I'm a Cowboy, Baby.

Russell is a bon-a-fide wannabe cowboy now! Ha Ha Ha!

Work it Baby!! Just kidding. Actually this past week (July 11-13) Russell went on a three day camp out with the Priests in our ward. They rode horses for the three days around Pinto and Grass Valley. Our bishop bought all of the boys and leaders cowboy hats to have on the ride to keep the sun off their heads and neck. Russell has worn this hat everyday since he got it! I make fun of him everyday too! Here is Russell to tell you all about his fun camp out:
The "BISHOP'S COWBOYS" they are called. As Tiffany said I went with the priest on a three day horse back ride up in Pinto. The trip was a blast for me and the boys. We met at the bishop's house at 6am to load up the horses and the gear and we were on the road about 7:30. The drive up there was fun we all had our cowboy hats on and we turned on the bishop's radio and started singing to the country music songs. We got to camp around 8:30 and had a sandwich and we also made some sandwiches to take with us on the horse back ride. It was awesome to see how far the boys have come with liking horses. When the bishop brought up the idea to go, they laughed at the idea, but slowly they started liking the idea of riding the horses. One boy even brought up the idea to go horse back riding. I was amazed at their change of attitude and heart. They did an awesome job cleaning the horses and saddling the horses and even cleaning their hoofs. Here we are in starting our first day trek on the horses. I was on the black horse Hawk, Sterling was on Yeller, Zach was on Chip the light brown horse, Trent was on the dark brown horse Jack and bishop was on the other dark brown horse Mater, with Spencer by me and Stephen by Trent. Isn't it an awesome back drop.

Here is one of my boys, Sterling, on Yeller. Out of all the boys, he was the one that dressed the part with his cowboy hat, wranglers and boots. He and Yeller had a great ride together on the way up, but on the way down Yeller wanted to get home so he was being a little antsy and trotted and wanted to be in the front. Sterling was not too happy with him when the ride was finished.

The picture below was us on our way up the mountain the second day. We saw some beautiful country. We were about 6,000 to 7,000 ft. We were able to see some of Cedar valley, and the Beryl area. At the top, where we had lunch both days, we were able to look over the side of the mountain and see a secluded ranch at the bottom. I thought I would have seen a lot of wildlife but we only saw a pretty big 2 point buck. The first day trip was fun on the way up but on the way back my horse did the the same thing Yeller did, he did not want to be left behind so he trotted on the way down the mountain, my butt was so sore and my knees hurt when I was done. I was so happy that bishop put me on a different horse for the second day.

Here we are on the second day also. We didn't have enough horses for everyone to ride at the same time so we split the days so some boys road one day and the others the other day. On Tuesday we rode further than the first day because we got an earlier start. We went about a total of twenty mile round trip. We saw some awesome hidden lakes as we rode. The first one was Pinto Springs and the next two were Big Water and White Rock. It way cool to find these hidden little reservoirs.

After about 5 hours of riding we stopped at the first reservoir to have lunch. This is a fun picture because we look like cowboys with all of our horse tied up to a fallen tree in the wilderness. Our lunches consisted of smashed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, rice crispy treats and water. Some of the sandwiches got flattened in the ride and they looked like pancakes. The first day we rode bishop took out his sandwich and it was squashed into a ball, but hey he said it is still tasted great.

This is our lunch break under the trees. We were grateful for the break and the shade trees.

These are some of the pictures of some of the scenery we saw as we rode through different areas of the mountain side. In all we had a great time!

This picture doesn't have anything to do with my camp out but I thought it was worth posting! These are my two rough country Davy Crockett kids that are so cute and handsome. While I was at a training meeting in Springdale for the ambulance, Tiffany and the kids had fun visiting some of the fun gift shops and having lunch. I am truly a lucky dad for having such a great family.