Ready for June!

A Flower from our hike.  It's a tiny one.

Can’t believe May is over.  Time is flying by.  On June 7th, it will be 5 months on our mission.  

The week started with Memorial Day.  We were hoping someone would invite us over for a cook-out or something.  We were going to see the Pithans but the we needed to put it off for a day so we could take the Aylesworths with us.  The Pithans have known April since she was a little girl and hadn’t seen her in a very long time.  We actually surprised the Pithans with their visit and everyone was delighted.  It ended up being a 3 hour visit.  We cooked hotdogs and marshmallows in the fireplace and had the usual picnic side dishes.  It was rainy and chilly, but having it inside was perfect.  The guys played pool and the girls enjoyed watching.  It’s always a fun time at the Pithans.

Walt playing pool at the Pithans.  Sweet shot!

Walt and Keith playing pool at the Pithan

We took our P-day on Monday and found the one place it wasn’t raining and went hiking.  Walt looked at the radar and there was rain all around Newcastle.  We were like the donut hole.  It works for us.  We hiked around the Black Hills of Wyoming and then headed to Sundance because it looked like nice weather there.  On the way, we stopped at a little place that sells their local honey.  In Sundance, the clouds were hanging so low, we could barely see.  Walt looked up some place to grab a bite and ran across a place called, “Cowgirl Pizza and Laundromat.”  My kind of place.  The pizza was actually pretty tasty and the laundromat part was quite busy.  They were separated.  

There is a tiny spec of blue in the center of the picture - that is me.  Walt took this from the top of the mountain.

Selfie on the hike.

Wednesday was pretty busy.  We taught the Smith family.  We had the last “official” lesson on the temple with the parents and are working on the lessons after baptism with the children.  I’ve been trying to make it fun and the lesson this week, was on the Plan of Salvation.  I found a board game to print from on-line.  It turned out pretty fun.  Richard said to us that he heard we would have lessons for them until July 2020.  Sounds like a plan.  We want to stay involved with their family.  They’ve made such great changes and really have a great spirit in their home.  With Renee’s ALS, things will go done hill eventually and we want to be there and help all we can  We love that family so much, and pretty sure the feeling is mutual.  Eternal friends for sure.

We also taught Kay this week.  The Elder’s schedule changed (due to branding) and weren’t able to be there for the lesson.  We are on the lessons about commandments.  Chastity is one of them, so I figured it would be much more comfortable for Kay and the Elders both, if I taught that lesson when they weren’t there.  It went quite well.  Kay (who is very, very shy) even talked to us.  Usually we only get a yes or no from her.  I think she is finally warming up to us.  The original plan was to have the lesson, have dinner and then take the girls to youth activities at church.  Kay’s favorite is Mac and cheese, so that was the dinner plan.  To make the story short, the Mac and cheese turned out nasty, and we took the girls to Wayback Burger.  Everyone was happy.

Kay, me and Abi at Wayback Burgers

We ended the evening going to a baseball game.  There is a Sister who comes pretty regularly and some of her children are baptized and some are not.  The children are all teenage boys.  We wanted to get to know the boys better and it’s baseball season, so we decided to go to some of the home games.  We weren’t quite sure the details, so we just went after taking the girls to church.  It had been quite a nice day, and I had on a short sleeve dress and shoes - no hose.  Walt had on a short sleeved shirt.  We had no idea how cold it would get once the sun went down.  Seasoned parents were well prepared.  We did have two jackets of Walt’s in the car and two “just in case” blankets.  We used both, but still didn’t last past an hour.  Next time, we’ll be prepared.

We worked lunch for the Senior Center on Thursday.  They were expecting a bus of seniors (about 30) and had asked us to make that our day to help.  This bus of Seniors were from Colorado and make an annual trip to the Black Hills of SD and other places close by.  It was a decent sized crowd but we handled it all fine.  They were quite appreciative of the good meal.  

We had a few other visits, Bingo at the Manor and the Missionary Correlation meeting to round out the day.  After the missionary meeting, we had brought up Girl’s Camp.  Both of us are going in a couple of weeks.  It’s at a place at the base of the Big Horn Mountains.  We were told how cold it gets there at night, even in the summer.  Hot in the day, very cold at night.  We are going with their advice and coming prepared.  Several have offered camping gear for us to borrow.  Girl’s Camp here is more like real camping - bring your own tents and such, and cook on an open fire.   We’re grateful for their advice.

The Willadson got a new puppy

We had a few visits on Friday, and another lesson with Kay.  The Elders were there and she actually talked with them!!  The Elders were astonished!  I mentioned on the way back from picking them up that ice cream would have been a good idea.  So they talked me into stopping by a soft serve place on the way home.  It was their last day of school and was a great way to celebrate.  I noticed afterwards a huge black cloud - a storm was coming.  The day had been another summer like one and beautiful.  We were packing for the Bishop’s ranch (branding day) and the sky just broke open.  Another batch of hail.  We found out that Wyoming gets lots of hail.  Of course!!  Luckily it was gone before it was time to leave.  

The storm never reached the ranch, which was amazing.  The Bishop rounds up his cows the night before the branding.  When we got there, he had already started, so Walt left me at the house to help with the cooking and he headed out to the coral to help.  He didn’t get to ride a horse this time, they were all taken.  So he used a 4-wheeler to help round them up.  Back at the house, there were three of us preparing for the dinner that night (30 people) and snacks and lunch on Saturday (60 people).  All hands on deck.  It was great being so helpful.  I worked in the kitchen till about 9 pm that night.  The Branding was starting at 6 am, so we headed to bed after that.  

Rounding up cattle!

Saturday started very early.  We were up by 5:15 am.  Walt picked up the Elders. They had to get up at 4 am to get there in time.  That’s why we spent the night.  The Bishop owns a historical ranch called the Fiddleback Ranch.  The original “Headquarters” is still there, with the coral.  They had cleaned up the main house for guys to sleep there.  I doubt they got much sleep since the coral was full of noisy cows and calves.  

The Branding started right at 6 am.  They have a very efficient system, with two branding tables and sorting of mamas and babies going all at once.  We did 700 calves by 1 pm.  We would have been done sooner, but one of the tables almost broke in half.  They are metal, but those calves are big.  They were prepared.  They ended up welding a piece of metal to the back side.  I guess a rancher needs to be prepared for any and everything, and they were.

Sunrise on branding day

There was a lot of good food - during and after the branding.  Way too many tasty things.  We’re not sure if we burned or consumed more calories.  I had a job this time, counting.  I marked down whether it was a heifer or a steer.  Walt “worked” the cows (mamas).  That entails squirting them down with a solution that keeps insects and such away.  Then he wanted the experience of “pushing” calves. That is physically moving them from the coral to the smaller pen and then through to the branding table.  He says whatever direction you want them to go, is where they refuse.  You hold them by the tail and then try to move their head in the right direction.  They weigh about 200-300 lbs, so when they step on your feet, it really hurts.  This is a task usually reserved for the young men.  Walt still thinks he fits into that category.  HIs body didn’t agree with him later that night.  We loved being involved and helping out.  It’s a great experience.  Walt is wanting to come out every year and help with branding.

Walt "pushing" calves.

Walt, me (with my counting clipboard) and Dean.  He is an 84 year old rancher, my buddy from last week's branding at the Harshberger's.

Our plan was to spend the evening unpacking and getting ready for Sunday.  We had a Sister call us and want to know if Walt could help her with a problem with her computer.  They are the family that feeds us elk and she is always helping someone.  We went over and Walt was able to fix it.  It only took 3 hours!  She was so grateful.  It was a nice visit, both of them were there.  So much for getting to bed early that night.  So our day lasted from 5:15 am to about 11 pm.  Thank goodness for Sunday naps.

Our week ended well.  Another gorgeous day!  Unbelievable!  Kay came to church and sat with us.  We had been invited by a sister named Lucille (she is 91 and quite lively) to have her famous Sourdough pancakes for lunch.  She saw Kay and asked if we wanted to bring her along.  Kay said yes!  We got there a little early so I could play the Player Piano.  Kay had never heard of one.  She helped me get it all set up, and then I started pushing those pedals.  Her face was priceless as the piano keys started playing the song.  She took a video of me on her phone and then I had her play one also.  I took a video of her as well.  I think she had a really good time.  The pancakes were amazing and we all ate way too many.  There was regular, real maple and chokecherry syrup, as well as, butter, strawberries and whipped cream.  They just kept bringing batch after batch’ hot off the griddle.  Lucille has a lady that cooks and cleans for her.  It was quite the lunch.  A note on the sourdough pancakes.  This sourdough started is 130 years old.  If you Google “120 year old sourdough pancake starter”, you can read all the details if you just click on this word - Article.

Both of us took a nice long nap this afternoon.  We’ve been working on appointments and our callings the rest of the time and getting our blog/email out.  What a week!!  Sometimes, they all feel that way.  But that is why we are here - to serve, teach and love these people.  We love that we have this opportunity.  We miss our family quite a bit, and hope since school i s finished, we will get some mail from them.  Hint!! Hint!!  We love you all and hope you have a great week ahead.