Ranch Life When It Rains

I smiled as I typed the title to this one - Ranch Life When it Rains. It's so nice to know what that is like now! I think we have figured out the key to get rain... we need guests at the house. This past weekend we had several friends over Saturday evening after RA finished up at a horse sale and I got home from a wedding and we received a nice evening rain. Then Monday night we had RA's cousins, Ben and Tom, over for steaks and got an inch and a half. The next morning, RA had a road to fix. 

This tank was dry two days ago... now it is holding more water than I've ever seen on the ranch.

And here is the finished product - my husband does such a good job! 

Speaking of the wedding that I had the honor of being in this weekend.... 

At the bridal luncheon last Friday, (the wedding was at 10 a.m. Saturday), 

these were our "seating cards." 

And this is Carly - she was a beautiful bride! She was my maid of honor and it was a joy to stand up beside her as her matron of honor this past weekend. I can't wait to share pictures from her wedding - it was a gorgeous morning wedding on the family land under a huge tree! 

Get Fit Update: To be honest, I haven't been jogging much lately. We've been busy and I've been helping RA with different things (like fixing the road) in the evenings after work so jogging moves to the back burner. I hope to go jog (or at least go on a walk) this evening.

Have a wonderful week!

Clayton & Cristina

So I have this awesome friend... and she is engaged to a pretty good guy. Cristina and I met while we were both at Tech and have become lifelong friends. We spent many many evenings in Lubbock discussing Power Thoughts, an amazing book by Joyce Meyer about the battle that goes on in our mind and how we MUST take control and responsibility over our thoughts. I highly recommend it! RA and Clayton have become good buddies as well. We love having them out at the ranch!

So, back to Clayton & Cristina - they got engaged back in March and I had the honor and privilege of taking their engagement pictures this past weekend.

I typically have cattle, horses or plants in front of my camera lens so it was fun to add people this time!

It's a never-ending battle between Clayton and Cristina and I. He went to A&M... enough said. 

And since we had received a little rain (thanks again for your prayers!!), the cactus are blooming.

Ok, I think this one is my favorite - and I took it completely on accident. I was trying to get a different angle and snapped this picture in the process of getting on the ground. 

Photography is definitely something that I enjoy and I look forward to sharing more from ranch adventures that we've had so far and ones to come! 

Remember, shine God's light everywhere you go, to everyone you meet! 

My Running Buddy

A quick note ~ We received about an inch of rain over the weekend – your prayers were answered!! Thank you for your faithful request. ☺ We are blessed and thankful but also look forward to more.

Living 30 miles out in the country, with the closest neighbor about 10 miles away, it’s challenging to find the motivation to go jog without a friend. The day we got home from our honeymoon, RA and I decided we were going to jog every evening. We quickly discovered that his legs are much longer than mine and we don’t stay together. Jogging every evening together lasted for a total of one time.

Since I’m not a huge fan of running alone, I want to introduce you to my running buddy.

We’ve had Gus since March and he is turning into a fine ranch dog. He guards the yard from birds and keeps the back steps from levitating. And his best quality – we stay together when we jog (although it is more of a brisk walk for him).

I’ve never been much of an athlete but I enjoyed cross country and track for a few years in high school until it started cutting in to my time with show animals. All through college and the year since I’ve graduated (it’s hard to believe a full year has almost gone by!), I’ve wanted to work out but could never stick with a routine.

Over the past few months, however, I’ve been more focused on getting fit. Note that I said “get fit” rather than lose weight. I’ve been the same weight since I was about a freshman in high school so I don’t anticipate a huge change there. I would rather incorporate healthy eating habits and a regular workout routine into my lifestyle rather than just meeting a single goal.

My workout: 10 minute jog without stopping two or three times a week. Now, if you are an experienced runner, this probably sounds really simple, but simple is working great for me at this point in my working out career. A very special friend of mine ran cross-country in college and is my “running mentor.” She and her husband and currently expecting but after their little one arrives in October, we are going to train for a few races. The 10 minutes is starting to get easier and I plan to move up to 15 minutes soon. My focus isn’t really on distance right now but simply getting my body “up to speed.”

Check back next week for insight into a 90-mile commute to work!

It's been a while...

So... Kristen's Corner is back! I haven't written a blog post in a very very long time and this time around it's a little different. Every post in the past has been a weekly column that was published in my hometown newspaper. Now I hope to just share about life. As a newlywed, a young professional and living on a ranch 30 miles from the closest town (1 hour to the closest grocery store and gas station) I hope you will find something you can relate to! I've started jogging a few times a week and with my new iPhone (I switched to AT&T yesterday and hope to have better service here in the middle of nowhere) I am testing out running apps and have a much better camera than my old phone. I hope to share tips as I learn and incorporate jogging into my lifestyle. I will introduce you to my running buddy next week! Here's a shot of where I run most evenings:

Ranch Update: RA, my amazing husband, manages a family ranch 30 miles from Channing, Texas which has a population of about 300. There's a school and a post office and that's about it. The closest gas station, grocery store and the church that we attend is about an hour away in Dalhart. It's been a challenging year to live on a ranch. With the lack of moisture last year, my father-in-law made the decision to send the majority of the cows we had at the ranch to grass in Arkansas. We still had the first-calf heifers here to keep a close eye on but it was a huge reduction in the typical stocking rate. This picture was taken back in January - the scenery hasn't changed much:

Now that we still haven't had more than half and inch of rain since January, the rest of the cows will be leaving in the next few weeks. Mother Nature hasn't been in our favor this year but we thank God every night for the rain that He is sending and we wake up each morning knowing that we are one day closer to moisture. We will press on.

Love & Bulls

With it being the season for cattle sales, I think it is only appropriate to announce that I have found my prize bull.

Referring back to my column, Bulls & Boys, published last February, “The cattle industry has taught me a lot about life. Everything from responsibility to life and death, cattle are good teachers. In a conversation with my dad, I discovered that dating is a lot like finding a good herd bull.”

I would like to fill you in on a very special person in my life. RA Brown is the most amazing, kindhearted person I’ve ever met.

I’ve always held very high standards for the guys I dated. That is probably the reason that most of my past relationships lasted for two months maximum. I’m a firm believer in culling them quick if they don’t perform to the set standards.

But RA is different. We met in January but didn’t see each other again until March when he happened to be around Wellington helping work cattle and I happened to be home for Spring Break. We spent time together at the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association convention in Fort Worth later that week and then he visited me in Lubbock while passing through on his way home from a college rodeo the next weekend.

There was something intriguing about him and that was the fact that I couldn’t figure him out. He wasn’t like the typical rodeo cowboy or even the typical guy for that matter.

In April, he went skydiving with me. It wasn’t until a few weeks after our jump that I found out that he was scared of heights!


He’s my best friend. He is the one that I can’t wait to talk to in the evenings. He is the one that just gives me a big hug when I’m upset because I got food poisoning on his birthday. He is the one that reminds me to simply do my best and God will take care of the rest. He is the one that makes my cheeks hurt because I smile every time I think of him.

I am excited about our future together and all that God has in store for us. I just hope that my dad didn’t drill him too hard on his EPD’s and Gene Star DNA scores!