Matthew and Jeb left for their elk hunt mid morning on Tuesday, August 31. Opening day was September 1 and they wanted to go early to get camp set up and get a feel for the area.
There's definitely a different feel in the house when Dad is out of town. It's not better or worse, just different. I don't cook as much real food and the atmosphere is a bit more subdued. The kids are often more helpful but less obedient, which seems a contradiction but is somehow the case. I almost always go to bed the same time as the kids when Matthew is away, partly because it's exhausting parenting alone and partly because the house feels so big and empty when he's not here. The kids like it because they get to choose shows that Dad doesn't want to watch (like revisiting Marvel movies), but hate it because they miss hanging out (wrestling and playing video games) with him. While it's fun sometimes to mix things up for a couple of days, I think we can all agree that Dad really does complete our family and we are better with him than without.
On Wednesday evening we had an early dinner then attended the school open house for the elementary. Neither of the kids teachers were very chatty or had particularly useful information for me, but Abraham and Mercy were happy to show me their classrooms.
I spent hours catching up on the blog on Thursday and then made cinnamon rolls for my seminary students.
I walked with Mindy Friday morning, then was able to get in to see a different doctor that afternoon. The x-ray of my hip and subsequent meeting with the orthopedic doctor gave us no answers, and it was suggested that I get further testing. I tried multiple times to contact the random doctor I had seen who ordered me the x-ray, but she was completely non-responsive and unhelpful, so finally I made an appointment with a different doctor at the clinic I actually want to be attending. He was amazing. He listened and asked questions and looked some stuff up then asked more questions then did an exam then asked more questions. I was really pleased with his investment. He thinks it's likely the pain is a side effect of the new birth control I started earlier this year, but ordered a CT scan just in case. That evening the kids and I watched Captain America.
Saturday morning, while the kids pretended to work on their chores, I went to Smith's to stock up on their case lot sale, then went to Walmart for normal grocery shopping. I then spent the rest of the morning rotating our food storage and organizing the pantry. I also managed to clean up the sewing room, which was definitely a project. In the afternoon/evening, we spent some time playing at the school playground then watched Captain America: Winter Soldier.
Dad and Jeb had seen a lot of elk, but hadn't been able to single any out. The felt like they ought to wait a few days to see if the rut would set in, so they came home Sunday morning. I had lost track of time on Saturday and forgot to start our fast, so we did it after lunch on Sunday and were happy to have Dad home to fast with us.
Monday was Labor day, so the kids didn't have any school and I didn't have seminary. Everyone (especially Dad) was happy to sleep in! While Dad worked from home, I spent all morning making donuts, because Hyrum had been requesting them and I kept putting it off. They turned out really really good. In the afternoon Hyrum (and his donuts) went over to the Jolley's for D&D and Riker came here to play with Abraham. Mercy never finished her jobs on Saturday, so she spent the day grounded. In the evening we had the Dotson's over for dinner and a bit of a jam session.
Most of my seminary kids go to a charter school that had no classes on Tuesday or Wednesday, so I had a nice long break from early morning class. Matthew worked from home again on Tuesday and I finally got back into Zwift. That afternoon I tended Lucas while Cassie went to her 20 week ultrasound. Lucas usually likes me, but that day he was definitely not happy about the arrangement.
Jeb collected Matthew on Wednesday morning and they headed back down to Ruidoso. I enjoyed a lazy morning and just as I was getting geared up to get back to work, I got a call from the school letting me know I had to go pick up Abraham. One of his table mates had tested positive for Covid, so he needed to quarantine for 10 days. The ridiculous thing is that the sick kid hadn't been to school for two weeks so it had already been more than 10 days since he'd been exposed. They have to follow protocol though, so Abraham had to go home. That evening I went with Hyrum to the middle school open house. All his teachers gushed and raved about how wonderful and good and awesome he is, and my mama heart was so pleased. After that, Hyrum rode with the Jensen's to young men's.
Thursday September 9 was also the day that Matthew shot his elk!
Dad got home around 4:30 am on Friday. I woke up and came down to help him get his meat temporarily dealt with, then held seminary and washed Matthew's clothes while he took a two hour nap. Once Hyrum and Mercy were off to school, Matthew and I dealt with the elk head, then met Jeb and Hannah for breakfast at a café near their house. The men left from there to head back down to Ruidoso in hopes of getting Jeb's elk. Abraham and I went back to the skate park for a while after he was done with his school work, then in the evening the kids and I went to Walmart and each of us picked out an item for dinner. Abraham chose taquitos, Mercy chose mint ice cream, Hyrum chose pineapple soda, and I got a bunch of bananas. We then ate our dinner while watching Captain America: Civil War.
I finally managed to get my base line ride in for Zwift Academy on Saturday morning, then was pretty tired the rest of the day. I did get the two back straps processed though, so that was something. We spent the evening at the skate park with Hannah and the girls. Luci is really into tennis right now and there are courts at that park as well, so that's where the kids played most of the time.
The men didn't manage to harvest another elk, and were home around noon today. There are technically still three more days that they could hunt, but they've decided to be done. They had a really great experience though, and we are so grateful for the beautiful bull that Matthew got. Joshua Redd is here taking care of Mold Busters for Cassie and Beto while they are doing a church history trip with Beto's parents, so we had him over for dinner and family night this evening. The kids, keeping in mind their movie choices over the past two weeks, think he looks like Captain America.
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