Friday, December 16, 2016

My dad's elk hunt

After many years of applying, my dad finally drew out on his limited entry elk hunt this year. We were all so excited for it to be his turn. We did quite a bit of scouting throughout the summer and set up our game plan for the September hunt.
I drove up on Friday morning to help set up camp and do some last minute scouting. I had been growing my beard out for about a month in preparation for the hunt.


When I got up there I was so happy to see how bright and brilliant the fall colors were.

I brought my RZR along for the hunt.



My cousin Jaron and his dad Rees (my mom's twin brother) came on the hunt too. Here's a view of our awesome elk camp.


This year was a very, very hard hunt. The weather was about 20 degrees warmer than normal and there was a bright full moon each night with no clouds. Normally on this hunt the bulls are bugling and fighting and in the full rut, which makes for a much easier and a much more enjoyable hunt. This year however was a different story. The rut hadn't started and the bulls were hunkering down in the deep pines. We couldn't get them to respond to cow calls or bugles with anything more than a half hearted belly grunt while they were lying down. They would leave the trees. Because of the full moon they were up all night feeding and bedded down all day. They would stop moving before 8:00 am and wouldn't get back up and about until after 6:00 pm. It made for a very challenging hunt for us.


Saturday night was the BYU vs UCLA home opener. My dad and I headed down from the elk camp to go to the game with my mom and Tucker. It was Tucker's 11th birthday so we had him come along.

The views from where we hunt are so amazing.



There is one area that we take the four wheelers over a creek. This year some beavers dammed up the creek right by the crossing and caused it to be flooded under about 3 feet of water. We had to tear the dam down to drain the water enough for us to cross. Each time we did this, the next day the beavers had repaired the dam. It helped illustrate the saying, "busy as a beaver".

I had to head back home Monday to help the kids out and I left my dad and Jaron up there. That night Jaron got my dad in on a great bull and they downed him before sunset. I drove right back up Tuesday morning and helped them pack the elk out.

It wasn't too long of a hike, but it was straight up hill. Jaron and I had a great time getting it out.

My dad had a bad knee and was pretty exhausted so Jaron and I did the heavy lifting. When we got to the top we had my dad put the pack on for a photo op. Looking good dad!

I was glad that my dad was able to harvest his elk and that we had an enjoyable hunt.

I shaved my beard off in stages. First was the trucker look.

Then the handlebar mustache.

Then the creepy mustache.

Then the angry nazi mustache.

Clean shaven and handsome!

Sunday, September 4, 2016


Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Headstone and a blast from the past

Lisa's headstone is finally done. It turned out so well too. It's exactly the way she wanted it. After we put Lisa on home hospice care, she and I took a trip to the funeral home so that she could pick out her casket and headstone and plan out her entire funeral. This is what she picked out. It's still weird for me to see my own name on a headstone.

On a crazy side note, one of Kamille's friends was browsing Lisa's facebook page and came across this photo from the Big Cottonwood marathon back in 2013. Her friend noticed that the guy in the red shirt in the background is Kamille's late husband Clint. Clint was battling his bone cancer at that time and it was the motivation for Kamille to run a marathon. Lisa had finished up her year long chemo and radiation treatments a few months earlier and was using this race as motivation to keep pushing herself. I love that this photo captured two amazing cancer warriors in the middle of their trials and battles.
Upon discovering this photo of Lisa and Clint in the same shot, some other friends did some digging and found some more photos that showed how our paths had crossed three years ago. We found out that Kamille and Lisa not only ran the same race, but finished at the same time. The official race times show that they finished 3 seconds apart.

You can see Kamille's son Gunner in this photo running along side Lisa and Aubrey.

And this photo shows that Gunner was out there supporting Kamille. Had the camera panned out we would have captured both Lisa and Kamille easily in the same photo.

You can see Lisa's mom and dad in the background of this photo of Kamille, Neiska and Wyatt.

It's funny how the world is so much smaller than we realize. I'm convinced that the Lord is much more intimately involved in our lives than we even realize.

Sunday, August 7, 2016

Camping with cousins

Last weekend my brother and his wife came in town with their kids. My parents took their kids up camping by where we go elk hunting. Kristin and I decided that we would lend a hand helping our parents and get all the cousins together for a fun weekend of red neck fun. My cousin Jaron caught wind of this trip and brought his family along as well. It was a great weekend in the mountains spent with family.

I brought some pistols and rifles for the kids to shoot. They all really enjoyed shooting.


 Charlie was her normal adorable self.

Here's a picture of all my parents grandkids, plus Jaron's two kids, in one photo. It was quite the crew.

That evening my dad, Jaron, Chris and I went out to do some scouting for my dad's elk hunt. It is such beautiful country up there.







That night I slept out under the stars with Blake. He was so excited to sleep by me and look at all of those stars. I showed him some constellations, some of the planets, the milky way, and we even saw a brilliant, long lasting shooting star.

I brought my RZR up there and took everyone for some fun rides. I taught my nephew Trevor how to drive it, and let my mom, Jaron, my dad, Kristin and Chris drive it. They are all fans. It's been super fun to use with the family.







We had to leave home Saturday afternoon before everyone else because we had tickets to the Heber Valley demolition derby. Not long after hitting the highway all of the kids were out cold. That's always a good sign of a successful trip when they are exhausted like that.

That night I took all of the kids to the demolition derby. They loved it!






As soon as we were leaving and walking back to the truck they were all begging me to take them again next year. I think I'm doing this dad job right by the looks of the smiles on my kids faces.

Monday, July 18, 2016

Boston Trip!

This past weekend was the annual AGD convention in Boston. I was receiving my Fellowship award and traveled out there for the awards ceremonies. For those that don't know what the Fellowship award is, basically it's an award that is designed for dentists to be able to distinguish themselves from their peers. Only about 15% of general dentists earn it. To qualify for it you need to complete over 500 hours of continuing education. To put that in perspective, in Utah the minimum amount of CE required is 16 hours a year. It would take you 30 years of doing the minimum to accomplish that. In addition to the CE you need to pass a very rigorous written exam. It was a tough test, but thankfully I passed my first try. I gave myself a personal goal several years ago to get this award as a way to keep pushing myself in dentistry to learn more and improve.

I flew out on Wednesday, but before leaving I did my weekly morning boating session with the guys. It was another fantastic sunrise. They caught this sweet photo of me spraying it up with the sun behind me.


After the session at the lake, I headed off to work for the day. I caught a late flight to Boston and didn't get to my hotel until about 1:30 in the morning. The classes on Thursday were fairly boring unfortunately. It was weird being at this convention all alone. Lisa would almost always go to these with me. Also, when I passed my exam last fall, Lisa and I were planning on going to this together so that she could celebrate in the award with me since she was supporting me by my side every step of the way through my dental career. Unfortunately that didn't happen, but I'm certain she was smiling down on me from heaven.
Thursday night I went out to dinner at a nearby restaurant and had the most divine meal. Lobster tails and steak. Wow. That hit the spot.

After dinner I had a small opening before I had to attend a reception, so I took a walk over to the Charles River and enjoyed the views of the sail boats on the water.

Friday's classes were better thankfully. That evening I met up with my good friends from dental school, the Kuzmaks, for dinner. Lyndsay was receiving her Fellowship award as well. It was so fun catching up with them.

Saturday was the big day for the awards ceremony. The AGD treats this as a big deal and you wear the caps and gowns and go through all the pomp and procession of a normal graduation.

Of the 250 recipients of the award I was randomly assigned to sit right next to another friend from dental school, Kyle Marshall. We had a good time laughing and chatting during the two hour ceremony. It made it much more enjoyable sitting next to him.

My friends the Kuzmak's snapped this photo of me as I was being presented with my award.

I flew back home on Sunday, and after a long day of travel it was so good to be back home with the kids. Thankfully they missed me and were excited to have me back home. Now that I have earned my Fellowship, it's time to set some more dental goals.