Flight of the Concords and U.S. Volleyball!!

So, you've probably heard of these guys. Some of their songs are hilarious. Go to http://www.youtube.com/ and look up our favorites: Business time, Think about it, Tape of Love, and Brett You've Got It Going On. They're hilarious!


Also- CONGRATS U.S. Men's Volleyball!!! Maybe it's because there's 2 BYU grads on the team. Maybe it's because one was still playing at BYU when we were there. Maybe it's because one of their names is Lambourne (very cool to see your last name on an Olympic jersey!). Maybe it's because we love to watch it. Either way, we've been following the volleyball this Olympics and are STOKED that U.S. Men's Volleyball won GOLD!!!! I confess, they were in my prayers. (side note- U.S. rocked volleyball this Olympics- no small feat considering Brazil, the #1 ranked teams in the world, was also in 3 of the 4 final matches. U.S. Women's won silver, and both U.S. men's beach volleyball and U.S. women's beach volleyball won gold!!!)

Fasting

Hey, everyone! A month or so ago we had a family fast for Rod's work that I just wanted you to all know the outcome of. So the Wednesday previous Rod had a talk with his boss- trying to explain the overwhelming nature of his job. They've had this talk before to no avail, but Rod felt his boss "got it" more this time. On Sunday many of you fasted with Rod about his job. On Monday, his boss redistributed Rod's heavy job load among some of the other project managers, thus significanting reducing his workload. He can now sleep at night, not be stressed out all day, and is even finding time to work out! It's been a night and day change, and we are so grateful for all your fasting, faith and prayers on his behalf. We just wanted you all to know the outcome of that fast, and how our testimonies and faith have been strengthened as a result. We are so grateful for your support!

baby bump

I wanted to show everyone my baby bump!

Camping this Weekend

We went camping this weekend to Mt. Charleston, about 40 minutes from us. It's a great break from the summer heat, and the girls love just roaming outside and playing. They were excited beyond belief to sleep in their sleeping bags in the tent! It was really fun. We even made peach cobbler in our dutch oven!!

Caitlin contemplating why they heck we live in the desert when if we lived in a cooler place she could play outside like this all the time...Caitlin...I don't have an answer for you!!

Putting rocks in a cup...what else does a girl want??


Hanging in the hammock with dad!!

Myrtle Beach

We also went to Myrtle Beach, SC. While we were there we went to Ripley's Aquarium, the Beach, and Alligator Adventure. Alligator Adventure was really cool - it's a 15 acre swamp land with over 1000 alligators. They're not really in cages either, just in a semi-natural habitat. Super cool!

Savannah, GA

I LOVE SAVANNAH! This place was soooo beautiful!! The architecture and landscaping and history were awesome!!! I'm just going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

Rutledge Mansion/Plantation

On our way down to Savannah, Georgia we also went down some side street and found a beautiful plantation home from the 1730's that used to belong to the Rutledge family. Obviously they were super duper rich. The plantation was on 247 acres and grew rice and indigo.

We didn't get to stay very long because Lynnea did not cooperate, but we walked through the downstairs portion.

OyuTunji

Hey Everyone! As promised, here are some pictures from my trip down south. Adam and Lynnea and I had a great time.

First we drove pretty much straight down to Charleston, SC. On the way there we saw this African village sign so we turned in and found a group a Africans living in the woods of SC. I thought Adam was crazy for wanting to go in, but he really did so we did. It was kinda neat - Adam said it was a lot like his mission.

The village had a king and temples for their gods and everything. They said they are Nigerian.

This is the entrance to their village. The weirdest thing was that all along the highways down all you see are trees - thick bush. Adam and I kept talking about how there were probably all sorts of crazy things back in there. We found one!

These are the huts some of them stay in. Others are in wooden shacks.

They had lots of temples built for their gods. This one is for their god of water.

They also had a school system where they said they teach reading, math, culture, and their language.

Our tour guide played the drums for us. He was ok...