Hunting Season

As all of you know Kelly and I love to hunt. People always ask if I hunted before Kelly and I got together. The answer is no, but I have loved it since the first time he took me. I am grateful that I have a husband who likes for me to go with him and doesn't make me stay home. For those of you who aren't familiar with the hunting rules, you can't just run out there and shoot whatever you want. Although there is a general deer season, Idaho doesn't have a general season on antelope. You have to put in on a draw for which ever area you want to hunt and hope you get drawn. There are some areas that have a general bull elk hunt, but the area we like to hunt in does not. So once again you have to put in on the draw and hope you get lucky. Some people seem to draw all of the time, but some of us don't. After 7 years of putting in on both, antelope and elk, I finally drew. Not just one, but both of them. I was so excited I took tons of time off of work. The antelope hunt was first, in the last week of Sept. Kelly and I put in on the draw together so we both got to hunt. We went up on opening day, and took Tyree with us. Antelope hunting is not like deer hunting. They live in the high desert so it is just open range and sage brush, or farmers grain fields. That makes it easy to take Tyree, because you just drive around on these back roads until you see some in the distance and then get out and try to sneak on them close enough to get a shot. We saw my antelope in the morning so Kelly dropped me off and him and Tyree sat in the tahoe and watched. I was able to get on the buck and dropped him with one shot. I was so excited my first antelope. He is 14 1/2 in. tall with 4 in. cutters (the part of their horn that comes out on the front).  That is a really nice one for around here. Not a record book maker, but definitely really nice. Unlike deer and elk, antelope horns don't get different points. They all look similar has far has they all go up and have cutters on the front. They way they do differ is the mass of the base, the length of the cutter, and how much the horn curls at the top. Kelly had said they he would like to find one with a lot of curl at the top. Later that day we spotted this antelope with all of Kelly's criteria. It just so happens that Kelly knew the guy who owns the grain field. So after getting permission we drove out there and I sat with Tyree while Kelly got his buck (one shot too). His measured in at 14 in. with 5 in. cutters.  Another really nice antelope. Although mine looks bigger it's not. The curl on his is deceiving so it looks shorter, but he has more mass and longer cutters. They actually score the same. Kelly's right tip has an inch broken off, if it didn't his would have out scored mine. Anyway it might seem odd to some people, but it was a great family outing and we had a lot of fun. Two weeks ago deer season opened and right after that my elk hunt opened. I was able to hunt both at the same time. I took the whole 10 days off of work. My inlaws and Tyree went with me since Kelly had to work and could only be there on the weekends. Tyree stayed back at the ranch with her grandparents and great-grandparents, while I went out hunting. Every time I would grab my gun to leave she would say " Mommy go shoot the deer". This kind of hunting is a lot of work. We don't just drive around. You either ride horses clear up onto the mountain, or you hike your butt off. I did both. On opening day Shane ( a friend I got to go with me for a day) and I hiked 6 miles. I know that doesn't sound like a lot to some, but let me tell you it is not 6 miles on a road. It is uphill, over trees, through thick brush, packing your gear and your gun. It wears you out fast. My hunt opened on Tues. and by the weekend I still hadn't shot anything. I had seen a few animals though. This grouse, and a bear track. I had a bear tag just in case, but luckily I never ran into him. Kelly and I also got close to some porcupines one evening. Did you know they make a noise? Well they do. Saturday Shane, Kelly, and I were out all day and finally we got on a buck. We had seen a glimpse of this buck the weekend before but he got in the trees before we could get close. I am very glad we saw him again. I got a shot at 267 yards. I am so excited again because he is so awesome! I can't believe I got such a nice buck. The rest of the weekend when Tyree would walk by him she would say "Mommies big buck".  All I needed after that was a nice bull elk to top off my year. All the hunting was taking it's toll though and I was exhausted. I know the nice bulls were out there, but I never could get one in my line of sight. So Sunday night I ended up settling for this little guy. It is my first bull elk ever so I am still excited. At least I got one. Kelly got to be there for all of them, so that made it even more awesome. There is something so awe inspiring when you are up on the mountain top. You really learn to respect the animals when you are out in their element. It is very satisfying to know that I worked so hard for it. In between hunting we played cards, and Tyree fished a lot with her papas. She got to herd cows which she loves, and ride horses. All in all it was a great hunting season. I filled all my tags, and we have tons of meat. Yes I looked like a total redneck coming home with the dog, a toddler, an elk, and a deer all in my tahoe. Not to bad for a pregnant lady ;)!!!

For Sale

Well  it's official, we are selling our house. Kelly has switched jobs this summer, he just got on with Intermountain Gas (Pocatello office), so we will have to move to at least Blackfoot. Unless something changes and he can put in for up here. Which I am praying for, but not holding my breath. We have been talking about selling the last couple of years anyway so we could go somewhere with a little more ground. Now it's for sale, no more just talking about it. So if you are looking, or know anyone who is looking, drop me a line. We live in Rigby, well Grant area, on a one acre lot in a small quiet subdivision.  Other than that nothing else new and exciting. 

The Goings on

So the summer has flown by as usual. Here is just a little update on what has been going on. We have been going to Gray's Lake a lot on the weekends.I love the birds up there. Blue birds and humming birds. Tyree had her first s'more. She loves to fish. I golfed on the women's league. I think we ended up 3rd. Tyree loves being outside and absolutely loves animals, especially horses. We have had visits from cousins. Tyree is getting to where she loves to play with her cousins. She talks all the time, and likes to sing. We had a great time with Reagan. We had fun on the 4th with Cami and her kids. We took them fishing one day and on horse rides another day. Tyree doesn't like to share her horse. We have seen Gabe and Hillary a couple times. Tyree loves babies, she's a little mother hen. I have no pictures of Gideon and Parker but we do lots with them. We went to the fair this week and she did awesome. She rode rides and petted all the animals. She is very independent and doesn't realize she is little. We are working on potty training. My goal was by her 2nd birthday. I have 10 days, we'll see what happens. Last weekend was a big one for Kelly too. He got on a bull, it's been 8 years. They were having a a bull riding reunion. He got bucked off, but he had a ton of fun and Tyree liked watching too. This fall we are going hunting, I am so excited. When we go to the mountains Tyree loves to look for deer. We had to get her some little binoculars. I'll try to update better this fall.

Easter

Yes, I know, finally I am posting. Usually Jan. to March is the longest, and hardest time of the year for me. I don't know what happened this year but it has just flown by. I'm sure having a busy 1 year old has helped. We have been doing just great, I can't even think of anything new. Our jobs are both good. We went steel head, and ice fishing a few times. The fishing wasn't very good to us this spring, but it is still always fun. In March I turned the big 30! We had a party on Fri. night with a bunch of friends, and then had cake with the family on Sunday. Kelly and I even got to golf 9 holes on my birthday so it was a great weekend. The last couple of weekends we have been branding, yes it's that time of year. I will get those pictures up later. I also have some family pictures from last fall I want to put up, but Tyree makes it very difficult to do anything on the computer. There is always little fingers helping you push the buttons. Tyree is getting so big. She says several words, and loves to throw things in the trash or the dirty clothes hamper. Not just anything though, she only throws trash away, or any time you change her she grabs her clothes and puts them in the hamper. It always amazes me how quick she picks up on something. She loves anything to do with cows, horses, and puppies. Next to Mommy, Daddy, and No, I think those are her favorite words. She will not say yes, what is that about? There is a new baby at the sitter's, and apparently she is a little mother hen. Baby is also one of the words she says a lot.  Easter was so much fun. We were able to go to Utah and spend it with our family. They were blessing my nephew Gabriel. The weather was beautiful, Tyree loved being outside the whole time. We got down to Hillary and Jake's on Sat., and we just hung out there for a few hours. Cami and her family were able to come up, and of course dad, mom, Cody, Cali, and her family were there too. We just let the kids play and then we colored eggs. It was fun, I haven't colored eggs for a couple of years. We had a little kit to make it look like chicks were coming out of the eggs. Cody and I had way to much fun with it. He cut his into a mo-hawk, I made one with wings, and one we called the Monsters Inc. egg. That evening we went out to dinner with the family. Afterwards we swam in the pool at the hotel. The kids had so much fun! Ransom is my little buddy, he's so cute. Tyree is not scared of the water, which scares us just a little. You have to keep a close eye on her. Everyone slept really good that night. When we got up the next morning the Easter Bunny had come to Hillary's house. Baby Gabe's first basket. Our basket turned out to be a much needed crock-pot. Tyree's basket was full of fun stuff too. She's not really for sure about peeps. It didn't take her very long to figure out how to hunt eggs. She was good at it. After all the Easter fun we went to church. The blessing was great. What a cute little family Jake, Hillary, and Gabe. Mom and Dad with the grandkids. Then we had dinner afterwards before we headed home. We spontaneously stopped at the Living Planet Aquarium on the way home and it was great. It was totally worth the $10 to get in. I recommend it. We did get pictures but they are on Kelly's phone. Anyway it was a great weekend, we loved seeing everyone.