Mammoth Trip

Hi family! =)

Jason and I spent Labor Day weekend camping in Mammoth with his Dad's side of the family. It was quite an adventure! When Jason told me his family was a having a reunion in Mammoth, I excitedly responded, "I've never been there!" Funnily enough, the six hour drive looked very familiar, and by the time we got to the town at the base of the Sierras (Bishop) where we turned off the highway, I was showing Jason the Sizzler that my Grandpa Harrison had taken me to twice so we could binge after a week back-packing through the mountains. While I had actually been to the area, I'd never explored the town Mammoth, so Jason gave me the tour of the town and I showed him the trail-head off the Twin Lakes where my previous back-packing trips had begun. Also an interesting discovery was the fact the air mattress we'd found in the garage (left by a previous roommate; "Let's bring it!") is only twin size. So Jason and I were pretty cozy all weekend (between the knees and elbows). Oops! Jason caught the most fish this year (a fluke, really, but now he has bragging rights for a year so he's super excited) and I cast half my pole into the lake. I did get better from there though! I also learned to play horseshoes and Boinko Ball (which I won once). The day before we came home we also went on a hike in an attempt to hit a peak and FAR surpassed it (purely by accident), but the view was breathtaking (as was the 5 hour hike ;-) so this trip was definitely a success!

Back to the norm, I'm in four classes and working almost full-time at work every week so it's busy. I am sorry to report that my garden has missed a few waterings as it hasn't been the highest priority. Jason's thrilled that the football season has officially started and watches many of the games because his Fantasy Football players are in them. He's also a great cook and has been experimenting with salsa recipes, which is fun for the whole house. I appreciate all the cleaning and cooking he does between his work so that I can stay on top of school.

Lastly, I'm SO excited for Kaylie & LJ. =D I am happy ta say that my wonderful managers are letting me take the week before Thanksgiving to come to UT (provided I'm back the Sunday before Thanksgiving) so me and Jason will be able to attend the wedding. I'm thinking we'll drive up the Tuesday of that week... more updates to come.

Congrats to Nate as well! I hope you'll enjoy the weather her in CA. We do. =)

Love,
Jason and Brittany

I think I'm pretty late in posting...

Hey family.

Wow, what a month.

My head seems to be in a perpetual spin motion, barely hanging on to the nape of my neck. Which I guess is probably how everyone feels upon becoming engaged/making big life decisions such as that.

Between Lj getting home, the engagement, wedding planning, school starting, and BEING ENGAGED (which sucks, by the way...) life has just been one big tornado. Not to worry, though, it has been a tornado chock-full of warm-fuzzies. Life is great, regardless of the business of it.

Sooooo, BYU vs. Oklahoma game. I know Zach was longing to be a cougar that night. After the game, Provo pretty much went up in flames. I've never seen Mormon kids party so hard in my life. It was absolutely riotous here. We drove around hanging out of the car windows and sun roof just yelling for probably about a half-hour; and even though there were far too many people smashed into our vehicle, we weren't worried about getting pulled over because all the provo cops were doing crowd control elsewhere. (Like the stadium where, I swear, half of Provo gathered to sing the fight song, mosh, and wait for the team to get in.) Outside of my apartment (The Riv on University and University) there were kids running around shirtless in the streets for hours. It was fantastic. Not that they were shirtless. But yeah.

Lj dislocated his clavicle and tore some ligaments in his shoulder playing football a few days ago. He keeps telling me it was karma's doing, because of his incessant mockery towards Bradford after his injury in the game. Hm.

School is... Urg. It's actually really good-- however, my drive is almost completely lost to do homework. Between work, school, and fiance-- I barely have two minutes to check my facebook at the end of the week. But seriously.

The wedding plans are coming right along-- but that is only thanks to all the people helping me out. (Specifically, my mother.) I bought my dress. I picked it out back in April. And it's awesome.

Nate got his mission call, which is INSANE. I can hardly believe that he's already leaving. I'm so proud of him, though. I am, however, really sad that he'll have to miss the wedding. I guess we'll just have to have two of those sweet, life-size cardboard cutouts. (One for Nate, and one for Lj's brother Trey.)

Basically, life is great, and I'm really, truly happy.

I love you all!

Update from the National Champ :-)

Hey Family,
August was a super busy month for me. I am working full time on my research for school. Unfortunately my nano-particles are not cooperating. Oh well. I spend about 8-9 hours in the lab. It has it's good moments and bad, but mostly they are good. I am also starting my routines/practice for the touring team for ballroom again. 3 weeks of lots rehearsals and 9 dances to remember give my old body a pretty good workout. We have National Championships Labor day weekend in Irvine, CA.
Things are going pretty well and I'm glad we have drugs like ibuprofen. School is starting as well. I have only one class, Chem 729R - Surface Chemistry and Analysis. After that, my course work will be pretty much done except for one writing class. I'm hoping my stuff will cooperate sooner rather than later. It will be cool to have so many family members in Provo. Anyone else wanna join?Jared

Note from Libby

Hi--I'm trying to remember to do this, but am obviously not very successful (nothing new about that, is there?)!Do I write a letter and then post it here, or do I just write here, or ??? This is MUCH harder to remember to do...too bad the old days and old ways are past us now. I miss getting letters written by hand and checking the mailbox to find things besides junkmail and/or bills....CONGRATS to Nate, and of course to Kaylie and LJ. (The poor guy looked relatively stunned to have so many 'new' Hancock's to remember when we were 'all' at Nate/Zach's ordinations...and that wasn't even everyone!)Have a good rest-of-September...maybe there'll be time to say "real news" in October? How 'bout Christmas break???Libby

Life Really Seems to be Changing by Steve

It is amazing how much can seem to change in a month. The changes haven't come yet, but now those moments we have prayed for and wondered about are not too far away. Lynette and I were thinking the other day that by the end of this year Kelsey will be the oldest one at home. That is a very strange feeling having three kids leave the house in a matter of months. But we couldn't be happier about how it is happening.

So everyone knows now that Kaylie is engaged and Nate got his mission call to Santa Rosa, CA. He is truly excited the leave. The only thing that puts a damper on it is that it is 3 days before Kaylie and LJ's wedding. I just keep telling myself that the Lord could have easily had him leave a week later, so we will enjoy it.

Quite a bit has already been done for the wedding. (Of course I am measuring this by amount of money going out. So maybe it really isn't a lot if we were to measure it time wise. But a lot of the important decisions have been made.) Kaylie has her dress now. We have a place for the reception and wedding dreamers on board. We have all been able to see Kaylie's dress, except LJ of course. Well, Kelsey hasn't seen it yet, as she so tactifully reminds Kaylie when Kaylie wants to see Kelsey's homecoming dress.

Nate is now working full time getting ready for his mission. He has really taken seriously and is putting a lot of effort into it. He will be speaking in church on the 15th of November, his birthday. Those of you that will be around, we would love to have you.

Zach is now up at our Alma Mater. He has been in school about 3 weeks and already has had a lot of different experiences. Some good and some bad. So far he has been home every weekend. We get to see him when he isn't with his girlfriend Jessica. :-) He probably won't be coming home again for another couple of weeks this time though.

Kelsey is still enjoying soccer. Their team started the season slow but has come on really strong. They are first in their region and we hope that they continue on that way. Kelsey was asked to homecoming, so we are excited about that. Zach's girlfriend is still in high school, so he will be going to that as well. We are absolutely certain Lehi will not win the football game, but everything else should be fun.

Anna has started into volleyball season. She is on the sophmore team, so she has to go from Willow Creek middle school right to the high school each day for practice. Luckily there are some other girls that are making that trip as well. In the first game I watched I was really impressed with how much she has improved. She plays most the games for them.

Tyson, Brianna and Max all have a brand new school this year. It is close enough that they get to walk or ride bikes to school. No more buses.

Tyson and Max are both playing soccer now. Tyson's team is doing really well. They haven't lost yet in the regular season. Max is glad he now gets to play with a keeper. It is his dream to be a keeper and he does a great job at it. He also plays well in the mid-field so we will see what he settles with.

Brianna spends most her free time with friends, but is also buckling down and practicing her piano. We are hoping to have another pianist in the family.

Well I think I have written enough. Hopefully enough to bring everyone up to date. We hope everyone is doing well.

Love from the Lehi Hancocks.