Crash

 This was a Mother's Day I will never forget.  Jeff and the three older kids left Friday night to go stay with his sister and help brand cows.  Titus and I stayed home to organize the office (it has been a disastrous catch-all nightmare since the move) and take long, uninterrupted naps :) 

We woke up at 5:30 on Sunday morning to get ready for church and make the familiar drive to Cedar City to surprise my mom for Mother's Day.  It had been raining all night long and it was a wet, cold, cloudy morning.  I set the cruise control at 81 and off we went.  Titus fell asleep as we drove and I began to pray.  Praying is one of my favorite things to do while I drive.  I am able to pray aloud and have the time to really listen and ponder.  On this particular morning I was thanking God for the amazing gift of motherhood. I was thinking of the immense gratitude I have for my mother, and how much I still depend on her.  As the weather worsened and the rain turned to snow, I also prayed for safety as I drove, and that my husband and children would be safe as they also planned to travel home that day. 

It was in the middle of my prayer that I passed a semi truck and came upon a pond in the middle of the interstate.  I tapped my brake to release the cruise control as I hit the water and began to hydroplane sideways on the road.  I lost all control as my tires lost traction because of the water.  I don't remember exactly what happened, although it continues to play as an unrelenting movie reel in my mind.  I remember thinking the semi truck would hit me.  I remember sliding closer and closer to the delineator pole on the side of the road and thinking what an awful dent it would make on my car.  I remember thinking that we would start to roll as soon as we left the asphalt.  In the midst of the terror, I felt a flash of relief knowing that Titus would likely be just fine safely restrained in his car seat even when we rolled. 

 But, by some miracle, we didn't roll.  When we left the asphalt, we spun around and slid backward for about 30 yards until we slammed into the freeway fence.  The back end lodged into the fence and the front end continued to rotate until we came to a stop.  That's it, I thought.  It's over.  We are fine and we are not moving anymore and it is over.  We didn't hit any other cars.  We didn't roll.  We are ok.  Titus awoke from the impact when we hit the fence.  I put the car in park and called Jeff.  After talking to him I got out of the car to survey the damage and confirm what I already suspected: I was very, very stuck, and the car was no longer driveable.

 The car was, however, still running.  I turned on a movie for Titus and turned up the heater to keep us warm as the snow fell.  I called my mom to wish her a happy Mother's Day and explain that my plan to surprise her had been foiled.  It was so good to hear her voice.

 My front bumper was a long way from where we stopped, and our tracks in the mud told our story.

 I was so thankful when Dave arrived in his tow truck.  A safe, familiar face.  A rescuer.  He hooked us up and began to drag us out.  We were REALLY stuck in the fence.

 Soon, Titus and I were safe in the front of the tow truck, our broken vehicle loaded on the back.

There was SO MUCH water on the road.  I tried to take a picture of the streams running down the interstate.

Dave dropped us off a little before 9:30 in front of our house.  As I walked up my driveway carrying my baby and his car seat, I thought, "I am walking.  I am walking into my house.  I am not hurt."  I couldn't believe how protected we were. Since we were home in plenty of time and already dressed and ready, I text my neighbor to ask if she could give us a ride to church.  We would have walked, but it was raining really hard.  As Titus and I sat alone during Sacrament meeting, I felt overwhelmed with gratitude for the protection we had received that day.

All day long (and all night long) I keep thinking of all the things that could have gone differently, and how very different my life could be right now.  I do every single ordinary every day task with gratitude and a silent prayer of thanks because I recognize that I could very easily be unable to do things like fold the laundry, change a diaper, wash my hair, and kiss my babies.

We haven't heard back from the insurance yet, but the tow truck driver said he thinks our van is totaled.  We haven't had a car payment for over seven years and I am really not looking forward to that part. 

I am thankful for the reminder this has been that He truly grants me every breath, and for the chance to strive more diligently to walk in gratitude daily. (Reminds me of President Uchtdorf's most recent General Conference Address).  I don't know why my accident turned out the way it did while so many other accidents end so tragically.  What I do know is that I trust the Lord with all my heart.  I will strive in all my ways to acknowledge Him and pray that He will direct all my paths (Proverbs 3:5-6.)

Traveling Circus: Bodega Bay

 Each morning at the beach house, Titus would awake before everyone else (of course.)  In order to get him out of the house so everyone else could rest (and try to squeeze in a little exercise,) he and I would go for a walk every morning. 

 On our second morning there, these friends greeted us as we came down the driveway.

 I felt like I was in the botanical gardens or something because everywhere I looked there were different kinds of plants and flowers.

 These wild daisies were, of course, a favorite.

 I couldn't get over how green it was everywhere we looked.

 The photos are grainy because the light was bad when we would hike early in the day, but it was so refreshingly beautiful.  These English-isle-like rock formations were incredible.  The boys loved hiking down and climbing on them.  Brian thought he was Braveheart.

 When Titus and I would return to the beach house, the boys would be planning an adventure and Rachel would be making breakfast.  She took care of the whole clan the whole time we were there.

 On our second day at the beach we drove north to Bodega Bay. 

After driving around the bay we hiked all around Bodega Head.

Thanks to the generosity of our great friends the McKinley's, Siena got to ride in this comfy backpack for the duration of the hike.

The combination of colors, plants, rocks, and fog was unlike any coastline I've ever seen before.

 This strangely-shaped grove of trees was nick-named Terabithia.  The kids could have used their imaginations all day in there.

 These California poppies were everywhere.  Sometimes orange, sometimes yellow, sometimes both, always smiling.

Bodega Head is known for it's fantastic whale-watching this time of year.  Our clan wasn't quite patient enough to wait for the whales, but we got to watch TONS of seals playing in the water.  We could have watched them for hours.

 Isaac got tired of hiking quickly (he still tires very easily) and begged to be carried.  Titus, however, did not want to be carried but thought it would be fun to see what was over the edge of the cliffs we were hiking so very close to.

 After hiking Bodega Head, we went to a local fish house for lunch.  It was built right on the pier so we could watch the seals play in the water while we ate.  The crabs and lobsters in this photo were fresh from the bay.  I had one on my salad for lunch.

 After lunch we went to the UC Davis Marine Biology Lab located right in Bodega Bay.  We lucked out that we were visiting on the very day they open to the public.  Our docent was SO GREAT with the kids.  They learned a ton about the ocean.

 We even got to hold sea stars and sea urchins and learn about how they eat and move.

 I had never touched one of these before and always called them starfish, but the docent informed us that their proper name is "sea star" since they are not fish.

 
Our day at Bodega Bay was a grand success.  We are so thankful for this family for showing us such a good time.
And I am so thankful that this family is forever mine.

Traveling Circus: Dillon Beach

 
 This was the view from our beach house.  Dillon Beach is the only private beach in Northern California (or so we were told) and it was quiet and secluded.  In the mornings and evenings the fog would set in.  There were sheep, cows, horses, and deer grazing on the rolling green hills all around us.  We kept joking that we were in Ireland rather than California.  

 These two started the morning with some fierce games of tic tac toe. 

 And this guy started the morning out ready to head to the beach.

 The kids put on their suits and warmed up in the hot tub while we waited for the fog to clear and the temperature to rise.

 They choreographed a few water shows while they were at it.

 Dillon Beach

 Brian saved our lives and made our day by outfitting all of us in wet suits.  If we wouldn't have had the wet suits, our day at the beach would have lasted 15 minutes.  Levi and Davis were all about the water.

 This beach babe wanted to boogie.

 Reece sacrificed her wetsuit so Isaac could have one.  I kept thinking she was going to lapse into hypothermia.



 Good thing she wore her snow boots to the beach.

 Levi, Daisy, and Davis all took turns on the boogie board.

 Levi loved loved the ocean.  He has not stopped talking about living near the ocean.  He asked, "Mom, if we can't move to the ocean now, can we please move there when I'm a teenager?"

 Brian wasn't quite as brave as Reece was when it came to the northern Pacific.  He couldn't handle the cold.

 Titus ate the sand.  I mean, I know most toddlers taste the sand, but Titus ate the sand.  He liked it.  He was shoveling it in by the fistful at first and then he laid down on the sand and started lapping it up.  It was coming out the other end for days.

 These two figured out it was much warmer in the sand than in the water.

 My time at the beach was mostly spent in the water with my kids.  I was loving the ocean.

 As the day wore on the fog started to set in, but the  kids were not deterred.  We even spotted a large seal (maybe even sea lion?) swimming about 10 yards from them.

 The beach was very quiet, but there were a few other beach goers than came and went throughout the day.

 By the time we got back to the beach house everyone was sunburned (through the clouds and fog) and exhausted.

The day at the beach was an overall success.  We anxiously looked forward to exploring more of this quiet, almost magical coast.