They're A Pleasure To Know

Steve, Holly, Nicole, Lexi, and Stevoz make up the wonderfully fun family that was in town the last two weeks. In last night's post I told you about Lexi. It just so happens that there are four more people in her family worth tooting about. They have made the long trip from Massachusetts to New Mexico for the last five years to be a part of branding weekend and are just like family now. It's hard to imagine a branding without them. I'd like to introduce them to you so that you can get a glimpse of these special people.

This is Steve. Ooops. Wrong picture. This is Steve. Don't let that look fool you--he's a softy. This is Steve doing what he does best.

OK, not entirely fair. He's also a fairly good foosball player, a superb architect (who is so kindly designing our new house and eventually will design the barn at GG when we get going on that), an excellent omelet maker, and one heck of a jokester. Everyone loves Steve. Some also fear him like my innocent daughter, Claire. During Steve's family's stay at our house, Claire came to me at 3:30 in the morning telling me she was scared of Mr. Steve's snoring. Imagine me trying to be compassionate about that fear. "Claire, it's just Mr. Steve and he can't help it! Go back to sleep!" Funny stuff. He is now an expert flanker on Team Max. (More about the branding teams in a future post--it's not pretty or even mature, but it sure is fun.)

Holly is Steve's wife, a dear friend and a terrific person! For the past few years, Holly has totally helped me clean up after the big mob of guests come and go for branding weekend. Holly doesn't think twice about washing ALL THE DIRTY LAUNDRY, cleaning rooms, sweeping, mopping, etc., etc.! I think I would be lost without her. In fact, this year I think I sorta kinda helped Holly clean up. It now has become her doing most of the work. Yeah, I'm a great friend. Besides being a workaholic, she's also wicked funny and fresh--her Boston influence creeping in. Holly can be a huge jokester herself, so I always have to watch out for her crazy antics. In this picture, you can clearly see Holly trying to steal my niece away from me--we both love Kasey so much. Rude, but I'll share because I'm a little more mature that she is and I owe her for doing all those dishes. I love her and wished she lived closer, like in Albuquerque. We could have grand adventures that she, of course, would plan because I don't do things like that. There's not much she can't do or won't try--well, unless it's meat. That's OK. She happily works the cattle and serves it up on a platter. She's nice that way. Holly, thanks for all you did to help out and thanks for being such a great friend!

Their oldest child is Nicole. I think her love of the ranch gets over shadowed by her sister's because she is a lot more reserved than Lexi. There is no doubt in my mind that Nicole is also in love with the place. She is a sweet soul, a mature young lady, and ever so helpful! I cannot tell you how many times Nicole asked what she could do to help me. She is happy to take out trash, carry food out to be served, or whatever else I might dream up. I have never witnessed an ounce of malingering coming from that girl. She has also become quite the rider. How a person gets so good when they only get to practice a few times a year escapes me. Maybe it has something to do with her calm nature and positive attitude. I love Nicole and respect her so much. Oh, and I didn't mention how sweet she is with Grant. Max and I would love it if when the girls get a little older, they can stay with us for the summer and be volunteers at Galloping Grace and work with all the kiddos we have coming out. (Pipe dream--we'll have a hard time convincing their parents to part with these super kids!)

The baby of the family is Stevoz. He real name is Steven, after his father, but that just never fit him. He is Stevoz through and through. I mentioned in the Unplugged post what a great swimmer he is. Maybe I'll hit him up sometime to teach me a few strokes. Stevoz and Garrett are absolutely great together. They have gone on many adventures over the years. I think Garrett has convinced Stevoz how totally cool reptiles are. Stevoz is always willing to go on the next great hunt with Garrett. This summer they walked to what we call the north well. It's a little over two miles from the bunkhouse, but loaded with lizards. (Or so Garrett believes.) I drove to check on them considering it was almost 100 degrees and the middle of the day. They were happy as could be looking under every big rock around. I went ahead and drove them back, but I'm sure they would have been fine if left alone.

Stevoz is a tough kid with a happy, sweet disposition. I'm so glad he's one of Garrett's very best friends.

There you have it. Turns out really nice people do come from Boston, and we happen to be friends with five of them.

Last thing. I meant to put this picture of Lexi in on her post yesterday and somehow forgot. Oh well--you get the idea.

Max had a great time at GG today--kids all over the place. Maybe I can convince him to do a post and give you all a little break from my rambling. Have a great day!.

Unplugged

Blogger would not allow me to post yesterday. I guess before I totally blame free (thanks for letting us use you) Blogger, it might have been something with my Internet service. Whatever it was, I couldn't open up my blog. Now to more interesting topics...


Max picked up two saddles from a lady last evening who wanted to donate them to Galloping Grace. Rebecca Stevenson, thank you for your generous donation! Max said they are in really good shape and laughed that one of them is an English saddle only because he jokingly teases people/kids trained to ride that way. It's probably about time we had an English saddle on the premises.

Trish, Deanell, and Darren--thanks again for taking care of things while we were at the family ranch. It was such peace of mind knowing that you guys were in charge.


How about some more scenes from branding week?


The family cattle ranch isn't all hard work even though most people who come out think the hard work is lots of fun. When cattle drives are not going on, or trash doesn't need to be taken out, or calves are not ready to be branded quite yet, the unexpected is usually expected. There isn't a day in the summer that an impromptu reptile hunt doesn't begin or a mean game of ping pong takes place. I mention ping pong because it's what I do best! ;) What we really love about the ranch is that there is virtually no TV watching going on. It's a good thing. The best memories are made away from the set.


Last week my so-very-young-at-heart hubby loaded up a bunch of kids and headed to a "poop" pond. We have ponds that form whenever we get a good rain. I guess the land doesn't quite know what to do with all that moisture and a pond forms, or a dirt tank as they are sometimes called. Our kids prefer to think of them as free swimming pools. A couple years back we had a group swimming in one such tank that was pretty heavy on the cow manure. It was quite the smell when they were finished. Last week's pond was sparkling clean by poop pond standards.



The kids, ages 2-33, had a blast! It was one of those I'm so happy my children get to experience things like this moments.
The two girls playing chicken are teenagers--I love that the mix of ages didn't matter to this group.
In fact, I think the older kids might have had a tad more fun than the younger. Here we see Zack and Justin trying to gently encourage Renee to join them for a dip.






She politely declined, but they sure are persistent little boogers. I think they hated having all the fun without her. They enlisted more help. Jordann tried talking Renee into joining them as well. I couldn't quite hear what Renee was saying here, but I think it was along the lines of, well, I would hate to guess. Let's let the picture do the talking. Ahhh, Renee finally agreed and Amanda gave her a hug to say thanks. Don't we play nicely at the Wade Ranch? See how happy Renee was to join the party. And that Zack kid, look how he's trying to cool her off with water on her head and shoulders. They don't get any sweeter! Now that's living!
And was I ever happy to have an adult in the water to watch my little Grant! No, Max doesn't count. He was doing things like this the whole time! Do you really think he did me any good running off hills and jumping in the water?! At least he was having fun, and isn't that what ultimately matters? Cowgirl Erin was also there to keep an eye on Grant. What she must think of me as a mother! She was the one who tended to his sloshy boots, picked stickers out of his socks, and made sure he didn't drown. Thanks, Erin! That's her hanging out on the banks in the event that Grant goes under. His mother? Oh, miles away taking pictures, of course. You gotta respect that I'm trying to instill in my children a sense of independence. This scene about melted my heart. Justin and Zack walked Grant out to have some fun. Who said teenagers are rotten? Not these two! In fact, they are always so sweet to my kids. Well, except when they're beating on Garrett, but he usually has it coming. That child can be quite the pest. Good times!

This cute muffin is Stevoz. The boy can swim like nobodys business! He has set all kinds of records back at home in Boston. I made him promise to hook us up with tickets to the Olympics when he participates. Do you think his little chuckle is a binding contract? Even we have a Loch Ness Monster...and this! As disturbing as Bailey might look in the above images, she was perfectly fine. (But I think she might need a new pair of socks!) This was the last of the kids to hang around. I think a fun time was had by all.

I'm sure I'll be back with more electricity-free adventures.

Happy Saturday to you!