The power’s out right now here, and the kids keep asking me what they can do with no power. I’m just telling them to do the Little House on the Prairie thing.
My oldest boy, Garrett, is in Oklahoma on an LDS mission, and he’s doing well. Mallory is in Washington playing volleyball on a scholarship at a little community college. Then I’ve got a sophomore and seventh-grader still at home.
How are you keeping yourself busy in the wintertime, between harvest and planting?
We just built a brand new shop last year. It’s kind of the first insulated building we’ve had that I could get equipment in, so I’ve spent some time in there getting all our equipment back in good shape.
I help coach the high school girls’ basketball team, so that keeps me pretty busy in the wintertime.
You used to help coach the boys’ teams; is it different coaching the girls?
Oh, yeah. There’s more teaching the fundamentals, because the girls seem to rely on fundamentals a lot more than the boys.
Who are your teams?
Mostly BYU, where I went to school. I don’t like pro sports as much, but I do follow my Cougs. But am I a huge fanatic about it? Would I ever have a fantasy team? No.
What are you listening to in your pickup?
I really don’t spend a whole lot of time on the radio. If I do, it’s not like super hard rock music—more just contemporary stuff. I just don’t spend time in the pickup. It’s basically just to get me from here to there on the farm and I don’t even think to turn on the radio. If I’m in the tractor, it’s a little bit of everything, but more of the oldies.
Tell us a little about your outfit.
We run just a little over 1,000 acres irrigated. A lot of our acres are consumed in hard red winter wheat, some barley, just a little bit of hay, and usually around 260 acres of potatoes. We have rented out some ground for sugarbeets. And this last year I got a little bit into the bean market.
I just try to be a responsible steward of the land and try to leave it better at the end of every year than it was at the beginning.
You grew up in Oakley. Did you always know you were going to come back to the farm?
Probably, yes, that was my intention. I went to BYU and got a degree in business management finance. I was going to get a master’s in accounting but didn’t get accepted that first year. That was the original plan, but not getting in right away meant taking an extra year. I decided I was ready to go to work so I came home to the farm.
Any hobbies?
I do the basketball thing, like I said, in the offseason. I usually try to go into the fabricating shop at Southern Field Welding and try to learn a little more about welding. I’m good friends with the owner, Neil Justesen. Last year, I went into their CAD [computer-aided design] program to learn how to run their water jet. This year I’m going to try to get in the machine shop and learn how to machine a little more.
And I am a Zumba king, man, but I’m coming off an ACL injury, so that’s kind of slowed me down.