2022 was one for the books! So much of what we have been working toward for years either came to fruition or got significantly closer to coming to fruition.
January was relatively quiet for us, we had some snow to play in (which I always love) and I was acutely aware that I was in an era of “lasts” as far as our living situation was concerned. The countdown was officially on to our move to Montana.
February was, as usual, horse-filled! Kelly made the trek to Wisconsin to get Aria and on his way home he came through Wyoming to pick up a bedraggled looking Claire. Meanwhile, I got the first saddle on Ronnie and we spent time with Timber who was becoming sweeter and sweeter the closer she got to her due date.
March gave us Tammy, our first foal from Timber. Tammy was a spitfire from the moment she hit the ground and she was a lot of fun to watch mature. We also got to visit Buck, Sandra’s 2021 colt.
April was a very busy month for us. We went down to Nampa, Idaho for Trisha to participate in a colt starting demonstration and we started our breeding season back at home before both Johnny and June blessed us with their presence earth-side. Johnny is one of those long-awaited dreams coming to fruition… we originally began trying to breed Jessa to Starlight Shiner back in 2019 and we didn’t have success until 2021, resulting in a 2022 colt! We were so tickled to get the colt we wanted and Johnny has proven to be well worth the wait. At the very end of April, my cousin and her son came to visit us and Turbo was thrilled to have a buddy his height!
May began our journey to prep our Montana property for our horses and start moving them. It was a bit of a daunting task, especially as Kelly’s health was still very poor. In between spending some weekends in Montana building fence, we hosted both of our Mama’s for Mother’s Day, which was really special. And Memorial Day weekend, we moved our first load of (seven) horses… and spent half a day in the Ronan emergency room for poor Kelly.
June found us burning up the highway between Washington and Montana some more, moving more horses (and Val), as well as possessions. We got our three foals branded and attended my annual family reunion, too.
July was our last month of what felt like split residency. We spent the 4th of July in Kelly’s hometown with his family and spent the rest of our time on the road. On one weekend, while I was in Montana for a solo trip, Kelly purchased three broodmares from the Eugene, Oregon horse auction. This is also the month we purchased Dolly and Icey – yes, five new mares mere weeks before we were set to move to Montana. We were able to bring Kelly’s sister and her husband (who live in Italy) to Montana with us for a weekend and show them where we would be living, which was a lot of fun. And sweet, sweet irrigation… we started irrigating our pasture land in July.
August was the big move. Our amazing friends, Kyle and Nancy, planned a family vacation from New Mexico around our move so they could help us and we will be forever grateful. I still don’t know if it would have gotten done without them. Kelly and I were reaching burnout and mental overload by this point… but it happened! We packed up the rest of our possessions, all of our cats (that’s when I knew we were really moving haha) and waved goodbye to our life in Burbank, Washington – where everything started for us. As excited as I was, I can admit that this was a bittersweet, scary moment for me. We had visitors in August to celebrate Eric’s birthday, we brought Trisha home from training and started riding her at home (!!!!!), and we watched all of our critters thrive on 40 acres of grass with a canal full of water running through it. (I took more photos than I’ll ever be able to share…)
September… my favorite. WE GOT ENGAGED!!! I also started venturing to nearby riding locations and doing a lot of solo riding as well as a few rides where Kelly came with me on Trisha and we had so much fun. We swam in the river, explored with elk roaming above us, and just really soaked up our new home. We ended the month with Kelly’s birthday and were floored with the amazing gift of a tractor from my great Uncle Doug. (Again, I took thousands of photos…)
October was kind to us, with more beautiful weather. It started with Kelly’s mom and her husband visiting us and we trekked through the bison range and helped our neighbors (who are housing Val for the winter) work cattle. Toward the end of the month, my friend Brie and her gang of furry friends joined us – bringing Nasty into our lives. We also helped some friends gather cattle off the range and bring them home for the Winter.
November his us with some early snow and Winter felt like it had arrived… bringing with it it’s own challenges and making sure we were taking notes on what we wanted to do differently for next year.
December was also full of snow. We had a snowstorm right before Christmas that brought with it negative 35 windchill and drifted snow 3+ feet deep. Kelly and Brie were unable to get work because of the drifts and then we lost power for multiple hours – not an ideal situation. We (me, Kelly, Brie and Eric) loaded up our menagerie of furry friends to take pictures with Santa and Murdoch’s… which will probably always be a highlight when I look back at how willing Kelly and Eric are to go along with our plans. And we are still managing to get some horse time in when the weather isn’t frigid.
All in all… a truly amazing year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us to all of you!
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Continued blessings to you both for the coming New Year
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