We have some fun family traditions around here! In the Fall, we carve TONS of pumpkins for fun! {If you have never seen our pumpkins, you MUST check them out!} But along with the pumpkin carving extravaganza, almost every year, Dan {my cute hubby} goes to Jacob Lake, AZ to help with the Round up. It is a fun family tradition that has been going on since he was six or seven years old. He grew up in the city {Murray, Utah} and so it is fun for him and his family to go play “cowboy” for a few days. Well, since I grew up in a small town where the population in cows was higher than the population of people, I feel right at home on these trips. I try and go, but since we started having kiddos, I have opted to stay home with the kiddos a few times so that Dan could go and have fun with his family and friends. Well, Creed is one years old now and so it was a little easier to make the trip since he isn’t an infant anymore. YIPEEEEE! We had a blast and the kids were absolutely stoked to come.
I tried to explain what would happen for the kids’ sake, but all they cared about was getting the ride the horses. 🙂
And they rode, and rode, and rode. 
Creed got on a horse for the first time, and as you can see, he LOVED it! Connelly held him tight. 🙂
Londyn rode solo for the first time, and her smile says it all!
Creed loved the cows, and he took a few naps here and there in the car to relax out of the wind. 
Then the kids rode the horses again! This time bareback! They found some lizards to play with too!
Then the work began! The calves are branded with the owner’s brand to indicate ownership {it only hurts for a minute}.
The “cowboys” lasso and “throw” the calves old school style. Here is a fun picture of Dan and Connelly {my seven year old son} throwing a calf together. 
By the time we got home, we all looked like this: D.I.R.T.Y!
We loved every minute of it! Did you do something fun this weekend!?!? Did you have a great Mother’s Day? My family spoiled my ROTTEN! I even got to take a nap! {What a RARE thing around here these days!}
xoxo, Brooke
Looks like fun and I bet the weather was cooler there than it is here in Phoenix. Thanks for sharing.
Fun and dirt, what could be better? I grew up in Murray , UT too.
From one small town girl to another: love it! There is nothing better in my mind than growing up, and raising kids, in a small town. Not that I don't LOVE a trip to some of my favorite big cities every now and then 😉
Shari
We were branding too! No pictures from this weekend since I was roping, but you can check out some of our family branding shots from earlier this spring here: http://tiffanyinreallife.blogspot.com/2012/05/spring-branding-2012.html
I have never ridden a horse bare back OR seen anything be branded before. I have become much too 'city' lol.
Looks hot, dirty and fun! The branding was a little 'ouch' but riding horseback in the open looks so romantic.
It looks like a fun family weekend! So cool to see the process!! 🙂
http://munchtalk.blogspot.com/
FUN!! Easily the best part of being from a farm! We chased cows to the lease this weekend, (got a huge sunburn to prove it! lol) For May long we are branding my Uncle's cows! The kids LOVE it! 🙂
Jacinda
I was wondering if you were going to get any nasty comments! Looks like a blast. Put me on a horse and I'm a happy girl. I enjoy a good steak every now and then and loooooove my milk 🙂 My kids would have had a blast!!!
If readers would like to discuss this post with me specifically, you can e-mail me at allthingsthrifty at gmail dot com, however, I will not allow negative comments about my personal family traditions to remain public on my blog. Disagree you may, but this is my policy. Thank you for understanding.