Time for an update.

Last fall I finally accepted defeat and gave up on the camper trailer project that I had been working on for a number of years. My Grandpa had given me a 72' Rancho Camper that I mounted on a 20' flatbed trailer. It weighed a ton and needed some updating and repairs. During the summer while trying to get it ready for going camping the fridge lit a nest the birds had built in a vent on fire and left some damage to the fridge and roof. Natalie unloaded everything out of the camper that very night. There was no further discussion the lofty dream was over. We hauled the camper to the dump and moved on with our lives.

The past couple months I have been searching around for a practical way to meet our wants of a place to stay out of the weather and a way to haul our four wheelers around. In our seach I had explored toy haulers, fifth wheels, and tent trailers. We went to an RV show in Twin and found our new home away from home. Unfortunately the weather hasn't worked in our favor yet and we haven't had a chance to take it out. We did let the kids spend a night in it out in the yard. We joked that camping out in our yard was probably more remote than most of the places we would ever take the trailer and definately a lot less people. Hopefully April will bring us some better weather and some new adventures to talk about. We are also hoping that our little truck will pull our train.

Sara's Big Day

The other night Natalie had a family concert that we all got to go to. They played some fun songs that the kids really enjoyed. Natalie's professor Chung Park came out pretending to be injured and asked for someone from the audience to come up and help him lead the orchestra. A young boy got to come up and lead the first song. Dr. Park asked for a second volunteer and Sara got chosen to come up and lead the whole orchestra in front of a packed house. I would have been scared to death. She likes the spotlight though and did a great job. Dr. Park made her tell the audience where her mom was sitting and poked fun at the fact that she was going to be leading her and the whole orchestra. It's nice that they have a special concert for families and children to come and appreciate instrumental music.

Kids?

I picked up Sara from kindergarden yesterday and she seemed a bit upset. I asked her how her day went and if they had learned anything new about Presidents day since they had been studing it this week. With great disgust she told me that her teacher told them that President was our president. Sara informed the teacher that she was wrong and that President Monson was our president and a prophet. When her teacher pushed that "no" President Obama is the president Sara told her that "President Obama is not a prophet.

How do you explain to a five year old the difference between church and state. Alteast at her young age she is aware of where to turn for positive leadership in her life.

Yea for Kami!!

Natalie's friend from high school and roommate in college tied the knot a couple weekends ago. We are so excited for Ben and Kami. We wish them the best and are glad that we were able to attend their special event.

Renovation Again!!

I decided the other night that the kids needed a wee bit more color in their life, (or maybe the brown wood paneling throughout the house is driving me nuts). We had a couple cans of paint laying around and I figured that I could mix colors together and come up with something fun. Natalie was gone to school so the kids and I started in on Keagan's room. She wasn't quite as amused as I thought she would be. Oh wait, she was. She didn't quite enjoy the Blue and the Green combination. I thought that it was exciting and cheerful. I was still trying to decide what combination we were going to use for Corbin & Sara's room.

The following Saturday I was installing a light in Keagan's ceiling since the majority of our house doesn't have lighting in the ceiling and makes it quite dark. Natalie suggested that we take down the temperary wall between the two kids rooms. We thought that they might do better keeping their room clean and it would give them a larger area to play and the toys wouldn't spread through the house. A few moments later "walla" wall gone, wierd tile stip in the center of the room, and my partial paint job looks stupid. The kids are having fun sharing a room together. They really enjoy the play area. Hopefully our renovation days are about up, we've got some playing to do.

New Years Day Riding

Natalie and the kids stayed down in Utah the week after Christmas while I went back to work. They had a fun trip to St. George and enjoy hanging out with the family. When I came back down to get them for New Years I brought down my four wheeler & we made a trip to Middle canyon to ride in the snow. The weather ended up perfect and we had a lot of fun. My Dad, Mike Ashby, Lisa, Catherine, Kate, Mike Moorman, and Brandon went with us. It was the first time that I have had my four wheeler out in the snow with the paddle tires on. One cannot imagine how many times I got myself stuck. I lost count. It is a lot heavier than I was expecting. As you can see it took two bikes to pull me out. We had fun anyway. I love riding up middle canyon in the winter.

Familiy Pics for New Years & Christmas

Thanks to Michelle we went through the family picture ordeal twice this year. Once at Thanksgiving and then again at Christmas. It is quite an ordeal to get the whole group together in one place at one time. It is an even bigger job to get us all lined up long enough to snap some pictures off. So we actually got the whole family together at Christmas time and managed to get a couple pictures. It was fun to have Michelle come into town & have everyone in one place. We wish that we lived closer so that we could get together with everyone more often. Things have changed so much with Keith & Mike getting married & all the kids growing up so fast.
I was disappointed to find that living in the North has had it's effects on me. Due to greater gravitational pull I am shrinking while my siblings are getting taller than me. Soon I will cross over the dividing line of height between the boys and girls. This will be quite depressing when that day comes.
We are grateful for the enjoyable Christmas season that we had and the time that we had to spend together even if they make me feel short & bald.