Sunshine

You know you've had a sunny summer when you find yourself looking forward to rainy days. Micah and I were talking about it in the car on the way to school - we both like rainy days because they're different. That's probably a funny perspective to someone who lives in a wetter climate. Then again, it's nice to know I can ride my bike outside whenever I planned to, so that's definitely a good side to predictably sunny weather.

On the less literal but just as important side of "sunshine", things are really looking up for our Provo house. We are going to be able to sell the house to our current renters, so it looks like there's a light at the end of the tunnel - that proverbial sunshine after the storm. I'll post more when things are final, but it feels like this is a huge step for us, and it really sounds like it's going to happen. Very, very happy!

Feeling very close to family members at the moment. We're grateful for everyone's thoughts, prayers, and friendship, which gives us things to look forward to, people to share our happiness with, and also loved ones to share burdens with.

Micah and I both just finished the Hunger Games books. They are very, very good, but also more and more disturbing as they go along, ending with a pretty gritty third book. I guess I was hoping for something a little more uplifting in the end, but then again, probably not realistic given the subject matter. All in all though, awesome books.

Miracles, and more to come...

My apologies to the 3 of you who read the blog - I don't mean to be a slacker, but it just happens that way.

We have seen miracles this week from the Lord as it pertains to our Provo house, and it is impossible to adequately express our gratitude. I'm not going to go into details quite yet because a lot is still happening, but things are looking better for us on that front than they have for a couple of years. It was very nice to devote our whole fast on Sunday to gratitude, rather than pleading.

We heard on Sunday that the Oakland temple was open on Labor Day, so Angela and I took the opportunity to go. We intended to do initiatories, which we've been doing lately because they are somewhat quicker than a session, but they weren't actually doing that yesterday so we did some sealings. I admit I wasn't able to concentrate on the ceremonies as much because my surgically repaired knee hurts to kneel on, but we both really enjoyed being able to serve for a short time. I have to say though, I especially love the time in the car with Angela - it seems like we have some of our best talks on the way to and from the temple.

I also took Brig to the golf course where we both practiced our chipping and putting. Brig kept telling me he was better because he would hit it farther than I did. It was fun to do that kind of thing with him, and I hope to make it a habit. We also played tennis this weekend, which was fun, and we topped it off with a swim party and BBQ at friends house. Really fun weekend.

We had fun watching the BYU football game on Saturday. It was great to see them win, and I was pleasantly surprised with how well they did given how young they are in general.

Also, Angela's been eating differently and exercising a lot, and she looks amazing right now. She always looks great, but she's taken it to a whole new level. Makes me motivated to follow in her example.

Tripping

I've been in Dublin and London this week, and I've really enjoyed it. I'm headed home today (YES!!!!!!!), so in tribute to a productive and enjoyable trip, here are a few observations:

1. I don't handle big time zone changes well. How is it possible to be so tired during the day, and then wide awake in the middle of the night? Although it's true that if you get tired enough (i.e. 2-3 nights of barely sleeping), you'll eventually crash and sleep through a night (the 4th night).

2. There are really smart people in our offices in these two places. It's been very fun and enlightening to meet with lots of folks, learn from them, and just work with them. I'm the first to admit I have much I can learn from others.

3. When you travel, you don't eat very well. I'm probably better off than most because I have the benefit of most meals at Google cafes, but I find myself getting hungry at the strangest times. I'm sure it's correlated to the weird sleep patterns, but when I'm rooting around my hotel room looking for snacks, famished, at 2am, that's definitely not my norm.

4. I had lunch with a friend who works in London, and despite at least 4 years since we've seen each other, it was great to catch up and we had lots to talk about. And I credit ... Facebook. We both generally knew the important things going on in each others' lives, so we were able to easily converse as if it hadn't been a long time between visits.

5. Lots, and lots, and lots, of people smoke here. Maybe we just live in a part of the US where it's generally less "cool" or accepted to smoke, but it's remarkably more common here.

6. People kept apologizing to me about the weather, saying they wished it would've been better weather for my visit (it's been cloudy, rainy, etc.). The funny thing is, it's exactly as I expected it to be, I was prepared for it, and I enjoyed my walks from the hotel to the office. Frankly, I get enough nice weather back home, and it's ok to have a change.

7. Business Class is definitely the way to travel long distances. I caught myself smiling a few times on the way out at just how ridiculous the service was, how comfortable the arrangements were, and how unlike a flight it felt. Unfortunately, I'm not in Business Class on the way home, but have been downgraded to Premium Economy, which is to say, the slightly less bad section of the worst seats. Oh well, at least I'm headed home.

8. And finally, I realized I'm quite a home-body. I found myself greatly missing Angela and the kids. I don't really enjoy being away from them, especially when I'm in a timezone that doesn't allow me to talk to them with any regularity. It's reminded me again of what's the most important thing in my life.

Countdowns galore

T-minus one day to elementary school starting. Yep, tomorrow's the day for Kennan and Morgan, and believe it or not, they're both very excited. I asked Micah if she's excited for hers to start next week, and in typical teenage fashion she said "oh yeah Dad, I can't wait", dripping with sarcasm. OK, so at least Micah's normal. K&M are looking forward to seeing friends, having good teachers, doing well in classes, and outside fun things like swimming (Morgan), tennis (Kennan), and dance.

T-minus 4 days to my Dublin and London trip. I'm loathe to give up much of my weekend, but it's unavoidable given a full work schedule starting next Monday. I'm looking forward to different parts of the trip: the part of the plane ride where I get to sit by myself and do whatever I want, although not the part in which I have to get a night's sleep on the plane. I'm looking forward to seeing Dublin and London again, although a busy schedule will restrict my spare time, with no real "fun" stuff planned, but it will be fun to just be there. I'm looking forward to working closely with people on the teams based there. I see them very often on video conference, but it'll be nice to be face to face and able to learn from them and share with them.

T-minus 8 days to Micah starting school. She's a big 8th grader this year, and despite her protestations to the contrary, I think she's excited about getting back into it. She's also looking forward to more performances and other fun things.

T-minus 18 days until the College football season starts. I know there are games starting sooner or later than 9/4, but for me, that's the start of the season for the teams I care about. Some would say this is the most important upcoming milestone, but I of course am much more concerned about other, more important things of greater long-term worth ... (yeah right).

aaaahhh, Friday

We were playing tennis as a family a few days ago and I was very pleasantly surprised with how well Micah and Kennan can hit the ball. I'm not calling them prodigy's or anything like that, but their improvement from the last time I hit with them individually was really remarkable. I guess they can keep taking lessons.

Bay Area good weather, blah blah blah ... OK, so I know it's good weather out here. But I have to tell you, we've had morning fog, which is fog/clouds that roll in from the coast and then burn off in the late morning or early afternoon, every day for weeks and weeks. I'm seriously a sunny morning equals good start to the day kind of guy. Enough of the fog already! And speaking of weather, I know it's been hot in other parts of the country (Utah!), but it has barely felt like summer here. I'm not sure it's even got over 80 this whole summer. I think I actually prefer a good hot summer sometimes (probably until I'm actually good and hot).

Looking forward to the weekend!

Family Happenings

We took the family up to the Giants-Cubs games in San Francisco last night. What a great time at a fun park with some awesome friends! ... but ... it got very cold, and it's definitely not cheap to take the family to a game. After tickets, parking, and a very modest amount of food, we were over $200 all in. Oh well, very fun, and worth the experience every once in a while. AT&T Park in SF is a great place to watch a game, even if the Giants lost :(

We're feeling the end of summer coming on rapidly as we're in the last full week of summer for the younger kids, and Micah will start the week after next. It's been such a mild summer here that it definitely doesn't feel like August, which nobody's complaining about. The last few days have been filled with swimming, friend time, tennis lessons and running club, and "Micah Camp" where Micah, with help from her sisters, puts on a 3 hour camp for neighborhood kids. The kids are actually excited to go back to school, so let's get it on...

I'm looking forward to an upcoming trip to London and Dublin starting next weekend and through the following work week. It will only be 1 week, and it's necessarily filled with lots of work, so I'm not anticipating any "fun" time, but it's always fun/interesting to go someplace far away for a little while. It would've been fun if Angela could've come with me. I was really worried for a while because I hadn't used or seen my passport for three years, and it wasn't in the box where we normally keep it. Not to mention that we had moved since the last usage, so who knows where it could have been. We started looking without success, and just as I was considering paying lots of $$$ for a rush passport replacement, I took a page out of my kids' book, said a prayer, and literally as I was finishing the prayer I walked right to the location where the passport was hiding. Pretty awesome.

Just want to say how grateful we are for our families and all the support, love, and friendship we get from them. It's so nice to have them behind us through all our ups and downs.

Dog Days of Summer? Not really...

Here we are in August, summer seriously almost done, and we're definitely not quite ready to be thinking about back to school yet. With all the fun things we've done this summer though, it feels like a fulfilling break, and we have lots of good memories. After a long trip to Utah, it's been nice this week to be home, unwind a little bit, see friends again, sleep in our own beds, and just be normal. That being said, what a great time we had on vacation!

The highlights of the Utah trip are as follows:

1. Reuniting with Kennan and Morgan, who had been in Utah for about 4 weeks prior to our arrival - it was SO great to be with them again!
2. Richards family reunion in Bear Lake. We stayed at the beautiful Laketown Lodge and had a blast. Boating, wakeboarding, tubing, and swimming at the lake was a highlight for everyone, but let's not forget the fun waterfight, bike rides, talent show, family DVDs, food, baseball game, and general hanging out.
3. My 20 year high school reunion where I caught up with a bunch of old friends, and Angela actually had a great time too.
4. Hiking to the 'Y' with the Whatcotts and Romina.
5. Many great bike rides for me: up Provo Canyon, to Spanish Fork, from Lehi to Bountiful, up Emigration Canyon, etc. Highlight was riding with Dave in Emigration - especially coming down very fast :-)
6. Days of '47 Rodeo with the LeBras family.
7. A couple good days of golf
8. Seeing Morgan and Kennan swim in the county swim meet and both do well.
9. Multiple dinners at Grandma LeBras' house

Pretty sure I missed some fun things, but there you go... Thanks to all our family for making room for us, spending time with us, and being such great friends.

Finally, Morgan left me a voicemail on my phone yesterday proudly announcing that she got braces. I'm pretty sure she's not feeling as happy about that this morning, but you should've seen her big grin as she showed them off to everyone at the school picnic last night. She's a real cutie.