Bear Hunt Part IV - IT'S OVER!!

First off, if you don't want to see photos of dead animals- JUST STOP READING and come back when there is a new post! For those of you who stayed you will enjoy! There is going to be quite a few photo's BUT I can do it, this is my journal!

So I have to start at the beginning on Friday while we were waiting for Brett to get out of surgery Colby sent Kaid and Trevor up to the bait site to change out the SD cards and to set out more bait. Kaid called and said that there were 116 photos- Colby said that he would wait until later to come home and see them, he wanted to wait until Brett was a little coherent. So about 10:00 Colby headed out and said that he would be RIGHT back, they saw this bear! He called Shad and Jared both of them came over and were shocked. They both told him that it was HUGE and that he needed to try and take this one. So Saturday he went up in the morning- NOTHING while he was in the tree stand, but the bear had come back in and was on the camera. He was bummed but Brett was now out of the hospital so he hung out with him.

On Sunday morning Colby had church meetings and so he sent Kaid out again to get the SD cards and set bait. I was a nervous wreck, Kaid was by himself so I kept trying his cell phone and once he got service he called. He proceeds to tell me that he saw the bear and that it was HUGE (he could have NOT told me 1- that he saw the bear and 2- that it was HUGE.) The bear watched him put the food at the site and watched him walk out.

So on Monday Colby and Kaid went up first thing in the morning (2am) they sat in the stands for hours- NOTHING! So they came home and Kaid went to school and Colby got the trailer and headed back up. I was at home and just had gotten Brett settled and Colby called the cell phone, it was all static and I could not get everything he was saying....I kept hearing Kaid....At....Time....Kaid...then I lost the call. He called back more of the same, he called again and was farther down the canyon and had better reception I hear......I got a bear, where is Kaid I need help getting it out.....I said you got a bear? My house erupted in screaming! (you would have thought that Brock won the world series on HIS OWN!) he was screaming and jumping up and down! Brett called Kaid and said you need to get home NOW!

Once Colby was home there were several people waiting to head back up the canyon to help him bring it out. Brett decided that he wanted to go up so I went up with them so that I could stay behind with him. The entire way up Colby kept saying I got the little one. Shad was saying either way you got a bear- don't worry. We finally made it up the canyon to the river where they had to cross at about 10:00pm- they all headed out and said they would holler once they were back so that I could turn on the truck lights for them to cross the river. Brett, Riley (his friend) and myself went to the trailer we played games for awhile and slept. We decided around 11:30 that the guys should be getting back soon so we went back to the river. We waited....waited....and I think finally fell asleep. At 1:05am I heard them, I fumbled for the lights and once I turned them on I saw the bear on the edge of the river Jared was one of the first ones to cross the river, once he got to me he said "That's going in the record book" each person that came across told me the same thing.

With the river being as fast and as deep as it was they decided that they would hook a rope up to the truck and have the truck pull the bear across the river, Colby was holding on too a set of ropes and about mid way across the river the bear flipped and Colby went in head first, I was worried that he and the bear were going to go down the river! But everything was ok.

They decided to bring it out whole so that we could get photo's of Brett with the bear, he had gone up there so many times with Colby during the hunt. It was really nice that the guys would do that for Brett, I know it meant a lot to him and myself.

Colby took the bear to the taxidermist and in about a year I will be adding a new addition to the family! He also called the University of Utah to come get the carcass, they came out last night and the weighed the fur and the carcass and it was 412 lbs. that was with out the guts. So they say that if the bear would have made it until the fall it would have easily gone to 525-550 lbs. It was a HUGE bear. They measured around the bears front forearm and it measures 22 inches. Colby is so excited and I am really glad that he could kill it with out any one getting hurt!

Sat's on this : 15 yard shot with a bow

1 dead bear

4 happy guys at our house

This is the group up at the site back row: Shad, Kaid, Scott, Brady, Ryan Front Jared, Brock (yes Colby was true to his word that he would carry him across the river once the bear was dead) Vern and Colby. We finally made it home around 3:30am. THANKS to all of you that helped! It was so appreciated. We know that you all sacrificed your time and muscles! Thanks again!

Erika

2 for 1?! NOT!

Well for Mother's Day we were home just enjoying a nice peaceful day. We were sitting down eating my favorite meal STEAK and Kaid got up an went into the bathroom, I thought that he had gotten a piece of fat and was spitting it out. I heard him coughing and went into the bathroom and he was purple, I asked if he was ok, he nodded "NO" so I started hitting him on the back and yelled at Colby, he came running in and took one look at him and said call 911! Colby did the Heimlich on Kaid several times and nothing was working on getting this meat unstuck! So I was giving all of the information to the 911 operator, and Kaid said that he was fine and that no one needed to come out, so we told that to the 911 operator. About 30 minutes later Kaid was still chocking so Colby told him that we needed to take him to the hospital, so he and I went off to the ER, once we got there they hooked him up to all sorts of machines and started to monitor him. They told us that they were going to give him some medicine to make him throw up and it should fix the problem. So we waited and waited. Enough time had passed that they said they where going to send him into surgery to remove the piece of meat.....I was totally shocked and looking around like he is 16 not 2 how does he choke??? So they where prepping him for surgery, he sat straight up in bed and starting throwing up again, and the stupid piece of meat finally came out! YEA! Surgery avoided! So they told us all of the generals we all know about cutting and chewing our food better and they told Kaid that he needed to eat liquids only for the next few days because his throat would be very tender.

So for mothers day I got a trip to the ER! I bet you can't beat that?!?!

So Wednesday at Brett's baseball game Janet was laughing at Kaid's little trip to the ER and told us that we had better get EXTRA insurance on that kid, because he is always getting hurt. We all laughed and did not think much more about it.

Thursday night Brett was at a school play and sent me a text saying that he was sick to his stomach and that his ribs hurt. I asked if I needed to come and get him he said NO he needed to stay to get credit. Once it was over I got him and he said that he thought that he just drank too much water. So he went to bed and Friday morning he was not feeling better so Colby said that we should get him a doctors apt (Colby HATES doctors apts. he would rather them be really sick to see the dr) But Colby was worried about the Swine flu so we made the apt. I called Brett and told him it was at 12:30, he called be about an hour later and said that it hurts to breathe, I said ok , I will see if I can get you in earlier. he calls back about an hour later and says that he can't move! Great- I am thinking he Must have the swine flu! So I called the doctor and said that I was bringing him in right then. So I ran home and got Brett, he could not even walk! It took me about 15 minutes to get him in the car. We got to the doctors office and the waiting room was FULL I told the front desk that he could not wait in the waiting room and that he needed to been seen right then! I was getting all sorts of nasty looks by the mothers in the waiting room. We went into the room and the doctor came in immediately and was talking to us and did a little bit of poking on Brett and said "Well, call your husband Brett is going to have surgery" WHAT!?!? Yep, you guessed it Brett had an appendicitis.....He needed immediate surgery. They sent us right over to the hospital to be admitted and with in a few hours Brett was in surgery to have his appendix removed. He appendix had started to leak, and was right on the verge of rupture. So he had to spend the night in the hospital and got to come home on Saturday. I asked when I was admitting Brett if they offered any type of 2 for 1's they told me that they didn't.

So for my birthday I got a hospital stay!

I told Colby that for our anniversary we were not going to do gifts!

Erika

Art Show

Remember this little picture?!?

Well Kaid's art teacher entered it into the schools art show.....And it won 1st Prize we are so excited and happy for Kaid. I am still amazed that he can do what he does. I have no artistic ability! We are still waiting for the picture to make it's way home to our house! But Kaid said that it should be this next week!

Way to go Kaid!

Erika

Baseball

Wow, you know summer is close once baseball starts up. Just like the last 3 years I have all three boys playing ball. Brett's team is the only one that I have playing actual games right now. He has played the first two of the season and his team has won both of them! I LOVE baseball, but I really like the warm weather that usually comes with baseball. Both of the games have been FREEZING! Last night around 9:30 I finally sent Kaid to get me some hot chocolate. Brock had taken Jared to watch the game and he had to go, so Brock told me that he wanted to take some pictures with my phone. So here is what I have. Brock really zoomed in.

It to me is always hard when Brett plays his friends. And both games they played the same team and he had friends on them, last night Corbin was pitching and was doing quite well and Brett got up to bat, and Corbin hit him right in the leg, (Brock caught Brett trying to jump out of the way) but this morning there was a huge bruise! I am going to have to tease Corbin about beating up his friends!

It was nice last night to have my dad come and watch Brett, I know that he enjoyed having him cheer him on. We also got to spend some time talking with Lexi, she is growing up into such a cute girl! Bryce is really going to have his hand full!

Erika

Bear Hunt Part III

Colby is so excited. On Friday he went up to check the bait site and he knew that he had been hit, there where tracks on the ground and there was lots of food gone. So he did his thing up there and changed out the SD cards in the cameras and came home to see what was on there........

There were something like 100 photos of this bear! It makes me crazy, it scares me too death. But Colby is on a high like you have never seen. So are the kids, Brock keeps asking if he can go with Colby and he is told that the river that you have to cross it to high and fast right now that there is no way that he can go. Brock does not like that answer and repeatedly tells Colby that he is a big kid and should be allowed to go!This one is taken at night, it amazes me that the bear looks like he is getting comfortable to just eat. Colby has been keeping a journal of what time he comes in and Brock about has the thing memorized. He went up again yesterday and the bear had been back in and eaten a bunch of the food, so he will go back up tonight and swap out the cards in the camera again, so I guess we will see what he has on those.

Erika

Graduation

This week has been pretty crazy with all of the hunting, kids, finals, ball practice, and graduation. Yes I finally got my associates degree. I have been going to school part time for awhile now, and was waiting for two friends to have there credits so that we could all graduate together, unfortunately I waited as long as I could and finally had to do it without one of them. But Kimberly and I both got our associates degrees on Friday! I know I so should have listened to my parents and done it while I was younger--- But I now only have 20 credits and I will also have my Bachelors degree! It was a very surreal feeling, I remember graduating from high school and moving right to Montana, life was going to be an adventure and I was young and ready for it. WOW what 16 years will do, this time I had all my kids, Colby and my parents. It was neat to be able to hear them cheering me on when they called my name. I have always been there cheerleader, this time they got to be mine. Thanks!

At graduation we where honored to hear from President Thomas S. Monson it was so neat. He gave great advice to all of the graduates and closed his speech with reminding people what the two most important words in world were "THANK YOU" he said that we need to make sure that we say these words more.

While we where waiting for the processional the first presidency was down in the tunnel as well, I got the opportunity to shake Pres. Uchtdorf hand, it was neat to see these men who have devoted their lives to the Lord, they are spiritual giants who are so down to earth and such good men. It was a special experience.

I am so happy to have this leg of the journey done, and can't wait to continue to gain an education and knowledge. But I had better take the advise of Pres. Monson and say THANK YOU to my wonderful husband who always gives me support (even though he tells me that I am just in psychology to TRY to figure him out) my kids who have had to share my time with school. And to my parents who have always told me just how important an education is, and that I could always do it if I put my mind to it. And Kathy and Rog (Mom & Dad Dickson) for giving me determination (stubbornness?!?) and support. THANK YOU!!!!

Erika

Kids Grades

I am such a slacker! When we got the kids grades I told Colby that I was going to put them on, I just totally forgot. I was cleaning off the roll top and saw Brett's award so I thought that I had better share....

Brett had a 4.0 GPA he worked really hard for it. So this year he has had 3.8, 3.95 and 4.0! Good job Brett, we are all proud of you!

Kaid got a 3.5 GPA this term and we are proud of him as well, Brock got straight A's so he was really excited. As where we! Keep up the good work!