Kelly Lake

I've been blessed to spend the last fifteen years with an amazing husband, dad and man of God for our anniversary we took a two day pack trip to Kelly Lake. This beautiful lake is located just a couple hours horseback ride from our place. It was an amazing trip and awesome way to spend a couple days away together.

This is the view of the lake on our way to our camp site.

We found a nice open area to set up camp and let the horses graze.  Although we did decide when we come back or bring the kids up with us we'll make camp in the valley just prior to the lake.  By doing this we wouldn't have had to spend any amount of time moving the horses for grazing and water.

While enjoying a cup of coffee and our breakfast the first morning this big horn sheep walked into our camp. He let us get several pictures of him and hung out eat around our horses for about an hour.  There was sign of him being around us the rest the time as well.  I new we'd have an amazing time and a great view to enjoy but, never imaged having the opportunity to see a big horn sheep up close like this.  The horses we rode and used to pack in had shoes on.  We assumed the sound of the shoes against the rocks is what brought him in as it sounded similar to him walking on the rocks.

The second day there I decided I wanted to see what was over the ridge on past the lake. Needless to say I never made but did get this picture that showcases the area we were in.  We also spent sometime fishing and caught one fish to enjoy with our dinner the second night.

Looking back to the valley we rode through on our way to the lake.  Our anniversary is the 19th of September so the fall colors were gorgeous.

A nice place for the horses to graze and water.

I took this picture on our way out. This was the first opening to look back and see where we'd just spent the last couple days.  We spent sometime visiting about the changes we've seen over the last fifteen years and about how many more are to come in the next fifteen.  Our kids who are Blayden 14, Waylan 13, Quinten 8 and Dalley 5 will be 29, 28, 23 and 20 when we celebrate our 30th aniversary. Wow, that'll be different but I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for the next fifteen years of our journey together.

A Summer Spent Horse Back

In thinking about this past summer it's been amazing! I've looked so forward to the day we could spend it horse back working together as a family. With that being said I found it most appropriate to start off with this a picture of Dally getting to set on Blacky aka Grandpa by herself.  Although Kitten is the horse Dally lays claim to her and Balcky got along quite well this summer.

For the past to summers Dally has taken Blacky to the North Park Never Summer Junior Rodeo where they've competed in the barrels and poles. Both years there have been young ladies gracious in giving her the belt buckle they won.

To secure Dally on Blacky we strap her wheelchair seat to western style saddle.

Blacky is such and amazing horse and when you put he and Quinten together they make quite a pair.

After a long and hard ride Blacky came up lame which meant finding a couple different horses that Quinten could ride to give Blacky some time off.  He has very excited to ride Kitten, she is the mare that Dally and I often ride.  It was a huge step for Quinten to be riding something other than Blacky and a big step for Kitten in proving she really is a family horse.

This past summer was Blayden had his first official job. The ranch we work for hired him on to help Regin.  He spent most days horseback checking yearlings or pairs and doctoring.  When he wasn't horseback there was fence to be fixed or projects around the barn and shop to work on. Many times he could be quoted as saying this has been one of the best summers ever. 

Waylan also came along great with his horsemanship skills and roping this past summer.  By the time the summer wrapped up Regin could send he and Blayden off to check for sick cattle or to gather while he looked at a different area of the pasture.

Blayden on Skinnered and Quinten on Clausen

Dally and Quiten on Blacky

Waylan on Pete and Quinten on Blacky

Dally and I on Kitten. The Lord Blessed us with an amazing horse for us to ride.

Catching Up

Wow, I've been telling myself for awhile now I needed to get back on here and start posting on a more regular basis. I had no idea it'd been a year since I had done anything with it. How time can fly. So I'm going to try and give you a glimpse of what's happened over the last year. We've had quite a few changes and some amazing blessings. The two older boys Blayden 14 and Waylan 13 were both in junior high sports this year. Their football team of had an amazing year with a record of 6-0 against teams that were two to three time bigger than us. We had twelve guys on our team.

The team after our final game

Blayden getting the chance to play quarterback

Waylan lined up and ready for a kick off

Once football and fall work was over we had the chance to get away for a few days. After hearing rave reviews from our friends the Chirpeski's we decide to visit Glenwood Springs, CO. The first day at Glenwood Springs we took a several mile hike that followed the steps on firefighters who lost their lives to a wildfire and hung out at the pool. I will say getting everyone up the side of that mountain and back down just about did Regin and I in. The second day we visited Caverns Adventure park, where we toured a cave, road the alpine slide, played laser tag and watched some four d movies.  

Getting ready for our first game of laser tag.

Waylan all geared up for laser tag

The alpine roller coster was a hit with everyone. 

This is Waylan coming back up after his first of many rides

Regin and Quinten after their first run.

Dally getting all strapped in. She was so excited that she got to ride.

Blayden receiving his final instructions. He was more than willing

to be the first one down the track.

The adventure park there did an amazing job of accommodating us and making it so we could do everything as a family.

Regin and I had been discussing for quite sometime getting a cargo trailer to transport Dally's wheelchair so I could take it place on my own. Honestly it was the most practical thing for us to get with where we live, the number of people in our family and knowing the expense of a modified vehicle. Last September we asked some friends of ours "The Jordan's" if they would be on the look out for one as Dally was definitely reaching the age that she wanted more independence.  A few weeks later we were blown away by what they and our community were doing for us. They had decided we needed something much greater than a cargo trailer. They had found a suburban that was wheelchair accessible. On top of that a group of our friends had set up an account to purchase the suburban.

Lisa (who the suburban was purchased from) and Dally the day the suburban arrived at our house.

Dally's first ride on the ramp. She kept saying "it tickles". The Suburban has been a huge blessing in being able to transport Dally's wheelchair easier. In fact the suburban was up and working just in time for wrestling season. We spend a good portion of February and March traveling to wrestling meets for the boys and being able to take Dally's chair along made the long days much more enjoyable for her. All the boys had a successful wrestling season this past year.

Quinten and one of his first wrestling medals.

Blayden with his first middle school win in Hayden, Colorado

When we weren't off doing other things we spent time with friends.

Treston, Quinten, Hayden and Dally. The Wolfes moved to New Mexico this past fall so they could be closer to family. Me miss them a lot. Treston and Hayden were some of Quinten and Dally's best friends.

The Cherpeski's, some of our good friends we meant while living in Southern Colorado. They've since moved to Oregon and were we hope to visit them some day.

Lully and Dally. Best friends from the moment they meant.

Dally and her Aubrey girl.

The older two boys spent many hours with their friends as well but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of them together.