Hunting and Utah

Every fall, Jordan has the best week of his life when he takes the whole week off work and goes out hunting (whether he gets anything or not...which this year he didn't get any big game, but did get a couple grouse and a few ducks) into the arctic chill with Uncle Trav, Trav's best friend Chris, usually one or more of Trav's kids (this year it was Blake), and sometimes Uncle Tom (who this year did come, and brought his 4 yr-old daughter Audrey). I don't know if Aunt Theresa is usually there, but she was this year! She was there for a couple days before she left for London on Tuesday and it was great to see her. I've been absolutely comfortable letting the events that go on during the week be a mystery to me, until this year when Jordan decided he wanted us to come--so we did! Oh yeah, Trav also brings his dog Ruger for duck hunting who this year had a little buddy follow him around everywhere he went (Porter). Porter loooooved Ruger. He would follow Ruger around, try to eat his food, try to climb on him, pet him, kiss(/suck on) his nose, and somehow Ruger doesn't like these things. He was never mean to Porter, but he would just get up and walk away when Porter would get near.


One of the first things you need to do before you hunt is "sight your gun in," which means you have to make sure your scope is focused on the same place your gun is shooting. We were worried Porter would be scared of the loud noise of the gun shooting even with the ear plugs, but he jumped once, and didn't jump any of the rest of the times--he's a natural!




Theresa and Audrey went outside to sled in the snow, and so we went out to let Porter have an adventure. Porter went down with Audrey a couple times which went well, but the last time, they overturned and Porter got some battle wounds--just a couple scratches on his face from the ice, and I'm glad he had an adventure.




They also had a snowball fight (which Theresa started), and while Porter and I didn't get hit, the others certainly did--looks like fun!









Porter and I then drove down to Provo during the rest of the week while Jordan was hunting to spend some time with my family and some friends. We did a lot of canning (and eating apple pie), and went around with my friend Tabitha to some places we grew up playing. We took Porter to the park up our street and this pharmacy where we used to lie to our parents, pool our money, and get someone to ride our bike down to get penny candy. It was so fun. We also took a picture together at the place I got bit by a horse, but the picture's kinda blurry. All in all, it was great to see my sister Rach, Heidi, Tabitha, Jordan's Dad who was in town for a few days, and spend a lot of time with my grandparents and aunt. I talked to my grandma about family history and watched NCIS with my grandpa--it was a really nice trip.