Yesterday at the annual youth rodeo in Custer our family celebrated a first:  The first picture with all six of us horseback.

This, folks, has been the goal.  The goal was never for me to spend the rest of my life indoors changing diapers and rockabyeing for hours on end.  I don’t regret doing those things sacrificially for all four of my kids, and truthfully I have quite enjoyed these years of young motherhood.

But the goal has always been that we would get to here:

Me and Beau working together again, but this time with four little future cowboys and cowgirls horseback, too.  Our own personal next generation to bring up.

It’s a great picture, but I can assure you it’s not totally perfect.  Emi’s horse — my old 4-H colt — froze up in the arena yesterday, and her little 6-year-old arms and legs were flailing to correct him.  It was an overcast day and Marsi, the whiner of the family, was perpetually cold.  Holding Baby Muggins in the saddle is akin to holding an orangutan.  And Asher had a near-meltdown before we left the house because he felt certain his jeans were too long and looked silly.

All little things, all parts of what we signed on for when we agreed to take on these projects… I mean have these kids.

How far we’ve come together already.  Now on to the next chapter!

© Tam Blake