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.

Garden of the Gods

The Garden of the Gods has been on my "wanna see list" since we moved to Colorado.  As we were driving home from the cattle drive this year Quinn started fussing and needed to be fed right when we drove by the sign for the Garden of the Gods exit.  Perfect!  It was beautiful at sunset!

Definitely worth the stop...and definitely the most picturesque place I have ever nursed a baby!

Mutton Bustin'...our family tradition

Tonight the boys were fearless mutton busters at the Greeley Stampede!  They have been talking about this upcoming event for the last few weeks.  Caden was so excited that he was finally old enough to join Ethan.  Last night I read that the ages were 4-7, as soon as I said that Caden started sobbing and ran downstairs.  We may have forgotten what year he was born when we went ahead and signed the waiver anyway.

So last night before bed we decided to train our little 3 and 5 year old busters!  Since Ethan had participated last year we knew that the sheep have to turn right away to get out of the chute, so last night Clark practiced some turns with the boys.  We may not have any sheep to practice with, but we have a Daddy!

When we got there both boys were really excited running around and checking everything out, and then the cowboys started moving the fiesty, jumping, running sheep towards the chutes.  I saw 4 blue eyes start getting bigger and bigger!  There wasn't quite as much noise after that.  They were a little nervous.

Clark went to help them suit up in their helmets and vests.  Caden had such a big frown on his face I thought for sure he had decided to back out.  Clark later informed me he was just mad he couldn't go first.

If you can look behind Miss Rodeo Colorado's Lady in Waiting you will see some pretty brave blue eyes looking out of that helmet!

Ethan was up first and he did awesome, scoring 80 points!!!


Then it was Caden's turn, our little 3 year old that we snuck in, he surprised us all scoring 82 points---taking 3rd place in the whole darn competition!!!






When the boys came back to me Caden was grinning from ear to ear begging to do it again.  Ethan on the other hand was pouting and trying not to cry.  When Ethan heard Caden's score he knew 82 was bigger than 80 and was ticked his brother beat him.  We were surprised to discover Ethan does have a competitive bone in his body---at least when it comes to a little brother.

Everyone say "holy sheep!"  And yes I am wearing cowboy boots with my lacy skirt.  Yee-haw!

Quinn loved his first rodeo!

Ethan felt better about the world when he won this blue ribbon.  He picked the winning pig at the pig races and was so proud!

Clark was able to get free tickets to tonight's rodeo through his work, as we were walking back to the car tonight we realized how much tonight was an exact repeat of last year when we attended the Stampede.  We've already got plans to bust those mutton again next year.  I guess mutton bustin' is just one of our annual family traditions now!  So much fun!