My Kid's Dad

Come jump in my leaves

2009-11-23T20:57:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday morning I was asked if I "ever relax and enjoy being still?" So after raking half my yard of leaves, I set my camera on a tripod and the self timer for as long as I could and fell asleep in the sunshine on my big pile of apple leaves.

Making work fun is one thing that I do well. I really don't like raking leaves but knowing how much fun it will be to jump and wrestle that ole pile down helped make the morning fun. And it wasn't long after my nap that I noticed the pile of leaves was smilin too.

Can you tell who looks happier, the raked or the rakee. I'm waiting now for You to join me for and jump in this big pile of leaves. Afterwards we'll rake up the other half of the yard. Then together we'll can relax. Call me :-) . .

My poor daughter

2009-11-21T11:04:00.000-08:00

My poor daughter Carrie actually was out of bed before noon today, (Saturday) and gave me the wierdest look when I asked her to come outside with me. Then when I showed her what I want her to see, she really gave me a very concerned and carring look like, "it's okay dad, they have hospitals for conditions like yours." But as I was taking a photo of my discovery, I invisioned her in taking my picture and blogging me taking a picture of . . . .

. . . .Sheep poop in MY back yard. Maybe it's deer ? Naaaa I live in the city limits and there are
no deer in this part of town. Carrie is convinced it's deer droppings though. So now I ask you, who is the Crazy One ?

Just to help you decide I present Evidence A and Evidence B. Both photos were taken 3 weeks ago and with her posing from my camera.

I especially like her ears

I love my baby girl

New Jobs

2009-11-19T20:50:00.000-08:00

Okay so after 13 years with a large, well known construction company, I left and went out on my own. And I couldn't be happier. Decisions are made within minutes instead of weeks/months and with so much less stress.

So I decided to use this blog to keep everyone informed, and to encourage others to get Your own blog too.

Today I've posted a few pics of the current job I'm doing. It is above SLC near the U of U and about a mile from Hogle Zoo. The Homeowners wanted to remove the center portion of their roof and trusses and replace it with a vaulted ceiling. I've been on this job about 2 weeks and this past monday actually tore open the roof. Talk about clear cold nights. The lady of the house said she wishes she had started earlier in the year but couldn't find anyone who wanted to take on this job. We've got snow coming on Saturday so I've got my work cut out to do. No field trips to Hogle Zoo this week :(

These pics were taken with my phone and I guess they didn't turn out too bad (?)

Dutch John's GRANDS

2009-07-05T20:27:00.000-07:00

Before I'm flooded with questions as to what did I do with the fish, let me explain. The fishin hole is on the way to Dutch John and so after a quick side trip, it was take the cache to the closest bar-b-que grill and fry 'em up. It was nice to see JayDee, Monica and the kids too. Just kidding, It was perfectly wonderful to see them all. Had some fantastic fireworks on Friday night and Saturday Morning we enjoyed a Boy Scout breakfast at the church. Course being out of the habit, I didn't take my camera to any of it. Saturday afternoon we about got stuck in mud and had to put it in 4 wheel drive at 'Grizzly Ridge.' Cold and wet. The car thermometer said 53 degrees. Went back to the house, loaded up with fishing gear and headed to the beach. 75 degrees and the kids had a soakin good time, so did I. So really the only picture I took on this 4th of July Weekend was after the kids were all dressed up and ready to walk to church.

How cute is this ?

(l to r)
Cora, 5. Anna,3. Jayden, 6. And Brooke 7, holding EmmaLee, 1.

Gone Fishin

2009-07-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

Eight and a half months since my last blog deserves a little chastisement but also a little personal time. I went fishing back in June 2004 and took Kirsten and Landon. We had a great time fishing but it was cold and wet and we've never been back. Until this weekend !

Friday, 3 July 2009, I hiked back into this 'secret' lake. It was cloudy and had a lite mist of rain and fairly cold, though the mosquitoes were out in force. It was good to backpack in. I'm glad I had my GPS to help me find this fishin hole. On my second cast, I had a good 'bite' and two casts later I was pulling in a nice fat trout. I was very intregued by this fish because of the red marking on it's bottom lip. Almost a fusica orange. You might see it on the third fish from the left. The neat thing about all these fish is how dark red the meat was. It was a dark and pretty as any Salmon that I've seen. And the taste...oh the taste is sooo wonderful !

I stayed at the lake for about 45 minutes before I headed back. Didn't want anyone to worry, especially since no one could really tell the Search and Rescue where to begin looking for me. I wanted a picture of the lake and me holding the fish but that's pretty tough to do all by myself. I won't go up alone again. Beautiful day though and got back to the vehicle about 4 hours after leaving it. Hiked up, caught four beautifully colored trout, cleaned them and hiked out. What more could a man want.

Quite a Stir

2008-10-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

After reading all the comments from my last blog, I decided I had better go to the source. That's right, I saw Carly tonight and told her of all the commotion her was causing on my Blog. And this was her exact words, but you should have seen the smile on her face.

That was a long long time ago and Carrie made us do it.

Here a picture of the Boys after I asked them if they thought their dates had a fun time. You gotta love those High School Juniors.

Homecoming 2008

2008-10-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

After all the hassles, Ashley actually went out with my baby boy. And what a cute couple. Landon really looks good with a pink tie. He was happy and looked like he had been touched by a Queen. They were joined with best buddies, Daniel and Kyle and their dates, Carly and Katie. They went and played all morning and then about 3:00 pm the girls went home and the guys went over to Daniel's home to prepare dinner. The plan was to cook it at Daniel's and eat over at ours. About 5:00 pm Landon got home and asked Mom to help him set the table. So mom started to set out the plates. But Landon had a better idea. He did not want any chairs on the end of the tables, just three chairs on one side and three on the other side. His thinking was, then he could gaze into her eyes from across the table. But then he showed his real self when he said, "Boys on one side and girls on the other." Perhaps I shouldn't have laugh right then because it really upset him. Thankfully, Carrie came to the rescue by declaring that next year things would be totally different. The table looked great and the food smelled wonderful.

We took a few pictures of the couples and group pictures and then Mom and I disappeared while they ate. Soon we heard them moving and so we knew the party was about to move on to the school and to the dance. We went out and cleaned up the mess. Only to discover that they had forgot the ice cream in the freezer. Those boys were pretty confused. Hummm I wonder why?

Oh What a Tease

2008-09-17T19:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Landon asked this cute girl out to the Homecoming Dance last week, and she still hasn't replied. So Carrie and I decided a "bad answer" is better than "no answer." So we took things into our own hands. I had an old melted snicker bar and you can easily tell who wrote the message. I think Carrie and I had more fun making the sign and planning how to prepare the house for when Landon returns from Mutual, than he had asking her in the first spot. We love you Landon, but your cute little pout is too funny.

Bike the Bear

2008-08-23T14:32:00.000-07:00

This morning I was greeted with this view of Bear Lake and the sun rising over the city of Pickleville. Everyone knows how 'man made' cameras can't even compare with the real thing and so it is with this photo. But what a spectacular start of a day. 8:00 am was the start of the race and we needed to arise early to begin the final preparations for this endurance test. Thank goodness we didn't eat all the twinkies and ding dongs last night.

The racers were lined up and at 7:58 am someone jumped the gun and took off. I've never seen so much spandex and tire lube mixed in the same spot and so very glad no one called them back for a "false start." Landon was assigned rest station #2 and we could only hope that was somewhere on the route. The goal was to complete a lap, or two, around this big'o lake on a bike and live to blog about it. Carrie hung back with mom and dad for about a mile and then her competitive spirit and some dude's hairy legs drove her to step up the pace. We didn't see her again till the end. 52.3 miles later. And yes we all made it all the way around, some parts hurting more than others. And Landon? I don't know. The last time I saw him, he was chasing a rattler with gaterade and a rice krispy granola bar. I hope he makes it back for church.

This photo was taken before the 52.3 mile "Bike the Bear" race. If you zoom in and look real close you can see me in mom's glasses. Landon can be seen standing next to the college aged girls somewhere near the lake.........

The Legends

2008-08-21T10:44:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wished you could have been there when Einstein discovered the Law of Relativity. Or Newton when the fig fell on his head. How about the Wright Brothers when they actually took flight, or maybe the Moody Blues in Concert. Those very special moments of time come and go so quickly that all we have to remember it by is the stories someone wrote. Well thanks to another Legend, all of our stories are being told. She said it could be done and she lead the way to do it. And being as quick as I am, I actually captured this legend in action. That's right right here on this very blog I caught her in the act of blogging.

Techies needed

2008-08-19T06:24:00.000-07:00

Okay so I get on last night to add another chapter to this blog and I'm trying to resize a photo so it will down load to blogger, and I get this error message saying my free trial has expired.
Me being a "I shall overcome" type of a guy figured I'd just reset my computer's date and get this page published. WRONG.
So today I'm looking for a new program to buy which can resize my photos down to a more modest size. So what's the favorite program you use? Or maybe someone familiar with DELL Computers knows of a program already installed on this laptop. I look forward to your comments.....

Tears

2008-08-17T08:14:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a very mixed emotional day. For some worst than others. I had to call Carrie three times after getting to St George to get driving directions. I'm sure it was due to her stress of leaving and not my excitement to see her. Finally we arrived at her car but was unsure which front door was hers. She finally appeared. I had my camera ready for that "first picture."

Now when she sees this picture she says, "Oh my front door....." and runs off to wipe a tear from her eyes. As a dad, I felt like I would if I was picking her up from her mission. I knew she was happy to see me but was not excited about leaving at all. I'm sure she had tears for several miles as she drove north. She'll miss her old stomping grounds, and leaving some wonderful friends, I just hope northern Utah can help her feel loved also.

More Epidural please

2008-08-16T07:05:00.000-07:00

It all started exactly 9 months and 8 days ago. I received a text which said "Hey Dad I really want to talk to you." And now just a wee bit over due, we are on our way, again to bring home our baby daughter. Only this time, Mom is driving and I'm sitting in the passenger seat, communicating to the world. Who would have thought 21 years ago this would be possible. We are on our way to bring my baby girl home. Wahoo and yippee-i-aye!!! Of course there's the usual aniexties that come with such a life changing event, but they all pale knowing how much I love Carrie, and so glad to have her back in my life. But for now all I can think about is the 5 hours in the car driving and then the return trip right after lunch. Where is that doctor ?

In the big inning.....

2008-08-15T06:16:00.000-07:00

Talk about peer pressure. Yeah I'm talking about you.

It started out very innocently but has grown to a great way to keep in touch. My posterity at one time lived very close to home, but has now moved to the outermost parts of a comfortable Sunday afternoon drive. And last week I was accused of knowing the lingo and so it appears that I too, have become a captive of the Blogging Monster. Only time will tell how bad it bit, as for now, it's a big inning.