Boys will be boys

My cousin Ashley sent this to me. I thought it was cute. I just hope that Breckston doesn't get any ideas.

Happy Birthday to Tyler!!!

It's Tyler's Birthday. Well now he's also a quarter of century old and older then dirt. When we first go married I had a hard time sharing my Birthday. I didn't think it was fair that we had to share everything. Now I guess I like to share it because I'm not the total center of attention. We can make fun of each other and spend more time with each other. It seems like we never spend time together when he's in school. I just wanted to tell him Happy Birthday!!! I love you so much and am grateful for how sweet you are to me. Thank your for everything you do for me. I hope that you have a great day and that you feel better.

Tracy's Birthday Today

Tracy is now 25 years old. Quarter of a Century, halfway to fifty, almost as old as dirt. I can say that now because I turn 25 tomorrow. I figured I'd make a small tribute about her, as well as for her from me. These are a few quotes that I want her to reed.

• Love: a temporary insanity, curable by marriage. (I'm glad she said yes!!!)
• Love is patient, love is kind.It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.It is not rude, it is not self-seeking.It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.Love never fails. (I wish i was as good at these like Tracy is.)
• Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude. (Tracy lives like this)
• You call it madness, but I call it love. (This is how I feel about her)
• Whoso loves, believes the impossible. (With Tracy it IS possible)
• Love doesn't make the world go 'round; love is what makes the ride worthwhile. (I'm on a ride of a biliion lifetimes)
• There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved. (Happiness is in our house)
• There is no remedy for love but to love more (I can't love her enough)
• If I know what love is, it is because of you (Goes without saying)
• In real love you want the other person's good. In romantic love you want the other person. (Can i have both???)
• I love you Not only for what you are But for what I am When I am with you (I love YOU!!!)
• My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite. (I had to throw in some Shakespear)

FYI TRACY I LOVE YOU!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Antelope Hunt '08

We went doe antelope hunting this last weekend. We went with Tracy’s family, which is the tradition. This time Bryce, Shanna, and Blaine came. We had to drive all the way to Rock Springs Wyoming. It is about 3 hours from home so it wasn’t too bad. We stayed in a Hotel and swam that night.

We then woke up the next morning and headed out to Farson, Wyoming. This is where Paul wanted to go to shoot some antelope. We started out looking like a bunch of red necks. Bryce and I sat in the back of the truck in lawn chairs with our guns across our laps.

Bryce shot the first one since he had never shot one before. This was also Blaine's first hunting trip.(first of many)

Next it was Tracy’s turn but we never got close enough for her to feel comfortable to shoot. We then went and ate lunch at some area where there were trees in the middle of the desert. While there I went to jump out of the truck and rolled my ankle.

It hurt pretty bad and bruised up the next day. We saw a bunch of different animals that day; deer, pot guts, 3 bull elk (ya thats what i said. elk in the desert???) and a bunch of wild horses.

That first day was just rough for me cuz I couldn’t seem to hit any antelope either. Bryce filled both of his tags that day and Paul got one of his. Tracy shot one as well. None of us saw her shoot it besides Paul, but she drilled it right in the head and it tumbled over like a ton of bricks.

She has a pretty steady hand when it comes to shooting; if that darn wind wouldn’t have blown so hard she would have been two for two. We went out the next day to fill the other 3 tags that we had left. I finally connected on one that was running directly away from us. Phew, finally got that monkey off my back. We then went towards a farmers place to see if there were more there. I shot one that looked like it was a buck because of the size of her horns.

It was a long ways out there but we never ranged it to know for sure. Tracy then finished off the hunt by drilling one that was 300 yards out. She missed the first couple of times because of how windy it was but finally connected on it. We had a blast shooting at a lot of antelope and being with family. Hopefully next year we will use less bullets to fill our tags.

Kinda a gross picture but it was a good finishing head shot.

SO DON 'T PISS ME OFF OR ELSE.

JK

Labor Day

We went camping with Nate Taylor and his family over Labor Day (which has been the tradition for the last 3 years now) We all had a fun time fishing, camping, riding ATVs, and hiking. We went on a hike looking for a small lake to fish. When we finally got there, after 1.5 miles up-hill, there wasn't any fish in the lake. It was too shallow and the fish had died from winter kill. All of us, especially Breckston, were dead tired by the time we got back. The last day that we were there we woke up to a couple inches of snow on our tent. It was very close to colapsing in on us but luckily we woke up in time.

Tracy and i went for a ride too see some animals. We saw a moose cross right in front of us and we couldn't even get a picture of her because by the time the camera was out she was gone. We went further and saw a bunch of does and fawns in a meadow bouncing and playing in the new snow. It was probably the first snow that the baby deer had ever seen. It was a fun trip and we look forward to it again next year.

Breckston is a cute little monster.

Breckston likes to get into everything and anything.

Tracy just hanging out. It was one of those relaxing weekends.

Breckston and his buddy Skyler all cheesed up for the camera.

CAMPING

Well these last two weekends were nice and relaxing. We went camping for both of them. We left on the 7th of August after I got off work to go up to Bridger/China meadows area on the North Slope of the Uintas. This time we didn’t camp in a standard campground. My parents found a good spot just pulling off the road. It was actually real nice and secluded, right next to the river. It had been raining on and off all week which it continued throughout our stay. After getting all set up we ate dinner and went to bed waiting for tomorrows fishing and hiking adventures.
We got up early and ate breakfast and then went fishing along the river that was right there. We didn’t do real well, but like always, Tracy always catches fish even if it’s not very good. We returned for lunch and got ready to take the canoe out on Bridger Lake. This is one of our most favorite places to fish. We took Andrew along with us. It was slower than normal but we still caught a lot of fish. Andrew was having a hard time landing any of them and it was funny to watch him. We went back to camp and had another camp dinner. The next morning we decided to go to China Lake. This lake has been eluding me because I can’t catch anything up there. I have done my homework looking at stocking records and checking the lake out on Google Earth. This homework hasn’t helped me. Low and behold I took my brothers up there and they both caught some really nice brook trout.

I finally got a bite while I was there though so it wasn’t for not. I guess next time I will have to try something else.
Tracy and I love to go for rides at night and look for deer. We didn’t see as many as we had hoped for but it was still fun. We played in the river a little bit and sat around the fire. It was a pretty fun weekend.

The next weekend we went up with my uncle Nathan and his family. This time we went 20 miles east of Bridger over to where we elk hunt. We camped in the west fork of the Beaver River. It was really nice because there was a lot less people than there were at Bridger. We stopped in Mountain View WY to pick up some ice cream to eat with the apple cobbler that my uncle had made. After wards we all went to bed thinking of all the animals that we might see in the morning. Logan and Cory each had archery tags to shoot elk and deer so they were going to get up early and try their hand at finding something to shoot.
Unfortunately that weekend Breckston had gotten sick. (What a stinker) He must have gotten it from his cousins. so he wasn’t a happy camper when it came time to get in bed. Let’s just say those 3 nights were horrible, not much sleeping going on.
The next day we got up and ate a nice Dutch oven breakfast. Then Nathan, Cory, and I went to fish the little stream next to camp. We tied on a spinner to the end of our fly line so that we could lob it out into the river. I had never fished like this before. It was actually really nice. I only landed 3 fish but had so many others fallow it or hit the spinner but never get hooked.
That evening we all decided to go over to Hoop Lake to fish for a while. It was kind of slow. While we were sitting there Logan saw some deer all the way across the lake. We hurriedly jumped in the canoe and paddle over there to see if any of them were bucks. We hiked around for a little while and didn’t see anything. I told Cory and Logan to walk back through the willows to see if the deer went in there, while I took the canoe back across the lake. Neither wanted to do that, so Logan walked the shore line and Cory came back in the canoe with me. We then started to pack up while Logan walked back. As we were getting ready to leave I looked up and there were 3 deer walking through the willows, a doe, a nice 3 point, and a good 4 point. Logan grabbed his stuff along with Cory and they ran as fast as they could to get over to where the deer were headed. By the time that they got there the deer were almost out of the willows on their way up the mountain. Logan finally got to within 85 yards of the deer but the deer took off and were never seen again. Let’s just say “I told you so, Logan.”
The next day we decided to go for a hike through our elk hunting area just to shoe our family members around. It was kind of hot and I had Breckston on my back in his backpack. We were gone for about 4 hours. We were on our way back when we decided to go up to a small clearing and Tracy decided to just go back down to the meadow. Once we were all down to the meadow we couldn’t find Tracy. We started yelling for her. We sent Logan and Jenna back to the truck to see if she went all the way back there. Nathan and I grabbed some pistols and went back into the trees looking for her, hoping nothing bad happened. We both got up to the clearing and started going in the direction that we thought she had went. Nothing! Then all of a sudden Logan told us through Nathans radio that she was back at the truck. Boy was Tracy in trouble. Come to find out she decided to fallow some bear tracks (not smart) back to the trail and then she spooked herself by thinking that coyotes were going to get her. That is why she went straight back to the truck and not wait under grandpa’s tree like she was supposed to. I’m just glad nothing happened to her. I wouldn’t know what to do if something had. I sure love her and I know that Breckston does too.
We road hunted that night and the fallowing morning and all we saw were does. (Breckston likes to go road hunting) It was a fun trip and really relaxing. It sure got both of us anxious to go elk/deer hunting in 6 weeks. We can’t wait.
We also got some antlerless antelope tags for Wyoming as well, so we will be hunting in September for those as well as dove and grouse. I love the fall for its weather change, colors, fishing, and best of all its HUNTING SEASON!!!

Sad day for the PACK

It was a sad day last Thursday the 7th of August. Brett Favre the only player in NFL history to be named league MVP 3 times was traded. After a long battle with Packers management, both sides decided it was best to part ways. So the Packers sent a sure fire Hall-of-Famer and a Pro Bowl quarterback to the Jets for a conditional 4th round pick. The Pack is going with an inexperienced QB in Aaron Rodgers who has been injury prone and never started an NFL game before. Hopefully it all works out for both sides. I see a Jets vs. Packers Super Bowl this February.