Cowboy Photo Shoot - The Idaho Rancher's Wife

Live a LIfe of Passion

April 17, 2017 by Allison

Over the last few years since I bought my “fancy” camera and started to learn more about photography, I’ve had a few people ask me to do pictures for them. I’ve done family pictures for my best friend, engagements for my brother-in-law and his (now) sweet wife, and even graduation pictures for another brother-in-law. There are lots of others, but you get the picture (haha..)…

I love getting a chance to take pictures of families, couples and individuals and help capture their personality so that they can share and preserve them. Its not my niche (yet) but I am learning. I do have to admit, its a little weird to get to be in control of what’s happening in front of the camera instead of making photos out of what is happening around me. Does that make sense?

A few weeks ago I got a chance to kinda do both- a posed and directed photo session but still out on the range with the horses and cows. Could it get any cooler? I don’t think so. Our neighbor (about 30 miles down the road), Mackenzie, was selected to be a National Collegiate Beef Advocate with the American National Cattle Women organization and one of the first things she needed to do was to send in some photos of her working cattle or with horses or whatever she does as a ranching girl. She had a few snap shots, but they weren’t exactly what she wanted to put out there in a press release.

So that’s when she called me.

We went out on our range land and got to work (tough work, huh?). It was such a different experience for me because the purpose was for me to take pictures. I didn’t have to worry at all about being in the way or anything like that. It was a little refreshing actually… Do you think I can convince my cowboys out here to let me just have free rein? Probably not…

That’s ok. I’ll take what I can get.

Back to Mackenzie. In between photos we would visit and she told me a little bit about what she gets to do as an advocate. I don’t remember everything she said, but I definitely remember how her face would light up as she talked about what the opportunity meant to her. It didn’t take long to realize how proud she was of her life in agriculture and how rich her passion was for sharing it with people.

I don’t know who said it but somebody smart said, “Follow your passion, and success will follow you!” I have no doubt that whatever Mackenzie does with her passion, she will be successful. Passion can conquer fear, make you bold, and push you to take those leaps we might never have risked. I think all to often we get busy and bogged down with all of the must-do’s of life. We get so focused on the have-to’s, we don’t do the want-to’s and our passion for life slowly sizzles out. The excuses of not having the time or energy or money just get in the way. We become complacent, and stay right inside our comfort bubble and suddenly we don’t do anything exciting or adventurous. Nothing we do gets adrenaline flowing or our hearts pumping.

Who wants to live that kind of a life? A life with no passion?

So today, do something your WANT to do, especially if you don’t have time to. Let the list wait. Be crazy and creative. Go out on a limb. Fail terribly. But, call it a success because you tried. Let your passion drive you, if only for a moment!

Who knows how you will succeed!

2017 Cowboy Calendar

December 3, 2016 by Allison

I don’t know what kind of terrific mood I was in this fall, but I was DETERMINED to get my calendar up and going way earlier this year. And I did! It was a good thing that I did since it took a while to get the proofing and shipping and what-not done.

But…

No more waiting! The calendars are here at my house waiting to send them to you!! If you are interested you can either email me directly at theidahorancherswife@gmail.com or you can find it on my etsy shop online HERE.

Here is a little taste of the photos featured in this year’s calendar!

Expanding the Herd

December 8, 2015 by Allison

With all the preg checking done with for the fall, we look to be having a great calf crop on its way. The heifers are set to begin dropping calves towards the end of February and the cows to start shortly after that. As always, March will be a busy month for us, but that’s ok… Springtime babies are so fun!

The cows won’t be the only ones to expand their herd in 2016. You guessed it- our little ranch family is expanding by one! As any good ranch wife would, I’m due to calve right with all the other cows the beginning of March. The Rancher has already said that it will work out great to check the cows and check me all at the same time. That comment only got him a swift kick in the pants!

We are delighted to have a another little cowBOY on the way, something that The Rancher’s Sidekick has known from the beginning. Before we even knew pink or blue he was telling everyone that he was going to have a new baby brother. The Ranch Princess is loving the prospect of a baby around the house and tells me everyday that my tummy is getting BIG. Thanks…. The Rancher is excited too, but I see it only through his comments of me being in good shape for calving or that he will be sure to bring the chains along the way to the hospital, just in case. And of course I am excited, and terrified all at the same time. What if The Rancher is in the middle of pulling a calf when I need to go? Who is going to do night calving while we are at the hospital? What if he gets stuck in Locomotive were I can’t call him? Ya know, normal pregnant wife concerns…. When I try to get some answers out of my cowboy, he just says that I don’t really need him anyway and it will all work out.

He is right, it will all work out… Somehow it will all workout…

2016 Cowboy Calendar

December 7, 2015 by Allison

Life has ben crazy but I still couldn’t NOT make a few calendars! After having a few years of calendar making under my belt it really didn’t take too much to put these together and I just love how they turned out.

And now after my yeas of wisdom, I have found a new printer where I have been able to SIGNIFICANTLY drop the prices! Now you can get a 2016 Cowboy Calendar for on $8.49. If you are interested, email, comment on this post or message me on Facebook and I will get your order in!

2U Branding… Doing it Carter Style

June 11, 2015 by Allison

I love branding season! I love to help, I love to take pictures, I love the company, I love the food… I love it all! When we ran out of branding days for our ranch and the association, I invited myself down the road to our friend’s branding.

The Carters have a small herd that they run mostly because they love the life. They have other work but at the end of the day they always come back to ranching. Its important to them to raise their 4 boys learning how to work and connecting with the heritage that runs deep in this valley.

Its been great to become better friends with this family. The Rancher went to high with Cowboy Cody Carter and has some great (maybe not entirely always appropriate) memories with him. They have moved on from high school rodeo to real ranch cowboys, making a living to provide with their families.

…. That all sounds kinda mushy… Maybe it is when you think about it, but really its awesome and fun. And that is exactly the kind of day we had out with the Carter crew to their branding. They had cowboys that could rope and… some that weren’t so great. They had cowboys that didn’t hardly say a word and others that didn’t ever stop (seriously, the guy never closed his mouth- the proof is in the pictures!). There were a few injuries throughout the day but all in all, a successful day branding!

Camping out on the Range to Catching Horses

May 20, 2015 by Allison

We brand nearly every weekend of April, and sometimes that even runs into May. With so many cattle spread so far across the range it takes several different days to gather up the cattle to get the work done. The weekend we did so many calves at the ranch and then again at our private ground in Locomotive we still had the association branding to do the following day (Saturday). Instead of driving back and forth so much we decided to just camp out.

We were full of adventurous expectations of shooting guns, riding bikes, and other exciting stuff (ok… so I can’t remember all of the ideas we had but I know they were awesome!) but after two full days of branding we were pooped out. That really meant all we had energy for was to sit and do nothing. Everyone was pretty ok with that… Except there was one thing we all HAD to do. Because although we were camping and roughing it, we did have one admit request of The Cattlewoman- we had to shower! I don’t blame her for not wanting a bunch of stinky cowboys and cowgirls in her trailer so we obliged. And with so many to shower that pretty well filled our day. We showered. We ate. We slept. We talked. It was great fun!

There was a teensy bit of excitement when some of the guys thought they should go hunting for the big rat in old shack. Doesn’t shooting at a rat in a dark shack in the dark of the night sound exciting to you. Mind you that the shack would have fallen down at any time if they hit it in just the right spot… Boys…

The following morning we woke to a wonderful surprise- no wind! That might not sound like such a big deal, but we had been hammered with the wind for days. For just a moment we were able to enjoy a beautiful sunrise without any wind.

The Rancher Princess and I followed The Rancher out to catch horses for the days work. The horses weren’t really cooperating… they ran and ran and RAN! Not the way The Rancher wanted to start his day but it made for a fun little photo shoot for me.

The Buckarette

January 20, 2015 by Allison

Hello again…

I’m just going to jump in and pretend that it hasn’t been forever since I have been here…

In fact, lets just pretend its August. Yep, on this chilly January night I want you to pretend that its a blistering hot (I don’t know that it ever gets THAT hot here, but for dramatic effect- it works nicely) summer day. Say like August 2nd in fact.

Why August 2nd?

Because something awesome happened August 1st- I got a new sister in law! I love all my sisters, in laws and outlaws. Everyone of them brings their own awesome-ness to the table. In our Eliason family, EVERY girl is celebrated. For so long there was only The Cattlewoman, raising 5 cowboys without any female to stand strong with. Even the dogs were all boys! I guess if you wanted to get picky, there have been thousands of female cows go through, but they don’t count… don’t count AT ALL.

As the first of the married-in-daughters, I told everyone that it was my right and privilege to approve their choices for wives before the question was even popped. Unfortunately, they didn’t take me seriously and never asked if I was cool with their choices… But lucky for them they picked well. So well, I don’t know that I could have done any better. The Cowpoke knew that any girl from Montana would fit in just right (history has proven that!) and now The Buckaroo has found himself a fine cowgirl of his own. She isn’t from Montana (but she does LOVE it) and that’s ok because she more than makes up for it with her sweet cowgirl skills, mad basketball skills, and awesome baking skills.

I’ll let The Buckaroo tell you how he wooed her so fast… that’s an exciting story of its own… The only thing I’ll divulge is that she was the perfect girl in his eyes- she could rope, rodeo, cook, and looked HOT. But really, what else is there?!

I’d like to (finally…) introduce you to The Buckarette! This girl was raised on the back of a horse and taught that she was the one that would get the work done. Sound familiar? Oh, ya.. like the rest of us. There have been some great moments getting to know her over the last year. Like when she came to the ranch for the first time for branding and out roped all of the boys. Or when all she had for church shoes were her work boots and she didn’t even bat an eye. Or when she, repeatedly, made the blind steer walk into the barn (not like IN the barn like.. “bam!” INTO the barn). Or when she nearly out shot all the boys when we pulled out the clay pigeons.

Yep, she’s a girl after my own heart and I’m excited to share her story with ours too. Of course you have already seen her here on The Blog, but she has officially been given a name- The Buckarette!

Family Photoshoot in the Snow

November 18, 2014 by Allison

For having a population of about 90, there are so many terrific people in this little valley. In the few years that we have been living here I have made some incredible friends. Over the last few struggling years its been humbling to watch our ranching and farming friends plead and pray for help and to see them celebrate in their triumphs and stand tall in their trials.

This little family has to be at the top of our best friends. He was best friends with The Rancher as they grew up, she and I hit it off instantly and we have kids the exact same age that already love each other. She asked me to take a few family pictures and we found the perfect day on the morning of the first snow of the season. Now when I say she wanted me to take a few, she really meant it. “I just need a family one, one of each kid… and I guess just the two of us!” That’s just what we said. I snagged a few others and then talked them into taking a few fun ones “sledding” that I think turned out so fun!

I’m a work in progress, ready and eager to learn how to take AWESOME pictures, and I’m grateful for those willing to jump in and let me capture their story!

Can I Have a Wordless Monday, Please?

October 7, 2014 by Allison

How about a wordless Wednesday on a Monday? Is that like “Mums the Word Monday”? I have recently found some pictures from this last spring and I thought I would share. And I have a few from the last few busy weeks of moving cows, working calves, and just being cool. Because we are so cool… I might like to think that I am- please, don’t burst my bubble!

Oneida County Steer Show

September 3, 2014 by Allison

Tonight we are hitting up the Easter Idaho State Fair, a big highlight of our fall. I’m not sure why we love fairs so much- maybe its the food, or the free entertainment, or that we can wear our cowboy duds and totally fit in. Whatever it is, we can’t get enough and hit up as many of the local fairs as we possibly can! In fact, it will be our 4th fair in just about as many weeks!

I big believer in fairs… obviously as now I am on our country fair board. I really feel like it has a lot to give it the community and especially its youth. The time, effort, sacrifice, and responsibility it takes for kids to commit and then follow through on all of their projects is huge. Parents and leaders put in a lot of time to help teach skills to the up and coming generation of ranchers, gardeners, sewers, bakers, photographers, canners, and hopefully leaders. Yep, I’m sounding a little stuffy and frumpy… but when you take away the rides and rodeos, what you have left is kids learning and showing what they can do. I love it!

Every year I look forward to the steer show. I was big into showing (can you imagine me NOT going big in anything I do?!). I loved taking the time to wash, clip and fit my steer. The show ring meant game time and I wanted to win. And sometimes I did. Now that I don’t get to (their really frown upon a grown woman commandeering the steer show!), I like to jump in and help give a few of my tips and tricks to the next group of showman. Who knows if they even want to hear what I have to say, but at least I feel like I get to keep my foot in the ring one way!

But really, these kids don’t need me. They (hopefully!) have been working and preparing all summer for this day, and as you can see, one way or another, they nailed it!