The Pergola Business

Tim and I have been scheming up business plans again... We decided to throw up an ad on KSL.com for our pergola design and it really took off! We couldn't believe the response that we received. We've done several already and they've turned out really nice! So once again, our Jackalope Bros. enterprise is expanding. No big deal.

Goblin Valley

We went down south for our latest Scout adventure and got to check out Goblin Valley! What a cool/strange/unique/awesome place that is! The drive down was a long one, but the boys were well stocked with gummy products which made the trip more bearable. Of course, that also meant that they were nice and sugared up, which made them more hyper... Hmm. Thankfully, I had Tim and Tyler with me to keep some sanity and order in the truck!

We pulled into the campground just after dark and met Jeff and Maren who were already there waiting for us with a fire burning. We set up our gear and cooked dinner (hamburgers) over the fire and enjoyed some delicious dutch oven cobbler! We were living the high life for sure. As it was such a beautiful night, the boys decided to set up their hammocks and sleep in those. It got pretty windy throughout the night which really stirred up the sand and blew it around everywhere, but other than that we all slept well.

The next morning, we were able to finally see where we were camping. The view was amazing at sunrise! The campground was completely surrounded by sandstone walls and it was the coolest thing to see. It felt like we were inside a fortress! We had a great breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes. (Again, living like kings!)

After we got our gear all packed up and loaded into the truck, we decided to check out The Valley of Goblins. We were able to see tons of different rock formations and structures and really enjoyed exploring the area. We even found a Geocache! Here are some photos:

After we were finished in Goblin Valley, we drove out to the visitors center to check out maps of the surrounding canyons. We had some extra time and decided to check out one of the canyons on our way home. We had a great hike, ate lunch on the trail, and found lots to see!

The trip home was pretty uneventful, except for stocking up on yet more gummy candy... Haha. We had a great trip! Nothing like a trip with the Scouts and theBRIGADE. I roll deep.

Jazz vs. Heat

So I was listening to the sports talk station on the radio one day and the station was giving out tickets to the Utah Jazz game that night against the Miami Heat. I thought that it would be a really cool game to go to, if I could just get tickets... Well, as luck would have it, the station was giving away the tickets at a car dealership in Salt Lake... right by where I was working! So I cruised over on my way to my next job and winner winner chicken dinner!

I called Amber to tell her the great news and Tim and Tay were kind enough to watch Jeremy for us that night. It turned out to be a great little date for us and Ammon even tagged along! Oh, and the game... INCREDIBLE! Need a reminder? Just watch the videos.

Yep, it was an amazing game with a great finish! That place was ROCKING! And I can now say I've seen LeBron James play in person. (That guy is a beast!) Great night! Go Jazz!

Red Cliffs

Over Presidents Day weekend, we took our first family teardrop vacation! We have been working on these trailers for a couple of years and it was finally time to get them out on the road together. We made quite the spectacle as we drove down the freeway! We were getting looks and stares all the way down to southern Utah. It was awesome. It was quite the drive down, but it sure was worth it. Soon, the mountains turned to hills, the hills to plains, and the plains to red cliff desert!

After we many miles and many hours, we finally made it down to Leeds, Utah. Leeds is tiny little town right at the base of the Red Cliffs area. We drove down a little frontage road and then crossed under the freeway...

 

The campground was awesome!!! Nothing but red sandstone cliffs all the way around us with a river running through the middle. The weather was gorgeous and it felt like summer! We found a perfect spot for all of our teardrops and we pulled in and made ourselves at home...

 

 

 

 

 

It wasn't long until we were the talk of the entire campground. Haha. When you roll with our crew, that's to be expected! We explored around for a while and then Tim pulled out his wrist rocket and that led to killing about 2 straight hours shooting at plastic bottles while everyone else took naps. Enjoy!

 

 

After we were done shooting rocks at things, we started to cook dinner in the dutch ovens. We had a great meal, hung out around the campfire, and watched movies in the trailers. Yeah, we were living the high life!

 

 

The next morning we woke up to a beautiful sunny day again. Had some hot cider around the fire, Tim threw together some dutch oven brekky, and we sat around basking in the morning sunshine!

 

 

We explored some more the rest of the morning and Jeremy couldn't have been happier. He was outside with Grandpa and he couldn't stop smiling! Next, we decided that we would take a little hike up the canyon, so we loaded up the crew and hit the trail.

 

 

 

The canyon was gorgeous! There was so much to see and photograph! The best part was all the water that was running down through the red rocks. Such a beautiful place!!!

 

 

If you haven't already noticed, I've developed quite the affinity for jumping into less-than-desirable water temperatures... and I couldn't just let this opportunity go to waste! When we reached the above spot, it was perfect for the plunge! We tried to wait for the other people hiking to pass by, but after I took off my shirt, a crowd started to gather. So I went for it.

 

 

Was it cold? OH YEAH! But it felt INCREDIBLE! Tim was about to jump in himself when some random kid ripped off his shirt and jumped in too! Haha. It was great. So there we were, middle of the Red Cliffs, jumping into the spring runoff. Epic! After we were nice and chilled, we headed back to camp and threw some hot dogs and burgers on for lunch.

 

 

After lunch, we all went down for another nap and it was perfect! Nothing like curling up for a nap with your wife and boys in the teardrop... Heaven! After we woke up, we decided to do some bike riding and exploring. It turned out to be quite successful! We found some Anasazi ruins and even dinosaur tracks! This place is legit!

 

 

We got back to camp and had another excellent meal and watched the night close in on us. We awoke the next day to dark clouds rolling in. Our luck with beautiful sunny days had finally run out. We hurried and ate breakfast and began packing up ASAP. A storm was blowing in and it was time to head for home.

 

 

The roads home got pretty sketchy at some points. While we had only received a little rain, snow had fallen north of us! It looked like a completely different trip on the way home. We did make one pit stop on the way, though. We stopped at Cove Fort. That place is awesome!

 

 

We drove the rest of the way home without difficulty and put the teardrops away until the next adventure. This was such a rad trip! And it was even better to be doing it as a family. We've got a new family tradition and I can't wait until next Presidents Day to do it again!