By: Paige Murray

I’ve been coming to Cherry Grove, North Myrtle Beach ever since I was a little girl, and it’s still one of my favorite places in the world to spend time with my family! So many wonderful memories. It’s just as fun now as it was when I was little because I love seeing it through the eyes of Oakley! They have recently restored the beach and pumped sand in from the deep. We’ve found more sharks teeth and shells than we ever have! The teeth are black because they are fossilized. Oakley and her cousins can spend all day looking for them with us! #myrtlebeach #southcarolina

Happy Father’s Day to the most amazing fathers I could ever have in my life! Ty, you are the most wonderful dad in the world to Oakley and Kase. Truly. The most important and best decision I ever made in life was choosing you! And also the most tolerant to seven cats (& counting) and my funny farm. We are SO thankful for you! I pray Oakley finds and man like you and Kase becomes a man like you! You take the best care of us. You are loyal, honest, a man of your word, fair, patient, supportive, tough, a true horseman, compassionate, a heart for animals, and a man of integrity! The same can be said for my dad and my father-in-law and their family and life values. I have the best daddy in the world and couldn’t be more thankful he raised me! And my father-in-law loves me like I’m his! Both my grandfathers were the most amazing men as well. True examples of the best a man can be! ❤️

We celebrated Father’s Day in Texas early because we will be out of town! I couldn’t believe I found this original 1947 comic about Ty’s great-great Uncle Guy Shultz. Guy was a cowboy in the Wild West Shows for the 101 Ranch near Marland, OK. The comic is actually a true story. Ty’s dad was raised by his Grandpa Walter, who was Guy’s brother. Guy and Walter went into the racehorse business after the Great Depression and a rodeo injury as mentioned in the comic. However, Guy actually called Walter ‘Dad,’ because their dad was killed in a horse and wagon accident, leaving Walter the man of the house. Last year we visited Marland, OK, the town where Ty’s dad, Butch, grew up. We also visited the remnants of the 101 Ranch. It’s incredible! I’ve been working on my first novel based on the true stories of Butch’s childhood. It’s been so fun to explore this part of our family and America’s history. I also gave all the men a custom tape measure. It was put to good use before we even left the restaurant 😂! #101Ranch #cowboy #ranchlife #rodeo

A Good Deal for Everybody Oakley was playing with her friend the other day, and she had created challenges for her to win a prize. The challenges were as follows: make-up my bed, put my dishes up, help fold towels. I asked Oakley if her friend wanted to play this game and she told me yeah. So I asked the friend if she was sure and she also said, “yeah, I like it!” I was telling Ty about this, and he just grinned a big ol’ grin. It sounded just like someone he knew- himself! When Ty was about 14, he was waking up at four in the morning to get to the racetrack before sunup. He would get on his first racehorse this early for two reasons. 1. He had to get to school after he finishing galloping horses 2. You had to be 16 to get your jockey license, but Ty would get to the track with his Dad when it was still dark so no one could tell he was out there underage. He’d show up and his horses would already be saddled. He’d go either lope or breeze the horses for a mile or two, and head back to the barn and get legged up on his next horse. He was making $5 a head and could get on 10 to 15 horses before school. Good money for a kid! Well, his mom went out of town for a couple days and gave Ty a list of stuff to have done, including mowing the lawn. Ty had a friend name Sylvester. He was always looking for a buck. Sylvester showed up after Ty’s mom left, So Ty got a bright business idea. He said, “Hey, Sylvester, I’ll pay you twenty dollars to mow our yard.” Twenty dollars was worth four horses, and that was only a third of Ty’s morning. Ty’s mom came home and found out about Sylvester mowing the yard and was mad! Ty told her, “Mom, everybody is happy. Sylvester is happy he made twenty bucks. I’m happy I didn’t have to mow the yard. You’re happy the yard is mowed. That’s how business is supposed to work.” And he has a point! And I’m raising a mini Ty. #horse #horseracing #cowboy

What a great summer it’s been already! 🐴 Slowing down and spending time playing with the kids. Spending time with family and animals! Pete got to join in on a virtual Q&A for a KY summer reading camp of Rosie’s Ranch Rescue 🐕 We’ve gotten lots of rain and it’s not too hot yet. Only a bit of poison ivy and a few chigger bites to complain about. Oakley has been riding and Kase earned his black/red belt in Taekwondo! I’m so proud of them both. They are just wonderful kids! I couldn’t be more grateful for them and my beyond wonderful husband, Ty!❤️ #ranchlife #cowboy #ranch #animals

The fog and the dew was just right this morning to show off millions of nature’s marvels. Pound-for-pound, spider silk is stronger than steel and tougher than Kevlar. It’s fascinating, and also a bit creepy, to see how there are millions of these webs across the land, when usually they are invisible. #spiderwebs #nature #ranchlife #texas

A warmhearted tale that distills Yuletide to an essential element: family closeness. 🤠 @kirkus_reviews @zonderkidz

From bull riding to broadway 🤣🤠 I. AM. DYING! #girldad #bullriding #pbr #rodeo #competitive

Summer storm in Texas. I love this old barn house. I’ve talked about this before, but the barn in the first photo actually used to be a house. Before Ty had gates, an old hunchback woman came flying down the dirt road in her Cadillac. Ty was down by the barn working with horses. The lady waved Ty over and asked if she could take a photo of that house. Ty asked if she meant the barn. She told him no, she meant the house. Then she told Ty her brother was born in that house. She snapped a photo and then sped off, barely peeking above the steering wheel, before Ty could ask any more questions. This barn house was part of the inspiration in my newest children’s book, Rosie’s Cowboy Christmas. Anyways, we are lucky the rain skirted around us. We still have hay on the ground. It was a flourishing spring. 🤠 #ranch #texas #storm #cowboy #farm