The Cimarrona/M&M Drop Service Company Motivational Run

With spring just around the corner and in hopes of having lots of work this year, we loaded up Lemon Joy and headed to Moab to meet up with the Bir Family. We've been working with Mike and Melissa for seven years now and have become very good friends. As soon as we rolled into town, it was decided that a night run up The Pickle was just what we all needed to get in the weekend grove. Unfortunately, halfway to the Pickle, Mike's Jeep decided to sever a brake line so Lemon Joy had to navigate the Pickle solo that evening.

I love the angry Chinese eyes!

Yes, she thinks she's an alien. :)

Saturday was a beautiful warm day in the desert and the plan was for the girls to drive Poison Spider Mesa while Chris and Mike rode it on their mountain bikes.

The Bir Girls

The Manly Mountain Bikers

What a life!

"Maurice, it's much more fun if you raise your arms!!"

Looking at Behind the Rocks with the La Sals in the background.

A mummified Alyssa Joy

The mummy is coming to life.....

Oh no!

And she lives!

Sarah having her first lesson at Auntie Pink's driving school

Everyone has to wear their harness!

Alyssa planted a garden on Pritchett

Pinkie and the Brain will rule the world one day with King Julian by our side!

The elusive flying Brendon

Mike playing around on Pritchett

Tempting the fates.....

And the number one reason why you shouldn't take a Razor up Pritchett!

The children's sand kingdom

Look at those cute desert Yorkies!

Ah....the finished kingdom. We were back on Pritchett about three weeks later and were able to still see some of this! Those kids could be structural sand engineers! :)

And that was our weekend of fun. With the exception of Mike's brake line issue, there wasn't any carnage which is always a huge blessing. The weather was fabulous, the company even better, and we were rock crawling. Life was good!

Who would've thought?

Eight long years ago, this showed up at our house:

What exactly is it? That was my question to Chris as well. Turns out, it was a bone stock 1972 Ford Bronco which Chris had bought for $850. It came to us pre-rolled, with a carburetted 302, 3 speed on the column, and mostly broken. Neither of the doors opened properly and the ignition was seriously jacked up as well. I thought my husband was loony, he informed me that I was looking at "a diamond in the rough". In my cranky pregnant state, I just rolled my eyes and went about my day. What Chris didn't realize at the time was that this moment was the beginning of the end and neither of us had any idea how fabulous our journey would be with this little Bronco.

Fast forward eight years to today and let me re-introduce you to our beloved Lemon Joy:

Monday night, Chris pulled her out of the garage for another test drive. I can't even begin to count how many test drives we've taken her on over the past 8 years. This particular night was both exciting and bittersweet though. This picture is of her first spin with no more stock Bronco components. The last stock part was her Dana 20 transfer case which has now been replaced with a super-de-duper 3 speed STaK. The only Bronco parts left on her are 3 mangled body panels, part of her grill, 2 frame rails, and the dash. As far as the pregnancy that was making me sicker than a dog so long ago....she is now our crazy 7 year old who always includes Lemon Joy in her prayers as a thank you to the Lord for "a Lemon Joy who rocks".

Let's compare: The new STaK versus the Dana 20

Look at that sexy beast!! I'm particularly thrilled with the purple skull shift knobs. :)

Seeing as how I'm in such a sentimental state right now thinking about our crazy journey here are some pictures to show the progression of our sweet yellow love.....

Billings Canyon in Grand Junction, Thanksgiving 2006

Silverton in the summer of 2006.....look at those pretty body panels!

Her first run up Upper Helldorado in Moab. This was the trip that took out the soft top.

A side obstacle on Rusty Nail; EJS 2007

And the destruction of the body begins....

Britney Spears, EJS 2007

These pictures were taken right before Chris ripped off all her body panels for her make-over last summer. The poor girl has been abused!

And now the newly tubed out Lemon Joy!

Coyote Canyon, fall 2008

Pritchett Canyon, New Year's weekend, 2009

And just for giggles, here's a brief list of what makes Lemon Joy amazing:

~A fuel injected 302 from an 89 Grand Marquis

~NP435 4 speed transmission

~3G Alternator from a mid 90's Mustang

~Electric fan from a Ford Taurus

~3 Speed StaK transfer case

~Full width axles from a 79 Ford F150

~Custom 4 link suspension which stretched the wheel base from 92 inches to 113 inches!!

~A wonderful winch from Chris' mom

~40" Iroks

~And most importantly, an amazing piece of old iron that has more personality than we know what to do with.....but dammit, she's cute and we love her. :)

Up and coming author: Mr. Brendon Bolos

For English today, Mr. B needed to write a fable. Here is his fable for every one's reading entertainment. Enjoy! :)

The Wolf and The Hunter

Author: Brendon Bolos

Rated R for gore

Once upon a time there was a daddy wolf, a mommy, and a baby wolf. One day they went walking in the woods and the baby wolf ran in front of them and the mommy wolf said "don't run in front of us because there are hunters here in the woods." And right when the baby was about to turn around "kapow" the baby was stuck in a trap. And right when the baby was about to call for help, he saw the hunter. He was about 6'2" with a unibrow and a '62 Carbine rifle. Then mommy wolf and daddy wolf came around the corner and saw the hunter. Then "shazam" the daddy wolf leapt at the hunter and sank his teeth into the hunter's arm. While daddy wolf fought with the hunter, mommy wolf helped baby wolf escape from the trap. Then daddy wolf ripped a chunk of flesh off the hunter's arm. The hunter ran back to his truck screaming his lungs off while blood was gushing out of his wound. Meanwhile Mama wolf was telling baby wolf if he had learned a lesson and baby wolf said yes. Then baby wolf, mama wolf, and daddy wolf went back to their den and had human flesh for dinner.

The End

(P.S.....the lesson in this story is to obey your parents.)

A Valentine's Treat

Our usual Valentine's Day tradition is to head to the desert for a long weekend in our yellow love. This year we decided to mix things up a bit after hearing that our wheeling partners in crime, The Chadricks, weren't able to make the trek to Moab. Another minor contributing factor was the fact that Lemon Joy currently does not have a transfer case connected to her drive train. Small detail, but problematic nonetheless! Upon contemplating our options and me feeling very socially deprived from winter, it was decided that if the Chadricks wouldn't meet us in Moab, we'd just go to them! After loading up kids, dogs, and most of the house, we were off to the "Big City".



Chad and Chelsea opened their house to our crazy family and did we ever have fun! They have 3 dogs, all under 10 pounds, so between the kids and dogs, it was a madhouse! Due to none of us having a ton of money, we spent most of our time just laying low and hanging out. Chris's big treat for the trip was a comp pass to Snowbird for a day of snowboarding! Thank you Mr. McSweeney!! So Chad and Chris spent Friday on the mountain and had an absolute hoot. Chels and I took the kids out to lunch and then we did a little shopping.



Here's Lyssie holding "Izzy"






Happy Valentine's Day!!

Look at that cute boy!! He just opened his "coupon" for his new Nintendo DS. :)


After hearing rave reviews about the Aquarium in Sandy, we headed to Rumbi for lunch and then decided to check it out for our Valentine's adventure. Imagine our surprise when the first exhibit we see was......

A TIGER SALAMANDER! And this one has all 4 legs, unlike our sweet Happy. Unbeknown to us, tiger salamanders are native to Utah as well. We were all so excited to see another one since to date, Happy is our only Salamander experience. Both kids thought it was pretty cool that the Utah ones come with four legs. ;)

Lyssie Lou loved petting the manta rays

Instead of going out for dinner that night, we headed up to Magna to the home of our very good friends, the Herzog's. Amy was so sweet and had little gifts for the kids and had the house all decorated. We brought some steaks from home and had a most excellent evening enjoying each other's company and some really good food. Ames is an amazing cook and her red velvet cupcakes make my knees go weak.

Brendon, Alyssa, and Caulen

The Bronco's and the Zoggy's :)

The cutest Caulen

Sunday was a very mellow day around the house. Brendon brought his XBox so there were plenty of video games and just enjoying being together.

Chad, Lyss, and Crawl having quite the conversation

Woot for the Wii!

Chad's latest project: a tube chassis for his buggy

Look at that sexy transfer case! Chad was able to buy a Stak just like ours, so now we're transfer case buddies. Awwww......

No trip to Salt Lake would be complete without calling all our crazy friends and getting together for a schwing-ding. The lovely McSweeney's hosted the party again and it was a hoot! We hung out, grilled some pizza, and laughed until our sides hurt.

Kami, Jason, and Jacey. Jason and Jacey got married in November and this was our first time meeting her.

The Chad and Chelsinator

Lyss, Shea, Brendon, and Nash

A little Apples to Apples fun.

Alayna and Shawn, Kami and Ben, Jason and Jacey, Chels and Chad, and then me!

Miss Sophie's excitement for the trip was having 3 new friends to play with and an entirely new yard to explore. The other highlight for her was meeting "Murphy". Murphy is Chelsea's parrot and lives in the living room on the desk. Sophie was convinced that they would only be the best of friends and spent quite a lot of time barking at Murphy to come out and play.

Just can't get any closer!

Watching Murphy from afar

Hmmmm...maybe a different angle will work!


And there is a brief synopsis of our weekend in the city! It was such a treat to get out of town for a bit and hang out with everyone. Both Chris and I feel so blessed to have met so many wonderful friends rock crawling, but the only down side is that they all live 8 hours away! Thankfully since we are self employed and home school, it isn't a big deal to make the trek. Plus, it's always a treat to go to the city and go shopping and get fresh Krispy Kremes!! :)

100 Random Tara Tidbits

Whilst reading my girlfriend Amy's blog, I came upon 100 tidbits about her. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about it so thought I would share 100 random pieces of information about me. Enjoy! :)

100: I think I'm an intergalactic princess some days
99: I don't dream
98: Lifted Fords make my knees go weak
97: I would love to enter and place in a rock crawling competition
96: On my time cards at work, I always put a different name
95: I know how to replace a broken u-joint on a dana 44 axle
94: My bowling name is "Petunia PickleBottom"
93: I really want two more kids
92: My next vehicle is going to be an Excursion on 37's
91: I abhor opening cans of biscuits
90: I adore sushi
89: I love country music
88: And Lynyrd Skynyrd!!
87: I hold duct tape in WAY too high of a regard
86: I still collect and use LipSmackers
85: My next business endeavor is going to be raising prize winning salamanders
84: I actually have a 3 legged salamander who resides on the island in my kitchen
83: I am surprisingly adept at operating heavy equipment.
82: I love being a mom
81: Pepsi still makes my world go 'round
80: Muenster cheese is the best on egg sandwiches
79: I can do mostly anything with 2 stumps, a floor jack, and a ratcheting strap
78: Without rock crawling, I begin to mold and become stagnant
77: My husband has told me that I have an ego the size of Texas
76: Thanks to Victoria's Secret, I have great cleavage
75: I always match my panties to my shirt
74: I suck at video games
73: My 10 year old whoops my butt at bowling
72: I secretly hope to be the first one to roll Lemon Joy onto her lid
71: I love to cook
70: But I love eating out too!
69: I immensely dislike putting fuel in my truck
68: Laying in a boat in the sunshine is about as close to Heaven as one can get
67: Friends made on the rocks are the best because they share the crazy
66: I have had acrylic nails for 14 years
65: My guilty pleasure is having a housekeeper
64: I absolutely adore cinnamon rolls
63: I love traveling and driving at night
62: The later it gets, the funnier I become!
61: I really want to dance on a table
60: I want Shawn's Commando, but he won't take a Subaru in trade. :(
59: I love to set a pretty dinner table
58: I love daisies
57: I hope to always have a home in Pagosa and live here for the summer and fall
56: The mountains are health to me
55: Being outside in nature is the best
54: I love driving fast
53: I know the spline count of Lemon Joy's rear axle
52: I thrive on being unique
51: Knitting quiets my mind
50: I will write for 4 Wheel and Off Road one day
49: I call my dogs "Fur Persons"
48: I have quite a bit of grey hair
47: I can mostly whoop Chris' butt at Canasta
46: I love homeschooling my babies
45: I didn't like the Bronco at first
44: I'm scared of edges
43: Mining history fascinates me
42: I think Marmots are the coolest animals EVER
41: Camping is for suckers, except for on July 4th
40: I've diagnosed a broken drive shaft u joint with one squeak
39: Taking naps is one of my hobbies
38: Living on a Prayer is Bon Jovi's best song
37: I love high heels, but can't walk in them
36: I hardly ever balance my check book
35: A bowl of cereal before bed kicks ass
34: I have the attention span of a ferret on crack
33: I want to drive Black Flag in 2009
32: I don't really like the color pink
31: I just lied to you
30: I have panic attacks about LJ on the waterfall of Upper Helldorado
29: I know Lemon Joy will conquer the waterfall one day
28: I don't really like chocolate
27: I L-O-V-E fried pickles though!
26: Reading a good book enthralls me
25: I want to write children's books one day
24: I would trade mostly anything for a warm Krispy Kreme
23: My best friend and I make the very best jam and applesauce EVER
22: I don't really have a latino pool boy
21: In my mind, my name is Pinkie and I could take over the world
20: Fun Dips are the official candy of hell
19: I love to dance
18: I know that Lemon Joy is beautiful
17: I'm very proud of our business
16: I hate mushrooms
15: One day I will keep Dominic and Tamara
14: If I wasn't scared of frost bite, I'd wear flip flops year round
13: My husband is the most amazing man I know
12: I hate my thighs
11: I name my landscaping
10: I can tow a gooseneck trailer
9: I know that most Wendy's drive thru's will accommodate goosenecks
8: The most drive thru's I've attempted in one night with a trailer: Three
7: I thoroughly enjoying swearing
6: Better Off Dead is the best movie EVER
5: When I'm in Lemon Joy, nothing else matters
4: I drive everything like I stole it
3: Without my friends, I would be lost
2: I have an unhealthy addiction to rock crawling
1: I love my family more than anything!