Southern California

I spent the last few days in Carlsbad (just north of San Diego) in Southern California (about 450 miles from my home) visiting three of my siblings and their families. It was wonderful!

My brother Brion and his wife Carol and my sister Irene.
It was very warm and the cool ocean felt great. My other sister, Elaine, lives across the street from the beach so we can hear the waves, especially nice when it is quieter at night. 

Irene walks her dogs around the big lagoon with egrets and other water/shore birds. It's also a great place for kayaking and paddle boarding. There are a lot of eucalyptus trees (with shallow roots and lots of oil) and dry grass (a fire danger farther inland where there have been many lightning storms).

We gave a bridal shower for my sister Irene's daughter Lisa, whose fiance is a fire captain and was on duty ready to fight any fires in the more rural area where he works. His crew are mostly convicts, who earn early release points for working as fire fighters! Megan (below), Lisa's friend since childhood, gave the shower.

After the shower we had a family barbecue.
(from the left: my nephew Kevin, my youngest brother Roy's (he stayed at home in n. CA) wife Julie, brother Brion and wife Carol, Sister Irene, her son Brion (Kevin's twin), her husband Mike, Julie's daughter Olivia, and my niece Lisa, the soon-to-be bride. My sister Elaine and son Wayne were sick, so didn't come. 

We are sad to say good-bye to the wonderful large Sweat family who are moving to Pocatello, Idaho, this week, after 7 years in Palo Alto. We will miss them so much. They spoke in church today. Becca told some favorite stories about choosing your own adventure (making important decisions only once, sticking to them, so that when temptations arise, the right decision has already been made). Terrell spoke on strengthening marriage and family, choosing to be happy. For us, the temple is the symbol of those covenants with family and God. I passed the beautiful San Diego Temple on the freeway three times in the past few days, but didn't have the opportunity to go inside.



The Thomanders hosted a fun evening at their home to wish the Sweats well. Below, a few of the guests: Ella, Gordon and Suzy Jackson, Markus Covert (our new ward bishop), Julia and Erik Jacobsen (our Relief Society president; past bishop), Becca Johnson, Miriam. It is such a blessing to be surrounded by great friends and to know that I have special friends around the world.