Yee Haw

Jason spent last Thursday on Parker Mountain with his cousins from Loa. All the ranchers head up the mountain on the same weekend and work together to get the cattle down for the winter. Jason borrowed some cowboy attire from my brother Andy (woo hoo Wranglers) and left Cedar at 3:45am! Lucky for me, his cousin Marcy stayed at our house so I wasn't totally lonely.


They rode about ten hours that day. He was almost walking normal for church on Sunday.

going our seperate ways

This past weekend Jason went north and Mason and I went east.
He went to see this:

Nitro Circus APX Party

Bearded Joe and Smiley Jason

And we went to the ranch (again):

A sneak peak at the pink cliffs...almost there!

One perk of taking nephews: you have someone to open all the gates!

Though we were apart, we both had a great weekend. I especially enjoyed my conversations with my nephews William and Joseph who joined me for the weekend. They expressed their concern over the inappropriate content sneaking into Disney movies. They raved about the benefits of a ClearPlay DVD player. They shared plot lines of their favorite books. They debated which characteristic of their baby brother was cutest; his belly laugh or his toothless grin. They were wonderful company.

WHAT?

I love having our own house. I really do. But we are so used to being in closer quarters that it's getting hard to communicate. Before: Say something quietly and the other person hears you no matter where we are in the apartment/hotel room. Now: Say something. Say it again louder. Other person yells back "what?". Try to repeat. Go find the other person and start over.

We actually have to go find the other person to talk. Sometimes finding the other person is pretty difficult. The other day I needed Jason's help. I looked all over the house, went out front, hollered out back, tried the side of the house, and finally stood in the middle of the house and yelled "Hello????". Jason came up the stairs about then, he was in the storage room the whole time.

It's funny how adding a bit a space can have such a huge effect on our daily interactions. Funny how adding a bit of space can have such a huge effect on junk accumulation... but I'll save that rant for another day.

Needs vs Wants

Jason says he needs a truck. He cites examples of all the times one would come in handy. It would be nice to have one, but these guys proved it may not be necessary... after all, who needs a truck when you've got a sports car and some very thin twine?

Cedar Mtn Pictures

These are from our Panguitch Lake trip. It was very beautiful but I was chicken and too cold to stop and get out of the car to take pictures. The sheep actually caused some concern. We were speeding past a slow car (ahem...Nevada plates) around a corner and suddenly we saw sheep all over the road right in front of us.

brontosaurus. bronchitis, brook trout, and a blizzard

This title pretty much sums up this past week, although slightly altered to sound better. Brontosaurus is actually for pteranodon. Mason watches Dinosaur Train sometimes and the theme song is always stuck in Jason's head. So Jason is always blurting out section of song. After fishing in the rain at Navajo Lake I got sick and in typical Ashley fashion got worse and ended up with bronchitis. Monday we went fishing in the rain again (smart I know), this time to Panguitch Lake. I don't think it was brook trout we were after, but we didn't get anything so I guess it doesn't matter. Jason is starting to realize I am bad luck and I'm not sure if I'm invited next time. I might be okay with that. Mason and I had to keep going to the car to defrost. But I do love getting out as a family. On the way home the weather got even worse and when we went through Cedar Breaks it turned...to...SNOW! Not actually even close to a blizzard but I'm not ready for snow. It was beautiful but it bummed us out. We can no longer pretend it isn't almost winter.

NOT Pine Nutting

 

Today we headed out in search of pine nuts with my brother Nate and two of his kids. We didn't find ANY. So we headed to Lion's Mouth and checked out what's left of the indian writings.

The new routine

I laugh at the word routine. We are on the go so much we really don't have much of a routine. Poor Mason probably has no concept of home yet. We seem to sleep in a few different places every week. As a matter of fact he seemed to attach to my brother's tree house and think that was his home. We are trying to fit in as much 'real living' as we can before the weather gets too cold. Every couple of days we are packing up to head back to the mountain or to visit family. I feel like we are continuously packing & unpacking. But when we are home our day goes something like this:

We sleep in as late as Mason will let us. We work around the house at a leisurely pace. We run errands around town. We visit with family and neighbors. We check new places and eateries that popped up while we were out of town. We make big plans. We spend a few evening hours weeding and working on the yard. That's about it.

Don't worry though, Jason finds plenty to do to keep busy and still feel "productive". Here he is unloading the truck at the dump...sporting his awesome fu man chu.

Life is good.

missed my mountain

(Three of my favorite people in the whole wide world)

We've been lucky to be able to spend a lot of time up on Cedar Mountain this month. We go to the ranch. We go to fish. We go to explore. We go just to drive. I want my little family to feel as familiar with the mountain as I do, to have as many memories, and to feel as happy as I do. That's going to require a lot of time, good thing they are as willing and excited to head out as I am.

The above picture is from Wood's Ranch. We met up with our friends, the Johnson's, and my friend Lindsey for some serious fresh air. We fished, we played with fire, and made the best ever tin foil dinners. It was a nice evening on the mountain, but driving down the canyon I was the happiest I've been in a long time.

One day we went to Navajo Lake to fish... in the rain... It was beautiful and Mason was a good sport. On our way home we explored a few random side roads until the bumps and rattles of the jeep lulled Mason to sleep. We stopped at one of my favorite places at the bottom of Ashdown Gorge. Here's a picture. Let's just say I was pretty startled to see this huge boulder next to the road. It certainly wasn't there last time I was.

Now the leaves are changing and the mountain is turning golden. I try to pretend it's not cold. The last time we were at the ranch I tried to get into the pond. I made it to my knees. It was painfully cold. I try not to notice the days are getting shorter. Oh how I missed my mountain.

APX Party

Jason hosted a work retreat at the ranch for the techs from this year. We had great dutch oven cooking, swamping wars, and games. I love sharing this amazing place with others. I am so grateful to have a place like that to escape to ... and grateful no one died going off the zip line into the frigid water.

the beach

Thank you city officials for creating this beach for us. It's an nice little oasis in the desert. It needs some work, some trees, a few less rules, but I appreciate the efforts thus far. We'll put it to good use.

(you can't see my pregnant gut but check out my pregnant butt!)

We made it

Each year we go live in some far off place. Each year we try to get back for Labor Day. We have work weekends at the ranch on Memorial Day and Labor Day. Extended family converges to open or winterize the cabins and work on various projects.

This year I never would have thought we'd make it back in time. Jason was required to work an extra week after the office closed and we were still three days worth of driving away. Good thing I married a go getter. He worked some really late nights and proactively contacted customers and had his whole schedule cleared by Tuesday. He checked in with his supervisors continuously until we realized there really wasn't any work left to do and we hit the road.

We stopped at Aunt Calva's in Texas the first night. It was heavenly to not sleep in a hotel. She and Steven made it hard to want to leave and get back in our cars. We made it to Albuquerque the second night and to the ranch by Friday afternoon. Jason got 59 mpg across the reservation! Mason was excellent and did great until the last morning. Then he pathetically begged for his house and to go swimming.

I wondered if he would be shy, but as soon as we got to the lodge he saw my dad and left with him on a four wheeler, never looking back. He loved playing in the pond, playing with his cousins, well... he just loved being able to play and run around and not be confined to a small living space or car.

We went to church in Alton, where 499 other members swelled the attendance far beyond it's usual congregation. Dave's new baby was given and name and blessing afterward. When we finally had our fill of family, great food, and crisp mountain air we got back in our cars for one last leg of our journey...we finally made it home!

Sweet cousins

My boys in the paddle boat

Hyrum and Mason keeping each other entertained.

It's not me, it's really really you

It was not hard to leave Alabama. As I've been telling people, it's not in my top 50 states. I don't understand why anyone lives there. We have cars, buses, planes, feet... why doesn't everyone just leave?

I tried really hard to think of positive things about Alabama. So after weeks and weeks of pondering, here's the short list:

• The southern accents made everyone seem nice. And charming. And interesting. Even Mason picked up a bit of a drawl.
  

• I liked that religion was part of life. Though not my beliefs, it seemed that people were more open and vocal about theirs. I liked seeing all sorts of chapels everywhere. I like to see people having faith in God. Billboards and bumper stickers are not my style, but to each his own.

• The drivers were courteous. They are really nice about letting people in and leaving room in the intersections and in front of exits. Then again it wouldn't have mattered if the traffic wasn't so bad all the time...

• The humidity was really good for Mason's skin. He didn't have a single rash or patch of eczema until we were back in UT.

And that's it. So even though breaking up is hard to do... it's just not this time around.

om nom nom

Because I am thinking about home...
and because I am sitting bored in a dark hotel room while the boys nap...
and because we have not been eating quality food lately...
and because I just wish I knew where to eat that had good fixin's...

I present: (da da da da!)
Ashley's Official List of Top Ten Foods I Wish I was Eating Right Now *Cedar Version*

1. Anything made by my mom
2. Taste of Hawaii's Beef Teriyaki and Rice (half regular, half spicy)
3. Pastry Pub's Chicken Tostada or Turkey Sandwich on a cheese bagel
4. My dad's homemade fruit ice cream
5. Chicken Chile Tamale from that nice Hispanic lady in a white van
6. Caribbean Passion Jamba Juice, no longer available in Cedar
7. Pizza Factory's bread sticks
8. Anything from Bruno's
9. Costa Vida's Chicken salad, more rice than beans with spicy ranch
10. Cream Cheese tarts from a Green Show wench (offered seasonally during the Shakespearean Festival)

Christmas Eve

Jason woke up on Friday with a big smile on his face. "Mason" he said, "It's Christmas Eve". Mason, who gets excited about anything/everything threw his hands in the air and hollered "WooHoo!".

Saturday was the last day for new sales and installs. Although we are still in AL for the rest of this week to wrap things up, having the office officially closed was certainly cause for celebration. Mason and I decorated our hotel room with signs and drawings and our celebratory dinner was Subway sandwiches and Oreos (yes, I feel like one of the box car children)

Wait, if work is over how come Jason is still gone until 3am counting inventory and boxing equipment? Well, he does have a lot of loose ends to take care of but I think UPS is coming today and then we're really almost done.

I love thinking that this time next week I'll be home. In my own place, sleeping in my own bed, and cooking real meals!