Tidbits

It's been an interesting past couple weeks here in Hanksville. We've met some strange people in between unboxing and cleaning house. Generally, we are getting the hang of things. The days are running smoothly and I think we have a workable schedule. Lori is up at 7 to do morning things in the office. She has a few days each week where she is scheduled to do housekeeping or laundry. I watch Hattie and do things around the house. I stay up til' midnight or so to catch the late-comers and answer questions. Anyway, I think we'll be just fine here.

Now for some pictures:

Here is the birthday dress Aunt Melissa gave Hattie:

The other day we had a huge windstorm followed by rain. It literally rained mud. Here is the aftermath:

I finally got around to washing the car. It will be clean for at least another 30 minutes.

Hattie's chocolate-smeared reaction to the pony gift from Cousin Madelyn. The feet are magnetic, so we stuck it on the fridge.

Cinderella is the latest film of choice for Hattie. Lori and I haven't been good parents lately while we adjust to the schedule, so Walt Disney came over to help. Hattie wears her Sunday dress and dances around, just like Cinderella.

While Lori and I were busy on a conference call this morning, Hattie found a pen. This is why she was so quiet during that 30 minute phone call.

The vacuums the maids use have washable filters that need to be cleaned weekly. They were using our shower to clean them because the kitchen sink doesn't have a sprayer, so we bought a new faucet to make things a little easier. I have never installed a faucet in my life. Until today.

(Yes Dad, it's a Moen)

The lawn was a mess when we got here. It was just starting to grow again, but the sprinklers weren't turned on and everything was dying. I cut it, fertilized it and set up a watering schedule. Here is the result (I don't have a "before" picture):

There are lots more pictures I want to put here, but apparently my brain is on a creative hiatus.

I know lots of you are planning a trip to come visit, but you'll have to reserve a week or so in advance because rooms are filling up quickly and you don't want to sleep on the floor in the basement.

Two Weeks

Wow, it's already been two weeks. This last week seemed to go by very fast. The first week seemed longer. Oh well, that's life.

We are still learning, but getting use to running the motel. There is always something to do to keep us busy. Things to clean, things to fix, things to wish for, things to keep Hattie out of. Speaking of which, this was my first week of housekeeping and laundry. Some mornings Hattie would come with me. In all of the rooms there is a basket with Hersey kisses in it. Well, she always filches a kiss when I'm not looking. I try to get her to help by having her put the remote control where it is suppose to go, but she goes right for the kisses. Some day she will learn, I hope.

We went shooooping in Richfield on Tuesday. It was a long day because I had to work that morning, then the drive, and then the shopping, and then the drive again. We didn't get home until 10 or 11. We needed a lot of stuff and didn't get it all, but it's probably a good things that we didn't spend as much money as we were going to, because we don't really have it. Yet, we still need to eat, and cloth ourselves, and that's my justification.

I guess I feel so tired because I keep thinking that we are getting on top of things, but then there is another thing that needs to be done. There are so many little things that need to be done. I hope some day that I will feel like we are on top of things. I guess I shouldn't concentrate on the little things right now. Just try to keep things that way they are before we try to change them.

Well, I'll have to take some pictures of the shoes we bought Hattie, because she picked them out. I'm really tired so I'm going to go to bed.

Tuesday in Hanksville

Well, we are here. We unpacked boxes from the tralier yesterday during a huge dust storm. The wind was blowing really, really, really hard, and there was lots of sand. Kevin was worried about the bed flying away as they were lifting it up, but don't worry we have our bed. Without too much dust on it even.

Today I unpacked all the boxes marked Kitchen and we got our bathroom set in order for the most part. We will have to wait for the other rooms because the carpets are being cleaned tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM. We will have to get up and move all the stuff off of the carpets for them.

While I was unpacking, I eventually was answering phone calls, and taking messages for the lady who knew what she was doing, and by the end of the day, I was checking people into rooms and answering questions about reservations, places to eat, and the competition down the road. I guess I did so well, that they decided to let us have charge of it for the night. It was kind of fun to be getting into it, but stressful at the same time. I haven't figured out how to have a child in a place of business. Most people don't seem to mind, and see usually stays quiet and watches what I'm doing. But I still feel weird having her poke her head in and sit on the steps. We will figure it out as we go, and Kevin is doing well to figuring out the things, I'm not good at. We make a good team, and I'm sure we will do well and complement each other as we always seem to do. He is a wonderful guy and I'm so glad he is here on this adventure with me.

So for Hotel business I have already helped, (really watched) as we opened someone's truck because he locked his keys inside. I won't say who is was, Bert, so as not to embarrass you. Thanks for the experience. I have also already had to open someone's room for them because they left their key inside and accidentally let the door shut. Also, I have already showed someone the rooms that were interested in staying, and checked about 3 people in. Came close to entering in several reservations, and as you can tell, stayed up way past what I'm use to. Kevin has already helped someone 'fix' the remote control in their room. Turned out that it needed new batteries. What a smart guy that Kevin is. He also helped fix up a nice room chart for us so I can tell people where their rooms are. I really messed up with some of the film crew that showed up. They were good about it. Oh, yes, I locked myself out of the office and had to ring the bell so Kevin could open the door for me. Yes, I will never leave without my master key again.

So as you can see, we are learning fast, taking it all in, and trying to stay on top of things to keep our household running as well as a business. The owners are being very helpful, patient with all our questions, and very nice. We are grateful for all our blessings, and that we are healthy and happy. Hopefully we will get some pictures on here soon. Give us some time. Wow, this was a lot longer than I thought it would be.

We love you all and want to thank you so, so, much for all the help you have given us.

Hanksville, UT

Monday April 12th the three of us will be increasing the population of Hanksville, UT by 1.2%. We are moving there to run the Whispering Sands motel. The purchase process has taken quite some time and we are anxious to get on with our lives.

I started looking for another source of income some time early 2009. A month or so after I started looking, I was laid-off from my home theater design job. I was looking at business for sale locally and, with the help of my Dad, found a listing for a "Motel near Moab". Hanksville is "near" Moab in the same way that Las Vegas is "near" Hurricane. It's about two hours away. Sadly, Moab IS the nearest large(r) city. The next nearest is Richfield, which is 2.5 hours in the other direction. Anyway, the business listing numbers were attractive and it made sense to buy because of the land included in the price as well as business opportunities later down the road.

We drafted an offer and sent it to be reviewed and hopefully accepted. This was in August, 2009. We have waited for months for something to happen, and now we are moving in a few days.

Notice I am conveniently leaving out a bunch of the actual business blather because it mostly involves paperwork, waiting, phone calls, frustration, waiting, disappointment, frustration, dragging-feet, long trips, waiting, frustration, anxiety, waiting and frustration. In fact, we are STILL waiting on the bank, even though we are moving.

We have struck up a temporary agreement between us, the sellers and the business broker that will allow us to move on with the deal and let the banks take their sweet time. I won't get into the details, but we are all happy.


This is a photo of the motel from a distance. There is 1 acre of parking out front. Nice for boats, semi's and such. Single story "cabins" on the left and the two story "manor" on the right. Further to the right just out of frame is the office which is attached to the side of the house we will be living in.

Front of said office.

Close up of manor

Close up of cabins

Inside a room in the manor

Each room has a fridge, microwave TV and DirecTV satellite service

This shot shows the front of the house and enough room for 12 more rooms in a two story setup like the manor

Some scenery along the road to Hanksville

My LX3 camera doesn't have a large zoom range, so I took this picture through the lens of roadside binoculars using the macro setting and a steady hand

We are in the process of packing. This is not the first time we have moved. In fact, I think it the 8th time in 5 years. We will likely be renting out the top part of our house and keeping the stuff we leave behind in the basement. (When we visit Hurricane, we will be guests in our own home).

The lifestyle change will be fun to deal with. Keep in mind the nearest Home Depot and/or Wal-Mart are in Richfield which is 155 miles away if you take the freeway. There is a little grocery store in town, but plan to take a whole day if you want to go buy sprinkler parts or shoes or something.

Come stay with us if you are in the neighborhood. Hanksville is surrounded by cool places to go. Goblin Valley, Arches, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Natural Bridges, Monument Valley, Lake Powell, San Rafael and Moab. Bryce Canyon isn't very far away.

We will both have our cell phones, so call if you have questions or anything. Thanks for all your care and support. Lots of people ask us what's going on and want news updates. It is nice to finally be able to tell them that we are moving forward.

PS- I guess it's only natural to add a link to the business site:

Whispering Sands Motel

PPS- Satellite view of motel:


View Larger Map

Good News

April 16th, 2009 was the day I first made contact with our local business broker. I was interested in some businesses they had listed for sale.

Fast forward 1 year and we are now moving toward our goal of buying a business.

We will be moving to Hanksville, UT to operate a small motel. We are moving April 12th. This news is long overdue and we are excited. This news came about 8 minutes ago and we still have plans to make. I will be updating everybody in the meantime.

Easter Weekend

I've been wanting to post pictures of my beautiful flowers for a long time. We planted the bulbs in the winter around October or November. I wasn't sure if they would come up or not, but one day I looked over and there were green leaves poking through the ground. It made me really happy. Then they started to flower and I've been happy every time I go out the front door to look at my pretty flowers. Right now it just the hyacinths, but the tulips are about to floor. They should be flowering in the next week or two.

I thought that we had bought an all purple bag of bulbs, but there is only one purple in the group. The rest are pink and white.

So our Easter work project this year was to fill in all the sink whole that occurred throughout our yard made by the rain and settling of the soil. We borrowed my Uncles tractor to help make the job go faster. We had to move our rock in three spots, bring in about 4 buckets of dirt, level it, and put the rock back down. We started Friday morning around 9 and got done about 2:30pm. We also dug a small trench to redirect water flow that come down from the rain gutters. We are still working on that project, but the trench is dug. Kevin drove the tractor around and decided that it was too big for our yard. But it sure got the job done fast.

Every time Kevin would turn off the tractor Hattie would say, "It's my turn." Then she would sometimes climb up herself, but mostly we would lift her up into the seat. She really liked the 'big machine' and would sing into the bucket lever as if it were a mic. She had fun on it.

Then after were were done in the yard, we hurried and through our pajamas into a bag, grabbed our pillows, flashlights, and a few other essentials, hooked up the camper and headed out to White Rocks for the annual Reeve Easter Camp Out. Every Easter they have a dinner Friday night. Whoever wants to camp stays, and the smart ones go home to sleep. Then we have breakfast in the morning, and an Easter Egg hunt in the rocks for the kids. This is the first year we have been since 2006, our first year of marriage. It was fun, and Hattie had a lot of fun.

This is Kevin getting ready to set up the camper.

And this is it set up, obviously. Hattie was busy exploring. There were two dogs there and she spent a lot of time chasing the smallest one and trying to hold it and hug it. The other dog was bigger than she was but I think it scared sometimes. It was funny to see her chase after them and calling to them. She also enjoyed the horses. Kathy and Kelby Iverson, my cousins, brought their horses. She wanted to ride the horse and went she was on it didn't want to get off. Thanks Kelby for the use of your horses. We also borrowed my Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Chuck's side by side. We went for a ride and it was a lot of fun. We also took a ride on Uncle Tony's Canam four wheeler. That was a nice ride too. I think all of these pictures were taken Saturday morning. Friday was filled with the same activities. We brought glow sticks and Hattie and all the little cousins had fun playing with those at night. Then it was time for the Easter Egg hunt. Hattie had fun with that.

As you can see, Hattie liked the baskets a lot. At one point, she was carrying 5 baskets around. We eventually got her down to one and went looking for the eggs. She filled up her whole basket. And got way too much candy. Thanks to her cousins Andria, Lydia, and Julia for helping.

All the eggs around hidden through out the rocks. For the younger kids they make them easier to find. She had fun opening the eggs and finding something inside of them. She also liked picking the eggs up and putting them in her basket.

Anyway, overall a good weekend. Lots of work, fun, and family. We are glad to be home, resting from all our fun though. Hattie occasionally asks, "Where are the people?" She likes being around people. Well, hope you have a happy Easter. Thanks again to everyone who let us borrow their things. We really appreciate it.