a day in the woods...

Speed Events: It's what we do when we're not doing baseball

Speed events - they occur at everything from rodeos to horse shows to play-days. My girl loves this stuff.

I love this stuff.

I love to watch her love this stuff.

That's her brother right next to her. He loves this stuff too. He dabbles in it here and there.

There's a couple of new faces around the speed racing arena -

That's WDN and his horse Wrangler. They are quite a pair.

And lookie there - it's MBN and her trailer jumping horse Buck (fka Ali Baba).

I'm not even going to comment on this picture. Sad. That's what it is. Just sad.

This was a small, local show put on by our own 4-H club. I was nominated/delegated/appointed/volunteered {whatever politically correct term you want to pick} to be "in charge" of the speed events that day. Don't get any notions of grandeur, seriously. As I learned, that title could simply be translated "you're not really the person in charge until people want to complain and then you are the person in charge". So, let me tell you, it was an experience to be sure. There was one particular issue that I did pull rank and use my "title" to insist on a safety issue. So maybe it wasn't all bad.

As the events started, my girl, who had not really ridden her horse consistently to prepare for this one, began with a couple of mediocre times. Oh well, it was all for fun anyway. She needed the arena time. She had 3 barrel races in a row coming up. So I was just happy she was there participating. But as the night went on, she remained consistent - not the fastest, but still up near the top every time. Then it became apparent that she just might have a shot at high point. I began tallying points in my head. I can't tell you how many times I added points. Consistency pays off. Because in the end -

I got to present the high-point buckle to my own sweet baby girl! She had no idea that she had earned it until they announced her name. It was so much fun for me to know what was coming and watch her face when she realized that she had won top honors.

I'm so proud of her. She really tries hard at what she does and doesn't get too frustrated or down on herself when things don't go her way. And when things do go her way, well, that's the icing on the cake. She's a winner whether she brings home the buckle or a blue ribbon or not.

Baseball: It's what we do

You know, in addition to the thousand other activities at any given time. We just weren't busy enough. We had to go and join a TOURNAMENT baseball team. Where they play in TOURNAMENTS.

All the time.

Except when it rains.

:)

Can you guess what I pray for every now and then?

God loves me. He answers my prayer.

:)

But when it doesn't rain, we play. And we have fun. All of us.

We like to take pictures too.

And take naps in the sun.

And watch brothers wrestle.

And play a little soccer.

And play in the dirt.

Baseball?

Did someone say something about baseball?

Well, maybe I have a picture of someone playing baseball around here somewhere. Let me see.

That's my boy.

I dare say he makes his coach a little nervous. Ya think?

He's intense no matter where he is on the field, even in the dugout.

Which is what makes us love watching him play all the more.

I guess if we have to pick a sport to play year-round, I can't think of any other sport I'd rather watch!

I ♥ baseball.

Homecoming

Disclaimer: It's not really "homecoming". Why? Well, you see this is only year #2 for this high school to be open. So, naturally, there are no ex-students to "come home"; therefore, no reason to call it a "homecoming". So they (the administration, etc.) tried to call it "a celebration". I don't think that went over. So, even though it wasn't really a "homecoming", it was.

So anyway - our 2 oldest (or is it eldest?) kids are attending this brand new high school and both attended the "homecoming/celebration" festivities. Homecoming is so much more of a production than it used to be. When I was in high school - which wasn't that long ago - we went to the football game and then to the "homecoming" dance afterward. All in the same night. Now they spread it out over an entire weekend. There was the tailgate party before the game.

Then there was the football game itself. Here's another thing that's different. At the football games, they don't allow the students to sit in the parents' section. They do have a "student section" if they want to sit there. But if they don't want to sit there, well, they're out of luck. Some people, like me, who enjoy doing those things as a family might get upset about that little "rule". So upset, that I pretty much defied the gate lady and told her that my child was sitting with me and there was nothing she could do about it. I might have even done that more than once. I know, I'm such a rebel. But seriously, where has the value of a family activity gone? Not only do they not encourage it, they do everything they can to discourage it. Sheesh.

Ok, enough of that. I did manage a couple of pictures of the kids with their "group" at half-time of the game.

They are all cool kids.

I'm thinking our team did not win the game that night. I could be wrong, but probably not. They didn't exactly have a stellar record this season. Although, it was drastically better than last year's goose-egg in the win column. Things are looking up.

The next day was the dance. Again, things are much different now! It's not a "show-up-as-you-are" dance the way it was for us. Although, for our kids, it wasn't near as formal as I've seen some - including the one going on tonight. We're talking prom-formal - FOR HOMECOMING. What's the world coming to? I really should listen to myself - I think I'm beginning to sound older than I am.

So let's get to the good stuff - the pictures! I can't tell you how incredible the kids looked. To see these girls - all of whom are primarily athletes of some type whether it's on the volleyball court, soccer field or rodeo arena - to see them looking so poised, elegant and beautiful was breathtaking. Literally. I had to keep the tears in check the whole evening.

And the guys - looking so polished and immaculate. What a treat that was! And they were such gentlemen too.

I know you're tired of reading this mom's sappy rendition of my impression of them. So I'll just stop with that and give you the pictures. Enjoy.

**The End**

Sweet Love

I am thankful that I get to witness moments like these.

Halloween

We broke from our normal routine of either not celebrating Halloween at all, or celebrating it by attending the church Fall Festival. This year we did neither. This year we loaded up the family, headed to MeeMaw & PawPaw's house and did Halloween the old fashioned way - we trick-or-treated. But first the pumpkin carving!

What a good Daddy/Uncle he is! He took on the task of carving pumpkins with Sweet Baby and Pres. Everyone else was real excited to carve pumpkins until they learned that they had to help clean out the guts before they could do any carving. Only 2 brave souls were left to help.

This little guy was intrigued by the whole process, to say the least. He wanted to be right in the middle of it. Hmm....smells good. Wonder if it tastes good?

Oh dear - this child really will eat just about anything.

All that pumpkin carving wore Marley out. She just couldn't take it any longer. Good thing she had a nap because she was in for a fun evening!

Smiley with his finished product. Now for the fun stuff - COSTUMES!

The little cowboy on his horse was raring to go (pun intended). I was worried sick that by the time this point of the evening rolled around that he would be falling apart - he had ZERO nap that day. Lately sleep has been a tough assignment for him. We're making big improvements though.

As always, this cowboy never gets far without his trusty side-kick. Halloween was no exception.

What - you don't see her? She's there - really, she is. Let's see if you can get a better idea of what she's supposed to be.

She's a turtle! A turtle with very long ears and a very long tail! Oh but a cuter turtle you never did see! Seriously, she turned some heads while we were trick-or-treating. I know - I have a problem. You don't have to tell me.

I can't imagine where I inherited my problem. You see that other dog? I mean the bumble bee? That's my mom's dog, James. The Bumblebee. They were quite the pair. Looks like cowboy Sweet Baby roped his turtle. She was a little out of control for a minute.

She had the mistaken impression that turtles were supposed to eat plastic-lit-up-pumpkins in Meemaw's yard. No idea where she got that idea.

And then Sweet Baby turned and in his very best John Wayne impression warned us not to mess with his side-kick or there'd be a price to pay. We were scared. Very scared.

Next to make her Halloween appearance on the runway was the "Vampire Queen". I have no idea what a vampire queen is - I didn't know there was such a thing. I guess it's just a cross between royalty and immortality. Whatever it was - she loved it. How did she end up with pink hair? I'll give you one guess.

The vampire queen had her own personal hair stylists. Only, they forgot those cute gloves that stylists are supposed to wear when dying hair. K2 still has pink under her fingernails. I'm sure sweet Mir does too.

And here we are just about to embark on the trick-or-treating adventure. Note Sweet Baby's face in this picture - he's really not sure what he's getting into!

But with 3 big brothers and 3 big sisters along to help him, it didn't take long for him to catch on to the fact that people were GIVING away candy! The suckers were his favorite. At one point he began to look at me and sign the words for "more, more". Yikes!

A little cowboy in paradise! I don't think he ever actually ate any of the candy, but he admired it plenty.

We had a fabulous weekend. Being able to spend time with the cousins and for Sweet Baby to make the relationships with his brother and sister stronger is priceless. They adore him and he's smitten with each of them. More on that next time.

Happy Fall Y'all!

 

The Buckmaster

There is never a shortage of material to write about in this house. Especially with my K3. The only trouble is that there is a shortage of time! I wish I had time to sit and record my everyday thoughts, observations, hopes and prayers. Someday I will write a book. I've already thought of several titles. My favorite to date is Things We Saw in Our Rearview Mirror. Doesn't that sound like the perfect title to a book? Now I just need to write something to go in it. Someday.

Yesterday the Buckmaster came through for me. I've been hounding all my boys since hunting season started to get out there and put meat on the table for us. Deer meat is a staple in this house. We ran out a month or so ago - just in time. Actually, the freezer went out about the same time the meat ran out. Luckily, the chickens were all gone as well as the deer meat. I'm not in such a hurry to refill the poultry section just yet.

So anyway, after the Ranger spent the weekend with us and spotted more than one buck, the boys got excited. One boy in particular. This one boy spent every afternoon/evening after the Ranger left, in the deer stand with his bow. It's bow season, not rifle season. These details are evidently important and are a very big deal. Yesterday we got home from picking up Sweet Baby from MDO around 3:00. K3 ran from the car to the house, showered in his "de-scenting" soap stuff, layered himself in camo {which had been laundered in de-scenting laundry soap - they actually make that stuff} and headed out. I was concerned because he was covered, head to toe, in clothing. Long sleeve heavy clothing. AND it was 100° at least with the heat index. AND the mosquitoes have been horrendous around here since all this rain. I couldn't very well coat him with mosquito spray - probably would have negated his "de-scenting" shower & laundry so I didn't even try. I did try to persuade him to wait just a little longer before heading out - I mean it was a good 3 hours until dusk. What was he going to do for 3 hours??? He didn't seem worried and didn't listen to a word I said.

The big kids came home and promptly left again for church. Hubby made it home. We ate a quiet dinner together with Sweet Baby wondering what on earth K3 was doing and seeing. As we waited we busied ourselves with laundry and bath time for the baby.

As I walked by the window with a load of laundry I saw him.

He was headed back to the house.

He was smiling.

I walked out to the porch and asked him why he was home so early.

He pumped his fist in the air and responded with, "I got him!"

I ran back into the house to get Hubby, who was bathing the baby. I told him that K3 came back and got something. "No way," was his response.

I could tell Hubby was not sure. One thing you know about K3, if you know him at all, is that if he's certain of something it's with 100% certainty. If he's doubtful, he's the first to tell you. His "I got him!" contained not one ounce of doubt, so I knew. Hubby had to see it to believe it.

I grabbed the naked baby wrapped in the towel and made a mad dash to put the camera in Hubby's hand before he headed out to follow the trail. K3 beat me to it. He already had his own camera in his pocket.

So I snapped pictures of K3 telling his dad the story.

The story was full of animation. Hubby was riveted.

As you can see it was still very light outside. I won't tell you why they were taking their time to go back out there. The Mimi's of the world don't need to know and the hunters out there reading this already know so let's just leave it at that, ok?

They finally gathered themselves and headed back out to find the deer. They set out on foot, just in case.

The rest is the story as it was told to me by Hubby and K3 combined: {Mimi, just skip to the pictures and don't read the details - just giving you fair warning}

They made it to the spot where the arrow hit the deer. Pool of blood.

K3 had seen the deer turn and run after he hit him so he knew which direction he had gone. They had an uninvited helper with them - here, I'll show you her picture.

I know she doesn't look much like a "helper", but she thinks she is. She doesn't look very stealth in this picture either, but she thinks she is. She's all about helping those in need - even when they don't know they need her help.

Sweet Hubby, not wanting to offend his extra "helper", showed her the pool of blood and told her to "go get him". And off she went.

Hubby told K3 to follow Marley while he went back to the house for the 4-wheeler. When he returned - he found Marley, K3 and the deer. He called me, literally breathless, and he said, "Marley found it!" Evidently Marley had taken the trail and she led Kade across the pasture, across a fence and into some brush - a total of about 100 yards, right to the deer. The deer was in brush and would not have been easily spotted without her.

Marley - the horse/cow/kid herder and now deer tracker extraordinaire. WHAT a dog.

Here are the pictures from Kade's camera.

I'm not sure how many deer this kid has brought home, but I am sure that this one will stand out in his mind, will be remembered forever and ever. My goal is to get K3 to journal his experience because he's talked about nothing else for the past 24 hours, literally. He's walked around all day in a haze with a grin on his face. There must be something about killing a deer with a bow and arrow that is on some level more of an accomplishment than with a gun.

Spending time with Nature

Continuing the Montana trip, today is dedicated to our trip to the mountains. Or one of them at least. Every day was a trip to the mountains up there because you walk outside and take 3 steps and you're in the mountains. But this day we went way up into the mountains. We went so far that I began to wonder if any human being had ever been where we were. Seriously. My imagination kicked into overdrive and I envisioned pioneers walking through the valleys and across meadows, possibly making camp for the night before travelling on the next day by wagon or even by foot. These are the kinds of places where I just want to sit and dream of what used to be.

But let me back up. It was really quite a production to get us all loaded into motorized vehicles that would take us where we needed to go. Because we aren't pioneers and we do things the easy way nowadays. Seriously though, it would have taken us 2 days to ride by horseback to the place where we were headed.

Two 4-wheelers, one jeep, and one ranch truck and we were all set. Actually, I think we took 2 ranch trucks. But that really doesn't matter. We had a caravan.

And then there was the road block. A dead tree in our "path". It wasn't really a road because we went places where obviously vehicles do not travel very often. All hands were on deck to help move the tree.

Muscle. That's what it took. Just look at that big guy move that tree. Notice my vantage point does not change throughout the whole move-the-tree experience while my hostess counterpart had to show me up and totally get after helping K1 move that thing. I was on vacation, I didn't care.

Oh look, cows. Imagine seeing cows on a ranch. We were not quite to the top of the mountains yet so there was quite a bit of wildlife to see.

I blogged about these amazing wild creatures back when we were still in Montana. I couldn't wait to share the beauty of them and document the awe I felt at seeing them. Evidently wild horse sightings are rare on the ranch.

Nice. This poor creature didn't stand a chance with my boys. One had a machete and the other had a pocket knife. Lovely.

And then we reached a spot where the view was spectacular. We could see forever, it felt like. Pictures never do justice to the scenery.

And then we detoured off the beaten path, through the brush, down a hill or two, around a curve and through the trees and ended up at "the watering hole".

I know it doesn't look like much, but it was so peaceful right there. We spent some time making it "unpeaceful".

Yep, that would be K3 with his pistol. I'm not really sure what he's shooting at - probably a frog on the other side of the water. But that's just what he does.

I'm sorry, but they just don't come much happier than this guy. He was as much in his element in the mountains as the rest of my boys. He loved everything about it.

And then it was time to start the long drive back down. K3 drove the jeep pretty much the entire way back to the ranch house - it was about an hour and a half drive. His 4 year old sidekick kept him in line. I kept hearing the theme song from M*A*S*H over and over in my head.

But WHAT a fun way to spend the day!! The quiet, the solitude, the wildlife - all of it just brings focus back and reminded us of what our world looks like in areas untouched by civilization. It's beautiful, serene, and inspiring. We treasured every minute that we spent. The neat part is - that our hosts, the ones who have lived and ranched on this land for generations - appreciate the awesomeness of it just as much as we do. They are blessed and they know it and are thankful that God has given them the opportunity to live and work in such a place.

And work they do. And work we did. {"we" being a figurative term}. More on that next time.

Bubbles

Some days this is all I need to keep me going.

Today is one of those days.

 

A Blue Jeep & A Red Mustang

My 3rd child - God love him - wants to do anything and everything that the older 2 are allowed to do. And then some. He's adventurous. He's not afraid to take risks. He's like sponge - wanting to learn all he can about the things that he loves.

So when he had the opportunity to get a driving lesson in this classic, old ranch jeep - he didn't have to be asked twice. He jumped right in and away they went. They were headed to the pasture - a wide open, safe place to take a little driving lesson.

The lesson was going well. Back and forth, back and forth they went. Finally, when his instructor was satisfied that he had mastered the gears - he let him loose.

I forgot to give him all the speeches that new drivers get. You know, the one where you remind them to "call me before you leave, call me when you get there". And let's not forget the "no texting or cell phone use while driving". Or maybe "don't be messing with the radio while you are trying to drive". Maybe it's just me - but somehow I'm thinking that turning him loose on thousands of acres might not require any of those speeches. We could wait a few years on those.

And then he picked up some passengers. He was more than willing to give rides. I'm pretty sure he wanted to charge by the minute, but I have a feeling that big brother and big sister were having none of that. As a matter of fact, big sister actually talked him into giving her a driving lesson.

She did pretty well. They all loved taking turns driving the jeep. What a perfect vehicle for teenagers on a ranch! That became "the kid vehicle" for the duration of our trip.

Then there were 2 little boys who decided that they needed their own vehicle to cruise around in. These 2 got along splendidly.

It's pretty sad when the teenagers start coveting the car of a 4 year old. But they were. It's just a good thing their right leg wouldn't even fit in this car or they would have stolen the little guys' car right out from under them.

The little red mustang wasn't quite powerful enough to make the trip to the mountains that afternoon. It was a good thing too because they both fell asleep on the way up there! More on that next time.

This Place

I'm sure there are eloquent words out there somewhere that would describe this place that we love to visit and actually do it justice. But, not being an "eloquent" writer, I won't try. I'll let the pictures speak, which still do not even begin to tell the whole story. Montana is one of those places where "you just had to be there". But we'll give it a shot, shall we?

The view from the back yard. Magnificent.

These are the kind of pictures you don't crop - that is, if you actually scrapbook and aren't years behind like me.

Dump trucks and mud. It just doesn't get any better.

Or does it?

Aaahhhhh....throw some rocks into the mix and you have one happy Sweet Baby.

This quaint little travel trailer was the boys' home away from home for the 2 weeks that we were there. It was absolutely perfect for them! They loved their space.

This is actually one of the original buildings on the ranch. They use it for storage now - and this cute wild cat just moved right in and claimed it as his own.

K3 & I took Sweet Baby for a 4-wheeler ride one day up to "the rocks".

I loved the pine tree growing right out of the rock!

Sweet Baby just likes the vroom-vroom.

These rocks are amazing. They ignite the imagination. Some even have remnants of Indian carvings.

Tomorrow stay tuned for "K3 drives a jeep".