Visiting Teaching Message

I just had my visiting teachers stop by. They left with me quite the message this month. They showed up right after church and we chatted for a little bit. We talked about what we would be doing for Thanksgiving and what was new in our lives. Then one of the sisters shared a message from the confrence report and did a very good job. After the message they asked me the all to famous question, "is there anything we can do for you?" I told them not that I could think of, everything was going well right now. Then what one of the sister said took me a litle bit by surprise. She looked at me and asked how things were going for Mark and I. I thought this was a little weird because they asked me this when they first came. I told them once again, that things were going well. She then states, "no I mean with marriage?" I told her, "Oh, they are going really well, I mean we have had our challenges as we try to adjust, especially as the holiday season approaches but we are loving married life." She then smiles and says to me, "well thats good, my first year of marriage was okay, but my second year was jsut HELL!" I was a little taken back. I wasn't expecting her to tell me that her marriage was hell. I think she even surprised her companion. I'm just hoping things are going well for them now. They seem to be happy at least at church that is. And with that happy note they left.

Hunting

This is a week late but its better then not posting at all. Plus, I had some friendly encouragement from my dear sister to get a new post up or else! Thank you for all the comments on my blog and the friendly phone calls. Hear you go Amanda, no need to threaten me anymore.

Last week Mark and I took our friends Shannan and Erica down south for a weekend of hunting and relaxation. The boys were excited to go pheasant hunting and Erica and I were just excited to get away. We both started student teaching that week and were begging to feel the stress and anxiety that is included with student teaching.

We left for Aurora Friday night, so the boys could get up early on Saturday to head out hunting. So while they headed out around 8, Erica and I slept in. They were only gone for a few hours before they came back, beaming with pride holding two pretty yet ugly birds.

They paraded into the house with their kill and proceeded to lay them on the counter. Mark's family got quite a chuckle watching two city girls squirm over two dead birds. Just because its kosher in Aurora Utah to put your dead, bloody bird on your kitchen counter, doesn't mean it will ever be kosher in my house. Gross!!

The boys then took their new friends out back to pluck and clean them. Erica and I decided that we didn't want to miss out on this perfect picture taking experience. So we bundled up and walked out back to watch for a minute. This probably wasn't the best idea for two sqwimish girls in the first place but it really wasn't a good idea since one of those girls was pregnant and already had an overly sensitive stomach. We watched the guys pluck off all the feathers from the birds, but we left rather quickly when the scene became a tad more violent then we wanted to participate in.

After they finished cleaning and gutting the birds they headed out again. This time they took Mark's dad and nephew with them. They left the girls behind but with strict instructions to get ready, so that when they got back we could go to Richfield.

We got ready and waited for them to come back. They came back an hour later empty handed. We quickly headed to Richfield where we were able to enjoy lunch in a cute little diner on Main Street. We also made sure to check out all the town's hot spots, Ace Hardware and Wal-Mart. After an event afternoon in town we headed back.

The boys went back out hunting and the girls caught up on their beauty sleep. After about an hour of hunting the men returned once again. This time the only one that made a kill was Chase. When it got too late to hunt The whole Curtis clan met up at Mark's parents house for dinner. I tried my first pheasant. It wasn't too bad. I would have it again. We enjoyed our weekend but were ready to head home Sunday. We left Sunday afternoon so we could make it back in time for my mom's birthday party. What an eventful weekend.