January 2012!

January 2nd the kids were so glad to be back home after being gone for over 2 1/2 weeks. 

January 10th, It was such a weird winter that we didn’t have any snow on the ground.  So Austin went to Ace and bought a woofull bat and ball.  Spencer and Austin played outside for about an hour or so, just having fun, enjoying the warm winter weather.

Corbin and I stayed inside and played with the boxes. Here he is showing me how good he can stand on his own without help.  He started to walk really good not to long after this picture was taken.

He is just so cute and full of energy and different attitudes!  These are from January 11th, he just couldn’t get enough of the box.  He was having so much fun with it that I just kept it around so he could play.  I think we had that box out for like 2 months before it broke.  I just love how boxes are more entertaining than toys!

January 13th, what started out as a great day and turned into a horrible one.

He likes to scare me and do things like stand on a chair at the top of the stairs.

On January 13th, 2012

This is the car accident that Austin’s dad was in.  He was travelling home from work and somehow ended up in the river. Austin got a phone call from his sister Anna telling him that dad had been in a car accident. That he had rolled his truck several times in the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming. That he was being life-flighted. That he was in a medically induced coma. That his back & neck were broken, but his spinal cord was intact. That his brain was bleeding and swelling.  Austin then called me and told me to start packing bags, we needed to drive to Casper, WY because dad had been in an accident.  The hardest thing about it was Austin was at work on nights.  He had to wait 2 1/2 hours at work after the call to wait for somebody to come and relieve him so he could go.  So I called my friend Stefanie and asked if she could come and help me.  All she understood from the phone call was that someone was in an accident and I needed help.  I was crying so hard that she couldn’t understand me.  She looked at her husband and he said go.  This was at about 8:30.  So she came over and watched the kids for me while I hurried and pack the bags for us to go.  I am so grateful that I have such great friends who are willing to drop what they are doing and come and help.

We didn’t get to Casper until about 3 am.  Once we got there we dropped the kids off at the hotel and went to the hospital to go see dad.  Mom was there waiting for us, she is such a strong person.  We got to go in and see dad.  That was so hard to look at him and see him that way.  I don’t think that I had ever seen him so still.  He was not one to sit and stay.  He had lots of tubes and machines all around him.  It was very scary.

Over the next few days we were finding out more things, that in addition to his broken back & neck & the bleeding in his brain, he had a collapsed lung, dislocated shoulder, 14 staples in his head, a cut on his left hand that went to the bone, and a bruised brain stem. That they had stopped the meds for the coma, but we had no idea when he would wake up.

This is the 1st time in 1 1/2 years that all of Austin’s siblings were at the same place at the same time.  It was a good reunion for them but in not such a great place.  They were able to hold each other together and to enjoy one another’s company.  We are so blessed to have such a great family.

These are from January 15th.  They are so cute, they were playing peek-a-boo with each other.  I was just trying to keep the boys entertained while everybody else was at the Hospital with Austin’s mom and Dad.

The boys were sick while all this was going on so I tried to stay away because I didn't want to get anybody else sick.  We weren't’ able to stay the whole time, I needed to get home so the boys could get better.  Spencer threw up at the hospital right before we went home.  I felt so bad, but the nurse said don’t worry about it, it happens, we will just get a janitor up here to clean it up. 

I am so very grateful for the gospel that we have, for the Church and all the members who were willing to help out along the way.  Dad was given many blessings along the way. It was such a blessing for all of us in our lives to see the power of prayer over and over again.

A couple of days after we left, Dad woke up from his coma.  He had a lot more trying times after waking up.  He had blood clots a trachea put in, and a lot of therapy to go through.

We are so blessed to still have Dad in our lives.  He has seen many miracles and will continue to see them.  (Feb 9, 2013  Dad is back to work now, he is doing really great.  He still has some recovery to do, but he has been healed in so many ways.)