One Friday in August, Mom, Kayla, Josiah, and I went to the fair. Josiah is a little boy that has stayed with us once a week throughout the summer. When we arrived there, we first watched a magic show. I so wished that he would teach us how to do a trick! One of the tricks, he read the directions aloud while doing the trick. Even then, we couldn't figure out how he did it. He took a banana, folded it in half, YUCK! and placed it into a handkerchief. He then squeezed the bag with the banana inside it, shook out the handkerchief and out fell a yellow handkerchief instead of a mushed banana!! I was very impressed to say the least! We saw some other tricks that he did, like, making candles come out of handkerchiefs and a bowling ball come out of a book. It was a great show. We then made our way to where another attraction was taking place. This one was having dogs jump off a dock into a pool of water. The length that they jumped was measured and the one that jumped the farthest won. The winner jumped 22 feet! We then checked out the buildings that contained the items that we had placed in the fair. I won first place on a blanket and shawl that I crocheted. Corbin won first place on a card that he drew. Kayla won first place on several things that she entered including two dresses that she sewed and a hat and booties that she crocheted. Calvin won third place on a picture of a dinasaur with it's shadow that he drew. Then we bought a bag of Kettle Corn and savoured each delicious bite! We met up with our friends, the Byrums, and watched a goats being judged. There were about six contestents showing off their goats. It was fun watching the different personalities of the goats. There was one that was wellbehaved and the worst one was jumping around, all the others were inbetween. We also went through a reptile barn and saw huge snakes, large toads, and a teeny owl. There was even a goose that ate grass out of our hand! It was know dinnertime, so we all piled into the Byrum's fifteen seater van and went to Qdoba. We had some excellent burritos there. We headed back to watch the Rodeo!!! The grandstands were packed full with excited, expectant people. We tried to find a spot to sit and eventually found ourselves with standing room only, but Rachal Byrum and I sought out a seat in the grandstands and were rewarded!!! There we watched as cowboys were let out of chutes on bucking horses. All stayed on their steeds for the six seconds. Then two cowboys on their well trained horses, would ride over and help the cowboy off the bucking bronc.The highlight of the show were the Bull Wrestlers. I am sure glad that I was not one of those cowboys. I would not have liked to grab a bull by his horns, jump off my horse, and pull the bull over on his back. There was a clown who acted like he couldn't ride his motercycle, so when someone told him to choke it, he grabbed it around the handlebars and choked it!! He manged to start it and rode it almost falling over the handlebars, then revving it up he rode it up on a jump that was attached to a semi-trailer and flew over the semi-trailer!! We stayed the whole time and left the fair at 9:00 after ten hours of fun!!

The Hike
This is the first time we rode our horses in the woods. Our whole family went. It was a lot of fun. Kayla, Jordan, and I were the only ones that rode our horses and everyone else probably had fun. I played like I was an Indian and cantered without holding onto the saddle horn! It was a sunny day. I was cantering a lot. It was very pretty. It sure would be fun to live out there, but I am thankful that God let us have a trailer to take our horses out there. Daddy gave me a stick and I played like it was my gun. I went ahead of the others a long way. It was fun to be alone. Kayla wanted to ride my horse a little bit and Jordan wanted to ride Kayla's horse a little bit. So I walked. I found a stick and played like it was my pistol. I was a little sick, so when I ran, I coughed a bit, so Daddy carried me. We met some other hikers on the way. Then we went back to our trailer and we met another man, his daughter, and his dog. The man worked with Dad a while ago. While they were talking, Kayla and I got on our horses bareback and rode around. Written by Calvin, age 8.


A hike and Trail ride
On September 1, 2008, Calvin and I went on our first trail ride. Our family had decieded to take a hike. We were borrowing a friend's trailer, so our family could take two horses if we wanted to, we decided that would be a good idea and lots of fun. So, we loaded up Ginger and Bullet and put their saddles and equipment in the back of our van. Then got into the van and drove to a park where horses were allowed. We saddled them up and started down the trail. Calvin rode Ginger and I rode Bullet. We went down the rather short trail and then we decieded to do it again, so we did it one more time. Corbin rememberd that we could cross the road and there would be three more trails. One of the trails was short, the other one was a little longer, and the third was even longer. We decided to take the short one. Calvin looked like a little Indian running Ginger down the trail without holding on. Daddy seeing how Calvin was having great fun and making war whoops, found Calvin a stick that looked like a gun. Then after getting a picture, he saw that the gun was too big and ackward for him to carry. Dad found him a smaller stick that looked like a pistal. Off he went, galloping down the trail. Soon, we were back at the starting line. Jordan wanted to have a turn on Bullet so we headed back to our van and exchanged the small saddle for a bigger one. Jordan got on and we headed back across the road and went down the middle-sized trail. I walked for half of the trail then Calvin got off Ginger and I rode her the rest of the way. Ginger was a lot of fun to ride. It was getting time to go home and eat dinner, so we loaded up the horses and headed home. We all had a wonderful time that day. The End. Written by Kayla, age 10


Horses and Hikes
One afternoon, our family decided to take advantege of our friend's horse trailer and the semi-warm day and go for a hike/ride. After loading the two horses, Bullet and Ginger, into the trailer, we were on our way. After arriving at the park, we backed the horses out of the trailer, saddled them up and were off! Kayla and Calvin rode first. Kayla for the most part walking beside us, Calvin fearlessly charging far down the trail in front. Then just as suddenly, he would come holloring and whooping towards us. After making a loop around one side of the road twice, we went over the road and walked it's short loop. Then Kayla graciously allowed me the privledge of taking a turn. We swapped saddles and I swung aboard. So often I have always been training a horse and so rarely, just enjoying the ride, so this was a special treat. Bullet wanted to trot, but I easily kept him at a walk. I wanted to enjoy the ride to the fullest. Birds were flitting around, the wind was gently blowing, but with a cold streak to it. As I gazed at all the different shades of colors, especially green, I was amazed at how they all fitted together into a beautiful picturesque setting. I imagined I was riding alone and back in the 1700's with Robinhood hiding with his band amongst the bushes, or maybe that I was taking a load of goods down the hill when robbers would dash out and surround me. I had a lovely time. There seemed to be a certain element of magic in the air. Then once, I allowed Bullet to trot, but before long his muscles bunched together and we were flying, flying down the trail at a grand lope. Then too soon it was time to leave and we crossed the road back to where our small trailer sat. 'Fore long however, we were hailed and turning to look saw Dad's old co-worker and friend coming towards us along with his daughter, Rachel, and dog, Jewel. We spent a while chatting and getting to know each other once again. Kayla and Calvin mounted their steeds bareback and rode circles around us. We all had a glorious time. Written by Jordan (me) age 17.

We have done so much these past few weeks that I will just have to summerize some of the smaller events and hopefully go into more detail on the bigger ones.

We have been doing some canning. We have canned Pears, Peaches, and Tomatoes, and also dried Pears, Jerky, Tomatoes and made dehydrated crackers.

We sold our horse Blue. The people that bought him have ridden him and just loved him! I am so glad. Blue was and is such a great all around horse.

One of my bucklings died, due to worms. (At least that is what I think caused it) When I noticed that he wasn't doing very well, I thought that it was because he was dehydrated. I began syringing liquid down him every hour. He seemed to do a little better, but by 2:00 a.m., I could tell that the end was near. He died soon after. It was soo sad.

We went to the Fair & had lots of fun. I will add a writing that I did on it later.

PonyBoy is still for sale. We have had a couple of interested people, but always they were too far away or found another horse.

These are some of the events that happened. If I remember of more, I will add them later. :)