Last Sunday was probably the worst day of my life. We had been enjoying a nice weekend listening to General Confernce. We were all concerned about what was happening at the ranch, but Ryan had stayed home on Saturday and helped me get caught up on some house work as we enjoyed the words of our shrsh leaders. Seriously, some of the best speeches ever. I love, love Conference weekend, and I could listen to the choirs all day. Saturday was a great day of peace. Sunday morning, Ryan became concerned about the ranch. He called and told his Dad that we were going to just come down for the day and listen to conference with him. He informed us that snipers were trained on the ranch house and he was concerned about us bringing the kids, but of course, we are always made to feel welcome at the ranch. Snipers on the hills???? I questioned Ryan over and over about this, but I think we both didn't realize how bad things had really gotten down there. As soon as we got to the ranch, Bailey was there, but Cliven and Carol were just leaving to go and meet with someone. It was so good to talk to Bailey, and discuss with her about how stressed we had both been. With the crazy compound they had set up, snipers on the hills, and all of the roads blocked off, the tension in the air was ratcheted up so tight, I felt like I was going to scream. Bailey is an amazingly strong woman. I admire all that she has done, I know that there have been a lot of nights that she hasn't slept because she was up all night working on informative DVD's, for Cliven, and brochures, she has always been there to take pictures, and has been great to document everything going on. On top of all of that, she is trying to juggle two kids under the age of 4, a successful and busy photography business, and a husband who works a ton of hours. But, standing in the kitchen, we were both able to cry and sniffle around a little at all that was going on. So many people don't get or understand Cliven's position on stuff, and it was good to talk with her, and know that she was going just as crazy as I was.
The week before we arrived at the ranch, Bailey filmed the BLM hauling three big loads of cattle off of the range. She said that she got so upset and could not figure out why her Dad wasn't doing anything about it. He calmly told her that he was praying about it, and felt like nothing should be done at the time. She about couldn't handle that, but hey, we all knew that Cliven does nothing that he isn't inspired to do. It was so nerve wracking to see load after load leaving the range. Ryan had a ton of people that kept calling wanting to "do" something. He would just explain that his Dad had felt that he needed to let them get their hands dirty for awhile. He wanted actual theft to be going on before he did anything about it.
Anyhow, we were watching some of the Conference speeches with Grandma Turner. The kids were playing outside, oblivious to the snipers on the hillside, and all of the tension in the air. We got a call from Cliven, that he could see trucks coming down from sheep troughs and that he would like us to go and get pictures. Immediately my heart began pounding in my throat. It sounded simple enough, but for some reason my nerves were really on end about the situation. I knew that the Highway Patrol had been escorting the thieving cowboys everywhere, and my husband never backs down from any kind of a confrontation. Cliven's specific instructions were not to engage the BLM in any way, act peaceful, but just get pictures. Because, we had just gone down to listen to conference, I didn't have my camera. The only cameras we really had were on Jams and Saggers Ipods. Jerusha had a small camera, but she has always been so stingy with it, that she erases any pictures I ever take. Anyhow, initially we had Jamie, Sage and Jerusha in the van with Ryan and I. However, I needed Jerusha to babysit, and so I instructed her to stay. She did let us utilize her camera though.
Anyhow, Ryan figured that he knew exactly where they would be bringing cattle out. When we arrived at the intersection, we remained on the main road, and there was one BLM ranger parked blocking the road that was heading up to the mountain. The BLM had claimed the whole 600,00 acres of range as off limits, but we were on the county road that connects Bunkerville to Riverside and Mesquite. Anyhow, it was interesting, we were parked there, and Arden and Jared showed up. In the meantime, truck after truck with federal BLM agents began to arrive. The all convened on the road that was blocked. A black unmarked truck pulled in and two agents scrambled upon the hill and trained sniper rifles on us. Yes, Jams, Sags, Ryan and I. Who, at this point were innocently listening to D. Todd Christofferson's speech at conference, and Arden and Jared who were parked 100 yards down the road. More and more of them showed up. During this time, Stetsy and Bailey came in Bailey's mini van. I was glad when they showed up because our cameras really weren't that great. Bailey as I mentioned before, runs a photography business and has great equipment. Stetsy got out and told us about an altercation that she had already had with the BLM earlier in the day. She had been sitting right where we were sitting when an agent told her that she would have to leave. She argued that she was sitting on a state road, but he said that he had jurisdiction over the road, and that she could no longer stop on it. Anyhow, all of this was just adding to the tension inside of my head. I seriously thought I was going to throw up. I just felt like something horrible was about to happen.
At about this time, Davey showed up in his little car. He was bold enough to get out of his car, lean against the hood and film with an ipad. At about this time, several of the trucks began to leave. I heaved a sigh and hoped that they weren't really all ganging up and looking for a fight. The trucks drove past us, swung around and got behind us. They announced on their loudspeaker, that we were in violation of some sort of a code and would have to leave immediately. Ryan at first began to resist, but I reminded him that Cliven didn't want us having trouble with them. We slowly began to drive away. Stetsy and Bailey left, and we were in the process of urging Dave to leave. He ignored us and kept right on filming with his ipad. Four agents, with loaded M-16's, bullet proof vests, with a German Shepherd dog approached Davey. They repeatedly told him to leave. He kept right on filming. The agents kept telling us that we had to leave, that they were going to arrest Ryan if we didn't. Ryan kept telling them that he was not going to leave without his brother. At this point they all attacked Dave. Brutally attacking him, throwing his phone and ipad and throwing him on the ground. One of the agents stepped on his head and ground his face into the gravel. Jamie and Sage were screaming at this point, and begging their Dad to leave. Ryan came really close to getting arrested too, but finally left. At this point the girls and I were way upset. Obviously these agents had violated all kinds of our rights as Amercian citizens and so what kind of rules would they play by with Dave? We urged Arden and Jared to leave and the agents threatened them with his M-16. They finally had no choice but to leave too.
When we arrived at the ranch chaos broke loose. I still had my seven kids running around. Jams and Sags were crying and very upset. Bailey and Stetsy were understandably very upset too. Cliven wasn't happy that we had stirred the BLM up, and a bunch of people from town showed up wondering what they could do to help. People got on the phone and began making calls to find out where they had taken him and what they were doing with him. He had only been taking pictures, had not resisted arrest, and had broken no laws. Hanna and her kids were also down and she has six under the age of 10. Anyhow it was sheer mayhem. I had seen first hand that this was agency playing by whatever rules they made up. I ended up calling Marylynne and she of course, was extremely upset. It was all a horrible nightmare. I had never been so upset that I just wanted to throw up and cry, and run away. Anyhow, because of all of this dinner of course, was delayed. We were all so upset it was hard to focus on the mundane. Anyhow, by this time the press had caught on to the story and everyone wanted to interview Cliven to find out what happened. There was a newspaper reporter on every phone, and a camera crew from channel 8 in Vegas showed up to catch the story. All of them were wanting a piece of Cliven's time. In the meantime, Mo, clueless as to what was up, just was hungry, tired, and I am sure could feel all the tension. He was bawling nonstop. Dinner was in the oven at this time, and I had taken him all over the place, and tried everything to get him to stop. Nothing worked. I was emotionally drained after the horrible arrest, talking to Marylynne, and contemplating that it was a miracle they didn't have Ryan in custody as well. I finally just set him down where he bawled loudly. Cliven just happened to walk in the house at that moment. In spite of the fact that everyone wanted a piece of his time, he noticed the one crying baby on the floor. "What is wrong with the baby?" he asked. I explained that he was hungry, tired, and wasn't wanting to wait anymore for dinner. Cliven scooped him up, gave him a hug, and carried him into the kitchen. He fixed him a roll with some jam, and a glass of milk, and handed him back to me. He was happy and content. Then he went and faced all of the press.
This is the kind of man Cliven is. I have seen it time and time again. I recall one day Carol was complaining about Arden (this was years ago when Arden was still small). He was wanting his mom's attention and refused to leave her lap so that she could get up and get something done around the house or ranch. She was complaining to Cliven that she couldn't get anything done because of Arden and his clingy mood. "All I do is sit and hold him today."
"Well, he said, you are holding my baby, and that is getting something done." What an incredible guy. My husband is a lot like him, and I am so grateful for all that he taught his boys. His patience can clearly be seen around the ranch house. On one side is a set of stairs that are pretty dangerous that Ryan built. Those boys learned how to do a lot of things on that house, and some of it proves that they were learning. What patient parents Cliven and Carol are. I love them and will love them forever.
When we arrived back in Cedar, Ryan gathered his things, and went back down. At this point, I knew that we were facing something huge, I had no phone, and I was worried sick. I was so relieved to hear that Davey was released the next day. Roughed up, but released. My parents loaned me one of their phones until I got mine hooked back up which made a huge difference.
During the week, they held a rally at the ranch, and had more altercations with the armed agents. Ammon got tased three times, Aunt Margaret got thrown to the ground, and they almost arrested Jared. At this point, a huge crowd had gathered and stopped a lot of things from getting worse. People flocked to the ranch from all over the United States. Many people said, "I just felt like I had to come out here." Or I heard, "There was something different about this family. I just wanted to be here to help you guys."
On Tuesday night, Ryan was praying, and had an idea come to him. He decided that he was going to go and explain to the head BLM agent, a Mr. Love, that they were going to ride in and get their cows. He then said that they would have to have a large amount of cowboys on horses waiting to ride in and drive the cows down to the farm. He felt that this would avoid any physical conflict and that no one would even have to be hurt. He felt confident that this was the way to end things. I always have faith in my husband's inspiration, but I must admit that I had a few thoughts that the BLM were never going to agree with that.
On Wednesday, Ryan and I headed to Monroe, Utah. We had been assisting with a protest of the sale barn there. They had taken a chunk of money (we never really established the amount) in agreement to sell the stolen cows. No one else from Utah, or Nevada would take them. The first week we showed up, and I was so happy to see Marylynne and her kids, and Lane and Rosella. It was actually a great time. The owner of the sale barn was quite upset, but we had already cleared things with the sheriff. We were doing nothing illegal, we just had to make sure to stay clear of the road, and stay off of the sale barn property. The next week we went again, and by then the story had broken nationwide. There was a ton of people, we had donuts, and people donating subway sandwiches. It was also Moroni's birthday. Ryan gathered everyone together, talked about Captain Moroni, and everyone sang to him. Ryan then rushed back south. I spacily left my wallet at a Taco Bell in Richfield. This was the last straw. I had a come apart of sorts. Thankfully, my Dad came over, brought cash for my girls to take to Disneyland, and then went and got my wallet. Yep, that is the kind of Dad I have.
Gary came up from Mesa, and I was so grateful to have him here. He kept me laughing, and it was good to have a friend. Because my phone number changed, I didn't hear from most people and that made me feel very alone. I still had all of the day to day things to do. The girls had a ballet recital. They all did a very good job. Jams and Sags also had their Disneyland trip in the middle of the whole thing. It was so hard to stay home and do normal things, when I knew my family was in danger. I was also very nervous and scared. My Dad came over and gave me a blessing. In that blessing he promised me that my loved ones would come out alive and ok. This provided a ton of comfort. I was on an emotional roller coaster. I couldn't sleep, or eat but just felt nervous most of the time.
Saturday rolled around. I had spent the night with my parents because I wanted to spend time with Gary, and Cliven and Ammon were on the Sean Hannity show. I really enjoyed watching them. Cliven was also on Sean Hannity's radio program and in spite of the fact that he was losing his voice, he did an incredible job. A woman called and told him that she was praying for our family. Cliven kind of choked up, and told her how much those prayers were being heard and answered. It was totally true too. Angels had been seen at a rally, most people had felt a spirit that they couldn't explain. Even Sean Hannity's assistant, a man they refer to as "Sweet Baby James" said, "there is something about this man, I just want to help him." I was amazed at all that was happening to my family.
As I was saying, Saturday came, I had a feeling that Ryan was going to go and demand the cattle back that day. I knew that tensions were going to be high. I went home and tried to regroup and get the kids ready to head south. My plans were to leave my kids with Doug. I had not been able to reach him that morning, though and my nerves just got more and more tense. We finally loaded up, and went up to get fuel. I called Ryan, I had actually heard and Fox News that Cliven and the BLM had reached an agreement, and that the BLM were going to leave. He explained that this was not the case, and that tensions were extremely high. At this point militia men had come from around the country to protect the family from the BLM agents. I told him that I was on my way. He immediately called me back and told me not to come. WHAT??? I wanted to be there with him. I knew that he was going to go and demand the cows back, I knew he had been inspired to do this, but I also don't like to question him when he asks me to do something. I was praying non stop and going crazy. Serious basket case. I knew the danger of the situation. I knew that those men were heavily armed. I knew Ryan was going to be making the demands. I kept telling myself to have faith, but it was hard to calm down. I was also getting extremely frustrated with Mo. Lately he has just been making up names for stuff...it is then up to us to try to figure out what it is that he wants. He had been demanding "mills" all morning. I was pretty keyed up, and maybe not as patient as usual. I finally determined that "mills" were strawberries. What kind of a joke is that? They don't even come close to sounding alike at all. A few evenings before he had bawled and bawled for "daw daw". I had gone through everything I could think of that might possibly be a "daw daw". I finally told Sags that her job was to figure out what the heck he wanted. It was chocolate...hmm should have known.
Anyhow, Ryan finally called me when the whole stand-off was over. He said that things got really hot for a few minutes, but that everyone had knelt in prayer, and everyone had faith that things could end peacefully. Our cowboys and crowd still faced down the real possibilities of being shot (they were threatening) and that the cowboys did ride up into the compound and drove the cows down the wash and toward the ranch. It was quite the triumph and quite the show. Incredible pictures and stories were posted about the whole situation. Everyone involved felt the power and protection from God. How I wish I had been there, but I understand that it was no place for children. I had no child care at that point. Anyhow, I am proud of my husband. So many miracles were seen. It truly was incredible.
We headed down after that. We spent time, feeding all of the doggie calves, the kids swam in the river, and it was nice to be with Ryan for a short time. I did return home because Jams and Sags had been dropped off, and the kids had two days of school to attend. We returned on Wednesday where I cooked and cleaned. I did all of the meals for those who were at the ranch. There were still militia men, and people, reporters, and kids in and out nonstop. My kids swam in the ditch, then swam in the river. They helped with doggie calves, and they made new friends. They had an awesome spring break. Thank goodness for all of the brave people who flocked to our aid. I had no idea how many good hearted people there are out there. Seriously, I bawl every time I think about it. The one thing that was hard was, I wanted desperately to be with Ryan. My kitchen responsibilities made that impossible. He was down at the rally sight most of the time. He had also gone down to dig up the mass grave of cattle that they found. Most of the time I couldn't even get him on the phone. We have been separated for a good solid month at this point. We have seen each other very little, and I have missed him terribly.
We had a great party on Fridee night. There were several bands in line to play, cowboy poetry, and several barbecue grills set up to feed everyone. There was also a guy who donated matchbox cars for all of the little boys. This was absolutely brilliant. It kept Mo happy all evening. The party was quite the fiasco in a lot of ways. I had all of my kiddos to watch, and I had three of Mel's. With the crowd, and no fences, watching all of the kids became next to impossible. I was so grateful that Gary had come back up with Ivers and cute Julia. They were a ton of help. Chlo and Prestlie weren't too difficult. They found a pile of rocks and played and played. Prestlie informed me that they were Big Horn Sheep to begin with. Big Horn Sheep with pixie dust...they would throw dirt and this was the pixie dust. They were also frogs at one point, ladybugs among other things. They stuck to their boulders for the most part. Everyone else however just wanted to roam. I would let them disappear for awhile and then feel the need to at least check on them. I lost Montana for good at one point and about panicked. Luckily Mel had located her. Needless to say, when Mo threw his tired fit, I was ready to go to bed. A lot of fun, but a ton of work.
Sunday was a lovely day. I love Easter. I got up early and cooked everyone breakfast. Ryan informed me that we had to get the kids ready for shrsh, and pack everything up because we were leaving as soon as the meetings were over. We also wanted to have church with all of our supporters. It was incredible to get everyone together and hear everyone's testimony. We had Baptists, and Christians of all kinds. I know that there were some atheists who were questioning what it was they had seen and felt on the day of the stand-off. I loved meeting with them. Their spirit is incredible.
A big mistake was made by Arden before we entered the shrsh building in Bunkerville. He gave Mo about six cars. We were a little bit late, so we ended up in the back in the loud and echo-y gym area. Those cars clunked and clanked and crashed. They made way too much noise. Then Mo threw a huge fit. HUGE. I took him out, and Ryan came out to take over. Unfortunately at that point a police officer from Mesquite came in and threw a fit about some of our militia men attending church with us....WHAT? He called Metro, and it was simple because no laws were being broken. This gentleman was irate however, and Ryan ended up missing most of shrsh to deal with him.
I know that things are still pretty chaotic down south. I am just trying to get some clothes washed and my home cleaned after all of the tension and craziness. I will never forget those who prayed for us, and who came to be with us. I will also never forget those who at least asked about and worried about our safety and well being. I saw bravery and hero's like I have never seen before. I am grateful that we are free enough still to make some changes in our country. I understand that many just think we are tax avoiding law breakers, and I am glad that we live in a country where they can have a different opinion. I have cried and cried at the goodness of so many. It has also been good for me to remember to love those who don't agree with us. That might be the best lesson I ever get out of this.
Mo and Chlo protesting the agreement so sell our cattle at R Livestock in Monroe UT
Mo with his birthday gift
Jazz and Natalie Easter egg hunting in the hay stack
again
Mo and his birthday basketball
Birthday Mo
Oak Easter egg hunting in the haystack
Bottle feeding one of the many calves that were dogied out of the BLM gather
Kids being squirrely at the party
Rooshkie, Emma, and Bentlie
Favorite friend, Julia, Mo and one of the many matchbox cars he acquired during the evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment