Fishing, more fishing..........

Tristan in his fishing gear. He is working on his fly fishing merit badge right now. I am so proud of my boys, and all that they do. They are amazing!

Dustin and Tom with Dustin's fish

More Hunting .......

Tom, Damon and Tristan went hiking on Friday morning looking for elk. They always come home and take a nap, so, I had to take pix of them resting. Also one of Tristan and Dustin cooling off their feet in the creek.

Riding near Henry's Lake Labor Day weekend

Dustin and I went on a on ride on Saturday and had a great time. Dustin is becoming a really good horseman, and I am so happy with 2/3 of our horses. The boys we are riding in the first picture have really become great riding horses. They are consistant, solid, and mostly calm, reasonable partners.

On Sunday Tom, Dustin and I went on a ride up Targhee Creek. It was so beautiful and fun. We rode about 5 miles from camp, and found a bull moose, which the neighbors at our camp were hunting for. We also saw a cow and calf moose. The 3rd picture is in front of the cliffs that surrounded the bowl where we saw the bull moose. I decided that when the world turns inside out, I am taking my family to this location to get away from all the craziness. It is so amazing!! No, you are not invited, no offense!

We forgot to take our camera on this ride, so the middle three pictures are taken with Tom's phone. Which explains why you can't see the focal point of this picture.

The bull moose that we saw is back in the trees of this one. It's right above the green brush, and the bottom of the tree branches. Anyway, we were searching for elk for Tom, but instead found moose for the neighbor campers. They rode in 3 times from when we spotted the moose to finally make their kill. The moose they shot is a really nice one. Can you tell if it is the same one that we took in the black spot in the trees??? Well, neither can we, but we are still taking credit for guiding them to the moose! Congratulations on their successful hunt!!

Hunting Trip over Labor Day Weekend

We went to the Henry's Lake area hunting for Labor Day weekend. Damon drove up to meet us so we were able to spend the weekend with him. What a blessing to be able to see him. I miss my boys so very much!! I wish Detrik had been able to get work off, but he is a working young man and has bills to pay.

Tom was elk hunting with his bow. Damon called for him. They actually did get into some elk, and Tom got a shot at one, but misjudged the distance, so missed. They actually saw a big black bear too, and almost got a shot but he scented them and left before he could get his shot. He was pretty bummed out.

Anyway, here are some pictures of our camp site and the boys. I think it's funny, we go camping and have neighbors, but at home we have none. The neighbors were really nice and were up from Nevada and Boise.

I love fall! School, Football, and Hunting Season

Things are definitely different here in Livingston. But they are still the same...... yes, school started. The boys were very excited, if not a little bit nervous. I'm not sure if they were as nervous as I was! I had butterflies for a month or so worrying that they wouldn't know anybody at school. Who would they eat lunch with? Who would they play with at recess/lunch? Would anybody invite them over to play?........ ?????? Tristan started middle school, which we all know is the hardest most awkward part of school, and he didn't have any friends. It was horrible for.......ME!! I know, it's not all about me, Tristan handled things just fine, but I worried and worried. Finally yesterday he told me that he has some friends that he spends time with at school. Now I get to worry about whether or not they are "the right kind of friends". Sometimes it stinks to be a Mom. I need to take a chill pill!

Dustin is not afraid to talk to anybody. He makes himself part of whatever he is doing. He is also doing great in school!

Football started finally last week. It is much more laid back than Optimist Football in the Boise area. They only practice 2 times per week, and didn't even start practice until the 2nd week of September. It will be fine, just different from what we have always known.

Tristan has been having trouble with his feet. I guess it is Plantar Faciitis, which is inflamation and pain in his heels. He did great all summer, and we had hoped it was healed up, but with hunting season and a weekend of hiking, PE, and football practice he could barely walk when I picked him up at the bus stop on Friday. He spent this last weekend with his heels on ice, and doing his stretching exercises. Luckily his PE teacher is willing to work with us on this, and he has decided to sit out this football season and get healed up so he can play middle school football next year.

In Middleton the boys had to go out our front door and walk to the road in front of our house to catch the bus for school. Here in Livingston we have to drive them just over 5 miles to the highway to catch the bus. That is a pretty big change for us. I have to really plan ahead, and take their football stuff with me to pick them up, so we don't have to drive home, then back to practice. I have a hard time remembering my own stuff, now I have to be organized and plan ahead to save trips down the 5 mile dirt road to our house. I really need to get it together and learn to plan ahead, it is so hard to grow up!!

Our new family member - Shasta

When we left Middleton, we left our 2nd son who kept his (our) dog. I didn't have any idea how much I would miss having a dog! We waited for 2 months before we decided to move forward and make the commitment of adding a dog to our family. I didn't want a puppy, but also didn't want too old of a dog. We started visiting the local animal shelters. Technology is quite amazing, as we didn't even have to go the shelters to see what they had to offer. We were able to look at their web sites and wait until we found the kind of dog that we were interested in.

The dog that we decided on is a pit bull, chow,..... mutt type dog. She is 1 year old, and is such a sweet girl! Her name is Shasta, and believe it or not, she lives in our house. We have never had an indoor dog, but she is great to have around. We love her! I'm sure you will agree that she is the nicest dog you have ever seen!! Notice in the last picture that her tongue is black and pink.

What we found on our way home from school

We are surrounded by wildlife in our home in Livingston. It is so beautiful and also educational. We love to see the animals that we are sharing our world with. I love looking out the windows of our home and seeing deer and elk on the hillside. We have had quite a few deer visiting lately, and much to my husbands excitement, some bucks. Both White Tail and Mule Deer.

These two Mule Deer bucks were enjoying our hillside on this day. Our horses are so used to wildlife now, that there isn't much to spook at while trail riding. It is great training to have your horses live with the wild animals!

Coming home from school last week we drove upon this very large and well fed rattle snake. We won't kill the bull snakes, but the rattle snakes are a different story. Even though they do eat rodents and pests, they are much too creepy to share space with! This snake was actually about 2" in diameter, he was very big! I put my foot next to the snake for some size perspective, I wear a 7.5 shoe, this is not a small little guy. I added the last picture, so you can be really grossed out. I live with boys, and they do gross stuff! So Tom skinned the snake and is going to dry the skin and put it on a board. In the mean time it is in a bag in my refrigerator. It creeps me out a lot!