FInally... Mission Accomplished!

Here is the outcome of today's "pants episode". I thought she looked so cute and sassy! She LOVES this pearl necklace that my friend, Dawn, gave her. She wears it all the time. I have to take it off for naps and bedtime.

My First Hunting Experience

Okay...SO! Everyone knows that I am an animal lover. I also have a husband who LOVES to hunt and owns a hunting lodge/cabin/plantation/farm...whatever. Well, Hamp has grown to like hunting through experiences with Chris. I am okay with that as long as he respects all that goes along with hunting...guns..the land...wildlife, etc... It's hard for Chris to take both Hamp and Jack. They get a little jealous when he takes one and not the other. I have been telling Hamp, "well, I guess I need to take up hunting so that I can take you." Guess what?! The opportunity came. Yesterday afternoon Chris put Hamp and I in a two-seater stand. I was okay. It was really nice. It was great spending time with Hamp. We enjoyed watching the birds and hearing the sounds. I was just hoping to catch a glimpse of a deer so that I could watch them. All the conditions were wrong for a deer to appear. First of all, the wind was blowing straight from behind us towards the field we were hunting. Secondly, I was with HAMP. The child can not sit still. He kept talking and moving around, making noises, dropping his gloves out of the stand, tooting even!!! I got a little bored and started being silly too. I asked him at one point if I looked pretty..HEE HEE...because I looked ridiculous with all my camo and Chris's coveralls on.... Asked him if I could be one of those girls on the hunting channel. He died laughing! Anyway, right at sunset what do we see but a deer! I was so excited. I tried to check her out in the scope from the gun but couldn't lock her in. Hamp wanted to take a look. I asked if she was a good size (I don't know my deer sizes). He said..."Yeah Momma! She's a great size!" So he gets ready to shoot. I was impressed. He aimed and SHOT! Knew all about loading and taking the safety off and on again. She hauled tail through the field and over into another one. Hamp had told me earlier that MY job was to watch the deer if he were to shoot it. So I watched hard! He was shaking because he was so excited. We got down out of the stand to see if we could spot a blood trail. No trail. We just knew he missed. We followed the path she took. Even went through some brush to see if she had fallen in there. Nope. Couldn't find her. So we walked back to the cabin. Later Chris and Jack came back. We told them the story. So, all of us pile into the Polaris thingy to see if we could find her. Low and behold WE DID...in the same brush Hamp and I had looked. She was small. BOO! I'm always preaching about how they should NOT shoot the small ones. And on top of that she wasn't dead...just injured. BOO times two! :( Chris had to shoot her while we stood there. BOO times three! Things went from .."this is okay" to "oh no!" to ....a quote from Chris, "this is your worst case scenerio!" We took her home. Chris cleaned her and well....we ate her. Needless to say...I don't know when my next hunting experience will be.

Elfie

INTRODUCING.....Elfie! Our Elf on a Shelf. We "adopted" Elfie last year. Elfie is supposed to magically reappear every year to watch over the children and report all good and bad deeds to Santa. Every night he changes his stake out location. The kids get very excited each morning searching for Elfie's new post. Elfie was real good about this last year. However, this year...he doesn't seem on top of his game. First of all, he arrived to our house late.....(he should have already been here...I mean the kids had been asking for him...but NO he took his own sweet time getting here!) Sunday mid afternoon was when he made his first appearance. Jack found him. Then later that night Hamp came home and noticed him. The problem is....Elfie has been forgetting that he is supposed to MOVE to different locations every night. The kids continue to point this out....HOWEVER, Elfie still seems to stay in his same spot! The only explanation Chris and I have is this....he must be SO EXHAUSTED at night that he falls asleep to quickly before scampering off to find a new spying place. Hopefully Elfie will "remember" what he is supposed to be doing and will get back to doing his Santa business!!!

Christmas Cards

Here is a sample of what I am trying to do for our Christmas cards. It is always an adventure trying to take pictures with 4 children and 2 adults all by ourselves with the timer set on the camera. Can be a little hilarious! There were only one or two good shots out of about 27 tries. So, I tried to be creative by adding other pictures to a collage. :)

Same Kind of Different As Me

Okay....Chris and I just finished reading this book. It was wonderful. We both looked forward to crawling in bed every night for the past week and a half to curl up together and read. The book is insightful, inspirational, funny, and sad. I think that it drew Chris and I closer in many aspects. It provided us with QUALITY time to read and discuss, but Ron Hall captured a lot of the grief, the anger, and the blessings from death of a loved one. Sometimes I think that it is hard for Chris to understand what I live with on a daily basis....having lost part of my being. The book helped to validate and put into words a lot of what I felt and still feel today. I remember going to Kass' room....lying down in his bed trying to cover myself in him. I remember opening his drawers, grabbing his clothes and trying desperately to catch a glimpse of his smell....never wanting to wash the few cherished dirty clothes he had in the basket. I have these saved to this day. But slowly over time( somedays more than others) I am able to see the blessing in Kass being taken to Heaven. It was for a reason, though I am not quite sure of yet....but for a beautiful reason. This I know because it was in God's plan. Denver's faith helped to add to my faith.



Kass and Hamp September 19, 2002

Kass' 8th Birthday

My First Blog!

Okay....I think I did it!! I am finally a blogger! My intentions are to keep this going, stay up to date for family and friends, and then print it! (You can do that can't you?) I have never been very good at scrapbooking...mainly because I have never had the time. This will make it simple! Thanks Amber! :)
Our holiday season started off with a trip to Texas. Chris was already out there hunting with his brother, Matt, and our dear friend Shawn Utley. I flew out with all the kids by myself! We made it with no mishaps...can you believe it????!!! We spent Thanksgiving there, and as always had a great time.