The Feeding Crew

William, Toby, and Joseph

This time of year, Toby is extremely busy with the cattle. On a normal year, he will trail all of the cows home in December or January and feed the 900+ cows hay until March. This requires hours of transporting hay on pickups to three or four different locations on the ranch. Now that Matthew and Peter are older, they wake up early and help feed each weekend. They help drive pick-ups to the different feed locations, which significantly reduces the amount of time it takes to feed.

 

Recently, William and Joseph have joined the feeding crew. They get so excited for the weekend because they love helping Toby and seeing all of the baby calves. We are right in the middle of calving, so each morning there are at least 10 new calves born! This morning, I decided to join the crew. We took two pickup loads to one location, two loads to a second feed ground, three loads to a third feed ground, and one pickup load to the last location. It is always so much fun watching the new babies jump, run, and play in the sunshine. It was even more enjoyable to see the delight in all four boys' eyes as they helped on the ranch.

 

Meet Stickers. He is almost 20 years old! He has been on the ranch longer than I have!

Yum, Yum, Yum

Top feeding dog Daisy.

Newborn calf. Probably a day old.

Sunday Funday

Sunday is my favorite day of the week. It is the only day we don't have meetings, practices, games, or other activities. As a result, it is typically the only day of the week we can stay home and enjoy time as a family. Last Sunday was no exception, and the unseasonably high temperatures allowed us to spend much of the day outside!

 

The boys were extremely busy. They built fences.

 

 

 

 

Hit A LOT of baseballs.

Played with the dogs and cats.

 

Groomed Clancy.

 

And just had fun!

 

 

While writing this post, I could not help but notice that William's shirt was on backward all day long! I guess that is okay because that is what Sunday Funday is all about!

A Boy and His Horse

Peter has always had a love of horses and roping. When Peter was five, he informed Toby that he wanted to start roping at our brandings. So, Toby put him on one of our soundest horses and turned him loose. The first year, he caught one calf. Since that time, Peter has roped at all of our brandings, and his skills have improved significantly.

During the last year, Peter has been pressuring Toby to teach him to team rope. Peter is convinced that he is ready to move beyond the branding corral and into the roping arena. One of the largest barriers to teaching Peter to team rope has been that we have not had any team roping horses since Toby's head and heel horses passed away about five years ago, and Toby did not want to place Peter on a horse that was not already trained to team rope.

That obstacle was overcome on December 31, when Toby found a team roping horse for Peter. Now, Peter has his own horse to begin learning how to team rope on this spring. He is an 11 year old blue roan gelding whose registered name is Two Eyed LeRoy. Peter has chosen to call him Clancy. He was born on May 9, and is one year and five days older than Peter. As a result, he and Peter have many years of team roping ahead of them.

I will keep you posted on Peter and Clancy's progress as they learn to team rope!

New Look!

You may have noticed that McBride Family Adventures has a new and updated look. Graphic design is not my strength, so I sought out the help of Rebekah Louise at Le Charmed Boutique. The process was so easy, and I am very pleased with the way my blog looks! If you are looking to update your blog, I would highly recommend using Rebekah!

Cousins

William (4), Peter (10), Bryson (4 months), MacKenzie (3 weeks), Matthew (13), Joseph (2)

Until just over four years ago, Matthew and Peter were the only grandchildren on either side of our family. While they benefited greatly by being the only grandchildren, I always wanted them to experience having cousins. Growing up, some of my best memories were made on adventures with my cousins, and I always hoped that my children would have that same opportunity.

Since August of 2010, our family has grown significantly. William was born in August of 2010, Madison was born in January of 2011, Kennedy was born in April of 2012, Joseph was born in May of 2012, Bryson was born in September of 2014, and MacKenzie was born in January of 2015. In four years, our family exploded from two to eight grandchildren! We were able to capture a photo of six grandchildren last week, and I am hopeful that we can get all eight together in March when Jodi, Madison, and Kennedy are here to visit.

I am so excited that our family is growing, and I cannot wait for my boys to make lasting memories with their cousins!