Our Honeymoon

First of all I have to wish my wonderful Father a Happy 50th Birthday!!!

Now onto the play by play of our Honeymoon!

Thursday as I packed so we could go on our trip to AZ Brynlee moved some boxes and things around in the kitchen to get to the freezer to get....

 an old Frosty!

 Friday morning we got up around 6 am and loaded up the wrangler very carefully playing tetras. We then loaded up the dog and Brynlee and got on the road! We grabbed some breakfast burritos on our way out of town and with a head wind it took us roughly 5 hours to get to my parents beautiful new home! Once there Mom gave us our amazing gifts they brought back from Ireland for us and we visited a while. Then Brynlee and Cowgirl stayed behind while James and I where off to the ranch!

We stopped for lunch at a place in town called "Niftey's" a good friend of mine is a manager there and 2 of her children who are also my friends work there as well. The food was outstanding! Then we where on the road again.

after getting up over the mountain we turned on a dirt road and I was flooded with memories. I pointed out to James where I had gotten stuck in the snow and called him while waiting for help, and where I had fish tailed on ice into a tree.

Then we arrived at the ranch. The gate was a new feature from when I used to work there.

When we where let in the gate we parked at the welcome cabin and checked in. When we first walked into the welcome cabin I was surprised and pleased to see Casey, an owner of the ranch and Roxanne, a wrangler I worked with when I had first started but was no longer there when I left! We where then escorted by a wrangler on horse back to our cabin.

Our cabin was beautiful and opened out back right to the horse pastures. We brought our things in and got our tour. I held a horse while Rox checked in the couple in the next cabin over. Then I dragged James down to the horse ops barn. I was anxious to go see my babies.

On our way out the front door I took pictures of the only 2 trees that still had pretty fall colors on them. I guess all the trees had dropped their leaves just a week earlier. At the barn I got to meet 3 new babies Sassy, Saucy, and below Shamus. All where SO cute! Casey went out in the pasture with us and we got to see all the old horses and a few new ones too. When we came back up they had pulled up Domino, a black and white paint draft horse. He was born when I worked at the ranch. Dom is now 4 years old and his head is longer than my torso. You'll see pictures of him further down.

After visiting the horses we wandered a bit then went back to our cabin to clean up for dinner. Before Dinner there was a meet and greet with Brady Ellison, an Olympic silver medalist in archery, and his wife Sami. We met 2 very nice couples that night who left the next day. Dinner was spectacular, and I had deep fried Oreos for desert! After dinner we went back to the room, showered, and laid in the provided robes in front of a lovely fire, before heading to bed.

The next day we where up and running at 8am our time but only 7am AZ time so we took our time getting ready in the morning, went down to the barn and said good bye to Saucy who was headed for a new home,

and played around before heading to breakfast and we where still the secound couple in for breakfast and only just barely.

After breakfast we goofed around some more before heading out to the archery range for a clinic given by Brady. There was hot chocolate, cookies, dogs, and lots of fun people. James and I really enjoyed the clinic.

I have to admit holding an Olympic medal was pretty cool! How many times do you get an opportunity to do this in a life time???

After he finished most of his talking and answering questions, Brady shot his bows.

When he was done shooting everyone else got an opportunity to shoot if they wanted to. James and I had borrowed bows and had fun with them.

James got a few pointers and talked with Brady a while

I, for the most part, just shot a few arrows taking in Brady's pointers and then I was done.

James continued shooting even after everyone had left and the ranch ops guys where cleaning up.

After word James and I visited with Sami and Brady about life and guns near the lake. Then while they stayed and fished at the lake James and I went back to our cabin to eat. We had a trail ride at 2 and it was already 12:30.

After lunch we headed back to the barn (my favorite place to be) and went for a trail ride with Sami, Brady, and a couple names Jill, and Bill. Brady even brought his baby Dachshund Duke on the ride in a little pack.

James rode a horse named Rebel and I rode Dusty. Rebel had been there before I started working there and Dusty was a fairly new if I remember correctly.

We rode 1/2 way up the knoll and back. it was beautiful but I was disappointed to hear they no longer rode to the top of the knoll.

After riding we wandered, and visited, and James did some fishing. At 4pm we did some leather working where I made a belt for Brynlee. Then we headed back to the room where we cleaned up and went to dinner. Dinner was once again fabulous and I had deep fired Oreos for desert AGAIN!!! That night when we got back to the room we spent time soaking in the tub before once again enjoying a roaring fire.

The next morning we where up "early" again, so we got cleaned up and ready for our drive, loaded up the jeep, drove to the dinning cabin, then checked out at the welcome cabin. We went in for a wonderful breakfast and then I was off to the arena to ride my old friend Darla.

Darla is a Percheron draft horse.

I rode for a while on my own while James looked on and Micah the wrangler held Rebel who was brought down for James who didn't want to ride. Micah climbed up on Rebel and rode with me for a little while. Then Jill and Bill came in and mounted up to go on a trail ride. After they left Rox came down to the arena to work a young horse and we rode together a bit. I love this big 'ol girl!

When I was done riding I unsaddled Darla and took her down to the pasture since I knew she had been brought up just for me. I also wanted to get pictures of Dom who was out in the pasture.

this is a picture of Dom roughly 4 months before I left the ranch. He was maybe 6-7 months old and as big as the yearlings he shared the pasture with. Yes that is his mothers head in the shot. When I left Dom was halter training and we where working with his feet and mainly working on his ground manners.

Dom is now 4 years old and already bigger than Tom who was the biggest horse on the ranch when I left and they are BIG BOYS!!! The funny thing is that Dom isn't even done growing!

After we left the horses in the field we went and visited, sat, and James got in a little more fishing.

Then it was lunch and the sad good bye to this amazing ranch. We really loved every minute of our stay and we have never been so completely relaxed!

We drove down off the mountain and to my parents house we stayed and visited for a short time, gathered Brynlee and cowgirl's things, grabbed some armor for James' Halloween costume and headed home. Right away Cowgirl fell asleep,

and Brynlee was enthralled in her movie. It was a mostly quiet ride home. We stopped in Gallop dinner then got on the road again.

The moon was beautiful and the drive felt very long but it was an amazing vacation! I have to give a HUGE thank you to my parents for helping us and for watching Brynlee and Cowgirl, I also have to give a really big thank you to Hidden Meadow Ranch for our honeymoon. None of this would have been possible with out them and their generosity, Thank you Casey! Also a quick thank you to Brady, Sami, Jill, and Bill for making our trip even more fun. It was great to get to know you all.