Cashing In on the Christmas Gifts

One of the Christmas gifts I got for these two was a German cooking class. Peanut loves to cook and since Daddy-o has been learning German for the past year on Duolingo, I thought it would be really fun.

We went to Pans on Fire in Pleasanton and it was so nice to cook a meal that someone else had prepped everything for, and they had a team cleaning up and washing all of our dirty dishes. I think I would like cooking more if I had a couple people doing all of that for me at home, too.

We learned how to make schnitzel, a red cabbage dish, spaetzel, and apple strudel.

There were 12 of us in the class and we worked in teams of 4 to make all the parts of the meal.

It was a pretty involved meal, but lots of fun. The guy who was teaching the class is the owner of the business and he was great--lots of fun.

After we finished cooking, we all sat down and ate together.

It was a beautiful meal.

And the staff plated our desserts for us while we ate dinner. Everything was delicious. I actually don't think I ever ordered schnitzel while we were in Germany, although Daddy-o ordered plenty of it and I tasted his, but it was really good. 

Missionary Update

Our missionary has been busy. He's been out in the field for 11 weeks now, has had two companions, but has lived in the same area the whole time. His language skills have progressed rapidly, to the point that he can have conversations without a native speaker there to save him, and can talk about deeper topics.

Here's some updates from his letters:

"It's hard to believe that it's almost Christmas. Things have been pretty good here. We've had some fun celebrations with the members, including a ward Christmas dinner and a special musical program last night. My comp and I helped with some of the piano, and it was a good way to feel more of the Christmas spirit here."

 "After the program ended the ward surprised us with a massive gift basket of treats and food, and shared their appreciation for our efforts. It was really thoughtful and was an awesome surprise."

"We've been talking to a lot of people, and this week we decided to try something new and contact in front of the chapel and give mini tours to people who are interested. We've met some awesome people, and I was even able to have conversations, invite them to be baptized, and gave a tour all on my own (in Portuguese)! There's a long way to go but it's nice to see progress. One of the people we gave a tour to showed up on Sunday all on his own, and enjoyed the meeting. We'll meet with him more this next week, and it's cool 'cause he already knows several people in the ward."

"On Monday of the week before Christmas I went to Salvador, the capital of Bahia to do some paperwork for my visa. On Tuesday I stayed in Feira de Santana for a leadership training. I'm not a leader, my comp is, but I learned a whole lot. It was great. We had chances to talk to various new people including several Uber drivers who were interested, and helped a couple friends!"

"On Christmas we were back in Feira for a Christmas party with the Mission President! It was lots of fun and actually felt Christmassy which has been uncommon this December."

"But... Last Monday I had an "emergency transfer" and got a new comp! 😮 (Both missionaries were fine, there was just a problem in one of the areas). His name is Elder Correia. He's a Brazilian from Goiás who speaks just about zero English. 🫠🙃 I'm getting lots of great Portuguese practice, though sometimes it's a bit difficult when there's something I need to say but don't know a word, 'cause... he's not gonna know."

Going to Feira to sign a paper, and going to a member lunch there with Elder Simon. We're both really new still, but it was good Portuguese practice to keep up a conversation with a Brazilian for an hour or so with no experienced missionaries to help.

"This week we also had a Zone Conference (when we meet together with other missionaries in our region). I learned so much, it was great."

"One analogy our Mission President taught us which I thought was really helpful is the "cobblestone principle." He explained how each question we encounter as we learn about the gospel is like a cobblestone. By itself, they can seem like obstacles, but as we learn more by the Spirit and build our faith we build our "cobblestone path" back to our loving Heavenly Father."

"B-day party for the Mission Pres' wife and Zone p-day, also both in Feira. I was counting, and I think i have spent over ten days in Feira de Santana this transfer. Considering it's almost a two hour bus ride outside my area, not sure it's the most effective use of time, but pois é 🤷‍♂️"

"This Sunday (1/11/26) I baptized my first person! Her name is Maria Clara. She is super awesome, and had been looking to change her life for the better. When we started teaching her she was so excited to learn more about the atonement of Jesus Christ and the change He makes possible in our lives. She's eagerly been studying the Livro de Mórmon, praying, and on the way to church yesterday she asked if she can serve a mission one day! It's been awesome to watch her growth as she prepared to take this step to follow God."

"Last Sunday we got to baptize our friend Nivaldo! His faith and trust to make these steps to follow Christ are really cool to see. He lives pretty far outside of Alagoinhas, so teaching him meant a lot of sketchy bus rides, but really we couldn't have done any of it without the help of a member here, Gilson, who first introduced us to Nivaldo and has been so great giving him rides to church each week."

"FRENCH TOAST! My comp and I decided to splurge and make a special breakfast today. I also had the bright idea to try making a caramel sauce since toppings are scarce. Aside from being in the kitchen for almost three hours and receiving a crash course in the stages of candy-making, it actually turned out SO GOOD. Yes, I did eat 8 slices. 😋"

"Besides that, pretty much can sum up the last two weeks: my comp was sick.

I studied A LOT, and am kind of going crazy 🤪🫨😵‍💫 We didn't get out much at all, except for lunch (don't want to make the irmãs upset by canceling). I read through basically the entirety of the Portuguese textbook they gave us 🫨 and lots of the Book of Mormon 😁👍"

This past 6 weeks with this companion hasn't been easy--his comp is struggling with some things and they've had a hard time working, even before he got so sick this week. But they're both learning how to work through tricky situations and hopefully Bug will be able to have a different type of experience when transfers happen next week.

Spotlight on Peanut

Peanut has been back in school the past couple of weeks, busy with classes and swim practice. He doesn't seem to have much homework this semester, at least so far, which is great since he's been busy with a new book series that a friend recommended, and D & D. His D & D group started meeting again and he's loving it. They've been using the new one-shots that he got for Christmas and seem to be geting the hang of how it all works.

He still has a little time for exploring with me, too. 

We went to the Mushroom Madness event at Sycamore Grove the other day.

Found some fun mushrooms,

And really enjoyed seeing everyone else's finds, too.

They had microscopes and experts and identification books on hand to look at everything that people brought back after the couple of hours of hunting in the park.

We saw a few new ones, and learned a little about some of the common mushrooms found locally. It felt like we were homeschooling again for an afternoon. I'm so glad that he's doing well in school, but I'm also glad when we can sneak in some outdoor learning, too.

Before the Return to College

Before Bean went back down to SD for her LAST semester, we had a few more adventures!

She and I went to Pescadero State Beach for the low tide and saw a gorgeous rainbow right after we arrived.

We had fun poking around in the tide pools for a couple of hours. Nothing particularly unusual, but lots of sea stars, crabs, limpets and chitons.

And maybe not so adventurous, but we had a cozy afternoon of reading by the fire on Sunday, which was delightful.

And then, that Thursday, Bean, Peanut and I went up to Dodge Ridge to ski and snowboard.

It had snowed a couple inches the night before, and a couple of feet just a few days before that, so we actually had some powder runs! Bean did her first double black diamond and I did a powder black run for the first time in a couple of decades. It was a lot of fun. . .

until the last run of the day, when we pushed Peanut a little out of his comfort zone, and abilities for that point in the day. He had done a level 4 lesson all morning, and then was practicing his turns all afternoon, and I wanted to do one last run with him before we left, but probably shouldn't have picked something more challenging. Between the wind, the cold, and the exhaustion, he decided it was easier to slide down on his butt for awhile, poor kid. Hopefully we can end on a better note next time.

We had dinner and games with friends on her last night.

We all hate to have to say goodbye, even Poppy. She loves her "baby" time with Bean.

And then, because we wanted one more fun day, I followed Bean down to Monterey on her drive back.

We went to the aquarium for a couple of hours,

and managed to at least quickly see pretty much all of the exhibits before we grabbed lunch and then said goodbye.

Glad I got to send her off! It's hard to believe that she's almost done with her bachelor's degree. We can't wait to see what this next chapter holds for her.

 

A Little More Utah

Between the family lunch and wedding reception, we snuck over to my cousin's house for a couple hours to catch up and see my aunt and uncle as well.

It had been way too long !

My dad's twin sister is one of only two of his siblings left. 

We had a great visit with all of them.

After the wedding, we still had two days to spend with family up in Utah. 

We went to a park to meet up with my brother and his kids.

Played a little pickleball. It was a first for Daddy-o and I, and unfortunately, didn't end well for Daddy-o. He was trying to take it easy since his ankle is still not 100%, but must have been favoring his left leg because he ended up pulling or snapping something in his right leg. He heard a loud sound and felt instant pain. He was gobbling pretty badly for a couple days, but can still walk, even if he can't drive.

We spent New Year's Eve at Uncle Jeff's place, 

playing card games, Jackbox games, 

watching fireworks in the backyard, and eating way too many treats and snacks. It was so fun.

And then, we went over to Cam's house for New Year's Day--had brunch, and played more games, and exchanged Christmas presents.

We love all the time with cousins.

We love seeing these kids!

And even got to talk to Bug while we were there, so he got to see everyone, too.

Even though there is a pretty big age span between all of these cousins, they have so much fun together.

And we got to do another Christmas!

This cute girl loves opening gift bags! And she has the best facial expressions when she sees what's in the bag.

We got the kids some fun gifts, but maybe the most fun thing was leaving behind almost 100 tiny plastic ducks, hidden all over their house. Just before we left, they started finding them, and then, when they realized what we had done, the kids went crazy looking for them. I think they will be finding those things for a very long time, haha.

Friday morning, it was time to drive home. We got lucky with the weather--mostly blue skies with only a little rain in the beginning and end, but no snow, despite the storms on both sides of us. It's a long drive, but Bean and I did it (so glad she was with us! I hate doing that drive alone.)