Drives, Putts, and one Split Thumb

Kanyon decided to play golf this spring rather than do track and field. He excelled at the throwing events during his junior high years, but his knees really hurt him during his Freshman throwing season last year, so he thought he'd change it up and do the spring high school sport that all 3 of his older brothers have participated in! His first season of golf unexpectedly ended up being a really short season, due to weather and a sport-related injury.

Winter was really long in Salmon--it snowed more in March than it had all January and February combined! As a result, golf didn't really begin until after spring break, and then it was still delayed further due to snow on the course. His first golf tournament of the season was on April 10, and it was in Salmon since it was the only course that was open and playable at the time. Josh and I were unable to watch him play due to being in Mexico for our anniversary, but Josh's parents watched him for a bit.

His second tournament was a week later, and again it was in Salmon since other courses in the area still hadn't opened for the season due to snow. I took the day off work and watched Kanyon play the first 9 holes and half of the back 9. Josh came and went a few times during the day to watch Kanyon when he was able to in between his work schedule. On the hole right after I left (hole #7), Kanyon hit his wedge, and when it made contact with the ball, the wedge split in half right below the grip and the bottom portion of the club went flying (further than the ball did!). A few seconds later, he realized his thumb was really hurting and there was blood all over. He dipped it in the nearby ditch to wash it off, and teammate Zane, who was in the group behind him, had some athletic tape in his bag and he wrapped it tightly around Kanyon's thumb. Kan finished the last 3 holes, and actually did really well on #9 and #1! Josh came back on hole 9 and let me know that I needed to take him to the clinic, which I did--but first he wanted to wait for everyone's scores to come in! Craig, the new A.D., grilled up hot dogs for all the finished players, and Kanyon ate 3 while he was waiting! Our boys got 2nd place, which was great! After the results were posted, I took him to the walk-in clinic where he got 4 stitches. 

The broken club

His newly stitched thumb.

The cut was vertical right down the center of his thumb and through the crease, and the Dr. said that in order for him to heal faster, Kanyon needed to try to not bend his thumb, and he recommended that Kan take 2 weeks off of golf because the stitches needed to stay for 2 weeks before being removed. The following day, golf practice was cancelled due to the snowy weather, and for the next week, he just practiced putting and left practice early due to throbbing pain in his thumb. It took a week for the thumb to start really healing, and he started favoring it after that (a natural consequence), so his grip and swing changed. He missed the next 2 meets because of the stitches. I asked him if he was still glad that he switched sports this spring, even despite his new thumb injury, and he said yes. He liked being on the course with the other kids on his team, and they've all been nice to him. His teammates were: Zane Hamilton, Austin Roach, Riley Jones, and Andrew Sessions. 

The next meet the team had after his stitches was removed was the district meet in Challis, but since Kanyon missed the pre-districts meet there, Josh took him golfing the afternoon before Districts, just so he could become more familiar with the course. The weather wasn't ideal--it turned cold and snowed while they played--but it was a good practice round for Kanyon and a fun experience for Josh to take his son golfing one-on-one. 

District golf in Challis was on May 8. I got the day off work, and Josh only worked that morning, then we drove down to Challis together to watch Kanyon play. The weather was beautiful (which was a huge contrast to the practice round Kan & Josh played on the same course the previous day!). Kanyon played so well, especially for not having much practice or tournament play for over 2 weeks! He got a new PR for the season with his score of 115, beating teammate Riley by just one point to get the 3rd place spot for our team! It was a day of one-point differences, as teammate Zane beat Austin by only one point, and our boys team got 3rd place losing by just one point to the 2nd place team of North Fremont. Thankfully, though, since there were 7 complete boys' teams that competed at District, which meant 3 teams qualified for state. That was an exciting surprise! We were so glad Kanyon's shortened season was lengthened by one more week!

The twins called us on their P-day while
we were at Kanyon's golf meet, and Jonah
was on a golf course, too!

State qualifiers from Salmon: Riley, Austin, Zane, Andrew, Kanyon,
and Moriah who qualified individually from the girls' team.

State golf was the 2nd week of May at the Sage Lakes course in Idaho Falls. His team went down on Sunday morning to have a practice session, and then they competed on Monday and Tuesday. Josh and I took the day off work on Monday to follow him around. It was another beautiful day, and he did really well, scoring 116. On the 2nd day, he got a new PR of 110 AND he got his first-ever birdie, which he was SO excited about! It was an awesome way for him to end his first golf season! Unfortunately, the team didn't do so well overall--getting dead last for the 2nd year in a row. It was still just a great experience that he and the team got to go to state, and it was nice for them to not stress about medal contentions so they could just play and try to have fun. 

Ready for another great day spectating on the course!

Leading up to the last hole, there was a wait,
so our group laid down in the shade!

There was a bunch of spectators on the last hole, which was
pretty intimidating!

He was frustrated that his putt didn't go in the hole on 18,
thereby giving him one extra stroke from his District score.

The official scoreboard

After day 1

Although his season was cut in half--starting 2 weeks later due to snow, and not being able to play for 2 weeks in the middle of the season due to injury--it was overall a positive experience for him, and he decided to continue with this sport again next year!

Christmas Break in Arizona

This was our first Christmas Break vacation to a warm destination, and the timing of going to Scottsdale was perfect--Ammon said it rained the days leading up to, and including, our arrival, but then it turned nice and warm for the next 3 days (including Christmas Day), and it was crappy weather again the day we flew out! Josh and I enjoyed the warm weather immensely! 

The view of the pool courtyard from our hotel room

Ammon had to work the day after Christmas, so we slept in again and then Josh and I spent the morning reading by the pool, laying like lizards in the sun on the lounging chairs, soaking up all the sun's rays we possibly could into our winter-ridden bodies. It felt heavenly!

Josh's viewpoint

My viewpoint

That afternoon, Josh, Kanyon, and I took the hotel shuttle and were dropped off at a shopping district about a mile away. We ate lunch at a Mongolian BBQ place. It was the first time Kanyon had been to that type of restaurant and he absolutely LOVED it! 

It was unusual to see the fake outdoor Christmas trees.
They seemed so out of place amidst the palm trees!

There was an indoor 3-D glow-in-the-dark miniature golf course in the same strip mall, so we went there next. We were all tripping wearing those 3-D glasses as we golfed indoors--everything on the 18 hole obstacle golf course seemed to move as you hit the ball! We'd never experienced anything like it at any other mini golf place we'd been to before!  

We decided to walk a mile to our evening dinner reservation at Medieval Times. As we started walking from the strip mall to there, we passed the Colorado Rockies practice field, the Great Wolf Lodge, and this really cool memorial that paid tribute to the USS Arizona that sunk in Pearl Harbour. It was a really neat surprise to happen upon this place! We read all the signs as we walked around it, admiring the unique memorial. In the center of it all was the boathouse from the salvaged portion of the USS Arizona, which was donated to the state of Arizona from the Department of Defense. The boathouse is permanently placed inside a glass structure that was currently locked, so we were unable to go inside for closer inspection, but we really liked walking around the grounds and seeing the designs of the column formations. 

We arrived at Medieval Times before Ammon did, so we waited outside until he got there after work. I'd been to Medieval Times once in L.A. when I was a teenager, and Josh went to a similar type of dinner/show venue in England when he was on his mission, but none of our kids have been to it before. We were seated on the bottom row right in between the yellow and blue sections, so we could choose which of those teams we wanted to be on. I rooted for blue. It was a great show! The food was incredibly delicious, and we enjoyed watching the colored knights and the well-trained horses compete in the battles. There was even a falconer that entertained the crowd with a trained falcon that flew around the audience for one portion, which was a fun addition to the show. Our team didn't win (green did), but we all had a great time nonetheless! 

You don't use any utensils to eat with during the dinner show.

The MC

Introduction of all the colored knights

After we left dinner, we drove through a drive-through Christmas lights display, which was a first for all of us. It was a really cool light show set to Christmas music that you listened to as you drove through, which was just set up in a massive empty lot. Each section of the lot was set up in a different theme. I thought the whole concept was a such a fun idea! It took us about a half hour to drive it from start to finish. 

I loved this flashing, dancing light tunnel at its entrance.

The next day, we woke up early to go golfing with Ammon at Fire Rock Country Club--the golf course that he's been working at since October. Kanyon didn't come prepared with "appropriate" golf attire, so after the lighting show the night before, we went to a Walmart and Ammon picked out a polo shirt for him and Ammon let him borrow some shorts and belt that would fit him. We didn't bring any golf clubs with us, so Ammon found some extra clubs that Josh could borrow and we used two carts to drive around the 18-hole course. Kanyon rode with Ammon, as they both used Ammon's left-handed clubs, and I drove with Josh (but chose not to golf--I just prefer watching them). It was a pretty golf course, and we liked seeing the course where he's been working at to finish his final internship. 

The city of Phoenix is in the distance on the right.

This cactus has taken a beating!

Such handsome & sharply dressed boys!

What a cute Christmas bush!

Ammon--always the big brother and golf critic for his younger sibling.

That's the Fire Rock Clubhouse in the distance.

After the round of golf, we were all famished, so we stopped at a cute hometown restaurant called Phil's Filling Station in Fountain Hills. The food was outstanding, the decorations inside were so kitschy, and an additional bonus: our waitress had lived in Challis many years back and knew exactly where our hometown Salmon was! We loved eating at this place! As we were finishing lunch, the fountain at the nearby Fountain Park started shooting water. The fountain goes off once an hour during the daytime and sprays water for 15 minutes. It shoots water over 500 feet high! It was such a sight to behold! We finished lunch, and then drove around the park, watching its continuous spray. It was yet another cool place we got to see! 

The view of the fountain from our spot on the deck.

Josh trying to get the closest shot possible.

After lunch, we drove back to our hotel. Josh and I read books around the poolside again, and Ammon took Kanyon back to the mini-golf place that we'd been to the day before (but he'd missed due to work), and then they went out to eat together before returning to the hotel for some more movie time, snacking, and putting together our 2nd puzzle of the trip. 

Kanyon was so tired from waking up early to golf
that he fell asleep on our drive back to the hotel!

Ammon had to work again the next day, so we had an Uber come pick us up the next morning at the hotel to drive us back to the Mesa airport. The flight was delayed, which was annoying, but we made it back to Idaho okay. It had snowed again in our absence, so the truck in the parking lot was covered in snow, which was a rude awakening from the warm sun we'd left behind in Arizona! Amanda met us in Idaho Falls to bring back the fixed trailer--the one that that we'd taken down to Ogden earlier in the month with her mom's belongings but the wheel had broken on the way. We went out to dinner at Stockman's with Amanda before driving the trailer back home to Salmon that night. We loved going to Arizona over Christmas vacation, and are already talking about doing it again next Christmas!