Birthdays and January Misc

Alex and the boys got back from their camping trip on Saturday evening, just in time to celebrate Nathan's birthday.  He actually was back at college on his birthday, so we celebrated early.  We had dinner, cake, and opened presents on Saturday night (3rd).  Sunday was fast Sunday, so we didn't eat breakfast.  Nathan, Owen, and Alex participated in ordaining Weston to the office of a priest right after sacrament meeting.  Nathan then took Alex to the airport for a work trip to Brazil.  I made birthday breakfast for Nathan on Monday morning (the 5th), right before he headed out to drive back to BYU. 

Nathan and his friend Devan (also his new roommate) caravanned most of the way back to Provo. We chatted with Jared on Monday while Nathan was driving.  Nathan stayed a night with my aunt and uncle on Monday night and then went the rest of the way on Tuesday.  He started classes again on Wednesday.   

Savannah kicked off the new year with a church activity with the young women making vision boards for the year. 

Unfortunately, one of our older friends passed away in January, so we attended his funeral. It was interesting to hear more about his life from his sons and close friends.  John was assigned to be our home teacher and did that faithfully for several years.  One memorable story about John was one day when he knocked on the door and asked to borrow our car for a little bit.  I handed off the keys, with no questions, and he returned them a little bit later that day.  It wasn't until either that evening or the next day when we realized he had replaced our cracked windshield on the car.  That was so kind of him, and he didn't expect anything in return.  It was just a thoughtful and quiet act of service that he did for us, simply by recognizing a need and taking care of it.   

We had Savannah's friend party in January, which was pizza and a movie.  We had trouble choosing a movie to watch but finally decided on the first Now You See Me movie.  If it was up to Savannah, she would have invited 20 friends, but I only let her invite about 10 friends.  I wasn't very good about taking photos that evening.  I think they probably got enough sugar - cake and ice cream, soda, and candy, along with pizza and popcorn.  

Owen, Savannah, and I went to a USA vs Chile women's soccer game the end of January.  USA won 5-0!