Leaving 2022 with a BANG

We got home from our travels to Arizona on the night of Dec. 28th. Although we loved going to Arizona for Christmas, our travels took a bulk of Christmas Break, so it was nice to spend some down time at home again on the 29th. I had to work at the movie theater that night, so I spent the morning finishing my Christmas Break puzzle that I'd started on the 23rd before we left for Scottsdale. I love completing puzzles, but I limit myself to only doing a couple of them each year, usually over Christmas Break! After I finished this particular one, I glued it together to hang in my classroom (since my classroom is decorated with hot air balloons). 

I really liked this colorful design!

(After Christmas Break, I hung the puzzle in the center of the window wall in my classroom)

I had to work at the movie theater again the following day for the matinee showings on the 30th, but then I was free for the night. Josh and I spent the evening at the Hobbs' home playing "Pennies" with them and the Oswalds. This was our last game night all together before the Oswalds left for their mission the next week. We loved our game nights with these couples! We usually played Pennies when we got together (a game that Craig's family created), but we also played other card games occasionally, too. 

We were blessed with a lot of snowfall on the last day of the year, December 31st. We had decided to have a New Year's Eve party with friends, since we were gone for Christmas Eve (we'd hosted that party the last 2 years), so I prepared for the party all day inside by cleaning and cooking and Josh worked outside to get our driveway and parking area ready.

We had so much fun at our New Year's Eve party! We ate great food, watched the football game on TV, and played games. We mostly played "Code Names" (my FAVORITE group game), taking turns between all the couples to be the "Spymaster" representing both the girls and the boys teams. There was even involvement from the youngsters in our game this year! Sadly, the girls team lost once again although it was SUPER close!

The families that joined us for New Years were the Oliversons, Deschaines, Williams', Hiltons, and Woolfs. There was also a DFY New Years activity in town with a free movie that night, so Kanyon and most of the other teens voted to hang out in town (except Abby), which left just the adults and kids at our house. While the adults and older kids played games, some of the younger kids played in the bedrooms, and apparently did some art projects, too! Sidney and Pyper surprised us by showing us a bunch of New Years signs they'd made to decorate our spare bedroom with! It was SO adorable!

In the upper right photo, there's a piece of taped string--we had 
to cut the string that was draped across the open doorway to
even enter the room, and that was the remainder of it. So cute!

At midnight, we went outside in the cold to light all the sparklers we had (which were left over from July 4th) and a few random bottle fountains, too. It was a fun way to end the year--with a BANG!

While we partied in Salmon, Ammon and Gabbie celebrated New Year's with her family in Las Vegas. I liked seeing his adventures from afar--but I still preferred spending the holiday at home!

Happy New Year!

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!