Whittle the Wood Carving Competition

June 12-15, 2013

Day 1

Our first day was a blast! The Parks and Rec people take such good care of us! We are fed very good food, put up in great motels, and always hydrated! The park employees are just so cheerful and happy. Big thanks to Dave, Penny and Mike!!!

Bob got right after his log. Peace Loving Hippie will be out of there in just a few days!

Day 2

Our second day, I mostly stayed in to organize the RV. It is a mess. We ended up throwing the last of our stuff in every nook and cranny. What a disaster! 

The trailer is just too small for all of our inventory, so we ended up with most of it on our couches. 

We knew it would be a learning experience! And it is proving to be just that! Bob worked his behind off. He is really going fast!

My baby girl came down to help! Woo Hoo! She showed up looking so pretty. She has been sick, so I was so glad to see her smiling! 

Day 3

We found some art supplies for Kyra so she could work her magic with pastels. She is truly unbelievable!

Bob finished the Hippie! He turned out fantastic! No paint on this one.

This is our set up day. We get to take the tables, chairs, gazebo and all the small inventory over to our space and start selling. $$$

Day 4

We showed up at the park and our gazebo had been destroyed by the wind. We also lost two clay sculptures. That is so sad.  

The good news is that Bob had an extra gazebo! Yay for shade!!!

The 1 hour quick carve was at 1pm. Bob finished his 10 minutes early. 

Some of these other carvers are AMAZING!

Ron Eye-1st Place

Artist Choice and Peoples Choice

Bongo Love-2nd Place

Faye Braaten-3rd Place

Steve-Burned Cowboy

Evan-Fantastic!

Thomas Earing-Kyra loves this one! Of course!

Jon Parker-This was the cutest!

Nick-Neat combination!

And last, but definitely not least!

Chad Stratton-My second favorite (you know, after the Hippie). So fantastic, so detailed!

Bob didn't win this one with his wonderful Hippie, but we had a fantastic time! 

HERE WE GO!!!

It is 3:37 pm, on June 11, 2013.

 We are just leaving lander. The wind is blowing like crazy, of course.

We ate our last food in Lander at Tony's Pizza.

If you have never been there, you should go. Their pastas are fantastic. 

We are running on 8 hours sleep in the last 48 hours. Cleaning out the house was unbelievably hard. Not just physically but emotionally too.

Leaving behind our home of 22 years. This was the house we raised all three of our children in. So much love, joy, tears, sadness and happiness. 

It is bittersweet, but we r off on our new adventure!!!

Finally got the video from Fox News in Utah. We actually got it at the end of December, so the delay in getting it online is my fault. We have had a rocky start to this year so my online time has suffered. But anyway here it is. I love this. Bob is such a ham. :) This video is from November 2012.

Please let us know what you think in the comment box below. Thanks!

Got our Etsy Store up and running. Check it out! We have a little of everything in there. RCWaitsArt.etsy.com

First Big Job in the RV

Day One

Bob got a BIG carving Job in Utah. A family there had some trees blow over last year, and want them carved into some of Bob's bears. These are not just ordinary trees, they were planted by World War 1 veterans, and are very dear to the family. 

We decided to take the RV.

 Not only was it going to be cheaper than a hotel, but what an adventure to be had. 

Bob doing his "RV-the movie" reference. Hehe!

We left on Halloween and stopped for the night in Evanston, WY. The full moon was beautiful. We boondocked the first night in a Walmart parking lot. It was fun, but the semis were so noisy all night.

Day Two

Our second day was only one more hour on the road and we saw this incredible landmark, "The Devil's Slide". It was pretty neat.

When we finally got to our destination, we pulled in to see where Bob would be carving on the fallen trees. Holy cow they are big ones! And they were in a huge jumble. He had to cut his way in.

Bob decided to carve the first bench out of this really big log in front.

 As we discovered after we walked back into the RV, the ground was covered with "goat heads", also known as "puncture weeds". These things embedded themselves into the soles of our shoes, our carpet, our feet, our fingers....... Nasty little things!

By the time he was done carving, bob had one side of the big bench almost done.

Bob found a wonderful little RV park-Century RV Park. Just three miles down the road from where he is carving. Our first time hooking it all up went good. We had hot water, drinking water, electricity and the internet. Boy, did I miss the internet the last two days!

On to day three!

Day Three

Not many pictures today. I had a terrible toothache that turned into a migraine and didn't do much. I was so very happy to have the RV to rest in. What an amazing thing! Bob got the other half of the bench done. Both sides are incredible carvings. It's the biggest piece for this order.

On to day four!

Day Four

 To wake up to this view is absolutely wonderful. So colorful and pretty. Is this really November?? Three nights and we have used no heat in the RV.

It is so peaceful and nice here. Everyone is so friendly.

Amber from Fox News spent a good part of the day filming and interviewing Bob. Of course he was his goofy self. He He Anyway I can't wait to see her segment. It might be online soon on their website Fox13Now  out of Salt Lake City.

Bob has used four huge pieces so far. This is what is left of the really big log from day two. A small log and.... 

some small scraps.

He made some very fluffy bears. So far- a four bear bench is done and the three bear bench is so close. Only two more big bears and a trunk to go.

When the day is all done and he can barely lift his tools to put them away he still has one choir, the ............. AIR SHOWER!!! I love the hair!

This is a very necessary thing. That way I do not have to clean up tons of sawdust.

 Also, tomorrow at 2 am, daylight saving time ends. Remember to "Fall Back". That means at 2 am, it is really 1 am. Oh, for those of you in Arizona, please ignore the last three sentences. :)

Love to All!!!

On to day five......

Day Five

Day five was a good day. Bob finished the second half of the second bear bench, two baby bears, absolutely adorable. Two benches down, two big bears and a trunk left.

Next he got busy on the first large bear, a snowboarding bear. This one had to be fitted to a large snowboard, and since the log was pretty big he made the bear a little bigger than a regular large bear. It fit very nicely.

Only one bear left, a large sign bear. He got it mostly done, but the sun went down before he could finish, so we stayed an extra day. I was definitely not complaining. 

Besides, I got to go to CHILI'S!!!

MMMMM!

Also just a quick note about these trees. I was very drawn to them. They are so pretty and so old. One of the owners of this beautiful orchard told me they are Apricot trees and they are 65 years old. I just thought the pictures were worth sharing.

  Absolutely gorgeous!

On to day 6....the extra day. :)

Day Six

Woo Hoo! Our extra day! I miss my kids at home and my chihuahuas, but this is fun. The RV has been wonderful and the carvings are going great. This morning Bob finished the last of the big bears, a sign bear. What an incredible bunch of wonderful artwork  All done in four and a half days. WOW!

All that is left is a trunk made from these trees and Bob is bringing it home with him. He will get it carved in the shop. So here are all of the finished carvings.

And this is what it looks like after you invite The Bear Guy to your property for a few days.

Also,  if you ever wondered if angels exist on earth, well the answer is yes. We met an entire family of them. The family that invited us down here to carve on their treasured trees, has been so kind to us. What sweet and wonderful people. We will never forget this incredible journey to Utah. Thank you so much Heidi and your wonderful family!

Home!

When we got home we were greeted by the most amazing sunset. What a wonderful welcome back!

Oh, also, Joe kept our dogs alive and made sure our house was still standing! A big huge thank you to him. Our trip would not have been possible with out his help! Love you Joe!

Practice Run

We took a small practice run in the RV to Rawlins. We got to see Kyra for just a few minutes over lunch and gave her our two babies. Wonderful to see Kyra, but sad to see the babies go. 

The RV did good. We were a little scared about how low the mileage was, but it ran like a charm.

Top of Beaver Rim in Wyoming.

Our First Tiny Trip

Our first trip was just a small one. We took the RV and our dogs up to Sinks Canyon. The canyon is such a beautiful place anytime of the year.