Well, I’ve been jobless for about a month now (technically longer if you count the 3 weeks of paid leave they gave me) and I have to say, its driving me nuts. I suppose it would be fun to be jobless as long as you were independently wealthy so you could do something with your free time, but when your whole existence revolves around looking for a new job, it gets old quick. It has been nice spending more time with my kids, but I think my wife is ready for me to go back to work (as am I). So until then, I’ll just keep looking and I suppose maybe I’ll follow the twins example and just DANCE!!!

This years deer hunt got started a little crazy due to scheduling issues, but we all had a great time and both Stephen and I got our deer. Stephen shot his at about 290 yards about 10 minutes after we left the trucks Saturday morning and I got mine at around 240 yards late Sunday afternoon. The bonus to this was that we didn’t have to worry about hunting on Monday, the downside was that I ended up cleaning and hauling it in the pitch black Saturday night. There was no moon out either so when I say pitch black, you can take it literally. In the downtime though we found time to shoot some clay pigeons and to ride Tony’s horse around camp. All in all it was a successful hunt though and as usual, we had lots of fun.

With the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple recently completed and the fact that our stake is part of the new temple district, it means that we’ve had the opportunity to provide service for the temple open house. There’s lots of different assignments available, but a couple weeks ago I got the opportunity to do security. This mostly consisted of just standing around and making sure nothing “went down”, but it was a unique opportunity to stroll around the temple grounds after dark by myself. I had the 7pm – 11pm shift so I was there for the last hour of public tours and then for a couple hours after that.

While the temple was open I got to stand just outside the front doors near the fountain and watch all the people go by as they started their tour. After they were done with the tour, they’d all tend to come and stand around the fountain and take pictures so it got a little busy, but I just stood around and smiled to everyone as they passed. As I was standing near the fountain I looked up several times to gaze at the temple and on one of these occasions I actually saw a dove lift off from the south side of the spire, fly a complete circuit of the temple grounds and then land back atop the north side of the spire. My immediate thought was “no way that just happened…” and I spent the next 10 minutes trying to spot it again, but it had apparently either nested down or flew off in another direction. Either way it was pretty cool though.

After the public was ushered off the temple grounds, I got to walk around for another couple hours and just keep an eye on the place. I walked around the open house tents and spent a lot of time just looking towards the temple as the lights began to come on and bathe it in a soft white glow. It seems crazy how most of the time we go to the temple it’s always a rush to get there on time and then you have to rush home to get the kids and that’s when you even find the time to go. So it was a unique treat to be able to just stroll around the temple grounds and enjoy the spirit (and I even snapped a couple cruddy pictures with my phone). I’m sure I won’t have that chance again anytime soon (if ever), but I’m glad I got the opportunity to serve.

This week I got the opportunity to head down to California with my Dad and brothers to go scuba diving. We’d been planning this trip for quite a while, but due to people constantly bailing out, we weren’t sure we were going to get to go until about 2 weeks ago. Luckily, we were still able to make it work.

On Wednesday morning we got up and on the road by 8am and drove straight through to Long Beach harbor with only a couple gas stops. After arriving at the harbor and putting all our dive gear on the boat, we drove into town and got some dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp house. After some fine seafood we went back and bunked down on the boat. The next morning the crew got the boat up and running around 4:30am while the rest of us were still sleeping. I finally woke up about 8 while we were headed across the channel to Catalina Island. After grabbing some pancakes in the galley, the captain shouted out to inform us that a pod of Dolphins was swimming along the bow of the boat. It was a good start to the day.

After arriving at our first dive location we all started getting our gear on. The fog that had rolled in the night before was still laying low on the island and the captain pulled out his bagpipes to play for us as we got in the water for the first time of the day. With the fog and the bagpipes, it was a little like diving off the shore of Scotland, but lots warmer. We made 4 dives that day at Ship rock and Two Harbors. The last dive of the day was by far the best as we got to dive through a cool kelp forest just outside of Two Harbors. We saw lots of starfish, sea urchins and sea cucumbers and we even found a random shark egg drifting along the rocks on the bottom. There were tons off cool overhangs and walls to explore and the visibility and colors were great. My Dad’s neighbor even caught a small octopus and brought it up to the boat. After diving that evening, we ferried onto the beach and had steak cook out on the beach.

Friday morning we got another early start and made 3 dives at Rock Quarry and Whale Rock. Again, the last dive of the day was the best and we saw multiple Spanish Dancers and even a horned shark. There were some great wall dives and we explored lots of cool terrain. Although diving through the kelp is one of my favorite things. I love the surreal feeling as the kelp sways back and forth around you. It’s like flying through a quiet forest, except the whole forest seems to move around you. It’s hard to describe unless you’ve experienced it, but it’s a cool experience.

After finishing up our dives we cruised back to the harbor at Long Beach and we all hopped in our cars and started the long drive home. We were all tired and sore and a little sunburnt so a long drive was the last thing any of us wanted to do, but we made it as far as Mesquite before crashing at a family friends vacation home. We slept late and after getting a big breakfast at the Casa Blanca casino, we finished up the drive home. It was a quick trip with lots of road time, but the diving was great and it’s always fun to get away now and then. We didn’t get any underwater pictures this trip, but check below for the pictures and videos we did take…

And here’s some video of the dolphins…

And here’s Captain Greg and his bagpipes…

So there I was just watching tv minding my own business when all the sudden there comes a knock at the door. I went to see who it was and it turned out to be Emily’s folks. We weren’t expecting them, but they often stop by to visit so I wasn’t really wondering why they had were here. Then Paul pulled a box out from behind his back and said Happy Birthday. To be honest, I had kinda forgot that my birthday is tomorrow, but now I have a whole new reason to be excited…

If you’re thinking “hey, that looks like an X-Wing Fighter Kite.” then you’re exactly correct. Now I just need a clear windy day to take it to the park and see if it really flies. You ready up there R2?