Week 1

{January 4 - 10}

Monday January 4 was our first day back to school after our 17-day Christmas Break. Over the weekend, it had reached -17*, and I was hoping that it might get just a few degrees colder on Monday morning so that school could be cancelled (it has to reach -20* before that happens). I just wasn't ready to go back yet! 

The last few days of the Break, I had devoted so much time to trying to finish my [time-consuming] Intro to Preclinicals College class, and I wasn't able to completely finish it, but I knew with one more full day that I could. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, so we all [sadly] went back to school on Monday. It was hard to get back into a schedule after being off for 2 1/2 weeks! That night, Ammon had basketball practice, I worked on my college class, and for Family Home Evening we talked about last year's goals and made new goals for 2016. 

Tuesday night was spent working on my college class the whole night after dinner, and basically ignoring my family to do so. For this class, I had to watch 60 videos, read written information about each film, write 5 papers, and submit a video log. I just had a few videos and the written log left to complete, and I almost got it all done, but not quite, and I finally went to bed knowing that I'd have to work on it again yet another day!!! 

On Wednesday evening, Ammon had a home basketball game against Teton. Our team didn't play very well, though, since it was the first game following the break; they looked sluggish and out of practice. There was a running clock by the end of the game because we were over 30 points behind. 

When we walked out of the basketball game, it was snowing big, beautiful flakes! And when we woke up the next morning, we discovered it had snowed 4 inches overnight! School was delayed for two hours so the snowplows could reach all the roads before the buses. It was nice to sleep in! 

Ammon had a basketball game on Thursday night in South Fremont. Josh didn't drive the bus for it, but had wanted to drive himself to go watch the game, but after it snowed and he helped Mark at the bus shop all morning, he decided not to drive to it. Ammon got home after midnight that night. I was working on my college class, and submitted my last due assignment about 10:30 that night. Josh was already asleep by then, so I thought I'd stay just up so that I could go pick up Ammon when he got back to town on the bus (instead of going to bed, and getting back up again). I didn't know what time he'd be home, though, because he'd texted Josh while I was focused on my schoolwork, so after 11:30, I decided to check the messages on Josh's phone to see how much longer I'd have to stay awake before Ammon would arrive in Salmon. Josh keeps his phone right by his side of the bed, and when I walked over to the phone [very quietly, by the way], Josh awoke startled to see me standing over him! I told him I was just going to check his phone and why, and he told me that Ammon was getting a ride home from another player who lives out this way. I was kind of irritated that he didn't tell me that earlier, but was glad I could just go to bed instead of stay awake even longer. And good thing I didn't stay up, because he didn't get home until 12:30, and I was driving to Boise the next morning!

Ammon's birthday was on Monday the 11th, and every other year, the kids get to celebrate their birthday with a friend party. This year it was Ammon's friend party, and months ago he knew that he wanted to go to Boise to visit Tim and go snowboarding with Eli and Tim. The best available weekend to do that was the 8th and 9th. So on Friday morning, I drove into town about 11 to pick up Eli and Amanda. It was her birthday that weekend too, and she'd decided to come with me to Boise to celebrate her special day too. We tried to convince Josh to join us, too, because earlier in the week he'd considered coming on the trip, but he ultimately decided to stay home. I picked up Ammon around noon from our house, we stuffed all our bags and the boys' snowboarding gear into the silver box car, and started the long drive to Boise. We wanted to get there before 6, so that I could drop the boys off at Tim's house in Middleton before his hockey game that night.

We had a great drive. I was really worried about driving in the snow, but I only had problems driving around in Salmon! The further south we drove, the less snow there was. By the time we reached Boise, there wasn't any snow at all! We made good time and got to Boise around 5. I took the boys to a Chinese Restaurant along the highway to Middleton. We've really missed not having the Chinese Restaurant in Salmon. The food was alright at this Wok place, but nothing like what we used to have in Salmon.

I just ordered Egg Drop Soup. It was good, but there was so
much of it, I only had about half. And it gave me the runs :(

Ammon ordered the sweet and sour chicken

Eli and Ammon both had the same dinner meal! 

After dinner, I dropped the boys off at Tim's house in Middleton. They went to Tim's hockey game in Boise that night with Tim's mom, sister, and her friends. Amanda and I went to Meridian to see Krissy, and we went to watch the movie "Sisters" together. The movie theater was so full on Friday night, that we were sitting in the front row. I had to turn my head from side to side in order to see everything on the large, up-close screen! The movie was funny, though! I had been dying to see it, and it didn't disappoint. Amanda and I slept in a hotel room in Boise that night.

The next morning, I drove to Middleton (a 30 minute drive), and picked up the boys at 8:00. It took an hour to get to the ski hill from Tim's house (it should've only taken about 45 minutes, but we followed buses going 20mph for 16 miles going up Bogus Basin Road). The 3 boys squished into the backseat, their gear was in the back, and the snowboards were in the passenger seat. They were funny to listen to on the drive, and were excited for the day ahead! None of them had ever snowboarded at Bogus before!

When I paid for their tickets at the top of Bogus Basin and dropped them off there (there's 3 parking lots and 3 lodges, and I drove to the top one because it was less congested, which ended up being a good move due to smaller lines on the lifts there), I took a photo, and made them promise to be safe and to take more pictures of their adventurous day!

And this is what I got from them:

And a couple of videos, too:

After I dropped them off, I drove back down to the hotel to pick up Amanda. We went to Rumbi Grill for lunch, did a little bit of shopping, then went to the matinee of "Daddy's Home" where Aliah met up with us. The movie was funny, but predictable. When I was at the theater, I got this awesome text from Josh, who was busy scrubbing the tub while I was away. It just made my day! (Husband cleaning + a bottle of Mr. Clean = Lady porn)

After the movie ended, Amanda and Aliah went to another movie, but I drove back to the hotel, changed my clothes, drove back up to the ski hill, picked up the boys, drove back to Middleton to drop them off, then drove back to Boise to meet up with the girls for dinner (I had driven 4 1/2 hours that day going back and forth picking up and dropping off the boys, which is how long it takes me to drive from Salmon to Boise!). By the time I got back to Boise, it was 7:45, and the rest of our group had just been seated at a table at the Cheesecake Factory.  

Amanda, Aliah, Krissy, Kala

The meal was SO good! I got the Bang Bang. I'm in love with chicken, coconut, and curry flavors mixed with rice!

I practically licked the platter clean!

We each got a slice of cheesecake after dinner, and we were officially stuffed by the time we left!

Amanda got serenaded to by the staff when she received this dessert plate!

Aliah spent the night with Amanda and I at the hotel. When we got back from dinner, we changed into our swimsuits, and went downstairs to soak in the hot tub for a while. We were the only ones in the pool room, which was great. We had a relaxing soak and a nice visit. I liked that we all were wearing black swimsuits, so I took a pic of our most flattering view collectively ;)! We didn't get to sleep until after midnight that night, and we all slept in, which was just lovely.

On Sunday morning, we took our time getting ready, and drove to Middleton once again to pick up the boys. We left Boise about noon (which is the same time we'd left Salmon two days prior). The boys had stayed up pretty late, too, and fell asleep for most of the drive back home. Around Stanley Lake area, which is halfway, there were square miles where the snow was so deep, and was untouched by people tracks, animal tracks, or vehicle tracks. It was so beautiful to behold! I just loved the sight of it!

We got home about 5:00, and I drove Eli and Amanda back to town before going home. We had Ammon's birthday dinner with Edward, Kathy, and Uncle Malachi at 7:00. He chose to have steak, mashed potatoes, corn, and rolls for his birthday meal (a pretty standard birthday meal around here).

After dinner, we let him open his birthday gifts one day early since we wouldn't have as much time to do it the following evening on his real birthday.

He got a new radio for his car, beats headphones, and a lot of new golf pants, golf shorts, and golf shirts (which is what he requested). They aren't in season in the stores right now, so Josh did a lot of shopping online for them, but Ammon was happy with all the new colorful, clothes, so his online shopping paid off!