August 13, 2002

Last night I gave Sean a call to say hello and let him know how everything was going; and, surprise, surprise, he and Jessica were in San Diego! They are down there on vacation. So today we drove down to see them. We got there in the afternoon and hung out in their hotel room until the got back from the zoo. It was great to see them and what luck that we got a hold of them when we did. Today is the only day we would have been able to see them and it worked out great. Brent and Colleen Donovan were on  vacation with them. Brent also served in the South Dakota Rapid City Mission with Sean and I. 

The greatest thing about the future is who I will spend it with. Faye is the inspiration of my life, she gives me the reason to dream big and work hard. I love her so much. Only God in Heaven, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost have had a greater impact on my life. I'm sure that will always be the case. Life with Faye is life to its fullest, and the future with her is the brightest future. 

August 11, 2002

We went to church today at the University Ward and found a home there. It was great. We both felt really comfortable and everyone was so nice to us. I'm glad we found it. This evening we went over to dinner at Wayne and Melinda Barton's apartment. They are from the University Ward. It was so nice of them to invite us over. We had a really good time. 

August 4, 2002

We went to  church this morning to the College Ward, next week we'll go to the University Ward. Since we go to neither of those schools but are students we get to pick. We could also go to the Lakeside Ward, which is the ward we live in but we've decided to attend one of the student ward to be able to make more friends and be around more people who are in a similar situation to ours. The bishop's wife invited us over for dinner tonight. The missionaries were there and also another couple from the ward. The bishop's wife is really nice. So in the bishop, but she is especially.

August 3, 2002

We got a letter from my mom today. She talked about priorities and putting the Lord first. That reminded me that when school starts I hope I always get up 15 minutes early to make time to pray and read the scriptures. I know if I do that I will be better prepared to face the demands of law school. In fact, setting a goal to read and pray each morning will probably help me as much with school as any school related goal because I know that when I put the Lord first he will bless me with the enlarged abilities I need to succeed in law school. That is my goal, to pray each morning, and to read the scriptures for 15 minutes or so each morning before I do anything else. That will help me succeed as much as anything I could do. I know the Lord will bless me if I seek Him, and I need His blessings as much as ever, and I want to be near him.

July 28, 2002

Yesterday morning a little after 6:00am Faye and I rolled out of Phoenix. Faye drove the Honda and I followed her in the moving truck. The ride went really good. Doug slept much of the time and didn’t fuss much at all. Driving into L.A. was great. It was so neat to be driving into the city we will live in with all our stuff on our backs (so to speak).  I loved driving through downtown on the 101. I can’t wait to go downtown and explore. In the daytime of course. The temperature was perfect. We got off the 101 at Highland and it was just beautiful, I was smiling just feeling lucky that I get to live in such a place.  

We made it to our apartment about 1:15pm and promptly signed our lease and got keys and stuff. Our help from the College ward was supposed to show up at two so we got started unloading and waited for our help. It was quite a trip to our apartment from the truck. We had to go from the street, down into the garage, onto the elevator, up two flights, down a short hallway, turn right, down a long hallway (I’m guessing 30 or 40 yards) that inconveniently had 6 steps in the middle of it, and finally to our door, the farthest possible apartment in the building from the elevator. 

It would not ave been so bad except no one ever showed up to help. What would have been a two or three hour job turned into nine. There comes a point when the body is being pushed to to its physical limits that the brain stops telling you how exhausted you are by essentially shutting down all capacity except what is needed for the task at hand. That happened to me at about 5:00pm. By that point I was completely exhausted and felt like my brain was oatmeal because if I had any more function I probably would have gone crazy because of the absurdity of it all. Where was Doug you ask? On my back in the carrier. So here I am, with a baby tied to my back, pulling furniture off a moving truck and making the trek to the apartment. The best part was the stairs. Dollys and stairs and heavy furniture is simply comedic. Hours would pass and we crawled along. 

We must have seen everybody who lives in this building at one time or another and had plenty of sympathizers but no offers to help. I take that back, one girl, I think her name was Kate, carried the iron for me from the elevator to the apartment. And that was all the help we got. Every last item we own was dragged into our apartment by Faye and I. There were times when my brain decided to function just enough to burst out in exhausted involuntary laughter. 

Just when we had it all about done, just a few odds and ends left in the truck, Faye dropped a dinner tray and smashed her toe.  It hurt her really bad, I didn’t mean to laugh, but that’s all my brain would let me do. 

When we finally got done in the dark of the Hollywood night we of course could not return the truck so we found a fairly inconspicuous spot a little higher up in the hills to park the truck until this morning. The whole time we were unloading the truck was illegally parked, but no one seemed to mind except one lady who the truck didn’t really inconvenience that much. 

Anyway, we collapsed into bed about 11:15pm and didn’t want to move a muscle so I didn’t write in this journal last night. Actually, I didn’t even realize I didn’t write until this morning. But, of course when we wanted nothing more in the world to fall asleep Doug wanted nothing more in the world to crawl all over us. And since we didn’t have his crib set up he got to, until Faye got fed up and put him screaming in his car seat and strapped him in. And that was the last thing I remembered until this morning when I awoke to sore muscles, especially my forearms and back, and a sea of boxes and misplaced stuff. So today we got some well deserved rest and after a late morning nap we got to work setting our place in order. And now we are going to bed again. 

I forgot to mention that I tried calling the guy from the College ward and left a message for him. He finally called back around 10:00pm, but by then we were just about done and I wasn’t in much of a mood and didn’t have the mental capacity to talk. Just as we were falling into bed, there was a knock on the door and it was him. He wanted to come and apologize. Again, I wasn’t in much of a mood, and didn’t have much mental capacity to talk. But I guess in some weird way it was nice that he came over. Also, the first thing this morning we took back the truck, after than was our mid morning nap. I think that’s about it, except for the gay people and prostitutes, but I won’t get into that.

July 26, 2002

Here it is! Our last night in Arizona. There was a beautiful sunset this evening. I’m excited to move. I can’t wait to get settled in.

July 25, 2002

We picked up the moving truck today and I spent a few hours this afternoon loading it up. I got quite a bit done; I took my time and tried to pack it tight. It was very hot as is typical for July around here, it was also fairly humid. I drank a lot of water and sweat a lot. I’m so excited about moving. One more day of the desert then California here we come! I’m so glad. In the future we may look back on this move as the most important we ever made. It is changing the nature of my career, where our family will be raised, and we will be in a city where we don’t have any relatives. This move will change just about everything for us except us. Thankfully, we will be the same.  Or, if it does change us, I’m sure it will change us in good ways.

July 24, 2002

It was 155 years ago that the Saints entered the Salt Lake Valley and Brigham Young declared, “This is the right place.”  Only the hand of God could have guided the Saints on such an exodus and He still guides the Saints today.  How lucky I am to live in such a blessed day and age!

July 23, 2002

We spent the day in Tucson. It’s nice knowing we have lots of reasons to come back to Tucson so I don’t feel too sad about saying goodbye to all the things I like about it. We spent the evening with my family. It was nice to spend some time there just hanging out like usual. Home is a place where just being there is great, without even anything exciting going on. It’s just nice because it’s home and family is there. We said our goodbye’s to everybody then headed out. Faye and I talked on the drive about our feelings about our move to Los Angeles. Of course, we each have our own anxieties about life in a place we’ve never lived but my anxieties are mainly about school and not having as much time with Faye as I want while Faye’s anxieties are about trying to get adjusted into a new big city largely by herself with Doug in tow. It’ll be a big move but I know we’ll do just fine, and before we know it LA will be home.

July 21, 2002

I should already be asleep, it’s pretty late. But I wanted to make sure I wrote. I wrote a letter to Neal today. He’s in Bluewater, Virginia. I asked him all sorts of questions about serving a mission. Hopefully he will answer some of them. He is a wonderful brother. He is one of my favorite people to be around. He is so easy going and fun. I wish I could be a missionary with him. Underneath his over-the-top, crazy sense of humor is someone more serious than you might think at first. I miss him. I know the two years will go by quickly for him. I’m just afraid it will seem like an eternity for me.