The Ranch

The Ranch House

I married into an amazing tradition. The summer Derik and I met and dated was my first introduction to "The Ranch". Each family member referred to this 100 plus acre valley as only "The Ranch", it's always been called The Ranch. The interesting thing is it's not exactly a ranch....no cattle, ranch hands etc., but it is a little slice of heaven....each direction you look has its own breathtaking view. I find myself staring off a lot trying to take some of it in, which is really impossible for me to do.

View from the front porch towards the alfalfa field.

These are Derik's foot prints on the back patio from 1975 (age 9)

My father in law, Pat grew up in Wayne county, in the town of Loa, thirty minutes from The Ranch, which is in Grover, Utah. It is in National Park country, right next to Capital Reef National Park and Boulder Mountain. When his in laws wanted to buy a family vacation spread, he led them to Grover.

Grace standing on the bridge over the stream that leads to the cotton woods behind the house.

The kids spend a lot of time jumping and doing tricks. They even sleep on "the tramp" some nights (a tradition that has been around from the early days of The Ranch).

Every summer The Hale sisters (my mother in law and her sisters) would bring their kids for a month or more and the men would come for the weekends or stay for a week here and there. Grandpa and Grandma Hale were there the whole summer. Derik's summer memories are of motor cycle riding, going to Capital Reef waterfall, Lake Powell trips, exploring the park's sites, and having free reign wandering the property, and actors hanging out and performing at the summer show.

Uncle Alan and Aunt Sandy have a ranch house of their own (the rest of the family shares the other house). It's always interesting to see what new things they've done to their home and barn.






Uncle Kurt's production company owns a 13 passenger van that they have advertised their movies on the side. The kids peeled all of the decals from "Church Ball" off for the drive down to The Ranch from Orem. There was no air conditioning and the driver's window wouldn't roll up, but they didn't care. As long as the cousins could be together.




Madeline and Grace on the back deck over looking the cottonwoods. The kids spend hours building huts wading in the stream and playing out there.

Grandpa and Grandma Hale along with their daughter Sandy and son in law Alan owned a theater in Glendale, CA... The Glendale Centre Theatre (now owned and operated by Derik's cousin Tim). All the years the family summered at The Ranch, Grandpa and Grandma would put on a show at an old school house in Grover. Sometimes the cast would be from Glendale, sometimes the family would be the cast (most of which are experienced actors). After Grandpa and Grandma retired they decided to build an actual theater on the property of The Ranch. (This story is well told by Derik's cousin Jon in his essay that got him into USC film school and has an "if you build it they will come" theme).



The Hale Center Theater, Grover, AKA: The Hale Summer Playhouse. People drive from a one and a half hour radius to see a show at the playhouse.




This theater was fully built and functioning by the time I joined the family in 1990. By this time my mother in law was in charge of the cast (organizing, feeding etc.) and the theater in general. About four years ago it became too difficult to keep running, not to mention the family didn't get much time to use The Ranch, because the cast basically took over the house. These days, someone might put on a show during the summer, but not always. This summer Uncle Al brought the show "The man with the pointed shoes" from his son Dave's theater in Arizona. This is always a fun part of a vacation at The Ranch, having a show to see, but my kid's and their cousins were a little bit disappointed this year, because for the last couple of years they have gone to the theater everyday, cleaned it, rehearsed, and put on a show for whomever is at The Ranch. Last year they performed "Little Women" which included songs from all different shows (including Wicked). This year they were planning on "Cinderella", but had a surprise when Uncle Al had the theater all ready for his show.



The waterfall is always a surprise. You never know what it's going to be doing. Some years there is little water some too much. The water is usually a lot clearer, but due to a summer storm the water is Willy Wonka's Chocolate River, which is cool, but a little creepy too.
The kids like to jump the cliffs. I would like to do it too, but it's not really legal and I am such a rule follower I can't feel good about it. In fact I kind of feel like a horrible parent letting my kids do it. Do they think they can pick and choose which rules to follow? Bad mommy!




This year Derik was able to join us as well as some of my other brothers in law. In years past it has been just us moms and kids. We had all the sisters in law this year, which is a first for the summer. We missed mom and dad Brian, though. Dad Brian was still recovering from his surgery on his pancreas and some unfortunate post surgery complications.




I am so happy to have this tradition for my own children, to make childhood memories that are pure magic.
Check out the slide show of the entire Ranch trip.