Our Story
Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest. – Ecclesiastes 11:4
Many people ask us how our ranch got its unique name. That’s a good question and one that requires a little background knowledge to fully understand. We have always been an unconventional family. Even when we were dating, we learned the value of taking risks and doing things that others would not. We held onto the phrase of “do it afraid” and stepped out of our comfort zones on a regular basis. We bought a fixer-upper as our first home and put a lot of elbow grease into it back before rehabbing and HGTV were a common thing to follow. We cut cable before streaming was cool and budgeting before it was “the thing to do”.
We lived in a way that others would not so that we change our financial situation as quickly as possible. Buying run-down properties allowed us to build equity in each home and we continued to do so as we moved up from one home to another. Our second home was a short-sale property that was a long shot, yet we got into it and did another rehab and built more equity. We have stayed in each home for 2-4 years, adding value to each home and then selling each for top dollar. During each of these moves, we have continued to build our businesses and have lots of babies. Speaking of babies, on one of our moves, I was 40 weeks pregnant, packing up a house and moving (not recommended). We officially moved when baby Barlow was 5 days old and lived in an Air BnB while our new home was being painted. I actually listed this house on a whim without telling my husband when it went active. When we got a showing in less than an hour, I decided I better call him and tell him “babe, I put our house up for sale”.
It’s scenarios like this that coined the term “Y’all are Crazy”. Rather than finding fault in this phrase, we began to find the humor in it, agreeing and taking it as a compliment. We each started businesses before we were ready and both being entrepreneurs is no joke! We have grown as our businesses have grown, both in insurance and in real estate, along with all the other endeavors along the way! In the height of the craziness of 2020, we decided to purchase a couple of carpet cleaning franchises. At a time when most businesses were shrinking, we were expanding. We now have six children and often get told, you guessed it “y’all are crazy”. But for us, we wouldn’t have it any other way. Over the years, we have built up several businesses and now enjoy investing in residential real estate and turning run down properties into wonderful homes for local communities. In 2020, we decided to start a small longhorn cattle operation.
We had 40 acres at the time and just enough space for a small herd. We found that we loved the ranch lifestyle and decided to upgrade our land. We found the perfect parcel on 240 acres with abundant grazing land, flowing stocked ponds and beauty like we had never seen in Oklahoma. We purchased the land and decided it would be an ideal spot for our dream home! Amazingly, the 160 acres right beside us came up for sale and we secured it as well, making a grand total of 400 acres. This land is such a blessing to our family! We now have longhorn cattle, goats and will be adding more animals as we go. We love the community of Chandler and feel it is the perfect place to raise our family. Speaking of Chandler, I had a sense that the Lord spoke to me one morning that we needed to look at a rental house in Chandler. I barely knew where the town was and certainly knew nothing about it. I told my husband that we needed to check it out that day.
When we walked into the house, I said “Babe, we need to buy this house and I think our family is going to live in it someday”. He was a little shocked by my statement but we trusted God to make a way. We bought the house, did a full renovation, put our 40-acre home for sale and moved into this small rental home. We actually down-sized and cut our square footage down by half. It turns out our family would need that house while we built our new one. What we didn’t know about this home is that it had not been lived in for years so it had some issues. We had no heat in the first few months and moved in the month of January so our only heat source was the fireplace and space heaters. We ordered a new bed and while we waited for it to come in, we slept on air mattresses for weeks. Our plumbing backed up so we couldn’t flush toilet paper for a while. I cannot make this stuff up! My husband always uses the term “we eat adversity for breakfast” and we sure did. It’s these crazy scenarios that have made us grateful for all that we have and have grown our resiliency as we make decisions each day. I’m so glad we trusted God! He has been faithful and will continue to be. As we grow the Y’all Are Crazy Ranch, raise our family and live our lives intentionally, we pray that our family can be a blessing to others and we can share God’s love with those He puts in our path!
Along with operating this Ranch, we both have full time careers and a passel of children! Bronson is an insurance Agent and still works from the office about 4 days a week. He is a true entrepreneur and starting businesses is one of the things he does best! Hey, he’s my husband so I can brag on him! He also has a sweet workout barn on the ranch which he has titled “The Barn of Gains” where he works out daily. Exercise has always been a passion of his and it keeps him healthy and strong! I am a Real Estate Broker and own Bricks and Branches Realty. I love helping folks with their real estate needs and having been serving families in this realm since 2012. I am also an author, speaker and podcast host. My passion is truly helping women find their rhythm. My popular book “Raising A Business and Babies” is available on Amazon and my podcast “Business and Babies” can be heard on iTunes and Spreaker. We work hard to raise our kids with strong values and to teach them about hard work and treating others well. We pray this is instilled into them as they grow!