January and February 2022

The biggest news these last couple of months is that Conute and Ashley got engaged!

They are planning the wedding this summer. 

They traveled to Utah to attend the baby blessing of Jenae and Ben's daughter Halle and then Conute brought Ashley on a little hike and then popped the question!

We are so excited for both of them!

    

While they were there they took the time to visit with Justin and David. They were great hosts and they enjoyed their visit. 

Halle's Baby Blessing

This month we got to meet Jacob's girlfriend Makenna and her family who happened to be staying in Palm Springs right before she was leaving on her mission rather than Vermont which is where they were from. 

Jacob got to show Makenna California and we enjoyed getting to know her and her parents. 

This month we visited the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Chino Hills with Angela and Roberts family and Joel and Virginia and Dean. 

We've driven by it but never visited.

It was a perfect, clear day to visit and we enjoyed the sunshine and walking around the grounds. 

We happened to be there right before they were having a session in the temple and we were allowed to visit so we attended the session with the other patrons and enjoyed the cultural experience (it helped that it was only about 15 minutes long) After the session we were allowed to walk around inside the temple. 

The craftsmanship with amazing and everywhere you looked there was something else to see. 

After we toured the grounds we went through the gift shop and then ended by eating lunch in the cafeteria. The food is all vegetarian but had flavor and was not too expensive. All in all it was a fun day together. 

Some of the other things I was able to do this month was give some service. I helped one evening as a refugee family was being moved in. There have been a lot of refugees moving to our area and our church has been volunteering to help coordinate help and ways to support the families when they arrive. I didn't do much but I am amazed at all the work that others do regularly. 

At school we have do some community service as well with the Community Service Club. 

This school year has been a difficult one but I feel that we are starting to get in a groove and we are getting through it. 

 

 

Jeff and I also went to the Lunar New Year festival in downtown Riverside. It was interesting but most of the food vendors were Mexican Food, ha ha.