Memorial Day; version 2011

When I think of all who have gone before me so that I can have the comforts and freedoms I enjoy, my heart is filled with gratitude.

Memorial day is a day our family celebrates our rich pioneer heritage, and in the past (when we lived in Utah) we've gone to the headstones of our loved ones to place flowers, reminisce, and laugh and enjoy our relatives.  Since moving to Idaho a little over ten years ago, we've (my family) have had the opportunity to be involved with the Historic Chesterfield Townsite, just a short three miles from my parents' home.   (seriously, if you live in SE Idaho and need a fun and inexpensive vacation that's family friendly, head that way!!!)

Memorial Day marks the opening of the townsite to tourists and locals during the summer season.  This is a day filled with fun, games, education, history, and much, much more.

This year, it was a day filled with rain.

The beautiful tithing house, picture taken from inside my warm car. :) 

I began the day by 'running' a 5K with my brother Keith and his wife, Tricia, and Katelyn.  We totally rocked it, and I totally walked it...well, the last 2 miles or so. :)  My mom graciously watched my kids and even brought up the whole clan to cheer for us from the last corner...go team Crandall!  (I really need to get in shape and get some decent 'workout' clothes. LOL! 

Katelyn, Keith, Tricia, and Me
Katelyn and Tricia finished in 30 minutes or so, and Keith
and I brought up the rear runners in a little bit longer.
My face was nearly purple...LOL! 

The Meetinghouse is newly renovated, so I spent a good deal of time trying to get a good picture or two...without much success with three children hanging on me and Deseret.  Ryan had to be back to work this day, so I flew solo with the much appreciated help from my family.  LOVE THEM!

Original Pedal Organ...I've played it before...super fun, super old!

Examples of period Sacrament cups and trays used.

There's quite the story that goes along with this
beautiful meeting house.  Apparently the LDS church
sent up someone from Salt Lake to correctly match
paint chips and styling true to the days when this
chapel saw its members congregate in its pews.
Beautiful colors, and I LOVE that all the memorabilia
is off the walls and in the Mercantile Store.
The banners on the back wall were used for the
different auxiliaries for parades and whatnot. 

Then we hunkered down for the long haul with layers and blankets and galoshes and enjoyed the festivities.  It was a blast!  A blast of cold wind, that is!  These poor California girls my brothers keep bringing home freeze...and so do my babies.  But we made it through the wind and rain and at some point snow...Just adds to the reverence and gratitude I have for my ancestors.

This day wouldn't be complete without a quick trip to the Log Store for some penny candy and treasures and trinkets.  I made my kids stop at the penny candy this year.

Then over to the Mercantile Store that is now housing all the historical pictures and memorabilia from the newly renovated church...the meeting house is fully restored with the Mercantile Store acting as a museum.

couldn't resist these colors and imagining all the
beautiful fabrics they might have sewn.

Then on up to the food tents for some good chow!

After eating with family and friends, and spilling hot chocolate and crying over it, we all headed home to warmth and a dry house...but I made my kids go to sleep in the car by promising them a fun afternoon filled with swimming at Grandma's.  This enabled me to experiment with the camera and weather 'conditions' and visit some of the sites I had not yet seen.  Luckily I had Deseret with me, and we accomplished what we set out to do...make the kids take a nap.  LOL!

This cabin is in the process of being rebuilt log by log,
from my dad's ranch.  Each log was numbered previous to disassembly,
and is now being put back together.
How would you have liked to hand-hewn each of those logs?
Or watched your husband and sons do it?  WOW!

Deseret got to make butter...

the boys finally fell asleep!
This is the only day they had naps this week. 

I had never been to the cemetery up on the hill, so while my babe slept, I drove around it a few times, and admired the beautiful historic headstones from the warmth of my car.

Can you see the snow coming down in the mountains?
Yeah. It was wet and miserable. 

Chesterfield was settled on the Oregon Trail.

This building was newly rebuilt, and is a dugout.  The parents
stayed in the bottom, with a ladder through a hole in the
upstairs portion you can see in this picture.
Humbled me to see how much room they lived in...Charming, yet cramped.  

Every year my dad works volunteers in the Blacksmith's Shop.  He makes
Prairie Diamond rings from horseshoe nails to give away, and teaches
bratty little kids like mine how to make rope, then gives them a piece. :)
A new addition this year is that gorgeous "Knot Board" that his scout
troop made (I'm sure he did most of the work!  LOL!).  It's fun to see
my dad's handiwork around. :)

What a day!  I kept my promise and went swimming with the boys in the pool and watched Tanner show me everything that he is learning on the swim team...It was a very full day!  But very enjoyable.

I did it!

I did a 5K this morning...last minute decision, with my little sister, and little brother and his wife...we rocked it!  It was mostly fun, and I'm not terribly crippled yet...so I guess I survived.  LOL!

We did a 'trial run' on Saturday (because I haven't gone running for about 2 years), which left me aching and dreading the 'race'...but looking at the moment (all forty-five minutes of it) it wasn't as bad as it could have been!  Despite the two inches of mud and gravel for 2.5 miles of it, I didn't die, and I didn't have to crawl across the finish line.

More updates and pictures when I can get home to my own computer.  :)

***I should clarify...I never said I ran the whole thing.  I ran the first 3/4 mile, than walked/jogged, mostly walked the rest. It was brutal...those muddy hills were hard...and there were a lot of them!!!***

Spring Round Up 2011

I married a city boy.  And I love him to pieces... But I miss the country life.  And for the past five or so years I've even missed working calves...because I've either been growing babies, working, or both.  This year I was determined to be a part of the nostalgia, and wouldn't you know it, I was in the way half the time.  :)  Like really in the way...like in the gate so the cattle wouldn't come into the right pen.  oops!  Sorry, Dad, and Keith, Reed, Clay, and everyone else. 

Luckily Spring Round Up was the same day as my mom's birthday, between Katelyn's HS Graduation and Memorial Day and a million other things.  I decided to make a mini-vacation out of it, and just stayed at my parents' house for a week.  It was fabulous.  

**Please don't cringe too much at the pictures...I'm learning as I go and thought I had the logo placement/specifics worked out...so sorry if they're driving you bonkers...but I am too tired to go back and take them off right now.  

Right in the way.  I thought I was out of sight,
but those cows and their calves saw me from  clear across the corral.
Still, I had some fun shots from this perspective, 'hiding' behind another fence.

Beautiful back-light.  The dirt was perfect...not dusty, not muddy.  

From L to R:
Tanner, Kortlen, Katelyn, Deseret, and Taylor
In the calving shed, out of the way in the way

This little calf made us all smile.  He was one of the ones to get past my mom
and Clay tackled the little thing to work him.  Isn't that face irresistible?
Such a cutie.

My dad.
♥

Sorting the calves from their mamas.  Loud, fun, and what needs to happen.

The weather this week was absurd; rain, snow, sun, wind, actually, that's all normal.
This particular day was beautiful, cool, damp and perfect.

Keith sorting...

This is my little brother...he's a financial guru and has an awesome job in SLC.
While he wasn't working, he was working.   You can tell his horse understands.
Best day of the year; closing deals (four, to be exact!  Go Keith!) and  having fun on the ranch.

Bar-C-X is my dad's brand.  Stephanie is  probably responsible for the embroidery.
And it's a given that neither my brothers or dad can't go anywhere without their pen. 

My dad and brothers have some serious leather-working skills.
Beautiful workmanship and talent right there.

Reed had two friends (both on the right) come up from SLC to experience working cattle with nordforks.
Here, they are getting instructions on how to use the nifty contraptions.

Nordforks, sometimes all five going at once,
 in the foreground; eliminates the use of a calf-table (takes for.ev.er) or tackling,
though some calves manage to  get full-on contact when they aren't caught in the forks.
My poor youngest brother, Clay (upper right corner) got to castrate...
but once he got it figured out he was on a roll.

getting worked

Funny how everyone does their 'own' thing their 'own' way.
This is Keith (or Calvin?) branding.  
My dad brands from behind, or from the topside of the calf.
The brand still has to be on the back left hip, but each does it from their own vantage point.

Happy Birhday, mom!!!
She manned the gate and ran it like a pro.
Those chaps were made for her by  her youngest, Clay, if I have my story right.
She spent 20 years growing babies and caring for them and feeding the men and
hoodlums she called her children so 'the job' got done...
now she's in the corral with her sweetheart, instead of behind the scenes.

Ryan had to work in I.F. this day, but my boys stayed with me.
I told them if they got off the back of the truck they'd get
shots and ear tags, branded and ear-marked.
They were angels and stayed right where I sat them,
looking like the brothers off "Second-Hand Lions"
and driving us crazy with those pretend bb guns.
Kortlen slept like a baby in the house for the majority of the morning. 

Deseret made sure all the tags were handed out in order...
and she helped me quite a bit with my boys. 

Katelyn with the tagging gun...She looks gorgeous no matter what she does.  :)

Reed roping calves.

Dad watching his operation run smoothly.
We were fortunate to not have any rodeos or mishaps...
Such a wonderful day! 

While a roper (Reed) holds the feet, the nordforks hold the head and
the calf is worked: branded, ear-tagged and marked
with notch in each ear, castrated if need be, and vaccinated.
It's quite the show when every fork is full, and runners doing their jobs.
In fact, it's pretty awesome to watch, and be a part of!

Reed, again. 

My dad (left) and his little brother, Calvin (right)
observing the younger generation get 'er done.

"I'm hungry," says Tanner.
"It's eleven o'clock.  Lunch is in two hours.  Drink some water,"
as I'm loading my tagging gun again.
"But I'm hungry!!!"
"Cowboy up, son.  Lunch is a long time coming."
This kid got lucky his Auntie had to pick up a friend and
grabbed him some Cheeto's from the lunch table.  

We finally got smart when I had to got to help.
Gave Desi the baby, and had her hand tags to the boys
who handed them to me and the other help.
Brilliant way to keep hungry boys busy.  :) 

It was a fabulous day, finished off with some birthday dinner and some pool time...

Can't hardly wait to get back for Fall Round Up...which is more or less 'less' exciting and more work.  :) 

Thursday Fun

Oh, my goodness.  We had so much fun getting away from it all, that I keep coming upon more and more pictures!

Off we go! 

We (Mom, Katelyn, Desi, and Me) went on a brisk and quick bike ride...only 4 miles, but long enough for three tuckered out boys to fall asleep at 5 pm...

Snug as bugs in a rug.

Cold enough for coats, gloves, and a face mask.

We laughed so hard every time Taylor drifted off...his head would crash down on my back and then slowly go back up, only to come crashing down again.  He was so tired!  One of the reasons I ended up getting the bike seat he's in, is because it had a higher back and some sides like a carseat, so that when he or any other child would fall asleep, they could relax...it must be tilted at an awkward angle or something, because he preferred to have his head falling forward on my back.  LOL!

In the world of milestones, we have a climbing baby who refuses to crawl!  :)

Kortlen loved this small step under my mom's kitchen island/bar stools.  So much that he'd play on it for 30-40 minutes every time we were in the kitchen (we spent a lot of time in the kitchen!).  He even loved the stairs down by our room in the basement...but the little stinker will. not. crawl.

I'm not wanting him to be completely mobile yet, trust me!  But I'm slightly concerned he's not crawling yet, and he turns one next month.  He can, however, still get wherever he wants by scooting and rolling.  He's a fast one!