Summer update and plans

Things have been going okay. Last week, I went on a great trip to Mexico as a chaperone with my former high school youth group. It was a servant event in which we built a house for a family who lives in a tiny shack. We flew to El Paso, Texas on the Saturday the 7th and drove across the border to Juarez on Monday. We worked all the daylight hours from Monday through Thursday to finish the house. It was a lot of hard work, but it was well worth the feeling of accomplishment and seeing the family's faces after it was completed. We got back this last Saturday and I haven't really done much since then. I've played in the casinos a few nights and have had no success. I don't really get bored, but I have been a little lonely this week. I haven't seen Leah in over 3 weeks and all my close friends are not currently in Billings. One is fighting fires in California and the others are all interning in other cities.

Tomorrow, though, I am going on my first family vacation in a long time. We are going to head west, stay one night in Missoula to hang out and then continue on without my brother. Then we will go to Pullman, Washington to visit my uncle for a day. Finally, we will end up in Auburn, Washington (suburb of Seattle) to visit my grandma for another 6 or so days. It will be nice to have a change. I haven't been to Seattle in 3+ years and I am excited. Another positive is that my close friend, Duncan, is interning at Boeing in Seattle and I will be able to see him. We will probably catch a Mariners game as well as maybe go to their nice water park (if it is not raining too much).

We will return to Billings around the 30th and I don't have much planned for the next week or so other than trying to defend my Red Door tournament title on the 5th. Leah will be flying up on the 7th. I am very excited for that! We will hang out here for a week or so before driving down to Nebraska a week or two before school starts on the 28th (I think). This has been a pretty productive and relaxing summer so far. I am getting close to being refreshed enough to continue toward my degree and move on with my life.

Pictures of the building of the house are following.