Amy, Isaac, Lauren and I flew out with Amy's dad in his new plane (Piper Malibu, six-seater) to Houston and from there caught a commercial flight the next day to Phoenix.
Mom's wedding-
Our first intentions were to be in Phoenix for my mom's wedding. But just before we were to leave, the wedding was postponed. At mom's encouragement, we decided to go anyway just for a week's vacation. Then just after we arrived, it somehow became back on for the original time, which was quite a blessing. I don't think my unit would have allowed me to go out again just two weeks after returning from the first trip. So we were able to attend after all.
My mom, Jana Lofgreen Allred was married to Dale Porter. I can't tell you too much about my new step dad except that he seems a very stalwart man, dedicated, and a good guy. He's the great uncle of my best friend Brandon Porter. He does cabinets for a living and he's mostly retired. He and my mom plan to live in Orem, UT for six months out of the year and in Mesa, AZ for the other six months. I hear they plan to go on a few missions as well.
Speedminton-
I was introduced to a cool new game that's picking up popularity these days. It's called Speedminton. It's similar to badminton except that it's not played with a net. Rather you set up two squares about ten feet squared in the grass and stand in it trying to hit the birdie into the opponent's square. He hits it back trying to get it to land in your square. You score points accordingly. It's really fun, but requires a lot of lawn area. If interested, I recommend looking it up online. Check out this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AwcmCOLgz0.
