Goodbye

The leader of the LDS Church passed away surrounded by his family yesterday. This is the NYT Obit. A life well lived has come to an end. We will be forever thankful for the prophet in so many ways. He taught us forgive and to look to the Redeemer and to be a little better. His teachings and life will continue to inspire millions. The Temples he was inspired to have built throughout the world will continue to bless our lives. Farewell President Hinckley.

Layover in Las Vegas

Our flight to ATL from PDX was canceled on Tuesday, so we got to lay over in Vegas for seven hours on our rerouted way back home. Cheyney showed me the strip and caught up with some of Cheyn's friends for dinner.

Portland Trip Part 2

While in Portland we got to meet up with our friend and fellow Angeleno exile Renee. It was great to not only find her doing well but thriving and loving Portland. We spent a night at her house, went to church with her, and went to Sushi, a Japanese Garden, and Shopping the next day. That evening we went back and had dinner with my brother's family. Here is a fun little jig performed by Renee (and Cheyney).

Portland Trip Part 1

We were lucky to get some time off work and took a quick trip to Portland from Jan 18-22. We got to spend some time with my (Ryan) brother Jeff, his wife Jenny, and their four adorable kids. The three boys were as rambunctious and fun as ever. It was also a treat to get to know Anja as her little personality is coming through.

We went to the children's science museum, out to Italian and German food, and spent some time at the house just catching up. The first picture is of us walking across the bridge to the science museum. The second picture is of a giant ear with a couple of Lindgrens climbing out of the ear canal.

Here is some video from the trip. The first video is of Caleb showing off the remote control plane he just got.


The second video is of Tucker and his cool helicopter, with a bit of Anja at the end.


The third video is of Carson, Anja, and Caleb dancing to Jack Johnson.

Enjoying our Primary class

With the turn of the year we've gotten a new primary class. We switched age groups and now teach Sunday School to the seven year olds. This is only our second week and one girl wrote us a thank you note on a pink heart cut out of construction paper . Another sweet girl gave us a picture of her with her two sisters. Its fun to teach seven year olds who aren't worried about being cool (which seems to come around age nine). They also make better comments than can be found in most gospel doctrine classes.

Today during her lesson, Cheyney asked, "Do you have any examples this past week where you thought what would Jesus do?"

Child 1: "I was thinking about practicing the piano and I thought what Jesus would want me to do is move the piano to my room and practice and learn to play."
Child 2: "I was really bored on Thursday and thought, what would Jesus do if He was bored? And then I decided He would try to sell things so He could get money and give it to my grandma who is poor."
Child 3: "I think Jesus would want me to pray."

Another thing I love about primary is watching the three and four year olds in opening exercises. They go nuts whenever the week's birthdays are announced almost every time. They yell how old they will be with their next birthday and when their birthday is, sometimes incorrectly.