We’re back after yet another exciting trip to my grandparents Rockin’ R Ranch. With all good intentions on leaving first thing in the morning, we left late Friday afternoon for our 3 1/2 hour trip down to Antimony, UT only to encounter nightfall halfway through our trip. Anyone who is accustomed to traveling in rural areas knows that you are destined to have at least 5 near misses of the local animal life. After swerving away from a few jackrabbits, Jason thought he’d spice things up a bit and started swerving towards them instead. I didn’t find the thought as humorous as he did. We drove slowly through 3 herds of deer (all exceeding 15 at least) stopping entirely for one deer in particular, which stood 6 inches away from our car, looking in every direction but ours to see what all the commotion was about. After a minute, she finally noticed us, became startled and hopped away. That instance prompted our next topic of conversation - why blonds and deer have so much in common.

I made the mistake of telling my children a month ago that we were going. Everyday, we had to revisit the countdown calendar for proof that we weren’t leaving “tomorrow”. Going to the Rockin’ R has become more enjoyable now that we have children. They find excitement in everything down there, except for bedtime. Brianne and Jaryn spent the majority of their time on the swingset and playing in the dirt. They enjoyed decorating Easter eggs and adding to their stash of candy during the town Easter Egg hunt that my grandmother puts on each year. Jaryn especially loved the free reign he had with his cousins. Brianne danced around all weekend in her flashing tiara she got from the Easter Bunny. Beauen explored the ranch with Jason, who backpacked him around everywhere. He got to see the horses, play with a little puppy and had his cheeks kissed and pinched by every passing relative. I enjoyed the late night visits with my family, listening to my grandparents sing while grandpa Black played his guitar, eating Easter treats, and coming home with a box full of organic beef steaks, compliments of grandpa.

Despite the lack of sleep, the mystery hole in Brianne’s new capri’s, and the inevitable dirt that becomes caked just about everywhere, I always leave wondering how the time managed to slip by so quickly.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 24th, 2008 at 1:39 pm and is filed under children, family trips, holidays. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.