Two Brothers...

Two Big Guns
Two Bucks 

** Translation **

Tons o' meat!!

Caleb got this 2x2 on Tuesday

We hung it and had it curing

And then Hudson got his buck on Wednesday

3x3

So....

On Friday we were processing.

We have pounds and pounds of deer sausage in the freezer.

And we have pounds of jerky marinating.

Oh YUM!

Caleb saw this guy while hunting.

And this guy went along to cheer on "his boy".

Oh Bandit!

We love you!!

A fun and busy week for my boys.

Tidbits of Info

(from the mouth of a babe)

OK, all you big peeps out there,

let's get one thing straight...

us babies little peeps really do NOT need 

a pile of toys in front of us at all times.

Uninterested.

So, don't spend your money on those pricey little "distractors"

or stress about making sure there is plenty of toys in the diaper bag 

before leaving the house.

Trust me.

We are not interested.

We are content with a piece of grass, or a leaf, our toes-ies,

a wrapper, our sisters' hair...

Anything but a toy!

Seriously! 

 Oh and another thing -

pictures...

enough already!

We are busy playing solving the worlds problems.

Photos are a distraction to our thoughts.

Oh alright, here is one for your trouble...

{smile}

And here is a profile, a side-view.

OK.

Ahhhh. Back to work.

If I could just reach that piece of grass...

Seriously?

Right now?

You are still taking and wanting more pics?

I Am Busy!

Since you are still here...

I will share one more tidbit of info with you.

I have 10 favorite peeps. 

Let me introduce to you one of them - my most fave for the time being.

She is my food source. She is my life-giver.

(of course she is my fave, what guy doesn't appreciate good food?)

She is my mom!

I really do love to "hang" with her.

Overall, life is good.

I am enjoying this "baby" thing.

It is fun to "be" the baby.

BUT...

One day soon (very soon) they will all see that I am a MAN.

And that I really don't need these baby toys.

Until then, back to my toys work.

:-)

SALT!

And lots of it!

Back in August we took a family trip to the

Great Salt Lake - Antelope Island

A few known facts:

1- The Great Salt Lake, located in the northern part of Utah, is the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere,the fourth-largest terminal lake in the world. In an average year the lake covers an area of around 1,700 square miles.

2 - The Great Salt Lake is endorheic (has no outlet besides evaporation) and has very high salinity, far saltier than sea water.  Because of its unusually high salt concentration, most people can easily float in the lake as a result of the higher density of the water.

(resource: wikipedia)

We have talked about going for years - each year. 

The kids ask, we talk about it, we think we are going to go

and then....

we don't.

This year - WE DID!

We hiked up, up, up.
Checked out the views.
AMAZING.

Climbed the rocks and hiked around.

Tess

Abbi, Elizabeth, and Maggie

Hudson carrying the Hunk for a bit.

WOW!

Where's the Beach?
That way!

Crazy Mountain Kids

Our Incredible 9

Tess and Daddy

So not fair!

All of us!

On top of the world.

(well, not really)

We saw several buffalo and antelope.

THEN...

we went to the beach!

Some of us (actually just one of us) took a nap.

While the others played in the sand

and swam/floated in the salty water.
Very salty.

Found a few "soft spots"
and sunk

Me and Cooper enjoying the beach
(along with a gazillion brine flies)

The Coop!

Awake and happy

We all had a blast and highly recommend it.

Definitely a highlight of this summer.

Here Moosie Moosie

Well, I didn't really call her in.

I actually moved slowly to get to her 

and stood very still while taking these pics.

 After serving breakfast at camp, we were on our way out and saw her come down from the trees to get a drink in the nearby pond.

Moose really are an amazing looking creature

and HUGE!

Garden of the Gods

One last thing from our trip to Colorado...

Our conference was in Colorado Springs, CO.

Sooo, we took an afternoon to visit the State Park

Garden of the Gods.

It was beautiful and very fun to walk around.

However, I will say, it just "killed" my boys that they were dressed up and couldn't climb on the rocks.

Oh, the temptation and the self-control (or lack of it).

:-)

The Crew

 My Girls

 My cute Man and Me

 My guys

Our future (happy) rock climber.

note: see the guy in the background?

 Oh how his two-tooth grin just melts me!!

I have no pictures of the conference but we had a blast and the children learned lots.
We are thankful for our experience!