hormone free family...

This post is about eating. Some people frown upon shooting deer and elk, and turkey, etc. about a year ago, I began reading about hormones in meat, and we switched to eating mostly hormone free meat, eggs, and milk. Most of the meat we eat is deer and chicken. I buy bison when I can. My dad owns deer ranches, and we can get pig, turkey and deer off of his ranch. This is the most pure forms of meat, and completely hormone free. It is lean meat and extremely healthy for you, so this is what we choose to feed ourselves and our kids.

I have always been a person who has said that if I were ever in a situation where I needed to provide for my family I could. I can grow my own food, kill my own food, live with no electricity, or running water. If I ever had to be, I know I could be self sufficient. I am not saying that I WANT to be self sufficient, but I could if I had to. I decided that I needed to put my money where my mouth was. I am in my 29th year of life, and there are some things I have always wanted to do before I turned 30. One of those goals, was to kill a deer so that we could have meat without having to buy it from the store. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. I grew up with a dad who hunted, and raised us to understand the importance of hunting. Even though hunting has been a big part of my life, I have never done it. I shot a mocking bird from the window of a moving car once, but I did not mean to, so that does not count. Plus, I was really sad after I did it. Mike has hunted before, but he has never shot anything. He would not shoot anything we would not eat, and I feel the same way.

During thanksgiving, I decided that I needed to shoot a deer. We were running low on our meat supply at home, so we needed more. Mike also wanted to hunt to try to get a turkey for thanksgiving. My dad said he would sit in a blind with me and Mike would sit in one by himself. We dropped Mike off at his stand, and my dad and I went to another area and sat in a stand. We waited and waited, and then heard a shot. Mike had shot something. Then 5 seconds later we heard another shot. Mike had shot his gun again. right after we heard the shots Mike texted my dad and told him he shot a turkey. I was happy for him because he felt a since of pride in that he shot a turkey on thanksgiving to feed his family.

As my dad and I sat in the stand together, I had many feelings running through me. I thought about my paw paw and how proud he would be of me if I shot a deer. I wished he was there. It was an incredibly special moment for my dad and I. We talked and he told me how to hold the gun and how to pull the trigger if I saw a deer, and where to shoot the deer. A few minutes after mike shot the turkey, a deer walked in front of our stand. I aimed the gun and squeezed the trigger. I had shot my first deer. That moment after I shot the deer was surreal. I was not excited that I took the life of an animal, but I was happy that I could provide some food for my family. I was excited that my dad had been there with me. I can admit that when I see hunters who kill for the fun of it, I get really sad, but when I killed this deer knowing that it would be food for us, I was not sad. We ate turkey for weeks, and we will be eating deer for the next year.

One more thing... When a hunter kills his/her first animal, it is customary to have the blood of the animal smeared on their face. My dad did it to my brother, and my grandpa did it to my dad. I told my dad that I would shoot a deer, but he was not allowed to smear blood on my face! He did not listen to me! He did not smear it as bad as he did for my brother, but he still did it. Here are the pictures...

2010 summarized

I have not blogged in a while. I think it is mostly because I have had so much going on, that I did not know where to start. I finished another semester of school with all A's. I lost 25 pounds. Yippeeeee! I think the biggest changes we are starting has to do with jobs. Mike decided that he was done staying home with the kids. He stayed home with them for 10 months, and worked nights to help with finances. He has been very supportive of me and my career, and I thought if he wants to go back to work, I don't blame him. Staying home with kids is extremely hard! Mike is happy when he is working with his hands, and he found a job installing appliances with a hardware satore in town. He loves it, and he is much happier.

This year was crazy for me. I started selling insurance in March of this year. I had been working as the secretary at State Farm for 2 years, and when I had the oppurtunity to move up, I took it. I never knew I would love selling insurance, or for that matter, be good at it. After 1 month of it, I knew that this was the career for me. My brother was in the process of owning his own agnecy, and I started thinking that I might want to do it too. 2 months after I started selling, the manager of southern New Mexico State Farm asked me when I wanted to start the process of going into agnecy like my brother. It felt good that he was approaching me. They rarely approach people, or push people to go into agency, so for someone to notice my work,it made me feel really great.

However, the training process is 8 months long and will require me to be gone during the week. It would also mean that Mike and I would become business owners again. I would get to pick from any availible agencies from all over, but I think we would end up in Arizona. If we did decide to do this, we would have to make some sacrifices, but I think we could do it. It would be a great oppurtunity for our family. Agents get to travel all over the world, and the company pays for it. My kids would be able to see all parts of the world. I would have the time to go to every event they are involved in. We would have the finances to travelt o see our families whenever we wanted. Whatever we do, we are not going to start this adventure for at least another year. And the only way I would do it, would be if my kids came with me. So this is where we are...

Parade

The kids got to be in a parade with my parents. Scarletts friend Naomi was in town, so she got to come too. My kids did not want to take pictures, so I wnated to document how they look before and after the "cheesy" picture was taken.

Owens Birthday

Owen had a "Cars" party. He had such a fun day. He played with his friends, hit a pinata with a light saber, and he got tons of great toys! He was so happy to be a three year old.

Scarletts Birthday

She had a great 5th Birthday! We had both birthday parties at home this year, and they loved it. Mike is almost done with the tree house, so the kids had a great time playing outside.

I am not kidding!

I just told Scarlett to put something down and to go to her room, and she said to me, in a very irritated voice, "I was going to my room, GEEZ!" So I spanked her. Then she went to her room until I could come talk to her, the standard procedure. I walked into her room and she said, "Mom, I was thinking, I don't think that you realize that I know the difference between right and wrong." then SHE said, "I was like whoa (in a teenagers voice, complete with mounds of attitude)), she (me)does not even know that I was about to put it down and go to my room." How do you parent a child that at 5 thinks you have no idea what you are doing?

10-10-10

Owen will be turning 3 on Sunday! He has been talking about his "caa Paaty" (car party) for weeks! We went to pick out the cake the other night and when he saw the lightning mqueen and tow mater cake, he screamed out loud in the store. He is such a funny kid. He has the most amazing sense of humor. He is constantly asking me what words mean, and coming up with elaborate plans of how he will protect our family if bad guys or bears try to come to our house. He told me the other day that if a bear was trying to come in our house, he would take his light sabor and say, "mom, dad, move over, I will protect you!" He makes the best faces too. We love you Owen Michael! You have brought so much joy to our lives!