Herzog Halcyon Days

So, we've fallen behind. Again. But no matter! We have been keeping busy over the last few months. I started spring term classes--Leisure in Contemporary Society, New Testament, and Fly Fishing. I have wanted to take the fly fishing class since I first came to BYU and the class did not disappoint. We fished locally for most of the class, but then we took a final trip to the Flaming Gorge Dam for a camp out. I had a blast, but I did miss Sammy and John. I ended up rounding up a bunch of fish. I actually loved learning how to tie all the flies and am excited to eventually get my own fly tying equipment. I am hopefully going to get to go out on the Provo River here soon, but the runoff from the mountains has the river running really high. I finished off the semester strongly with 3 A's, of which I am proud.

John has been busy on his ORCA project, Bert, and it seems to be coming along nicely. He is in the process of switching to an all digital workflow, which is an adjustment. He is also working on his reapplication to the animation program in August, which is stressful, but he is doing well.


Towards the end of May, we were able to take a road trip to Los Angeles for a friend's wedding. It truly was an adventure! Our rental car gave us trouble on the way down, so we switched it out in LA (where they tried to make us file a claim on a scratch that was already on the car--got that settled finally) for a luxury car in which the AC broke while driving through the Mojave Desert! I'm not sure if we'll be renting from Enterprise again.

The wedding was beautiful and I was very happy to be there. The groom recently found a job in Salt Lake City, so now they are really close! While there, we stayed with some great friends, Nick and Stacy. We also had a chance to go to Disneyland. Sammy was a real trooper and we ended up staying all day with only one tiny meltdown. Sam loved all of the rides. She especially seemed to like the Pirates of the Caribbean--even the two little drops, which her daddy didn't care for too much!

Two weeks ago, John's sister, Lauren, came out for a visit. We had tons of fun, and her stay went by way too fast. We went on a tour of BYU with her, hoping to persuade her to come to the best University (wink, wink). We made it to the community pool where we caught some Utah sun and we even made it to the Hogle Zoo. We also hiked to Bridal Veil Falls. John and Lauren were both in flip flops, and I assured them that the trail was easy enough. Unfortunately, I chose the wrong trailhead. Needless to say, they were good sports about it, and we eventually found the right one and made it to the base of the falls.

In other news, Sammy is finally up and walking! She loves the new freedom that walking gives her and she is getting into even more mischief, if that is even possible. She has also learned how to go down the slide at the park all by herself! We are so proud of our little monkey.

The Coming of Autumn

Fall is finally here! The leaves really starting to change colors now. I always forget how much I enjoy Autumn until I am in a place that actually has all four seasons. Mount Timpanogos has some snow on its peak now. I really want to hike the mountain before it gets too cold, but I don't think that thats a hike I could take Sammy on. Its at least a 6 hour hike, maybe more.

We did get to hike The Timp caves a few weeks ago though. It was National Public Lands day so there were no fees. the hike was a bit strenuous, but we made it to the top and the view was fantastic. The caves were gorgeous. It gave me some ideas for some short stories. John was sick last week and Sam is getting over being sick now. I am fighting off getting sick too so we haven't been hiking the past few weekends. I'd still love to do Rock Canyon and the Y before it gets too much colder. We are also planning a trip down to Vegas over Thanksgiving break. John has never gone and his Great Grandfather did a lot of the neon lights on the old strip. They say John gets his artistic ability from him so I think it'll be great for John to go down and see it all. And you can't beat a deep fried twinkie or oreo now and then. On the way back up, we're planning a short camping trip at one of the National Parks. I am UBER excited.

School is in full swing for John. He is doing well in all of his classes and is especially enjoying his 2D animation class. He is also in the process of applying for an ORCA Research Grant to be able to research and create a modern cartoon-style short animated film. I really hope that he gets it because I believe his proposal is very solid and strong and his short film idea is great! I am still working away at my creative writing class and loving it. I also got back into BYU so I will start taking classes on campus next semester. John and I have already sat down and mapped out our schedules for next semester and one of will always be with Samantha so we won't have to have anyone else watch her.

Samantha is eight months old now. Her top two teeth have come through so now she look a little like Spongebob! She is still doing her inch worm crawl and she loves playing with her daddy. I still cannot believe how quickly she is growing. Right now we're reading Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. We get through a few poems a day. I am looking forward to when Weird Al's new picture book comes out, When I Grow Up. I think picture books are great! This story, by The New York Times really burned me up. I think it is so sad kids are being taught that picture books are "baby books". Some of my favorite books from childhood were picture books. I have fond memories of my mom reading to my sister and me before bed time. Pictures books are what started my love for reading. I just hate how much pressure kids are under to perform perform perform. How are kids supposed to learn to love learning? At least I'll be able as a parent to choose to read picture books with my kids.

The Eagle Has Landed!

Well, our herd of Herzogs has officially made it to Utah and we are unpacked. Actually, we've been here since the 5th of August and have been unpacked for about 3 weeks now. I'm just now getting around to posting about it.

The epic trip out here was long, but good. We left Florida early on the 2nd of August. We drove through 10 states--Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming and Utah. Samantha was fantastic about 90% of the time. We would leave early enough that she was still asleep, but she would get pretty grumpy in the evenings, around 5:30-ish. Fortunately, all we'd have to do is stop for awhile and feed her and play awhile and then she'd go to sleep for the evening. She was such a good little girl!

I would not recommend the drive we took on a regular basis, but its fun knowing that we did it. Everything went very smoothly. A word to the wise--it takes MUCH longer to stop at a red light when pulling a 1500 lb trailer. In fact, you may end up in the middle of the intersection. Once you realize you're there, you have to try to speed away (which is not very easy with a 1500 lb trailer) before the crossing traffic can begin to move. Needless to say, we were all safe and it was very funny after the fact.

Tennessee was by far the prettiest state that we passed through. If we had the time, I would have loved to do some sight-seeing there. Lots of caving and camping and hiking. Nebraska consists of a whole lot of NOTHING. And it was one of the longest states. We woke up in Wyoming and it was in the low 40s! It was great. No more humidity for us. We were so happy to see the "Welcome to Utah" sign.

We were very extremely blessed during our trip. After we got to Utah, I happened to check the rating on our car, and we found out that we were pulling about 1000 lbs more than our car is rated to pull. We never once had a problem with our little Dodge Neon. The wind in the mountains that everyone told about seemed to vanish once we got there. No wind at all. HUGE blessing. The worst of it was a hill in Tennessee and about three or four in Wyoming where, at the bottom, we were going about 60mph but by the top we were going about 25mph. We just kept praying the the car just kept going. We are really thankful to all of our friends' and families' prayers. We could definitely feel the Lord looking out for us.

Our new apartment is great. It is wonderful to have three bedrooms and for Sam to have her own room. I will be posting more later on this week about our apartment and the unpacking and John beginning school. We are extremely grateful for all that we have and we are looking forward to our life here in Happy Valley (Provo) for the next few years!

Sam & Dad the day after arriving

The Saga Begins...

Well, I guess that the saga really began November of 2008 when John and I got married. I can't believe that we are going on two years! So much has happened. John and I have been able to travel a little bit to some film festivals where Twistee Treat was accepted. Samantha was born this past February and she has been a blessing. Already 6 months old!

Tomorrow we leave to drive across country from Orlando, Florida to Provo, Utah. We are excited, but nervous. Will our little red Dodge Neon, Sadie Mae, pull a loaded 5' x 8' trailer that far? Only time will tell. We'll get to drive through Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming and Utah. Driving with a six month old will also be interesting. I hope that all will go well, but I believe that we will have some stressful moments. There have also been severe thunderstorm warnings and tornadoes across much of the midwest. Praying that we do not hit any of that.

This all will be a huge change for us. We have planned as best as we could. John left Triangle Reprographics two weeks ago, and now he is much happier. The future seems more hopeful. I know that going back to school is the right thing for John and me. I believe juggling home responsibilities, a baby and school will prove a challenge. But one that I welcome. I have lots of goals for when we are out there. One of the big ones is for me to finish my degree. I only have about three semesters left. John has three years. I'll go part-time so that we will finish about the same time. This will be a huge blessing because we will be able to configure our schedules so that someone will always be with Samantha and she will not need to go into daycare. I am so happy about that.

John is hoping to enter the Animation program at BYU. I know that he will do fantastic as he is amazingly talented. I have finally finalized on Humanities with an emphasis in English. The funny thing is that I have enough credits to graduate and then some, just not enough in any one field! There's just too much to learn! I love it. But I will be sticking to this major, as I really want to get my degree.

We just finished renting our apartment at Wymount Terrace. I think its a great location. We'll see if I still feel that way after we move in, though. We will have a three bedroom, so Sammy will have her own room (finally!) and we'll use the third as an office space. I love BYU and it will be nice to have lots of young families living close by as well. I am also looking forward to our family growing together and closer to the Lord as we continue to read scriptures together, pray and have family night.

All in all, I think we have a lot going for us. I hope to regularly update this blog so that everyone back home can keep up with the Herzogs. So make sure to check back regularly!