The Utah re-cap...

Before our awful attempt at driving home, we had an absolute blast in Utah. The trip was VERY last minute. My cousin called me on a friday and mentioned she wanted take a quick trip down to visit her family before her baby was born...Of course I jumped at the chance to go home for a week!  We left 6 days later and had a fantastic 15 hour ride.  Luckily for me, the kiddos were complete angels. (I'm sure the constant goldfish, movies, and fruitsnacks didn't hurt either!)  

I knew the trip would be really low key.  My mom had major back surgery just two days before we arrived, so we went down with no plans.  we just wanted to relax, and I wanted to help aid in my mom's recovery any way I could. 

So, we did A LOT of story reading...

And when Auntie Candise and Eliza Jane came to visit there were even more stories to go around.

And when no adults were around to read to Jack, he made do all by himself...I'm pretty sure Jack looked at books for most of the trip.

I didn't complain.

Of course we fit in some time for pudding,

and walks in the sunshine.

One of Jacks favorite things to do was play "this little piggy" with Nana's beautifully pedicured toes. 

This is about the only picture I could capture of our sweet patient recovering from back surgery...she wasn't feeling quite "camera beautiful" enough for a close-up.  Maybe next trip :)

Then a few days before we left, Bianca decided to liven things up with a spill out of the bathtub onto Nana's tile floor.  She fell hard and split her head wide open...needing 6 stitches.  Geez, I swear that girl has seen the Emergency Room more than any 2 year old should ever have to!  Between this incident and the car accident two days later, you can imgaine she has become a little more clingy than normal!! (You can also notice the wound AND the bruises on the top picture of Bianca reading stories with Auntie Candise)

Paul and Kaytie came up to visit while we were there, and I was amazed at Jack's reaction to darling baby Dean...

He was smitten. 

If Dean was around, so was Jack...I thought poor Kaytie would never get privacy to feed him! Seeing Jack be so gentle and concerned about him made me excited to have a new baby in the house this summer. I think he is going to be such a fun big brother!

It was so nice to come home and take it easy...I think I prefer going on a trip with no plans sometimes.  For some reason, when I am home, I like nothing more than to just sit on my mom's couch and visit with family. 

It was perfect.

  I was also able to see a few friends, go to all my favorite Utah restuarants (oh, how I miss Rumbi's and Taco Amigo...sigh), and my Grandma Scott took me and the kids to the Aquarium in Draper (which will be a post in and of itself in the next few days!)  So I guess our little vacation wasn't totally low key :)

So there you have it, our trip to Utah in a nut shell.  I am also pleased to report that my mom is recovering from surgery like a champ.  Even with 38 staples down her back she was still so much fun to be around...I am SURE not many people can do that!

We miss you all, hopefully our next visit to Utah will be much less traumatic, and won't involve ANY visits to the ER, stitches, staples, or totalled cars!!

A little update...

Don't worry everyone, I'm alive!

I had several doctors appointments this week to follow up with injuries and other things.

I had an ultra sound to double check the baby.  I had a little internal bleeding from the accident so we have been monitoring things to make sure it doesn't get worse.  The ultrasound let us know that baby springer is going to be just fine...no more need to worry.  phew!  And I'm 15 weeks along too!

My staples have been removed, which has made a world of difference...no more sharp pains and obnoxious aches!

I have been having some awful pain in my ribs and back...I can't lift anything more than a gallon of milk, and it really hurts to bend, twist or breathe.  The doctor informed me yesterday that I most likely have torn some of the cartilage that's connected near the ribs.  He said it's extremely painful, and that I will enjoy this pain for another 4 weeks.  Awesome!! Thank goodness for strong pain medication, and a sweet hubby who's taking care of business around the house!

Scott's amazingly generous co-workers have donated LOTS of their sick leave to him so he can be home with me.  It's been such a blessing!

So there you have it folks, I'm on the mend and will be as good as new in about a month!

I promise some darling pictures on the next post!

Lucky...

**Just to warn you...there are details in this post that are probably gross, but I want to make sure and remember how blessed and lucky we have came out of this ordeal....

On Saturday morning we left to go home to Washington from Utah.  We hadn't been driving thirty minutes when I started to fish-tale on the freeway in Salt Lake City.  The rest is all very fuzzy, but we were in an accident. 

I remember swerving, screaming, and turning...Next I woke up, looked over at my darling, sweet cousin (who is 7 1/2 months pregnant too) and asked her what happened.  She told me we were in an accident.  I asked her if she was ok.  She said "yes".  Oddly enough I figured "Ok, well if you are ok, let's go!!"   It wasn't long before I looked around and saw what happened.  I looked down and say lots of blood (sorry, I will spare you all the pictures!)  then I looked to my left and saw my door smashed into me.  Funny enough, I didn't notice at that point that my window had been broken out....you'd think I would have put it together when the police officer showed up to talk to me, and I never rolled the window down.  I talked to the officer, but don't have any recollection of the conversation.  I remember he asked me what day and month it was, and I had no clue.  I couldn't remember to save my life.  My door couldn't open, so I was loaded onto the stretcher from the passenger side.  I remember that it really hurt my head to be strapped to the uncomfortable backboard...well duh Jill, it hurt because you had a massive gash on the back of your head!

So we were loaded into an ambulance.  The kids were perfectly fine by the way.  Jack was talking about how a T-Rex bit his momma, and he thought the firetrucks were neat.  As I think back, it makes me sick that I wasn't coherent enough to make sure they were unharmed.

When we arrived at the Emergency room, I started to realize how much pain I was in.  The left side of my body had been hit really hard by the vehicle that hit us.  My ribs, back, shoulder, hip, and knee all have bruises, and are extremely sore.  Somehow, probably when I lost consciousness, I bit me tongue hard enough to swell it up, and hit my jaw.  The CT scan in my head came back normal, but I got 8 staples put into the back of my head.   When I think about the very few details I can remember, and how horrifying it was, I can't believe we all made it out with minimal injuries.  My cousin Rachel was miraculously okay as well, but they wanted to keep her in the hospital overnight to make sure the baby was doing alright.  

We are all home from the Hospital now, and have been surrounded by family and friends that have shown us more support than I could ever imagine.  I feel so incredibly blessed to be part of the family that I am.  I only hope I can repay the service some day soon!

As for now, we are just trying to make arrangements to get home.  I am obviously in no condition to drive, so tomorrow my wonderful sister Candise is going to drive me half way, and then Scotty will meet us and pick us up.  I have been missing and needing Scott so badly since the accident, so I can't wait to see him tomorrow!

I hope to be feeling better in the next few days.  It will be nice to get all of the glass and blood cleaned out of my hair, and I look forward to being able to pick the kids up again with out wincing in pain. 

I realize I am blessed.  Extremely blessed.  People getting in an accident in a car going 65 miles an hour shouldn't come out so well.  I have prayed constantly since being in the Hospital, giving thanks for the way this ordeal has turned out.

Now back to real life my friends, and hopefully I will get this post out of the way with some fun photos of the trip in the next few days!!

Thanks for your love and prayers, we are lucky to be surrounded by such amazing people!