What a Doozy of a Year Rapup

WOW what a year!

I am really glad to see 2013 leaving. We had a lot of hard, very hard, trials this year. We have also grown and learned more than we ever thought possible. I am grateful I decided to be more consistent with this blog so we have a record of it all. I am closer to my kids and I think we appreciate simple things, the basic needs and for the gift of life. I am closer to my Savior and appreciate His sacrifice and for the gift of repentance. I know my Heavenly Father loves me and my children and have seen miracles to prove it. I am grateful for the Holy Ghost and the direction he gave to us this year. We might have had a lot different outcome if  Doug and I had not of listened to the promptings that were given. I see 2014 being a wonderful happy year.

Important Correction

We went and picked up the horns from the taxidermist this afternoon. The hide won't be ready till this coming Fall. I have a friend that works there and they were so nice and boiled the head instead of just cutting off the horns so we can (lucky us) hang them up till they are ready for them back. Doug is very pleased with it. He then decided to really take his time and measure them properly and to his suprise and much happy glee they scored bigger than originally thought. They are a score of 201"! Not 196" like originally he thought. That's a big difference. The taxadermist was very excited about it.

I compromised on it going in the downstairs hallway over looking into the kitchen. Now when Doug is doing the dishes (yes he is awesome like that) he can admire his dead friend.

He is a deer hunter who likes to put his life on the line by balancing on very steep stairs with only half the ladder touching the ground while screwing in screws and holding on while I cry in nervous agony in the corner taking pictures of what might be his very last moments.

He did it! 

Another Driver

We now have 2 drivers in the house. Derrik got his permit today. 3rd times a charm. He thought the test was common sense and would not listen to his mother and study for the test. I only would take him 1 time as the the DMV is my personal feeling of Hell. Derrik's dad took him the second time and he did not pass. After that his dad told him he had 1 more chance or he would not take him back for a year. Derrik installed every app he could find on the test and studied every waking minute for the next 24 hours. This time it was a cinch. He is such a smart kid. Hope he learned the lesson that Mom is always right. Now we get to have the fun part of teaching him. That again falls under Dad jurisdiction. He has already learned how to drive in the mountains. Now it is time to learn in the city.

Have a Seat

Merry Christmas to US! 

We got a little extra money and our couches were literally falling apart. We have had them since 2007 and we should have done a better job of researching furniture. We decided to get some new couches. Doug was on his deer hunt so I took it upon myself to go furniture hunting. Doug and I had already settled on some at Lazy Boy but I wanted to make sure there wasn't something better out there. I called up Judy and we went out to find the one. After hours of searching at many furniture stores and sitting in a hundred sofas and chairs I had myself all turned around on what I wanted. On the way home to take Judy I wanted to take her to see what Doug and I originally wanted. It only took her a few seconds to say those were the ones. Then she and I played hard ball with the sales lady and talked her down $600 dollars and free delivery. I think she was glad when we left! It was kinda fun. Then the day after Christmas they arrived!!!

Before

During

After!

Post After

Every man needs a comfy recliner and a poofy little dog.

These couches (why do some people call them sofas and some people call them couches?) are so comfortable! Hopefully they last longer and are better made than the last set. We could have bought a small car for what we paid for these.

Slade Pictures

The Slade family decided to grab a photo since we had everyone there. It is going to be harder from now on cause our kids are getting so big and will be all over the place soon. Since we weren't planning on the picture we look a little rough and have lots of none coordinating colors so I put it into black and white.

 This is such a typical picture of these 4 siblings. Denton smarting off or something. Doug getting ready to punch Denton. Darwin getting after them and Andrea just smiling at the

situation. So funny.

Doug, Denton, Darwin, Andrea
Alan, Judy
Slade
12-25-2013

Slade Family Christmas

Christmas Eve we spent with the Slade family. We had a nice dinner that Judy, Erin and Darwin cooked for us of homemade soups and rolls. Then we went caroling with the trailer decked out in lights. The weather was so nice and we had lots of fun. We then came back and drank hot cocoa while some people went and played basketball at the park.

Christmas Day we did our traditional White Elephant gift exchange. The kids are getting so big I can't hardly believe it. We had 4 groups. All the little kids opened a gift their parents brought for them. 

Then we had the boys 10 and up group. It took some convincing to get Isaac to smile but I did it. 

Then the girls 12 and up went. The girls were all nice and polite and would not take anyone elses gift so it went quick. I can not believe Karie will be in college next Christmas. Time is going too fast and it makes me sad.

The adult game is always fun. I ended up with the gift I brought, a Texas Road House gift card. Doug got some home made caramels and very cool oil lamp that was a wedding gift to Doug's Norton grandparents. I originally picked up the lamp. It is super cool but I did not want to be responsible for it. Everything I touch breaks! Doug grabbed it and held onto it till the end. The little purse under the lamp is a coin purse that was his great grandpa had when he died with the actual change in it. They are both from the 1800s. 

I love this picture of Sadie and her Dad. They are so much alike. 

We had a really nice Prime Rib dinner that Darwin and Erin made for us. I brought baked potatoes. They even tasted good cause I looked up how to make the perfect baked potato online. FYI internal temp of 210. It was nice spending the holiday with family. 

Santa Came to Town

Christmas morning pancakes. Yum.

This one is a pancake pirate

cute

grumpy

tired

Merry Christmas 2013

This year for Christmas I found myself getting infuriated with the commercialism of it all. It has never bothered me like it did this year. Where was Christ in all of those commercials of buying and doing? Since Thanksgiving was so late this year it made it so there was less time to focus on Christmas. As people would ask me what I was getting for the kids for Christmas I did not want to get anything! That isn't good either. This was the first year since we have had kids that we did not do the 12 days of Christmas. With sick kids and no time or energy it just did not happen. Doug was gone on his hunt and it did not feel the same with him gone. 

 I gave a lesson in RS on the symbolism of things and the symbols of Christmas the first week in December. It was great and helped me to see all the things we do and their meanings. Then one morning last week I was watching the Today Show and they were talking about how people do 3 gifts to symbolize the wise men's gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. It was exactly what I wanted! They would give a gift along the lines of wear, want and need and then a few things for a stocking. 

Kamryn woke everyone up bright and early. I was so tired. I already knew what Santa brought so I was hoping to sleep in. We had our warm fire playing on the TV with the music going. Kamryn was the only one awake enough to be the elf present giver.

As always the kids were super thoughtful in their gift giving. I love that about my kids. Sadie painted painting for everyone....

Well some had to be IOUs. HAHA.

The doggies got new beds to lay around on.

Derrik and Sadie got a new to them IPhone, Kamryn and IPod Touch. Then they also got new jammies and then each something they needed. It was a nice simple Christmas.

Doug and I got a new computer since ours took a dump. When your kids all have homework on the computer everyday it is almost impossible to only have 1 computer in the house.

The Massive 196' Mule Deer Buck

From Doug:

Just got back from my December rifle mule deer hunt in 27.  I hunted for 8 days and saw 53 bucks and countless does.  The first couple of days we saw mostly small bucks with does, but then starting seeing some good bucks on day 3.  Most of the bigger bucks were 130"-160" bucks. I've hunted 27 a lot and have seen some good ones over the years during the rut.  I killed a buck that gross scored 172" almost 20 years ago and my goal on this hunt was to find something better than that if possible.

Here is a big wide 3X3 that I seriously considered taking.  I figured he was pushing 30" wide.  I found him a few times and he was going to be my back-up buck if I couldn't find anything bigger.  In most of the hunts I usually draw I wouldn't have hesitated on this buck.  He is a nice buck, but I am glad I waited.

On Day 8 the snow storm came in and we were seeing deer moving all day.  We had already seen 8 bucks that day including a nice 4X4 and 4X3, but we decided to move to a different side of the unit that afternoon.  Immediately when we got there we saw a decent 3X3 pushing some does.  Awhile later my dad says "there's a deer.  There's a buck. He's a good buck.  He may be a shooter take a look at him".  As soon as he said it was a good buck I chambered a round and moved over to where I could see it.  The buck had moved up the thick hill a little so I had to get around some trees to see him.  As soon as I put my scope on him I knew he was the one I wanted.  I calmed my nerves a little and settled in and squeezed the trigger.  Immediately I knew the buck was hit good.  Instead of watching the buck like I should have I looked over at my dad and said "I hit him hard".  I looked back up and the buck was gone.  I got over to where I thought the buck was standing and looked up the hill and could see a deer butt.  I couldn't believe he went that far.  Then I looked over to my right and the buck was down right there (it was one of his does up the hill).  It only went a few yards from the shot.  There was no ground shinkage at all.  I looked at the mass and deep forks and couldn't believe it.

Here are a few of the pictures of him.  I put him up against the 172" buck and he dwarfed it.  I taped it out, but am curious what you guys think he scores from the pictures.  I can attach more angles if it helps.  The pictures don't do justice to how much mass he carries.

This was by far the best deer hunt I have had.  Great times with my dad and getting to see so many deer each day. The buck I was fortunate to harvest wasn't bad either.

From Cherai:

Doug was so happy when he called to tell us about the deer. He stayed up till 11pm taking care of the hide so he can get it mounted. The next morning they were going to leave but he woke up to 5 inches of snow. They made it home but not till later that night.

It was not 10 minutes from when Doug drove up that the spectators started arriving. Testosterone filled the air. It scored according to Doug's measurements a 196". For none hunting people such as myself that is very large. We even did the ring test to verify the extra point. 

I am glad he had fun and even more glad that he now has 2 weeks off work and gets to be home with us. 

Even Granny Slade got into the action.

A friend of ours brought his boys over and they loved the tongue.

This is the way Doug tells bedtime stories. They really wanted to know what the tail looked like. Very cute kids.

Friendly Christmas Shopping Friends

I took the girls out into a madhouse today. Derrik was the smart one and stayed home. There were people everywhere! I don't know what I was thinking going shopping on a Saturday and the Saturday before Christmas none the less.  People didn't really have much holiday cheer either. We saw several bad words come out of drivers mouths as we watched in traffic. Very sad. At least we found these nice mannequin who seemed like they had holiday cheer.

Christmas Concerts

We had 2 full nights of Christmas concerts. First we had the Junior High Choir then the High School Choir with a bonus of a combine Orchestra and Quartet. Exceptional talent from both concerts. I enjoy them so much better than the old high school choir. The songs are great and they were so intune and the kids looked awesome. 








Sadie is in 2 choirs.



The next night we had the Orchestra Concert. It was just as great and so intune. Very impressed. Kamryn was 2nd chair instead of 1st this time. I love that they have to really work for their spot and they have to earn it.


Kamryn and her teacher Mrs. Cook

• 
  

1.