Ammon turned 14 on January 11. This year, it was his turn to have a friend birthday party. He chose to have his friend Hunter spend the night on Friday, then on Saturday morning the 11th, we'd all go skiing/snowboarding and we'd take his friend with us.
The week prior to Ammon's birthday, Josh started getting really sick. Thankfully he doesn't get sick very often, but when he does, it's really bad. I think it gets so bad because of his paralyzed vocal cords and lack of oxygen he already has, so when he gets sick on top of that, it puts him in a very weakened state. On Friday, it hurt him to move: he said every single joint in his body hurt. He was coughing a lot, and was having difficulty breathing. And yet, he still took the boys to work with him and they got a load of wood from the tree-trimming project he'd been working on all winter at the golf course. They picked up Ammon's friend Hunter that afternoon on their way back home.
After they got home, Josh went to bed. By that evening, he couldn't even stand up without help or walk without me by his side. He had a fever of 103*, so I gave him a bath to try and lower his temperature. It worked for a while, and he went to bed again and didn't move.
I made dinner for our family, and Ammon and Hunter played together on Ammon's Xbox the whole night. At about 11:30, before I got into bed, I took Josh's temperature again, and this time it was 106.4*. Having such a high fever really scared me. I knew there was something very wrong, and I was worried that he was getting pneumonia. He's had it once before, and it's life-threatening for him, so I didn't want to wait until he got even worse before taking him to the doctor. Since it was a Friday night, I knew our only option was to go to the E.R. since the clinic would be closed the next day. I told him I felt like it was very important to go to the hospital, and he argued with me saying that he was feeling better and that he didn't think he needed to go. I told him I was giving him two choices: either he could go to the E.R, or I would call and wake up his dad to come up to our house to give Josh a priesthood blessing. So, he decided we'd go to the hospital. I told Ammon and Hunter that I was taking Josh to the hospital (since all the other boys were asleep), and told them to not stay up too late. Then I helped Josh out of bed, helped him get dressed, and I drove him to the hospital.
It was the best E.R. visit I've ever had: we were the only ones there, we had a nice nurse (who we both knew), we were treated quickly, he was given drugs for the pain, he had x-rays and tests done, and the attending Doctor was efficient. Within 2 hours, we received the diagnosis and were on our way back home. Josh didn't have pneumonia, he had Influenza Type A. They said it's typically a 7-day illness. Since he'd already had it several days, we opted to not get the expensive medication, since we believed the illness had peaked and he'd be better in a few days.
I was relieved to know that he had the flu, and was grateful to go to the E. R. to know for sure, and was glad that it wasn't anything more serious. He, on the other hand, was upset that he paid to see a doctor just to find out that he had the flu and to go home and rest it out.
On Saturday morning, I got up to ask Ammon how late he and Hunter had been up the night before. I asked him if he still wanted to go snowboarding that day, or if he wanted to postpone it for a time Josh could come. He said he still wanted to go that day, but he'd rather go a half day in the afternoon instead of go in the morning, so that they could sleep in a little bit longer. That worked out well, since the other boys were still asleep, and I was tired from the late night E.R. visit, and apparently the highway to the ski hill had received an avalanche overnight and the road was closed that morning to clear the snow off.
So, after lunch, we took Kanyon to a babysitter, and made sure Josh was comfortable, then I took Ammon and his friend Hunter, and Jonah and Micah up to Lost Trail Ski Area. It was raining in Salmon when we left, but by the time we got to the bottom of the pass, it was snowing pretty hard and the roads hadn't been cleared.
Earlier in the week, Josh and Ammon had found a snowboard locally that my dad purchased as a gift for his birthday, and they'd got new boots to with hit, so Ammon was looking forward to trying it all out for the first time (he'd only ever been snowboarding one other time in Utah over New Year's, and we got a rental snowboard then). Hunter also has his own snowboard, so after we got to the ski hill, I purchased their passes, and they set off alone together for the slopes.
I had to go to the rental shop to get some skis and boots for Jonah and Micah. It wasn't a pleasant experience trying to help both of them into their boots and skis. Impatient boys and stressed mothers don't go well together. And since the ski hill had received a new foot of snow in the previous week, it was super busy and they were out of the right sizes of boots for the boys. The attendant offered them girl boots instead, which were white. Jonah opted to go for a bigger size so he could get the black boots. Micah begrudgingly took the white boots, and was mad during the whole fitting process. Jonah liked his boots, but they were hard to put on and take off, and took forever! FINALLY after everything was on, we headed out for the lift.
The snow was still coming down pretty hard, and it was foggy on the ski hill. It was difficult to see, and Jonah said that it felt like "Pop Rocks were on his face" as we were skiing down with the snow pellets hitting our faces. By the time we got to the bottom of the hill after our first run, I wanted to be done. Both boys were mad--they didn't like skiing in the snowy conditions, none of us could see well and since the boys didn't know this ski hill, they couldn't tell where they were going, Micah didn't like his white boots, and Jonah's skis had popped off 4 times. The ski lifts only fit 2 people (instead of 3 like the Beaver Mountain's lifts), and I'd had Jonah and Micah ride up together the first time so that neither one of them had to ride alone. They apparently fought on the lift and didn't want to ride together again. I was frustrated being there alone and I missed Josh.
So, I had the boys practice on the bunny hill that has a rope tow, so that they could feel more comfortable before going down the slopes again. But then Jonah's ski popped off on the rope tow, and Micah had a hard time grabbing onto the rope, and the line pretty much stopped because of them. I was hoping that Ammon and Hunter were at least having a good time somewhere! Because we sure weren't...
I didn't want it to be a total waste of the day, so we tried again, and went up the lift. We did it 3 more times, and it slowly got better. The wind picked up, which made the fog go away, but hurt our faces with snow worse. The boys started getting better and Jonah's skis stopped popping off as much. It wasn't as enjoyable as when we went skiing together over New Years in sunny conditions in Utah. But we survived the day, and they go to practice their new skiing skills.
At the end of the day, when the ski hill was closing, we checked the twins' rentals back in and headed to the car. The snow began to get even thicker and it was hard to see. I finally found Ammon and Hunter, and we slowly drove down the mountain and headed back to Salmon. It had been an adventure for sure!
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| This was a tree visible from one of the lifts. I called it the "Marshmallow Tree". |
After dinner, Ammon opened his presents. He really wanted an Under Armor hooded sweatshirt--the one we'd gotten him at Christmas was too small, so that was one of his big requests.
My mom always sends the boys packages for the birthday in the mail, which they love receiving. However, it's always a challenge for them to open the well-wrapped and securely-taped packages! It requires heavy-duty scissors or a pocket knife!
Ammon with his loot: the game Carcassonne (which we played with cousin Mikey in Stanley over Christmas Break and he wanted it ever since), the Under Armor sweatshirt, a new athletic shirt, new socks and pants, spikes (track shoes), an xbox game, an Ipod charger, and new church clothes, a T-shirt and some Nutella from Grandma P. He also got money from Grandpa & Grandma T. and Uncle Tim & Barb, and the snowboard and new boots from Grandpa P.
For his birthday treat, he decided to have macadamia nut cookies and root beer floats. He usually asks for bread pudding as his birthday treat, so this was different (& very easy!).
Happy Birthday Ammon! Even though I know it's not one of the better birthday celebrations you've had, I'm grateful that you were flexible and content with it! Your dad and I love you so much, and are blessed to be your parents. You're a bright, easygoing, talented young man, and we are delighted with the choices you are making in your life. Happy 14!
