Base Camp to Adventure

One weekend I had the opportunity to go to Blanding, UT with my grandparents. Blanding is where my Ponkey (dad's dad) was born and raised. Blanding is a small town in Southern Utah, recently claimed to be the base camp to adventure. These first two pictures are at the Edge of the Cedars Anasazi Museum and State Park. The ladder goes down to what I think must have been a kitchen. Grandpa warned me that the indians might get me if I went down the ladder. I believed him, but I went down anyway. It was pretty dark, but it was just a small room with what I thought was a fire pit and a vent.

They took me on the scenic byway that goes through Natural Bridges, Goosenecks, Hovenweep (Indian ruins), Twin Rocks, Muley Point, etc




This jail is in Bluff. I liked what it said "Dedicated to Justice Obedience to Law Means Freedom"






I thought this little volcanic spurt was pretty neat.

This is the house grandpa was born and raised in. While we were in town we saw the first bank of Blanding, which is now an ice cream shop. My great grandpa was the first banker in town. I had such a great time traveling with my grandparents. It was fun to see the country that my grandpa grew up in. We also stopped to visit with his two sisters. It was fun to see them interact together. It was a great get away before Lance and I had to start packing all of our stuff and get ready to move to Cali.

Enjoying Natural Bridges National Monument.

Hidden Treasure

We finally found it! This is the cave we were looking for in the Fall, but there was snow all over the ground. We all had a very triumphant feeling when we found the cave.

The cave's opening was kinda small, but once you got inside it opened up. There was some water on the cave floor so here are a few pictures of us trying to keep our feet dry.

Here is the treasure we found! There were all kinds of fun things inside, a my little pony, a horn, ear plugs, a YW book, etc. Unfortunately we forgot to bring anything to add to the treasure chest.

Elephants

So my new project is (was) making stuffed elephants. Thanks to my mom I actually finished them. This was one of our projects over the week I was in Viriginia. We gave one to Heather's boy and one to Natalie's boy. Here are the cute kids with their new (and favorite I assume) stuffed animals. ;) What handsome boys!

A Visit Back East

The week before Easter I went to Great Falls, VA to visit my family. They moved back to Virginia in September of last year and this was my first time to go out and see their new place. They live in a beautiful area. We had a lot of fun visiting. One of the first nights in town we went to a Nationals game. We headed downtown to see all the cherry blossoms first. We had a nice walk down to Hains Point to see the Awakening and cherry blossoms planted on both sides of the point. The Awakening was one of my favorite places to go as a kid, but I remember the sculpture being a lot bigger back then. Although the Nationals played a horrible game that night we still had a lot of fun. We got these Nationals hats for $4 outside the stadium. Here we are at the World War II memorial sporting our new hats. Unfortunately this picture doesn't represent how beautiful this memorial is at night. This was the first time I had seen this long overdue memorial. If you ever get a chance to go see it make sure you read all the quotes. It was really interesting to look up grandpa redd and his brothers on a computer that tells you about many of those that served in the war.

We also had a chance to go hiking at Harpers Ferry. We had a great time. One of the highlights was seeing a large turtle playing around in the water. It has been so long since I've been to Virginia I forgot how many history lessons you can find all around you. Even on a hike in the middle of the forest you can find a plaque about General Lee or some other general in the civil war.

This picture of some deformed animal has a funny story behind it. This sculpture was sitting on one of the book cases next to some art work by Trevor. I thought to myself man that is probably the ugliest thing Trevor has ever made. (Trevor is a great artist so I was suprised this was his work.) I picked it up to examine the hideous creature and found my own initials on the bottom. Man i felt stupid. This was one reason I stuck with science and not art. ;)

Easter was a great day for many reasons. One reason it is a perfect time to reflect on the Atonement, Christ, Resurrection, and forgiveness. Another reason why it was so great this year is that I got to be with my parents and siblings. I think it has been about 6 or 7 years since I've had an Easter Sunday with them. Church was great, dinner was great, and the company was great. We had my friend Danii and her husband Jess over for dinner. They just moved to Reston and are in my parents ward. We also had Taylor join us for Easter. He is home for a little bit while he gets his ankle better. It was fun to be with him and hear all his missionary stories. He has had some great experiences and it was fun to listen to them on Easter. So what I'm trying to say in this long post is that I had a great time with my family! It was a great vacation!

Elder Preston Redd

I thought I would give everyone a little update on Preston. He is doing great, if you can't tell by these pictures. This first picture reminds me a lot of my mission in Thailand, hot & sweaty everyday!



The field is white already to harvest in Brasilia, the other week the mission had 77 baptisms.


This is Preston with his LAX buddy, Elder Wheatley.

4 wheeling

For our one year anniversary we spent the weekend up at the cabin. We had beautiful weather and had a great time. We spent the weekend relaxing, and enjoying nature. I have decided I can’t take Jessica anywhere, because she is always getting dirty. I could not keep her out of the mud.

Missionary Addresses

I know a few of you have requested mailing addresses for the Elder Redds. I know they would appreciate letters from all of you! Taylor's birthday is this week so I know that would be fun if any of had a few extra minutes to mail him a letter.
Taylor's address is:
Elder Taylor Redd
CA Riverside mission
3233 Arlington Ave Suite 107
Riverside, CA 92506

Prestons address is:
Elder Preston Redd
Brazil Brasilia Mission
P.O. Box 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130

Our One Year Anniversary!

Well we did it, we made it one whole year as a married couple! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. I'm not sure who read Preston's email this week, but it was nice to know that he was thinking of us. He wrote: "Before I say anything else.... HAPPY ANIVERSARY JESSICA AND LANCE!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope this year has been good because if it hasn´t... eternity´s gonna seem longer than it is. "


Well for those of you who know Preston, that is a very typical statement from him. I thought it was pretty funny. Just so no one is worried about us, we have a wonderful year and can't wait for the many many more to come. So bring it on eternity! We have had so much fun getting to know each other better, working through problems, taking fun trips all over the country, and learning and growing together. I have never been happier. I love looking back on all the experiences we have had together and by ourselves that have brought to where we are and I love looking forward to all the experiences that will bring us closer to each other and to our Heavenly Father. I'm gonna have to agree with that motto Life is Good!

Latest Projects

Here is the shoe rack Lance just finished.

A little santa for my Mom.

Here are Lance's latest carvings, they are for my mom for christmas. I especially like them because I painted them both. We have a new system where Lance carves them and I paint. It has actually been pretty fun. Lance has a whole bunch of other projects that he is working on so we will keep you posted. Lance wanted me to remind you guys that he is not a professional like Phil, and is still in the learning phases.

Visiting the Cralls

While we were in California we got a chance to go to L.A. and see our old friend Chris Crall and his wife Lorainne. They showed us around town and we had a great time with them.

They took us down to Venice Beach and we saw the most crazy people. Lance's favorite was the guy walking around in his leopard print speedo. This gold man was pretty neat, once you put money in his box then he would start dancing.

Called to Serve

As most of you know we have two of our family members serving a LDS mission. Taylor was called to the Riverside, CA mission and Preston was called to serve in the Brasilia, Brazil mission. It has been so much fun to read their letters and learn how the work is going in other parts of the world. Both of them have matured so much and it is such a blessing to have them serving the Lord and the people of California and Brazil. I thought it would be fun to share a few pictures of Taylor in California and of Preston in Brazil. It was such a neat experience to take Taylor to the MTC and it reminded me of my first day there. I can't believe I have been home for over 2 years now! Time flies by! Lucky for us, maybe not so lucky for Taylor we are moving into his mission! That's right Redlands is part of the Riverside mission, in fact the mission temple is the Redlands temple. We actually got to see him while we were there for Lance's interview. Taylor and his companion had an investigator being baptized so we were invited to witness that experience. Unfortunately we hadn't figured out California traffic. Even on a Saturday night at 6 it takes an hour and 15 minutes to go 20 miles. We got there a little late, but just in time to hear Taylor give a talk. He did a great job and the spirit was so strong. I'm so proud of him. It was so fun to see him and meet all the people he has been telling us about in his mission. I still can't believe we are moving to his mission. Anyway I love missionaries and their devotion to serving others, and I love hearing about the experiences Preston and Taylor are having. If you want to email or mail either of them I know they would appreciate it. I'll be posting their mailing addresses soon.

We Are Moving to California!!!!!

Before the interviews

After the interviews
So 2 weeks ago Lance and I ventured off to Redlands, CA for an interview Lance had with a company called Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI). We were both very excited to get away for a weekend and think of possible employment for after graduation (something we thought may never come). We got in Thursday evening with enough time to drive around, get settled into the hotel, get an introduction to El Pollo Loco, and watch the Office. Lance left Friday morning around 8:15 to meet the HR guy to start his day of interviews. Lance had no idea what he had gotten himself into. He had 13 interviews at about 45 minutes each, no breaks in between either. It was pretty intense, so when he came home around 7 that night he was beat. Lucky for me he was too tired to decide on a restraunt and just wanted to go to the closest place, so we got Thai food (which I had been craving all day because I had seen a lot of Thai restraunts around town). The next day we got to see some friends and family and were able to relax. About five days later ESRI called Lance with an offer. We couldn't believe it! It is so weird because even though we both said we would move anywhere we always thought we'd back in Virginia or near there. I think my mom was thinking the same thing too. We accepted the offer and are very excited to move to Redlands, CA. It would have been nice to move to VA to be close to family, but we are ready for an adventure in sunny CA. It is a beautiful city and can't wait for everyone to come visit us there.

EXTRA EXTRA

Well here it is folks the very first picture of the baby. Not the best looking little kid, it looks like he got squashed a little during child birth. I think he has Natalie's eyes though. Anyways I am sure they will post more pictures later, but just remember you saw it here first.

IT'S A BOY

My sister Heather delivered a baby boy (Ethan Scott Nelson) at 10:23 am Sunday morning. He weighed in at 8 lbs 1 oz. and was 21 inches long. We are so happy to finally get him out of the bat cave.