Letter 2 - memoirs of the highland laddie

Dear America,

Alyson and I are starting to settle into married life. This week school began for me which signaled our entry into a more normal routine. It was strange to be back on campus after 3 months of great summer absence! I'm not sure that absence made the heart grow fonder on this one... Still, I'm excited to start 3 new courses this semester (Taxation Law, Company/Corporate Law, and Family Law). Hopefully by Christmas Joe and I will be able to discuss and compare family law here and in Utah. Fingers crossed.

Alyson and I were recently called as "Faith in God" leaders at church (basically mutual/youth group for primary age children, 8-11yrs old). I guess basically it's supposed to be somewhat spiritually motivated fun activities. I'm a little foggy on the details. Apparently they would have just called Alyson, but most of the attendees are rowdy boys, so they felt an adult male presence might help keep things a little more contained.

We were excited last Sunday to meet some of the new people moving into the Edinburgh ward. The congregation in the city is very transient with such a high number of church members moving in from abroad to study at the 3 Edinburgh universities. Unfortunately people only usually stay for a year or 6 months. It is fun getting to meet so many different people with such different backgrounds, but it can be difficult to let go of good friends when their courses end.

Last week we had a "holiday" (vacation... I'll get you guys using Scottish jargon eventually!) with my family on the west coast of Scotland. The scenery was ideally picturesque, and we both had a great time. Unfortunately Alyson wasn't on top form at the start of the week, but she seems to be on the mend now. Whilst she has used several tactics to avoid learning to drive stick/manual transmission - she did take her first test drive of our car on holiday. She did pretty well, although the drive was cut a little short when we ran into some highland cows on the road (this place was out in the sticks). Eden & Dean should get some highland cows for the farm! Hopefully it won't take too long for Alyson to get her confidence up though, soon she'll be driving through the streets of Edinburgh on the LEFT side of the road! I will try to post some pictures soon enough.