Activities this Christmas Season

 We had a busy, but wonderful Christmas season.  We were able to do a lot of service tied in to the church initiative, "Light the World."  The kids and I were able to volunteer at the Salvation Army on a couple of occasions.  

 We went to see "Scrooge, The Musical," Calissa and I saw "The Nutcracker," and the family went to see pianist, Jason Lyle Black in concert.  We had some great free events that we attended at the temple.

 I also got my birthday present, a picture of the Oakland Temple.  Isn't it beautiful?

I got released as RS Secretary and called as an Activity Day Leader.  We went to the Bay Area Crisis Nursery with the girls to wrap presents for them.

We also adopted a family for Christmas.  We are grateful for the blessings that we've been given and the opportunities that we had to serve others this Christmas season!

Christmas Choir Concerts

Calissa had her first HS Choir Concerts last week.  She is in the Women's Ensemble and she did a great job singing with the other women.  Doesn't she look beautiful in her dress?

Cross Country Awards

 Another Cross Country season has come and gone.  Conner and Calissa both ran this year (after Conner having to take last season off due to a knee injury).  They both made great improvements over the season and we are very proud of them!

They both got practice awards, scholar athlete awards and Conner got "Most Dedicated on JV."  Coach Stanziano talked about how much he tried and how much he improved even running hurt this season. 

 Calissa got the same awards as Conner, but got Most Improved for Varsity Girls. She made great strides this season and is looking forward to improving even more next year!

Congrats you two!

Parker's 20!

 For Parker's 20th birthday, we headed out to Chipotle to celebrate for him.  It was funny because the paper in our basket said, "The Wisdom of Burrito-Eating Elders!"  Then, we saw some missionaries there so I decided to go up and show them the paper and tell them that we were there celebrating our Elder's birthday! We sure love and miss Parker!

 Shortly before Thanksgiving, Parker was transferred back to Suriname.  He was very happy to go back.  He was assigned to serve in Uitkijk (which is in the jungle).  He was assigned a fairly new missionary, Elder Lunceford as his companion.  He's still serving as a Zone Leader.  Here are he and his companion after doing service. He said his hands were stained for several days!

 He also flew to Trinidad for a Mission Leadership Conference and he and another elder got to help decorate the President's tree.

The Suriname, Dutch Speaking Missionaries at the MLC.