unrealized potential

I went to the cannery last night to help can some beans and before we could go in they gave us all hair nets. I've never been so thankful that I didn't have facial hair however because all the guys that did had to wear one of these beauties...the beard net. I had a hard time focusing on the task at hand because I was laughing too much at all the guys that had to wear one of these. Somewhere amidst my laughter my mind started thinking about all the other uses one could have for one of these bad boys, and I realized the untapped potential of the beard net. For instance.....

The polygamist wife impromptu bonnet for special occasions when the regular bonnet is in the wash and company comes over.

The mullet net for all those times when your mullet is getting in your face such as cooking outdoors or riding a motorcycle. Free enough that wind will pass right through but rigid enough to hold your mullet in place when white rain alone won't do the trick.

The pet jock strap. You know they would ask for one if they could. Why do you think they're always itching and scratching there? Too much freedom causes irritation. These are a few of my favorites. I welcome your suggestions as I feel that I haven't even scratched the surface of possibilities.

Melon Mania

Jon and I were throwing some melons out at the 'ol VM the other day when a man approached us and asked me to pick him out a good watermelon. I live for these moments. All my 15+ years of training and background kicked in as I started inspecting the melons for the perfect one. The man asked me if I knew how to pick out a good one and so I proceeded to tell him all the tricks and tips I had learned over the years. Finally settling on one that I felt would be good I handed it to the man with satisfied pride. "This ought to be a good one" I told the man. He took the melon from me and set it down amongst the other melons and picked up a different one. "I like this one better" he informed me, "it's round". He grabbed his melon and left. Jon and I were left speechless. So apparently that's all it takes. It just needs to be round. I could have saved myself a lot of time over the years just looking for the round ones. At least now I know.

Rodeo time

It's been a family tradition every year around the 24th to go to the Ogden pioneer days rodeo. It's a chance to mingle with some of Weber Counties finest and to enjoy a nice evening together. I was a little dissapointed this year as we didn't get to see any drunk individuals spill their beer on the lady in front of them like last year (although we still saw plenty of drunk people). We also didn't have the privelege of having any selfish smokers nearby for me to throw peanuts at. All in all though it was a good time. Here's a few of the pictures we got from the evening.

Here's Tristyn holding Tracey's nieces little girl. She sure loved Tristyn. It was fun watching Tristyn practicing her mothering skills.

The world famous Budweiser clydesdales made an appearance. They were fun to watch. Impressive animals.

Can't see much here but this is a shot of the bull riding which is my favorite part other than the mutton busting.

Mighty mouse

One of my favorited cartoons as a kid was Mighty Mouse. I marveled at how such a small creature could do such big things. I finally met mighty mouse the other day. After we got home from the uintahs last week we had stopped to dump out the "dump" out of the trailer and I noticed two little eyes staring at me from the grill of the truck. On closer inspection I saw this little guy and his friend hanging out in the grill. They had made it all the way from Whitney reservoir clear back to Ogden. Over two hours of driving. Very impressive. So next time somebody tells you you can't do something think of mighty mouse.

CHAMPIONS.....(almost)

Tristyn's softball team made it into the county championship game. We played our arch rival and nemesis and lost in a very close, competetive contest, 24-0 give or take a run or two (maybe they'll fire the coach). I only called the other coach on twice during the game. For some reason she wouldn't meet me by the flagpole after the game- chicken. I was very proud of the girls and the good year they had. They all improved over the year and I think most of them had a little fun along the way. So for this year we'll take second place with a smile...but they better look out next year.

camping at Whitney

We had the opportunity to go camping this last weekend with some friends (thanks James and Jennifer for the invite) up to Whitney reservoir in the uintahs. We sure had a blast! Here's a few pictures from the fun we had (yes that is Tracey camping, I was proud of her for "roughing" it).

just digging up bones.

Overlooking the valley. There sure was a lot of good trails to ride- and nobody rolled any 4-wheelers this time thankfully.

Heading out on a ride.

This is Ty and his little buddy Levi loading up some firewood in their dumptruck.

Tristyn relaxing doing some fishing.

Every time one of them had to go sure enough the other one had to as well. Nothing better than tandom peeing.

The kids sure loved riding in the Ranger. Thanks to Terry and Ronda for letting us use it (and the trailer).

We found a big old dead tree to chop down so we had plenty of firewood after playing Paul Bunyan for a couple of hours.

This was some of the kids hanging out in the mosquito tent. There were certain times of the day when the bugs got pretty bad so this tent was nice to have.

This was overlooking Whitney reservoir from up on the mountain. The scenery was awesome.

This is Terry and Ronda's trailer that we stayed in. It makes camping not so much like camping.

Tennis anyone?

After saving forever we finally got the rest of our sport court in yesterday. I've been a little excited to get this in. This is what we call Christmas in July. I've already invited Roger over for a little tennis and D-Will for some hoop...haven't heard back from either one yet, but I'm sure they'll call. So free up your schedules, we're going to have a volleyball/basketball/tennis/badmitton tourney...just make sure to bring your game and your mosquito repellant.



just getting started

laying down the surface

working on the fininshing touches

Work and stuff

Talking yesterday with some friends and the conversation came up about what a blessing it is to be able to work and stuff (see sign below). In this age of entitlement I'm so grateful for parents who taught us that it was a privelege to be able to work, and how to work hard. There are so many great experiences I've had and the chance to meet so many wonderful people that I never would have had were it not for work.


Here's some fun we had at work earlier in the summer at our guest appreciation breakfast.

Sad that so many in the country feel like this...

God bless America!

Recently West Weber had a little sesquicentennial celebration. They've been doing several little events with a culmination to come on the 4th of July. They had a lot of fun things for the kids to do and overall it was a lot of fun. It got me to thinking how blessed we are to live in this great country, and how many people have sacrificed so much so that we may enjoy the things that we do. God bless America! Thank you to all those who have given so much to make this country great!

Tristyn and Ty both got to do a little rock climbing wall.