look for the "bear" necessities....

    James and I were talking the other day about Uncle Vern, we pinpointed some attributes we've learned thus far in our journey with him.  Our conclusion was, that he is most definitely a country bumpkin, and although his personality is booming at times, with new stores i.e the boot barn, he really is still a slow and steady old cow poke at heart ( we could really use some mid chain restaurants up here).  We love that charm about Uncle Vern, it makes him a very calming partner to live with, and thanks to him we are appreciating the openness and welcoming manner his demeanor provides. We are also enjoying the quaint decor he creates in his down time, perhaps forgetting about his worries and his strife....

    Yes, I mean the "bear" necessities, the cheeriest way to make sure not a chip or sliver of vernal's natural beauty is wasted.

We found this lovable stump just outside our neighborhood when we first moved in. He kind of reminded me of pocahontas's grandmother willow, like I should come consult with him from time to time and have him explain my journey here in vernal..."listen with your heart, you will understand" hahaha, he seemed happy to meet us, so he introduced us to some of his friends....

The two brother bears. Fine sturdy specimen's indeed. We get to wave hello to them on the way to swimming lessons everyday.  The boys and I have become quite skilled at bear hunting and found this woodsy friend on our way to george's school...

Although the boys thought it looked more like a mouse. And I have to say I somewhat agree. But I was quick to remind them that when using mother natures recipes as your sculpting material, the realistic look of the bear doesn't matter, it's the use of the logs and love that go into the process of creating the charm of the bear. So these sweet people get an A for effort in giving their best to add to Vernal's teddy bear picnic. That being said I really should have more love in my heart for our latest bear find....

The poor old guy is on the outskirts of town and clearly isn't the alpha male he used to be. The few times we've seen him I've wanted to grab him a neck brace and see if I could take off some of that pressure in his back. I also feel bad thinking about his wee little feet trying to carry around that massive body, but perhaps he just scoots around on his bum because that right leg of his looks a bit longer then the left one.  It's best he just wait it out and rest at ease on that ol' stump.  

We certainly could not be fonder of our new home and all our new bear friends. We find a new bear everyday, I wish I could capture them in a more photogenic setting, but mostly I'm just pointing and shooting as I drive by hoping to catch them in their natural habitat.  Uncle Vern's collection is pretty unique. The bear necessities of life definitely come to you in vernal, they come to you!

Vernal Gems

    Every now and then life provides us with impromptu twinkles of glee, a glimpse of amusement to lighten the day, a rare stir of disbelief that requires a quick pinch to make sure what we are actually seeing at that sudden instant is real life. Most of these spontaneous pleasures usually occur when one is at Walmart, - yes, you really did just see a man walking around in pink bunny slippers or when visiting Arches National Park and see German men wearing short, short shorts! or, a personal favorite, when your no skills soccer playing 4 year old actually scores a goal for their team, instead of the opposing side! These brief serendipitous moments have been helping us get to know our new town. Uncle Vern is full of surprises, and I call these highly entertaining, all be it, somewhat bewildering moments Vernal Gems.

    We found our first little Vernal Gem tonight while at the park.  It was a pretty nice evening and the park was a happening place.  While chasing the kids around I looked up and found a man walking along the sidewalk around the park, he had a cane with him but wasn't using it to help him walk, and he was talking to himself, or so I thought. You know that feeling when you just think something about what your seeing is just a bit different? I had it about this guy.  I kept watching him and as he got closer I saw what a treasure he was.  This guy was out enjoying an evening at the park with his pets, a cockatoo and a parrot! a true pirate was in our midst. Ok, probably not a pirate but an oddity none the less.  I hurried and whipped out my phone to snap a picture, I wanted someone else to see this with me and validate my confused amusement.

    

       I still am wondering if this is a normal Vernal occurrence, but at this young stage in our relationship with Uncle Vern, it was an unusual one for me. Even if they are regular parts of our new town I hope I never let these limited curious moments pass by me, cause really, not everyone gets to say they met a pirate on a friday night at the park.  

    I'm glad I got a picture so people wouldn't think I was turning into crazed small town bumpkin, Good thing Walter was by my side, but the magic of the moment was a bit lost on him. 

  

home sweet vernal home

A historic definition of Vernal by utah pioneers, "the area was good for nothing but nomad purposes, hunting grounds for Indians and "to hold the world together." And with that bit of information we still decided to pack up and move out to see if we could make something out of nothing.....

We have a arrived, yee-ha!! we should have bought some cowboy hats before we got here so we could have thrown them up in the air and slapped them on our knee when we rolled into town, but sadly I wasn’t thinking that far ahead. The three hour ride was still long as can be, even when you are the driver. man, I really hate the car. the boys did good though, they just kept a look out for wildlife, Walter saw a tiger and a giraffe. he has a good hunter’s eye. George and I tried to see them too, but the those sneaky exotic animals must have darted when they heard Walter mention them, or morphed back into cows and horses..... 

Our new house is doing it's best to make us feel at home, we are enjoying its ability to share natural light and the large kitchen that gives us extra space we never knew existed when trying to meal prep (hahah, like we cook) or practice our airplane formations.

   But, sadly all take offs and landings have been furloughed since our spacious countertops have yet to see the light of day once the moving truck was emptied. One day it will be a proper functioning kitchen once more.

     Thankfully Little Caesars is a good friend of Uncle Vern's and we filled our bellies with some familiar grub, brought to us so sweetly by the one and only Watkins family. It's nice we aren't moving to the middle of nowhere without knowing a few friendly faces.  

They assured us Uncle Vern may be rough around the edges, but we'll soon feel right at home, clearly George and Walter wasted no time putting truth to their words. 

 


Thanks to our fine moving crew, I wish we could have gotten a snap shot of everyone who helped! But they were all ready to hit the road again. Uncle Vern informed us that we'll get used to short quick visits from relatives....

 So this is our small piece of land for the next ???? years. Either we'll wear out our welcome with Uncle Vern or morph into his slow pace of life. There are a lot of swinging votes that will take years for us to settle debate. We've been here 11 days, which isn't long enough to determine much of anything, not even a paint color, but we're doing our best, for now we are just enjoying the change of pace and scenery (and try not to shed to many tears over missing the city) There is a lot of extra space for visitors! We would love to have everyone meet our crazy uncle Vern! drop on by any time!!!