Mountain trip!! Fun or Crazy??? ok Both!!

I know its long but its my journal also.


As you know we were able to go to the mountain for Memorial Day. Ciminy, Marlo and I decided we would leave around noon on Friday so we could get up there and get the beds made and get the cabin clean. We never got up to the cabin to shut the water off before it froze so we knew we would have broken pipes so we would need someone who knew what to do go with us. Chauncy got off at 12 so we planned to leave when he got off work; Steven wanted to go then to. Well we left Pima about 12 or so but we still had to go to town and get our food for the weekend. Marlo and I went to town while Chauncy got the horses and all their stuff and Steven and Ciminy collected all of their things they would need. When it was all said and done we were leaving Safford about 3:30 which was perfect because JJ was able to drive up with us. We looked up on the mountain and there was snow on the top. Chauncy asked me if I thought it would be at turkey flat and I told him no it couldn't be it has never snowed that low this late in the year. Well guess what? as we got closer to Turkey Flat there was snow on the ground. JJ was the first to drive on the dirt road up to the cabin in his little corolla so he made the trail in the snow for us all in our SUV's to follow. Kind of backwards huh? Well anyways we get to the cabin and there is about 3 or 4 inches of snow on the ground. I have NEVER seen this before on Memorial Day weekend. After shoveling the snow so we could open the doors the very first thing that needed to be done was build a FIRE it was COLD The guys started working on the pipes that broke. we brought up some copper pipe to fix it but it was to small. The guys figured they could just cut off the spits and use the same pipe so they went to find a pipe cutter well nope there wasn't one. So they had to use a saw. After about 3 or 4 hours they got it fixed. While they were fixing the pipe us girls made all the beds and got settled in. We got the corral built for the horses. It was going to be interesting because we had to mares and two geldings in a small pin, and one of the mares had just got bread. So she was acting weird already. Well that night after playing cards with JJ Steven and I for a little bit I couldn't really sleep because I was concerned that the horses were going to get out and they kept fighting so it was noisy. The next day mom and dad showed up at noon after collecting a long list of things we needed. We played cards and tried to keep the kids bundled up because it was cold and windy outside, or keep them off the stairs and entertained while they were inside. After a while the guys decided they wanted to go on a horseback ride so they saddled all of the horses up. Steven rode Saucy with Riley; JJ rode Poncho with Kashlee, Justin rode Chico with Seth but poor little Preston didn't get to go because Chauncy was riding Milly and she was acting up and raring so I didn't want Preston to ride with him. So he got to take a nap. They all brought the kids back because they fell asleep on the horses.

It was so cute; Papa Scott had to teach the High Priest group on Sunday so he was reading though his lesson in the kitchen. well Seth kept going in there to be with him. So papa didn't make it very long there. he wanted to go up stairs but Preston was trying to go to sleep instead he went to his truck . after awhile Seth couldn't stand it anymore not being able to talk to papa so he went and got a little ladder and put it up to papa's window and climbed up it to say hi. It was cute. Well that evening we put all the kids to bed and were playing cards. we had played for awhile and Steven was going out to check on his boys and as he walked up to the door he saw a big animal run by not really knowing if it was a bear or what. Well he saw another on and turned to us and said "The horses are out" so we all got up and ran outside to help with the horses. It luckily didn't take very long to catch them, the ran around the little hill that the cabin sits on. All we had was flashlights and the light of the moon which wasn't very bright. the horses really couldn't see either because JJ was trying to catch Chico but Chico kept running at him so JJ flashed his light right at him but Chico kept running if JJ wouldn't have moved he would have ran right over him. We finally got them in the pin. After that we played another game of pitch I had been getting tired but after chasing the horses I had another game in me. We all went to bed. I didn't worry as much about the horses getting out because if they did I thought they would just stay around the cabin like before. Well about 2 am they were getting noisy again so I looked out there and Chico and Milly were kicking each other. I kept watching and guess what? Yep you got it Chico kicked Milly right through the fence. So they all got out again. So I woke Chauncy up and told him so we got dressed and woke JJ up. In the mean time dad had got up and woke Steven up. So Chauncy, JJ, Steven, Dad and I all were chasing the horses. They ran around the hill and up towards the other cabins so dad jumped in his truck while Chauncy, Steven and JJ ran after them. I was up at the cabin waiting for them so we could put them back to the pin. it took a while, my flashlight was dying so I went inside by the fire to keep warm till i heard something they got them turned around and headed back to our hill. it was the horses so I ran out to try to help. They ran right past JJ and I and back around the cabin. Dad got back in his truck, Chauncy and JJ went after them while Steven and I waited. Steven ran for a little bit then came back. I was sitting with the doors open in the back of my car. I was scaring myself so that made me a little more secure. Steven comes running up and said he just go though talking to dad on the phone and said the horses were up at upper turkey flat. We started to get the trailer ready then dad calls again and said just get in the corolla and come help. Chauncy is chasing them the whole time while dad and JJ where in the truck. Steven and I started down the mountain in the corolla. well about 5 or 6 turns we see a flashlight flash us. It was Chauncy. We went on more turn and stopped. Dad said JJ and Chauncy have them cornered. So dad and Steven went up there to help them. They sent me down a couple more turns just in case the horses ran away again and I could at least see where they went. A couple minutes later dad comes and finds me and tells me they caught them. I went back to where they were and we waited for them to walk the horses down the hill. Steven went to get the trailer because Chico ripped part of his skin off his front right leg. While Steven was gone, Chauncy had taken off his shirt and belt and tried to bandage his leg. well it didn't stay so he ripped up his shirt and made little strips so he could tie it better. he worked on it for a while and got it pretty good. Steven at this time is back with the trailer. We load the horses because they need to take Chico to a Vet ASAP. They tried to call the vet in Thatcher and she didn't answer. Remember this is at about 2:30 am. Luckily it only took us 30 min to catch them but they sure ran a lot though. Dad and JJ headed down the mountain with all the horses and off the Silver City to the vet my grandpa goes to. They never stopped they got to silver city at 5:30 am. They were so tired. Well Chauncy, Steven and I went back to the cabin and needless to say it was nice not having the noise. well the next day was Sunday. We didn't go to church because we were so tired and didn't feel like driving to columbine. After lunch we took the kids to the cable swing. Surprisingly it wasn't taken down because the forest service made everyone take down all their swings. The kids had a blast on that swing. even Preston and Kashlee went down it by their self. When we got back we ate lunch and had a roping. it was so fun. After that we played cards. On Monday we had another roping and then we got ready to go home. We left about 3:30 we had a great weekend.