The Wild West

So today, Travis and I had the opportunity to really experience what life as a cowboy is like.  Us, Levi and Clint went to the Mackey's Ranch (a couple in our church) and helped with the branding of cattle.  It was so much fun!  We branded almost 150 calves.  It was like we had stepped back in time and it was just so nice to get away and out into the country.  We got there and right away got to work.  The guys helped hold the cattle while they had everything done to them and I had to keep tally of them.  We did about 100 cattle first and then had lunch.  It was so nice to finally have a warm day to sit outside and eat lunch.  After lunch we had to wait on the real cowboys to round-up the other calves, so we had about an hour to relax and check out the place.  Travis helped bottle feed a calf, we played with the dogs and laid under the trees in the grass.  It was great!  Then we started to hear all these cows mooing and knew that it was time to get back to work.  We did the rest of the calves, which was a little more interesting because they were a little bigger, they had more fight in them when they were roped.  It was a sight to see!  We finally got all done at about 4.  We were hot, tired and sunburned, so we decided the best way to top off a day of branding and wrestling cattle was to go to Dairy Queen.  It was a great day and one that will not soon be forgotten!