Wyoming

We have been going to my parent's house 2x a month and it's been SO great. We go up on a Sunday afternoon/evening, stay the night, then come home after dinner on Monday. It's not a long trip, but it's enough to spend some quality time with my parents and help them with house projects. 

I'm actually shocked that we don't have more (i.e. any) pictures of the work that they are doing. There is SO much work to do! We are prepping the kitchen walls, floors, and electricity (everything!) for the kitchen remodel. We are working in the bathrooms and the house's main areas. I know that my kids wish we could play a little more, but we've been able to help with so many things and that's important. This is a busy time, but there will be less busy times where there will be more focus on exploring and helping on the ranch. 

A lot of the time, the kids just go out and play in the backyard. They love the cats so much. My dad loves his cats and he built them this protected hut to keep them safe from the elements. I think that part of the reason he loves the cats so much is because his mom, my Grandma Walker, loved the cats and I think it connects him to her when he cares for her cats. Obviously the cats are good for the ranch, they keep pests down and things, but it's sweet how much my dad loves them. 

He also has taken time to let us learn about and help with the cows on the ranch. This time when we came to help - we weren't just home remodelers - we were legit cowboys. I didn't take any pictures of this because we were working too hard - but we worked cows all day. My dad's cow's tags had faded completely in some manufacturing fluke and he had to re-tag all of his cows. At the same time, we needed to sort Marti's cows out of our herd. Once we had only the mama and baby cows we had to retag them all and then weigh the baby cows. Austin Lydia My Dad and I rode 4 wheelers out into the field and pushed the cows all the way down to the Alley, then we pushed them to the corral, sorted out Marti's cows, and got them prepped for pushing them through the chute. Kim came down to help a bit, but mostly it was just me, my kids, and my parents. I pushed the cows down the chute. Lydia and Austin used long thin logs to put behind their legs so they couldn't back out, then they would push them forward so my dad could tag them and weigh the baby cows. It was a TON of work (and by the end we were covered in cow poop, ha). I was so proud of my children for how hard they worked and so grateful for the life experience for them. 

My dad is so great. He lets us help on the ranch and teaches us about cows and hay. But he also takes time to do fun things with us. For Austin's birthday, he asked if my dad would buy new rocket motors and shoot off rockets. The kids loved this so much! They shot off several rockets and then chased them down in the fields. We realized afterward that it was hard to find the rockets, but miraculously we found all of the pieces - even though one of them my dad didn't find until a couple of days after we left. 

This time we have to spend here is a treasure and I will never not be grateful for it.