Mary Kay

I am now a Mary Kay Consultant! That's right I'm selling make-up haha!! If anyone wants to schedule an appointment or party or see any of the products let me know. I'd be happy to be your lady! Here's a copy of the latest catalog.

http://ecatalog.marykay.com/US_en-US/GetLatest.aspx?d=www.marykay.com&m=0

Deer Season

Sunrise from the deer stand

H getting his gun sighted in

can't get these pics to rotate. He's a pretty good shot

H and Grandpa with the deer Grandpa got bow hunting

Prairie Circuit Champion and One HUGE Miracle

Average Buckle

Tie-Down Roping Champion

Yea!! All-Around Champ!!

 This past weekend we went to Park City, Kansas for the Prairie Circuit Finals. It went really well for Hunter. He won the average, the year end roping and the all-around! Not a bad weekend at all. On our way home we dropped Kevin Roden's horse off in Hennessey and were driving along when we hit a pretty decent size buck deer. It could have been alot worse but we got lucky. Hunter swears it was his expert driving skills. The deer ended up slipping and we hit him with our back dual. It cracked it and almost pulled it all the way off. Poor blue has been through just about everything now. After that we decided we wouldn't push our luck and pulled over for the night.
   This week has been full of ups and downs. It started Monday afternoon. I got a call from my grandpa and he said my Uncle Dave collapsed at work and was being taken to the hospital. He said that he wasn't conscious and that they had to shock him twice. Needless to say I hauled balls down to Lawton to Southwestern where they had taken him. It was pretty hard driving down there not knowing what was going on or how Uncle Dave was. When I got there, the waiting room was full of the whole family and I could tell the news wasn't great. Mom met me and said she and dad got there first since they were already in Lawton and that he was still in ER being worked on. Aunt Heather forced the doctors and nurses to let her go back with him so we were waiting on some kind of news. A few of Uncle Dave's friends were there that had been at work with him. Dwayne Fisher rode in the ambulance with him and the look on his face made it even harder. Finally Aunt Heather came out with the news...Uncle Dave had a Massive Heart Attack. Cardio was in with him and they were trying to decided whether to fly him to the city or just transfer him to memorial. She told us that he hadn't regained consciousness and he had fought the whole time while they tried to intubate him. She said Colton (Daves son that goes to college in Nebraska) needed to be flown in right away that the odds weren't good. It felt like being hit by a car! Finally the doctor came out and told us they were loading him in the ambulance and taking him to Memorial hospital. We all jumped in our cars and took off. We made it in time to see him being taken back to the ER. Walker and my mom got to get close enough to see him and say a few words to him. He was still unconscious. Aunt Heather led the way to the cardio waiting room. There were so many of us there waiting and hoping for some kind of miracle. Finally one of our good friends and nurse, Starlin Wood came out to tell us she was able to be in the room the whole time and that they put two stints in Uncle Dave's heart. She wouldn't say more except that it went well. She stayed with us until the doctor came out. He brought pictures of Dave's heart and explained that the main artery was 100% blocked. He was able to put two different stints in, which was a success seeing as how most massive heart attack victims require open heart surgery. He said they would be moving him into a room in CCU soon. While all this was going on my mother-in-law Jamie was home searching for flights for Colton and there was only 2 going out that made it in that night. One he could easily make but it flew to Dallas then he'd have to drive from there to Lawton. The other flight left in about 45 minutes and he was about that far from the airport. Jamie told the ladies at the desk it was an emergency and the situation but they wouldn't let her book the flight over the phone. Somehow Colton managed to make it and even more amazing they held the plane a few extra minutes for him. God was really working overtime!! Finally Uncle Dave was moved to his room. We were allowed in to see him and it was extremely hard. Most of you know how big Dave is so for him to be there helpless was just crazy. The man that found  Dave came by to see how he was doing. He told us that out there at Goodyear it's incredibly loud and they all wear earplugs. He said he faintly heard something out of place and had this strong pull to go and see what it was. He walked over to Dave's station and found him on the ground. He called 911 immediately. They started CPR and and the ambulance got there fast and had to shock him twice. If Uncle Dave would have been anywhere else he would not have made it. The doctors did a cat scan since he fell really hard. The results were aweful but we were told that it could be a number of things and they would do a MRI in the morning to be sure. Through that first night all signs were pointing to something not good. It was looking like he wouldn't make it until morning. That morning Aunt Heather said she went out so that the nurses could change him and the sheets and take blood. She came back in and his eyes were open!!!! At that point he started making a change for the better. Of course he was still fighting every chance he got but he was alive. Around 8 a.m. his doctor came in and we all piled in the room. He asked Dave to wake up and follow some commands. He held up 2 fingers on each hand and lifted both legs. You talk about some excitement. We were all doing the endzone dance!!! He told us they would try to wean him off the paralyzer and take the tube out as soon as possible. This was such great news. The waiting room had a new high. Of course we were soon shut down by the dreaded "day shift". They told us we had too many people there, too much food and bla bla bla. I think it just slid right off. After fighting it all day they were finally able to get the tube out around 5:30 p.m. Words cannot even explain the amazingness of that moment. They told us we had to wait an hour before he could talk to us. Finally an hour passed and he was all smiles and kept trying to talk but Aunt Heather wouldn't let him. At this point he was kind of like drew barrymore on 50 First Dates. Aunt Heather kept repeating what had happened and where he was but 5 minutes later it started all over again. The doctors said this could either be a side effect of him having enough tranquilizers and valium for a herd of elephants or the gray area his cat scan showed. We prepared for the worst but figured every single thing had been a miracle so far, why not that too. Yesterday he looked even better. It was hard to believe he was so close to dying but looked so good. He was smiling and laughing and even remembering a few things. Today he moved out of CCU and into a regular room. His personality is back and he's ready to get the heck outta there!! There is no other explanation other than prayer works and he is living proof that miracles happen!! Thank you to everyone who has been praying. Keep them coming please.

Time Flys When You're Having Fun

Last Monday we celebrated our sweet baby boy's 4th birthday!! I can't hardly believe that its gone by this fast. We actually were in Waco, TX on his birthday for the Heartland Finals on the 15th but trust me, he didn't let it slip by anyone that it was his Birthday. He would walk up to a complete stranger and tell them "hey I'm 4 years old today" or he'd say "it's okay mom, I can do that now becuase I'm 4". I'm not real sure who he gets that from. Hunter and I also took him to Chuck-E-Cheese and we had a blast. That kid is the king of arcade games. After all the fun we had there, we took H to see Secertariet. It was pretty great too. After the movie we headed for the trailer to wait on Al and Sam who were coming from school to hang out for a bit and watch Hunter rope. It turned out to be a pretty good night becuase Hunter won the round and the announcers told everyone it was Houston's birthday during the rodeo!! H was eating the attention up!!!! Hunter roped again the next night and ended up winning second for the whole rodeo. As much as we would have liked to win first it was such a blessing to be there and win what we did. As most of you probably know by now Hunter didn't qualify for the National Finals this year and it's been a small struggle accepting that. It's getting better becuase you can't win eveything and when we look back at the whole year it just wasn't one of our best. But Hunter has been in the practice pen about everyday and they better look out in 2011 becuase were not missing out again!!

                                                                       Pinata time!!

H was pretty good! 

 After all the kids went the string that held it up busted so H just beat it until everything came out

 Cake time...H wanted a deer, bear, snake, and elk on his cake but all he got was an amazing 10 point buck which he pointed out to everyone!

 Make a wish

 Haha Aunt Heather's worst nightmare. She hates for the cake to be cut uneven. I'm not real sure why she takes on this job at Houston's birthday becuase of course he wanted the bucks head right out of the center. maybe we'll break her from her cake ocd

 Presents!!!!!

 In the back left is Walker and Toby, then Brooklyn, Bailey, H, Cooper, Cullen, Tucker and Tyler

 Birthday Boys!!! It was also my dad and Bob's birthday on Houston's party day (18)

Me and Hunter after the party

Other than enjoying home these last few weeks, not much has happened. Hunter roped at Kansas City this weekend and is winning first in the second round with a 7.5 but it won't officialy be over until next weekend. Then next weekend we will travel to Park City, Kansas for our Prarie Circut Finals. Hunter is currently in the lead in those standings and should win that since he's so far ahead of everyone. The year end winner and average winner from the circut qualify for the Dodge National Circut Finals that has re-located to OKC in March. That's exciting since it'll be so close to home!!

Pics from the last few weeks

                                                           Me and H man before Al's game

                                                                        Sam and Al

                                Al, H and Grandma after the game. H is givin them a nice squeeze

                                                           Sam doing what she does!!!

                                     Al has moved from second to third base. She's pretty salty...
                                       what can i say though, she learned from the best haha.

                                 Wish I could have waited a few more seconds before I took this.
                                     Al caught the ball and the girl slid in and she tagged her out.

Houston's Pro Rodeo Debut

For the short round at Ellensburg, Keith isley asked Houston to be in his clown act. He was pretty excited but we were a little nervous he'd back out since there were so many people but the stage performer came out in him and he was the star. I put the pics on in backwards order so the end of the clown act is first.



Houston got the best of Keith and he gave the
pony up!


Talking things over



Houston got the short end of the stick. Jerome
bought the saddle and Keith turned to lead the
horse out


Houston, Jerome and Keith

Houston and Jerome went out to buy the horse

and saddle

Keith and his pony

The Start of the clown act with Keith Isley!

It's almost impossible to get all 4 to stand still

to take a pic. These are 4 Very Wild Kids!!!

Jarett, Jace and Jaden Schneeburger with

Houston

a few pics from along the way

When it rains, I'm pretty sure it pours

Well I'm back in action on here...I've been enjoying not even knowing what day it is lately but I figure there's a few people getting antsy for me to make another post :)
After we got home from Cheyenne we enjoyed a few days just relaxing at home, but Hunter was off again to Kansas for the whole week. He did really well throughtout the week and got a little boost in the standings. Houston and I drove down to the Spicer Gripp roping to watch Hunter on Saturday. We were planning on staying the night and watching Hunter in the short-go but he didn't fare so well on 2 of his 3 calves. Hunter rode home with us and got to stay home for a day and then was off to Sikeston, Mo, Lovington, NM, Coffeeville, KS and then back to Lawton. He won some money at all three except for Lovington and had another good week. Originally the plan was for Deacon to haul the rig and horse back up to Caldwell, Idaho as I was going to stay home and help Coach Base coach the high school softball team. I was really excited to get back into the game. The job required me to get my bus driving license so I went down to the Highway patrol office in Lawton to pick up a study guide. When it was my turn I was helped by a little old man. I told him what I was there for and he looked at me funny and said "sweetie you don't look very old, are you sure you wan't to take all those lives into your hands?" I replied "yes sir, I suppose." He then said "well do you know how big a bus is, they are fairly large." I said "yes sir, I've drove a decent size rig before." He said "well....I don't think driving a pick-up truck is quite the same." I kind of laughed and told him my rig was "fairly" bigger than just a pick-up truck, but thank you for the concern. Guess he didn't see me as the driving-all-over-the-country-pulling-a-32 foot-trailer type of girl. Anyway come to find out the softball job required another class that I didn't really want to take so I ended up not having to learn how to drive such a huge vehicle after all. After I decided that I was back on to take the horse and rig to Caldwell instead of Deacon. Houston, my Grammy and I loaded up and headed west. The first day we got a late start, after I drove all over the state trying to find someone that had front tires for a dodge truck. I guess they're quite hard to come by. We were making pretty good time, considering we stopped about 8 times. The plan was to try and make it at least halfway across Wyoming but about 1 a.m. I couldn't make it any further. I was plum worn out. I decided Cheyenne would be a good place to stop for the night. We could stay right there at the arena. We pulled in and I told gram she could go ahead and get in bed while I put the horse up and got him watered. I got Spiderman put in a stall and was getting some buckets and stuff out and could hear him making quite a bit of noise. I stood back and watched him for a minute or two and almost instantly panicked. He kept trying to lay down and so I knew he was trying to colic on me. I'm still a little traumatized after almost losing Cajun last year at Omaha due to Colic. I immediantly got him out and started walking him around and tried 180 times to get ahold of Hunter. I just knew he had fallen asleep and I was ready to kill him if the horse didn't die first. Of course the whole park was completely empty so I was pretty alone. I went down my contact list and tried every cowboy I knew that was in the same place as Hunter. No One answered!! Finally Hunter called me back and was wondering why I felt the need to call him so many times when I knew he was roping. They were in the middle of slack at Caldwell and I didn't know or care that he was roping when I was in such a mess. I told him the problem and he was all calm like I'd been in the position a million times and was a colic pro. He told me I needed to get a shot ready, which I already knew I needed to do but was dreading it. On top of the shot I had to hit him in the vein in his neck so the meds would work faster. **Note..I've asked Hunter a million times to teach me how to give a shot in the vein so just in case I was ever in the situation alone and this happened I would be prepared. And what does he always tell me..."oh you'll never be in that situation so don't worry about it." RIGHT!! I sat the phone down because Hunter was making me nervous and then proceeded to stick our horse about 5 times and miss the vein everytime. Well I may have knicked it once because he was bleeding all over the place. Now I'm just frazzled. I get Hunter back on the line and tell him I can't find it. So he tells me to just shoot the medicine in his neck. This scares me even more than the vein because there are some meds that will eat the muscle so you cannot miss. Hunter assured me this medicine wouldn't eat his muscle out just to shoot it in. So I did it...I just shot the medicine into his poor neck that already has 5 puncture wounds. It bubbled up where the medicine was and just sat there. Great the medicine was now just hanging out right under the skin. While all this is happening some people overhear Hunter talking to me and know some friends in Cheyenne that might be able to help me. They get them on the phone and get a vet called. After about 45 minutes the vet finally arrives and checks him out. He was definitly trying to colic but wasn't that bad yet. The vet gave him a better shot that actually made it to his vein. After the vet told me he thought I caught him early and that he thought everything was going to be okay I put Spider back in his stall and got in bed about 4 am. Later that morning a man knocks on the door about 7:15, oblivious to all that just took place and demanded I give him 15 dollars for the stall. He said I didn't have permission to be in the park and I should have asked when I arrived. I really felt like giving this man the full wrath but decided I'd be better off to just chunk the cash at him. After the rude awakening I figured I might as well get up and head out or I'd want to sleep all day. I was so exhausted but kept trucking because I was definitly not giving anymore shots the rest of the day. I'm pretty sure the GPS lied to me somewhere along the line, because before we left it said it was only 1400 miles, but as it turned out it was actually 1650 miles. 14 hours later we finally made it to Caldwell. I turned the reins over to Hunter and was ready to hit the sack. What a rough day, but we made it. And it maybe wasn't as bad as I made it out to be, but close!!
We hung out with Gram the next day but then it was time for her to fly back home. I was sure thankful she came with me, and I guess I really broke her in on her first time on the road haha. Since then we've been all over the northwest. We've been to waterparks, drove by the ocean, almost lost a wheel and transmission coming down the mountain and are now just camped out. Im hoping our luck turns around this week. Hunter is in Oklahoma trying to wrap the circut rodeos up and then fly back out here Saturday!! It's crunch time!!!

Schedule

August
28- lynden, Washington slack a.m.
28- cour' d Alene, Washington slack pm
29- San Juan Capistrano, California
30- pueblo, Colorado
31-
September
1-
2- elk city, ok slack 1 p.m. Ryan is also up in barrels
3- Hastings, Nebraska 4 pm
4-
5- ellensburg, Washington
6-
7-
8- Lewiston, Idaho
9-
10- hopefully hunter qualifies for tour finale in puyallup Washington but if not were at Spokane Washington
11-
12-
13-
14- Pendleton, Oregon
15-
16-
17-
18- hopefully short round at Pendleton
19-
20- Albuquerque, new Mexico
24-26 Omaha, Nebraska hopefully hunter qualifies for this. Last tour finale

Trouble Trouble Trouble

Well here we are almost done with the summer run. It feels like it has flown by. It’s been quite interesting; I swear trouble can find us anywhere. The other night in Calgary we had just got through at a birthday party for Stran Smith and were headed back to the arena. As we stopped at the gate to show them our passes we could smell this awful smell and it was instant headache. We were like hmmm wonder what that is, smells a little like burning oil. Then we saw that there was smoke coming from under our hood and funneling right into our air conditioning and through the windows. GREAT!! Didn’t we just get this truck out of the shop the other day? We popped the hood and could see where everything was coming from. We called a dealership right there and they said they usually don’t fix trucks on a Saturday but to bring it in and they would do it for us. So the day of the wildcard round Hunter was running around crazy trying to get everything in order before the perf started. Hunter missed so that ended Calgary for us this year, but the good news was our truck was done and ready for pickup. We had some friends drop us off on their way out and the dodge guys tell us “oh by the way we didn’t fix your truck because there were 4 seals broken instead of just 1, but it’s drivable”….If you can handle carbon monoxide swirling around your face every time you stop at a red-light. So off we go headed back down to the good ole USA!! We drove about 5 hours to Great Falls, MT to stay the night. When we got there we were trying to find a level place to park and managed to bust our back window out because the truck turned to sharp. We cleaned up most of the glass but decided we could do the rest in the morning. The next day Hunter got up and went to find cardboard, duck tape and some stuff to put under the hood to help with the emissions. We taped the window up nice and tight and went to work on the seals. Hunter un-screwed a cap and all of a sudden fluid started spraying out. This caused him to drop the cap somewhere in the hood, and it’s impossible to drive without it. Another GREAT!! We looked everywhere for that dumb cap but it must have disappeared into thin air. Deacon decided to hop the fence and book it over to the ace hardware store to try and find a replacement. Finally after about 3 hours we had a new cap in place and got back on the road. What a way to start the day huh. We drove all day and stopped to eat in Burley, Idaho. There on the side of the road is where we found the newest member of our family. Hunter spotted a man holding a rather colorful sign that said dogs for sale. We drove over and found out that they had 9 baby pit bulls for sale. I guess a light bulb went off in Hunter’s head that he needed a new pig hunting dog. Now we have 3 dogs and a goat…just what we needed!! Hunter decided we would name him Burley, since that’s where we bought him. For some reason though, Houston cannot remember Burley so he started calling him Hurley and that stuck. For the most part that’s his name but if you ask Houston he may tell you that it’s Carlos, “because he kind of looks like a Carlos!” We finally got on the road again and were about 3 hours from our destination, Nampa, Idaho. It took us quite a bit longer than 3 hours though. First, we had another blowout. This time it rolled up our fender and pulled some of the trailer wires down a bit. We got that changed and the lights tied in a safe spot and were back on the road. As it started to get dark we noticed that our trailer light weren’t working so we pulled over again and got out to fix that. Hunter and Deacon figured out the problem and we were off again. This time we only made it about 100 feet before we noticed our speedometer and odometer wasn’t working. Then the brake and check engine light came on. GREAT GREAT GREAT. Once again we pull over and pop the hood. Hunter figured out that we blew a fuse. They tinkered with it for awhile but we decided we’d just drive on without that stuff. We have a Garmin and it shows the speed so weren’t driving completely blind. Finally we made it to Nampa and got everything put up and hit the sack. The next day the truck went back into the shop and Hunter roped in slack and was 11.2 on his first calf and 7.6 on second. He’s winning third in the second round right now, but it’s not over for a few more days. The next day was Salt Lake City and Hunter was 8.2 and then a No Time. We were at Spanish Fork yesterday and it didn’t go very well either. Tonight we are up at Ogden and then were off to Cheyenne. Cross your fingers that our rig makes it across there.

Sweet Summer Time

Well we’ve been gone a little over 3 weeks and our trip has been pretty eventful to say the least. We are currently sitting on the side of the road broke down…AGAIN! While the guys were gone to Canada last week they had 3 blowouts going up there. Hunter stopped and bought all new tires, again. We just bought brand new ones in Northplatte 3 weeks ago. So after making it back down to the States Robyn, Houston and I met the guys in Oakley, Utah. Hunter backed in the box to rope and when his horse left they hit the chute going out and Hunter banged his knee up pretty bad. It was instantly swollen and looked a little deformed. Of course we assumed the worst, but didn’t really have time to get it looked at as the guys were leaving right then to drive all night to get to Oregon. Robyn, Houston and I headed back to Spanish Fork to stay the night and load everything back up to get ready to head to Idaho where we’d meet back up. It wasn’t a terrible drive for us over to Blackfoot, only about 4 hours…well we got half way there and the temperature on the truck started to go up in a hurry. I called Dad and he told me to roll the windows down and pull over next stop. We found a truck stop and filled our fluids back up and got everything cooled back down then headed out again. We didn’t have any more trouble the rest of the way. The next morning the guys got there and we headed out for Red Lodge, Montana. The guys decided our best route would be to drive thru Yellowstone National Park. When we pulled up to the Yellowstone gait it cost 25 bucks just to pass thru and we weren’t allowed to have any hay showing or anything like that. The scenery driving thru the park was pretty amazing. Houston was in heaven with all the animals and rivers. He was a little disappointed because we didn’t see a bear though. Anyway were driving along and I’m telling Hunter I don’t think we’re going the right way. Of course there was absolutely no service so we had no way of telling RJ and Clint who were in front of us, to stop and turn around. Finally we caught a break and got a few bars of service. We told the other rig to turn around, but it wasn’t quite as easy for us since our rig was so big. Once we did get turned around RJ, Clint, Deacon and Robyn were long gone. That’s when the truck started getting a little warm. It got to the point where we were in the red so we pulled over. We were already running short on time since we had got lost and the traffic wasn’t helping any. We hooked our water hose up to the trailer and started spraying the radiator down and got stuff cooled down. After sitting on the side of the road for 30 minutes we decided that there was probably no way we were going to be able to make it to Red Lodge. The drive going to Cody was a little disappointing, however when we got there we loaded up on firecrackers for H and got some good rest that night. The next day Hunter roped at Cody and was 9.5 on his first calf and 8.1 on his second one. Hunter and RJ rented a car and were headed off to Denver to catch a flight to Prescott, Arizona and Deacon, Houston and I were headed back to Utah. Prescott didn’t go quite like we wanted. Anyway while we were waiting on Hunter and RJ to fly back in, we were planning on watching some firework shows and popping a few of our own but we learned that Utah doesn’t do fireworks on Sundays even if it falls directly on the 4th. Not what were used to at all seeing as how everyone we know pops them for a straight week before and after, but we went with it. After picking the guys up at the airport we headed off to Spanish Fork for a little R and R!! Thursday Hunter was up at Vernal, Utah and we were really excited because after he roped we were headed straight for Oklahoma!!! Hunter had planned on flying in to match rope Fred in OKC but after failing to find a horse down there we decided it’d be best if we drove down and had our own to ride. There were only a few people that knew we were coming and the rest we were going to surprise. We drove all night and finally pulled into Oklahoma around 6 a.m. Boy was everyone surprised to see Houston when they got there. My parents and grandparents thought they were picking Hunter up at the airport and everyone else was just planning on coming to watch. AHH I am the mastermind of surprises hahah. The match started off really great. It was definitely close and then Fred broke the barrier once which put Hunter in a pretty decent lead. Then it was Hunters turn for some crap luck as he had to 2 loop on and broke the barrier on the next. After it was all said and done Fred won the match by 8 seconds. It was sure great to see our friends and family but it was too short. We left the next day and headed back north to rope at Laramie and Casper. Neither went good and now we are headed to Calgary to rope for the big bucks!! You guys keep us in your prayers that we don’t break down again and that Hunter can rope fast. Until next time, we love and miss yall!!

Let summer begin..

Well we’ve been gone a full week, and it’s been pretty good so far. We started out Tuesday and headed to Northplatte, Nebraska. The plan was to leave at noon so we wouldn’t get there too late. We ended up leaving about an hour later than scheduled due to some husbandly delays. Anyway we finally managed to get gone but only made it 30 miles down the road to Chickasha and had to stop and buy 3 new tires for the truck. After that minor delay we were back on the road but didn’t get to Northplatte until about 2 a.m. It was a long night and early morning as we had slack that next day. Hunter was 10.8 on his first calf. He won last hole for the first round. The next morning he came back again and was 9.0. Good enough to win the round and average. Not a bad start to the summer. We left that day and headed out to Pleasant Grove, Utah. Once again we didn’t make it very far and had more problems. We had to stop and replace all but one trailer tire. Ugh maybe we are getting all this trouble out of the way. As we drove through Wyoming the temperature got down to 50 degrees. A little chilly compared to Oklahoma. But it was a nice break from the heat. We made it to Pleasant Grove and roped the next morning. Hunter was 9.8 on his first calf and 7.5 on his second calf. He won the round and second in the average. After slack Robyn, Houston and I headed back to their place in Spanish Fork, Utah. The guys headed to Cedar City, Utah. They were up in slack after so it was going to be a pretty late night for them. No one did any good there so it was on to Reno the next day. We left around 2ish and heard that I-15 was shut down for some reason. Clint told us not to worry we could go the back way through the desert. There was 7 of us in RJ’s truck, Me, Hunter, Houston, Robyn, Clint and Jerome. It was a little tight. When I say we drove across the desert, I mean that. There is nothing in between except a few small towns. Every time we went through a town Clint would tell RJ, I think we should fill up, we don’t want to run out across here. RJ would say nah we can make it the whole way. We got it. Well…. We all started to get nervous except RJ. We watched the gas gauge going farther and farther toward Empty and the next town was 60 miles away. We looked on the map and saw there was a highway intersection up ahead. We were hoping there’d be a gas station of some sort. As we pulled close it wasn’t quite a gas station, more like a shack with a few tanks outside. It had a sign that said they had diesel but we weren’t holding our breath. We finally got pulled in next to the single pump and saw that it had a pad lock on it. GREAT! Clint took off inside, he was a little on edge. He came back out with a hillbilly looking fellow and he told us since the pump was so old they had to lock it up at night so people couldn’t steal their gas. He unlocked it for us and RJ grabbed the pump and accidentally slung it on the ground, of course diesel went everywhere and landed right on Clint’s new shoes. It was pretty comical. After we put some very expensive diesel in, it was $ 3.69, we finally took off again. It felt like it was the longest day ever. Hunter and I made hotel reservation in Reno since there wasn’t going to be enough room in the trailer for all of us. When we got to the hotel to check in the lady at the desk said there was no way we could have made reservations because they had been sold out for 2 days. We thought great we have nowhere to stay, we had already checked around and this was all we had found at a decent price. Anyway she finally found us a room that had a block on it but she said she’d give it to us. Thank goodness. The next morning I promised H we could go to the pool. It was still pretty early but off we went. The pool area looked like there had been a massive pool party the night before and no one cleaned up after. Houston didn’t seem to mind though and jumped in. The water was ice cold though so we decided it probably wasn't going to be that fun. Houston was excited to get to slack for 2 different reasons, he knew Mema was going to be there and also his best friend and girlfriend Riley. They were so excited to see each other. Hunter was 10.5 during slack so he got to rope again later that night in the perf. Riley left with us and we all went to eat at Johnny Rockets. Jamie and the rest of the 14 cousins came and we got to see them for a minute. After eating we took Riley and Houston to the arcade and they were 2 crazy kids. They played and picked their prizes, and then it was time to head back to the perf. Hunter was 10.4. Could have been better but we’ll take it. As soon as we got through we told Mema goodbye and headed back to Spanish fork. We pulled in as the sun was coming up. Ugh I’m out of practice on the all nighters. Monday we got our truck out of the shop, it’s been leaking oil heavily and spraying it down our trailer. Didn’t that happen to us last year…oh yea it did. They said they fixed it but then again we’ve heard that a few times in the last month. The guys left Tuesday for Canada and took our rig, so Houston and I had to pretty much move in with Robyn. On the way up there Hunter and the guys had 2 blow-outs on the trailer…yes that would be our brand new tires we just bought. Hopefully their luck turns around up there. We won’t meet back up until the 29th.
Hope everyone is well, we miss you guys!!

Our Newest Addition!!

Meet Sheep the goat!! The newest addition to our family. Houston saw this goat at the Rattlesnake Festivle and just had to have him for his rodeo goat. There were about 30 goats for sale and H picked the smallest all white one. He would not change his mind. This was definitly the one. The lady told us he was 2 days away from being weaned from the bottle, but I'm quite positive she lied because the little sucker is still suckin down a bottle twice a day. Houston will try and tell you that he likes "finger milk" better. H can drag him around the yard all day with his finger in his mouth. As for the goats name, Houston decided he wanted to call him Sheep! Not sure where he got it but it fits well. He also told us that he came from the south pole...???Sheep on the dirt pile

Houston and Sheep are big buddies, they will roam the yard all day. Their favorite spot is the big dirt pile behind the house. They go up and down, but I'm pretty sure Sheep goes down unwillingly more often than not

Our yard still hasn't recoved from the ice storm yet. Hunter and H decided to take the chainsaw and do some work, unfortunatly we aren't even close to being done yet.

Easter Morning. H is all dressed up in his suit and boots, of course!!

H, Aunt Al and I dyed easter eggs. This is one H made, he named him Larry and gave him a Mowhawk!!


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I'm very excited to say I finished Spring classes and am now on summer break!!! I thought it would never end. Houston is definitly way excited, he wants to stay on the rodeo trail full time. I think it's safe to say he's missed it alot. We aren't set to hit the road until the middle of June but there are quite a few rodeos not to far from home that will keep us busy until then. The roping has picked up a bit lately. Hunter won 2nd at Corpus Christi and won Bridgeport,TX. He also won a match roping in Huntsville,TX. It feels good to be winning after a long winter of not winning. Hope all is well with everyone! can't wait to post stories from the the rodeo trail!!

Charred Buns and Wild Pigs

Well guys...sorry for the long absence! These last few months have been anything but fun or interesting. Im soaking up the last few days of Spring Break and not really looking forward to going back. But there is some good news in there, only 6 more weeks of school and then I'll be on summer break!!

Hunter has hit the rodeo trail again this week and will rope at Austin tomorrow and Monday and then on to Huntsville from there. He made it out this morning before all the really heavy snow hit, but Houston and I are stuck here in the house. H has been begging to go out and play in it but I'm just not big on snow blowing sideways from all directions. I'm ready for summer!!!

Anyway...We've had a little action these last few days that make some pretty decent stories. I'll start with Hunter and I....Hunter finally decided to let me tag along with him, Blake and Deacon when they went pig hunting the other night. Now keep in mind that I've been hunting my whole life so I'm pretty used to the things that come with it, but I can honestly say I may be permanently scarred!! Houston was staying the night with his Grandma and Grandpa so off we go about 10 pm. Blake has 4 dogs that he takes that do most of the work. Once we got out close to the slick hills he put three dogs on the hood of the truck. They sit and just sniff at the wind until they catch a pigs scent and then bail off to track them. Well as we take off one of the dogs decides to prop her butt up against those vents on the hood and take a big dump that literally gased us out. It was so bad that the next time we stopped Deacon got a stick and scraped it off. Pretty gross but I was definitly thankful. Off we go again...I think we stopped a total of 3 times because the dogs caught a whiff of something only for it to turn out to be nothing. I think it was safe to say I was bored out of my mind, I'm pretty sure I even layed my head down to rest my eyes for a minute. Finally about 12 am the dogs jump off and have something "bayed" (that's where they get the animal cornered where they won't go anywhere, most of the time) right in the middle of the road. We are thinking heck yea, how lucky is this...we won't even have to chase it down. We get out only to find that the dogs have a raccoon bayed. Just Great. After we get them off the coon they take off through a wheat field, hot on another trail. Thank goodness Blake has a tracking collar on one of his dogs. We just follow the GPS and it leads us right to them. So off they went and we hopped back in the truck to drive around the mile section to a gate right in the middle. It took us within 200 yards of where the dogs were and At this point I tell Hunter "Remember...I Am Afraid of the Dark so DO NOT LEAVE me in the middle of nowhere by myself!!" He assures me he would never do that and we take off running. Blake has the GPS and Hunter has hold of Meaty the pitbull. We are running through pretty thick brush and can hear the other dogs chasing a pretty large pig. I mean it sounds like elephants crashing through the jungle. The whole time I'm telling myself "don't slow down, don't slow down", but the farther we went the farther back I was falling. Now I know exactly how a lost kid in the park feels, only I was in a park full of wild pigs and who knows what else. I honestly just stood there and about cried. I could still hear the guys though, and figured out that the dogs had a pig bayed up against the side of a big pond. We were on the opposite side and couldn't figure out how we were going to get around. After I finally caught up everyone decides to go 50 different directions to try and find away around. Hunter hops a fence and takes off and I quickly decided that plan was out for me so I turn to Deacon and tell him I'm with him. He says okay let's go, just run and I wont leave you. YEA RIGHT. Once again I'm bringing up the rear tripping over sticks, logs, holes and wading through a creek. He keeps telling me to hurry up but I know that I had to stop about 3 different times to hock a lung up. Blake came from somewhere behind and passed me so I try to get it in gear and start running again. Pretty soon I can hear Hunter coming up fast so I'm thinking "okay now I'm not so alone" but here he goes again trying to run right by me as if I've got things under control. After I yelled a few things at him, he slowed down a little but just in time for Blake to yell...."LOOK OUT, PIG!!" We both jump for the nearest tree to get out of the way. A pig came from out of the brush and ran right between Blake's legs and around Deacon. After that scare we all gathered together to get another plan because the dogs are on the move again. Well the guys were planning, but I was bent over thinking I was coughing up blood from a detatched lung. Meanwhile the dogs ran over 800 yards in another direction chasing pigs and have gotten them bayed up again. Blake tells me and Hunter to go back and get the truck and meet them over on the other side of the mile section and hopefully they will have caught the pig by then and be waiting on us. Blake points us in the right direction and we took off. This time I made sure Hunter had my hand. We crossed the creek and could hear something hot on our trail, Hunter ran to a tree and got in it...leaving me to fend for myself. He said his plan was to pull me up, but I think he was just as scared as me. It ended up being one of Blake's dogs Talley. We got out of the tree and started walking again but I guess we got turned around in the middle of all that and started going the wrong direction. We didn't realize it until we walked about 400 yards and still hadn't come to the truck yet. Hunter thought we were still right so we kept going until we hit the fence. Well turns out it was definitly the wrong fence and we didn't recognize anything. We stood around for about 10 minutes trying to figure things out and finally decided that we needed to go to our left, cut behinde a house and head to the other fence. This walk felt like it took forever, especially since I had a nice little blister popping up on my heel and a semi sprained ankle. We finally made it to the other fence but once again, it was the wrong one. We took a break and thought things over. I had my cell phone with me, which was almost dead but I didn't have Blake's new number and Deacon didn't have his phone because it was dead. So that was pretty much a dead end. My phone did however have a compass on it. We got it out and figured out which direction we were headed but that really didn't help since we didn't know which way to go. I told Hunter we should just set by the road because surely Blake would figure out we were lost and just drive around until he found us. But right about that time a pack of coyotes started howling like they were right on our trail and we both decided we didn't really want to stick around that spot. We started walking the fence line and about 3 minutes later my cell phone rang making me jump about 2 feet into the air. It was Blake, Thank God!! He told Hunter what directions we needed to go and we took off. I was pretty nervous about crossing the creek again, because I just knew a pig was going to come charging at me and tusk me. But Hunter drug me along and we finally found Blake and Deacon. And what do you know, the truck was right there where we left it. I'm pretty sure we walked about 2 miles out of the way. By this time it's about 2:30 am. We are cold, tired, sore and have no pig to show for it. But what great memories, I just don't think I want to make any more like that anytime soon.

So anyway, after than adventure we've just been hanging around the house until Friday morning. We had to make an ER trip. Houston had just gotten out of the bath and ran into the back room to stand in front of the wall heater to warm up. He accidently got to close and touched the metal wires around it. At first it didn't look like it was all that bad just red but we thought we'd head over to my parents house and put some silvadeen on it just to be safe. By the time we got over there it started to look a little worse and about 30 minutes later it was aweful, and I think the pain started to kick in beacuse H started screaming and wouldn't stop. So then we all got a little scared and decided to take him in. The ER was pretty full and the Dr. came over to take a look and he said "it does look like he burned it" I thought well thanks for the late breaking news man. I definitly don't think it was worth a hundred bucks but oh well better safe than sorry.

Hopefully it wont be 2 months before I post again, but I'm not making any promises. Only 6 weeks of school left then it'll be rodeo time!!! Catch Hunter online at Rodeo Austin today and tomorrow. www.RodeoAustin.com Hope all is well with everyone, much love from the Herrin's!!

January....New month, New Start

Hello again....Im thinkin it's about time for a new update. Hope everyone had a great Holiday season...Ours came and went way to fast. It was a short and sweet break, as lots has been going on since..I am now officaly a College Student (again)!! I started last Monday and let me tell you, I'm pretty sure my brian shut the learning section off about 3 years ago and it's having a hard time fireing back up. I am happy to report though, I'm not the oldest person in class, there's a couple of men and women that have about 20-30 years on me. They tend to do alot of the question asking, so that lets me off the hook!!! I'm sure most of you are probably wondering what brought this on and what I'm planning to do with the rest of my life...I was planning to go back to school when H started Kindergarten, but I got a little nudge from Hunter. He said he didn't want me to wait to long and be like 28 before I went back. (H will be starting school in 2 years and I just turned 23, so I won't quite be 28 yet) But I've decided its probably a good thing I get the ball rolling, because the way my brain is working these days I might be on the 6 year track instead of 3. Just Kidding!! :) So now on to what I plan to do, as of right now I am finishing my generals and then plan to sign up for the OU Nursing program. My Aunt is an Amazing teacher there so I'm hoping maybe I can pull some strings and become a Nurse! Now don't write this down in stone or anything, because I've been known to change my mind in the past. Anyway, during the day while I'm at school, H and Hunter have been doing all sorts of cool guy stuff. That's what H tells me! They've been roping quite a bit and soing some house-work (aka...it looks like a bomb just went off in here) But I think they're having fun. H is planning to hit the road with Hunter a little in the next few months. Nothing to long of course. Wednesday they'll be heading down to Ft. Worth, I'll be sure to let you guys know how that one goes. Anyway on a sadder note, I was recently forced to part ways with part of my family....Our horse Cajun has been sold. Hunter told me not ever to get to close with the horses because it's just part of the business. But this horse was like a kid, he ate treats off H's head and loved all over us. Not to mention I've seen him almost die about 3 times and had to nurse him back. It was pretty hard but I'm hoping the people we sold him to, are going to love him as much as we did, at least that's what I'm telling myself. I did make Hunter meet one request before he went and that was we had to take family pictures with him. I'll always remember him and there'll never be another horse quite as good.