Preliminary New Guinea pictures--Port Moresby

James is spending a few weeks in New Guinea doing collecting and research with a group of professors, mostly from BYU and BYU-Hawaii. He's been gone about 10 days and we haven't heard from him much, but we did receive these pictures in an email shortly after they arrived in Port Moresby.

It took them so long to get there. They were delayed eight hours in Fiji, making them miss all of their later flights. Later, they were delayed three hours in the Solomon Islands, which made them have to stay the night there not according to plan. Finally, they spent an extra day just killing time in Port Moresby because the usual flight to New Ireland (I believe) was cancelled.

Once they FINALLY got to their destination, the fun could really begin. He told me last week that their research station, which is housed in an old resort, is about thirty minutes from a rumbling, ash-spewing volcano. Wow. I hope they are able to do some excellent insect and marine life research to make all this traveling and effort worth it. Regardless of the bumps, New Guinea looks like an amazing place and James is fortunate beyond all get out that he gets to go on a trip like this. I'm sure he's loving every minute!

Life in Utah, Part I

Well, as many of you know, we have recently begun our 7-week visit to Utah for the summer. We've had an awesome time visiting family. I think our boys think they've died and gone to the Celestial Kingdom--here there are lots of grandparents, aunts, and uncles, plenty of cousins to play with, big amazing backyards, swimming pools and irrigated lawns, pets, hikes and waterfalls, birthday parties, airplane museums, plenty of good food including treats and soda and people who rarely tell you no. Yes, it's a kids paradise.

James leaves on Thursday for Papua New Guinea. He's pretty excited. Now if we could just track down a place here in Utah to get his Japanese Encephalitis booster shot before he goes.... I've been running all over the creation here with various relatives, trying to get ready for the Provo River Half Marathon on Aug. 9th. Last Friday, two of my sisters-in-law, Emily and Becca, and I ran 9 miles up and down the canyon and had an amazing time. It was one of the best runs I've ever been on. I've never run that far before and it was so beautiful (and actually so cold when we started out at 6am, so different from Georgia--are you surviving the heat, Charis?) My muscles were crampy and tired when I was done but I still felt so good. I wanted to keep running. And actually, I'm getting a little obsessed. Whenever I see people out running, I'm always like, "When do I get to go again? How far do I need to go next time?" Not that I'm very great or fast at it. But I love getting better and better at it. It makes me feel so strong in all aspects of my life.

So, the last thing is, a few of you know that James and I are going with my parents to the American Idol concert in SLC tomorrow night. I am SO excited! I know I am a complete nerd, but I absolutely love David Archuleta. I love his voice and his style of music and the songs he sings, as well as who he is. But we also love David Cook too so we're really excited to see him perform. And we liked Brooke and Jason and several others, so I think it will be a fun, kid-free date for us before James is gone for 2 1/2 weeks. And believe or not, it will actually be the first real concert I've ever gone to. Ha ha! I'll let you know how it is--Chad and Andy, try not to feel too badly that you don't get to be there with the rest of the Archies. :)