Christmas Break

 December 26: Christmas Program at church--it was great to be in church all together as a family! Ammon left that afternoon to fly to Denver from Missoula for a friend's wedding. 

I got myself a selfie stick--trying it for the 1st time

December 27: The missionaries and Avery came over for dinner and a religious discussion. After the missionaries left, Avery stayed (like he usually did) and played games with us. We enjoyed having him in our home!

That night, the boys played Tetris while I worked on the puzzle.

December 28: The Berube's came to visit Salmon for a few days during Christmas Break. I started the morning by having chai with Amanda and Jen in the Judy's hot tub. We had a great time together, soaking for well over an hour and talking and laughing. That afternoon, Amanda went to a matinee at the theater with Josh and I, and we ate at Bistro afterwards, which was so fun! Then we went to up to the Vermaas house and hung out with Ryan, too. 

December 29-30: Josh and I went to Quinn's Hot Springs in Montana for the 2nd Christmas Break in a row (it was my Christmas gift to Josh). We stayed for 2 nights in the lodge, just like last time. We ate at the nice restaurant Harwood House onsite the first night, and then on our second afternoon there, we drove into the nearby town of Hot Springs. It was a fun little venture. We drove around the small town, checking out some of the commercial hot springs there and then we ate at a cute place called Fergie's Pub & Grill. It wasn't busy when we got there, which was nice, so we played a game of pool. The food was good, and we had a good time. We soaked at Quinn's multiple times over the 3 days we were there, and we absolutely loved the new pools! The weather was great, too! It lightly snowed overnight the first night, and then again the second night, and it just made it even more beautiful!

December 31: Josh and I drove back home to Salmon on the morning of New Year's Eve. Ammon and Gabbie flew back in from their friend's wedding in Denver on the 30th, and they stayed for New Year's weekend in Salmon. Our family stayed at home for New Year's Eve, and I loved just hanging out with our family! We played games, ate snacks, and watched movies. 

January 1: I started the new year by sleeping in, working on my puzzle, soaking in the hot tub, and watching football with the boys! We celebrated Ammon's birthday early that evening with his birthday dinner, dessert, and opening gifts, too. It was a nice relaxing day!

January 2: We finally got around to decorating "gingerbread houses" over Christmas Break on the last day of it! Ammon and Gabbie were able to join us, too, which I was so glad for! In fact, it was the first time Gabbie's ever decorated gingerbread houses, which surprised me! We set out graham crackers, pop tarts, frosting, hot glue, and a ton of candy decorations. Everybody made such great buildings with creative designs!

Gabbie's house

Micah's compound

Jonah's garage

Josh's tall house

Kanyon's doorless home

Kala's home

Ammon's castle

January 3: Christmas Break ended all too quickly. I headed back to school, the boys headed back to school, Josh went back to work, and Ammon & Gabbie left for Moscow. It was a wonderful break from life, and I was so grateful to spend some quality time with my family all together! Also, I FINALLY finished the Christmas puzzle that night! I'd started it the day after Christmas, so it took me over a week to complete the 1,000 piece puzzle, but I was so glad to finally be done with it and put it away!

Tiki jumped into Ammon's car
when they were leaving, because
she didn't want to get left behind!