Happy Birthday Dear Philip!

Philip's 30th birthday was Wednesday, and we celebrated with a family trip to the deer lease Monday and Tuesday followed by a pot roast dinner (of wild boar) on his actual birthday. We had a wonderful time at the lease and all the boys had a blast! It was fun for me to watch them be men together and enjoy their time together so much! I will probably never fully understand why Philip (and my Dad, brother and father-in-law) loves hunting with such a passion, and invests so much time, energy and money into the hobby, but these two days gave me a little more insight.

I can honestly say that I am looking forward to Levi and Joel growing up hunting with their Father, Uncle and Grandfathers. The bond they share is so special, and they will learn so many skills such as patience, caution, how to clean, dress and butcher an animal and use many different tools. Hunting actually takes a lot of brain power! I can already see the interest brewing in Levi and as much as Joel follows him and Philip around, I'm sure he's not far behind!

Here are some pictures from the fun trip!

A never ending supply of dirt = 2 happy and dirty boys!

Levi was excited to send Daddy off hunting in his "crazy clothes" Monday evening!

Helping Pop make a fire was fun...learning there were no marshmallows or hot dogs led to a Pop giving sympathy and narrowly avoiding melt down!

We enjoyed 2 beautiful West Texas Sunsets, one way God shows his love for us!

 Levi actually took this picture of me enjoying some sweet snuggles with Joel while the "big men" were off for a morning hunt on Tuesday.

All the hunting men :)

Philip shot an 11 point buck white tail (and two hogs as well) and the boys were very excited and interest in the deer. Weighing in at over 125 lbs he will become a lot of good meals.

Levi had a lot of fun watching all the guys work to clear an area and do other odd jobs around camp. He was itching to join in with the "worker men"

In the afternoon we drove around the land looking for animals and to see some of the pretty parts of the ranch. There is a beautiful area where the old ranch homes are nestled near the river. There we saw lots of deer, ducks and turkey.  Joel loved the "tur-tees" and said "gobba gobba" in the sweetest little voice whenever we saw them. Good Thanksgiving prep :) The boys sure were filthy after 2 days outdoors!

I am so thankful for these past 30 years that Philip has been in the world, and feel very blessed that I have been a part of his life for 15 of those years (that's half his life!!!). I love cooking for him and he enjoyed his special meals at the lease as well as his birthday dinner at home. He is so good to me and pretty easy to please most of the time :). Happy Birthday Philip! I'm so glad I can call you mine!