Successful Hunt

I finally got my Black Hills turkey! Our friend Rene was kind enough to wake up at 4:00 in the morning last Sunday and take me out turkey hunting because Josh had commitments at church later that morning. It was early. It was cold. It was windy. It was rainy. But we found the perfect spot nestled between some tall trees with ridges on both sides of us. It helped block most of the cold, wind and rain but unfortunately didn't do much for the early.

According to Rene, it was a perfect text book hunt...Heard a couple of toms gobble just as we got out of the truck. Climbed the ridge and found the tom still in his roost. Sat by a tree and waited for him to fly out. Waited. Watched him, watch us. Waited. Waited. Tom finally flew out of the tree below the ridge we were sitting on. Decided to sneak closer to the ridge to see where he went. Spotted tom about 50 yards away. Heard other toms and hens just below the ridge. Listened to Rene call to try and entice the tom. Watched the tom strut. Held up decoys and danced them around to try and entice tom more. Tom got enticed. Listened to Rene say, "he's a good one Marcy...he's a good one." Rene kept calling. Toms called back. Closer. Butterflies in my stomach. Closer. Adrenaline. White head appeared just over the ridge amongst the tall grass. Pulled back the trigger. 10 yards away, if even. One shot. Flock of other turkeys flew away. I dropped, I mean gently set the gun down. Yelled, "I did it!" Rene gave me a high five with a smile from ear to ear. Walked down the ridge. Rene carried turkey back up the ridge for me, gentleman that he is. Took picture of me and turkey in the rain. Said a small prayer over my turkey. Picked him up by his feet. Swung him over my shoulder. Picked up my shotgun. Rene said, "that makes for a good picture." Took another picture in the rain. Walked down the ridge. Made it home in time for another hour of sleep.

All I can say is awesome! Oh, and thanks Rene.

Picture of me. With turkey. In the rain.

Randomness

For the most part, our lives have been pretty simple lately, now that our family vacation is over, the birthday parties are done, our visitors have left and turkey season is winding down. I like simple. I like routine. I like how life has been for the last few weeks.

The snow is finally gone...granted I did look out the window Sunday afternoon only to see large fluffy snowflakes falling out of the sky. Thankfully they melted before they hit the ground! Our yard is looking pretty. Leaves are finally starting to show on the trees, our grass is a bright vibrant green (and long!), the bushes that we planted last year are starting to bud and we've been enjoying the longer days with more sunlight. Cayel's been practicing riding his big boy bike and except for using his brakes, he's getting it down.


We go for nightly walks and have been over to visit the neighborhood buffalo a couple of times. We took them apples one night for a bedtime snack but they weren't too interested.



Josh has been busy digging crab grass out of our yard and organizing the garage. I'm excited to try my hand in gardening this year - I did some research and found something called square foot gardening. Maybe it's not a new concept to anyone else but to someone who can't keep a cactus alive, this is news to me! We're going to plant all of our necessary salsa ingredients with some added veggies and herbs in hopes that we'll have a yummy summer harvest. I'm also going to attempt to plant a flower garden...you can laugh out loud if you'd like to, I am! I'll keep you posted on how our gardening turns out.

We got Cayel registered for Pre-Kindergarten next year. He will be attending Black Hills Christian Academy 3 full days a week. I never thought I would be one of those moms who got all emotional about their kid going to school. He's already in daycare all day while we work so what is the difference if he goes to school instead? Ummm, yea, pretty sure I get a knot in my stomach when I think about. There is just something about buying a backpack and their "first day of school outfit" that puts a lump in your throat. I hope my sister-in-law Anne has Tuesday, September 7th free...I think I'll need the emotional support after I drop him off at school.

Cayel had his very first play date last week. Daddy was going to be working late so Mommy decided to surprise him and bring his best daycare friend home with us. He was ecstatic! Until we got home that is...Lucas was so excited to try out all the "new" toys and Cayel was less than thrilled to share. We had a few tears, a couple of pouty lips and a trip or two to the bedroom for a "talk" about sharing with guests. After about an hour, Mommy decided to pack up the rug rats and take them to McDonald's for Happy Meals and the Playland.




Speaking of firsts, poor Cayel had another first this weekend, the stomach flu! Bless his little heart, he didn't know what do to with the stuff that was projecting out of his mouth and nose. Thankfully it only lasted Sunday afternoon and evening and by Monday morning he was able to keep things down. Mommy stayed home with him Monday and we enjoyed a day of movies, books, cutting out shapes, painting, gluing paper, playing computer games, practicing writing and taking a 3 hour nap. It was much needed TLC for the both of us! Now lets just hope Mommy and Daddy don't get it.

Josh and I have decided that we aren't destined to have a carpeted house. Between pets and a child, we've had our fair share of urine, vomit and diarrhea in the last couple of weeks. Without getting into too much detail (it's a sore subject in our household), let's just say we have kept our dear friend and neighbor's carpet cleaning business from feeling the effects of the economy.

We had our step-daughter Molly last week while Josh's parents were in Sanible, FL collecting sea shells, walking on the beach and enjoying the sunshine. She is such a sweet dog and Cayel is absolutely in love with her! They play so well together and Cayel especially likes her because she does whatever he wants to. Notice how they are playing hide-n-seek and Molly looks thrilled...


Cayel cried when D'anpa Dick came and took her home Saturday.

God has been doing some really great things in our lives lately and has provided us with some neat opportunities to grow in our relationship with Him. Cayel participated in the Let's Rock Musical that I blogged about last week. I was asked do all of the Marketing/Advertising for the Musical (which is what my degree is in) and had a lot of fun with that! Josh took his turn at fame this past weekend and was in a skit at church. Cayel and I sat in the front row to cheer him on...he did great and we were so proud of him! If you'd like to see him in action, click here (Josh's debut is about 27:00 minutes in to the service). Josh and I just finished a couple's Bible Study that we had been attending for the past 12 weeks with 5 other couples from our church. We learned so much about ourselves, about each other, about our marriage and about what God wants for our marriage. We have recently been asked by our Pastor to be small group leaders and we are really excited to take on this new endeavour. We had the first meeting at our house yesterday afternoon and the couple's are amazing and have beautiful hearts. We can't wait to see how God uses us!

Play dates, vomit, bike rides, church activities, yard work...Simple. Routine. I love it.

Let's Rock!

Growing up, my mom made sure that us girls were active in our church. I'm not talking about just attending Sunday church services, but I mean active, all the extras that come along with the Sunday church service...We attended Sunday School, took Communion classes, went through Confirmation, served at funerals and pot lucks, washed communion glasses, read lessons during the church service and I think I was even an Alter Guild once or twice. But along with being active in the church came the church programs. You know, the ones where all the little kids stand at the front of the church by the alter and sing "This Little Light of Mine" to a cassette tape playing in the background? Or the program where the rookie High Schoolers bring their band instruments and attempt to rock out to "Pharoh Pharoh?" I was always the one squeaking away on my flute. Don't get me wrong, these were wonderful programs, they always made the elders in our church smile and it never failed that some little tyke would do something hilarious to make the whole congregation laugh! But last weekend, I got the joy of watching my own son perform in his very first church program. All I can say is, "WOW!" And my did they "up the anty" on the definition of a church program?!? There were 175 children ages 3-18 that took part in the musical, "Let's Rock!" And there were 1,350 people, that's right, ONE THOUSAND, THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY people that attended our church over the course of the weekend to watch the 3 performances! The message that the kids delivered was amazing and the music was incredible! The children were filled with the Light of Christ, hearts were touched and the Holy Spirit moved powerfully within the church walls! It made me so proud to be sitting next to the stage watching Cayel scream out "Let's Rock, let's give our lives away, livin' all for Jesus. Let's Rock!" at the top of his lungs. The smile on his face and the sparkle in his eyes said it all! Although, what I may have called a church program growing up and the church program I experienced last weekend are very different, I can honestly say, I got a taste for the pride my parents must have felt watching us girls sing out (even if it was to a cassette tape) to the Lord! It was powerful...the kind of powerful that gave me goosebumps all over!

I had volunteered to help behind the scenes during the musical so my dear friend Tahra took pictures and even a little video for me...

Cayel signing out "Let's Rock" (sorry it's sideways)...






Cayel's cheering section...



To watch the whole program, you can go to this link.

And the turkey season begins...

The last of our turkey hunting company just left this morning and I promised that I would get pictures and stories posted on our blog ASAP...kind of funny that those macho men actually look forward to a post on my blog. I think it's just because they want to see pictures of themselves with their long bearded Toms.

And pictures I have... pictures of everyone else but me, of course. I had to laugh when I went back to read my post from last year's turkey opener and the title was "Not me...but everyone else!" Hmmm...maybe I'm starting some sort of trend?

We had 5 of Josh's friends from Minnesota come out for turkey opener this year. Cayel was gone for the weekend so the house was filled with 5 grown boys and 1 trooper of a dad! I got lots of emails, phone calls and text messages asking if I was crazy and wishing me luck, but to be honest, I had fun! Josh's friends were nice enough to let me tag along with them opening day and I got to experience what they get so excited about. Excited for everything except for my border line hypothermia Saturday morning that is. I'd like to think that I impressed them...dressed in camouflage from head to toe, I loaded my own shot gun and hiked through waist deep snow. And I never complained once. It didn't impress Josh though when I asked for a kiss before we went back out in the afternoon...I guess that isn't cool. Mental note made.

Here's the line up...

This is Nic. He was lucky enough to get his turkey opening morning. He and Josh have been hunting together for years and Josh says that if he wouldn't have held Nic's hand that morning, there would be no picture of Nic with a turkey. I was busy freezing my petunia off in a blind with Chad and Lars so I wouldn't know...Nic, I'll let you take this up with Josh.


This is Josh (aka, Lars). I don't know that there was a special story for his turkey, other than he and Rene enjoyed an all you can eat breakfast buffet in Deadwood before they finally decided to go out and attempt to hunt. Priorities. Love it.


This is Rene (aka Ney to Cayel and Gonzo to the guys). He got his turkey while hunting with Lars. After they filled themselves at the breakfast buffet, they decided to hike some of it off and landed themselves in a pack of turkeys. And as you can tell by the pictures, two of them happened to be Toms.


This would be my hubby and Chad (aka W - not Double U but Dubya - ???). Their story begins with a text message to me at 4:30 Monday morning asking if I could call them when I got up. "Well, I'm up now." So I call Josh and he was whispering, "where exactly did you shoot at that Tom last night and how far away from that, was the other Tom you heard gobbling?" Okay honey, I'll let you in on my secret hunting spot, but only because I love you. A couple of hours later, I get this picture text to me at work.


This is Eric (aka Borass). And I don't have a picture of him with a turkey because well, he didn't get a turkey. Borass was so excited to shoot one with his .30-06, that he missed. He said the turkey was running but Rene begs to differ. Regardless, the guys made sure to rub it in and the joke for the weekend was that he should start using a "splatter gun". I guess that's their version of a shot gun. Even though he didn't get a turkey, he was a trooper and still said, "this is awesome." There might have been a little sarcasm in that statement but I'm not sure :).

And this is me. And no, I don't have a picture either because well, I didn't get a turkey. Only I did use a "splatter gun" to increase my chances of success and still, um, missed. Rene was kind enough to take me out hunting Sunday evening while the other guys went hunting in the Southern Black Hills. He decided to take me to the place that he and Lars had shot their turkeys the day before. We hiked and hiked and hiked. Only I wasn't lucky enough to have had my fill on an all you can eat buffet before the hunt...After a couple of hours of hiking and not a peep, I mean gobble, from a turkey, we decided to call it quits. On our way home Rene decided to try one last spot...He turned off his truck and used his turkey call, expecting to hear nothing. Sure enough, a Tom gobbled back and he was close! Rene whispered to get my shot gun loaded and my face mask on and we started hiking up the ridge. He used his turkey call again but no response from the Tom, we thought for sure that we had spooked him. All of a sudden the Tom gobbled and we could tell he was right by us. Rene told me to go a head of him behind a large tree and wait, as soon as I stood up behind the tree, there he was, not more than 30 yards away - his red head looking right at me. Rene told me to shoot. I was worried about the brush in front of me and didn't feel I had a clear shot but Rene was worried he spotted us and didn't want me to miss the opportunity so, I shot. Rene yelled, "great shot, you got him!" I think he was just trying to be nice because I'm pretty sure I missed. Humph! No turkey, no picture. It was an awesome afternoon though and I was thrilled that Rene was willing to take me out!


It was a fun weekend, one that Josh looks forward to all year! Thanks guys for making the drive out! And thanks for taking me out hunting with you!

Visit from Papa & Nana and FINAL Birthday Celebration!

My parents were able to come out and visit for a week over Easter. It's always great to go back to Minnesota to visit but there is just something special about having them come to Spearfish...maybe it's because we get them all to ourselves, or because it eliminates the pressure of needing to run around and see as many people as we can - which is usually the case when we go home, or it might be the excitement of having them see what our daily routine consists of, or my love for being a hostess and providing comfy clean bedding, lots of home cooked meals and a relaxing retreat for guests to feel rested and rejuvenated, or maybe a combination of all! Either way, we love having them visit and we were lucky enough to get them for 6 days!

Cayel especially loves his alone time with Papa and Nana...I think mainly because when Mommy and Daddy aren't around, all rules go out the window. He was able to spend a couple of days with them while we worked and I think he did a good job of wearing them out. He rode his new big boy bike that he got to pick out with Papa for his birthday and made Nana run after him, he talked Papa into taking him to the park, took Papa to visit his daycare friends at Terri's, baked monster cookies with Nana (until he got bored that is), played school and practiced his flashcards with Nana, helped Papa put together his train set and avoided naps!



I was lucky enough to have Friday off and was able to spend the day with my parents. My mom and I spent the morning touring the quaint little boutiques in Spearfish and ended up finding some really great deals at a fun clothing store. Shopping really isn't for either of us but we had fun trying on clothes and felt like we'd hit the jackpot when we walked out of the last store with a couple of outfits! And best of all, we did it with a 4 year old...he was such a trooper and kept entertained hiding in the clothes racks. Thankfully the sales lady at the store thought he was adorable and fed him granola bars and played hide-and-seek with him.

Josh and my dad disappeared a couple of times throughout the weekend to go for their drive in the hills and even made it out fishing once. I love watching those two men interact. I love them both dearly and am so thankful for the relationship they have...Josh is the son my dad never got and I don't think he could ask for anyone better!

Saturday morning my mom and I took Cayel to an Easter Egg Hunt in the City Park. There were hundreds and hundreds of kids, literally! Someone blows a whistle and all the kids go running, poor Cayel almost got trampled on by the bigger kids! Thankfully it was over in a matter of minutes and just like his Dora experience, he had no desire to stand in line to have his picture taken with Mr. Easter Bunny. Whew, because the line wrapped around the park!




Saturday afternoon was the last and final birthday celebration for birthday boy. Did I stress the word final? Finally. And of course the Super Hero theme continued...Superman himself even made a few quick appearances throughout the party, mainly to jump out and scare each and every guest that came. Cayel was showered with lots and lots of wonderful gifts and if 5 birthday parties doesn't show that he is loved, I'm not sure what does?!?!?





Sunday we went to the Easter service at our church, which was nothing short of beautiful and I made my very first holiday dinner. I have really grown a passion for cooking and baking this past year and it was fun to try some new things and allow my parents time to rest and relax.




It was such a wonderful week! We made lots of memories, laughed, played games, rested and enjoyed the time we got to spend together!