Shooting in Delle

Yesterday Paul took Corey and me to go shooting out in Delle, Utah. For those of you, like myself, who have never heard of it before.. it is off west I-80 past Saltair and on your way to Wendover. The drive was pretty cool before too because we were able to see all of the rock art along the side of I-80. It's really neat seeing how people express themselves through this stuff, I saw phrases about who people loved, religious beliefs and symbols. If you haven't ever seen it before, it's worth driving west to experience :)

ANYWAY, on to the main part of this blog.. Shooting! :) Once we reached our destination after passing range cows (don't ever get in their way) we picked a spot and unloaded. We started by shooting Paul's 20ga, which is one of my favorites because the double barrel is easier to aim with, in my opinion. Then Corey warmed up to his new Beretta 12ga, by the end of the day he was PRO with that gun!

We also shot a BUNCH of 22's, which was WAY fun! Corey and Paul set up targets of clay pigeons to shoot with the 22's and we shot away! Corey and I challenged each other to who could shoot the target first and knock it down. I was having a BLAST!! I loved being able to use the scope and hit pop cans and knock the clays down. Corey and I were trying to see who could shoot a target first when he ended up shooting it and then I blasted it while it was falling down the hill hahaha! It was great! Corey's pump was definitely faster than mine because he didn't have to tilt the gun down to cock it, which was unfair in our race to see who could shoot the clays first (cough, cough) haha jk. I had a scope so it was fair. We both shot way well and had fun :)

Then came the revolvers :D Corey brought his new s&w 686+ and his mom's ruger blackhawk 41 mag. Corey, Paul and I had a lot of fun shooting these :) Those guns have some KICK to them! It amazed me how much my wrists flew back because of the recoil. The Shock Wave was Intense too! I was standing behind Corey to take a picture of him shooting and I felt the shock wave from his gun on my face and my leg.. it was That strong. It definitely blew me away, can you imagine how much force that is? Wow.

 We ended the day with throwing the last of the clay pigeons and obliterating them with the 12ga and the 20ga. I ended the day by turning the clay into dust with the 20ga, which I was super proud of because I'm learning to aim better :) and Corey blew the clay into smithereens with his Beretta. It was DEFINITELY a great way to spend the day :D

Easter!

Easter was great this year! I was able to visit Dad, Cami, Jeremy, Lexi, Ariana, and Ayden in Park City in a little condo they were renting for 4 days for the kid's spring break. We all went to dinner at Ruby Tuesday's and had very tall glasses of flavored lemon-aide. It was great to have all 7 of us together again for dinner :)

Then on Easter, Corey's grandpa reserved a table at the Alta Club for the whole family, since he's been a member for like 50 years. Dee Dee, Polkey, Charlie, Diane, Martha, Corey and I all accompanied him :) The food was Absolutely Amazing! It was a buffet of lamb, crab, shrimp, beef and a lot of other yummy stuff :) I've never been to the Alta Club before so it was really neat to be able to go and see the "woman's entrance" and to get dressed up for dinner. We all had a great time and left very stuffed :)

Epsilon

So for my birthday, which was a while ago.. sorry I've been busy with finals so I haven't been able to post many blogs.. so hopefully I can catch up! Anyway, Corey bought me a beta fish for my birthday! I have wanted a beta fish pretty much my entire life but just haven't ever bought one.. so Corey bought it for me :) His name is Epsilon and he has this awesome iridescent blue and green color, kind of like a peacock feather. He being a "martyr for his kind," as Corey used to say, because it took him about 2 weeks, five types of beta food, and a lot of pleading, before he actually ate. He only eats freeze dried blood worms.. go figure, the most expensive food. haha Epsilon is definitely worth it thought because when he eats it is the coolest thing ever because he stalks the food and then lunges and chomps the worm. It's pretty entertaining. :)

Stephanie's First Hunting Trip!

Between all of the partying with cake, I went hunting the day after my birthday! Paul, Corey's dad, took Corey and I out to some place near Nephi, UT to hunt pheasants. I honestly had no idea what to expect at first, but I was impressed by how much fun it actually was! It was at a place where some people raise pheasants and chukars (which btw does not mean that they are easy in any way to find or shoot). So the people who worked there spread them out in appx. a three mile radius or so in sagebrush. Then we let Panzer, Paul's German Short-haired Pointer Dog, go out and sniff out the terrain and find our pheasants. Let me tell you, when he points it is pretty crazy cool because Panzer stops, whips his head around and is stiff with his nose pointing strait out. At that moment your adrenaline surges throughout your body as you release the safety on the gun and walk towards the side of him to search for the pheasant. The first pheasant shot up out of the air as I got close to the bush and flew straight away infront of me, I pulled up the gun (Corey's new Beretta Xtrema2 12 gauge.. which hasn't EVER been shot before), aimed, and pulled the trigger. I SHOT IT!!! I couldn't believe it for a second!! but I shot my first pheasant on the first shot! Which was also the $700 first shot of the Beretta (meaning they cost about $1600 and now its worth about $900 because it's now "Used"). I was super excited and Corey was definitely impressed :) The rest of the day was really fun and I ended up gutting the pheasant (way weird experience.. try shoving your finger up the sternum of a bird and yanking..). Overall I really enjoyed it and was way glad I went with Corey and Paul, we had a great time!

Stephanie turned 20!!!

So I finally escaped the teen years haha, although it doesn't feel much different. However, I had a GREAT golden birthday on the 20th!! I woke up to get an amazing breakfast of french toast and dunc'n eggs thanks to Martha, Corey's mom, and she made me a Banana Cream Pie (she can make a killer banana cream pie)!! :) I even went outside and threw a frisbee with Corey's dog Tip ("dogicus"), who I love! Then Corey and I went shopping at South Towne Mall after we washed his car and splashed water on each other. haha. Corey and I spent the whole day together and it was a blast!

The day before, my residents had a birthday party for me and Holly made me a cherry chip birthday cake! It was really great and we had a lot of fun.

The day after, I had a birthday party with my Mom, Corey, Rickelle, Lexi, JB, Jennifer and Anthony. This was a lot of fun, I haven't been able to see them much lately because of school so it was great to get together. Mom made stir-fry from scratch (which was Super yummy!) and a carrot cake! Most of the time we just sat and talked to each other discussing issues and updating each other on our lives, it was great!

Then on Monday I had a birthday party at Dad's house with Corey, Dad, Cami, Carl, Ariana, and Ayden. This celebration had a German chocolate cake and cookie dough ice cream :) Dad gave me the most painful birthday spank I've ever had haha. Fortunately, I was able to avoid getting more than one! We had a dilemma with the camera after we had lit the candles already so Cami was rushing to get new batteries and change the memory card, but gave up and used her camera on her phone instead so that there wouldn't be excess wax all over the top of the cake. The 2 shaped candle about melted all the way through at the top. haha. The kids were pretty funny when I was opening cards because Ariana drew a picture for me that said "Boo BYU, Go U of U" haha we're starting her young! Then Ayden ran upstairs and grabbed a quarter from his piggy bank and gave it to me for my birthday and then Ariana ran upstairs and brought back a dollar for me! haha we stopped Ayden before he could go up again, but I found it pretty entertaining.

Overall, I had a pretty great birthday! I definitely at a lot of dessert during that weekend (which is why I asked everyone to have a different cake!) It was really great being able to spend my Golden Birthday with the people I care about most!