Draper Utah and the Shelby Clan...

We have officially landed in Draper, Utah . You can expect pictures to be coming soon because it is absolutely gorgeous here. Within about 3-5 minute walk we can look down on the newly constructed LDS Draper Temple , which at night is illuminated and beautiful.

I should apologize to Dave Prescott and Ryan Neder who didn’t get the memo that I wasn’t going to make it back to San Diego until this past Sunday morning. They eagerly showed up Saturday morning ready to flex muscles and help load our moving truck. Unfortunately, I was still in Utah signing lease agreements. Thanks for your willingness to help!

I also want to send a huge thank you to my brothers, Jared and Andrew. Without their help, we never would have left San Diego . Andrew spent nearly his entire birthday loading the moving truck. We started loading around 10am and didn’t finish until nearly 5pm. Not bad for only three of us…especially since we did not destroy my wife’s piano.

We had called the local Bishop to let him know that we would be moving in and he asked if we would like help unloading the truck upon arrival. I told him that if he could have just one person to help with the piano, I think we could do it. Chris and Heidi Maloy and Kelly Shelby would be there to help so I figured between Chris, I and one more person, we could tackle the piano.

Well, there was one person there when I pulled in. Within 5-10 minutes there were about 10 people helping to unload the truck. What took my two brothers and I about 7 hours to load was now completely unloaded in under an hour. How thankful I am for the generosity of virtual strangers demonstrating, with action, their belief in the spirit of charity and service. Many thanks to our new ward Church members whose names we have already forgotten. We’ll learn them soon…

Special props to Monica, er…Heidi, for completely setting up the kitchen for us on the first night! It was a blast to hang out with family, with 9 cousins running amok. It will be even more enjoyable as my brother Matt gets back from Iraq shortly and the fishing trips can begin! And apologies to Kelly for not keeping my phone on...

The Bishop's wife also brought over dinner for us. We feel so spoiled here so far. Why was I afraid of Utah?