I have vistited my blogging dashboard every day since I've been back from Montana and said to myself, "you really should blog about how coolio the trip was, Jill." but then I reply, "Yeah, but maybe I'll check my facebook wall again (for the 11th time) and see if anything new has popped up." Then Karley comes in and asks who I'm talking to... hence the avoidance of my blog.
Let's play catch-up!
I week after New Year's Shawn and I went to Ashby because we had a very special date planned with my cousin, Miles. He recieved a snowboard from Santa (with some heavy lobbying from Shawn and I) and we promised we'd take him out and get his feet wet...or cold in this example.
We had so much fun at Andes Tower Hills outside of Brandon, about a 25 minute drive from my house. I was very impressed by how quickly Miles picked up the basics. It worked out especially well since he rides 'regular' or right footed and I ride 'goofy' or left footed so we went down the hill, hand in hand, giving him some extra stability. Eventually he was like, "I'm gonna go down the bunny hill...you guys stay here." He wanted to figure it out by himself, he wanted to get up after falling without our help, he wanted to coach himself with us hovering by him. Those are the exact qualities you need to succeed in snowboarding. I'm thinking he'll do just fine!
If you're looking for an update on work/assisting/dental school it goes about like this: great/fun/think I'll be applying next year. Believe me, I know the true definition of 'bummer' after going through this process. But I can show them that I'm resiliant and I truly want to be a dentist.
There's so much to talk about regarding the Montana experience... I fear this blog will be as big as the state itself! I'll try to summarize efficiently. Key word here being try. :)
The best thing that happened to Shawn and I was that we left. That's a weird statement to start off with but it's true. That mixed with 'timing is everything' would maybe fit better. A huge rain, snow, & ice storm ravaged across the Dakotas and into western MN Thursday night and all day Friday. Leaving Thursday morning, Shawn and I had a beautiful, sunny drive across the plains. We even had the air on for a few minutes! Mom, Dad, Karley, Heidi, Sam, and Lily on the other hand attemped the journey starting Friday night and made it as far as Jamestown before getting a hotel. I94 was glare ice and very slow, scary going for the caravan of 2 vehicles. They were torn about staying westbound, or waving a white flag and turning back. Alli and I encouraged them to keeping going but they turned around. Some very emotional minutes ensued which led to Dad turning back once more, detirmined to see his youngest at Big Sky. They made it safe and sound on Saturday night around 8:30 PM. Sam and Heidi and Lily made it back to Fergus and were stranded at their house as the ice storm made it impossible to drive anywhere safely for at least a day.
Whew! That was intense. Now to the fun stuff.... when I have time to post again! Enjoy your Monday, everyone!!
p.s. More awesome photos also to come!
