I love my cousins!!

Last night I hosted a cousins party at my house.  It was a lot of fun.  It brought back many memories of my childhood.  I was fortunate to grow up alongside many of my cousins.  Now that I am older, I have come to realize just what a novelty my childhood was.  My Dad and three of his brother were partners in the F Bar Cattle ranch.  My cousins, brothers and sisters, and I were the ranch hands.  We had countless opportunities to spend a lot of time with each other.

My Dad and his brother each had a section of the ranch that they ran.  I think that allowed them to do things how they wanted on their section of the ranch and kept them from having arguments.  When there were big projects to be done we would get a call from my uncles to go help them work on their sections of the ranch, and when my dad had a big project he would call and get some of my cousins to help us.  We spent a lot of long dusty days working alongside each other, but it seems like we always managed to find ways to make things fun and memorable.  We rounded up cattle, branded them, weaned them, pregnancy tested the cows (someone played a trick on my Uncle Jeddy once and put a bull in the shoot and he pregnancy tested a bull, that's a favorite story), spent seemingly endless days after school number branding all the newly weaned calves, glued miles and miles of pipe, moved sprinklers, baled hay, loaded hay, picked corn, built miles and miles of fence, and installed drinkers by laying cement around old tractor tires that were cut in half.

I have a funny story about laying cement that Kaija and Amy might remember.  I was over playing at Kaija's house when Amy called me and told me I needed to go help Lacy Ment.  I kept saying who is Lacy Ment and she would say no "lay cement" we did this over and over again.  She was getting frustrated because she thought I was teasing her, but I really thought she was saying Lacy Ment.  Finally I think I asked her to spell it and then I realized what she was asking.  I still laugh every time I think about that day.

Growing up on a ranch defiantly taught each of us how to put in a full days work, which quite often was from sun up to sun down.  It also gave us opportunities to learn how to put the needs of others before our own.  For example, animals need to be taken care of, moved, fed, and/or milked regardless of how many hours you have already worked that day, or if you have a ballgame or a concert, or if it is Christmas, or snowing, or so windy you feel like you are going to blow away when you step out side.  It taught us patience when dealing with an animal that has a different idea than you do.  It also taught us to work together with people of varying skill levels.  It gave us the opportunity to raise enough money to pay for our missions and college education.  These skills have helped us to grow up to become successful in our marriages, to be good fathers and mothers and to be successful in our careers, and church callings.  Since I am no longer living on a ranch, I find myself struggling to give my children these same life lessons that came almost automatically for me.

Life with our cousins wasn't always work.  We had a lot of fun riding bikes, playing in the cedars, going on neighborhood cookouts, amazing family reunions, and Sunday night visits at Grandma Flake's house with her ice cream sandwiches.  I am grateful for the opportunity I had to grow up with lots of my cousins.  Now I make it a point to give my kids opportunities to get to know their cousins and grow up together as much as possible.