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.
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