Cowboy Take Me Away

While we were on the cattle drive and camp out this year I had this Dixie Chick's song in my head.  As I went through our pictures I realized a lot of them fit this song, so here is my rendition of

Cowboy Take Me Away 

Cattle Drive 2013

This year we loaded up the little cowboys late Friday night to head to the cattle drive.

We made it half-way and stayed in a hotel, then drove the rest of the way Saturday.  By the time we got there the next afternoon, the little cowboys were plump tuckered out.

But they bounced back pretty quick when their cousins showed up!

The long awaited reunion with Henry!

The first part of the cattle drive consists of the cows being unloaded off of the semis.  They are held in a little open field on the side of the highway while the baby calves pair up with their moms.

At this point all of the cowboys in attendance, including moms and babies made a human fence of sorts to hold the cows in until we are ready to roll.  My boys were into it this year, they took their job of holding the cows in quite seriously.  I couldn't get over their cuteness.

At one point one of the bulls started coming towards Caden, I wasn't right by him at that moment so I hustled over and found him waving his little orange hat at that bull saying, "shew bull, shew..." totally unfazed.  Let's just say he's quite a bit braver than I was on my first cattle drive.

With Ethan we had to rope him in a little so his aggressive cow holding dance moves wouldn't start a stampede.

Many people stopped and took pictures of all of us "real cowboys."  One lady stayed for quite awhile taking several pictures of Clark on his horse.  She said to him, "so people really still do this? wow, what an interesting job."  He informed her he wasn't an employee and that this was a family affair and she was even more amazed.

Then the cattle drive began!  Clark was leading the parade this year.

At this point the real cowboys start working, and the moms and kids just try to stay out of the way and drive the cars in.

Ethan joined several cousins to ride on the cow chute behind the 4 wheeler with Delanie.

Once we got to the property we had a picnic, horse rides, 4 wheeler rides, and lots of fun!

Cute little Abby was loving the horse.

Abby and Quinn on their first cattle drive!

Quinn's first horse ride!

I love that we get to participate in this fun tradition!

Family of 5 Camps Out

Clark was really excited for us to camp at the cow camp after the cattle drive this year.  He has many fond childhood memories up there and wanted to share it with the boys.  I will admit I wasn't thrilled with the idea.  As my mom put it, "I raised a bunch of wimps."  Yes, I am a girl that loves indoor plumbing, heating, A/C, no bugs nipping at my nose...and everything just seems a little harder with a baby.  But it ended up being a great adventure.
After everyone else left for home we did a little off roading in the Jeep to find the perfect spot, and somehow Quinn fell asleep on Clark while we bounced along.

Now that's a real man that can drive us through the mountains all while holding a sleeping baby.

When we got there we all started running and racing through the open meadow.  The sun was just starting to set and it really was quite pretty.

The boys found sticks,

and picked me some flowers.

Clark had a little too much help setting up our tent.

That night we were treated to a gorgeous full moon.  It was the night before the super moon, it was so bright we could see without flashlights.  After getting some dinner we tucked our exhausted cowboys in bed and all hunkered down to enjoy a nice warm 40 degree summer night.

I wish I could say it was a refreshing, wonderful night's sleep, but we have 3 boys...and a herd of elk ran past our tent at about midnight.  SCARED me to death!  After that I was too preoccupied planning an escape route for us to sleep.

This is how I felt in the morning:

Did this picture scare you?

The next day we hiked around and the boys played in the creek and mud.

We really did have a fun time in a beautiful place.  It was great to spend time together with no distractions.