ranch sledding IV

On Saturday December 8th we went out to the ranch to help Terry's parents with some cell phone stuff. While there we ate together, visited the chickens, and went sledding. We got to watch the chickens be released from their coop when we arrived. They get less daylight time outside in the winter to ensure they lay their eggs where they can be found (they like to hide them, ha!) and stay warmer. 

We thought they were so cute tucked up in their little boxes. They were trying to lay an egg.

Ezra looks really mischievous here... Stay away from those hens!

Thumbs up from Evie.

Ezra kept trying to get them to peck at hay. 

Chickens!

From there we bundled up for some ranch sledding! The last time we went out there was February 2018 right before Samuel caught the flu real bad. There's the big tub the kids sit in...

...being pulled by the side-by-side instead of a four-wheeler!

The kids had so much fun. 

I caught some pretty fun expressions from Ezra...when his face was uncovered.

My first cell phone video.

It was so pretty out there.

Plenty of snow too!

Another good shot of an expression, this time Samuel's.

I'll tell you one thing, ranch sledding is a lot better from behind the windshield of a side-by-side (plus it wasn't as cold as last year). So. Much. Warmer. But still my fingers got so cold they were all prickly once we went inside. I think I have a mild case of Raynaud's disease, where your fingers cut off blood supply when cold, sometimes even when I'm not that cold. I have a couple fingers that will get all white occasionally. That was definitely the case this time.

More prettiness. 

One more cell phone video...




...and a video from the good camera.

Once we went inside to warm up I volunteered to go collect the eggs those hens had been working on. Unfortunately I dropped one like a ding dong. 

I was trying to take pictures of Chuck, the chukar partridge that has adopted the hens as his flock, when an egg fell out of my pocket. 

Isn't he cute? He straightened up here and ran by so quickly right in front of me. He reminded me of the Road Runner.

Jerry and Alice noticed Chuck hanging around the hens a couple months ago and my friend Brent, who is an avid birdwatcher, identified him for us immediately. Brent has even been out to the ranch a couple times to see him. Chuck is so funny. He even sleeps in the coop at night! The hens have gotten used to him, but he probably stuck around because of the grain. 

Oh, and as a tag on, that morning Denise and Jazmin had invited Zoe and I to a special Crossfit partner workout. It was very difficult but fun. If we had the funds I'd love to go to their gym all the time!

 Also, I am clearly the tallest one in the group. Ha!

Noah's braces come off!...and ranch sledding V

On Friday, March 8th, after 18 months, Noah's braces came off. 

Before...

...and after!

He looks so very grown up and handsome!

I liked Evan's Orthodontics because they were less pushy and more fun. They sing for everyone who gets their braces off. 😆

My oh my how he's grown. 

They gave him two $5 giftcards as a gift, for Starbucks and McDonalds. We used the Starbucks one right away when we bought some donuts as a reward at Safeway. He took his own selfie, ha ha.

He was the most excited to eat Tootsie Rolls again. He's been so obedient to the rules. He never ever had pop or anything sticky, etc.

First bite of that donut. He kept saying his teeth felt slippery and weird. 

Meanwhile Terry had been getting the other kids ready to go out to the ranch. Jerry needed some help with his new cow cameras that Terry had installed a couple weeks before. 

Had to visit Chuck and the chickens while we were there of course. They were under lockdown due to the arctic temperatures. 

This particular hen wanted lots of interaction. It was so cute how Gramma was talking to her. 

We got to see their very first calf of the year! 

The little stinker didn't want to eat though so Jerry and Alice had to try to keep his energy up with a bottle. 

The whole thing was so stressful! First they had to immobilize the mama by pushing her against the wall and locking this fence in place so she couldn't move. That did not go smoothly though. She kept pushing out at the fence and almost knocking every down. So often ranchers could very easily be killed or severely injured by their cows! Once the mama was finally locked up they tried to get the calf to eat. He refused. He refused the bottle too. I was so worried about him the rest of that day. The next day Jerry came out to find the calf nursing happily away. They'd figured it out on their own. 🙏

We had lunch of course, and when Noah and I had to return to Rapid to pick up his retainers, Terry took Evie, Samuel, and Ezra out to the field for some ranch sledding. 

It was a busy but good day.

ranch sledding

What's this handsome dude doing all bundled up in the snow on a 4-wheeler, you might ask? 

Taking these punks for a sledding adventure ranch prairie style! The very first time I hung out with Terry before we'd even considered dating, this is what we did. Awww, good memories. 

And aren't Noah and Evie so cute? Evie has no idea what's in store for her.

The weekend after Christmas we headed back out to the ranch for some sledding. The temperature had warmed up enough to make the snow better for sliding - it was too fluffy before, not to mention it was way too cold out. So here Terry is taking the kids around these few trees in a field and they're having a grand time.

He must have took the corner a little too sharp and didn't even realize he had dumped the kids. 

Noah was immediately up running to daddy to tell him how fun that was. Evie, however, just stood there crying as if to say "How...(howl)...could this... (more howling)...have happened...(more loud howling)?!!!!!"

She got over it.

But when we got back to the house, she was so done. So daddy took Noah out by himself.

He liked getting dumped. Hopefully Evie will come to realize that it's the best part. 

And I just really liked this shot with the huge trees in the background. Eagles hang out in those trees! I totally saw one.

ranch sledding II and III

Even before Winter Storm Oliver, we had received several inches of snow, especially at Terry's folks' ranch. So on Sunday February 10 we headed out there to do some four wheeler sledding. I didn't think we'd done that since way back in 2013, but Terry corrected me that he had taken the kids last year. I had no recollection of that event and just discovered why; it took place during my sanity maintenance day last February! I even found a video from that day on Terry's phone.

After church we loaded up and started the forty minute drive. Ezra very nearly fell asleep but somehow he could decipher a camera being pointed at him and woke up. Just the day before he had started feeling unwell, as Evie had on the Friday before. We discovered two days after that they all, except Noah, had Influenza B! We felt so guilty.

We arrived and ate lunch right away before heading right out and then to put Ezra down for a nap since he needed it. We thought he was recovering but this day set him back. Evie was crawling around in the snow so clearly she wasn't feeling all that bad even though she had a fever two days before.

Evie and the cows.

I tried to sneak up on the cows quietly but they were pretty skittish. 

Pregnant mamas. They'l be calving this month, March.

Pretty cow, snow, and hills.

I always take a picture of my feet for reference of the snow's depth. It was about eight inches deep or so.

Snow crawling.

I liked the piles on top of the barbed wire.

And the icicles on the gas tanks.

I love this tree in every season and often take it's picture.

I take this same picture every year at branding time too.

Terry and his dad had to get the four wheelers out of the shed, but in front of them, covered up is Terry's 1969 Triumph Spitfire. We should really clean that up this summer and document it... Oh and drive it.

Patiently waiting.

Rolling the other four wheeler back into place.

Almost ready in front of the shed. 

Final touches.

And off we went down the long driveway.

Just starting in the field directly across from the house.

One more shot before they took off and left me to take photos.

Off they go!

They'd trailblazer some tracks and them come back to me. My new camera and lens work so great! I can capture so much more!!

High five for Evie.

Look at that snow fly. They kinda look like they're grimacing here don't they? It was rather cold.

Ezra looks better here.

It was so pretty! I haven't seen it this white in quite some time.

Crossing paths.

They both look happier here.

Down nearer the creek.

Full circle.

Terry's thumb got so cold from holding the gas down. 

Heading back to the house via the deep snow in the ditch in order to put my camera away.

Some video from the four wheeler.

Cute little snow covered Ezra.

When we dropped off my camera we also grabbed the blankets out of the van in order for the kids to cover up with. Samuel and Ezra rode in the back of the sled completely covered up with their blanket.

And you can see why they would want to. Look at all that snow on his face, even on his eyelashes! I love this picture. But I felt really bad when he got sick the next day.

When the kids were about done, I thought I'd like to take a turn and relive my first meeting of Terry. My first memory of meeting Terry and actually spending time with him was when I was visited Shari during the spring break of my freshmen year of college at SDSU in 2002. Mostly Terry pulled Shari and I around behind the four wheeler but two or three times Shari pulled Terry and I. How's that for a get-to-know-you meeting? Silly me just talked about Lord of the Rings most of the time, which I had just finished reading and was literally obsessed with. But I didn't scare him away thankfully. That day began our interest in one another and the rest is history!

But anyway, the whole reason I got into the sled was to relive that even, though Terry couldn't sit with me obviously. And it was a bad idea because my heavy weight offset the sled and we got dumped out on a tight corner. I think I landed on most of the kids, and there was lots of howling. Plus I think about every vertebrae in my back cracked. It made a lot of noise. We were officially done after that.

After those two runs, which were actually pretty short, we put Ezra to bed and then Terry and I went out on a short four wheeler escapade. We love to go the back of Terry's grandparent's land where there's a bank of pine trees. 

Poor Terry took the brunt of the wind but wouldn't accept my cowl. Perhaps the purple was too much for him? Ha ha.

Back in those trees.

Though it was a cold ride, it was super cool to observe all the animal tracks. It was just fascinating! 

This was on our way back to the house. Then we warmed up with a few hands of cards and then a light supper before heading back home. It was a good day, until Samuel spiked a fever the following day and Ezra was knocked backwards.