Just Call Me "Amy Oakley"

You would think that with as many guns as we have in our house (locked safely away in a safe, in case you were worried) that I would know what to do with one if I had to. But no, I didn't have a clue and frankly, they made me a little (ok, a lot) nervous. So when a friend in the ward said that she was taking ladies from the ward to the shooting range, where they could take a little gun safety class and then shoot afterwards, I decided to join them. Dave has offered to let me shoot but I was not interested in the least. Did I mention that they make me really nervous?!
The day of the trip to the shooting range just happen to fall on a day that Dave would be, ironically, hunting. Before he left, he "tried" to show me how to work the gun but I wanted nothing to do with it. Just seeing him get it out made me breathe more rapidly. I tuned him out and said "no thanks"!
OK....so came the day and I thought about it all day. Worried might be a better word. I even considered not going because I kept imagining the worst. I sucked it up, toted my gun and ammo to the meeting place and we traveled to the shooting range in Springville. We started by having a gun safety class and then continued on into the shooting range itself. I was still pretty clueless. I was a little overwhelmed and I was sure glad our fearless leader knew what she was doing. With ear and eye protection on, we shouted our way through setting up targets and getting guns ready. We were a little jumpy and that first shot we heard while in there was a little bone rattling. But I soon learned that it was nothing compared to the first shot I took myself. After getting over the shock of the noise, the flash and just the fact that I had a gun in my hand and using it, it was kind of a big rush.

Got the stance, ready to go
We were all a little nervous. I think it made us all feel better knowing that those of us going for the first time felt the same way. I wasn't sure I knew what I was doing. Catherine "tried" to help :)

One guy there had this huge gun and asked if we wanted to try it. SURE, why not! It was really cool! I had my coat on the whole time because it was FREEZING in there.

Mine and Catherine's targets. I think I did pretty good. Watch out bad guys!

Catherine said she shot a lot more than what it showed. She's not sure where all the bullets went :) She had never shot a gun in her life and she did really well.

Amy and Stephanie with their targets. Stephanie was our fearless leader who arranged it all and is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to guns. She was awesome. Thanks Stephanie!

Bonnie goes quite a bit too. She's a good shot!

I had a great time and now I think Dave has it in his mind that it could be the beginning of some wonderful husband/wife bonding time. Maybe not my kind of bonding but it could make for a fun datenight I guess. Anyone interested?