Lily with a Hair Cut

So we took Lily to the groomer to get a hair cut for Christmas and now she looks all grown up! Ah! She's still adorable though. Here are a few pictures:

Vegas Blizzard

It snowed! We finally got snow here in town, at our house, and all over the valley. At our house we had about 3-4inches! It was wonderful! It now finally feels like Christmas time. That is one thing I miss about living in Colorado-the snow around the holidays. It just doesn't feel like Christmas time without snow. Anyway, the snow started up in Anthem around 12pm and really didn't stop until the middle of the night. We took a couple pictures at work and then all got out of there trying to beat the storm. I left work early at 3pm and the roads were already covered! I was slipping and sliding so the ride home took 3 times longer then usual! Turns out Anthem ended up with the most snow-about 9-10inches in the highest parts. When I got home Travis was enjoying the snow on the ATV and we of course had to take the truck out and play in it. We were one of the only vehicles on the road that night. Vegas hasn't seen snow like this since '79! It snowed on Wed, Dec 17th and there is still snow stuck to the ground (it's Sunday). I love it and am now ready for Christmas. :)

White Elephant Parties

Can I just say, I LOVE White Elephant Holiday Parties! The Hammonds' threw one a couple weekends ago and it was hilarious. There was a great turn out and a great group of people. I don't know what it is about socializing, but it just makes all the difference to me. :) We ended up with some good stuff too! Travis picked an early number and I picked a later one, so we worked the system and I got a holiday serving tray and he got these cool utility knives. Thankfully we dodged the half eaten box of chocolates and over-sized, big booty 'sexy' panties. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, but I couldn't let that weekend go by with out mentioning it.

Since then, it's been pretty busy around here with me doing all the Christmas preparations and taking care of Travis and Lily, while Travis has been studying his butt off! They scheduled so many exams this month that it almost seems impossible to study for them all. He's doing a great job though and has actually pulled off some really good scores on his tests. Lily was due for her shots and grooming, so a lot of my time has been spent taking care of all that. The shots weren't that bad, but the diarrhea afterward was quite annoying. The grooming wasn't too bad either, but she hasn't been too mindful of waiting by the door to go potty outside lately. Also, I haven't had a chance to get a good picture, but Lily got her 1st official schnauzer cut and she looks all grown up now! I don't like it. I liked the cute fluffy puppy look better. :( So we're probably going to let some of her cheek hair grow back out so savor the puppy look a little longer. And can I just say that dogs are expensive! They're just like any other expensive hobby, gotta buy the gear, and keep up on the maintenance for it and give it time and attention...geez. I had no idea. But no regrets here. I LOVE having her around!

And we took a Christmas picture as well. So here's our most updated family picture, in our own backyard. :)

Thanksgiving Break Festivities

Thanksgiving break this year was pretty eventful for us, mostly because the Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving were mine and Travis' birthdays. The festivities started with a night out to dinner and a movie with the Smiths', Richins', and Tim. We went to Claim Jumper since we had a gift card, compliments of one of Travis' classmates, Nora, given to Travis for changing her breaks. Dinner was delicious and it was so nice sitting down and chatting at a nice place with yummy food. Then we headed over to GVR movie theater to see "4 Christmases" with Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vahn. It was hilarious!! I haven't laughed a movie so much in so long!

Next came Thanksgiving Day. We enjoyed sleeping in and then while Travis was studying, I baked 4 pies-2 Pecan, Apple, and Banana Cream- and made a new side dish to try-Sweet Potato Pie. All were delicious and they took up my whole day until it was time to head over to Travis' parents for Thanksgiving. Although I was cooking most of the day, I didn't mind too much because I got to be at home all day! I also was Travis' practice patient, so in between pies I had my ears and eyes examined many times. I won't get into the details about the ear exam, but let's just say we found some pretty nasty stuff!

Turkey dinner was spent with Travis' parents, the Culvers', and the missionaries. We had all the traditional yummy dishes with even a fresh Turkey! The 3 dogs and cat were great entertainment and we just enjoyed one an others' company. The Elders also shared a great message about being thankful. Travis, Lily, and I ended up falling asleep on the couch and finally headed home around 1am.

For the first time that I can remember I went Christmas shopping on Black Friday. Usually we're on vacation somewhere or have some sort of activity planned for Friday (hunting) and don't end up going. But ya know what, it wasn't that bad! And actually the sales really were worth it. I got my shopping done for just about everyone I had left, and bought a thing or two for myself. :) The rest of the day I spent at home decorating the house with all of our Christmas decor. Can I just say, I LOVE decorating for the holidays! Lily found a new toy, our Christmas Mickey Mouse, and definitely had fun getting into things as I was putting everything out.


Saturday was my birthday-the big 27. It was a wonderful day-we had brunch at our house with Travis' parents. Travis made the omelets, and Linda brought orange juilus' and scones. They all were so generous in their gift giving so I just had to take a picture of my collection. Travis got me the jacket, crocs, and I bought myself the running shoes the day before so that counted too. I absolutely love the wall art from Sportsmans Warehouse! My mom got me a gift card to Kohls and mom#2 got me one to Aeropostale. The rest of the day was filled with more Christmas decorating, this time on the outside, and chit chatting with family and friends. Then Travis and I went to Aeropostale were I got 2 pants, 2 shirts, 1 sweater, and he got 2 shirts as well. They were having an awesome sale and I just had a blast trying everything on and having my own little shopping spree. Afterwards we had dinner at Elephant Bar, which was a nice break for the both of us from Travis having to study so much. Overall, it was a very nice, relaxing birthday.


Sunday was Travis' birthday. He wasn't too excited about celebrating his birthday this year, and I don't blame him. I'm not going to be all that thrilled to turn 30 either! So we slept in and went to a later ward. Afterwards, he couldn't stand it and just had to open his gift from me. He's so adorable when it comes to getting excited about this presents. :) I gave him some thermals, a fleece jacket, and new ski pants. I think he loved them all. Before heading over to Travis' parents, I made him Carrie Lou's delicious Ganache Cake which we were all almost too stuffed to eat later that night. For dinner, Travis requested Prime Rib from his mom, which of course was delicious! It definitely has been the weekend of yummy yummy food. We chit chatted a bit about family history, updated my records, and now have my work cut out for me going through a family history book from the Hicks side of the family. Then came the presents for Travis. He got a couple of ATV tires, which he's really been wanting, a jack stand, a new sonicare, another Hooters plate and sauce (just an inside joke in the family). He too had a good birthday and we left feelings a few pounds heavier after all the festivities.

Mtn Biking at Cottonwood

This weekend we went mountain biking at Cottonwood outside Red Rock. A couple of Travis' friends from school wanted to go so I jumped on the idea of going since I've been wanting to ride for awhile now. We also invite Cory & Stephen, so I was out numbered 5 guys to 1 girl. We rode the same trail Travis and I did the first time we met. Oh, the memories..! The weather was perfect and the ride just right-long and hard, but not too hard. It was a great break from the Christmas shopping and studying. Hopefully I'll get a few more females in the mix next time. (Sarah...Amber...) :)

Turkey Shoot

We have the coolest Ward! The Elders Quorum planned a "Turkey Shoot" this weekend. No, we didn't shoot turkeys, although Travis and I have gone Turkey hunting before, instead they cooked up some turkeys for dinner and then had a skeet shooting competition on Saturday. We decided not to do the camping part, since Travis had to study, but instead went up for the half the day on Saturday and had some fun shooting. Travis of course kicked butt on the skeet shooting. Isn't he so hot with a gun? :)

Lily-Our little Puppy

We just got our first little puppy! She's 9 weeks old, less then 5 lbs, an all black miniature schnauzer. We named her Lily, because someone Travis knew on his mission had a schnauzer named Lily and we liked the name. She is so adorable and so smart! I've had so much fun getting to know her and it seems as though the rest of my world has been put on hold to take care of and play with Lily. :) We bought her from a couple that lives on a farm in Bluebell, Utah, which was 2 hours away from Provo. Her parents are both pure-breads, a black dad and a salt&pepper mom. The lady who we bought Lily from was a very good breeder-she already had started potty training her! Lily knows not to go in her kennel and as soon as she gets to grass (or in our case, turf) she goes. We praise her for it, of course, getting all sorts of kisses and nibbles from her. Although we've had a few "oops", and she wakes us up at the crack of dawn, she's still the cutest thing ever! We love how she goes, goes, goes for about 30 minutes and then curls up and falls right asleep; she still is just a baby. She is a great traveler and did so well on my lap and in her kennel. We made a ramp up to the front seats from the back so she could go back and forth from her kennel to us. She's taken to us very well and doesn't seem to miss her mommy or siblings. I can't believe we waited so long to get our little miniature schnauzer. She is ADORABLE!

Caroline's First Deer Hunt

I did it! I shot my 1st buck. Below is the lengthy story of how it all went down. Travis put in for me without my consent, so I was kind of coerced into shooting my 1st buck. I only had one goal going into shooting it- pull off a good shot so it has a quick and easy death. My worst fear was that I would wound it and we would have to chase it down for miles and miles, meanwhile it would be suffering the entire time. Thankfully, that didn't happen and he had a good life with a quick death.

As the days were approaching our hunt, Travis would routinely mention to me that the forecast of Ely Nevada was getting colder and colder. He would remind me that we would be camped a few thousand feet higher than Ely and then of course would be hunting at elevations even higher than that. Although I love camping, I was not looking forward to our 5 days and 5 night camp out in the single-digit temperatures and snow storm.

We arrived late Friday night, Oct 10th. We met Rod, Travis' buddy from college in Ely and headed up to camp where Travis' dad, David, was already set up. He had arrived Thursday. As we pulled into camp, the snow storm was in full force. So we all bundled up and hurried and set up our wonderful "turtle tent". We settled into bed late that night getting a few restless hours of sleep in the wind and snow.

The next morning we woke up to overcast skies and a snow covered camp. Luckily we brought our ski pants, bundled up and headed to the top to glass and find our bucks. Travis, David, and I all drew tags this year, so all three of us were hunting. Travis had decided that he was only going to take a buck this year if it was a monster buck-bigger then any of the ones he's already shot in years past. So Travis became mine and David's guide. We spotted one smaller buck that day, but we spooked it from the truck, and no one was able to take a shot. The morning turned out to be unsuccessful and the evening even more so. The storm was too dense to see anything, so we went into town for a bite to eat for dinner at my favorite restaurant in town-Twin Wok. They have the best cream-cheese-wantons ever! Since we were up so late the night before, we retired to bed early hoping for better luck on day 2.

On the second morning, the storm had lifted and we had slept through a night in the single digits. I can't complain though-we have wonderful sleeping pads and sleeping bags and I was toasty! The plan for the morning of day 2 was to hike down a draw at the tree line on both sides and see if we could find anything. Since there was about a foot of snow on the ground we were able to see all sorts of tracks-deer, elk, coyote, and rabbit; but no luck in spotting any bucks. Since we finished that excursion at about 9:30am, we decided to head to the top to glass once again for the bucks we assumed would be up there.

The storm was rolling in again by that time. Our guide, Travis, headed toward the same area we were at yesterday at about 10,700ft. Travis and I hiked along the ridge line, and just as the clouds lifted he was able to spot 4 good sized bucks! We called for Rod and his spotting scope and found that there was a good size 4x4 among the bunch. Travis decided that this was the one we were going to take, so he and I proceeded our stalk down the face of the ridge towards the draw at the bottom. The storm and the clouds turned out to be perfect cover and my white ski pants worked as great camo! We stalked the bucks for about an hour. Although the temperatures were below freezing, I stayed warm due to something Travis calls "buck fever". Travis decided during our stalk that this was to be my buck and that I was going to take the shot. I disagreed and said that I can't see a thing through my binoculars in the storm much less through a rifle scope! He didn't pay attention to my excuses and hiked on. We came to a spot that got us pretty close-probably about 300 yards. We could see the deer through the bushes, but I couldn't even make out his head. I told Travis that I would not take a shot like that and if he wanted to shoot it right then, he would have to shoot it. He paid attention that time and we pressed forward in the deep snow. We kept getting closer and closer, becoming sneakier and sneakier. Finally the 4x4 came into view and we hunkered down for the shot. I had the 270 all set in front of me, resting on the bipod. Travis sat directly behind me and kept his eye on the buck through his binoculars. The scope allowed me to zoom in to the exact location on the buck I needed to aim at. Like I mentioned before, I wanted to make sure it was going to be a good clean shot with a quick and easy death. The buck was faced away from me, looking back over his shoulder at us. I had a perfect view of his butt and kept telling Travis, "I can't pull off a shot like that! I'm going to shoot his butt!" So I waited just a few more seconds until he turned his head, took one step, and pulled the triggered just as his front leg came into view. Travis heard the thud, saw the buck leap and I had shot my first buck! We called Rod on the radio and told him to come meet us down at the bottom, while Travis and I tracked the deer. Travis found him and he was down. He put in a finishing shot and I had done it! A great sized first 4x4 buck- 23" spread. I couldn't have done it without my amazing hunting guide!

Next came the work. This is when I check out and let the men take care of the gross dissecting procedures. Since I had shot the deer at a little less then 10,000ft with a steep uphill climb to the trucks, Travis and Rod decided they'd drag the deer down to the road at the base of the mountain. Since it was covered in snow, it made it a little easier, but definitely not an easy task over all. I ended up hiking back up to the trucks and definitely got my work out for the day! David and I went back to camp to get the ATV to go and pick up Travis, Rod and the deer at the base of the mountain. We had to use the ATV because the road was pretty hairy and covered with snow. By the time I had hiked out, drove back, unloaded the ATV, and made it out to where Travis and Rod were, they had gutted and skinned the deer. They brought it back on the ATV and we all headed back to camp for a much needed meal of spaghetti (prepared by Linda) and Texas toast, after a long hard days work! What an adventurous day! I definitely enjoyed stalking the deer and felt the rush of excitement as it got closer and closer to shooting the deer. (I guess that's also called buck fever). But I do have to say it was a good first and last experience, that is, it wasn't too enjoyable for me knowing I had killed the deer. So I'll leave the shooting up to Travis in years to come and go along for the hunt.

The next few days started to clear up and by the end of the trip we were down to our t-shirts in 60 degree weather. Travis had taken us to another part of the mountain range in our area to find David a buck. We had seen lots of does and elk by this time, but still no bucks. On Wed morning, our last morning. We woke up very early and drove about 1/2hr to an area that we figured the bucks would be. Sure enough, as we were heading up the ridge, just as the dawn was filling the sky, Travis spotted a healthy looking 4x3 as he was glassing the hill side. David quietly set up his tall bipod and took the shot. He went down right away and he had himself a great buck, right next to the road! His was a 22" spread, with antlers taller then mine. We were lucky to have Travis find his dad a great buck as well, but not so lucky to find himself a buck. We left David to the gutting and everything and went looking for a bigger buck for Travis, but to no avail. We saw all sorts of animals, bucks included, but there just wasn't one big enough. So we loaded up David's deer and headed back to our muddy camp to pack up.


It definitely was an adventurous deer hunt this year. I had never camped in weather so cold and snow so deep. But our gear and the nearby showers kept us sheltered and warm and we had a great time!

White Coat Commencement Ceremony

Here are a few pictures of Travis' White Coat Commencement Ceremony. We are all very proud of him and his decision to become a Physician Assistant. Touro put on a very professional program and presented each student with their white doctor's coat. Travis' whole family was there including his uncle Darren and family and Eddie & Karen Phillips. Since my parents were in town for the Marathon, they were able to attend as well. Later that evening his mom and dad gave him a wonderful gift-his 1st real stethoscope!