The shot and pics

Here are pics from the trip. There are musk ox, caribou, us in Deadhorse, the pipeline and sunset at about 3:00pm, and Happy Valley (there is a small DOT station and airport there... people live there). Enjoy! :)




So here's the video. It doesn't show the shot real well, because he's kind on the top of a little hill and the caribou was coming up at him. He shot it at about 10 FEET!! You should make sure your sound is on while it's playing- it's lots better that way. Make sure you pause the music though!
OH... I almost forgot to tell you how cool this was! After Sam got his caribou I was standing up by the road waiting for him, and the caribou started coming right at me. I crouched down with just my camera and started taking pictures. They literally were coming RIGHT AT ME! I was debating in my head whether or not I needed to move out of their way, stay where I was and they would go around me, or if I was going to get trampled by them. I must have moved just a bit because all of a sudden they stopped and just looked at me. I kept clicking pictures, then they turned and ran back down the hill. After they left I stood up and counted my steps (I take two steps to Sam's one) to the herd. 12 steps!! 12 steps away from 8 wild caribou!! It was nuts!

Finally...

So here's the thing... I typed up this whole long post, all about Sam's hunting trip and everything that's gone on lately, and it took forever, and then because our internet is SO STUPID, I went to save it and the internet disconnected, and it deleted it all. Since then I haven't been able to connect at all!! LAME! This is the funniest part though... Sam and I came down to Anchorage this weekend to go to the temple and brought my laptop in case we wanted to watch a movie in the hotel room... turns out they have wireless internet! So, I'm taking this very rare opportunity to update our blog! You all better appreciate this! :)

Okay, on to the updates. We're supposed to close on the house in a few weeks, we're waiting for the inspector to get the papers back to us. I'm super excited, it's nice to be able to relax every now and then! We love it. It's cool to step back and look at what's been accomplished.

Here's Sam's great update: He shot 2 caribou this November on the North Slope. We drove as far north as you possibly could and did not see one single caribou. That's insane... usually there are bunches! As far north is about 500 miles north of here, to Deadhorse, AK aka Prudhoe Bay. We were about halfway home before we saw a small herd in the middle of the road. There were 10 caribou, one bull, eight cows, and a calf. Sam was able to shoot the bull and one of the cows, which was nice to be able to share the extra meat with some of our friends who needed it. It made a really long, boring drive A LOT better!! It was super exciting. Sam hasn't ever killed anything with his bow before that, so he was really excited, and I'm super proud of him!! I'll try to get some pictures on here for you as well. If I'm super smart, maybe I can get a video for you. He's got a cute little dance he does! :)

Thanksgiving was great. It was really quiet- there was only us, Sam's brother Brandon, and another friend of ours, Monica. We made a yummy deep fried turkey, and all the great goods that go with it. I also made my first pumpkin pie... it was fantastic! I'm proud of myself!! We just hung out, ate, and watched a movie. It was a good, calm day! We truly are grateful for all the things that we have. We both have amazing families, our friends are great, we have a beautiful home, good jobs to provide for our needs, and the wonderful gospel to guide us daily. Thank you all for all your love and friendship... hopefully each of you feel ours as well!