Week 13

{March 28 - April 3}

This past week was our school's Spring Break. Unfortunately, everyone in our family was sick at some point during it, so it wasn't enjoyed as much as we'd hoped, but we did all appreciate the time off from school!

We'd spent Easter night in Utah, and when we woke up on Morning, we saw snow. Boo!

Josh and I had stayed at the Anniversary Inn in Logan, and the boys stayed at my parents' house in Tremonton. We'd never stayed at that Bed & Breakfast before, and it wasn't my favorite (the Providence Inn was full), but I'm still glad we went. We were in the "Aphrodite's Court" room. The tub was huge, the big flat screen TV was nice, the cheesecake on Sunday night was good, and the breakfast delivered to our room was delicious. But...they don't have wi-fi, the queen size bed felt small (we're used to a king), and the bathroom was tiny.

I liked the big jet tub in the center of the room

Breakfast was beautiful AND tasty!

We got about 3 inches of snow overnight!

We left around 10 that morning to drive to Salt Lake City. A couple that Josh knew from his mission were flying in from England with their youngest daughter so that she could tour BYU. We were planning on meeting them at the airport.  When we got to the airport, we parked in short-term parking, walked inside and tried to find their flight on the screen but couldn't. We asked the information desk for help, and the lady told us that the flight had already landed (it was early) and directed us to the international building. We walked to the building, and JUST as we went inside, their family was coming down the escalator! It was perfect timing! We went with them to get their rental car, and Josh drove them to their hotel for them. He also brought them some conference tickets for Sunday afternoon, and in return, they gave us chocolate directly from England (British chocolate is SOOO good!). I'd never met Keith and Amanda before, but I'd met some of their children when Josh and I went to England back in 2008. They are wonderful people and I was so glad for the opportunity to see them!

After Josh dropped them off at their hotel in Salt Lake, we left for Tremonton to pick up the boys. It had snowed off and on all morning, and we were glad we brought the suburban. We packed up the suburban at my parents home (it was a tight fit though with the extra stuff we got from mom & dad's garage that they'd brought home from cleaning out Grandpa's house), and we drove home to Salmon. Thankfully, it stopped snowing after we reached Malad, and the roads were clear the rest of the way. We got home about 9:30 that night. It wasn't until then that we opened the bag of chocolate that the Whall's had brought for us. We felt like we hit the jackpot! It was like Christmas morning seeing all that chocolate!

Josh's favorite are the smooth Galaxy bars; mine are the Cadbury Fruit & Nut bars

The giant candy bar was truly a gift indeed!

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That Galaxy bar was HUGE!!! I put a Hershey's regular bar next to it just for
a size comparison. 

They'd gotten these giant eggs for the boys. The eggs were hollow, and when
you bit into them, there were mini M&M's and a chocolate chick inside.
The boys loved them!

See the chick inside the egg? How fun!

On Tuesday, Josh got the flu. He was in bed almost the entire day. I wanted to relax, too, so I finally succumbed and laid in bed watching movies with him that afternoon and evening. Ammon had been sick on Sunday and Monday with the cough/fever/aches, Kanyon had been sick the previous week and hadn't completely gotten better with the same stuff, and Jonah and Micah started getting that same day, too. It was so quiet around our house all day!

I went to the dentist in town on Wednesday morning, and surprisingly got a good report. Although I hadn't had a cleaning in nearly 3 years, I didn't have any cavities. Yay! Josh was feeling a little bit better on Wednesday, but not much. He went into work at the golf course for a few hours, and Ammon went in too. I worked on my college class a lot that day, and made some headway. Jonah and Micah's friend Kota came over for a few hours to hang out, and they played inside and out (when it wasn't raining). I went tanning for the last time on my monthly pass that evening, and then took my friend Jen out to dinner for her birthday. We went to Junkyard Bistro, and I got my favorite meal there (that I crave quite frequently): the coconut curry chicken rice dish.

I took Ammon to his dentist appointment in Idaho Falls on Thursday. He also hadn't had a cleaning or X-ray in nearly 3 years. He didn't have the same report as me, though; he's got 2 cavities. The weather was cold, windy, and crappy all day, and it ended up being a good day for him to miss work. We went shopping while were in Idaho Falls and got a few things at WalMart. Also, Ammon talked me into eating at Taco Bell for lunch--which I knew was a mistake but did it anyway. I should NOT eat Mexican food before a long drive, and I know that! It makes me gaseous, bloated, and feeling yucky!

Friday was an absolutely beautiful day; the best we'd had so far on Spring Break! Josh and Ammon went to work at the golf course, and I stayed home and worked on my college class all morning, then took the boys to town for a lunch break. They all got a free lunch: Kanyon got a hamburger using a 100% school test, an ice cream cone with a coupon from the Easter Egg Hunt, and a free drink from the gas station also from a coupon inside one of his Easter eggs, and Jonah and Micah got sandwich meals at Subway using their gift cards they got for being students of the month at school. Once we picked up their food, I took them to the park to eat since it was such a lovely day!

We went to Murdoch's (the store had just opened the previous day) to get some rope to hang up the hammock I got in Mexico last fall. It was a nice store! I'm super excited to have it here! When we got home, the boys called Roahn to come over and play. Then the twins went on a motorcycle ride, and only one of them came home--Micah said Jonah's motorcycle's chain had fallen off about a mile from our home. I got in the car to go down to where he was at, and realized that there was more to the story than just a faulty bike chain: Jonah was riding alongside Micah, and Micah turned sharply right in front of him, which made them both crash. Apparently Micah thought Jonah was much further behind him, and decided to go riding down a different road, and thought Jonah would just follow him. He didn't realize Jonah was directly behind him when he turned! So Jonah slammed on the brakes, his bike hit Micah's bike, the chain locked up, and Jonah went flying. Micah's bike fell over, as did Micah, and he got a few scratches, but Jonah's injuries were much worse. A neighbor had driven by and seen it, and got her husband to come down and help them with the motorcycle. The neighbor arrived at the same time I did, and he managed to get the chain working. Jonah rode home on his motorcycle after all that! And when he got home, I realized the extent of his injuries: a deep gash on his side, and bloodied knees and an elbow. It could've been so much worse, though, and I'm so grateful he was wearing a helmet and that his injuries were manageable. I had a talk with both boys about always looking behind before ANY time they make a turn--with a helmet on and the sound of the motorcycle engine, it's hard to see/hear if anyone is behind them! I hope they both learned that valuable lesson!

After I bandaged up all of his wounds, he came out to lay in the newly-hung hammock for a while as Micah played with Roahn (who arrived as we were putting the bandages on).

Jonah took it easy all afternoon. I worked on completing my college class, and submitted my final. Micah had fun playing with Roahn, Ammon went golfing after work was done, and Josh went on a run with me that night after he got home. 

On Saturday morning, I told Josh to help Jonah with his bandage changes, so I didn't have to (I'm not very good with blood, and about lost it at one point the previous day when I saw the deep cut in his side). Josh thought it was a silly request, but I'm so glad he stayed, because as he was taking off Jonah's bandages, Jonah about passed out. We've never witnessed one of our kids fainting before, and it was almost comical. We were all standing in the kitchen, and Jonah said he was going to throw up, so we had him stand over the kitchen sink. He bent his head down and blacked out for a few seconds. Then we pulled out a kitchen chair, and we walked him over to it, and he sat down. I grabbed a bucket, and Josh sat next to him holding the bucket up to his chin in case he did puke. It took several minutes for his coloring to come back, and then we commenced with the changing of the bandages.  Josh got some better bandages in town when he went in after finishing helping Jonah--giant band-aids instead of wrap and medical tape, which is the system I used the previous day because we didn't have anything better.

His skin looks almost as blue as his shirt and the bucket!

I listened to the Saturday morning session of General Conference, and was so glad that I did. I really enjoyed the talks, the spirit, and the music (one of my longtime friends was singing at conference for the first time with the MoTab choir). On Saturday afternoon, we went camping for the first time of the season. We went up to Williams Lake campground, and there was still snow around the boulders that surround the campground, which surprised me because the snow has melted in Salmon. We weren't the only ones at the campground, either--which was also unusual because we're usually alone when we go camping there this early in the season! We decided to park at a different site than our regular one so it would put more distance between us and them. It was another beautiful-weather day again, and we enjoyed being away from home!

The boys went hiking and found some icicles

What a huge icicle!

Micah pretending to stab Jonah's injuries

Ammon rode his motorcycle to the campground, and Josh helped him
fix a few things on it--including putting on the new rear fender to replace the
one that Ammon broke on a ride a few weeks ago.

This WAS the opal ring that my grandpa gave me in 2010 that used to be my
Grandma's. I realized that at some point that day, the opal had fallen out.
I was SO sad to discover this. It kind of ruined my day.

We played Phase 10 (aka the Monopoly of card games), and Jonah won!

Josh resting in his new anti-gravity chair that he got himself
for a Christmas gift; this was his first time trying it out!

I loved this sight! When Ammon walked up to the campfire that night, he said
"Do I have to read in order to sit around the campfire?!" It cracked me up!

This morning, we made breakfast around the fire (the usual: toaster strudels, waffles, and sausages), and began to pack up to head home. I had a college class cohort I was scheduled to attend at 11:30, so we left the campground around 10:30.

We changed Jonah's bandages again that morning, and decided to let them air out for the day.

both knees

his right side and right elbow

I found out that my college final that I'd submitted on Friday was rejected, and I couldn't believe how poorly I'd scored when I thought I'd done so well. There's nothing I can do about it until tomorrow because my class mentor doesn't work on Sunday, so I knew I just needed to wait it out. After my cohort, and dinner at Josh's parent's house, we watched the afternoon session of General Conference. Then Josh took me on a motorcycle ride around the loop. It was amazing. I loved every second of it. It was such a boost to my soul. I've been craving going riding again, and this was the first ride we'd gone on together this season.

We also rode down to visit our horses, and Josh decided it was time to sell our horse Mia. She is now 9, and we've never had ample time to completely train or ride her. We've tried multiple times, and she is now approachable, and will allow riders on her back, but she hasn't been trained enough to understand direction while being ridden. It is sad to let her go, because she is the last offspring of Josh's horse QT. Josh has had QT since he was a teenager, and although she is still alive, she is now past childbearing age. But...Mia is not living a quality life right now and she is capable of so much more. Josh has a lot of guilt about letting her go like this, and decided it would be better to sell her than to keep feeling bad that he never has time to ride her like he wants. 

Tonight, Josh and Micah went with me on a 4-mile bike ride around the loop. I thought it would be a good break from the jogging exercise that I've done almost every day for the previous 3 weeks. It was harder than I thought it would be, though, because the loop includes a lot of up-hill areas, and riding uses different leg muscles than running. But it was good exercise, and a nice way to end the beautiful day with my husband and son, and it helped me to keep my mind off bothersome things (like my failed college class final, my broken grandma's ring, and the fact that spring break is ending). 

We are all sad to see spring break come to an end!