THANKSGIVING

This year was my families year for Thanksgiving! I was so stoked! I went down Wedneseday and didn't come home until Sunday, and what made it better was that Tommy came too! He was supposed to work Thanksgiving and was just going to come down when he got off, but he ended up not having to work!! So he got to go down with me and stay the whole time!

I had planned this and looking forward to is clear since the end of summer when I had to request what holidays I had off!

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with all my sisters and brother and my Mom and Dad! Such good food!! (The best part!! ;) ) And such great company!! (I meant to get a family picture but forgot until a few had left :/ ). 

Jed and Tricia's boys planned minute to win it games we played 

Moving balls from one bowl to another only using our mouths and a spoon :)

Just the cutest picture!! <3

Playing the game when you have to get a cookie from your forehead to you mouth!

My tongue wasn't long enough!

And I just laughed the whole time!!
* Also see picture below ;)

And of course Jed had to be tormenting!

Tommy got his in his mouth within seconds! Hence no pictures of him! I ended up giving up!

And then played the saran wrap game Tam made!

You had to put the turkey hat on before you started unwrapped the saran ball!

I never got very far unwrapping! My mom always rolled doubles right as she got the dice!

We had such a great time hanging out with everyone all day! And after everyone left we went swimming at Super 8 :)

Friday morning Jed, Tommy and I took the older kids down to the gym and played basketball while Trish got the Twins ready. After a while at the gym we went and got our hair cut (THANKS TRISH!!) and Jed, Tommy, and Eric took the older boys shooting while Trish, Tam, and I hung out with the young uns' at home! And once again hung out late into the night! (Playing Ticket to Ride of course!!)

Saturday morning Jed and Tommy went snowmobiling with the older two boys 

and Trish and I took the Twins and Tally swimming again! And then to the craft fairs! That night I headed out to my Mom's house to get some sewing done before root beer floats for my sisters birthday! And another late night of Ticket to Ride and 31... so worth it though!!

We headed back home Sunday after stopping by to see Tam and Er one last time, and then home it was to get caught up on some sleep for work the next couple days!! ;)

We love spending time with family! Thanks for having us and see you all in a month!! <3

And Happy Thanksgiving 2017 from Us!

Extra Pictures :)

Trish sent me some pictures that I didn't have so I just wanted to add a few to the previous Halloween post!

The Twins at Tubbs

Playing in the corn pit!

Tally and Me on the hay ride

Tommy and one of the Twins haha can't tell which one!

Tommy wearing my Betty hair haha what a goob!

Jed gettin serious about winning and eating his doughnut off the ground without using his hands!
And my husbands sexy legs propped up in the background...also getting serious about this game! haha

Mmm...

Mmmmm...

Mmmmmmm!!

And while I'm at it, just a couple more CUTE pictures I found that I hadn't posted from our camping trip this summer!

<3 <3 <3

Yabba Dabba Doo!

This year for the annual McMurdie Halloween Party, my brother and his wife and kids were coming up to see us!! And for the party :) We were SOOO excited!! It is always so much fun when family comes to see you!

Jed and Trish and the kids headed up on Saturday morning and when they got here we gave them the grand tour and then went to Tubbs Berry Farm, which by the way is so much fun!!

We went through the straw maze, slid down the huge slides several times, saw the animals, played in the corn bin, jumped on the bounce house, went on a hay ride, and did the pumpkin sling and corn cannon! We had a blast! So much fun that I forgot to take any pictures! and we were late getting to the party! :/ 

When we got home we got dressed up and headed out to the party!

We got there late and we had the rolls for the sandwiches! So we quickly took those in so everyone could eat and then took some pictures.

The Flinstones and Rubbles! We let Fred and Wilma borrow our Bam Bam ;)
Their costumes were homemade by Blaike and so stinkin cute!! 

Barney and Betty Rubble

Or should I say they let us borrow their Bam Bam ;)
Cutest stinking Bam Bam you'll ever see!!

Jed and Tricia's Cute Family!! A cow, a pig, an indian, a cowboy, Pocahontas, a scarecrow, and a farmer <3 Cutest family ever!!

After dinner we played a few games, one being eating a doughnut off a string without using your hands!

The twin just non-shalantly pulled the doughnut off the string and was just casually eating it under the table! haha

Coop Won!!

Then the big boys played!! And Jed won....which we all should have known ;)

We hung out a little longer coloring pictures and putting together crafts, catching up with everyone!

Betty and Pocahontas are best buds!!

And if we hadn't had enough sweets, we got a Costco cake to celebrate Blaike's birthday on the 30th! And had cake and homemade icecream!! Yumm!!

Happy Birthday Blaike!! Thanks for being the greatest, best friend ever!!

It was a pretty great party!

Jed and Trish stayed the night (since we have 3 spare bedrooms now!!) and the next morning we had German Pancakes for breakfast, which was a challenge for me, gageing how much to make for 9 people!! 6 being boys, and Tally eating just as much! ;) 

We played football and hide and seek in the back yard/back dirt until they had to leave back for home :(

We had so much fun with them coming up even for just the 24hrs they were here!

I can hardly wait until Thanksgiving when I see them again!! <3

Thanks for coming Jed and Trish and kids!! <3

Elk Hunt '17

So, like I said in my feet post, I was lucky enough to draw a bull tag again this year in 45.... Don't ask me how, I don't know! No idea where this luck came from! haha

And I know I have already posted a little bit about it on FB, but get prepared for the whole story! ;)

My elk hunt opened October 1st and would close on the 31st. We took the first 4 days of October off and hunted those days and then the following weeks we just went on our days off.

So the first day we did see a group or two but unit 45 is A LOT of private land so it makes it hard to hunt, and I'm pretty sure the elk know that because they stay on the private land! So actually all the elk we saw almost the whole month were on private land. On the 3rd day we did have a shot just below us and pretty soon a little rag horn came up right past us. I could have shot him and made it easy because he was not to far from the truck and we could have just drove down to him! But I didnt, I passed him up. The following weeks I was really regretting that I did though because we were not seeing any elk!! It was kinda depressing! 

But, finally on Monday {10/23/17} we saw about 40 head! It was so weird going from 0 to 40 in a matter of days! So at this point, between work we only had a few days left to hunt so I was going to take anything I got!

The elk were quite a ways away but pretty soon we saw 2 spikes that were closer and I opted to take a spike that was closer than a bigger bull I'd have to hike for (thanks to my feet injuries). So we started hiking to the spikes who led us right to 3 bigger bulls! (yay!) We got down as close as we could with out being noticed and I picked out the bull I wanted. Like I said in my facebook post, I was pretty dang nervous because Tommy told me they were 400 yards away!!, and all my other elk have been like 20!! :/ But I got sight of my bull in the scope and felt like I could make a good shot. So after a few minutes slowing my heart rate and breathing, and just calming down and relaxing, I steadied my cross hairs and shot.

The first shot hit and he humped up a little bit but didn't move, but Tommy told me to shoot again! (Yikes! I hadn't had to shoot twice before!) So I shakily loaded the second bullet and shot again-which dropped him. I was so nervous about that second shot because it was quick and I couldn't take my time like the first one in case he tried to get away! Tommy said he's pretty sure he was dead on his feet but we definitely didn't want to take the chance of having to chase him.

When we got down to him the first bullet was right behind his front shoulder and the second one was just a few inches farther back.

Tommy started quartering him out and there was no way we could hike back up to the truck, so we had to wait for Tommy's dad and friend to come to the bottom of the hill and help us pack him out that way! And when I say "we" couldn't hike back up the truck, I mean ME! It killed my feet getting down to the elk, there was NO WAY I was hiking back up! I would walk down the rest of the hill and through a field to a road if I had to! haha (The truck was where the sun is in this picture, about a mile away. Tommy did have to hike back up there at one point to get service! :/ )

So we waited for Ted and Chris and when they got there Ted finished quartering the elk and getting the scrap meat and tenderloins while Tommy started packing out. And that was that!

For what we saw this year on public land, I'd say 2017 did us good! An 8x8 elk at 440 yards, and more meat in the freezer!!

"Left Foot, Right Foot, Feet, Feet, Feet"

Well September wasn't too crazy of a month so I haven't had anything to blog about! So to meet my at least one post a month goal, I'll entertain you all with about the only thing that happened in September, a feet post! ;) haha.... Sounds so exciting, I KNOW!!

And it wasn't until after I wrote this post that I realized it kind of turns into a rant post! haha :/ and no pictures :( I wish I did have pictures of my cat in the car though! Because every time I would take him to the vet (post below), I would let him get out of his cage on the way home and he would just ride on my lap and look out the window like a dog! Or hop in the back window and ride up there! Haha

Crazy Cat Lady post below! ;)

Bitty and I, that's my cat, have had some feet issues going on.

We took Bitty and Yazzi to get declawed a while ago, so much domestication going on!, (trip 1 for Bitty) and Yazzi healed up fine but Bitty limped for about 3 weeks afterward. So I finally took him back to the vet (trip 2 for Bitty) and there was a scab on one of his toes that the vet picked off saying that the scab feels like a rock in our shoe-making him limp, and we went home. A week later he was still limping so we took him back (trip 3 for Bitty) and there was a scab on a different toe that the vet picked off and we went home. A week later he was still limping! So I took him back to the vet (trip 4 for Bitty) and there was another scab on the same toe the first scab was on. The vet thinks that his bone was breaking through skin every time he jumped or something so we scheduled him for surgery to get that toe opened back up, the bone pushed back, and the skin pulled up over and stitched back up (trip 5 for Bitty). And after 5 trips to the vet, we finally got him better! No more limping for Bitty!! Me on the other hand, have had no such luck :(

I have been dealing with bilateral arch pain for a while now, like 6 or more months awhile now, haha. But they only hurt when I was running, jumping, or doing high impact classes so I didn't think much of it.... Dumb! As time went on they started hurting even when I was just walking. About a month ago I had a Doc at work ask me how the gym was going and I told him not too well because my arches and he "diagnosed" me with plantar fasciitis, which is inflammation in the tissue connecting the heel to the toes. Caused by: running (check), jumping (check), inadequate foot support (check), occupations where you spend most of your time walking or standing (check!). If I would have looked into it earlier and not just always put it aside, I could have self diagnosed myself much earlier...not saying I would have started taking care of them though :/ because it took me like 2 weeks after what the doctor told me to do to heal them, to actually do what he said! I think I didn't take care of it earlier or pay attention to it because I knew what that would mean. :(

So, for a month now I have been wrapping my feet, taking ibuprofen 3x/day, stretching, wearing braces when at home and when sleeping, I got insoles, icing.....oh and no exercising! I mean I can do some exercising like the elliptical for a little while, and the bike, but that's it! And let's be real, those aren't even a real workout. Even spin class hurt even though I wasn't technically on my feet. So basically I haven't worked out for a month! Which is exactly what I knew admitting I had an injury would do. :( And this seriously has been the hardest thing ever! I have worked out every day, or pretty dang close, for like 10+ years! 

So anyways, back on track here haha, I was lucky enough to draw a bull tag in 45 again this year, so after my hunt is over October 31st, I am hoping my feet will be healed and I can start working out again! I won't be surprised if I have to wait even another month though since I neglected the issue for so long. It's going to be like starting all over again with exercise, like I've never worked out before! :o 

This post turned out WAY longer that I intended it too! So if you made it to this point, sorry about that!! haha And wish me luck in my elk hunt! But even more luck in my feet healing!!

Muah! :)

~August~

I guess since it is the last day of August I better write an August post!

I had a couple events I wanted to write about this month but as I was looking through my pictures I was like awww, I'll just add all these pictures in and have it be a random post with just lots of random pictures and short stories! 

So there you have it! Lots of random pictures and short stories!

Just wanted to add this picture in because look at that cute little boy!!! Me and McCoy hanging out while mom gets her lashes done!

This was actually later the same night, had a girls night and made some adorable signs!

First story:
Tommy fishes in a bass club and we had planned on doing this 
co-ed tournament. So since I hadn't been fishing all year, we (Tommy) decided we (I) better go out and practice a little bit! Haha no faith in my fishing skills! ;)

I may always catch the first fish, but Tommy always catches the biggest!

Lets just say the tournament didn't go very well! haha We did pretty good the week before in practice but didn't do very well in the actual tournament. And almost died too....several times!;) I am NOT a fan of riding in the boat and hitting waves! First of all, I hate water! Second of all, I hate water! And have no desire to be thrown into it off of a boat! So the ride to and from our fishing spots was very stressful due to all the waves/wake that were on the river from all the water toys playing that day!

Gooding Pro-Rodeo

Last week I went with a couple nursing friends and kayaked the river up to Pillar Falls for the first time! It was fun, but let me tell ya, it was a brutal shoulder/lat work out!!

And I just thought of this, earlier I said I hate water... I do! Yet, here I am, on the water, AGAIN! Haha but on a kayak, on a nice calm day-I felt safe :) no worries of being thrown into the water ;)

The classic ;)

Pillar Falls! It was neat to see! However we hiked around it a bit and I sure wouldn't want to carry a kayak across it to go farther up river to the falls! :/

There are several waterfalls you never see unless your on the river!

Happy August 31st! Here's to September and hoping it cools down!!