Our Memories with "Bob"...

My friend Bob... We had lots of memories with him. Good bad and ugly... Bob could make me laugh one minute, cry the next because (he was very sentimental and talked about deep stuff like us girls like to do), and want to sock him between the eyes the very next min. in frustration. But I wouldn't give up not one single memory now for anything.

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I have known Bob since 2004. I met him through a mutual friend of ours whom we both love dearly. So we got to talk about her behind her back allot... he he he.

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I worked for him and became very good friends, a counselor to him through his ups and downs (and divorces... plural, uggg!), he became good friends with my family. He helped coach "the teenager", and many many other boys during his life, through earning his Eagle Scout.

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He was 55 years young (but even much younger at heart), a hunter, a father of 4 children who are grown and have 8 of his grandchildren. He loved kids, and he loved the outdoors.

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He was always looking for ways to make us laugh! Always!!

Bob was kind and always willing to help out, he was a hard worker and one of the most resourceful people I have ever met.

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My husband found himself planning a scout camp out with more kids joining in and more leaders dropping out as it came closer. The night before the camp, he realized he had to find more help and had exhausted all of our resources in our Ward. So he called Bob and he dropped everything with short notice and came running with gear and supplies to help make the trip easier.

He was a box of entertainment, and you never knew what you would get when you opened it up.

This picture of him holding the fish on the bank... the boys tell me he was slapping the fish on the face back and forth teasing saying "tell us where the rest of them are, we know you know; we won't stop the torture until you tell us where to find the rest of your buddies out there"... the scouts loved him and laughed at him the entire weekend!

Bob had been wanting another dog, when our neighbor had boxer puppies... and he got this little girl sight unseen. He named her Ali (as in the boxer Mohamed Ali).
She stayed at our house for a couple of days until Bob could come pick her up.
She became his traveling mate and went every where with him in his truck.

He loved animals.. he had mules and horses and more dogs. Including a big ol' white fuzzy Great Pyrenees name Durfee who I fell in love with everytime I saw him. And begged Bob to let me take him home with me. I hear the dogs were all by his side when they found him walking them along the ditch bank near his country home. That was heart warming... I know Durf would have never left him alone.
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We went and stayed with Bob one time at his house after attending another company Christmas party held in his town. He let us bring our dogs, and the kid, and made us feel right at home. The next day we got up and went horse back riding along the canyon. It was beautiful.
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Running an outfitting business for years; he was amazing to watch with those big animals. He knew how to get them all geared up and had a special way to tie, cinch, and saddled. Jim would try and step in and help, but Bob had his own special way he wanted it done, and did it all himself. And he knew just how to handle us amatures around horses too, he was a good teacher. He didn't get rattled and was very patient with all our ignorance and fear around them... well mine at least.

This past spring we were together with him and he couldn't believe how big the teenager had gotten, so he was being really funny and joking about what a giant he was becoming... so every single picture I took of him, he is bending his knees. The funny thing about it now, is the kid probably is this much taller than him.

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One time we left the teenager with him while we went to take care of some business in town, and they were going to dinner and the movies... we didn't think he could be a very bad influence during that short of time. But when we got home, they were laughing and joking for hours that night about walking through the parking lot and running into side mirrors on cars making them all turn flipped in as they went by; and about Bob reaching over and eating popcorn out of the guys bucket next to them and asking him if the soda was diet or regular. He was just a hoot!

But I could have killed him, it took me weeks to re-train some of the not so appropriate funny things he taught the teenager in just a few short hours. Like dumping the plastic trays in the garbage when you eat at fast food joints.

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Bob you made me laugh, you made me crazy. Above all of that you knew the gospel and tried to live the principles it teaches, and had a testimony of the Atonement and how works in our lives.

I will miss you dear friend.