Rylie was baptized, by her dad, yesterday and became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints. We are so proud of her and her choice to be baptized. It was a very special day for her and 5 other friends from our ward. We had so many children from our ward alone, that the ward was given special permission to have the baptism on a ward level, instead of with the rest of the stake. I think it was a lot more special for each of the children. They are friends and go to school together. I was able to give the talk on Baptism. What an overwhelming job that was, but I was honored to do it. We had lots of family and friends from the ward that were there to support her.
Congratulations Rylie, We are so proud of you!
Hallie and Remie before the baptism. Sporting their 2nd pony tales ever.
Rylie was able to be baptized with one of her very special friends, Brooklyn. What a fun day for both of them.
So the other night we had french fries with dinner. However, Hallie and Remie just wanted the ketchup. I gave them the fries and things, but all they ate was the ketchup. When the ketchup was gone, they grunted and pointed at the ketchup bottle and then got very excited when I would put a drop more on their plate. Very goofy kids!
Okay, we are not moving, but Hallie and Remie are! Within the last month Hallie has decided that it is a lot easier to get around when she is walking. However, since I took these pictures Remie has also decided that she likes walking. I don't have any pictures of Remie at this point, but I hope to get some soon.
Remie still crawling
Hallie and Remie @ 14 months
Both girls love to wear Ryan's hats. They find one and immediately put it on their heads. They think they are so funny!
Within the last month, they both have also mastered the stairs. They are able to go up and down them. I am always losing them now. I will be upstairs and then they disappear downstairs. The nice thing is, I don't have to carry them up and down the stairs anymore.
As Hallie has started walking, Remie is talking more and more. She is picking up new words, or trying to say new words, everyday. She loves to holler at Rylie. I don't know where she has gotten that from.
This hunt has been in the plans for a long time. It has been something I have wanted to do since I had taken an antelope with my dad when I was 16.
In March when the applications to put in for the draw was coming due I had asked my friend Scott to see if he wanted to put in with me to got to Wyoming to hunt antelope. He was all for it. He has been on many big game hunts but has never killed anything. Generally it takes 3 - 4 years to get a out of state tag. So my hope was just hope at the time. So when June came around and we revived notice that we had drawn our tags I was more than excited. For me it was better than opening any Christmas present.
Now that time had come to start preparing for our hunt. We went to the rifle range a few times but not enough as I find out later. I made a couple of orders to Cabelas and read what I could on judging antelope.I even went over to Kemmerer for a scouting trip. September couldn't get here fast enough.
The time was here to head to Wyoming. We couldn't get out for the opening day because we had a couple of birthdays to celebrate. After that we were off. We left Logan at 5 in the morning on Saturday. We arrived in Kemmerer around 830am. We took our time getting there because we took it all with us.
On our way there we had seen a lot of antelope off the side of the road. Scott was ready to jump out and shoot the first thing he saw with horns. I held him back and told him to wait. He will have his chance soon enough.
We set up camp by Fontenelle Reservoir.
As soon as we got things settled we were off to find our goats. We started off on a couple of roads trying to figure out the area a little. As soon as we got off on the main road we started seeing antelope every where. in my head I'm looking for a big one in Scott's he was looking for anything. As we looked and glassed for a while. We had looked over many bucks but they just weren't what we were looking for. So finally we spotted a big group of antelope about a mile away. We were above them and looking through our spotting scopes at them. As I was looking through the group I seen a really good buck. He was raking his horns in the sagebrush and chasing the does around. I knew he was a shooter. Now to formulate a plan to get closer to them.
We were above them and there were small draws and gullies leading down to them. We picked a route and started hiking down towards them. As we got closer I got more nervous. They could run at any time. We started sneaking up toward the small hill between them us. I told Scott that this one is his. I think he was a little surprised that I wasn't shooting it.I didn't want my hunt to be over so quick. i also wanted Scott to get his first antelope. So Scott lowered his Bi pod and took a solid rest. I told him witch buck to shoot.We crept just enough to see them. They were starring right at us. The big buck went off to chase a smaller buck off. Now he was 150 yards away. Scott too aim and with one shot he was down. The buck didn't go far at all. I was shaking with excitement an I was excited for Scott to be able to shoot his first Big Game animal. As we walked up to him he got bigger and bigger. He has a real pretty set of horns with Ivory tips. We couldn't have been more happy at the way the stalk and shot turned out.
Now the work began to get his antelope processed and cooled down. Luckily we got his Rhino out there so we didn't have to pack him out.After we got the buck back to camp we headed off to town to get some ice. We stopped by Nate and Courtney's house since they are right next to the store. They offered to let us store the antelope in there deep freezer. Thanks Nate and Court. That was so helpful because we were going to be out there for two more days and didn't want to mess around with ice and coolers the whole time.
Now the hunt was back on. It was my turn. We picked up Nate since we were there and wanted the extra set of eyes and headed out for the evening hunt. We went to a little valley that I had been to when we went scouting the area. This valley had a bunch of antelope and a lot of bucks. There we a couple that I was tempted to shoot but they weren't just quite big enough. It was still a lot of fun getting close and seeing so many antelope running around.
The next day we headed out in the desert. It didn't take long to locate antelope. I was being really picky. I'm sure Scott got tired of me turning down everything we saw. The bucks horns we saw were either to short. Not thick enough. Not enough curl and so on. I just couldn't find the "ONE". We dove a lot of miles and seen a lot of country. After you see so many antelope they all start to look the same. We still had fun playing cat and mouse with a few antelope.
This was one buck they we got real close too.
So the next day came upon us and I was determined to shoot something that day. I just didn't want to shoot something small, but my trigger finger was really itchy. I was starting to think would it be better to shoot a smaller one and be with friends or wait and shoot a bigger one and be by myself.
We decided to head out to a different area of the unit. I thought this area would have been hunted hard but we didn't see to many people over there. We got up really early in the morning to head into an area in the mountains. We took the Rhino so we could cover a lot of ground. The sun rise was a site to see.
We glassed and glassed to see what was out there.
On this little trip into the hills we come across an old abandoned mining town. You can see the foundation of the buildings that used to be there. The only building standing was the jail.
As we were above in the mountains we saw a bunch of antelope below in the valley. We decided to head down there and check them out. As we were driving along we seen a lot of antelope but they were all on private land. In Wyoming they don't have to post there land to keep people out. It was hard knowing where you were some of the time. We didn't want to tick somebody off and get in trouble.
So we headed north down the road to the public lands. As we turned a corner on the road we spotted some antelope. We stopped and glassed them and there he was a big buck. I could tell right way he was a big one. We tried to make a plan to get to him. We parked the truck and headed down the hill toward them. Next thing we know they are high tailing it out of there. We see them that they are heading towards the road. We get back into the truck to head them off. The does cross the road and the buck stayed behind. He took off the other way. We thought we could catch up with him but if you thought antelope cant jump fences well they can. He jumped a fence and got out into the middle of nothing. We thought we would head the other way and cut him off. We spotted him off the road so we stopped and went to get in shooting range.We snuck along a fence line and set up for a shot. He had joined some more antelope. We ranged him at 330 yards. I took a good rest and BANG. The dust flew right behind him. I shot over him and off he went 100 miles an hour out of there. My heart sunk to my gut. We tried to catch up with him again but never could find him. At this point I felt pretty bad. All that work we had done to find a good buck and to get in range had flown out the window with one high shot.
Well we went in to town to pick up Nate because we needed some luck on our side. We headed out North to looks for that Special buck. It didn't take long once we hit public land to see antelope. They had been burning sagebrush patches all along the area. I thought there's not going to be an animal in 50 miles of this place. Sure enough as we drove along we seen a group in one of the burned out spots. We stopped to look them over and at first we saw all does. Then I noticed a nice set of horns in the brush. I could tell they were thick but couldn't tell how long until he stood up. Once he stood I could tell he was a good one. I got out off the road and at this time they started running out of there. I took a quick shot and missed. As Nate and Scott were in the back ground telling me distances I took some more shots. Nothing. He was heading up into the hills. Word of advice do not try shooting at a running antelope. It is as much as impossible to hit. We had seen where they had went and headed up the hill. We tried following them but they were always a step ahead. They were to far out of range but we chased them down a hill to were we thought they would stay. We found a road that took us to the top of the mountain. Yes were were in the mountains chasing antelope and not deer or elk. We planned our stalk through the aspens. We see that they had moved to the other ridge. I set up knowing that he would be out any time. Scott says there he is. I moved forward out of the trees just a little bit to get a clear shot. I see him. I make sure I'm solid. I ask for a range. They tell me 350 yards. I'm thinking holy cow that's really out there. I put my cross hairs on his back and squeezed. BOOM!! I hit him. I could see that he wasn't moving real fast but he wasn't down. I took another shot and I heard the thud and he went down for good. I was shaking like a leaf but the feeling of elation and satisfaction came over me. As I was walking over to him I was hoping that he was a good one but at that point I didn't care. I seen him laying there and went over to see what he looked like. There was defiantly no ground shrinkage with him. He got bigger as I got closer to him. I couldn't have been more happier. He is a great Buck. Heavy Thick and has lots of character. High fives and lots of pictures later and we were off the hill.
We got the buck back to town and butchered him out and then we took our capes and horns over the the Taxidermist.
I had such a great time. We defiantly made some memories to last us a life time or at least until next year.
Thank goodness I have a somewhat understanding wife.Now I need to go and pick out the place on the wall for him.
6/11/12 Remie came running into the house after playing outside on the swing set. "Mom! There is a bee out there." I said, "tell dad when he gets home and he will spray it. " "Just come squish it!" she said.
10/26/11 Sydnie some really funny things while I am doing her hair in the mornings. This morning was no exception. I noticed that she had her socks on from yesterday. I told her that she needed to go and change her socks. She said, "But mom, I just put them on yesterday." Hum, ya, that would be the point! Silly girl!
8/22/10 While doing Sydnie's hair this morning, she said, "Mom, I don't want to walk to church today. Seriously! There are a lot of hills!" I had to chuckle. There are a lot of hills.
8/9/10 I had to take the car in to get a new windshield, and Sydnie wanted to go with me. Once I dropped the car off, we walked home. On the way she said, "Mom, what if we could run all the way to Jackson Hole. That would be really good exercise." I had to chuckle...indeed it would! Too bad, I won't be running to Jackson Hole anytime soon, cause I could use some really good exercise.
6/29/10 So Rylie came up with a good one this time....I found the old "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" on TV the other night. So I made the big girls come and watch it with me. (We have the new one with Johnny Depp, so I wanted them to see where it had come from.) So as we are watching it, Rylie says...."Mom, did you watch this when you were a kid?" "Yes," I said. "Oh," she says, "that's way it's...a....a....yeah." I said, "yeah, what?" "Yeah....old," she said. In my defense, it was made before I was born. So yes, it can be old!
5/6/10 I have the cutest kids....on the way to work this morning, there was an ad for Mother's Day on the radio. Sydnie said, "Mom, is Mother's Day on Sunday?" "Yip," I said. She said, very sad, "I don't know what to get." Once we got to work she was in my classroom before her class. When I got in there she was very busily making me a Mother's Day picture to hang on my wall. It is beautiful!
4/10/10 The girls got new dresses for Easter. Sydnie said this morning..."Mom is it church day tomorrow." I told her it was. She then said, "I am going to wear my purple dress with the polka dots, my new shoes, and my hair curly. I think I will like that."
3/20/10 So Sydnie and I were driving to school on Wednesday morning and there was a Taylor Swift song on the radio. Who Sydnie absolutely loves! Syd was just a singing away. When the song was over she said. "Oh, she did such a good job. She is going to win the contest." I had to laugh!
12/19/09 This morning Rylie got up and came into my bedroom. Ryan had already gotten up and had gone downstairs. Rylie came in a said..."So I bet Dad went fishing?" Nope, I said, guess again. "Hunting?" No, guess again. "4-wheeling? Nope, guess again. "Where did he go?" I told her that he was just down stairs. Do you think he has too many hobbies?
11/15/09 So we just got back from a Ducks Unlimited Banquet last night and Ryan made out with some pretty good stuff. We were talking about the guns he won and how one of them had a scope. Sydnie was messing around in the living room where we were sitting, over hearing what was being said and she said, "I want a pink gun....with a scope." I said, "You don't even know what a scope is." "Yea, you look through it." (As she is pretending to hold and shoot a gun.) Oh, my goodness. I think Ryan is going to have some serious competition when she gets a little older!
10/6/09 Again, it is Sydnie that comes up with some funny ones. Today after she was done with preschool, one of her teachers Miss Mindee, came up to me and told me what Sydnie had said to her. Sydnie was wearing a shirt today that my mom had given her. It says "Here Comes Trouble." Sydnie went to Mindee and said, "Read my shirt....but it is not true!"
8/27/09 Sydnie, Sydnie, Sydnie...she makes me laugh!
I was up in my room getting ready for the day and Sydnie was downstairs babysitting for me. When I came out she had obviously been into the OREO cookies. It was all over her face. I asked her, "Who has been in the cookies." Her response, "Rylie comed home from school and got them." I said, "Then why are they all over YOUR face?" "She shared with me."
This morning she also told me that when she grows up she wants to be a cheerleader in a parade. If only it were so easy!
7/13/09 I have to hand it to Sydnie...she comes up with some good ones. It has been a little over a week since I had the twins. This morning while I was doing her and Rylie's hair she said, "Mom, your butt is not big anymore." I wasn't quite sure what to say.
6/20/09 So, the girls are going on a two week camping trip with my parents. They have been very excited for a few weeks now, asking all of the time...."when do we get to go camping?" I took them up to Idaho today and they will be leaving tomorrow with my mom and dad. This morning Sydnie gets up and comes down stairs and the first thing she said to me was...."Are we going camping today?" Not, "Hey Mom" or "What's for breakfast?" We then went on to talk about their trip and I asked her if she was going to miss me. She said, "A little...not a lot." They will have a great time!
2/19/09 Okay, so the girls have known for 2 whole days that we are going to have twins. I have been talking to them about how mom's belly is going to get very big. So Sydnie comes into the bathroom this morning and said, "Mom, look at your belly. It is almost getting big."
12/30/08 As we were driving past the temple tonight, Rylie asked why it had so many windows. Sydnie said "So Jesus can see."
12/25/08 As the girls have been telling Santa what they wanted for Christmas, Ryan would try to get them to tell Santa "what he wanted for Christmas." He wanted them to tell Santa that he wanted another four-wheeler. On Christmas morning, as we were driving through town on our way to Soda, Ryan spotted a four-wheeler in the back of a truck next to us. Ryan said, "Look! There's my four-wheeler." Sydnie said without missing a beat, "Santa took it to the wrong house."
12/23/08 There are a lot of mornings that Ryan gets up and will go hunting, fishing, 4-wheeling, or even to work, long before the girls get out of bed. This morning was no exception. Sydnie had gotten up and had gone into the kitchen and was standing with the fridge open (trying to find a drink) when it hit her that he was gone. She said "Mom, where's dad?" I said, "He went hunting." She shut the fridge and looked so seriously and said..."Without Me?!?" She has a pair of camo pants that she usually wears camping. We call them her hunting pants. She gets very upset when he doesn't take her, so that she can wear her hunting pants.
12/16/08 As Sydnie was getting ready for dancing tonight, she was toting around her dancing bag like a purse over her shoulder. She tapped it and said "Mom, I have my favorite breakfast." (Meaning her favorite breakfast was in her bag.) I then asked her what her favorite breakfast was and she said "A candycane!" As she showed me a candy cane that she had stashed in her bag. I promise we do eat more for breakfast then just candycanes!
