Rugged by Nature

I have to confess. I didn't grow up in this life nor did I ever envision my life heading down this path. I don't know what I had in mind for my life but living in Wyoming, married to a rancher is FAR from what I could have ever dreamed. In fact, I grew up 1000 miles away in a suburban/agriculture town in the central valley of Northern CA. There, you may know a few farmers but most people worked in an office and lived in a track home. I spent my free time playing league sports and riding bikes on asphalted streets. But looking back, I guess I  always knew I wanted something different. My close friends would tease me when I would describe the kind of guy I was interested in because it was so different than the guys we grew up with. I'd describe a mans-man, rugged and outdoorsy, with a strong character. Sure there were a few guys we knew that can be described as this, but mostly I wanted a man of God. After graduating I was up for an adventure and spent my first year of college in Oregon. I then made a plan to make my way East studying in different states as I went. My next move was to Wyoming and well, that's where my plans changed because that's where I met Mr. Rugged.

Our first "dates" were spent coyote hunting on a beautiful, and windy ranch outside of Laramie where he worked while going to school. He was adventurous and interesting, and he captured my heart. We spent summer vacations on his parent's ranch and that's where I fell in love with the animals, the lifestyle and the land. To make a long story short, we married, moved around a bit but felt God and the ranch pulling us to move home. So that's we did. Mr. Rugged has not changed one bit. He spends his free time building fires in isolated draws and sometimes shoots and cooks a rabbit over the fire just for the fun of it, in JANUARY. He got a bivy sack for Christmas this year, which, for anyone who doesn't know, is a waterproof sack that fits one person and a sleeping bag and zips closed over your head. He was so excited to use it, he had to try it out that night, sleeping ON the snow WHILE it snowed. Is he crazy, you might ask. I think he's just rugged by nature. It's truly amazing how God's plan for your life is so much better than you can plan for yourself.

Hopes for a new, back to our roots, kind of life

August 2014 we moved back to my husband's hometown in Wyoming and into a farmhouse a mile from his Granny and Pa and a little further from his parents. He gave up a corporate job with lots of potential to move us back to his home where we had big plans of getting into the cattle business and raising our kids in the wide open country of my husband's youth and around family.

                          

I was newly pregnant with our second, and I had so many hormones racing through my veins I ripped half the house apart and with all the nesting energy I could muster and the help of a patient husband, put it all(or mostly all) back together in time for his arrival. During that first year we also bought 25 of the prettiest black angus heifer calves you've ever seen. We've since bred them, added a handful more and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first-born calves this Spring! Let me just say the day we put our own brand on our own cattle was a HUGE day!

                         

Along with learning the ins and outs of raising kids and cattle, I hope to be adding some other barnyard animals to our little homestead, and growing the little roadside stand business Granny and I started last fall. Life is good and we're thankful everyday for all of God's many blessings!