*Michael sniff*

I feel like Gaston in Disney's Beauty and the Beast when he says, "Imagine; a rustic hunting lodge, my latest kill roasting on the fire, and the little ones playing on the floor with the dogs."
Today we woke up early. Five a.m. early. I'll be honest and say that it was not fun getting up then. I definitely prefer to sleep in. Pretty much the only other times I've gotten up any earlier than that on purpose was because I was either in labor or I was going hunting and since we all know that option 1 is out of the question, you can safely conclude that I was going deer hunting.

I made sure to try on my clothes the night before and I spent an extra 15 minutes deciding which shirt best matched my Mountain Shadow camo pants. I completed my outfit with Merrell hiking boots, a hunter's orange baseball cap and a .257 Weatherby Mag; stock and barrel dipped in Desert Shadow camo.

We woke the kids up with us and loaded them all in the truck. Michael grabbed the diaper bag, I grabbed cd's, dollies, coloring books, snacks and anything else I could think of to keep the littles occupied in the truck while Miguel and I went off in search of deer.

We arrived at our spot just as the sun was making its debut in the Eastern sky. It was gorgeous. The sound of the mountain waking up is one that cannot be duplicated anywhere else; it's magical. My husband, Eagle Eyes, spotted a bunch of does, but no bucks, so we decided to head back to the truck to check on the kids and try a different spot. As we were walking back, he would occasionally stop and glass the opposite hillside. The second time he stopped he goes, "I've got a buck!"

I go, "Seriously?"

He answered my question by setting the gun down and clearing the grass out of my line of vision.

Okee dokee then.

I looked off in the direction he was glassing and I saw the buck. Just his head, so I knelt down, looked through the scope and Hello! I found him. I made sure I was steady, had a good, clear shot, and then pulled the trigger. Now in the past, I have been known to forget to keep my eyes on the deer. This time was no different, but it wasn't my fault. I had my head too close to the scope and when I pulled the trigger, it bucked (pun totally intended) and bonked me in the forehead. No worries, though, because Michael was watching.

The following dialogue is taken verbatim from my memory.

Michael: "He's down! You got him! He's down!"

Emily: "Shutup."

Michael: "Ooohh Baby! You got him!"

Emily: "Shutup."

Michael: "YEAH! WOOO! Buck down!"

Emily: "Shutup!"

Followed by high fives and hugs.

We made sure to orient ourselves as to where he went down, and hot footed it back to the truck where we had left our children no more than 30 minutes before. The kids were excited to be set free and even more excited to learn that mommy had just supplied the family with meat for the next 6 months or so. We loaded up the packs and the kids and set off to find my deer. We found him right where we knew he would be and boy what a buck! I couldn't be more pleased. Michael's pretty proud of me, too. *Michael sniff* And I'm really, really glad we made that deal on our wedding day about me changing all the poopy diapers if he guts and cleans all the animals we shoot. REALLY glad.