New Job and BYU Football

So I'm all set with the new job. We are so blessed in our lives. I can't believe how well this all worked out. I'll be a PR Specialist with this new company and work directly with our good friend Henry (who is the CEO). The benefits are great and this company really seems to care for the employees. I am grateful for the many good friends I have in my life that really try to look after my family.

Saturday, BYU was beaten rather badly by FSU in football. It's unfortunate for many reasons, but the one that comes to mind currently is the bet I made this summer. Now I am required (as a matter of personal integrity) to wear an FSU tie to church. I will even document the event with photographic evidence and post it on this blog. Everyone knows I am a big BYU fan so it will take some explaining for everyone to understand why I have traded colors for a day.

Adoption Update and New Job

Yesterday we met with our new adoption case worker. She stopped by our house to renew our Home Study for another year. It was great to put a face to the name and get to know her a little bit. We are all approved again for another year and just hope that things work out for us to adopt sooner rather than later.

I am starting work at a new job this Friday at Millenniatta, Inc. My new boss is in Japan most of this week, so I am just studying up at home about the new company. On Friday we'll meet at the office so that I can fill out all the employment paperwork. I'll be working on their PR with two others.

UVU Volleyball on Labor Day

I teamed up with one of our friend's sons for the tournament. He's 17 and really just picked up volleyball about a year ago. Of course his dad played for BYU Hawaii years ago so he has a bit of an advantage. I like this shot because not only am I hitting, but Caleb has his hands on his hips. It's like he's thinking to himself, "well I've done all I can do, now it's up to him". Next time we play, I'm sure his dad will work on him with covering the block. We didn't have any breaks at all so I didn't have the opportunity to go take pictures of Adrienne this time. I really only got to see her play for about 60 seconds the whole day.

BYU vs Oklahoma

Labor day weekend we had an amazing opportunity. Through the generosity of dear friends we were able to go to the BYU vs. Oklahoma Football game at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. It was 15,000 BYU fans vs. 60,000 Sooner faithful (it's only about a 3 hour drive from their campus). The odds in Vegas were that we would lose by 22 or more, but we pulled it out in the end. 14-13 winning on a 4th quarter touchdown drive. Probably the funnest football game Adrienne and I have ever been to.

This first picture is the outside of the stadium. It is unbelievably large. That said, 1/3 of it is below ground. You can't even see the field from the outside windows because it is so far below ground level.

There is a 60 yard wide HD monitor inside to watch game action and replays (actually there are two...one facing each sideline). This was a great shot of the BYU logo.

We flew out on Southwest Airlines. In a strange twist of chance, we were on the flight with the entire BYU cheer squad. They were practicing lifts during the layover in Albuquerque. They even sang the BYU fight song over the loudspeaker on the plane.

Here's a shot of most of those in our group right after the game ended. The Sooner fans took off immediately but most of the BYU fans stuck around to cheer the team and enjoy the moment. From left to right we have Diana, Trent, Dave, Carol, Adrienne and Jason (me).

On Labor Day itself, we played in a 2-2 volleyball tournament at UVU. I'll have to share a picture or two from that later. I took 2nd on the men's side and Adrienne took 3rd on the women's side. It was a lot of fun, but I was cramping up in my right calf the last 3 games of the tournament. I think Caleb and I would have had a good chance of winning it all if I had been in better condition (we lost by two in the championship).

Football Cometh

For those who don't know, my Uncle Larry passed away last Friday night. His funeral was last night and my parents were able to stay in Wisconsin long enough to attend. I wish that I would have had the chance to see him more in recent years. We should all take the time to be with those we care about whenever we can.

I can't believe we find ourselves in the month of September. Adrienne are flying down to Dallas to watch the BYU/Oklahoma game. Football season is here and we will probably be in the box for each of the home games. I hope that it's a good season and the team plays well.

I'll try to keep up with this better in the weeks to come. It's just been crazy busy since we got back from Lake Powell.

Catching up part 3 - Depeche Mode

Last night we went with some friends to the Depeche Mode concert at the E-Center. They really are a great band to see live because their sound quality in person is just like their CD's (but much louder). Anyways, it was a big treat for Adrienne because she is a huge fan.

Here they are rocking away.

And here we are enjoying the show.

Catching up part 2 - Uncle Larry

I don't remember if I mentioned this in a previous post or not, but my Uncle Larry has been having serious health problems. All of his siblings (my dad's side of the family) and family have gathered as he will be passing soon. He has declined further treatment and feels that it is time to go. They are counting the hours now rather than weeks or even days. Uncle Larry's family was the one that I knew the best growing up. We'd see them every year or so for Thanksgiving or Christmas. He was always ready and willing to spend time with the kids and had a ready laugh. He and Aunt Margaret opened their home to foster children when they couldn't have any more themselves and I think they ended up adopting most of the ones that they had in their care. He is a good man and he will be missed. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

Catching up part 1 - Lake Powell

Sorry that we messed up our usual posting schedule last week. We were away at Lake Powell with our cousins (Eric, Machelle, Matt, Rachael, and Sable) and some of their friends from Florida (Mark, Ginger, Brian, and Bailey). It was a wonderful trip and it was great to meet our cousins' friends. Their daughter is starting school at the University of Utah and has a ballet scholarship. We were at the lake for 8 days and did all kinds of fun things.

This first shot has Sable and Bailey getting bounced around on the tube the first day at the lake. Sable was tossed first, but Bailey followed right after.

We took a trip to "Hole in the Rock" and hiked to the top. This is the place that some Mormon Pioneers blasted and dug a path from the plateau down to the river (which is now a lake/reservoir) so that they could cross.
Here is the whole crew. We made sure and got a picture with everyone together and used my camera timer to get it done. From left to right and starting in the back row. Jason (me), Mark, Brian, Matt, Eric, Machelle, Bailey, Adrienne (my wife), Ginger, Sable and Rachael.
We actually did a few hikes this year. This one was up the San Juan at one of Machelle's favorite canyons. Makes Matt look rather small. I can't believe he is a freshman at FSU now.

The new toy this year was the Wake-Surfboard. Wake-surfing is done right behind the boat. You start with a rope. Once you find the groove you toss the rope and surf the wake just like a wave at the beach. Rachael was the best at it in our group so I thought I'd share a picture of her.

Here I am up the Escalante arm of the lake wake boarding. This shot looks nice, but a few seconds later I took a nose dive.

Youth Conference 2009

Hey everyone. It seems I'm always claiming that we are busy...but we really are. Last weekend was our stake's youth conference. It was a great experience. We were there 3 days and each one represented past, present, or future with various activities and learning opportunities. I've included some of the pictures below.


The first day we had the youth take a pioneer trek and do some old fashioned games. This first photo shows a bunch of the youth in their pioneer clothes playing partner tag. That night we had a dance so they would have an opportunity to socialize.

Day 2 we went down to Payson Lakes where the youth swam and went around the lake in canoes. Later in the afternoon we had 4 guest speakers come and take turns talking about different aspects of their future.

Our stake president came up the last day to talk about their lives in the present. Then we dd various service projects around the camp and cleaned up. Right before leaving, one of the ward groups decided to hike up to the overlook into a canyon and I decided to join them. This last photo is a view from there.

My company had our summer party this week. It's always fun, and, as usual, we had it up at a park up Provo Canyon. Great food, good fun, and we even had a little volleyball action.

This weekend we are headed to Lake Powell with our cousins. We won't be able to post or be online until we get back. We can't wait to take this break and enjoy a little vacation with our extended family. I'll have plenty of pictures to share when we get back.

Will's Deployment

It seems we are always busy this summer. Our garden is starting to produce some vegetables. We have one type of pest attacking our garden. I never new about Squash Bugs before now, but I've put some serious time in researching how to kill them. First, some squash are naturally resistant to the bugs (Butternut squash for instance). The only squash I am growing with problems is the Spaghetti squash. I've probably killed 100 of the little guys by now.

Will and Stephanie had a tough goodbye this week. Will is a reservist in the Marines and he's being deployed to Afghanistan. He's already been to Iraq and back, but he's being sent again. We met up with them at Camp Williams and with Will's mom and siblings to say goodbye. He'll be in San Diego for training approximately 3 months, then home for 10 days...then he's gone for about 9 months overseas. I've included some pictures for everyone.

Here's Will's oldest sister holding little Liberty before it's time to go.

Steph and Will just sitting together as we visited.

Will is a Sergeant in the Marines. He's assigned to an anti-tank light armored unit in the C (Charlie) company. Here's what it looks like. The one they will train in is an older model. The ones in Afghanistan actually have air conditioning.

This was their final goodbye before Will had to get on the bus to head out. It's tough to see loved ones separated like this, but I'm so proud of my brother-in-law. He's a good man.

This weekend Ade and I are headed up to Youth Conference for our Stake. We're taking all of the youth between 14-18 years old up to the camp. The theme for the year is from 1 Timothy 4:12. "Let no man dispise thy youth; but be thou and example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." We're going to try to have them look to the past for examples and reflect on how they can use those examples to guide their lives moving forward.