Buzz Lightyear

Henry got part of his Halloween costume in the mail today.  We think he likes it.

More Handsome Boys

I love Leif's face.

Handsome Boys

In June our boys were the ring bearers for Leif and Avery.  Well, Carter did more ring bearing than Henry, Henry was just there to look cute.  Carin, the photographer, took some extra pictures for us in exchange for some babysitting.  She took this series just after the ceremony.

This one cracks me up.  He's just sat there like this for what seemed like five minutes.

I have lots more to post...so stay tuned.

Holte Elk Hunt 2012

Today is opening day for big game with a rifle.  Landon and I made plans for my Mom and Dale to come up and watch the boys so we could go hunting.  I have a cow elk tag and a general deer tag and Landon has a general deer tag and a mule deer doe tag.  Our main purpose for hunting today was to fill my elk tag.  We were going to tent camp but a friend offered to let us use his 5th wheel camper that was set up at another friends old homestead.  We left Friday afternoon to go scout hunting spots and get a jump on hunting Saturday morning.  This is the view of where we were staying from the main road.

A view from the camper.

Another view; notice the cows?

Home Sweet Home

It may have been old, but it was clean.  Apparently dryer sheets keep mice away.  The bed was comfy and we even had electricity to watch Country Strong last night on the boys' DVD player cozied up on the couch with the little space heater fired up.  I'm sure this is the campers final resting place, but it serves a purpose and I have Bruce Unger to thank for a comfy place to stay.

Looking out of the camper is an old house, not sure how long it has been since someone lived there, but it looks pretty rough.

More scenery, and more cows.  Did you notice above that I thanked Bruce for a comfy place to stay not a comfy place to sleep?  We had the pleasure of listening to cows all night.  It appears they have the same patterns for sleeping as they do eating and pooping - completely random.  Needless to say I did not get much sleep.  

We got up and headed out...

This is where we hunted.  We were out on the ridge about 15 minutes before legal shooting time hoping to see something moving through the coulees.  It was fore casted to be windy but we only had a slight breeze.  We spotted the hind end of an elk and decided to head back around to see what it was.  We found a 5x5 bull by himself.  We watched him for a minute and headed back the other way.  We hiked around for an hour or so then stopped to glass whatever we could see.  Not seeing anything and Landon needing to see what was over the next hill (which can lead you farther from the truck than you'd like) ended up with us separating.  Landon headed down the coulee to see what was over the next hill and I headed my zig zagged way back to the truck.  I got back to the truck at 8:45 and grabbed a bite for breakfast and took a seat in the truck with the binoculars and spotting scope.  I looked around, didn't see anything, waited, looked around, waited, saw a little speck that I assumed was Landon, looked around some more, and waited.  Then after waiting for what seemed like 5 hours, I spied some elk, and they were MOVING.  RIGHT TOWARD ME!  I think I said something like, "elk, elk, elk, crap, gun, elk, hee hee hoo, elk...", grabbed the 7mm off the drivers seat, put one in the chamber, ran to the other side of the truck, leaned over the hood, lost the elk behind a hill, ran to the other side of the truck, found the head of a cow, ran back to the  other side of the truck, leaned over the hood, and shot a cow broadside just behind the front left shoulder.  She did a little dance, or at least I think she did.  I debated shooting again but didn't want to ruin any meat just in case the wind or adrenaline took over and I wasn't as steady as I thought I was.  She did another little dance and hit the ground.  The other elk, another cow and two bulls, I think, took off.  I did a little dance as I ran to her from the truck, did another little dance, then yelled for Landon (who was up wind from me in what was a very breezy coulee).  I did another little who hoo and began pacing, looking for Landon, looking at my first elk, and a few more who hoos.  Then it was 9:11.  I called Carter and then my Dad.  Some other hunters I know stopped and chit chatted while I waited for Landon to get back.  He came up from the other side of the truck and looked at me with a "sorry, didn't see anything" smile while shaking his head 'no'.  I said, "I'm already done, she's dead."  The look on his face was priceless.  He couldn't see the elk from where he came up and he didn't believe me.  

 My first elk in three elk tags.

 We always hear stories about how the elk were right by the road, they ran in front of us, they shot themselves and climbed into the truck right before our eyes.  We have never been fortunate enough to have that happen with anything.  This picture shows how close to the truck we were.  That speck just out from the hood is the elk.

We had to drag it all of 100 yards to the road.  We headed home and were back by noon.  There are several high points to this hunting trip:

I spent an entire night away from my boys (the first from Henry, and only the second away from Carter-the first time was to have Henry)

I made it through the whole trip without even the start of a blister

I did it all (mostly) by myself (except for the gutting part.  I have, but don't if Landon is along)

Carter looks at these pictures and makes up a story about how it was his elk, his Uncle Bruce (funny how Bruce Unger=Uncle Bruce) and how we have 6 elk hanging in the garage.  I sure hope the imaginary game warden doesn't stop by.  Now we just have a few deer tags to fill and will mostly likely do it with the boys in tow.

3 Little Pumpkins

Pumpkins in our neck of the prairie get eaten by deer if they are carved.  The deer won't touch them if the are whole, but as soon as you carve them and put them within reach they'll eat every bit but the stem.  We decided to put a pumpkin on Carolyn's grave since she liked Halloween so much.  She dressed up like a witch every year to hand out candy and loved to see the boys in their costumes.  Carter thought Dave needed one too.  So he painted these pumpkins for Dave (left) and Carolyn (right).  He named them Avery and Lars, not sure which is which.  He took Dave his pumpkin and we took the 4 wheeler up to the cemetery to drop off Carolyn's.  He picked a good spot for it next to some flowers, checked out her headstone, told her he missed her and was ready to go.  Hopefully the deer leave the pumpkin alone.  

Henry and His 'NEW' Hat

I just think he's the cutest little boy ever!  Although this handsome child is worthy of a post by himself, the reason for this post is not just to display his 'new' hat but to tell a bit of the story behind it.  Yesterday our neighbor, Dave, brought over two well worn and even a bit dirty hats.  He apologized more than once for the hats being dirty, to which my reply was I can easily wash them.  The ties were either missing or had fallen off and were hand stitched back on. The names Leif Sorensen and Lars Sorensen are under the bill and on the tag in Carolyn's perfect block penmanship.  These hats are warm, filled with down with a cotton lining.  I know I've seen pictures of Leif and Lars wearing these hats when they were my boys' age.  These hats (the other is red) are at least 20 years old if not older and no doubt full of memories.  The Sorensen's are a family very similar to ours.  They have two boys a couple years apart, they hunt and fish, they garden and bake, they ride four wheelers and get dirty.  Carolyn hung on to these hats for a reason, maybe sentimental, maybe because they were too expensive to throw out, maybe to pass down to her grand kids, but probably not specifically for the Holte boys.  Whatever the reason, she hung on to them.  I'm sure that Dave has started to go through Carolyn's things, both stuff she saved and her day to day things, and came across these hats.  I can only imagine the emotions he went through trying to decide what to do with the hats.  I've gone through a handful of emotions myself since Dave was here yesterday and it didn't really didn't hit me until today...Carolyn is gone, we can't bring her back, and my boys will never really know how great she was.  I am thrilled that we, my boys, have something that must have meant a great deal to her.  At the same time my heart breaks for Dave.  How hard it must be for him to not only go on without the love of his life, but to go through all the things of their life together, deciding what to keep and what to find new homes for.  I, we, are blessed to have known Carolyn and Dave and I am grateful for the memories that we have of them.  Right now memories aren't enough for the boys, they need material things to help them remember and these hats are something that I will cherish just as much as I think Carolyn did.  My boys will wear them and someday I'll give them back to Leif and Lars.  Hopefully, they appreciate that I kept them as much as I appreciate receiving them first.