REGULATORS, MOUNT UP!

If we’ve seen it once, we’ve seen it a thousand times – and believe us, we’ve seen it at least that many. When Audrey’s oldest boys, Taylor and Bryson, were young, they watched Young Guns every single day, often three or four times.

“I can’t count how many times they watched it,” Audrey laughed. “I bet they wore a hole in that VHS. It seemed like it was always on. And they probably didn’t even need the movie, they knew every word, they probably could’ve put it on as a two-man show! They were certainly dressed for it.”

Not only did they know every word by heart, they would also “get rigged up”, as Daddy Doug would put it, and don all their Wild West best.

“Oh yeah, boots and hats and holsters, the works!” Audrey laughed. “Shirts and pants optional, though, of course – you know how little cowboys are. And then there were their ‘horses’, and that was a whole other riggin’.”

By horses, she means ottomans. The boys would rig up the ottomans in front of the TV as their mighty steeds – wrap the legs, throw blankets over them, and “saddle them” – and ride right alongside the Regulators in their imagination.

“They were obsessed with the whole gang, the whole outlaw thing,” Audrey said. “We even had to take them to the grave and see Billy the Kid’s headstone on one of our trips. I think Taylor was more all-in than Bryson, probably, but little brother loves what big brother loves, so they were just this little dynamic duo of toddler cowboys. Our own little young guns.”