Week 6

{February 8 - 14}

Kanyon was sick all last weekend with a fever, cough, headache, sore throat, and was very tired. On Monday morning, he still had a fever and a scratchy throat, and I was sure that he had strep throat so I made a doctor appointment and he stayed home from school. Josh stayed home with him and took him to the doctor. Kanyon got a strep test taken, and it came back negative, but the doctor was just sure that Kanyon had mono. He had swollen glands, pale skin, and tired eyes, and was so lethargic all day. When the boys got home from school, Ammon immediately fell asleep on the couch. He also didn't feel very good, but he still went to basketball practice that night. When he got home from practice, he had a scratchy throat, cough, and sore throat, too. He said he'd been feeling yucky all day, but I wasn't aware of it before then. For Family Home Evening, we had our 2nd family testimony meeting of the year. It went really well, and after Josh and I spoke, I enjoyed listening to each of the boys share their sweet testimonies.

On Tuesday morning, Kanyon woke up with a fever still, Ammon was feeling even worse, and Jonah had been throwing up in the night and again that morning, so all three of them stayed home from school. Ammon mostly cleaned his room and slept all day, Jonah laid in his bed and read a lot, and Kanyon sat around playing electronics. After school, I had a piano lesson, and then I made some ramen for dinner because I thought that would be the best thing for all the sick boys. They all love ramen (not me, though, so I ate something different). Josh reffed a junior high basketball game right after school, and then went to a golf course meeting after that, so he got home pretty late. Since Kanyon was starting to feel a little bit better (not so lethargic), I worked with him for a couple of hours after dinner doing the schoolwork he missed on Monday. Tuesday was also Chinese New Year. Although Kanyon missed the parade at school that day, he still got to do something special for it because Aunt Tabbi sent a fun little valentines/Chinese new year package in the mail for the boys and they opened it up on Tuesday night.

Wednesday was Kanyon's 9th birthday, and he woke up without a fever, so he was able to finally go back to school! He took mini cupcakes to share with his class for his birthday. I tried to get the teacher to have Kanyon hand out the treats after first recess, because I would be volunteering in his class during that time, but the teacher said it would be better to do it in the afternoon. Kanyon got to go to Savage Grill and get ice cream with some of his classmates during last recess for completing their individual AR goals, which was a fun treat for him. After they got back from their little excursion, he handed out the cupcakes to the class. Ammon had a basketball game at Firth that evening, and was originally scheduled to go with them, but since he'd missed school the day before, he wasn't allowed to play in the game, so he didn't go with the team to the game. Josh drove the bus to it, though, so he left that afternoon and didn't get home until about 1:30am. After school, I had a piano lesson, and then I came home and made Kanyon's birthday meal. He'd requested chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes with gravy, and creamy corn. It was an easy meal! After dinner, Jonah and Micah had basketball practice for an hour, and I didn't want to make two trips to town in that hour to drop them off and pick them up again, so I decided to just stay in town during their practice. Kanyon and I packed all the things we needed to make our valentines and took them to town with us, and we did that in my classroom while the twins had practice. It was a good use of time! When we got home, I helped Kanyon with his make-up work from missing school on Tuesday, and then it was time for him to open some birthday gifts! I told him he could open 3 gifts that night, and the rest of the gifts the next night when dad would be home. He opened the gifts that were from Grandma Perkins on Wednesday. She gave him a fun hangman game, a 3-D puzzle, and a nice "golf shirt" (polo shirt) and jeans. We played Hangman for a while, taking turns choosing the phrase and having the others guess. Kanyon got the best score for his word "nurse"; it took us a while to figure that one out!

Kanyon's birthday meal of chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes
with country gravy, creamy corn, and red kool-aid.

The 3 gifts Kanyon opened on his birthday were from
G-ma P. He sat by his best friend Torch the Cat to open them!

Ammon's turn to pick the Hangman Phrase. We had fun playing it together!

Thursday was a crazy day. Since Valentine's is on Sunday this year, and Monday is President's Day (which means no school that day), the school had its Valentines parties on Thursday the 11th. I didn't really think of that when weeks before, we made plans for our family to go skiing/snowboarding together for Kanyon's birthday celebration that same afternoon (it was his turn for a family party this year, and that's what he chose for us to do). I felt bad when I realized that he would be missing his class Valentine's party, and the 3rd grade sledding event as well. But I had already gotten a sub, and Josh had rearranged his schedule to drive the ski bus for the high school students that day, so we stuck with our original plans. On Thursday morning, we packed up the suburban with our skis and valentines, and headed to school. Josh and Ammon would be going up to Lost Trail on the high school ski bus, and I was to check out the younger 3 boys mid-way during the day and drive them up to do skiing half day in the afternoon. It was pajama day for the entire elementary because we'd had a fundraiser and had met the goal, so it was a chaotic day at school--it always is whenever there's a party or something extra going on, and there was both that day! I told Kanyon's teacher that morning that I would be checking him out at 11:30, and asked if he could please pass out his Valentines before he left. His teacher hadn't planned on doing Valentines until that afternoon. I just assumed that all the student's containers would be available and that Kanyon could do it any time, but their big envelopes were all in a pile in the back corner of the room. The teacher thought the class might have a chance to set out their envelopes and distribute valentines before Kanyon had to leave, though, so I was hopeful that it would all work out for his sake. I went home right after recess to go get Ammon's team jerseys. He'd found out when he got to school that morning that team pictures were going to be right after school. He had no idea because he missed practice on Tuesday, missed the game on Wednesday, and nobody had bothered to mention it to him before then. I made it back to school just in time for our class Valentines party. When our morning class was done, I was late getting out of the Kindergarten room on time, and at 11:35, I went to see if Kanyon was ready to leave. There were still students handing out valentines, so I went down to the office, signed him out, grabbed all my belongings, and went back to Kanyon's classroom. There were still students handing out valentines, and he didn't want to leave until he made sure that he received the ones from the students who were still working on it. So, I told him that when the class was done, to go to the front office and sit and wait on the bench by the door. I ran out to the car, drove over to the high school to pick up Jonah and Micah, who were waiting at the office (thankfully! that was the plan!). I checked them out, drove back to the elementary school and picked up Kanyon (who was FINALLY done), and went to Burger King drive-thru to get their lunch so they could eat as I drove. We got to Lost Trail about 12:45, which is when half-day afternoon skiing starts. I purchased our tickets and since Jonah and Micah brought their own skis and boots, they put them on and got started on the lift. Josh met us by the lodge, and helped get Kanyon's snowboard rental as I got boot rentals (Micah was wearing my ski boots). When we finally got all situated, we took Kanyon over to the bunny hill so that he could try the rope tow and practice snowboarding on a gentle slope before we took him on a lift. This was his 3rd time snowboarding, but his 1st time ever going without having a lesson. He really struggled with the rope tow, and after multiple attempts and some facial rope burns, we decided to just go snowboarding on the slopes, and to avoid the runs that required the rope tow. He did very well! He struggled with turning, and his legs got tired frequently and he had to sit and take a break, but I was very impressed with his skills. It took us a while to go down the first time, and when we made it to the bottom, Kanyon needed a break. Josh took him in to the lodge to get a drink while I got my boots adjusted. Then we met up with the twins and they skied with us the remainder of the day. We went down several more times, and each time Kanyon improved. The twins took me once on the powder bowl, which is a terrain course that I'd never been on. That was an adventure. I don't think I will try it again for a while, but Ammon, Jonah and Micah all like it. We saw Ammon a few times during the day, but he never went down any of the runs with us. The very last time I went down with Kanyon, Josh and the twins went ahead of us. Josh had to get to the bus, and the twins wanted to go a little faster so they could go down a few more times. The weather was beautiful, and overall, we all had a really nice day on the slopes, and I was glad that we'd been able to go.

One of Kanyon's attempts on the rope tow

This was Kanyon's first ski lift ride; I loved this view of Josh and Kanyon on it.
It was at this moment that I was glad we'd made the trip up that afternoon.

On one of Kanyon's rests, Josh sat down next to him to talk him through some
of his frustrations. 

This was on our last time going down the mountain.
I'm glad we only did a half-day. I think he was basically done at this point.

He surprised me and finished strong
on the last downhill section!

What a glorious view!

Here's some videos of the boys on the mountain:

The ski lifts close at 4. By the time Kanyon and I made it to the bottom of the hill on his last run, it was 3:55. Josh and Ammon's ski bus had already left. Jonah and Micah made it to the lift to get one more ride up before it closed, so Kanyon and I took our rentals back while we waited for them. We made it back to Salmon about 5:15. I stopped at the store to get a few things for Kanyon's birthday dessert before we went home. We got home about the same time as Josh and Ammon. Ammon said his basketball team had already taken their team pic before he made it back to the high school. He was really bummed that they 1) didn't tell him before that day and 2) they didn't wait a half hour for him before taking the picture. Their team dinner was that evening, and he found out about it during that day, too. He chose not to go since he didn't even feel like the team included him, and I don't blame him. I think it was a pretty terrible move, myself. I started making tacos for dinner, and began working on Kanyon's dessert of pumpkin fudge. I was feeling pretty stressed out; I'd had a long day, a long week, and I found out that Josh and Ammon were planning on turning around and going right back in to town to go to Senior Wrestling night. I felt like the weight of Kanyon's entire birthday celebrations had rested on my shoulders all week, due to Josh's work schedule and being gone every night. So, I told Josh all the reasons why I was upset at him, and then we had a fight. We both thought the other person was being selfish. He felt like he should be able to have a life, and to go to sporting events occasionally. I agree that he should--but I was struggling with doing everything myself that week because he'd been gone so much, and it was our son's birthday, and I had no idea Josh was planning to be gone again that night. He said it would just be an hour or so, and that he would be home right in time for Kanyon's birthday dessert & gift opening. I told him that it wasn't fair to put the burden of making dinner and dessert, cleaning the house, and wrapping the gifts all on me. I knew I couldn't get it all done myself in the hour and a half time slot before it was time for his parents to join us for dessert that evening. He said I just create stress and put it on myself. I told him that on this occasion it felt like he was placing his wants above our son's. Finally, after all had been said, he chose not to go to wrestling, and stayed home to help, but he gave me the silent treatment until it was time for the second night of Kanyon's birthday party. Edward and Kathy and Tim and Barb joined us at 7:30. Kanyon opened the rest of his presents--the ones that were from us. He got the Despicable Me 2 movie (he's been watching the first movie for years every night at bedtime, and said he was getting tired of it), a new tablet with a keyboard (the one he got last year for his birthday broke in December), and an XBox with 2 controllers (we purchased it from a previous owner). He was happy with his gifts. Instead of wanting cake or brownies, he chose to have pumpkin fudge. I only make it in the fall, and it's a labor of love because you have to stand over the stove for a half hour as it's cooking until it gets to the right temperature, but I was happy to make it for his special birthday dessert. We sang to Kanyon, he blew out the candles, and then we ate pieces of warm fudge with cool vanilla ice cream; it was a good combination together. 

9 year old Kanyon with all of his new gifts. 

See how big his piece of fudge was? Everyone else's piece was
half that size. It apparently was too much for Kanyon, because
as soon as he was done eating the fudge and ice cream, he went
to the bathroom and threw it all up because it was too much
richness and sweetness in one serving for him!

One great thing about being married to Josh for so many years is that our fights don't last long; we were back to talking as soon as Kanyon's birthday party ended that night. Shortly after, at about 9:00, I got a phone call from my dad saying that my Grandpa was in the hospital again with some complications, and that we would be fasting as a family the following morning for him. There's more to the story, but I will share it in another post. Josh and I were united as a couple once again upon hearing that news, and we said our apologies to each other as we laid in bed that night. I love having midnight chats with him (he doesn't quite feel the same about them, though!).

On Friday morning, Ammon went to do community service, and the boys chillaxed at home. The boys read and played XBox, and Kanyon perused through his Valentine's envelope that he'd made at school, looking at all the valentines that his classmates had given him, and starting to eat his favorite candies from the pile.

I had a hard time focusing on my college work due to my mind being on Grandpa, so instead I cleaned through the piles of stuff I brought home from Grandpa's house last month. It took several hours to do it, because there were so many little crafty things I'd found in cans and containers and I sorted and organized it all. I also put away the miles of wadded-up ribbon that we'd used at Malachi's reception, and when I was all done, I was completely covered in glitter, but my desk area in my room was much cleaner!

Friday night was Ammon's last basketball game for the season. It was a home game against North Fremont. The reffing was the absolute worst I've seen all season. There were so many horrible calls made! It was very frustrating for the players, the coach, and the crowd. Our team played terrible the first quarter which put us behind the entire game, but in the second half, we were within 10 points of the other team which was a great boost. Ultimately, we lost the game, but I was very proud of Ammon's playing skills. He's improved so much during this season, and we've been grateful for the opportunities to watch him play.

On Saturday morning, we slept in and I got a call from my dad saying that my grandpa had passed away the night before. It was an answer to our prayers, but I couldn't help but feel sad all day. When Josh left to work, I looked through pictures and blog posts about my Grandpa, and I was filled with anxiety and sorrow. It was hard to be alone in my thoughts, so I went to town to visit Kerry at her salon, and I felt so much better after talking to Kerry and the lady that was getting her hair done. It was nice to be surrounded by other women. Ammon went out with his girlfriend Nykell for a few hours that evening, and Josh and I went on a double date with Kerry and Zack to the 28 Club that evening to celebrate Valentine's Day. Josh got the prime rib (his favorite) and I ordered the coconut shrimp (my favorite). The service was slow, but the food was delicious and the company was fun. It was a positive way to end the day.

Sunday was Valentine's Day. I gave all the boys a little bucket full of goodies. My mom sent them a package earlier in the week, and we waited until Sunday to open it up. It had valentine's for the boys to color with a little stick, and some goodies for them, too. They all loved scratching the color onto the valentines! It was a funny sight!

At church, Ammon blessed the Sacrament for the first time, and Josh did it with him. Ammon did a nice job, and I was so pleased with his willingness and ability to do it. And I loved hearing Josh's voice say the prayer as well. The primary sang to Kanyon for his birthday, and he got some gum from the presidency which he was so happy about. I went visit teaching in the afternoon with my new partner, and had a nice visit with Beverly and Michelle. And when I got home, the house was so quiet and dark and it was only 5:30! It's strange not having football on Sundays anymore! The boys were all in their own rooms, and Josh was in our room reading a book. It was a very quiet, relaxing day, and we're all excited that we get to sleep in tomorrow for President's Day!