Happy New Year!

It is hard to believe that it is actually January 1, 2015.  Ring out the old and ring in the new...  Bring it on to Denmark!

Great scripture from Numbers 6:24 cross-stitched by Robyn:

We have truly received many blessings during the past year, and  should not even try to write a few here, as I hardly know where to start, but we did get a new daughter-in-law, Taralyn Clark Parker who married Daren starting out 2014 with all of our children and their spouses in the Provo Temple at the same time.   Glen and I also received a mission call that we have waited 40 years to receive so we now have those cool, black name tags we have always wanted.  We also have a new grandson, Jackson Harvey, and twin grand-daughters, Brinley and Lacy Myers. We have our first grandchild to serve a mission , Nathan Parker Standing, now serving in Guatemala, a baptism (Hannah Hansen), a couple of Eagle Scouts (Kevin Bateman and Spencer Standing), and many more blessings of health and wellness.

We have the five greatest sons-in-law to be found, and one son who will always be our "favorite" son, plus five daughters who are smart and beautiful.  (Remember girls, Dad always said it would be very embarrassing to have ugly daughters!)  We love our family and are very proud of each of you.  The Lord has truly blessed and kept us.


We did have a small party to close out the old year here in Denmark.  Daniel and Lin from our SUV group, plus our favorite local elders, played UNO and Apples to Apples, passing the time till the fireworks started outside.  We ate home-made cinnamon rolls, salami, cheese, and crackers, fruit salad, plus a few other treats and drinks - just like home...

Daniel Heiden, Shenglin Liu, Elders Zenger, Mogensen, Brady, Ludlow.

This looks very calm, but they were actually very roudy!  A bunch of big boys waiting for fireworks!

Elder Parker and Lin

I love this look on Lin's face. Something profound must have been said!

Fireworks in Denmark are crazy!  It was the closest to a war zone-feel that I have ever experienced.  They went off everywhere starting about five p.m. and didn't really quiet down until about three a.m.  Midnight till 1:00 a.m. was the most intense.  They were beautiful to look at, but loud, whizzing, and booming from all directions.  We saw several ambulances pass, and heard sirens many times throughout the night.

Of course, Elder Parker had to hang out our windows and hang over the balcony to get a good view, but when people started shooting rocket-type ones right out in front of our apartment, I made him come in and watch from inside!  Oh well, happy new year from Denmark!