Thanksgiving- Heeb Family in Vegas

What a week! Thanksgiving was so much fun yet so exhausting! The family came out to Vegas for Thanksgiving this year since we aren't able to travel because of Travis' rotations. Jessica, Thomas, Sarah, and David stayed at our place and we loved seeing the babies every night and morning. Sophie & Jacob are 6 months old and so cute! That age is so much fun. Sophie is army crawling and getting into everything and Jacob is such the biggest smiler! The rest of the family stayed at the Tahiti Village, compliments of Janet & Dustin's time shares. Janet, Dustin, and Grandma stayed at the Marriott Grand Cheateau.




I do have to mention that the preparation for company was also exhausting. I was sick the weekend before Thanksgiving, so I couldn't do any of the cleaning or painting until Thursday and Friday before everyone got there. Crazy crazy, but I love how our new paint turned out!

The week started on Saturday evening with a trip to Walmart and pizza night at our place. We had to get all the food for the week and for Thanksgiving. Sunday, we all went to church together. I was doing the primary program music and loved being able to look down at my entire family in the congregation. I love being at church together with the whole family and was glad to have them meet friends in my ward. Sunday evening Travis made his tasty garlic elk steaks. We had everyone over for dinner which I realized turns into an on-going cooking and cleaning production because of my miniature kitchen. It was so fun having grandma see our house and showing everyone else around too. Travis took the little girls on ATV rides anytime they came over, which they of course loved! Audra gave me my own personal clarinet recital too. She's playing the same red clarinet that I played when I was kid and had to show off her talents. She's actually really good.



Monday was Charity's Birthday and "stripping" day. Dad took the little girls swimming in the freezing cold pool and lazy river. They of course loved it and just ignored the cold weather, relatively speaking, of course. It was probably in the low 60's. Then we did presents for Charity. Afterwards, us older kids, teenagers, and babies went down to the strip to site see and shop. I played tour guide at the Fashion Show Mall, Wynn, Palazzo, Venetian, and Ceasers. David had a great time in the Ferrari exhibit and museum in the Wynn. We all got a kick out of the holiday show at the Fashion Show Mall as well. It was suppose to actually be a fashion show, but since it's Christmas they were performing a little elf dance, Vegas style. Jessica got a classic shot of the dance. Ha!





Tuesday Mom, Dad, Sarah, David, and I went to the temple to do some of Sarah and David's family sealings. It was so nice to be in the temple during the day with my family. It was weird being there without Travis though (he had to work/school) and the whole time we were driving there I just felt like I was forgetting something-Travis! Anyway, I think they really loved the Vegas temple, especially the gorgeous celestial room. :)

That afternoon we attempted to go shopping but realized it would be better to go on Black Friday with all the sales. So instead, Joseph, Emily, Claire and I headed back to the strip to see the Exclalibur, Luxor, and Bellagio. The fountain show was amazing, synchronized to 'God Bless the USA'. Emily & Claire found a classic look-a-like on the streets and couldn't pass up tipping the guy and taking a picture with him. It was Edward Cullen from the Twilight vampire book series :) AH! Don't they look so excited?!



Wednesday was pie making day. All of us girls got together and made 11 pies! I should've totally taken a picture of my kitchen. There was pie stuff everywhere! It actually was kind of fun baking with the girls. We made apple, pink lemonade, banana cream, coconut cream, french silk, 2 pecans, pumpkin, orange creamsicle pies, and 2 snickers cheesecakes. And as a treat for all that hard work, we all went to see New Moon together! It was soooo good! Gotta love those vampire movies :)


Thursday was turkey day. In the morning the older kids all headed out to the desert to go shooting and 4 wheeling. It was such a blast (haha-blast)! Lily came with and couldn't help chasing the ATV and then sneaking in rides from everyone. She isn't a fan of the gun shots so we took her on rides on the back of the ATV. Such a fun way to spend Thanksgiving! Dinner was at our house and it turned out really well. Again, it was a cooking, cleaning production in the kitchen trying to make enough space for all the cooking. Oh, and can I just say that my fridge turned into a game of tetris all week making room for turkey day food and pies! The food was delicious and everyone had fun playing games, riding the ATV, playing with the babies and enjoying everyone's company.







Friday I finally got to do something with Dad and the little girls. The older clan wanted to go shopping while Travis & I wanted to take everyone down to the hot springs. So mom, dad, Audra, Charity, and Joy came with us. We left a little later than we hoped and got stuck in Dam traffic (that is Hoover Dam traffic, obviously). So we did the entire hike but didn't have time to get in the pools. Plus, there were sooo many people down there! I'd never seen it sooo busy! Everyone did great on the hike, and I was amazed by Joy and Charity's rock climbing skills. They'd just find their own little routes and climb up everything. It was lots of fun. I'm so glad we went. That night was Charity's own private baptism. It was such an intimate experience having her baptism with just our family. Everyone had their own part in the program and I think she felt really special. What a great way to spend our last evening together. Afterwards, we went out to dinner to celebrate mine and Travis' birthdays at BJ's and invited Travis' parents to come along as well. It was delicious and so relaxing after all that work feeding people at my house :)






So I think everyone got to do a lot of what they wanted to do and spend a lot of time with Jacob and Sophie. It was so nice of everyone to come and for Janet and Dustin to share their time share with us. It was a wonderful, memorable Thanksgiving!

Hot Springs

Hiking to the hot springs in one of our favorite activities to do this time of year and especially since it's so close to home. Since Travis is on break and because our friends had the day off, right after I got off work on Tuesday we headed out for our hike. It felt like one of those things you do in college- take off right after class on some adventure. Nick & Mindy packed Cael on their kid back-packing pak while we brought Lily and passed her up and down the big drop-offs. The weather was nice and cool, perfect for hiking and sitting in the hot pots/pools. I do have to say that I was a little disappointed that the biggest pool was no longer existent and that the hottest pool was luke-warm, but since there are usually 5 or 6 pools to choose from, we found a perfect one a little farther down. Lily was such a moocher. It was pretty cold outside to be getting in and out so once Lily swam enough and was ready to rest, she would swim right up to me trying to grab on, wanting me to hold her in the water. So while Mindy held her baby Cael, I was holding our pampered dog, Lil. She loved just sitting in my arms absorbing the warmth. I do have to say that it is weird holding a dog in a bikini, though. It's not an everyday experience feeling your dog's fur on your bare belly. :P

Mindy was such a trooper backing Cael up and down these huge boulders! It was crazy to watch.

So we had a great time enjoying the pools and chatting while we hiked up and down the canyon.

More Quail Adventures

Since Travis has been out of school, we have been taking advantage of the time and quail hunting. Travis went last week with Nick Starley and ran into an interesting quail. Nick found a male quail next to a bush. He walked up to it trying to get it to flush, ready to shoot. The bird never moved-it just stood there. So Nick reached down and picked it up. Travis came over and they took pictures with the bird. As soon as they were done, the bird took off. It was like it finally realized something was wrong. Very weird. Never would happen in a million years, but it did.

Then on Sat Travis, Eddie and I went out again and I successfully shot 3 birds!! I was sooo excited! One I shot on the ground, which is kind of cheating, but I really wanted to get at least one. Then the next one I shot was in a huge group and I didn't even know I got one because I was too busy watching the rest of them fly away. So I walked up to it and it was still in the process of dying, all flapping around muscles twitching and everything. I couldn't help up squeal like a girl and couldn't pick it up. Eddie had to come over and finish it off for me and put it in my bag. It still flopped around in my backpack a couple times which made me, again squeal like a girl. The last one I got was totally legit- shot in the air, killed right away. I picked it up by the foot and walked away that day with 3 quail for me, 4 for Travis and 1 for Eddie. I was proud :)

2 days later Travis went out again, this time with Nick and Jon Pursur. They didn't see much, but had a great time hiking all over the place. They ended up with 3 birds. A few days later, Jon took his boys out to the same place and got 7 birds in just a couple hours! I'd have to say Trav was jealous. :) hehehe

So a month into quail season and it's been a pretty good one so far.

Halloween

This year for Halloween Travis & I went to our first costume party. Actually it's the first time we actually celebrated Halloween! In years past we were either traveling, or out of town or just hung out at Travis' family's' house. So this year we actually picked out costumes and dressed up for Halloween. I borrowed a Cleopatra costume with a black wig and everything! It was awesome! I'd never worn a wig before. Travis decided to be the swine flu. We had to drive around to a few places to find a pig snout but we finally found one and it was a classic costume. :) We also found this great set of jugs as well. We'll have to save those for another costume. :)


We had a great time at Nick & Mindy's-watching the kids do the pinata, playing the name game and eating yummy food. There were some great costumes too: Lady Gaga, a Father (priest), static, Michael Jackson, Fred, Wilma & Bam Bam, Cereal Killers, princesses, bunny, turtle, and more. Very creative. I do have to say that after while, the clip on earrings and wig did start to hurt, so some of the layers had to come off. It was fun to celebrate Halloween again, and who knows, maybe we'll do it again next year!

Ava Gibson-SnowWhite

Madison Hammond- SnowWhite

Nikki & Gwyn Hills- Static & Bunny

Nick & Cael Starley- Fred & Bam Bam Flinstone

Quail Tales

Last weekend was opening of quail hunting season. The quail hunt hasn't been good at all over the last couple years so I had my doubts this year. Travis, Eddie, and I took off Saturday morning toward the guzzlers in the southeastern part of the state. We took our ATV's and hoped for the best. All morning we drove around the two guzzlers we could remember and up and down washes. We finally found a covey of 6 birds and chased them around for a bit with no luck.


We were starting to get discouraged and probably going to wrap it up for the day when we were stopped by a game warden. She was really friendly and polite and professional. She asked to look at our chambers and our licenses in a tactful way and then she proceeded to tell us how she had been out all morning and had seen 50 coveys each at a few guzzlers that we had forgotten about. We couldn't believe it! I totally thought it was going to be like the past 2 years with barely any quail around. So she got us all amped up to go back and not head home just yet. We stopped for lunch and realized that all 3 of us should've ended up with tickets because the one gun she didn't check, Eddie's, did have a shell in the chamber, and Travis forgot to get our upland game stamps! We had our licenses, but no stamps so technically we could've only been shooting rabbits. Anyways, the stamps didn't stop us and we kept hunting.

So we went to the guzzlers she told us about and she was definitely right about the 50 quail. There were quail everywhere!! I got tons of shooting and hiking in for sure. My face and arms were sun burnt and caked with dirt from all ATV riding and hiking. After a long day of hunting, Travis ended up with 3 and Eddie with 2. It's going to be a great year for quail and finally, after 2 years of no quail, we'll get in some good bird hunting. :)

Fillmore Fun

Last weekend Travis had a long 4day Jewish Holiday weekend. So we took full advantage and headed out of town for some chukar & blue grouse hunting, ATVing, and clay pigeon shooting. We weren't able to do my cow elk hunt in September because of how busy Travis has been at school, and we weren't able to go on Travis' Dad cow elk hunt because of how busy Travis' Dad has been. So bird hunting it was.

Trav and I left Thursday morning and headed for Minersville to do some chukar hunting in the area. We arrived mid day and hiked and rode the ATV all afternoon with no luck. So as the sun was setting we headed into Beaver for the night. We stayed at a small, run-down type hotel for the night. And of course we had Mexican for dinner, Travis' favorite cuisine selection. It was actually a really good sit down restaurant. Definitely would recommend it especially for a small town. The next morning we headed north to Fillmore to do some blue grouse hunting in the surrounding mountains for the day and meet up with our good friends Mindy & Nick and their family in the evening and for the rest of the weekend. The ATV ride that day was full of all sorts of terrain-crossing streams, dodging cows, snow, mud, and gorgeous aspen stands. We stopped a few times to hunt, but never came across any grouse. Bummer.

That night we met Nick's family and heard the local tales of the Moroni hieroglyphics up the canyon. His grandma is the specialist in town and knows all about them and continued to tell us about them all weekend. Supposedly the hieroglyphics do not match any kind of native american writings or anything else, so some people think it was Moroni passing through as he was fleeing the Lamanities on his way to Cumorah.
Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to go chukar hunting. We went with some long-distant relatives of Nick up into the hills South of Fillmore. Parts of the landscape looked great for chukar hunting, but we ended up hiking all morning through a lot of the not so good parts. We had 3 german short hairs with us, but they really weren't trained very well and never found us any birds. So as we were headed back to the road that would lead us to meet up with the trucks, Travis jump a huge covey of chukar. Half the covey took off to the west and north and the other half, about 15, came up the ridge towards me and over my head heading north as well. Since the birds were directly over my head and one of the guys we were hunting with was directly in front of me, I didn't get a shot off, but it was nice to finally see something, and I knew Travis had at least one down. We didn't have time to follow the birds since we were heading south towards the trucks. So we got back to the trucks and Travis decided he needed to pop-a-squat. As he was pulling his pants down he jumped a chukar. A couple guys had their guns on them and took a shot, but nothing. A minute later another one flew out. So I grabbed Travis' gun for him and ran it over to him so he could chase the birds down. The guys took off while I stayed back and watched. Travis ended up with a total of 3 birds and everyone else zero. I was so proud. :)
That afternoon Travis, Nick, Mindy, Nick's Dad & I went on a nice ATV ride to the top of one of the surrounding peaks. It was gorgeous out and we got to see lots of deer. On our way back, Nick comes to a halting screech because he spotted a blue grouse right on the side of the road! So Travis jumps off the 4wheeler, approaches the bird to get it to fly and took 2 shots and it got away! It flew right in front of a bush so he couldn't even see it on the second shot! But it was still exciting to finally find one.

The evening was filled with a delicious dinner by Nick's mom, a warm fire, and chit chatting. The next day we watched a little of general conference and again had a great brunch. We decided to get in some shooting and went clay pigeon shooting. Can I just say I really like shooting!.. It's just so fun and a great challenge.
The end of the trip was our guided tour of the hieroglyphics. They were pretty interesting, and that's about it. :) We had to go see them though since we were staying with the expert. We finished the trip with a delicious supper compliments of Nick's mom. It was so nice doing all sorts of outdoorsy events and staying at an old house in a small Utah town. I felt like I was so far from reality. It was a perfect break and just what both Travis and I needed.