SF Bay Area

After leaving Las Vegas (here), I made it to San Jose, California. I'm only here for one day of meetings. However, I was lucky enough to stay the entire weekend. That let me do three very cool things: 1) Spend time with my daughter and her husband, 2) visit the Ward that I grew up in, and 3) visit with my brother and his family.

First, I was able to spend several hours with my daughter and her husband. He now works for Google, so they live here in the Santa Clara (near San Jose). She commutes between here and Seattle, while she's finishing her Master's degree in Space Physics.

It was fun to just relax. I took them to downtown Palo Alto, just to see some of the fun shops that are there - just down the street from Stanford University.

We also took the chance to videochat with my wife and my youngest son, back in Boston. That's the most fun, as he loves to see his older sister - and tries to show her ALL of his toys. He's particularly fond of her husband, so the chats are a real pleasure. I'm lucky to be able to see the little guy and my wife while I'm "on the road".

On Sunday, I was able to attend church at the Ward where I grew up - Castro Valley, California. While that was many, many years ago - there were still several families still living in the Ward that I knew.

First, and foremost, is my best friend, Mark. This is the guy that I went to high school with - and was my roommate in the BYU dorms. He's such an amazing guy, and has an incredible family. I'm afraid that we were having so much fun, that I forgot to take a picture. At any rate - visiting the old Ward building was really fun and brought back a ton of memories. It did remind me that I owe those families a great deal for helping to raise me. They provided plenty of examples of how to live the Gospel righteously - and how to serve your fellow man. I have to remember that I have that same responsibility, no matter what Ward I live in. I need to set a get example for the young men and women that I come into contact with.

That evening, I drove for a couple of hours to Sacramento, CA. There, I met with my younger brother and his family. They are always fun to hang out with. We almost had my sister there - who lives in Reno - but it snowed heavily the previous night, and wasn't safe for her to travel through the mountains. I haven't visited with either my sister, nor brother, since my daugher's wedding last year. I felt that I needed to make the effort to connect with them on this trip.

My brother and his wife are about to have their sixth child in July...and we're excited for them. Yes, they're crazy - but I couldn't imagine a baby coming to a better home.

That's it for now - on to meetings tomorrow!