In spring of 2002, Denny, my boyfriend then, husband now, created a water fountain for a showing at a local home and garden show. As spring is always fickle, it had to rain this particular weekend. Sitting in the rain, beside a water fountain, we became very cold and wet. Off we took to view the sites and try to find a nice warm location. In our search we came across a children's play area, and in this play area were these darling animals that we had never seen before. Being an animal lover my first instincts were to reach out and touch these strange creatures, of course I followed my instincts. My mouth probably dropped to the floor when my hands started to warm up. The owner came up to us and asked if we had ever seen an alpaca before. When we answered no, he handed us each a lead line, and said take them for a walk. I felt like a little kid with a brand new pet.
During the next half hour we probably walked six different alpacas. Afterwards Albin explained more about the animals, and what they were used for. We both found this more then interesting, but we had to get back to the cold, wet outside and give the other couple with us a chance to warm up. During the day when it was our turn for a break, we always ended up back to those wonderful creatures called alpacas. Each visit provided more information, and a growing idea of perhaps, maybe, we could do this. The following day provided more drizzle and less people, so we spent more time hearing about alpacas from Albin. We signed up for free information and the hope of seeing where this would lead us. The following week we received the information and discussed many options. During this time in our lives, Denny and I were not married and had separate households to support. I had five acres of nothing but hills and ravines. Denny on the other hand had almost eleven acres, six of that being field. We had already brought over my horse, so I didn't have to pay for boarding anymore. With the money I saved there, we did the figuring and decided to jump in and purchase two of these wonderful animals. Our first members to join our family were Sasha, and Black Knight, two weanlings. Unfortunately we could not bring them home as of yet. Needed a bigger barn and pasture, to provided for our new members as well as my horse. Jade my horse had the only stable in the old barn, and we didn't want to put them all together in such a small area. The purchase was the easy part, now we had to decide on a location for the new barn, design it so we both were satisfied, and of course the big step, buying all the materials for the building. I give my husband much credit for everything. He not only designed the building, but built most of it on his own with some help from me, family and friends. By fall, we had four block walls up with lots of room for all our animals, just no roof. Since it was getting late in the year and we needed to get the animals home, we just covered the top floor with vinyl and hoped for the best. Home comes Black Knight and a friend. We made the decision to leave Sasha there for her first breeding. Finally the day was approaching to bring Sasha home. Albin the great salesman, gives us another pitch, to buy a companion for her. We just couldn't turn him down, so we brought home Tangles to keep them all in line. From there it was only forward.
That December, Denny and I were married, and started to move things into his house. Not easy living from one house to the other but we made it work. The spring of 2003 found us finishing the barn, with roof. In June I was able to sell my house and officially have only one home.
With the sale of my house we paid off our family of alpacas, and searched for another member. We purchased Morena that fall and then Cata the following February. Sasha gave us our first cria, Roberto in September of 2003. We are looking forward now and have been improving our blood lines each year.