Home at last....

It is nice to be at home with my family, as well as take a bath and sleep in a real bed. It had been 5 nights of sleeping in a tent without a single shower. I am so glad I am home. I think the kids missed me a little bit too.

We celebrated Ryan's birthday today, even though it is tomorrow. It was easier to celebrate it on a Saturday than a Sunday.Ryan wanted his presents, so we wrapped them and gave them to him. He got a new shirt and a car transformer.

He appeared to love both of them.

Grandma and Grandpa Berger gave him some money, which we bought Ryan his "very own tackle box (Spongebob) and fishing pole." Ryan went with me to run some errands, one of which was to buy him the fishing pole. Anyway, we were at the mall and I gave him a penny to throw into the wishing pond. I told him to make a wish, then throw the penny into the pond and he might have his wish come true. He thought about it for a second and said, "hmmm, A bannana?" I looked at him and said "You want to wish for a bananna?, no why don't you wish for something else." Of course, his next wish was for an apple. He must have been hungry. I told him an apple wasn't a good choice either, but he should wish for something he really wanted. Finally he said, "Ohhhh, a fishing pole." then threw in his penny. Funny kid.

Grandma and Grandpa Bigler came last week and gave Ryan his birthday present - 2 teenage mutant ninja turtles. It is funny that I played with both Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Uinta Trip - Day 2

We slept at Rasmussen Lake last night. I woke up late, about 8am (when the sun hit my tent). I got up and immediately went fishing. Jake, Chad, Jordan and myself walked up around the upper lake to where a stream came into the lake. Chad and Mark were fishing the inlet, but left right as I got there. I switched to my spinning rod and used a Jake's Lure On my second cast, I caught a nice 12 inch trout. I decided to keep it and eat it for breakfast. After a few more casts, I had another on my line, but I didn't set the hook good enough and it got away about 10 feet from the shore. It was just like the one I had. I fished for a few more minutes while I waited for my fish to die, then I cleaned it and headed back to camp.

When I got to camp, the fire was out and tried to start another one. Finally after 30 minutes, I got it started. Up in the Uintas it rains almost every day, so not only was all the wood wet from rain, but it was a very moist from the dewy morning. I cooked and ate my fish, instead of the oatmeal I had brought. (Fish is way better than oatmeal, anyday.) After breakfast, we packed up and left around 11:20am for Queant Lake. We bush wacked for about an hour. We even had to build a bridge across a stream that was about 8-10 feet wide. Shortly after crossing the bridge across the stream, we found the real trail. After getting on the real trail, we hiked for about 45 minutes till the weather turned bad. We all stopped to put on our rain gear, 5 minutes later, it was hailing and lightening/thundering. We immediately got off the trail and headed up in the trees for cover. The hail was about twice the size of a pea and was beginning to hurt, even up in the trees, we weren't that protected, but it did help some. Jake couldn't find his rain gear, so I took my poncho off and we both huddled under it for about 30-45 minutes while it hailed. After the storm blew through, there was at least an inch of hail on the whole valley.

As soon as the storm left up, we headed on our way to Queant Lake looking for the rest of our crew (we lost 3 of them during the storm). We finally got them on our radio. They had stopped for a few minutes, but had pushed through the storm in and attempt to get to Queant. While we were up in the trees, the a few of the lightening struck right above us. Usually you can count the time between when you see lightening and heard the thunder, in this case, they were simultaneous. It was pretty scary for a few minutes, as Jake had a relative die up in the Uinta's from a lightening strike, as did a Boy Scout last week.

After we got to Queant Lake, we immediately started fires, as we were all soaked and freezing. When the storm came in, the temperature dropped a good 20 degrees, plus we were all wet from the rain/hail. I was wearing a short sleeved shirt that was pretty much soaked. Getting the fire started was hard as the rain had just passed through, plus all the other rain it had gotten, every other day. The rain let up and we got 2 fires going. Something about having a fire going when you are freezing and wet that just makes you feel good.

Next we got camp set up and around 4:30pm, I ate lunch. Then Jake and I went fly fishing on the stream leaving Queant Lake. I caught 2 fish, while Jake caught about 15. We stopped fishing when it got too dark to see our flys and went back to camp. We sat by the fires till about 11pm, then finally went to bed.

Uinta Trip - Day 1

We left for the Uinta trip, which is in the Ashley National Forest. There is a total of 9 people on this trip. Jake Woodland, Chad Wright, Cary Hylton, Mark Middlebrook, Jordan Middlebrook, Johnathan Gay, Drew Daybell, James Hylton and myself. Left Springville around 7am and got to our starting point around noon.



We ate lunch while the cars were being shuttled to our ending point, Chepta Lake. Our starting point was the road to Rasmussen Lakes. The hike was pretty steep. About 650 Ft in about 2.5 miles, which took us about 2 hrs to complete. We got to Rasmussen Lake but took the wrong way, so we ended up walking completely around the lake. Once we got to our site, we got fire going, then went fishing. I decided to put on a mosquito Fly on my fly rod and to fish the stream coming out of the lake. I caught the first fish out of our group. It was only an 8 inch trout, but was fun to catch it on the fly rod.

Dinner was a tin foil dinner, it was good. I brought a heavy frozen tin foil dinner, as I knew that was going to be the only really good food I had the whole week. After dinner, I went fishing again and caught a larger 2nd fish, that was about 12 inches, which I released. After fishing we sat around and talked while the kids played in the fire. It is amazing how many more stars you can see when you are away from the city. Tomorrow we have another 2-3 miles.

Leaving tomorrow......

We got our new kitchen table today. Deni's parents drove all the way from AZ to bring it up to us. Thanks Donna and Keith! Over the 4th of July weekend, while we were in AZ, we saw this table and really wanted it. As you can see, we ended up with it. We like it because it is different and beautiful. Right now, we have the leaf folded in, so it extends even bigger. We got 6 chairs along with this, so we will put 2 by the bar and have 4 for the table.

I got packed for my week long trip to the Uintas. I don't have a scale so I don't know how much my pack weighs, but I think it is over 50 lbs. I don't have any water in my pack, but bought a Katadyn Hiker Pro water filter, so I will pump as I go to cut down on weight.

Tonight I put the kids to bed. I asked Ryan to be "the dad" while I was gone. He said "ok, I will watch Sydney and Mom...."

I guess I will be coming back on Friday night, instead of Saturday. It will be hard to be away from the kids and Deni for so long. But I know Ryan will be a good "dad" while I'm away. Plus Deni's parents are here till Wed. Ryan's birthday is Sunday and I really wanted to do something on Saturday anyways, so it will work out great.

My first fish on a fly rod

Today was an odd day for me. I lost my wallet (had a good amount of cash in it) I had my debit card and Discover card for some reason, so I started out in the morning with Ryan to finish up my shopping for my camping trip but came back as some friends showed up to see the house. I didn't get back out till about noon, or so. I went to Mom and Dad's to get the rest of my gear and got stuck there for about 45 minutes as someone parked behind me and I couldn't get out. I then went to Jake Woodland's house to show him my new fly rod and reel and to ask for a few pointers on fly fishing, since that is what I'm going to be doing for the next week. After getting things under control, I mentioned that it was too bad that I was just getting my fly reel and it would have been nice to have done some fly fishing before I went on this trip. Jake's reply was "Walmart is open 24/7, you have plenty of time to finish your shopping before midnight (Sunday), let's go fishing up Hobblecreek Canyon." I called Deni and asked if I could go fishing for a little while, she agreed, so I went. I thought we were going to be up there for an hour max, but that isn't how things went.

We to go fishing around 4pm, drove up the canyon about 4 miles and pulled off the side of the road. Hobblecreek is a little creek at this point, not too much water, but enough. We started walking up stream, fishing as we went. There were places where we had to get out of the stream and walk around because of trees and overgrowth. Anyway, I lost site of Jake and started fishing a little pocket. I cast a few times and as I was about to pull my line back to recast and I felt a pull on my line. Since there were so many trees, I thought I had snagged a tree, but to my surprise, a fish darted up stream with my line following behind. After I realized I had a fish on my line, I began reeling him in. Since fly rods are so long (mine is only 7 feet) it feels alot different. When I got the fish to me, it was a tiny German Brown Trout with beautiful orange spots. I quickly got the hook out and held it in the water till it swam away. My first fish on a fly rod. Not bad for having fly fished for all of about 45 minutes before catching it. After a while, I decided it was getting time to go but I couldn't find Jake. I drove up and down the creek honking my horn and yelling but I didn't find him. I ended up waiting by the car. About 30 minutes later, Jake came walking down the road with a nice 12 inch trout. It was now about 6pm and I knew that I had lots to do still. I took Jake home then went out and bought the rest of the things that I needed for the trip.

I called Deni. She had gone to a ward potluck dinner with the kids, without me. She had asked me earlier in the day if we had planned on going but I dind't think she would go alone. I sure felt dumb. However it sounded like she enjoyed it and met some nice people.

Tomorrow will be interesting for me, I guess we will see how it goes.

Moving ......Part 3

Well we really didn't move anything today. Mainily unpacked things. Most of our things are unpacked, at least enough for us to live.

Nothing too exciting while unpacking. I do have to say that we actually have things up on the walls already. Our last home, it took us (me) about 3 yrs before I tried to put things up on the walls. Deni has done lots today to make this house our home. It is really starting to look good.

Tonight around 4:30pm, a friend and old co-worker, Chris Kline, from Colorado called me to tell me he was in town and wanted to visit. I made a few calls to Kevin and Josh and we all met at Pizza Factory to eat. 32 bucks and some change later, we were full. As Chris said during dinner, "I think the days of going into Wendy's and only spending $8 bucks is over." After eating, we all came back to our house for the grand tour and to visit. It was good getting everyone together, even though we were almost out numbered by kids. I think we end up chasing kids more than talking, bu it was a good time.

Tomorrow is the last day I have to get packed for my Uinta trip, so I will be quite busy.

Moving ..... Part 2

Well other than a few small things, we are moved and I am going to be sore tomorrow. Michael Olsen, dad, Deni and I started about 9am and worked till about 9pm. We got all the big things moved, Washer and Dryer, couches, beds, 95% of our boxes and most of our clothes.

We are sleeping at our new house tonight. Ryan loves his new room and ths house. Yesterday while we were moving, I thought Ryan was with Deni and Deni thought he was with me... when I aksed Deni where he was, we got worried and started running around looking for him. I found him downstairs playing in the playroom. He opened a few boxes of toys we had packed 3 months ago. Just happy as a clam with our new house.

Since not too much is unpacked yet, I thought we might want to sleep at my parents one more night. When we asked Ryan if he wanted to sleep and Grandma and Grandpa Bergers house, he was sad. He has wanted to stay here at the house and not leave. We are happy that Ryan likes it so much.

Moving.......

I had planned on moving tomorrow and Friday, but I talked to Deni today and she was already taking boxes over.

After dinner, we took another trip over to the house. Just about 5 more trips.....

Ryan asked us tonight if he could change his name to Brian. We asked him why and he said because Sydney hit him in the throat. Not sure if I followed the logic there.

Survival Kits

I finished up my "Survival" kit for the Uinta trip tonight with about 15 minutes to spare. (before Young Men's) The kit has things like matches, fishing line and hooks, compass, whistle, etc. Ryan came with me to Young Men's, where we went through our survival kits to make sure the boys had everything they need. After going through our kits we went to Sportsmans Warehouse where I bought the necessary fishing gear I will need for the week. I spent just over $47 on fishing gear. I bought a fly/spinning combo reel, a fly reel, 10 flies (at .99 a piece) and some spinners.

I'm excited to learn to fly fish and even more excited to catch lots of fish up in the Uintas. All I need to do is get my food together and I will be ready to go. I have less than a week, so I'm getting a little nervous, but am excited about the oppurtunity. This trip has cost me a lot, but hopefully I will be able to take Deni on a 2-3day trip next year into the mountains to do the same thing.

Grandpa Crowley

My Grandpa Crowley died before my 2nd birthday, but according to the pictures and stories I have seen, he used to draw faces around scraped up knees and cuts. The kids don't have cuts or scrapes, but wanted faces on their tummy. Ryan's - on the top, did it himself. Sydney's is on the bottom, Deni drew the face for her. I'm sure my Grandpa Crowley would be happy at this site.