Pavilion, Bathroom, and Trailer pad

Jared rented a Mini-X on Friday night so we could start building the pavilion and bathrooms.  We were able dig all of the footings for the bathroom and get the pavilion area leveled out.  Check the pavilion page for more details and some pictures. 

We also worked on the new trailer pad and got all of the trees cleared out.  It was an amazing weekend and we got a lot done.  Jared was there with Valerie and Tucker and Kerri took Dustin and kids up there.  Trent also went with his 3 kids.  Tricia showed up on Saturday to play with the kids in the hammocks Valerie set up.  We had both tractors and the mini-x working most of the day Saturday.  It was pretty cool to see the end result.

We got everything we wanted done.  This was the most dirty I have ever been while up there.  I had dirt all over my chest and back even though I was wearing 2 t-shirts.  It was a great time and hopefully, when we get the grass planted and growing, it will be much cleaner and more enjoyable.

Thank you Valerie for all of the awesome pictures.

 

Also check out this giant root ball we ripped out, Tucker was pretty excited about it.

 



Cutting down trees

This past Saturday Jared and part of his family along with Gable went up to The Ranch in the afternoon after the Art City Day parade.  We had lunch up there and then we started working on a new project we have.  We began to cut out trees and make an area for Jared and his family to camp and park trailers.  This will make it possible to begin work on the pavilion.  Plans have been adjusted a little but the pavilion we be even better and a little smaller so it is more affordable and easier to build.  We were working on the area just above where the pavilion has been planned to be built.  We had to cut out a lot of trees which took us the entire afternoon to do it.  We filled up 6 truck loads of trees and still have a pile of cut trees sitting up there. 

This is a picture of us just getting started, we should have taken a before picture but didn't think about it.

We were able to use the tractor to start to level out a lot of the area.  We still have a lot of work to do but we should get it done this weekend.  We are renting a Mini-X to do the work which for those of you who don't know, (I didn't know until just recently and am 28) it is just like a small back hoe.  Here is a picture below of what one looks like. 





We finished as much as we could with the tractor and chain saws and just everything by hand and now we need the mini-x to finish the rest of the work and also we will be getting all of the area ready for  the pavilion and to start laying the water pipes and the footings.

 

We will be going up Friday night and Saturday to finish the work we started.

 

 

We then had a delicious peach cobbler dessert after a chicken salad dinner.  It was an amazing time up there and we are getting a lot done.  It was nice to relax for  a few minutes and just have a hot treat.

 

Enjoy this video of us working.  For those of you who missed out on Tucker working you can get a small snapshot of it here.

This one is of my son Toby enjoying The Ranch.  It was a pretty awesome moment this morning when I say him playing in his room with his trucks and talking about the work he was doing with them at The Ranch.  Both of our kids love The Ranch and get excited every weekend we are going camping there.  We hope they are learning some important lessons while we are there and we hope they can love it in the future as much as we do. 

 



 

June is Here

Jared and his family along with Kerri and her family and Tricia tagged along for the evening.  We were able to get a lot done.  We had an amazing dutch oven dinner which Kerri made.  It was an amazing Chicken and Rice in one dutch oven and rolls made in another dutch oven.  We made a mistake and burnt the rolls a bit but it was still really good.  Email the ranchw8@gmail.com site it you want the recipe. 

We hung out that evening inside the trailers and just played games because it was a little colder than usual.  We got up in the morning to a classic camping breakfast of bacon, eggs, and pancakes (along with Valerie and Kerri having hot chocolate). 

After that we got right to work.  Kerri started to mow the field above the camping area and got rid of the tall weeds there and hopefully a few people can camp over in there now.  We then planted a few more potatoes that Jared and taken up and then Jared an Valerie had to go back home for a work lunch. 

 

Tucker learned how to plow and plowed the old potato field.  He also worked on the field by the cottonwoods.  Meanwhile, Dustin and Kerri took their kids up to the West fence to put in some dancers.  We were able to do a few of them before the kids got hungry and we had to meet back up with Tucker for lunch.

After lunch Kerri and the kids took a nap while Tucker and Dustin went up to the West fence to finish the dancers we had already cut for the West fence line.  We were able to finish that and then we walked back the North end of the fence line and found just one broken line that we had to fix.  Everything else was pretty good other than a few loose cedar posts that we had to try to tighten up a bit.  We then went and worked on the fields with the tractors which we are trying to prepare to plant some more alfalfa seed on this fall. 

Jared and Valerie then met up with us again in the evening for some hot dog dinner.  They took their trailer down and we all headed down right before it got dark. 

Cattle are now on the property so if you are up there and see them in the fields let Jared or Eric know so we can get them out, or get them out if you know how.

Eric's new road!

Memorial Day 5/27/13

The Ranch was a very popular place this Memorial Day.  A lot of family went and had a lot of fun. 

Eric went up on Saturday and planted the potatoes. 

Monday was the popular day though.  It seems like half of the family was up there.  In the morning Erica and Jared use the tractors to make a new road just South of the potato field going to the lookout where Eric would like to make a campsite.  They were able to get it done pretty quick and it is very nice.  You should get up there soon to check it out, I was impressed. 

Peter took his bees up and you can hear them buzzing already, hopefully they will get some of the chocolate flower nectar.  It seems as though he has double what he had last year but we would have to check with him on that one.

Grandpa sent a message about the weekend: Gramma and I went up with Ginny and Janae and had a wonderful time. The hay field looks great and is growing fast and they got some spuds planted that should do well after the nice rain storm we had last night. We left a little early but Eric an Jared were building a road to Eric's favorite spot to camp. I am anxious to see how it turns out. Love to all..

A lot of the family went on a hike.  They hiked up to Nellies and had some awesome pictures in the flowers and on the mountain.

 

Camping in the Rain

This past weekend Jared was at The Ranch with some of his Family and 2 groups were up there as well. 

Jared took work off Thursday and Friday and went up Thursday morning by himself.  He was able to finish all of the fence line on the inner East fence and the South fence.  He also did some tractor work and made a new tent/trailer spot on the North end of the long alfalfa field.  Kerri, Dustin, Tucker, Libby, Toby, and Colby went up on Friday evening.  Eric was already up there with a ward father and sons group that was camping there.   A scout group from Syracuse, UT came down as well and camped out. 

We got right to work and finished the East fence.  It only took an hour and then we were able to just hang out around the fire while Tucker worked on the potato field.

http://youtu.be/d0YRUZRIS_U

It did rain during the night.  We were all dry cause we were in trailers.  The scouts and ward groups were not as lucky, they got rained on all night in their tents but no one complained.  Although it was raining in the morning we still decided to work on the West fields fence.  It was in pretty good condition with only a couple of breaks in it.  We finished that in the morning and then we went up to talk to Doug and Pat Weight.  They were working with their new tractor and getting a new hay field ready to harvest. 

We had lunch and then the rain kind of stopped for a while.  Dustin had to take his trailer down so we tried to hurry and get out while the roads were still dry.  Trent came up for lunch with us and brought Brinley and Porter with him.  While we were driving down we ran into a truck left in the middle of the road.  The keys were left in it but it wouldn't start and no one was around.  We hooked it up to a truck and pulled it out of the way.  Then we made our way down and then with about a mile left on the dirt road we ran into a guy that had a small trailer pulled over to the side of the road.  We stopped and Jared had to help him get the trailer hooked back up to his truck and then we followed him down to Diamond Fork. 

All in all, it was another great weekend up there.  It is very green right now so go check it out if you get a chance before it starts getting too hot. 

May 3-4 weekend

Jared and his family went up to the ranch this past weekend.  They all stayed right where the pavilion will be built.  It was a very nice weekend and didn't even get too cold at night.  We also had our first scout group go up there.  They were able to do a hike for the 2nd Class badge for scouts and also pass off several requirements they needed. 

Jared and Trent were able to do some work on the tractors and were able to work on the fields and on the road a little bit.  The next time you go up you will notice that the new road by the cabin has gravel on it.  It is very nice.  They had done just past the cabin on Saturday and will probably be done by the end of this week.  It is much safer now to drive that road. 

It is a going to be another dry year so please be very careful.  We can have fires right now but we may not be able to have them later in the year.

Jared spoke with John and Chris Child who have property just bellow us and they have again requested that we all drive very slowly by their place.  They said that when people drive fast they kick up dirt and dust and it makes a mess of their set up they have by the road.  Please be respectful so we can have a civil relationship with our neighbors up there.

Everything else is going great up there.  There will be some groups going up there in the next couple of weeks so check the calendar and just communicate with Jared or Eric if you want to stay the night up there so we can make sure the groups are out of your way.

Also let Jared or Eric know if you are having a group go up there so we can get it on the calendar.

Tangled, Rusty, Messed up East Fence

This Saturday a lot of work was done but it did not cover a lot of fence line, just a lot of work due to the mess that we had to deal with. 

Jared, Trent, Tucker, and Gable left early in the morning and started to work on the East fence moving North from the South East corner of the property right by the old coral.  They worked all morning from 8:00 am-2:00 in the afternoon.  They were working on the Child's portion of the fence because they don't work on it and we want to keep their cattle out and the cattle grazing in our side in.  They found many assorted lines of barbed wire.  There was a lot of rusted out lines, broken lines and it was all just a mess.  They also had re-plant T-Posts with just a hammer because they forgot the post pounder.  They were able to finish a couple hundred yards of fence.  Then they stopped for lunch.

In the afternoon Shane and Deanne drove up with Grandma and Grandpa along with a caravan including Ronda with her 2 sons Garrett and Mckay.  Valerie went up with Dustin, Libby, Toby, Tricia, and Karlee.  Some of us helped finish the east fence line up to where our portion of the fence is located.  We finished at about 5:30. 

Everyone else stayed back by the water and played with the kids and just enjoyed the awesome property.  Valerie was on the tractor disking for a couple hours and has nearly finished the entire big field by the cottonwoods. 

We stayed up there for dinner and we all had Tinfoil Dinners (or as I like to call them, Hobo Dinners).  It was a very nice day and made us realize that summer is just about here.  It is still kind of dry up there and hopefully we get a couple of rain storms soon.

This weekend Jared and his family will be going up along with Kerri and her family and staying the night on Friday night.  Dustin will be taking up a scout group up for the night and taking them on a hike up to Nelly's Spring.  It should be a great trip and hopefully we will have some pictures to post next week. 

The main gate to Wanroads is also open so now people can go up any time.  The gate to the flat iron is locked so just check with Jared or Eric to get a key to get into the fields if you want to get into that area.