months

Almost, but not quite. In fact its been only 23 days. So maybe that's a long time between blogs, but its been busy. Here is a quick rundown of the comings and goings...

August gave way to two significant events

1) Shelli's first century ride with her Dad. Though she was exhausted and only semi-coherent afterwards, proclaiming that she would never do it again and ranting about the grueling nature of the ride, she has promptly reverted to looking forward to the next ride with enthusiasm. I am thoroughly amazed at her resiliency, this is an incredible accomplishment and I am very excited for her. Not many people can lay claim to such a feat. Shelli and Gary finished in approximately 6.5 hours of ride time, I think their actual time was somewhere around 8 hours.



You can tell these are the pre-ride shots... they're smiling


In the mean time I meandered around Logan and checked out a few old hangouts and spent time reminiscing with some old friends. When I first began college at Utah State, Logan still had that old mom 'n' pop feel to it, it has since abandoned that feel almost completely for the more corporate and commercial. It is certainly a different place. It was sad in ways to see and cope with all the change, it made me realize how much time has passed.


At least first dam was relatively unchanged


2) Adrienne's birthday. We had a delicious dinner at an little Italian restaurant in downtown Salt Lake, and Adrienne (and Tyler) opened up presents back at the Lansing residence. This was a lot of fun. And on the note of change, Travis and Adrienne, who were just barely engaged when I left college for SLC, are now married nearly three years and have a wonderfully adorable son. It seems like only yesterday we were all still in college hanging out at Focus BBQ's and good ol' "718", yet it has been nearly four years since those days, it is amazing all that has happened. How the time flies...


This little guy will be grown up before you know it


In came September and has swept by with a Labor Day weekend visit to my parents which saw us out in the Moab Red Rock wilderness geocaching and jeeping. My Dad just bought a new Jeep, well not new i suppose, a new jeep to him, that is actually quite used. Its a toy for him to go out and get dirty and crawl around on the rocks. We had a great time just out hiking and crawling around in the jeep, just me and my dad (the girls stayed home this particular time). We roamed around leisurely and just slowed down; something I don't do enough of in life these days. I love picking my Dads brain for all his old memories. He remembers so much and its intriguing to hear about all his old mining stories and about how he has seen Moab change over the years. I love hearing about my old 'outlaw' family, and about how different things were in his day. I think things have changed in the last 5 years, I cannot imagine my Dad's perspective on the last 50. I love these times with my Dad, I neglected a lot of them when I was younger, but they are some of my favorite moments these days.

We also enjoyed celebrating my sister Sommar's birthday, and it was wonderful because my sister Karissa was in town with Angelo and my niece Lexi. I don't get to see them much so it was wonderful too spend time with them as well.

Shelli spent some time sharing 'horse stories' and visiting my niece Hailey's horses. Those two are so alike it scary, but at the same time ts wonderful. I am so glad they have so much in common. We went by and visited my sister's house, and while we were there Shelli popped her head in Hailey's room with a quick "yup, thats just what my room was like, almost exactly." Monday rolled around and we came home.

Last weekend was all crazyness. We said farewell to Kali, one of Shelli's best friends, on Saturday, who departed Tuesday for Croatia for around seven months with Campus Crusade. It was a sad and exciting event. It is hard for Shelli to say goodbye to such a close and beloved friend for such a long duration, it will be hard to miss all the coffee shop hangouts, and wonderful conversations, and lets not forget the goofy moments. It is exciting however to see her strike out as the hands and feet of Jesus, sharing his love and grace. It is exciting to be a part of the adventure with her, to pray for her, and to enjoy all the stories of what God is doing there. We are developing a special relationship with Croatia as this is the third year we have been involved in the ministry there in some way or another. it s exciting to hear all the stories develop and inspiring to see how God works, sometimes I loose wight here in Salt Lake, and it is good to be reminded that God is alive and working not only in all parts of the world, but here too.

Sunday was all church and youth. We had our regular morning visit to Capital, and in the evening we returned for youth. Youth at Capital, recently named 'the Edge', is also one of my favorite things. I love these kids. I love hanging out with them, joking with them and talking with them. I love seeing them grow and grab hold of who Christ is and how much he loves them. I love seeing things click in their minds. I love seeing them come alive. And I love sharing this with Shelli. I love that we do this ministry together. It is a simple joy, but it always makes me happy to talk about it with her afterwards and share everything.

The last couple weeks have also been riddled with the downsides of frustrating work and even more frustrating illness. I have been sick with a cold for far too long now and Shelli has been plagued be the ever nagging headaches, which have been challenging as of late. But again on the brightside, we got to watch Tyler for Adrienne and Travis, and although Travis showed up to pick him up way ahead of schedule, Shelli and I had a great time hanging out with our nephew. We felt like a little family rolling along with a stroller, and we had to clarify to everyone our status as Aunt and Uncle, not Mom and Dad.

So, I am sure there are things I missed, but that should be a sufficient update for now. Sorry for the long delay between posts, it has been crazy on all fronts.