This pregnancy has gone by so fast. I know I still have two more months left but I just feel like this little girl will be here before we know it. She keeps me up at nights kicking me hard in the stomach but I don't mind to much because it lets me know she is there.
I have been so amazed at how much Bentley continues to grow and learn. He is turning into a whole new boy right before our eyes. Since Jon has been back he has taught Bentley so many words like up, down, thanks, help, ect. They have so much fun playing together and I am glad to be a complete family again.
I really didn't want to forget to write about my Hunt I had in September. I found out about it back in May before I even knew I was pregnant. My dad got me a nice bow and taught me all the tricks about archery. He and my brother chad also got drawn for bull elk in the same unit so we would all practice target shooting together. As the hunt drew near I got more and more nervous. My dad would come home from scouting trips and tell me about all the giant elk he saw in addition to mountain lion, bear, and other wild animals. I kept thinking that I would not be able to defend myself or run to fast to get out of danger since I would be almost seven months pregnant. When we got up there opening morning we heard the elk bugaling and since I was pregnant the plan was to mostly have me sit water holes or tanks. It is such an adrenaline rush to be hiding in a blind while watching a huge elk come into view. They are so dang sneaky and quiet. Archery is tough because you have to be pretty close to the elk without them hearing, seeing, or smelling you. This is what happened to me. I was quietly waiting for an elk to come into view. I told my dad to take a nap since we were up almost all night and had no sleep. You see once you hear them bugaling there are different things you can do. You can wait patiently, try to call them in, chase them down (which is really hard because they travel extremely fast), ect. I decided to just wait. The elk I was waiting for was there at the water hole before I even knew it. Before waking my dad, I looked at the bull to make sure it was a "shooter", or in other words a big one. I was so excited but had to be so quiet not to spook the elk. I tapped my dad and the should and said there's an elk and he's a big one. I got down into my shooting postion on one knee and with my dads instruction to shoot drew back. I had him in my sights and let the arrow fly. I hit him high in the back. I guess it was beginners nerves because I was aiming for the money shot right behind it's should so I must have jerked a little. Anyways, the elk jumped and run back up the side of the mountain. Now came another tricky part about hunting. Sometimes when you shoot an elk it doesn't go right down so we had to track it. We didn't find it right away or even that same day but when we did I was so excited. He was a 7x7 that scored 370. He would have scored even higher but one of his royal points was broken off on one side, probably from fighting with other elk. It was tiring but so fun at the same time. Thank you so much to my Dad for the fun opportunity to do something like this and for all the hard work you put in. Thank you also to my amazing mother that watched Bentley for me so I could go. Also thank you to kyle for sitting long hours at the water hole with me and witnessing some amazing nature with me (We saw and heard turkeys, wild pigs, elk wallowing, and more). Thank you Tyler for your help as well. And a final thanks to my dads buddies Jay and Chad for your help.
