Merry Christmas!

Hope Christmas is wonderful for everyone! We love celebrating in Texas! This is a family picture from last Christmas (before the Fish Camp was totaled by hurricane Ike) HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

HUNTING MANIAC

Well, these are the pictures from our trip to Del Rio, Texas.. annual hunting adventure with our families. I have always loved going to west texas, especially now that this is really the only time both sets of our parents can be together. Also, for the past two years my aunt and uncle, and cousins Riley and Ainsley, have gotten to come too! They LOVE it. Riley shot his first buck this year.. with my dad.. 8 pt! He was so excited. Ainsley pouted the whole time cause she wanted to go too, but she is "too little" (however, that 2nd grader is a vicious lil killer!) She wanted to shoot everything with her BB gun!

OK so my bow hunting story. This is the first year I have ever killed anything with a bow and arrow. (BTW I have pink zebra arrows that Jason bought me as a surprise! hahaah) and seriously, they make me like bowhunting more.. haha J made me practice all the dang time.. even when it was cold outside and I didnt want to... he would say "do you want to wound an animal" which would get me ... cause last year I shot at a doe and we couldnt find her, so I felt sooo bad. So by a few days before Thanksgiving, I felt confident. One pic is from me practicing in our backyard.. dont get too impressed. The first evening I went, we got there late cause J forgot my broadheads and we had to go back. But we climbed up in a tree stand together cause he wanted to film me shooting. And he did! I killed a doe that night. ( I am not going to go into how I ended up crying when I saw her fall down and roll down this little hill with blood going everywhere....) but overall it was a cool experience.

And then I dont know what got into me, but I actually really like hunting with a bow. I think it is because it is more fair to the animals. You have to be super quiet and really close to them (10-20 yards away) to get a shot.

So the next night I shot a havelina hog which we couldnt find again.. and then the next night I went in a tree by myself! And pulled back on a BUCK! But he heard my strings and ran off. I was so bummed. So.. I actually got up at 5 am to go that next morning to see if I could shoot him!!! hahaha I know, that is pure craziness. I think I went on a morning hunt like 1 other time when J and I were dating and I was trying to impress him... haha So the deer never came that morning. bummer.

Then, that afternoon my dad decided to take me and J to the secret spot. haha that is where the picture of the deer looking at me was taken. There were SO many animals, one time I counted like 30... deer, turkey, axis bucks and a baby.. they were beautiful. I was sitting on the ground in a "ground blind" dad and J made for me... they just piled brush and limbs around me next to this big tree. And I just sat and watched the animals eat, play, and fight... they were SOOO close. I am serious, you wouldnt believe me if I told you how close I was. These two deer were playing around the tree I was sitting under and got within 8 feet of me!! I SWEAR. They just looked at me like... what is that. But I was in full camo and being soo still. And so they went right on to playing. I kept thinking it was like Jumanji were all the animals are stampeding in.. that is seriously what it felt like!

Then, the big daddy walks out right in front of the little clearing that J had made for me to shoot through. And so I pulled back and had to hold it for like 2 minutes and I couldnt get a shot cause this branch was in front of him. So I had to let it go back down and thought for sure he would hear me, but he didnt. So when he took one more step I pulled back and shot! and now I am addicted!! Seriously, it is so much fun. I am glad that me and Jason have something to do together too.. and that I actually like it for real! Ok, well that is seriously enough! I never write anything so hopefully this wasnt too long. And Jason just came in here, sat down and said.. "I got to kill something with my bow".. haha he doesnt even know I just wrote this whole hunting saga. he will be so proud.