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.

Home for the Holidays!!

Hey guys, we are home from Vegas and it's been soo nice...even if my house looks like a disaster zone. We are pretty much buried to our necks in laundry!! And with Chirstmas just around the corner I've been busy finishing up my shopping and wrapping presents so the house is definitly getting the short end of the stick. We had our first Christmas of the season Saturday with the Nunn's. It was in OKC at Connie's and was a blast as always. The kids especially had a great time, as Santa made an apperance and we got to go Snow tubing at Bricktown. We thought we might have been in a bind when we waited in line for 30 minutes and got to the top and found out that Houston had to go down by himself in his own tube. He was a champ though and decided he'd try it out. His face was so funny coming down, he looked scared to death and mad at us for making him do it but when he got to the bottom he screamed "Let's do it again!!" So off we went to do it again...and again haha. After that we went and had supper with my parents and so Houston could spend a little time with "his" puppies. Our male aussie and my parents female had puppies about 4 weeks ago and Houston missed them pretty bad while we were in Vegas. He drug them out as soon as we got there and showed them a little TLC. He's named 3 of the 5, Blackie, Pecos and Wrinkles. Ah so fun. Anyway tomorrow starts Christmas week and it will be pretty busy for us. We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas from Hunter, Houston and I. Remember Jesus is the Reason for the Season.. :) Love yall