SPRING BREAK

We went to Scottsdale for spring break. It was so nice to get out of the wind for a week. We had a few rainy days but we had a blast swimming and relaxing. Thank you grandma and papa. We also went to the wildlife park zoo and aquarium. It was really cool. In the zoo the animals where all really active and really close. You could almost touch them. They also had a really neat aquarium with a all white alligator, penguins, eels, stingrays ( which the kids could touch) tons of cool stuff. It also had a really cool petting zoo with baby deer, llamas, giant tortoise's. The kids LOVED it! It was a great break and fun week!

Harvey and his cousin Jordan

touching the sting rays

white alligator

Harvey's Science Project

track after it came out of the ground

the form around the Javalina track

stirring the plaster

pouring plaster of Paris into the track

Harvey was in a science fair at his school. He did his project on animal tracks. He had to find the animal tracks and make casts out of them, then explain how he was able to get them and research which animal they belonged to. He found a wild turkey, elk, javalina and cow tracks. It was a lot of fun. He had to make a presentation on a board and also do a oral presentation in front of the judges. He did really well.

Feels Like Spring

Colten with his roping bag ready to roll

What a face, coolade mustach and all.

Jay riding with his messed up arm

The weather this week has been so nice. It feels like spring but I know I can't get my hopes up to much yet. Colten and I enjoyed a day out with Jay to move some cows. It was just nice to be out and enjoy the weather. I had to snap a few photo's. Colten told us " now that was sure a fun day wasn't it dad and my favorite part was getting that cow in the shoot and doctoring her she was pretty mad wasn't she dad. Mom you better be careful cause when you go out those cows run over you." That kid lives for days when he gets to mess with cows and ride.

Happy Birthday Colten

Bruce and Colten shared a cake for their birthdays

Colten loved his new bull and calves.
Thank you Grandma and Papa!

His own rope that came with a bag

and his own roping glove

Where did 3 years go? We had a great day celebrating Colten's birthday. We had Bruce and Helga and Grammie and oompa over for pizza and cake. It was also Bruces B-Day so Colten was excited to share his cake. It was a great evening.

FRIGID

feeding the cows

Sunshine roughing the cold

Horse Peak

Colten's new spurs

We had a frigid week last week. It was so cold we could hardly bare stepping foot out of the house. For 2 days the temp. never got over 2 degrees and got as low as neg 37. They cancelled Harvey's school for two days because the buses would not run from the cold. One morning school was delayed a few hours so when I went to start up the truck at 9:00 AM it would barely start and the temp read neg 27. I think that day at noon it was still neg 9. That kind of cold is just not right! Luckily it has finally warmed up a little bit.

We had a great year this year with our outfitting business. Jay works very hard all year on the ranch and guiding and hunting everyone else so this year he was able to hunt a little bit for himself. He was able to get a big tom, bull and a buck. Not bat for only being able to hunt a few days.

White Sands National Park

Jay and my dad trying to spot an oryx

White Sands

A few weekends ago we went down to Alamagordo to spend the weekend. I had an oryx hunt down on one of the missile ranges so we took the kids and my mom and dad. Mom took the kids around the sites in Alamagordo while Jay and I and my dad went hunting we had an awesome time! We all went to the White Sands Park and it was amazing. It looks just like a sea of snow as you can see in the pic but it is pure white sand and it feels so cool. The kids got some sleds and we went sledding down a few hills. We had a great weekend.

I have been thinking a lot lately how great it is to be experiencing the life we live every day here at the ranch. To be able to work together and include our kids in the work and in the fun stuff of the ranch. No better place to raise a family. My kids love this life to be able to run free and do the things they love to do. The western, ranch life style is a great one in my mind. It brings a lot of memories to my mind of being raised in a similar setting. Jay and I always say what a great experience our children are having and we will always treasure the memories we have made here on the ranch.