California Living.

Hey everyone, we have now been in California for a little over a month now. So far it has been great. My job is going really well, and all the managers and higher up's have stated that I will be staying on once my internship is done doing estimating work for them. This is really great. A nice pay raise, benefits and everything else that comes with working full-time. Well, we don't have too many pictures of the area yet. Everytime we go out we forget to take our camera. A few weeks ago we took a trip into San Francisco, but our battery died as soon as we got into the city. We do have one picture though, of Sarah's pregnant belly. She is now 25 weeks along, and she can't wait for it to be over with.

Sarah at 24 weeks.

James Got His Call!!

James (my brother) just got his mission call on Friday! Jeff and I listened intently via speaker phone as James opened his call... to serve in the Missouri, Independence mission! Wow! What a historical and special place to serve! He reports to the Provo MTC on July 29, 2009 - exactly 2 months from the day that he received his call.

Congratulations, James! You will be such an amazing missionary!

IT'S A BOY!!!!!

In case some of you haven't heard yet, we are expecting a little boy on September 18th. We kept it from everyone for awhile until we could tell both families at the same time. We had planned on telling them at the graduation dinner but we were concerned that they were catching on, so we decided to have a pizza/movie night where we would tell them. We made a DVD out of the ultra sound video and superimposed in the beginning a "warning, do not copy" from a real movie. It took several minutes for them to catch on, but they eventually did, and both moms went berserk. It was great to see their reactions. We are very excited for it! Soon to come are some ultra sound pictures.

BYU Graduation!!!!!

Hey, we finally made it, graduation day. And how sweet it was. It was also very long. On Thursday we had Commencement where all graduates attend. It started at 4 p.m., but we had to be there by three to line up for the processional. What a great experience, and we got to hear from Elder Nelson and President Urchtdorf. The next day Sarah had her graduation at 8 a.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. Mine was at 2 p.m. at the Marriott Center. After that long day we were ready for a break and just relaxed the rest of the night. Sarah's parents had to leave right away to get Diane back for prom, but my parents were able to be around for the next few days which was nice. We are glad to be done, and are excited for our new life in the San Francisco Bay Area where I will be working for a great company.

Outside Lavell Edwards stadium on the cougar.

Out in front of the main entrance to campus.

Right after commencement.

After Sarah's graduation with her beautiful flowers.

With President and Sister Samuelson. We were the 2nd to last group to be able to get a picture with them.

Both of our families after graduation.

General Conference

For general conference Sarah and I were able to take my mom to her first general conference in Utah. It was a great experience to be there for the Sunday morning session.

All three of us just after the session got out.

Sarah and my mom just waiting for it to start.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir during "Music and the Spoken Word".

A group of missionaries singing outside the conference center.

The Salt Lake Temple. It turned out to be a beautiful day.

My trip to California...

I went to California at the end of March and beginning of April for an event called Student Career Days, where 60+ schools converge at one campus for a few days of competitions, workshops and a career fair with over 60 employees all in the green industry. I made several contacts with some of the companies and I have a few choices for jobs when I graduate. After the events were over we spent the next few days just touring and relaxing in sunny, warm California. I felt bad though, as the whole week I was down there Sarah told me it snowed practically everyday in Provo.

This is the closing ceremonies at the event. BYU took 4th overall out of 60 schools. We were hoping for better as last year we took 2nd.

The Reddings Temple

All of us in front of the Reddings Temple, we came here after church.

It's a beautiful temple.

This is at Huntington Gardens in Pasadena. Those are some mighty big bamboo sticks.

A lot of cacti. The desert garden was really nice.

A long row of bonzi trees.

This part of the Chinese garden.

Sunny day at the beach.

Called the "Springs Reserves Gardens" in Vegas. That is one big cactus.

Searching for a job...

I can tell you this much people, searching for a job, especially within my speciality and in this economy, is downright painful. I'm hoping within a month to be able to post that I have found work and we will be looking forward to moving. It's really depressing when you contact company after company and they are no longer hiring. Wish us luck and pray for us.
-jeff-