Week 41 (Hunting Week)

{October 10 - 16}

Monday was the opening day for Deer Hunting season. Josh took both Jonah and Micah out early that morning. Micah was unable to spot anything, but Jonah got one in the field above our house!! That was exciting!! I took Micah to school, and Josh stayed and helped Jonah gut and hang the deer, and then took him to school an hour late.

Jonah's 2-point.

I loved the vivid colors of fall this year! I parked under this tree and admired
 its foliage every afternoon.

On Tuesday after school and XC practice, Micah went hunting in the field above our house because Grandpa said he'd spotted a herd up there. He saw a buck, but could never get a clear shot of it (it was too close to the road or other houses). I went up for a bit to watch him, and as it started to get dark, we decided to walk back home empty-handed, I couldn't help but notice how beautiful the moon, the fall colors in the trees, the snow in the mountaintops, and our home and new garage looked. This cell-phone pic doesn't do the image justice!

The home cross-country meet was on Wednesday afternoon at the golf course. I got a sub for the afternoon so I could go. I did a few hours of observation in Mrs. Centeno's classroom first (for my college class that required 60-hours of it) before leaving for the golf course. The middle school races were first, starting at 2:00. Micah didn't feel too well, and didn't have his best race, but gave it everything he had. He got 11th place (sadly, just 1 place out of medaling!) with a time of 13:10. Jonah was 15th place, and just barely beat teammate Riley by a few hundredths of a second, which was exciting. He had a time of 13:35, and was the 8th runner from our team (Micah was the 7th runner from our team). Our middle school boys team got first place with a score of 18 (just 3 points off from having a perfect score!).  Ammon ran a great race on home turf. He ran most of the race with a pack of Ririe runners. He passed two of them, and 3 maintained their lead ahead of him. Then one of the Ririe runners behind him passed him towards the finish. It was a sprint to the end, and he although he didn't pass the Ririe runner, he got 8th place with a time of 19:54 and did his best. I picked up Kanyon from scouts and brought him back to the golf course for the medal ceremony. For being in the Top 10, Ammon received a T-shirt as his reward. Then I drove the younger 3 boys home and Micah decided to try hunting again before the XC banquet at Dave's Pizza that night. Unbelievably, he spotted a deer, had a clear shot, and he took it. And even more unbelievably, he shot the deer straight through the heart! Josh had a golf course meeting after driving bus, and was unable to come home to help him gut it or hang it, but thankfully Grandpa T. came to the rescue. He helped us gut it, take it back to the shop, and Josh hung it after he got home from his meeting later that night. I drove the twins back to town for their XC banquet, and Ammon met them there with Hannah. While they were at their banquet, I took my last college test at the Elementary School for my class :Elementary Social Studies Methods". I was so happy because I passed! It was a very full, all-around successful day for our family!

Riley is just ahead of Jonah half-way through the race

Coming into the finish, he gave it his all!

At the finish, he was just ahead of Riley and this
Butte County runner, too. 

Excellent start!

At this point, Ammon had gotten ahead of two of the five
Ririe runners that were running together in a pack. 

Trying to catch up to the Ririe runners at the finish line. 

Ammon received 8th place

The admission to the race was a can of soup--and all these food
donations were given to the EICAP organization after the races. 

Kanyon thought it was pretty cool!

Micah went back on his motorbike to get a
chain to drag the deer out of the field,
so Jonah helped Grandpa as he cut it open

See that hole straight through the heart?!

After Grandpa gutted it, this is how he got it back to the shop! We all helped
lift it onto the back of his 4-wheeler, and he sat on it/held it as he drove!

On Thursday, we didn't have school due to State Inservice for teachers. I drove down to Terreton Elementary in Mud Lake early that morning to do a full day of observations. It was the first day (of four) that I was scheduled to go there (getting half of my required 60 hours), and I was both excited and nervous. As I drove past Sign City, I could see the sun beginning to rise over the Teton Mountains, and it was simply breathtaking, and I felt at peace. I had a terrific day. I observed Mrs. Hall in the 5th grade all day and absolutely loved it! I was so happy! After school, I did a bit of shopping in Rexburg (30 minutes west of Mud Lake) and ate dinner at a Thai Restaurant, then spent the night in a hotel, since I was headed back to Terreton Elementary again the following morning (they have 5-day school weeks). As I was shopping around Rexburg that night, Josh was grinding and packaging all the deer meat from the twins' two deer.

I ordered the Pad Thai, but it wasn't as good
as the same meal I'd had at a Thai restaurant
 in Denver earlier in the month. 

Josh ground and packaged up about 60 pounds that night! That's quite the feat!

On Friday, I observed Mrs. Hall in 5th grade again all day in Mud Lake. It was even more enjoyable than the first day. I really loved being in that school. I loved the kids, and the staff were friendly, too. Mrs. Hall was fabulous and I was so glad for the opportunity to work with her and her students! I drove home and made it by 5:30 and got things ready for the pumpkin patch sale the next morning.


Saturday morning, Ammon and the twins helped with Scouting for Food by picking up food around our neighborhood then delivering it to town. Josh and I got to working packing up things we'd need for the pumpkin sale into his truck (benches, signs, tables, games, corn stalks for photo booth, etc.). When the older boys got back home, they helped us unload all the pumpkins from pallets in the garage and put them in Josh's enclosed mowing trailer. That was a huge help! Then Josh, Kanyon, and I drove into the Sacajawea Center where the Fall Frolic took place. We drove down to our designated area, unloaded the pumpkins, arranged them into sections based on their size, got everything all set up, and Josh went and got lunch for Kanyon and I before the sale began at 1:00. We were SLAMMED after it started, and it never slowed down until around 3:30 (the Fall Frolic ended at 4:00). At the Sac Center, they had an apple cider press, hot cider and donuts, games, crafts, and a horse-drawn wagon ride that drove them down to our pumpkin patch and back. There were so many people, though, that many people were walking down to our patch because they didn't want to wait in the long line, and a lot of them used our wagons to take the pumpkins back up to their cars. It was way busier than last year, and Kanyon sold EVERY single pumpkin (even all the minis), except for 8 green medium/small ones. It was an awesome day and we felt so blessed! This was our final year, and we were glad that it ended on such a spectacular note! On Saturday evening, Josh and I drove around for a while up in the mountains, scoping out deer, but didn't find any. He was glad that the twins had already gotten their deer, but with all the hunters around our property, he hadn't been successful himself yet, which is why he felt like he should look elsewhere to get his own.

We had 175 pumpkins this year (we planted a little less this year because we
had so many left over after last year's sale), and two wheelbarrows of minis. 

We set up this waiting/play area across the path from our pumpkin patch.
It was handy for people who wanted to sit and wait for the wagons, and for
kids to have something to do besides just picking pumpkins. 

This is the side where the horse wagon rides dropped customers off. 

A view from the back side of the pumpkins and waiting/game area in the distance. 

This is the only pic I got in of the customers and horse wagons. Thankfully, Josh
stayed and helped us this year, and he was an awesome help to Kanyon & I. 

Josh had to go retrieve our wagons from the
parking lot a couple of times after customers
didn't bring them back, and he caught this
view of the fresh snow on the mountains. We
were so glad that the weather worked out
for our singular sale day! It was cool, but not
too cold and it wasn't rainy. 

Sunday was Stake Conference. The current Stake Young Men's President (who Josh serves as a counselor to) got called as a counselor in the new stake presidency, which was a fun surprise! Boyd Stokes (Ammon's upcoming basketball coach) was called as the new President, and Kris Bird was called as the other new counselor. We've loved having Jason Beyeler as our Stake President, and are looking forward to this new presidency as well. We ate dinner at Ed & Kathy's after church with Aunt Janet and Uncle Tim and had a nice visit. That evening, Josh thought he would just drive around the place looking for deer in the dimming light, and miraculously saw one in the fields below our house, and tagged it. It happened quickly, and rather unexpectedly, but was exciting nonetheless. I met him down in the shop after he'd already brought it back and hung it to get a few photos. I love that my husband is self-reliant! It was such a blessing to get 3 deer all in one week. I was so glad to have a freezer full of meat once again!