It's hard to believe this wild little girl is one! Although, its also hard for us to remember life on the ranch without her. She has helped us wean calves, preg-check cows, vaccinate the herd, feed, calve, and now shes working on putting up feed for another year. We are so proud to be able to share agriculture and ranching with our little girl, and hope she enjoys the lifestyle as much as we do! 

Posted By: Jesse Williams

Well actually, I've only been with cows for 4 years, but the marriage part has been a solid five!

I know this post is a few weeks late, but anyone who has been married for 5 years will tell you that the day-of celebrations are out the window and you get to it when you can... Regardless, on August 20, 2016 the hubs and I celebrated 5 years of wedded bliss and we are still here to talk about it. Can I get a wahoo!?

Five years ago we said our 'I do's' at my parents ranch near Brooks, AB on a beautifully sunny, hot August day. I remember freaking out the week before because showers were in the forecast, but the day of our wedding we lucked out- and Clay even got a sun burn!

Here is what that fabulous day looked like 5 years ago...
(The first song 'Look at you girl' by Chris Ledoux is the song I walked down the aisle to. The second song 'Wildflower' by Dean Brody was our wedding song)

I thought I would share some of our life then versus now, as a lot has changed in 5 years, let me tell you.

In 2011 Clay and I were living APART. I was in my between my third & 4th year of university and I had taken a job in Devon, AB with an agriculture company doing canola yield trials as a summer student. Clay was fresh out of university after earning his engineering degree and took a job with a fracing company, where he worked all around Alberta, travelling in their convoy of frac trucks. I think he was supposed to work 2 weeks on, 4 days off, however his schedule was never what it should be. I remember him phoning me the Thursday before our wedding and telling me he *hoped* he would make it back in time...

Take it back a few months before and Clay was in Houston, TX doing some fracing training. This was to fast track Clay to an international opportunity and I found myself delaying my 2nd last semester of university in hopes of following the hubs to Abu Dahbi in the United Emirates for a 1 year frac job... Well, as exciting as that sounds, Clay and I were homebodies. We didn't want to travel across the world to a country where I couldn't even wear a tank top, and where we certainly wouldn't be herding cows. So before Clay was to depart for this big trip, he solidified a engineering position with Husky Energy, much, much closer to home, in downtown Calgary. I jumped back into university to finish my degree and we bought our very first home together- an acreage near Strathmore, AB. And  more excitingly... then we bought our first yearling heifers!

Well, you know what life now is like, on account of the blog! But in short, it consists of building our very own ranch from the ground up back in Hanna, AB, expanding our cow/calf operation and running our own business. Clay is busy, busy, busy with his water services company Legacy Drilling, where he drills & maintains water wells, and provides a whole host of agri-services from livestock watering systems to solar installations to pipe & panel sales! I keep busy with my dream job- I am an agricultural fieldman for our municipality, which allows me to be immersed in agriculture & our community on a full time basis. When I'm not doing that, I am pouring over plans for the new house & ranch yard, riding pastures and dreaming up new ways to improve our operation. I must say, five years blew by SO FAST, but we are right where we wanted to be, and darn that feels good!