.  Saturday was dry and relatively warm and offered the perfect window of opportunity to finish the ramp.

Here's a photo of Gibson finishing up the edges.  

 Sofi sent us this photo of the Holi festival she attended in Spanish Fork.  Holi is a Hindu festival celebrating the arrival of spring.  One of the traditions is throwing brightly colored powder.

 Sofi attended the festival with her high school friends.  This is the first time they've all been together since the summer after high school, nearly 3 years ago.  Since then they've all started college, finished missions and Joey got engaged.  From the left are Ireland ( BYU-I; Taijung, Taiwan mission), Tyler (Joey's fiance), Joey (BYU Provo; Fort Lauderdale, Florida mission), Sofi (U of U; Taijung, Taiwan mission), Carson (USU; Columbus, Ohio mission) and Josh (USU; Tempe, Arizona mission).

Brandan and Becky dropped Helen off at the airport at 4:30 am Sunday morning for her trip to NYC with her violin group.  Their flight from Denver to New York was delayed so their conductor, Faina, thought it was a good opportunity to squeeze in an extra rehearsal.  Here's a photo of some of the group at the gate.

They made it to New York and went for a late dinner at Planet Hollywood in Times Square.  It looks like Helen is enjoying herself.  We can't wait to see more photos!

24 March 2019

We had a couple of warm, sunny days this week and flowers are suddenly blooming everywhere.  Becky took this photo while on an urban hike in between her finals on Wednesday.  Becky, Abe, Helen and Gibson now have spring break until April 1.

Friday was rainy and dreary.  Camden and Eddy came over and played board games all afternoon.  Eddy broke his foot a week ago and has a temporary cast while he waits for an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon.  The kids decorated his cast.

 Here's a close up of the cow Abe drew.

Spring break conveniently lines up with the NCAA basketball tournament and we watched some of the games on Saturday.  We're all impressed with Zion Williamson's athleticism.  Abe and Gibson were cheering for the Wofford Terriers until they lost in the second round.  Helen likes watching all the jukes.  Becky doesn't have much of an attention span for basketball, but she likes the unusual team mascots.  Besides the terriers, there are terrapins, anteaters and billikens.  Strangely enough, there are two teams with gaels as mascots.  In case you are wondering (we were) a gael is a Gaelic speaking person. 

The kids can only watch so much basketball before they have to run outside and play themselves.

Abe, Helen and Gibson all played at the Oregon Music Teachers' piano recital on Saturday.  We forgot to take photos at the recital, but here's a photo of the program.  It was the shortest recital we've been to since lots of families out were of town for spring break.  Although the program was short, all the pieces were high quality and played beautifully.

17 March 2019

Today is our 24th wedding anniversary.  Our temple covenants are the foundation of our marriage and we are blessed every day because of them.  We're enjoying fruit now from the seeds we planted then and it is very sweet and good.  

 When Sofi was born, we created a time capsule for her in a box and taped it shut with duct tape.  Sofi was in Taiwan on her 21st birthday so we had to wait until she got home to open it.

This is the t-shirt Sofi wore in the hospital.  One of her newborn size diapers is on the chair next to her.  The time capsule held a few other things like the newspaper from the day she was born and a couple of magazines.

 This is the hat Sofi wore in the hospital on the day she was born.  It still (sort of) fits! 

 We enjoyed Sofi's spring break at home very much.  We went to see Captain Marvel, went to lunch with friends, she visited a lot of Chinese classes at school, went hiking with different friends, reported on her mission to the high council, had lots of movie nights at home, cooked far too much good food (it will take us another week to eat it all), went thrift store shopping and Easter dress shopping, planned a trip to Taiwan (July!) and got her caught up on dentist visits and banking issues.  Whew!  The highlight of her visit was a family temple trip Friday night.  This was the first time for all 6 of us to go to the temple together.

With lots to celebrate, we went to dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant Friday night.  Here's the view across the table from Becky.  

Sofi flew back to Salt Lake to finish her spring semester on Saturday.  Hurry back!  We miss your Sofi-shine!

Our ward's YM represented our stake at the regional Young Men's basketball tournament on Saturday.  They came in 2nd place out of 4 stakes.  Gibson's proudest moment was swishing a 3 point shot in the last game.  In the back row are Sophie, Chris (YM president), Gabe, Ben, Tate, Abe, Malakai (Malakai plays on the high school varsity basketball team and was ineligible for the church tournament.  He came to support the others.), Jake, Ashton and Camden.  Front row: Henry, Marcus, Gibson, Julien, Noah and Jason (YM secretary).

10 March 2019

Last Saturday we helped cook lunch at a homeless shelter.  Becky and Helen made two giant cakes and Abe and Brandan made lots of salad.  This photo is of Helen with one of the cakes before it was baked.

Dennis Richardson, Oregon's secretary of state and a member of our ward, died from cancer recently.  Because of his position and his large family, our ward had lots of opportunities to serve this week.  This is a photo of the youth setting up chairs for the funeral.

Dennis' family held a funeral for family and friends at our church.  Our area authority presided and Brandan conducted.  Dennis was one of a kind.  He was remembered for his energy, enthusiasm, creativity, integrity and commitment to excellence.  His personal motto was displayed on the tables for lunch following the funeral.

Our local paper printed several tributes to Dennis over the week.  This article quoted Brandan so Becky took a photo of it before giving the paper to Dennis' daughter.

Oregon doesn't have a lieutenant governor and so the secretary of state is the second highest elected official, after the governor.  The state held a funeral for Dennis at the state capitol building on Wednesday.

Speakers at the state funeral included Oregon's governor, Kate Brown, and US Representative Greg Walden.  Brandan attended the funeral to honor Dennis and support his wife, Cathy, and their children.  This photo shows the casket, family and friends leaving the house chambers after the funeral.

Outside the capitol, Dennis was given a 21 gun salute.  The state had planned a helicopter fly over to honor Dennis' service as a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War, but canceled it due to poor weather.

The military presented Cathy with the flag on Dennis' casket.

This photo is of Helen and Dennis in the spring of 2016 and represents some of his best qualities.  Our kids had set up a slack line in our backyard.  Dennis was walking through the neighborhood and came to try out the slack line.  He was curious about everything, liked having fun, treated everyone as a friend and had remarkably good balance.  We are better for having known him.

Helen's class went skiing and snowboarding this week.

 The class did a little bit of winter science.  Helen and Lucy explored how fur helps animals stay warm.

 Helen moved up to the intermediate class this year and loves snowboarding.

 This is a photo of Roberta, Sophie, Helen and Lucy warming up in the lodge.

Abe's school held their annual exhibition night to showcase completed projects.  Abe's programming class built and programmed machines.  Abe and his partner, Camden, built a tic tac dispenser.  Four of Abe's friends are in his class.  From the left are Abe, Jake, Ashton, Spencer and Camden.

 Abe drew a picture of a phospholipid bilayer for his biology class.  His picture is near his head.

Gibson built this treehouse out of popsicle sticks for a book report.

Two piano teachers in our ward invited members of the local organ guild to give a presentation to their piano students at our church and invited Abe and Helen to come.  Helen played a Bach invention while one of the organists adjusted the stops as a demonstration.  Helen's dream is to play the organ in church.

Sofi's home!  She arrived Friday afternoon and will be home for a week.  Brandan took this photo of Sofi and Gibson napping on Saturday.  

3 March 2019

It started snowing Tuesday around noon.  All the area schools closed early and the kids got to come home and play in the snow.  Our neighbor's driveway is the steepest hill in the neighborhood and is the favorite sledding spot. 

 The temperature stayed cold so school was canceled on Wednesday, too.  Gibson didn't mind.

Helen's violin group had their last concert before they go to Carnegie Hall.  They performed almost every week in February.  The goal is to cure them of stage fright before their big event.  We had front row seats in a crowded venue.