A Look Back at 2023

The last day of 2023! I’ve been looking back on all of the memories. It was a year of ups and downs, new projects, and things that never came to life, hard work, and things that I’ll never forget, lots of rodeo, lots of ranch work, and a whole lotta love for my girls and my number one!

Tessa started 5th grade this year at school in our neighboring town. It was her first year competing with the ‘big kids’ in rodeo (the junior high division is 5th-8th grade). She worked hard with her favorite horse, Solo, for more of her events and had good ole Rooster for goat tying. She had a year of living her best life - from riding Solo in the dark, cold and muddy and barefoot, to getting up before sunrise and duck hunting with her besties before school.

JJ kept us all entertained and laughing again this year :) She started 7th grade and is doing a homeschool program online and helping out in the shop a ton! She competed in all the rodeo events throughout the year (barrel racing, pole bending, team roping, breakaway roping, goat tying, and ribbon roping) on her faithful ranch horse, Stretch. I love seeing them ride together - he just loves her so much!

She took ownership of an orphan calf and named her Princess Penelope. She’s very friendly but likes to poop on my porch! JJ and Brian tried grafting her on a momma who had a stillborn, but it didn’t take, so was JJ’s bottle baby for awhile!

Maisie moved up from junior high this year - she’s in 9th grade now! She started at the local high school, so she and Francie are able to be there together for some of the day, which is great! She’s been competing in barrels and poles on her mare, Tater, and she’s semi-retiring her old faithful horse, Rooster (he’s 23!) for her new roping mare, Kitty, who joined the ranch this year.

A big highlight for Maisie this year was a fun girl’s trip to the Bay Area for school dance dress shopping! We had 6 freshman girls and 3 moms join us at Jannie and Grampery’s house and it was such a blast. Maisie organized the whole weekend and loved having her sweet friends at her grandparents’ house. We kicked off the weekend with a pizza party and a surprise visit from one of her best friends who lives out of town. We shopped till we dropped (2 malls and 8 hours!) but everyone found a dress that they loved and stocked up on Sephora makeup and had an awesome time in the ‘big city.’

Francie started 10th grade this year - she’s doing online school for half of the day and then driving to the high school for the second half of classes. A major highlight for Francie this year was qualifying for the Junior World Finals in Las Vegas. It was a big goal for her and she worked really hard to make it happen. She and Redman had a beautiful run in the first round to place 12th - the second round didn’t go as well as she hoped with two barrels down, but she came out of the arena “composed and gracious'“ as Brian (the best rodeo support dad!) said. She was proud to be there and happy with the work they put in to complete on that big of a stage.

The other huge highlight was back in October when she got her DRIVER’S LICENSE! She passed on her first try (some ranch kids don’t since ranch driving is so different than the rules on the road!) She got dinged for swinging too wide on her turns because that’s what she’s used to doing when she’s pulling a trailer. Watching her pull out of the driveway for the first time to go to a volleyball game felt like such a milestone in parenting. I’m so happy and proud of her, but am also missing her sweet little baby face!

Brian was happiest this year when he was checking cows with his wife ;) and a daughter or two. He was up before the sun each and every day. It was coffee and computer work, then cattle, pigs, and sheep in between fixing something at the restaurant, helping things run smoothly with USDA at the butchery, and making sure harvesting the livestock he’s worked so hard to raise was done right. He bottle fed orphaned calves, helped his daughters with their new horses, paid the bills, and sorted the never-ending paperwork. He came home every night to help with dinner, chat with his girls, enjoy a beer, fix the washing machine, or all of the above! He was dog-tired but up to do it all again the next morning. He wouldn’t trade this life for anything… and neither would I!