A-Horse, B-Four wheeler or C-BIKE....

Which one of these 3 items is the proper transportation when herding cattle. Well in our case
D-All of the above....

Every year, for the past 3 years, we have been able to go spend a weekend in Idaho with Derrick's older brother to help him move his cattle 8 miles down the road to a different pasture for the summer. Now you think that 8 miles really isn't a long ways, well tell the cows and calves that. This is actually an all day event. We usually start around 8:00 a.m. and get back to the house around 3:30 p.m. with and 30 min pizza break off the side of the road. Derrick has always enjoyed riding one of the horses and I am usually content riding in the truck that follows behind to slow down traffic, but this year I decided to shack things up a bit and actually join the herd... We had 6 horses, 8 four wheelers and 1 bicycle, as part of our crew this year. It was a little smaller then the past few years, but we still managed to get the job done. The boys really like riding the horse with their dad and wasn't ever to thrilled with having to get off the horse to get on with me, but it was better then having to get in one of the cars. The one time Logan came to ride with me he said "I'm ready to ride the cow now." For some reason he was set on riding one of the cows. Crazy kid! The crazy part is, is that I think Derrick was planning on getting one of the calves once we got to the pasture for him to get on, but when in started to hail the last mile of our ride, that idea was long gone. But even through the hail, the boys still refused to get in the truck.

Derrick's brother, Scott, was nice enough to give up his horse for one of his sister-in-laws to ride which left him walking for a lot of it, until he discovered the bike his father-in-law had in the back of his truck. Derrick even decided to take a turn on the bike so his brother could get back in the saddle again... Allie did SO good on this little excursion. I new she wouldn't do so well in the truck all day, so she was the main reason I decided to ride. She was happy as can be and because of the little contraption we concocted, she didn't even have to miss her nap. And the best part was I didn't have to hold her up that whole time. Now, it may be a little redneckish, but hey it worked! She did NOT cry even one time. It was great and actually some what relaxing.

This has actually been something that we have all come to enjoy and look forward to every year. For Derrick, just being in Idaho on a farm, dressing up like a cowboy, brings back a lot of childhood memories, as for my boys they are creating new memories I know they will always cherish.