Long Time No... Post!

Okay.... for those famiily members who have been after me to update my blog.... this is for you!  Lately I have felt such a compulsion to better record the happenings in my life and in the life of my family.  Not only coming to a greater realization of the divine importance of keeping family records has led me to this point, but the great distance from family and many loved ones who would love to see regular pictures and updates of especially the kids.  So to begin with, here are a few pics of the highlights of our summer....


These first pics are from the first great kick off of the summer.... our ward branding at our house.  We have been taking care of our landlord's herd of cattle and helped him brand his calves. We have such an incredible ward here in Sidney with such a diverse group of people.  We invited all of them to come and experience a branding and it was a complete & total hit!  I think everyone had a blast- despite several being kicked and beat down by wiley calves. :)  It is a day I will never forget...

The next group of pics are from a couple brandings up on the Rex Ranch in the sandhills.  We have been fortunate to have a ward boundary change which brought some very great families from the ranch into our ward.  It was so much fun to be invited up there to help with their brandings, where we branded approx. 1000 calves each morning before lunch...

Greg & our friend, Mitch Peters

My friend, Ali, and me

One highlight to this summer has been having the opportunity to help my friend, Ali, break and train her newly acquired colt.  This colt is our baby palomino, Dani Boy, who was born on the exact day of our sweet little girl.  His name is now Si.  We worked together for many, many hours with him in the round pen and after only a week, we were on his back.  It's been a wonderful experience and I have treasured my friendship and time spent with Ali over these past couple months.  Greg has been riding him at the feedlot over the past couple weeks and he is fantastic.  The below picture is Ali's first ride in the pasture (out of the roundpen).  She's smiling, but I know she was pretty nervous.  Way to cowgirl up, Ali!

Here are a few more pics from the summer...

And as the summer quickly is drawing to a close, we have new adventures ahead of us.  Greg has taken a wonderful job with an outfit up in Southeastern Oregon and we are excited to be back in the Great Basin.  However, we are devastated to leave the MANY wonderful friends we have made here in Sidney.  We never could have imagined that we would fall in love with this place the way we have and feel such an ache in our heart to leave so many people who are so dear to our heart.  Sidney ward, you have touched our lives more than you will EVER know and you will hold a very dear place in our hearts forever.  Until we meet again....