Caroling

I joined my fellow Relief Society sisters for an hour and a half of caroling on a chartered cable car this week. We had a blast and definitely got into the Christmas spirit! I'm sure going to miss these girls.

Interfaith Choir Concert

Sunday was the 2nd Annual Interfaith Choral Concert for San Francisco and San Mateo. We had 3 other churches participate. The church was filled with members of the community and I had a great time singing. Here's the San Francisco Stake's portion of the evening's performance. We sang "Deep Deep Love" (acapella), "Child be a Song" with Angelica Hagman soloist, and "Let Zion in her Beauty Rise."



It truly was a beautiful concert. I am always so impressed with the other choirs and it is such a blessing to be able to join with other churches in a common arena as disciples of Christ. I feel lucky I was a part of it again this year.

Emergency Preparedness

OK, OK I'm repenting. It's been quite a while since I last posted and I guess it's about time to remedy that.

To celebrate 9/11, we went to an emergency preparedness fair in San Ramon. It was AWESOME. Talk about GOING.ALL.OUT. They had tons of emergency vehicles, service organizations and various activities in the church parking lot. Inside there were several demonstrations and classes (including Pet CPR) as well as more than 20 booths giving out information on how to make your home and family more prepared. We even got fingerprinting kits for Sarah and William.





We were worried that it would be boring for the kids, but we were wrong. Sarah got to color, get her face painted and take home a balloon.




William loved the fire trucks, police cars, robots and doggies.






And I loved the warm weather. Ahhh. I love the sunshine. Isn't it great to go to such a fun thing for CHURCH? We had a great time learning more about being prepared. I still can't believe they served complimentary tri-tip sandwiches. Yummy!

I love to see the temple

Fiesta Farewell

We said goodbye to too many people this weekend at our annual ward farewell party. This year we had a fiesta. Having a party does soften the blow a little bit, but it's still hard to lose so many friends each year :(

We did have fun with the pinata.




And William loved playing with the toy cars.


The taco truck was fabulous. Well done activities committee!

Afterward, we headed down to the stake center for two special baptisms - Marcus and Ryan. These sweet children are such great examples for my kids. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such strong spirits.

Sing! Sing! Sing!

Guess who is the new Nursery Song Leader for my ward. If you guessed me you are right! Could there be a better calling? I don't think so. I'm so excited to serve in the primary. It's my first time.

Everybody do their share!

"Clean up. Clean up. Everybody. Everywhere. Clean up. Clean up. Everybody do their share." Sarah loves clean up time and Saturday we got to help clean up some LDS-related streets in San Francisco. Brooklyn (named after the ship that brought the early saints to California), Joice (one of the passengers on the ship) and Pratt (named after Parley P. Pratt). Last year, as part of the 80th celebration of the San Francisco Stake, members got together to clean up these streets. They were in terrible condition last year, but I guess the old adage is true: it's easier to keep something clean that's already clean. It took less than an hour to get things in tip-top shape. I guess the 64 volunteers also helped the time line. It was a great way to start a rainy Saturday in the city. (Sarah got to wear her rain boots for the first time.) Good thing the rain took a break while we worked.

Bye Bye Ward

Every May our ward has a farewell breakfast for those families moving on to new adventures. It really is like losing half our ward each Summer! We even have San Francisco books that we sign for these families - which is not unlike a yearbook signing party. And today was that day. Breakfast included fresh fruit, breakfast casseroles, french toast rolls, bacon, a waffle bar, juice, etc. Everything was delicious! Way to go Ben & Anne and the rest of the activities crew.

There was a big jump house - and a mini one for toddlers. Rog and Sarah took advantage of the mini jump house.


They also went "boarding" down the street. Much to Mommy's dismay. At least Daddy went "slow."


I can't believe we've been her for 5 of these parties. We have almost 20 families moving from our ward - most from our dental school graduates, but some others who are going to graduate programs or have found job opportunities in other parts of the world. We are sure going to miss everyone. I'm glad Cyndi's staying around a little while longer. I imagine we will at least have one more of these parties to go to ... Who would have thought this desert girl from Utah would have stuck it out for 5 years in San Francisco? The truth is, I have come to love this city! We'll see how many more we can do with two kids in this one-bedroom-with-a-large-closet apartment.

Youth Conference

I can't believe I haven't posted about Youth Conference. We had an amazing weekend with almost 1,000 youth from the Bay Area. I think our service project was one of my favorite parts of it. Each youth was challenged to bring 60 cans of food. It was a "hard" task that was asked of them, but I was touched at how many of the youth followed Nephi's "I will go and do" attitude from the Book of Mormon. This resulted in more than 20,000 pounds of food for those in need! I feel so blessed to be able to serve with the youth of the San Francisco Stake.

During the closing session of our youth conference, we showed the this clip to our youth. Channel 2 News had come in the morning while we were loading the Second Harvest Food truck and did a story. As we watched the video, the youth cheered and the leaders cried. I feel so grateful we were able to help out so much during such a challenging time for so many. Thanks again to all who dropped off food!

I just received this amazing wrap up video from one of the young women leaders in our stake. She did a fantastic job putting it together and I just had to share it. I LOVE IT! (BTW I am at 6:33 next to the astronaut.)