When we were making plans to go to Utah a while back, my Grandpa Rudd said to be sure to tell Will to bring his boots so he could get them dirty. Get them dirty he did. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of him helping my grandpa and cousins move two bulls and a cow from the pens at the barnyard to the pasture which involved a lot of manure and two fairly stubborn bulls.
What I do have pictures of is the less dirty part of being a cowboy. Will rode my grandpa's horses for the first time, as did my nephew Sam. Watching Will ride was fun, but it was much more fun to watch Sam explore and enjoy the horses for the first time. I actually have some video, but left my new video camera in Utah so I decided not to wait for it. The whole week we were there, Sam was infatuated with the dogs and horses and we spend many hours walking around outside looking at the animals. On Easter, Ross was kind enough to go out in the pasture and lift up all of the kids to sit on the horses' backs, but we didn't have bridles or saddles so they couldn't ride. That was all it took for Sam to be hooked.
Later in the week, Ross came over and caught and saddled the horses and Sam had his first ride. I led him around the pasture and he was awesome, no fear at all. It was also a fun moment to spend with Grandpa Rudd - he was thrilled that someone was riding the horses and it was fun to see him and Sam interact. Friday, we talked my dad into catching and saddling the horse so he could ride again. It was fun, I think everyone except me ended up riding for at least a few minutes. I thought about trotting around a little to see if we couldn't have a Utah-born baby, but decided that 35 weeks was a little early for him to arrive. I must say I'm pretty impressed with my dad's and Ross' cowboy skills - and my sisters and mom as well. My dad even did some real cowboying and helped round up the bulls to take them to pasture.
I look forward to taking our son home to experience cowboy country sometime soon.
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