I saw the SWAT truck!

Last night I rode down to Fountain Green with my friend Dan. He was participating in their annual Lamb Days coed softball tournament. This tournament is interesting because you don't sign up teams, you just sign up in pairs (one guy and one girl). Then you are randomly assigned a team. It's just a fun event for the whole event to come out and enjoy everybody's company. An interesting thing happened on the way back.

When we got on the freeway, we started seeing cops going the opposite direction with their lights flashing. Between Nephi and Payson we saw 18 emergency vehicles. Most were Utah Highway Patrol or unmarked SUV's, but we saw a Fire Marshall, an ambulance and even the SWAT truck. It's basically a mini-sized semi. Needless to say, we were curious what was going on, but I didn't find out for hours. I guess there was a domestic dispute followed by a police standoff in Nephi, but there still aren't very many details available. Sounds like a sad story, but nobody got hurt. I had never seen anything like that before. 18 random emergency vehicles spaced a mile or two apart, all going the same direction, but no two together.

Catching up

I'm finally up and about again. I got sick Friday night, July 3rd, and haven't really been very coherent since then. My neighbor is a doctor and he decided that I had Bronchitis. It's pretty sad that I missed all the 4th of July celebrations, but I was lucky to have friends and family to look after me. I'll just have to find some other fireworks celebrations to see since I missed the 4th. I was excited to try the "fireworks setting" on my camera.

Facebook is an amazing website. It is fascinating to make contact with old friends that you haven't seen in years. One such friend is going to stop by in about 10 minutes. Mike is moving from North Carolina back to Washington and decided to make a stop in Utah to catch up. He's a great guy and I can't wait to meet his three stepkids (his wife is in training in Missouri). He'll be stationed in Ft. Lewis.

We found out that our case worker at LDS Family Services is quitting. Her husband was accepted to graduate school in Philadelphia. We wish her all the best and can't wait to meet our newly assigned case worker. I guess our profile is shown regularly and we seem to match well with lots of birth moms...it's just a matter of time.

More photos

Here's some additional shots of our tournament. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of my sweet tan-line from wearing the bandanna all day long. I've got a pretty solid line in the middle of my forehead. In this first one, Dan is showing his passing form. Notice he has his right foot forward and he is completely focused on the ball.
I'm getting ready to serve another winner.
Emily set up Adrienne for this perfect spike. They won the game soon after this play.
Emily's form is even better than Dan's. Of course she's been playing volleyball a lot longer.
We always have a blast playing in these tournaments. I hope we find time to do another one soon. We might even play "B" next time (next level up from Novice).

UOVA Tournament 6-27-09

Adrienne and I both participated in the Men's/Women's outdoor volleyball tournament last Saturday (UOVA stands for Utah Outdoor Volleyball Association). Ade played with our good friend Emily in the Women's novice division, while I teamed up with Dan for the Men's novice. We all had a great time. The girls placed about 5th and the guys actually won their division. I've posted a couple of photos for memory's sake.

Dan set me up pretty good for this one. Notice my stylish shades and bandana. I started wearing the bandana a couple years ago after my head got burned one too many times.

Ade is about to bring the heat with her serve as Emily watches. They were only one game out of making the next stage of the tournament. This was the first time they played together. I hope they get another chance soon. On a side note, Emily's shoulders look pretty buff in this camera angle.

Lots of fun

Hey everyone, my wife's company had their annual summer party today. We all went up to Sundance and had a great meal and some fun games. There were face painters, an air castle, and even volleyball. It's always fun at their company parties. Our cousin, Eric, was even there. He flew in from Florida to make an appearance.

Our case worker had an interesting question for us. I guess there is one birth mom that is looking for many of the qualities that we have, but with one addition. She wants the baby to be taught sign language and our case worker was wondering what our feelings were on that matter. We talked it over and decided that we did plan on using sign language to assist in early language development, but that we probably couldn't commit to reaching a fluent level. We don't know if that was what she was looking for, but I hope it helps her. We know everything is going to work out when the time and the situation is right. We hope it is sooner rather than later but we know we need to leave it in the Lord's hands.

Rain and making time for things that matter

I think it's at least rained a little bit each day for the last two weeks. I thought summer was supposed to be here. There is a bit of sunshine at the end of the tunnel though. It is supposed to stop by the weekend. This is wonderful because we have decided to play in a Co-ed 4's volleyball tournament as part of the Utah Summer Games. We're playing with our old neighbors (Dan and Kim). Ade and I haven't done any outdoor tournaments in a year so we are really looking forward to it.

The good news with the rain is that I haven't had to water my garden at all. It seems to be doing well for the most part.

Most people who follow our blog know this already, but I wanted to let the others know too. My Uncle Larry isn't doing well with his treatment (for cancer). According to the doctors, he might only have a couple of months left. Of all my aunts and uncles, he was the one that I knew the best growing up. We would take trips up to their home in Tennessee about once a year during most of my "formative years". The sad part is, of all my aunts and uncles, it has been the longest since I have seen him and Aunt Margaret. They live out in Wisconsin now, but I wish I would have found the time and resources to make a trip out there before all this happened. At the least, I wish I would have called a few times over the years. I just relied on updates from my mom and dad over the years. Sometimes it takes a tough situation to wake us up to the little to the things we should be doing. We should let those we care about know how we feel. Larry has always been an example of what it means to be a good and honorable man and father all the years I have known him...of course I've heard a story or two from before my time that certainly makes me laugh.

Weeks are flying by

Remember when back in the days of youth and you were 10 and one week was an eternity? I can hardly believe how fast time is flying by these days. It seems like just a month or two back that we were getting ready for Christmas.

Anyways, we don't really have any more progress on the yard. I put in some pavers as stepping stones around the garden boxes. Now I just need to figure out the best way to build the fountain for the front of the house. Hopefully I can get it all together before Adrienne's family comes out to visit.

My neighbor (Seth) is going to build a fort in his backyard for his girls to play on. I think I'm going to try to help. It sounds like a fun project and I could probably learn a thing or two from putting it together.

Adrienne's Birthday!!!

Adrienne's birthday was today. She spent most of the afternoon with Danielle (our old neighbor who has a birthday about the same time) hiking, swimming, and basically having a blast. Before she took off with Danielle, we headed up to Camp Koholowo with Kevin and David to check out the site of our Youth Conference in August. Basically we just wanted to get an idea of the facilities and space that was available.
We borrowed some 4-Wheelers from a friend so that it would be easier to get around. Here is a shot of Ade and I riding on one of the 4-Wheelers. It is beautiful up there.
If you look very closely you can see the deer we found on the way back. We named him Stewart. ;-)
This is from the Utah Lake overlook on the Nebo Loop. We stopped on the way back to take some photos. The Nebo Loop is one of our favorite places to explore. It seems like there is beauty at every turn.

While Ade was going around hiking, playing, swimming, etc. I searched out a source for flagstone to use as pavers around our garden and also bought a "Burning Bush". Just another shrub to add to our landscaping. This one has leaves that turn bright red in the fall, hence the name.

Yard Pictures

And then there was more yardwork...

It's actually been fun getting the yard done. We finished up filling the garden boxes and even planted some herbs and vegetables. Memorial Day was mostly spent moving rock. We put decorative rock inside all of the curbing to cover the ground and weed fabric. I really need to take some pictures, but I've been busy trying to get it all done.

Yesterday a bunch of us got together to lay sod for my backyard neighbor. It's amazing the difference an hour of work can make on a yard (especially when that hour is spent covering bare earth with grass). Seth has been working just about everyday for a month to get the ground ready. He couldn't be happier with how it turned out.

Well, I'll try to take some photos tonight and post them soon. We just have a few more projects to get done this year and we'll be set.