Decorating Halloween Cookies

This year the kids (especially the boys) seem to be extra excited for Halloween. The boys ask me several times a day if it is Halloween, and if they get to go trick or treating. They have been packing their pumpkin buckets around for days. So on monday I made sugar cookies in halloween shapes and we decided to let them decorate them for family home evening. They were so excited all day. They couldn't wait to decorate their own cookies. They kept calling them "boy" cookies. They had tons of fun icing them and putting on sprinkles and candy corn. They probably would have used the entire bottle of sprinkles on one cookie if we would have let them. We made a huge mess, and they were sure to tell me about it and tell me I that I needed to clean it up. It made me laugh. The last two days they have asked if they can decorate more cookies, so I assume it's safe to say they had a good time.

Antelope

One day last week we were driving down the highway just a couple of miles from our house and we saw these pronghorn out in the field. We didn't know there were any this close to us so we thought it was pretty neat. We had to take some pictures just so we could prove that we actually saw them. They are not the best pictures but you can at least tell what they are.

Cutting Firewood

We have spent several days out in the hills cutting firewood for the winter. The kids like to go and play while we cut and then they help carry and load the truck. They get so filthy but they have a good time. I usually strip them down at the door when we get home and put them straight in the tub. They dig in the dirt and find big sticks to play with. We have been lucky enough to avoid any major catastrophies. We took the dogs on the last 3 or 4 trips and they had fun. The boys chased them around and everyone got pretty worn out. Railey likes to find trees she can climb up in and hang out.

The boys and their puppy dogs

Rob cutting up a tree

Boys hangin' out in the back of the truck

They found a good tree on this day

Taking an apple break

My Crazy Crew

Railey and Robby chillin' in the tree

Deke And Savvy

In the last couple of months we got 2 new puppies. They are both Mountain Kerr's. They are bred to be hunting dogs, but also good family dogs. They are great with kids. The first week of September we got Savvy. She is the lighter blonde one. Then the first week of October we got Deke. He is the brindle one. We had him picked out for over a month but he wasn't big enough to bring home yet. They are both very cute. They have been a lot of fun. The kids absolutely love them, so much in fact they sneek out of the house whenever they can to play with them. (Ranger especially) I wasn't sure I was ready to have more animals. Mainly because I didn't want to have anything else to have to take care of, but I caved in the minute they got home and have loved them. It helps that we have a big back yard that is all fenced in so they have room to run and play. They seem to really enjoy each other too. They play all day long, and cuddle up together to sleep. I hope they will be good dogs for our family for years to come. It will be exciting to see what they can do hunting. Both sets of their parents are good hunters. Savvy already loves to tree our cat and will not leave him alone if he comes around them. He tends to stay in the front of the house now. He doesn't really care for the dogs. He would rather sit on the other side of the fence where he feels safe.

Deer Hunting

This year we had the oppurtunity to get a handful of deer. Rob and I both drew the antlerless tag for the area where we live. This year if you happened to draw that tag, they gave you two tags, so we ended up with 4 doe tags and then Rob also had his buck tag for the muzzleloader hunt. We filled all the tags. We were able to kill all of the does within about a quarter of a mile from our house. It was nice not to have to drag them forever. They were all in a place where we were able to back the truck right up to them, and then just toss them in. Then we were home in just a minute. I'm not exactly sure where he got the buck. I didn't go with him on that hunt. We were very happy to get the meat. (Even though I was sick of cutting it up by the time we were done) We bottled all the does and did burger and steaks out of Rob's buck. Rob shot a pretty nice buck. It was good sized.