Preparing For Trick or Treating

Today I was thinking of last Halloween when Kiana and I just hung around the house and enjoyed not being out trick or treating. Fast-forward a year and Spencer is here. And though he is still too young to actually grasp the concept of putting on a costume and begging for razorblade-laced tootsie rolls, we feel responsible to take him out anyway. We'll be doing it much more condensed this year with more of a visit-our-friends approach to the evening's festivities.
Last night we carved pumpkins and found out that Spencer does NOT like slimy things. We'll see how he does with tomorrow night and we'll post some pictures of him in his costume.

Election Time

Well I am going tomorrow for early voting, and as of right now I am planning on voting for McCain. Of course between now and then Obama could do something to change my mind like act like he wants to be president to help the country and not because it would be awesome to have his own pool table. (He just seems like a guy in one of those bad movies where he gets drunk and accidentaly runs for president and before he knows it his campaign is taking off and at every speech he's not even sure what he's saying and then he comes off the stage laughing with his eyes big going "Can you believe they fell for it again?!?")

Reasons I'm voting for McCain:
1. Values. I think both he and Palin both have values that I relate to. I think the biggest dig against Palin is that she is inexperienced, but it seems to me that is exactly what we need leading the country. When you're president you aren't the one who knows everything; you are the one that is expected to use your judgement. It seems to me that both McCain and Palin are both willing to use their judgement on what they feel is best for the country and not what will give them the most political capital.
2. The Economy- My personal opinion is that we need to lower taxes, especially on corporations, in order to boost investment and growth. Big companies look at taxes as merely an expense and when they are costing their goods they will increase their prices in order to make up that return. (translation: if you raise Walmarts tax rate by 5% they will raise their prices 5%). So I think that raising corporate taxes will just hurt the average american.

Reasons I'm not voting for Obama:
1. Safety. With the way the world is going I can imagine the world is going to get worse before it gets better. I just don't think I would feel safer knowing Obama is in charge of things.
2. Values. I just don't see Obama as somebody who will take a stand. He seems too easily swayed.
3. Communism. A lot of Obama's policies are sounding a lot like he's been reading Marx. He has said before that he thinks the constitution is flawed (my personal opinion is that it was inspired of God). And I think his plans for socialized medicine as well as those to grow other government agencies go against the fundamentals of our forefather's beliefs.

So that's my opinion. I don't care who you vote for just as long as you vote, that privledge is one of the things that makes America great.

One other political note: The one thing that's probably not very funny but for some reason it really entertained me was when Biden called McCain "out of touch".

The Elk Hunt

I just got back from the elk hunt. This was the first time all nine of our group had drawn out for an elk tag so we knew we were in for a lot of work. We left the Hutcheon's house at 4:00 a.m. and headed out to Redd Ranches. As you can see from the picture this is one of the prettiest places to spend a couple of days looking to put meat in the freezer.

We had a good hunt and were able to get 8 of the nine elk. My younger sister was the only one that didn't get one but we look at that as kind of a blessing because what are we really going to do with 800 pounds of meat that we can't do with 600. Here is a picture of the meat locker with all of our elk hanging up.

I got my elk Saturday morning, my younger brother and I were sitting above a little canyon filled with scrub oak and aspen. As the sun came up we started to hear a bull bugling above us. I started cow calling and slowly moving a little closer to the herd. After a couple of minutes of this, an elk came walking through the trees to see what we were. One shot later I had my tag filled.

I guess the highlight of the trip was when we got to the butcher shop and Kiana and Spencer were there to meet us.

Overall we had a good time. I enjoy just being in the mountains and relaxing. The Hutcheons are a fantastic family to hang out with and I love the elk hunting tradition we have with them.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

No, this is not an entry about Patrick's mood swings. This is actually about Spencer's new love of growling, he loves to growl and growls for everything: When he's mad, happy, curious, hungry, or when he's trying to indicate he's ready to eat, play or do something (he should be a lot of fun on his honeymoon). So basically it has become his go-to reaction. Recently we hired some professional wildlife photographers to capture Spencer in his transformation from calm Spencer to growling Spencer.

I know, it's scary. You're thinking we better get a license for him or at least a chain around his neck. We sleep with our door locked and the rest of the world would be well advised to do the same.