I’m finally getting to blog about our annual trip to Bull Rush (my family’s land on the Arizona Strip). I remember that growing up this was always something I looked forward to. Every year in the first part of June, we would head out to the Arizona Strip for the week to move our cows to the summer range at Sink Valley (my family’s ranch near Alton, Utah). It is always a time of work, play, talks by the fire, and great family memories.
I’m so happy that my kids have had the chance to experience this special time. Even though, my kids are what my daughter calls “city kids,” I grew up a country girl and I’m glad that I’m able to give my kids just a little part of the country life. Sometimes I long to go back and live in my small town and raise my children the way I was raised. But things are different now and even if we could go back – it just wouldn’t be the same. But at least a couple of times a year they get to spend time with the family at the ranch and I hope that it will still be something that they will have so many great memories of – the way I do.
We left Orem in the afternoon on Sunday, June 3rd. I was sad that Joey couldn’t come with us, but one of these years I hope he can use his vacation time to go with us! We got to Bull Rush before dark and I was really glad “Toothless,” our old mini-van made the trip across the rough dirt/gravel road. It was good to see all the family-including many of the Harris Family (cousins on the Sorensen side of the family) that I hadn’t talked to in awhile. I love that people will come out and help! We slept in the van that night, since my parents occupied the house. It was not the easiest night – pretty uncomfortable, but we survived. The rest of the nights – my parents slept at Sink Valley after hauling a load of cows – so we got the house. The Harris Family and my sister Kori’s family had nice trailers to stay in and many of the kids slept out on the springs around the house. It was quite the camp!
The next several days were spent gathering up cows, branding the calves, teaching my kids to ride a horse on their own, exploring, and lots of memories. I got to pick up my old job of vaccinating the calves during branding and my kids got to come and help me. The kids had such a great time playing with their cousins and getting dirty. It was definitely really hot too – and that is not my favorite part of being out on the Strip. I was able to spend a lot of time with Kori – and it was really fun catching up with her and I really enjoyed the nightly cook-outs and just being together. I enjoyed connecting with my little nephew, Dustin who is just growing up so fast. One night – the kids and I sat and watched a big moon rise and it was an amazing experience. The land out on the strip is so flat and stretches out for miles and so watching the moon come up from the far distant mountains is just really neat. It was fun to see the gorgeous sunsets that are always present out there too.
Unfortunately, it has been an extremely dry year and so the cows suffered quite a bit. Many of the cows ended up missing and later we discovered that several died trying to get down a canyon to water. We really really need rain. We did take a trip and hike to the canyon to see if we could find the cows and the kids enjoyed looking off into the “big ditch.”
Beth had the chance on to go with her grandparents on the Peterbilt to Sink Valley on one of the trips and she spent the night there. She loved having all the attention from the grandparents and Uncle Clint and the much cooler air at Sink Valley. She especially loved playing in the treehouse and hanging out with her pal, Smokey the dog!
For the weekend, we ditched out on the final couple of days trying to search for missing cows and headed off to cooler weather to Sink Valley. We went to Orderville first and showered. It felt so good! Then we spent the night at Sink Valley and it was fun to visit and be with my parents. We loved having a cook-out and we even watched a movie on Grandpa’s old setup of an old tv with a vhs player and a car battery!
The kids love playing on the tire swing, the treehouse, and the old farming equipment.
JJ’s favorite was riding on the old buggy that Grandpa has been building out of all different kinds of parts.
We left for home on Sunday, June 10th and it was good to get home and see Joey. We really missed him. It was a great week though and I hope that we are able to keep it a tradition for many years to come!
** Here’s something ironic for you – we really did go to move cows, but it turns out that I didn’t take any pictures of the cows! LOL
My 2-page Scrapbook Layout:
I used my A Little Bit of Cowboy Charm, plus a layered template from the ScrapDelicious My Creative Life Workshop
We celebrated Beth’s Birthday today. I can’t believe it has really been 4 years since she was born. Cody and Becki came over for dinner and the party and I’m so glad that they live here and could come and celebrate with us. We had Beth’s favorite meal, Beef Ravoli with Red Sauce. And then Beth got to open her presents. She got some Princess Flip-flops and sunglasses from Cody and Becki and a My Little Pony house with mini ponies & Disney Princess Dress-up Dolls from Joey and I. Becki’s sister Ashley, made Beth a darling My Little Pony Cake, which she just loved. Happy Birthday Beth!
Beth got one more day to shine. Her teacher crowned her the Birthday Princess for the day at school and of course that just made her so excited. She wore her crown all day!
I can’t believe how much snow we got and in April! Crazy weather! Joey made this cute little snowman on the roof of our van. The kids thought it was the best thing ever! Of course the snow didn’t last too long, it was pretty much gone by the end of the day.
Since it was JJ’s spring break this week, I decided that we should do something fun. So I took the kids to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. The kids really loved seeing all the dinosaur (and other ancient life) bones and they were able to “dig” for bones in the digging quarry and they were able to participate in the Junior Lab creating fossil molds and uncovering fossil fish with air scribes. Plus we were able to see a 3D movie on their Mammoth Screen! It was a great way to spend an afternoon!
Joey spends a lot of time listening to audiobooks on his iPod. One morning , he left his old iPod nano laying on the kitchen table, and JJ picked up. Confusing it for the normal, larger iPod, he assumed that it must look so much smaller because he had become a giant, and ran to his Dad, laughing and exclaiming “Dad, Dad, look! I GREW!”
We spent a lot of time playing outside today. Really great weather! JJ has been really having a hard time lately. We are hoping it’s just a stage, but he has been having episodes of really bad behavior, hurting his sister, talking back, potty accidents, and just throwing fits. We have been trying lots of things to try and help him get control of himself. Joey thought that maybe running around would help him a bit since he is always so busy. So Joey took 4 pieces of wood and put them on our lawn and had the kids run “ladders.” We started timing them and they had a blast. Now they have to run a ladder everytime they want to spend some time playing outside or when they need to calm down. So far it seems to be working! Beth also got to play some soccer with her Dad for awhile. She loves kicking the ball around – I know absolutely nothing about soccer, so we will probably have to find her a team to play on in a couple of years.
