August 2010---The RANCH!!!!!

We hadn't originally planned to take a trip to Utah in the summer of 2010 because we had gone the previous October for my Grandpa Lee's funeral and because we knew it was going to be a crazy and expensive summer with my birthday party taking center stage, but when Justin's sister Emily got engaged our plans changed. We decided to pack as much into ten days (which turned into two weeks) as we could. Jessie's husband Taylor has a family ranch on his mom's side. He has been spending summers at "the ranch", which is always how it is referred to, since he was a little boy. When they heard we were heading west they invited us to come and stay with them at the ranch, we were operating on a very tight schedule but couldn't pass up the opportunity. Our flight landed in SLC on Monday night and we loaded our kids---after a three hour flight---into a rental car to make the four hour drive up to Wyoming. We arrived late, especially Austin time, and put kids into pj's and bed. The following morning we were up early and ready to have the full ranch experience! We left late that night after a very full day but it was definitely the highlight of the summer!

the boots the kids wore all day, thank you to grandma stewart for her hospitality and for letting our kids be part of the family for the day

it was much chillier in the morning than it appears in this picture but the kids were up with the sun and ready for adventures

hook 'em horns, this girl has been in Texas too long

tate standing behind the horse's leg...before we had the "how to behave at the ranch talk" which specifically mentioned NEVER standing behind a horse

unsolicited sassiness

he is country boy, he would do well to live in the wilderness and roam. i often tell allie that tate needs more land and a dog to explore it with.

seriously iphone?? i do not recall inviting you on this vacation!

abbie loves horses, so this was a dream come true

being led around the corral by ryan

ruby wasn't scared at all, in fact she sobbed when we took her off the horse

i just can't take his gun slinging seriously while his legs are crossed that way

come on horse, move!

(kicking would have worked better than pointing)

molly and ruby, bff's

a much more manly outlaw

we seem to be two short of a family

ruby was excited to play by the creek but didn't realize it was a slippery slope down to the waters edge

i made no attempt to change her, the pants dried quickly and no one is supposed to be clean at the ranch

my sweet girl

it took her a few tries to get these boots off and I could completely relate

who doesn't love a good game of crack the egg?

not worn out yet

uncle taylor is ready for some fun!

oh, the boring moms visiting in the shade

but someone has to watch these babies

my little Lexie Lee

clinging to mom's chair

this is the scariest thing i've ever seen, yet it makes me long to be back at the ranch

while the parents went on a horseback ride, rhonda put the kids to work scooping poop

pinching their noses at the smell

the best we could get

we were trying to get a boots shot of Lexie because these red boots are allen grandkid boots; each child has a picture wearing these boots but it's really hard to get a good picture when the kids are so wiggly

i love the sun in this picture and how the kids are following along like little ducklings

ready to start the annual rubber ducky race down the creek

following their ducks

bracken developed a real bond with taylor's uncle brent who is in charge of the day-to-day running of the ranch, he let bracken feed the dogs and also gave him some souvenir horse shoes...which bracken nailed into the wall of his bedroom once we got back to texas, i was thrilled

rub a dub dub two cousins in the tub! they did such a good job of censoring themselves and keeping this photo internet appropriate

the rest of the photos were taken by bracken on the small camera. clearly abbie can't resist striking a pose at every chance.

the dinner bell, the kids wanted to ring it all day

rhonda talking to the boys through the window, i can't tell if she knew she was having her picture taken or not

boys. why?

i don't even know what that thing is but i know it's in the cook shack. there were lots of pictures from the cook shack, including several salt and pepper shakers, a vacuum, board games, etc.

this is how you know a boy had the camera, i had originally uploaded the picture of the toilet that the boys had taken (mainly because when we walked into the "small house"/guest house, we all wondered what max and bracken were doing in the bathroom together), but then i decided that i didn't need to immortalize their urine

his partner in crime, Max

my son the patriot, he thought to shoot the flag

i couldn't resist this shot because of bracken's cute little shadow in the picture