Great company and a crawfish boil

Another weekend gone in a flash, but what a great weekend it was!  A visitor for the weekend...mi madre, Stellar, the Lizard came to town!  It was busy and relaxing all at the same time; a perfect combination of just the right things to do.

She came in on Friday night, and we immediately took her to one of our favorite sushi places!  Saturday brought even more fun for us.  Sadly, Josh had to work all day Saturday but we managed just the girls.  We got up to donuts and milk and lounged until lunch.  Lunchtime came and we went to one of the best little burger joints in town...then the busy-ness started!  Wal-Mart (reinsert this three more times...yes three trips to Wal-Mart in a 24 hour span), dress shopping, and wandering around in and out of speciality shops.  I found the cutest dress for an upcoming wedding, and Madre and I got matching coral shirts...presh!

I created things with the Cricut for the rest of the afternoon...it's even more fun to create for a purpose!  Stella has an upcoming baby shower for a friend, and Josh and I are going to a wedding next week!

These initial on the paci's stand out better in person!

Getting ready for a wedding!

And of course we can't forget Lizard as we are making things!

Saturday night was a night that I have been looking forward to for a while.  Our dear friends came over, and we all visited and boiled crawfish in our new backyard!  So. Much. Fun!

A whirlwind weekend packed with fun, family, and lots of visiting.  I think we are all exhausted, but we wouldn't have it any other way!  Thanks for making the trip here, Stels!  We can't wait to do it again soon!

Weekends to Remember

For the past few weekends our home has been filled with the sound of laughter and chatter of dear friends. We have had a lot of visitors lately, and we have enjoyed every minute of it (even the cleaning that ensued before, after, and between each one)!  Now our house sounds strangely quiet and empty, kind of sad.  While our venture to Louisiana six years ago led us into a new life, a life full of happiness and new beginnings, it also forced us to leave behind dear friends and family who mean the world to us.

Thankfully with friends like ours "leaving behind" doesn't mean losing them forever.  It just means giving all of us the opportunity to have new places to visit and gather.  Kyle and Krisha came this past weekend.  Low key was our goal for the weekend.  We succeeded and enjoyed every minute of the relaxation and conversations.  No matter how often we talk or how often we see each other, we are still able to relive moments in the past that brings everything back to life.

We had different visitors the weekend before...Danny, Mallory, and Baby Noah (who is no longer a baby) came to visit us.  It was strange having them here again because the last time they were here Mallory had just found out she was pregnant with Noah.  Man, how time flies!  We enjoyed trips to the zoo, eating out, and having a very fast paced weekend.  Then Kay Kay came on Thursday night.  Kay Kay usually makes frequent trips to see us, but we have all been so busy lately that she hasn't had a chance to come down since our WEDDING!  We (mainly meaning Josh) have done so much around the house since then that it was fun watching her see all of our improvements!

This weekend with Kyle and Krisha, we all piled up in our bed and watched old home movies from our high school days.  We watched video footage from our old parties, we laughed until we cried, and we reminisced about each person we saw come across the screen.  In typical wonderful weekend fashion, it passed us by much too quickly.  Kyle and Krisha had to head back home early Sunday morning; Kyle had to work that night.  We cussed the adult world, the responsibilities that we know in the end bring us so much joy.  We know that's how it works though.  For the four of us, the time we get to spend together never seems like quiet enough.  It never quiet compares to all the time and endless hours we were able to spend growing up together in high school.  We know it's going to happen every time, but it never makes it any easier.

After Kyle and Krisha left, Josh and I lounged....ALL DAY!  Recovery mode.  That's what we decided to call it.  We watched (well pretty much I watched and Josh napped) more old movies.  This time it was NCA football season 2004-2005...Senior Year.  I watched countless pep rallies, Josh was "Bad 2 The Bone" complete with ripping off his shirt, we were all so young.  The senior pep rally was a tough one to watch, all the tears, all the uncertinities and excitement in our eyes...it seems sad now just looking back.  A bunch of small town kids about to embark on the rest of their lives.  Lucky for us, we have been able to start that journey together and stay close through it all.  Most of us from our graduating class all keep together in some way or another.  We are closer to some friends than others of course, but we all still have each others backs.  We were a small class, a tight knit group.  Six of us who graduated together married each other...what are the odds of that?  Six out of 29 is saying a lot.

I guess that's a small town for you.  Small towns breed closeness, they breed strength, they breed bonds that are tough to break.  Which means every time our small town visitors come to town, our hearts get pangs of homesickness when they leave.  In the end, we know that we are where we are meant to be...at least for the time being.  We know that Thibodaux is home for us for now, and we are happy here making new memories and new friends to mix in with our old friends.

We can't wait on our next Mississippi trip or for our next Mississippi visitors to come here.  Plans are always underway for us to go visit someone or for someone to come here to visit us!  It leaves us all with an underlying sense of excitement and anticipation that we love carrying around with us day to day.  So until the next trip, we will just relish in the memories this past few weeks of visitors has brought us!

Belated Birthday-Take One

Dads.  What would we do without them?  I can't imagine my life without my daddy.

This past year I tried to start a new tradition with blogging.  Every time a person close to me would have a birthday, I attempted to make a tribute blog post in honor of them.  Apparently I let a few slip through the cracks (I realized this as I was going back and re-reading my blog).  Good excuses abound for the three to four I missed, but that is beside the point.  So let's take a trip back in time and pretend as if we are in the end of November...Thanksgiving time or better known as Dad's Birthday! (I am working to catch up on my other birthday honor blogs that got skipped as well...one at a time though!)
Just for the record this blog got missed because I killed my first deer the day after Dad's birthday and was still running off of adrenaline when I blogged that entry.  If you want to relive it with me just click here!

Back to Dad...What would I do without this man...

He has always been there for me, lead me down the right road, and attempted to guide my financial decisions (although I must say I didn't always listen to some of those conversations).  He bought me my first car, and then my second car when I blew that one up, and then my third car when Josh wrecked that one, and then my fourth car when I wrecked that one.  Ok ok I know that's a little extreme, but hey it happened...maybe it was my fault that I didn't change the oil in my first car and the engine blew up, but I learned a very valuable lesson that day.  The lesson probably came in a little more clearly when my car that followed the big blow up I caused was an extreme demotion from my first ride.  LESSON LEARNED, Dad!  I will check my oil and check it often!

The lover of crawfish and all things Cajun, my dad is always looking for an excuse to make the trip south to come pass a good time in the boot with us!  And likewise we are always looking for an excuse to make the trip north to him!  The man can COOK.  That and the fact that he and Josh are almost joined at the hip.  "Padnas" as they call each other.  I feel so blessed to have my daddy and my husband to be such good friends!

A trip down memory lane, and oh look how things have changed!

From soaking up the sun on the beach...

To a father of two celebrating a big day...

To now having three (plus a son-in-law making four) and celebrating every event that we can possibly think to celebrate...hey any excuse for cake you know...

Guidance, friendship, and sometimes just an ear to listen or a person to bounce ideas off of...whatever it is I don't know what I would do without my daddy there by my side.

"Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father"

Life these days

I resolved this new year to be a better blogger. One month in and I'm not succeeding. I promise to try harder from here on out!

The skinny on what's been keeping me away? This guy...

No really he's not to blame, and I don't have any excuses. Nope, no excuses. Other than the fact that I am happier than ever! I have been enjoying life so much and counting my blessings that I haven't had time to stop!

My new job has blessed me with a work schedule that is so wonderful it still seems unreal! Getting off at 3 o'clock every day still amazes me. It has turned me into a better wife and a happier person. I feel like I can get things accomplished every afternoon after work, and I get to see and spend time with my amazing husband. I feel blessed beyond words to have found this change of pace that my life needed. There are still some unknowns in the job realm, but I am doing my best to put it all in God's hands. He got me this far, I know I just have to trust Him to lead me the rest of the way!

I have been blessed, more importantly, with an absolutely amazing (and yes I know I have used that adjective to describe him already but sometimes there is just no other way to say it) husband. In the almost year we have been married we have grown closer together than I ever thought possible. I thought we would never be more in love than we were on our wedding day, but it's 11 months later and our bond has grown and strengthened in ways I never thought possible. Mushy and make you sick to your stomach I know because I hate to hear people talk like that, but really just to sit back and look at God's work almost brings me to tears.

We have been working hard around our house too! Pictures are coming soon, but someone in our subdivision's husband just built them a brand new cedar fence and I'm pretty sure it was mine!

Other exciting news around our household...dates have been set and come August I will have gained a new sister!  It will be an eventful year as Jef and Eighmey prepare for their nuptials.  I cannot wait to watch it all unfold!

So with that I guess it's off to bed.  The work day comes early, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

My year in review

Well, it has happened again.  Another year over and done.  Another year where we have loved, lossed, grown, and seen the world change.  For me it was year filled with new experiences and adventures...so hang on because this is my year in review 2011.

I can remember where I was when 2011 rang in...well sort of I can.  We had to change around our traditional New Year's plans of spending the night ringing in the New Year with Kyle and Krisha.  Work got in the way, so we changed around our weekends and had to do different things.  We were at the hunting camp for New Year's eve, but sadly we were all sleeping by the midnight hour.  So the new year was off to a slow start, but I'm pretty sure we made up for it!

That next weekend was our first big milestone...January 6th, 2011 Anne Claire's bachelorette party came to town and NOLA has never been the same since!!  It was an amazing night surrounded by my dearest friends who went way out of their way to ensure I would have the most fabulous time ever!  They even made a weekend out of it by spending the next night at my house for a kind of low key night around the fire.  Memories were made that night and our bonds formed a little stronger.

And as proved to be the theme of 2011, there was no rest for the weary because bright and early that Monday morning I started my brand new job.  I remember leaving there one day during the first week of work and heading straight over to the office where I used to work.  I opened the back door and found everyone and just burst out into tears.  I thought I would hate it, I thought I would never be able to get the hang of it, I didn't think I would have any friends.  Little did I know how much I would actually grow to love what I do.  I now cherish my time with my patients and I look back to those days when everything was so new and fast paced and still can't believe how far I have come.  It has been an amazing journey and now I know for sure that I made the absolute right career choice.

Between trying to grasp the flow of a new job and getting ready for a wedding, we were having wedding showers galore.  It was humbling to see how many of our friends and family surrounded us and embraced us as we were beginning to embark on a new adventure in life.  We enjoyed all the wedding showers to the absolute fullest and were ever so grateful for each guest and well wisher.

I even had several anonymous happies come in the mail just to get me in the wedding spirit...did I mention I have the best friends ever?

3.19.11  Our big day was here before we knew it.  I was the happiest girl on the planet, and our wedding was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.  The rehearsal dinner was a blast...it was everything we wanted it to be.  The wedding was more than I could have asked for.  Everything came together so beautifully.  The wedding was the special, intimate ceremony we wanted observed by our family and friends.  It was what we had been dreaming about for a really long time!

We became husband and wife.  Then we had the time of our lives at the reception.  Everything was perfect...better than I ever imagined.  We had the best time and couldn't bare to tear ourselves away from our party.  We left a couple hours behind schedule, but we were having such a great time surrounded by everyone we held close that we had no reason to rush out!  The entire experience was magnificent, humbling, and something that we love to relive time and time again.  It was truly the best night of our lives.

Josh had a little too much fun with the cake!

My dad made me a little teary-eyed with his toast.

I sang and danced the night away surrounded by friends.

Tossing the garter.

Throwing the bouquet...even Kay Kay joined in the action.

The ending of an amazing night.

The day after the wedding we set sail on our very first cruise.  And despite battling a few bumps in the road (sickness and Josh getting our debit card cut off in Mexico just to name a few), we had the most amazing honeymoon.

So excited to be on board our first cruise ship!

First stop Jamaica

Then it was off to the Cayman Islands

And finally Cozumel

It was an amazing seven day adventure...one that we cannot wait to have again and again!

After the wedding and honeymooning we tried to settled down in the regular life.  I was still transitioning into my new role at work, and as a new family of two we were working on slowly remodeling our house.  We settled into life well, learned our new routine, and began thriving as a family unit.

Summer found us before we knew it and we submersed ourselves in fishing trips, quality time out on the boat, one of our best friends beautiful coastal wedding, and learning important lessons like who should and shouldn't be allowed to cut the grass!

We love our time out on the water.

Baker/Smith's rocking their wedding coastal style.

Apparently there are some things that I just am not wired to do!

Camping quickly became one of our favorite past times this year.  We found ourselves loving the peace and quiet that we found while in our home away from home.  We realized how much we really loving being able to load up the camper and hit the road for a few days.  Over the past few months we have found some of the nicest camping resorts in the south Louisiana area, and it's a new love that we enjoy sharing with our friends!

Camping + hibachi grill = perfect combo

This year has brought us a tremendous amount of happiness and blessings. But with the happy it has also brought the sad.  We lost a few precious loved ones this year who were all very dear to our hearts.  One seemed to be taken from us all too soon and the other allowed to live and long and fruitful life and then taken in the blink of an eye.  There is no harder thing in this world to grasp than the will of God sometimes.  And I guess sometimes it's not meant for us to understand it all.  As hard as it seems to cope with some of things we are handed in life, we just have to remember that at the end of the day God is there with us.

Along with the sadness and heartache, we discovered a few miracles in 2011.  The miracle of new life happened time and time again throughout the year for several of my close friends, and I became favorite Aunt Claire several times over.  We experienced the heartbreak that comes with having a baby who may not really be as perfect as she seems.  And then, by the grace of God, we were able to experience the miraculous medical interventions that can sometimes give babies what seems like a second shot at life.  Like baby Charlotte Rae Lyon.  Once her hypoplastic left heart disease was discovered about two days after what seemed like any other birth, doctors told her parents there was no hope for her...all they could do was make her comfortable.  Through the prayers and a new doctor's eyes, Baby Charlotte's heart was operable.  And even though she has a long way to go, she is at home doing just fine right now.

Sweet Charlotte Lyon

The months started turning cooler which meant deer season 2011 would soon be in full swing.  Of course Josh was beyond excited.  I was beginning to get even a little excited myself.  I had decided that this was the year that I really wanted to become a hunter.  I craved the silence and solitude of the woods after crazy days at work.  So when hunting season finally came even I was chomping at the bit to get into the stands.  Four deer down so far, and I would say the Dugas' have had a pretty successful deer season as of yet.  The biggest news of the season is that I became a bonafide hunter by killing my first deer!  I have never seen Josh more proud.  It is a moment that really put our bond on another level.  I still can't help but smile every time I think of that day in the woods together!

Thanksgiving day 2011

Even excited to have the deer blood on my face!

The year started to slowly wind down, and I started to realize that while I absolutely love my job I feel like I can do something more.  I felt the need to do something a little more acute.  In early November I accepted a new job within the surgery department as a circulating nurse.  Because of holiday staffing they needed me to finish out the year on the floor, and I was happy to have a couple more months of spending time with the patients I love so much and my coworkers who have become a part of who I am.

Christmas came at lightening speed, and our plans had to change a little since I would be working on Christmas day.  Something thing I dreaded doing for almost an entire year, turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life.  Having to work on Christmas also allowed us to do Christmas early with all of our families.  Because of that we were able to have very low key and relaxed Christmas celebrations, and we really reflected on the true meaning of Christmas.  We felt amazingly blessed to be able to spend such quality time with our families.  And despite my concerns, Josh and I were still able to have the perfect family Christmas that Christmas night.

Our first Dugas family Christmas card

Christmas with Mom

Jeffie with his loot, and of course Priss peering over

Our new and improved stockings for Mimi's

Christmas with Dad at Kay Kay's

Sweet Joshie opening his presents from Santa

So 2011 officially came to an end. This year we were able to continue our New Year's tradition and spend it with Kyle and Krisha.  We enjoyed a long weekend at their brand new home and enjoyed ourselves to the absolute max.  It was one of the best and most relaxing weekends we have had in a while!  We rang in the New Year by making a quick trip to the coast.  We had a fabulous time.  It was the perfect way of saying farewell to a great year!

New Year's Eve 2011

Me and Krisha celebrating the end of the year and the new beginnings to come

Happy New Year!

So here's to you 2011.  Thank you for all the memories, the bonds we have formed, the joyful times, and all the ways you have allowed us to grow.  Here is to hoping for an amazing 2012.  With a new job on the horizon for me (starting Monday) and great friends and family by our side, we have nothing but high hopes for this new year.  I hope that we will all see a little more happiness than we ever thought possible, see the least amount of pain and heartache as necessary, grow stronger in our faith and in our friendships, and are able to live this year to it's absolute fullest.  I can't wait to see what all 2012 has in store for us all!

Christmas of many firsts

Christmas.  The holiday I look forward to all year long.  Christmas.  The most exciting holiday now that I am married.  My first married Christmas.  The day I have looked forward to since Josh and I got married.  I have envisioned Christmas morning with my husband for months.  I envisioned the new traditions we would set as a family.  It was all absolutely perfect.  Then life cut in.

Work.  Yep, you guessed it.  My first married Christmas and I had to work.  Ahh the joys of being a nurse. Remind me again why I didn't become a teacher?

Granted I have known since about last January that I would have to work this Christmas; however, I chose to not focus on it and therefore -in my mind- I wasn't going to actually have to work that day.  Yet accepting it or not I did have to work.  And you would think that I would handle that news like an adult, right?  I mean, sure it's our first Christmas married but it's not like we have kids or anything like that...it's just another day, right?  Yeah, I didn't quite think of it that way.  In my defense I did try.  I tried to be happy to work, grateful for my job, all that jazz...still didn't work.

I think I cried for a solid week before Christmas actually got here.  I almost refused to put up a Christmas tree (although I did of course end up putting one up).  I all but ripped the radio out of the car every time I heard a Christmas song play.  My way of coping with have to work on Christmas was to not acknowledge that Christmas was actually here in any shape, form, or fashion.  I was in denial.  To make matters worse I didn't only have to work Christmas day.  I had to work Christmas eve, Christmas day, and the day after Christmas!  It sounded like torture.

Josh and I made the decision last year that from now on (working or not working) we would be spending all of our Christmases in Thibodaux.  The traveling to and from between the families on Christmas had gotten so overwhelming that none of us could even enjoy Christmas the way we were suppose to.  So I already knew this year would be different, I just didn't know how different.

My family was very supportive of course.  Everyone went out of the their way so that we could all have Christmas early.  So the weekend before Christmas Josh and I loaded up and headed north for a weekend of Christmas festivities.

Our first stop was my mom's.  Christmas with the lizard on Friday night...Jef and Eighmey were even able to come too.  It was absolutely wonderful.  My mom had everything set up perfectly for us all.  We came in that night and supper was waiting on us...and did she ever have a delicious spread complete with our favorite chocolate cake!  After supper we all opened presents.  It was nice..very laid back.  We had all the time in the world so we were able to each open one present at a time and marvel over what each person got.  Josh thought it was hilarious to swap around a few of the tags, so some of the presents were mysteries until we opened them but that just added to the memory.  After presents we all sat in the living room and decorated our stockings for Mimi's house.  We had a grand time just crafting and being together.  We stayed up way too late and woke up entirely too early the next morning, but it was all worth it!  After a lazy morning of breakfast and a quick shopping trip we all had to load up and head down the road to Kay Kay's.

Saturday afternoon marked Christmas with my dad and family.  Josh and I braved the mall on the way towards that side of town.  I thought we would be trapped there forever with all the people milling around, but Josh said it was a good way to put us in the Christmas spirit.  I guess he was right...it was fun!  We all got to Kay Kay's around the same time, and it didn't take long before the present exchanging  began.  Again we were able to take it slow and all open gifts one by one!  After presents came supper, and then we were all able to just sit around the table and talk and catch up for a while.  Another really great night was had by us all!

Josh and I decided (at my almost pleading request) to wait to do our Christmas until Christmas night after work.  Josh decided to go to his mom's on Christmas eve and spend Christmas morning over there.  Even though I really didn't want to spend Christmas eve alone, I was more than happy that he was going.  I don't think I could have bared being at work on Christmas if I knew he were home all day all alone.  It was really comforting to know that he would be happy and surrounded by family...didn't stop me from crying all week, but it was still comforting.

So the dreaded Christmas eve came.  I laid in the bed crying that morning before work...I was completely dressed ready to go but I didn't want to leave and actually have to start my holiday at work.  Josh reassured me one more time that it would all be ok, and I basically had to force myself out the front door.  Once I got to work I realized it wasn't so bad.  The patient's were all in relatively good spirits, we were trying to get as many of them out of the hospital as possible that day, and everyone's moods were pretty high.  I finally listened to Christmas carols all day long to try to help brighten things up.  That night I went home and baked goodies for our Christmas dinner at work, wrapped a couple of last minute presents for my Josh, and laid in bed and watched my favorite Christmas movie of all time...The Grinch. I was able to talk to Josh on the phone as many times as I wanted, and everything seemed to be a little better.

Christmas morning came, and it was a strange feeling to wake up and be getting ready for work.  Josh called me before I had time to worry about not being able to tell him Merry Christmas before work, so that set the day off on the right foot.  I adorned myself with a light up Christmas light necklace and hat with reindeer antlers that lit up, and hit the door headed to the hospital.  I was in the best mood once I got there, and all of the sudden I couldn't remember why I had made such a big deal out of having to work on this day.  All through out the day I kept getting more and more joyful.  Our census at the hospital wasn't nearly as low as we thought it would be, but I did my best to make sure all of my patient's had the best Christmas they could considering their circumstances.  I was almost sad to leave work that night.

ALMOST sad.  As soon as I remembered that Josh was home and I would get to have the night with him I almost ran for the door.  When I got home that night Josh had two plates of Christmas dinner sitting out on the stove with a special surprise card.  We ate and exchanged gifts, but the best present I could have ever gotten was when I walked in the front door and saw his smiling face.  It was as if my world were right again...everything was in it's place.

I looked back on that Christmas a day or two later, and I shocked myself.  Thinking about Christmas lead me straight into prayer.  I was driving down the road all alone and I was thanking God for making me work Christmas.  I look back now and think about how hard I fought the situation.  I did everything I possibly could to get out of working Christmas.  Then when I couldn't get out of working it, I made everyone around me miserable on the days leading up to Christmas.  It wasn't until a couple of days later that I was able to fully appreciate the effect that working on Christmas day had on me.  It was probably one of my best Christmases ever.  It was a Christmas that left me fulfilled, a Christmas in which I felt like I truly not only grasped the meaning of Christmas but acted on the meaning and allowed God to use me to help others.  It was a Christmas in which I was able to give back, and it was maybe one of the greatest lessons I have ever learned.  Trust God.  Trust Him with all of your heart because He will never lead you down the wrong path.

I needed to be at work that Christmas day.  I needed to see what it was like to do something completely selfless on a day that can get sometimes so wrapped up in gift exchanging and "getting" that we all forget the true meaning.  Working on Christmas day is not something I always want to do.  I want to start traditions with my little family of two.  I want to wake up with my husband and spend the day making memories.  But this year, I am not sad that I had to work Christmas any more.  I am grateful and happy to have had the experience to see Christmas from a different perspective.  It was definitely a Christmas that I will never forget!

I'm bonafide

It finally happened.  We all knew it was bound to really.  I have a new love in my life.  It doesn't mean the old loves have gone away, I have just expanded my heart to encompass this new love as well.  I guess it's best to just put all out there.  I, Anne Claire Dugas, am finally, officially, a bonafide deer hunter.

Not what you were expecting, huh?

Yes, I have a new hobby and one that I thoroughly enjoy.  This may come as a shock to some of you who can remember back in January of 2009...the year that Josh proposed to me in the deer stand. I couldn't figure out the reasoning behind that and why he thought it was such a marvelous place.  Now I know.
Last year, towards the end of hunting season, I decided I might kind of like going hunting...I didn't get the opportunity often and I had no desire to actually kill an animal, but I liked going.

This year, something changed.  Suddenly, I was dying to get out in the woods.  I was picking out camo gear for myself at all the stores.  I was begging Josh to buy me my own riffle.  What happened to me?  I don't know what is was, but it is a change of heart that I am embracing.  Now I jump at any chance to get into the woods.  I mean think about it...it is amazingly silent in the deer stand.  I bring my Nook and I slip away into reader's heaven as I absorb myself in whatever it is I am reading.  Josh goes on deer patrol.  When the sun starts to drop he nudges me that it's time to put my Nook down since the light is starting to show from the screen.  Then I go on deer patrol with him.  We just sit in silence, exchange glances, and I try not to talk and shift in my seat.  I decided that this would be the year that I would kill a deer.

The first day of the season we were in the woods.  I had given up hope of seeing anything because Josh and I had been so loud talking away (and also because I wore deodorant and apparently arming yourself with human scents is frowned upon in the hunting world).  So ok if me wearing deodorant meant no deer in our vicinty that was just a chance we were going to have to take because this girl wears her D.O!  Despite my smells and our whispers, a deer came out for us on that faithful day.  I spotted it just as it was getting dark.  Josh shot because let's all face it, I was not prepared.  My first riffle lesson two days before ended up with me holding the gun with my eye to the scope crying because I was too afraid to pull the trigger.  Epic fail.  So Josh shot, and the deer ran.  That's when the real fun started.  Tracking...another one of my new favorite things to do.  We followed the blood trail all through the woods.  Apparently, I was suppose to be the one who actually stood by the blood while Josh found the next spot of blood so we didn't lose our trail.  I was too excited for all that, so I just went  galavanting through the woods until we came across OUR deer...that was kind of frowned upon too.  So we had our first deer, and I got some claim to her since I spotted her in the woods.

That's when I decided the next deer was all mine.  I guess there is some sort of unspoken rule that you have to be able to actual shoot a riffle before anyone will let you shoot at a deer.  Ok, fine...so I shot skeet.  And I shot skeet well if I do say so myself!  I was ready for that deer!

So we hunted and hunted and hunted...nothing.  We went to my dad's for Thanksgiving and visited his hunting camp for a Thanksgiving day hunt.  I kind of made up my mind when we got in the stand that we wouldn't see anything.  We weren't quiet in the least bit.  Josh decided it was too hot for his coveralls so he delayered.  I dropped my nook twice.  We were loud.  We watched and watched and we saw nothing.  Darkness started to fall, so Josh started gathering all of our gear so we could head out.  That's when MY deer stepped out into the clearing.  "Josh, Josh, Josh, give me the gun," was all I managed to croak out I think.  I do need to backtrack a little here.  During all of our prehunting teaching sessions Josh would always tell me that whenever a deer would stepped out in front of me that I would get really nervous.  I think he was warning me about how much adrenaline I would be running on.  I blew him off.  Whatever.  I am a nurse.  I save people's lives.  A deer won't make me nervous.  Now back to present day in the deer stand.  Deer steps out, I hyperventilate.  I was sooo nervous I could not get a deep breath.  Of course Josh had to be right about the whole nerves thing.  So I try to find the deer in my scope despite my trembling hands.  That's when I realize that this is no average deer.  This is a buck and a BIG one.  I whisper to Josh that he has to be atleast a 6 point and that maybe he should shoot.  He, first of all, can't see the deer from the angle he got himself into when he was packing up, and second assures me that this is my deer so I should shoot it.  Ok, he is in my scope; I still can't breath.  I try to hold my breath to steady the gun while I wait for him to turn broadside, but dangit I ran out of breath...this happen three times.  Finally, he turns just a little and looks like he is getting ready to run.  "It's now or never"...I can still hear the voice in my head saying that.  BOOM.  All I saw was a flash of red.  I hand the gun over to Josh and jump out of the deer stand.  But then there's Josh raining on my parade and making me walk so I don't "scare" the deer.  Whatever.  But I oblige.  I see my deer laying on the ground in almost the exact place where I shot him.  "Hmm hmmm hmm," I was thinking in my head, "my first deer, and he's a 6 point or bigger, and I dropped him...dang I'm good."  Josh gets to the deer first.  He looks at him and makes a bad noise.  Then he looks at me and says, "your 6 points is missing a few points".  What?  What does that mean?  A spike.  All my excitement deflated.  Josh's didn't though.

Josh was so excited and proud that nothing could touch him.  We called my dad and he came to get us and my deer on the four wheeler.  It was a little harder breaking the spike news to him, but after a little while he was still proud of me too for killing my first deer.  Those spikes did cost us a nice $100 fine, but Josh says the memories were worth way more than that.

It was one of the most exciting days of my life.  I killed my first deer.  I was on cloud nine.  Josh was so proud he was about to burst.  It was a day that we will never forget.

So now I guess I am bonafide.  I am a hunter.  I wear my camo with pride, and I look for any excuse to

get into the deer stand with my amazing husband.  A family that hunts together, stays together.

Our first deer of the season (the one I saw first :) )

MY first deer!

Blood faced and too excited to care!

The hunter and the proud husband!