Hardware Ranch

Mom and dad took our whole extended family, except for my brother, Shane - which doesn't live in UT, to Hardware Ranch today. Hardware Ranch, is a ranch where hundreds of wild elk come down each winter to feed. It is about 20-30 minutes south of Logan, Utah.

We met my parents in Springville just after 8am, as they were riding with us. We left around 8:30am from Springville and headed North. We got to Hardware Ranch about 11:30am.



We took a ride out on a horse drawn wagon. Since there wasn't much snow left, they were using wagons instead of Sleds, but it still had two huge horses to pull us right through the middle of the elk herd.



Both kids thought the elk were pretty cool. Espically to get so close to them in the wild.



I was amazed that the elk just stood there and didn't run. It took us about 10 minutes to drive out in the middle of the Elk herd and back. The driver of the wagon would stop for a minute or two and explain something about the elk, such as their antlers, etc.



After we got back, the kids petted the horses.



We took our heavy winter clothing, thinking there was going to be alot of snow and that it would also be really cold, however the weather was nice. We probably should have had sunblock on instead of a heavy winter jacket.



We stopped at Burger King on the way home and ate lunch. After lunch we headed back home. After a quick stop at Stefanie's, we were on our way home.

Snow day

This last week I have been working a odd schedule. I work from 5pm till 1am (at home), then I'm on call from 1am till 8am the next morning. Since I work at home this week, I go to bed at the normal time (10-11pm) and sleep with my cell and am expected to answer it if it rings (how fun...). Knock on wood, I haven't been woken up this week. Not bad, as it has almost been a week since I started the schedule. Tonight is the last day. I get rid of the schedule at 8am tomorrow morning.

Working this odd schedule has allowed me to be home during the day and spend time with the family, which has been alot of fun. When it started snowing yesterday, I planned on taking the kids sleding, however it was very windy, cold and quite stormy, so we postponed till today. At our house we got at least 8 inches of snow over the last 2 days (more like 10-12 inches) I'm glad we did, as it was a perfect day for being outside and playing in the snow. The sun was out, there was no wind and tempature was above freezing.

Deni and I took turns sleding with the kids. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from today.

Happy Birthday to me...

"Brett, you held out as long as you could, 9 yrs isn't bad. You've made it longer than most."

Today, we finally bought a mini van. (sniff) Not just any mini-van, but a '05 Toyota Sienna LE. We bought it used, but it is in great shape and will be a great vehicle for our family. (No more cramped long drives - yeah.) I guess it is Deni's birthday present to me (grin). I can't wait till Deni's birthday, so I can get me a new car. Ok - so it just happened that we picked it up today. It's not my birthday present.



Today is my 31st birthday though. It's odd to think I'm 31. My mom sent me a picture the other day of when I went to Philmont Scout Ranch as a teenager. I think I was 16 in the picture. Amazing it has been 15 yrs since I did that. Time is just speeding up, I guess. For my birthday, Deni got me a cool blanket. It is cool for a few reasons. It is an all weather blanket (soft fabric blanket with a water resistant shell) that zips up into carrying case. I thought it would be fun to have to go on picnics, camping, concerts, to the playground, etc. Here is Sydney modeling the blanket zipped up.

Ok, back to the van. It isn't that bad. Actually, this isn't like the mini-van's I remember growing up with. It is a really nice vehicle. Large (8 passenger), quiet, drives like a car, etc. I drove it home and got going 80 mph without realizing I was going that fast.



It is the best looking mini-van out there, in my humble opinion.



Since I was on call this weekend for work, we really didn't do much today, other than buying the car and getting me a haircut. Guess after you turn 30, it's all down hill from there (grin).

Deni's home

Ryan, Sydney and I drove to SLC Airport today to pic up Deni. We left about 11:45am, as soon as Ryan got out of school. Deni was supposed to land at 12:30, so we were pushing it to get up there in time. Both kids brought their posterboards they had made for Deni. Sydney's said "We missed you" and Ryan's said "Welcome home mom". When we got within 15 minutes of the airport, it got very quiet. I looked back and Sydney was asleep holding her posterboard. Deni called and had already gotten off the plane, so our plan of being there when she got off and holding the posterboards up wasn't going to work and with Sydney sleeping, we just drove up the to luggage area. I rolled down Ryan's window and had him hold up his posterboard as we drove up to where Deni was waiting for us. I got out to give Deni a hug and get her luggage in. Ryan's home made posterboard, colored by him, had brought tears to her eyes.

We drove home, stopped off at Wendy's for some lunch. We also stopped by and got my Canon 20D, which we had dropped off for a cleaning. There was a spot on the alot of my pictures, which apparently was some dust,dirt, or a hair. $42.50 later, it is fixed.

It is good to have Deni home. In our neighborhood, we have a man that lost his wife a few years back. He has smaller children. I thought of him a few times while Deni was gone and how hard it has to be. I'm not sure how people deal with a single parent situation, however I hope I don't ever have to deal with that. I'm glad that Deni is home with us.

Making welcome home signs

We stopped at Kmart tonight to get a posterboard to make welcome home signs for Deni (she comes home tomorrow). The kids both choose a bright orange posterboard. We bought it, took it home, cut it in half and made two signs. Sydney's said "We missed you" and Ryan's said "Welcome home mom". Both kids colored in the letters I had written while I watched Survivor.

I stayed up till 2am working on my laptop. I finally decided to format and reinstall Windows XP. I'm amazed at how much time it takes to get a computer backedup, then reinstalled. I hope I didn't miss anything.

Working with Dad

Today I asked Dad if he would come over and help me for a little while. Here is our to-do list that we finished.

1. Move our new Upright freezer into the storage room. (the delivery guys carried it downstairs for us)
2. Finish putting insulation into the storage room.
3. Hang bifold doors on both closets downstairs.
4. Hang the canoe in the garage above the cars.

While Dad was here, I somehow turned into a babysitting service. I heard the doorbell ring and 2 of Ryan's friends had come over to play. For the most part, they played nice and stayed out of our way while we got the above done. It's nice to have Dad close by. If I'm ever unsure about something, he can figure it out.

I took the kids to Carl's Jr tonight and got them kids meals. I was surprised how much Ryan ate. He must be going through a grown spurt or something. I took my book and read for probably a good 45 mins while they played in the playroom.

I've had a hard time going to bed on time without Deni here. I don't think I have been to bed before midnight the last few nights. I'm never up past 10:30pm, usually.

First full day alone

Even though I was on bereavement from work, I had a meeting I called into, so I wouldn't get a week behind. I think I would much rather go to meetings personally instead of calling into them, speaker phones aren't that easy to hear on.

It's not Deni's week to drive, so Ryan is picked up in the morning and brought home after school. It was nice not having to worry about taking Ryan to school.

Everything went pretty smoothly today. Didn't get anything done, but the house isn't on fire and the kids are in bed.

Deni's flying to AZ

Deni's cousin, Kyle Bowers, passed away last weekend. Deni made arrangements to fly to AZ. We left the house at 6am. My mom came over at 6am to watch the kids and to get Ryan off to school. After dropping Deni off at the airport, I went directly to work. After work, I went to my parents house to pick up the kids. After Ryan had gotten out of school, my mom took Sydney and Ryan to her house to watch them.

I told Deni that while she was gone, I was going to start writing a book about how easy it is to be a stay at home dad, and expose how much times mom's really have. I also told her, I was going to make my first million by selling the book.

Deni is gone till Friday Feb 10th, 5 whole days. I am off the rest of the week to stay at home with the kids and take care of them. I have 3 days of time off for Bereavement, then I'm taking Friday off. I'm not sure Deni has been away from me and the kids for any extended time, so we will see how it goes.