Weekend with the Family and a little moment to be thankful

I was so excited for this weekend to come because Jamie decided to pack up her family and drive down to visit!  Even though it was only for a day and a half, and there was a little "not so fun" part toward the end, it was totally worth it. 

They got here late Friday night and we stayed up late (in baby world) playing and letting Mason run around since he'd been in the car for 5 hours.  You guys, that little boy is so much fun.  He knows so many more words than he did at Thanksgiving, he's super smart and just so busy and into everything. He made himself right at home. omg. Having him around is so much fun.  

I was a little concerned about how Mason was going to sleep in my big bed with James and Jamie and well, he managed to do it.  So we got up early Saturday morning and went to breakfast, shopped at City creek, ate at Teppanyaki for Regan's birthday dinner and then ventured back to Salt lake to look at the Lights at Temple Square.  

The day sure seemed to fly by super quick.  But it was just so much fun shopping and spending time with everyone.  Regan brought along one of her friends and Cole's new-ish girl friend [Kier] came along too.  SO, we had a pretty packed house and had to take two cars everywhere we went but it was so much fun just being together.  I, of course, especially loved the shopping part for 2 reasons: 1--Because I love pushing mason around in his stroller or holding him because he's just so cute, and people just love him and 2--Because I had a crap ton of gift cards so I was "forced" to buy lots of good stuff for myself :) [btw--I used some of the money and bought $18 urban decay eyeshadow...totally worth it.]

Of course it decided to snow super hard on the night we went to see the lights.  Here's the thing.. I don't really like being cold but I ESPECIALLY don't like being cold AND wet.  Normally, I probably would have complained but again, if a baby is whining then there is no need for me to cry about it, so I just enjoyed it.  The lights were absolutely stunning.  It's amazing to me how much work has to be put into all of it.  It's beautiful.

Faux or not..it's all about the fur.

Mason?! bahahah. It was freezing but he didn't care. He just loves being outside.

Mason was probably a little toasty at this point. 

 I was pushing him around Nordstom while we waited to go look at the lights. 

My little Christmas Reindeer.  I'm not sure when he got to be a little boy. 

 Kind of makes me sad, how big he's getting but he is just so much fun right now!

Cole and his girl friend, Kiersten.  She spent all Saturday with us, and fit right in!
They're kind of cute.  haha.

Now for the dramatic part that ended up with a good ending--On the way home from seeing the lights I had Regan, her friend, Cole and Kier in the car with me.  We had just gotten done talking about what you do when you're driving in the snow, because the girls haven't had their licences for that long.  Well, I bet you can see where I'm going with this.  

Anyways, it was snowing really hard and the roads were really slick.  I was driving next to a semi at the time and I don't like doing that even when it's sunny out and the roads are clear.  Well I hit a really slick spot and... Long story short, there was nothing I could do.. I just couldn't gain control of the car.  

It's weird how moments like that happen.  It's like everything goes in slow motion.  I had time to think about what I could try to do to fix the situation, time to take in each person's reaction and time to think of the worst cast scenario.  It's odd how that works, because reality is that it happened really fast.

Well, luckily there were no other cars on the left hand side of me in the HOV lane.  My car slid twice and ran right into the cement wall in the middle of the freeway.  We hit at the front driver's side and some how bounced back and was turned around perfectly straight looking south on the northbound freeway between Farmington and Kayesville.  

Right after it happened I remember thinking "omg, omg," and just as I was about to let my emotions take over and totally freak out and cry..I didn't. I freaked for about 5 seconds and then this calm feeling just came over me.  probably denial. haha. jk but I asked everyone if they were OK, and we were.  We were all wearing our seat belts and I was fine, but I just wanted to make sure people didn't have a heart attack or something. (not likely but you know.)  Then I asked Cole (who was sitting in the front seat)..how bad is it?  Because I knew we hit really hard, but our airbags didn't go out at all.  Cole's reply was "it's bad, Jenn, it's bad."  hahah real subtle right?  Well he had just enough room to open his door and get out of the car to look at the damage.  I just kept looking at him as I sat in the car praying that it wouldn't be bad.. Then cole just had this dazed look on his face, held out his hands and shrugged his shoulders.  He got in the car and told me that all he could see was a little bit of paint removed at the very bottom.. Just a black scuff about 6 inches long.  I couldn't believe it.  I mean, we hit pretty hard.  

I calmly called Jamie and James and let them know that we were OK and got on the phone with the highway patrol people.  Luckily, not even minutes after I called, a super nice lady cop pulled up and told me what to do.  She turned on her lights and blocked off the HOV lane and the next lane over and gave me that much room to get turned back around.  She let me know that it was going to be hard, and it was.  I mean, I could only go inches at a time and had to be careful that I didn't slide because cars were still CONSTANTLY going by me.  I finally got turned around and we got back home safely.

I'm still in awe about the whole thing.  I'm going to forget about the dramatic after effect from the two shocked teenagers who decided to freak out more once Jamie and James walked in the door [go figure].  Although, they were dramatic and made me feel like it was my fault, I learned that "teens girls, will be teen girls."  And it's true.  We were fine, the car was fine, and someone was definitely watching over us.  I honestly believe that Heavenly Father knew that my soul couldn't take another "unfortunate" situation right now and for that I'm extremely grateful.  

I don't know how at that exact moment there weren't any other cars on the left side of me, because they sure kept coming as I was getting ready to turn around and I don't know how we ended up exactly straight facing the other way without ramming the side or back end into the wall or why the car didn't get dented, but I do know that Heavenly Father is in the details of our life.  He knows what we need, he knows the lessons we need to learn  at the time and he watches after us--always.  Like I've said before...crappy things happen all the time.  But sometimes, even when something crappy should have happened, it doesn't.  And, well, I'm not going to question it.  I'm just going to count my blessings and move on. 

... I needed that lesson big time this weekend.

happy monday, my friends.

I hear it's snowing out there again so, for the love--be careful;)

'tis the season.