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!!


________________________________________________________

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!!