My son Travis has gone on the deer hunt with us for many years. But this year was the first year Travis had his own tag and his own rifle. Travis's deer is a 3x2. It's pretty big too. Remember Travis is almost 6 feet tall. Then you get an idea of how big this deer is.



I'm so happy that Travis is a hunter. Because now my husband has another hunting buddy. He likes to hunt really hard, and I am more of a casual hunter. I like to stay in camp and read books for a good portion of the day. I also feel like I have less pressure to shoot a deer myself. I do enjoy going on the hunt, because I think it is good family time. And I don't have a problem with shooting a deer, although I do think they are pretty cute. I just have a problem shooting a running deer, or a buck with a bunch of does around it, or a buck hiding in thick trees. And the perfect shot just never seems to happen for me.

We processes the deer ourselves. We bought a meat grinder today so we can try grinding some up into burger. I've never had venison burger before. It should be interesting. We thought we'd try mixing venison with some ground beef, since the venison is so lean. It needs some fat to make burgers with.

Fun at the zoo

This last year we took my grandson Gabriel to the zoo. He has a lot of fun there.


There is a nice little play area at our zoo. Here is how Spiderman probably got his start.



Have you ever seen a cuter turtle?
We had a bunch of fun.

Today I saw a hummingbird tongue!

How cool is that? She was sitting aways up above me, just behind a branch so I couldn't get a good picture. But I did see her flick her tongue out a few times. I don't think I have ever seen that before.

I have been sitting out under my tree for the last 3 nights trying to get a good picture of my hummingbirds. They will feed like normal every evening if I sit on the other side of the tree. But if I move my chair to the side that gives me a better shot, they avoid the feeder. They will come along for just a few seconds and then flit to the other feeder.



Does anyone know how to take a good hummingbird picture? Or do you know what kind of hummer this is?

Reading With My Son

This first picture in this post is Travis while we were reading the first Harry Potter book together all those years ago. He was big then for a little boy. But scroll down a bit and get a look at the big manly guy that is in this second picture! That is him now that we just finished up this last Harry Potter book. Wow how he has grown!

Travis and I just finished reading the last Harry Potter book. All I can say is Wow. What a wonderful series. And this last book was the best of them all. I really enjoyed the whole series. And I am really going to miss reading them. My son Travis and I started reading the first one when Travis was probably about 7 or so. I started reading it with him in the hopes that he would learn to enjoy reading as much as I do. I had heard that it was doing that for kids, but it was a ways above Travis's reading level. So we read it together out loud. We love it so much that we had to keep reading them as the new books came out. When book 6 came out, Traivs was by then old enough to read them on his own. And being as busy as we always are, he had to read that one on his own. But we decided to read this last one together again. It is so much more fun to read it together, so you can talk about what you are reading about as you go. And it is very nice quality time together.

This book was sad in parts, and other times sad but happy. I had a few times where it was hard to read aloud because I was crying. Yes, I know they are fictional characters. But after you have read so many of the books, You can really get attached to and feel like you know the characters. I don't usually read a book more than once. But I'm pretty sure I will read this series again. Maybe I can share it with some of my grandchildren too.



I hope that Miss Rowling writes more books. I really like her imagination.

Travis and also read the Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe together a while back. I cried trying to read it aloud too. I'm such a wimp.

My Grammy

This is my Grammy. She popped in one Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago on her way home from a Jehovah's Witness convention. She was able to spend the night and visit with me and my family. It was very nice. I don't get to see my Grammy very often. She lives about 45 minutes away. It's hard to find the time. But my family and I have been trying to do better about going to see her lately.

Isn't she pretty? I have always thought my Grammy was an amazing lady in many ways. I like to think I got some of my independence and brains from her.

Our Bryce Canyon Fun

We went to Bryce Canyon a few weeks ago. This is me and my very handsome husband. We don't always get to spend as much time together as I'd like. That is one reason why I love the trips away together. We stayed in Red Canyon Campground which is just a few miles out of Bryce Canyon. It is ons of our favorite places to go. The area is so beautiful. I love all the red rocks and cliffs. And the weather was perfect. It usually stayed around the mid 80s. We had so much fun! We are talking about going there once a year.



I like to sit by Travis. He is so big and manly that it makes me look petite. And isn't Kayla just beautiful. I had a very nice time spending time with them both. Next year I want all 4 of my kids to go with us. And maybe some other family members too!

Our Campground

Here is what the campground looked like. We usually avoid the camp grounds since we have a nice big trailer and we don't want to be around a lot of people. But the camp ground is really nice here anyway. And there is running water, and showers too! And there are red cliffs to look at right from your camp spot. I think we should have another family reunion here at this campground. In the evening we listened to Native American flute music and ate roasted marshmallows with chocolate.



Here are the cute little critters that visited our campground. The ground squirrels and chipmunks were our constant companions. If we were not careful, they would climb right on the chairs or tables we were using! That startled a few of us sometimes. The bird is a Blue Jay. We also saw Ravens, and snakes too!