His 1st Deer....

The pups didn't quite know WHAT to do with that smell!!!

Hunting...

Today, Saturday after Thanksgiving... my strong silent mysterious man goes out for one last try at Bambi.

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He takes the teenagers bow, as his is in desperate need of repair... the good news we found out the new cam for his bow will only be $40 to replace. Whew!

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He is up and gone at 3:15am... I think he has more determination today than ever.

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9am we get a phone call from the top of the mountain...

"I got him! I got a two point... WHAT A RUSH!!!!"

I have never heard him so excited since the teenager was born.

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He goes on and explains, when he hit him the 1st time, it was a perfect kill shot (you really want that so they don't bleed and suffer, or worse get away injured... that is my biggest fear) and he went right down were he shot him. Then when he hiked over to him, he could see coming up on him, he was still breathing... so he knocked up another arrow... when he came upon him, he made the final shot to take him out, and he got up and ran!!!

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He went about 150 yards and dropped dead!

He said he was about 40 yards from our rig... it was perfect, he couldn't even ask for anything better.

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I had tears in my eyes, I wanted him to have a good experience, but as sad as it is to kill them... I really wanted the deer to go quickly. I guess if they don't you have to slit their throat... I just didn't want to hear about him having to do any of that. I was so happy for him. Now, he said the work begins. And his buddy still wants to get one too. So he had to go!

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The teenager and I hung up and looked at each other... he said "I am so happy for Dad, he sounds really happy". "I guess deer meat for dinner, huh Mom?"

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We laughed!

Black Friday...

My Hunter was off again in the wee hours of the morning...

To go get these guys...

I have to admit it is beautiful up there, but not too many places to hide. No wonder he hasn't gotten anything, they can see him coming. I guess that is why the cammo from head to toe!

Well good luck Elmer Fudd!

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We went out last year, the teenager and I... black Friday shopping! Early, real early!

It was crazy crazy, but we had a game plan and got everything on the list. If you have never done it, I think you have to experience it at least once.

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But this year we decided to sleep in...

But once we were up, he got the fever and didn't want to miss out on any good deals... so we headed out. We found a few things, managed to avoid the total craziness and get back home save and sound!

Then we got a phone call from my strong silent mysterious man... he had cell service from the very top of the mountain. He said when he first got there, he realized he had left the release for his bow at home. All wasn't lost yet, he decided to try and see if he could do finger release and pulled back the string, but as he was slowly letting it back down, at the very end it slipped from his fingers dry firing the bow (firing without an arrow loaded). This is really really bad!

It can completely ruin a bow, blowing up the limbs and cams making repairs very costly. He said his wasn't too bad like that, it only bent one cam, which are replaceable. But it did put him totally out of commission the rest of the day. So he helped guide his buddy to the deer, and corral the deer back in to his buddy. But he never got a good shot.

My man said he had an entire pack of them within 15 feet of him, and all he could do was say "boo"! I think they must have known he was not packing any ammo!

So a sad and very disappointing day for him (kind of fitting for what they call black Friday, but a very good day for Bambi!!!

Thanksgiving 2008

I thought I would have lots of time to blog this weekend, several times a day even... wow how time slips away from you, when your having fun!

So to finish posting the Thanksgiving Day fun...

The teenager went to play the annual Turkey Bowl football game at the church.

So I snuck over for the last couple of plays of the day, to get some picutes.

He made the last great play of the day... interception!

But this was my favorite picture of the day... Father and Son!

The mock cheesecake turned out great!
Grandma Dayleys Pumpkin dessert and the apple crisp... look strangley the same in the pictures. Both were awesome! I loved the pumpkin dessert even more than I had remembered... and I used fresh pumpkin istead of canned (just because they were free and we had an abundance given to us) and it was soooo good.
And I love this...
This is how you KNOW the turkey is done!

Yep, they were right... it turned out to perfection!

And my Strong Silent Mysterious Man didn't get a deer, but we were glad to have him safe back home... and this is what turkey does to everyone at our house!

It was a great day!

Thanksgiving Morning...

After getting my Strong Silent Mysterious Man off hunting at 430am this morning...

I starting cookin' in the kitchen...
It's just us... but we were given this huge 24lb turkey (I thought it was about 20lbs... but it scaled up to 24lbs - wow!)... good thing I really like turkey and left overs!

I decided as my skills grow each year and I get a little less squeemish about touching raw turkey... I would try to document the moments. It was fun to look back and remember what I did last year (I would have never remembered without my blog posts, that was fun).

So I took it from this...
to this... ewwwww!!!
to this... yep, that's me touching it! That is huge for me!

I can't say that I didn't hesitate and want to wake up the teenager, and then scream like a little girl a few times before I got it to this point... but yep, I got it all rubbed down (well more drizzled and brushed with a baster) with olive oil, the gross stuff yanked out of the middle (with tongs of course), and savory herbs rubbed (kind of shaken and slightly patted down) all over this baby.

and then inside a bag...
and finally in the oven cooking away!
Nothing to do now but pray for it to turn out edible!

Then I looked over the menu and decided I better get the much anticipated cheesecake in the fridge, since the no bake version takes 3 hours to set. And I had to thaw out the frozen strawberry stuff.
So this turned out pretty easy... much easier than I thought!!

I took this baby from this....

to this....

to this....

with a puppy that insists she belongs between me and whatever I am doing on the counter... just in case I should get clumsy and drop something that she believes she has first dibbs on being the youngest!

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This takes talent, not dropping anything down there in this huge crack she creates. And not breaking your neck as you step in and out of the triangle between the garbage and the work area and the fridge.

Talent I tell you!

to this.. ready to go into the fridge for the 3 hour wait on the strawberries.

It looks good, I hope it tastes something like a cheesecake for the teenager!

So far so good, no injuries, nothing dropped on the floor, I might become a real pro at this by the time I am a grandma one day! I sill have time to perfect the turkey cooking thing... I hope to be able to accomplish this one day in front of grandchildren without screaming!

Happy Thanksgiving ~ Happy Birthday...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I hope today I can keep in my heart all that I am grateful for, and just spend the day counting my blessings... they are many and in abundance this year!!!

Happy Birthday Bryan!!!

My nephews birthday today. So many times his birthday has been celebrated on Thanksgiving... I almost want to make a birthday cake, our Thanksgivings don't seem the same without birthday cake! He will be in my thoughts all day today!!!

In the hands of God...

I have no idea what this is about...
Probably the teenager when we were in the doctors office the other day...
We saw a squirrel right outside the window, looking in at us. He was freakishly NOT afraid of us.
So I had my camera out and took a picture of him.

I am guessing in his boredom waiting for the doctor to do the final xray on his hand (which turned out perfect.... yeah!), the teenager was goofing around and got the nice shot of his eyeball. Quite a self portrait.
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I was driving into town yesterday and came up over the hill and saw this...

... the sunshine glistening over the lake.

It has been so foggy here the past few days, it was very refreshing to see the sun glisten on anything, but on the water, it was so beautiful.

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It made me stop for just a moment and think of the beauty all around us.

It's Gods hands... well this lake was man-made, but the glistening sun... that is for sure God's work. I am amazed that we miss so much when we are in the hustle and bustle. And these things can speak volumes to us when we are still and quiet.

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Today the boys are both gone working, and I am going to try and get things in order and have my home feeling like a place the Lord would want to come visit on Thanksgiving, clean, warm and inviting. I will try and think of Him and put on nice music and have a loving spirit in my heart today and just cherish this day.

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I love Jesus!

I am so grateful for His Atoning example to me.

I am thankful for His grace in my life, to help me want to BE better.

I am thankful for the opportunity to learn more about His life.

I am so grateful for my family and that we can be together forever.

I am grateful for my faith, and the peace it brings to me.

I love God!

Thanksgiving Menu...

This year for Thanksgiving we are at our house with no company coming over, so I took a poll and got all the boys favorite dishes, and "have to have" foods, so I could try and make everyone happy.

Why do I set myself up this way? I do know better... really.

Their requests were pretty simple...

The teenager ~ Strawberry Cheesecake... okay I have no idea how to make it, but I found a recipe in my hand writing for a no bake cheesecake, so I will try that out, it looks simple enough.

Then the strong silent mysterious man ~ mashed potatoes and gravy, and turkey (what???? mr. picky eats maybe 2 ounces of turkey all year long... it's all good, I love turkey, so it can stay on the menu). Plus his work gave him one this year, so nice... I love this as a little bonus!!! We have been given our turkey so many years, I would not even know how to go buy one now. And apple pie.

So I made up the menu, and added a few of my favorites and a few things I figured they would miss if they weren't on the table, and I always feel the need to made some new recipe I see on the Food Network or find on a blog (last year I made this turkey brine from Pioneer Woman Cooks, yummy, but kind of allot to go through and a little messy for me).

Turkey

mashed potatoes

gravy

rolls

green bean casserole

my mom's sage dressing

orange glaze carrots

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apple pie w/vanilla ice cream

strawberry cheesecake

Mom Dayley's pumpkin fluff

(I saw the cutest thing in a magazine one time, to print out the menu on cute fall paper and put it in a frame with some rafia tying some wheat sprigs wrapped around one side, and display it on the table the days before and in the beginning of the buffet on Thanksgiving Day... I have always wanted to do that when I do a big Thanksgiving dinner at my house, but I am afraid it would fall on "deaf ears" as they say, at my house. So I won't waste any time or inkjet on that... but one day!!!!!)

I might have started a little early last week, because once I had a menu... I wanted to go shopping and thought it was a good idea to beat the crowd.

Then I got home with everything and realized it was still a week and two days away... and some of the excitement of cooking has died down. My food would be fine, but would I be able to get back that festive feeling?

This morning I did my early AM store run to pick up milk, and with all the Thanksgiving stuff in the isles of the store, I quickly got back in the mood to cook again. I got my milk, and I was thinking about my turkey all frozen hard as a rock and how I better get home and get it thawed out soon as it might take a few days.

And then I couldn't get the vision of the Black Diamond Bakery "Gobbler" sandwiches out of my head! They are the yummiest sammies on their homemade sour dough bread with turkey and cream cheese and cranberry sauce (and I don't even like cranberry sauce) with sprouts if you want them. Oh soooo yummy!!!

So then I couldn't leave the store without cranberry sauce... I had to try and make one of those sammies on Friday after Thanksgiving. First where to find the cranberries... are they with the fruit, with the gravy, in the produce section... no there in a can right?

Finally I had to ask, but before they could show me they had to know what kind I wanted.... so I was like I don't know, show me where they are then I will decide what kind I want from there. It was a little bit of a vicious circle, but I finally got directions to the cranberry isle... on the bottom shelf of the canned fruits (jeeesh... they don't even get moved up a shelf on the week of Thanksgiving... poor cranberries).

So then the choice... lumpy or jelly?

I could not, to save my life, remember what kind they might have used in Black Diamond... I can't call my Mom, it is like 430am her time... a little early for frivolous questions. If I had the number for the bakery, I would have called them myself... except it might have been some secret ingredient they wouldn't give out that kind of information.

The lumpy stuff looked pretty good... but the only memory I could come up with, even going way way back in my mind about cranberry sauce... is that Grandpa Dayley likes the jelly stuff.

I always make fun of this stuff, but that is what I bought!

I hope Thanksgiving goes smooth, but for some weird reason I am looking forward to the leftovers on Friday more now... so I can open my cranberry sauce, that I don't even like unless it is with cream cheese and sourdough in a turkey gobbler (that I hope I can replicate... crossing my fingers).

No, I don't think I set myself up for dissappointment at all!

Do you?

The Reply...

The big chicken made me deliver it to her door...

but at least he pulled out something creative.The BIG YES Cookie!

Tip Off...

I have been checking my email more than normal this weekend, luckily, because I got a strange email from a young women in our ward who is friends with the teenager. Apparently I had turned off my answering machine when I was trying to receive a fax, and forgot to turn it back on... and missed a bunch of calls she had made trying to reach me, so I immediately call her back, feeling so bad. I think of myself as an easy person to get in touch with... I hadn't turned into one of those dreaded people you can never ever reach or get to call you back?
That would be bad... I don't know why, It would just be very bad!

So when I called her back, she was asking permission for another friend of hers to ask the teenager to tip off (how sweet to ask 1st... I loved that!!!) and when I said yes, they wanted to know if they could come leave some things in his room? And also needed my help to get him out of the house so they could do this.

So as it turns out, the teenager was going to a baptism with me; and if they could come over while we were gone, it would be perfect. He would never suspect a thing! Except how would I get his room cleaned up so he wouldn't be embarrassed about his friends being in there?

I think he must have thought his parents had lost it, have a big house cleaning laundry party at 6:30pm on a Saturday night??? But it was the only way we could be sure there was nothing embarrassing on the floor of his bedroom when these girls came in while he was gone.

So it worked out fine, we had him pull out all of his laundry and sort it in another room... pretty typical, so he wasn't suspicious. Then I started vacuuming.. went through the living room pretty quickly and down the hall and what do you know, ended up in his bedroom... "hey, lift your feet, I'm vacuuming"... he looked at me pretty funny, like I had lost my mind going off on a cleaning spree but he obliged and let me vacuum his room. Okay, with that done, I think it was all going to be okay.

At the last minute he tells me he is so tired from his camp out and doesn't want to go to the baptism with me.... WHAT, YIKES... I panic!!!

I am so the mean Mom and just made him go. He was so made at me, because he HAD to go, but Dad got to stay home!! I couldn't tell him, someone had to stay home to let your friends in your room. So he pouted and glared at me the whole time we were gone.

(It all works out okay, I make him tell me how much he loves me later, after the secret is revealed.)

I am so giddy the whole time, I can not wait to get home to see his face!

Good thing they didn't ask me waaaay ahead of time, I am horrible at keeping secrets!

Really horrible!!!

So before we leave I have to sneak my strong silent mysterious man into the closet and teach him how to use the camera, so he can get pictures of the whole thing.

He was hesitant, so I had to threaten him, and make him promise he would take some!!

I leave trying to be all calm cool and collected... but really I was like a duck on the water, and under the water my feet were paddling a hundred miles an hour!!! After all even though he is just good friends with this girl, it would be his first date. I am even more excited, because they are both really fun kids, and both have really positive uplifting attitudes, and I know they will have such a great time doing this together. They are both the kind of kids that are not too outgoing that they are loud and obnoxious, but attract good kids around them because of their gentle ways, and their big huge kind hearts towards others. They are both very magnetic! So perfect that he will have his first date with someone like this. I love it!

I KNOW!!!! It is not my date... back off! I get it! Not about me!!!! But I was so thrilled the girls called to ask first. And that they trusted me to help them, a little, kind of. It was just fun!! I know I have to step back and let it be his thing. But he is my only kid, I might not get to experience many more of these times... so I am cherishing the moments!!!! Good thing I have my blog to write about it, because if the teenager heard me spewing like this, I would be cut off from anything in his social life forever!!! I am just glad he has good friends, it makes a Mom's heart very happy!!!

So here they come....

And how cool is this... I am expecting her to bring her giggly girlfriends, because we travel in packs like that... but no, she has her "posse" with her.

I love it, her guy friends and her brother came to... for protection from my SCARY strong silent mysterious man I suppose.

He said he felt really really weird taking their pictures... like he was stalking them. But I was so glad to have them!!! Priceless to me!

So here it is..."Have a ball... float on air... don't blow this chance"

I love the irony!

So here is the teenager finding it... he is pretty hesitant... don't know what was going through his mind at this point. He was totally surprised!

Reading....
Oh man there are a bunch of balloons here!

I have to pop them ALL?

I bet they put the one with the name way in the back... lets start there first!
These boys they are smarter than they appear sometimes.
I guess Dad must have been as excited as I was... I wonder if these kids ever really know what it means to us old folks? I know they have their own story about it... but hey, its a thrill for us too!!

He finds "the one"... dah dah dah... he looks nervous. What if it isn't someone he wants to go with? What then? Who would be asking me? (we asked him later who he thought it was, and he said he had NO idea)

Right on! A very happy teenager, he was so glad, and relieved when he found out it was his friend!!!

I have to say "sceptical Dad" was even really pleased... he was so impressed when the kids came over how polite they were and kind and he was really happy the teenager was going to this thing with someone so nice. He approved!

Stay tuned for part two...

"The Reply"