Wyoming. . .

The Bunk House

I left Monday night for Wyoming along with Kyle Hansen, Brother Bott, and three of his grandkids.  We slept in the bunk house which is a medium sized one roomed cabin with 5 bunk beds . . . therefore accommodating 10, we only had six.  We started the work early Tuesday morning.  Kyle and I staining fence, and the kids working with Brother Bott.  We spent two full days staining and talking about pretty much everything!  

Chillin

That's the staining gun that we used . .  we switched off.  We are at the top of the hill, this is still the first day.  You can see the fence line we did, all the way through those bushes, across the creek, and to where the light green starts.  The fence that continues up the light green is the fence we built at the beginning of the summer.

The fence was between Brother Bott's property and a guy named James who we working with mostly.  He has about 400 acres of land along with a massive home and a huge barn.  He owns a portion of Arctic Cat, and used to be a petroleum engineer.  When we went in to his garage he had a BMW, a corvette, a Bara Cuda (A classic muscle worth probably 200, 000 ((just a guess)) which he bought from a museum), a bullet bike, a jeep, two Harleys, and his wife drives a brand new suburban.  All of that, along with his fourwheeler and his sons, were in his garage.  He had any tool you can imagine down at his shop, but we never got to see his shop, he just told us about it.  He is probably about 45 and retired.  Everything he owns was purchased with cash.  (All above information was acquired through careful conversation and strategic questioning) :D

PEACE

That's a picture from close to the end of our staining on the second day . . . We stained that fence all the way up that hill and across it to the right also.

There was a tiny little fire early the first morning that we barely noticed, and an hour later it looked like this.  James said they'll probably just contain it and let it burn until winter because it really can't be stopped.  Wow.

That's how filthy I was..

This is when I FINALLY got home on Wednesday night. . . at 2:30am . . and I still had to get in the shower cause I couldn't get in my bed with stain all over me. 

I still haven't gotten all of the stain off of me.

Weekend Moments

Friday

    So we went to the BBQ at Barrett and Jeanine's and had a blast with everyone!  Katie joined us a little later and it was great to have her there with the family too.  Then we went to see Batman, Dark Night which was, close to the greatest action/suspense film ever.  There were some awesome messages within the story and some great story line along with amazing dialogue.  It would be a great movie to Analyze for an english class or something of the sort.  A perfect way to end the night! 

Saturday

I woke up saturday morning and debated within my head whether I wanted to go to Utah Lake with Beej or not, but I knew I would have a good time as much as I didn't want to get up and going... quite yet haha.  But I ended up going to the Lake with Barrett and Curtis Marshall, later joined by Matt Row.  The water was rough enough that we didn't do any skiing or wakeboarding so we just chillaxed!  We played a lot of smash-ball from the front of the boat to the back of the boat and chased down a lot of loose balls.  We got home at about 1:30 and I headed home to get ready for my piano recital.

I practiced a lot leading up to the recital... but it never seems to be enough and I can't figure it out.  I didn't play as well as a had wished and I was more frustrated/sad then I let show on the way home, but it's okay... I'll just do better next time.  I was in an anti-social mood and so when I got home I played with the Rubiks Cube and painted some of the White Rod Iron fence in the Front of the House.  I took my time cleaning the office afterwards cause I wanted time to think and be alone.  

On my way home from the office I went up towards "Y" mountain past Timpview cause I didn't want to go straight home.  I drove up on the scooter to see the sunset and the lightning storm... The valley looked amazing with the orange glow about it with the white flashes on and off.  I started to head home and realized I was going to catch the storm.  it started to sprinkle and three... maybe four seconds later it started to POUR!  I rode home with the biggest smile on my face (when I could open my eyes) because I was loving the rain, even though it hurt when I was going 45 mph.  I passed Kyle Hansen and the Mckell's while I was on my way home and they were out in the rain too.  So I stopped and we ran through the gutters and rode around even though it was a little cold.   We found some places where the water was over the sidewalk and up to our shins!  After a while of the puddles and the rain dying down, we ran and got into the Mckell's hot tub for a little to warm up.  Then we made Hot Chocolate and played a game called Queen Elephant!  It was probably the best ending possible to such a horrible day.  One of my favorite nights of the summer for sure!  

P.S. We need to play Queen Elephant next time we're together... so remind me!

This is the Rod Iron Fence before I painted it. :D  I'll put up the painted one.. eventually.

Riding On the Ranch

On Tuesday instead of working at the ranch we finally got the real pay for the work we've been doing, we got to ride.  I forgot to take my camera which was a big mistake but oh well.  We went up at 7:30, it takes about an hour and a half to get the ranch in Hanna.  We spent four hours on the horses.  We rode up the mountain side on a trail for a while and then did some more intense off-trail stuff, even had to get off the horses and hike on foot for a while.  When we go to the top we were on the spine of a gorgeous hillside that over looked a perfectly green valley of trees.  The first thing we saw was the valley and a hawk gliding through the sky, it was perfectly quiet while we heard the hawk screeching, it was amazing.  On the way back, my horse decided he wanted to be in the front of the pack, and I decided that if we were going to be in front I'd see how fast I could get him to go... so I clicked my mouth, tapped my heel, and spoke a quiet, "let's go" and we took off.  A trot to a gallop, a gallop to a canter, and then we finally broke out into a run.  It was a surreal feeling, as if you're flying.  The ride goes from awkward and uncomfortable to indescribably graceful yet intense.  It was the fastest I've ever ridden, and also the most fun I've had.  What an amazing chance to enjoy the beauties of the outdoors with the best guide out there, and the smartest man I know Cordell Bott.

Sunday Night Katie and I went for a walk around the Temple it was way fun.  We hadn't hung out for a few weeks actually and it was great to talk.  We made a couple of laps around while I told her about my comedy routine ideas... Then drove home!  It was a great Sunday.  

Katie has had some photo shoots and is taking some modeling as well as acting classes.  On Monday she started dancing seven hours a day again!  We are great friends but we are keeping it at a friendship level as best as we can.  We haven't spent very much time together this summer which has made it easier to be just friends!  This summer has been full of work and fun!