To Boldly Go Where No Family Has Gone Before

Much has happened in the past three weeks--indeed, they have brought along a change of scenery, a change of plans, a change of pace, and a change we can believe in.  I like to remind Joanna that summer isn't even close to over--there are 3 whole weeks left!  Hopefully, the sun stays around well after the summer season ends, but for now we're squeezing all the rays out of it that we can.  We even went on a little boating trip with my family, and Joanna laughed as loud as I can remember while we bumped along the waves on the tube.  Good times! 

For me, the main consolation of fall time is that it means the sports season is fully underway.  It looks like the BYU football team is going to have a great season; the victory over WSU was impressive and the team looks as motivated as ever.  We're looking forward to going to a couple games and bringing Mason along for his first opportunity to cheer on his favorite team in person. 

Let's start with the change of scenery.  We have been enjoying our time in the basement of the House of Jacob, where we have a beautiful apartment with lots of room for Mason to crawl around, and access to a garden that is now being harvested.  There are plenty of tomatoes, corn, peaches, apples, grapes, etc. to enjoy and store, and we are looking forward to helping out with that.  The 5 acres that the House of Jacob sits on is probably one of the largest farming properties in Orem, and it's beautiful land that the Jacobs have been taking care of for decades. It really is true that produce tastes so much better when it's fresh from the farm.

It doesn't get more fresh than that.  That's right all you organic, granola-loving hippies!

Not only do we live in a new place, but we have also visited places that we had never seen before (for better or for worse).  One of those places was Timpanogos Cave.  It's hard to believe that after living in Utah for almost 15 years that I had never been there, but that's the truth.  It was a steep hike, but the caves were neat, and Mason was a good trooper most of the time. 

Mason was wise to be very cooperative.

A few weeks ago, we decided to go on a campout with our friends and fellow ward members from SLC, Greg and Shauna Call.  We got a spot in the Squaw Peak campground and had a terrific time--delicious food, fun company, and beautiful surroundings.  Mason enjoyed playing with his girlfriends, too.  It did rain quite a bit during the night, but our mansion of a tent weathered the weather well (thanks for the awesome tent, Rick Dawg!).  Due to his new surroundings, Mason wasn't able to sleep so well during the night, and forced us to go on a march through the forest in the dark, but we forgave him when he provided comic relief by stuffing a flash light in his mouth--he looked just like a jack-o-lantern!  The following morning, Joanna and Shauna headed back to Orem while Greg and I headed to the firing range so I could redeem myself for my lack of shooting skills as a scout.  The last time I had shot a gun was scout camp at Schofield.  While archery came naturally to me, I was terrible with the shotgun.  I was glad to get another shot in Provo (applause for the pun).  Greg gave me a few pointers, then I picked up his SIG handgun and gave it a whirl.  It didn't kick back as badly as I remembered guns kicking when I was a kid, and it was actually a lot of fun.  I gave the rifle a try as well.  The results from 50 yards out:

Zoomed-in for effect.  Don't worry--I wouldn't kill a fly unless it
was threatening to attack my family or my country.  If you find such a fly, please let me know.

In other words, you want to be my friend.

We were also able to visit the crossroads of the west: Promontory Point, Utah!  I told Joanna I would like to go there sometime during the summer, and she was kind enough to indulge my curiosity.  None of us had gone there, and I love visiting historical places.  Four hours later, after an obligatory lunch break at Roy's Burger Bar, we made it to the Promontory Point. 

You want these burgers?  Sorry, they're mine.

That's the really big choo choo.

It really is in the middle of nowhere!  It was cool to see where the continental railroad reached its intersection, but it's one of those places you only need to see once.  In my anxiousness to see another place that you only need to see once, I persuaded Joanna and Mason to drive to the spiral jetty.  This was a bad idea.  The road was rough, it brought us even further into the middle of nowhere, and took a lot more time to get there than I thought.  The view was kind of cool, but Joanna was stuck in the back bouncing around with Mason, with dust flying in our faces, and wild jackrabbits nipping at our tires (that's the way Joanna remembers it).  Anyways, that was my token dumb idea for the day, but Joanna was quick to forgive me.  In the end, we both laughed it off.

Yes, that's it.

As for our change of plans, we've decided it would be best for me just to prepare for the LSAT so I can take it in December, and work part-time so I can have something to do besides studying for the LSAT, and so I can bring home a little bacon.  This seems like the right thing to do at this time, and I'm really excited to get back into study mode.  It's kind of fun to be jumping back into studying right as the school season is beginning.  I did pretty well on the diagnostic test, but there is a long ways to go before I reach my goal.  So, here's to countless hours of tackling arguments and constructing logic diagrams for the infamous games section.  It's nice to know that it all leads to my longterm career goals, and hopefully I'll learn more about my life's mission as I go along.  Joanna actually helped me study the logical reasoning portion and did a really good job at deconstructing arguments--she might be the real Matlock of the family.

It's becoming a change of pace as Mason just took his first steps today.  He started by taking two or three at a time, but as he got more confident he was able to take 5-7.  Soon after that, he began running and hurdling over the couch.  The kid's got skills.  It's an interesting coincidence that Mason took his first steps the same week that Neil Armstrong, who took the first steps on the moon, passed away.  Next stop for Mason: Mars.  We all went through a little change of pace as we ran the Hobbler half marathon!  Because I wasn't in good enough shape to run the whole thing, I decided to do half of a half marathon, and my sister Alissa was kind and willing to do the other half.  Joanna and Alissa ran the first half very well; it seemed like Joanna hadn't broken a sweat!  I joined her at mile 7 with Mason in his jogging stroller, and we finished the rest of the race together.  Even though Joanna had already run 7 miles, and was pushing Mason most of the time, she ran at a faster pace than me.  I've got to catch up with her!  Story of my life!  Anyways, the race was fun, and we ran into our buddy Chris Charles as well (not literally).  We will have to do another race sometime:  Halloween Half, anyone? 

Joanna pretty much dragged me and pushed
Mason the entire way, but I'm sure proud of my medal.

As for change we can believe in, we've greatly enjoyed watching the developments in the election.  The Republican National Convention was good, although as a fan of Ron Paul I was disappoined they didn't count his delegates.  Still, that wasn't unexpected.  The highlights of the convention, in our opinion, were the speeches of Ann Romney and the "testimonies" offered by the members of Mitt's stake in Massachussetts.  It pretty much felt like stake conference, which was kind of cool.  While I don't agree with Mitt on some things, most notably his foreign policy, I do believe in his ability to get our country's balance sheet closer to where it needs to be, so I'm going to throw my hat in with Joanna's and officially endorse Mitt Romney!  Aren't you excited, Mitt?!  I thought so.  Only two months until the election--it's going to be intense!

See how happy he is that I'm endorsing him?

Ready, September?  Here we come!