Nov 7-13 Bowdee's 1st Utes Game

Friday Matia was invited to go to Disney on Ice with her friend Lance. She was so excited to be invited. It was so nice of Lances mom to let her tag along with her 4 kids like she didn't have enough kids to shuffle around. But she sure enjoyed ever minute of it, I just wish I could have been there, it sounds like so much fun.

Bowdee and I spent about 2 hours cleaning and rearranging his room. He has a love hate relationship with his room. He knows that is his whole responsibilities to keep it clean so he hates that but he LOVES it when it is clean and organized. Now he just needs to slow down and clean as he goes!

Wow, Treg really tore it up at his game on Saturday morning. He made 3 baskets and just played amazingly. It was kinda like I was watching a little Stockton. He was quick and fast and accurate. They even had him stacked up against the biggest kid on their team and he just took it to them. So much fun to see his talents developing. Way to go John... I mean Treg.

Thanks to my brother Kyle, Terry was able to take Bowdee to his first Utes game. As you probably know Bowdee has always been a die hard Utes fan since he found out I went to school there. But he has never attended a game. Well Kyle had 2 extra tickets and just knew he would make his nephew the happiest boy ever if he passed them on to us. So after Bowdee's practice scrimmage game they dressed warm and headed to the game.

I took Tia and Treg out to Troys house and watch the game with him. Which I have to admit he is a cool cat to hang out with. We had pizza, listened to the kids destroying his house, ate pizza and Troy even got a pedicure!

When the game started and we heard it was the first snow game at Utah since 2008 and the whole stadium was covered in snow I really wasn't that sad to be missing it.

Bowdee and Terry had a great time! The Utes won the game 31-6 against UCLA, they ran into Kyle, and enjoyed a JCW's burger after the game I was just happy for Bowdee to be able to share his first football game with his dad. How fun for them.

Sunday Terry and Bowdee spent the day mixing and pouring concrete for the basketball standard. It doesn't look like it would have taken long but they were out there for a good 4 hours working. I was in the house making these cool posters for Tia and Treg.

When we went to Bowdee's end of football party and they handed out these posters Terry had a great idea to do one for all the kids. It took longer then I thought but was fun to do.

This is what the poster that Bowdee got at his party looked like. The one we fell in love with and just had to have some for the other kids. Thanks again to the wonderful football moms that made it all possible.

Nov 1-6 Girls Night Out & Bowdee Ordination

Friday I was invited to join my friends on a spur of the moment Girls Over Nighter. Terry being the sweet understanding man that he is was instantly excited for me. Sometimes I just wonder if he gets excited to get a break from me. So I went and enjoyed a sweet Village Baker lunch date with him before I headed out with my friends.

Then I met up with my friends for a nice relaxing night in Draper. We stayed at Holly's Aunts house that she rents out. We really didn't have any plans other then to just chill, relax, and just enjoy a night off. We had dinner at Red Robin on of our favorites then picked up a couple red box movies and headed back to the house.

Saturday morning we slept in and stayed in our jammies until 12:00. Which is really unheard of for a bunch of moms. But it sure felt nice not to be on a dead run. Treg had a basketball game, Bowdee had a scouts event, and Terry sent me a text saying 3 loads of laundry, 2 loads of dishes, a batch of apples, cutting deer roasts, made the kids "real breakfast", dug out basketball standard hole, took Bowdee to football championships (which was changed) all before 2:00.

I started feeling guilty but man it sure felt good to not be responsible for all that "stuff". We girls had lunch at Panda Express then made some clipboards for Christmas gifts. Watched Sunday at Tiffanys and then I just had to head back home to watch the Utes game with my boys. I have to say that is something I really enjoy, to watch a good Utes game with Bowdee and Terry. Jolynn and Troy even joined us which ended up with Jaysha, Baylee and Tayla sleeping over.

I do love my nieces sleeping over, we have so much fun. Sunday morning we woke up and got ready for church. It was fun to have all the girls want to be twiners. As I was blow drying their hair and doing it all fancy, with lipstick, and perfume Matia says "this is so fun I feel like we are getting ready for a dance". I just thought in my head heaven help us all it will be here before we know it....

We made it to church and today was special because Treg got to give his first talk in primary. He did so good, he was so brave and Baylee even got up there and helped him in front of all these strangers. His talk was about how reverence shows Jesus we love him. Which is a perfect talk for Treg because he is one of the most reverent kids in his primary.

Right after our classes we meet at the bishops office for Bowdee's Aaronic Priestood Ordination. What a special day for Bowdee to make such an important decision. He had all 4 of his Grandparents there, and his 3 cousins (Jaysh, Bay, and Tay) and of course his immediate family and Bishop Rich. Bowdee I am so proud of your decision, you are such an amazing boy and I just pray you will continue to make good decisions.

Oct 19-31 Halloween

Thursday was my preschool halloween parties. I just love this day because I get to see all my preschoolers dressed up in their favorite costumes.

Then when they come we walk to the Price's Haunted House to see all the scarey props. Then back to preschool for trick or treating to each other, cookie decorating, halloween games and just a day of fun!

I hope all the kids had a good time because I know I sure have fun every time I see their smiling faces!

Friday Terry and Troy took off for some more deer hunting up Strawberry area. So me and the kids ate a easy quick dinner and carved our pumpkins! Bowdee and Matia carved theirs all by themselves and Treg did it all but the mouth. I never thought I would be this close to having all my kids carve their own pumpkins.

They even did 2 pumpkins each! Our pumpkins didn't get planted in time (moms fault) so they were all mostly green so that is why we had to paint them this year. It was a fun new experience for us. Terry had a good time with Troy but no luck on the buck.

Saturday we woke up bright and early for Tregs 8:30 basketball game. This was his first game of the year so he was getting back into the swing of things. His team lost their game but Treg made one of the 2 baskets made by their team and he was even fouled on his shot BIG time! Then Kye came over to pump Bowdee up for his semi-final game in the championships against Lehi-Coopers team. He spent 2 hours going over moves and football talk then cranked some crazy hard music and had him hitting the dashboard on the way to warm up trying to light his fire.

What a good uncle to make time for his nephew and to care so much.... WOW... Our team could have won but they just have a hard time getting their heads in the game to start. They just never seem to play until the 2nd half this year. Which is exactly what they did. Lehi was up 12-0 before we even opened our eyes. Then we came back in the second half and nearly tied them but just couldn't quite land that last touchdown.

Lehi won and we ended our season today. It was sad to see it go we really enjoy watching Bowdee and his team play. They have an AMAZING coaching staff that really know what they are doing. I just can't tell you how impressed I am with each one of his 7 coaches they are some wonderful people. Men I feel privelaged to have Bowdee be influenced by. Thank you to everyone for all you did this year.

After the game I invited my nieces and nephew to sleep over. This is always fun to do because they all get along so well (most of the time anyway). They made crafts, watched Rio, played games, dressed up and ate pizza then when it was time for bed they all went down just like that...

Kami and I had Lakota babysit for about an hour while we went to our friend Claytons costume party. Kye and Emilee were there all dressed up. I think that is the main reason we went was so we could see what they were going to be they kill me especially with those fake cigarettes. Then Clayton walked in and was looking me straight in the face and with his mustache and new hair do I had no idea who he was.... All in all it was a fun short night.

Sunday we had a nice relaxing day filled with church, movies, wii games, and last minute costume preparations. I can't say I remember the last day we had where we just took the day off in figure of speech. Terry saw one little 5" spike and passed him up twice afraid he wasn't legal and then made it home empty handed around 8:30, but he and his brother had a great time just being away from it all.

Oh how I love Halloween! I love waking up and seeing all the costumes come together. I love to see Terry's art work on my kids faces. I love to see the excitement in their eyes. This year Bowdee had a really hard time figuring out what he wanted to be. Then he saw our clown wig that has been at the bottom of the wig box for years just waiting to be worn and cabamo it hit him his really good friend Annie is afraid of clowns so that is what he wanted to be just to freak her out.... So last Wed I made this costume for him.

Matia saw this costume and fell in love with "the pink lepard". I couldn't find the same fabric so we just went and bought it for her. I think this is the first costume I have ever purchased for any of my children. It was nice to have it in the bag with everything it needed since the first of Oct. Just waiting for Halloween night.

Treg thought about recycling Bowdee's Neo costume but then he saw these awesome chaps and vest I made for Bowdee years ago and he knew what he wanted to be. So yes I made his as well just not this year. I also stressed about getting him spurs when in reality he didn't need them but Kye helped me out with them by welding some chain to these cheap ones I bought!

So as soon as I dropped them off to school I ran and got Bowdee the "Right Scarey Teeth" and then back to school for their 1st Halloween Parade. I loved it! It was so organized and fun to see all the creative costumes. Then I came home cleaned got dressed up and hussled back to school to help with Matia's classroom party. I love being involved and going to meet all the kids in her class and see the ones she talks about and put a face to their stories. What a fun party we had with a minute to win it theme.

Back home for a second a little more cleaning and getting ready for the night time Halloween Fun. Then back to school to pick up the kids and head for Doug Smith Auto for Trunk or Treating. We love to go and get the Free kids meals from Olive Garden!

Picked up our traditional Jack-o-lantern pizza. Had dinner visited with mom and dad which was nice to see them again after their long trip to Washington. I was starting to worry that they would forget to come home. But they made it. :) Then we let the party begin.

Bowdee, Izak, Annie, and Adi wanted to go trick or treating alone this year so we sent them on their way with a phone and lots of rules to obey. We didn't see them again for hours! But man they sure had lots of fun!

The rest of the night was pure K-oss with me here to man the trick or treating so I wouldn't miss any of my darling students who came to see me. I didn't get a photo of Troy with his girls before they ran off on a dead run trick or treating so here are his girls with the other girls.

The Garricks cute family with the Peaceful Darth Vador, Corpse Bride, Vampire, In Mate, and Batman. They are all so fun Fisher just kept saying I have enough candy I just want to go play at Kristi's now.

Kyles Darling family all dressed up as Creapy Dolls, Beetle Juice Guy, and a Nice Witch. Emilee sure knows how to throw together a darling costume. She should be a Halloween costume counselor. Thanks for coming you guys are so fun.

Kami just had to get back to the 80's for one night, Izak couldn't go without being a Ute's Fan, and Lakota was the cutest green skittle I have ever seen. Kami is always great for a party she brings the music and tons and tons of energy! We love you Kami thanks for sharing Halloween with us.

Kami, Troy, Kyle, Emilee, Amy, Chad and Terry came and left running kids here and there, snacking on chips and veggies and just having a good time. I loved every minute of it and I am so thankful to have such wonderful friends to me and my family. In this photo you have Troy, Kyle, Terry, and Chad. The boys were so sick of all the photos I just had to take they might not come back next year. :( But I hope they all do!

Then at 9:00 the house became quiet as our friends took their sugar rushing kids home and our passed out from pure exhaustion. It was less then 5 minutes after their heads hit the pillows that we heard the quiet hum of sleeping children. Man I love Halloween Night!

Oct 11-18th Sick Bowdee and Deer Hunt

Monday we had finally had enough with Bowdee's random fevers, sore throat, and weakness. So I made him an appointment and took him to see the Dr. I realized he had not been to a Dr. since he had his kindergarten check-up so he had no idea what to expect. The Dr. says he has a bronchial infection so wrote a rx and sent us on our way. Tuesday Bowdee woke up with a rash all over I am figuring he is allergic to the Z-pak med so we kept him home from school and got a new RX. He hated staying home and said that was his worstest of the day he missed his friends and was SO bored.

Thursday was the beginning of fall break so we had no school. The kids thought it was great to sleep in and take it easy. Then we packed to go camping for the deer hunt tomorrow and mom and dad took us to see Dolphin Tale. That was a fabulous movie. I don't know what it is but man I cry at everything now a days. It was nice to have a minute to just sit down and relax. Sometimes I feel like I am burning the candle at both ends.

Friday we left at like 5:00 out to Box Elder Canyon out North of Hickman by Grantsville for our deer hunt. Terry and Troy put in for the archery but ended up with the riffle. So that means Terry, Bowdee and I all are hunting this weekend. We got up there just in time to see a 2 point cross the road in front of us and we got a great camp spot. Man I love my trailer.

Saturday - Morning of the opening hunt. Our eyes fly open at 4:30 as we heard some four wheelers head up the canyon. We jump out of bed wake up the kids get them all dressed in fleece, hats, gloves, hiking boots and grab our guns and out the door by 5:00am we drive all the way to the left as far as we can then we parked the wheelers and headed off by foot.

The kids did great hiking in the dark, cold morning all the way for a little over an hour we find a spot that looked good to Terry and we parked our tired legs and look up to the sky to see shooting stars every where we looked. Magical, I tell you nothing but amazing. All 3 of the kids soon fell asleep. Just as the sky started to lighten I hear Terry whisper "Kristi look right behind us there are 2 doe on the skyline" I look back and sure enough 2 doe. As it got lighter we could see them moving around in front of us all over the place but still no buck.

The kids woke up cold so we lite a fire to warm our bones, ate a little breakfast snack and headed off our hill and up toward Mudd Springs. Over that ridge and on the other side we sat once again surrounded by 5 sets of hunters. We took another short nap and Terry woke up and saw a buck and doe just on the other side of some hunters. Dang couldn't take a shot so we glassed the area real close waiting for them to come back out into the clearing.

Then we started heading back to the trailer we knew we had a long hike ahead of us so away we went slow and steady. Terry was leading then Bowdee then Treg, Tia and myself. I looked ahead of Treg and instantly grabbed Tia holding her back and yelled "STOP, DON'T MOVE ITS A... ITS A SN... ITS A SNA... Tia is jumping up and down around in circles trying to shake whatever it was off of her. The boys all turned around to see all the commotion and I point to a HUGE 3&1/2 foot long snake right next to the trail. Terry calmly comes back and picks it up. Matia and I are so high on adrenaline it took us the rest of the trip to calm down. I have to thank my dad for this wonderful fear of snakes. My mom doesn't help the matter any they way she hates them as well!

So we make it back to the trailer and Terry and I take a nap while the kids go out to play. We figure our legs couldn't take us on another hike like that so we took a nice little 4 wheeler ride up to White Pine and saw 3 different sets of doe. We figured this might be a nice place to come in the morning. Then headed back down for a nice yummy Beef Stew with Rolls Dinner. Turned on the heater and enjoyed some yummy microwave popcorn... Did I mention I LOVE MY TRAILER?

Sunday morning our heads didn't come off the pillows until 6:30. Terry was complaining about the kids all talking in their sleep all night long. I took some benadryl so I didn't have a problem with their talking. So we took a little drive up the Harry Potter Road. This was a fun drive but the hunting was quite disappointing. Also we were perched on a cliff side with tons of rock. The kids didn't find this as comfortable for their naps but somehow they all managed.

After we drove through the tunnel of beautiful fall colored leaves we decided to go for a drive up Hickman to see what was going on there. We quickly saw most of the weekend hunters had already cleared out and some great camping spots were opened so we headed back to camp trying to decide if we move camp tonight or give it one more day. On the way back to camp Terry quickly stops and backs up asking if we all saw that.

He had saw a tarantula and pulled over so we could all see. Creepy yes! But pretty fun to see. We all touched it so we could say we have touched one then jumped back in the truck back to our trailer then up the canyon again for a night time hunt.

We went to White Pine again with not much luck then we headed back kinda early for a yummy Brisket & Potatoe dinner with some of our friends. Jason and Amelia Wells are some good people. Jason grew up just across the street from Terry and they know each other like brothers. We roasted smores and chatted around a pixie fire talking like good friends do.

Monday morning we headed back to White Pine deciding our legs were still not ready for another 8 mile hike. As we were coming through the trees I could tell Dash was on a trail. Then we came out of the trees and he hit a Labrador point toward 6 doe down along the trees. Wow I thought we have a deer hunting dog... then we found our resting ground and he did it again with a low growl he warned us 7 doe were sneaking by us...

we soon after left down the hill and came across some doe pretty close to us and Dash got Buck fever and went after them. I guess he figured he gave us 2 chances and we didn't do anything about it so he was going to have some fun. Bowdee and I were hot on his trail with our guns in hand ready for a buck. We chased those deer around the mountain as fast as we could but not another peek at them.

After that morning hunt we decided to move camp to Hickman Canyon so Bowdee and I drove the 4 wheelers and 1 hour later we had camp set up in a great camp spot just where we wanted to be at 3:00 we drove the 4-wheelers up the canyon and saw about 10 doe. Then we drove to the end of the right fork and started hiking up the mountain we sat there scoping the hillside for a while not seeing anything.

We headed back to the 4-wheelers and Terry and I both noticed 3 deer about 200 yards up the mountain. We both pulled up our glasses and at the same time turned to each other and said with more excitement then we had the whole trip "that one on the bottom is a buck."

Terry's whispering with urgency Bowdee get your gun, get in prone position, cock one in the chamber, Kristi set up right here, who is going to shoot first, get the scope on it, shoot it someone shoot it." Bowdee is whispering back with just as much excitement I can't see it... where is it... I can't see it... So before it went over the hillside I took a shot and down it went.

We followed Dash right over to it and Terry had it gutted and drug down the mountain within 1/2 hour. He wanted to be able to hunt on the way down for Bowdee and himself before it got to dark. He did pause to take some photos and show the kids the heart, lungs, intestines all the good stuff. But really it was quick and we couldn't ask for an easier drag.

We saw quite a few more doe on the way back to camp but no bucks. Bowdee really got the hunters fever after I got my deer and I felt really bad that I didn't give him another second to try and find it in his scope. We got back to camp and Terry and the kids skinned it while I cooked dinner. Treg could only take that "Grossness" so long before he joined me in the trailer... Matia on the other hand found it fascinating! Bowdee was cool with it but not as intrigued as Tia was. I was just fine not being involved with what was going on.

Tuesday we headed up for the morning hunt and just didn't see hardly anything except... this little old couple that stopped me and the kids to ask us how things were going. They were so cute talking about what they had seen and didn't see. The lady was exceptionally excited and really interested in hunting you could just see it. As we drove off Treg asked if she was the oldest lady alive... :) Later we saw her walking up where I shot my deer because her husband didn't want to scratch his truck so she took off on foot... This photo reminded me of the lady but see looked alot happier, I just wish I could have gotten a photo... Cutest thing I have seen in a long time. This little old lady dressed in orange from head to toe.

After lunch I sent Terry and Bowdee off to hunt some more while me and the kids took a nap and chilled. They saw 80 doe but no bucks. They came back around 4:00 and we tore down camp and headed home. It was a fun first hunt for Bowdee and over all we enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks to Terry my personal guide I got my first buck a spike by 2 point if you can't see in the photo...
This is Terry's 2 point antlers and mine together to fake out my brother.