Living Room Make over

We decided after 7 years of living here, that the carpets are offically worn out. We tried to clean them in November and they just wouldn't come clean. So we picked a carpet and we were on our way. This makeover took a little more than I was thinking, and way more than the entry way. We actually had to move the furniture out and put it into the garage.....

The piano wasn't going in the garage....I am sorry. So it ended up in the entry way. Gabe even said he wasn't taking it out to the garage...it is TOO heavy. It was sort of fun having it in the entry way as I felt like I had my own personal concert hall! It made the piano sound so different. It even got the kids practicing a little more. Not so convenient when it comes to getting the vacuum out of the closet behind it. 

These next few are of the actual laying of the new carpet. Again, everyone has to help. Partly because they like helping dad, but partly as it teaches them things about home maintenance that they can't learn otherwise.

This one shows the final product of the floor. It feels so soft on bare feet!

This one shows the new placement of our furniture.....AND pictures on the wall. I have never had pictures hanging on the walls. If you know Gabe this is a huge deal for us!

Placement of the piano. It still makes it sound cool as it is places at an angle.

Another view.

See....we actually have pictures on our wall!! I hope my friend T, sees this one and knows that we actually have a place for her creation for us. I have cherished this gift from her. 

And I actually made curtains for this room too! They aren't all finished yet, but there is only one more to go.

Entry Way Make over

So this all started with a hole in the wall. And since there was a hole, we needed to fix it. And because dad was fixing it and using tools....we all needed to help.

But seriously, it all started with the hole that we needed to fix. Gabe says to me that we were going to need to paint so lets paint an accent wall. I about fell over, I have NEVER had an accent wall. I haven't ever been brave enough to pick a color. So we went looking and picked a color and  I LOVE it!! We had been wanting to put a bench in the entry way too and found the perfect one.....at Kmart, after many hours looking at the options on the internet. Then it needed a rug......and a picture on the wall. Now I love my new entry way. It ended with hanging more pictures since we lost our entertainment center in the family room make over.

Gabe and all his "helpers" fixing the hole.

The hole is fixed, just waiting for it to dry before we paint the wall.

The kids "helping" Gabe put together the bench.

The bench and the new rug against the wall.....I LOVE it!

The finished product from this angle.

The wall of children. They lost their place when we re-did the family room and so Gabe hung them here. To give you a perspective, as you look at this wall, the accent wall is to your right.

Tepee

No, I am not talking about toilet paper. This past spring Gabe and Bethany had an unique experience and one that I don't think that Beth will forget soon. As part of her 4th grade social studies lessons, Bethany learned alot about the plains Indians and how they shaped our states history. So as an extension to the classroom learning the school takes the kids out and lets them do some hands on learning, they host a 4th grade Rendezvous. They have several community members who come in and talk to the kids about shooting bows and arrows, throwing tomahawks, trading in the mountain man way......the list is too numerous. So this year they asked for some fathers to volunteer for tepee duty. They came to the school and learned how to set up the tepee. Then they, along with their child, took the tepees down to the Rendezvous site and set them up again and spent the night before the 4th graders came. So Beth and Gabe got to stay the night in an authentic Native American tepee. Since I wasn't there, I had to rely on Gabe's pictures, but I would say they had fun.

The first two pictures Gabe took, I took the rest. I wasn't able to be there that night. I had to take Bethany a new jacket as hers got wet, so I was able to go and snatch a few pictures. What an amazingly fun experience that she was able to have. 

What a blessing.

It has been such a blessing to have this little man in our lives:

Today we had his blessing....hence the suit he is in. It was a great blessing and I am thankful that Gabe did a great job. Henry looked so awesome in his suit. This suit is pretty special in this family. This suit was given to us when Wyatt was this small....so we have had it for 11 years! It is amazing to say that each of my boys has worn this suit to be blessed in.....4 boys. Thinking about this I should find all those pictures and post them together.

My handsome boys. These moments bring joy to my heart.

Antelope Hunting 2012

This year Gabe decided that he wanted to try something different....and now I think that he is hooked. He bought himself a bow a year or so ago and has been having fun just practicing with it. Last year his friend took his antelope with a bow, so I think this year he decided he was going to have a go at it too.  How did he do?

Gabe is awesome! He took this little lady down with one arrow and was so proud of himself. He actually didn't want anyone to really know about it, only because he went out the morning of Mariah's birthday/baptism day. He wanted that to be her day, not his in the glory of taking his first animal with a bow. He is going to try and get an elk tomorrow by bow with a good friend of ours. I really wish him luck....more because elk season starts in Nov and that is when our baby is due. If he can get one tomorrow, then I don't have to worry that he will miss our baby's birth.

Now this post marks the first in our series of hunting exploits but most of them this year will feature Gabe and Amanda. As I am pregnant I have chosen only to hunt antelope this year and nothing else. Antelope season for me (as I don't bow hunt) doesn't start until later this month. Deer and elk season would be impossible for me to do as they are too close to my due date for comfort.

Just a little "bat"ty today

Some people probably think I am batty for having so many children, but really I am not compared to this:

Yes, you are looking at these right, this is a real live bat. This bat came to visit us for a moment today in the arms of my loving husband. I wasn't sure I was really seeing this. I have never seen a bat this close before let alone realized that they lived in my area. I always thought it was too cold here for them.....I guess I was wrong. Gabe said that he found this little one in some of the machinary that they have for work. Gabe might be the mighty hunter when it comes to certain animals, but he does have a tender heart for making sure that he doesn't kill things needlessly. After showing this to the kids (and I got a few pictures), this little bat was on his way to a new home somewhere away from the big machinary. I hope he does well. One of the children asked before Gabe left if this was a blood sucking bat, and it is not......it eats mosquitos....so I really hope it does well and eats all the mosquitoes around my house!!!

I am in LOVE!

So this title could refer to a lot of things. One person that I love, among all the many, is my husband. He is the best ever! He told me the other day that he wanted to get me something for my birthday but he didn't want me to know what it was. Keep in mind that this was like the 7th and my birthday isn't until the 24th. Being the hormonal person that I am right now, I started crying because it was (to me at least) a sweet thing to say. I started thinking about all the things that he could have gotten me and then I started to panic. Not that he wouldn't have come up with something great and wonderful, but because I was thinking of a few things that were/would be higher up on the priority list than what I started to fear that he would ge me (a new rifle/pistol). So 2 days ago, I asked him if I could suggest something that I wanted for my birthday. He agreed and I told him what I thought would be enjoyed by the whole family (but would be for my benefit more). About 6 yrs ago, we had purchased a digital camera for the first time and I loved that....but sadly over the 4th that said camera died. So I suggested for my birthday we upgrade our camera experience and I am in love again. We decided to get a Nikon CoolPix P150. This was something that we had been looking at since Amanda had brought one home on loan from the school and we marveled at the differences in the pictures vs our other camera. He bought it as an early birthday present and I had been itching to use it. Then he gave me a perfect opportunity. He is working pretty close to our house and there are large fields around that are prone to have deer bedding down during the noon time. He called me and said there are 4 does and a buck still in velvet by this building we are working on. I didn't waste any time. I walked over there (it is less than 3 blocks) and sure enough there they were. I was thrilled. This is what I saw when I first walked up:

I was standing probably in the middle of the road at this point. They knew I was there and started to get up. But I took my time and they weren't in any hurry either. I am loving the zoom on this camera. I was only able to get maybe three or four more steps closer, but with the zoom you would have thought I was standing right next to them! Now Gabe had said that there were 4 does and a buck but with the zoom, I discovered something interesting:

This one is actually a buck---he is still trying to grow the big rack, but there is obvious growth there! This is my favorite of all the ones that I took:

I think we determined by the other pictures that this little guy is actually a 5 by 5 buck! He isn't too big, but if he survives through the hunting season, he has the potential to be a monster. I took this last one without the zoom, just so I could see what it would have looked like. I can't take pictures with my other camera and I am not knocking it either, but this is what I would have gotten with the other one even zoomed in as far as I could (or something similar):

So I guess that I am now in love with this camera! I don't profess to be a photographer by any means, but this camera is a huge step above what we had. I am still trying to get used to it and learn the various settings and tricks that it has, but I LOVE IT! I guess this means that there might be a lot more pictures to blog about as I get the hang of my new toy.

Catch up!

Yes, I know, I have been a slacker and haven't blogged lately. We have had a lot happen in the last month. The last thing that I blogged about was James getting his first hair cut. Since then we have done Gabe's birthday, Katherine's birthday, hunting for deer (a lot of that), Mariah had a concert for Veteran's Day in which she appeared at the Statue of Liberty (very exciting and unexcpected for us), we "shot" a deer and Katherine helped me grind some meat. I am not going to post anymore about them, other than my favorite pictures from each of these events. So enjoy my almost wordless Wednesday! Hopefully I can keep up and this will be current events instead of an ancient history lesson.

Gabe's "Little" One

So yesterday afternoon I took the kids to their cousins birthday party. I was hoping that Gabe would join us later after he finished helping a friend paint, but I guess that wasn't going to happen as he had other ideas. Instead he took our neighbor and went out antelope hunting. I thought maybe that was what was happening as his rifle was gone when I got home. So I called him, knowing that he wouldn't answer, just so I could leave him a message, just to say I was thinking about him and loved him.

He calls me back a while later and says he is on his way home that he got his antelope. I asked about it and he said "Oh, its just a little guy". Okay, I should know by now not to take him seriously, but in my mind I was thinking...little, okay, a yearling or so his horns aren't very big. I also started thinking that maybe he just got the first one that he found. Our elk season opens next week and Gabe had been talking like he just wanted to get the hunt over with. I thought that maybe he just got it so that he wouldn't be hunting antelope, deer AND elk all at the same time.....yea right! When he pulls up to the house, I go out to meet him with the camera....gotta have pictures right! So he opens the tailgate and I see this guy:Yea, he isn't very big is he? He only has the tallest set of horns that I have seen on an antelope. He is bigger than even mine or Amanda's (and ours were small by any stroke of the imagination)! He is just too modest I think.

But I would have to call this a successful hunting season....we put in as a party to get these antelope (6 of us) and all 6 were able to harvest one.

2 out of 3

So we have filled 2 out of the 3 tags that were issued to our house for antelope this year and it is only the beginning of the season! Yesterday Gabe took me out to try and fill my tag. Guess what? I got one! My first ever antelope. I must say that they are harder to hunt than deer. They don't stand still long enough to give you much time to think about your shot. You really have to be confident and just take it. Plus they are much harder to sneak up on than deer. There isn't much to hide behind and so therefore if you can see them, chances are they can see you too. With a deer you can often times make a noise that will cause them to stand and give you more time for a shot....not with antelope. You had better be quick about it because if you aren't.....there it goes down the hill. They can cover a lot of ground quickly too. So now I guess the hardest work begins....to butcher them and get them into the freezer. We will have about 100 pounds of meat now from Amanda's antelope and mine. Gabe on the other hand still has about a month of hunting left to get his. He is going for an even greater challenge....he wants to try and kill his with his bow. I thought they were hard enough to sneak up on with my rifle, I don't even want to try and do it with a bow. To get a good shot with a bow you have to be within 50 yards of the thing! Holy moly I was having a hard enough time with my rifle.