Dear Sammy,
Exciting times! Can't wait to hear about your trip to Piura and your first "real" area assignment/companion, etc. Actually, I guess we have no choice but to wait :-) And even though you may not get a chance to read this email tomorrow, I'll drop you a note just in case ...
At work, I'm still enjoying the "high" of being victorious in my special education hearing. I went out to lunch with the associate who helped with the trial (and then left the firm to go clerk for a judge before the briefing was due). She was excited to learn about the favorable result, and the client is very pleased.
One of my partners sent an email to everyone in the firm about the successful ruling, and I received a lot of congratulatory emails, etc. It's been fun.
Also, Grandma wanted to take your Mom and me out to a celebratory dinner, so we went to the Outback Steakhouse on Friday. We had a nice dinner and enjoyed some good conversation.
Amber's play (Robin Hood) was this week, and we went on Thursday. Doris came with us, and Grandma came as well. Amber played the role of Kasper (one of the Prince's guard, who has the arrow shooting contest with Robin Hood). As usual, Amber did a fantastic job. She is very animated and expressive on stage. Sis. Beecroft came as well and brought Rachel Kingsford along. Afterwards, Grandma treated us to DQ, where we saw Maddie Brown (again :-).
On Saturday, I got up early and took a 31 mi. bike ride up through Las Sendas and some surrounding areas. The route was a familiar one, generally, but I explored a couple of new areas on my way home to make things a bit more interesting. The morning weather was beautiful. The only downside was that Mom was not able to go with me, as she was over at the Riparian, leading the YW in the orienteering course as part of Girls Camp certification.
We made up for the time apart by going on what ended up being a "date hike" on South Mountain (we invited the kids to go, but they weren't interested). It was probably a good thing they didn't all come, as the hike turned out to be a bit more strenuous than I had anticipated. It was a new trail for me, called the Guadalupe Ridge. It starts at the eastern end of South Mountain and follows the ridgeline for four miles until it finally dead-ends into the National Trail (which extends the full length of the mountain range). The ridge was neat because from that vantage point, you could see all of the surrounding areas both to the north (i.e., downtown Phx, Camelback, Piestewa Peak) as well as to the South (Ahwatukee, etc.) and everything out east (Supersitions, etc.). So, the views were great, though it was a bit hazy.
The ridge is not an official trail, and there were quite a few spots where we had to guess/explore and scramble up/down rocks to figure out where to go next. That, along with the warm temps and exposed nature of hiking along a ridge, made it more tiresome than we had planned. We did, however, find a cool rock formation with a sheltered, cave-like area that was kind of fun to explore and take rest in the shade.
Just before we reached the junction with the National Trail, we climbed to the high point in the hike and enjoyed essentially a 360 degree view, which was very cool.
Instead of returning on the ridgeline, we took the National Trail back, including a shortcut through Hidden Valley. We went through Fatman's Pass and the rock tunnel on the other end. By the time we were done, we had hiked nearly 9 miles and were pretty pooped, but in a good, satisfying way :-)
It was dinner time by the time we got home, so we stopped by Little Caesars and got pizza for dinner. I did a little shopping that night for some essentials and picked up some mint chocolate chip ice cream and swiss rolls for a treat. I figured we earned it!
In other news, Amber spoke in church about the family. It is my month to arrange for speakers for sacrament meeting, and I had had trouble finding a willing YW, so Amber, bless her heart, stepped up to the plate and filled in the gap at the last minute. She talked about the Proclamation on the Family, FTSOY, quoted 1 Ne. 1:1, and shared about how some of our crazy family traditions help bond us together ("sure do love ya .... big hugs" after prayers, and our scripture alarm clock). I was grateful for her willingness to step up and help me in a pinch. I guess that's one of the consequences of being a child of a bishopric member ...
Richard also went hiking on Saturday, taking Amy and her friend up Flatiron. They came across a huge rattlesnake, which he sent me a picture of. Pretty crazy. I still have yet to come across a snake while on a hike ..., which is okay by Mom :-)
Kathy and Julie are planning a trip to Southeast Asia this summer, including a few days in Singapore with John and his family. So fun. Also, Kathy's roommate is getting married, so she is now looking again for a new living situation.
The weather continues to be unseasonably warm around here, but unseasonably cold throughout the rest of the country. Kind of weird. The mornings and evenings right now are fabulous, though it won't be long before the real heat wave begins.
Your missionary plaque came in. It looks great (how could it not, right?)!
I'm probably forgetting to tell you about some events of the week, but hopefully Mom will fill in the gaps and straighten out any errors ;-).
I need to sign off so I can take Amber over to the Y for a quick evening workout.
We are excited to hear from you, as always. We love you and pray for you multiple times a day. Proud of all that you are doing. Keep working hard, and good luck as you enter the "real" mission field! You'll do great!!!
Love you,
Dad
No comments:
Post a Comment