One Great Night

The day was a generally grumpy one. We all agreed. I was even obviously snippy over skype. This means two things: 1) I must have been extra snippy if she could tell over skype, and 2) she was grumpy, too, which meant whatever I said was doubly harsh because of dual bad attitudes. Don't worry, words of affirmation is not our love language, so we are still friends. :) Anyway, this is the order of events after school.

1. I had a good talk with Janelle - I am SO glad she's back at work with us! I know it's hard for her having Jonah and everything, but I'm so glad she's back. :) After talking with her, I prepared to leave school while shouting out Scattergories answers with two of many students who are absolutely addicted to that game, and I am the keeper of the box, therefore my room is cool.

2. I went home. I think that is a wonderful event in and of itself.

3. I tried my hand at baking (scary...) a new kind of pumpkin bread (even scarier...) using an online recipe that I didn't have all the ingredients for (yipes stripes!). No cloves, no orange peel. Being able to substitute or feel safe in leaving things out is something bush folk have to learn pretty quickly. I enjoy cooking in general, though, and even though baking is a totally different culinary field, I had fun creating. Instead of the orange peel in the cream cheese filling, I just added a little bit of Kaluha. Mmm. :) (Really, it turned out quite good!) The recipe makes 2 loaves. Lucky me!



4. Scrabble date!! Sissy and Judie and I have been having pretty regular game and craft nights. It's been ages, though, so it was about freakin' time! I took one loaf of the sweet bread over with me, and we enjoyed eating it while playing Scrabble and getting un-grumpy. They even gave me my Christmas present!! It's awesome. I got a sweet bag that has a dancing Santa on it. Then I got a Longaberger basket that holds napkins, AND the napkins to go with it. AND I got a sweet ulu pocket knife! Merry Christmas to me!



5. We had been trying to convince Adrianna to come and play with us. She said she'd call later, mentioning something about a full moon. She called, and we (somehow) convinced Sissy to go to First Hill with us, hike up, just to sled down. It took some begging and prodding, but she loves us, so Sissy, Ryan, Adrianna, and I drove out to the base of the hill, then hiked up the powdery snowy hill with our sled. Sweet! This part of the night will be discussed in sub-categories.



A. Adrianna and I were the first two candidates to sled down. I got to be in front. This was awesome because pretty much I got snow in my face the whole way. We went wicked fast, at least compared to last time we went sledding up there, and hit every brush possible on the way down. It was amazing. We laugh-screamed the whole way. :)



B. After hiking back up, we decided to have some good conversation. We started with Truth-or-Dare - a classic. Most of us are really bad at dares, but Ryan came up with a good one - ride the sled down the hill standing up. So that's exactly what we took turns doing. We didn't get terribly far, though Sis won that competition. (Dang - she won every single freakin' game we played tonight...) Anyway, we had lots of fun trying! This is a video of Ryan going, then falling. Turn your head to the left, and watch closely. It's a little dark, but you can a bit with the flashing of the cameras, particularly the falling part.



This is a sweet picture of Adrianna giving it a go.



C. We decided it was time for the Truth part of the game, so we asked some questions that everyone had to answer. We started with a good one. Feel free to reflect on it yourself - and even answer in the comments if you feel so inclined. :)

"If you were to write a book, what would it be about, and why?"

We had some pretty sweet conversation. We also talked about living on other planets and traveling in space and ultimately, how cool Earth is. We gave examples, talked about some of the amazing things on our planet, and so forth. Here's another question for you to ponder:

"What is a picture of a place that you have in your mind, a photograph of something you will never forget?"

D. After all of this, we had to get back down the hill. We started with the four of us on the little sled. Too much weight with all of us, so we basically scooted a few yards, then stopped. Ryan and Adrianna got up and pushed Sissy and I down the hill. We did okay until we veered sideways and fell off. It was pretty much hilarious. Ryan and A took over, and made a pretty sweet dash down much of the way. They stopped, then gave us back the sled. We made another amazing run down, sideways, through a bunch of brush, then finally, and I'm not kidding you, crashed STRAIGHT into a bush. By the time we stopped I was laughing so hard I could not breathe or move.

Everything was right in the world, all the stars were aligned, and even though it was cloudy, I am pretty sure it was a beautiful night. Thanks, yous! :)