Flying by the Seat of Our Pants

   I was born a planner and an organizer. I plan everything out and make lists. I like things to be a certain way. I used to get so upset if someone ruined my plans...but I married a cowboy! Sometimes, being married to a cowboy means your plans don't work out or they change last minute. Sometimes it means running back and forth between where we live and where we're from...three hours away. Last minute trips home aren't easy with a four month old baby, but we make it work. Sometimes last minute trips home mean having to borrow my mom's clothes, but that's okay! I've really had to learn to fly by the seat of my pants, and I think I've gotten good at it!
   Being married to a cowboy means...the nights I plan and make dinner you can bet he had plans to go ride colts with a friend and eat in town! The weekends I really want to stay home and relax a little bit are the weekends he definitely has plans to go home...but forgets to tell me until the last minute.
    Being married to a cowboy means having to move twice a year from summer range to winter range. It means unexpected vet bills or having to stay up all night with the two year old because she tore herself up or colicked... again. It means that sometimes, my husband spends more time shoeing horses at night than he does with us, or he'd really rather work his dogs than watch a movie even though it's FREEZING outside.
   Sometimes he drives me CRAZY with all his last minute plans and forgetting that he doesn't have time for everything...but being married to a cowboy also means a husband who is home every night. It means a man who is so hard working and luckily, we get to go to work with him sometimes. It means getting a bum calf instead of flowers. It means a slower paced life, living a little bit off the grid. It means always having a new colt or a new pup, and for me that's the most exciting part! I'm just a little girl at heart and can't get enough horses and dogs! 😅 Being a cowboy's wife means being blessed enough to live the life I always dreamed of. It's crazy, busy, messy, and beautiful, and I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Life Changes

This time of year, I always find myself reflecting on my life.  This year especially, I've  been thinking about the past few years of my life and thinking how drastically my life has changed in such a short time. Two years ago, I was living in a sheep camp on top of the mountain with my horses and a bunch of dogs! Tyrell and I worked for Thousand Peaks Ranch and we were gathering cows. We covered a lot of miles on our poor horses and rode them all into the dirt! At the time, I thought for sure, "Wow, this is the time of my life!" I had no idea what was in store for me!

My life very quickly went from sheep camp livin to baby raisin! After working for Thousand Peaks, I went back to Sanpete County and the Bar J where I grew up working. I worked there all summer moving cows, riding colts, and just generally loving life. I had a very busy summer, as I was also planning my wedding.

I got married in September and moved to Skull Valley the next day. I'll have to say, it was quite an adjustment for me. I went from having my own job and my own horses to sharing everything. I traded my favorite horse and I found myself no longer owning anything that was just mine. I wasn't the one getting business and getting outside horses anymore. I worked in the feedlot with my husband, but all the calls from people needing colts ridden came for him. It was hard on me. It made me feel pretty useless. I thought hard about what I was doing with my life and what my place was in the world. I always thought I knew; horses are my passion. I don't want to say my husband took that from me, it wasn't as though he told me I couldn't start colts or take outside horses. He didn't even have any idea I was feeling that way because I couldn't find the words to tell him. I just felt pretty lost.

I had a plan to exercise colts at the racetrack for the winter, and I felt good about it. I'd have my own job again, riding colts and feeling like I could be useful again. However, the same day I was talking to the guy who would hire me, I got some happy, although unexpected, news! We were going to have a baby! I was so excited, but also completely terrified. Was I ready to be a mother? Would this change my life too drastically?

I never could have known how much I'd love being a mother. My sweet baby boy is the light of my world. I can't imagine life without him! I still find the time to work my dogs and my colts and go to work and play cowboy! Most of my days might be filled with diaper changes and baby snuggles and my horses come in second now, but I wouldn't change it for the world!

My life has done a 180 even in just the last year, but I find myself thanking the Lord for my blessings every day and wondering how on earth I got so lucky to have the life I do! I've always had big dreams for my life, but I never could've imagined it any better. ❤️

Raising Babies

    I can't think of a better place to raise babies than on a ranch. They learn a lot of responsibility from such a young age, are exposed to hard work, the circle of life, and aren't afraid of an honest day's work! If you ask me, it's the best place to be!
      There is always work to be done on a ranch...little kiddos get to help mama keep up the house, do the chores, and make sure there's a hot meal on the table for their hard working daddy when he gets home! There's not a lot of time for TV watching or video game playing. There are horses that need fed or doctored...pups that need working and feeding...meals to cook and shopping to do in town...it's a busy life, and since our work is also our everyday life, the babies will get drug around with us! They'll go in the pickup checking cows, in the ranger checking fence, on the horse, in the tractor...you get the picture! They will work right along side mama and dad to put food on the table! My baby is still just a baby, but he goes everywhere with us. He'll get to learn all about the most important things in life before he ever goes to school.
      Like with everything in life, there is a pain to the joy, a heartache to the happiness. We love and take care of our animals like they're part of the family, and when we lose a good horse or a beloved pup, it breaks our hearts! Since loss happens often when you have livestock, we won't really tell our babies that "Rudy ran away" or things along that line. It'll be easier to teach them early that death is a part of life, and that time marches on. Sometimes it's hard to stomach a loss, especially when it's your favorite horse. However, we have the rest of the remuda still to think of, and work has to keep going. We'll teach them how to cope with grief from an early age.
    It's important to teach your kids about real life. Kids these days are being raised inside a bubble and in front of a screen. They don't cope well in the real world. It's so, so important for the future generations to know life isn't inside a computer screen. I want my kids to know that the grass is green, what fresh cut hay smells like, how wonderful the sun feels on your face on the first warm spring day after a bitter winter. I want them to know their Mama would rather spend time with them than looking at a phone or watching TV. I want them to know how to enjoy little things like the mud between your toes when you swim in the pond, the cool shade of a big willow tree, the first snowfall of the year and the excitement it brings! Finding happiness in the little things helps get you through hard times, and makes the good times that much better.
     It's so easy to learn these things because of the way we live on the ranch. I'm very grateful this is how my babies will grow up...they might be outsiders in this technology filled world, but they will be happier for it! They will know that life is really only as complicated as you make it, and that you have to make your happiness ; it isn't just going to come find you!

A Year on the Ranch

I've always had a passion for ranch life...I grew up working on a ranch and it's still my life! I married the cutest cowboy and we work on a large scale cattle ranch in Utah. We have a sweet little boy who is four months old, and I only hope he'll love this life as much as we do!
     A year of our life on the ranch looks like this: In January, we're out on the desert where the cows winter. It's basically making sure to keep them where the feed is good and making sure they have water. In the feedlot, it's doctoring sick calves and feeding. Not too much goes on until calving starts around February! Then, it's riding around the calving pastures keeping track of the mamas and bringing in the ones that need help giving birth! Some cows lose calves, and some calves lose their mamas, so we try to stick the bummed calves on a heifer without a calf. I love seeing all the new babies, though for my husband it means long hours!
     When calving season is over, it's time for branding...the best time of the year! At Ensign, they gather a pasture and set up a panel corral. They head and heel all the calves. They get branded, tagged, and get shots. So many people come out to help and everyone hangs out and jokes around at lunch! It's such a fun time.
      When branding is over and done, the cows and calves get shipped up to the summer range in North Eastern Utah. It's so beautiful up in the mountains, especially after being on the desert for six months! So yes, we move twice a year. Summer is pretty laid back..just riding pastures and doctoring sick livestock. It leaves a lot of time left for ranch ropings and bronc ridings. We have a lot of fun in the summer!
     It gets busy again when fall gathers come around. It takes a lot of riding in a lot of steep country to gather all the cows, but it's my favorite time of the year! I love to see all the beautiful country from the back of my horse. I wouldn't trade it for anything!
     Each pasture that gets gathered then gets sorted and the calves weaned and shipped to the desert, where they will be processed and kept in the feedlot. The cows get shipped a few weeks later. Then, it's back to the desert to start it all over again!
      That's an overview of our year...so much happens in between, and I can't wait to tell all about it!