Where Were We?

I might finish catching you up by next Spring at this rate. I do want to get caught up though!
Did I tell you that Monica the Magnificent came to visit on Labor Day weekend for a whole week??? Well, she did! I was in friendship/girly-girl heaven with her here. It was great!

Labor Day Weekend ended with Monica the Magnificent and I taking a dip in the hot tub to enjoy a relaxing evening. The Prairie Daddy came out to join us. He mentioned that plans suddenly came up for him to go over to Dad's ranch and help get the cows and calves pushed back up on the mountain. And they were short of help. And that he had to leave our ranch at 4:45 in the morning. And the next thing we knew we were all scurrying around like crazy people trying to get ready for the next day.

Why were we all scurrying around? Because it so happened that The Prairie Daddy took us up on our offer to help and now we were in "get ready for a big adventure tomorrow" mode. It was 8pm when I called a friend to come stay the night so that The Prairie Kid actually had supervision when he woke up the next day and Mom, Dad and Auntie Monica were gone. So, we made lunches, breakfasts, gathered up hoards of clothes, coats, boots, etc. and went to bed to get up at 4am and head out by 4:45. Thank God for coffee!

We got saddled up and headed out with The Cowboys and proceeded to right hard for hours. It is 9 miles to get the cows where we want them...and it isn't an easy 9 miles. It is through timber, downed timber (thanks to our lovely Forest Service's lack of healthy forest management...yes, I am on my soap box), sharp turns up mountain slopes, and up, up, up. I warned my dear friend that this would be the chance of a lifetime that also came with severe consequences...and we both paid for that hard ride for days to come. I seriously was in better condition after bearing The Prairie Kid then after getting out of my saddle that day. But it was worth it!

This ride is one that I hadn't done since I was first married. And although the hardest that we do around here (in my opinion) it is also a beautiful one.

When we made it to the upper barn we got our horses assigned to us and all ready to go. Here is The Prairie Daddy helping get Monica the Magnificent all set. She was on Smokey.

And I rode Tonto.
We gave our cows and horses a little break after awhile

This is looking back at where we'd ridden...and a view of Rattlesnake Canyon with Buffalo Bill Reservoir in the background.

My dear father-in-law. 70 years old and still tough as nails.

Another terrible view...

Snuggling with my Honey Bunny at lunch (he looks like a Honey Bunny, doesn't he? : ) )

My kindred spirit...Monica The Magnificent

Shabby view, eh?

The top of Heart Mountain in the background. The cows were left on the top of Rattlesnake Mountain until we bring them home next month.

Hanging out to make sure the cows are pairing up with their calves

All done pushing the cows and heading home

The terrain on the way off the mountain (because we take a shortcut) is so steep that it's best to walk your horse down. There were times that I thought my jello-like legs were going to buckle underneath my body! But like I said, its all worth it! (Although I am in pursuit of my own saddle...and one that fits me! I have been riding in saddles that are too big for me and it feels like my hips are going to dislocate. I think I'd like to keep them in their sockets and get a saddle that suited for me!)

We Even Offer A Drive Thru Service

In our local town Labor Day weekend is BIG. This is when the town has it's annual "shin-dig" of parade, BBQ, dance, picnics, rodeo, ropings, fun, festivities, races, etc. It was a perfect opportunity to get the word out about our Moms Together program and make some money! We had a great collection of baked goods brought in by lots of awesome moms and made a nice chunk of dough (hee, hee, nice play on words, eh?) to start off our year.


Somewhere in the craziness of getting things set up I lost complete track of my son. This wasn't too worrisome for me because #1- he isn't a wanderer, #2- I'd last seen him was with our pastor friend. However, after realizing it had been like 15 minutes since I'd seen The Prairie Kid I thought it would be a good idea for me to actually be a Moms Together mom and locate my child. Sure enough he was soon located...

...in the parade! And that Fabulous Float Waver on the left is our pastor friend with his oldest son in the cowboy hat.

I feel so stinkin' blessed to be on the Moms Together leadership team with 3 amazing women. Love you gals!

We got creative on our marketing scheme and recruited the kids to walk around with baskets and sell stuff...we also had samples and they REALLY helped...
And toward the end The Dads took it upon themselves to stop traffic headed to the rodeo and make the people buy stuff before they'd let them go by!!!

Way to go guys! Who knew cowboys were so good at selling Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting!

And off we were to the rodeo...in which there are no pictures.

The Best Anniversary Present

The Prairie Daddy swept me off my feet for our anniversary this year. He planned a really, really special adventure. He took me on a flight over our ranches and the local area. What a treat! A wonderful man from church worked with The Prairie Daddy to take us out on our adventure in his plane.

The Men had to chat about The Plane before we headed out

Cheese!

Come on, pull that plane outta the hanger!

All set in the back seat

After taking off we headed to Carter Mountain to fly over Foster Reservoir where we can store water on the mountain

And we headed to our ranch...this picture shows the creek bottom and you can barely make out where the shop, barn, etc. is...

See our house?

A picture of much of our ranch...see our house this time?

Flying over the Absaroka Mountains toward the end of the South Fork

The Buffalo Bill Reservoir coming down the South Fork of the Shoshone River

This is flying over the ranch The Prairie Daddy grew up on and where we got married

And a field being burned

Landing

We have a lot of video that I may actually get around to looking at sometime in my 80's so if I am still blogging at that point I might post some of it for you. There were lots more pictures but this is what I will leave you with for this post!

Who Am I And What Have I Been Doing?

It's been so long since I've had a "normal" post that I have to view my own blog to see where I left off!
I had super plans of great detail and fun explanation as I traveled through that past couple of weeks but honestly we'll just take the short and simple route at this point. I will probably end up with a bunch of short and sweet posts catching us up quickly. So, here we go...

We've been calving! We started in the beginning of August and will finish up any time now. Here is The Prairie Kid out helping "check" calves one evening...

Like Father, Like Son

Seriously

I am really not trying to avoid my blog. Seriously! I am longing for a time when I have the time! Life is still a whirlwind of crazy. Will I ever be able to catch you up? Hopefully, but not yet! Stay tuned...maybe Tuesday!

Just A Little Longer

I really, really want to sit here and blog, blog, blog. I have so many stories and pictures to share! But I am still too busy creating new stories and pictures to have the time to blog yet! So, you'll just have to wait. (Sigh.)

Ochos Años

Eight years ago today The Prairie Daddy and I made a covenant relationship with each other in the presence of our friends and family and the Lord. Under an amazing blue sky and the backdrop of beautiful palisades in the Rattlesnake Creek canyon on the ranch The Prairie Daddy grew up on we said our vows.

I am blessed with an incredible husband. The road isn't always easy and there were tough climbs to accomplish (and there will be more) but it keeps getting better. Prairie Daddy, I love you. You are an awesome man, a wonderful husband, a superb daddy. I am proud to call you my best friend. You make me laugh. You challenge me to be better. You are gracious. You are loyal and committed. You are willing. You are humble. You are generous. I am so glad I married you and I look forward to the many more years that we'll get to share.

And Lord, thank You. Thank You for knowing exactly what kind of a husband I needed. Thank You for guiding and growing us. Thank You for the man that you blessed me with. Thank You for being involved in our marriage and teaching us about covenant relationships. Thank You for the covenant relationship You've offered us so that we can have victory in the one we committed to together.