It's Official!

Hooray! It's official--Dr. Rugh is now THE Associate Dean in the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences at BYU, the best school in the whole world!!! She is a great one for the job. She's one of my favorite people in the whole world, and this will be an exciting opportunity for her. Look at her cute new official BYU photo! Here is the link to the press release: http://byunews.byu.edu/archive08-JUN-rugh.aspx.

It seems that it will be another wild day of weather in the Midwest. Here is a picture of Friday night's tornado south of Springfield which ended up going along a path just eight miles south of Linda's house! Linda e-mailed me this morning, and luckily she, her family, and their house were okay, but she said it was a pretty crazy night as they watched bad storms go both north and south of them. Today I was reading a severe weather blog posted by the State Journal-Register in Springfield. My favorite blog entry was from 9:35 a.m. It said, "So as to not freak anyone out, the Springfield Fire Department has canceled its monthly test of the city's outdoor warning sirens. It was scheduled for 10 a.m." Besides, a test would be kind of pointless since they successfully used the sirens just the other day :-)

Tomorrow is the big day when the Taylor, Barrett, and Agate families head off to Nauvoo! I was originally going to be getting married on this trip, but things got a little crazy with trying to finish school and my Zion book, and I found that internships in Illinois are quite hard to come by, so we bumped the wedding back to October. But, why not still have a fun trip to Nauvoo? Greg will meet us there on Thursday, so it will be great to spend the weekend with him. We're all planning to go to the Nauvoo Temple on Friday, and we'll spend the rest of the time sightseeing, eating delicious food at the Hotel Nauvoo buffet, and having a fun, relaxing time together. It will be extra fun because one of my other favorite people, Susan Easton Black, is in Nauvoo right now with a BYU alumni tour, and she's going to try to hook up with us while we're there. She and Harvey might even be able to go to the temple with us on Friday! Camden, Riley, Sidney, and Eliza are all very excited for their first airplane ride. :-) We will surely have many good times, and I'll write all about the trip when we return home on Sunday evening.

Berle

I am very, very sad because I just learned today that my good friend, Berle McKay, passed away from complications with lung and brain cancer :-( I met Berle and his cute wife Ayne in Mississippi. Ayne and I were the two seasonal park rangers in Natchez during the summer of 2006. Berle was not officially employed by the National Park Service, but he was always there at the park helping us with anything we needed. I became great buddies with cute Ayne and Berle. They were always so kind to me, and they always made me smile. Berle had a twin brother--named Merle! When he first told me that, I didn't believe him, but it turns out that it was true :-) Ayne and Berle were from Texas, and he was a retired police officer, and she a retired judge--so they were in Natchez just having a fun post-retirement adventure. I am so glad that I got to spend those six months with them in Natchez during 2006, because after that they went back to Texas to be near their children, and then Berle got sick. The last time I saw Ayne and Berle, when I took this picture of Berle, was at the "Christmas at Melrose" program in December 2006. Ayne was one of the actresses inside the house, and Berle and I were on the support crew--out in the cold :-) (That was one of the few times I was ever cold in Mississippi.) Berle and I were out freezing in the carriage house trying to keep refreshments on the table for the visitors, but our main job was to keep the candles lit in the 120 luminaries outside. That was quite a feat considering that it was a windy night in Natchez! Berle was a really sweet, kind person, and so is Ayne. I can imagine that she is very heartbroken. Even though it was only for a short time, I am grateful that I was able to know Berle McKay. He made me want to be a better person, and he made the people around him happy. I feel blessed that he was a part of my life, and I am going to try to do a better job of staying in touch with Ayne. When I first went to Natchez I wondered what on earth I was doing there, but in looking back I realize how enriched my life has been because of the friendships I made there. I think that in life it's not so much about the places you go, but it's the people you meet that are important.