Week 17

{April 25 - May 1}

On Monday evening, I took a walk with Josh to go get Mia from the pasture and bring her to the corralled area closer to our home because her buyers would be coming to pick her up the next day. Josh had tried on Sunday to get her loaded into the horse trailer to take to her buyers in Challis, but she'd never been in a trailer before and was freaking out, and ended up cutting herself, so he stopped trying. The buyers borrowed a friend's trailer and said they would come to Salmon to get her and assist Josh in the effort instead. It was kind of bittersweet taking her away from her mom QT--they've almost always been together the last 9 years. Our whole walk back up with her, we could her QT whinnying from where she remained in the pasture. We were sad to see her go, but glad that she could be used by a nice family who would give her a great purpose in life.

On Tuesday morning, the couple from Challis came and got Mia. They worked with her a while, and then when Josh came home after driving bus that morning, the man and his friend (who's trailer they'd borrowed) and Josh managed to all get her into the trailer after several attempts of them all working together! The man sent Josh a photo that evening saying that Mia was doing well, and it was nice to know that she'd would be taken such good care of! Eli came with Ammon to our house after golf practice for Taco Tuesday dinner, and then Ammon went with Eli back to his house to spend the night, because they had to be at the school before 5:00am the next morning to ride the bus to their golf tournament. On Tuesday evening, I captured a moment of our cat playing the piano--sometimes he does that and we all find it hilarious!

Our dog Tiki loves to lay under the piano, and when I'm teaching piano lessons, I have to kick her out of one of her favorite spots in our house. It's funny that my animals love the piano so much, and my children NOT so much!

Ammon had a golf tournament on Wednesday at Teton Lakes course in Rexburg. Josh drove the bus for it, so he was able to watch Ammon play for a while and and let me know how Ammon did: Ammon scored an 89 and tied for 2nd on our team. Micah had a home track meet on Wednesday afternoon. I left work a little early so that I could go to it. It was a beautiful afternoon! In this meet, his first event was the 800 (he likes it when the mile is first, though). He ran well, with a time of 2:54 (beating his previous time again, this time by 1 second!).

He's got such great form! And he gives it all he's got at the finish:
he's on the home stretch here, coming in for a strong finish!

 An hour later, he ran the mile. It was after 5:30pm, and it had gotten SOO hot! He passed several boys during the race, and finished with a time of 6:44, but he was disappointed because it was 15 seconds slower than his previous race. He was feeling down on himself, and felt like he didn't do his best. I tried to explain to him that it's because his previous race was earlier in the day, it was his first event of that meet, and it was cooler. Having it after the 800 race, later in the day, and in the high heat makes an impact!

His first lap--he was behind Erik, his running buddy

The second lap--he was right alongside Erik

The third lap--he was ahead of Erik

The fourth and final lap--he caught up to this runner

And the two battled it out all the way to the finish line.
It was an exciting finish, and Micah gave it all he had (as evidenced by his
face in the photo), but the other boy ultimately beat him.

Good buddies (and running pals) Erik and Micah after the
race. They were really that red from running in the heat!

Josh and Ammon got home from the golf tournament shortly after Micah's track meet ended. Josh was disappointed, because he was hoping to see Micah run, but he missed it by about 20 minutes. I took the younger 3 boys out to dinner at Burger King, and Ammon went with Eli down to Lifestyles Salon and he ended up getting his hair highlighted while there! Eli had cut Ammon's hair the night before when he stayed at his house, so when I saw him on Wednesday night, he looked like a whole different young man than the last time I'd seen him!!

He got a chevron stripe on his sides

Blonde highlights on top

I have no recollection of what took place on Thursday. I can't for the life of me remember a single thing that happened that day. I believe that my overwhelmed college brain is to blame!

Ammon had a home golf tournament on Friday at 10:00. I went in around 11 to watch him for a few hours. My friend Darcy joined me after a bit, too, and we drove around in my golf cart alternating between watching Ammon and her son Eli.

Right about the time she needed to get back to the salon for some appointments she had, my golf cart died. It had started to slow down considerably, but I thought we could make it back to the shop on the juice that remained left in the batteries. I was wrong!!! And unfortunately we were on the furthest hole from the cart shop when it happened, too! We were near the teebox on 4, watching alongside Eli as he came down the parallel fairway #3 when it happened. Darcy and I pushed it up and over the bridge between 3 green and 4 tee, and pushed it all the way back down the #3 fairway until we reached Josh's workshop.  It was quite the workout to push that cart down to the shop, but we did it! He wasn't there, because he'd gone to mow some clients' lawns, but thankfully he left the keys inside of one of his work carts, so I used that to push my cart all the way back down to the cart shop by the clubhouse. I drove the work cart and Darcy drove my golf cart. The whole thing was exhausting, but super funny, and we laughed about it afterwards!

I took Micah to town on Friday afternoon to pick up a book from the library he'd had reserved, and then we also picked up his new friend Peyton who recently moved to Salmon. Peyton came out to play at our house a few hours with the boys, and then Ammon took them back into town at 6:30 for the free movie viewing of "The Jungle Book" at the theater. The Idaho Drug Free Youth sponsored it for youth ages 12-18, and I texted several of the twins' friends so they would have people to go with (they weren't really keen on the idea at first). They had a great time, though, and they were glad they went! They said the theater was packed, and it was fun to be there, so I'm glad I MADE them! ;) About an hour before the movie ended, I drove into town to go running with my friend Jen who's doing the 5k color run with me in June. We walked/jogged down her road, completing a distance of 1.5 miles. I've gotten out of shape and haven't been diligently exercising in April like I did in March, so I was glad for the chance to exercise with a friend!

Saturday was prom! Ammon took Hailey Cole and he doubled with his friend Eli who took another girl named Hayleigh. The group met us in town to take pictures before their dinner at Shady Nook and the dance at the high school. Ammon looked so handsome; he'd coordinated so well with his date Hailey! They looked good together!

He had a fun time on the date (a much better experience than last year's prom date), and he spent the night again at Eli's house afterwards. Josh and I went to town to eat dinner at the 28 Club after we met up with the kids for prom photos. It was a lovely date; John came with us too. Surprisingly, they weren't busy for prom night (we did the same thing last year, and the restaurant was full of prom dates), so Josh got to have his favorite meal of prime rib, which filled his cravings. We stopped at Phil & Darcy's after dinner, and sat around chatting and laughing with them. It was an enjoyable evening for us as well!

Today (Sunday), Gina lost the contest we had at church, so she brought over cookies to us this afternoon. Her family came with her, and they brought two more desserts that her kids had made, and we judged which dessert we liked the best. It was a fun surprise and super yummy! I like this new tradition we've started to make & take cookies to each other's houses the first Sunday of each month!