Bernhisel Family 2021 

 

 

 Merry Christmas and a Cool Yule to Y'all. Our annual Missive

We are currently living in San Jose California, serving a mission for our Church-The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, with the wonderful Young Adults. We will be serving in this capacity until August '22 and then we will be heading back to our Riverview Florida home on the south side of the Alafia river... after stopping at our Heber Utah home and visiting with family and friends. We will then travel through Dallas and Houston Texas to see kids on our way to Florida.

We are enjoying the work in our mission so much as it is wonderfully rewarding to interact with and love these great people. This opportunity to serve calls to recollection the love that our dear Savior expressed to those He labored with and for. His life and atoning sacrifice for all of us, brings true Christmas joy!

Julee, the "Angel of Christmas" is my best companion. She works tirelessly by shopping for food and supplies, cooking and organizing and nurturing the young adults. She is just finishing a long process of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" gifts for our 5 children, 5 spouses and 21 grandchildren. 

We wish y'all a special Christmas and a wonderful new year.

Here is an update on the Bernhisel Kiddos. 

The Rex Family

Mckenzie

Mckenzie and Heidi

Savannah 

Heidi and Tyler Rex live in Seneca, S.C. (15 minutes from Clemson). Heidi is now teaching Kindergarten at the elementary school where all of her children went to school. Tyler is still the director at Thrive Upstate in Greenville, SC. His agency provides services and support to special needs individuals. He and Heidi enjoy hiking together in the beautiful mountains nearby. Mckenzie (23) is now living at a home in the Thrive Agency, with other adults with special needs. She loves to come home and visit every month. Savannah (20) is serving a mission in Reno, Nevada. She is finding such joy in serving and inviting others to come unto Christ. Christian (16) is a Sophomore at Walhalla High School where he enjoys being the boys basketball manager and participating in FFA. Jackson (14) is a Freshman and a talented guitarist and continues to love hiking and backpacking.

Preston and Karee Bernhisel are in Dallas, Texas. Preston is a corporate partner with Baker Botts, which keeps him busy along with his church duties in the Stake Presidency. In addition to managing the family and all the kids’ activities, Karee leads Primary Activities for the  8-11 yr. old girls at church and plays in a Women's Doubles Tennis League. Cole (17 – 11^th grade) plays piano and the bass guitar, and loves to mountain bike, backpack, read and attend rock concerts with Preston, and he now works at Whataburger and drives! Carter (15 – 9^th grade) plays piano and guitar, and tennis for his High School team, and enjoys backpacking, mountain biking, reading and his Cockatiel bird named  “Harley.” Caroline (12 in Jan – 6^th grade) plays piano and french horn, and loves soccer, volleyball, reading and mountain biking.  Cambelle (7 - 2nd grade) loves soccer, spending time with Dexter, their dog, and riding her bike and rollerblading. All the kids love to spend time wakeboarding and wake-surfing on the lake near their house.

Brooke and Mike Walden live in Layton Utah. 2021 has been an amazing year for us with so many great memories and changes.  We kicked off the year with an unexpected but entirely wonderful move from our remodeled home in Centerville Utah to a beautiful property in East Layton where each of the kids have found wonderful friendships and we are very happily settling in.  Brooke is the nursery leader in the ward and holding down the fort at home while pursuing her nursing degree.  She's doing great in school and loving her classes.  Mike is an advisor in YM and continues to do well at Bullhorn while slowly getting back into biking and weight training as he recovers from his hip surgery late last year.  Perhaps the biggest change this year was sending Leila off to college where she is currently a freshman at USF in Tampa and living in her Popa and Grandma Bernhisel's Riverview Florida home.  While we miss her dearly, we have loved watching her grow and mature as a young adult and are incredibly proud of how well she's adapted to this next phase of her life.  Andee has also grown up a lot this year as she's shifted into 'oldest child' mode and is attending Jr High as a 7th grader. She continues to amaze us with her dance which Mike got to see first hand for 2 weeks this summer as they attended Nationals in Las Vegas where Andee and her team competed against some of the best dancers and dance teams in the country. Her team finished 7th overall which was awesome given this was their first time competing there. Ethan is now in 4th grade and has become the engineer in the family with cardboard and lego creations galore. He is excelling at school and has shifted from soccer to flag football as his sport of choice. Ethan is also following in his Papa's footsteps and has picked up the guitar as his musical hobby.  Last but never to be left out is Brooklyn who is now in 1st grade and, like her big brother, had a lot of fun playing flag football this year and loved her role as the only girl and fastest runner on her team. Aside from sports and school, her year has been filled with hiking nearby trails with her dad, riding her bike, and playing with her new neighborhood friends.

Lyndi and Kevin Ballard live in Acworth Georgia, close to Atlanta. 
Lyndi works as a mom to 4 kids, a speech therapist and conducts the music in Primary. She loves adventure racing, skiing, and mountain biking. She did fit in a couple of Florida Gator football games and Atlanta Braves baseball games with the family.  Kevin continues work as a PA in interventional radiology—and has been serving a year now in the stake presidency. They both competed in 2 adventure races (biking, running, rowing) in a 14-hour and a 12-hour competition.
Annie, soon to be 12 is in 6th grade and has participated in club volleyball. She has her own dog-walking and leaf raking business and loves to be with her friends. 
Rhet is now 9 years old and is a master with drawing highly detailed pictures and does 3 demential perler bead figurines. He plays the piano and  loves playing backyard football and baseball and going camping. 
Elsie is 7 years old and is in 2nd grade and does well in school and loves her math times  tables. She loves the piano and was recently placed on an all boys soccer team and competed very well.  She survives  rooming with her little bro. Sonny.                              Sonny (Emerson), age 5 has incredible energy and excitement about life. He loves soccer and is becoming a good book reader in his  pre-k school class. His mom describes him as being a  “destroyer of all things valuable, plays backyard huckleberry Finn, loves playing any sport with Rhet, dad or anyone willing to play and is a terrorizer to his roomie Elsie.” 

The Pendleton Family 

Jenny Leigh and Lance Pendleton 

Jenny Leigh is happily busy supporting and cheering on the kids in all of their games, school, and activities. She is soaking up these next couple of years with a little one at home. She loves working with the youth group at church and volunteering at the kids’ school. She spent part of summer putting in hours to get her SLPA license but her dream of being on the British Baking Championship lives on. 

Lance is working at Rockwool as Sales Manager of the Gulf Region. The family loves when he goes on work trips because they get to tagalong and explore new places with him. He stays busy with church service, home projects, and going out on the boat with the family. He has spread his love of wakeboarding and surfing to the rest of the bunch and is always planning our next adventure.

David (12) is in his first year of middle school and is taking on his busy schedule with stride. He has loved learning the cello in orchestra. He enjoys being apart of the youth group at church and going to activities, campouts, and temple trips. In his free time he will always be found playing sports or challenging the family to a game of Horse or a footrace- he boasts as 2nd fastest in the family. Baseball is still #1 for him and is learning a lot with Lance coaching his team. 

Gavin (10 ) (sort of) patiently leads the elementary bike-riding pack to school now that David is in middle. He is usually found writing scary stories, building his own lego creations, or playing Nerf wars with his friends. He has enjoyed being a pitcher, outfielder, and 3rd basemen for his baseball team. Gavin will hide for crazy amounts of time to get a good scare out of someone, and loves to play pranks.

Millie turned 8 this October and was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She always has a smile on her face, a joke to tell, or a kind word to say. She began piano this year and loves learning and making up new songs. If you ask her what her favorite sport to play is, it’s always the one she is currently playing. She is a little momma to her sisters and likes to help cook with Jenny Leigh. 

Maggie (5) started kindergarten and excitedly joined the school crew this year. She has picked up on reading and loves to point out all the words she knows when she reads with mom. She thrives on her friendships and is always looking for a buddy to play with. She is our little daredevil and is found climbing things or trying tricks on her bike. Be careful asking her a question or opinion, she doesn’t hold back.

Hattie (2) is the ruler of the roost. If someone doesn’t give her what she wants, she takes matters into her own hands. Applesauce, cheese sticks, and Good Night Moon are a must for a happy Hattie. She misses everyone while they are at school but is loving the solo attention from mom and dad. She is starting to talk a lot and will request Frozen music every time she gets in a car. She is holding on strong to the last nights of having her coveted pacifier.

Events in the year 2021

Winter fun at the Heber City Home

The Waldens, Pendleton's, Savannah (attending BYU) and us on the Heber Home deck

 Birthday Celebration for Jenny Leigh

 Pig Tails for Skiing with Millie and Maggie

Hattie Girl

Skiing with Savannah at Solitude-her first year skiing

She did great!

Skiing with Rich  Irion at Deer Valley

Bernhisels, the Texas Bernhisels and Waldens at the Heber Home

Cambelle's 7th Birthday 

Ethan, Andee, MAB and Caroline skiing at Solitude

With the Bernhisel Kids

 We had  Chewbacca join us for a while.

Spring in the Timpanogos Mountains as seen from the Heber Home

Back in Florida
for Inez Bauer's 93rd Birthday

Events leading up to our mission (our second mission together)

Julee and I had contemplated going on a second mission after finishing our first mission together as Mission President and Companion in the North Carolina-Raleigh mission between June 2012-June 2015-serving with 672 missionaries in that time frame.  In ate 2019-early 2020, we began thinking about going on a Temple Mission starting in the summer of 2021 and we were interested in serving at the Nauvoo Temple in Illinois or perhaps the Palmyra Temple in upper New York. With the Covid 19 pandemic in March of '20, it looked like a temple mission was not going to be forthcoming for quite sometime. 

In early 2021, I got an email from a close friend Gary Hatch, who was in our Chapel Hill ward when we were in North Carolina for my medical fellowship at Duke University. He then later served as my first counselor in the mission presidency. He let me know that the Chapel Hill (U of N.C.) Durham (Duke) Institute director was looking for a senior couple who could help in teaching the young adults and, as always, cooking meals and helping in other ways. I thought that this fit us perfectly, as we loved N.C. and the people. We  communicated frequently with the director and both of us felt that this was going to happen. Well, fast forward a few months later, after submitting our missionary papers and preferences (N.C. was absolutely our first choice). I got an email from the institute director from Chapel Hill/Durham and to his surprise, another couple was called to serve there with him starting in June. The next day, we got our call to serve in the San Jose mission, starting in August '21. 

Our church assignment at that time (and for the year and one-half before that) was with the young single adults. I served in the High Council as that young adult leader. We had the young adults over to our home for a lesson and refreshments, but with the COVID issues in March of '20, we been having Zoom meetings on Sundays covering the Book of Mormon ('20) and The Doctrine and Covenants ('21). We did have a  Bernie Burger BBQ with campfire, s'mores and sing along at our Riverview home in May.  We also had out our old work friends at Reproductive Medicine Group ("Old Heads") and  our old Bloomingdale Ward friends (including Marv and Ellen Slovacek who are living in Utah, but were visiting our area at the time) for "Get Together"-reunions.

                                 Tampa Florida Young Adults

Young adult Bernie Burgers gathering at our
May '21 back area gazebo and fire pit.

                                           A  campfire sing along with the Young Adults 

                                                Roasting marshmallows for s'mores

Reunions 

                       Bloomingdale Ward Reunion-June '21 (Back row-Scott and Barry Pope, Scott Mitchell, Mike Sherman, Jeff  Pope, Jim Pirotta, Charley Darby, Mike Parry. 2nd Charity Sherman, Kelly Mitchell,  Ellen Slovacek, Daphine Rowland, Christa Darby, Marv Slovacek (kneeling on the bridge rim). Bottom rowMAB, JKB,  Sherrie Hunsicker and Tabitha Hunsicker Waite with daughter Matilda (Tabitha was pregnant at the time with twins) .

            The Pope boys

Marv and Mike Perry

  Debbie Cuevas and her daughter-Sarah Lasher. Debbie was a patient of mine years ago who I helped with her fertility issues-the result of which was Sarah, who at this point, 20+ years later, had earned her Registered Nursing degree in May of '21. Debbie had been a wonderful and a very skilled surgical technician for the Reproductive Medicine Group in the ambulatory surgical center for 16+ years.  A wonderful event to be with them both.

These are the "Old Heads" from the Drs Verkauf and Bernhisel group/The Reproductive Medicine Group (RMG), getting together for pancakes (MAB's whole wheat/oatmeal-no sugar), French Toast (JKB's), Hot Chocolate and reminiscing- in June '21

( Back row MAB,JKB, Arline Verkauf, Bill Smalley (husband of our wonderful nurse and ART leader Lynn Smalley who passed away on Christmas day of 2020), Stan Phillips, Sherry Smith Mackeil. Front Row- Dr Barry Verkauf, Debbie Cuevas, Cindy Phillips and Kathleen Hardy- Kelly and Zahn Gast and Merci Beiro could not make it)

 In May-June, we went up to Seneca S.C. to see the Rex family..

.. and the Ballards in Acworth GA. 

Stepping down from practicing medicine with The Reproductive Medicine Group and getting ready for our mission.

The first week in July saw my last interaction with patients and an end to my practice of medicine with the Reproductive Medicine Group. I suspect that this will be my retirement, but I am not quite  ready to put the "retired" designation on myself and I have kept my Florida license current. After becoming a licensed physician in 1979, I have practiced the next 42 years with a time off as a mission president  from 2012-2015. Blog for my 42 years in medicine (https://marcandjuleeb.blogspot.com/2020/10/forty-two-years-as-physician-1979-2021.html).  It is a heart wrenching decision, but the opportunity of being a senior missionary was never a question to us. I still keep in in contact with a number for former and current RMG employees and I also keep in contact with a number of former physicians.  

In June, while I scouted out the city of San Jose; visited with President and sister Smith ( San Jose mission president and wife/companion who gratefully, had me over for dinner); saw the apartment we would be living in for one year; and visited the Institute building/Washington Sq branch as well as  some mountain biking and hiking areas in Saratoga.

Julee spent the time with the "Girls" at the beach in Destin Florida (in the Florida Panhandle). 

        L-R granddaughters Savannah Rex and Leila Walden; daughter in law Karee Bernhisel, Lyndi Ballard, Jenny Leigh Pendleton, Heidi Rex  and Brooke Walden

(Back- Leila, Heidi, Brooke, Savannah, Julee. Front- Jenny Leigh, Karee and Lyndi)

Leaving for our Mission for the Chruch of Jesus Christ

Latter day Saints To San Jose Califonia, with stops in Houston, Dallas and Heber City Utah

We were set apart (calling and blessing) by our dear friend John Hunter, the current Stake President of the Brandon Florida Stake on 7/9/21.

We then packed up what we needed for our  trip to Utah and for our San Jose mission with the Institute and young adults. We secured our Riverview home and rented a U Hall- 6x12 trailer to pull to Utah and then San Jose. We then got up super early on Monday 7/12/21 taking my truck with the trailer and Julee driving her Toyota RAV4 -and  took off to Texas to stay with and visit our Houston and Dallas kids/grands. 

Lance, Jenny Leigh and David with us at the Houston 

Temple for baptism/confirmation ordinances for deceased family members

                                                                                                Millie, Maggie and Hattie

                                                                         Cole and Caroline in Carrollton (Close to    Dallas). Cole now works at Whataburger  and we dined at his resturant with Caroline

We traveled from Carrollton to Albuquerque and then up to our Heber City home in Utah. We had a number of get togethers:

The Walden Family and my aunt Jeanine "Nino" Jensen

Leila's High School graduation blanket 

                                   On the Heber deck 

Our friends Suzi and Scott Hansen (who "lined us up" on a blind-date a few weeks after  my return from my mission in early January '1972). Suzi was a HS friend of 
Julee's.  Scott and I were Sigma Chi fraternity brothers at the U of Utah and served twice as companions in our Thailand (Chiangmai and Bangkok)
Mission (Southeast Asian Mission 1970-1971)

Rich and Gloria Irion. Rich was a resident with me in Ob/Gyn at the University of Utah and they were Mission Leaders (Mission President and Companion) in the Tennessee Knoxville mission  during the time Julee and I were Mission Leaders for the North Carolina Raleigh mission. so we saw each other for the Southeast Area Mission meetings. Great folks.

Old friends from High school- Viewmont class of '68.   Brent Cleverly and Frank Taylor. Frank was a close friend in our ward/ Val Verda neighborhood area in Bountiful and we were in the VHS musical "My Fair Lady' (Frank as Colonel Pickering, me as Henry Higgins) together. Brent and I were in the debate class and co-directed a class play/fun melodrama at the end of our senior year.

NCRM Missionary Reunion July '21-Bernhisel Heber City Home

Left - to R by NCRM missionary family: Kristin Ray Evans, Joe Balaich, Sande Graham, Bradley Roberts, Molly Klingler Honda, William and Karah Whitaker Wion, Kimberly Bluth, President and Sister Bernhisel, Xaviera Ludwig Barfus, Spencer Better, Colton Wade, Erica Hammond Pyne, Janet and Bo Burnside

This is a group picture from our North Carolina Raleigh, missionary runion July '21 

North Carolina Flag-signed by most of our NCRM missionaries when were were serving in N.C.

Xaviera Ludwig Barfus family, Kimberly Bluth and friend, Erica Hammond Pyne family-below

                                           Molly Klingler Honda and husband with Bradley Roberts 

                                                                    and daughter.

                                                                      Colton Wade with his old Mission Pres.

Thai food in Orem with  Joshua and "Sam" Packard and 

Adam and Brittanie Hewlett

                                       Piano concert at the Madsen family home with Samm and                                        

                                         CJ Madsen.

                                      CJ is working on an opera and recently arranged Christmas

                                       music for a BYU devotional with Elder Neil Andersen (12/21)    

   We also did a ZOOM gathering following with Heber NCRM reunion. 

                                           Derrick Graham family

Mike Duplisea family

                                

                                    Clayton Young family

                       Sheridan Shannon and Nathan Mullen and family

                    Terynn Jones Rosenvall and husband Tim and kids attending the viewing and funeral of our former NCRM missionary KC Abney who served in LeJune Marine base with Sister Marilyn Abney

                               NCRM Senior Missionary Plaque

Former NCRM Sister Missionaries, "Katie" Katelyn Larson Goodworth from Meridian Idaho and "Jenny" Jennifer Cowley from Lehi Utah

 We then hosted a Florida (Bloomingdale Ward-Brandon Stake-Previously part of the Tampa Stake) Reunion   

Back row: Mike and Holly Anderson, Doug and Debbie Chandler, Christian Costlow and son, Erick and Adrienne Safsten and family, MAB/JKB, Tripp and  Jennifer Edgin Meredith, Stacy Parry Anderson (and family), Brett Parry (and family) and Judy Parry. Lesa Cooper Peers. Front: Kimmie Clark and Lori Cooper Potter

                                                            Selfie demo.

Stacy and kids, Judy and Kimmie with JKB

                                                         Brett Parry's family 

                                                                     Kimmie Clark

Family/Relatives

Staci and Paul Bernhisel, Gretchen Bernhisel Wilcox and Todd Bernhisel

The Bernhisel Boys 

Brooke and Mike Walden moved from Centerville Utah to their new Layton Utah home. We visited them between the two weeks at the Missionary Training Center. Here with Andee, Ethan and Brooklyn. 

                                                 Brooke and Mike

Rick (Julee's brother)  and Joyce Kirkham

Put in Julee's 50th Olympus HS reunion pics

Julee and I attended her Olympus HS 50th reunion with friends Scott and Suzi Hansen and many old friends including Jeff Quinn, my medical school class friend.

Missionary Training Center BYU/Provo

We started the MTC on August 9th and ended on August 18th. The first week were generalized meetings in small groups, discussing proselyting, teaching and supporting. The large- whole groups were taught basic missionary applications and safety issues. 

Pointing to San Jose California

   

Small Group meetings.
The couple on the left were 
Elder and Sister Harris. I am   
a cousin of his as we are both
 direct descendants of our Great great Grandmother and Grandfather Harris from Gloucester England 

                                                                 The whole MTC group-below

                                             Study companions Rick and Janet Evans. Sister Evans
                                           was the HS history teacher for SJ Ca Elder Andersen from                                                                                                  

                                           Shelby Idaho. Elder Evans was an avid scuba diver and            they were going to  run and outside farm area with horses in Central Utah.          

                                           

The second week (Monday-Wednesday) we were with other senior missionaries serving in Seminaries and Institutes. We were taught and role played teaching (and listening) hints for the youth and young adults. 

     This picture is with Elder and Sister Read who are going for S&I to Guams/Micronesia . Elder Read is the son of Professor Read,  Chairman of the Univeristy of Florida Law School, and he is the brother of David Read, one of my Young Men/Priest Quorum in the Gainesville 1st ward when I was the YM president. While we were there, Elder Read texted David and got this quote, “Yes I remember and loved Brother Bernhisel. He worked at Shands hospital. We did a scuba diving trip to Cozumel (note: my brother Paul Bernhisel went with us to help) and also saw some ruins at Tulum. It was by far the best YM activity.” Sister Read grew up in the Pittsboro area of North Carolina. 

Just before leaving Heber City, Julee and I ate at the park on Main Street Heber 

and had a "Cowboy" burger and burrito and listened to the band, The Golden Standard, after we had packed the trailer for most of the day.

Arriving in San Jose

Unpacking the U-Hall in front of our apartment complex The Colonnade- with the great SJ missionaries. 

Elder Andersen and Bayles (in the middle-grey and white shirt )

               The Washington Square Institute and Branch- San Jose. 

Making and serving dinner at the Wednesday night Institute. Julee would buy all the supplies and cook the food. We also set up the multi-use cultural hall (Chapel for sacrament meeting, dinning area, game area and discussion area). Magda Ragle on the left.

                               Discussions after dinner at Institute.

                                             August -Branch hike in Bernal area: MAB, JKB, Andrea, Whitney Albright, Ismael Gomez, Josh Segales , Ken Yoshimoto (white shirt) and Matt Torrens (green shirt) 

47 Wedding anniversary. We had sushi in Saratoga

Sister Savannah Rex (our Granddaughter)

In the Nevada Reno mission (Started in September)

                                                                                This is Sister Susan Sweeten from Utah who is the Great Granddaughter of my Mission President - G. Carlos Smith. We have had the opportunity to be with her several times in our SJ mission. She is a wonderful person. 

The Beauties of the area

Big Sur area

                                                              Sea Lion in Santa Cruz

                                                       

Santa Cruz Warf

                                     Redwood forest from "Roaring Camp-railroad" Felton California (close to Santa Cruz). Picture below at the Redwood forest. The railroad ride is a blast- with open air seating

Mountain biking view from the Saratoga Gap area.

                         

                  "The Rock" Sunnyvale Mountain-hiking, running   and mountain biking area. Accessible from the Skyline Ridge trail.

                            Former NCRM missionaries: Richard and wife Angie Dudley. From Monterey (Elder D is originally from Canada) 

Patrick and Jacquelyn Thornton with baby John Charles "JC" from Palo Alto,  California (working on PhD in engineering  from Stanford). 

Senior San Jose Missionaries. Back row: Elders Storr, Kilpack, Bernhisel-President Duran (counselor in MP), President Gary Smith, Elders Navarro and Duford. President Laugenour (counselor in MP), Br. Allen. Front row: Sisters Storr, Kilpack, Bernhisel, Duran, Sister Tera Smith (MP companion), Navarro, Duford and Laugenour. 

YSA/Wash Sq Branch/Activities 

Pumpkin Painting night at Institute : Front-Sisters Tagatauli (Sister T from Hawaii) and Vitinavulagi (Sister V from Fiji and Kingwood Tx- David Pendleton is their Bishop). Back right Elder Peabody (from Oregon) and MAB

 

Gator pumpkin/ Gator Chomp (about the only thing the Gators did right this fall)

                                          Hot dog night in the area behind the Institute building. We cooked the 'dogs. We do have a number of YSAs who are vegetarian or vegan (we did have some vegetarian 'dogs-which I ate as well )

On a Saturday (11/20/21) we had a Pancake Breakfast at 9:30 am (a negotiation with the YSA-we learned to an earlier start 😀). I fixed my whole wheat/oat meal-no sugar pancakes and Julee fixed her French Toast casserole. We also had an egg dish. We did have gluten free pancakes as well.

JKB is seen with Elder Peabody, Garrett and Elder Rumble (from N.J. ) We also had a fun sing along with songs such as If the Savior Stood Beside Me, I am a child of God and folk/pops songs: Puff the magic Dragon, The Garden Song, Rainbow Connection, This Land is your land.

                                           Good Guy- Josh Segales 

 Back row: Dustin, Aria, Miguel, Leila ("Leela"), Jason, Paul, Elder Peabody, Raul, Kristen, unknown, Garrett. Next row: Sister Vitinavulagi-"Sister V", Ceidy, Jasmine, Sister Tagatauli-"Sister T", Tiffany, Violet , Valentina, and Lauren. Front row: Shane, Whitney, Elder Rumble, Josh, Ishmael, JKB, MAB

Bernhisel Hot Chocolate Night

On December 1st for Institute night, we had a Hot Chocolate night and Christmas Sing a long. It was great. 

Whitney (left) Melody, Bernard (others on the right-unknown) 

Songs included Santa Claus is coming to town, Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer (Julee gave an introduction re the origins of the tune),  Jingle Bells, Feliz Navidad, What Child is this? (loved this new one for me), The Silent Night Story/ Silent Night and The Bernhisel 12 days of Christmas

                     A partridge in a pear tree  (Ceidy, Elijah and Tyler seen in front)

                                                                         Luke 2 narration

                                                                                  Elder Peabody 

Julee and Shawna Bohn (Dave Bohn's wife)

Back row Elijah, Abraham, JKB, Vickie De Caires, Dave and Shawna Bohn, Whitney, Leila, Tyler, Elder Peabody, Aria Yadellahi, Elder Burke, Melody, Liz, Nelson, Sofia, Thaniel. Second row Ceidy J, Macy B, Laura, Ashely., Magda Ragle. Front row: Bernard, MAB, Ishmael, Diana, Xiong  French "Jean" Lee, Violet, Josh, Iris, Paul, and Ethan

MAB music

Christmas Party-12/18 WS branch

Ginger Bread House (Julee baked two of them). Hans-originally from Peru, in the background and I built the house and Violet was our roofer. I wore the "Chief Elf Bernie" outfit as I did for the Hot Chocolate nigh.

Elders Peabody and Burke, Michael, Jason, Abraham, Sisters Tagatauli, and Suguturaga  

Michelle, u.k., and Ismael 

Payton (Macy Bennett's daughter), Bernard and Kristin

 Macy and two friends 

One of our favorite places to be--The Oakland Temple