Halloween

This year for Halloween our ward decided to do Trunk-or-Treating.  They had soups for dinner and then let the kids out to collect their yearly chocolate supply.  I went with Zach's mom since he was working and had a blast.  I love trick-or-treaters!  A few days earlier I was shopping with my mom in Rupert and we came across dog costumes and I just had to get one for Bells.  I thought it was the cutest thing, but Zach thought I wasted my money.  I'll let you decide.  Nella Rae, a lady in my ward just loved it.  When she saw her at the church, she got all sorts of hysterical about it.  It made me laugh.  Brand also loved it.  When he saw her, he said it made his day. lol...

Buzz like a hornet, sting like a bee :)

I also had a Halloween party for my Activity Days girls.  We played a guessing game where the girls touched body parts of a dead man and tried to guess what each one was.  These girls are what I would consider tough girls, but I had a hard time getting them to put their hands in the box to feel them at first.  They also played a Halloween Bingo game.  At the end I had gift bags for them and I made cupcakes.  I was really proud how they turned out.

Zach and I also carved a pumpkin.  We bought two of them, but we only managed to get one done before Halloween.  We tagged teamed on the event, I drew the picture and gutted it out, and  Zach was the master cutter.

 The final product

Elk Hunting

In the middle of October Zach, his brothers, and his dad made their annual elk hunting trip to Horsecreek.  From all the stories Zach's told me of elk hunting in October, it's always amounted to we froze to death, but we shot some nice elk and had an awesome time.  In my personal opinion, freezing to death does not sound like the most fun in the world that I'd come back every year to experience it.  Hence, I was a little hesitant to go.  But, to my surprise, it was lovely up there.  I think it averaged in the 50's or 60's for most of the time we were there. 

Campsite

The first morning we were there, Josh shot and tagged a 6-point.  I stayed in camp that morning because, as Brand would say, I was a pansy and didn't want to venture out in the cold.  They came back around noon and recanted their amazing hunting skills.  The next morning they went up, Brand shot and tagged a 5-point.  After they shot his elk, they planned on packing them both out.  However, Mouse, Zach's midget white horse beast, had other plans.  They packed on Josh's elk on Boogers and Cinnamon and went to put Brand's on Mouse.  But, as soon as they got the front shoulders on her, she freaked.  She put on a little rodeo for them all while Zach tried to contain her.  But, Mouse won out and threw the elk off of her and ended up breaking the ribs so they couldn't pack it off that day.  Needless to say, Zach's beast of a horse became the unmentioniable word and he's talked about getting rid of her since then. 

 Brandon's and Josh's Antlers

 Gutting Brandon's Elk

I didn't go with the guys that morning either.  I figured I'd clean up camp, do some dishes, and read my book and they'd be back around noon.  Well, noon came and went as well as one o'clock, two, three, and four.  I began to get a little worried and found it hard to fill in the time all by myself.  Around four thirty, I started to think about all the worst case scenarios that would have played out, and I started to freak myself out.  In all the times I've been hunting with them, they'd never been gone that long.  So, I decided I'd better say a little prayer and hope things were ok.  Not even two seconds after I finished, I saw Zach and Josh riding out of the trees dressed in their orange.  I was relieved and thankful my prayer had been answered so quickly. 

 Packing off Josh's Elk

Boogs and Zach with the back half

After spending almost an entire day by myself, I decided to go up with the guys the next morning.  I needed to see some action, even if I had to freeze a little bit to get it.  After we got to the top of the ridge, Zach told me to follow his dad and he'd meet up with us in a minute.  He also told me to have a tighter grip on the reins so if he shot, I could stop Rocky.  That freaked me out a little bit.  (If you haven't noticed, I am sort of a pansy.)  Not even a minute later, I heard a shot and Rocky just jumped a little.  No need to control a crazy horse, whew.  We didn't realize it was Zach that shot until a couple hours later when he showed up in a bloody mess.  He wanted to know why we hadn't gone and helped him gut it out, but all of us figured if he had shot something, he'd come and get us to help him. 

We packed out Brand's and Zach's elk that day.  I rode down with Zach and his dad with Josh's elk.  On the way, re came across a creek and I let Rocky get a drink.  BIG MISTAKE!!  When he was finished, he stepped in a hole and freaked out a bit.  He swung around and banged my knee against a tree, but he wasn't done.  He couldn't fit between the trees he hit my knee against so he kept pushing against the tree to rub in the pain a little more.  I finally got him to back up and go around, but not before the damage was done.  Later on down the trail, we were going through some thick dead trees.  A bunch of branches were in the way, and so I pulled on the reins to slow him down so I could push them out of the way.  But, he wouldn't stop and I got bushwacked in the face.  I think I should have stayed up on the mountain and helped Josh and Brand.  When we got back up the mountain, I told Brand he could ride Rocky down and I'd just lead Cinnamon down with Zach's elk.  I don't know what the deal is, but none of Zach's animals slash pets seem to like me.  Herbie has a vehemet hatred for me since the moment we met, Boogers doesn't mind me, and Rocky drives recklessly. 

  As we were putting the back quarters on Boogers, Brand thought it was only fitting that Boogs return to his desert roots, so he branded him with his hands.  Not only did Boogs get it, but Cinnamon as well.

 

This is probably one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip.  I think Brand looks like Elmer Fudd hunting waskaly wabbits.   And he's being assisted by his hesitant partner Josh. 

 Zach and I at the top of Prospect Peak

 Left: Josh     Middle: Brand    Right: Zach

Summertime...

Now that summer has slowed down and the weather has cooled off, I finaly have a moment to make a post.  Most of the summer was spent fishing, gardening, working on the yard and house, and getting firewood off the mountain (my least favorite thing to do). 

Fishing
I think overall, Zach and I kept six fish this year.  I think that's less than half of what we caught, but there aren't a lot of big fish where we go (mainly Longspark, Spirit Lake, and Brown Lake).  We did try fishing down at the Gorge but none of us caught anything.  Sad...  The last time we went down to Longspark, Zach, Brandon (his little brother), and I had a competition to see who would catch the most fish.  Zach and Brand both had two fish before I even had a bite so I immediately demoted myself as the loser of the competition.  I decided to move over by them to see if that would help and the next two casts I had two fish.  Beautiful!!  Zach decided he needed to step it up and got serious.  Afterall, a seasoned fisherman should not lose to a novice or a girl.  Brand was the next to catch a fish, but as he was pulling it up to the bank, it got away.  He and I both thought that should count but Zach was very adimit that it had to be in our hands for it to count.  Zach caught the next and Brand followed right after.  Of the lot, Zach and Brand kept all the fish they caught and I only kept one.  The two I did catch were pretty good sized, but I still had a fish in the freezer so I decided not to keep both.  The final tally was Zach 3, Brand 3, and me 2.  I still think Brand won, but Zach would not have it so it ended up being a tie for first. 

Here's a glimse of what we caught that day.

 Brand has an obsession with licking everything, hence the photo.

My fish is on the left and Zach's are on the right.

I did have my day in the spotlight, though.  Earlier in the summer, Zach, Brand, Josh, Sky, and I all went up to Spirit Lake to fish.  I think everyone got at least one and Zach got two.  But, being the amazing novice that I am, I caught three!  Haha...it was a good day to gloat, beating four boys who've fished their whole lives.

We also went ling fishing.  Apparently ling are not native to the Flaming Gorge or the Green River, and they're disrupting the balance of fish there.  So, if you catch one you are supposed to kill it immediately.  The best time to catch them is at night, so Zach, Brand, and I went to the Gorge around 11 pm and brought an arsenal of minows and crawfish sented goop (most disgusting smell you'll ever experience).  We all had a lot of bites, but came up with nothing.  When we went to real them in, all we'd find is a mutalated minow.  Brand got bored, so he decided to go crawdad hunting instead.  He found a stick and sharpened one end and went a spearing.  He caught quite a bit of them, and we used some of them as bait.  Once again, his obsession shows once again in the shot.

Herbie
We had Herbie, Zach's bird, at our house for a couple of weeks to retrain him to be a kind, loving bird.  Zach got him in Phoenix when he was going to school and had him trained to jump on your finger and sit on your shoulder.  Now, you're lucky if you can get close to him without him taking off.  Zach trimmed his wings so he couldn't fly as well and the training commenced.  Sadly, Herbie still isn't quite as friendly, but he got a little better.  One thing he did decide, though, was that he absolutely hates me.  Any time I walked by his cage, he'd jump on the side and try to get as far away as possible.  Not sure what I did to cause such fear but apparently it was unforgivable.  One day, we were working with him and instead of sitting on Zach's shoulder he decided to sit on top of his head.  I thought it was kinda funny so here's a pic.

Wedding

A friend of ours, Ben also got married this summer in Idaho Falls.  He married Zach's cousin Lacy, which Zach vehemently disagreed with merely because they were related.  He found it just weird.  Personally, I saw nothing wrong with it especially considering how we met.  While we were in Idaho we met up with a few of my college friends Alesha, Jimmy, and Brooke and went to dinner and hot tubbing.  It was a good time, both to meet up with friends and attend the wedding.  It was a beautiful day and the rain held off until after pictures and lunch.

At the reception all of the groomsmen had evil plans to decorate the newlywed's car, but they were a little slow at getting it done.  By the time they gathered up all they needed, Lacy's family had most of it decorated.  They were all a little upset about it because they felt it was their deal and no one else's.  They did get a few items they wanted done.  At the end of it all, it was pretty :).

Hunting-Horsecreek

Once again hunting season is here.  On the weekend of September 17, we went down to Horsecreek for deer hunting.  The weather was beautiful.  I think it was around the low 80's the whole time we were there.  This wasn't good for hunting, though, because all the deer bed down longer than normal.  Zach bought a wall tent, stove, and other camping stuff just for this and elk season, so he was stoked to go.

When we were there, I went with the boys (Brand, Zach, and his dad) at least once every day.  I think in total I saw a handful of deer, elk, and a few moose.  On Saturday, I walked up the mountain with Zach and we didn't see one single thing.  The next morning I went with him, his dad, and Brand on the horses up Prospect.  We saw a few bucks when we got to the top.  However, Brand and Zach were a little slow deciding whether or not they wanted them and by the time they decided they did, the deer were booking it through the trees.  After that, we split up and Zach and I saw three more bucks.  I would have shot the four point, but it wasn't "Mega Buck" so Zach just watched them until they ran off.  Later that day, we saw a couple more deer and some elk, but no shots were taken.  On the ride down the hill I was so saddle sore I thought my hind quarters were going to fall off.  I thought I was going to die it hurt so bad.  Needless to say, I didn't ride on the horses the rest of the trip.

On Monday, we went down to Daniel to get ice and some drinks.  On the way down, I asked Zach where a dirt road went.  He said we'd check it out on the way back.  When we came back we took the road and drove up it until we hit a road closed sign.  As we were turning around I saw a nice 4-point buck running across the hill.  I told Zach, and he frantically searched for his orange vest and grabbed his gun.  By the time he got it all, the buck had run over the hill and was out of sight.  He went after him, but never saw him.  The funny thing about the whole story was that I made a comment saying that wouldn't it be cool if we saw one here and shot the big one?  The thought came close to being realized.  We decided to go back the next day to see if we could find him.  We never found him, but we did see a moose in the same area. Overall, it was a good trip, but I was a little disappointed no one shot anything.

It was also my birthday when we went, so Zach got a coconut cream pie and we had a little birthday dinner Friday night.  It was nice to get away to celebrate my birthday and hunt all at once.  Sadly, I don't have any pictures.  I did want to get one of the boys riding on top of one of the ridges, but my camera wasn't in my saddlebags.  Oh well, another trip.

Hunting-Fields

Last weekend, Zach, Brand, and I all went out around the fields to hunt.  I told Zach that if he didn't find "Maga Buck" at the end of the season, then he'd just have to shoot the biggest thing he saw the last day.  Well, as we walked on the backside of a hill, Zach saw a nice 4-point and a 3-point. He told me to sit and wait as they got closer.  To my amazement, I heard three loud shots!  I didn't think he'd actually shoot.  Zach thought he only hit him on the first shot, but as he cut up the deer, all three hit him.  His first shot hit it in the lungs and he found the bullet when he gutted it.  When I found the deer, I thought it's antlers were very unique.  The back fork was very small, which you'll see in the pictures.  After they found the deer, we went up and got some cows from his uncle's corrals, and then we came back to gut it and hang it in the shed.  He measured the width of the antlers and I think it came out to be 24.5".  It's the largest one he's shot so far.

Storage/Mudd Room Update
Here is a photo of how much we've finished on the storage room.  We've got all the walls except the north side finished, the roof up, metal roofing up, flooring, and storage under the floor finished.  Last weekend we got insulation, so as soon as we finish up the last wall, we'll start working on the inside walls and shelves.  I'm excited to be able to put all my food storage in one room instead of all over the house!

Canning
All of our beets and green beans made it so, being the industrious woman that I am, I decided to can and freeze them.  We ate over half of our beans so I decided to freeze the rest.  There wasn't much left over, but I did manage to get a gallon sized baggie full.  I canned the beets and that was a long and tedious process.  First I had to rinse them all off and cut the ends.  Then, I boiled them so I could tear off the skins.  After all that, I washed the mason jars and sliced the beets up.  Then I boiled the lids and boiled water to put in the bottles.  Finally, I stuck all 17 jars in the pressure cooker and vwa la...canned beets.  It took almost the entire day to get them all done.  Saddest part of the story, I hate beets!  Zach loves them and because I love him, he has beets.

Bella Sue
And last, but not least, we have Bella.  Just this past week we decided Bella needed to be spade.  She had several male friends dropping by and although I love puppies, they are too expensive and I don't think a lab and blue heelers would be a good mix.  The morning I was to take her to the vet, she was no where to be seen.  I called for and looked for her but nothing.  Finally after ten minutes she came running down the hill from our neighbor's place (Charley has an australian shephard which is Bell's best friend).  By the time I got her collar on and put her in the truck I was late, ugh.  When we got to the vet, Bella was all sorts of scared which is unusual for her.  She's usually very energetic and happy.  She kept whining and tugging on the leash, which she normally doesn't do either.  I felt awful.  The vet came and talked to me and explained the procedure and took her to the back.  He said they'd start in about an hour and would call when he was done.  A couple hours went by and no phone call. So, I called Zach to see if he called his number, but he hadn't.  Zach just laughed at me and said she'd be ok and not to worry.  She was fine, but still I expected a phone call that he promised.  The next morning I drove back down to the vet to pick her up.  As I spoke with the receptionist, she said I had the nicest, and most loving dog.  I already knew this, but it was nice to hear from someone else :).  When we got home, Bells got treated like my own baby.  She loved it.  Ten days after I was supposed to take her back to the vet to get her stitches out, but I guess she'd had enough of them and took them out herself.  She's back to her old self now, and active as ever chasing bunnies, squirrels, and me on the 4-wheeler.

My nephew Wyatt came to my house earlier in the summer and was playing with Bells.  It was so cute I had to take a picture, so here ya go.

Home Improvements

Oh my goodness, it's been a while since my last post.  It's been a crazy summer.  Zach and I have been fixing up the yard or rather making one since we moved here.  It was all sage brush and lots of dirt and rocks.  We have put up a fence, built a deck out the kitchen door, cleared out the front yard, planted the grass, and made a little corner flower bed.  The grass has come up pretty good, but it is patchy in some areas, especially in front of the house, but it is nice to be able to sit out on the lawn.  I also planted a bunch of poppies in my flower bed but nothing came up but weeds.  So, I guess next year I'll have to try something different.  I wish I had a before picture to show, but this is what it looks like so far.

Our deck is pretty nice too.  We decided to stain it a redwood color and it was brighter than we had expected, but it still looks quite nice.  Zach built some steps going down from the deck and I think they're only 6" wide which makes it hard to go down.  They're just temporary until we get some more wood, but everyone has a hard time walking on them, me included.  If I'm in anything other than flats, it's a gamble on whether or not I'll make it down without falling.  And I've had a few close calls.

We also planted a garden this summer.  The weather was not  very cooperative with snow storms at the end of May, but we finally got everything in by the second week in June.  Since then, we've only had one frost which wilted our tomatoes and squash, but they both came back.  In total, we planted squash, corn, green onions, peas, beans, lettuce, beets (at Zach's request), tomatoes, and some pumpkins.  So far, our beans, peas, and lettuce are ready and we've eaten a few!  I love fresh produce from home!  We also have a few small tomatoes, but they're still green.  I'm hoping our corn and squash will be ready. I absolutely love corn on the cobb, so hopefully it makes it!

Last but not least, we started a new project.  We have about zero storage space here, so we decided to add on a storage room slash mudd room.  We have a ton of camping supplies and no space for our food storage so we're adding on a 8'x14' room.  We also wanted a place to put our coats and muddy shoes when we come in so it will serve two purposes.  It gets extremely muddy round these parts so it will be nice to have all the dirty shoes some place other than my kitchen.  I can't wait to have it done!  All that's done so far is some cement work for the foundation and a few brace posts are in the ground.