Daddy and Son's outing

Ben and I decided it would be good for him to take each of the boys out once a month seperately on some sort of outing. It has been a lot of fun for them! So the other Saturday, Ben took Ethan fishing on the Provo river. Ethan had a blast with his dad!

Zach's Big Horn Sheep

I have to say ever since Zach got his Big Horn Sheep I don't ever think I will hear the end of it! "IT WAS HUGE!!!", "It definiately makes the record for the books!", "I have never seen one so big!" and so on! Ben said it was by far one of his favorite hunts. Ben's dad and older brother Nate had been scouting the area for MONTHS! When Ben got to Vegas he went out with his brother Nate to do some more scouting before opening day on Saturday. Saturday finally came and not long after they got there and were hiking around they found him. The whopper! Zach opened fire and got it with the first shot. When they got home they started making their video documentary of the whole experience. That took up the entire week of Thanksgiving! They all had so much fun! Don't look at the pictures if you get kind of queasy!

Newport Beach

On Tuesday after Disneyland we went to Newport Beach and yes Ben and the boys played in the ocean, while I sat freezing in my pants and sweatshirt on the beach! I can not believe they were playing in the water! The boys had so much fun with their dad though like they always do.

Ben's 29th Bday

Ben turned 29 on the 2nd of November. He was in DC for work but when he got back that weekend we got to celebrate. He got a Sony HD videocamera from us that morning (which has already come into great use!), he took the boys to the BYU football game that afternoon and then we went to the Pizza Factory with his brother Justin and his wife Katy. We had a lot of fun!

Ben's Big Project

I have the best husband ever! My parents gave us these bunk beds to use for the boys from when I was little. I am the oldest in my family so you can just imagine how beat up they were. I really wish I had a before picture so you could really get the full reality of how hard Ben worked to get them looking like this! He started early this summer and would spend every available weekend to sand all the pieces down. Then he stained and glossed them. The whole Labor Day weekend he spent finishing them up and putting the beds together in the boys room. He also sanded this shelf for me. Ben has already got Aidan loving his deer horns! So of course those had to go up on the wall. The boys names were my only contribution to the room. Definitely a boys room though! Having them sleep in the same room the first night was torture. Ethan kept crying and getting out of bed. Aidan would then wake up and say, "I don't want to sleep in here anymore because Ethan keeps making too many noises!" However since then they have stayed in bed and sleep through the night which has been so nice! Thanks Ben for being so talented and hard working to get these beds done before the baby gets here!

Ben and his boys!

Our pool is sadly now closed! That was the fastest summer! As much as I love fall, I always miss the summer days. Ben took the boys swimming Labor Day weekend and they just have so much fun with their dad!

Happy Birthday Hunt!

My woderful wife let me go hunting for my birthday, so after a fun night of trick-or-treating I was off to Nevada for our deer hunt. My dad, two brothers (Justin and Jerm), and I met our good friend Bardell Saturday morning. However, we met Bardell at the wrong spot, so we spent that morning helping milk our friend's cow instead of hunting. It was a great experience and the milk was fantastic. That night we drove up a mountain to go hiking for some bucks. We parked the truck and Justin walked over to the edge of the hill that we were on and I saw he was getting ancy. I knew it could only be one thing...buck fever. So I ran up to him and saw him taking aim at a nice wide 3 by 4. Justin got him with one shot. So Justin got his buck with only having to hike 20 yards. That's smart hunting Justy, way to go.

Justin's Buck


We only had one morning left to get a deer for both Bardell and me. It was snowing a lot that day. Dad got us into a perfect spot and Jerm, Bardell, and I went on a perfect morning hike. When we came over the first hill, Bardell spotted his buck at about 90 yards, took aim, and got him. Just then dad let me know that there was a good 4 point close by. We hiked to the next ridge, and there they were. It was snowing really hard and I could barely see through my scope. I asked Jerm which one was the buck and he told me it was the first one. I got the first one at a little over 300 yards but it took a bit more than one shot like Bardell and Justin. Well as soon as I shot my buck, I realized that I got the wrong one. I got the 3 point in the group and there was a nice 4 point with him. When the deer all ran off, Jerm followed them and snuck to within 40 yards of the 4 pointer. So we were satisfied that we could have had him.

Bardell and Ben's Bucks

Well we all had a blast on the Nevada deer hunt. Thanks dad for the wonderful hunt, it was the perfect birthday present. Thanks Jaclyn for letting me leave you on my birthday and for taking care of Aidan and Ethan. Here are some more fun pictures from our hunt:

Happy 27th Bday Ben!

I am way late on this one...sorry for that honey! Ben was gone this last weekend on his birthday doing the thing he LOVES to do...HUNTING. He got a deer for his birthday! We did go out and celebrate though with our friends Troy and Jenn because it was Troys birthday on the third. We had dinner at Tucanos at the Gateway and walked around all the shops afterwards. The walking around part was mostly for Jenn and me I guess. I hope you had a wonderful birthday Ben and know that I love you so much!

COLORADO HUNT!!

Ben's Buck

After a few days of close calls and lots of shots at some serious whoppers, we decided that we better split up and start filling some tags. Dad and I went togother to try a new spot while Nate and Uncle Jeff went after some deer that we had spotted earlier in the week. After glassing for a while, dad found some good deer that we wanted to go after. I hiked for about an hour until I got to the spot where I needed to sneak up to the deer. The only problem was, the mountain was straight up. I began sneaking/climbing on all fours after the deer. Dad was on the radio guiding me up. When I was about a third of the way up, I jumped up a nice four point. He wasn't the buck we origanally wanted but he was running straight to the other deer. I knew I could either have a shot at this deer or nothing. At 125 yards I took aim at the buck on a move. After a cloud of smoke from my muzzleloader, I heard my dad say from my ear piece as the deer ran out of sight, "You missed him, try to reload." But it was too late, the deer was gone. Then I heard, "Wait, you got him, he's going down. He's rolling, he's still rolling, he's still rolling, etc..." I then saw the deer roll past me and about 200 yards later he stopped and I had filled our first tag with a nice buck. Did I mention that the mountain I was on was straight up?

Uncle Jeff's Buck

Nate and I were the designated hikers on this one. Uncle Jeff strategically placed himself in some pine trees and waited patiently while Nate and I took a death march around what seemed to be an entire mountain range. Dad was our radio man again, and just to let you know how far we were, we lost radio contact for much of our hike. Finally Nate and I got to the spot where we needed to come over the summit on a nice buck we had bedded down earlier. Dad guided us in because the mountain was so steep we couldn't see the deer until we were basicly right on top of him. Dad guided us like a pro and we snuck within 30 feet of the buck. Nate was on his tippy toes aiming down at the buck but we could only see his head above the bushes. Nate took the tough shot but just missed. The deer started running right to Jeff. We started yelling, "Get ready Jeff, he's coming your way!" The deer ran right to Jeff and at 20 yards we had deer number two.

Nate's Buck

Nate and I both had chances at some of the biggest bucks we had ever seen. But now it was the last morning and Nate was still empty handed. Seeing that we were in an area where the only deer we saw were at 13 thousand feet and an all day ordeal to get, our chances were looking slim for only a single morning to go. Luckily on our fourwheeler ride to our area, we spotted a nice little buck. Nate went after him and got him in the pines at about 90 yards. Our coolers were then filled with meat and our families won't need to starve this winter.

Beautiful Colorado/Fun Camping

A huge thanks to dad and Uncle Jeff for allowing us to have the most wonderful hunt ever. We had an absolute blast. We saw some of the most breath taking country this land has to offer. Camping was amazing and Uncle Jeff set up all the tents before we even got there (1st class service). We had gourmet dutch oven cooking. We filled our three tags and I even got a beautiful fox. Nate provided a home-made shower by filling a garbage bag with river water, it was awesome. Dad took care of my sprained ankle by wrapping it up every moring and giving me Celebrax every night. Dad helped me pack out my deer which took all day. So thanks dad and Jeff for all you do so that we can get to the outdoors and enjoy an amazing hunt. And a gigantic thanks to my dear wife for watching the kids and roughing it with out me so I could have this amazing trip. I love you honey!