Our Valentines/ President's Day Adventures

We had a 3-day weekend for President's day, so Nate and I decided it would be fun to go to Utah and see my family and some friends there. My family recently moved to South Jordan, so it's nice to be able to see them more often now. Nate's brother Jake came from Provo and stayed at my parents house as well. We all got there on Friday night and just visited and hung out with my parents and my little brother, Alex, and my little sister, Cori.
On Saturday, Valentines Day, we parted ways and Nate and Jake took Alex to Jump On It, a place full of trampolines that's really fun and exhausting. My mom and Cori and I went to the mall to find me a new coat, because I was in dire need of one and we were going skiing and snowboarding on Monday. It was distressing because all the stores were done selling their coats and had their swimsuits out for spring, which is 2 months away. I looked at REI and Sports Authority thinking I would find some good sales, but all their coats were on sale for almost $200. My sister had to get home to babysit, so I went looking again with my dad. We had a nice little daddy-daughter date. We looked at some houses he had wanted to buy, talked about life and my plans for the future, and I got some good fatherly advice. We went back to the mall and my dad saved me from buying a coat that was really cute, but not very functional. I finally found a coat that my dad helped me pick out. I wasn't too happy with it originally, but it was cheap so I didn't mind so much. Later though, when I was showing it to Nate, I found that it had a bunch of secret pockets and features I didn't see before, and I loved it. On Saturday night, Cori went babysitting and Alex went to a dance at school. Nate and Jake and I decided to go see a movie, but it was all sold out, so then we just walked around Jordan Landing until my feet were about to fall off and it got too cold. We went home and I helped my mom make dinner and dessert for Sunday while the boys watched TV.
On Sunday, I went with my dad to pick up my Grandma and we went to church with my family. My whole family had to give talks, and it was really neat to hear what they had to say. I helped my mom with her little class of 3-year olds, which was really fun. After church, my other grandma came over and we had delicious homemade lasagna, caesar salad, garlic bread, and cheescake. Later that night Jake went home to do some homework he had forgotten about and Nate and I went to our friends' house in Lehi. We played a really fun game called Quelf. I'm going to have to find it and buy it. It was really fun to see friends that we hadn't seen in about a year. We went home and went to bed to get ready for out fun adventures on Monday.
On Monday, we got up and got ready to go to Brighton. We were some of the first people there and started on the easy stuff, working out way up the mountain. Nate and Jake stayed with us, which was really nice since they could easily go on the black diamond stuff. I had to help Alex along the way because he'd only been skiing once before. I felt bad because he kept falling and there was nothing I could do but coach him through it. His legs were still sore and tired from Jump On It, so at 1:30 he decided he was done and went to the car and took a nap while he waited for the rest of us to finish. It was fun to go down the runs at my own pace when Alex was done. We were on our final run when Cori fell on a steep part and I was trying to help her get up and coach her through it. She was trying to get up, sliding backwards the whole time when 2 tiny kids came flying down on their skis with their dad videotaping them. Cori felt like an idiot because he definitly caught her on camera : ). She finally got up, and we continued down the mountain when we saw Nate and Jake. It looked like they were waiting for us, so we told them they could just go down, they didn't need to hang around for us. Nate said Jale was hurt, and i looked at Jake and his face was a deep red/purple shade. He had gone through the woods and hit a jump on his way out. When he hit the jump, a little stump he thought he could clear caught the nose of his snowboard and made him faceplant in the snow. He broke his collarbone. Nate wanted to go get the ski patrol for him, but Jake insisted he could make it down the mountain. They headed down, and Cori and I followed. While they went to the medical center, Cori and I went to the lodge to rest and get some hot chocolate. We could have gone down a couple more times, but we were exhausted! We called Alex and he met us up there. Jake got x-rays, and his collarbone was broken in 4 places. Usually they heal themselves, but since his was such a complex break, he's going to have to have surgery to bring the pieces together. He was really tough for having a broken bone. He attributes it to Nate an Bret beating up on him his whole life. We couldn't believe he had broken it, because he didn't seem in that much pain. I guess when they went to the medical center, the people there couldn't believe it either. Nate and Jake met us back at the lodge when they were done. Jake had to wear a funny brace that looks like a backpack. We went home, had some yummy leftover lasagna, and my parents took Jake home since his truck is stick shift and he would have hurt himself every time he shifted. Nate and I packed up and headed home for Rexburg. We hit a snowstorm halfway through Idaho, so it took us a lot longer than we expected. We finally got home, and here we are, living our normal lives again. We had a really good weekend. It was nice to be with my family again and to hang out with Jake. We had a lot of fun. I feel bad that he broke his collarbone and I hope it heals okay! I can't wait for another fun weekend like this!