February 2018

Feb. 2: Josh works on trimming trees in the wintertime (as well as maintains equipment), and since the winter snow lasted a little longer this year, he was still trimming trees even in February.

Feb. 4: Josh and I drove down to Idaho Falls early in the morning to take Josh to the airport for his trip to Texas for the GCSAA conference. The younger 3 boys and I attended church in Mud Lake for the first time. It was such a small ward, and I unexpectedly bore my testimony during Sacrament Meeting. That afternoon, the boys and I drove back to Idaho Falls to go watch the Superbowl at Kimi & Preh's house. I only have Netflix on my TV in Mud Lake, not the basic channels, so we were very grateful to have somewhere to go to watch the game. We ate good food, and had good company. After halftime, we drove back to Mud Lake and then to Monteview for the twins to go to their friend Hyrum's house to hang out for a few hours. I didn't realize their house was so far out, and hadn't stopped for gas before taking the twins out there because we were already late as it was, but by the time I got there, I realized I wouldn't have enough gas to make it back to Terreton, and Hyrum was kind enough to get some gas and put it in my car for me. I was quite embarrassed about it all, but the Spencer's are a very kind family, and I was glad for the chance that the twins had to spend some time with them.

Feb. 5: Josh had the opportunity to go to the GCSAA conference in San Antonio, Texas because of a scholarship he was awarded through Melrose Academy. Because he was part of the Melrose Leadershp team, he had to go to several extra meetings, but his trip was all-expenses paid, which was so awesome! He had a little bit of downtime throughout the week, during which he visited the Expo, and did a little sight-seeing--which included getting to see the Alamo!

Feb. 6: Josh attended 2 bonus meetings during the week, one of which Ernie Els spoke at, and one in which Darrell Hammond was a comedian. He really liked listening to Ernie Els, but was disappointed in Darrell's performance (he was totally hammered). He walked around that night to see a light show on a local cathedral, but due to the weather, the light show didn't happen. He did capture a pretty image of the courthouse lit up, though, and contrast images of the cathedral during the day (in bleak weather) and at night.

Feb. 7: Ammon had a game at North Fremont. They stayed pretty competitive with the other team until the 4th quarter, and the other team widened the gap. 

Warming up

Feb. 9: I took the afternoon off work, and drove to Idaho Falls to pick up Josh from the Idaho Falls airport. We drove home to Salmon with the boys and arrived just in time for Senior Night (the boys' last home game). Dawn made collages of all 9 of the senior boys to put on display as patrons walked in the school. We gifted Ammon the collage as well as an embroidered towel with his team name and jersey number. It was an exciting game against West J--probably my favorite game of the season, as it was such a nail biter, and so close! In the last second of the game, a player from the West J team nailed a 3-pointer, and we ultimately lost, but it was a well-fought game and I was proud of our boys! When we got home, the boys and I watched the Opening Ceremonies for the Winter Olympics (we had DVR'd it). I just love the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for Olympics, and have ever since I was young.

The students created a bridge for the players to go under before they entered the court

All the seniors got to serve as captains for this game!

Surprisingly, Ammon got to be a starter for this game as well!

Body bumping JJ

Feb. 10: Kanyon turned 11 today! It was his turn for a family party, and he ultimately decided to watch a movie together as a family. He'd been dying to see Peter Rabbit when it came out, and luckily, the Salmon theater opened with it the previous night (perfect timing!). We all watched it at the matinee; it was pretty cute and Kanyon liked the funny parts. We decided to have his birthday meal the next day after church with Grandma and Grandpa T. present, so after the movie ended, the boys went home and Josh and I went to the Elder's Quorum dinner and ate prime rib at the church.

Feb. 12: Kanyon chose to have steak, mashed potatoes, and cream corn for his birthday meal. Yummy! Josh makes the best steaks, and the boys almost always choose to have that meal, which makes him happy (because he's a meat and potatoes guy, too!). After dinner, he opened gifts, which included the long-anticipated, highly-requested PlayStation 4 and the game Dragon Quest (he's been asking for them for 2 years already). We ate brownies for dessert (which he also picked). Happy Birthday Kanyon! 

Feb. 13: Ammon had a District play-off game against West J at South Fremont, so I offered to take Kanyon, a friend, and the twins to go miniature golfing in Rexburg first to finish off Kanyon's birthday celebration (he LOVES miniature golfing, and had originally wanted our family to go for his birthday rather than to the movie, but it hadn't worked out). His friend Jackson McDonald from West J came with us. We went to the Craze Fun Zone first, and then to Fat Cat's. The boys had a great time! I took them to eat at Taco Bell (their favorite) before we went to South Fremont to watch the game. It was a pretty close game again, but ultimately West J came out of it with the victory. 

Waiting for the game to start: Josh, Micah, Jonah, Hyrum, Kanyon, Jackson, & Boone

Feb. 14: Valentine's Day!!! I pride myself on being resourceful--so for Valentine's Day, my class made Valentines containers out of used ice cream buckets. They made paper banners with their name for the side, spray painted the lid (with a cut-out slot), and then scratched designs into it with paper clips! I liked how they turned out! Ammon's basketball team played their 2nd district basketball game against West J at South Fremont that night. I took the boys again, and we watched the game together. It was another SUPER close game--but they just came up short at the end. It was Ammon's very last ball game, which was bittersweet. Basketball season is so time-consuming with multiple games each week from mid-December to mid-February, so I was glad to be done with it, but it's also sad thinking I will never watch him play in another high school basketball game again. After the game, we went out to eat and Josh was able to join us after dropping off the team to eat at another restaurant (he had driven the bus). We watched Olympics on the restaurant TV, and talked, and I reminded Josh that it had been 20 years since he asked me to marry him!!

Feb. 15: The 2nd graders did a Chinese New Year parade through the school at Terreton Elementary. Mrs. Sawicki's class had done it many years prior when she used to teach 3rd grade, but nobody in the school had done it since. When I requested we do it, she happily consented. Our class made a dragon, like the 1st grade students do in Salmon, and her class used 2 shorter, authentic dragons. It was so much fun! After school, I drove the 3 younger boys to Salmon for the night, since I had a work day the next day and they didn't have school.

Feb. 16: I drove back down to Terreton in the morning, worked all day, and then hosted dominoes at my apartment with my lady friends! Josh surprised me and came to it as well, and our friend Brittany Buxton who works in preschool with Rosalba also came. We had 8 people playing in my tiny apartment kitchen! I always have so much fun at dominoes, though, and love hanging out with my lady group!

Feb. 17: Josh spent the night in Mud Lake after dominoes, and we drove down to Utah on Saturday morning. We stopped at my parents' home in Tremonton to pick up some shelves and dressers from the house they are selling (furniture they didn't want to move to Providence). My dad was there, and he and Josh put the items in the enclosed trailer we'd brought with the truck. It was weird for me to see my parent's home all empty! Josh and my dad moved the remaining furniture we didn't want into the garage, so that the house was completely empty, and they could shampoo carpets. Josh and I then drove to Ikea to pick up a couch for our bedroom--the double recliner wasn't good for his back anymore (he needs more stiff furniture, and less of the slouchy kind). We'd put the red couch in there during the Christmas season while the Christmas tree took its place in the family room, but once we moved the family room back in order, we knew a different seating piece was necessary. We tried out several couches at Ikea and ultimately picked a black one with a slightly higher back than the red couch we have, and more affordable too! On the way back north, we decided to stop at my parent's house in Providence because they were having a family party for Tawna, and we were ahead of schedule and surprised them when we showed up. We were only there for about an hour, before driving to Idaho Falls. We had movie tickets to see the newest "50 Shades" movie in the theater, and we'd reserved a nice hotel room in Idaho Falls for the night. It was like a short anniversary trip, and much-needed. I loved spending the day with Josh!

The U.S. team won gold in curling this year
for the first time! They were in the finals
at the time that I bought these chips--I just loved
that the merchandise supported the Olympic
team. I snacked on these and ended up eating
the whole bag on the car ride that day.

Bryce, Josh, & Mick in my parents' new kitchen.

Tawna is pregnant for the first time!
We're so excited to meet their son this summer!

Feb. 18: I set up the new couch for Josh in our bedroom. We messed with different configurations until it felt like "Goldilocks" and felt 'just right' for him to sit on. We added a few blocks under the couch for height, and then with a footstool, the pressure feels better on his tailbone.

Feb. 21: I had a "Star Student" every week from the beginning of school to mid-February, when everyone was done having a turn. Mr. H, our principal, was our last Star Student (I was the first), and he made it such a fun week with his daily "show and tells". He is a musician, and he played his guitar for my class one day, which was so memorable for everyone!

Feb. 24: Josh helped chaperone the Stake Youth Valentines Dance, and I went with him. Halfway through the dance, they stopped the music and played some games, including this hungry hippo game, which was so fun! I took a few photos of when the twins participated in the activity.

Micah is holding the laundry basket in the center of the photo.

Jonah is in plaid, pulling the person with the red shirt and white laundry basket.

Feb. 25: I tried and tried to get an antennae that would work at Mud Lake to watch basic TV just so we could watch the Olympics. I got 3 different antenna, and none of them worked, so we weren't able to watch as much of the Olympics as I would've liked. We only watched them on the weekends while we were in Salmon. I did make sure to DVR the closing ceremonies (just like I did the opening ceremonies), so that I wouldn't miss it! There was a lot of cool effects this year in the ceremonies done in PyeongChang, South Korea. This was my favorite part of the closing ceremonies:

Feb. 26: Josh had Idaho GCSA meetings in Boise, so when I left on Monday morning to head back to Mud Lake, he headed to Boise. He passed by this cool waterfall on the way:

Feb. 28: On his way back home from the golf course meetings in Boise, Josh stopped to take photos of the Sawtooths in Stanley, and then the Bitterroot Range in Salmon. He loves the snow on the mountains, and the visual contrast that it provides. He did some chores for his dad once he got back, since his dad had gone to New Mexico for the week (Ammon had done the chores while Josh was in Boise). I went out to see the "Greatest Showman" with my Terreton friends. We'd tried to go to the show several weeks previously, but the show was sold out, and we ended up going out to eat at Stockman's instead. This time, we were successful in getting tickets (we all purchased them ahead of time, just in case). I loved the show just as much the 2nd time as I did the first time when I saw it over Christmas Break with my mom, SIL Jen, and neices! We went out shopping to Porter's afterward, since they had announced they would be closing their store and everything was on sale, and I had so much fun that night driving around, shopping, laughing, eating, and watching the movie with them!