Catching up

This post is probably going to be long and have a lot of pictures. I have been horrible at taking the time to sit and post. So to catch you up on the last 4 months this post will have Thanksgiving, Christmas, What's new with Tyree, Baby news, and all the stuff in between.
  THANKSGIVING - Our Thanksgiving was really good. Most of my family wasn't here, so it was kind of small but really nice. In-laws, Grandparents in-law, and sister in-law family. Cody was in town, and he stopped by for a minute, but he had some other offers so he didn't stay. I made the turkey, (my first attempt ever). I don't have any pictures but it turned out great. The day was beautiful so we took some family photos for our Christmas card.
  CHRISTMAS - Christmas was great! Tyree is at such a fun age, and that made Christmas morning even more fun. Well, after we finally got her to wake up. She was so excited for everyone to open presents, she would just start passing them out. Santa brought Tyree a vanity. Kelly and I gave her a set with a blow dryer, curling iron, and brush. She loves them! She will use them until she is satisfied then come out and say "I so pretty". I got some super cute boots and a new camera. We spent the rest of the day with the in-law family eating way to much food.  Why do we even buy them toys. Just give them bags and boxes. Tyree also got a snow suit and a sled from her grandparents, aunt, and uncle, so we had to go sledding one day. We couldn't really tell if she liked it, but she never cried and when she got done she wanted to go again. It was a really great holiday week for us and we couldn't be more blessed.
   WHAT'S new with TYREE - She is turning into such a big girl. I can't believe 2 1/2 already. She is great at helping, and follows instructions pretty well. She talks well for her age, and she talks all the time. It's not annoying though, you can actually carry on a pretty good conversation with her, for a 2 year old. Sometimes she says the funniest things. It's not always what she says, but how she says them. She already understands how to use tone and facial expressions. She's potty trained, and we are working on ABC's and numbers. I'm already having to put her in 3T pants because her legs are getting long, but she's skinny. I think she is pretty average for height and weight though. It's calving season and she loves horses and cows. However she only likes the cows from on top of a horse or in the pick up. If you are on foot she is freaking out. Tyree is her dads girl when it comes to horses, she isn't scared one bit and she can tell you who's horse is who's. I also like to blame this on her dad but I'm sure it comes from both sides, she is STUBBORN! She will argue just for the sake of arguing, she is always right, and you can't show her anything because she will figure it out and do it herself. When she is with other people she is shy and soft spoken everyone tells us what an angel she is, but it is a different story at home with just mom and dad. She is an angel when she wants to be. It's not that she is bad, it's just that she wants to do it on her terms, and it needs to be her idea. If you tell her no she won't do it, she will just push it right to the limit, and she does it on purpose. It's like she is too smart and she is trying to out smart you. For instance, last night she had a drink and Kelly told her she had to stay on the tile with it. She of course (as any 2 year old would do) tried to come on the carpet and argue with him about it. When she realized that wasn't going to work and she was about to lose her drink she came back onto the tile, but you have to keep watching her because she then looked at Kelly and put 1 foot on the carpet. So she had 1 foot on the tile like she was supposed to but she had 1 barely on the carpet. So dad took her drink, she cried and he explained that she could have it back but she had to stay on the tile. So she got the drink back, and she proceeded to walk over to the edge of the tile and stand as close as she possibly could, without being off of course, and leaned out over the carpet and took a drink. Then she looked at Kelly and I with a big smile as to say "Well I am still on the tile!" Needless to say I am scared of the teenage years. All in all she is still a pretty good girl, she always has me laughing and our lives wouldn't be the same without her. She is very affectionate and tells us she loves us at night. The other day Kelly got called out to work. From across the room he said bye before he walked out the door and she came running over "wait daddy kiss, daddy kiss" It was so cute. My favorite is sometimes when I tell her I love her she says "You love me?!" Like she is totally surprised. It amazes me how much she grows and the things she picks up on. I should blog more because there is always something new to say about her.
   BABY NEWS - The biggest news is that we found out we are having a BOY! We are both really excited about it. I am 27 weeks, so one more week till my last trimester. It has flown by. I have grabbed a few outfits here and there so he doesn't have to wear pink. Other than that I haven't done much. I really need to get on the ball. This pregnancy is pretty much the same as my first one. I have few different aches, and I can tell he sits a lot lower. Other than that I didn't get sick, and from looking back at pictures my belly growth is about the same. He is really, really active now, as was Tyree. I love it! I think feeling them moving is my favorite part of being pregnant. At my last appt. the Dr. said everything looks great and I am growing on schedule. I had only gained 9 lbs., that's awesome! By this time with Tyree I was already at 20lbs. Tyree is doing well with it. We talk about the baby in my belly, and tell her he will come out to live with us. Most days I think she understands, but I know she really won't get it all the way until he is here. She is great with other babies so I'm sure she will be an awesome big sister. This is really the only picture I have and it's a little over a month ago.
   ALL the stuff in BETWEEN - The weekend of Thanksgiving Kelly and I went ice fishing one day. It is the only day we went this winter. It was still a lot of fun, and we got to try out our new pick up we bought that weekend. In Dec. and Jan. Kelly and I did a lot of rabbit hunting. Mainly because it's cheap, and we just drive a couple miles down the road. Tyree loves it. If she would see her dad putting his gun in the truck, she would go get the plastic one that goes with the Wii and make him put it in for her. She was pretty good at spotting the rabbits too. Way better than me. It's hard because some of them are white and there is snow on the ground, plus all the sage brush so you can just catch glimpses of them darting back and forth. We really haven't done very much this winter. Tyree loves to be outside. The snow and cold doesn't seem to bother her. She is daddy's little helper. No matter what he is doing she wants to help. She got to build her first snowman. I think they both enjoyed it. He had to have a whole face out of carrots because that was all we had. The steelhead fishing is just starting to get good so we haven't made it up there yet. The house is still for sale. We have had some lookers, but no offers yet. Hopefully this warmer weather will bring people out. Kelly is still really liking his job. He would like it a little better if he didn't have to drive so far, but the job it's self is great. Last weekend we went down to Utah and met up with most of my family. We had a reception to go to one night, and then Hillary had Gabe's 1st birthday on Sunday. It was so fun to see some of my sisters that I haven't seen for awhile. I love getting together with them and laughing about all of our quirks. I forgot my camera, but I did get some pictures from Cali of Tyree and Parker dancing at the reception. They are best friends, and are constantly talking about playing with each other. She loved playing with all her cousins. I don't think she realizes she has so many since we don't see them very often. She calls them her "cousin friends." It was a great weekend but way to short. I am excited for warm weather, flowers, golfing, camping,and the new baby. I'm sure we will be busy this summer as usual. My life is such a wonderful ride, and I am so grateful for it and all the people in it!

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.