Brianhead and Desperado Dual

On August 22nd, we headed up to Southern Utah for a road bike ride that Andy was participating in. It was the "Desperado Dual" with both a 109 mile option and a 200 mile option. Andy, Ben Harber, Matt Cardall, Anthony Stubbs, and Stacy Slade rode in the 109 mile loop. Ben offered up his familys cabin for the weekend, so we decided to make it a family affair. It was so nice to get out of the Las Vegas heat and head up to the beautiful outdoors. Andrew thought the cabin was some sort of zoo, because it had a gigantic moose head hanging above the fireplace and another huge elk hanging on the other wall, along with various animal skins hanging throughout the house. He would walk by each fur and pet them as if they were alive. The cabin really made the entire weekend. Thank you Harber family.

Here are the bikes lined up resting on the patio of the cabin. The cabin was beautiful and very relaxing. Andrew took advantage to get out and run around as much as possible. He would chase Paul Harber's dogs, Sonny and Star around the patio . . . over and over.

Andrew was so excited to greet Andy at the finish line. He kept yelling "go Dadda, go Dadda," even though Andy had already finished the race.

Matt Cardall and Andy at the end of the race about to go eat.


The boys, pictured left to right, Ben Harber, Matt Cardall, Anthony Stubbs, and Andy

Andy stuffing his face after burning nearly 7500 calories over 109 miles.

Back at the cabin in the afternoon, it was evident who Andrew preferred to hang with, and it wasn't Andy or I. It was his new "best friend" Nola Harber. She took Andrew on as many "motorcycle rides" (as Andrew would call them) as he could handle. Each morning Nola would head down to the pond they are building and take Andrew along with her to pump the water out of the hole. The funny thing is, is that the week following the cabin weekend, we took Andrew to Sea World, the beach, etc. Even with all of that he still continues to reminisce about the cabin and Paul and Nola. He has pretty much forgotten about Shamu. Sorry Shamu, incredibly well trained killer whales have nothing on quads, cabins, tractors and the great outdoors . . . at least according to Andrew.

Here is the "pond" that they are building by the cabin. So much for a pond. This thing is more like a lake! Andrew and Nola are standing on the island in the middle of the lake. He thought he was climbing a mountain each time he would head across to the island.

Here is a shot of Andrew and Nola pumping the water out of the bottom of the "pond."

Here are Andy and I at the pond. One thing that was so nice up in Brianhead was the cooler weather, I had to wear my hood b/c I was so cold! And it wasn't THAT cold but I'm a baby.

So here is where Andrew's life changed forever. He was able to help Paul dig the pond with this huge backhoe. Andrew has each of these tractors as toys back home, but for him to see them in real life and to be able to work the controls was a dream come true. We have video of him running the bulldozer that we may have to add later. He couldn't get enough.

Andrew is pointing to another tractor he wants to go and sit on, he couldn't contain himself!

These machines were no nonsense!

Even though we went up for Andy's ride the person who had the most fun was clearly Andrew. We sure did enjoy seeing our little boy have the time of his life. Because he was the only toddler up there he got so much attention from everyone and soaked it all up. He loves all of our friends, so hanging out with them was such a treat as well. Now you can see why he has forgotten about Shamu and goes on and on each day about his trip to the cabin.