The Lingo

So… if you read the first post, you heard my embarrassing story on how I didn’t know what a western was. Yup, true story. My girl at Luck Leather Lace Love, will testify to this. You can say, that I’ve learned a few things since then, and I’m still learning. I’m just the wife to the guy that does all the adventures I blog about, but I do get to do and learn about some of these adventures with him. Here are a list of words that have an Outdoorman meaning and what I thought they meant, you will see my progress.

      Words                                Outdoorman definition                                 My first thought

v  Shed                           Antlers                                                                 A place to put storage

v  Buck                           Male deer                                                           A dollar

v  Cow                            Cow or female elk                                           An animal that says moo

v   Bull                            Bull or Male elk                                                 A cow with horns

v  Spike                           A male deer with one point                   something sharp that pops tires

v  Doe                              Female deer                                                      cookie dough or money

v  Two point                   A male deer with two points on both side       I had no idea.

v  Snare                          A type of trap                                                        No clue

v  Bale                          hay block                                                      What you post to get out of jail

This is really a short list of the many words I've learned along my journey, but I figured it was enough to get my point across. Hope it was either educational or made for a good laugh. (:

Wrapping up Summer...

Before I knew it, summer came and left. For my very first summer not being stuck in an office building in  6 years, I would have to say it was quite fun and enjoyable. I now know all that I've been missing, and I kind of hope that I never miss out again.

For my outdoorsy man, summer consisted of a LOT of fishing trips, in just about everywhere (lakes, streams, creeks, and ponds). Ocean fishing is something he's always wanted to do... It's on his outdoorsman bucket list.... which is a very long list. Sometimes I hear the list and the re-edited list right before bedtime.

Anyway, we also have a lot of summer hiking trips. Usually out in the middle of nowhere looking for deer antlers and elk antlers, and most of the time it's with this guy...

On the left is my man and on the right is his cousin and partner in crime. 

I know when these two are out, coming home at 6pm usually means somewhere between 8-9pm. 

In a previous post I ranted about my husband bring home fish every time he goes out fishing, and how I do not want any more fish in my freezer, well... I have to say that catching fish is OFFICIALLY better than NOT catching ANY fish.

I introduce to you dinner on a fishless night....

Can I just take a minute and tell you how happy that I am I stayed home on this trip. He boiled them and dipped them in a stick of melt butter. Yuck!!! He said it was yummy, whoever, my stomach thinks otherwise. 

On a happier and lighter note, we finished off the last day of summer with the perfect outing for our little family. We went up the canyon to a cute little camping/creek area and just had an evening out. Of course, we prepared a nice dinner of dutch oven potatoes and hotdogs, but it was our kind of perfect. 

Of course, I had to sneak in there a mommy made item. I finished a beanie just in time to keep her warm for this perfect family evening. 

Our girl had found a evergreen twig that she would just not leave alone, she literally had it with her the whole time. 

In my opinion, this was the best way to wrap up summer. Family time, good food, and being in the outdoors with my loves, it is picture perfect. 

Baby girl cuteness!!!

I love having a little girl. She brings so much light and love to our lives with her beaming personality. I must say that I love making her hair bows and finding cute ways to dress her up. This would be a mommy craft post of the cute hunting season outfit that I've put together for her.

I made her a -headband and some cute barefoot sandals. I know, this is extremely unpractical, but in all reality my 8-9 month old will not actually be physically hunting with her daddy this year. However, she will be a part of the family hunting traditions. (:

We also had a cute "Daddy's New Hunting Buddy" onesie made by Southern Princess Bowtique. This boutique can be found on facebook and have very reasonable prices, not to mention very easy to work with. Link will be listed bellow, if interested.

We spent the night at the family ranch, so I was able to get some cute pictures of this little cuteness....

Dad and our little stinker after a morning on the mountain.

No smiles on this one... but still cute.

As you can see, I am very excited for hunting season. I find that kids make everything more exciting, especially when it's their first experience. With that being said...

Proud Dad taking his little girl out for her first shed hunt. There wasn't any findings, but it was very small loop since she was not sure if she liked it. Oh boy... I guess only time will tell if she will follow in her daddy's footsteps.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Southernprincessbows

Summer happenings.....

When you are married to a man that gets an itch to go out and do something all the time, you find that every season has certain activities that repeat. Prime example, my husband enjoys fishing. In the spring he will fish streams and explore new areas. Yearly I can count on at least one Lake Powell fishing trip. This year, it was a summer night fishing trip that resulted in quite a few catches. On average he and his buddy were catching 4 to 5 lbs fish. They had a blast and came back with quite the stories.

Every time my husband goes fishing, I have to plead for him not to bring back any fish. This works maybe 30% of the time. I love eating fish, but not for every meal. We happen to have enough fish in our freezer to keep me happy for SEVERAL months.

Summer time also means working on the garden, which is something Cameron likes to do. It's his daily outdoor project and I will say that he's done quite well this year.

The corn is 11ft tall... how did that happen? Needless to say, the garden is official over grown. We also have popping corn growing, we will have to see how to harvest that and see if we can make our own popcorn!

Although summer consists of a lot of swimming for most, it is also is a time for us to watch our bank accounts to see if the hubby drew out for a tag for the hunt. In our state there are only a few tags that you can buy over the counter, most tags are given out lottery style. Cameron did get a tag this year and his choice of hunting is archery. So, summer time consists of taking out the bow and getting it sited in for the season.

Luckily my husband has cousins that enjoy very similar hobbies and we make an evening of it. We load up the husbands, wives, and kids to go to the mountain, and while the boys shoot their bows we chat and relax. We call it family home evenings, it happens to be one of our favorite things to do.

Summertime is in full swing! Fall is literally just around the corner and we are clearly getting ready for it!

The Man Cave

While dating and being engaged we always talked about our future, a man cave came up often. I always told him that he'd have a special room for all his stuff- his antlers, the ducks, and what ever animal he wanted hung.

In our first house he claimed the loft and the spare bedroom closet for his "Man Cave". Slowly I started losing the battle of having all this hobbies and trophies, if you will, in the cave. They started creeping out into the living room. First there was one, now there are two and it's just a matter of time before I completely lose that battle. To be funny Cam stuck the stuffed duck in the babies room and that was rejected shortly after I spotted it.

Our new house is a lot smaller with no extra bedrooms, my husband still has and found his "Man Cave".

He claimed the outside shed. Oh, and the carport for his fishing boat.

I've thought about helping him organize the "Man Cave", but I fear I will cross a line that should not be crossed. The "Man Cave" will just have to remain his territory. He's a pretty organized man as is, and I'm sure he has things just the way he want's them... but I absolute will not cave on one item making it into the house...

The dead head will have to forever remain in the "Man Cave". Oh how I love that man... I can only imagine when I have boys and what they will want to store in their rooms... I think we need a bigger "Man Cave", and STAT!!!!

Shed Hunting

By shed hunting I do not mean looking for storage space, I mean looking for antlers of deer and elk when the animal has naturally dropped them. You know you are married to an outdoorsman when you are never allowed to give locations of where the hubby has found the antlers, that he is currently out searching, and how many he found in one area. All these things are forbidden!!!

For that purpose, I cannot say where my husband goes or even give a general area. I am basically allowed to say, "Ta-da! Look what my hubby found." But the perks are, I get to use whatever antlers I want to create crafts and use it in my home decor. The ones I don't use, well... I let my husband keep a few "special ones." If it were up to him mostly all of them would be special, that is why I said a FEW. Needless to say, here are some of the latest pictures of his last endeavor.

Elk horn found but not the only one.....

I'm glad he likes to do this... but I say no thank you to packing those out!!! We weighted them when he got home and it was close to 40lbs.

This is the finding of deer and elk antlers... now... I have to decide what my next craft project will be!!!!
I'm kind of so excited and thinking about making a night stand. How fun would that be?


We were trying to be economical and took the car on our last outing, and this is how we ended up rolling on home.

Haha! I love being married to my outdoorsman! Life is never boring!!! So, let me know what you think? What should  I make next???

Learning while young

As stated in my last post, I didn't grow up being raised around animals that require a lot of work to maintain. After being exposed to the way my husband was raised, I truly do value and appreciate everything that his parent's taught him. To this day he is always eager to get up early (5am, 6am, doesn't matter), to go out and work with his dad, most likely he wasn't that eager in his youth. Anyway, they could be feeding the farm animals, or fixing fence and he loves it. He will sit there and tell me all the fond memories that he has had with his dad or grandfather in those early mornings, and some of the most important life lessons he has learned with them. How neat is that? Okay, I realize that some people might have already known this, okay maybe most people, but I didn't. I had no idea that this type of exposure could greatly impact someones life, and now it has impacted mine.

My husband and I have a beautiful 5 month old. She has been such a blessing in our lives, and I truly do love her. I want, as a parent, to give her the best life she can have. Sounds normal, right? Well, we've decided to start her young, learning the ropes around the family ranch and exposing her to what our family does. My hubby's family raises farm animals, has a small cattle operation, hunts, fishes, traps, and does anything and everything that involves the outdoors.

It is kind of hard to see, but our girl has already had her first hunting experience in the womb. I literally got to see my husband draw back and get a deer for our little family. He is going to school and is a year from wrapping up his bachelors degree, so we went down for a weekend hunting trip. Most guys probably wouldn't have shot a two point  (I'm sure you can look at the picture and see why it's called that), but my husband Cameron was in a moment where he was going to shoot the first legal buck (boy deer), that he could see. This deer provides meet for us to eat for the majority of the year. As poor college students this is how we survive. (Recipes soon to come on the different ways we use our deer meat.)

Last week we took our little girl to see the family ranch and see the cows.

Her daddy was so sweet and talked to her about what she was seeing. Moments like this are so tender and touch my heart. I cannot wait to see the friendship she will develop with her dad as he teaches her love, passion, and respect for the great outdoors and everything it has to offer her.

The beginning!

Hey! I wanted to start this blog because I have fallen in love with the lifestyle that I live. I owe everything to my husband. He has taught me so much and has truly evolved me to a better human being. I did not grow up around farm animals or even knowing that cowboys existed. For some reason I thought they were only found in westerns like "Back to the Future". (Now, I know better and know how embarrassing that statement is.) Needless to say, this high heel wearing city girl has found a new life, perspective, and passion for embracing the outdoor lifestyle of my husband.

 My intent is to provide recipes for game animals that has my deep freezer full, show some crafts that I've made with my husband's hobbies, and provide a new perspective in the life I love. So, enjoy!!!