SLACKERS!! (Guilty as Charged)

It has been a long two months since our last update. A couple times each week, I tell myself- OK, time to update the blog, but instead I get wrapped up playing with Gage or watching re-runs of South Park and Family Guy. So with fresh Diet Dr. Pepper in hand and some pressure from friends (Thanks,Lance and Kira:) I will stay up tonight to at least bring this thing one step closer to being more current.

After Jackie's dad was shot this summer, I kept wondering to myself, what would be the best way to help out and give back just a fraction of what her family has done for me. My dad and I came up with the idea of planning, and carrying out a large-scale benefit motorcycle ride. We started preliminary planning near the end of July and set of the ride for September 27Th. Over a two week period I struggled to give the ride an appropriate and fitting name. Late one night while brainstorming in bed, I decided to call it the H.O.G. - W.I.L.D. Ride, which would be an acronym for Honoring Our Guardians- Who are Injured in the Line of Duty. With the help of my dad and some very close friends we were able to make all the necessary arrangements for an all-out ride. In the week leading up to the ride, we were all very busy collecting donations, raffle prizes and fine-tuning for the big event. Throughout the planning I was very impressed at how willing people and companies were to donate and help out. A good friend of mine, and co-worker designed our ride logo, ride pin and flyer from scratch. It turned out awesome!! We had a ton of small posters and flyers printed that we handed out in the weeks leading up to the ride. Local stores were great and very willing to hang a poster up in their window. I got a lot of positive feedback on the flyer and a ton of people wishing Captain Terry and his family well.

As the ride date got closer we all crossed our fingers, and prayed for nice weather. We got our wish! That Saturday morning the weather was beautiful. We had made arrangements to hold registration and depart from the new Timpanogos Harley Davidson dealership. Anyone who has not been in the new store MUST make it a point to check it out sometime. It is a very cool building that was designed and constructed to use around 80% of its materials from the now demolished Geneva Steel (a favorite place of mine to explore during tear down). With the help of close family members and friends we set up registration around 9 in the morning. Since this was to be the first ride I had ever hosted, I had NO idea if I should plan for 50 or 500?!?!? So I planned on 200-300 and hoped for the best! Come to find out, our attempt at getting the word out, worked VERY, VERY well. Before we knew it, we had a huge line that ran down the sidewalk and deep into the parking lot of the dealership, which was packed full of the coolest bikes I have ever seen. The entire time, more and more bikes just kept rolling in. It was incredible to see how excited people were to help out with a good cause and join us on a beautiful fall ride in the mountains. Soon we were running out of the 300 shirts and pins that I had ordered for the ride! AND THERE WAS STILL A HUGE LINE. We assured people that if they didn't get a shirt right then, that we would have the necessary amount printed and delivered to them. When it came time to depart we had 400+ riders!!! The Highway Patrol and Salt Lake County Sheriff Department were kind enough to send a handful of bikes to lead the way and a couple to bring up the rear. We pulled out the dealership and headed south on I-15. I was at the very front of the line and throughout the trek to Nephi a kept looking in my mirrors on long straight-aways to see how far back our group ran. All I could see was a huge thick trail of motorcycle headlights that ran back further than I could see. Our group made a quick fuel stop in Nephi then headed up the south side of Nebo Loop. It was a beautiful fall day and a perfect day for a ride in the canyon. The leaves were all at their most colorful point and the air was crisp and fresh. We finally made our way into town, where the Payson Police Department pulled a car with lights and sirens in front of our pack and escorted us through police blocked intersections allowing us to all stay together as we made our way back to the I-15. I am sure that from the air we would have looked like a 5-mile long string of leather-clad ants. We headed north on I-15 to Lehi. Upon exiting the freeway, we were greeted with a familiar sight. A Lehi Police Cruiser pulled in front of us and lead the way through town. As we approached from a distance I would see two Police cars pull into and block every intersection. Wow! we really got the royal treatment ( I could get use to the blocked intersection thing. Especially each morning on my way to work.) We pulled into Wine's Park where a fully catered BBQ, a Coca-Cola Trailer, and a Live band awaited us. (Thanks Mellors, Coke, Tour Ice, TwinLabs, and Peace & Quiet) There was also around 100 more people, who didn't own a bike, that came down to buy a lunch ticket or T-shirt to help support our cause. Every family member and friend that did not go on the ride had made the park look like a well decorated and organized banquet hall. Riders ate delicious food as they chatted, admired bikes and enjoyed the live Rock and Roll being played by Peace and Quiet. After lunch we raffled off a vast amount of very cool prizes. Such as.....

• Knight, Wolverine Muzzle-loader rifle
• NAA .22 caliber pistol
• 2 spray-in truck bed liners
• Large Craftsmen tool kit
• Overnight stay at each of the following- Anniversary Inn, Ruby's Inn, The Homestead, Daniel's Summit Lodge and Falcon's Ledge (with free fly fishing lessons for two)
• $100 FARM police supply gift card
• $200 Cabela's gift card
• Fishing passes for private lake
• Weekend Harley Davidson rental
• V-twin tune up
• Saws-all
• Angle grinder
• Luxury Kitchen Faucet
• $400 dental whitening gift card
• AVON gift cards
• TwinLabs Supplement gift bags
• Men's and Women's motorcycle jackets
• Wasatch county golf passes
• Motorcycle gloves
  

I just now noticed the very reason I don't update my blog very often. I have a bad habit of getting very long-winded! Sorry :( I will try and wrap it up.
Everyone had a great time and the ride turned out very well. We even ended up in a newspaper or two! http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/282873/

I want to personally thank anyone and everyone that helped in planning, preparation, artwork, donations, and all of the help that was needed at registration and at the BBQ and all the work that was done while we were out riding. I also want to thank every who joined us on the ride to show their support and thanks to Jackie's Dad and family. I also want to graciously thank TwinLabs, Action Target, Skaggs, and Mountainland for monetary donations that they made to help offset costs. I also want to give a huge thanks to Mellor Engineering along with Mellor Reception Center for being so willing to take care of every element of cost and serving of the BBQ. With the help of everyone we were able to raise a substantial donation. THANKS TO ALL!!!

STAY TUNED FOR:

HALLOWEEN 2008

GAGE'S 1st BIRTHDAY

-UNTIL THEN, PLEASE ENJOY THESE LOVELY PICTURES-

Pictures of the summer!!

May- Gage turns 6 months old and we moved to lehi

June- Gage is 7 months and Zach goes to the grand canyon. Zach took Gage to his first father and sons. My dad gets shot.

July- Gage is 8 months. My dad comes home. My dad turns 55 and his cops sing him happy birthday. Our first trip to seven peaks, Gage loved it.

August- Gage is 9 months. Zach and I went on big motorcycle ride for the fallen officers.




I just thought I just post pictures of our summer. Pictures are always fun to look at so I hope you all enjoy!

A Weekend in Park City

Over the weekend Zach and I stayed up in Park City for Saturday night. Zach had a sales meeting to go to Friday night and all day Saturday. Zach's mom and dad watched Gage for us, so I drove up and met him in Park City Saturday afternoon, to spend the remainder of the weekend with him. It was so nice for just us two to go out. Zach had his bike up there so went on a ride down the main street, it was so beautiful. On some of the mountains the leaves are just starting to turn colors. I can't believe that fall is right around the corner. The air was prefect during the day but freezing at night. We went to dinner on the bike and froze our butts off on the way back to the hotel, but it was fun to get out on the motorcycle. Zach and I were so excited to sleep in and just be lazy, easier said than done. At 8 o'clock in the morning the fire alarm went off, it scared me so bad. I had to wake Zach up because he was crashed out. We got up and I started to pack my stuff. Zach told me not to, so we left our room to go out side when an employee told us that it was a false alarm. We headed back to our room and climbed back into bed, just as we were both falling back to sleep it went off again, but for only a few seconds. It made me so mad, because I wanted to sleep in. We were able to finally get back to sleep, and stayed asleep for a few more hours!! It was nice! When we went to check out, Zach had asked the clerk about the alarm and she said someone was cooking, and then she told us that a few minutes earlier, a small baby deer, who still had spots on it, walked into the hotel and was running the halls. They had three Park City policemen trying to get the baby deer out. After that, we went back to main street and walked through the farmers market for awhile. It was a lot of fun.

Another 3 months have passed!!!

WOW it has been a very crazy and strange summer. And i thought I would have been a better blogger then Zach with weekly updates and fun things to post but no I suck! Well I will give you my excuse for not updating it, to start we moved at the end of May to our own home in Lehi it's so cute and really close to my parents new house. I love it, it's so nice to have a house of our own so I can paint and decorate and do what ever i want with it!! We're so excited. And then on June 23 my dad was doing a routine traffic stop when he pulled a female driver over and was shot in the line of duty. It has been 2 months now and he has done well for being shot in the head!! He is a very strong person and a very determined one too, he has been threw a lot and he continues to progress each day with his communication, that is the hardest thing he deals with each day. Where he was shot is the communication part of the brain so he knows what he wants to say but it doesn't come out right or at all. So he goes to speech therapy every weekday. My Mom has handled this event very well. I can only hope i have half the strength she has. It will be a long road to recovery for my dad but I know he can do it.

Next thing that has happened was Zach's Grandpa Blackburn had a stroke on July 23 while he was in California and had surgery, and he had to stay down there for a few weeks then he was driven back here, and he was in a care facility in salt lake, he just got home on the 27 of this month. He is doing very well.

And that's not the end of it My Grandma was in the hospital just after my dad was hurt and and then she was released and now my grandma has suffered a stroke but she is not doing to well, her stroke was a really bad one she can't move her left side, we're not sure whats going to happen with her. Well that is about it for our wonderful summer which has been filled with lots of trips to the hospital and lot of up and down emotional roller coaster.

Now that i have that out on to Gage he is 9 months now and is into everything he weights almost 20lbs and is almost 30in tall he is such a cute and fun little boy. I don't know what I would have done with out him in my life, he is our little angel! He babbles a lot and says mama and dad, he says hi and bye. He had his first tooth pop up this month, he crawls everywhere and very quickly, he does try to stand by himself but I don't like that I don't want him to walk =( but he will walk along the furniture, and let go and stand for just a few seconds and then fall on his butt. He is so funny I just love the little nerd!! He brings so much joy to our lives. Zach and I are so proud to have him be ours! Well I guess that's it I really hope I can update better. I will try my hardest!

The top pictures were taken at the first of June. Then there are some of Gage in July, the really close up one of Gage's face was with his first black eye. And one of my Dad when he got home!

This video is of Gage looking at my dad's sticker on the back of our exterra. He loves his Grandpa, the cute little smile and laugh is hilarious. The Lehi police had these stickers made for my dad. We still have the sticker on our car.