Tday

 The week was a little stressful, since I figured out a way to fit 3 days of work into 2 days so I could drive  up to Page early. It worked out, but also it's a good thing that I had recently been feeling more myself lately - with energy lasting throughout the day, instead of crashing by 11. It's been such a difference. 

I chatted with Rog's parents for a minute before going to bed. My sleeping has not been great. After crashing hard for a few hours, I wake up around 2 or 3 - wide awake - and then decide I have to keep "resting" until it's time to get up. But it helped me leave a bit earlier, so I could get to Provo by 11:15 - just in time for nobody to be there. 

This kid asking "where's Roger" every 5 minutes for 2 days

The crew was visiting Tasty Bev up north. I did my work stuff for a bit and kicked Lavinia out of the room with the King bed. Greg was able to pick Becky and kids up from the airport so they could come hang for a bit before their family got off work and could get them. We ate wings, played in the pool, made cheesecake, and lost (and found) $500 in the space of a few hours. Classic Becky. 

The rest of the chins arrived in force by evening, having pancakes for dinner. Games were probably played ( and avoided) although I did play 2 games with Violet despite my best efforts to stay on her "dislike" list the rest of the time. 

BFFs.

Thanksgiving was an event. We had everything you could imagine - 2 turkeys, deer steak, baked beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, raspberry pretzel jello, green bean casserole, cheater meatballs, street corn, salad, fruit salad, mac and cheese, rolls, broccoli salad, and a bunch more things I'm forgetting. And that's just dinner. Several hours later, we broke out dessert - chocolate cream pie, blueberry, razzleberry, banana cream, coconut, pumpkin, cheesecake, and choco chip cookies (and probably more I'm forgetting). For future reference, we do need to cool in on the desserts as we are NOT sweets people. Less sugar, more meat. 

None of this is genetic (except 1), so admire the work that's gone on here. 

I think I watched at least 6 hours of Scooby Doo with Aurora over the weekend. Kev, Court, and I went to the gym for a full body workout, I hit up the hot tub on the daily, and we succeeded in a family VB game vs Hannah's friends. And in taking new fam pics with our Chingear 2023 (which were thankfully finished by Wednesday). 

The paintings. 

We also had a bach party for Maddy on Saturday morning - and I think by the end of that, we were all ready to have a break from festivities. It was super fun painting old photos of Xander and sharing some gifts with Maddy. We had a good time - and then everyone who remained napped for the rest of the day, cleaned up, and went home. And honestly, I'm ready for another nap.  :)

Chuck again

 We're rewatching Chuck, which is Roger's favorite thing ever that I have introduced his family to, as far as media. It's a good show, but tbh I have a short attention span when it comes to watching and I don't like to do it while we're together and could be doing other fun things, so we'll see how long it lasts. 

The week was fine. I skipped YW because it was some combined activity with the YM and frankly, it's not an environment in which I want to be right now. There's a lot of frustrating things going on there and not much I can do about it. 

Rog was supposed to go to Lee's Ferry this week for a trip, but nixed it in favor of plumbing, so that's two of us not doing our responsibilities all the way. 

He got to go hunting on Saturday morning, while I went to a funeral for an old patient of mine. It was good to see his wife looking happy again - the last year has been a huge mess and a lot of stress on her, so it was (overall) a good thing. 

Then we attended Friendsgiving together right behind our house. We had Al and Marissa and a few of their work friends who were fun to chat with. Helen and Connor showed up, which was a blast from the past from the Institute days and there was a whole bounce house inside the venue for the kids to play in. I brought sweet potato casserole and contributed to the raffle and had a good time. 

Christopher Nolan

I played VB twice this week. Once Monday with the crew, then again on Friday night because I guess some of the BB ladies wanted to play for once and 5:30-7:30 doesn't work for their nightly schedule. Starting at 7:30 is usually late for me, especially because I didn't even start sweating until 9pm. (That was also because of the skill of those present as well as the number. I told Rog it's a lot harder to keep the ball alive without looking like a jerk if there's 6 people instead of 4.)

This is partway through the burn. 

 Our combined YM/YW activity was just down the street, so I ran there. We beat up, then blew up a car. We warned the fire/police depts, but they had to show up anyways to check on us. Then we roasted s'mores. 

I've been reading a lot this week and really feeling the vibe, so I had to buy the sequels online - and also asked Rog to accompany me to the bookstore for our date night on Saturday. He got ice cream, I got cider, then he stole my cider and we had to go to Walmart to get more cider. He also kept trying to slip random romance novels into my basket. I'm not totally opposed, but there has to be a good story in it, at least. 

Happy to be here. 

Kailan and I went to the gym to learn some major lifts to help her improve her routine. She learned some things, I tried to impart 10 years worth of learning into 2 hours, and she was sufficiently sore post. We may do it again, but switch it up a little. 

The Lucky Pants & Cactus Butt Ed

I hit the gym with some mixed up workouts to test a few new things out. We didn't have VB as we couldn't get people, but that allowed more time to shop and pack and get everything done that we needed before our hunting trip. 

Rog got a call Wednesday morning saying that Carol shot her deer and he was antsy and asked me to cancel work. I did not. I did finish an hour early and he was already home and we left pretty quick after packing the car and cleaning the house a bit. We arrived at camp just in time for snacks and to get ready for the hunt. 

Almost. 

The first morning, we went to the spot with a million does (figuring a buck might find it a good place to be) and we were right. There was a large buck about 200yds away for about 10s right at first light and I could have maybe gotten a decent shot if I knew how to work our new scope better. But alas, I did not. So I missed out on this guy, which Roger's cousin shot a few days later and many miles away. 

We hunted a few other days in the same place with Stu. We went on a long hike up and down canyons. The truck broke down, so we took it to Kanab (and they actually fixed it!). But in the meantime, we drove Becky's 4runner for a bit. I had an almost 4-point that Roger was depressed about and an almost nice 3-point. 

Sunsets. 

Finally Saturday morning, I had the whole crew trying to help me. They spotlighted a giant right down the road from us late the night before, and apparently so did all the guides. So there was a ton of people in the same glassing spots chasing this buck. But only Ben saw the nice looking 3-point (who had been hanging with the big buck the night before) and he was 100 yards from our truck. So I shot him. Right in the butt (not totally on purpose, but he was just walking away the whole time and I didn't have many options). 

He ran and tried to hide by a tree, so I finished him off with a second shot. What I forgot to mention is that I was wearing Amy's lucky pants - which barely fit and were high waters on me. Which is important because I killed a cactus patch buck and he died in the middle of the stickers. But only a few yards from the road. We took him back to camp easily and quartered him and then I had a headache from not sleeping for the last week. 

Cactus Butt Ed. 

I did not sleep, but I did read my book by myself. And then I tagteamed a game with Becky. The rest of the camp went out to help everyone else in the unit get deer - including guides and another cousin. And we packed up and fit everything into the truck and my car and made it home in record time. 

SO to Rog and Stu and Becky and Ben and Ryan and Amy and Eve and Carol and Marshall (who was my best friend after I let him carve up the deer with us). And everyone else who helped scout and find deer and lives their lives in the 12B unit.