This last weekend David and I went to Front Sight- I enjoyed being initiated to this Hatch family tradition and experiencing my first four day handgun class. Here are some of my first impressions as a newbie who wasn't quite sure what I was getting into.

Something about desert landscape just makes me happy to be alive. These kind of views are why I have a thing for Arizona.

We got to Pahrump pretty late on Thursday only to remember we had to be at Front Sight at the crack of dawn the next day.

But we dragged ourselves out of bed (or in my case out from in-between two air mattresses, haha) and lined up at 6:30 a.m. in a caravan of eager attendees. We tuned in to make sure we were prepared for day 1.

Some of my first impressions were from the cars that lined up. There were your typical large trucks as you would stereotype to be at a shooting range, but then there were luxury cars as well. 

There were vans and campers full of families excited for the weekend and geriatrics who made you wonder if they could really do an 8 to 5 rigorous course. But I quickly realized Front Sight is for everyone and I liked the variety and openness towards everyone.

David all ready to go after we checked in.

Here's me getting used to having a gun on my side. It took some getting used to- carrying all day long and seeing everyone else carry all day long as well. 

Here are the facades of the ranges we were on for the first two days.

This is the bigger range we were on during our third day. The first two days the weather was amazing but this day the northwest wind really kicked up sand when the bullets hit the berm behind the targets. 

But Hatch's have an answer to the dust: David used a headscarf to shield from dust. This is him practicing clearing malfunctions.

I used my scarf around my neck and tucked it into my shirt because I wasn't on the range for most of day three. But David captured a sequence of one of my last shots on that day. 

I couldn't believe how comfortable I got so fast- my first time shooting to my last time shooting were night and day. My favorite parts were the simulator bay where you clear a house and also working on using the techniques to improve my accuracy. 

Unfortunately I got a bad case of food poisoning and so most of the third day consisted of me being really, really sick. I'll spare you the all the details (they involve saline in the ER) but I kinda think Pahrump restaurants are ruined for me at this point.

But other than that, I had a wonderful experience. We met some really nice people and I left feeling confident, educated and safer. I remember a one point looking around and feeling patriotic, and not in a crazy, extremist way. The people at Front Sight were there to have fun and learn to responsibly exercise their right to keep their families safe.