Welcome Home January (and Pete)

I am so truly blessed. My life is complete again. I have my family, I have my dog, and I finally have my horse back! With an addition, January's colt. We have decided to call him Pete. Unfortunately, we don't get to keep him forever, but we do get him until sometime around July. He was born three weeks ago today. He's mama's Easter baby!

 We arrived safely. The weather was wonderful.

 We took a few minutes to visit Pete's papa, Docen Eddy

 He is a sweet heart

We stayed the night with my dad's cousin, Ashby, on Wednesday night.

Then Thursday morning we loaded up Pete and January and were on our way.

Just a quick trip. Down to Cheyenne and back in two days. 

I just couldn't help but go say Hi every time we stopped. :)

 The weather wasn't as kind on the way home but somehow we made it safely.

Of course January left a wonderfully big present in the trailer for me to clean up.

 

 He was unsure he could get down. But he did it!

 Meeting everyone.

Of course I had to ride for at least a few minutes!

 

Mamma is in good shape. She is getting use to being a pasture pet again

but she's still my wonderfully beautiful Janaury. 

 

As for Pete, he is growing with each day. He is awfully curious and superbly sweet, 

and has definitely captured my heart.  

 

Hello Star Valley

Before I begin updating you, let's paint a picture in our minds.

First, imagine you're in the middle of a field. There isn't much around you. A house with a red barn and large chicken coop in the near distance. And, some horses. You're surrounded by a valley of mountains, covered in snow. There's snow all around you. It blankets the field around you, climbing all the way up the mountains. You take a deep breath in, smelling the fresh air, and a hint of the smoke floating up out of the chimney.

Depending on who you are, this may sound pretty inviting. I feel like every one has their perfect place. Or, their paradise. What ever you call it, everyone has one. And this perfect place you've just imagined, this is mine.  Most of you probably think I'm crazy. How could I want to be in the cold surrounded by snow? Well, let me explain.

Let's think of another perfect place. We are on a beach. The sun shining down on us. The waves rolling up onto the beach. The warm sand beneath our skin. For me, there's a few things wrong with this picture. First, water is my worst fear. All of my nightmares are of either me or my parents in the middle of the ocean, drowning. Second, I don't like heat. And yes, there are ways to get out of the heat unless you're on an island, let's say Guam. Third, sand gets everywhere. There is no way around that at all.

The reason I'm sharing this with you, is not to make you dislike beaches. Or the sun. Or any of the other things that come along with being on an island, but to hopefully help you understand why I wanted to leave. Well, those reasons, and the fact that there are only about six horses on that island.

So, if you haven't already guessed, we are no longer on Guam. We are back in good old Star Valley. Dad and I flew to Hawaii and stayed there for about a week and a half. Then Nicole and Porter flew there. Dad and I met them in the airport and waited for 45 minutes or so. Then, boarded another airplane to fly to San Fransisco, CA. We had a three hour lay over there, then continued on to Boise, ID. This was towards the end of January so we were in Boise for my birthday. We slept for two days then drove to Star Valley.

We are now living in one side of a duplex we bought, planning to rent out the other.
I finally have my dog back, all four of my guitars, and I got to drive to Cheyenne and visit my mare, January, who has just had her baby on the 5th of April. He is a sorrel, the same color as his mamma, with a star on his forehead.

These were taken an hour after this little guy was born. I'm a grandma now. hah!

I had the opportunity to travel half way around the world with my family. Even though I didn't enjoy it as much as I had expected, I'm so glad we went. We got to go together as a family and that alone made the whole trip worth it. I've learned a lot in the past 6 months and am now a pro at flying. I have made memories (both good and bad), and have had adventures that most kids my age don't get the chance to.

An Adventure for the Family. (AKA Forced Family Fun)

The adventure begins... with everyone in our little Chevy car, on the side of the road, trying to find the head of a trail that unbeknown to us was like joining Bear Grills on the show "Man vs. Wild."

Dad said it would take about an hour to get to our destination. So off we all went with backpacks full of McDonald's burgers and water bottles. Little did we know what was between us and our destination.

We walked. And walked. And rested. And walked some more. All the while finding shoes along the trail of red dirt.

We figured we had to eat sometime. So we decided to eat at the half way point. 

Guess what the half way point was? 

A tank from World War II. Yep. An old abandoned tank. 

It had bullet holes in the side. Dad said he thought they were from an airplain dive bombing it because of the size of the holes and the angle they were shot through from. 

This I believe is the engine.

We enjoyed our little break. And so far the hike really hadn't been much of a hike at all. So onward we went. Five little ducks following our father into the jungle.

We didn't get very far from the tank when our trail became this:

A steep hill with stair like holes. It didn't help all that much that here is when it started raining. Hah!

The trail stayed about the same for a while. The rain came and went as it pleased. We crossed one shallow creek, then came another rather larger one. The water was a beautiful blue color. Someone (thankfully) had tied a rope to a tree on each side, above a log to get across it. 

After crossing the creek the trail was back to an easy walk. For a while. 

We didn't walk for very long before, 

We saw it. Down below us. 

There it was. Sigua Falls. Well, the top of it any way. We wanted to be at the bottom of it. 

But it was such a beautiful sight. It looked so lovely. We continued on. And that was where it got hard.

Back to this again. But worse. And this was just the beginning of it. 

It was like this for a while. Until it became this:

One rope on each side of the trail. Which now was basically a pit. And you can't tell from this but it was really steep. 

But still! We continued! Mom and dad were above me, and Nicole, porter, Morgan, and Harrison were below me. 

I took my time. Hoping no one had gotten hurt. But then I reached the bottom. And this is what I saw;

Nicole and the boys had already jumped in and gotten comfortable. 

It was so beautiful. When mom and dad got there dad just jumped in as well. 

Mom took her time. Hah it was cold. Just about like Star Valley water. ;)

We all had a good time. It was hot and a hard hike, but we all kept a good attitude and enjoyed that little adventure. By the time we made it to the falls, I think we all had a pretty good idea why there were shoes, and shoe soles, and shoe bottoms, every where. 

In the end we were a mess. And we were tired. But just about everyone said it was worth it. Thank you dad for making us go on that adventure.