Interests Revolving

Rainbows and Midges

2012-01-09T13:42:00.000-08:00

The midges that I tied up the other night proved to be effective on Saturday afternoon. Despite the snow and cold I took a trek out to my favorite small stream to test out the new hip pack (thanks Sharon) and to give the midges a go. Both worked to perfection. If the cold has cooped you up too long and you have a case of the Shack Nasties (borrowed from Gierach), go out and fish a little, it will rejuvenate you!

Tying Midges

2012-01-07T11:24:00.000-08:00

Last night I just started tying and I couldn't stop! Midges for fishing later this afternoon. This should be plenty for a while. 50 of assorted colors and sizes.

High Uintas

2011-12-16T12:13:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago Nick Stoddard and I went on a 3 day Backpacking trip. It was wet, rainy and cold most of the time but that is what you get for going into the High Uintas in September. We hiked a lot and fished a ton. The fishing wasn't great by any means but we sure saw a lot of pretty back country. This picture was taken by Nick. It is an unnamed lake that we really enjoyed. If the wind had died down we would have gotten out the rods but it never happened. Thanks for going with me Nick. We need to get back there earlier in the year for some dry fly action on that meandering stream through the meadow, you know the one I am talking about.

After reading my post and ripping off my picture, Kris did a little edit job. Here are the results. I say mighty fine!

Blog Surfing

2011-11-25T09:40:00.001-08:00

I love to surf blogs about fishing. It could be right here in the west or across the ocean in Europe. It doesnt matter what kind of fishing it is, I really enjoy reading about it. I also love art. When fishing and art come together it can be very inspirational. I have several paintings from my grandmother in my office and they offer a little peace and tranquility on hectic days.

The other day I was cruising through a blog and found this blogger. He is an amazing watercolorist and depicts trout in a very real way to me. Here is one of his latest post about his prints and some of the finest water colors of trout I have seen.

Order Your Rare Trout Prints Today!

As a gift to my loyal followers and the many other that stop by on occasion I have decided to offer a special Christmas-Holiday Special. Okay, you got me, - I also need to raise a little money to support my two hobbies of fly fishing and painting, both of which require frequent purchases.

I have decided to offer these four trout prints, not as individual prints, but as a complete set for the ultra low cost of $65 Total!!! That's right, That price includes shipping and handling. If you were to order each print separately then the total cost would be over $100 including shipping.

Each 8x10 print comes in it own 11x14 mat and backing board. All you have to do is take them out of the protective plastic envelope used for shipping and place them in a frame. Each print will also be individually signed by yours truly. They make perfect wall hangers for your man-woman cave, vacation cottage (if you are luck enough to have one), or fly tying station. They will also make great gifts for the anglers in your life.

I have decide to keep these four prints together because as a group these four fish are threatened by stream degradation, introduction of alien species, and other man made problems. Hopefully by my little effort to paint these beautiful fish, more people might be enlightened into the threats facing many of our favorite fish. I think every angler should do their part to protect and educate in oder that future generations might be able to fish for the same species we so enjoy going after.

So How Do You Take Advantage Of This Deal Before The Holidays? First you need to take a look at the top buttons of this page. Up there you will see the Christmas Deal button. Click that and you will be redirected to the Deal page. Simply follow the instructions and make your order. This deal is only available through December 31, after that the page will be taken down and the price for each print returns to the standard price.

If you like his work support a great artist and drop by his site to leave a comment or purchase a print or two!

Rough Planing

2011-10-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

There are hundreds of steps in building a bamboo rod. After splitting the cane into pieces and straightening the strips over heat to take out the bends you need to plane each strip into a small triangle in order to proceed to the next step. Rough planing is a very important step to do carefully so that the rest of the planing process goes smoothly. If you do a poor job here you may have to start the whole process again later on down the road because you will not have a perfect equilateral triangle.This video shows the rough planing of one strip in time lapse. In a normal 2 piece rod with 2 tips you would have to repeat what you see here 18 times. Now you can see why the rod building process is a 40-60 hour job.

Landscapes on Mountain Dew

2011-10-10T13:41:00.000-07:00

I hope this inspires you to appreciate Gods creations and spend more time outside really getting to know the blessings of the earth.

Some people are lucky to be alive

2011-10-04T13:17:00.000-07:00

This is proof that Darwin was right!

Latest Trip

2011-10-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

Over the last few weeks it has been difficult to get out fishing but last Friday it happened. Thank you to Kris for letting me go! I met up with my Uncle Jim and we headed down to a place not to far from home that normally holds 8-11 inch trout. This was not the case for Friday. We got to the stream, rigged up and started down to the water. In the first hole I hooked and landed a 16" Bow and Jim landed another right after me. The next hour was a similar frenzy landing 14-18 inch Bows and Browns. It was nice to spend some time with Jim and it will not be the last time I fish this area this year!

Connect

2011-09-24T21:04:00.000-07:00

Confluence Films is at it again. Enjoy!

Somewhere in Idaho

2011-09-19T14:46:00.000-07:00

While driving through Idaho during LOTOJA, I snapped a quick picture. We were traveling 45 mph down a dirt road at the time so I am surprised it came out as well as it did.Kris gets all of the credit for the edit!

Tamdem Bikes

2011-09-13T08:35:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I hooked up a Trail a Bike to my niner so that Lo and I could ride bikes together. Well, as most of you know he has the bike blood running in his little body and he was very excited. Mom pulled Linc in the trailer and Lo and I took the "Tamdem" bike (as Lo calls it) to Maceys for some Ice Cream for FHE. It was a blast. The best part was while putting Lo to bed, after giving hugs and kisses he says, "I had fun riding the Tamdem with you today Daddy." Perfect ending to the day!

These Guys are Crazy

2011-08-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

These guys are crazy but so is the fishing! Enjoy! I know I did.

Nordic Fly Fishing Tales - episode 1 - moose and trout from Rolf Nylinder on Vimeo.

Fishing with Daniel

2011-08-05T09:46:00.000-07:00

Since Daniel has moved to SLC, it has been hard to get together and fish. Last Tuesday morning we meet super early and went to Hobble Creek to do some fishing before work. It was a great morning. The fish were biting on dries and droppers and we got a couple of very nice fish to net. Both of us were fishing our bamboo rods. Fishing the bamboo was the best part about the day (aside from being with my brother). There is just something special about fishing with a bamboo rod that connects you more to the fish and allows you to feel the fish better. I don't think I will ever sell my first 2 graphite rods because of the history I have with them, but they wont being seeing as much fishing as they normally do each season.

A nice Brown.Walking upstream to the next hole.Robber fly.

100th post "Logans Rod"

2011-08-03T11:42:00.000-07:00

Well I have been meaning to past these pictures for some time. I have had them sitting on my desk top and have just not had the time to do it.

Logan has asked me for a long time to take him fishing. I don't even think that he knew at the time what fishing was but he wanted to go because "Dad is going!" I wanted to be able to give him a rod that he could cast and would be able to fish for the rest of his life as well as pass down to his own children. Well I got to looking at rod tapers and components and decided that a 1 piece rod would fit the bill nicely. There are no 1 piece rod tapers as short as I wanted so I ended up tinkering with the numbers on a 2 piece rod and making my own design. Here are the particulars:

Rod taken from a 4'4" Payne Banty rod design.
Now a 1 piece 4'4"
Blonde cane
Cottonwood bark grip collected from the Provo River
Spanish cedar reel seat with Nickel Silver hardware
The Wraps are purple tipped in black. I asked Lo what color he wanted on his rod and over a 1 month period consistently answered "Purple and black."

Lo can handle his rod just fine. He gets a little crazy with it but that's OK. When he caught his first fish (cutthroat) he didn't like it too much because the fish was too "Wobbly". Now that he has caught some Bluegill on it he likes those just fine because they are not so "Wobbly". Man I am so glad that this kid loves to fish.

Getting some instructional help.

Trying it out on his own.A little more instruction.

Practicing how to reel.

Checking for trees on the backcast.

Dave's Finished Rod

2011-04-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

I know, its about time I posted the final product of Dave's rod. Not only did I have a fantastic time building this thing, I think it will fish great! Here are the particulars:

Payne 100 taper
7'6" 4 weight
Blond cane
Tiger Maple slide band reel seat
Reverse half wells cork grip
Red agate stripping guide
Chrome Snake guides
Cardinal silk thread tipped with Lemon yellow

I had such a fun time making this rod and fell in love with it so much that I almost wanted to keep it for myself. The only problem with that is that I had Dave's initials engraved into the butt cap. No chance of me stealing it with that kind of ownership on it!

Some pictures that really don't do it justice.This is the rod case that Kris made for it. She is good!

Nate Dog

2011-04-02T14:04:00.001-07:00

I was looking through some old files and found this. This is Nate, my best friend, when we were in college. I was borrowing a digital camera for a class I was taking and woke him up early one morning... he wasn't happy. I miss you man!

A series of short films on Guides

2011-03-30T09:57:00.000-07:00

I saw this a couple months ago and have been meaning to post them. It is a really interesting look at the life of a fly fishing guide. I will post the first video and then post a link so you can watch the rest. There are seven videos. Have fun watching and dreaming of your dream job as a guide!

"The Take" Episode 1: Origins from Costa Sunglasses on Vimeo.

Here is the link to the rest of the videos.

The Bowl

2011-03-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

A number of years ago (in High School maybe around the summer of 1996) we went to Los Alamos with Dave, Katy, Mark and Dee. I remember it being a really fun trip in many ways. We got to rollerblade a lot, play at the park, explore and just relax. Of all the fun things that we did, I remember one the most. One day we went to a sculpture gallery with my dad and uncle Lawry. The sculptures were pretty cool but on the same property there was a little glass blowing shop. We wandered in and as we sat down to watch, we saw him put on the the liquid glass on the end of a long pipe. We watched him shape, blow, shape, blow and manipulate the glass over and over. Once the glass was in a fairly large ball about the size of a baseball he rolled it in shards of metal. As he did this he explained that the metal will turn a certain color when heated and rolled with the glass. I don't know how much time passed but it was probably close to an hour. All of us sat patiently waiting for the next step and everyone was entranced by his skill. We were amazed at the bowl that he made right in front of us. I seem to remember being surprised as my Dad asked the lady at the counter if we could buy the bowl. She said we could so he paid for the bowl and had it shipped home once it was cooled.

There are many people in this world that have amazing talents. Some of them we don't get to see because we look at the trip as a boring escapade to a sculpture gallery. If we take the opportunity to look beyond what we may think is mundane we may actually find something that really surprises us and gives us a little insight into something new.

Thank you Dad, for taking us there and showing/teaching us about real ART. Here are a few pictures of the bowl from New Mexico.By the way, just so everyone knows, my name is on the sticker on the bottom, not Daniels. ;-)

White Elephant

2011-01-26T21:58:00.000-08:00

There is a store in Spokane called White Elephant. It is probably my favorite sporting goods store, no my favorite store, in the world! Here is a video of Logan riding the elephant out front last summer while we were visiting. I think you can tell that White Elephant is his favorite store as well.

Trip to California

2011-01-26T21:42:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple pictures I took while on business in California.
Passed by the LA temple on the way to meet with Beverly Hills School District. This shot was from the sunroof as we drove by.I took this on Manhattan Beach between meetings with a couple of different districts. Don't get me wrong, we only spent 15 minutes there so it wasn't like we were sun bathing.

A Magazine Cover I played with a Few Years Ago

2011-01-07T09:23:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I wanted to put myself on the cover of a fly fishing magazine. I had a lot of fun with it and included my Grandpa on the cover as well. Here is the result.I am not a photoshop person but I was pleased with how it turned out. Maybe someday I really will make the cover of a magazine. It probably wont be for my ability to fish. It may be more of "Here is an example of what not to do" article.

Updates and High Tolerances

2010-12-09T16:59:00.001-08:00

I have been working every night to get some of the processes done on a couple of rods. The high tolerances you work with can be difficult and frustrating but in the end it is satisfying to see things come out right. This picture shoes the tickness of one shaving of bamboo from the hand plane. That is 1/1000 of an inch!

The dark bundled sections are for the rod I am building for myself.

After you cut all of the sections to length, stagger the nodes, flatten the nodes and straighten the strips you need to rough them into equilateral triangles. This helps in the heat treating process as well as final planing to come later. Here are the butt sections of Dave's rod bundled together for heat treatment. Heat treating will actually help to temper the bamboo as well as straighten the strips a little so that final planing goes a little more smoothly. So far there are about 15 hours into this rod, not even close to looking like a great fishing rod yet.

My Fishing Boys

2010-11-30T18:36:00.000-08:00

When I came home tonight Lincoln was wearing a little fishing vest. He looked so good, I had to dress the boys up to take some pictures. I hope they like fishing as much as they like wearing all of the gear!
It's too bad it is winter and there is 5 inches of snow on the ground... these guys are ready to go!

Payne 100 and ?

2010-11-30T14:04:00.000-08:00

The other night I got down to splitting the bamboo for my next two rods. I started out with one whole culm and ended up with enough split strips for the Payne 100 for Dave and the yet un-decided taper for Nate. Here is the culm before:And here is the culm after:The big box is my Christmas present and I only wish I could use it right now. I have wanted a shop vac for a long time! Thanks for standing out in the cold with me for a great deal Dad!

The more I work on rods the more my mind thinks about them. I love to work with bamboo and can't wait to get these closer to being planed. (Nate, contact me about your rod. We need to decide on a taper. I can't go any farther until we decide.)

Super Lo

2010-11-14T21:07:00.000-08:00

This guy and his brother are the greatest things in the world. They make me laugh all of the time and Lo is my Super Hero. They both make me want to be a better dad. I love you both!

For Nate

2010-11-14T19:31:00.000-08:00

While I am waiting for new cane to arrive as well as various parts for 3 different rods I received a number of prompts from different people to put up a new post to read. So this one is for Nate.

Right now I am working on 2 rods technically. My brother is building a rod for himself. I wanted to build it for him for Christmas but I couldn't afford the time or the parts that he would want so as my gift to him I am teaching him how to build a rod and he is building his own. The other rod I am working on is one for myself. It is coming along nicely and as soon as I get back out to the garage I will shoot some pictures of the work in progress.

I have more cane on the way for a rod for my cousin and Nate as well. They will not be the same rod taper but I will be building them more or less at the same time. the more I think about both of them the more excited I get. I am always wanting to try something new so each will have a little something special on it.

Here are some more picture of my grandpas rod to see some of the detail that I like to put into each rod.

Progress!

2010-09-16T08:17:00.000-07:00

Last week Daniel and I had a great time but we forgot to take some pictures. These are from the week before. In this picture Daniel is using a heat gun to straighten his strips and get them ready to put them through the beveler to give them an initial 60degree shape.
Here Daniel is flattening the nodes with a file so that they lay flat. This can be a time consuming process because you need to be careful not to take too much because you can ruin the strip and have to start over.Daniel is now taking off the inner pith of the the bamboo so it lays flat on the "belly" side of the bamboo.
All of this process took about 3 hours for both of us to get through all of the strips for two rods. Last week we beveled all of the strips in the beveler and then bound them together and put them in a special oven to bake @ 375 degrees for about 12-14 minutes. That night we worked from 8 to midnight. We got Daniel all beveled and baked but I only got about half of my strips beveled. I spent about two and a half hours finishing the beveling and binding and cleaning. There are many ways to make a mess and bamboo rod building hits most of those. Next we will be starting in on final planing and getting pretty close to completing a section of rod.

Catch Magazine

2010-09-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

Here is another plug for the best online magazine out there. Not only is it about fishing but it revolves around photography. If you like either one then this is defiantly a page worthy of a bookmark if not the top bar quick link!

catchmagazine.net

Go, you wont be disappointed!

Lunchtime Escape

2010-08-30T14:51:00.000-07:00

Today at lunch I decided to take my lunch and a book up the canyon. I went and walked up the Bonneville Shoreline trail and sat and had a very nice PB and Honey sandwich and apple. The Solitude was very nice. I then walked up to Bridal Veil Falls for a quick look and snapped this photo with my phone. I didn't see more than 5 other people and it was a nice way to spend a lunch break. I think I will be doing this again!

A Mash Up... in more ways than one!

2010-08-26T07:44:00.000-07:00

In this post I wanted to post a couple f pictures of Daniel and I fishing from a couple months ago and some from this last weekend with Nate but I only have pictures from a couple of months ago so I will give you the oral version of this weekend. Plus at the end will be a short video for all you naysayers about the fragility of a bamboo fly rod. Here is the Mash Up of information and a little mashing of a fly rod to boot.

A couple of months ago Daniel and I took an evening and went out to Thistle to fish. I hadnt been there since we took Nate at new years and so we thought we would give it a try. IT is a fairly small stream but has some nice size browns that are not always the smartest fish in the river. We had a good time fooling a few on a stretch that I had never fished before. Daniel had a couple of times so he know where to tell me to put the fly to get me into a few fish. Here are a couple of pictures.

Thanks for showing me a new piece of water Daniel!

This last weekend my est friend Nate Barker fly up from Dallas to do a little fishing (Thanks Kalli!). Friday we fished Hobble Creek and caught rainbows, browns, and then Wardsworth gave up a couple brookies. We had a great time except for the stinging nettle . Hobble and Wards are very small streams and I was impressed with Nate's improvement in casting on such a hard little stream.

The next day started out great. We took off and went up and over the right fork of Hobble Creek and into the Diamond Fork Drainage. We stopped at Sixth water and started down stream. The Creek looked good and there were lots of good pockets and back eddies the looked like they would hold a lot of sizable fish... Nope. We fished for about an hour with only one strike.

We decided to leave and go down to Thistle and see if the fishing was any better... Nope. We fished for another two hours and got one strike at the very end of our time there. It was a pretty disappointing day but Nate's casting did improve overall. We had a great time over the weekend and made some good memories. Thanks for coming up Nate!

This is the final section of this post. There are a lot of people out there that think that bamboo rods are weak and will not be as durable over the long term as graphite. Well watch the video, I bet most graphite rods could not hold up to this abuse.

Well, who wants to put in an order for a new Naneum Creek Bamboo rod?

The next rod

2010-08-18T15:54:00.001-07:00

Daniel and I have started our next rods. It will be my second and Daniels first. The First steps are to flame the cane if you want a certain color for your final rod and then split it into different strips to be used. Here are a few pictures of the process.Thursday night we will be cutting them to the right length and then straightening them so that they can be put through a planer for the initial beveling process.

Final Product

2010-08-15T21:41:00.000-07:00

So after a lot of hard work and hours of thinking and re-thinking how I was going to finish this first rod I completed it with 2 days of drying time to get it to Washington in time to give it to my Grandpa during the family reunion. Here are some pictures...

This is a photo of the rod after I glued it all together and before I cut it to its final lengths. There is a butt section and two tip sections.
This is the glued rod just after cutting to length and after I put the first coat of varnish on. The wraps, guides, reel seat, cork and ferrules had not been mounted yet. All of those curls in the picture are slices of bamboo that are 0.001 inches thick.
Here is the finished rod ready to go into the tube and be taken to Washington.
I decided to make my first rod and give it to my Grandpa because he is the one who taught me to fish. I was about 4 years old and I know that I didn't realize the impact that he and fishing would have on me. I have since fished all over a lot of the western states and have seen beautiful places that I would not have seen had it not been for fishing that area. At one point in college Kris and I even lived a block off of one of the most famous rivers in North America, the Henry's Fork in Idaho. I have spent memorable times with friends and family and made memories that will last a lifetime and beyond.

There is no way that I could pay Pa back for the things that he taught me about fishing but this is the closest I could come. I don't get to see Pa get emotional very often and it was touching to see him do that when I gave it to him. I hope he enjoys fishing it as much as I enjoyed making it.

No matter what kind of rod you fish, how much you paid for it, where you fish or how many fish you catch, it will be the memories that you make that will be your fishing experiences and that is better than any fish in the world.

Of Blood and Bamboo

2010-07-07T11:25:00.000-07:00

The time has come for me to give an update on the Bamboo Fly Rod I am building for my Grandpa. I decided on a Jim Payne 97. It is a 7 foot 4 weight rod that is a classic taper. I have been trying to get all of my tools built for the last 2 years and I finally have everything together to finally finish the rod. I Finished the final planing on the butt section last night so no I just need to glue it up and then I can start to varnish, add the cork, the guides and and the reel seat. Then it is off to planing the two tip sections and finish those off. I am rapidly trying to complete the rod before the family reunion so that Pa and the rest of the fly fisherman can test cast it and tell me how bad of a job I did. With all of the hours I put into the tools I figure I am sitting at about 40 hours on tools. And another 30-40 on the rod itself. For those of you who dont know, once you plane the strips of bamboo down to the shape they need to be for gluing, they become razor sharp. I have sliced lots of different parts of my fingers off over the tie I have been doing the work. Unfortunately you really need to feel the material with your bare hands in order to really work the materials. I will post some pictures when I get everything glued up and then some more when I start to add all of the finishing touches. I have really enjoyed the process and I hope that by the end of the year I will have completed 2 more. One for Logan and one for another surprise member of the family!

Time for a new post Ben...

2010-06-22T23:06:00.000-07:00

Hello, I'm Kristi.
Hijacked his blog to tell him,
Time for a new post.

Check out that haiku. But really Ben. Time for a new post. Love you!

Late Night

2010-05-27T22:48:00.000-07:00

Logan and Lincoln took long naps today and Kris went to get her hair done. The end result... late dinner at the Rice King in downtown Provo. Cheap, tons of food and we didnt have to make it. We got home late put this boys down late and I settled in to write my talk for Sunday. Although the idea of giving a talk doesnt scare me, giving a talk without being able to interact with anyone like I would teaching scares the crap out of me. Most of the time I can get along without too much trouble on most topics but I really don't feel like I have the experience for speaking on Finding Peace during times of Adversity. There are many more people in our ward that have had adverse times and maintained their peace and faith more than I have. Luckily I can draw from them and their experiences. I dont like to stay up this late because Logan is an early riser but the events of this afternoon and trying to prepare this talk took their toll and now it is nearly midnight.

Naked Paper

2010-03-14T14:41:00.001-07:00

Today in church we gave the program to Lo to color on. In a fairly loud voice he said, "I want naked paper". Meaning blank paper.

My "New" Truck!

2010-03-07T12:58:00.001-08:00

After quite a few months of searching, offering, inspecting, getting disappointed and then doing all of that over again, I finally have a "new" truck. It is not anything really special but I love it. I had a '92 Dodge Dakota for a while (Thanks Mom and Dad and Grammy and Pa) and I drove that thing everywhere. It went Fly fishing in Idaho more times than I think I can count (and got stuck going fishing more than once), Fishing in Utah, over to Denver ("How big is this mountain range?"-Maegs) multiple times, caught on fire, and hauled its fair share of loads. It finally died on vacation in California. Well I have a new 2002 Dodge Dakota. This time it has 4 wheel drive so hopefully I don't get stuck fishing, it never catches on fire and it does it's fair share of hauling loads as well. Welcome to the family Dakota!

Surprise Party

2010-03-07T12:44:00.000-08:00

This last week was stressful and busy. Each day was a blur and Kris did an awesome job of capping it off with a surprise party at our favorite pizza place. There were a lot of people there and it was fun to see them all. It's not every day that you turn thirty. As part of the celebration Kris got everyone to write Haiku's about me. I thought it would be fun to share some with you.

In an off hand way
A single speed shiftless set
Rushed off his own face
-Riley

Yes Ben is my boss
When I go on Vacation,
Him I do not see.
-Brad?

Bicycle, Hockey
Finally got a truck
Talk about some luck!
-Donny?

Hand in Ben's office
Muting the speaker to yell
So glad they don't know.
-Alaina?

Family and friends
At the Pizza Pie Cafe
Birthday boy, you rock!
-Andy

A fly tying man
Principal of delinquents
father of two boys.
-Tamara

Always there to help
We talk, we laugh, and we tease
What a great brother.
-Tamara

Biking down my road
Dan falls down multiple times
Ben needs a cold drink.
-Kaye

Food should go in mouths
Not plastered to Kaye's noggin
Ben should watch his back.
-Kaye

Happy Birthday Ben
Next year I will be on time
Sorry Ben, I suck.
-Daniel

He's gone fly fishing
Call on the Ham radio
Always something new.
-Daniel

Another year gone
You are 30 years old now
That's older than me.
-Tamara

Ben is tall and Smart
He likes to fish and ride bikes
My favorite Uncle.
-Mercer

Thanks again to everyone that my my birthday so great. I really enjoyed all of the kind wishes at the party, in cards, in texts, on facebook, and in person. I am glad I have great friends and family who have supported me for 30 years despite my problems. Love you all!

New Video

2010-02-20T20:18:00.000-08:00

I am not a bass fisherman but this makes want to be one! Really great film. It is pretty cool because the footage sets you up and then all of a sudden... fish on!

Summer Shoes

2010-02-10T19:20:00.001-08:00

Man I wish spring and summer would get here. There are so many good shoes to wear during that time of year. Exhibit A provided by Crocs, modeled by Lo.

Poe Jam

2010-02-10T19:17:00.001-08:00

Lately Logan has taken an interest in his "Poe Jam". He looks in between his toes and picks it out. He thinks it is pretty fun. Well the other night we were driving home and he had his shoes off and was taking care of his Poe Jam. All of a sudden he came to a toe with out any and exclaimed "This one's empty!" So for all of you that have made it this far without throwing up a little in your mouth, be sure to check out your Poe Jam and make sure they are all "empty"!

Frozen Hog 2010

2010-02-06T13:35:00.000-08:00

Many of you may think I am a little weird. This post proves that I am. 2 years ago my friend Dave Cook and I did the frozen hog. We loved the race and vowed to continue to do it. Well life happened and we were unable to do it last year. This year, Daniel and I decided to do it again. It is a mountain bike race in Alpine Utah in February. Yup, you guessed it, It is centered around ground hogs day. Well we left early and got there on time. Unfortunately while trying to park Daniel managed to get his SUV stuck in the ditch so that his car was blocking part of the road way. We didnt have time to move it before the race so off we went. The snow was melting and we walked about 2/3 of the race. The bottom half of the race was mostly melted and we could ride on the dirt most of the way. 2 laps later we were done and completely wet. We both had a great time and Daniels friend pulled us out of the ditch. I won a CO2 pump with tools attached in the raffle. and we both have some crazy man bragging rights. Anyone want to join us next year?

Did you swallow your gum?

2010-01-11T13:36:00.000-08:00

Last week in church Kris gave some gum to Lo. After a few minutes she looked at him and asked... "Did you swallow your gum all the way down to your tummy?" His reply was... "All they way to my foot."

Wrappers

2010-01-06T21:53:00.000-08:00

In the last couple of days we have eaten a lot of clementine oranges. They are easy to eat and really tasty too. The other day we were sitting at dinner and Logan handed me a clementine and said "A take the wrapper off!" I thought it was so funny. Now apples, oranges and anything else needs to have the wrapper taken off so that it can be eaten.

Woolly Buggers

2010-01-06T21:47:00.000-08:00

Last night and tonight I tied up black and olive woolly buggers. Big Flies for BIG fish. I hope they work well this spring and fall. I hope that I can use these with my father in law on his little boat this summer!

Royal Coachman and Beetles

2009-12-29T12:00:00.000-08:00

One of our families favorite flies is the classic and very common Royal Coachman. It is a fairly easy fly to tie. The day after Christmas I got out the fly tying table and tied some up with the new materials that I got in my stocking. Santa knows how to pick out quality materials!The past few nights I have been busily tying nymphs and I wanted a break so I thought I would tie something fun and very different. Beetles. I had to put the in a box to take the picture because they kept crawling away!. It is nice to tie them because they are VERY simple and they are made of foam so it doesn't really matter how much the weigh! They will still float! Here are the little buggers.

Fishing Report

2009-12-28T21:39:00.000-08:00

We went to Thistle to do some winter fishing and it was a great time. It snowed on us the entire time and we didn't catch a thing but we really enjoyed every minute of it. The snow falling and the gently rushing water was badly needed and helped us all realize the beauty around us even though it was about 10 degrees out. He are some pictures that we took . Thanks to all of our wives for letting us take off for a few hours and freeze our butts off and love it!Rigging up for the day.Daniel picking out a fly.Selecting a fly... so many to choose from.Nate Barker trying to remember how to tie an overhand knot... I had to show him or we would have frozen to death.A beautiful hole that we should have pulled a fish out of but no luck.Nate fishing.Both Daniel and Nate trying a different fly.Daniel has a nice cast. Most of the time I wish I could cast and fish as well as my brother.Daniel contemplating the next hole.Here I am tossing a line into the next hole. By this time my gloves were pretty wet and not doing much good for me.Nate and I standing in the river.

Christmas Haiku

2009-12-21T22:31:00.000-08:00

Christmas is now here
Hope you have your shopping done
If you don't, too late!

Goin' Fishin'

2009-12-21T22:20:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow Danny and Nate and I are going fishing. We are going to Thistle Creek and the forecast says snow so it should be a fun afternoon. In anticipation of fishing I tied up three patterns tonight. the first was a little local pattern used to imitate a midge pupae. It is tied with orange silk crystal flash and a glass bead head. In this case I used green because it is what i had.The next pattern is a Copper Nymph. It is a generic fly used to imitate a hatching midge, caddis or other insect.The last was a made up fly taht I came up with tonight. it is another hatching insect. Red wire, muskrat thorax and a green glass bead head. I call it Christmas dinner for fish!I will get back with you and let you know the results of the day of fishing!

P.S. One of these days I will get around to getting some better lighting for my photos of flies.

Response

2009-12-19T20:33:00.000-08:00

In response to my brothers post HERE I am posting the following:

I know mom knows us both well and understands that you (Daniel) are emotionally fragile. She works hard to protect your tender feelings and takes every precaution not to make you feel less than you should. She sent you the ornament to make you feel good. In spite of this we all know that mom loves me more and therefor sent me the same ornament.
She didn't want you to feel bad so she sent you one too. I am sorry to be the one to break the bad news to you be we all know you are mentally imbalanced (As evidenced by your recent post about IV's) and you are not the favorite. If you would like to go on believing that then that is fine but I am posting this so that the rest of the world knows... I am moms favorite.

Snowshoeing with my Best Friend

2009-12-19T20:19:00.000-08:00

Nate moved to Texas a while back and we have not been able to spend a ton of time together when he comes to visit. He has family in town that he needs to see. Every once in a while we get out and do something fun together while he is in town. Today we packed up the snowshoes and went up to Big Springs. It is only the second time that I have snowshoed up there and it is quite different from the time I spend up there in the summer.
The snow was deep and about half of the trail was either very lightly traveled or not traveled at all which made for some fun time cutting new trail! We were able to spend time talking about our families, goals, books, politics, the past and tons of other stuff. Nate made the comment that it is nice to be able to be away from each other for a long time and then just pick up where we left off. I agree and it is too bad that we go so long without talking to each other at times. For my Christmas present Nate brought me a bottle of Throwback Mountain Dew... our drink of choice and we enjoyed it when we got to the top. It has real sugar instead of corn syrup! If the stars align and everything works out right we will be going fishing with Daniel on Tuesday! Thanks for spending some time in the great out doors with me Nate!

Dad's Dinner Night

2009-12-15T21:24:00.000-08:00

When I got home from work today I could tell it had been a rough day and Kris was behind on a project for a Christmas present. I did what every good husband would do and offered to make dinner. Now let me explain a little of what happened. Kris thought that was a fine idea and proceeded to tell me that we had chicken and beef that I could do something with. In my mind I was thinking..."Mac and Cheese, crab melts, salad, or any other easy thing that I could put together in 10 minutes or less." Well long story short, Lo and dad went to Smiths, picked up some chicken, rolls and potato salad. Instant dad dinner!

Tonights Fly

2009-12-15T21:19:00.000-08:00

Lo and I went to Sportsmans Warehouse to get some fly boxes for gifts for people tonight. While we were there we were looking at flies and saw this particular pattern. It looked nice so I remembered it and when I put Lo down tonight I tied up a half dozen. He and I thought that they looked kind of like a Santa Claus fly even though I can't remember the real name. When I go back I will get it and update the post. So for now I present "The Santa Claus Fly".

Polar Express Haiku

2009-12-14T20:40:00.000-08:00

The Polar Express
We must have watched it six times
Thank you to Logan.

Flies for the night

2009-12-10T21:33:00.000-08:00

Tonight I started with Crawdad patterns. Man that is a long time just to tie one fly. I tied the one on the left first and realized that the claws were too big. the one on the right I used a different type of feather and it turned out much nicer. The eyes are two beads from a silver bead chain. I also tied Brassies tonight. It's an easy one to tie and always nice to have in your box.

The "Monica" Man

2009-12-10T19:23:00.000-08:00

While I was on my mission in Brazil I picked up a harmonica and started to learn to play. Well the first 50 cent harmonica went who knows where and I ended up getting a couple nice ones, one from Brazil and one from the States. They had been tucked away for a while and we got them out a couple of months ago. Logan started to play them and he hasn't let go of them since. his Nana got him one for Kris' birthday and he LOVES it. Wherever he goes you can pretty much count on him having his "Monica" in his pocket or at least close by. We love to ear him play and he loves to play with dad in the evenings when dad gets home from work. Here is our "Monica" Man!

Going to tie more flies?

2009-12-08T21:19:00.000-08:00

Tonight I was getting my fly tying stuff out of Logan's room before I put him down and he asks me "Going to tie more flies?" I have no idea where he got that but I guess he is really observant and he knows dad "Needs" more flies. The first are probably the closest thing to "bait" that I have fished in 20 years. San Juan worms. Not real but easy to tie and super effective! Plus you don't have to skewer a worm on a hook to fish with it!The next are a classic called the Royal Wolff. A pain to tie with squirrel tail but I wanted to be authentic. The last fly is a soft hackle called the Partridge and Orange or Partridge and Yellow depending on the color you use. they are fished under the water in a sweeping motion through a hole. Most people use it as a generic searching pattern.

Playing in the Snow!

2009-12-08T21:09:00.000-08:00

Tonight Logan needed to get outside for a little bit. We got him all bundled up and went out to enjoy the white stuff. Here are some pictures. We started just playing and ended up building a snow slide in the driveway. I didn't get any pics but Kris said she would take some tomorrow so keep an eye on her blog for an update. Logan loved the slide and kept asking again and again despite already being so cold I thought his cheeks would be permanently red.

Apology

2009-12-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

Sorry to Tamara
Never could spell very well
Can I make it up?

And the winner is...

2009-12-07T11:07:00.000-08:00

OK, so this didn't go off as well as I had hoped and I only received 4 entries from 3 different people. However; the submissions that I did get were great. Here they are in first through third order:

Bright and shining lights

A glow across the rooftop

But there is no snow

(Sharon Johnson)

Fly kisses water
Drifting down with the current
Splash and it is gone
(Daniel Parker)

Light and ornaments
Tall evergreen with presents
Joy and love surround

(Tamara Parker)

Sharon can email me her request for flies. The haikuchallenge@gmail.com has been disabled so please contact me through my regular email! Congratulations and thank you for the fun Haiku's.

The Gift of the Magi

2009-12-03T11:49:00.000-08:00

A long time ago I received a book from my Uncle and at the time it did not make a huge impression on me. After a while I started to read some of the stories there and contemplate their meaning. I liked the stories and they had depth. One of the stories that I liked the most is the Gift of the Magi. O'Henry was much more poetic and beautiful in the way he told the story than I could ever be so I am leaving it up to him to tell the story. Please read it here: http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_of_the_Magi.html I read it again last night and really started to think about my sacrifices for my family. Do I have the integrity to sell my most prized possession for my family? Can I do it for my Savior? I have resolved to say yes. I wish you all a merry Christmas and may you have the Gifts of the Magi in your homes, families and lives.

Nymphs

2009-12-01T20:55:00.000-08:00

Tonight was Copper John night. I tied Copper and Red color and had a few extra hooks left for some bead head pheasant tails. All are size 16's.

Cushion Forts

2009-12-01T20:52:00.000-08:00

It is amazing what a few cushions from the couch will do for a 2 year old! He had a blast building, climbing, and tearing down his forts for about 45 minutes!

Haiku Challenge

2009-11-30T10:26:00.000-08:00

Next Monday I will not being doing Haiku Monday. I will be leaving it up to my readers for the post. In the next week write as many Haiku poems as you want. I will pick the best one and post it on Monday. All poems should be submitted to me via email at haikuchallenge@gmail.com

The winner will receive a dozen hand tied flies of your choice! I know the ladies are thinking "What am I going to do with a bunch of flies?" Well you can give them as a stocking stuffer to a fisherman, or you can defer to the runner up if you really don't want them. I thought this would be a fun challenge and if you don't think so then you are a party killer. Have fun with your poetry and good luck. They do not have to be fishing related to win. You can write about anything. Remember 5 syllables in the 1st line, 7 in the second and 5 again in the third.

Haiku Monday 11/30/2009

2009-11-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

Went on a short hike
Decided to take Abby
Glad she is not dead!

More Flies

2009-11-29T21:33:00.001-08:00

I decided tonight that I am going to tie flies for a friend of mine for Christmas. It gets me tying more and it is a "Free" gift. I tied up three different patterns tonight. I started with the leech pattern. Yup, they are just as ugly as an artificial fly as they are in real life. I liked this particular version though because I found some cool curved hooks in my fly tying stuff from when I took fly tying in college. The next pattern was the dreaded Elk Hair Caddis. I hate this fly because if you don't have the right diameter elk hair your wing is either WAY too big or you don't put enough hair in so it looks skimpy. Anyway here is the fly. The last pattern was what some people call "The hardest dry fly to tie". I don't really think that they are that hard they just take a long time (about 10 minutes each). This is a Humpy pattern. It is supposed to mimic ants, beetles, stone flies, and other insects. Tonight I added a variation that I saw while perusing in Fly Fisherman magazine at the grocery store. I added rubber legs. This variation will mimic spiders and other larger beetles. Here is a picture of a fish I caught on one last summer. Like I said, it takes a while to tie but they are worth it!

Fly Tying

2009-11-24T19:33:00.000-08:00

The past few nights have been colder and rather than sit in front of the TV for as long as I normally do I decided to tie some flies. The first night I tied a pattern that I saw in a magazine called the "Sorta Stimulated". It is a variation on the famous Stimulator pattern and simulates an adult stone fly. They came out preety good and if you want to see some pictures scroll down and look at the picture attached to the Double Haiku Monday post. Tonight I tied some of my favorite dry flies in two different patterns. The one on the lfet is an original Adams tied on a hook that I dont normally use but I got on sale. It has a limerick bend and I really like the shape. The Fly on the right is also an Adams but it is tied as a parachute pattern. I tied up three of each and am excited to use them in the mountains next summer.

Apple Pies and Pinewood Derbies

2009-11-24T19:15:00.000-08:00

This last week we had an Elders Quorum activity. It was a pie baking contest and pinewood derby. I had a School bus that I built last summer for our work pinewood derby and I raced it. I didnt place but had a great time and saw some cool cars. One guy had a block of pine with an electric airplane turbine engine on it. He didn't have a problem winning. The other half of the night was the pies. I love pie more than cake so I was there and ready to sample some good pie! I decided to make an apple pie. I didn't want an ordinary apple pie... I wanted to make it harder. I made my pie in a regular pie pan but baked it in my dutch oven. I did a practice run last Sunday and got great reviews from family. On the day of the activity I didn't have time to do it in the dutch oven so I just made the same recipe in the regular oven and took it. It was still good but I didnt win any prizes. I had a lot of fun and it was neat to use My Nana's crust recipe and my sisters wonderfully scrumptious filling and topping recipe. If you want them you will have to ask Maegan because I think it is a secret that shouldn't get out too much in case of another activity when I have enough time to carry out my master plan and bake it in the dutch oven again.I dont have a picture of the Bus but here are some before and after pictures of my Pies. On a side note I wont be making any apple pies soon. We have had 2 in less than a week so we are apple pied out.

Before

AfterMe and My Pie

Double Haiku Monday

2009-11-23T13:21:00.000-08:00

I missed last week because work was so crazy. So I am here to make up for last week.

#1
Four in the morning
Logan must be sick today
Snuggles always help.

#2
Tied some flies last night
I hope I get to use them
Have to wait for spring.

Trading Phones

2009-11-10T12:30:00.000-08:00

I have had my new Palm Pre for a while now but my phone started to reset when I closed the keyboard. That means I get a New Phone. I got the same model but I had all of my fun pictures on my old phone. No problem I will just email them to myself. Here are the pictures. They catch some very memorable moments in my life. Enjoy!

Who can resist this man in the sunglasses? He is one cool dude!

For those of you who know the story this is pretty funny. For those of you who don't, don't ask us, you don't want to know. We found this in a thrift store in Denver. We were going to get it for Daniel. He asked me if there was a similar one there with Jay as the name and 1 as the number!

Silly times in Gramma Kaye's garden.

This summer we went to Washington to visit Kris' parents and my grandparents. I wanted to go on a bike ride and so I went past a lot of the old places that I used to go to when we would visit as kids. This is my grandpas old warehouse where he made wooden boxes for all sorts of things. I learned a lot about hard work and doing my best job there working there for him.

Some of you might recognize this from the TV show Northern Exposure. My ride ended in the quaint little town of Roslyn Washington.

This is the Pizza place we ALWAYS go to when we visit Washington. It is the best pizza in the world!

The Yakima River. This picture does not do it justice. It is a magnificent sight.

The Thorp Grist Mill. My Grandpa was on the committee that helped to restore this old mill and make it a museum for people to come and visit to learn about the area. To learn more about the mill click here.

Logan found a nice relaxing place to play at Nana's house. I am surprised his head was not hanging off of the back.

Logan giving Mommy a push on the swings.

Logan wanted to wear Uncle Jeremy's "hat". He almost fell over a number of times because it was so heavy.

I hope you enjoyed some of the fun pictures that I have collected over the past year. Take a look on your phone and see what fun memories might be there. Sometimes the pictures you get with your phone are the best because it is what happens in life!

Nate Haiku

2009-11-09T09:50:00.001-08:00

Friends have gone away
And some may live in Texas
Southwest bring Nate back

Late Fall and Helmets

2009-11-09T09:19:00.000-08:00

Last Friday was a beautiful late fall day. It was so nice I couldn't pass up the opportunity to ride in short sleeves one last time. I went home and picked up my bike from the house and headed up the canyon for an afternoon of sweat and relaxation. As you can see the ride was nice and I really enjoyed being out alone and hearing the wind, water and quiet. All was good until I got to the top of the meadow. I slid around a corner and slipped on some loose rock. I went head first into a rock and scraped up my arm and knee a bit. I am so glad I was wearing a helmet and anyone who doesn't should be shot; especially on the road. I am here to say that if you ride a bike and do not have a helmet... GET ONE TODAY! It may save your life.

Self Portrait

Open Meadow (Not where I fell)

Bike and the stream

My Saturday Night

2009-11-09T09:13:00.000-08:00

I have been feeling like I cant go out and work in the shop because it is not organized. I went out on Saturday night with the intent to re-organize the shop and get it to a place where I can feel comfortable working. I already had a large work bench that I built and a stack of old drawers that we removed from the kitchen. After about an hour of planning and drawing and another hour of sawing and building I came up with this. I like it and it is much more functional. It got me to get rid of a lot of junk that I was never going to use and I got another idea for another work bench from the materials that I have. The best thing is it didn't cost me a dime!

"Late" Haiku

2009-11-04T10:24:00.000-08:00

After riding trails during the day sometimes I wish I had more time to ride. Well the opportunity has presented itself... NIGHTRIDING! After Kris and Logan go to bed I have found it is an excellent time to be on the trails. There are no people hiking, less people riding and it is just as fun as the daytime even if it is a little more dangerous. I have included some pictures of my favorite local trail. These are not at night but you can see how beautiful it is even in the late fall. Ride On!

Riding in the night
Swooshing down the single track
I must be crazy.

New Fishing Video

2009-10-28T14:13:00.000-07:00

Most of you will remember that last year I posted a video by Confluence Films called Drift. I watched that trailer over and over again. Well in March my siblings pitched in for my birthday for the whole DVD so that I didn't have to watch the trailer anymore. I love that film! This is the newest trailer by Confluence Films called "RISE"... enjoy!

Monday Haiku Tribute to the Stoddards

2009-10-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

I miss my Abby
I Miss my Maegs and Nick too
Miss Porkin the most

Logan's Top Ten

2009-10-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

Here are Logan's current favorite things:

10. Daddy (I had to get myself in the top ten somewhere, and I am the one who edits my Blog so there.
9. Mommy (Of course she ranks higher than Daddy, mom will take him to Donalds for lunch!)
8. Beggie Tales (When he is not allowed to watch TV on Sunday he knows that it is always a yes for Beggie Tales)
7. Bikes (Even if it is not his, he still says it is)
6. Maisy Books (When he asks for "2 books, 2 songs, "Muck", and bedtime" it just make you love him more)
5. Monkey George (The first thing he asks for in the morning (Curious George))
4. Boots (Be it Cowboy or fire... boots are the only way to live... or walk)
3. "Muck" (For those of you that don't speak ":Logan" that mean Milk)
2. Blanky (I am afraid that if he gets much more attached we will have to make a cape out of it so he NEVER has to leave it)
1. Monkey (He doesn't go anywhere without it.)

Back to Work Haiku

2009-10-19T16:22:00.000-07:00

Back to work Monday
Four day weekends are great
Work has piled up!

Overheard from a student

2009-10-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

It hurts so much lifting up the poop. (While working at horses)

Travel and Belated Haiku

2009-10-13T18:08:00.000-07:00

One of the perks I have as the Principal is that every year we get to take the Level 5's at school on a super trip. This year we only had 5 boys and we took them to Zion National Park where we were lucky to be able to hike the first 2 hour section up to Wall Street. If you have never been to Zion you need to plan a trip because it is spectacular in and of itself. Last year we took the kids on a few hikes in Zion but were not prepared to do the Narrows. We planned the whole year and had a great time this last weekend. We took lots of great pictures but I can only share a few with you because of confidentiality reasons. I wish I could explain and show you what the narrows is all about but it is something to be experienced not told about! Imagine you are standing in a river with 300-1500 foot walls on either side of you between 10-50 feet apart. It was incredible and an experience I will not soon forget. the only thing I didn't like about the trip was the fact that I couldn't bring Kris and Logan along to experience it too. Next year I am planning on taking Kris so that she can have this awe inspiring experience too. Here are a few pictures of the trip both in my campground and in the Narrows. I am also including Haiku Monday since I was traveling yesterday and could not post.
From right to left is Abraham Issac and Jacob, the Three Patriarch in Zion National Park.

This is a view from my tent in Snow Canyon State park, just outside of St. George Utah.

Me standing in the Virgin River in the Narrows. This is the middle of the "Trail".

A co-worker and friend, Dr. Brinley show the perspective of how small you feel on this adventure.

A massive roof. Look at the people standing closer to get a feel for how big this thing is.

A beautiful section of Wall Street.

An unforgettable experience. I hope this inspires at least one reader to go out and see this beautiful creation! And now for Haiku Monday... on Tuesday:

The Zion Narrows
Have no words to describe them
God's own handiwork

LOTOJA Find

2009-10-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

What could be better than finding an uneaten Clif Bar after riding 206 miles?Finding a whole case!

Colorado and Haiku Monday

2009-10-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

Time off is always
Best to spend with family
Colorado Rocked!

Haiku Monday

2009-09-28T13:26:00.000-07:00

Fall leaves breathtaking
Alpine loop morning joy ride
Singletrack Heaven

Fishing!

2009-09-05T13:21:00.000-07:00

This morning I was rained out of my training ride but it was also nice to come home early. I decided it would be a great day to take Logan fishing since it stopped raining. I knew that I had to go with little or no expectations for myself but I really wanted Logan to catch his first fish and boy did he show dad how to catch a fish.

We went down to Hobble creek in Springville and i rigged up the rod and Logan and I set out on our fishing adventure. I carried him most of the way but he wanted to get in the water so he ended up walking with me some of the time. We would go from hole to hole and I would kneel or he would sit in my lap while we cast the fly in. We got a few strikes and saw TONS of fish. In the last hole we put a small caddis fly on the water and... WHAM! A big fat 15 inch rainbow hit it and we brought him to shore. I got Logan to hold it but it flopped out before I could get a picture and he didn't want to hold it again. So I had to hold it. He wanted to know where the "fish go?" all the way back tot he car and i had to keep telling him he went back to his family. Logan is now satisfied that the fish is safe and with his family.

We had a great time and I hope that there will be many more fishing trips with LoLo in the future. Here is the Guide himself with his trophy 'Bow"!

2009 Tour of Utah

2009-08-20T19:30:00.000-07:00

This week we welcome local, national and international cyclists to the Tour of Utah! The tour is labeled as Americas toughest stage race! The coolest part about it is that I have ridden many of these roads and can testify that they truly are tough roads to ride, let alone race. On Tuesday night Curtis Thacker and I took Logan up to Salt lake to see the opening Time Trial at the Capitol Building. We had a great time and got to see many Cyclists including Dave Zabriskie, Floyd Landis (Winner of the 2006 Tour de France) and many others. Here are some photos from that night.

Floyd Landis warming up with some tunes.

Dave Zabriskie at the start gate. (He came in Second and was awarded the red jersey for the best Utah rider time.)

Logan enjoying the race with us!

The Podium after day 1

Today was another fun day at the Tour. I went into work and then came home to pick up the family and meet the Cooks, Curtis Thacker and Ryan Amy at the top of Mount Nebo, the finish for stage two of the tour. When we got home I went back to work and Logan and Kris crashed for a good afternoon nap. I was able to finally meet one of my cycling heroes in person, Floyd Landis, and get his autograph as well as meet the race leader and former team-mate of Lance Armstrong, Fransisco Mancebo, and get his autograph. As a side note Floyd Landis is a very nice and kind person. He was very sincere and seemed like the kind of guy you would like to hang out with sometime. One of the guys taht was near us said that you couldn't find a nicer guy in the peloton than Floyd.

Kris and Logan waiting for the racers to get to the top.

Mancebo cresting the summit to ultimately take second on the day!

Fransisco Mancebo, Yellow Jersey and my pick for the overall win! Click here to find out more about Rock Racing.

The Real Podium Winners! (Ryan Amy, Ben Parker, Curtis Thacker)

Floyd Landis and Fransisco Mancebo Signatures on my Jersey. I plan on wearing this jersey at LOTOJA this year for a little extra mental support and to say that two pros "Have my back".

It has been a fun couple of days and some really fun times with family and friends. If you ever have a chance to see a pro bike race... do it! You will have a blast!

I have the best wife!

2009-06-30T13:50:00.000-07:00

You know it is interesting how you get older and you spend time with someone you start to take things for granted. Over the last few months Kris has really done some cool things and I am really excited for her... Sometimes I just don't show it.

1. Swimming Lessons- Over the last two weeks Kris has taken Logan to the pool everyday to teach him how to swim. They have a great time and yesterday she was able to show me all of the fun things that they do together at the pool. Having a swimming problem myself, it was cool to see Logan take to swimming and really enjoy it.

2. Dinner- I am not a cook, but I do like to cook a little while camping. In the last 3-4 months I don't think we have eaten the same thing for dinner. Each night is new... and delicious!

3. Photography- A couple of months back I got a new camera in a trade. It is not the nicest but it is nicer than our point and shoot. Kris has really taken off by playing with lenses, settings and even took a class on photo editing. She is having more fun with the camera than I expected and the photos she is taking are really fun!

4. Support- In the last two years while I was finishing my Masters, Kris has been supportive and helped my in my calling, work, and school. I couldn't ask for anything more.

5. Logan- Despite all of the things that Kris is pulled to during the day with her calling, work, or service, she still finds time to teach Logan his "C's" (ABC's), new words, potty training, how to garden, ride a bike and give more love to him than I ever could as a stay at home mom.

6. Lunch- Kris gets up and makes sure I have a lunch for work. It is always great to have someone pack food for you!

Kris, you are the best and I love you!

A Random Quote from One of my Students

2009-05-28T10:43:00.002-07:00

"My fish couldn't make friends."

Daffodils

2009-04-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

At my mother-in-laws request...daffodils!

I noticed after I shot these that the f-stop was too wide. I will try and get some more but I think they have wilted. i have wanted to shoot these since they came up but it was always raining when I had my camera. I finally had it one day while it was sunny and only got a few shots off before I had to get to a meeting. The wind was also blowing pretty good so it was hard to get one without them blurring. They are what they are. I wish my depth of field was not so pronounced but we learn by doing right?!?!?!

SPRING!

2009-04-12T16:30:00.000-07:00

They Speak for themselves!

Logan and Dad's Glasses

2009-04-07T20:11:00.001-07:00

I got home from a ride tonight and Logan saw my sunglasses on top of my head and wanted to wear them. They were my nice ones so I went digging for my old ones and he loved them. He was saying "Gas?". I couldn't resist posting this picture!

"Purple Stuff"

2009-03-04T17:42:00.000-08:00

Do you remember in the '90s when Sunny delight put out commercials with kids looking in the fridge for something to drink after playing hard? Purple Stuff was an option for them but I just thought it was something that they made up... evidently not.

A Difficult Post

2009-02-11T20:27:00.000-08:00

This has been a very difficult post to put together. Two days ago I learned that my best friends' mother passed away. Beth Hodge was not just another sister in the ward growing up. She was another mother to me. Mike Hodge and I would spend the night at each others homes, camp together and generally hang out. Beth would truck us to and from seminary at 5:30 in the morning, get meals ready for our camping trips as scouts, purchase our badges and keep track of our paperwork at the scout office and she was even my bus driver during my first two years of high school. I had the opportunity to see her while I was in Austin a couple of weeks ago and talk about old times as well as tell her that I loved her. It was not a very long visit because it was getting late and I could tell that she was tired. She has suffered sever illnesses in the last few years and passed on due to those complications. She will always be a role model to me in her spirituality, service and of course will always be one of my "Other Mothers". She will be greatly missed but I am so happy that she is with her Heavenly Father and husband again.

Nanum Creek Cycling

2009-02-05T19:27:00.000-08:00

After joining a team last year and having NO organization or communication with rides and events, Curtis Thacker and I thought we could do better. We are getting a cycling club together to ride and participate in local events this summer. Please go to our site and check it out. If you are interested in supporting us with a donation or would like to purchase a jersey or shorts please contact us.

nanumcreek.com

Trip to Austin

2009-02-03T15:59:00.000-08:00

Every year I attend a conference for work and every year it is in a different place. this year I was able o go back to my hometown in Austin and see some of the things and people that I love most. Here are some of them.

This is my other family in Austin. Poppy and Stan Hodge. they are just like a brother and sister to me.

This is the O'Henry House. My uncle took me here when I was only about 7 or 8 years old and I rememnber that he wanted to buy me a book. I really didnt have any interest in the book at the time but since have come to love the stories taht O'Henry told so it was neat to go back again in a different mindset to experience it again.

The Driskill Hotel is a very fancy hotel built in the late 1800's. It was owned by Driskill who lost it in a card game... wouldn't it be interesting to know who held what cards when the last person called?

Some Stained Glass inside of the Hotel. Pretty amazing work!

This is probably one of the most historic and well known places in Texas. The Alamo! Contrary to popular belief there is no basement in the Alamo but there are thousands of ways to prepare corn, none of which I will tell you about right now. If you need some ideas, please contact Kaye, I seem to remember her having a large coffee table book about the delectable vegetable.

The Riverwalk. As always this is a very pretty place and a favorite place to visit.

How could I go to Texas and not see Bevo? For those that don't know who Bevo is the picture should explain it all.

Lance Armstrong, probably one of the greatest athletes to every compete, has a bike shop about 12 blocks from the hotel that I stayed in. Most of you know that I love cycling and to get the opportunity to go to this bike shop was really neat. Lance just finished 29th in the Tour Down Under in Australia and shipped his bike to the shop. I was lucky enough to get to see and touch it and take some pictures with it. The other bike is his team bike that he will be riding this year with team Astana. He will be using a combination of these bike as well as a few more during the season and hopefully in the 2009 Tour De France for an unprecedented 8th tour win!

The whole trip was great and I did learn some great things at the conference as well. Other than the pictures shown we went to the capitol building, Ironworks BBQ, 6th street to see some really interesting people, SOCO, my old house and a ton more. We were tired by the end and ready to come home but I was glad taht we made the effort to see all of the great things taht there are to see in Austin and Texas.

Amateur Extra

2008-12-06T10:46:00.000-08:00

Many of you know that I enjoy amateur Radio. Well the above image shows that I have achieved the highest nerdhood possible in ham radio. I took my Amateur Extra class exam this morning and passed, only missing 2 questions. For those of you that do not know how this works, there is a question pool of 750 questions that they could possibly ask you. You are given a test with 50 of those questions and you have to get a 73% to pass. I never thought that I would be able to do this but I have. It was hard but worth it. I passed my 5 words per minute Morse code test back in 2003 and I have to say that this test today was more anxiety ridden than that.

2008-11-23T20:33:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share this movie preview with you guys. Hopefully I can get a copy of the entire film sometime.

The "I miss my Logan Man Post"

2008-11-09T17:40:00.000-08:00

Logan and Kris have been away for a couple of days now and I have been missing both of them. I was looking through some pictures that we haven't filed yet and i saw this one. I love this little man and I think you can see why. His smile ALWAYS makes me smile!

My First Confirmed Country

2008-11-06T19:46:00.000-08:00

As many of you know I enjoy Amateur radio. As a short explanation you use a radio wave to contact others in far away places. It is kind of like an internet chat room but over the radio. I enjoy talking with others and seeing how far I can get my signal to go. The other day I was on seeing who I could talk to and a station right below me started to call for someone as well. So I moved down and it was a man by the name of Ken. His call sign was JO7CVU and he was in JAPAN! This is not very far and pretty easy for most people to get but I had only ever talked with someone in Japan 1 other time. We exchanged information and I sent off a card confirming our contact. He replied yesterday with his card confirming our conversation and I have included it here for you to see. It may not look like much to you but I am very proud of this contact!

My Hero: "Lucky"

2008-09-10T14:27:00.000-07:00

Many people have hero's in their lives like Michael Jordon, Abe Lincoln, President Hinckley and many others. One of my hero's since I was a child is Larry "Lucky" Chesley. WHO?!?!?!?!? Well, Larry Chesley. There is not much on the internet on him and it is hard to find the details of his heroics. One of the coolest things about my relationship with Larry is that I actually got to meet my hero. Many people never do. Larry was a top gun F-4 Fantom fighter pilot in the Vietnam War. He was a good pilot and flew many successful missions. On one particular mission he was shot down and taken prisoner. He spent the next Seven years in various POW camps and has wonderful and inspiring stories of his time there.
I am writing about my experience meeting him because it was a life changing experience to meet one of the people that you look up to. While talking with one of my friends, who is a Chaplin, she mentioned that she knew Larry and that he should come speak to the students at The school where I work. The plans were made and he was to come. I had the opportunity to introduce him to the student body and also to go to dinner with him and his wife. He is as engaging in person as he is in his book or tapes. If you would like to read more about his experiences you can check out his book here. While talking with him it is evident that he is a man of integrity and values. He also gave me a copy of his book and wrote a special dedication to me. I hope everyone has a hero and can meet them one day. Who is your Hero and why?

What if you combined Fishing and Biking?

2008-07-14T12:57:00.000-07:00

I was looking for a cool image that I could put onto the blog of a biker and I came up with this! Please submit your ideas of funny captions.