First Ever Hunting Experience

I had never been hunting until the weekend of October 22-26. I wanted to experience this time of year by being in the middle of the action instead of being left home wondering if my husband was ok. I still don't understand what the hyp is all about. Why do grown men get so excited over seeing some deer? I don't know if it is the fact that I am a woman or just a normal person that gets excited over normal things? Either way, I did enjoy the time I spent with my husband, brother and brother-in-law, and father-in-law. Yes, you read correctly, I was the only girl. We drove for almost 7 hours just to the bookcliffs then another hour trying to find "the campsite". I still don't understand why we passed up other good campsites just for one Dan had been to before but couldn't remember where it was exactly.. Once we got to the right place it was getting dark so we had minimal light to set up camp. Levi and I shared a tent and the other 3 shared another one. Thank goodness!

At the break of light we were out of our sleeping bags and ready to get on the trail. We spent the morning just driving around on the fourwheelers and spotting a lot of doe and quite a few buck. The men spotted some good looking bucks and so we hunkered down a hill away to check them out. One was a few inches more wide but the other one had better looking forks. We watched them through our binoculars and a spotting scope for almost 2 hours until the men decided it was time to get closer. At that time Levi, Cody, and I head off on a fourwheeler and then on foot. Levi wanted me right by his side when he took the shot and I was happy to oblige to his request. Once we got pretty close Jake called us and told us the deer were on the move. Levi and I stayed on top of the hill to wait and see where the deer were headed while Cody went to scare them out of the trees. I spotted the deer headed up the other side of a little valley and were 258 yards away (I cheated and used the range finder). Once we decided which one he wanted to shoot, he took the shot. Maybe next time I won't be right next to him. My ears rung for almost 10 minutes after the shot. Plus it scared me and I shook so bad I didn't even see the buck go down. We made our way over to find the deer and found him only 3 feet away from where he was shot. Levi's shot hit him perfectly! They had to gut the deer right there and I had no choice but to be right there and witness that. GROSS is the best way I can describe that. We packed it on the fourwheeler with us then went on our way back to camp. It started to rain so we decided we'd leave the next day.

Devin, Levi's brother, was hunting in the bookcliffs as well but on the Colorado side. We decided to go over there and help him out. That is one ride I never want to go on again! It was a 7 hour drive which should have been only 3. Now let me explain why the huge delay... We went on the mountain roads instead of going back out to the interstate and driving into Colorado that way. All the roads we had to go on were at the top of the mountains and in fog with wet roads. Not a relaxing drive in any way! Once we got to the top, we obviously had to get down but the only way down was going on extremely thick, muddy roads which weren't safe at all. To top it all off, those roads were on cliffs with a lot of switchbacks. Before driving down we had said a prayer all together for guidance on knowing which road was the right one (none of them were marked) and a safe drive down. I don't think we stopped sliding around once on the whole drive and I didn't stop praying either. There were many times that I thought we were going off the edge and will roll thousands of feet before we come to a stop. Not a pleasant drive for how beautiful the land was around us! These pictures kind of show the road, the fog, and how high up we were. We finally made it!! I could actually breathe again! Dans nerves were absolutely shot after driving so we had to take a break just to be able to breathe and think all of this through. We stopped in a little town called Mack to get some gas. I have found out that Colorado roads are marked weird! We passed 10 8/10 road and 1/2 road. Thought they were funny though! We met up with Devin and Tiffany and went to their campsite to set everything up. It was storming when we got there so I hung out in the trailer with Tiffany and Deagan while the men set up the tent. I had to sleep in the same tent with the 3 guys which was kind of weird. Worst night ever! Our air mattress had no air in it anymore, horrible storm, extremely windy, and I kept hearing scary noises (most likely my imagination). It was still storming by the time they wanted to get up and go hunting so we slept a little more. We all got packed up and ready to go in the trucks but only made it halfway up the mountain. We weren't ready for another scary ride! Only Levi, Cody, Devin, and Jake went back up on the fourwheelers. Dan, Tiffany, Deagan, and I stayed back at camp. We got Dan's truck unlocked after trying for over and hour. Background.. he locked his keys in his truck the previous night. He was smart enough to bring a spare just in case we lock ourselves out in the mountain. But... the key was in the truck as well. Good times! A fter the men got back we had some lunch then Dan, Levi and I headed for home. Wahoo! It took us 8 hours to get back to Morgan. I am so sick of long rides! We stayed at Megan and Nate's house (sister and brother-in-law) so I wouldn't have to make the drive again in 6 hours.

Overall it was a great experience. It taught me a lot about prayer and faith. So many of our prayers were answered. We were truly blessed while being in the magnificent mountains that our Lord had created for us. So grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!!!

Carribean Cruise!

We had one crazy summer! Levi is done with his last semester of school and finished at the beginning of August. Yes, he's done FOREVER!! Can you tell I'm a little excited? He has worked so hard to finish with his Master's in Taxation withing the year and has done it with flying colors. He walked in April so he wouldn't have to wait until the following semester. I'm so proud of him and all of his hard work for our family! I give props to all of those who do school full time as well as work full time. (Especially the wives :) ) It's tough work!

He has been loving work at TIGTA (Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration) and is very busy with that. He was recently put on as a Lead Auditor which is very impressive considering he's only worked there a little over a year. He's such a hard worker! I'm still working for my dad at the cement plant. Oh I wish I loved going to work..

Once He took his last final, we took off to the Eastern Carribean on a cruise. We went with some friends (Colby and Brittany Kuhn) and loved every minute of it! They are such a fun couple!

Safety check!

We stopped at Princess Cays (part of the bahamas), St. Maartin, St. Thomas, and Grand Turk. Such beautiful islands!

We just hung out on the beach all day and soaked up the sun at Princess Cays but it was nice to start off the trip that way!

(loved this picture with Colby trying to get out of the way! haha)

At St. Maartin we went to the french side to snorkel. We played on the beach trying to ignore topless women and speedo wearing men and then we went snorkeling by another little island just off the beach. It was beautiful! We could've been completely torn apart from a creepy baracuda! (if you don't know what it looks like, look below) I was the first one to see him and he was about 5 feet away from me. I didn't even know what it was but I sure knew I was scared of it! I hurry and grabbed Levi's arm and tried swimming away. Levi held onto me and told me to remain calm and not move. The beast started towards us but stopped just 3 feet away. (Absolutely freaking out inside about now!) We waited there just a few more minutes just to make sure it was gone then we booked it out of that area! We went to take a break on the beach and to get my nerves calmed down. We still had 30 minutes left to snorkel so we got back in the water to check out more fish then head back to the boat. I hated being in the water after that experience! I kept checking everywhere around me and hardly took the time to notice the beautifully colored fish below me.

While in St. Thomas we went to one of the top ten beaches in the world. I would have to agree with whoever decides that.. Magen's Bay was so calm and gorgeous. The water is surrounded by vibrant green foliage on 3 sides and looking out the other side you can see out to the ocean for miles. We were all fried so we opted to playing cards under some trees on the beach. Sound boring but it was actually really fun. Too much sun can be draining..

Our last stop was to Grand Turk. There weren't very many things to do on the tiny island so we just relaxed on the beach and read from our books or took a nap. We ate at Margaritaville for lunch. There were some crazy drunk people doing some strange contests. We were all just a little too anxious to get out of that environment.

We spent 3 out of the 7 days on the gorgeous ship. It was nice to have a few days where we didn't have to worry about time, transportation, and safety. I absolutely loved dressing up again!

another "dodge the picture shot" haha we did think levi was in the picture and didn't realize he had moved.

I must say that cruises are so much fun but even better with some friends. I'm all ready for our next trip which has yet to be determined...

This is my longest post by far.. oops! just too many good pictures to pass up!

Making this house our home

I never completely understood it when people would differentiate between a house and a home. To me, they were always the same thing- something you lived in and had to clean every day. Now that I've had to opportunity to buy a house I now know what the difference is between a house and a home. I would always say we were looking for a house or we bought a house and that was very true. Now I would say I got my perfect home! For those that think I'm crazing by saying there is a difference, I'll give you my definition of a house and home. House: a place that serves as a building to live in for a time. Home: a place you want your family to grow in, a place of love, a place where you have a desire to go and spend time with the ones you love, and most importantly a home is where the spirit of the Lord will be.

I have a strong desire to continually make this our home because I will always want to come to a place where the spirit will be. There is much more than just changing the cosmetics of a house to change it into a home and that is by doing the things the Lord would have us do. We've had the opportunities to have different challenges and trials in our life that has opened my eyes to the sweet, tender mercies of the Lord. I want to live my life in a way that my family, my husband, my kids, and most of all Jesus Christ will always be proud of me.

Aside from the spiritual aspect... We are done working on the inside of our house for now and are getting ready to start on the yard this week. It's been getting bad out there without sprinklers!

My brother Joe did so much for us! It's a wonderful thing to have a huge and great family. Everything we have done with our house would have been much harder and taken longer if not for our helping family. We tore out the existing yard (much rather weeds and dirt), tore out some trees and bushes, put in a sprinkler system, poured some concrete for a patio, got cement curbing all around the house and some islands, put more rocks in the rv pad, laid some sod, and put bark in our flower beds. Next year we will finish the garden ( we were too late this year to plant one) and plant some trees, bushes, and flowers! I can't wait to say our huge house projects are finally finished! Who knew you could do so much to a house?

Some before pictures: ( I know it looks horrible and you're probably thinking "why would they buy a house if it looked like that?" -especially if you saw what it looked like inside before we remodeled it- don't worry, I thought the same thing.. Levi kept telling me he could see the potential. It's a great house, just not cosmetically. Which he was right! )

yes, those are tumble weeds.. gross huh?

Now it looks much better! Some of the after pictures:

Everything is coming together and I love it! A house is a lot of hard work but I absolutely love having our own place to call home.