~Picture Day~

Just check out this line of pure cuteness and handsome young men!

Grizz ~ 11 months

Grizz is hard to photograph, being all black.  I love this photo!

Kiersten ~ age 5

Jordan ~ age 16

Jared ~ age 14

Nathan ~ age 7

Eric ~ age 9

Aaron ~ age 12

~Thanksgiving~

My only photo from Thanksgiving...

We had our usual breakfast with my parents and our usual dinner with Gregg's family.  We had homemade ice cream on the best ever apple pie!

~Birthday Hunting Trip~

My posts got a little out of order... I'm having a crazy time catching up!

Anyway, this was the day of Aaron's birthday.  All he wanted was a gun and to go hunting.

They didn't come home with anything, but they still enjoyed their time!

~Bucket List - Zip Lining~

I have been wanting to go ziplining for a few years now.  I am not a big fan of heights but it looked like so much fun!  Last year for Christmas I gave my parents a zip line trip.  We finally got a date in November that worked.  It was cold but very fun!

We were getting suited up.  Jordan went along with us.

All ready to go!

The lines were really long!  It may sound funny but it was relaxing.  You are only holding on to keep yourself straight and upright.  All your weight is on the harness seat.

You can see two other tree stand in this photo.  They have a zip line with seven lines and they also have a challenge course with rope climbing.

I think it would look really neat in the summer.

We all had a great time.  The first jump off was the hardest... after that it was all fun.

I went off backwards on one and Jordan and I went upside down on one.  Upside down was definitely fun!  I can't wait to go again!

~Silent Lunch~

The kids and I are still working on our sign language.  We have one more chapter in our book... but master comes a little slower than just learning our lessons.  It is amazing to me how quickly my mind goes blank when I'm looking for a word!

We hosted a lunch at church for the other members that are learning sign along with our translators and deaf members.  We had a great time laughing at each other. 

We started out by not saying a word, but soon learned it was much harder than we thought.  We switched to speaking and signing together and that really helped.  

Everyone in this photo is "saying" cheese!

The funny thing was as speaking people we are not supposed to talk with food in our mouth... but the deaf can't talk well while eating either. We realized we just needed to eat and then talk later☺

~Success~

Whoohooo! My mighty hunters came home with some wild game! (Nov 8)

Jared bagged his limit of pheasant!  

He watched someone clean pheasants a few weeks ago and used his new skills to clean these birds. He loves everything to do with hunting!

Jordan got his first pheasant!  He really enjoys walking through the fields.

I like hearing them talk about their adventure. They seem to really hear a lot when they are out.  Lots of different animals in the woods/fields and they have run into some other very nice hunters. Gregg even enjoys taking them.  That is good news as it will be a while before they can go on their own.

My mighty hunters!  Aaron did go on this trip but he has a more limited vision.  The corn field they found them in is really tall and Aaron can't see over it like his brothers.

Later that night we (they) tried fried squirrel.  They were saying it was good but I'm not sure that is what they really thought.  We will see if they do any more squirrel shooting!

 

I'm not a huge fan of raw meat.  I couldn't look at the squirrel much less fix it.  I stood in the kitchen telling them what to do but kept fighting the gag reflex.  

I am really hoping I can cook these pheasants!

~12 Years~

My third baby boy! I vividly remember going to the hospital to have him on a beautiful fall day!  Well... I remember half the trip.  The second half was a bit intense to be looking at pretty leaves☺ Anyway, Aaron is 12!

He is thrilled that he can go hunting now!

  All he wanted for his birthday was a gun and to go hunting...

... and cake. Gotta have cake.