Bow Hunt

Bow Hunting season and it was a night of adventure.

We went to an un-disclosed hunting spot (a good hunter never reveals their spot!) and we saw some nice Mule Deer in a hay field. 

Some were in velvet and some had rubbed the velvet off or were in the process of rubbing it off. 

They were fun to watch and fun to photograph. 

If Zac would have decided to come with us.....they would have been fun to shoot. 

Zac didn't think we would see anything!

If I would have been more prepared and out of the truck sooner....these bucks were fighting and chasing each other.  It was cool to see and to listen to!

This buck had rubbed most of his velvet off and he was a pretty nice buck too!

This buck on the right was a dark pretty color and the antlers were pretty nice too!

It was a bow hunters dream, however Steve had an Elk tag and Zac had the deer tag!

We didn't see any Elk this trip but we were headed up a draw to get settled in and jumped these deer that Zac would have had a good opportunity to harvest :o)

 This little buck even stopped to see what we were up to.....

 As we headed over the ridge we heard footsteps and when we looked over we saw that we were right in the path of some wild horses.  These are the mares....

 and the Stud was right behind them herding them up the hill.

 The Stud was snorting and stomping his feet at us.  We had camo on so he couldn't tell what we were but he could smell us.  The wind was blowing towards them and he was mad because we were in his path.  They were pretty to watch!

Then we rode off into the sunset. 

This was just the beginning of hunting season. 

I hope to "shoot" many more experiences!

IRONMAN 2

On the way to work I was listening to Kony (Country Radio) and they were having a competition for IronMan 2 movie tickets.
The question was: "What is on the T-Shirt sponsored by Tanga?"
Nobody was calling so they said, "Go to Tanga.com and get the answer."
A lady calls in and says, "Well, it says here that the T-shirt is Facebook."
The radio announcer says, "So....what is the answer.....?" nothing nothing the lady hangs up.
The radio announcers start talking to each other about the fact that she had the answer and not sure why she hung up but they are both talking to themselves and not each other, however, a guy calls in and says the answer is Facebook. That's right... you win 4 tickets to IronMan 2.
Yeah for him!
The announcers go back to talking to themselves and over each other and not to each other so I got annoyed and decided to change the channel to The HAWK 95.9 and it was a good song so I stayed.
After the song the radio announcers come on the radio and say, "We are giving away 4 tickets to IronMan 2 to the first person to call in and tell us the answer to the T-shirt sponsored by Tanga on the website today?
hee hee.... I just heard that answer so I waited for them to tell me the number to call, then dialed the number, and before they could finish their spill.....
"Oh, we have a caller......"Hello, do you know the answer?"
I proudly announce, "FACEBOOK!"
umm that's right, well you just won 4 tickets to see Iron Man 2!
YEAH me!
I guess I will be renting IronMan 1 before I venture out to see IronMan 2 :)

It's great to be 8

Austin woke up Saturday morning and came running into our bedroom shouting,

"I am so excited, today is the day I am getting baptized!"

He has talked about this day for such a long time and has looked forward to it.

So, it was a great day for him because he got to be baptized, his cousins were here, he got to shoot guns with all the guys and we had a chocolate fountain, all for his big day.

Marcus, Austin and Treyden

These boys have been friends since they were little and it was a special day for them to be baptized on the same day.

Austin has a great Missionary spirit and I hope he continues to share with everyone he comes in contact with because he LOVES to include people in things that make him happy.

We were challenged by the missionaries in the ward to have a gospel sharing home and to talk about it with our families and see if there isn't someone we could share the gospel with.

Steve presented it to the family and said we should be thinking about someone we can share the gospel with.

The next day Austin came home from school and said,

"Mom, this is Kason and he's ready to learn about the gospel, so teach him!"

(Kason's Mom was out in the car)

As you can see . . . . the chocolate fountain was a hit, too!

Girls day out....

We had to travel to Salt Lake recently and we had a chance to go look at some wedding dresses and try a few on...

Conner got to go with the girls and we tried a few things on him too!
We just grabbed dresses and took her to a dressing room......

Here are only a few of the dresses that we tried on.....we learned which dresses she liked......
and the ones she didn't like so much! This dress required a big booty and no matter how far Courtney pushed her butt out.....this was not the style for her!

She found some dresses she liked, some styles she liked, some embellishments she liked and we had a fun time!

This is my LIFE!

I process insurance claims all day long....it's my life. Today was no different but it just made me laugh so why not BLOG it!

Insurance: "Hello, how may I help you?"

Me: "I have a claim for a patient who is in a long term care facility and I am getting a rejection for Refill Too Soon"

"Yes, m'aam den why is da patient comin in early?"

"Well, the last date filled was on 1/16 and today is 2/24."

"Yes, m'aam and da next fill date for da patient is 3/2 so why is da patient comin in early m'aam?"

"If the last fill was on 1/16 then this medication should be fillable on 2/16 and today is 2/24?"

"Yes, m'aam so den why is da patient comin in early?"

"According to the fill date it has been over 30 days so can you tell me what is causing this medication to reject for refill too soon?"

"Yes, m'aam please hold . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .umm Yes, m'aam it was fill on 1/16 and if you calculate da days......ummm please hold . . . . . . . . . . . umm Yes, m'aam da next date da patient can have this filled is 3/2 so why is da patient comin in early m'aam?"

"Well if I count 30 days this medication should not be rejecting."

"Yes, m'aam, you see if you take 1/16 den you add 15 days for Janwary den you det to Feb........please hold m'aam..........yes, dank you for holdin....yes, da next fill date is 3/2 an if you do da math........ummm....please hold.........................................................................................Oday m'aam umm it look like da patient had dis filled 10/8, 10/28, 11/15, 12/24, den 1/16 an dat is why da patient cannot fewl until 3/2 so why is da patient comin in early m'aam?"

"Thanks, that is what I needed to know!"

Happy Valentines Day!

Love is in the air and in Austin's eyes.

We went to Walmart to get his class Valentines and all the way there he kept asking,

"Mom, can I get a Valentine for Spencer?"

"We will see when we get there, Austin."

"Mom, can I get a huge stuffed bear for Spencer?"

"I don't know Austin, we will see when we get there."

"Mom, Spencer (SHE) would really like a HUGE stuffed bear and I could take it to school and then hide it under my teachers desk, except my teacher isn't going to be there, but I think Kason's mom is going to substitute and I could just put it under her desk but of course I would have to talk to Kason's mom first. Mom, can I go to school early so I can talk to Kason's mom to see if I can put it under the desk. I bet she will let me because I know that Jayden brought choclates for this girl in my class because he wasn't going to be there for our Valentine's party and he put the chocolates under her desk but I really really want to get a huge stuffed bear for (HER) Spencer so would it be okay if we looked at the stuffed bears and if they don't have stuffed bears can I find HER another stuffed animal and maybe I could get HER some chocolates too . . . ."

It's a long long drive to Walmart and I didn't have to talk because Austin was too busy and excited that he was just thinking out loud.

He found a stuffed animal after going through the stash of all shapes and sizes. His first choice was a pink plush pillow with the words LOVE on it but then he found a red hound dog holding a heart that says "Kiss Me". He just giggled and then let out a WOOHOO and put it in the cart then hit the isles for a box of chocolates. He found a chocolate heart for HER with XOXO made of krispy chocolate.

He spent this morning making a card and signed it:

From your Secret Admirer.

Spencer is indeed a girl . . .and apparently the cutest girl on the planet -for now :)

Watch this . . . .

Zac was walking home from the bus with his friends.

As he approached the house he saw Bear, our dog, and also noticed an older couple in their car driving by so he said to his friends,

"Watch this!"

As Bear got closer to greet him Zac covered his face and dropped to the grass and started yelling,

"Help me, Help me, he's attacking me!"

The couple started slowing down and watched while Zac kept yelling.

Then Bear was on top of Zac and Zac was thrashing and yelling and poor Bear was trying to figure out what the heck Zac was doing but was still willing to play along and kept trying to get to his face to lick him to death.

Finally, the couple stopped and said, "Are you okay?"

(more screaming a cries of HELP me)

"Hey, do you need help?"

Zac jumped up and said, "Yeah, he is trying to lick me to death!"

The couple just drove off and Zac and his friends got a good laugh!

All because two people fell in Love

I will let Courtney tell the story: I was downstairs getting ready and Brenden was upstairs talking to my parents (getting permission). He came downstairs and he got ready to go to church and he told me he wanted a new picture for his phone and he wanted one in front of the temple. So i thought, "Oh, he's so cute- okay sounds good, I'll hurry and get ready!" So, we get to the temple and he grabs his phone out and says "Dang it, my phone isn't wide enough to get the whole temple in the picture, hold my phone I'll be right back, I'm gonna go grab my digital camera." So, I was like- well alright I'll just wait right here, he's so nice not making me walk all the way back to the truck in these stupid high heels. Anyways, He came back over to me and he had a box in his hand. He got down on one knee and all i remember is smiling and wanting to scream and then smiling some more. I guess you'll have to ask Brenden what I really did but I said YES YES YES and we went to church:) It was so awesome I am so excited! We are planning on July 17 so keep that day open! And thats my story.

Happy Birthday Nicole!

We celebrated Nicole's birthday on Saturday by spending the day snow tubing in Pine Valley. There were many highlights but here are a few of the really good ones!

Look out Nicole....Nicole learned she can move really fast!



Apparently, river tubes cannot be used as snow tubes!
Nicole and Megan hit a bump on the way down and it popped the tube. Luckily, we had more sleds and saucers to use.

Why do things have to be so hard?

The National Weather Center put out a warning that there would be flash floods in Washington County. There's not much you can do when you are hit with a flash flood but think fast.

Courtney and Megan went out to feed horses, lamb and pigs. Megan came running inside and said, "The pigs are flooded and Courtney needs help!" Steve and Zac were in town so it was Megan, Courtney and myself to solve the problem. I put on my knee high mucking boots and went into the pouring rain to see what was going on. Zac's pig was up to his snout in water, their warming lights were out and the horses pens were flooded. The alley way to get to the pigs was flooded so we quickly started trying to come up with a plan.

Okay, here's the plan: Megan's pen is not flooded as bad so we are going to catch Zac's pig and put him in Megan's. Courtney says, "Mom, just pick up the pig!" hmmmm that didn't work. It's hard enough to pick up a pig BUT a wet pig....not happening. So, I said, "Courtney, come catch the pig!" hmmmm that didn't work and the pig is almost swimming.

Okay, here's another plan: Let's put down wooden pallets and walk the pig over to the other pen. Hmmm....pig won't walk across boards with holes. So, we put boards on top of the pallets and the pig still wouldn't walk on them. So, we carry over a huge bale of straw (100lbs.) and spread straw across the board walk. YEAH! pig is not in water anymore but Megan's pen is not very dry either so we put all the straw in that pen in hopes of getting them out of the water. Now, we try to figure out the warming lights. They are not coming on. I shimmy across the fence to the end of the cords and looks like the plug is in 6" of water. Hmmmm....lights are not working so I set the plugs on the fence out of the water and they are still not coming on. DANG! Oh well, this will have to do until Steve can get home. It took us about an hour to get this all done in the rain.

OR we could just go with this plan: Steve gets home and goes out to the pigs and hores to assess the situation. Goes to the garage and flips the breaker....LIGHTS....so, I could have done that! Next, he grabs a shovel and walks out to the pig pen. He then digs a trench from the horses stalls in front of the pigs and under the fence then directs the water to the ditch! Ten minutes later the water is drained! hmmmm....I could have done that! Nobody likes a show off!

Happy New Year!

A new year and time to clear the cobwebs of the old year and move on to the new with renewed energy for things that you want to change about yourself and your surroundings.

But not before we bring in the new year with a BANG!

St. George has a new ice skating rink. www.dixieigloo.com

Nicole has been very anxious to go ice skating since she heard they were coming to town. Maybe she posted pictures of our adventures on her blog.

It was a lot of fun and we all had our share of trips around the rink until they brought in "Zamboni" to clean the ice.

They cleared the rink and cleaned the ice and then we got to see the Grizzlies Hockey Team take the ice and skate for about 10 minutes with the crowd.

And then it happened........

Austin was skating in the middle and was just about to go up to one of the Grizzlies to talk to them and he slipped on the ice and hit his face. He got up and one of the workers stationed on the ice said, "Hey, you're bleeding!" Austin said, "I am!"

The worker quickly picked him up and hurried off the ice with him. They were so quick to take care of him.

Zac saw the worker carrying Austin off the ice and all he saw was blood. It startled him a little so he just came to get us.

Nicole, Steve and myself were skating together and Zac caught up to us and said, "Dad, Austin is bleeding!"

We put on the brakes and turned around and skated back, the wrong direction, through the crowd.

Once we were off the ice we followed Zac through the crowd to where they had Austin. His face was covered with blood.


They had a piece of gauze over the wound so I grabbed some wipes and started cleaning the blood off his face and then saw the magic cure-all.....BUTTERFLY BANDAGES! I told the worker to move the guaze so I could look at the wound. The bleeding had stopped so I pulled the wound together with the butterfly's. Austin wanted to go back and skate but unfortunately, the size of the wound was too big for the butterfly's so we headed to the emergency room.

Two hours later......we were good to go!





Everyone should start the year off with a BANG!