Going for writing two weeks in a row...don't faint!
BIG NEWS...Jamie and Alex are engaged to be married!!! Last week at Leesie's mission call opening, Alex and Jamie were quizzing me on Thailand travel in December and I thought something might be up. This picture just in. According to Steven, wedding date is November 26th in the Draper Temple. Who's Alex? He and Jamie went to high school together and he's from Kaysville although they didn't know each other very well. They also happened to be in the same mission where Jamie's Uncle Ed was Mission President and he suggested they spend some time together. I'll let Jamie with her vivid and engaging writing tell the whole story. Very happy for them! Alex has a good spirit about him and they seem very happy together. Look forward to welcoming him into the family!
I've been in California most of the week so don't have much family news. Sister Hunter has said that they can't send/receive pictures or put any personal information in emails anymore. Russia doesn't have privacy protections so they are probably reading all emails and building profiles and the church wants to protect members and missionaries. Paper mail still works.
Anxious to hear how Kent, Mignon and kids enjoyed southern California--they were at Disneyland and the beach all week.
Grandpa and Grandma went to the doctor in Logan for some tests and I had a few minutes of worry. Dan texted about 9 pm that he was in Idaho and they weren't there. I was driving so pulled over and called Ben who said that they had finished up and started home around 2 pm so I was afraid they were lost. I called Dan and he said he had just missed them...Mom was asleep on the couch and Dad was outside somewhere. Test went ok but they go back on Tuesday for more and then to the doctor the week after to see how the tests came out.
As I said, I was in CA most of the week. It was our customer advisory board meetings where we met with eight of our most influential customers for two days of meetings. It was a very nice place--LaCosta Wellness Center and Golf Resort in Carlsbad. Our marketing manager did a first class job and the meetings were actually enjoyable. Interesting to see how some very large companies process job applications. Some are hiring as many as 60,000 people a year! We just need all those interviews to be in HireVue. I didn't get to golf but did go to the beach a couple of nights and walked/jogged. The food was incredibly good--bad week to follow watching "Forks over Knives"!
We ended early on Friday so I drove out to Borrego Springs in the desert. It had been consistently 67-70 in Carlsbad but as I crested the mountains and started down to the desert, the temp climbed to 99. It actually felt good for a while. I looked around for real estate and found a short-sale for $120k. It needed work but was on a half acre lot with raised gardens and POMEGRANATE and citrus trees. The desert was really beautiful. Late afternoon, the temperature dropped to 92 so I went for a hike. The entire valley is surrounded by stake park mountains and it was very peaceful. Every once in a while, these little lizards would materialize out of the sand/gravel just ahead of me and then dart off just like lightning! They had hardly any body to them and looked like little streaking skeletons. Pretty cool!
Saturday, I met up with Hayden and Madeline. Just a note to say that GPS on iPhone is fantastic! I remember the days of navigating LA area with the Thompson map books on my lap. With GPS, I can find anything and go anywhere! Hayden and Madeline were coming from up north and I was coming from east to the beach. Hayden just texted me his location and my GPS lead me right to them--just above La Jolla Shores beach. It was a beautiful day and that is a beautiful area! Just for a little contrast, the same size house on the beach as the one in Borrego was $7.4 MILLION (yeah..vs. $120,000)!
We set up chairs, towels and an umbrella (the Rossells know how to do the beach!!!) and just enjoyed the sun and surf. All day, small planes were flying overhead. Hayden and I went down to an area where we swam with sharks!! They were small leopard sharks about 3-5 feet long that would just swim along under you. At one point, I was swimming above five of them at once that were just peacefully hugging the bottom--also pretty cool!! I didn't take this shot but it's exactly what they looked like through goggles.
It was GREAT to spend time with the Webbs. We had a nice breakfast, played in the water and soaked up the sun and then I flew home to Salt Lake. They were headed up to Madeline's grandmother's place in Fallbrook to run the chainsaw on some dead trees.
Hope you all had a great week! Feel free to "reply all" and let us know what else may be happening!
Love,
Peter
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