Hunting Adventures and Senior Pictures

This week began with an adventure.  Bruce and Peter left at 4 am on Monday morning to go elk hunting.  They took Strawberry, Mackee and Lady with them.  On arrival, when they were getting Strawberry out of the trailer, she had a piece of twine wrapped around her ankle and she kicked to get it off.  Unfortunately Peter's leg was right in the way of that kick.  Luckily it wasn't too hard, and it hit right in the muscle, so it didn't cause do any damage besides making a very sore muscle.  Bruce said later that they should have turned around and gone home right then, but they didn't. 

Soon after they got there, it began to snow.  They heard elk all around them, but couldn't see past 100 yds because of the snow, so they didn't end up getting anything.  That night at around five, Bruce tried to drive the truck out of their campsite and did nothing but spin wheels and dig a big hole.  So they spent a very cold night in the tent, and the next morning he rode a horse out to a high point and called me at about 9:30 am.  Bruce said that he was snowed in, and he needed me to go up and meet him at this point and bring some chains.  He also said that I needed to come in a 4-wheel drive truck with good tires and chains.  (The chains we have were lent out, and Bruce forgot that they hadn't been returned).   Right when Bruce called, I had been talking to Karen T., which was a blessing, because I don't know if I would have thought of them, but as soon as I hung up with Bruce, I called Karen right back and asked her if Reul could go up with me to get Bruce.  They both ended up going,  but I still needed a truck.  So I called around, which was very stressful, to see who had the right truck.  Several said they had a truck, but they either didn't have good tires or no chains.  Lane K. was finally the one who was able to provide what we needed - thank you Lane! Reul, Karen and I drove up there - it took us about 3 hours to get there - and found Bruce waiting for us to come.

Bruce

He loaded up a backpack with the chains, and rode Mackee back to the camp.

Bruce taking the chains back to the truck

 He put the chains on the front tires of his truck, and drove out, but not without some harrowing moments sliding sideways and coming within a few feet of a drop-off.

 In the meantime, Reul, Karen and I had a fun time enjoy the sudden exposure to winter wonderland!  Some heavy clouds moved in while we were standing on this ridge, and it started snowing hard!  It was amazing to see the storm move in like that.  Reul and Karen were perfect for this adventure.  They kept saying that they have been in a lot worse situations (ie adventures) with Gary back in the day!  They told me some great stories about camping in the Idaho wilderness with him.

After Bruce drove out with White Thunder (that's what we call his truck - ha ha), Peter came out riding Mackee bareback.  He tried walking her, but she was all over the place, so he just jumped on her back.  All of this was an adventure for him, and he was as cheerful as could be.

Driving out was tricky because we had the horse trailer in back of us and it was downhill and slick.  There were 3-4 times where the trailer started to jack-knife behind us, but Bruce knew how to accelerate and drive through it.  It's a good thing that if you get yourself into a bind, you can also get yourself out, with a little help from your wife and very good friends.  :)  I'm very proud to declare that I remained really calm through the whole affair.  My breathing and relaxation techniques came into good use.

That night, Bruce slept restlessly.  He was tossing and turning and moaning.  When we first woke up the next morning, his hands and feet were aching, and he had a bad headache and chills.  He didn't have a fever, though, so I think it was his body just re-adjusting after being so cold.  I used Peppermint on his head, Cyrpess and Lavender on his hands, and Trauma Life over his heart. And I hugged him a lot. 

There's a lot of ways that could have turned out badly, but we were very blessed.

WELL, onto happier subjects, while they were up hunting and getting snowed on, we had a hard rainstorm come through here.

Jesse bringing in the flag from a hailstorm

Mary bringing in the flag also

The rainbow after the storm

It has been complicated to get Joseph's paperwork done to go to Argentina!  It's much more complicated than what Joshua's was to go to El Salvador.  But one step done - Joseph's Passport is here!

 

 Joseph has been going here everyday for the two weeks.  He goes and does baptisms for the dead every day that it's open.  He said he is the only boy there with about 40 girls.  So he got up in his pre-mission class and gave a strong testimony about temple attendance. 

Mary started a new Ballroom Dance class last Friday!  Yeah!  She is fun to watch!

Peter and Bruce had their last soccer game yesterday.  This has been a fun season for Peter, and he has gotten to be a really good soccer player!  He is excellent on defense and in the mid-field.  I really saw a difference in his playing this season!

Here's Peter and Libby yesterday afternoon - Sunday.  The Lego's have been well-used these past few months.  They are on the floor in our Entertainment Room, and don't cause any problem right where they are, so it's a great playground for the imagination.

And now, for a real treat, here are some of our favorites of Jesse's Senior Pictures taken on Saturday!

 

And here's our favorite one.  This is the one that will go on the "Senior Pictures" wall.

Bruce and I shake our heads all the time and wonder how our children got to be so absolutely beautiful!  Jesse is truly beautiful - inside and out - I'm so thankful for her!