Summer In One Week

We had a jam-packed week in Idaho. I think we got to do everything that we wanted to do there and more.  It was a little crazy going from one thing to the next, but oh so fun!  We loved every second of it, even if our kids were exhausted the whole time we were there.  They also had fun, so sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right? 

We got family pictures with both sides of Hadley's family.  I forgot my camera when we got them taken with Blayne and Leslie, but here's a few I snapped at John and Melissa's.  (Yes, the whole family got pictures taken in Oregon Ducks clothing.  That's for a different post.  Gotta love it!)

As I was saying, we basically crammed everything we missed doing in Idaho, in one week.  We went four wheeling, waterskiing, swimming, to the sand dunes, razor rides, had a big volleyball tournament, visited with friends, rode horses, went on a Harley ride, and cruised up the river for a steak dinner, and a little fishin. Ahh!  We love to play! 

Weston and Mandi's horse that Jerzi was in love with

Here's Had showin us he hasn't lost his skills.  He got up his first try in the air chair.  He's still got it in slolem skiing too!  He makes everything look easy.  I heard his brother say as Had was skiing, "Gosh dang it, why does he have to be good at everything he does?"  It's true folks, everything he tries or does, he's good at it.  All of his siblings didn't care about anything else except Hadley not winning the volleyball tournament.  That could tell ya a little somethin about Had and his family.  HAHA  

I got up on the air chair too, and I slolem skiied.  I was so happy!  I'm not good, and I definitely don't make it look easy, but I was happy that I could still do it, and it was so much fun.  That air chair thing is so cool!  I loved it.   

Jeter didn't want to do anything in the water.  He's a little afraid....of everything.  And he doesn't like cold.  But those excuses just won't fly with Had around.  We're all about forcing them into having fun. :)  It took a little bit for him to go from being mad, to being ok with it, to having fun.

Good times with the fam!

We went on a Harley ride all through West Yellowstone, then looped around to Jackson Hole, met up with the rest of the family and went swimming, ate dinner, and over the Jackson Pass back to Rexburg.  Such a pretty ride!  I took a ton of pictures.  I forgot how pretty everything is here!  I loved it.  Had didn't get to enjoy it as much as I did (we may have been going a little too fast for him to take his eyes off the road), but it was so beautiful and peaceful.

Look at those Tetons!!!  Man, what a site!  I can't get over the mountains.  Oh how I miss them.

Boating down the Snake River, with a beautiful sunset like this, I reminded Had of a song we learned in 4th grade about Idaho.   It goes like this:

Celebrate Idaho, it's a century old. 

 Look around and enjoy what you see. 

We've built a beautiful home

 where are children can grow, 

Celebrate Idaho.

Celebrate Idaho.

We sang it together on the boat.  (I hope John and Melissa didn't hear us. HAHA)

We weren't cheesey singing it, I promise.

But I thought about how we were celebrating Idaho, and all the things we love to do there, and how much I enjoyed everything I saw.

I couldn't get over how beautiful this place is. And so I had to force my thoughts and songs on Had.  :)

I

(Don't worry, we don't have an influx of creepy flying things in Idaho, those are just bugs on the windshield of the boat.)

And having this cute boy by my side the whole time we were in Idaho made it all that much better, cold sores and all.  :)   I love him.  I love Idaho.  I love family.  And I love playing.

Great Summer!!!

(p.s. it's not over yet.)

My Fears

 We just got back from another awesome trip to Idaho, but before we left, two of my worst fears came true.  The first one being one of my kids getting hurt.  And of course it would be Jeter, because he's crazy.  I have always been so scared that one of my kids would get seriously hurt, which I'm sure most parents are.  But on top of that, I have been afraid that I wouldn't know what to do when they do get hurt, or that I wouldn't take them in when they need to be taken in, which would mess them up even worse.  (I never want to go to any doctors or hospitals unless absolutely necessary.  I feel like lots of them are idiots [no offense to any doctors out there, including my own husband.  He's one of the smart doctors.] )    :)

Then it happened on August 7th.  Jeter was running around like a freakshow, and ran and jumped from the top of our staircase, to the bottom, which is fairly common in our house.  But this time he decided halfway through the air that he actually didn't want to jump, and tried to stop himself, midair.  That resulted in him landing/hitting into the bottom stair with his foot.  There was a pause, then a super loud yelling scream.  I ran to check out the damage, thinking he probably hit his head into the wall, cuz that's usually the main body part that he hurts.  It was his foot, not his head.  I had him stand up to walk, and he couldn't.  Then I started pushing everywhere on it to find out where (ya know, pretending I knew what to do if I only knew where it was hurting at.)  Well, we figured out where, partly cuz of the bump that was forming.  I instantly knew it was broken.  It was weird.  Looking back now, I feel like I had a little mother's intuition.  I don't usually get that, so that was kinda cool.  And I stayed calm.  I wasn't as freaked as I thought I'd be.  Jeter was fine.  Hurting, but fine.  He only cried for about one minute total, and then just sat around, cuz he couldn't walk anymore.  I called Had, told him I think Jete just broke his foot. So after telling Had all that happened and him agreeing with me that he needs an x-ray, we took Jete in to Daddy's work.  Jete said on the way there, "Well, I guess if you wanna see Daddy at work, all's you need to do is hurt your foot."

Well, Had read the x-rays and yep, broken.  He broke his 5th metatarsal, which is the bone right below his pinky toe.  He got to pick his cast color.  It was a cute little black cast. I loved seeing it form to his little calf muscle.  And I LOVED having Had be a foot doctor, and not having to pay a cent for this.

   

He got a little walking boot to go over it so he could still walk around on it.  The doc that was there helping Had said he should be walking around on it in about 3 days.  It took Jete about 5 minutes of being home and he was playing and walking around on it like nothing happened.

He did really good with it.  During baths, playing, and everything.  He only had 2 little freakouts during the middle of the night cuz his foot was itching and he couldn't itch it.  Other than that, he didn't ever complain about it once.  I did though.  It stunk.  And sometimes he would touch his stinky toes, then chase me with his yucky fingers. 

This was the day he got to get it off.  He was so happy!  He got to get it off the day before we went to Idaho.

I said earlier that two of my worst fears came true.  The second one was getting in a car accident.  Ever since we moved away from Idaho, I've been afraid of these freaky, fast, traffic-packed freeways.  I never want to drive on them, and when I do, I am tense the whole time.  Well on Aug. 22nd, two days before we left for Idaho, I went with the youth to the temple.  I was going to drive, but at the last second, everyone got out of my car, and we all piled into my friend's van because she had an EZtag to get on the toll roads.  On the way home from the temple, we stopped at Arby's, grabbed our food, and started cruising down the freeway. My friend saw brake lights up ahead of us, so she starts slowing down... and we either came to a stop, or were going maybe like 5 mph, when all the sudden,

WHAM!!!

Some dude didn't see us all stopped (it happens fast on these busy freeways), and drilled us from behind, going around 40-50 mph!  Our food, drinks, ketchup, Arby's sauce covered all of us and the whole van, so when I turned around to ask everyone if they were ok, it looked like everyone was covered in blood. Kind of a freaky sight! We had 5 youth in there, plus me and my friend Brittany.  Everyone was totally freaked out, and shaking like crazy.  One girl kept saying how she just wanted out of the van, and another girl kept taking the Lord's name in vain.  No one was seriously hurt though from what I could tell.  I tried to lighten things up by cracking jokes, and talking to them calmly. I was calm.  It was weird.  I thought I would be freaking out.  We called 911 and they were there within like 3 or 4 minutes.  It was kind of a mess, since none of the kids parents were with us, and they were all under 18.  We had 3 cell phones between all of us, so everyone was calling their parents, parents were talking to the EMT's, and I was talking to EMT's and parents.  Between all that, I had the thought that I should let Had know, so I hurry and sent him a quick text.  A few minutes later, when I got my phone back from one of the kids, Had was calling me.  Turns out I sent him a text that said something like,

"Just got in a wreck.  We're hangin out on the freeway right now."

Then he tried texting me back and calling me, but I didn't have my phone for a few minutes, so he was left to worry and wonder.

Woops.

I guess it would have been helpful to know that I was ok.  Or that we were all ok.  Or that I wasn't driving, like he thought that I was.

(I guess I wasn't thinking too clearly.)

Anyway, 4 out of the 5 kids went in ambulances to the Children's Hospital.  I rode in there with them, as the "parent", although the EMT's had a hard time figuring out if I was one of the kids or the adult.  After we took the kids to that hospital, me and Brittany had to go to another hospital to get checked out.  After all was said and done, we had a couple kids with concussions, some with bruises and cuts, and I think all of us had whiplash, but no one was seriously hurt.  We were so blessed.  We all felt very grateful we were coming home from the temple, and that Heavenly Father was looking out for us.  

Here is the van that we were riding in.  The back was crunched right up against that back seat, where 3 teenage girls were sitting.  All of them are fine.  I know that we were being protected. 

Nothing like facing your fears head on!

I'm a little surprised with how I handled them, but impressed with myself.  :)  haha

Now if someone could please tell me what to do about this insurance adjuster and "settling", that would be awesome, cuz I feel a little clueless when this dude is asking me if I want to settle or wait.