Pictures from Durango

When things get quiet around the house I remember to check on Madison and Parker. When I found them, Madison had dressed up Parker in the dog's scraves and coat. They had used every single item that was in the bag in the closet. I must say a picture is still worth a thousand words. I try to remember these cute moments when they are so wild around the house.
One activity that everyone wanted to do was riding a horse. Paige has been wanting to do this everytime we go to Durango. This year, my parents neighbors agreed to let my kids ride his mild horse Taylor. After many years, I still remember how to ride a horse. My mom says it is like riding a bike, once you have learned you never forget.

Meghan was not so sure about riding a horse. She got on went around the field and got off. She didn't need another turn.

Paige loved riding the horse. Twice wasn't enough. She wanted to make the horse run but couldn't get Taylor to do more than a gallop.

Parker and Madison enjoyed riding the horses too.

The real reason we go to Durango every year about the same time is to help pick raspberries. We made raspberry jam and tri-berry jam this year. I can't remember how many batches we made but we came home with 36 jars of jam (raspberry and tri-berry made with raspberries, strawberries and blackberries), and 22 pints of frozen raspberries. We should have a year's supply at least.

Paige learning how the whole processes works. She even passed off a 10 hour project for personal progress.

Parker and Madison loved to help smash the blackberries through the stainer. Blackberry seeds are much bigger than raspberry seeds so straining them would give you a smoother jam in the end.

The outside firepit was a HUGE success. Last year my mom had my nephew build a porch like area in the oak brush just off the side of the house. We had a lot of fun building fires and making smores to eat. Parker loved to fuel the fire and many times it got pretty big that I was watching the tops of the trees. We love the farm and all we can do on it to escape from life for several days. It was so peaceful to watch the fire and just not worry about anything. Life is pretty simple.

Parker was in charge (with supervision) to keep the fire going after all smores where cooked. We sat for a couple of hours and enjoyed it. Later, we all found we were eaten by misquitoes. A large pond was right over the fence from the firepit.

My family with my parents at the Bar-D. It has always been a fun place to go since I was a little kid. The beautiful red rocks and scenery is just as I remember too.... BEAUTIFUL and BREATH TAKING.

The last night we were there we went to the BAR-D. The BAR-D has been a family tradition ever since I can remember. You have a chuckwagon dinner with entertainment. Well, I think Parker was bored so here are the pictures we got of the evening. Never let a four year old be in charge of the camera.