I'M GRATEFUL FOR GOOD PEOPLE

We all know how hard it can be to move to a new unfamiliar place, away from family and close friends. It seems like no matter where you go there can be a kind of "loneliness" due to unfamiliarity. The streets, stores and people can for a period of time seem so foreign.

These are some of the feelings I had when we moved to Montana. We've been here over a year and a half now and those feelings since fled and I love it here. Sometimes though, no matter how happy you can be with a home, neighborhood, neighbors, co-workers, ward and friends, you still miss having family close by. Especially as Thanksgiving and Christmas get closer the desire to be closer to family grows.

However, the friendships we've built here have become so important to me and many of these people have become "our family away from home", and have made Montana our new home.

I started thinking about all this last week when my close pal Kirsten made Brock and I Sunday dinner. She prepared a very nice meal and called and asked if we wanted it for dinner. She was going to deliver right to our door but I couldn't let her do that too. I went and picked up the COMPLETE meal and brought it home to eat. It was maybe one of the most kind thoughtful deeds anyone has done for me. (I must mention too...Brock and I were both physically and mentally sound, so it wasn't a "sick person" meal).

Basically it's nice to have people around that you can count on no matter what, especially when family isn't around to help you out. I sincerely believe that the people in our lives are here to help us and we should be there to help them in their lives.

HUNTING FRENZY!

AS YOU MAY KNOW, BROCK'S BEEN HUNTING THE LAST FEW WEEKENDS FOR A WHITE TAIL BUCK. LAST WEEK HE WENT OUT A COUPLE MORNINGS REALLY EARLY WITH A FRIEND TO HUNT NEARBY OUR HOUSE. THE 2nd MORNING OUT, MATT GOT HIS BUCK BY CALLING HIM BY RATTLING ANTLERS TOGETHER. THE NEXT MORNING THEY WENT OUT AGAIN AND CALLED IN BROCK'S BUCK THE SAME WAY.

BROCK IS SUPER PUMPED TO HAVE HIS MONTANA WHITE TAIL AND WE ARE NOW IN THE PROCESS OF GETTING THE MEAT PROCESSED AND PACKAGED FOR US. (I won't allow cutting up an animal in my kitchen...YUCK!) IN RESULT WE ARE NOW IN THE MARKET FOR A FREEZER TO PUT ALL THIS MEAT, SO IF YOU KNOW OF ANY GOOD DEALS LET US KNOW!

NOW BROCK IS FOCUSING HIS HUNT FOR A BULL ELK OR A BLACK BEAR, SO WE'LL SEE WHAT HAPPENS.

WARNING: DEAD DEER PHOTOS BELOW

Hunting Season

From Hippies to Hillbillies...we do it all! The past couple weekends Brock and I have ventured out to the surrounding mountains for some hunting. (I believe this is what we are going to be doing with the rest of November on Saturdays...lucky me). We've done A LOT of hiking and I have been feeling muscle aches I've never experienced before! We are hunting for Mule Deer, White Tail Deer, Elk and Black Bears, apparently Montana lets you do it all at once! However, we have yet to see any animals that are NOT behind NO HUNTING signs. Plans are we'll shoot what ever we see first. When I say "we" I mean Brock. I have never witnessed a killing of animal and am pretty worried of how I will handle it. I'm just around to keep Brock company and am not really into the whole "redneck" hunting thing. I do enjoy getting out and hiking and seeing more of Montana though. Who knows....maybe my feelings will change after the whole experience, maybe I'll really like the hunting thing. We'll see?

I had to take a pic of this HUGE pine tree.

(We were hiking through lots of huge trees like this).

Views from on top of the mountain we hiked

BOO!

We had a very SPOOKY HALLOWEEN this year and here is our recap.

We had a very spooky dinner with our friends Kirsten & Aaron. Kirsten put together a really fun "spooky dinner" with mummy dogs, baked slugs, blog clots and green boogers.... pretty spooky huh! It was so much fun, she made a cute little ice cream dessert out of oranges too!

After dinner we headed to the "TRUNK or TREAT" at the church to pass out candy and hang with some ward members. It was such a warm night ( the warmest Halloween night that I can remember in the longest time). to spend outside socializing. We had a wonderful SPOOKY evening!!!

The cute little pumpkin Kirsten made each of us filled with chocolate ice cream for dessert.

This is our "Spooky Dinner"

Brock dishing out some green boogers.

(notice his eyes...he looks like a REAL hippie)

Aaron looking pretty "spooky" at dinner.Me and my little buddy Claire! Yes...we make good hippies!

We had fun dressing up this year as hippies and creating our own costumes. Kirsten & Claire home grown from the farm!

Last but NOT least....the Wells Fargo group!

Brock the hippie, Conor the LDS Missionary, Carla as a baby, Graham as Sponge Bob and Lucy the bow hunter. They had a fun time dressing up and enjoyed a BBQ for lunch.