Building a snowman

Building a snowman can be interesting
you have to ask yourself three questions

will it be work...yep

What ever shall I wear Hmmm...pants and socks would be a good idea

What will it look like when I am done
hmmm I can't quite make out the facial features

Steelhead season

We are blessed to have a river within a few minutes of our house that has many fishing opportunities. Steelhead are an amazing fish. They begin life here and visit the ocean for a few years then return here to spawn. We went fishing over the Thanksgiving holiday stretch and caught several fish. Fishing with family or friends is great.

How not to pass a tanker truck

Monday November 9th was a crazy day. I had taken Brooke to an orthopedic surgeon because her ankle was bothering her. The surgeon, Doctor Gibbons, just happens to be my cousins son which is kind of cool. She ended up getting a cortisone shot in her ankle which I watched... interesting and that otta hurt at the same time. Brooke dropped me off on her way to school in Connell and I started into my day. Then I got the call, "Dad, I got in a wreck"...those are awful calls, a world of emotions come compressed into a single moment. I got a few details, I'm fine, the car is a mess, I hit a truck, so I went to get her really not knowing what all to expect. when I arrive, there are 4 State Patrol cars there, and a county crew putting absorbent on a line of fuel on the road that stretched 80 or so yards. The car is in the median on a bit of a hill pointed somewhat back to the road she left and a tanker truck she tangled with may be 100 yards up the road. The truck is fully loaded with jet fuel, that was a bit unsettling. He was climbing the hill at Mesa on Highway 395 so he was going a bit slow and Brooke came up behind him on cruise control at 70MPH. Her phone buzzed and she looked to see who it was...bad idea...looked up to see she was way to close to the truck. She swerved out into the passing lane and then over corrected which caused her to come back into the back side of the drive axle wheels of the truck. In other words she missed the back end of the truck but hit the truck on the side. The trucks wheels pushed the nose of the car up and bent the fender up on the truck and damaged the off loading pipes which spilled the fuel. The front of the car is smashed bad from the trucks wheels, road rash on the top corners, and dings pretty much everywhere. She says it was in slow motion, she remembers going over 3 times, no one stopped to say they witnessed it which is crazy because it is quite a long straight stretch and there always seems to be vehicles there. The cabin portion of the car came through very well for which I am grateful. Brooke seems to be fine, her chest is sore from the seat belt and her neck muscles were a bit sore along with the ankle she got the cortisone shot in. We went back to Dr. Gibbons again the next morning to get a medical release so she could play in the State Volleyball Tournament a couple days later. We are so thankful she basically walked away from something that could have been so terrible.

Summer fun at the dunes

One of our favorite places to go during the summer is to the dunes at ringold. The evenings there are awesome and even better we have the place completely to ourselves. We can tube, ski, board, enjoy the sand and the sunset with just us and it is only 10 minutes from home.

This video is of the sand dune we stop at. Too bad you miss Melissa's unplanned, not so graceful entry into the water, Carter really uses his head when he runs down the dune.

Gone Fishing

I took Keldon, Carter, and Grandpa Gibbons down to Ringold(the Columbia River) last night and did some bass fishing. It turned out to be a fun trip, especially since we all caught some bass and enjoyed the evening. I worked with Keldon and showed him how to cast and he caught on really quick casting his lure around 40 feet sometimes, it was neat. Well, the short version is he casts out and about his 5th or 6th cast he says "hey, I got one" and he ends up with the largest fish of the trip, a little over 15 inches. He shares some details on the video. Grandpa and I enjoyed hooking the fish and watching the boys reel them in. Carter was fun to watch, he is still little enough that it is about all he can do to hold the pole up and reel at the same time, good times. Forgetting to take a camera to the river was the only bummer.

Bones that do not stay in place

I went out to check water the other day on my motorcycle and it turned into an adventure to the ER. I do believe the ground does get harder as you get older, especially since I do not bounce anymore I just splat. This time when the ground stopped moving I rolled over I thought, "oh that hurt, and um, I don't think that bump should be there." I dislocated my collarbone at the shoulder. The bone is sticking up out of place. This injury is pretty much permanent as it will not stay back in place without surgery. Most people function fine the way it is, that is why they do not do surgery unless it becomes a problem, hopefully it will just be cosmetic and not bother me in the future. So far it has been a slow healing process and frustrating.

High On A Mountain Top

Early in July Melissa, Keldon, Carter and I went on a vacation. Kira and Peter took us to see two different mountains in one day. Both were magnificent. The pictures above are the mountains above Farmington--Kira and Peter's backyard. Next time you drive by there, look for those white balls upon the hill. We were there.

The other mountain we went to was the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. The whole drive from Washington the boys were singing "I Love to See the Temple" One of the Primary songs they have been learning. They were so excited to be able to go inside.